Lonely Thieves

Act III, Part IX

Megumi's Side (April 12, 4:00 am)

The moment Megumi woke up, she picked up her things and left the church. It was still dark out, but she couldn't risk staying alone in an unsecured location. It was still risky to run around in the darkness nevertheless, but she just wanted to get out of the district at any cost.

As she passed through the residential zone and into the business district again, Megumi put on her hood to hide her face from the city lights. There wouldn't be that many people up at this time, but she couldn't discount the possibility of anyone looking for her.

As she walked through the streets, she felt her stomach grumble anxiously. She hadn't eaten anything in a while, so it was no surprise. She glanced at a bakery that happened to be right next to her. The smell of freshly-baked bread and pastries certainly didn't help her hunger.

Megumi pulled out her wallet and glanced inside. She was out of vouchers, and she didn't want to use her card anymore. Judging from yesterday's events, it was almost certain that the Overman Foundation had finally uncovered her identity and were tracking her by any means possible. That, or Norah somehow knew someone that could hack into the database and find her financial information. Either way, it was not a good idea.

Megumi sighed and passed the bakery without stepping in. She could still stave off the hunger for now, so she decided to wait until she was somewhere safer before getting something to eat. As she continued to walk down the street, she suddenly heard the sound of jets flying through the air and glanced down immediately. She couldn't visually confirm it, but she was sure an Overman Hawk was surveying the area. The Hawks were fitted with facial recognition software in their eyes, but as long as they couldn't see her face, it wouldn't trigger any alarms. Megumi just had to hope they wouldn't find that suspicious.

By nothing short of a miracle, Megumi was able to make it through that particular downtown area without being stopped. With a sigh, she quickly ducked into a nearby alley in order to reassess exactly where she was. As she scanned her navigation app, she noted that she was only a few blocks away from the Dusk district. It wasn't her intended destination, but at this point, she wanted to get out of the Horizon district as soon as possible. It was clear that the patrols around here were getting tighter, and she was hoping that Norah's people weren't looking for her outside of the Horizon district.

Megumi slowly made her way to the Dusk district, doing her best to travel lightly-used streets and side alleys. After about half an hour of detours and hiding, Megumi eventually arrived at the entry to the Dusk district. The main road was fairly open, which surprised her. She thought there'd be a security checkpoint, but it didn't look like that was the case. She quickly made her way into the Dusk district before anyone caught sight of her.

The Dusk district was also being patrolled by Overman agents, but not as heavily as the Horizon district was. Still, Megumi could see Dogs walking in the distance, so she decided to duck into a nearby diner and hide out just for a bit.

She sat down at a booth and ordered some water. She was debating getting something to eat, but that would immediately alert whoever was tracking her to her location in the Dusk district. She'd probably just make some excuse about a date changing plans and leave without buying anything.

As she sipped at the ice water that was brought to her, she glanced at the TV screen that was placed up against the wall. It was running a news report on the theft yet again, though it seemed like there had been little progress in the case. She wasn't surprised at that naturally, but she did find it peculiar that neither her name nor Daryl's was revealed to the general public. She was certain that the Overman Foundation knew that both of them were the thieves, after all. Perhaps they were worried that civilians would try to take the necklace from her and try to hold it for ransom themselves.

Nevertheless, the fact that her name and face wasn't known to the public certainly helped her. However, that wasn't the case for the people connected to Norah. She didn't know how much reach Norah had, but she doubted that it'd be a good idea to let her guard down just because she was in another district.

As she glanced outside to see if the Dogs had left, Megumi was approached by a waitress. "Are you ready to order?" she asked cheerfully.

"Not yet," Megumi said with a apologetic nod. The waitress seemed annoyed, so it was probably a good idea for her to leave before she started to attract attention.

Once the waitress had left, Megumi got up from her seat and walked out of the diner. She didn't have any destination in mind, but she did know a few people in the district who she could rely on if she really needed to.

As she continued to walk through the streets, she slowly began to realize that there were people trying to stealthily tail her. Initially, she thought it might have been her paranoia getting to her, so she decided to take a few turns through the streets to see if they followed her. To her distaste, they did.

