Ch.134Work Record #020 – Freelance Style, No Gimmicks (1)

Chasing the traitors was the job of freelance mercenary Arthur Murphy, not callsign Gardner. If it had been Gardner’s job, he wouldn’t have even bothered with it outside of working hours.

Then I needed to handle this my way, not with Gardner’s gimmicks. My way wasn’t anything special. Just questioning relevant parties, running around, and working for less than I was worth.

At least I was good at that. As Simon said, I was a model student. After showering, I tossed the Heroism & Hope promotional towel I’d been wearing around my neck into the laundry bin and headed to Ms. Serena’s room.

I knocked on the door and heard a polite “Come in,” different from the voice I’d heard during the broadcast. The door opened. Inside the room was a recycled walking course with handrails.

Of course, Ms. Serena was on it. She hadn’t taken a single step yet, standing at the starting point drenched in sweat. She sighed and said:

“I don’t mind what you said during the episode. It was quite good, actually. A former patent officer saying there’s no perfect justice for a city’s guardian. Has a certain feel to it, doesn’t it?”

She slowly moved toward me, supporting herself with both hands on the rails, connecting her still-powerless legs to the assistive device. She poked at her legs inside the device with displeasure.

“It’s just not settled in yet. My brain still remembers my lower body was cut off, but we’ve forcibly attached this. It’s a phantom pain issue. If we treat it like phantom pain, it should normalize in a few weeks.”

An indomitable will, but even to me, it seemed she was carrying too much. Her answer was always simple. Everyone in this city carries their share, and she was no different.

Is that really true? It didn’t seem that way. Is revealing your face and name, standing at the frontline of city security, really carrying what you can bear? If so, I must be carrying too little.

Of course, she would have her own arguments. I’m not from Detroit. A two-week freelancer only has a two-week freelancer’s share. But that doesn’t make her burden any lighter.

“Ah… I was a bit concerned about coming across too sharp in my lines, but I’m here about the traitors. We need to eradicate them completely before my two weeks are up. If that’s what needs to be done.”

Instead of probing directly, I threw out a fishing line. Ms. Serena looked up at me. Her eyes were filled with hatred. She quickly shook her head to hide that look.

“Eradication… Yes, that’s what needs to be done. Heroism & Hope is dragging their feet. They want to keep them around as a villain group they can use long-term, but I don’t. Don’t call them colleagues.”

Good. I asked. This was something I couldn’t say before because of Lobringer’s emotional outburst. Now I just needed to set the direction. Better to take a roundabout approach than ask directly.

“Last time, you seemed somewhat persuaded by that argument, but it seems there’s more to the story.”

“It’s not long. It’s a very short story, which makes it harder to tell. Do you remember when I told you about Detroit before you accepted the job?”

I organized my memories, pulling out our conversation. It was probably about the incident where 201 out of 204 people died. Something so terrible that calling it “the worst” would be too kind.

“Ah. I remember. You said even being called the worst sounded too good.”

Ms. Serena laughed gently and nodded.

“It’s been a while since someone cared about me as a person. Yes, that’s right. As a freelance mercenary, you’re wearing an enhanced body, aren’t you? I don’t know the product name, but…”

My guess seemed correct. The traitors’ origin was definitely connected to that incident, whatever it was. I nodded briefly.

“I’m wearing one too. Not as fancy as what freelancers wear. Not a megacorp model, and…”

She was struggling to explain the origin of her enhanced body. She was trying to choose the right expression but couldn’t find it.

“A medtech company with no real skills but wanting big contracts approached the DPD. They offered to install enhanced bodies at the megacorp level for a low price… Hah.”

Looking back now, she seemed to think every word was a lie. Her expression twisted with shame and self-loathing, but she put on her hero shell again.

In her defense, enhanced bodies rarely actually improve physical abilities. Most just eliminate human limitations like operational endurance. It wouldn’t have been hard to deceive them.

“I was stupid enough to fall for their evil. I should have actively opposed it even though my rank wasn’t high, but I didn’t even think about fighting the higher-ups. So I’m taking responsibility now.”

This is perhaps the source of her sense of responsibility. A nature that tries to embrace all misfortune and carry it on her back. Maybe it’s an act of escape… Maybe she too was someone who didn’t fit this high-speed era.

With an expression like she might cough up blood, she spoke. She hid all her boiling resentment inside that shell and showed only composure.

