A New Team and A Big Train

“I’ll be honest with you, Amy.” The older (in theory and appearance) member of the group spoke as she left the terribly-named shuttle after returning her glass. “I was expecting a very bumpy ride or even the bumpiest of all rides, but this? This is some high-class something you got.”

“Do not underestimate my baby! I even tried my hand at finding a limousine, but I failed at it…” Amy answered as she followed her partner’s lead and left the vehicle. “What do rich people use to move around nowadays?”

“Why would someone rich more around? Those dumbasses have their own little towns inside their towers.”

In all reality, Lily’s grampa was an abnormality for most that mattered in relation to the higher class of the city. Half because he was way too old to live outside life support and a half because he was way too much of a workaholic to take it easy. Two reasons which could explain very well why all the chaos on NorCo’s tower happened back then.

Lily would likely prefer to forget all about that, though, so it wasn’t as if the two girls ever talked about the subject. Amy suspected that there were other reasons for it too, but her capabilities only went so far. And in the end, she didn't care that much as long as she could keep moving as is.

Either way, they were at the meeting point given in the briefing. The empty parking lot in front of the huge elevator tower that was the main access to the lower floors. Although, in all regards, it didn’t look like more than a rough warehouse connected to the bottom of a much better-looking skyscraper. Which wasn’t very far from reality too anyway.

It was an office building set right on top of the device they took care of. Many floors of bureaucrats and technicians, all working to keep the elevator working and the supplies flowing. And also, working to make access to the thing very troublesome unless it was about something of extreme importance. In other words, make it as hard to use as possible unless blocking the access would cause too much damage to the city.

And even then, this clunky system was the only thing protecting the elevator from being a monopoly. It being so hard to use was the only reason no single group could control it. And the only ones who lost in this situation were the non-citizens that wanted to try and move up.

They were the only ones unrelated to some big conglomerate that wanted to use the elevator. Most miskarian citizens didn't even care about this machine. Even more when it was about going to the lower floors instead of going up.

And this was the reason why there wasn't a single thing around the elevator's entrance. It was only meant to move products, so the only creatures in the area were the two idols. One of which was already getting very bored of waiting.

“Can we get inside? I think it would be fun to explore the lower floors a little more now that I have the chance…”

“Open this door and you’ll have every PMC in the city going after you in five minutes.” Lily shot down the idea before it could even form itself. “Even if you can hide everything, I’m sure you know we’re being observed already, don’t you?”

“You are no fun… And I could deal with them, you know? These eyes of yours are as much machine as all else and most people have them…”

Someone like Amy was very dangerous in a world where every person had some kind of body modification. Even when considering that access to something like a prosthesis was hard to get, there were ways. It would rely on forcing the creation of an access point or forcing the modification to connect with the web, but that was it.

Managing something good enough was a matter of getting the chance and nothing more. And then, she would be as good as invisible.

And this much explained why the clear dauntlessness on the beaming proud smile on the pink idol’s face as she spoke about it made her look so scary.

Her casual threats of hijacking someone's body and her nonchalant way of going about it. These were the reasons why Lily sometimes found her friend very scary, even if her usual antics defused this fear a little.

It also kept her asking who this girl really is. A question that the pink girl would always dodge no matter what. And one that was better suited for another time...

“If you’re so bored, what about finding our employers and rushing them here instead?" Lily asked to clear whatever thoughts running through her head. "I still have to understand what a bunch of activists want with two random performers, but…”

“No, no, we are not ‘random performers’, you know? We are idols! The best of them all even.”

“You speak as if there were others... And as I said, using the name of the secret organization you’re part of as some kind of special performer role is very dangerous.”

“But it is the other way around, you know… Oh! Here they are.” The frilly girl turned around, cutting her own words short as she sent the pink hover away and walked towards a group of arriving shuttles. “And their team seems a little bigger than expected too. That is interesting for sure.”

Two four-seaters and a cargo shuttle were closing in their position at the parking area of the elevator, so the conversation had to be cut short.

And once again, no real answers came from the pink girl.

It was almost as if she had some kind of blessing that would always give her a way out of explaining herself... Either that, or she already knew that the team was closing in, and starting the conversation knowing it would be interrupted.

Both options seemed plausible somehow.

Be as it was, the people they would be using as cover to access the target had just arrived, so it was time to work. And so, both girls got their smiles set, with one of them more genuine than the other, and headed to the arriving vehicles.

They waited by the side as the shuttles landed a few steps away, and then people came out of it. Eight of them to be specific, although only half of them were human. The other ones were simple droids of the same kind that the cops and mercenaries liked to use as light troopers.

If the four robots were meant to be the group’s mules or their security team was yet to be seen, though. Each of them looked the same, a somewhat skinny metallic humanoid with simplistic features, so it was hard to be sure by sight alone. Even Amy was unable to be sure if they had combat programs or just servile ones without poking around.

