Two Can Play at That Game

It took only a single tap on his holographic panel to deliver all his data through my terminal, and I spared a moment to process it. All The Director sent me was a bunch of security camera footage of a hooded figure stalking around in some sort of shadowy office, their face concealed by a mask. When I asked him what the target was specifically investigating about, he responded with the usual “confidential business” nonsense.

I squinted at The Director, who folded his arms. “It shouldn’t be hard for you, yes? You’ve easily caught these types of investigators before,” he said.

“That I did,” I said.

For a brief moment, neither of us said a word.

There was this thick, invisible wall expanding between us, one that I could never see but knew was there. I never tried to pry into his business though. If he never asked mine, then I wouldn’t ask about his. Basic equivalent exchange.

As long as he’d let me live and have all this freedom, then none of that mattered. This old geezer who picked me up from a junkyard was the only reason why I didn’t end up scrapped and recycled. If he wouldn’t complain, then I was doing exactly what he wanted and allowed me to live for whatever bizarre reason he refused to tell. 

Perhaps he saw me as nothing more than an expendable android. Perhaps he simply didn’t care. Either way, I didn’t mind.

Call it ignorance, laziness, whatever. As long as I still had a purpose, I was fine with keeping this strict business—practically my life support—contract between us as long as I could. Androids like me had only one purpose: to serve our employers without question. If we couldn't even serve a single human, we might as well be discarded as useless and dangerous liabilities, thrown back into the recycling bins.

I wanted to keep living, of course. If I had to take someone's life to extend mine, then morals be damned. Us androids didn't need them anyway.

With that thought, I turned around and waved farewell. “Consider it done by tomorrow morning.”

The Director grunted and said not another word. Typical of him.

⫿⫼⟁⫼⫿

Spotlights swerved around the sky, people gathered around the entrance of a grand museum, and fountains streamed a presentation made of water. I sat on one of the fountains’ benches, tapping my heel on the ground and gazing at the crowd and their excited murmurs.

It sounded like the museum was hosting a special event tonight, which was a little inconvenient considering my target could also be lurking in this area. I had no choice but to sneak around lest I cause a scene and scare them off before I could identify them.

I crossed my arms and legs and closed my eyes, replaying the leads I’d received so far. After hacking several public security footage and following the figure matching my target’s clothes, it led me here, the most recent place they went.

Now, what would the target be after in a history museum of all places? As far as I was aware, they had a pattern of snooping into ramshackle offices, ones filled with test tubes, X-ray printouts, and machines. Very likely to be some corporation's private laboratories.

Could this seemingly innocent, family-friendly museum have an equally shady laboratory too? Now that would be interesting.

I snickered, scaring an observing kid with brown hair and blue eyes to walk in the other direction.

Anyhow, I should probably start finding the target. The problem was, where the hell would they be?

I pulled my hood over my head and wore a pair of shades and a face mask, carefully drawing closer to the crowd but still scouting the eerily dark corners of the building. No movement there besides the patrolling security services. I discreetly activated my X-ray vision and scanned the people pacing inside the building: a bunch of staff and security, all wearing verified ID cards.

Huh, if there was no intruder inside, then that meant…

God, please don’t tell me the damn target’s blending in the crowd. I squinted at the dozens of visitors casually hanging around, struggling to tolerate the noise. Letting out a sigh, I reluctantly stepped closer to the entrance.

It took some time, but I finally found… something. After scanning everyone’s footprints, one heavily matched my target, but their trail was tampered with by all these people moving around. Damn, this was actually a challenge for once.

…Should I just kill them all?

I surveyed the area and counted the security guards close by, observing their sleek, matte black suits made of reinforced nanofiber and outlined with neon blue streaks. Hidden under all that body armor, I could detect stun batons and plasma guns, and I should expect their helmets would catch me almost immediately in the act.

Nah, it wasn't worth it. 

“Hmph, alright, you do it your way,” I murmured, striding toward the center of the crowd, “and I’ll do mine.” Subtly, I brushed my shoulders against a random person, dropped a cubical device, and immediately left the scene. The device ever so softly ticked, beeping for only a split-second before it exploded, bursting forth a flashy series of animatic fireworks.

People screamed and hastily backed away from the explosion, and the security guards shifted their attention toward the noise. I used this opportunity to sneak behind the trees and waited until more guards left their station.

Keeping my eyes focused on the sole patrolling guard, I launched a wire, ensnared his neck, and secured my catch. The guard gaped his eyes and choked, and as he tried wringing it off, I yanked him in my direction and immediately knocked him out cold.

After a quick dig around his pockets, I found his ID card, scanned it, and snuck away, leaving him hidden in a bush.

⫿⫼⟁⫼⫿

“Alright everyone, calm down!” said a security officer, waving at the crowd. “It’s just a prank device. Nothing to worry about.”

“Wh-What the hell! Who put that there?!” someone asked, still shaken up.

The officer tapped on his helmet and delivered orders through his terminal, notifying the rest of the security of the situation. “We’ll be on the lookout for the troublemaker. In the meantime, the rest of you stay diligent.”

The crowd shared murmurs as the guards returned to their patrolling zones, but their mood eventually shifted when the museum doors slid open, releasing a new wave of people walking out of the museum and whispering to one another. They all gradually dispersed away from the scene, leaving a middle-aged woman with short, brown hair and eyes standing alone at the entrance with a weary but welcoming smile.

“Phew, sorry folks!” she said, waving at the group. “We’ve just finished touring the latest group just now.”

She observed the crowd as they all stood back on their feet and gathered around the stairs, keeping their distance. “Let’s see.” She glanced at her watch. “You must be the group that signed up for the 9:00 p.m. tour, yeah? We’ve made it just in time then! Thank you all so much for waiting!”

As she clapped her hands, the doors behind her slid open automatically. “Welcome to our special 100th Anniversary History Tour! My name is Celia, and I’ll be your tour guide for the night. Please step inside and get your tickets and ID cards ready. Don’t worry, the security screening procedure will be quick!”

Like sheep following a shepherd, everyone trailed behind her and piled through the door. I crossed my legs and leaned against a wall as I watched them go, remaining hidden in the corner of the ceiling.

If the target took off their cloak and mask to make themselves less suspicious in that crowd, then I had no choice but to split my attention to this tour while sneaking around. After all, I still couldn’t sense other intruders around.

It’d make sense for them to blend in with the common folk to escape my watch, but they couldn’t have noticed me. Trapping themselves in some indoor educational tour out of all places was practically asking to get caught. It sounded more reasonable to think they weren’t aware of me yet and went to investigate their next location: this museum.

As far as I knew, this museum was mostly about world history focusing on the events from the twentieth century and all that boring junk. Buuuut…

I glanced at the vent cover I broke behind me and smirked.

If this museum was hiding some secret that my target was after, then all I had to do was find it first and wait for them to walk to me.