Jonah waits. Sitting. Breathing to calm himself down as he hears them moving downstairs. Finally, that younger, eager voice calls out “Miss, I think we got everything we need.”

“Good,” The older woman replies. “Then let's be off.”

The door is locked closed, the two sets of footsteps echo down the stairs, and soon the apartment is quiet. Jonah waits another minute, catching his breath, steadying his nerves before he heads back down towards those stairs. He looks up at the corners, checking for cameras or other devices, seeing if they left anything behind, and then heads towards the door to Apartment 303.

 

---

The key slides in easily, fitting perfectly in the lock as he turns it. The door opening up as Jonah slides inside, then closing the door and locking it behind him.

 

It's a small place, a closet off to the left, several pairs of shoes set in the cubby underneath. The closet is left open, a couple of spaces in the collection of hoodies and coats telling of missing items. Were they taken by those Shields?

Further inside, and the apartment is much like how Jonah remembers it the last time he was here. The kitchenette off to the left, the bathroom and bedroom doors off to the right, leading into a small living area with a two-seater couch, a table, and a TV. He left his console in rest mode, the soft light still pulsing gently in the nook under the TV.

“Come on, man.” Jonah says to himself, leaning down to hold the power button until the light turned off, then wiping the button off with his coat sleeve. “So he left in a hurry.” Jonah looks around that room, from the empty table to the clean computer desk in the corner. “But it's pretty nice. Nothing's broken or pushed out of place. He didn't get in a fight.”

The kitchen was also clean, which didn't surprise him much. Andrew was always a pretty neat guy at work, so it makes sense he'd be neat back home. The table was clean as well, though the drawer inside was messy, a collection of notes and batteries and...

“What's this?”

In his hands, Jonah held a business card, the paper thick, black and embossed gold outlined with purple highlights in a swirl. A strange, almost entrancing pattern on the front, Jonah shaking his head gently as he turns the card over to find a strange series of letters and numbers.

“Weird.” He says, putting the card in his pocket. Not quite sure why.

The drawer closed, Jonah headed over towards the computer, checking around the desk. At least the computer was off, but there were a couple other smaller things he found: a Shield recruitment drive flyer from a street convention they went to one time, and a few clippings about 'Underground clubs' from magazines, talking about the Succubus nests around town that Shields had been warning about.

Finally, the bedroom. The door is slightly ajar. They had been here recently.

Inside, the first thing he noticed was that it smelled nice. A soft lilac scent that wafts in the room, probably from the candle on his nightstand, half-melted. The bedroom is clean as well, aside from that unmade bed in the corner, a mish-mash of plushies and pillows covered by a think throw blanket with some cartoon animals on the top. He couldn't tell if the pile had been disturbed, if they took anything or if it was always this messy.

 

Along the wall were more prints, even a couple signed here and there, cute skirts and dynamic poses along the walls. A little solar plant on the window sill, rocking back and forth in the light as the clock nears noon, the only sound inside the apartment. He could hear birds singing outside, looking out towards another apartment building. For a second he wonders if the building across the way saw anything. But that idea dies quickly; he's already going too far into Andrew's life like this.

He reaches down and pets a fluffy bunny plush on the head, and looks to his closet. His closet has a few more missing places in it, and a few cosplay items he didn't remember Andrew having. Definitely his size, but a lot more pink than what he was expecting. And lacy, too. Was he planning to do an cosplay? He didn't know what Andrew would look like in a skirt like that...

But! That's Andrew's business, not his. There is a drawer, slightly ajar at the bottom, and Jonah can see something pink and shiny inside. He decides to just...close the drawer slowly. There's already enough that he didn't know about Andrew, no need to get that invested. Right?

 

He closes that closet and leaves it alone, making sure the bedroom window blind is closed, along with the door. Straightening up a bit more before he leaves, Jonah heading out that door and locking it behind him.

It wasn't much...but he had a few leads to mull over on the Subway back home, at least.

First, the Shields themselves. They seemed to be intimately involved in Andrew's disappearance, knowing far more than they let on. And with the Shield recruitment flyer he found, Jonah at least knew that Andrew had been curious in turn. But that seemed way out of his character, didn't it? Andrew always seemed to be the reserved type, keeping to himself at work and only hanging out with a couple people outside of it.

There was that, and the fact that the Shields was an all-woman group. They were Magical 'Girls', not Magical 'People', and there hadn't been reports of Magical Men before. Though...well, there were methods these days. But he never caught that vibe from Andrew before.

Maybe he was just clueless, though. There was a lot he didn't know before this, turns out.

