Lonely Thieves

Act III, Part XIV

Daryl's Side (April 13, 5:30 am)

Daryl groaned as the low sound of his phone alarm going off jerked him awake. He picked himself off of the makeshift bed he was on and looked around the room with squinted eyes. The sun was already up in the sky, but the room they were in was still dark, with the blinds blocking out the light.

"You're finally awake," Megumi remarked dryly as she stood over him with a disapproving look on her face. "We said we'd get up early so we could move around, didn't we?"

"I woke up when the alarm went off, didn't I?"

"No. You hit snooze two times before you actually woke up. If you did it again, I was going to smack you awake."

Daryl shrugged. You couldn't accuse him of being a morning person, after all. Even coffee did little to ease his grogginess.

"Get ready. We're leaving as soon as we're good to go."

Daryl acknowledged her with a nod, then glanced outside discreetly by peeling open the blinds. They were currently hiding in an empty apartment room owned by one of Megumi's shadier contacts, in the downtown area of the Morning Star district. Daryl looked down to see Overman agents all over the street. He quickly ducked as a Hawk flew past the area. It looked like the Overman Foundation decided to join in on the hunt for the original Night Hunter. A few extra patrols of Overman agents didn't change the situation all that much, but the few special agents that came to join the hunt definitely made walking around harder.

Daryl quickly got dressed, then headed out to the meet the others who were waiting at the door. Hikaru tossed him a banana and gestured to the door.

"Come on. You can eat that while we move."

The three of them left the apartment and out onto the main street. Almost immediately, Daryl and Megumi could feel a huge difference in the atmosphere. The place felt more oppressive, like everyone was trying their best to not stand out.

"It's the lockdown," Hikaru whispered when he noted Daryl's face. "No one can leave or get in. The place is surrounded by police officers and Overman security agents."

"What are we going to do then?" Daryl asked. "Can we even walk down the street without getting spotted?"

"We'll be fine," Megumi said assuringly. "There aren't that many Overman special agents here. We keep a low profile and we'll be fine."

Daryl nodded and followed Hikaru as he led them through the busy streets of the Morning Star district. After a few minutes, they eventually turned into an alleyway and into an empty lot located between two office buildings.

"What is this place?" Daryl asked warily.

"Megumi wants to go back to that building in the middle of the district, right? Well, I know someone who can get us there without drawing attention."

Hikaru walked over to a tent parked in a corner of the lot and rang the bell attached to the front. "Huong, you there? Wake up, Huong!"

A groan echoed from inside the tent, and eventually the door flap zipped open as a dirty man in rags emerged groggily from the tent. He smacked his lips irritably as he glanced around the place.

"What is it, man? I've got a hangover."

"Did you forget? I told you that I needed you to guide some people around."

"Damn, man, don't get all worked up." Huong let out a lethargic yawn. "Okay, okay. Give me a minute to get ready and we'll go, okay?"

As Huong ducked back into the tent, Daryl leaned in towards Hikaru with a concerned expression on his face. "This is who we're meeting? Some homeless guy?"

"He's not just some homeless guy. Huong knows the sewer system like the back of his hand. You tell him where to go, and he knows exactly how to get there as fast as possible without drawing the attention of the police."

Daryl remained doubtful, but he decided not to ask further. As if on cue, Huong emerged from his tent again, now wearing a bulky jacket with stuffed pockets. "Alright, where you wanna go?"

"There's a skyscraper in the middle of the district," Megumi explained. "It towers over every other building in the area."

"The Florencia Building?" Huong asked incredulously. "What kind of business do you have over there?"

"That doesn't matter, does it? All you have to do is get us there."

"Fine, but I ain't takin' all of you. Too many people."

"That's fine," Hikaru replied. "I'll stay behind."

"Are you sure?" Daryl asked. "I thought you wanted to keep an eye on Megumi."

"Yeah, but if I left you behind, you'd just stumble around like a lost puppy, right?" Hikaru bumped Daryl on the shoulder. "I'll figure my own way around. You just take care of Megumi, all right?"

Daryl nodded as Huong pulled back some tarp covering the ground next to his tent to reveal an unlocked manhole. He pulled up the lid, then jumped down the hole.

"Come on down!" He shouted up from below. Daryl glanced uneasily at Megumi and slowly lowered himself down into the hole.

Once he and Megumi were down in the sewers, Daryl took a look around the area. Twilight was known for having extremely clean sewers and very potent maintenance droids that kept the area clean, but you wouldn't have known by looking at it here. Huong noticed Daryl's reaction and chuckled softly.

