Though Papülonis is by area big enough to span a smaller nation on Earth a few centuries ago, it does have eventual limits. No Chromo will ever end up out there. People deemed unworthy of living even in the sweaty armpits of the city close to the ground often found themselves on the outskirts. These spanned several tens of thousands additional square kilometers. The houses themselves were of varying quality – some mere shacks held up by good will and desparation, others were apartment buildings or even gated villas – heavily guarded by gunmen geared fit for war. The state of everything aside from the villas was describable only as “in decay”.


    At the middle of the Slum of Red is a big market selling all kinds of goodies and foods. The slum gets its name from the red sand and dust constantly blowing around at the outskirts of the city and thus coloring any field of vision golden, butterscotch or red. Most of the products at the market are just food for the locals but also some are illegal, some exotic and some pure poison. In other words, some of the goodies are – despite their name - bad. On its edge closer to the main part of Papülonis is a parking lot for transportation with most of it being filled with cars.


    As the sun is setting, a noise of thundrous hissing beneath a rumbling in flange becomes louder. The locals ponder whether or not a spacecraft or aircaft was flying over them but no – instead it is Eurus riding his statbike. The Slum of Red burps out squelching noises, screams and metal clanking on metal among many others – if it were a lounge, its jazz duo would be a hurricane of garbage and human despair. Eurus’s arrival raises some attention but ultimately compared to the usual sounds they are accustomed to it is not noteworthy.


    “He’s arrived,” says a woman at the market who is closely observing Eurus while staying as hidden as humanly possible. She’s standing beneath the roof of one of the shacks bordering the market. From her ear device there’s a voice as quiet as the footsteps of a sneaking ant which says:


    “Good. Activate visual broadcast and keep me updated,” another female voice sounds through the tiny speaker in the spy’s ear. Her voice is trebled up but if one was to stand near the spy’s ear, they’d hear the sultry and deep caramel tone of the speaker on the other end.


    Eurus lands his statbike at the appropriate place at the edge of the market. He’s wearing a thin trench coat outfit, with a hood coming up from behind him, covering most of his face in shadow. His leather armor is neatly hidden below his coat and not visible to anyone. Even though he towers over most every person at the market, his face is incognito and it’s not obvious unless examined very closely that he’s a Cell. Considering his target, it’s obvious why he won''t go commando just yet.


    Eurus walks though the market and he examines the various stalls and vendors clearly looking for something while maintaining his discretion. In the stalls and on their counters are things that are mainly produced on Martis but he arrives at a stall that has some exotic goods on display. He takes some small device in his hand, clearly marked as a product for bioengineering by a company based on Terram. He then strikes up a conversation with the vendor.


    “Good day, sir, how’s it going?” says Eurus very casually and his voice is not as booming and bassy as usual. It’s almost soothing in tone – a clear departure from his usual dominating demeanor.


    “Going good, thank you. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for? We’ve got a lot of good stuff, just ask away,” says the vendor.


    “I can see you’ve got some nice imports here,” says Eurus, “but do you sell or have any metagel imports?”


    “These are real rare, man, I don’t sell these – they’re hard to get hands on,” says the vendor, “Most of them are under lock and key in official places and the imports are very secure.”


    “Hmm,” says Eurus, “say I have a contact on Terram who might be able to get these out of those official places or at least have them misplaced. I could hook you up, if you want? They’d sell for quite a price.”


    “You’d do that? Why?” asks the vendor.


    Eurus keeps inspecting the man’s goods while he talks.


    “Well I have a use for one dose but the way he can send it from Terram is with larger batches, several doses a crate,” says Eurus, “I’m not a vendor myself.”


    “I see. What do you want me to do?” asks the vendor.


    “Nothing, really, I just need to find a good enough smuggler to get things from off-world and bring them planet-side. You hook me up, I hook you up?”


    “Ah, well how do we split it?” asks the vendor.


    “Like I said, I only need one dose, money is not an issue so I can handle the import costs myself if need be, you can keep the rest of the batch pro bono as a gesture of goodwill when I get it,” says Eurus.


    “Hmm… You’ve got confirmation the package is ready?” asks the vendor.


    Eurus then takes out a PDA device and shows a few documents and pictures of the metagel crates. The dates and other details needed for confirmation are all there on the display.


