I somewhat chuckled at my joke as the three stared up at me, two of them slack-jawed, while the other sat there, blank expression on her face. Almost robotic, in a way. I was enjoying this. Almost made me wish I had a camera. I'd love to save their faces to memory for the end of time.

  These were them. The mysterious little smash and grabbers that launched their assault against the ASIC before we got there, and made off with all the capture disks.

  "Look, I applaud your willingness to go after the ASIC, I really do. I don't know how you managed to run this little, operation, under my nose like this, but frankly?" Part of me wanted to enjoy the looks on their faces, but this was starting to get a bit mean. "I'm impressed. You ran it clean. If you'd just started a few minutes earlier, got finished a few minutes earlier, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. But the problem is."

  The problem was despite the compliment, they were looking even more nervous than they had before. Maybe I was misreading the situation? No, I don't think I was. None of them looked like ASIC members. None of them had the colors. And they were, if nothing else, a little scuffed up from what had to have been a fight. Could this be a bluff? Make it look like there was an attack and slip supplies through the cracks?

  "Look, one way or another, I might be willing to let you off with a warning, but I'm not letting you keep those disks. It's contraband for a reason, and it needs to be disposed of," my eyes narrowed, letting it be known that I wasn't going to be brokering an argument. I didn't exactly like letting vigilantes run free, but they did good enough work it seemed like that making a job offer in the future wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

  The more capable people were working under me or Vert, the less workload either of us would have to deal with. Delegating was an important skill, just like many, many others.

  "She doesn't seem to recognize who we are. What are your orders?" The one who was still wearing a blank expression asked, looking towards the only guy in the car. Who was still sweating bullets, something that put me on edge. I could get being taken by surprise, but as much as I was sure these weren't ASIC members, the fact they were still acting this way when the shock should have already run its course was concerning me.

  And I didn't know who they were. At the end of the day, I didn't know as much about the average citizen as I knew that some of them thought I did. I certainly would know anything about random civilians, unless they were involved with the ASIC, but that would make them them criminals, not random civilians.

  "Smokescreen!" The man at the wheel shouted, the vehicle releasing a plume of white smoke, almost like a naval smokescreen. I coughed, closing my eyes as I heard the vehicle shoot back, starting to head through the path it had originally come from. Instead of rocketing forward in a half-blind pursuit, instead, I gained altitude, breaking out of smoke.

  Well, it seemed like I was going to get far more action today than I thought I would. They had enough time to break my line of sight, but I could still hear the roar of the engine was it screamed through the trees. I could still track them. I could still follow them.

  Members of the ASIC or not, they had just piqued my interest. And I was going to get answers out of them. And not just because they decided that they wanted the disks for their own purposes. Even if that was still high on my list.

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  They had to have gotten turned around at some point. They wouldn't be keeping good time otherwise.

  I was staying low, flying through the trees. That jeep of theirs wasn't going too quick, either, and it was easy to see the trail, no matter how much the noise of the engine bounced off the trees. I was getting closer, but I made sure to take care that I looked up every once and a while. I was flying far too low for me to be overconfident about not having anything jump on me from above.

  I was used to being one of the top dogs. The instinct was there. Nobody is going to mess with me, why bother looking up?

  Which normally wouldn't be an issue. But with the trees? I couldn't discount some form of contingency measure on their end. It was unlikely. But props to them if they did have a secondary escape route panned. And I sure wasn't going to risk the entire pursuit over it. I could only imagine the embarrassment of being incapacitated and being unable to pursue as the result of a single well-placed trap.

  I shudder at the thought.

  I didn't like how this place was going to mess with my range though. The ASIC chose their location well. Artillery strikes or sniping was a lot less effective when you didn't exactly know where your target was. Sure, artillery was dear grid coordinates, but it was always best to know where you were shooting.

  Finally, I managed to spot the vehicle through the trees, bouncing over the dirt, mud, and roots. Its erratic movement made it a pain to hit. Sure, using a more explosive option would take out the jeep. At the cost of taking out the jeep. Same with hitting the wheel. Under decent circumstances, it would just spin out or flip. Now? It would go careening into a tree. Either option wouldn't get me any answers, for the dead tell no tales.

