Chapter 3: Red Tape and Black Markets

Chapter 3: Red Tape and Black Markets

The headquarters of the Arcane Compliance Department was a monument to order. Its gleaming chrome and glass lobby was silent, sterile, and smelled faintly of floor polish and regulated mana. It was a world away from the frigid, humming chaos of the sub-basement they had just left. Standing in the pristine white corridor outside Director Valerius’s office, Kaelen felt the grimy dust from the chase still clinging to his jumpsuit, marking him as an intruder from the messy reality the department preferred to ignore.

His desire was simple: to see the system he believed in work. He had compiled a thorough report, complete with energy readings, structural analysis, and a theoretical framework for the Void-Touched Nexus. It was a perfect, by-the-book submission that clearly laid out a catastrophic threat. The data, he was sure, would speak for itself.

Lyra leaned against the opposite wall, arms crossed, radiating an aura of cynical impatience. She hadn't said a word since they’d been summoned, her silence more damning than any insult. She’d seen this movie before, and she clearly didn’t like the ending.

The office door chimed softly and slid open. "The Director will see you now."

Director Valerius’s office was as immaculate as the man himself. Not a single scroll or data-slate was out of place on his vast obsidian desk. He was a thin man with silver hair combed to perfection, his face a bland mask of bureaucratic placidity. He gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk without looking up from the report summary floating in a holographic display before him.

"Technician Vance. Enforcer Thorne," he began, his voice smooth and devoid of any real interest. "I've reviewed your preliminary report on Incident 734-G. Some… anomalous readings."

This was the obstacle, Kaelen realized. Not a monster, not a puzzle, but a wall of polished, smiling indifference.

"Sir," Kaelen began, leaning forward, his hands gripping his tablet. "The readings weren't just anomalous, they were unprecedented. The Nexus is drawing on an extra-dimensional mana source, a 'Void-Touched' signature. It's inherently unstable. My analysis suggests it's not a standalone device, but potentially a node in a larger network."

Valerius waved a dismissive hand, the hologram vanishing. "Your enthusiasm is noted, Technician. However, let's not get carried away with fantastic theories. What you encountered was a Class-3 Illegal Mana Siphon, likely built by some hedge-mage with more ambition than sense. Dangerous, yes. Unprecedented? Hardly. We see half a dozen of these a year."

"With respect, sir," Lyra's gravelly voice cut in, sharp as broken glass. "I've dismantled Class-3 Siphons. They don't spawn parasitic guardians, and they don't feel like a hole in reality. This was different."

Valerius’s gaze flickered to Lyra, his placid expression tightening for a fraction of a second. "Your… direct methods are on record, Enforcer. As is the property damage report from your resolution of the matter. Perhaps the device was simply more volatile than usual."

He steepled his fingers, his decision already made. "I'm classifying this as a closed case. The device has been neutralized. A sanitation team will dismantle the physical components. Your report, Vance, while thorough, will be filed under 'Anomalous Enchantments.' No further investigation is required. Or authorized."

The words hung in the air, a final, unassailable decree. Kaelen felt the blood drain from his face. All that data, all that danger, swept under the rug with a flick of a bureaucratic wrist. This was the system he'd devoted his life to?

They were dismissed. As they walked out, the door sliding silently shut behind them, Kaelen’s faith in the system was in freefall. Lyra stopped in the empty corridor and turned to him.

"Well, there you have it, kid," she said, her voice low and laced with a bitter 'I-told-you-so' venom. "The problem is gone because the paperwork says it's gone. Welcome to the Arcane Compliance Department."

"But... he's wrong! The source, the design... someone is out there building these things!" Kaelen protested, his voice a frustrated whisper.

"And Valerius doesn't want the headache of finding them," Lyra retorted. She stared down the long, perfect corridor, her expression hardening into something cold and resolute. "He wants to keep his desk clean and his promotion track clear. And he'll bury anything that gets in the way of that."

This was it. The turning point. Follow orders and let a potential catastrophe fester, or…

"So that's it?" Kaelen asked, the question aimed as much at himself as at her. "We just... let it go?"