    “Okay, I think we’ve got a deal. Well you’ve got Johnny Sly near the Split Towers,” says the vendor and points towards a ruined duo of towers in the distance, “but I don’t know if he’ll take the risk. He’s got a ship and a launchpad but getting caught with this is real bad, you know what I’m saying?”


    “Yeah, it’s risky for sure. But I’ve got my ass on the line too. You got someone else?” asks Eurus.


    “Well… There is one guy but I’m not sure you’ll wanna meet with him,” says the vendor.


    “Why’s that?”


    “He runs with the Glass Factory Raiders, they’re pretty protective about their runners.”


    “Ah, you think I’d get clipped,” asks Eurus.


    “You might. I’d try Johnny out first if I were you.”


    “Alright,” says Eurus, “but just in case, where do I go if I want the Raiders’ guy?”


    “You can talk to the Glass Factory Raiders captain – he usually hangs out around the Flea bar, you’ve heard of that?”


    “Yeah, it’s close to the Lair, right?” asks Eurus.


    “Yeah.”


    “Alright, I’ll keep you posted when I get anything,” says Eurus.


    He goes back to his statbike and takes off, first riding towards the Split Towers in the distance but when he’s out of direct line of sight of the vendor, he changes course towards the Lair, which is pyramid-esque structure in another direction closer to the city. It used to house military equipment and some soldiers but since being abandoned it has been taken over by various gangs and shady merchants.


    The voice in the spy’s earpiece says: “Just what the hell was that? Isn’t he supposed to be looking for that lost kid?”


    “I don’t know,” says the spy, “You want me to follow him?”


    “Yes,” says the sultry voice in the earpiece, ”but be careful, Sienna.”


    “Roger that. I’ll hang back at first.”


    She watches Eurus fly out of sight and then jumps on her own statbike similar to Eurus’ to hang low above the rooftops and slowly creep after him. Her statbike is not as armored and not designed for direct combat as it doesn’t have armaments hanging off its sides, unlike Eurus’s. Several miles ahead of her, she sees Eurus start to descend near the Lair and Flea bar. She circles around to avoid being detected and a few minutes later also lands near this location.


    -


    Eurus lands near the Lair at a vehicular stop similar to the one he was parked at in the Red Slum market. Visually, though, the region near the Lair is quite different. The air is not red from the sand as the wind doesn’t blow as strongly there. Instead the buildings and shacks are gray or dusty in color. Most of the parts used to build these lone apartment buildings and shacks are leftovers and scraps gathered from industrial processes in the city. They stand up fine but visually, the place doesn’t look appealing. The region got its name because a lot of criminal gangs hang out around there or at least have a group/force there as it’s a hot spot of gossip and commerce for those types of people.


    Eurus changes his outfit a bit, using things like bands and belts to make it more bubbly. Furthermore, he removes his hood as well. By using contact lenses and other cosmetics that he took with him, he disguises himself as a regular, tall human being. He now looks like a somewhat wealthy patron looking to keep things incognito. He can immediately smell the smoke of drugs, the stench of bodily fluids such as piss, vomit and waste. The region is vulgar beyond belief but its precisely why it is so popular with the aforementioned criminal gangs. It’s the perfect camouflage for them and a web of contacts and persons of interest. They can be observed and any vibrations of the web can be taken as a sign of danger or curiosity and be used as intelligence to their advantage.


    He starts walking through the streets, only named so because no more shacks could be fit there. It’s like a wet market but instead of unsanitary meat instead far more perverted things roam the edges of one’s peripheral view. The street he’s currently on is perhaps as wide as three or four men standing shoulder to shoulder and there isn’t a single full meter without a person sitting, talking, walking or smoking or drinking or injecting something. Eurus remembers places like this back on Terram as well.


    He walks around, and he dons a look of sheepishness, wonder and slight fear on his face, almost looking lost. His posture is now slightly slumped, he purposefully compresses himself a little to look soft and weak compared to the rough crowd around him. He notices many of the asymmetrical and grimaced faces staring at him, checking him out and measuring him head to toe. He is certainly being taken for an easy target. Like a patient predator, he has given himself the appearance of lost prey. This means his disguise works.


    As he’s strolling through the tight path, Eurus constantly analyzes and takes in new information from his surroundings. He’s surveilling anything around him. His perfect peripheral vision helps him to see things even when he’s not directly looking at them. Going deeper into the Lair region, he begins to see what he’s looking for.


