Chapter 562 (1/2)

Randidly was awkwardly pulling at the collar of his fitted suit when he received the message from Dinesh.

Found another base. It’s a big one. About 5 times as large as the previous ones.

Randidly froze. He was sitting in the back of a car with Tatiana and Henrik. Unfortunately, Davey had to cancel to inspect Randidly’s new drones when they were given over to the administrators at the drone complex. This left them with only Henrik to guide him. Henrik was typing excitedly with his assistants, who were examining the drones that Randidly had provided for them earlier. Tatiana was coming as his… date. He had promised to ask her out to dinner, after all.

But in a second, Randidly prepared to throw that all to the side. How many people do they have?

None, right now, Dinesh replied. Randidly relaxed somewhat.

...continue to watch. Although it’s annoying, tonight might yield useful information. But at the slightest hint that someone is in there-

Got it.

Breathing out through his nose, Randidly folded his arms. Tatiana tsk-ed at him.

“If you are uncomfortable, you shouldn’t have worn a suit. It looks good, but not if you are going to glare at everything all night.”

Randidly chuckled. “It’s not the suit.”

Tatiana’s eyes went to Henrik, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. “Ah. Is it… these drones? Is what you did that impressive?”

“You’d be surprised,” Randidly said mildly. He supposed he could try to explain, but he would rather see her face when she witnessed what one of his drones could do. Although that thought made him cringe somewhat. He had tested them a little, but not to the point of absolute confidence. They worked in a laboratory setting, but it remained to be seen how they would fare in the field.

Best leave that to the professionals, however. Randidly was here to finally see what the upper crust lived like. After all, for all the months he had spent here, he had never been actually into the nearby city of Tonna. It was a Tier II city, which meant it couldn’t rival the East and West Providences, but neither was it a border city. People with power would be here, if just in passing for the charity dinner.

It was apparently a big ordeal. So big that they had invited celebrities.

Luckily, Tia and her new fiancee Randidly Ghosthound were forced to cancel. After all, the news was reporting that Senator Firefly was the subject of a kidnapping attempt and only through the heroic actions of Randidly was he able to escape.

Honestly, the thought of criminals trying to get past Neveah to strike at someone was somewhat amusing. There were some rumors floating around that the methods Randidly Ghosthound had used in the defense of Senator Firefly were… brutal to say the least. However, no pictures surfaced, and as such, the statement didn’t make much of a dent in the public consciousness.

But still, Randidly felt a thin jolt of pity. When Neveah fought, she was absolutely vicious.

“Sirs and madam, we are here,” The driver announced.

Annoyed, Henrik looked up from his small laptop. “What? Oh, yes the dinner. Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. Come on in.”

They got out of the car. Randidly glanced at Tatiana, who was looking up at the building with tight lips. It was a tall building in Randidly’s opinion, but that was because it was at least 20 stories. Buildings like that didn’t survive in Zone 32, outside of Franksburg. “Will you be alright, being here?”

“Yes, but it might get a little ugly.” She gave Randidly a toothy grin. “I hope you don’t mind if I use your reputation a bit tonight. I have a feeling my partner will be… exquisitely disappointed to find he missed the chance to get an introduction to Baloo Erickson, drone-maker.”

Randidly reached up and gripped Tatiana’s upper arm. As he did so, his eyes burned into hers. “It’s not a big deal, but be careful. I tried to warn you before. There will be a fallout around me, eventually. I won’t stay as a drone maker forever. The more you are implicated with me-”

Tatiana stepped up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

This was very, very different from the last time a woman surprised Randidly with a kiss. Tia was a child basically. Tatiana was a woman, and very good at kissing.

It was light and purposeful, and it left Randidly burning. Tatiana pulled away and smiled up at him.

“How implicated am I now, Baloo Erickson?”

*****