  That, and I still needed to make sure the disks were destroyed first and foremost. And maybe destroying them would inform me of why they wanted them in the first place, based on their reactions.

  They weren't going fast, but with all the factors, I should be able to knock the disks off with a well-placed arrow. And if that didn't do the trick? I'd be able to destroy them with the next shot.

  Flitting through the trees, I waited for the perfect moment to launch my attack, hoping to take them off guard. The jeep bounced, hitting some rock or root, with the box's full of disks in the back bouncing along with it. Upwards they arced, carried forward by momentum. I fired, releasing the arrow, sending it screaming through the air. Speeding through the air, it found its mark, slamming into the cracks, blowing them clear out of the jeep.

  Is what I would have said if the girl with the blank, emotionless repression didn't suddenly move, pivoting into the back of the jeep, raising up her hands. From them, a barrier erupted, between my arrow and the jeep.

  I hadn't fired the arrow with anything approaching my full strength. I needed precision, not firepower, and I was no stranger to more, narrow applications of my abilities. But that lack of power out of worry about causing them previous harm was more than enough to let the blue barrier hold against my arrow. The clash of green and blue flickered for moments, before the arrow bounced away, being sent flying through the air and into a tree.

  "Protecting the cargo," her voice was just as mono-tone as I thought it would be. Well, that was going to be a problem. Now I was kicking my butt for not bringing back up here. I needed a clear line of sight to get a shot off, while also needing a shot strong enough to get through the barrier and have enough momentum to break or scatter the boxes. All while making sure the shot wasn't strong enough to total the jeep and kill everyone inside.

  That was a narrow tightrope to walk. Still, the road was narrow. If it could even be called a road in the first place. The trees were thick, helping hem them in. They had some lateral movement.

  But not much.

  If it was a road, then getting the equipment to fix it all the way out here was going to be a pain in the ass. It wasn't just quite as simple as slapping a bunch of dirt in a hole and calling it a day. I know plenty of people that thought it was in fact, that simple. They were wrong. Dirt roads like these were made through compaction. A constant every single footfall or car. Likely made over years, if not generations. Not to mention the soil had to have similar properties, otherwise it would weather at different rates, and then we'd just be here, with a pothole further down the line.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  But fine. Fixing the problem would take a bit, but the cost of letting them get away? Far worse.

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  "I think we lost her!"

  "Think? She just flew off! We have no idea what she's planning to do!"

  "There is a 70% chance that she's going to blow the road in front and behind us."

  A trio of loud booms echoed through the jungle, before three more bolts streaked through the air.

  "Make that 99% percent."

  "What's the 1%?"

  "Her missing."

  The jeep came to a stop.

  "Why are you stopping, you idiot! Drive!"

  "We're hemmed in. The only way we can get out now is on foot."

  "I'd rather fight a Goddess's kid sister than walk through that jungle."

  "Well, that's too bad. If you want to fight a holding action only to be captured, feel free. Until then? We're walking."

  "I would offer to carry you, but I need to transport the supplies first. I don't think I'll be able to bring all of them."

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  Well, half of it was gone. It didn't take long to reduce what remained to a smoldering crater. But they had still taken half and disappeared into the jungle. I should have figured that they'd be willing to resort to alternative methods to escape if I blew up their main routes.

  Which left hunting them through the damn jungle. They were on foot now, at the least, while I could still fly. But I was flying lower than I had before, just to be sure I could track their footprints through the soil and mud. Which was a lot more difficult than I originally assumed it would be.

  Tracking a jeep? Its big tires left gouges off road, one that could be tracked if they went deep enough for a while. Footsteps? Human footsteps?

  A lot smaller. They could vanish quickly. And they were far less regular. Of course, their head start was only a few minutes at best, so I was still closing the distance. But it didn't make the situation any less of a pain in the ass. And it also gave me time to think about the girl. The one with the blank expression and could make barriers with her hands.

  Weird weapons were a dime a dozen in Gamindustri. That was correct no matter how you looked at it. Even things that shouldn't be used as weapons were regularly used. But this was the first time I'd seen something like that. Which raised the question of just how human was she? If she was human in the first place?

  I doubted she was a monster, either. But the line between monster robot and just robot was, blurry at best, nearly none existential at worst. But having one on tap raised several questions. All of them are concerning. How did they get their hands on one? Did they have backers? Were they treating it like an actual human being?