    A gaggle of whores sit outside a shack on bench. They’re eyeing him up and down. Even if he didn’t look wealthy, Eurus is not hard on the eyes. He’s tall, even with his compressed figure he looks strong and somewhat intimidating and dangerous, albeit not as much as a Cell. Naturally the women are drawn to him. These first sets of whores however aren’t who he is looking for. They are wearing dirty and somewhat torn clothes, sometimes revealing bits like breasts that would lure in the weaker-willed man. Clearly even if they have a pimp or a mistress, they’re not of the quality Eurus is searching for. Eurus is looking for a more refined establishment – someone with connections.


    After having walked for a few minutes, he arrives at one of the apartment buildings mentioned before. The first floor of it has been modified to look more like a lobby. This looks like the place Eurus wants to find.


    The women inside there are dressed nicely, they look and smell clean(er) than their shack-side counterparts. Of course to Eurus’ senses, they still smell of disease, cum, piss and abuse, but to a regular person they look like they could be worth the money.


    Eurus takes a look around outside before going in. He sees a lot of the faces he’s already passed still staring at him angrily and with their frowns still easy to identify. However there’s another face standing 100 meters away from him and in the direction of where he came from that he doesn’t remember passing. This intrigues him, but his goal is to go into the brothel.


    “Oh, shit,” says Sienna quietly into her earpiece, “I think he looked straight at me.”


    “Don’t worry, Sienna,” says the voice in her ear, “No way he picks you out of these hundreds of people all staring at his towering figure. You’re fine. But is he going into a brothel?”


    “Looks like it,” says Sienna, “want me to try to follow him?”


    “Too risky,” says the voice, “if you can, maybe you send the fly-drone?”


    “Depending on what he’s going there to do,” says Sienna, “If he’s going to get his beak wet, there’s no way my drone’s charge can keep this on for just as long I mean he’s a Cell, right? What’s a marathon fuck-fest for him?”


    “I highly doubt he’s going there for leisure,” says the voice, “check it out, please. Get back to me if something changes.”


    Eurus walks inside the brothel and Sienna activates her fly-drone, knowing she only has maybe 15-20 minutes to find out what Eurus is doing there before the fly’s battery dying. These drones cost a fortune so she only can use one at a time.


    As Eurus walks through the brothel, he’s again being eyed by every woman and patron in there. They don’t suspect him being a Cell but he still stands out, especially because he looks wealthy. At the help desk there’s a young woman sitting at the terminal. She’s wearing a white t-shirt which covers her torso to her belly button, but its material is slightly transparent, again geared towards arousal. She’s wearing pink shorts that wouldn’t be visible at all if she was wearing a regular shirt, her blond hair is tied back into a ponytail and her lips are colored dark red, almost black. Her left eyebrow is studded with black cones, so are her earlobes and her shirt betrays that so are at least two other parts. She’s obviously intended as a girlfriend-at-home experience with a twist. Unlike the women Eurus saw before outside and the others in the lobby, she doesn’t have any bruising whatsoever visible. She’s either expensive or not for use at all, only meant as a nice welcome for the incoming clients, Eurus concludes. He goes to the counter and talks to the woman there:


    “I’ve got a request,” says Eurus.


    “Of course, darling,” says the sex worker manning the admin desk, “Anything you desire. How can we service you?”


    “It’s of a specific nature,” Eurus leans forward and almost whispers. He darts his eyes around as if being ashamed to be there. He makes it a point to gulp audibly as if experiencing dry mouth. Her demeanor shifts very slightly which Eurus notices. She becomes slightly apprehensive, Eurus can sense her starting to sweat slightly and her pulse intensifying. She says:


    “Well, you can look at our brochure to find the service and the boy or girl you want or any combination of the above,” she says, maintaining a seductive demeanor. She hands him a big screen device.


    He accepts the device and goes to sit down at one of the waiting sofas. Eurus then pretends to scroll through the available options and he changes his demeanor to appear increasingly disappointed but also slightly more nervous as he reads. Finally he reaches the end and lets out a sigh of stressful disappointment and returns to the desk worker.


    “I didn’t find it here,” he says quietly while whipping his credit chip around slightly.


    The desk worker looks slightly worried but again seductively she says: “Well is there anything else we can do for you? We wouldn’t want you to leave all stressed out. Let us help you with that, there’s a girl who can help you on the house she already told me she likes you. Just come next time maybe when our roster improves to your liking?”


    “Can I speak to the manager instead?” says Eurus, pretending to not know what a mistress is.


