Episode 16-1: Downpour

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: City Public

(11:48 Hours)

"Glad I packed an umbrella," I mumble to Clyde, who was sitting next to me in the back seat of a cab. I stare outside from the window, watching the heavy rain pound the pavement of this cloudy city. It was strange, seeing everyone walking about through the weather like it was nothing. I've never really stayed in places that had rain so often.

"Yeah, don't wanna get wet when we're pounding Archer into the ground," he says sarcastically.

After spending five months with Marston, we finally brought down his case files to a more manageable level. There was time now; time to revisit Adams' case with Archer. It took a couple of days working with our quadrant back in Hartford to locate Archer's location, but it paid off with a lead. After Clyde broke the legs of our Super Ninja friend, we found out that he's been holed up away from us in the Commonwealth, attacking through remote orders of units he'd collected over the years. We encountered one first-hand during my training course as a field medic, and since then more units have been out for us, hunting us like some prized boars.

"Yeah! It's time for us to get on the offensive with this! All this stress of waiting for hitmen to attack us is ruining my good looks."

"Is that what happened to you?" he asks with a smile.

I punch him in the arm. "Shaddup! I'm still the prettiest girl you've ever seen, and the sexiest guy you'll ever meet."

He rubs the spot where I punched him. "Don't forget the most modest I'll ever know, too."

I giggle, "Oh, I forgot about that one. What residence did you book for us anyway? 5-star hotel or a beautiful house near fantastic scenery?"

"Oh, I got us a motel near a liquor store. Can't be living in luxury while on business, that'll be too easy for Archer to find us."

"Luxury? You mean you'd rather be closer to hooch than to think about my needs, right?"

"Me? Of course not. I was just thinking about both of our safety. Discreet motel versus a renowned building? Yeah, I think I've made my point here."

The cab halts finally, and I realize the bad neighborhood that it's brought us to. Broken streets and sidewalks, every building around us just has natural-looking grossness to it, and I'm more than sure that each corner has some sort of vice store resting on top of it.

"I can tell I'm gonna like it here already," I sarcastically say.

"That's the spirit, squirt. Now go on and unpack your things, we need to set up shop soon. Dealing with Archer usually means we have a time limit on our hands."

I get down with my luggage and watch Clyde pay the cab fare. Strolling down the walkway to the main entrance made me notice the tall grass on the front lawn. Does nobody keep this place tamed? I place my hand on the stained doorknob and head inside to greet the desk clerk holding my room key.

"Morning," I say happily, trying to hold my fake smile. "I have a room reserved under Peterson. It's been a long flight and drive, and I'd be so happy to take a rest on a clean bed."

"Clean?" she asks. She boots up her computer and types a couple of characters in while moving the mouse around. She adjusts her dusty glasses sitting on the bridge of her dried-out nose. "Peterson. Two occupants? Where's the other?"

"Oh he's outside right now unloading his luggage. He'll be in shortly. There are two keys, right?"

She huffs and gives me two keys. "Room 213. Head upstairs and down the hall to the last door on the right."

"Thank you."

Clyde walks in through the door carrying his duffle bag. "Did you get us all set up?"

"Yeah. Our room is upstairs. Let's go."

We make it into our personal lodging, and it turns out I couldn't even get a clean bed to lay down in. It looks like when someone checks out, the staff doesn't bother cleaning up at all. There are still beer bottles tossed about in the corner of the room, and it still smelled like there were some heavy herbal smokers squatting in here. Guess there's no policy against that.

"Ugh! Clyde, seriously? This is the best you could do?" I put down my bag and open it up to retrieve some nice smelling spray and other cleaning supplies. "I'm not gonna lounge around in here while it looks and smells like this."

"You brought cleaning supplies with you?" he asks with a silly puzzled look on his face. "Anyway, you won't be lounging around for too long, we've gotta get to work."

"Thank goodness. So, where are we gonna start first? What's our lead?" I ask while beginning to spray the entire room to eliminate that horrible odor.

"Straight from the mouth of Doctor Nivans, he said that the communicator had a faint resonance pulsing from it. It held a signal that originated from the campgrounds, but Archer was foolish enough to take it with him after his little assassination attempt went wrong. He even left the channel open for them to work their magic to trace it back."

"So why not let Amelia deal with that? Marston's quadrant is leading when it comes to technology."

