Level Down

4

Enid sat behind the checkout counter staring out the front window of the store. She read the poster hanging from the window over and over again. Identical posters had been hanging on almost every other street light and telephone pole for the past week, as well as on the windows of almost every business in Lakewood Plaza. Each one hosted a single picture and asked for information of any kind from anybody regarding the location of a missing hero. The same poster hung outside the store as well as inside.  It had been just over a week since Elodie was declared missing.

Enid couldn't help but feel Elodie's disappearance weighing on her conscience. Despite her own internal insistence that Elodie had deserved a wakeup call, a part of her is twisted over having been the one to deliver it. That same guilty part of Enid's mind blames herself for Elodie vanishing afterwards as well. The thought twisted in Enid's gut as she stared at the poster. Maybe if she looked long enough she could build up a tolerance to how awful she felt. It didn't help that in the time Elodie was gone, her level had dropped twice.

When she was approached for information Enid had spilt everything she knew to the heroes investigating Elodie's case, inevitably including the history that Enid shared with her. It was no secret that not everybody believed Enid's story about her and Elodie when they were young, namely Elodie's most devoted and outspoken fans. There weren't as many of them as Enid had feared there would be, but they were just as vocal as she hoped they wouldn't be. When Red Action caught wind of the situation, she took it upon herself to hang around the bodega more often. The custom of spilling drinks on the checkout counter ceased then.

Red Action insisted that she wasn't exactly loitering if she was willing to help out with odd jobs around the store. Enid figured this was fair and presented a reason that Mr Gar shouldn't be upset with Red for potentially bothering her while she was working. It was around this time that Dendy also seemed to pick up a habit of lurking around the bodega, but instead of helping with odd jobs to make up for it she would show up with enough money to buy a pack of gum each day that she would immediately give to K.O. as a gift. Dendy would then sit out of the way, sometimes outside, and write down whatever notes she could gather from passerby.

"Enid, you're doing it again," Red Action leaned against the counter, her tone of voice somewhat dull.

"No, I'm not," Enid insisted immediately as she looked away from the window.

"Well, you were," Red Action insisted. "You can't keep beating yourself up about this. Don't say you aren't, I can tell by the look on your face! Sometimes you're a worse liar than me, and that's really saying something."

Enid sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's just tough to let it go when there's nothing else to focus on. Slow days have their perks, but nobody likes being bored. Well, there might be somebody who does, you never know, but I haven't met them."

"They sound boring," Red commented. Enid chuckled.

It was then that Dendy decided to clear her throat. Enid leaned over the counter to look at her. She stood holding up a holographic screen by the handles on either side, patiently waiting to be addressed.

"Sorry, I didn't see you, Dendy. Here to buy some gum?"

"Negative," Dendy replied. "I have already made my necessary purchase for today."

"You're that friend K.O. hangs out with all the time, aren't you?" Red asked.

"Yes, I am," Dendy replied monotonously before turning back to Enid and continuing as if Red hadn't asked her anything at all. "I know that K.O. said you may not want to participate in my research. However, I am of the assumption that you could potentially be interested in the data I've gathered." Dendy turned the screen towards Enid, who looked down at it curiously from over the counter. Red looked down at the screen as well.

"I've been tracking rumoured sightings of Elodie in search of a pattern. They make a line, albeit a very non-linear one, heading towards the Danger Zone," Dendy explained as she pointed out the divide across the screen. Marks along the line were labelled with dates that began when Enid had last seen Elodie at the store and continued from there. Dendy handed the screen over to Enid who looked over it alongside Red Action.

"This is what you've been working on all week?" Enid followed along the line from the bodega and it seemed to suggest Elodie moving northeast like Dendy suggested.

"Yes," Dendy replied. "I am hoping it will aid others in the search for Elodie and thought you may want to see it. I hear you two were very close, but I've had to take K.O.'s word for it as you don't seem to be around each other very often. At least, not that I know of."

"We used to be close," Enid leaned back in her seat while still looking at the map. For a moment she was silent before looking back at Dendy. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare copy of this map, would you?"

Dendy adjusted her glasses. "I can print you one at any time, Enid." She dropped her backpack and opened it up, revealing what looked like a mess of buttons and wires from where Enid sat.

Enid returned the screen to Dendy who typed entered a series of commands into a keyboard hidden in her backpack until a piece of paper printed from just above it. Dendy retrieved the map and held it up to Enid, who took it thankfully.

"Thanks, Dendy!" Enid quickly got up from her seat and sprinted out the door of the bodega with Red in tow.

"Enid, where are we going?" Red Action asked as she was led by the arm out of the store.

"Look," Enid stopped outside the doors and held up her copy of the map. "The dates on the map go from least to most recent, and Elodie could be headed into the Danger Zone. Can you take us there?"

Red nodded. "Yeah, but the Danger Zone is a big place. Where exactly do you think she's heading?"

"The markings on the map seem to spread out more the farther she gets from the plaza, but I think she's on her way to Battleburg 3K, just on the other side of the Danger Zone heading northeast." Enid drew a line with her finger from where the guideline ended into Battleburg 3K. "We could cut her off before she skips town completely."

"You think so?"

"Elodie never was a hard person to miss," Enid commented.

Red gave a quick laugh. "From what I've heard you must be right! Come on, I didn't park too far away."