    “Manager?” she giggles, “You mean the mistress? Well aren’t you just so cute.”


    She types into her terminal and waits a few seconds. She then says:


    “The mistress said you can go her room, it’s on the third floor, last door on the right. She’ll know how to help you too I’m sure of it.”


    “Thank you. You’re very beautiful, I’ve just got something specific in mind,” says Eurus sheepishly.


    “Hey, that’s alright, it’s what we do around here. You don’t have to buy a comm device or a TV or anything you don’t like just because you entered the store either, do you?” she says to lighten Eurus’s apparent sorrow.


    “He-he,” Eurus pretends to chuckle, “I suppose you’re right. Thank you for your understanding.”


    He then walks up the stairs. As he moves up, each hallway has sounds of service ringing in his ears. There must be 50 rooms on each floor, he figures, half of them sound occupied. This is a big and well-known establishment in the region therefore and likely will have what he needs.


    Eurus walks up to the third floor, turns right as instructed and walks to the door she told him to go to. He knocks quietly to request entry and a high pitched voice says “Come in!”


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    He opens the door and he’s welcomed by a somewhat unexpected sight. The office of the mistress is not shaped or furnished like a sex dungeon or like a lair for kittens or anything of the sort. It’s extremely organized and tidy. Not a single speck of dust or dirt is visible to the naked human eye if they were to enter. The mistress has obviously gone to great lengths to at least appear official in her office.


    Her outfit however tells a different story. While her office looks like a place where some executive of a small startup tech company could work, she is still wearing an outfit fit for a mistress. Eurus concludes that obviously there are moments where she needs to be on call or entertain even if need be. She’s in her early fifties but in remarkable shape for her age. It’s hard to tell if she’s had any surgical work done but Eurus suspects she hasn’t. Her hair is dressed up in a cushy perm, dark in tone. Her eyebrows and high cheekbones are colored to look enticing and her full lips are colored bright red. She’s wearing a pearl necklace and her ears are pierced by diamond earrings. From the shape of her nose and blue eyes, she’s obviously the mother of the desk worker Eurus saw earlier or at the very least they’re closely related. They both have the same tiny nose, round eyes and their chins have a single dimple, all recessive traits only inheritable if one of the parents would have these alleles as well. She’s wearing a red corset tied up around her waist and her chest is pushed up to display her ample bosom. She’s wearing shorts as well, but they’re black and her legs are covered by black almost completely opaque. Her hands are also preceded by bracelets covered by jewelry and her fingers are encased in expensive rings. She looks up at Eurus and her perceptive eyes peer right at his which makes Eurus wonder if she can tell he’s wearing contact lenses. She says:


    “Welcome, darling, I’m told you haven’t found what you’re looking for here. You can call me Ursula. How can I be of service?”


    “Umm… Is this confidential?” asks Eurus, pretending to mumble his words.


    “Of course. We offer the highest discretion. Everything you say here will be between just the two of us,” she says.


    “Well I was hoping for someone younger than what you had available in the brochure,” says Eurus.


    “Younger? The taste of the forbidden fruit always is the sweetest,” she says, trying to put Eurus at ease. She immediately becomes slightly nervous but she’s hiding it extremely well.


    “God, he’s looking for a child to do things to?” Sienna meanwhile say to her earpiece, “What a piece of shit!”


    “Patience,” says the voice, “We have no clue what he’s doing, but I suspect it’s not a random detour.”


    “I’m running low on power,” says Sienna, “I have maybe 30 seconds before I have to fly back to the charger box.”


    “Younger, yes,” says Eurus to the mistress, “I can pay for any price.”


    “I see,” says Ursula, “well in that case if you can pay 40000 credits, we’ll look into it.”


    The fly returns to Sienna after this.


    “40000 credits? The Cells are rich, huh?”


    “Well they are centuries old,” says the voice in the earpiece.


    Eurus uses his money chip to transfer 40000 Imperial credits to Ursula’s terminal. It arrives immediately.


    “Thank you for your cooperation, sir. Can you describe your taste in more detail?” Ursula asks.


    “Umm, yes,” says Eurus and he hands her his PDA device where there are pictures of a girl from a specific animated show he pretends to be a fan of. She’s black of hair, very young indeed.


    “I see. Would you care to frequent other services while you wait, this will take time to arrange?”


    “How long will it take?” asks Eurus.


