We made our way back into Radiant City. As we approached the Atom Tower building, a bunch of people of all ages were walking about viewing gadgets.
There was an outside vending station where employees showed new phones, technology and the like. I assume this is where Vivian would have taken me if I had gone to buy a phone with her the other day.
It felt like the place was more futuristic compared to the ordinary streets of Radiant City. People were trying out new models of tools like cooking, home improvement tools and much, much more.
"This place is amazing."
I was awestruck.
Jade nodded.
"It really is. This district is known as Atom Corporation. So, if you hear people in Radiant City talk about this place, they are referencing the shopping part of it."
The knight briskly walked past the vendors as she made her way to the main gate. I couldn't help but look at all the technology. I read about how the Radiants were reinventing things from the Human Age, but I never expected it to be to this extent.
"I forgot, you're a little hermit, aren't you, Feodora?"
Mellissa teased as she nudged my shoulder. I scratched my cheek, trying to buck back at her.
"I-I'm not a hermit! Did Jade tell you to call me that?!"
I accused.
"I never said anything. I just told her that you prefer to live on the outskirts of town, far away from people and society."
Jade chided.
"Everyone else came to that conclusion."
The knight with her finger pushed my forehead, teasing me.
"Yuu Yuu likes being away from people too!"
Jade smirked at the timid loner.
"You and Feodora make a fine pair then, don't you. C'mon girls, we're burning daylight."
The knight ordered.
Yuu Yuu glanced my way. With a meek smile, she twisted her short longs with one finger.
"I guess we are similar, aren't we?"
Yuu Yuu asked.
"Yeah, we enjoy our solitude."
The human giggled.
"Well, how about we all find a time to check out Atom Corporation together. Wouldn't that be fun you two?"
"Yeah, I would love to. Maybe I could find a device that makes fried green tomatoes easier."
It was a very specific want but I'm sure it was worth looking for.
The three of us rushed to catch up with the Radiant knight, marching in the distance.
Together we followed Jade as she approached the large tower. It had to reach at least thirty floors. The building's exterior was bright silver, and there was a collection of windows scattered around. It reminded me of the ancient ruins Eve, Vivian, and I went to earlier in the week.
Jade approached the building and brought out a badge.
"We're here to see Atom. I called earlier for a meeting with her."
One of the security team nodded and stepped by. We walked into a large room with a red carpet. As if Jade knew just where to go, she led us to a silver door on the side. After pushing a button, we waited for a moment for it to reveal a small room.
"What's this?"
I questioned.
"An elevator. Atom is located on the thirtieth floor."
Jade stepped inside, and we all followed her. The room rumbled like we were being swallowed by a monster as it pushed us up, further into the tower.
"This place is massive, Jade."
I remarked, earning a nod from her.
"Yes. Atom is one of the smartest people on the planet of Prism. She first designed the streetlight with the help of the holy element at the age of nine. There was no doubt about her brilliance after that success. Atom would become a staple in the scientific field."
Mellissa looked a tad confused.
"I don't recall what happened after I went to sleep, but from what I gathered, the machines we faced were likely made here? That's why we decided to talk to Atom?"
I nodded.
Yuu Yuu crossed her legs and leaned against the wall.
"D-Do you think Atom is the culprit Jade?"
Yuu Yuu asked.
Jade then put her finger to her lip and looked at the pink bunny.
"Let's not discuss that right now, Yuuna."
She turned to the corner of the boxed room.
"Because we're on camera, and she can hear all of our discussions before we make it there. I don't want all my cards exposed yet."
I looked at the small device in the corner. It had a slight shine to it, showing that Atom was watching us.
"I will mention this all of you, though."
Jade took a deep breath.
"She is a Radiant, and the same rules don't apply when speaking to her as they do to a citizen of Radiant City."
Yuu Yuu clicked her tongue.
"Yeah, Yuu Yuu knows that very well."
Yuu Yuu said as she looked away.
"What do you mean by that, Jade?"
I questioned.
"I mean whatever we discover in this interrogation, we have to let the Radiant Order deal with it. By law, that's how it works."
