[ DOSSIER: KARRAKIS 5013u-3 ]

In the evening shroud of Karrakis City, Felicia stood atop a distant, yet familiar corner of the city. Even the lights of the bustling streets below only barely reached her. From her vantage point, Felicia could spy a familiar building looming in the distance- now pitch black, it was the site of a certain Mister Seraph's untimely demise. The time on her HUD displayed 19:23.

Mere coincidence, or auspicious circumstance?

She shook her head. There was no use thinking about it- she was here for one reason alone. Tonight, someone would die. She set about her usual routine- opening her rifle case, assembling it, gathering the environmental data- but she couldn't shake an uneasy feeling. Perhaps it was the time, her memories clawing at her. She couldn't say. Regardless, she had a job to do. She set her rifle against the thick stone wall that encircled the roof. She sighed, somewhat dissatisfied with her current position. A taller building was directly adjacent to her, under construction. The scaffolding was an obvious security flaw for her. It was too late to do anything about it, however- according to the intel from the dossier, her target would only be vulnerable for a short period.

A cascade of oddities fell on her lap, one by one- The absence of her mark at the designated location, or anywhere in the vicinity, for that matter. Following that, the metallic rat-a-tat-rap of mag-clamped boots upon scaffolding, climbing with fast-approaching leap after leap, ending with this would-be pursuer landing on the rooftop in a roll, standing up and pointing a gleaming pistol at her, held at their side at a sharp right angle from their elbow. Their hood fell off in the motion, revealing a young male, no older than 16, surely, with dark skin, short, toffee-brown hair, and faintly-glowing golden eyes.

"White Devil, please surrender your arms," Her assailant, wearing a high-mobility black-and-white hardsuit, racked the slide on his pistol, a bullet flying carefree from the ejection port, his request made in a neutral, calm monotone, "This one will ensure miss's life, should she comply."

It would seem her instincts were correct- not that that was much of a consolation to her at this point. She cocked her head for a moment when the stranger addressed her, but was otherwise unfazed.

"A flawless entrance. Though, I think you've forgotten to take one very important detail into account." Her enhanced hearing from her augmentations had allowed her to ready herself just before his arrival. Her own pistol- matte black, the same as her suit- was pointed directly at the newcomer.

This job did seem a bit odd to have right here for only several hundred thousand manna.

"So," She said, expressionless, "where do we go from here?"
"Miss, please comply," A slight frown from the boy accompanied his exhale, as his golden eyes dart over her form, "This one is instructed to bring miss alive. Such is its task. It would not do if she throws her life away so carelessly now, after all that she knows of the Non-Human Collective Consciousness Project. For what reason does she resist?"
"The non-human what?" It sounded vaguely familiar, but Felicia couldn't quite place the name. She kept her gun trained on the stranger, taking no risks. "Wait, is this about that stupid AI I killed a few months back? That was some job."

She paused, looking the kid up and down. "You work for those guys? Aren't you a little young for this?" She asked with a slight chuckle. "There's no chance I'm going with you, then. I'd never leave alive."
"Per the terms of the agreement, miss will not die upon arrival," His pistol hand trembled, his stance wavering just slightly- Anger? Sorrow? Despair? "It has been determined that half of its pay of seven hundred thousand will be lent to ensuring the well-being of miss. Please, turn yourself in. Miss's knowledge of the project is of utmost importance!"

His breathing grew ragged, though neither his eyes nor his pistol stray away from looking right at her. Her ears flattened slightly. Despite his youth and, surely, lack of experience, her eyes found no weakness.

"Wait, only seven hundred thousand? Really? I put two nocturnes into their beloved composite-NHP and I'm only worth seven hundred thousand?" She let out an irritated sigh. "Look, kid. If I go with you, I won't die on arrival, sure. But they'll never let me go, not with what I apparently know. They'll either kill me, or keep me prisoner. You seem a good kid. You have a name? I'm Felicia."