Lyra pushed off the wall, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "I don't let things go." She started walking, forcing him to fall into step beside her. "The department is off the case. Which means we are, too. Officially." She gave him a sideways glance. "But if a couple of concerned citizens, on their own time, happened to look into the black market trade of pre-System nexus components… well, that's not a departmental matter, is it?"

Kaelen’s heart hammered. This was insubordination. This was career suicide. But the image of that pulsating, void-black orb was seared into his mind. "You have contacts?"

A wry, humorless smile touched her lips. "I know a guy."

Their new action, born of frustration, led them deep into the city's guts, to a sector the Mana Grid barely touched. The Under-Causeway Market was a sprawling, illegal bazaar thriving in the magically-shielded tunnels of a forgotten transit system. Here, department-issue tech was useless. Kaelen’s tablet was a dead weight, its connection to the System completely severed. The air smelled of rust, illicit potions, and desperate magic.

Lyra moved through the crowds with a predator's confidence. Her contact was a shifty-eyed information broker known only as Silas, who operated out of a cramped stall filled with flickering, corrupted data-crystals and outlawed spell-foci.

He recognized Lyra instantly, his greasy smile not quite reaching his eyes. "Thorne! To what do I owe the pleasure? Slumming it, are we?"

"Cut the chatter, Silas," Lyra growled, placing a heavy, untraceable platinum credit chip on his counter. "I'm looking for information. Pre-System nexus designs. Void-touched components. Who's been buying?"

Silas’s eyes darted to the chip, then back to Lyra. He licked his lips. "That's high-end, dangerous stuff. Whispers, you know. But for you… I might have something more than whispers." He slid the chip into his pocket and reached under the counter. "A data crystal. Came off a courier who met with an… accident. Contains schematics, communications. Everything you want."

He slid a jagged, obsidian crystal across the counter. It pulsed with a faint, sick light. It felt wrong, just like the Nexus had.

Kaelen felt a prickle of unease. It was too easy.

Lyra must have felt it too. Her hand hovered over the crystal, her body tensing. But her desire for answers was stronger than her caution. She snatched it.

The moment her fingers closed around it, the stall was plunged into darkness. Glowing red runes flared to life on the walls, floor, and ceiling, forming a containment cage of crackling energy. Silas was already gone, having slipped through a hidden door.

"Trap!" Lyra yelled, just as armored figures dropped from the ceiling, their faces hidden by featureless helmets. They weren't ACD. Their gear was military-grade, and their wands glowed with the same corrupted violet energy as the Glimmer Hulk.

The fight was brutal and close-quarters. Lyra was a whirlwind of motion, her lightning crackling in the confined space, but the containment runes dampened her power. Kaelen, without his tablet, was forced to rely on pure theory.

"The runes are linked!" he shouted over the din of battle as he dodged a concussive spell. "There's a primary capacitor node under the counter! Shatter it, and the whole cage fails!"

Lyra slammed an armored opponent into a shelf of junk and, seeing her opening, unleashed a focused blast of power at the spot Kaelen indicated. The capacitor exploded in a shower of blue sparks, and the red runes flickered and died.

"Out! Now!" she commanded.

They burst out of the stall and into the chaotic market, the armored mages hot on their heels. The chase was a desperate scramble through narrow tunnels and over makeshift bridges. Spells ricocheted off decaying walls. They were outgunned and exposed.

They escaped by diving into a putrid sewer outflow pipe, the chase cut short as their pursuers refused to follow them into the filth. Soaking wet, gasping for air, they emerged into a dimly lit storm drain miles away. They were safe, for now.

Lyra held up the prize, the corrupted data crystal clutched tightly in her fist. It pulsed faintly, like a dark, malevolent heart. They had their lead.

But as the distant sound of an official ACD patrol siren echoed down the tunnels, a grim realization settled over Kaelen. They had disobeyed a direct order. They had engaged unauthorized hostiles. They were in possession of a forbidden artifact.

They had the data, but in the eyes of the System they had sworn to uphold, they were now the criminals.