Chapter 4: Set things off
She looked at the boy through the small one-way window into the cell. The physical family resemblance was stronger between him and Claire than between her and Alexia, with his dark hair and red eyes. But Claire was confident and outspoken to the point of impudence while this young man looked completely dejected and defeated strapped to the interrogation chair, making a sharp contrast between the two.
Looking him over, she tried to see why her sister would have chosen this one. He was attractive enough, with a significantly more muscular frame than what had showed through his uniform but that hardly explained it. There were at least twenty other boys in her year who were as good-looking from much better families and with much more talent. From what she'd heard Alexia had rejected thirteen of these hopefuls already.
"What do we have on him again?" she asked, trying to sort out how he fit into this.
"He was seen arguing with the princess on a tram back to the academy, and it had escalated to the point she drew her sword. The attendant swears he didn't get off after her but he also didn't see him getting off at any other stop, and their fight was so unusual he was apparently keeping an eye out for him".
"That's all, it's not unlikely the attendant just didn't notice him leave?" His black hair and average height would have made him difficult to identify in a crowd. As suspicious as the fight was she would have said it was in his favour overall.
"Not exactly" Zenon elaborated. "When we searched his apartment we didn't find anything to tie him to the kidnapping, but there was almost a million Zeni hidden under his mattress. Given what I know about his family it seems like too much for a second son's allowance".
"What's your opinion?"
"Honestly I don't think he's involved. He isn't strong enough to overpower the princess himself and he has no known associates that could or would have helped him. He might still have some useful information though."
"Has he said what they were fighting about, or where he got the money?"
"No. He just said it was private and that it was his savings." Zenon hesitated before proceeding "I'd advise you to let him go while having him tailed. He hasn't given us anything yet so I don't think he will unless your willing to do serious damage, and if he is somehow involved it's probably our best chance to learn something."
Too slow. Alexia's out there somewhere and that could take days and not even lead anywhere.
"I'll go talk to him alone. Maybe he'll be a little more forthcoming with me".
She walked into the room, deciding to go for a friendly and casual approach as she looked down at Cid. The cuts and bruises that covered his torso and legs proved the hard way had already been tried.
He seemed slow to realize she was there, then his eyes widened in recognition "Your Highness".
She waved the title away "This isn't a formal occasion. You can just call me Iris, okay?"
"Okay Yo-Iris"
"You probably already know why I'm here. Given what we've been able to find out there's no way you were the one to take Alexia since you were still on the tram. There are still a few things we need to go over before you go home though".
She paused slightly to give him time to process then decided to start at the beginning "How did you and Alexia start going out?"
She caught the nervous look on his face as he replied "I-uh asked her out and she accepted?"
There's more here.
"Just like that, you hadn't spent any time with her beforehand?"
Again the nervous look "N-no"
"Did she ever tell you why she accepted?"
His eyes darted around the room as if he was hoping to find some previously unseen way out of the cell then replied in a small voice "She asked me not to say anything, but it was because one of her suitors has been pressuring her. She wanted to annoy him and stall so she could find a way to dismiss him".
"Who was this candidate?"
He looked at the window and she immediately understood when he turned away and whispered "Zenon"
Well that explains why she went with a nobody no-one would take seriously and why he hasn't said any of this while Zenon was in the room.
She mover around him, so both she and Cid couldn't be seen directly through the window to calm him. "Alright, I have a couple of other questions. We found a fairly large sum of money in your apartment, could you tell me where you got it? If it's not related to this, I wont say anything about it"
"When I found out Alexia only went out with me to piss off Zenon I was...upset. I wanted to break up with her right away so she offered to pay me not to".
That explains the money, but I'll need to check with her friends to see if they can confirm it. It's still just a story even if it does make sense.
"One last thing Cid". Putting on a warm smile she continued "You seemed to be in a fight with Alexia when you were with her last, could you tell me what it was about?"
He hesitated again "I honestly don't know, that's why I haven't said anything about it. I just said I liked her swordsmanship and she completely freaked out about it".
Iris was glad she was already smiling, it would have been impossible to make herself after hearing that.
"Oh-well that's" why was she even going to explain this to a random student "Thank you Cid. I'll send someone to get your school things and you can go home." Simultaneously convinced he wasn't involved and yet closer than ever to hitting him she turned to leave.
"Please wait, has there been any messages from the kidnappers. Like a ransom or demands?"
The concern in his voice made her look him over again and cooled her temper slightly. Apparently even though he was hired he still cared a lot about her sister.
"No, nothing yet."
