Story Reader / Affection / Lucia: Crimson Weave / Story
Before Babylonia's team arrived at the pillaged conservation area...
The chill had torn through the white land where even time itself seemed to have been brought to a stop. The hill and the woods—everything was glaringly white...
Save for the conservation area before Alpha that had been reduced to a pile of ruins by fire.
...
Guess I'm a little too late.
Vrooming through the snow dust and parking her motorcycle a short distance away from the conservation area, Alpha looked apathetically at the destroyed city.
With clouds of smoke snaking up into the sky, the conservation area appeared robbed not too long ago, the rising density of the Punishing Virus in the air a sign that the city's CPF might have been destroyed.
Alpha had pulled an all-nighter coming here at top speed, having been informed that the city's research center—now destroyed—might be in possession of Level Two classified research data of Project Winter.
Her face expressionless, Alpha gazed at the pile of ruins that was previously the research center, seemingly oblivious to the clank a piece of metal made when it came falling off the research center's door frame.
Hearing footsteps coming from a short distance away, she quickly hid behind a building.
An elderly citizen appeared, coughing non-stop. Seemingly out of it, she dug through the debris with her cracked hands, apparently trying to find something.
Those damn rioters... Cough cough... No one believed me when I said they were here to survey the area...
And now they came and took away our winter food and burned down the CPF... Great, just great...
...And that's how they repaid you for letting them stay in the extra rooms in the research center.
Her hands soaked in blood, the woman broke out in tears over the debris, having been crippled in despair.
My child. My poor child!
I told you! I told you they were up to no good!
...
Alpha turned around and left.
The chilly winds seemed to be singing a dirge that reverberated through the city. Seeing the messy tire marks in the snow, Alpha tightened her grip around her katana.
She knew exactly why she had come.
Outside the conservation area.
With the topographic map she had quickly drawn up of the vicinity, Alpha had identified a route she believed the rioters had taken.
Judging from the tire marks, Alpha believed the rioters made their escape with a small vehicle, and she figured there would be enough time for her to track them down before the snow erased the marks.
Show yourself.
Alpha shot a cold glance at the ruins.
From behind the ruins, a girl in tattered clothes stared at Alpha in alarm.
You... are a Construct, no?
I've seen your kind.
Don't follow me.
Not wanting to waste another second talking, Alpha mounted her motorcycle, ready to gun the engine.
W-wait!
The little girl dashed out of the ruins and stood in the motorcycle's way.
...
Would you happen... to have any food?
Those bad people took all our food from the city. It's been two days since me and my brother ate, so I just wanted to know...
Look, I can give you something in exchange!
Halfway through what she had to say, the little girl became all teary. Wiping away her tears with her sleeve, she looked unwaveringly at Alpha.
Feeling a surge of memories from her M.I.N.D., Alpha looked down as she touched her pocket quietly...
And felt a bag of compressed biscuits she'd put in there a long time ago that she was going to go fishing with.
I'm not one of those kind-hearted Constructs that goes around giving things away to people who can't give me anything in return.
What can you give me?
Hearing what Alpha said, the little girl brightened up right away, her cheeks pink from happiness. She started going through her bag and dug out things she believed might pique Alpha's interest.
This is a brand-new handkerchief that I found outside the conservation area! And I also have these clean bandages. And this...
Taking out the last item from her bag, the little girl slowed down—it was a paper pouch, and Alpha couldn't tell what was in it.
This... is a bag of hairpins. My mom left me this... and it's the last thing she gave me.
I'll take the bandages, then.
Ah...
Said Alpha decisively, which caught the little girl by surprise. Before she knew it, Alpha had already taken the bandages away—and left in its place a bag of compressed biscuits that seemed enough to last the little girl and her brother for a long time to come.
Wait, this is way too much! We can't...
Without letting the little girl finish what she wanted to say, Alpha hopped on her motorcycle and sped away.
She didn't need to be thanked.
After nightfall, Alpha decided to take a short break by the foot of a mountain, having been following the trail of the rioters.
She wanted to leave the rats with no room to escape, and moving around at night would most likely thwart the plan.
The campfire had drawn a cat that came out of nowhere. Sensing that Alpha meant no harm, the white longhair picked a spot by the campfire and lay down.
The campfire spitting out sparks, Alpha was fully engrossed in checking her frame.
After the battle at Fort Winter, Alpha had been too busy trying to trace down data of Project Winter to properly inspect her frame.
She didn't fancy the idea of being connected with who they called Lucia.
Alpha did a meticulous check of her M.I.N.D. and, much to her satisfaction, they were no longer connected.
BUZZ...
The electrical noise she heard reminded her that it'd been God-only-knew how long since she last used her M.I.N.D. channel—and it was at that moment it hit her that it was up and running again.
Alpha couldn't tell if it was happening because she'd been connected with Lucia, or whether it was because Babylonia's safety net had taken her signal band as Lucia's.
Or... if Babylonia was simply trying to fish her out with [player name]. If they had come up with something new to control Ascendants, then she might just be right on the money with that assumption.
Alpha was almost certain that Babylonia had deleted her signal band—after that one time when she'd decrypted the Mind Beacon of [player name] and implemented a reverse interference connection using the inverse-device she had simulated of Gray Raven's with the Punishing Virus.
