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  Eva hit the door pad as Vega regained himself and tried a kick of his own. The door slid shut and caught his leg mid-air.

  “I’m sorry” Varius said as he took advantage of the moment and rammed the suspended leg from the side. A loud snap from Vega’s knee gave Eva a shiver.

  The younger inquisitor groaned in pain and fell to the ground. Since it could not close, the door re-opened and slid back into the wall.

  Varius started to stick his head out the doorframe when a piece of stone frame burst near his face. He withdrew his head back inside the stairwell, his right ear rang loudly.

  “What’s going on here Varius?” Titus asked from out of sight, pistol aimed forward.

  “I need Eva for my investigation” Varius shouted back.

  “She has been convicted of conspiring against this world’s governor. She also has ties to other terrorist cells around the planet. We need to interrogate her.”

  Eva couldn’t contain herself. “You are full of poosh! I don’t have any other contacts with groups. I wasn’t even there during the weapons deal. You are blackmailing me!”

  Varius held up his hand for her to be quiet. He pressed the rectangle at the back of his neck and his helmet formed around his head. Vega slowly crawled out of the line of fire and held his leg as still as he could.

  “Varius, this looks bad. Give her over and I can smooth things with the KoP brass.”

  While the two in the stairwell were quiet, Titus looked to Vega for a signal. He shook his head because he couldn’t see either of them as they hid to either side of the doorway.

  “I will deal with him, get ready to run” Varius whispered to Eva. He took an attachment out of a pocket on his thigh and connected it to his sidearm. “Alright, we’re coming out!”

  “No, just the woman” Titus demanded.

  “I want her to pay for her crimes just as bad as you do Alexander” Varius said as he led her out the door. He hid the sidearm behind his back but also obscured Titus’ view with Eva.

  “Alright Damien, send her over” Alexander ordered.

  “She’s all yours.”

  “I’m not going with him!” Eva shouted.

  Guards began to run down the hallway behind Titus.

  Varius yanked Eva to the left and dove to the right at the same time. He aimed his pistol and fired an electro-round just after Titus discharged his own sidearm. Varius was hit square in the ribcage while Titus was hit square in the chest. Electricity coursed through his body and he violently twitched before he fell to the ground.

  “Titus!” Vega said in surprise.

  Eva stood up and ran over to Varius. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, his shot didn’t penetrate my body armor.” The woman helped her inquisitor up and the two ran off as the guards arrived. They opened fire with their rifles and filled the hallway with bullets and lasers bolts just as they rounded the corner ahead of them.

  The alarm continued to bellow loudly. Guards all throughout the compound got into their emergency positions. The two-mech team of Sierras moved to the front of the building while the Sentrys readied themselves. More infantry agents in their shiny white armor aimed their rifles at the glass doors.

  “I want the woman kept alive. Shoot the inquisitor with her” a very smug field officer, Sabine Horo, said as he clasped his arms behind his back awaiting his easy victory.

  Several long moments went by and no one came out the doors. With a puzzled look on his face the field officer pressed the small earpiece in his left ear. “Do we have confirmation of where they are?...What do you mean you lost them?!...The rear of the building?”

  As Horo looked up to his left he spotted a white armored Keepers of Peace wheeled patrol truck weave in between surprised KoP agents and buildings. The field officer spun around to his Mechs and shouted, “There they are. Fire, fire, fire!”

  The WarMechs all turned towards the fleeing vehicle. One of the Sierras fired its main arm cannon and ran towards the gate while the two Sentrys opened fire with their repeater chest lasers. Red laser bolts filled the air as they flew past the white vehicle. Varius did his best to navigate the frantic scene of lasers and bursts of stone being sent into the air from the Sierras cannons, but the left side of their vehicle was still taking damage.

  One laser bolt burned through the rear passenger window and burned through the other side.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing Inquisitor” Eva said through rattled teeth as they hit a pothole created by one of the Sierras missed shots. Debris pounded the bullet resistant windshield.

