2023-08-16 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
| Title: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Akari, formerly known as The Phantom Fox, has finally secured the prize she has been seeking: the recovery of the prototype device, Strike Wolf. She retreats to a safe place to continue her investigations with this vital new lead. | |
| Who: Akari, Strike Wolf (written by Kyouka Okazaki) | |
| Where: A small, run-down apartment | |
| OOC - IC Date: 8/16/2023 - Monday, March 14, 2016 | |
Akari stepped into her apartment and locked the door behind her. She was currently wearing the appearance of a young woman with impossibly bright red hair and green eyes, and as she let the magical wards in her apartment reassert themselves, she relaxed, letting a pair of fox ears poke out through her hair and two bushy fox tails appear behind her.
"Finally," she muttered, as she leaned back against the apartment door and tried to collect her thoughts.
The apartment she was renting was, by no means, luxurious. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was small and cramped, but most importantly it was cheap, and she could pay her rent in cash. That meant less questions, and less of a paper trail to leave.
The living room of the apartment doubled as the bedroom, with a bed folding out from the couch. With the bed unfolded, there was barely enough room left to stand in the living room, not that she really used it. Old and faded carpet covered the floor, and there were several spots where the carpet was worn through to the bare floor. The kitchen was barely any better; it would be fair to say it just took up one wall of the living room, consisting of a paltry amount of counter space and a couple of appliances, at least one of which didn't work.
The best thing that could be said about the bathroom was that the shower and toilet did, in fact, function.
The small size of the apartment was also an advantage: it was far easier to ward the small space to hide any presence of her magical signature. It provided her with some small assurance of safety, though safety was truly a thing she could not take for granted anymore, after…
Well, the last place she'd considered safe was wrecked now. She couldn't afford to drop her guard anymore, not until she got some answers and had found everything that was dear to her.
Akari had done her best to increase her operational security. Multiple dimensional shifts to try and hide her trail, which meant expending more of her Master's energy, but that was a calculated risk she had to take. Next was a long bus ride in from the next city over to force anybody that might be tailing her to either get close enough to be on the bus or to expend magic to keep up with her, which she could hopefully detect. It was frankly an exhausting procedure to do, one she didn't always bother with, but tonight she had a reason to go through the effort.
But she was here, now. In her left hand she clutched a fast food bag and a soda cup. Her right, after locking the door again, had slipped into the pocket of her white lab coat, to clutch at a small object within. She withdrew it, looking it over. The bulk of it was a black leather bracelet, but the real prize was seated on top: a small, purple five-sided gem. But within that seemingly simple facade lied a wondrously complex blend of magic and technology that was native to her but alien to the planet she was stuck on.
An Intelligent Device, capable of granting the right mage access to a wealth of power. It was, as yet, incomplete, the prized creation of her and her Master. Their greatest work, though one she was realizing she knew frustratingly little about. Even incomplete, it had already caused so much trouble, but right now…
It was her only hope of finding more answers.
Something odious tickled at her nose and she frowned, tilting her head up to sniff at the air. "What in the…" Next to the couch there was a small table overflowing with discarded candy wrappers and chip bags, and she pushed most of them onto the floor to make room for her fast food and the device. It only took 3 steps to cross the tiny apartment to get to the fridge. She opened it up and recoiled, gagging as she slammed the door shut.
A cloud of a rancid odor had spilled out, insinuating itself into her nostrils and causing her stomach to churn. She coughed as she tried to breath deep and dispel the odor threatening to settle into her sinuses. The only thing in the fridge had been a chinese takeout container.
When had she even bought that? Akari couldn't remember. It wasn't like her to not finish something like that. Maybe she'd been in a rush and had simply forgotten about it?
She was always in a rush these days, wasn't she? But she couldn't afford to stand still, not until she had fulfilled her duty to her Master. Akari couldn't even remember the last time she'd gotten a proper night's sleep. Having to keep one eye open in case danger came looking for her, driving herself to exhaustion to look for answers, the last time she'd just been able to truly rest seemed so impossibly long ago.
Akari rubbed at her face before giving her head a shake. Even now, exhaustion was threatening to overtake her, but she couldn't afford to give in. Not now, not when she was so close to getting the answers she wanted.