---
Cid kept up his dejected walk as he made his way out of the interrogation room, trying his best to imitate a slightly drunk gambler who'd just lost big.
The interrogation had been poggers. He got to cast suspicion on Zenon and fulfil the side-character red-herring part of the mystery. He probably shouldn't have explained about Alexia's freak out though. It would have been better if he refused to talk about it and there was still a mystery involving him after the interrogation so he'd still be suspicious. He'd just been kind of curious about why it set her off, but Iris hadn't let slip what she knew so that idea bombed.
To keep himself from looking to happy he focused on his most recent disappointment, that he seemed completely unable to do vague hint dialogue properly. He'd spent the time alone in his cell going over what he'd said and still couldn't understand where he was going wrong. This genuinely rendered him mildly afraid as this was a critical part of being the eminence in shadow.
He'd been at his pointless early morning training exercises with Claire that morning when the topic of his love life came up. Claire had been loudly wondering why he was wasting his time with Alexia and warning him not to get too attached since it probably wasn't going to last. Wanting to see if the last time with Beta had been a fluke he'd given the hint again, explaining that the relationship had certain benefits and he couldn't say more since Alexia swore him to secrecy about it.
Again he'd got that vaguely horrified and disappointed look as she replied "You're really growing up aren't you Cid".
Dammit all to hell.
"I suppose" Doing things you'd rather not do to be financially secure was one of the major developments everyone went through as they grew up. "Being the heir I'm sure mom and dad will be on you to start doing it yourself soon".
She sighed "They already have but I haven't met anyone I'd want to get into that kind of relationship with. It'll be easy enough to stall them until after I graduate, since I'll be worth more after I win the Bushin festival".
It was true that people who did well or won the Bushin festival were highly sought after in various positions but this was still somewhat surprising coming from Claire. "You're such an overachiever I thought you would just rush in as soon as you could".
She punched his stomach
"What kind of girl do you think I am". Looking down at him she seemed to take pity and wrapped him in a hug "Be careful Cid. I just don't want you to get hurt".
You just hit me ten seconds ago.
But he dutifully said he would, set off for class and was promptly arrested. He had to give the knights credit for waiting until Claire was out of the picture before taking him in.
Once he gathered his things (most importantly his Zeni) and made his way outside he heard a vaguely familiar voice call his name. It was the student council president and his pick for person with the most main character energy of the entire student body, Rose Orianna. She was incredibly popular with the upper and lower classes of students, had incredible talent as a spellsword and had an image as a refined and caring young noble lady that greatly surpassed Alexia's.
Cid suppressed a shiver as he imagined how screwed up in the head this one had to be.
"Class president, are you alright?".
Her left arm was in a sling and a dark purple bruise covered her right cheek.
"Yes I'm perfectly fine. It was just a small duel that got somewhat out of hand" she replied unabashed.
Cid thought this over. The school provided free healing magic except in the cases of unauthorised duels, to punish the participants. Given her reputation and the fact she was still injured it was fairly clear what had happened.
"I'm sorry about Claire. She tried to come in after me didn't she?"
"Well, yes" Rose replied, blushing slightly. "You're sister really seems to care about you. Given how emotional she was I thought she might cause a problem with Iris and make the whole situation worse so I stopped her from going in".
"Thanks" he held out a hand "Do you want me to heal that, I'm pretty good at it". Healing relied more on control than pure power and since you could tap into the other person's mana it didn't break character.
She nodded and he set his hand on her cheek. After a few seconds the bruise faded away and the Rose began to free her arm from the sling.
"It seems I owe you thanks as well" she bowed her head slightly. Straightening she continued "I came here to escort you back to your dormitory. Tensions with the students is quite high at the moment and the teachers have agreed you should take the next few days off to let things settle".
Yes! Free vacation.
"O-Okay. It's this way" he said setting off down the road.
They talked intermittently as they set off, while Cid tried not to show he noticed the tail set on him. Despite the fact that they'd never spoken before and he wasn't that interested Rose was able to keep the conversation going fairly well, asking him about his classes and his home while briefly talking about her own.
When they reached his dorm room he opened the door and stepped inside while Rose waited on the threshold.
"I should be going, I was only given one class off to bring you here."
"See you. Have a good time".
Rose stopped as she began to turn away, frowning "You're not worried about Alexia are you?"
"Not really" the look on her face told him he needed to elaborate "Whoever took her probably wants money or to strong-arm her dad. For that they need her alive and unharmed so she should be fine once this whole thing blows over".
