Chapter 4
"Shit Ayra, why aren't you picking up?" Mira cursed as she dialed Ayra's number again.
"The number you've dialed is currently not reachable, please try again later." The line outlet muttered through Mira's phone speakers.
"Arrghh!" Mira screamed.
"Hey there Mira, sorry to bother you, but we need to leave right now." A young lady dressed in combat gear reached out.
"What is it Amber? I do not have time for this right now, as you can see I was trying to make a phone call before you startled me–" Then Mira paused mid-rant, "Why the heck are you all dressed up for combat? It is a first day ceremonyyyy not war."
"We're going to be late for the ceremony. There was an accident at the teleportation station in town and we're the closest ones by so we've been asked to report there." Amber announced.
"Oh my god. Ayra." Mira dead-panned. Then she blew out a breath, "That is probably why she has not been picking up."
Despite her expressionless exterior, Mira's heart was beating fifty miles a minute.
"I hope she's okay." Amber said lightly, her brow creased with a frown.
"I am sure Ayra is fine. I mean, she is a badass battle angel." Mira reassured Amber as they headed out to the tele-station.
****
"How much causality has been recorded?" The investigator questioned the officer before him.
"No deaths recorded yet for sure, a few injured from flying debris… that's all."
"Do you know exactly how many were injured?"
"Uhh…seven. Yeah, seven."
"Have they all been taken to the hospital?"
"Well sir, they didn't really require serious medical attention, it seems the people who did this are professionals who just wanted to blow up some pods but not cause any real harm."
The investigator tucked his notepad underneath his arm and stared at the officer like he was a three year old devoid of understanding.
"Do you hear what you're saying?" He asked, his voice low, "'Professionals', 'blow up some pods', 'not cause any real harm'. Do you hear yourself?"
The officer gulped.
"I apologise detective, I didn't mean it that way. What I meant to say was, the plan of the perpetrator was probably not to hurt anybody, but to blow up the pods for another reason."
The detective eyed the junior officer from head to toe – the fact that he was nearly an entire foot taller than him not helping the officer's case at all.
"Where is the manager?" The detective muttered after a moment, sweeping his eyes over the station which was basically in low-key commotion at the moment.
The officer pointed to a terrified looking man with two paramedics fussing over him by the escalator.
The detective who had been praying with all his heart that it wouldn't be the crier he'd noticed over there, facepalmed, took in a deep breath and with his shoulders freshly slumped walked over to the trio. The junior officer trailed behind him, making the cross sign over his chest.
"Good day sir. I am Tinmei, the detective assigned to this unfortunate incident. I'm sorry, I know that you are quite shaken, considering what has just happened, but I am going to need you to please try your best to come through for me, answer all my questions to the best of your knowledge and you see, that way, we can both leave here faster."
"We are here."
"Gosh there's shattered glass everywhere."
"Excuse me ma'am. What happened here?"
"There was an accident."
The detective and his officer both lifted up their heads at the fresh commotion.
"What the–" one of the paramedics uttered before his eyes landed on the women that'd just entered the building.
"Woah." the other one mouthed. "Those are–"
"Battle angels." the detective finished for him, a resigned expression coming upon his face. "Could this day get any better?" he murmured sarcastically.
But one of them had definitely caught his attention, she was stunning in a short red dress and had the most beautiful blonde hair he had ever seen. He only knew she was a battle angel because of her armbands and… the look in her eyes, she may not have been dressed for battle like her partner but she was definitely ready to do battle.
The detective shrugged such thoughts off and put his smart mouth to good use,
"Guess who forgot to change?" he mumbled to the junior officer with a deadpan face. The officer let out a grin.
"Okay, good day everyone." Mira greeted as she arrived at the small group, her face expressionless and drawn, Amber right behind her.
"I am so sorry to interrupt, the kind lady over there says you are the investigator and I have questions which I would love for you to answer immediately. My friend was scheduled to be in one of those pods at exactly the time the incident occurred this morning, is she okay?" Mira monotoned.
"I'm so sorry I wouldn't be able to properly answer that question," detective Tinmei replied, oh so tired of battle angels abusing their power. Like what did battle angels have to do with a teleportation malfunction?
"You're going to have to speak with the paramedics or–" he gave the most plastic smile ever, "–have a talk with the manager."
"Alright where can I find her?" Mira demanded, looking around.
"It's a him. And he is sitting right here." the detective gestured with his left hand at the man with bulging eyes sitting on the escalator steps at his feet who looked like he wanted very badly to bolt.
