Bug - 4

They entered an art gallery. It was not open for visitors, but Freeman used the fact that it shared storage with a nearby shop.

The lights were mostly off, and fancier media installations did not work. Still, there were several traditional art objects, such as beautifully carved fat marble women, a giant anime robot statue, a furniture set covered with realistic and probably living human skin, and lots of paintings.

Liberty had never visited an art gallery before, even though she could identify it.

“You could save a lot on entrance fees,” she muttered while zooming on small hair growing out of furniture’s skin.

Nobody reacted to that. The silence made Liberty think back to that silent later blast. And that, in turn, stopped her from advising Freeman to make some money on letting people in secretly.Liberty was not overly impressed by death; she kept her conscience from dwelling on it. But seeing a person killed like that was a tiny bit bothering. And the fact that Freeman was suspicious towards her seemed more concerning now.

“We’ll wait here,” Freeman announced.

He stood back to the wall, looking back at Liberty and Pier.

He was ready to react if needed. Then with his left hand, he took a phone and started to write something. He was still looking at her more than he looked at the phone. Keeping his right hand free.
The phone was surprising. Liberty could only recognize it because some people in her old neighborhood had them when she was little. But that was some time ago. Since the opportunity to pay with an ad space permanently reserved in one’s eyes was introduced, phones lost their popularity even in that area.

Liberty realized that Freeman had used this phone before while she and Pier were changing. She only processed it now. Was it because the lens might be tracked back to the user? Liberty turned hers off when they left that alley, just in case. Without an opportunity to look things up, she was bored.

Slowly, not to alarm Freeman, she went to one of the small couches scattered around. It was good to be sitting. Pier followed and sat close to her. His hands were trembling a little.

“Is it safe to use my lens,” he whispered, almost inaudible.

“No idea.”

Freeman looked at them suspiciously. Without anything to direct her attention to, Liberty was getting nervous. She tried distracting herself by closing her eyes, but it was even worse. Fortunately, looking at Pier, who was even more uncomfortable, made it a little easier.

“I am happy it helped you in a time of need,” a female voice from behind announced, sounding more solemn than happy, “unless you are really a terrorist and an abductor, of course. In this case, I am simply content that the debt is settled.”

Both Liberty and Pier turned around.

A woman in a mask identical to Liberty’s was standing there, with two muscular men in demon masks behind her. The woman’s mask didn’t cover her lips, so the absence of a smile was visible.

“Before the eyes of these witnesses, I testify,” Liberty was trying to match the solemn tone, but she was failing,” the debt is settled now.”

Simultaneously they failed to hold their laughter anymore.

It was not uncommon for them to infect each other with laughter, unable to stop even if they wanted. But this time young woman’s laughter died out fast. She stared at Pier.

“You really did kidnap that rich boy?” she was looking at Pier, not hiding playfulness this time.

“Of course, I did not,” Liberty sighed tiredly, “he is completely useless, and it would have been the stupidest thing to do.”

A woman stopped approaching.

“So, your companion is not that missing Lahache scion, naturally?”

“Naturally,” Liberty smiled,” he is my bodyguard. Can’t you see his mask?”

The woman gave a weak smile.

“You seem to have a lot of entertaining stuff to share over drinks. But, before that, I would need to know if there will be any unpleasant people coming here in search of you. Also, I will take your word for it now, but do we have to call horns master?”

As something easy to spot, difficult to hide, and troublesome to get rid of, horns were perfect for marking someone for life. Killers were marked this way.

“Master, but not for me,” Liberty looked at Freeman’s hornless head, “as for bringing trouble with us, I have no idea at all.”

“We might be tracked,” Pier said quietly.

The woman was not very interested in them, though. She was crossing the room in the direction of Freeman, probably missing what Pier said.

“What did you do?”

“Not a horns case, mercy,” Freeman said with a surprising lack of concern.

“We’ll see,” the woman said.

“I know, Anna,” Freeman shrugged.

They were put in a secure room. It had beds, a table, some stationery, snacks, and complete protection from the outside world. Liberty and Pier were to stay there until it was decided if they were likely to be tracked.

Liberty was grateful for the break. She was probably still riding the adrenaline wave from earlier, as she didn’t yet want to sleep, despite her usual bedtime looming close. She tried to make a list of things to deal with when they were out.

The first was to get everyone’s contacts on some safe messaging. Before that, Liberty was using PostDove, because it was free and convenient. PostDove, however, did not hide the fact that it was selling users’ data at each opportunity. For a small fee, one could even see a statistic on how much people spent on reading one’s private messages. They even sent prizes if one reached a certain threshold there.

The second would be getting a lot more masks.

She also had the stuff to discuss with Pier. That could be done before getting out.

“So,” she asked, “why did you insist on not sharing our videos of what happened? It would make proving my innocence easier.”

“I made a deadman switch out of mine,” Pier was lying on a bed, face up, eyes open,” will not work if the video is out in any case.”

“We will have to show it.”

“I know. Just please, try to keep them from making it public.”

She probably would.

It was weird now, with the topic of death again. Liberty was never good at alleviating the mood.

“So, you like stories and games. What kind?”

“Any kind. But I think I prefer reading as a medium. I read all kinds of works. Even web novels, despite my family’s distaste towards them.”

“Seriously? This stuff about sexy cyborg girls fighting robots while finding their lost brother and the likes?”

He snorted, unamused.

“Was it a pitiful attempt to make fun of Viviene’s way?”

“I think it was a very successful attempt to make fun of it.”

“You clearly did not read it. Viviene has an interesting appearance, but the book's chaste atmosphere makes sexy a very inappropriate word choice. Not to mention that it is obvious from the start that her brother is dead; Viviene’s journey is not about returning to her lost past but about learning to find joy in her future.”