RE:WRITE

37.0 Grayscale_Chapter 12: Slate

The bus lurched to a halt. The doors opened and I heard the sound of people scuffling out. The conductor yelled for the passengers to walk in an orderly manner but most of them just ignored him and shoved their way out.

The conductor turned to us with a giant smile as we left the VIP compartment. He fawned over us, offered us future deals and discounts, and asked if our journey had gone well. We assured him that everything had been fine and promised to seek his company's services in the future.

I stole another glance at the laborers powering the bus as we got off.

Empty eyes. Sallow cheeks. Lifeless expressions.

I clenched my fists and felt my resolve strengthen.

We wordlessly walked down the road towards Farden. Like any other city in the Air Kingdom, it didn't have walls. We passed the security checkpoints where Kai flashed his magic paper, and entered the city.

Kai and Amy took Zoe to an Inn to help treat her. Even though she looked a lot better after spending a couple of days with us, she was still just skin and bones. Years of surviving on drugs and nutrients had left her with a sunken expression and a pale, sickly face that wouldn't disappear after a day or two of healthy eating.

While they began trying to fix Zoe herself, Runir and I were going to start executing our plan to fix the system that had brought her to that position in the first place.

We silently walked down the street, paying attention to the conversations floating around. Eavesdropping was a great way to gather intelligence.

"...Breize Labs are showing off their latest project."

"Yeah, heard it's their biggest project in decades."

"My brother works in the finance ministry. He said it cost a fortune!"

"They've been keeping it under wraps too. No one knows anything about it."

"I heard from a friend that the Goddess herself helped design it."

"Really? If that's true then it's going to revolutionize everything! The Goddess gave us roads and cars too. And the factories..."

"Remember the Breize Trams?"

"What about the Castle Hoppers?"

"Yeah, course I remember! Who doesn't?"

"Well, one thing's for sure. This year's exhibition is gonna be unforgettable!"

The crowd of pedestrians thinned as we approached our first destination. We stepped into an alley beside a gold painted building and melted into the shadows.

Runir turned to face me, his hood pulled down to cover his face and making it almost impossible to see him in the dark alley.

"Racor Labs hires contractors to guard their most important locations. The files should be on the top floor but they might have hidden something in the basement too so I'll check there just to be sure," he said, pulling out a manhole cover and dropping into the sewers.

I didn't follow him though, since I had to go up.

I jumped onto the side of the building and kicked off onto the other wall. Then I kicked that wall too and landed at the top of a three story building across my target. I ran to the edge and jumped across at the last second, landing safely at the roof of the Racor headquarters.

There were a couple of guards there but none of them posed a threat. I knocked out a bald headed man and a thin woman, both of whom were wearing dark green robes with a blue tree trunk on them. Probably the contractors that Runir had mentioned.