"No more mistakes," she told herself firmly. "You messed up and let that ogre tail you. If it hadn't been for that girl…" Akari gave the refrigerator a wary sideglance. "... I'll clean you up later. No sense stinking up the rest of the joint."
The foxwoman turned back to the couch and threw off the cushions. Underneath was the metal frame of a folded up bed. She pulled it up just enough, not to unfold the bed, but to get at the stash of equipment underneath. Everything she had managed to salvage from the invaded lab, everything she had been collecting running her errands for her Master. Akari pulled out a small diagnostic device, a circular thing with a flat surface on top, then stood and pushed the bedframe back down. Only one cushion was replaced before she sat down, crossing her legs as she settled in.
The bag of fast food got moved to rest on the still exposed metal frame of the bed next to her. It was still warm, and a tantalizing bouquet of aromas drifted up from it, making her mouth water. In the bag's place she put the diagnostic reader, and put the intelligent device on top. The diagnostic reader stirred to life, lights on its surface flickering as a connection was established with the Intelligent Device, and a pleasant hum chimed when the connection was complete.
Akari reached into the bag and pulled out a double bacon cheeseburger, unwrapping it and biting into it with relish. She closed her eyes and let the medley of flavors play out over her tongue before swallowing.
"Okay, prototype. Enable diagnostic mode."
The device did not respond.
Akari grunted in frustration and poked at the device's standby form with a finger. "It says the connection's established, and I know you're functioning. Don't tell me that girl disabled your audio receptors or something."
Figures. First she steals the prototype–though both her and the prototype insisted she hadn't–and now when she finally agreed to turn it over, she had committed some form of sabotage. She should have expected that.
<Audio receptors nominal.>
"Then what is your problem?" snapped the familiar.
The device's surface pulsed with a soft inner light as it replied, <Designation 'Prototype' is not recognized.>
Akari stared. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." If she didn't know any better she would say the device was giving her sass. But devices weren't built with those kinds of personality traits. At least, she and her master hadn't been building it that way.
Or so she'd thought, anyway. There are a large number of irregularities that Akari couldn't account for. Which had been the whole point of finding the damn thing to begin with.
"Fine." Through gritted teeth, she spat out, "Strike Wolf, can you please enable diagnostic mode?"
She still couldn't believe that girl had named the prototype. Who did she think she was, anyway?
Strike Wolf let out a pleasant chime in time with a light flashing across his surface. <Affirmative. Authenticating… Authorizing… Access granted.Diagnostic mode enabled.>
Akari scowled as she took another bite out of her burger, but this one she couldn't even enjoy. She watched as an array of holographic panels sprang to life in front of her, filling up with data and information. There was a dizzying amount of it, but Akari was practiced at dealing with such things. She was still chewing as she reached out, moving several of the panels aside, and then grabbing one and bring it front and center. A quick gesture made it expand to a larger size.
"Okay," she mumbled around her still half-full mouth of food, "Take me back to device activation."
<Affirmative.>
Information started to fill the panel. A set of coordinates caught Akari's eye and she barked out, "Halt! Show me those coordinates." A window popped up to the side, showing a satellite view of a city street in Tokyo.
"No, no, no! This isn't the lab. Show me the lab already!"
<No records exist. Please clarify.>
Akari turned her head to stare at the device. "What do you mean– The lab. The one where you were made. The one where my Master and I built you. You know, my home? Why can't you show me that, you stupid–"
She blinked. Strike Wolf was suddenly a lot closer than she had expected. Somewhere in her line of questioning she had leaned in closer to the intelligent device, teeth bared and a growl rising in her throat.
Was she seriously trying to intimidate…
Akari forced herself to lean back, pinching at the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "Just… start playback with the earliest recordings you have, no audio."
A small holographic diorama sprang to life, depicting an unknown mage trying to forcibly activate Strike Wolf in the middle of a city street. Akari kept an eye on the logs scrolling by. A call for help, and…
The familiar frowned as an all-too-familiar girl appeared. She pushed another girl out of the way of a fireball, and then…
"Is that girl nuts?!"
Kyouka Okazaki appeared to be… challenging the mage, running around and even throwing a garbage can lid. But no recordings of magic were registering in the logs.