  As the armored truck came around the last barracks in the courtyard before they reached the gate the advancing Sierra stomped up in front of them. It lowered itself into a squat stance and fired its chain-gun. Rounds bounced off the hood and windshield but made a terrible noise inside the truck.

  A missed round from the Sierra on their left crossed their path and blew a hole in the compound perimeter wall.

  “Varius turn right!” Eva shouted.

  The Inquisitor glanced over and twisted the wheel to head for the opening. The pair narrowly avoided a round from the cannon of the Sierra guarding the gate. It flew down the courtyard and slammed into the Legatus’ personal armored hovercar.

  Both of the Sentrys continued to fire their repeater lasers gouging burn marks in the stonecrete sidewalks and soil around the evading vehicle as it drove through hole in the wall and down the street.

  “Get me air support!” Horo screamed. He turned to the guard on his right. “Give me your baton!”

  Confused, the guard unholstered his baton and handed it to his superior.

  “Raaaaah!” the field officer vented as he threw the baton into the air. “Go pick that up.”

  The guard looked at the field officer then sighed as he went to retrieve his equipment.

  Chapter 6

  Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rotation: 9

  Prefecture: Siimon

  Planet: Eden

  Location: Downtown Lucifer

  After the pair escaped the Keepers of Peace compound in the stolen patrol truck, they drove for about 15 minutes before they abandoned it inside of a large parking garage. With night setting in the city as the daylight faded, bright neon lights and signs illuminated the downtown streets.

  “Can you take these binders off?” Eva asked as she tried to keep up with Varius as he shoved her in the back. “And can you not do that?”

  “You are a fugitive of the law and a terrorist” Varius said as he spotted a camera in the garage and led her to the stairwell.

  “If you ask me, it seems you are a fugitive yourself now Inquisitor.”

  Angered, Varius whipped her back around and pushed her into the wall. He pointed his gloved finger right at her face. “Enough! I need you to help me with my investigation and then I take you back. I am no criminal.”

  “Tell that to your other inquisitor friends who sure didn’t seem to have a problem attacking you” she said quietly as she looked down at the dent in his chest armor from Titus.

  Varius followed her eyes and calmed slightly.

  Eva held up her bound arms. “Could you please remove these? It isn’t exactly going to help us blend in.”

  The Inquisitor sighed as he used a key to unlock the locking mechanism which released the magnetism. With her hands free, Eva massaged her wrists.

  “Don’t try anything…”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or you’ll blow me up. I got it” Eva said as she began heading up the stairwell to the upper levels.

  “Where are you going?” Varius called out.

  “We need to find you some clothes. You won’t blend in looking like that and mine have blood all over them.”

  The Inquisitor hopped up several steps before he caught up with his captive. “Where is the evidence you have on the Shadow Man?”

  “Right now, we need to focus on going into hiding. After that, then I’ll get you your evidence.”

  Varius clenched his jaw knowing she was ri
ght. The pair climbed the stairs to level five.

  “Level 5: Retail” was written in big bold faded white letters on the walls near the doorway. A man carrying several plasti-bags of goods entered the stairwell and walked passed the pair. He didn’t even look up to see the dried blood on Eva’s face.

  “We need to get you cleaned up too” Varius said as he surveyed her appearance. “You look like you got the poosh beat out of you.”

  “Haha, I did. Follow me, I know a place we can go.”

  Tremendous skyscrapers towered over the retail district built atop the parking garage. Long ago Lucifer had become so crowded by citizens that entire sections of the city would be demolished to make way for garages as large as neighborhoods so that the storefronts, restaurants, and other businesses could be built in the air atop them. Eva navigated easily through the busy crowds of shoppers while Varius kept bumping shoulders with people.

  “Hey buddy watch out!” a rude man shouted angrily before he realized he was speaking to an inquisitor. “Oh, I’m so sorry sir.”

  Varius just waved and kept on walking. When he looked up he realized he had lost Eva. He looked all around him for his captive but could not spot her anywhere.