"Didn't expect it to look this bad, huh? Twilight cuts a lotta corners when it comes to its sewer system. They just barely meet the bare minimum to pass annual inspections." He pointed down the tunnel towards a walkable path leading south. "Makes gettin' around easier, though. Come on, let's get goin'."

The three of them began walking down the sewers, taking care to avoid the occasional splash of sludge or dirty vermin darting across the ground. Silence hung in the air as the three of them trudged through the sewers, though Daryl found it difficult to try to talk. The stench was not as bad as Daryl expected, but he certainly didn't want to be breathing in too much.

Eventually, Megumi broke the silence with a quiet whisper. "Do you remember what we talked about last night?"

Daryl nodded. Last night Megumi had explained to him the rest of what she had learned about the emerald necklace, including the story of the Matsuokas and the Hayasakas. It was the kind of drama that made him feel like he was way in over his head, but there was no longer any chance of getting out of this conflict unscathed.

"That's some pretty heavy information to be sitting on," he muttered quietly, trying not to avoid speak too loudly in case Huong overheard. "The ten billion redals seem so irrelevant in the scale of everything."

"Anyway, you don't have to come along," Megumi said cautiously. "You don't have any stake in this. If you run away, you could probably get out of town before anyone noticed."

"I still have this, don't I?" Daryl tapped at the metal ring around his neck. He had gotten so used to it that he had nearly forgotten that it was there. "Besides, I said I'd feel bad."

"Suit yourself," Megumi sighed. "Don't expect me to look after you, though."

"I don't need you to," Daryl said as he struck his chest. "You may not know this, but I've been keeping pace with Hikaru over the last couple of days. I'm used to the fugitive life now."

"Hush!" Huong suddenly said with a low voice, surprising Daryl. Megumi chuckled as Daryl settled down behind her. Huong glanced around the corner and down another stretch of sewer tunnels. Daryl tried to look over Huong's head to see what was ahead, but he was pulled back immediately by Megumi.

"What's ahead?" Daryl asked, somewhat indignantly.

"Don't speak!" Huong simply growled in response. "I'm tryin' to see."

Daryl sit quietly as he waited for Huong to figure out who was ahead, before he suddenly turned around, walking back in the direction in which they came. Huong gestured for them to follow him, putting a finger up to his lips to remind them to be quiet.

The three took a different path around the sewers, zigzagging through a totally different part of the sewers. Daryl tried to keep an internal map of the place as they walked around, but the labyrinthine areas made him give up quickly. He looked around and then ventured to ask a question.

"Say, who did you see down that hallway that made you turn around?"

"Hm?" Huong replied absentmindedly. "Oh, that. I saw a sweeper."

"A sweeper? You mean a cleaning machine?"

"No, moron," Megumi sighed. "He means someone who does jobs for hire."

"You mean like Night Hunters?"

"Kind of. Sweepers don't crack their IDs, though, and they usually work based on a contract. They're still underground, but they're much more legitimate than Night Hunters are."

"It's what you get for sayin' you'll do anythin'," Huong grumbled as he continued to trudge down the sewer tunnels. "People think you get up to all sorts of unsavory things."

Daryl hummed thoughtfully. "But what was a sweeper doing down here?"

"Who knows? I didn't stick around long enough to find out."

"But that's strange," Megumi wondered aloud. "How'd you know he was a sweeper just by sight?"

"'Cause I know the guy myself. He's got an office in the dead center of downtown, working right above a bar. Has a couple kids comin' along as sidekicks."

"He doesn't sound that bad," Daryl remarked.

"Well, you could do worse," Huong scoffed. "Doesn't mean I'd want to bump into him while down here. Never know what job a sweeper'll be doing after all."

"I agree," Megumi added. "We're suspicious just for being down here in the first place."

Daryl seemed doubtful, but at the very least he understood why Megumi didn't want to bump into these sweepers. She was on the run, after all.

The three of them continued down the tunnel for some time before Huong stopped them yet again. "Another sweeper. Should be with the guy I saw before."

"Do we go back?" Megumi whispered.

Huong looked around for a bit and surveyed the area. "There," he said as he pointed to a tunnel to the right. "We'll have to jump over, but that should be no big deal."

Megumi and Daryl followed Huong's lead as he hopped over to the other side of the sewer and into the tunnel. As Daryl landed on the other side, he suddenly felt as if he'd heard a buzzing sound in the distance. He turned around in the direction where the sound came from, but saw nothing that caught his eye.

"Something wrong?" Megumi asked curiously.

"No," Daryl replied. "Let's keep going."