Either way, the group of humans was more interesting than the robots.

First, there was a huge muscular man wearing a professor-looking outfit. A brown three-piece corduroy suit with glasses and elbow patches as the trope would rule. He was a blue-eyed blonde with a tall pomp haircut though, which, to Amy, turned him into another out-of-place mix of styles.

Either way, there wasn't much about him to snoop around. Some judicial fights and activism, but nothing of real note. The only thing that mattered was that he was the one who petitioned to explore the newly found ruins on the lower levels and the leader of the expedition.

Then, following him from behind, there were two very similar-looking women of some ethnicity Amy didn’t know about. Since this seemed to be an unusual concept at the current time, she was sure to not make any comments about it as usual. And from the briefing, she knew they were both students of the blonde professor. Likely twin sisters too, but this much was something Amy decided without being sure.

Both had amber-colored eyes and wore khaki pants, white shirts, and leather jackets with fedoras on top. The only differences between them were the color of their hair and the ribbons on the hats, and their hairstyles.

Or to be more specific, the fact that the black-haired one had a white ribbon on her hat and a ponytail, while the white-haired girl used a hat with a black ribbon and let her wavy hair loose.

And the last member, as if to contrast with all others, was a skinny tired-looking guy in a proper, but beaten, suit. He even carried, as any could expect, a slightly bruised suitcase to complete the overworked office-guy look.

His profile wasn’t in the briefing, though, which was strange. But it was clear by his looks that he was an outsider in relation to the other three, so it was likely something related to that. Nothing that should be troublesome to deal.

He was also the only person around that wasn’t that taller than Amy. In fact, he was likely almost the same height as her.

“I see we were late after all… I apologize for it.” The burly teacher apologized as he saw the approaching females in flippant colors. “We were the ones who made the appointment, so letting both ladies wait was a miscalculation.”

“You do not need to apologize Mr. Idonotrememberyourname. We have just arrived too.”

“Professor Henrique de Vellaron, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The more reasonable of the two nominal performers tried to rescue the situation, although her companion didn’t seem bothered by it. “And we didn’t wait long for sure, so don’t mind it… I’m more interested in why you called us anyway.”

“Oh, about that, the reason is very…”

“It’s because you’re cute!” The black-haired white-ribbon woman popped by Lily’s side, cutting through the professor’s words with an energetic answer of her own. “My name is Kurogane by the way, but you can call me Kuro.“

“Both of you are.” The white-haired black ribbon also popped suddenly, but by her other side and speaking in a more deadpanned tone. “It’s eye-catching. Mine’s Shirogane. You can call me Shiro.”

The two khaki women moved faster than the ex-cop could notice, which was impressive by itself, but Lily was ignoring it for now. Her problem was more how the two were invading her personal space while machine-gun talking, although in different tones.

It was overwhelming, to say the least. And also remembered her of her own companion...

“No way people will ignore us if we use the ‘idol’ bandwagon as our vessel, right?!” Kuro continued, explaining her logic that wasn't that good in Lily's eyes. And when her sister spoke again, it got even worse.

“And we can fangirl while at it too. Getting an excuse to hog celebrities is hard.”

“Hey, don’t tell them that! We have to look professional, remember?!”

“Then you should lower your voice when trying to whisper something…”

“Ah! Heheh… You didn’t hear a thing, right, Lily?”

The purple idol was overwhelmed by the back-and-forth happening between the two fedora wearers, so she was unable to get an answer at all. She was more used to being the one making questions, so it was a little too much. And she could feel an ominous aura on her back too, which wasn't helping.

Then, as she was getting close to uttering something, both color-named women were forcefully removed from her arms. Ending up looking in confusion as they were set closer to their teacher by someone smaller than them. Someone that went back to her original position and pretended nothing happened right after.

“Aham! Should we head to the site, everyone?” Amy spoke as if she had done nothing, ignoring the whole of all stares while at it. “I scheduled the event already, so it would be bad if we took too long, you know? And try to not overwhelm my friend too much too. She is not used to this kind of situation.”

And then, the pink girl smiled at everyone in the area, waiting for an answer as if all was normal. One that Henrique was very willing to give.

“We shall move then. The droids can carry all the heavy luggage, so don’t worry about our equipment, and I can explain my ideas as we move. Is that fine with everyone?”

Seeing the expedition’s leader call out everyone changed the mood back to the status quo and, soon enough, the whole group was moving. With Henrique leading the way as the one with the credentials to access.

Then, with a call and a keycard pass, the massive steel door started to open, showing four smaller openings. Each one was meant to house a different train cart since having a single would be too risky, but only one of them was on this floor. And that was only because it was reserved by the professor.

“Now, if you will…” Henrique called again as he swiped his keycard and opened one of the train's wagons. “It’s time to start our little expedition.”