It was a rather crude tactic, trying to build rapport, but she would very much prefer not to add 'killing a kid' to her list of sins.

"Its name is Azra... Azra Linnaeus," The boy gritted his teeth as he stated his full name, though the pistol remained trained on her, "If miss has a final request or a name to seek out, it will gladly fulfill her final request, even if miss does not pay it. It will do what it might, should miss request it."
"Ezra, huh? You know, if you caught me a week ago, I'd just have you kill me." She sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot, lately. "I've got a new lease on life now, so to speak. And, unless I'm mistaken, you look like you need something like that too."
She slowly reached her free hand around to her side, tapping the screen on her slate. "You know, Ezra, when you take me back, they're not likely to let you go either. You seem to know a bit too much, just like me. So, I have a better idea than," she gesticulated at him, particularly his gun, "than all this. I double your pay, we go take them out together, and then you're free. To do whatever you want. Nearly one and a half million manna, that's a lot."

A waiting, pregnant pause fills the air between them. Azra stands still, his expression unblinking, unchanging.

"Request received," Azra nodded, lowering his gun, then pausing, looking back at her, "Miss will be allowed to fight back when she is brought in, and it will fight with her. Would miss like to make any further preparations before proceeding with this operation? This one would like to dispose of its equipment before departure."

She blinked. She wasn't quite expecting him to agree so readily- not that she had any complaints. She glanced down at her gun, still pointed at the boy. It would be easy. Just a squeeze and he'd be no more. He'd be another corpse, another object.

She shook her head. I'm not that person anymore, she thought, returning her gun to its holster. "Preparations? Just let me pack my rifle back up and I'll be ready." She turned her back to Azra and bent down, beginning to disassemble and pack her gear. "Oh, and before I forget. Neko-chan, transfer one million to Ezra here. You'll get the other four-hundred thousand if we're still alive after all this."
A cutesy voice came from her slate in response: "Kashikomarimashita."
"Understood. Request has been modified, based on intent of miss- Ensure the safety of miss," Azra released the mag-clamps from his boots, throwing them off the roof and shooting them with his pistol, leaving a satisfying pair of explosions mid-air before turning back to Felicia to elaborate, "It will sacrifice itself for her well-being, if necessary. Its life is worth no credits, of course."

She stared back in response, unfazed by the explosion and unsure of how to respond. She stood, gripping her rifle case tightly in one hand and approached the boy. She didn't know what his life had been like to bring him here, but it couldn't have been any good. A strange feeling stirred within her, an instinct she had no name for. Shortly, she stood face-to-face with the boy- rather, face-to-chest, as he was a fair bit taller than her.

"That's no good," she said, raising her hand up, "you've got to make sure to survive, too. How else will I pay you, kid?" She gently set her hand atop his head, ruffling his hair.
"I--" He froze at her touch, shaking slightly, gripping his pistol ever tighter, eyes widened, then squeezing shut, his breathing hard and clammy and almost rasping, "It is merely carrying out... Miss's final request. It is fine. It is fine. It is fine."
"My final request?" She said, more of a thought spoken out loud. Suddenly, her ears perked up. "How about this, then. I've a new final request, Ezra."
She ruffled his hair again before lowering her hand and stepping away. "Live. I won't have a kid dying on me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, after that." She felt the words catch in her throat on the way out, remembering Patty's last words to her.
No, Allie. It’s not an order. It’s a request- I want you to enjoy life.
Maybe, it wasn't too late for her.
"It is but a weapon, a tool for killing," His body slumped, his head turning towards the pistol in his left hand. His right hand rubbed his temples, his breathing reverting to that harsh rasping, gasping cadence, "Such is its Purpose. Is this one not already living...?"

