Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Tianshi City: The Ministry Quarter

Script

Adorable Homewrecker
Benefactor
as written by Script

The night before the spirit festival...


The mist's chill touch caressed Mei's cheek as she soared through the air over the Ministry of Water. Her feet touched down lightly on the slates of the rooftop ledge, and she released her pull on the metal window-frame that had brought her across to it.

Her run took her to the edge of the roof, and she leaped, stretching one hand out behind her. This time she picked out a window behind her, and pushed, launching herself out across the street towards the Ministry of Telecoms. The radio tower atop that building provided the perfect link, and she joined herself to it and pulled, releasing her tie to the window.

For a webwalker, crossing the rooftops of Tianshi's more developed areas was a breeze. Once you got the hang of picking the right targets for your cords, avoiding the loose slates of rooftops and instead aiming for solid window-frames or sturdy stonework, you could practically fly.

She crossed the roof of the Ministry of Telecoms and moved onto the next, slinging her way out of the Ministry of Infrastructure's domain and towards her target. The Ministry of Law's imposing structure loomed taller than most of the others in the district. Even from this distance her eyes picked out the shapes of guards patrolling its rooftops.

It's like breaking into my own house, Mei smirked at the thought. It had been easy enough to find the details of the guards' patrols during the day without being questioned. After all, who would expect the First Minister of Law's own daughter of breaking into his office?

Well, her father would, for one. That's why she'd been careful he didn't catch wind of her questions.

It wasn't long before she dropped onto the rooftop of the large building in near silence, her cloak falling around her. The low fog provided good cover from any guards who might be watching from inside, whilst serving little obstacle to her farsight.

A window lay just ahead, and after a moment to check that no guards were behind it, Mei closed her eyes and blinked. The world took on a new form, all abstract colours and lights. The building became insubstantial, and she slipped straight through the wall into the corridor beyond. Then she was back again, reappearing in the hallway of the building.

Realmtreading - slipping into the spirit world and back. Few buildings aside from the Imperial palace were warded against it, given the expense and time involved in doing so. It made late-night excursions like this almost too easy.

She silently traced a path through the building, following the familiar route up to her father's office. None of the patrols spotted her, and within minutes she had blinked into the locked room. There, she straightened, relaxing somewhat now she was out of the eye of the guards.

Now to see what you've been planning, father.

It would help if she knew what she was looking for. Documents, she supposed, or notes. Written records of meetings. Anything to clue her into the secrets she knew that he was keeping from her.

Spirits, let it be something as simple as an affair.

Every folder she pulled out she was careful to slide precisely back into place. Her father paid an obscene amount of attention to detail, and if anything was different to how he'd left it when he came in tomorrow, he'd notice.

"You're out of lu-"

Mei turned instantly at the sound of a man's voice behind her, instinctively reaching for the metal shards in her sleeve with her cords and lashing out in a spray of tiny, deadly projectiles.

The man cursed, bringing his own hand up to match her and deflecting the shards away. They embedded themselves in the wall with a series of light thunks. "Spirits, stop! I'm not your enemy!" He raised a hand to his cheek, frowning behind a half-mask as his fingers came away bloodied from where one of the shards had cut him. "You're fast, I'll give you that."

"Who are you?" Mei demanded, keeping her voice low. "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you," the man pointed out. He was young, Mei could tell that much. He wore an outfit much like her own - dark, cloaked and clearly designed for stealth. Like her, everything he wore was carefully warded against the touch of a spider.

A webwalker. Or another spiritborn.

"I'm guessing you're here for the same reason I am, though," the man said, "To figure out what's happening between the First Minister and the princess."

The princess? Mei's eyes widened.

"Ah... you hadn't figured that out yet, then." He was clearly regretting saying too much. Mei wasn't surprised. Was he an idiot? You didn't give that sort of information away freely. Her eyes slid to the shards now embedded in the wall and she cursed herself.

Father will notice that damage. He'll know someone was here.

She flicked her wrist back, and the shards pulled free of the wall, returning to her and slipping back into her sleeve and the warded pouch within. "No," she replied, "But I'm interested in hearing about it."

The stranger fixed her with a firm gaze. "Why do you want to know?" he asked.

He's sighting me to see if I tell the truth. Definitely a spiritborn, then. Mei pursed her lips, focusing her own farsight on the stranger to ensure he was honest with her. "I have personal reasons for wanting to know what Minister Cai is planning."

He chuckled behind his mask, shaking his head, "That doesn't tell me anything. Let me make this simpler. Do you seek to cause any harm to the Imperial family, or to their rule?"

Mei's eyebrows rose in shock. "No," she immediately answered, "Is Minister Cai..?"

"That's what I'm here to find out."

He's telling the truth. Or warded against farsight. Mei frowned. On the one hand, working with this stranger was stupid. She knew nothing about him other than that he apparently had the Empress' interests in mind. He could be with any one of the Ministries, or indeed any family with a mite of noble blood. On the other hand... trying to get rid of him would cause enough noise to bring the entire Ministry Guard down on their heads.

"Fine. I won't stop you searching. But place everything back exactly where you found it, or the Minister will notice. He's meticulous," she said, turning back to the search.

The stranger raised an eyebrow. "You did your research," he remarked, sounding impressed.

"I always do."

Time passed. Mei wasn't sure she could bear to flick through another mundane report, schedule or log. Nothing suggested anything out of the ordinary. But she knew there were things not recorded here - times he'd been late home, letters he'd burned in the fireplace when he thought she wasn't watching.

It was likely her father was simply wise enough to keep everything unrecorded. But he'd always been so meticulous with his logs... even if he was trying to hide something, he'd keep some form of record for himself. But where?

"That's odd," the stranger's voice almost startled her. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand and frowning, "The patrols on this copy of the security detail for the Spirit Festival..."

"What?" Mei frowned. She'd already glanced over that and dismissed it as unimportant, even though it had been secreted away inside a locked cabinet. Lots of things were.

"They're incorrect."

"What? Incorrect?"

The man shook his head, "I mean they're bad," he corrected, but Mei narrowed her eyes. She could tell he was keeping something from her, even if he wasn't outright lying. "There's an obvious weakness, a blind spot in this portion of the garde-"

As Mei moved over to look, they were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and froze.

"I'm telling you, captain. There are people talking in there!"

The two made eye contact for a brief moment, wide-eyed.

This is why I hate working with other people... Mei inwardly cursed.
 
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