“Out of 204 people who volunteered for the procedure, only three survived. Just three. I’m one. Lobringer is another. And the last one…”

I thought it was time for the story about the traitors, but she walked into the room with the servo motors of her assistive device whirring and brought out a hologram projector. A small one for storing photos.

She turned on the hologram projector in her hand to display a photo. It was a funeral picture. A photo taken with too many cremation urns.

One person was Ms. Serena. Another was Lobringer, and… the last one was someone I didn’t know.

His brownish hair with blonde streaks was swept back to reveal his forehead, and his dark brown eyes gave quite a cheerful impression. Among people I knew… he had a similar impression to Francis, but seemed to have more sense of responsibility.

Of course, all I could tell from this was his impression. At times like this, it’s better to check Ms. Serena’s expression than to look at the person’s face. There would be more to learn.

What appeared on her face was longing. So was he not a traitor, or was she just missing someone before they became a traitor? I couldn’t read minds.

“The man on the far right of this photo. Officer Ryland. He was a good cop. A good person. He supported H-Enter’s takeover of the city, saying we needed to face reality. He was originally the main one.”

From what she said, he didn’t seem to be a traitor. The traitors hated H-Enter. I listened quietly, and she continued. The photo changed.

I saw a man in an enhancement suit riding a Smogpiercer. Unlike what Ms. Serena was wearing now, it was angular and sharp… regardless of the original person, it had a powerful image.

“There should still be VOD series left. He was active for about a month, and honestly… citizens liked Ryland more than me. He was both Gardner and the city’s guardian.”

Someone who simultaneously held Ms. Serena’s role of making arrests and Gardner’s role of slaughtering the unqualified. There are too many good people in the world, yet the world is still like this.

The photo changed once more. Ryland, Ms. Serena, and Chris Lobringer were all in civilian clothes, meeting citizens on the street. There were no climate control drones in the sky.

They looked more comfortable. Perhaps the city’s atmosphere was a bit better then. If so, he was probably deceased. Good people die too quickly. They rarely come back.

“Back then, we could see people more. If the traitors hadn’t shot and killed Ryland during a citizen meeting, we’d still be doing that. You’d be wearing a more childish costume too, Arthur.”

She tried to lighten the mood somehow, but she knew it wasn’t working. She spoke as if making an embarrassing request.

“What I’m about to say is for slander purposes. If you don’t want to hear it… you don’t have to. You’ll be gone after two weeks anyway…”

I took a leisurely deep breath. Could I show myself like Mr. Günter? I wasn’t sure. It had worked well so far. I decided to try again.

“You already know, don’t you? You have something you hate so much that you’re embarrassed to keep it in your heart. I had that too. I didn’t catch that person according to company rules. That wasn’t what mattered to me.”

“Then…”

“It’s pleasure. Slaves obey, machines produce… only humans enjoy. I said revenge was what I wanted. Slaughtering all the traitors is what I can enjoy right now. Tell me.”

Am I making some strange expression? Do I look entranced like a fanatic? I couldn’t tell. To me, it seemed like a normal expression. Nevertheless, Ms. Serena’s hardened expression wavered a bit.

She spoke with a vulnerable expression outside her shell. She poured out raw desire, being greedy, not thinking about consequences… not considering methods.

“I, I want to be a righteous police officer. Officer Ryland showed me that. I want to give people hope. But, at the same time… I want to kill all the traitors. All of them.”

“Have you considered division of labor?”

“I want to do it myself. But, I already have too much to carry…”

I won’t say she’s narrow-minded or short-sighted. This outpouring was exactly what I had asked of her. I answered leisurely.

“If I investigate alone, it would be impossible to identify who the traitors are, where they came from, and eliminate them within two weeks. Still, if you don’t like it, you can refuse. If that’s what pleases you.”

I’ve already opened the lids of two traitors, so the mind map should arrive through information processing in a day or two. Reading that, I might not know their identity, but I could track them.

Ms. Serena struggled with the decision before me. She hunched her shoulders slightly, which she usually kept forcibly straight, and after considering, finally spoke.

“Seeing the traitors die would be more pleasing. Especially if it happens within the angle. Especially if their deaths can be edited into a one-hour drama and consumed as snack culture.”

Humiliation is perhaps an effective expression of hatred. Making someone a laughingstock is the ultimate insult for the same reason. I understand one step further. I imagine the taste of whale meat again.