She said nothing as a perplexed, worried look overtook her face. She couldn't imagine what this boy had endured, what brought such a mindset to him. She glanced down at his shaking hand, holding his pistol as though it were the only thing he had ever known, and even that seemed to slip from him as his grip began to loosen.
The world felt shaky, unstable. Even the cold, hard floor beneath him shifted and churned, leaving him unsteady. His mind gave no foothold to stand, no respite from that assailing, abominable thought- Could he still be valued, desired, wanted, even without his father? For what other reason might she want him to live still? Surely, not because she saw him as a... person?

"Why?" His pistol clattered to the floor, and his now-free left hand held his head up, his entire body shaking, trembling as he questioned, "Why would miss wish to change her request to this?"
"In a word," she said, bending down to grab his dropped pistol, "I guess you could say 'atonement'." She returned upright, holding the weapon out to the boy, her hand wrapped around the barrel, pointing it straight at her chest. "If that's not an acceptable request, you can always kill me instead." She didn't want to die, of course. She wanted to fulfill Patty's last request, but she felt a strange draw to the boy. Something that made her want him to enjoy life, too. Like two sides of the same broken coin.
"Killing miss would be a violation of its orders," Shakily, with the wary caution of a wounded animal, Azra reached out for his gun, lingering in front of her, not pulling the gun away even as he holds it, his index finger stroking against the trigger guard, and his thumb caressing the safety, "Therefore, miss must also live. In living, this one will... It will help her live. Request received."
"Looks like you're stuck with me then," She smiled, releasing her grip on the gun, "Huh, Ezra?" She turned on her heel, heading towards the elevator. The button lit up when she pressed it, and she turned her head back to him. "You coming?"

He took a few deep breath as she broke away, holstering his gun and looking back at Felicia.

"Of course," He nodded, though his expression remained as neutral as ever, "It needs still fulfill its mission."

—————

The uproarious, glorious laughter of charge after charge of explosives rang on behind Felicia and Azra, as they ran through burning hallways, past a few piles of giblets that might formerly have been identifiable as people, and over some lucky unconscious guards. As it turned out, Azra proved surprisingly adept in devising plans based off of even vague instructions, especially when given a budget beyond a singular bullet or rental equipment. This incident would prove to be irreparably devastating for this mysterious organization, though it might have been argued that ever since they failed in the creation of the composite-NHP, they were not long for this world, anyways.

"Mission complete," Azra stated plainly, as one would when describing the weather, glancing to his side and down at Felicia while they ran, "Where shall this one go to remain at standby until it is called upon next?"
She stared at Azra, the flames behind them reflecting in his eyes. Throughout this whole night, the only emotion he showed was when she was kind to him. She had planned to let him go- more than a million manna to his name- to live his life however he pleased. His words stayed in her mind- 'where shall this one go'.
"Until called upon? You're free, Ezra. You can do whatever you want, live however you want."
"It is... free?" He effortlessly transitioned into a slide (which was unnecessary- He only avoided a hanging pipe that would have struck his forehead otherwise), though Felicia undoubtedly found curiosity, confusion, incomprehensibility in his expression, before he returns to a standing position, pausing while he caught back up to speed with Felicia before answering, "It chooses to be by the side of miss. It wishes to ensure her well-being."
She stayed silent for a moment, running alongside the boy. It wouldn't be long before they got out of this place. She shook her head. "Do you have nowhere else to go? No family, nobody waiting for you to come back?" His words reminded her of a lost dog, latching onto the first person to show it kindness.
"No. It is not allowed such. It is not a person," Azra skidded to a stop in front of a set of double doors- An antiquated style, with simple, even primitive locks and hinges for this age. A trivial matter for killers like these two. Felicia shot the lock open, and the two reared back and kick the door open. The sheer force of the doors slamming out blew down an unfortunate incoming guard down onto the floor, unconscious. Without so much as a word, Felicia pointed her pistol down at him and pulled the trigger- finishing him for good- before turning to face Azra.
"Fine, then. If you're sticking with me though, no more of this 'not a person' business." She stowed her pistol, magnetically locking it to her suit. With her now free hand, she once again raised it to Azra's head and gently patted him. "You can come with me, wherever I go. Not as 'Ezra, the weapon', but as 'Ezra, the person'." She thought again about Patty, wondering if she was making the right choice now. She shook her head, clearing the doubt from her mind. Nobody knew Patty better than Felicia, and she knew that she would approve of what she was doing now.
"Ezra, the person...?" He blinked, instinctively lowering his head in shame, which helps with reaching his head- How could it be a person? How could she consider it something worth wanting? He remained silent for a few moments, but he soon spoke again- "Could- Might miss call it that again? Will miss call it 'Ezra, the person' again?"
"Of course," she said, smiling, "as many times as you like, 'Ezra, the person'." While this was perhaps not the best place for such a thing, it was where they were. She glanced at the collapsing, burning building next to them. She ruffled his hair one more time before looking towards the rest of the city. "It's time to go home, Ezra."
"Mmh..." He closed his eyes, letting the feeling of his new name, his new personhood, wash over him. He was, of course, not a dog, for a dog would have wagged their tail eagerly at such a thing. At Felicia's assertion of the time, he broke away from his reverie, nodding as he drew his pistol from his holster, pulling the magazine out and replacing it with a thermite charge, and kicking it behind him into the doorway they had just exited, "Yes, let us go."

