A Little Trinket and Another Decision

Calling the professor ended up not being a problem and, although he was yet to find a generator, he wasn’t very far from the cave and was soon to return. The idea then became to meet him at the entrance just in case, and nothing interesting happened to the idol while she was leaning on one of the broken walls to work the new data she got. It was getting boring though. Very boring, very fast.

Having her boredom killed by something so unexpected was a little too much though…

“Are you the Goddess?” A little voice called out from much closer than it could be, which instantly made Amy jump into high alert. The moment she turned to the noise already ready for a fight, all she could see was a little shiny-eyed girl staring at her. A short brown-haired kid wearing some kind of raincoat made of stitched pieces of metallic-grey material over a pink one-piece.

Neither seemed very new but both looked to be well-made to the point of it being weird.

For one, they didn’t seem to be machine-made or standardized, which was already weird anywhere in this city, but even more on the under-levels. And the fact both pieces of clothing were made of materials Amy couldn’t instantly identify made it even worse.

Extra points on the, 'instantly' there too. Although the moment she identified the material, it got even weirder.

At least it explained why everything, even including her eyes, could barely notice this kid. If she wasn't someone that had, as a rare special tool, some of this same material to use, it was hard to guess if there would be a way to counter it.

In summary, every device and machine that Amy had was heavily jammed, and the reason for such shouldn’t exist outside her wardrobe. She was even unable to react at all for a while due to all that. All she could do was stare at the girl and then flap her mouth without saying anything.

Only after a couple of very weird seconds, she was able to focus enough to manage an answer. And this much was only because she had a very strong persona.

“Some have called me such, yes, but I prefer to be called an idol, you know? You may also call me Amy Wright if you wish so, little lady. It would be a waste to not use my incredible name, no?”

“You speak weird, Goddess.”

“Maybe I do, but what about you? Were you waiting for me, little girl?”

“Oh?! You came ‘cause I called?! So you were looking for me, right?! Mum was right, right?!” The little girl suddenly went into high spirits and started to skip around Amy while talking about what, for the idol, took a while to make sense. “If you came, then follow me! Here’s my secret base, not my house…”

“Hold your horses, kid. I am still waiting for another person.”

“What is a ‘horse’? I don’t have one to hold…”

“That is… Well… It was only a way to tell you to wait, you know? Can we wait for a little more?”

“You speak weird, Goddess… But we can’t wait! Mum needs help.”

“Is that so? Can you explain to me what kind of help your mother needs?”

“That’s… Hmmm… She’s not fine, and… Hmmm… Hmmmmmm…!”

“Got it. Let me think for a moment, and then we can go, okay?” Amy stopped the girl from talking anymore and then watched her face sour as she tried to stay quiet. “She needs help now and is very suspicious, so… What do you think, chat?”

“What is a…?”

“My holy and very important helpers, now wait for a little more.” She shut the kid down again with her eyes focused on the growing interest the viewers were giving to her small share of the cameras.

The full picture was hard to get, but there was enough information to go on by now.

The first ping she saw early in the exploration and the weird altar were both related to this little girl.

She wasn't alone, and it was likely that a decent group of people was also down here. Many or all of them had ancient stealth technology that shouldn't work but did, which explained why she was unable to detect them.

Due to that, the second ping was probably someone else, an adult or someone with a better understanding of the world at least. Someone who could stage that attack for reasons Amy could only guess.

The biggest questions then were: Why they were down here? How they got down here? And why they tried to attack the expedition?

Guesses for which one of them was easy to get, but guesses were only that. It was safer to somehow find a member of this group of underground citizens and ask them, then move around on uncertainties.

All pointing to the idea that following the girl was really a good plan. Amy was already curious enough and moving to wherever they were would do a lot to the investigation of the ruins, but she'd have to move away from everyone else to do so.

Even considering that she had ways of making the tracker on the robot head point somewhere else, it was still a risk. Lily being defeated by some old robots, even if way too many of them, while inside a packed corridor was very unlikely, but a risk was a risk.

The pink girl could, of course, leave one of her few remaining drones behind to guide and warn the professor. Getting him to Lily’s location was easy but more important right now, and there were ways of giving indirect support to her partner if that was her only other task.

For good or for bad, she was still in full control of the camera androids left behind, even if their capabilities were limited. The chances that the others could be defeated were low enough to justify leaving them behind for a while.