    “An hour, maybe two. The services would be on the house in your case as you’ve already paid a great sum,” says Ursula, “You had a spark with the desk girl?”


    “A spark?” asks Eurus, “Isn’t she your daughter?”


    “Dear me,” says Ursula, clearly impressed, “Aren’t you perceptive? Yes, she is my kin, but she’s very pure, never been used. I can get her ready for you if purity is what you really want until you wait for your request.”


    “No, thanks,” says Eurus, “I’ll take a walk around the neighborhood instead and be back in two hours, if that’s alright.”


    “Saving yourself for dessert, I see? Of course, as is your prerogative,” says Ursula.


    Eurus stands up from the chair he sat in and walks out of the brothel. He again notices the strange face in the distance peering at him unlike the others. This one isn’t angry or scared, it’s merely expressing curiosity. He suspects he’s being watched by another party. If it were the smugglers watching him however, he would need to act fast so he ignores the voyeur in the distance at first.


    “He’s looking at me again,” says Sienna.


    “Hmm, look away,” says the voice.


    Sienna turns her back to Eurus and starts walking back the way she came from. Eurus slides between a small gap between a shack and the brothel and waits. Soon, a cloaked woman exits the brothel – it’s the same woman from the help desk. She makes her way towards the Flea bar, at the center of the Lair. Quietly, Eurus follows her. Reacting to no longer being watched, Sienna follows as well.


    “He must be deducing the location of the missing girl by indirect investigation,” says the voice in Sienna’s ear.


    “Yes, it’s very subtle. I wonder if the traffickers even suspect anything yet,” says Sienna.


    “Probably not, there’d be more movement,” says the voice.


    Eurus carefully moves through tight alleys around the Lair. He’s keeping glimpses of the desk worker available to him, as he moves through parallel alleys and streets. Sienna follows him as well, but is becoming more apprehensive about the whole ordeal because she suspects that Eurus is aware of her presence and allowing her to follow him on purpose. She fears that Eurus might set up a trap for her as well. However, her mission is clear and she won’t sway from it unless absolutely necessary.


    After walking and following the desk worker for a little while, Eurus sees her entering an establishment right next to Flea Bar. It’s another bar named Low. Before going in, Eurus dirties up his outfit, removes the embellishments that make him seem wealthy. He also puts on a scrappy hat he had in his pocket and makes himself look somewhat homeless. Then Eurus moves closer to the windows, waits until the bartender has turned his back to the door and then quietly slips inside, without arousing any suspicion in the already drunken clientele. He sits at a table in the corner where a drunkard is slouched over, deep asleep. He takes his half empty glass of beer and pretends to be drinking as well, but really he’s just listening to the conversation the desk worker is having at the bar.


    Meanwhile, Sienna stands outside and she has no way of listening to the conversation taking place inside.


    “That’s the Low Bar,” says the voice in her ear.


    “The Low Bar? Really?” says Sienna.


    “Yes, it’s where criminals without enough prestige in the underworld go to get wasted. Usually you’ll find old men and women there with a lot of contacts in the criminal circles. I’m betting that Eurus is listening to the conversations going on in there.”


    The voice in Sienna’s ear is completely right. Eurus is indeed listening to the conversations. He is most focused on the conversation the desk worker is having with the greasy man at the bar. The man is fat and looks like someone dressed a bean in dirty khakis and a white undershirt with suspenders barely holding his outfit together.


    “He wants WHAT?”


    “A child bride or something I guess. Look, he already paid the mistress.”


    “Paid?” asks the man, “How much?”


    “40000 Imperial credits… not cheap,” says the desk worker, “Can you help us?”


    “Holy hell,” says the man, “Well my usual crew is not picking up right now. I can ask around, how long do I have?”


    “Two hours or less,” says the young woman.


    “Eh, worst case scenario, I’ll get someone drugged,” the man mumbles.


    “As if,” says the woman, “He’s not easily tricked, mother says.”


    “Ah, a picky eater? Well, I’ll get it done. Don’t worry, kid.”


    She walks back outside, not even looking at Eurus. Eurus then stands up, ruffles his hair and staggers to the bar looking completely drunk. He sits right next to the man the desk worker was talking to.


    “Bartender!” he slurs out, “A scotch and a beer!”


    “You got it,” says the bartender.


    “You’re new here, aren’t you?” asks the man of Eurus.


    “What’s it to you?” says Eurus drunkenly.


