Lonely Thieves

Act III, Part VI

Norah's Side (April 10, 8:00 pm)

Norah leaned against her car as it charged up at a nearby charging station. She had just spent the whole day looking for Megumi in the Horizon District, but she'd seen no sign of her. She was starting to worry about losing her when she received a call on her phone.

It was Ingrid, the last person she needed to hear from. She was obviously calling to check on her progress, even though the listening device on her person should already have told her how well she was doing. Norah reluctantly picked up the phone, not brave enough to ignore her.

"Ms. Albert. We've got a problem on our hands."

"I know, I know. I'm trying to find her as fast as I can, okay? I need you to give me some more time."

"It'll be difficult on your own. We could always help."

"Yeah, running around with Hayasaka Security won't raise suspicion. Thanks, but no thanks. Is that all?"

"No, not at all. We have another problem."

"Another problem?" Just what Norah needed. It wasn't as if she was already running around trying to fix one mistake as it is.

"Daryl Haddock has gone rogue. He somehow got rid of his trackers and is on the run. We sent men to his last location, but no one can figure out where he went next."

"He went rogue?" Norah was surprised. Daryl seemed like a generally well-meaning but ultimately useless guy. He didn't seem like someone who could pull something like that off.
"So what is it? You want me to find him for you?"

"No. You should keep looking for that thief girl. Mr. Haddock is a low-priority target. However, if he tries to get in contact with you, absolutely let us know."

"Sure." Norah doubted that Daryl would try to do that, but she was sure that Ingrid was just trying to cover her bases. Ingrid hung up the call after a curt farewell, and Norah sighed. She went to her call history to see that her call with Ingrid was not recorded. As she thought, the Hayasaka Security Captain was using shrouding tech to keep her phone activity off the grid.

After unhooking her car from the charging station, she drove off to nowhere in particular. She had been looking for Megumi the whole day, and she was tired. At this point, she doubted that Megumi would still be in the Horizon district, and if that was the case, she was probably laughing at her running circles around the same area. She sighed as her head began to pound. She decided to go home, at least for a bit.

As she drove, she made a few calls on the phone, mostly to informants she had used for work. Nobody had information she needed, but she asked them to keep an eye out just in case they saw anything. Soon, she was in front of her office again. She climbed out of her car and stumbled in.

She collapsed onto her bed without taking off her coat or changing. As she felt the soft folds of her bed soothe her to sleep, the sharp tone of her phone going off brought her back from slumberland. She grumpily looked to see who was so inconsiderate as to keep her from her well-deserved rest. It was Edgar. Now that she'd thought of it, she hadn't spoken to him in a while. She grabbed her ringing phone and mumbled a sleepy hello.

"Where have you been the last couple days?" Edgar blurted out the moment she picked up the phone. "I was starting to think they'd caught you!"

Well, he wasn't wrong. Still, it wasn't a good idea to mention it. "I'm fine. Just been laying low trying to avoid attention. Anyway, why were you looking for me?"

"What, I can't be worried for you?"

Norah scoffed. "You only stick around cause you want to curry favor. Don't act like we're friends or something."

"Well, damn. You try and look out for someone, and this is what you get, huh?"

"I'm sorry," Norah sighed. "I've been awake for over a day, and I'm a little bit cranky. Things haven't been going my way recently."

"I can see that much."

"Anyway, what's the matter? I usually don't contact you that often. What happened that you'd start worrying about me?"

"Are you serious? You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"The day after the mansion party, we were supposed to meet up and go over some details on the case. Then, you suddenly canceled on me and went dark for days. How could I not get worried?"

"Right." Norah pressed a hand to her temple. She had gotten caught up in trying to escape the Overman agents and had completely forgotten. "Sorry. Things have been hectic, to say the least."

"I don't blame you. Anyway, enough of that. Have you seen the news recently?"

"Not at all."

"Well, things are going crazy down at the Sunshine district. Word on the street is that our old friend is being hunted by the Innocenti in the open."

"You mean Kolya?" Norah wasn't sure what this meant. Perhaps Kolya got wrapped up in some trouble while working with Megumi.

"Yeah. He's basically been playing with these mafia grunts, taking them out left and right and avoiding capture. The people in the Sunshine district haven't been talking about anything else."

"That's... a little interesting, but I'd rather not get involved in all that. I'm more interested in finding the whereabouts of that thief."

"Eh? You still haven't found her?"

"I got close to her once, but she got away from me. I've been looking for her since then."

"That's pretty sloppy of you."

"Shut the hell up! If you want to help me out, help me find this girl!"

"Sure, but it's pretty hard to do that with the description you gave me before."

"Hold on!" Norah swiped through her phone for a bit. "I took a picture of her in secret while no one was looking. I'll send it to you, so show this around to as many people as possible. Spread it on the internet if you have to."

"That's kind of excessive, isn't it? It'll be really obvious that she's being hunted down."

"I don't have a choice. Twilight is massive. If I don't go to these lengths, I'll never be able to find her."

"That's true... alright, then. I'll have this picture circulating through the city in no time. Should I say why she's being looked for?"

"No, that's dangerous. You can say she's missing or that she's run away if you're pressed for a reason. The only thing that matters is that she's found."

"Got it. I'll talk to you soon."

Norah hung up the phone and collapsed back onto the bed. All at once, she felt the fatigue in her body begin to weigh her down. As she drifted off to sleep, Norah's thoughts once again wandered towards her many worries. Though she felt as if her thoughts would keep her up, she eventually felt her consciousness melt away into oblivion.

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When she woke up, it was morning. She slowly rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes and climbed out of bed. After doing her usual morning routine, she decided to start a renewed search for Megumi once more. She reached into her desk and pulled out a spare pistol. Ingrid had taken her gun away from her and decided not to give it back, so she needed another option in case things got bad. As she loaded bullets into the magazine, she felt as if she was less of a fugitive and more of a hunter.

Well, it wasn't really the time to dwell on the irony. Norah picked up her things and left the office. She got into her car and drove away, heading towards the highway. As she did, she took a look at some of the info Edgar had mailed her while she was asleep. Right now, nothing mattered more than hunting down that girl.