May 13, 2021. 15:21. Vancouver.
The bag slammed against Jamie's desk.
Around her, the rest of the classroom immediately erupted into the familiar chaos that came with the end of the school day. Chairs scraped against the floor, backpacks zipped shut, and conversations picked back up almost immediately as students began filtering toward the door.
Jamie calmly stuffed the last of her things into her bag.
"Ughhhhh..." Erica groaned from the desk beside her.
Jamie glanced over, seeing her best friend leaning over her desk with her cheek pressed against one hand, staring miserably at her phone.
"What?" Jamie asked.
"My dad texted me again."
Jamie zipped her bag shut. "What'd he say?"
Erica turned the screen toward her.
"Straight home. No wandering around. No stopping anywhere. Don't stay at school longer than I have to." She lowered the phone and sighed. "And then he said to call him when I get there."
"Sounds reasonable."
Erica's head slowly turned toward her. "Whose side are you on?"
"Mine."
"Jamie..." Erica stared at her.
"What?" Jamie stared back.
"You're supposed to support me!"
"I do, though."
"You're doing a terrible job."
Jamie shrugged and pulled her bag over one shoulder. "I can't blame your dad, not after yesterday, anyways."
The shooting outside their school had already become the main topic of every conversation before first period even started. Just about everyone seemed to have a different version of what happened, who was involved, and whether someone had actually been killed.
Nobody had, as far as Jamie knew.
That hadn't stopped the rumours, of course, from spreading like wildfire.
By lunch, she'd heard that three people died, then five, then apparently somebody's older brother knew a guy who watched one of the Melders execute someone in the middle of the street while the bystanders were held down like hostages.
That one had been particularly stupid.
Still, the school had reacted by finally improving security, for better or for worse.
Two security guards now stood near the main entrance, and another had spent most of the afternoon wandering the halls. Teachers had repeatedly reminded everyone not to linger around school property after classes ended, while students who normally stayed behind were already making plans to head home together.
Even now, Jamie could hear pieces of conversations around her.
"...heard they were Melders."
"Nah, man, my cousin said—"
"I'm not taking the bus that way anymore."
"...Banshees are supposed to be around there too."
"My mom's picking me up."
Yesterday, somebody had pulled a handgun less than a block from their school.
Today, people were already talking about it like another piece of gossip.
Jamie wasn't sure which part bothered her more.
"Ugh..." Erica stood and pulled her backpack on. "Dad gave me another lecture about it last night too."
"About?"
"Everything! Including his spiel after talking to the mayor!" Erica threw her hands up. "Gangs, drugs, not wandering around by myself, not talking to suspicious people, not going anywhere near Surrey, and not dragging you into everything despite—"
"Probably shouldn't do that one."
"I KNOW!" Erica whined. "What the frickkkkk... I'm not stupid! It's not like I planned on going into Gotham City or something like that!"
Jamie raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Erica asked.
"You wandered through a police station yesterday."
"Girl, are you trying to ragebait me?"
"You followed me."
"Because you kept walking away!"
"You still followed me."
Erica's mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Jamie waited for a moment, only for Erica to finally speak again.
"Sooo annoying."
"I know."
Erica huffed and grabbed the rest of her things.
For a moment, Jamie almost smiled. It was fun seeing Erica absolutely annoyed; her reactions were always so animated.
Then Jamie's phone vibrated, catching her attention immediately.
A notification sat across the screen.
Jamie stared at it for barely a second before picking up her phone.
The message itself was short.
More importantly, she recognized where it had come from.
"Who is it?" Erica asked.
Jamie locked the screen. "Dad."
"Oh." Erica adjusted the strap of her bag. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah."
Unfortunately for Erica, Jamie's answer came way too easily, one that was quickly fabricated.
Erica nodded without giving things a second thought.
Jamie looked away.
Sorry.
She hated lying to her.
Erica worried enough already, especially after yesterday. If she knew what Jamie had actually been doing whenever they weren't together, she'd probably have a heart attack.
Or tell her father.
Probably both.
And Jamie really didn't need the Chief of the VPD finding out about X.
Not yet, anyways.
"Anyway..." Erica glanced toward the classroom door as another group of students left. "I should probably go before Dad somehow senses I'm still here."
"He probably has a tracker on you." Jamie shrugged.
Erica froze, her eyes slowly widening. "Wait... do you think he does?"
"No."
"Jamie!"
"I was joking."