    “Hey, didn’t mean anything by it, just making conversation.”


    “Yeah, I’m new,” says Eurus.


    “You with one of the merc groups?” asks the man at the bar, “You look like you know your way around a scrap.”


    “I was until those BASTARDS threw me out for winning at a card game,” says Eurus.


    “Lucky you didn’t get shot,” says the man.


    “Anyway they took all my money and now say I owe them too, I’m really fucked. You got any work?”


    “Well I’m not the one hiring, but you can go to Flea Bar right next door. You weren’t kicked from there, were you?”


    “Nah, just from the HQ if you can call it that. A shack with a skull nailed to it ain’t no HQ, you know what I’m saying?”


    “Hah, that’s right.”


    “You were saying? Flea Bar, there’s work?”


    “Eh, I don’t know really. My usual guy, Allon is there though. He runs with the Nine K-s. They’re pretty quiet now, but maybe come back in a few days, ask around for him. He’ll hook you up pretty sure if you’re a good gunslinger,” says the man.


    “The Nine K-s? They a merc group?”


    “Ask them,” says the man, “take care.”


    Eurus finishes his drinks and exits the bar. Again he catches a glimpse of Sienna watching him. He’s now sure that his actions are definitely being watched closely by someone.


    “SHIT,” says Sienna while ducking behind a pillar across the street, “He definitely saw me again.”


    “Yes, but did he notice you? Maybe he just looked at you at random?” ponders the voice in the speaker.


    “Maybe. He’s going in the Flea Bar now. Wait…”


    “What’s he doing? I can’t see from this footage.”


    “He’s removing his disguise as well. Oh, this should be interesting.”


    Eurus now wearing his leather outfit, grappling hooks, jump boots and revolver, with no disguise whatsoever now enters the Flea Bar. He almost busts open the door, to make his arrival as clear as possible to the people in the establishment. When he enters what was likely a rowdy and loud bar, becomes completely silent as all the people in it have their sights fixed squarely on Eurus.


    The establishment and its main hall is round in shape, like an American football almost. It’s got two levels, with stairs going up to the second level on the sides of the hall and in the middle there is a dance floor. The bar is on the far end of the establishment and around the dance floor there are chairs and tables and the usual. The second floor is extended above the first, with a hole in the middle with quite a chandelier illuminating the place when it gets dark. The ceiling curves up also in the shape of a football, far beyond the second floor.


    Eurus walks around, looks at different people in this bar. Everyone in the establishment drop their conversation as he walks around them and they just peer at him, being very aware of what he is. His senses are heightened to the point of hearing a pin drop on a cushion in another room. He can almost hear some of them thinking: “Maybe I’m the one to kill a Cell?”


    “Whatever you think you’re going to do – don’t. Probably you think you’re going to kill me. I promise you, it won’t work,” says Eurus loudly. He slowly walks to the bar and asks the bartender:


    “Does anyone by the name of Allon, of the Nine K gang come here? Remember, I can tell when you lie to me. So…”


    The bartender looks genuinely terrified. Eurus thinks it’s because he doesn’t know or if he does, he’s worrying about the ramifications of snitching. Either way, the bartender is contemplating of Eurus’ nature as a Cell and is weighing his biggest likelihood to live.


    “I ask again,” says Eurus, “Where is Allon of the Nine K gang?”


    Suddenly, on the second floor, he hears someone slowly walking towards the wall of the establishment towards the entrance downstairs. Then they start to run and Eurus hears a door fly open on the second floor.


    Sienna sees this going on from the outside of the establishment. The voice in her earpiece says:


    “That little idiot is going to run straight to Allon, isn’t he.”


    Sienna looks where the man is running and sees him take a turn towards one of the known villas in the region.


    “Yup, and there’s our hero as well,” says Sienna, this time seeing that Eurus doesn’t look towards her at all, “Looks like he didn’t spot me.”


    “Good, let’s keep it that way. Follow him quietly, we know now where he’s going.”


    Eurus doesn’t even run as he makes his way towards the villa his target ran to. He simply takes a few jogging steps every now and then but mostly he’s just walking at a brisk pace, while slipping by every person or obstacle without even touching them, perfectly mapping his way through the crowds and garbage without drawing any attention aside from the ones who look at him directly.


