Aurora walked by her ship to upgrade the EMP device further.
AURORA:"This device isn't ready. Not yet. Not strong enough. An EMP blast should bring down a small building."
She started working. Zap. Zap. Putting each wire back together. Then taking out a few junk parts, replacing them with good ones.
"This is good. But could be better. Way better. It's junk."
She looked at the bounty.
She picked up her phone.
BOUNTY
Name: Hunter
Race: Half-elf
Bounty: 50,000
Cube: None
AURORA:"Not a cube user. Too bad. But I need money."
BOUNTY UPDATED
New Amount: 75,000
Recent Location: The bank. He was robbing it.
Aurora walked out. She saw the long towers. Flying ships. Blue light. The dust storm clearing up.
AURORA:"Let's hunt."
She left for the city the last known location.
Arrived at the data center.
It looked like a crime scene. The place had been hit.
She looked inside. Machines were running. Small drives and GPUs at max speed generating credits, storing them.
Then at the back a hole. Gold bars lying there. Untouched.
Cops around.
She approached.
AURORA:"Hi. I'm on a hunt for a bounty. He might have done this."
COP:"He took drive and gold. he no petty thief or bandit what's he motivative"
Aurora looked at the gold. Then at the empty drive slots.
He didn't want money. He wanted something else.
AURORA:"Is it okay if I look around?"
COP:"No. It's a crime scene. Gotta show your badge."
AURORA:"Don't have one. First job. Can't you make an exception?"
COP:"No exceptions. Even bounty hunters gotta get approval. Now go away it's a crime scene."
Then two big black and red flying ships approached. Men in red and black came out.
One man stepped forward.
MAN:"Stand back, cops. This is officially a DOS case."
AURORA:"What's DOS?"
COP:"Come on. This is a small crime. Going a bit big still our case."
MAN:"I'm a Special Investigator. Now stand back. This man is an assassin for hire. We need this crime scene to ourselves."
The cop got angry. Left.
The Investigator turned to Aurora.
INVESTIGATOR:"You're a bounty hunter, right? Do your thing. Investigate."
AURORA:"Someone's lazy. You're the investigator."
INVESTIGATOR:"No. I just like to eat my Mandazi. Now go to work. This ain't a video game where the MC works only. And you don't have a badge so get to work."
AURORA:"Fine. I'll get to it."
She was upset. Looked around.
The place was obviously robbed. But then a door. Shield shut. Burned on this side. Not the other side. Strange.
She opened the iron door.
The Investigator looked up mid-bite.
INVESTIGATOR:"WAIT! You must see special glass. Here take these."
He handed her a small device size of a small SSD stick.
Aurora took it. Put it on her ear. Clicked it on. Blue glass appeared over her eyes.
She looked at the door.
Handprint. Male. Six feet tall.
She went through. Looked at footprints. Then they disappeared. Strange.
She looked at the wall. Then at the close hand marks. Click.
He climbed. She followed. Saw a vent.
AURORA:"Hi where does this vent lead?"
RANDOM WORKER:"To the manager's office. Wonder where he is. Now should go for meeting. Missing since the robbery."
She followed it to the office. The door was ripped off.
WORKER:"Wow. How did we miss this?"
She looked at the footsteps. Followed them to a locker. Opened it.
A body fell out.
She looked at it. Stab wound to the head.
WORKER:"That's the manager. He's been murdered."
Aurora almost burst a blood vessel.
AURORA:"Fine. You're not even paying me. And you're the lazy one."
INVESTIGATOR:"What was that? Your new scanner doesn't work? Get it upgraded by the bench. Get history of cameras and retrace its steps. Oh wait that's illegal. Don't do that."
He left.
AURORA:"This guy's something else."
She went to the nearest workbench. Looked for one. Saw it in a hidden office for workers. She went in. Started taking off the device.
Opened it. Took out a few parts.
Looked at it.
A magnet. Crystal shards. RAM chips. Wire. USB 10.
She got to work. Pulled out the board. Put more RAM in it. Crystal in. Then magnets above. Then pulled USB 10. Started editing code. Fast. Tested it.
AURORA:"It works. Now time for the real test."
She put it on. Scanned the crime scene. And the cameras
Aurora looked at the camera. Saw info connected to the body.
MSG: (Face needed)
She lifted his face.
Scanning face... Confirmed. Face ID confirmed.
Then she connected the camera. Retrieved footage with this face. Last seen one hour ago.
AURORA:"Okay. Was done an hour ago. So he can't be too far away."
Hopefully.
Then play video. One hour ago.
A man in black. Rob. Drop him in locker.
AURORA:"Playback hours ago."
It showed the manager working. Left to give orders.
MANAGER:"We have a deadline. People push those numbers. We need to inflate this. Credits way more than it has to be. Right now people are paying 100 credits for a loaf of bread. They should pay 250. Bread. So get on it."
BANG.
MANAGER:"What was that?"
WORKER:"Nothing."
MANAGER:"If this was another dumb computer bust, I'll have your head."
He went to his office. Sat down. Worked.
She sped up the footage. Then the vent blew.
She slowed it down.
Then so fast. Stabbed him with a hidden blade. Carried him.
AURORA:"Scan man's face. Quick."
No face ID.
AURORA:"He's hiding. Speed up again. Come on still nothing. He's hiding it on purpose."
Okay. Scan for the instant his face shows. And scan it goes backwards fast. When vent blows open
There. Scan.
Half his face. No ID yet.
AURORA:"Okay. Check all cameras. Who got him?"
Aurora ran around the building. Scanned cameras. There a match.
Scanned his face.
Got it.
AURORA:"Now where is he now?"
Last seen bar on the outskirts of the city.
LAZY INVESTIGATOR:"I'll be going after him. He's at a bar outskirts of the city."
The Investigator waved her off lazily.
INVESTIGATOR:"Sure, sure."
Aurora walked to her ship.
AURORA:"But first a few upgrades."
She needed to grab some parts for her EMP device.
She went into the ship. Put it down. Then gathered things RAM, crystals, shocker.
AURORA:"It's done. Way stronger EMP."
She set off. Sun hope too catch him fast. Before he got away.
The bar appeared in the distance. Fast approach. She landed.
She exited the airship. Went in.
AURORA:"Anyone seen a wanted man?"
Instant gunfire. Bullets.
She held her hand first where the EMP was.
Bullets shot. One random slipped off her back.
AURORA:"I knew this place was bad news."