“Then, good. I lack information. I don’t know who the traitors are or where they stay. I think I understand one reason why Heroism & Hope doesn’t touch them.”

The employees of Heroism & Hope were people lacking in humanity. It seemed less like they had abandoned it and more like they never had it to begin with. They probably just thought of the traitors as villains to use later in the season.

“The traitors are… the DPD higher-ups who decided on the deal between DPD and that small medtech. They’re receiving personnel support from the nationalists, who say they’re opposing Detroit’s corporate government… their base is outside the city.”

Her lips quivered as if to spill out many words from boiling emotions, but remembering that conveying information was important, she continued in a more calm voice.

“We had to sell Detroit to H-Enter after 201 officers from patrol officers to inspectors died, completely collapsing public safety. The traitors can’t bear that it’s all their fault. They’re delusional.”

So that’s why they’ve been killing people who cooperate with H-Enter and actors. During that time, they probably felt like fighters for freedom and nationalism against the corporate government occupying Detroit.

Terrible narrow-mindedness. Unqualified. Trying to freeload on something someone else desperately achieved. They needed to be slaughtered. What happened to the Lone Star Rangers’ general affairs department should happen to them too.

The nationalists aren’t stupid people living without brains. The traitors had legitimate authority by nationalist logic. Another reason… Yes, I can infer one.

They might be trying to take responsibility for Detroit falling into corporate hands because their reconstruction efforts were delayed. The traitors seem to be making good use of structural inefficiency.

I leisurely organized my thoughts. Then the most difficult issue to address was the nationalists’ support. Fortunately, I still had some authority I could use.

I could try to reveal the truth, or at least make warnings about unmanned vehicles from the war era appearing on the support roads to temporarily block assistance.

“Well, first I’ll try to reduce their numbers through the episodes as permitted. Then I’ll need to think about how to cut off the nationalists’ support and get permission for complete eradication from the person in charge.”

Would the eradication of the traitors and Gardner’s exit fit as the final episode of a two-week drama? If so, I might have to die a third time. I think I once said that from the third time on, it becomes a habit.

Well… if you’re still alive after developing a habit of dying, that’s fine. I recall the security team training plan that Shepherd sent. What’s needed is just one moment. Not something permanent.

“When they have no external support, they’ll try to gather strength to fight, but if they can get support, they’ll request it instead of gathering strength. That’s when we cut off the support line, and their heads too.”

You shouldn’t fight when your opponent is prepared to fight. You should make them think they don’t need to fight, or that they can do whatever they want, and then bring them down. I said with a slight smile.

Ms. Serena, watching my expression, laughed wryly. With an expression of putting her shell back on, she said:

“To be honest, I’m starting to find Arthur more frightening than Gardner. At least Gardner just looks like a garden-obsessed murderer.”

“You’d better be more afraid of Gardner. He’s from the patent office, right? I’m just a nobody freelancer with a license but no experience, officially cooperating with Belvedere.”

“Ah, don’t pretend to lack self-confidence. It doesn’t suit you. Really.”

Seeing me immediately come up with ways to kill them the moment she revealed their identity and methods might be unsettling, but perhaps also reassuring. The atmosphere she had been trying to lighten finally eased.

I shrugged my shoulders playfully, then extended my hand as if asking for a handshake. Last time it was to mediate my contract with Heroism & Hope, but this time it was a contract just between us.

“Well, let’s confirm the division of labor. You said Ryland, whom you admire, was both Gardner and the city’s guardian. Let’s split it half and half. Like now. And, also…”

“Is there something else we need to discuss?”

“No. Later, tell me more about what kind of person Ryland was. I’m still not used to the term ‘good nationalist.’ I’d like to become more familiar with it.”

I had no desire to embrace distrust, narrow-mindedness, and delusion while calling them acts of betrayal. My mind needed to be clear. That way I could run faster. Ms. Serena smiled comfortably.

“Ah. Really, I’m starting to find Arthur ten times more frightening than Gardner. Fine. In return, I’d like you to tell me more about the small evil deed you mentioned during today’s episode. Perhaps over drinks.”

That night, I fell asleep watching the Ryland Winters series, which only had up to episode 7 available on Heroism & Hope’s VOD service. At least I got to see the Smogpiercer find its original owner.