Who were these people? They certainly weren't professionals; even if she wasn't paying attention, she doubted that she would fail to notice these guys following her. Were they out here looking for her on Norah's behalf? That seemed like the most likely answer.

Suddenly, Megumi found her pathway blocked by two men, who brandished knives to keep her from walking away. She turned around only to see the men from before coming from behind. They must have contacted their friends and told them to head her off.

"Hey, lady," grinned one of the men as he walked forward. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"None of your business," Megumi growled. "If you don't mind, I'm in a hurry, so get out of my way."

"Feisty," the man grinned as he continued to stand in front of Megumi's way. "Sorry, but if you wanna get by, there's a toll, understand?"

Megumi scowled. She'd assumed they were searching for her on purpose, but they were just local thugs? She glanced at her disheveled clothes and unmarked hoodie. She certainly looked like someone who would be easy to mug, but this was pretty annoying.

Still, what morons. She didn't have any money on her, only a credit card that needed a PIN to use. She sighed as she watched the men slowly surround her, eyes clearly filled with malicious intent.

Megumi crouched down and quietly activated the propulsion implants on her legs. The thugs, confused at the sudden motion, were slow to react when she leapt into the air and bounced off the nearby walls, using the momentum to dash over their heads. Before they could collect themselves and run after her, she was already far in the distance.

Megumi continued to run along the walls of the buildings as she ran through the alleyways. As she ran, she suddenly noticed Overman Dogs giving chase after her. She clicked her teeth in irritation. They must have taken notice of her when she was running away from the thugs. It wasn't exactly the most inconspicuous thing to do.

Slowing down and trying to blend in with the crowd was impossible, so Megumi kept using her implants to run away. While it did give her a boost in speed, it didn't give her enough of a lead to get away from the Dogs. In fact, it was the opposite; the Dogs were quickly gaining on her, and it was only a matter of time before she was caught.

Megumi continued to dash through the district. She had now dropped to the ground and was heading for a less populated area of the district. She was able to run faster thanks to that, but the Dogs were still hot on her tail. Megumi's implants were high quality, but they couldn't beat the cutting-edge cybernetic upgrades performed by the Overman Foundation's top cyber-surgeons.

The Dogs continued to chase her into the shut down factory area. With their scent visualizers having fully marked her, there was no longer any chance of them losing her. Megumi knew this, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to get away anyhow. She kicked upon a door and ran into one of the manufactoring buildings. The Dogs gave chase, naturally, but the smaller spaces forced them to slow down.

As Megumi ran through a hallway cutting past the various office areas and warehouse sections of the building, she began knocking over whatever she could in the hopes that it would slow the Dogs down for even a second. She had no time to look back and check if any of it was effective; she just had to keep going and hope for the best.

However, it seemed like all her efforts were pointless, as the Dogs leapt up onto the walls, avoiding the obstacles she'd placed along the way. Megumi tried to pick up speed again, but the Dogs bounded over her and cut off her escape route completely. Megumi was quickly cornered as one of the Dogs tapped on his headset to radio in.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and the Dog collapsed to the floor.

The other Dog spun around with his rifle drawn, but he was killed before he could even sight his assailant. Megumi stood in silence, still unsure if it was safe to move yet. As if to answer her caution, a dark figure emerged from the hallway. It was a man covered head to toe in black clothes. He had a mane of dark hair and a black mask that covered half his face, but the wrinkles and tufts of gray hair betrayed his advanced age.

"Are you all right?" the man asked, snapping Megumi out of her trance.

"Yes," Megumi answered cautiously. She was grateful for the help, but she wasn't sure why he was helping her in the first place. She had to keep in mind that Norah was having people look for her after all. "Who are you?"

The man raised his hands in order to show that he had no intention of fighting her. "You can call me Raven. I'm just a Night Hunter, like you."

"And? What does a Night Hunter want with me?"

"Don't be so on guard," Raven said with a smirk. "I know you've been on the run for a while, but I'm here to be your ally."

"My ally? Why would you want to do that?"

"A client's orders. They want to meet with you."

"If they want to meet me, they should come and get me themselves."

"That's... not possible. But I don't think you should refuse this offer."

"Why? Are you going to kill me otherwise?"

"No. It's because this client is someone I'm sure you're dying to meet."