  “Come on Eva don’t do this now.” He spun around again, crowds intermingling around him.

  He finally spotted her as she waved to him from the entrance of a small shop. When she knew he saw her she disappeared inside. Piles of empty crates and other random goods were piled on either side of the doorway. The sign that hung above the entrance read, “Sheila’s Consignment Shop” in bright pink illuminated letters.

  Varius carefully entered the shop. It wasn’t very wide but was long. Racks of clothes ran on either side of the store with piles of shoes, belts, or other apparel in various spots between racks. While it was organized in a sense, it was overwhelming chaos at the same time.

  Eva was up ahead to the left looking through women’s clothing. A short and elderly woman hobbled passed the Inquisitor. Varius squinted to get a better look, but he could have sworn her eyes were completely shut. Yet, if they were, she navigated the store easily. She pressed the door pad and flipped a switch to lock the door when it slid shut.

  “Sheila here is a friend from way back. You may want to hurry and pick something out for yourself” Eva said as she held up a beige top to her neck and looked in a nearby mirror. “You do know how to pick out normal clothes right?”

  Varius glared at her as he made his way to a rack of men’s clothes.

  Eva shrugged as she chuckled to herself. “What? Maybe I’ve never seen an inquisitor in ordinary clothes before. I don’t know if that flashy uniform even came off.”

  The Inquisitor browsed through the clothing until he found a padded jacket and tactical cargo pants.

  “Are you kidding me?” Eva asked as she walked over to him. She held a pair of pants and a top over her arm. “We are trying to blend in, not be obvious!”

  The small shop keeper hobbled passed the pair and mumbled, “Men…”

  Varius was about to bark at the woman when Eva pressed an orange long sleeve shirt into his chest. “Yeah, orange will look good on you.”

  “You caught me on a slow night dearie. Normally I would have at least twenty customers in here” Sheila called out from behind her checkout counter.

  “Well, thank the Creator that wasn’t the case. Here, try these pants on too” Eva said as she handed him more clothes.

  The Inquisitor fumbled with the clothing but managed to keep it from falling to the ground. “Where are the changing rooms?”

  “She doesn’t really have changing rooms. Uses the floor space for more inventory. Follow me.”

  Varius followed behind Eva as she went to the back of the store and turned a corner to give them some sense of privacy. She set her clothes down on a stool and looked around the space. “Like I said, there isn’t really anywhere to change privately, so this is what we have to work with.”

  She turned her back to Varius and began to undress. The Inquisitor’s cheeks turned red as he looked away.

  “I’ll a…change back around the corner.”

  He tried to find a space to set his belongings, but everything was covered in more clothing. He finally decided to set his stuff on top of a pile mound of clothes on a covered countertop.

  Varius unholstered his firearm, made it safe, and set it down, followed by his belt and contents of his pockets. He unclamped his left gauntlet and set it beside his other belongings. Afterward he began to undress.

  After several minutes of getting changed, Eva put her hair into a relaxed style with a hairtie and rounded the corner to see Varius pulling his pants up.

  “Oh, I’m sorry” she said as she twisted back around the corner.

  “It’s fine” he muttered as he clasped the front of his pants together. He rolled his left sleeve up and then put the gauntlet back on.

  Eva poked her head back around the corner and saw him start to put his inquisitor belt on. “Um, you can’t wear that.”

  “Why not?” he asked with a puzzled look.

  “It looks like a government belt setup.”

  Begrudgingly, he removed the belt and set it back down.

  He bent down to grab his boots, but Eva held her hand up. This time he wasn’t going to let her stop him. “I like these boots. I’m wearing them.”

  Eva held up both her hands in surrender. Her expression changed when she happened to notice the heart charm bracelet on his wrist. “Where did you get the bracelet?”

  Varius hadn’t realized it was loose and rolled his left sleeve back down over the gauntlet and tucked it under his sleeve. “That doesn’t concern you.”