I was beginning to understand the different hierarchy of Radiant City. They weigh differently compared to crimes made by the common folk and those suspected by the Radiants themselves.
A chime rang out, indicating that we had reached the floor we wanted. Jade exited first, and we three followed her. As we kept going down a hallway, we got to a large door.
"Ahhhh, no! No!"
A voice echoed out from a speaker.
"Atom, we're here to ask you a few questions…."
Her voice screeched. Guns with red lasers came out from the walls. Bars rose up from the floor, sealing our way to enter.
"You are not coming in with that filthy-looking girl! The one with the pink hair. She's covered in OIL!"
We looked at Yuu Yuu, who was embarrassed. She moaned as she looked over her clothing.
"Oh no… she must have tracked the entire floor! Oh no!"
Atom's voice came to a stop, everything was quiet.
"Ah…"
I opened my mouth.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Out of the speakers, a shrill comparable nail on walls echoed in the hallway.
"Mellissa Ann Cafree has blood on her! Do you know how many diseases are in BLOOD?! Oh my, look at the redhead! She has blood on her jacket too. What the hell happened to them?!"
"Atom now is not the time-"
Jade said dejectedly.
"Dang it, did Melissa kill someone again, didn't she, Jade?! Are her feet tracking blood too?! Oh, my gosh! I'll have replaced the carpet! Maids, maids!!!"
An army of maids with handguns came out from the doors nearby. They surrounded us. I touched my katana, but Jade glanced at me and shook her head.
Reluctantly, I relaxed and followed her lead.
"Hands up, all of you!"
We all do as we're told. Jade, clearly frustrated, sighed deeply.
"This is a bit of an overreaction, Atom."
The knight complained.
"I refuse to be in the same room with blood! A-Are you trying to kill me, Jade?! Is that what you're trying to do, Jade, Mellissa?! Pink girl?! Red-head???"
I didn't notice the first time we met, but it seemed like Atom might be what some would call a germaphobe.
"There's a door on your side. Get in there and get cleaned! All of you… you're all filthy!"
Another set of bars appeared over the door. It was evident that she didn't want us anywhere near her. The maids stood tall next to the door, ensuring we were not getting past them without going through them.
"What do we do?"
I asked.
"We get cleaned."
Jade complained.
We all looked at the pure white door at the side.
"What about our clothing, though?"
I asked.
Atom shouted from the safety of the speaker.
"There's a hamper in there! The machine will clean everything, just hurry up and get in there! You're tracking the floor!"
Without anything else to do, we walked into the room. It was a grey room with one large shower.
We all stared speechlessly at the solo bathing room.
Jade pulled off her clothing like this was normal. She stripped down to her underwear within seconds. The beautiful knight had purple underwear that I oddly expected her to have.
"Those are cute underwear, Jade!"
The human said.
Jade spun around, eyes wide.
"I bought them on sell. They feel nice, that's all there is to it."
Mellissa also stripped down to her underwear. They were black and added to her tall, mature beauty.
"Yuu Yuu's wondering what kind she has on!"
The not so timid loner pointed at me.
"I-I mean, I was just curious."
Everyone turned my way, making it harder for me to start undressing.
"We can't waste all of our time. Feodora, girls, let's get our clothes off, chop, chop."
The knight directed.
We all did as we were told, removed all of our clothing down to our underwear. I glanced over at Yuu Yuu. She had on pure white bra and panties; I expected that too.
"Oh, checkered red and black?!"
The human said as she clapped.
"Feodora, where did you get that kind?!"
I rubbed the back of my head.
"Ah, during my travels to the Radiant City. I needed a new pair and these were on sell."
"For a hermit, you have style."
Jade teased.
She removed her underwear and tossed them in the hamper. As I expected, Jade's figure was on a world of its own.
But that didn't diminish Mellissa's or Yuu Yuu's looks either. Mellissa was tall and slim while Yuu Yuu was a bit more plumped but had a great shape.
I lived my entire life in a forest, away from people. It might have been recently that I've noticed I was a bit fonder of the female physique.
