Rift

Chapter 14: Only Sacrifice

He watches as she opens the door a crack, pulls something small and black out of her boot, and slips through the exit, cautiously shutting the door behind her to cover her tracks. But the red on her hands left smears on the golden doorknob.

Cree's face hardens and he looks around before approaching the door, seeing that his suspicion was correct. The red stain is blood, and he highly doubts it was her own. Putting two and two together, he's willing to bet that black thing she pulled out was the Augmenter she stole from Fulminare. The one she used to kill Fritz.

He glances back at Colin, seeing that his attention is still on The Envoy. He briefly considers getting him or at least telling him what's going on in case Regan gets back and worries, but he can't risk The Envoy hearing.

Against his better judgment, he turns back to the door and carefully cracks it open, slipping through and shutting it behind him. At least this is better than feeding his headache by listening to the music loop alongside flea-bitten admirers who don't seem to hear a word he says.

He looks around the hallway, seeing that Jane is nowhere to be found. But he doesn't need to see her, as it seems being careful isn't really high on her list of priorities at the moment. Along the wall are a few more blood streaks, leading down the left of the hallway.

But unlike her, he is careful. He hopes the only 'weapon' she has is that Augmenter, because if so, he's safe. That thing can only kill Hexes, at least from what he understands. Knives, however, are all-inclusive. Especially when security doesn't think to check someone's arm for weapons.

He clicks his right arm and the blade snaps out from his wrist, slightly concealed by the sleeve of his black blazer. He keeps his stance slightly grounded as he starts to steadily make his way down the hall, following the trail of blood.

"What are you up to now, Harvey...?" he mutters to himself while he walks. She's a part of the Imperium, so she should just have access to these areas of the Bastion. If that's the case but she's still sneaking around, she must be up to something that The Director wouldn't be pleased with. Maybe if he finds what that something is, and The Director just so happens to find out, that may do them some good towards getting Jane out of the picture.

Damn, is he becoming like Colin? Or Regan? Normally, he wouldn't bother trying to pull strings and undermine his enemy to deal with them, he would prefer to do it himself with a well-placed stab to their throat. He guesses this night of politics and meticulous thinking is making him go soft.

Can't have that.

If he gets his chance to kill her now, he's going to take it. With any luck, he'll be able to get the jump on her. If only Data were here, then he could freely use his invisibility implant without worrying about the effect wearing off. He supposes he'll just have to work with what he's got.

He sees that the blood trail stops at another door with a red-smeared handle. The door is open a crack, so he uses that to his advantage. He sneaks up to it and presses his back against the wall beside the door, craning his head over to peek through the gap and see inside the room, or rather what looks like a large storage room that's about as fancy as the rest of the palace.

He sees Jane holding a woman off the ground by her throat with the Augmenter stabbed through her neck. She viciously rips the device out and it emits a soft beep and the woman's body goes slack.

Just like Fritz. He notes that the woman, now dead, is wearing a Val'Guard uniform. Seems Jane doesn't care who she has to kill to have her way. What she wants, however, is the part that remains a mystery.

Jane tosses the body to the side and looks down at the Augmenter with a smile. He keeps expecting her to use it, but she just tucks it away again. How many Augmentations does she have stored in there? How many people has she killed already?