Chapter Text
Shoes squeak against the rough asphalt of the sidewalk, mismatched teal and orange shoes scraping with every step.
Wheels roll, bumping over the textured concrete, grinding following footsteps.
The soft vibe of Thieve’s Rest contrasted from the tacky combinations of buildings near it, the cafe sticking out like a cloud in a clear sky.
“Coil.” Skateboard queried while skating at a slower pace beside Coil.
“Hm?”
“You comin’ to the phight tomorrow? Heard there was a sick prize if you win!”
“Yeah, but it’s obvious that I’m gonna get way more points than you.” Coil snickered.
“The BEST skater in all of Playground would never lose!”
“Whatever floats your boat then.” Coil ending off the conversation, Thieve’s Rest’s interior visible from where they were at.
The two entered the cafe; wind chimes jingling as Skateboard held the door for her.
“Ladies first!”
“Dude we’re both ladies, stupid.” Coil retorted with a slight smirk.
Skateboard giggled while following Coil into the cafe who was walking to the counter –no doubt about to mess with the owner, Slingshot.
The owner sighed upon taking sight of the dual-coloured inphernal, then guiding them to their table with an expression that knew she would absolutely annoy the hell out of him.
“How may I help you?”
“Could I get–” Coil suddenly cut Skateboard off, “I want.. uh a blueberry milkshake. Actually no, surprise me.” Skateboard scoffed and pointed her thumb at her.
“Jus’ want a latte. Extra cream please!” Skateboard said with enthusiasm on her face.
Slingshot smiled at Skateboard and walked off while writing on his notepad.
The cafe was filled with a sweet aroma and lively chatter; a decent amount of inphernals dining in the building.
Slingshot quickly retreated to the back kitchen, while Shuriken was waiting tables and Vine Staff was handling the counter for inphernals who wanted take out. Frequent clinks of cups and plates were very much present in the restaurant, which contributed even more to the atmosphere.
“Why’d he give you a smile but not me?”
Skateboard shrugged, “Maybe because you keep being annoyin’, I dunno.”
Coil huffed and slung her arm on the back of her chair.
“Bet I could carry tomorrow’s phight.” Coil challenged.
“No way! I’m the fan favourite. People love my tricks.”
“Nah, people like me exponentially more. Bet you don’t know what that word means.”
The skater curled her lip in fake frustration while Coil suppressed a snicker.
Their bickering was cut off by Slingshot bringing their orders to the table.
“Here’s your latte, and this is the recipe I’ve been working on. Try it out, let me know what you think!” Slingshot announced, sliding the plate to Coil. He had that obvious customer service tone.
The skater took a bite of one of the cream puffs on the plate along with Coil, “So good..” she said with a muffled voice.
“S’alright.” Coil stated nonchalantly.
“... Alright??? Just alright???” Slingshot queried with exasperation.
“Yeah… I think it needs more of whatever that filling is.”
“Dunno, would need maybe five more to tell?”
“Are you serious.”
“Yep.”
“Really.”
“Customer’s always right~!”
Slingshot was surely seething inside and Coil’s amazing teasing had worked once again, with logic of course. Always.
While they were going back and forth, Skateboard just had some stupid expression on his face.
The two eventually took their leave after a little bit of more suspiciously long conversation between them, Coil’s “it’s alright I guess”, and Slingshot’s exasperated sighs after uttering even one word to her.
By the time they departed, it was evening. Skateboard left to go to her apartment and Coil was on her way to her mentor’s residence.
The roads were drowned in orange sunlight, the artificial lights mixing with the sun, vibrant yet soft gradients and splashes of colour where there were sharp transitions in the architecture of the buildings.
“By the way, you heard of the recent group of Playgrounders trying to trespass into Blackrock?” Skateboard called out while skating in the opposite direction she was facing.
“Gotta be real crazy about what happened to ‘em. Just disappeared dude!”
“Probably got sent to Banland, losers.”
“Yeah, probably. Also, I’m gonna do like, ‘tonna tricks. See you tomorrow at the phight?” Said Skateboard, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.
Coil reassured, “Obviously. – Are you not going on the train? Skate all the way to Playground?”
“I know a shortcut! Make sure to cheer me on tomorrow!”
She scoffed playfully, turning around after hearing Skateboard’s “ridiculous” request.
In due time, the sun set shortly after their interaction. The bi-coloured inphernal got on the closest train, ready for her travel back to Playground.
Her interest grew, analyzing the situation as if it was some detective case as she sat down on the patterned train seat, no doubt really dirty under all the colours.
“Running into Blackrockian territory without a plan at all? Real stupid. No way some airheads actually did that.”
It all sounded like some sloppy attempt to cover something up. It was obvious. Way too obvious.
The sky slowly descended into darker hues of navy blue and purple–clouds unfortunately covering the stars. A few inphernals in the train were having a conversation at a low whisper.
“— Hear ‘bout some Biograft in Craterdust who attacked one of the inphernals which apparently tried to break into Blackrock?”
“Yeah.. feel bad for them. They were sent to — THEN sent to Banland! Could you believe that??”
“Do you know that one guy who keeps stealing from Blackrock? The um.. Crystal Criminal? Probably the reason why there’s Biografts in Playground. Just a theory though.”
The two demons continued whispering; Coil’s attention brought away from the scene. Guess she was well known around Playground now, huh?
After a little bit of an ego boost–the criminal got off the train and started walking back to her residence.
—
Metallic scents filled the nightly atmosphere of Craterdust Capital, clutter overwhelming each and every sense of the criminal, yet she still managed to stay alert. Inconspicuously walking down now dimmed and fluorescent alleyways of the concrete jungle, was Coil mapping out every nook and cranny of the megalopolis.