 

Second, that weird card. Definitely not a normal advertisement for a normal business or something similar. Most businesses would sacrifice an intern to be able to entrance people to using their product or coming to their business, but how many of them would hide the location behind some weird code? And the code itself, a series of numbers and letters, made no sense. He'd have to search up a likely answer back home, probably with a VPN on or something.

 

Had Andrew gotten farther than he did? Did he figure out the code and end up falling down a hole somewhere? Was that why the Shields were involved?

And third, the stories about the Underground Clubs. Succubae were a thing that people were always warned about, the Demons that would devour your soul and leave you addicted, destroying your lives. And they were some of the most open enemies of the Shields. So maybe he had dug a bit too far into looking for them, and ended up being caught up in some sort of Demonic club?

 

Maybe that's why the Shields got ahold of him first, before he started to get too far deep into their clutches? Or maybe he'd already got caught and was in recovery of some sort?

Jonah steps off the subway, his head swirling with questions as he heads up those stairs and towards his favorite lunch spot down the street from his apartment. Maybe grabbing some food would help him out as he sorted out his thoughts on what he should do next.

 

Passing by that construction again, the glass once more in place, the brickwork already settled as the crew begins finishing their repairs. Passing his apartment, down the street to a taco place tucked in near the corner of the avenue. Somewhere down the block a church bell rings out, right at noon.

It's a small place, a TV in the corner playing a telenovela on broken speakers, the owner behind the counter giving a small wave. The only other person sitting in being a woman wearing a corduroy sweater, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail that rested over her right shoulder, face buried in a menu.

 

Jonah orders his usual, al pastor and horchata, and sits down to think over his options.

The Shield HQ seems to be his best bet, though. Andrew is clearly connected to them, and they know what's going on. He probably couldn't just ask them directly about it, but it wouldn't be hard to ask about people caught up in monster attacks or perhaps recently recruited. Maybe he could find out more in a roundabout way?

 

Everything seems to lead to one direction. The Majestic Shields Headquarters, downtown.

 

It was the only solid lead that Jonah had: not only had he just seen two Shields going through his apartment, it also didn't take long to find those fliers on his computer desk. “Discovering your True Place.” “Being a Part of Something Greater.” “Defending against the Darkness.” They had all the usual slogans that you'd see around, from the corkboard at work to down in the subway.

Andrew was a fan, that was easy enough to see. They were the one who got Jonah into that game to build up his Guild credit, and he had enough Shields merch on his desk to make a small shrine. Then there were the posters in his apartment, and that cosplay outfit in the closet.

 

But Jonah never got that Vibe from Andrew. Yeah, he was always kind of a nerd, a bit withdrawn and open to gush about his interests when you got him going, but Jonah never felt like Andrew was hiding anything, or felt 'uncomfortable' about who he was. He was just Andrew when they hung out, and that's all that mattered. They were friends, and that was it.

But was that it? Friends could keep stuff from each other. Jonah knew he wasn't always open with Andrew about some things, especially stuff behind closed doors, but they never really needed to talk about it. Maybe that's how Andrew saw his thing with the Shields?

There's a clatter as a plate is put in front of him, al pastor tacos and horchata breaking him out of his train of thought and drawing him back to reality. Eat, head downtown, and see what you can find.

As Jonah dug in, spreading a bit of green sauce over that stewed pork before taking a bite, he weighed his options for what he'd do when he arrived. They probably wouldn't just respond to someone asking for Andrew directly. So, perhaps they could ask about a friend who got hurt recently? Or ask about the recruitment process, maybe see if that was something that someone could just ask for. Maybe he could learn about a monster attack near Andrew's place, ask about warnings?

Indirect information. Nothing outright. Best not to get people's attention.

 

Those tacos are gone before he knows it, washed down with horchata and leaving Jonah full and ready to go. The woman in the sweater seems to have left already, the menu set on the table with something on the top. What looks like a leaflet, a soft lilac color with a holographic sheen over the front, drawing his eye to the cover.

“Chingado, Bruja!”

The owner storming over suddenly, the menu turned over and slamming that leaflet down. “Sorry about that, sir.” He says, taking another menu and scooping the pamphlet between the two. “Devils been sending out people who been to their clubs, trying to get new people in. They're like mosquitoes.” The old man grumbles, dropping the leaflet into a trashcan.

“Gotta be careful. At least drug pushers you could drive off with a bat, these folks you can't even tell until they're gone.”

Jonah nods a bit, looking at that trashcan. “Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.” He says, before taking out a couple more bills and putting them on the table. “You take care, alright?”