"Yuu Yuu thinks you have a nice body, Feodora!"
"Ah… you do too, Yuu Yuu?!"
I scanned Yuu Yuu's bright red face.
Mellissa grabbed me and Yuu Yuu's hand, pulling us along into the showers.
"Come, hurry up! It's been ages since I showered with others!"
We all got into the shower. Jade had it warmed up for us, being the only one washing at the moment.
"Jade, I have your back!"
Mellissa pressed her large breast up against the knights back.
"H-Hey Mellissa! Be gentle, I'm getting old, you know?"
"Oh hush, you're still young in the eyes of Radiants."
Mellissa and Jade bumped shoulders with each other as Yuu Yuu and I watched. They were friends for sure, unashamed at showing each other's body off.
"Is it normal to bathe with others in Radiant City?"
I asked.
"It's a bonding exercise when growing up here. So, it's normalized by the time people get older, Feodora."
Jade explained as she approached me.
"I'll wash your back, Feodora. You can watch Yuuna's. Yuuna, would you do the same for Mellissa so we can speed this up?"
"Ah, y-yes Jade."
Jade's fingers rubbed on my back as I did the same for Yuu Yuu.
"Girls are soft."
I thought as I touched Yuu Yuu's back.
Jade was being gentle, a side to hear I rarely saw or in this case, felt. The soap smelled nice as we all helped each other clean up. In a way, this was relaxing, a nice change of pace from the craziness we all endured in the factory.
After we got done, we grabbed our clothing. It was clean and dry, to my surprise. I had no idea what Atom did to make this possible in less than twenty minutes, but here it was, ready for us to wear.
"All clean, girls."
Jade smirked as she turned to the door.
The bars were released, and it opened on its own. We stepped into a bright white room with a creme carpet. Around the sides were large windows that showed all of Radiant City.
It looked as if I would fall down if I walked over to the windows because of how clear they were. Behind a brown desk was the pink-haired woman we wanted to speak with. She had blueprints on her desk as she stood up, walked over to us, and raised her hand.
"Hm?"
A large plastic glass separated us from her. We approached but were blocked from going any further.
"Thank goodness, you're all cleaned up. But each and every one of you have messy hair. Jade, you look like a feral cat."
The knight banged her hand against the glass.
"Shut up!"
The neat freak backed up in fear like a mouse.
"Eh, don't smug the pane, Jade. Do you have any idea how long it takes to sanitize this?"
"Ah. Jade?"
I asked, prompting the knight to continue the investigation. She nodded and turned back to Atom.
"Atom, we're here to discuss some things with you. Would it be okay if we showed you these pictures?"
"Pictures? Err… they probably have your nasty hand oils on them. Put them up to the pane of glass. I'm not touching those filthy pictures."
At her request, Jade put the large images of the destroyed machines up for her to see.
"What the?"
Atom questioned.
"Are these your machines?"
I asked.
With a fluff of the scientist's long pink hair, Atom turned to me.
"And what if they are, redhead?"
"Feodora, Yuuna and Mellisa here had to face a few of them when they were searching for the nearby ore factory."
Jade took out another folder.
"Oh, my Isn't that Project Sphere?"
"Project Sphere?"
Yuu Yuu mimicked.
"So, you do know what this machine is, Atom? As you can see, this is very damning for you right now. These machines are obviously your creations."
"I'm not a fool. I can see what you're insinuating. But if you really think I'm the reason for the bombings or the events that transpired into what happened there, you have another thing coming."
Jade clicked her tongue.
"Then how did you know this was about the bombings?"
The Radiant stepped back.
"Nggg. If I tell you, would you promise not to arrest me?"
"What? If you did something illegal, you should be arrested!"
I lashed out.
I've been arrested on assumptions which were far less than serial bombings.
"What did you do, Atom?"
Jade interrogated.
The Scientist slumped her shoulders and turned to the side.
"Well… when it was concluded by Radiant law that Eve would be in your possession, Jade… I set up security cameras in the knight stations. I… overheard you all going on about checking for various bombings and the like."