"Wow. Okay."
Mira squatted before the man – not giving two shits that she was wearing a dress –, trying her best to appear friendly so the terrified man wouldn't lock up.
"My name is Mira, and she is Amber." she pointed up at her partner. "We are battle angels and we are here to ask about the whereabouts of our friend…" Mira thought for a moment, she hadn't wanted to reveal Ayra's identity because of the reverence attached to the name for fear that it would cause a scene, but now she felt that if this manager understood the importance of the person affected it might shock him into coherence.
"... Ayra Sharma. She told me she was coming here to board a pod and I haven't heard from her since so I need to know if she was still here or she had left in one of the pods before the accident occurred."
The name brought the desired effect. The two paramedics' eyebrows flew upwards, the manager paused mid-shiver, his eyes focusing a little.
"Okay, hi, excuse me, I'm Jacobs Tinmei, I'm the detective assigned to dealing with whatever happened here, we've met, just wanted to say that if this is a matter of world security, we need to know, you ought to tell us." He gestured to the officer behind him, "I did find it a bit strange that battle angels would be in the scene of a minor machine screw-up at a tele-station so what gives?"
Mira rolled her eyes, but it was Amber's turn to speak.
"It's nothing serious at all, Ayra is our friend and we just want to know if she's okay, that's all. It's not a battle situation."
"Well in that case ladies, we are going to have to do the investigating ourselves, if you could just step aside and go ask the paramedics over on that side if they've seen Ms. Ayra, that would be fi–"
"As long as we get an answer we don't mind working with you." Mira asserted, rising from the floor.
"We!" Amber whisper-shouted in Mira's ear, "You know the agency has a protocol that we report to them before working with any external forces!"
"I know Amber, but see it like we are just checking up on our friend to know if she is okay, we are not really working on a case, you heard him, it's just a minor machine screw-up. Look I don't care if you approve or not, I'm doing this with or without your help."
Amber was silent for a moment, then she swallowed,
"I'll stay. And mind you it's not because you 'threatened' me, it's for Ayra's sake."
"Yeah for Ayra's sake." Mira muttered.
"Frankly speaking I just need to know what happened here." The investigator stated, turning his attention away from Mira and towards the manager.
"To make both of our jobs easier you are going to need to tell me everything you know." He worded quietly, staring the man into the ground.
"I don't know! It all happened so fast!" The manager stammered once again. "This has never happened before, all our pods are always faultless and they function properly. As a matter of fact I had all of them checked yesterday because of the Battle Angels ceremony today so I don't know why and how this happened."
"Take me to the pods." the detective requested. But the manager looked like he had zoned off.
"Can't you see he is still in a total state of shock? Go easy on him." Amber advocated.
"You know what? Just step aside" Mira cut in before pushing Jacobs aside.
"Your wish is my command?" The detective scoffed.
"Whatever." Mira mocked.
"Hey I introduced myself earlier to you but I don't mind doing it again. I am Mira and you are?" Mira greeted the frozen man. He was just staring into space like he was in a trance. Mira wondered what was wrong, he'd been more responsive than this before.
Sometimes… a hidden, weird, selfish part of her wished that all the important positions in Cyprus were given to angels… because truth be told, if it were an angel who was the manager currently, she wouldn't be going through this, none of them would be going through this.
"No answer." Mira sighed pushing the weird thoughts away.
"I tried to tell you. Your manner of approach is too kind." Jacob muttered.
"I am an angel, I protect." Mira snapped.
"My… name is… J…ake." The man finally spoke again.
"Alright Jake, I need a bit of information, I'd like to know if my friend checked into the station this morning. How do I get it?"
"You need to check the passenger's info system at reception. Names and schedules of passengers are stored there temporarily till they are moved into the cloud at the end of the day. To get the info out of the system you need to input her name, then the information you need is going to be shown to you." Jake said in a rush, he gulped after he finished the tirade, trying to catch his breath.
"Thank you so much, you have been really helpful." Mira thanked Jake and patted his hand.
"Yay." Jacobs Tinmei drawled dryly, "Now let's go find your friend." He very nearly rolled his eyes at that moment.
Gods.. just five minutes with these girls and I'm already acting like a teenager, he thought.
"I told you earlier, her name is Ayra. I will not have you refer to her as just a 'friend'." Mira corrected Jacob as they all advanced towards the reception, officers and battle angels alike.