    When he arrives near the villa, he can see that its heavily fortified. In order to access it, he would need to kill the guards, probably fight many more inside and thus he would cause many civilian deaths as a likely outcome. He would also not be sure of capturing Allon in time and he would not find the main location where captives are held either. Near the villa, is a taller structure of what seems are apartments. He can spot that there’s a room with an open window but no occupants and he climbs and leaps up to the room in order to observe the villa discreetly.


    “Sienna, do you have the fly drone charged?” asks the voice from Sienna.


    “Almost, why?” she responds.


    “I don’t think our hero knows it, but I own that building. It’s a brothel too. The room is kept empty because some visitors simply want to lay low. But I’m going to send our hero company,” says the voice, “Can you get the drone operational in around 5 minutes?”


    “Sure,” says Sienna.


    Eurus checks the room and the ones adjacent to it for unwanted visitors but they’re empty. He then crouches down on the balcony and starts observing the villa compound. Someone is talking to the person who ran away outside. Eurus suspects that it’s Allon. He’s thinking about using his grappling hook to set up a zipline when he hears footsteps outside of his room. He then hears the door open behind him and he turns around fast, only to see two women with uncovered breasts and miniskirts as low as large belts enter the room. To his surprise, they don’t startle after seeing him. This can only mean however, that the person who was observing him earlier knew he was in this room and sent the women to entice him.


    Again, the women were handpicked it seems. They are also unbruised and unblemished and uninjured by any means – pristine condition. They don’t smell like regular sex workers around this place, they have no off putting qualities. As a matter of fact, any other man would immediately forget why they’re there.


    One of the girls has lush lips and big eyes, looking almost like a doll, but again unaltered by surgery. She looks aroused just by her physical traits, but the shape and position of her eyebrows betray the most lust. She has black hair and is also studded in various places. Eurus can’t smell any drug use on her nor the other girl who is surprisingly to Eurus, very similar to a woman he used to know a long time ago. She’s got natural blond hair, with a red hue in them. Her facial features aren’t as exaggerated as her counterpart’s, in fact, she’s almost the opposite. She has a much more common and plain look, but not by any means unattractive. Her face is round, her cheekbones are not as sharp as her friend’s, she has slight freckles, but her eyes betray the same intentions as her friend’s.


    Realizing that this is an obvious diversion, Eurus says:


    “I suggest you leave the way you came.”


    Eurus turns his eyes back towards the villa while keeping his ears trained on the girls. They walk towards him almost like cats with bare feet barely making any noise at all. The black-haired one says:


    “But this is our home, mister,” her voice is alt and smooth.


    “Yeah, mister,” says the blonde, her voice being of a higher pitch and slightly more exhaled, “can’t we entertain our guest?”


    They arrive, the blond on his right and on the left is the black haired one. They start to kiss his ears, neck, their hands moving all over his body, hoping to distract him. With the same goal in mind, they press their soft bodies and breasts against Eurus, reasoning that this will work even more effectively.


    “We can feel you bothered,” says the blonde seductively, “can we make you feel less stressed?”


    “Yeah,” says the brunette, keeping a seductive voice, “you should let us, otherwise we might scream having found a strange man in our room, would this be better?”


    “See that villa over there,” Eurus says while pointing to it, “I don’t know how you got into this business, and I don’t care what choices you make. What I care about is that this building holds in it a man who is responsible for stealing a child from her parents and now waiting for an opportunity to sell that child as a sex slave off world.”


    The caressing stops.


    “I won’t believe you when you say that you don’t care about this girl. That you won’t recognize yourself or someone you know in her and the path you are helping her go down if you manage to distract me. I don’t believe that you would willingly do anything that would cause an innocent child’s life to become a living nightmare, no matter who you take orders from,” says Eurus.


    The girls step away and go back into the room, and sit on the bed. Their faces no longer display any whiff of arousal or lust, but instead they look on the ground with a note of disgust, contemplating what likely are their life choices.


    “God damn,” says the voice in the earpiece of Sienna, “Well I have one more trick up my sleeve.”


    “Really? Didn’t you hear what he just said? What’s at stake?” Sienna asks, now clearly frustrated with the voice on the other end.


    “Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly grown a conscience, Sienna,” says the voice.


    All of a sudden, gunshots are heard in the near distance of the villa. Panic ensues in the streets and people start running amok. Eurus notices this from his balcony and sees that some people end up getting trampled.


    “Shit... A riot!” Sienna says into her ear-piece.


    “Not at all. I just happened to have a drug deal gone bad in the region. If it distracts Eurus... so be it.”


