Lonely Thieves

Act III, Part VII

Megumi's Side (April 11, 8:30 am)

The sound of rustling footsteps shook Megumi out of an uneasy slumber. She quickly scrambled off the bench she was sleeping on and glanced around warily for the sound's source. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an old homeless man searching the nearby garbage can. She squinted at him from under the bench and tried to see if she could recognize him. As far as she could tell, she was some distance from the encampment and closer to the more populated parts of the Horizon district. That didn't mean that the homeless man couldn't be related to them in some way, so she remained hidden.

Eventually, the vagrant left, and Megumi emerged from her hiding place. The park she was hiding in was not empty of any visitors or joggers, but she was still worried that she might be seen by Overman agents. Even more importantly, she was tired. She had been running through the night, and her short nap on the cold, hard park bench didn't leave her feeling very rested.

Megumi pulled out her phone and took a look at her navigation app. There was a nearby motel that had rooms available within walking distance. She wanted to avoid spending too much money, but she didn't really have much of a choice at this point.

The owner seemed to sense something was wrong, but he didn't ask any questions and simply offered her a cheap room on the bottom floor. The room was empty of most furnishings, but it had the bare necessities, which was all Megumi was looking for. It wasn't as if she planned to stay for a while anyhow.

Megumi put down her bag and fell onto the bed. It had been a while since she had been able to sleep on a proper bed, and even the cheap mattress offered by the motel still felt warm and inviting. It had also been a while since she had gotten any proper rest, so the allure of sleep was pulling her in.

However, she couldn't fall asleep yet. She still needed to figure out her next step. After all, she couldn't keep wandering around the Horizon District. The best option was likely to leave the district, but where would she go? She had no allies she could trust, and the client was still an enigma she wasn't comfortable with communicating with. Still, even if she didn't know where to go, she knew she needed to leave. If she didn't, she'd be caught for sure.

Without realizing it, she had settled onto the mattress and become drowsy. Eventually, she felt her eyelids start to droop. Oh, well. Maybe she'd think better once she got some rest. She closed her eyes and drifted off to the most restful sleep she'd had in a while.

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Megumi darted awake about some hours later. It was still daytime, but she was feeling a lot better, so she got out of the bed. As she did a quick inventory check, Megumi considered her possible options again. Getting a taxi to another district was probably her best option, but she'd have to use her card, and that could lead to her getting tracked. Having said that, she'd already had to use her card to pay for the room, so there wasn't really much point in worrying about that anymore. Besides, she didn't have any physical money, so there wasn't much of a choice either way.

Megumi decided to head to the Sunset district for now. There was no particular reasoning behind the decision, but if she did decide to hand the necklace off to the client after all, at least she'd be near the determined drop-off area. Plus, the place was packed, so it'd be easier for her to blend in with the crowd.

With that decided, Megumi gathered up her things and prepared to leave. She'd paid for a night's stay, but it probably wasn't a good idea to actually stay that long. It was still bright out, but the sun was starting to set. If she blended into the crowd, there was little chance of her being found.

As she prepared to leave, she suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from outside of the hotel room. It sounded as if someone was trying to get into her hotel room. That immediately roused her suspicion, since no one she knew should have known that she was there. She turned around and ran to the window. She quickly leapt to the opposite building and dove behind a wall. She peeked out and looked back into the room she had jumped out of.

Had there been Overman agents inside of her room, she would not have been surprised. However, the intruder was the motel owner himself, accompanied by two burly-looking men. He turned over the room for her, then pulled out his phone and called someone in a panicking state. She couldn't hear exactly what he was saying, but he eventually disappeared.

Megumi was a little curious about why the motel owner was searching for her so desperately, but that wasn't a priority right now. She climbed down from the building using a fire escape and headed deeper into the district's business zone. She quickly hailed an auto-taxi from the street and paid for a trip to the Sunset District.

Megumi sat in the passenger seat and pulled her hood over her face as the taxi drove out of the district. Due to the downtown traffic, the car was driving a bit too slow for her tastes. However, she soon realized that something was wrong when the car didn't accelerate even when the road cleared up.

Assuming that the car was having acceleration issues, Megumi jumped into the driver's seat and hacked into the computer. However, she found that the problem was slightly different; the car's speed was being capped by the main auto-taxi system. That would mean an administrator was slowing her car purposefully.