"I suppose that's true" Rose replied cautiously beginning to smile "You're much more calm and optimistic about this than I would have expected. Goodbye Cid Kagenou".
She departed for real this time and Cid closed the door.
"We're alone. Come out Alpha".
----
The space under Cid's bed was surprisingly clean. Alpha had to hide under here once it was clear the Orianna girl would be accompanying him up here. She was briefly reminded of what must have happened with the last princess he'd brought to this bedroom before quickly putting it out of mind and moving into position.
News of Cid's arrest had been slow to reach her. Epsilon had just arrived and had spent the last two hours going over her intelligence reports when Beta, no longer able to contain herself explained about Shadow's new romantic developments.
Epsilon had responded predictably in a complete uproar "I mean clearly you, I mean I, I mean we" she growled face to face with Beta, moving her hand up and down as if trying to present something invisible between their thighs and chests "are better equipped for that sort of thing".
She completely shut down when Beta suggested Shadow might prefer girls with a more slight figure, the poor girl. She'd be the worst hit if that turned out to be true.
Nu had burst in and shouted that shadow had been arrested. Epsilon had wanted to mount a rescue immediately but she and Beta had realized Cid must have allowed himself to be arrested for some reason they didn't currently understand.
From there they had investigated the people running the investigation reasoning Cid had allowed this to draw out the cult's hidden agents who would doubtless want to be involved in the investigation of their own crime. They started from the top, with Alpha herself looking into the most senior investigator (excluding Iris) and striking gold straight away.
There was proof of his plot to kidnap Alexia and which even several locations she could be held in his home. They had confirmed the princess's presence at the most isolated of these locations and moved to report to Cid as soon as Nu reported his release.
"Were alone. Come out Alpha".
She crawled out from under the bed with as much dignity and grace as she could.
"You managed to find Zeta's favourite spot".
"It seems that's another opinion we don't share. It was just the best place to hide when I saw you had company. I was almost worried you'd managed to woo another princess". She hadn't managed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
Cid shook his head "Beta told you about that huh. I guess we might as well share the fruit of my hard work" He moved to a cabinet, triggered the false back to slide out of sight, pulled out a bottle of wine started and started pouring two glasses.
Thoroughly confused she asked "What does that wine have to do with Alexia?"
Cid responded in a slightly irritated tone "I bought it with the money she paid me to pretend to be her boyfriend, what else?".
Quickly putting this together with Beta's exact report about his reluctance to go into detail for the princess's dignity, she smiled and took the offered glass. The taste was so exquisite she immediately looked down at the bottle to try and read the vintage. From her limited knowledge she thought this would have cost at least 300,000 Zeni.
I suppose he can get everything he wants by himself after all.
"It seems you're in quite a difficult situation Cid?". Of course she would be able to help him out of it.
He smirked "Do you really believe that? I'm exactly where I want to be right now".
Of course he is. It was obvious he'd get ahead of you again. It happens every time.
"A-are you hungry?" she said offering a few sandwiches she had bought for them to share. She could at least be useful that way.
He sat down and devoured the first one in less than a second. As he moved to the second he explained "Alexia has been taken to a warehouse just behind Orchard street and since I'm one of the suspects I'm being tailed. The knights are watching the front and back doors right now. When I slip past them tonight while they think I'm still here and rescue Alexia, I'll not only deal with the cult but I'll also make them think it's impossible for me to be Shadow".
Stupid, stupid girl.
She thought it had been a mistake on his part, letting Alexia be kidnapped but it made much more sense to allow it to happen and rescue her later. He would be safe as the cult would want to use him as a diversion for as long as possible and Alexia would be safe given their need for her blood. The alibi he would forge right in front of Iris (arguably their greatest obstacle excluding the cult) would be unbreakable.
Shadow didn't make mistakes, only the people around him did.
"I see. We found out that location by investigating Zenon Griffey. Did you find out the same way?"
"I suppose" he answered hesitantly. "But you should be prepared for the fact that he may simply be another false trail".
"Now that you mention it there was something suspicious about the map we found to Alexia's location. It appears the spot she was abducted was marked, but she shouldn't have been expected there and there's no reason to mark it after the fact."
What an idiotic mistake to make.
Cid nodded but said nothing. Alpha sat down opposite him feeling inexplicably tired. She noticed belatedly that Cid was holding the last sandwich.
"Since you'll be moving in tonight I'll need to move up my plan to simultaneously strike at the cult's other holdings in the capital to match. Is there anything I should keep in mind?"
"I'll be taking care of the warehouse and I'll give you a distraction and a signal for when to strike".
