Chapter 1666 (2/2)
Congratulations! Your Skill Hex Barrier Shield (R) has grown to Level 170!
Congratulations! Your Skill Hex Barrier Shield (R) has grown to Level 171!
The force of the explosion from the playing card cracked her shield and sent the trio tumbling backward, but Mint had reacted rather quickly after Delilah had deployed her Skill and manifested a barrier of his own. In combination, the two of them were able to diffuse most of the blast and were only knocked backward in a sprawling pile of limbs.
Alarms began to sound as the warehouse security system reacted to the explosion and Mint scrambled to his feet with a guilty expression on his face. He held his hands up vaguely, as though proving he wasn’t carrying a weapon. “Ah… s-s-sorry for… my hand…”
Meanwhile, beneath an impatient Delilah, Cassandra was blushing furiously. But her mouth slowly curled into a shy smile. “...I’m just glad I could… cushion everyone…”
Delilah shook her head at the weird diversion of these two and pushed off Cassandra’s stomach to hop to her feet. She peered around the corner and mobilized her Wind Manipulation Skill, suppressing all the pieces of torn tarp and splintered palettes that filled the air in the wake of the explosion. But the mysterious figure who had thrown the playing card had vanished. Delilah took a few steps forward and activated her tracking Skills, but she couldn’t find any trace of the figure.
Even worse, during that brief explosion, the figure had somehow managed to find the time to switch around the different palettes in the area and disguise the source of the noise. The Image Killer suits had been spread out and several other auction lots had been shifted to near where the figure had been standing. Delilah frowned and took another step forward, but the floodlights of the Warehouse switched on and she heard the march of feet rushing into the area.
The police in this city are too damn quick, Delilah’s frown deepened.
Cassandra shivered and crossed her arms. “...I hope we don’t get in trouble. Why did that person attack us like that?”
“Maybe we stopped sort of terrorist?” Mint said slowly. “I mean… that was definitely malicious, right? And… and if he was so aggressive…” Then he blinked at looked at Delilah. “Hey… that was a really quick shield. You probably saved us all. Thanks… for coming along.”
Of course, I saved you, but- Suddenly, Delilah straightened. All at once, her true goal in tagging along struck her with physical force: the chance to touch the Dreamchaser!
Just as she was turning around to hurry back toward the skybike, the familiar form of the Kharon emergency response forces arrived, covered in sleek armor and carrying combat batons. The leader scanned them quickly and dismissed them as not a threat, speaking to his subordinate as he marched past. “Split them up and take their statements. And send a report to special operations.”
The officers moved quickly to their tasks, taking Delilah, Mint, and Cassandra away and splitting them up as they walked between the soon-to-be-auctioned items under the harsh white illumination of the floodlights. Delilah went peacefully, although she cast several longing glances over her shoulder toward the far end of the warehouse as she was ushered outside. Once out of the building, the trio was split up and taken into different bulky police transports and brought back to the police headquarters.
Can’t even feel the wind on your face in these bimbocrates, Delilah banged her head against the side of the metal transport with an aggrieved expression. Both the pilot and the accompanying officer upfront ignored her antics.
Being quite familiar with the police headquarters due to an earlier project, Delilah glanced around without much interest when they arrived and allowed a police offer to guide her to an interview room. Inwardly, she was kicking herself for allowing some stupid noise to distract her from fulfilling the dream to actually touch a skybike made by Elijah Frank. After this incident, they definitely would up the security in the warehouse. Breaking in again would be that much more difficult.
And even though Delilah’s parents were relatively famous and well off, there was no way they would give her enough money to actually purchase the bike at auction. Her mother would laugh her out of the room.
Without even asking Delilah any questions, the police officer left her in the room and locked the door. The corner of Delilah’s mouth quirked up but she just as quickly schooled her expression and folded her hands in front of her. She aimed to seem somewhere between bewildered at the circumstances and contrite. Ha, seems like they recognize me. But even though we were caught trespassing, the bigger issue is the other figure… I don’t think we will even get in much trouble…
Hah… but that bastard might try and blame this on me, huh?
Minutes crept past, allowing Delilah to solidify her story and prepare herself for the confrontation that she knew was coming. And, as she predicted, after thirty minutes a familiar figure opened the door and took two heavy steps into the interview room.
Commissioner Arrietti was carrying several manila folders as surveyed the interior of the tiny room. Metal chair, metal table, small girl on the second metal chair, two-way glass on the far wall… he seemed to be mentally tallying everything. Then he didn’t even spare her a glance as he sat down in the metal chair opposite Delilah, instead preferring to lay out his folders with exacting precision in silence.
Delilah kept her hands folded and waited. There was a ritual to this. They both knew the rules.
And in a tiny corner of her heart, Delilah admitted to herself she loved how this man considered her a serious enough threat to the city that he always made time to come talk to her personally, even if her crimes were minor.
Only when the folders were in place did the Commissioner raise his mild gaze. “Delilah. I really wish we would stop meeting like this.”
Delilah picked a bit of dirt from under her fingernails and flung it casually to the side. “Oh, I agree. It’s quite annoying to be brought in for question so many times in a row… when I’m simply an innocent bystander. I almost wonder if you know what a coincidence is.”