"Oh my gosh!" Erica slapped her lightly on the arm. "Don't do that!"
Jamie barely moved. "You made that very easy."
"You're evil!"
"Probably."
"Ugh..." Erica shook her head, laughing a little, before calming down and starting toward the door. "At least, text me later?"
"Of course." Jamie nodded nonchalantly, doing the best she could to put on a poker face.
"And when you get home."
Jamie paused, only for a fraction of a second, as she seriously considered telling Erica what was going on in her head.
But ultimately, not even the person closest to her could win her over.
"Yeah," Jamie said simply.
Erica smiled. "Okay! Byeeee!"
"Bye."
Jamie watched her disappear into the hallway, reaching the corner before her smile faded.
Around her, the classroom continued emptying until only a handful of students remained. Jamie waited another few seconds before reaching into her pocket and unlocking her phone again.
The notification was still there.
She opened it.
Her eyes narrowed.
Blak Dragoons meeting.
But before she read any farther, another thought crept back into her head.
A frown formed on her face as guilt tugged away at her.
Literally yesterday, at the police station, she'd pointed at one of the screens with Mister on it, feigning ignorance in front of Erica.
The entire scene played in her head.
"The helmet guy."
"What about him?"
"I definitely remember him."
The memory was still fresh in her mind.
Jamie looked long and hard at her phone screen, gripping it.
Thankfully, that part, at least, had gone exactly how she'd wanted.
It wasn't like their entire friendship was some elaborate plan; that much was for certain. Erica wasn't just a source of information Jamie had befriended just so she could get closer to the Chief of the VPD.
That would've been ridiculous and shitty.
In reality, Erica was someone Jamie genuinely cared for, more than anyone else, but even so, she just couldn't tell her everything.
Especially not about X.
The less Erica knew about that part of Jamie's life, the less she had to worry about, and more importantly, the less chance there was of Erica getting dragged into something that had absolutely nothing to do with her.
Jamie's grip loosened slightly around her phone.
How did Mister get involved with the VPD?
Who were the people working with him?
The questions swam around in her head, endlessly circling with no clear answer. Her best guess was that he was employed by Gestalt to investigate something about the city's ongoing crime wave.
Yesterday hadn't exactly been an accident either.
Mister. Shock. Remi. Lily. Tetra.
Jamie still didn't know what exactly tied all of them together or how far Mister's reach actually went.
But she couldn't exactly walk up to the Chief of the VPD and start asking what he knew about one of Vancouver's fixers without raising about a thousand questions she didn't want to answer.
Erica could, though. She didn't even have to deliberately investigate anything. All she had to do was get curious enough to ask her dad a few questions.
It wasn't guaranteed.
But Jamie didn't need guarantees. She just needed opportunities to know more.
A lot more.
Yes, there was a thrill that only crime could provide. But it was beyond just being some fangirl chasing after a famous fixer.
Jamie wanted in, which was the problem.
She looked down at herself, staring at her school uniform and backpack.
Mister had absolutely no reason to give a shit about her.
She could track him down somehow and maybe find one of his people, using that as a chance to walk straight up to him and ask for work.
And then what?
"Hi. I'm Jamie. I'm still in high school. Can I join your criminal empire?"
Great plan.
She'd probably get laughed out of the room, or worse, he'd start asking questions about the high school student that was Jamie rather than the upcoming edgerunner X.
That was the goal.
But then the classroom had gone quiet.
Jamie blinked, looking around only to find everyone else gone.
Even the conversations outside had mostly disappeared farther down the hallway, leaving behind empty desks, abandoned chairs, and the distant sounds of students filtering out of the school.
Jamie glanced toward a clock on the wall, realizing she'd been standing there longer than she thought.
She sighed, slipping her phone into her pocket, and finished packing the last few things she'd left on her desk.
Her hands shoved her school supplies into her bag as quickly as she could before she zipped it shut and pulled it over one shoulder.
Then she stopped, her hand returning to her pocket.
Her phone came back out, the notification still waiting for her.
Jamie's expression flattened as she opened it again.
An alert was triggered and sent to Jamie's phone after enough pieces of information she'd been collecting started overlapping.
Jamie tapped through it as she headed toward the classroom door.
Several posts, two anonymous messages, a local thread she'd been following for the past week, a few names she'd already flagged, and a location.
Coquitlam.
None of it was particularly impressive on its own.
Which was basically how her entire setup worked.