Drums and melodies whirred in the background of her mind, mellowing out synthetic lights with narrow pathways of buildings and intersections.
The hellhound had been carefully piecing different events and sightings between Blackrock and Playground like it was a quilt. One inphernal couldn’t just solve everything; she knew that, but she could get extra information about Subspace and where his crystals were.
When Coil was typically –very often, an unserious inphernal, this was one of the instances where she’d actually get serious; concerned or interested, the criminal would be there nonetheless.
She was sure Blackrock and the Korblox Administration was plotting something and the conflicts between Playground and the latter was undeniable. Biografts in Craterdust? No way they weren’t up to something.
Despite it being night the city had tons of cars blaring and honking in certain intersections; the occasional car or truck coming by in these minor roads.
But something was off.
One after another, the same type of truck would drive by, all between a discreet period of time as if it was supposed to be hidden from outsider gaze.
Coil had thought nothing of it before spotting one of the drivers. They were wearing a helmet covering their face, its sides blue with antennas the same colour. The inphernal had an eerie aura, almost as if her gut was telling her something was wrong.
They drove by in a flash; all a blur despite being so suspicious.
Following the path of the driver–Coil climbed up a building to avoid being seen. She hopped and crossed multitudes of rooves, being hot on the driver’s tail without them even noticing.
The mysterious inphernal in the truck seemed awfully familiar and suspicious, curiosity being the drive for this whole goose chase, but the criminal knew something was odd with that driver and that whole … truck scheme? From earlier. Coil just knew they were important.
Rays of moonlight flickered between the gaps of the buildings; eventually revealing some of the truck’s decals. On its rear end it had extremely blurry writing–due to the fact she was about ten meters higher than the vehicle, and an image that seemed to resemble an emblem.
“Swords, I literally cannot see what symbol that is.” Coil groaned, continuing to follow the truck.
After maybe a million turns for hours, the truck came to a halt and turned off its headlights.
Stealthily, the bi-coloured inphernal peeked over the concrete edge of the roof. The driver got out and scanned their surroundings before entering one of the alleyways. From there, they knocked and entered into one of the apartment buildings. Coil furrowed her brow.
Surrounding houses were still awake–neon lights and music coming from square windows.
Coil quickly climbed down the building with controlled grace; landing with a soft thud. She pulled on the padlock on the backdoor of the truck but to no avail. Examining the truck further, alas, the emblem on the vehicle were three spikes pointing outwards.
“Real suspicious and stupid. Why an obvious decal on the truck meant to be covert?”
A mechanical whir came from a veiled part of the sidewalk.
She shot up–instinctively clenching her fists along with a slight smirk. It was inevitable. Subspace’s stupid ass robots were seeping into Craterdust, with most likely a bad intention.
Tensing up with barely contained excitement, Coil took a defensive stance ready for battle, three glowing pink eyes illuminating the shade.
It was a miniature Biograft?
The machine had complex designs and pink patterns splotched precisely across its body, all a blur as it skittered away on the brick wall upon notice of the bi-coloured inphernal.
“What was that? ‘Nother shitty invention by Subspace again?” Coil muttered, lowering her fists after putting her hood up.
Coil followed into the shadows with a drive of pure curiosity. The hell was Blackrock up to?
She transitioned into a jog, chasing after the Biograft then ultimately snatching it off the wall. Looks like Subspace didn’t add any defensive mechanics to this one. The robot scrambled to try and escape her grip, but her hand stayed firm.
It had intricate designs and a white body along two pairs of horns with pink stripes on them. It had an unusual third eye on its forehead, with pink spikes on its arms.
The machine had a screwed vent on its body which was quickly forced open, an open chest cavity having a pink star-shaped crystal in it.
“SFOTH– can this thing stop moving?” She hissed shortly before deactivating it by removing the crystal embedded inside its chest, careful not to damage the other parts.
The hellhound wiggled the robot around in her hand –examining the toy. It had pads on its arms and feet; probably how it managed to stick on the walls. It looked like it was made more for maintenance and construction instead of the usual footsoldier.
“The hell?”
She carried the Biograft around in her grasp while walking back into the main streets.
The vehicle was gone. Completely gone.
“Damn it!”
Winds whispered through the roads after her encounter with the small Biograft. Something wasn’t right, and that stupid Korblox thing had something to do with it.
—
Skateboard’s apartment was within reach. It would be beneficial to discuss what previously happened, but the skater was probably asleep early for the phight tomorrow.
Carelessly jamming the keys into the doorknob, Coil entered and spotted an asleep Skateboard on the couch and the television left on.
The news reporter, T. Vee, spewed out words with a static and muffled tone, “Records and recent news suggest that the group of Playgrounders who tried to trespass onto Blackrockian territory have gone missing instead of going to Banland.”
“Additional information will be needed for the verdict, other than that, these are Blackrockian scientist, Subspace T. Mine’s thoughts and statements about the situation.”
“The group of Playgrounders were highly unprofessional and full of stupidity. Blackrock has no affiliation with them, nor does the Korblox Administration. Any attempt to trespass once again on Blackrockian soil will immediately be sent to the Warden’s office! Measly Playgrounders.”
The last part was murmured, but it was just loud enough to be heard.
“Measly huh?” The criminal squinted.
Coil shifted her attention to the inphernal dead asleep on the couch, legs and arms sprawled out like a bug.
“Real bum over here, sleeping on the couch.” Coil said to herself with an amused sneer.
Taking her leave, Coil travelled to her mentor’s abode. It was midnight by the time she actually started going back, but she couldn’t get her mind off of the situation. Gut feelings and instincts were telling her that Blackrock was up to something —as if the ground was rumbling.