Bug - 2

"So," she said while packing clean underwear into the backpack, "what the actual triple acid-covered fu..?"

"Could you ask a more specific question?" he interrupted.

Right. She was not really asking; she was whining. And she would be able to hit Pier later. For now, she needed to wrap her head around the situation.

You are damned Lahache. No, that was not a question.

Liberty sighed.

"Why don't I just go claim a bounty for myself?" she finally asked, "I am innocent."

The Pier looked amused by this remark.

"Don't you think," he was speaking in an accusatory tone, "that I might get killed if they find me, and they are likely to find me if they see your lens feed?"

He totally had no right to speak to her like that. She got into problems after helping him; by all accounts, he should be sorry.

"What do I care? It's not like we are friends."

"I could pay more; you should be able to trust me on that now."

Well, he was rich. And he was desperate also.

"Start by paying me double reward money, now."

Pier managed to look sufficiently more uncomfortable than a second ago.

"I have my accounts frozen at the moment," he finally muttered.

Liberty stopped packing for a second just to process this fact. Really.

"Enough. I am collecting that reward," she said.

"Wait," he shifted his tone to more serious," I came here to warn you. I don't think you are targeted because we left together: before we first talked, I went to collect the camera footage, and it was gone, recordings disabled. There was no Internet. Your lens and mine are likely the only recordings of what happened."

"So?"

"Killing you might be the easiest way to protect their secret."

"I don't mind selling my data; I don't really need it," Liberty shrugged.

Pier looked at her as if she had said something very stupid.

"Verifying if you have stored copies of it will be difficult. And even if you did let go of the data, you would not get rid of your thoughts on the subject. You are on the news, so you will be approached by more news people, and you might say something wrong. The narrative of you being a terrorist to blame for the attack is the easiest way out, and it is easier to pull off once you are dead."

It might had been a trick to force her to help him for free. Again.

"Why can not you just return home using public transport? Proclaim that I am innocent, and this was organized by whoever you suspect the culpit is?"

"It will be my word against theirs; there will be suspicions that I was influenced. I expect I will be offed during a medical check, and it will be blamed on you anyway."

"And what do you suggest then?"

"We hide, we survive, we gather evidence against whoever did this and uncover the truth."

Liberty cringed. This plan did not look a tiny bit realistic.

Liberty collected all the essentials. It was more difficult than she imagined. Even with her very limited belongings, it was evident that she would have to leave a lot behind.

"May I have a strawberry?" Pier asked, "I haven't eaten since the morning."

Liberty looked back at the table. She noted that Pier did not ask about the remains of rice and bugs meal.

"Did you get a part where I speak about my family?"

"Naturally. That is how I found you."

"Could you publish it somewhere where it gets popular?"

Pier looked at her in confusion.

"It will be easier to find us with that," he commented.

She did not reply. It was easy enough to find this place anyway, and she shouted her address on a mic.

Liberty cleaned everything from the table, leaving only the box of berries in the very center.

"Wear this on top of your clothes," she offered her ugliest jacket to Pier, "and let us switch shoes."

"Our shoe sizes seem to be different," Pier observed, confused.

"That is the point. It will change the way you walk, hopefully fooling a recognition software."

Pier did not look convinced. Liberty could see that he was reading using his lens, likely looking up this method. Yet, he took off his shoes.

Finally, Liberty gave him her gray mask. It was a little strange to see her face looking at herself. She got two more masks to choose from. After a little doubt, Liberty put on her best one: a white fox half-mask with red markings, shaped in an oriental fashion. Using this mask instead of casually fantasizing about doing so felt even stranger than looking at her face on a different person.

If she was to wear this mask, she had to become a different person. A person, who would not disgrace the mask. She could not do it now. Liberty was in a suspect's apartment in a company of a person who wears a suspect's face. She could not expose this mask to such circumstances. Liberty stored the fox mask in her backpack, taking out her last one instead. It was made in a tribal fashion, with real wool elements for decoration. Liberty got it in a tournament, as proof of a certain level of strength. The level was around fourth out of ten, but it was still something. She woke the warrior's mask. 

"Are they poisoned?" Pier was looking at the strawberries left at the kitchen table.

Liberty ignored the question, but it was an entertaining thought. Will the people come here searching for them and assume it too? Will they leave the box of berries untouched for Law to find? Will he come here to see it?

Liberty verified that nobody was at the entryway and signaled to move out. Locking the door seemed pointless, so she did not do that.

They got to the street without running into anyone. There, Liberty immediately headed to an elevator leading to the lower areas. She normally walked up on her way to the bug quarter, but this time she was willing to take a darker and more direct route. Pier was following, keeping close. His pace looked extremely uncomfortable. Luckily, this was not as eye-catching on lower levels, with occasional cripples, wounded, and weirdos to attract attention.

They did not walk too fast. People did not seem to be interested in them. They reached the bridge to the bug quarter, and only one person in a tribal fighting mask followed Liberty with his eyes. His mask was of a lower level. If Liberty was not mistaken, there was some custom about challenging stronger masks to a duel, with a winner taking the stronger mask as a prize. She was not sure about the details and she did not have time for this, so she was relieved that she was not challenged to a duel.

The bridge, of course, was as multi-leveled as the neighborhoods it connected. Liberty thought that she would have to pay for Pier's crossing with his accounts frozen, but he used some kind of transport card. He also paid for her.

"Anonymous multi-transport," he beamed, "got it before the freeze to leave that station you dropped me at."

Similar to most people, Liberty used a named card as it was cheaper. But if there was a place where anonymous cards were not suspicious, it was the bug quarter.

The quarter was surrounded by water from all four sides. So when the nanobugs leak had happened some years ago, it was sufficient to secure the bridges in order to seal bugs there. Eventually, the swarm queens were disabled, but people around this area made it customary to wear masks. For hiding the marks these bugs' attacks leave on one's body as much as for protection.

It became the area's specialty. The masks were evolving, both functionally and aesthetically. Different schools emerged, and their relationships grew more complicated each year. Nobody was surprised to see the one wearing an oni mask be ridiculed after stepping on a furry street. However, most people wore neutral masks, minding their own business. Outsiders without masks or wearing uncommon and unfamiliar masks were the ones treated with the most caution. If a man chooses to wear a face of a demon, one might expect him to share some of a demon group's values. The same goes for furries, neon tribals, plague doctors, and featureless screenheads. Even exclusive unaligned masks convey something about the personality of the one behind them. But a naked face is different. And a face is more difficult to change. Thus, of a bug quarter streets having no mask was seen as an indecent act. The quarter's population had been rapidly growing ever since the development of the face-covering tradition.

That, naturally, attracted people who were happy to hide their faces. Which, in turn, only strengthened the focus on anonymity. The visible cameras on the streets were broken. While part of the original population moved out, unhappy with the newly obtained culture, move moved in. Now the prices in the area were higher than in any of the neighboring districts.

The place held its unique dangers, but it still was an obvious destination for Liberty and Pier, given their situation. 

Fortunately, Liberty had a friend there.