Even if she made her detour as fast as possible though, it still didn’t feel good to leave her partner behind when an attack was likely coming. Letting her be kidnapped once was enough.

If the other option was forcing this kid to go with her though, Amy would be forced to take the gamble.

“I do not know if this is how much you trust my perfect self or if this is only you all being very very irresponsible, you know? Not that I really care or that I am an actually responsible person, of course… Anyway, show me the way, child! I shall help you now and worry about the consequences later.” She called out after the small moment on which she stood there staring at her small companion. “How far are you from your mother? We do not want to take too long, right?”

“Yes! Luca will… Huh? Where’s Luca?” The little girl started to frantically look around, likely searching for this Luca person she mentioned. The mention of another person being around was a good sign though since a kid wouldn’t be the most reliable guide.

Still, if there was someone with this kid before, she either was hiding away or was left behind at some point. Not the best sign for many reasons, but somewhat useful as a chance to save time.

It also gave a new option to go by without forcing the kid... One that would even solve the problem of leaving the other members behind.

“Have you lost your caretaker? Is there any place to meet with them?” Amy asked right away, receiving a weak headshake in answer but then smiling brightly at the child getting gloomy. “Then, what if I took you to my friends? We can help you find this Luca then, and it would make helping your mother easier too.”

“Goddess’ friends? I wanna see them!”

“Good! I would like to wait a little more, but I do not think you would like it, no? Follow me then. I will show you my very important partner and some friends too.”

Some people were joking by calling her the proverbial weird uncle that offered candy to kids or telling the small girl to flee very fast, but most of them seemed as interested in the possibility of an underground denizen existing. Amy had no way to react to them right now too as talking to no one would only confuse the kid, so they were going ham.

“Okay, Goddess!” The kid brightened up just like only a kid could do under the heightened mood of the idol. It made Amy worry a little about how this little girl would fare outside of these isolated ruins, but it was something to worry about later.

“By the way…” The idol got down to the level of her new tagalong before they would move back. “What is your name, kid? Calling you ‘kid’ forever seems awful.”

“Don’t a Goddess know everything?”

“Depends on the goddess and on the side of the moon that is currently on this star quarter, you know?” Amy blabbered randomly just to get some explanation that would quiet the kid. “Right now, I am unable to know names that easily, so I need to hear it from you. I could explain to you all about the meaning of the universe if you wanted to though…”

The comments were now full of jokes about what she was saying and it was a little, a very small little bit, shameful to play around with a kid, but it wouldn't show on the idol's face. As long as it worked, it was good enough. And she was currently showing her displeasure by straight-up ignoring the chat in a very showy way

Not that her fans would ever let her forget about this little event just by having her pout a little. It was more likely that her pouting would worsen the situation, but that was for future’s Amy to worry about.

“Sounds hard…”

“Because it is! Now, your name please…”

“Val, Goddess. My name’s Val!”

“Val it is then! Here…” The smiling idol got up and extended her hand to Val, who easily got the idea and held onto the weird girl’s hand while putting on a smile of her own. “Now let us go. It is not too far, but tell me if you tire, okay? I can even carry you if need be.”

All was set with Val, but Amy had to make some small preparations as she led the little girl toward her group. Nominally, leave another drone behind since her original mission was still incomplete, and an extra to help with a little trick she had in mind.

Other than that, she was also making sure to walk as far from stealthy as possible while not making it obvious. She wouldn't want any possible pursuers losing her or getting too suspicious, of course.

It wouldn't be that much of a problem if she had more cameras around, but hers were getting spread very thin by now. Leaving one at every important checkpoint was giving its toll.

On a side note, her actions and the fact that a random girl was tagging along had somehow created a buzz online, and the viewers were growing due to that. The idea that this whole stream was staged and everything but the useless ruined buildings were fake was growing too.

All publicity was good publicity in this situation though, so the idol wasn’t doing much to fight them back. For her, it was better that they would keep on drawing attention as, with more attention, the less chance of someone calling the operation off.

And so, in a weirdly silent but bright way, the pink ball of frills and the mysterious kid made their way to the isolated corridor without a problem.

The problem was to come when the four left behind saw the person that should bring the last member of the group appear with a little kid in tow…