|Ace>

  A while after we'd settled into the search, Cherry suddenly perked up, nearly dropping her can of beans. She pointed excitedly toward the drone's screen, her mouth still full of food. "Lifth!"

  I held the drone steady. "What?"

  Cherry swallowed with an audible gulp. "I saw a light! Right there!"

  "Are you sure it wasn't just the moon reflecting off the snow?" I tilted the controller slightly, strafing to the side to get another angle.

  "Yeah, that was definitely a flashlight! Take us in closer!" Cherry set her beans aside. "Right there!"

  I followed her instructions to line the drone up with the street. I didn't see a light, but I did see something moving - a dark spot on the white expanse disappearing into an alley between buildings.

  "Livitha!" I called her over, strafing the drone to the next street to try and intercept whatever we'd spotted.

  Livitha abandoned her post and walked over to watch the screen.

  It was a person - a player in a dark coat walked out of the alley and looked both ways before crossing the street. They moved a little more naturally than the things we'd met, but there was still something off about their posture. They were way too rigid as they continued down the street, heading toward a bridge a block away. Could've just been a nervous stray heading up to the red light district for some nighttime shopping. I took a picture anyway.

  But instead of crossing the bridge, they veered off, taking a set of stone stairs that led down to a kind of canal running through the neighborhood. It looked like some kind of ancillary part of the sewer system spurring off the River Moondrop. The water level was very low, confined to a narrow channel in the middle of the canal bed. Maybe for flood protection? I ain't no civil engineer.

  It was also out of the range of the drone, so we couldn't get a clean view of what was going on down there.

  "What do you think?" I asked, looking up from the screen.

  "It's the most promising thing we've found all night." Livitha said. "Let's take a look."

  We quickly packed up our camp, and Livitha led the way to the edge of the roof, swinging her legs over the side.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Wait, how are we getting down?" I asked, suddenly remembering the four-story drop beneath us.

  "Jump." Livitha said simply, and pushed off the edge.

  She landed in a crouch on the snowy ground below. Cherry and I exchanged glances.

  "After you," Cherry said.

  I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and stepped into empty air. The fall was brief but terrifying, ending with a jarring impact that sent up a puff of snow. Not a pleasant landing, but just light damage to our avatars - nothing serious.

  We darted through the deserted streets, finding the shallow canal and ducking down beside the wall lining it. Now that we'd moved forward, the drone's range extended further, so I tried again, piloting it along the route of the canal.

  We didn't see our original mark, but as the drone's camera panned, I spotted something else. In the shadows underneath another bridge, there was a person leaning against the wall. Like the first figure, they maintained an unnaturally rigid posture despite their seemingly casual stance. A little farther along the wall was a door - plain and unassuming, set into the stone of the canal wall.

  "Now that guy's definitely not here by chance." Cherry whispered.

  "Mafia lookout?" I suggested. "Let me see if I can get close enough to read that nameplate."

  I brought the drone in as close as I dared, trying to read the guy's guild tag - but he didn't have one. I quickly snapped another picture before pulling the drone back to a safer distance.

  "No guild at all." Cherry noted. "Now that's suspicious."

  "Should we bring this to the entente?" I asked.

  Livitha said, "I'd like to know more about what we're dealing with. I'm going to check it out - you two may leave."

  "Wh- you're just dumping us here?!" Cherry sputtered indignantly.

  "This is where it gets dangerous. Go tell that pencil-pusher what we found."

  Before either of us could protest further, she vaulted over the wall into the shallow canal and moved along it like a shadow, her dark cloak blending perfectly with the night.

  I started to pilot the drone back toward us. "She knows there's a curfew, right?"

  "Last time these guys told us to go walking around after-hours, we got arrested!"

  "Should we find an inn and wait for tomorrow morning?" I asked.

  Cherry looked at me like I'd suggested we lick a lamp post. "I was going to suggest we bust in and mess the place up."

  "Just the two of us?!"

  "Three! And she's ready to go in with one!"

  "I think she knows what she's doing!" I said.

  "And I know krav maga!"

  "No you don't; you taught yourself some moves from martial arts movies!"

  "It's been enough to get us through so far!"

  I sighed, knowing I was fighting a losing battle. "But we've never broken into... what do you think that place is?"

  "My money's on sewer hideout - bunch of dudes sitting around a table smoking and playing cards. You know how this stuff works - we kick through the door, they're surprised, we fight, we find their stash of illegal stuff."

  "But we're following Livitha... So we go in after the fight and take some pictures for our next article."

  Cherry said, "Or we show up in the nick of time and save her!"

  I couldn't help but smile. "Right. Okay, let's take a peek through the door."

  I grabbed the drone out of the air, tucking it back into my inventory, and the two of us ran along the canal.