"Strike Wolf, pause." The holographic display froze instantly, with Kyouka sliding underneath the mage to grab at Strike Wolf. Akari reached up to grab a panel showing some readouts of the ambient magical energy. "Run an integrity check on your logs. You're missing magic readings for that girl."
<Negative. Kyouka Okazaki was not a mage prior to device synchronization.>
Akari stared at Strike Wolf. "You're telling me that girl took on that mage without any magic? Seriously?"
<Affirmative.>
She couldn't help but laugh, letting out several sharp barks. "She really is nuts. Continue playback."
Akari thought the knowledge that the human girl who'd given her such trouble was crazy would be some comfort, but she couldn't help but stew in her thoughts as the playback continued. They transformed, and Kyouka managed to drive the mage off.
Everything had happened exactly as Kyouka had been insisting this entire time. She'd responded to a call for help, rescued the prototype, and hadn't stolen it at all.
The familiar wasn't sure why that bothered her so much.
The playback continued into something involving a grocery store, and Akari waved her hand to cut off the recording.
"So you weren't active when you were stolen from the lab," pondered Akari out loud. "Or… your files were sabotaged, or I don't have access to that data." She eyed Strike Wolf suspiciously. The only person who could conceivably do that would be her master, and surely she would never shut her out like that, right?
Just like how she definitely hadn't failed to warn her loyal and most trusted familiar of any danger that had been afoot.
Surely not. It would never be that.
There must just be something she was overlooking because she was so tired. That must be it.
Akari shifted the burger to her free hand, reaching into her bag to draw out some garlic fries and pop them into her mouth, chewing as she thought. Digging into the prototype's active memory was the simplest way to investigate, but wasn't the only one.
"Strike Wolf, dismiss holographic playback. Bring up file manifest." The recording closed, and one of the windows she had set aside before came back, enlarging itself. Akari reached up and pulled in another window, listing an alarmingly long list of errors.
"You're missing… a lot of things…" murmured Akari before biting into her burger again. She browsed through both lists in silence, taking mental notes of everything that was either missing or incomplete.
None of this was right. The prototype wasn't due to be operational yet–it almost looked like just enough had been installed to get it operational, but in the process several critical parts and pieces of the device's infrastructure had been skipped. She could only draw one conclusion.
Getting the prototype operational had been a rush job. Having something functioning was deemed more important than having something at 100% capacity.
And she couldn't figure out why.
No matter how much she combed through the device's files, she couldn't find any rationale for the changes. The hours crept by as she searched, her fast food dinner gradually consumed as she searched frantically for anything. A note, a letter, a message, some hidden data file, anything.
Akari slammed her fist down on the arm of the couch. "Nothing!" she shouted. "Master, what were you even thinking…?" Something hot and wet welled up in her eyes, and as she blinked, it began to roll down her cheeks. The foxwoman choked off a sob as she brought a hand to her face, trying in vain to wipe them away.
"... And why didn't you tell me?" she muttered, her voice breaking as she fought to regain her composure.
There was more to look through, more she could look into, but it had been a very long day already, and the slow drain as she realized answers weren't so easy and forth coming had both taken their toll, and she transformed into her native Midchildan fox form, curling up and letting tears stain the fur on her cheeks. Exhaustion quickly overtook her though, and soon enough she grew still.
Strike Wolf, for his part, wisely decided to remain quiet, and when he detected that Akari had fallen asleep, silently closed all of the diagnostic menus to preserve power and keep the light from disturbing her slumber. Then, he internally analyzed the situation.
Something was clearly amiss. The situation did not seem to align with how Akari had represented it to him and Kyouka. It would be a simple matter to reach out to Kyouka or one of her friends telepathically, to summon them for aid. But Akari had not asked for help, and Strike Wolf calculated a very low probability she would accept it if offered.
Strike Wolf was concerned for his partner. She had put on a brave face, but he knew she was upset about the ending of their partnership. But she had insisted so stringently that Strike Wolf think of himself, he could not acceptably deny her wishes. But Kyouka had numerous friends, and would find support among them.
Akari needed support, and there was as yet no evidence she would receive it.
Strike Wolf thought on all this and more, and finally made a decision.
He raised power to his sensors and took up a silent vigil over the slumbering fox.