"It only seemed fitting for Hartford to work on the case, that's where this whole problem began anyway."

"Okay, so the general area is Philadelphia. Not exactly the smallest of cities in the Commonwealth. How do you plan on narrowing it down?"

"By partnering up with the greatest agent at getting intel."

I get up from my spot cleaning up the bottles. "You found someone better than me!?"

"No, ya dink! I was talking about you. I don't know how you pull it off, but people just naturally want to tell you everything they know. It doesn't hurt that you can infiltrate computers and locks too, you never know if that could help out."

I smile and shine my nails on my shirt. "Oh, it always helps out. Trust me."

"Right," he says, rolling his eyes. "So before your ego inflates and makes your head explode, do some digging around the city and find us a clue. Anything could be helpful."

I place my hands on my hips. "And what is it that you'll be doing while I'm gone?"

"Me? Oh, I'll be doing some reconnaissance of my own."

I sigh in disbelief. "You're going to that liquor store, aren't you?"

"Correction: I'm doing a stakeout at the liquor store," he says with a wink.

*** *** ***

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Thrift Book Store

(13:27 Hours)

Cute skirt, smart glasses for that intellectual flair, black stockings, and pretty wedges. Good to go. I approach the counter of the bored-looking cheetah flipping through a magazine behind the counter.

"Hello. This is a cute book store you have here."

"Just work here, not mine," he says in a lazy tone, not looking up from his immersive pages.

"Oh, um... I'm guessing you have your regulars here, right? Well, I was hoping that maybe you could tell me if anyone different has come by here. Specifically anyone in a wheelchair."

He finally takes his eyes off the paper and glues them to my figure. His tail flicked behind him as he began to take interest in my words. "Oh, hi. Um... yeah, w-we got some people like that every now and then."

"How about recently? In a span of a month."

"Hmm... sorry, I don't think anyone like that has come around that recently. Sorry about that. Why are you looking for them, anyway."

"Oh, just an old friend of mine. I'm here in town and wanted to surprise him, but I lost his address, so I'm hoping he made some friends here that knows where he lives."

"Aw, that's sweet of you," he says, leaning on the table. "What's his name? Maybe it'll ring a bell."

I thought about it for a moment. Should I really let a civilian know any details about our target? "It's Archer. Archer Fury."

He sits up straight. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell. But I'll ask around for you, and I'll call you if you give me your number."

Hehe, not a chance. "Thank you, but that's okay, really. I don't want you to go through that trouble for me."

The look of disappointment was apparent on him. "Oh. Okay, see you around?"

I laugh, "Sure, see you around."

I head for the door and think about my next location to investigate, but my thoughts were cut off when some rude man rushed in front of me to leave first. Boy, avid readers sure are assertive. Next stop: the subways. Maybe I can pull the security footage and find a good clue.

*** *** ***

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Unknown Location

(13:49 Hours)

A dark room sits quietly, only illuminated by computer monitors that focus around the city public. It's inhabited by one person and his wheelchair, he looks tired and miserable. Someone new knocks on the door, entering the room slowly.

"Sir," he speaks softly, "I have news for you."

The man in the chair spins himself around to face his visitor. "News? Good or bad?"

"Bad."

"Oh, boy... lemme hear it."

"A girl is going around town asking about you. I think it's an agent of Ispio."

"A girl? Describe her to me."

"An anthro fox, curvy build, short hair, not bad on the eyes. I saw her at the book store."

He laughs softly. "My dear lad, that's no girl of Ispio. He's a man, a high-ranking man of Ispio at that."

"A man?"

"A man. He's not just some agent sent to investigate me, he's the target I keep trying to hit. If he's here, that means Clyde is here too."

"Clyde? As in Clyde Barker?"

"The very same." He spins his chair to face his back towards his visitor. "No more units of assassins, I think I've got a new plan to get them to stay away. And you'll continue to help me, correct?"

"Aye, sir."

"Good. Some advice for you. If you confront the fox, Troy, do not listen to a word he says. His silver tongue could convince you to kill yourself, or worse, turn yourself and me in. If you confront Clyde, run. You can't fight him, you'll lose."

"Silver fox and burly dog? Got it. Thank you, sir."

"Stay safe, Chief. I'll send orders through the communicator."

"I'll be going then."