She could easily work that into her current plan, and a distraction would let them more easily blindside the enemy.
"What will it be?"
"Just look up and you'll see it. You probably wont even have to do that."
Cid finished his sandwich and moved to the window, looking down on the poorly disguised knights that surrounded the building
"You didn't bring any potato chips did you?"
"Apologies, but no". If he was still hungry she certainly wasn't going to bring up the fact he just ate her sandwiches.
"Shame. It would have really set things off".
He turned away from the window and back to face her.
"Hey Alpha, why would a girl get angry if you said you liked her swordplay?"
"I take it this has to do this the princess?" It would be easier to answer this honestly knowing his only interest in the girl was professional and financial.
"Yeah I said that to her and she flipped out in public, pretty random right?"
"I think" Alpha replied slowly "It might have to do with her sister. She's always been overshadowed by her and it might be hard for her to think anything she does is worthwhile. She probably thought you were being insincere."
"Who the hell thinks that way? I was just trying to be nice"
She hesitated a moment, but it would just be too petty to bring up the other girls in Shadow Garden who envied the shades and her in particular. "I do, sometimes" she stood up to face him, it was somehow harder to say just looking at the wall. "You're strong enough and wise enough to move ahead of us all on your own and we know you don't really need us, but we still want to help you as much as we can. You saved us from a fate worse than death and gave us completely new lives, you taught us who we are. I know you don't mean it that way but when you don't involve us and handle things yourself we feel unreliable, like you can't trust in us or believe in us".
She'd just sprung everything she'd been thinking during their nineteen month separation on him out of the blue. She'd been ashamed to face him until she had built the organisation to a suitable level and each time she hit a goal, she considered it wasn't enough and set out to develop Shadow Garden even more before showing Cid.
Cid just stared at her for a moment and then put a hand on her shoulder "I-do trust you guys, all of you. There have been times where I've felt that I couldn't overcome someone, and that people didn't believed in me".
It seemed impossible "You're not talking about us are you?"
"No... I know you all believe in me". She could have sworn his voice shifted a fraction higher. She'd forgotten how relaxed he was when it was just the two of them and he didn't have to act as a ruler. She could feel her eyes beginning to water
They were silent for a moment, with Cid looking at her and her looking into his chest. Cid broke it saying with slightly forced enthusiasm "About the raid tonight, do you want to come with? It's been ages since we did something just the two of us right?"
She'd have to give command to Gamma but that didn't matter at all. Right now she would have given command to 626, their newest recruit.
"I-I'd love to"
Her voice was clearly breaking. Who was she kidding, she'd have given the command to Delta if it meant she could go with him right now.
"Cool. I'll meet you on one of the roofs nearby at midnight."
Alpha nodded and prepared to leave, not trusting her voice to say anything else when something else leapt up in her mind so alarming it pushed back her swirling emotions.
"Who couldn't you overcome? I need to warn the others, he could be incredibly dangerous"
"He was a man able to destroy cities and kill hundreds of thousands in an instant" She shuddered "It's taken me a long time to match his strength, but he's long dead so you don't need to worry about him".
"Who was this man?" maybe Eta would know something about this mysterious destroyer.
"Oppenheimer".
----
Dammit Alpha, you just had to guilt trip me didn't you.
The chance of the cult being real had only reached 40% with the lack of ransom demands and he would have almost no opportunity to investigate without looking like a tard if he was wrong with her there but still…
" I can do it. I'll be a real shadowbroker, just you wait".
He still remembered his first childhood. Even then he'd trained himself relentlessly and initially his friends and even his parents had supported him (even though his parents had just been humouring what they thought was a childish flight of fancy). Then one day, one of his more popular friends had said
" Shadowbroker's don't really exist. You're just embarrassing yourself playing pretend".
And just like that, his friends didn't want to hear a word about it. His parents too thought that he it was time for him to let go. They didn't understand anything.
He realized early on that he would have to do it without their acceptance, and set about pretending like he'd just realized how embarrassing the whole thing was while settling into his NPC role. But he still remembered how it had stung, that he wanted at least a couple of people to confide in and work with as the eminence in shadow.
That was why having Alpha and the others had been so fun at the start. That had soured over the last year and a half as he'd started to consider them as some sort of opposition.
He became the eminence in shadow because he enjoyed it, because he admired the position and thought it would be fun to be one himself. If he thought believing in Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Eta was the more enjoyable thing, that was obviously what he should do.
If they got him, he'd just have to hold his hands up, say well done and plan his retaliation.