She'd play with the connection every now and then after that but had never been able to establish another connection ever since.
The chilly wind was rustling the leaves. Alpha connected herself to the channel.
BUZZ...
With the buzzing electrical noise that was coming through, Alpha felt a tinge of familiarity rising from her Deep M.I.N.D.
...Commandant [player name]?
Following the connection, she could hear someone talking. As the signal grew more powerful, she made out a voice she was somewhat familiar with—and what it was trying to say to her.
...[player name]?
At the same time, the same voice seemed to be speaking to her from the depths of her M.I.N.D. She couldn't quite make out the exact words the voice was uttering, but she sensed surprise in it.
Oh, I can be anywhere I want to be.
The connection experienced no hiccups, and the person on the other end sounded genuinely caught by surprise.
And given that you're here, I take it that Babylonia is up to no good again, huh?
Well, I just thought you were supposed to be sipping away at your tea in the comfort of your lounge in Babylonia when some technicians backward-decoded their way through me to learn about what's up with Ascendants.
Unless, you know, Babylonia was stupid enough to screw up and give you this chance to speak with me.
When she heard what the person on the other side of the line had said, however, Alpha broke into a faint smile.
It's obvious that the commandant was trying to be cautious, which Alpha thought was great.
...Hah.
Right then, it hit Alpha that the noises—noises she had thought were those of electrical interference—were actually those of wind.
...I gather you're on the surface?
Alpha and the commandant both fell silent. With a lazy stretch, the cat turned around, so its tummy was now closer to the campfire.
Given the reaction of [player name], the commandant most likely had no idea how the connection had been established.
Which... Alpha thought, paved the way for interesting things to happen down the road.
Well... I've been busy hunting some rats—rats that have crossed a line they shouldn't have.
Well, what are you doing down here yourselves, then? For the Red Tide? Ascendant? Or Hetero-Creatures?
Why exactly... did they send a team down here to the surface?
Could it be...
【Kuroname】, however, didn't answer her questions. Instead, they tried to probe into her whereabouts.
...
I see.
Having no intention to carry on with the conversation, Alpha cut the line.
It was obvious to Alpha that they were no longer the same helpless soul that they were last time when she'd forced a connection on them.
Which was why she just had a change of mind—she now wanted to see just how far they could go now.
Right before destroying the connection channel, Alpha stopped in her tracks and, instead, dumped some fuel over the burning fire.
With it, the nearly-dead fire came back to life.
Alpha now finds herself speeding down alone across the torn ice field.
It's been a day since her first connection with [player name], and she's not attempted another connection since.
While [player name] tried to play it cool, the commandant let down a hint of exhaustion for a split second—and that's all Alpha needed to know that the commandant had a full plate to deal with.
What exactly is the commandant looking for? It can't be resources—Babylonia would never put a commandant from an elite squad on such tasks. The task also doesn't seem overly dangerous—or else a Gray Raven would have joined the commandant...
...
Alpha stops cold, a thought suddenly popping up in her mind. Moments later, she establishes another connection.
...They have just about enough antifreeze to last them for a while. Food is still the main concern, and given the speed of the first squad, I'm guessing...
Right then, you hear a faint electrical noise and vroom—followed by a memory overload, to which you've grown relatively used.
Putting a finger over your mouth, you gesture for Crowe to stop talking, which he picks up right away.
Right.
Why don't you tell me what I want?
Let me guess. You're thinking, "She's probably trying to figure out where we distributed all the antifreeze."
As icy gales and loud vroom fill the channel, Alpha breaks into what sounds like faint laughter.
Found what you came looking for?
A question for a question, huh?
Well, there is no better way to settle this than with a race, then.
And I'll do exactly just that.
Both you and Alpha fall silent. Having no interest in carrying on with the conversation, you now turn your attention back to the list of resources you were going through earlier.
Right then, Alpha hears the voice of a little girl coming through the channel.
Are you... a commandant from Babylonia?
Are you... a commandant from Babylonia?
...My baby brother said you gave him a can of solid food. And here, I have some compressed biscuits that I got from a woman after giving her some of my bandages...
Would you happen... to have any food?
Alpha remembers this voice—because she heard it just a while ago.
...
Alpha's motorcycle screeches to a stop as she tightens her grip on the brake lever.
Antifreeze, heaters, storm, and the little girl—all these seemingly random pieces of puzzle have come together to form a clear picture in Alpha's mind.
It hits Alpha that she and [player name] are in the same area—and that [player name] is just a stone's throw away...
Which seems to bring into view a likelihood—that [player name] is after the same thing Alpha is after herself.
Taking into account the fact that the "thing" she came looking for is the only thing that can possibly merit anyone's visit in this otherwise godforsaken area, Alpha only grows more certain of herself.
And if that's indeed the case, Alpha can see a full-fledged hunt coming her way—one she believes won't bore her out of her mind.
She isn't going to provide [player name] with any information that will inadvertently be of help to them, nor does she intend to establish another connection unless need be.
Alpha doesn't dislike the prospect of meeting [player name] head-on...
If, that is, they can first prove themselves a worthy rival by catching up to her—without a source of information at their disposal.
