His team still staring at him in shock, Ronin walked over to the container and, with his strength augment still active, tried to move it, finding that it wouldn't budge.
He tried pushing it, pulling it and eventually tried to lift it, only to find that it seemed to be fused to the ground.
"Yeah, we're not moving that," he said, deep in thought.
Why would this container, clearly designed for transportation, be fused to the ground?
Silas walked up behind him and said, "Don't you ever drop me off a building."
Rolling his eyes, he said, "Don't try to kill me during a mission."
Azue moved beside Silas as Ronin started to open the container and said, "This seems...unwise."
The container opened easily, it wasn't even locked, and Ronin said, "If it's got a trap built into it, we were going to have to deal with it eventually...and this container doesn't want to go anywhere."
Sellius walked over and asked, "What's the word, slayer? We all done here?"
"Slayer?"
Sellius laughed and said, "He slays the girls. First Silas, then Azue and I've even heard rumors about some girl back at the school before we all left, he works fast."
Azue looked at Silas and asked, "Girl at the school?"
Silas punched Sellius in the shoulder and said, "Things happened, it's a long story. Sellius is right though, are we done here? It's cold and none of us dressed for this kind of weather."
Reaching into the container, Ronin found that the hilt he was looking for wasn't inside and said, "Looks like this is a bust...there's nothing here."
Scalpel said, "That can't be right. Why was the cute little cat-girl guarding this if it was empty?"
"She did say that she'd been demoted quite a bit, maybe the demotion was pointless work," Ronin said as he stood up, dusting off his sleeves.
He spiralled his hand in the air and said, "Let's get going, nobody tell Trigger about Mira."
As he began walking, he opened a call with Hidden Moon and briefed her on the situation.
"That can't be right, all the intel is reliable...the container was even in the location we estimated it would be," she said, clearly confused.
"It's possible it was removed prior to us arriving," Ronin said comfortingly.
The video flickered with static as she said, "As much as I'd love to blame this on you, I get the feeling that something bigger is going on. There's too much wrong with this situation that doesn't add up. Why have a guard for an empty container? Why demote this girl Mira for a single failure...until this little fiasco, she's been heavily involved with many of their most important projects, hell, that's why I didn't even think to warn you about her. I figured this might be important, but nowhere near important enough to warrant her involvement."
From beyond the video feed of Hidden Moon, Ronin saw a crowd of Guildless beyond the exit to the lower levels and said, "Something's going on here, I'll contact you when I return to the lab."
HIdden Moon nodded and the video feed cut as Ronin began walking toward the crowd, his curiosity out of control.
As he got closer, he could make out the sound of music and cheering and as he reached the edges of the crowd he could see they weren't all Guildless. There were members from dozens of different guilds all standing around as though they were waiting for something, though he couldn't begin to fathom what that might be.
There was a large stage set up at the far end of the crowd, with massive speakers and a band playing loud rock music. He could barely hear the words, but the two guitarists played loud and fast, the rest of the band following suit.
He tried to get closer when a woman grabbed the sleeve of his coat shouting, "Stay back here, you'll hear them better!"
He turned to her and her eyes caught him, her irises glimmering black like his, standing out more against the light flurries of snow that had begun to fall.
She looked at him and her blonde hair framed her cheeks perfectly as she smiled widely, saying, "We may get to see something pretty amazing here too."
She pointed at the stage and Ronin watched as the band stopped playing and the two guitarists stood opposite each other and began talking. Far as he was from them, he knew he'd have no chance of hearing them from this distance.
He turned to ask the girl a question and saw that she wasn't there, though his team had caught up to him and were watching the band beside him.
The first guitarist, a pretty girl with long black hair that reached down to the small of her back smiled, or at least it looked like a smile, deviously and began playing, hitting a switch on the front of her instrument that cut each note short.
They came fast, faster than the song they'd been playing and the drummer played in rhythm with her, keeping up with her in what could only be described as pure musical skill. The second guitarist started playing, matching the first guitarist with no problem.
His hair was also black, in the back, though he bore white bangs and his hair reached all the way down to his ankles, shaking back and forth as he played.
The woman jumped forward toward him and suddenly began playing MUCH faster, her notes filling Ronin with a sense of panic as she played, though the man seemed unfazed by her new energy, speeding up and playing alongside her until she began floating in the air while she played.
He looked up and followed her, floating through some unseen means as they continued playing faster and faster until the man suddenly fell to the ground, landing on one knee and looking downward as he played, racing to outpace her.
She watched in silence, holding her guitar silently while he played and a look of serenity covering her face as she slowly floated down, playing faster than even he had, the melody and rhythm remaining the same as she did.
Ronin listened harder, hearing single notes, but the traces of something else beneath them, though he thought that was impossible. From the distance he could just barely see her fingers moving, when suddenly he could see them clearly, as though he were right in front of her. For every note he heard, she had been playing four, hundreds of notes cascading from her fingers like a musical waterfall.
She slowed to a stop and the blonde girl from before stepped out from behind them and began clapping her hands, raising one toward the woman and Ronin read her lips as she said, "Winner!"
Turning away from the stage, Ronin motioned with his hand and the team followed him back to their building, weaving through the steadily growing crowd of Guildless gathering. The last thing they heard as they descended the stairs to their level was a deep bass guitar that rang so strong that it felt as though it were vibrating directly through their bodies instead of the air.