“You too, sir,” The owner says, before heading back behind the counter, talking too fast for Jonah to catch as he headed back out into the chill city.

 

 

At least the ride to Downtown is a bit easier. Fewer stops, though the subways are a bit more crowded now, leaving Jonah to stand as he browsed on his phone. Nothing seems to stand out much to him as he does searches for Andrew's neighborhood and monster attacks, warnings about demon activity, and...

Wait, there! Between his apartment and work is Watts district, an old garment district that's being revitalized and has a couple incidents.

 

A few women went missing and were found later, eyes covered with blindfolds, flashing people in the park, even physically assaulting people who tried to get too close until the police intervened.

And something about a new Kaiju being spotted and fought in the area, and people being warned about 'suspicious materials' on their walks.

Both of those events being about two weeks back, right around when he stopped showing up to work.

 

Jonah steps out of that subway car, putting his phone away as he heads out and looks up, the sun still in the sky even among the high-rises. The shadows only left to the deeper alleyways, steam rising up from the drainage as he moves inside that stream of people. Keeping his arm's length when he can, passing by the designer brand storefronts and silver-window business towers. Though he does stop to check out a new pair of sneakers in a shop window. A beautiful set of black and gold basketball shoes with custom hex pattern soles and thick support laces. Way too expensive, but damn if he wouldn't look nice in those.

Onward, Jonah. No need to get distracted.

It isn't too long of a walk until he gets to Awakening Square, the maple trees in deep red, painting the granite paving stones that surrounded a statue of The Captain in the square. Jonah lost count of how many times they've rebuilt this thing, given how much of a magnet for attacks it seems to be, but this version of the statue has Her triumphant. Under her foot is a Saccophyte, the rose-and-woman's face twisted in a grimace (but it looks somewhat...happy?) of defeat, a Succubus clutched in her hand by her neck as she looks up to the sky.

There were jokes around the statue that Andrew told him about, mainly that the 'fandom' jokes that the statue is alive, a gargoyle that puts on lewd shows at midnight before changing back in the dawn. Another was that it kept getting destroyed and remade as a way to show off the Majestic Shield's constant victories over their foes. Jonah just thought it was a lightning rod: if they're attacking the statue, then they aren't attacking actual people. Like how people would graffiti a wall back home, and the cops would allow it because they weren't breaking in to tag the water tower. A release valve.

 

But Jonah doesn't take too long thinking about that, instead moving past the small crowds hanging out around the square and towards the large marble building to the north. The Headquarters.

There were tons of videos about this place on socials, but it's hard to judge the scope of it without standing in front of it. A wide, shining white building with silver-tinted windows in a brutalist style, the hard corners jutting outwards like a fortress. Though that might be a good approximation, given how the building gives a 360 degree view over the square, the river running to the north, and the far side of the city. There is a three-floor break in the window coverage near the middle of the building, but Jonah could see the sliding airlock doors, the 'gangway' for when Shields deploy to fight monsters.

For a second, Jonah wonders if there's rockets and hoverjets underneath it, too. But that's a bit too much.

 

Inside is a completely different world.

Soft whites and silver dominates the lobby, with splashes of red on the upholstery set off to either side, the left holding a small snack bar and rest area where several people are sitting and waiting. To the right are several wide tables with high-backed chairs, one of them occupied with a Shield in her aquamarine Armor speaking with what appears to be an elderly family. From an alcove above, cherry blossom trees bloom and sprinkle the floor with soft pink petals that then brush aside in an unseen and unfelt wind. The air smells of jasmine and rosewater, and the warmth inside is almost a shock compared to the chill autumn just outside the glass front doors.

 

And immediately he feels as if he's being watched. All the way up to that wide front desk, a brunette in a soft pink blouse standing there. Her eyes have a hint of an amber light to them, that calculating gaze focusing on Jonah as he approaches her desk. Her domain.

“May I help you, sir?”

Ask about The Tall Shield You have a contact, you could ask them for an update here. Probably couldn't talk about things in public, but maybe here you could get some answers?  This path is closed to us now.

 

Ask about Monster Attacks in the Area. Maybe you could see if anyone was brought in after a Monster attack? You could say you were working for the apartment building Andrew works in, and are investigating an unlawful access to his apartment after they went missing.

Ask about Recruitment into the Shields. You had a friend who was interested in being recruited, you hung out with them, and...well, your life is kinda slow right now. You know that the accounting department at W&W is a dead-end for the next few years, and you don't even like the work. Maybe you could help out? See if you have what it takes?