Glowsticks and Encore Breakers

The pumping song which was almost a custom for these parties full of businessmen had stopped and a pink gleam bathed the whole room.

And at the middle of the silent pink room, Amy waited for all the attention to gather.

“Welcome, everyone!” The idol shouted to the crowd of confused guests. “Since our esteemed host is nowhere in sight, this Amy Wright shall takeover this boorish music with some of her own. Feel free to use the glowsticks on your pockets for more fun.“

Surprise and confusion could be seen in all participants of the party, and the pink glowsticks that appeared in their pockets didn't help.

This surprise was leveraged right away as they received no time to react before the lights started to change in tone and direction around the girl.

Silence fell again as all the guests could do little more than whisper to the people closest to them, and even this much stopped when Amy called again.

“Now… Enjoy!"

And then, as sudden as her appearance in the limelight, an upbeat tune filled the room and Amy started her act.

The energetic music mixed with the lyrics almost no one understood and with the showy dance from the showier girl, created an unexpected and endearing performance.

Amy had all eyes drawn to her as she moved around the bar counters while pushing all lights with her.

Her singing words could be translated into some overbearing narcissistic lyrics, but only the singer would notice so.

Even if it wasn't the case, there was a good chance that none would care when the person using said lyrics had the looks and charisma to use such lyrics.

In fact, it was very probable that some would even agree with the self-compliments the idol was saying just by following the mood in the salon.

As if following this same mood though, many of the AI attendants that only existed to bring drinks started to move in accordance with the song.

They had the earlier noted pink glowsticks in hand and were in perfect synchrony with the music, so it was quite the sight too.

It was a very abnormal sight all-around, but it was an interesting one too.

The music was good, although unusual, and the mood created by the lights and attendants was exciting to the point of being addictive.

Under this much pressure, it didn't even take a whole song for a good deal of the guests to also draw their own glowsticks.

In special, it seemed that the younger souls of the room would soon overcome the AIs in terms of excitement.

The first song ended and a massive round of cheers ensued while the pink girl exchanged some words with her recently acquired fans before going on.

And while it was happening, far from the epicenter of chaos and the whirlwind of excitement that the ballroom was turned into, a detective watched it all with her mouth agape.

“I have no idea how she manages to do it…”

It wasn’t as if Lily hadn’t expected something of this kind from the self-proclaimed idol, but still, that was impressive.

Being able to draw most guests while straight-up ignoring the complaints of all others was a display of how powerful, or how crazy, Amy actually was.

Even the straight-laced woman was feeling a tug on her mind telling her to join the crowd, and her drinking partner seemed to be the same.

“You have an interesting friend, eh? She even drew the army of stuck-up businessmen out of their tables.” Amazed Richard while playing around with the pink object that appeared in his pocket.

“Sometimes I think she can mind-control people, and I’m not even talking about how good with computers she is.”

Lily wasn’t stupid and was an actual detective, so the many times Amy tempered with systems and evidence hadn’t been ignored.

She couldn’t prove anything due to how over-the-top that girl was and she believed that the girl would never kill someone, but she knew Amy wasn't normal.

For now, Lilianna was willing to turn a blind eye to her weirdness, but it was still an impressive skill.

“Putting some props around the room isn’t that hard to do if you’re used to it, you know? One of my subordinates is an expert at hiding snacks inside training simulations…”

Richard took another sip from his drink while reminiscing about his day-to-day training.

It was a while since he acted as a security officer and bodyguard instead of a stand-in and secretary though, which was kind of depressing.

Either way, his talking drew Liliana’s attention away from the heating-up show and back to their calmer conversation, so it was all fine.

“Inside training…?” She asked before the correct memories had returned to her. “Aw, right, gramps dislikes droids. I sometimes forget how odd this place’s security is…”

“Droids are good and all, but your grandfather always argued that controlling soldiers from far away had way too many weaknesses to be good. It makes so all I can do is be sure my man can survive when something happens, but it's a point, I guess.”

”Can’t say they’re the best for sure, but I find robots cheaper than having someone die, even if you end up losing five of them for a single lost soldier.” Commented Lily with some disdain in her voice.