  “Okaaaaay…” she said as she walked around him and over to Sheila.

  The Inquisitor finished clamping his boots together and stood up. He connected his retractable assassin blade assembly under his right sleeve and removed his holobadge from his belt and tucked into his pocket. He removed a few other smaller items from his belt and hid them also in his front pockets.

  Before he was finished, he took the knife and its sheath from his chest plate and tucked it into his right boot. He gathered his belongings and met up with Eva.

  “Thanks again Sheila for your help” Eva said with a smile.

  “It’s my pleasure hun. Your parents took good care of me when I was in need, and I am happy to return the favor.”

  Varius just stood there holding his uniform as he checked to see if the shop keeper’s eyes were open or shut. Eva looked at him strangely and swatted him in the chest. “Hand her your stuff.”

  He looked at his captive sternly.

  “You can’t walk through Lucifer carrying around an inquisitor uniform in your arms.”

  Angrily, Varius conceded. He handed the small woman his belongings. “Take care of my pistol. That is my favorite gun.”

  “Don’t worry lawman, most of your stuff won’t end up for sale” Sheila said as she began to cackle loudly.

  Varius stood up straight and pointed his finger at the small woman. Eva reached over and took his hand. “Thanks again Sheila!” she called out as she guided the Inquisitor towards the door.

  After he spotted a dark gray hoody hanging from one of the men’s rack Varius nabbed it and slid it on.

  “Hey now, don’t take anything else!” the shop keeper shouted.

  Varius didn’t respond. Eva reached the door before him and flipped the locking switch down. The door automatically slid open and the two walked back outside.

  The night sky lit up briefly from a flash of lightning as it began to drizzle. Varius flipped up his hoody and followed Eva into the crowd.

  “Alright, we have clothes, now take me to the evidence.”

  “You just don’t know how to blend in do you?” Eva whispered back. “We have no idea who around us is undercover. I will take you to a backup hideout I have. I’m sure my home will have KoP agents posted on watch.”

  Varius didn’t ask any more questio
ns. He remained quiet, but continuously checked around them for someone following them. Inquisitors were trained in many forms of interrogation, combat, and other detective skills, but going undercover was not a primary focus. By being backed by the government and entrusted to maintain extreme law and order, inquisitors were always seen as a symbol of the law. They rarely had to worry about being discreet.

  After twenty-five minutes of walking through the crowds Eva led them to a railway station. A monorail pulled up and its doors slid open. The pair stepped onboard along with many others and grabbed hold of the bar that ran the length of the railcar from the ceiling. A bell sound chimed before the doors slid shut and the monorail took off.

  Out of the corner of Varius’ eye he spotted a scruffy man looking in their direction. When Varius looked up to make eye contact the man immediately looked down to look at his communicator. The Inquisitor happened to look straight ahead of himself to see a holoscreen that was mounted onto the railcar wall. On it were facial displays of both Varius and Eva with “Call If Spotted. Reward 50,000 Cuso Each If Caught” illuminated beneath it.

  Varius looked back to the man and he had his communicator up to his ear. “We need to get off at the next stop” the Inquisitor whispered to his captive.

  Eva nodded when she spotted her own face displayed on the wall.

  As the monorail pulled into its next station and stopped, Varius stepped off immediately and saw an armored KoP agent stopping people and checking their faces. Eva tugged on his sleeve and went right, headed for an elevator.

  He started to follow behind her when the older man stepped off the monorail and shouted for the agent’s attention. “That’s them there!” he called out.

  “Eva, run!” the pair made a dash for the elevator and fought through the people stepping off.

  Eva rapidly pressed the door close button. “Come on, come on, come on…”

  Varius nodded to the remaining occupants of the elevator. They couldn’t see the guard attempting to push his way through the exiting crowd. The doors slid shut just before the guard could get through.

  The elevator ride was quiet except for one man in the back coughing. A synthetic voice said, “Level Three, Garage.”