"You're illegally capturing footage of our interrogation rooms?!"
The knight screamed.
"I-It wasn't for that! I only wanted to keep a tab on Eve! I wanted to make sure nobody touched her! Only I can touch her!"
That demonic rage came on her face causing me to step back in disgust. Jade shook her head but ultimately gave in.
"Okay, I'll let it pass if you tell me the status of your machinery here, Atom."
The scientist crossed her arms and paced about.
"Well listen, I have all of my stock. There haven't been any machines stolen from here. I'm not missing a single machine. However, I did have a data breach the other day. Just yesterday, actually."
She pulled up a strange screen. It was bright green and looked like a map of some kind. The image was a tall structure, so I assumed it was the tower.
"Yesterday, someone accessed the data room and pulled files from there. I was able to stop them by shutting down my entire system, but they did get what they were coming for."
"Data? What did they retrieve?"
The knight demanded.
"My blueprints."
"And when was this again, Atom?"
"Yesterday, Jade."
I was trying to keep up, so I asked.
"Let me get this right- someone stole your blueprint data yesterday, Atom?"
"That's right, redhead."
I scoffed.
"Hey, can we stop the redhead thing and just call me Feodora?"
"Feodora. What a long and filthy name. Let's clean it up and just call you Feo."
I wasn't expecting someone like her to give me a nickname, but I accepted it and continued my questioning.
"So, if these culprits stole your information yesterday, how would they have time to put it into good use today?"
She pondered with her finger on her chin.
"Well, you see that last picture, the Project Sphere isn't even done yet. All the blueprints for it are in testing. There is no physical model for it yet."
Confused, we all focused on what she was saying. She continued as she paced around.
"Meaning unless they stole my research yesterday and constructed it before the bombing of today there's no possible way it would be around to attack you, Feo."
She paced from one end to the other as she explained.
"From what I see from these photos, the culprits copied my design in order to build the machines they used in this attack. But they stole these same blueprints only yesterday. That's impossible for them to do."
Atom explained.
Jade jumped in with her own deductions.
"So, these culprits have a method to rapidly construct all of these machines?'
Jade asked, earning a shake of Atom's head.
"No, it's physically impossible to build all of this in hours and even days. For the Sphere Project alone It would take at least a year's worth of time for it to be in the testing phases even if they followed my blueprints."
I scratched the back of my head.
"So, how can you construct something that takes years in minutes?"
This was getting more complicated by the minute.
"That's all the information I have on that. If you need, I'll provide any kind of test you want, Jade. Know that I'll fully cooperate as long as nobody touches Eve."
After that, we left the room. Jade turned to us when we reached the elevator.
"I believe her."
She concluded.
I was getting the same vibe as I leaned on the wall.
"But what does that mean for the investigation?"
"It means we leave it up to the Radiant Order to get to the bombings. I need to go back to my missing person investigation. Same with you, Feodora."
She nodded.
"But it's late, and you've had a long day. I wouldn't worry too much about this. Just rest and take the next day off. If more leads come in about it, I'll contact you all about it."
"Right."
Yuu Yuu nodded silently.
"To be able to build machines in minutes. We are dealing with a complex Trickster."
"Trickster?"
I asked, turning back to Jade.
"Hm? No, don't worry about it. As I mentioned before, you are all relieved for the rest of the day. Feodora, take tomorrow off, you've done enough, and I applaud you for the leadership skills you've shown me."
"T-Thanks…"
When we exited the doors, Jade turned to me, nodded, and raced off without another word.
"Ah, I need to go."
Yuu Yuu said as she turned to us.
"G-G-Goodbye Mellissa, F-F-Feo!"
With her hands on her cheeks, Yuu Yuu raced off into the distance.
"Feo?"
Mellissa giggled.
"She found a nickname she likes for you, I guess."
The human waved at me.
"I must be going too. I'll see you later, Feodora. Or Feo? Both are cute to me."
With a skip and a hop, the human made her way down the street. Today was long and I was worn out. I decided that I'd take that day off and try my best to stay away from the city.