CHAPTER 266: CHAPTER 266 - [C] LATE NIGHT VISIT & THE UNSUBTLE INTERROGATION

***[POV: Tech Support Thomsson]***

The elevator ride down the tower felt different this time around. Not the nerve-wracking *holy shit I’m actually going out by myself at night* terror from the first time I went to meet with boss lady’s beau.

Not that I came alone this time, with one of her new personal security werewolves kindly rushing and picking me up with a friendly word or two from his Alpha. The look she gave me when I told her I wanted to go out was funny!

Then really, really not funny when I told her where and with who. It got a little better when I explained why, but fuck if I had the male parts I’m sure they would have retreated inside me by that point already.

"Both of them, are just... damnit, I’m jealous of their unwarranted jealousy. I want to see Luca freak out like that..."

In any case, I’m feeling pretty relaxed. Even though I’m fighting with a giant flight case for space in her apartment’s elevator. Filled with components I had delivered immediately when she asked for help... mostly delivered.

Some of it is old personal stuff I already upgraded. Some of it was... mostly legitimately requisitioned components and cables from our IT department. Signed off after the fact by an exasperated Kyrie still counts!

"Okay, Claire. Just be cool. Deliver the goods, set up her system, maybe even figure out how the hell she got that shipping container out that night without any signs on traffic footage."

Without looking like I can’t stand the mystery anymore and have given up all technical routes. If boss hadn’t let slip that the container was already in the warehouse I showed her girlfriend... I might have just shrugged it off.

But I know there was no truck approaching that lot, either. And it’s killing me to figure out how she - or more likely, whoever she might be working with - managed to spoof the footage without leaving any traces.

"Even my method of doing it is hard to notice, but not impossible. Am I just getting worse at what I do?"

When Citra opened the door, in a pair of orange shorts and a slouchy, long-sleeved crop top that was completely out of season but really comfortable looking, she seemed... tired wasn’t the right word.

More like someone who’d been thinking hard about complicated things for several hours straight. So yeah, tired - but like mentally not physically. And one of her twintails dipped to the side as she tilted her head.

"You’re punctual enough."

"Professional habit. Plus I may have been a little excited, to be honest."

"I see. Come in, I’ll handle that."

Moving past me to push the big flight case, I skip inside her threshold like I was afraid of being locked out. Her apartment looked... exactly like I’d expected and nothing like I’d expected all at once.

Well-furnished in that pre-furnished way, but also a bit lived-in. Personal items that weren’t quite right for the rest of the aesthetic just laying on countertops and tables. Like a mess that was trying to integrate and failing.

"Nice place."

"Thank you. Would you like something to drink? Actually, what do humans consume when they’re working on technical projects at midnight?"

I snorted. It’s not the first time I’ve heard one of her kind pick out that I’m human and they aren’t, but it sounds different from her.

"Energy drinks and other poor life choices, mostly. Anything you have is fine."

As she moved to the kitchen area, I set down my personal laptop bag and tried not to snoop. There wasn’t a single thing that looked especially like it had come from raiding a deceased hunter’s off-the-grid cabin.

Just that phone, really. And it makes sense, because that’s what the shipping container was for, right? To go steal all the rest of his shit? I start getting nervous and open my mouth again.

"So how’s life treating you? Still settling into the city okay?"

Smelling something that was kind of... beefy, I start to wonder if she is actually cooking something for me. Damn, I was already first allowed to the apartment but now I’m getting first food?

Kyrie is going to riot. Internally. And probably a little passive aggressively. I’ll have to take pictures of it. The food. And her face when showing her the food I ate.

"Well enough. So did you actually tell your boss that you came for the discipline I mentioned - or did you only mention helping with the computer stuff?"

Citra walked around the kitchen island and into the living room. Holding two mugs and wearing an amused expression that totally makes me get it. Boss didn’t have a chance.

"I kept the whole weird double-agent but really not thing to myself. Officially just here to get your setup rolling. No pun intended."

"...Pun?"

Looking down at the mug she sat, I realize that she has warmed up... bone broth? Glancing up at her again and that flawless skin that isn’t too oily, so many questions dart in my mind. First of which is... who drinks something like this so late?

Is it because she’s a werewolf? Will taking a picture of this actually do anything to make Kyrie annoyed, or would she just smile and laugh? Well, that’s a win either way, so I snap a photo.

"Yeah. Because of the rolling stand you wanted?"

"...I wanted?"

"Okay, well you described how you wanted to use it and I kind of went overboard for you. I’m really fucking good at this stuff. It’s fine, I swear."

It doesn’t stop her skeptical look, but she just begins drinking while keeping an eye on me. She settled into the chair across from me, and I caught her doing that thing again I’d seen on camera footage.

Like she was reading something I couldn’t see, unfocused but also quite focused? It lasted maybe three seconds before she blinked and turned back to normal on me. Squinting while realizing I’d been staring.

"You okay?"

"Yes, sorry. Long day with a lot to think about."

"No judgment. I live in my own head like ninety percent of the time."

I pulled out the laptop without drinking any of the still steamy broth and opened the instruction sets I made. Starting to show her the ideas I had, she nodded and asked really sharp questions.

Not at the level of someone like me, but more like a person who had been looking into stuff. She was missing certain details and things of importance, or attached too much importance to some concepts the way that popular articles might.

But the fact that she pulled it all together in her head? It’s kind of scary considering how backwoods she was. How tech illiterate she came across while we were meeting up for the crypto problem.

"It was only two days ago that you even learned about cloud backups. If you had a mind to buckle down, you could probably learn any trade you want, Citra."

Receiving the praise, she only hummed while polishing off the last half of broth I couldn’t stomach. Some part of me felt kind of happy about that. Very sister-in-arms, not giving a shit about germs or anything.

"...Just not wasting food."

Realizing what she did, she cleared her throat and took the mugs to go wash them out as I started connecting cables. Okay, so maybe she cared a little bit. But that slight ditzyness is probably killing boss-lady, so it’s fine.

Anything heavy, she handled - like holding the giant monitor as I mounted it vertically to the bottom-heavy rolling stand. Screwing the mini-pc I picked out for her to another VESA mount, there isn’t a lot of setup needed there.

I already handled all of that before I came over. Her watching my script install software and updates for an hour wouldn’t have been fun girl’s-night time.

"That’s the webcam I’ll be using gestures to interact with it from afar?"

"Yep. Nothing super fancy, but a quality brand that doesn’t often break down. And don’t worry, I locked your system down really tight. No one is getting in and watching you dance and pose around to the videos you watch."

"I actually wasn’t worried about that until you mentioned it, thanks."

"No problem. Speaking of worrying about things on camera, or not on camera... what the heck happened to that shipping container anyway?"

Her head snapped toward me with something of a warning look. But not in a way that felt like she was planning anything bad. More like someone who was genuinely trying to stay out of trouble.

"I mean, I’ve been trying super hard not to ask, but hanging out with you is really fun. And I don’t like that it’s crawling in the back of my head?"

"...Would it... ease your mind if you were told... that Kyrie knows about it?"

Each pause told me she was being careful about what to say to my brick to the face question. Subtlety with code injections is totally my thing, but not so much with people.

"Gotcha. I’ll just..."

"No, hold on. I might need to tell you after this. Just... hold still for a few moments and let me know if anything weird happens. Okay?"

I wasn’t sure if her putting her palm on top of my hair counted as a weird thing. But after seeing that footage of Ellie Rushwater, I do know that it was a very dangerous thing...