Their pursuers would find but a nasty surprise waiting for them there, as the two return to the ever-familiar shadows.

—————

It had been a long night for the two of them, but it was finally coming to a close. They reached the familiar sight of Felicia's high-rise apartment building, entering and taking the elevator to the seventeenth floor. It was quiet- a stark contrast to the rest of the night. She stopped outside her home- their home, now.
"This is it," she said, swiping her keycard through the reader, "your new home, Ezra." They stepped inside to a rather cluttered mess of a room- posters covered the walls, glass cases held hundreds of figurines, piles of clothes covered the floors. Her ears turned aside in embarrassment. "It's not much, but its yours now."
"I- This is- It thanks you, miss," Ezra bowed to Felicia, then roamed the room, picking up loose clothing from the floor, gathering her clothes and leaving the rapidly-growing pile in a hamper, "It will do its part to help... It would like to be of use, if miss would allow it."
She buried her face in her palm- it hadn't even been a minute since he arrived, and he's already cleaning the place. "That's fine, I suppose. But first, you need to bathe. We both do, but you can go first." She looked him up and down, thinking. "I'm guessing you don't have a change of clothes. I doubt it, but you might find something acceptable in there." She pointed at one of the bedrooms- she had turned it into a walk-in closet for her extra clothes, mostly stuff that didn't fit quite right or she had no occasion to wear.
"Orders received," He gave a nod as he piles on the last of her clothes into the hamper, which by now almost overflowed with yet-to-be-cleaned clothes, striding over to the walk-in closet, and returning shortly after with one of her maid outfits- A few sizes too large for her, for it was sold as a promotional outfit alongside a figurine depicting one of her favourite characters- Wanko-chan from Magical Girl Tokugawa- whom she loved the design of, and she couldn't bear to dispose of such a precious item. He held the outfit up for her to see, tilting his head and asking, "Will this suffice?"
The tip of her tail flicked playfully, her ears twitching in barely-contained excitement. The boy held the outfit in front of him, as though he was wearing it. "Suffice? It's purrfect!" She didn't know why he chose that outfit- there were multiple sets of more masculine clothing in the room- but she would not complain.

For a trained killer, Ezra looked surprisingly cute in a maid outfit.

—————

In an interview with the developers, when asked about why Ezra wears a maid outfit, the answer was that "It seemed like the sort of thing that Felicia would leave out in front, so he picked it." In addition, it would provide a separate but distinct silhouette for his dialogue portraits that contrasted with his usual serious appearance during combat.