Only because of their trust of Aimee's judgment did Mia and Marisa approach her holding Doppori's head. Crouching down to examine Doppori's static body, Marisa shrugged, punched clear through his chest and gripped his still-beating heart, spurting not blood but that same golden liquid. She scanned his heart, then pulled off her glove and threw it aside.

  [Oxygenator: Control over oxygen.]

  Mia looked over Aimee's shoulder to Doppori's head, and noted a creased tattoo of a scarab on his neck; no blood seeped from him but that which had been transmuted to some golden streak. Carefully, Aimee pulled the skin taut until the signature 'R.D.' was visible on the tattoo.

  "There's a signature." muttered Aimee. "Someone wants whoever signed this tattoo to be tracked down. Wouldn't have asked for the signature otherwise. Mia, can you compare the scarabs?"

  One scarab appeared beside its two-dimensional sister. Marisa & Aimee's tablets vibrated. In the moment of their sensory distraction, only Mia noticed something else leave Doppori's eyes; something not physical nor living, yet noticeable only in absence, as if a notion severed from his decaying mind. She realized that to recognize such and the unconscious feeling it brought her likely suggested that she had experienced the same in herself, though what it was exactly she did not know. She felt uneased.

  "…FTL." muttered Mia. "Faster than light. When I was first attacked, he must have said the same thing. FTL."

  Marisa & Aimee's tablets vibrated again.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "Transportation Revenant, then." muttered Aimee. "But one Revenant a host, so gotta be… more than teleportation, I'm guessing."

  "I wonder why he killed the guy who gave you Worldwide." Marisa frowned. "Must be covering up something."

  Over the year Mia would learn Marisa had a theory for every investigation, one usually incorrect and as cliched as whatever media she had last consumed. Sadly she was not unique in her use of fiction to determine reality. "Er, I think it was him that gave me Worldwide. The… dreadnought."

  Aimee's tablet vibrated again, and she sighed as she took it; there were several calls being placed regarding rogue hosts in the area. "Gotta be linked to it, but- um, hey, Mia, you two should head back to Urasaria. Right, Marisa?"

  "Are you sure?" said Marisa. "We can stick around and kill a few more."

  "I'll handle them. Just get back to Urasaria and text me when you're safe, okay? Maybe you two can talk about the investigation and think it over? Right?"

  Mia hugged Aimee, who walked outside with her & Marisa. Marisa smiled reassuringly to Mia, who was confused for a moment, until Marisa crushed Mia to her in a cocoon of Boudoir strands, swung them both of them up onto the nearest lamppost, then proceeded for the next five minutes to take Mia on the bumpiest and most nausea-inducing ride of her life. Once they hit the ground at Urasaria, Boudoir's cocoon dissolved and dumped Mia out on the ground, who proceeded to dump the contents of her stomach out on the ground.

  Marisa turned. "Oh shit, I forgot we could've just taken the train back. Damn it! I always forget that. Ugh. Oh well. How are you feeling?"

  Mia was gasping and wheezing. "W-We are n-not doing that again!"

  "Hey, it's that or driving at 200mph to get to places… And I forgot to steal a car for this month after I totaled the last one, so." Marisa shrugged, then shot a strand at Mia's back that cocooned around her again, giving her a secure ride as Marisa carried her back home and dumped her on the couch; Mia decided not to argue partially because she felt she might vomit again if she spoke.