Suddenly realizing the implications of such a strange occurrence, Megumi immediately pulled on the taxi's car door and tried to pull it open. The auto-taxis were operated using Overman technology. They must have noticed her card and slowed the car to capture her. They were messing with the locks as well; she wasn't able to open the door on her own. She quickly hacked into the computer with her implants and disengaged the lock this way.

With the door open, Megumi grabbed her things and hopped out of the car. Worried that Overman agents were already closing in on her location, she ran off immediately, not worrying about where she was going.

As she ran, she tried to figure out where exactly she was. She had to still be in the Horizon district, but that didn't tell her much. She had escaped the car near the edge of the district's downtown area and was now running through a suburban residential area. She didn't have the time to worry about the occasional resident strolling past, so she kept running at full speed. She was certain that reports about her would eventually reach the Overman Foundation, but if she stopped running now, there would be more trouble.

She began to feel the exhaustion weigh down on her, and after a while she forced herself to stop and take a breath. She was near a small park now, not too different from the one she had woken up at. It probably wasn't a good place to hide, but she could surely afford a short rest here.

Megumi sat down near a bench and drank the last of the water that she'd received from the encampment. It quenched her thirst, though it did little to quell the hunger in her stomach. There was a water fountain nearby, and she quickly took the chance to refill her water bottles before heading out again. She didn't know when she'd be able to get the chance again, after all.

As she filled up her second bottle, Megumi noticed a small group of men from across the street. They seemed to take notice of her and were looking at something on their phones. Megumi, sensing that they weren't mistaking her for a celebrity, put her bottle back into her bag and dashed off. The men immediately gave chase, making it clear that they knew exactly who she was.

However, Megumi was confused about who exactly these men were. They didn't look like Overman agents. Were they operating undercover? That was a strange option considering this whole thing was a manhunt. Megumi considered using her implants to boost her running speed, but she ultimately decided against it. She was still trying to keep a low profile, and people would definitely take notice of a young girl leaping through the streets.

Instead, she tried to zigzag through the streets, trying to lose the men who were after her. Unfortunately, they had split up, making it hard for her to lose all of them at once. If she turned to get rid of one man, another would show up from another street. They were nearly relentless in their pursuit.

Finally, Megumi leapt over a fence and hid in some bushes in the backyard of a house. She heard the sound of running footsteps as the men looked around for her to no avail. Eventually, two of the men stopped to discuss their next moves. Although they were a fair distance away, Megumi was able to pick up a bit of their conversation from her hiding spot.

"Looks like we lost her."

"Damn! Thought we lucked out when we ran into her, but no dice."

"Should we keep looking?"

"No. Let's call that Norah person and let her know what we saw."

Megumi was shocked when she heard the name Norah. She should have expected that she would try to search for her, but she didn't think she'd go to this extent. To think that she'd have to get away from not only the Overman Foundation, but Norah as well... things were only getting harder and harder.

After waiting in her hiding place for a little longer, Megumi finally emerged from the bushes. She looked around to make sure no one was around and leapt out of the backyard she was hiding in. She continued her trek through the suburbs until she happened upon a closed-down church on the side of a major street. She looked up at the darkening sky. She didn't really want to be running around town at night, not when she couldn't be sure who was after her. She looked around quickly to make sure she wasn't being followed and slipped inside the church.

It was clear to her that this church had not been used for what must have been decades. The floor was falling apart, and the pews were covered in dust and cobwebs. She swept away some of the dust and laid down on the pew. As she did, she thought again about the day's events. Who were those men looking for her? They were apparently working for Norah, but was that all?

Suddenly, Megumi sat up and pulled out her phone as realization struck her. She tried out a few search entries until she eventually found a social media post describing her as a runaway thief. Inquiries and information were to be directed to Norah Albert, and a phone number was listed along with a picture of Megumi.

She was shocked. She knew Norah was up to something, but to think she'd go this far... Megumi realized that she was in even more danger than she had ever been in before. Having to evade the Overman Foundation was one thing, but now even strangers on the road could be hunting for her as well.

Megumi pulled out the emerald necklace from her pocket once again. If she thought about it, all of her problems stemmed from having this thing to begin with. If she dumped it somewhere, would she finally be able to get some rest?

Megumi genuinely gave the idea some thought, but ultimately she decided against it. Even if she dumped the necklace, Norah knew that she had it. If she caught her, she'd demand to know where Megumi threw it away. Throwing the necklace away wouldn't fix anything.

Exhausted, Megumi lay down on the pew again and closed her eyes. She shut out her worries and anxieties and tried to sleep – at least for a little bit.