  That was kinda important, and they better. I would have less reason to forgive them if they didn't. However, it was not like I was too inclined to at the moment.

  I came out here expecting to wipe out the last of the ASIC production capacity in Leanbox, not chase down a bunch of hooligans through the jungle. Hooligans that may or may not have some sort of high-end robot working for them.

  Yeah, maybe hooligans wasn't the right word I was looking for. You didn't get something like that by being random punks on the street. I still didn't think they were ASIC, either. Usually, when that happened, Linda was somehow involved. You didn't just pull three random mooks out of nowhere like that.

  That, and they were proving to be more competent than standard mooks, anyway. At some point, most would just say screw it and try to go out with some dignity. Which just led to them getting caught. It was a very efficient system. But them? They knew what they wanted, and were doing everything in their power to get away with the goods. Which frankly meant trying to play keep away as much as possible.

  Annoying as it was.

  As I moved through the trees, the sound of an explosion reached my ears. Oh, what now?

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  Well, there was only one way to describe the situation.

  A problem.

  They had seen her in the area, but with Green Sister in pursuit, they were far more worried about the one, rather than the other.

  Taking their eyes off Green Heart.

  A lot of men would like to think they'd love to be in his present situation. He could now confirm that those men were stupid.

  "Well, well. I didn't expect you to cause my darling sister so much trouble," Green Heart hovered in the air above them. The last box of disks was now a smoldering wreck, each of them destroyed in the initial attack.

  This was bad. There was no way Green Sister didn't hear the attack, either. They'd managed to double back past her without her noticing, only for this to happen. Even without Green Sister here, it was a bit of a mismatch.

  Maybe. Green Heart had to be shaking off the effects of her capture. Maybe they could use that.

  "Alright, there you are, and eh?" Green Sister finally broke into the clearing, her face stern and annoyed, turning to that of confusion. For whatever reason, Green Heart looked sheepishly at her younger sister. "What are you doing here?"

  Well, that confirmed a few things. The mission may have been a failure, but escape might not be so hopeless after all.

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  Vert? What the hell was Vert doing here?

  "You're supposed to be resting," I crossed my arms, doing my best to look stern. At least Vert had the decency to look sheepish about it.

  "I thought you might need some help?" She said, shifting slightly as she did so. If anything, I wanted to glare even more. She should be, no, needed, to be resting! She'd been through a lot and needed to recover! I wouldn't mind her being on paperwork duty, but out here? Where there was who knows what running around? She was still tired, and it wasn't safe as a result. I don't care if Leanbox hands a decent amount of Shares that could help with recovery.

  But.

  It wasn't like she was wrong. I kinda wanted to smack myself. The first lesson I tried to beat into my fellow's heads was the idea that teamwork makes the dream work, and here I was, chasing a bunch of punks through the jungle that would have been so much easier if I had just brought some backup.

  "And I did. But next time, let me know so we can coordinate better," I offer with a sigh. Keeping her safe was the smarter play, as risking Vert getting hurt was just, something I didn't want to do right now, even beyond any other reasons. But if she was going to help, it would be best to be able to keep an eye on her. To make sure she stayed safe. Vert nodded a smile on her face. "Now, as for your chuckle."

  A thick blanket of smoke hung beneath our feet. Wonderful.

  "Please tell me you destroyed the disks before they pulled out another smoke bomb?" I asked, pinching my brow.

  "Yes, I did," Vert smiled, quite pleased with herself. "Should we go after them?"

  I was tempted. After all that, I wanted to shake them down and get some answers. Who were they, who were they working for, and why did they want the disks? But if the disks were destroyed?

  Then, the original objective was accomplished. And chasing them through the jungle again, even if we had two of us now?

  "I'll contact a sketch artist, see if we can get some wanted posters up, offer information for a partial reward in the meantime," I said. I was kinda, of just done with today. And I was going to have to get repair crews out here to fix the road, too.

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  "There's Green Heart, too! I knew Green Sister had something up her sleeve!"

  That and phrases like it were uttered as we landed back at the command post.

  "What do we do when people start assuming more planning went into this than there actually was?" Vert whispered into my ear.

  "Just smile and wave, it'll be fine."