Kain followed the street out towards the tall buildings he saw off in the distance. It appeared to be a city within the upper district of Bastion. Even though it was close to midnight, the moon gave plenty of light to brighten the way.
-Mexxle, you said that the zombies and monsters you sensed are in the ground beneath one of those buildings? (Kain)
-Yes, a few of them are being experimented on. Some are caged while others are being forced to fight one another. The closest ones I sense are somewhere near those buildings over there. (Mexxle)
Kain would have to determine which building was situated on top of them. If it was the military conducting experiments, he would have to avoid the personnel. If it was either Dominius or Lavaris, he would drain them of their powers and do as much damage as possible. He was a bit queasy about killing other humans, but if it came down to kill or be killed, the choice was easy. He would avoid confrontation with his concealment ability, but if he saw them doing some evil shit down there, he would seek them out and end their lives.
As Kain grew closer to the buildings, he saw a few flying transport vehicles fly over him on the way to the downtown area. The majority had military emblems, but a few had none, which meant that they were owned privately.
Any flying vehicle was rare in the city because only the elite and powerful could obtain a license to fly within Bastion. Even if you were wealthy, you needed to have the right connections to get one.
Feeling that walking would take too long, Kain decided to practice his concealment ability. He connected to it and watched as his hand faded and became a dark shadow. Soon enough the rest of his body followed suit and he seemed to blend into the night. He wasn't completely concealed but that was totally expected, especially since he just started to use the ability.
Kain looked around and saw only a few people on the same path as him. He was walking on a trail through a wooded area. It was possible that it was a park. He stood in a dark area under a tree and tested if anyone would notice his figure. After a few people walked by without noticing him, Kain was satisfied and proceeded to launch himself into the air using his tentacles on the branches.
He did hear a few below him notice his shadowy figure against the backdrop of the moon, however, Kain was too fast and was gone before they could figure out what it was. Kain proceeded to move forward at a much faster speed.
Kain finally approached the outskirts of the city and stopped launching himself into the air. His concealment technique also faded away to reveal his normal appearance. He noticed all the flying transports were parking ahead of him and there was a gated entrance into the city.
Kain saw what seemed like prostitutes waiting on the side for the landing transports. There was plenty of illumination near the gate, as neon glow signs were all over the nearby buildings, right past the gated entrance.
Using his enhanced hearing ability, he listened in on a few conversations. He couldn't help but admire the temerity of the prostitutes. They were offering to perform all kinds of sex acts in the back of the transports. Some were even willing to be gang-banged. The girls were offering their services not just to the men getting out of the vehicles, but the women as well!
Kain quickly noticed that the most successful prostitutes were all wearing a certain emblem on their lapels. It was a pink star that shined brightly under the neon glows of the lights. The ones wearing them must be part of some powerful faction because he saw those girls going in and out of the transport vehicles like clockwork. Many satisfied men, as well as a few women, then paid the prostitutes before proceeding into the city.
Curiosity got the better of him and he approached someone walking toward the gated entrance.
"Excuse me friend, do you know which group those girls with pink stars belong to?" asked Kain.
The man was kind enough to oblige and answered, "Those are Penta girls. They are a guild of prostitutes under Lady Tessa and are affiliated with the Lenaris faction. Their services are exemplary, but quite expensive. The ones without the stars dream of one day being recruited into the guild. Usually, no one messes with a Penta girl, however, several of them have gone missing in the past month. Rumor has it that Lavaris and Lenaris have entered a silent battle behind the scenes."
Kain thanked the man for providing more than what he asked about. He gave the man 500 credits as thanks. It wasn't considered much, but neither was it little. Kain only had about 50,000 credits to his name. This amount was from years of saving and looting during missions. The man smiled as he accepted the gift and proceeded to enter the city.
So, those girls are potential allies. It was good to know that Lenaris had such a far reach.
Just as Kain was about to enter the gated entrance, he heard a bit of a commotion behind him, and he turned to see a larger than usual transport vehicle land. All the prostitutes not currently engaged, rushed over to form two rows at the entrance to the transport. They proceeded to bow silently as the door opened. A beautiful woman with pale blue hair appeared first. A storm was brewing on her facial features, which didn't mar her beauty at all. She had curves in all the right places, with a large bust to emphasis her hourglass figure. The blue dress she wore matched her hair. Kain felt like she reminded him of someone, but couldn't tell from this distance.
Following behind the woman was a devilishly handsome man with a black top hat and a tuxedo. He had a secretive grin on his face, as if he was pondering a funny joke. Under his top hat was short silver hair. Before he continued after the first woman, he fixed his cufflinks and then summoned a cane out of thin air. Only then, did he continue walking forward.
After that man came another woman. She was dressed all in black and could be a carbon copy of the man with the top hat, that is of course, if the man were a woman and wearing a dress. She was more handsome, than beautiful. Maybe to differentiate herself from the man, she had an expressionless face. After exiting the transport, she tidied up her white gloves and summoned an umbrella. She popped it open and placed it on her shoulder before following after the other two.
Kain wondered why the woman would need an umbrella in the middle of the night. Or was that just a fashion statement? Besides her face, she revealed no other skin at all. Her entire body was essentially covered in black or white.
As the three reached the end of the two rows of women, the woman in black snapped her fingers and the women scattered back to their original positions, waiting on clients.
The man leaned forward towards the striding woman with pale blue hair and asked, "Aleria, will I really get a chance to fight tonight? I only came because you said something big was going to happen."
The woman dressed in black attempted to hit him with her umbrella from behind, to which the man easily blocked with his cane.
"Sai, you have fought with me now so you should be happy. A bodyguard shouldn't talk so easily with their contractor. It isn't professional. Keep your mouth closed until we get there." said the woman in black.
"Huh. You are no fun, my dear sister Tessa." replied the man.
The two quickly caught up to Aleria, who never stopped walking. Kain got a good look from the side as the three of them passed into the city. The three didn't even glance at Kain as they strolled past him.
So that is Talia's mother? I guess good genes run in the family. Is something happening for her to be out and about this late at night? Kain decided to follow them and see what was going on. He connected to his radiation detection and saw that the man and woman in black had a bigger radiation footprint than Aleria.
He let them walk off quite a bit, before he followed after them. He wasn't afraid of losing them in the crowd because their radiation footprints were much larger than the surrounding people, making them easily distinguishable.
He passed by many stores and stalls along the way. A few prostitutes tried to ply their wares, but he waved them off. For some reason, it was relatively quiet for a city. Just as he thought this, he saw a transparent pink dome appear ahead of him. The dome seemed to cover a great part of the city as it went up and over several tall buildings.
Kain noticed that people were walking in and out of the pink dome ahead of him. He also joined the crowd as he knew his quarry went into the domed area. As he entered the pink wall of the dome, a wall of noise rushed over him like a tsunami. It seemed the pink dome had a noise cancelling effect. Cheering and yelling could be heard from not far ahead. He looked towards the front where all the noise was coming from and saw a large Colosseum.
-That is the building that is on top of the imprisoned zombies and mutants. (Mexxle)
Kain smiled as he noticed the bold red words at the top of the Colosseum. It spelled out Dominius War Consortium.
Finally, it was time for some payback.