    “Mirra...” Sienna says.


    “Don’t Mirra me... What’s he doing now?”


    Eurus notices that person who was following him earlier and a fly on the balcony just standing there, looking at him. He squashes it with lightning speed, killing the feed of Sienna. He then looks directly at her, to remember her face and to let her know that Eurus is now certainly aware of her presence.


    A cold shiver runs down Sienna’s spine. She now knows that whatever Eurus decides to do next, she’s likely going to be involved in it. Considering how long it had taken them to find out what Eurus’ plan was, she knows that escape will be unlikely. She says to Mirra:


    “I’ve been spotted for sure, I’ve gotta bail.”


    “No, Sienna,” says Mirra, “We need to see how he acts.”


    Meanwhile in the villa, Allon notices the scuffle in the streets and decides to use the cover of the confusion to escape and hopefully go unnoticed by Eurus. He calls the headquarters of Nine-K and tells them that as soon as he arrives, the plan of evacuation must be executed. He also lets them know that he is being targeted by a Cell. His bodyguards shield him while they guide him out of the villa bounds and start moving him with him back towards the Split Towers, away from the main part of the city. Eurus observes this and uses this opportunity to leap out of the window to follow him. Sienna is in shock:


    “What? He’s not even going to help all these people?” she exclaims.


    “Interesting,” says Mirra in her ear, “Looks like the Cell Codex compels him to carry out his bigger mission.”


    She is only partly right. In any other situation, Eurus would try to find a way to stop the amok but given now the time constraints and that the mission is reaching its crescendo, he knows that he cannot do both. In this case given that his primary objective is in peril, he must make the choice to achieve his main goal. What the women watching him, Sienna and Mirra, don’t take into consideration is that now Eurus has figured out that the last two diversions were caused by whoever is watching him (Sienna) and has set himself a new goal of finding out all he can about the organization that is following him. He won’t be diverted or distracted again.


    -


    Sienna follows Eurus, finding it hard to keep up with him this time. Eurus is seemingly out of his natural element but he is still moving with such speed and ease that a trained and experienced veteran spy like Sienna can’t easily keep up with him and is forced to use everything she can to not lose track of him. She climbs up on the rooftops of the shacks and begins a full sprint to keep up. Given that he’s aware of her presence but not choosing to act, she chooses to throw caution out the window as she’s now interested as well in what comes next.


    She follows Eurus to a warehouse near the Split Towers. She sees him go in and to her surprise no noise of combat or killing is coming out from there. With her fly gone, she moves closer, to get a peek through the windows on the roof of the warehouse.


    What she sees amazes her and unwillingly she raises her eyebrows in awe – Eurus is moving so fast and quietly across the various vantage points of the warehouse that his enemies simply have no time to react. He’s silenced his weapon and he’s moving through the building virtually undetected by anyone who could attempt to stop him. A few of them turn towards him at random but even still they find no time to react. Finally, at the far end of the warehouse, the men there, Allon and a few others realize that their men are all dead. Eurus then disappears into a formation of pipes and barrels, out of sight for Sienna and the men. He moves like a wraith from ancient lore through his surroundings leaving no mark, no trace, and his movements emit no sound.


    “What the hell?” thinks Sienna.


    She then sees him leap from cover right in the middle of the men and with one clean stroke, his blade cuts their throats. He then goes into the basement of the warehouse where supposedly the captives are. There’s no sign of Eurus and several hours pass. Finally, police and paramedics arrive and supposedly take care of the children in the building and return them to their families in due time. She can’t see Eurus, however. She chooses to wait another two hours to see if perhaps Eurus will exit the building at some point. He doesn’t.


    She returns to his statbike in the hope that he’ll eventually come to retrieve it. After waiting for another several hours, she finally decides that she’s had enough and tells Mirra:


    “I can’t find him anymore.”


    “Hmm,” says Mirra, “Alright, come home, then, let’s get you paid and cleaned up.”


    Sienna drops down from the rooftops and gets on her statbike and rides back towards Leone Tower. She wonders where Eurus might’ve disappeared to. Is this the life of a Cell? Just going from mission to mission? At least he’s left her alone and isn’t looking for retribution for her part in the stampede. She’s not entirely sure she could evade him if he were to give chase despite her fast stat-bike, because in all her years as a spec-ops reconnaissance operative, she’s never seen anything simultaneously gather intel and move like Eurus.