Jamie didn't have Mister's network of people all over Vancouver feeding her information, nor did she have access to whatever fancy gear professional fixers used to keep track of half the city at once.
All she really had was a phone, a computer, some cheap equipment, a bunch of accounts that weren't attached to her real name, and an unreasonable amount of patience.
The fact that it worked made it even more fun.
Mostly, aside from certain unwanted complications.
Public news was easy. Social media was even easier. Local message boards gave her plenty to work with if she was willing to dig through hours of people arguing, lying, shitposting, or pretending they knew considerably more than they actually did.
Listening in on gangster communications was harder, though, and having to track police activity was the worst.
Jamie had still found ways of keeping an eye on whatever she could get access to, legally or otherwise.
Then she stopped near the classroom doorway, scrolling farther down.
Over the past few weeks, one thing had become increasingly difficult to ignore.
The Melders were getting closer to the Banshees, and the Byte Raiders had started appearing alongside them too—a horrible gang of three.
Jamie didn't know exactly what the three groups were planning, but she knew enough to understand that gangs didn't suddenly start cooperating because they wanted to become friends.
And now other names were starting to circle around them.
One in particular had appeared enough times for Jamie to finally start paying attention.
Blak Dragoons.
Jamie leaned against the doorway, scrolling farther down through the alert.
The twins.
The Blak Dragoons' leaders were apparently meeting today.
She'd already heard of them before, and pretty much anyone else would have too if they'd been even remotely in touch with the news.
And according to the data Jamie had been collecting, somebody was trying to bring them into the growing gang alliance, which was extremely interesting.
Jamie pushed herself away from the doorway and started down the mostly empty hallway.
If the rumours were right, she might finally get an answer about whether the Dragoons were actually joining the Melders, Banshees, and Byte Raiders.
If they were... things were getting worse.
Fast.
Her thumb moved across the screen again, with another flagged topic appearing farther down.
V.
Jamie slowed, recognizing the name despite nobody seeming to know who it belonged to.
For the past little while that year, reports had been coming out of Surrey about some vigilante beating the absolute shit out of criminals.
Yesterday had been the first time Jamie had seen that the VPD was actively paying attention too.
UNIDENTIFIED VIGILANTE — SURREY. POSSIBLE SIGHTING OF V.
The blurry images of a red streak across the city rooftops, followed by dozens of dead bodies—gang members, retired soldiers and mercenaries turned cyberpsychos, and other types of assholes—weren't particularly helpful, though.
Neither were the stories.
Half the posts made V sound like some unstoppable cybernetic monster, while the other half couldn't even agree on what they looked like.
Red, black, cybernetics, fast, and violent—that was about as consistent as it got.
Jamie stared at one of the blurry images for another second.
Of course, she had no idea what was going on in V's head, but if she had to guess, V seemed considerably more interested in beating people into the pavement than gathering information about Vancouver's state of being.
Jamie's expression flattened. Surrey wasn't her problem right now.
V hadn't shown any obvious connection to Mister, the corporations, or any of the gangs Jamie was following. As far as she could tell, they were some third party doing their own thing.
Interesting? Definitely.
Useful? Not right now.
Jamie swiped the file away, continuing to walk down the halls of her school.
If their leaders really were meeting today, this is perfect for me.
If X found out before anyone else did, that was useful.
And useful was exactly what she needed to become for Mister.
Jamie looked toward the school exit.
Decision made.
She pulled up her mother's contact, letting the phone ring twice.
"Hi, sweetie!" Vanessa answered.
"Hi, Mom," Jamie said.
"Are you done with school?"
"Yeah."
Something clattered in the background.
Jamie could already picture her mother moving around the kitchen.
"Good! I'm already making dinner, so don't stay out too late, okay?"
Jamie hesitated.
"Actually... I'm gonna hang out with Erica for a bit."
There was a brief pause.
"Oh! Okay. Are you going to her house?"
"Probably. We're just gonna hang out for a while."
There it was again.
Another lie.
First Erica, now her mom.
Jamie adjusted the strap of her bag, stepping toward the exit. "It won't be for long."
"Alright," Vanessa replied. "Just message me if you're going anywhere else, okay?"
"Yeah."
"And... be careful. Things have been getting really bad lately."
"I know."
"I'm serious, Jamie."
"I know, Mom."
Vanessa sighed. "Okay. Love you."
"Love you too."
The call ended, but Jamie stared at the screen for a moment.
Sorry.
She pocketed the phone and stepped outside.
Coquitlam was waiting.