“Less efficient and more expensive doesn’t bode well to businessmen. He’s my teacher and benefactor though, so there’s little I can do other than give advice and do my best...”

“Your advice should be impressive then." She smiled in answer. "His hands are all over half of what I investigate this high-up here and we can’t even manage to link the dots...”

Even the case with the industrial spy some time ago had links with NorCo and many instances of stolen goods from the ancient lab could be traced to them.

There was never enough concrete proof to do anything though, just like with Amy’s case…

“Relationships and diplomacy are the big tricks, and the higher-ups are simply too good at it, but they run things in some weird ways sometimes.” The blonde mercenary said with a dry laugh and a far-away gaze.

He could do little more than these empty words as it would be bad to say something improper in this situation even if said cop didn’t care about it.

“Old people are a pain. It's even worse when their thinking is old too." Lilianna assured with a displeased look. "If gramps wasn’t so stuck up, then he wouldn’t have so many troubles with other companies and be so badly at odds with the government, but he does he.”

“Hahaha! I’m not so fond of our dear public officials too, you know? Our company is on the ambiguous side of the law sometimes though, so I’ll avoid comments here.”

“You remember I’m a cop, right?”

“Don’t arrest me please, Ms. Officer?”

The gaudy woman glared at her almost as gaudy drinking companion for a while, but then smiled and finished her bright-colored drink.

“You’re lucky today… I’m off-duty.”

“If that’s so…” He smiled back while raising one hand towards one of the few barmen not engrossed in dancing. “Another drink?”

The new drinks were accepted, but the off-duty detective only glared at it with a somewhat displeased, or at least a fake displeased, look before downing it with Richard doing the same.

“It’s not as fun when we’re in this fake bothersome place…”

“Can I take it as you inviting me for a drinking party some other day?”

“Why not, eh? If you don’t mind having that crazy girl around. You'll also make everyone here talk behind your back about being close to the 'traitor daughter' that became a cop, but I know a nice place.”

A new pair of beverages were brought by the AI assistant standing close by and both the cop and the mercenary took theirs as soon as they arrived.

“I’m not one to care about what these guys think, you know? I have a lifelong contract with NorCo anyway, so clients aren’t a problem either way.”

“What a progressive mercenary you are.”

“Security officer, please.”

His remark made Lilianna open a small smile once more as she sipped on her drink.

The heated-up show on the back powered her reaction though and she finally laughed at it all.

“Haha! A progressive security officer then. I’ll see you then.”

“Now you got it right…" Richard answered in kind and then approached his glass to Lily's. "Cheers for one new friendship?”

“Sounds good to me.”

And then, with the clinking glasses, the pink-colored girl who was already surrounded by pumped guests finished her last song.

The room stood silent just for a moment before an explosion of cheers filled the ballroom.

Some were cursing at the noise of the surprise show and some didn't seem to care that much, but the noisiest group had priority here.

An idol like Amy wouldn't lose time with haters.

It was time for her to give some final words to her audience though.

“That is all I have for today, my dear audience, but I would not be against an encore if you show your wish for it…”

The still energetic voice of the girl echoed through the noisy room and her smile hit the guests who were liking the whole situation.

Calls for an encore filled the room, increasing the noise a few notches while the target of it all kept on basking on the feeling in silence.

Amy just waited in silence for the cries to die out, only opening her mouth again after filling her ego enough.

“It seems to be a majority for me, and a cherry one too, so this Amy Wright shall now give you all…”

But before she could finish her discourse, a crashing sound was heard all across the room.

And with the noise and the debris falling from the ceiling, a body crashed into the middle of the salon.

It wasn't not moving at all and seemed to be bleeding on the floor of the now silent ballroom.

“What in the…?”

And following the body, while almost everyone was still way too confused to react to the situation, half a dozen cables fell from the hole.

From each cable, a person wearing tactical power suits came down and formed a circle around the body with their guns aimed at the confused guests.

And after a few seconds of deafening silence, just as Lilianna threw her drinking buddy and a barman AI was used as a shield by the self-proclaimed idol, they started firing.