The Association’s records departnt was on the fifth floor, a section most Hunters never visited because why would you, it was just filing, bureaucracy, the boring administrative side of monster hunting.
Rin stood at the counter waiting for soone to acknowledge him, the woman behind the desk was maybe fifty, looked like she’d been working there since before the fracture event, barely glanced up from her computer.
"Help you?"
"I need to request an incident report," Rin said. "From the Jin Hanazawa raid, two weeks ago."
That got her attention, she looked at him properly now. "That’s classified, active investigation."
"I’m aware, but the deceased, Leo Penzerio, nad as his beneficiary, which according to Association policy gives right to review materials related to his death."
She frowned, typed sothing. "Na?"
"Rin Matsuda."
More typing, her frown deepened. "You’re the portal guy."
"Yeah."
"Huh." She pulled up sothing on her screen. "Says here you do have beneficiary status, but the report you’re requesting requires Director approval, I can file the request but it’ll take three to five business days for review."
"That’s fine."
She printed a form, slid it across the counter. "Fill this out, explain why you need access, be specific, vague requests get denied automatically."
Rin filled out the paperwork, his reasoning was simple, closure, understanding what happened, Leo’s final monts, all the things a grieving friend would want to know.
He handed it back.
"I’ll submit this today," she said. "You’ll get an email when there’s a decision, don’t hold your breath though, classified materials requests get denied more often than approved."
"Understood."
He left the records departnt, checked his phone, still two hours before the mission briefing for today’s assignnt.
Joy had texted him three tis.
Joy: did you actually file the request?
Joy: rin this is a bad idea
Joy: if the association thinks youre investigating them they might see you as a threat
She wasn’t wrong, but he needed to know, if Fiona was lying then fine, if she was telling the truth then the Association had Leo’s blood on their hands.
Either way, Rin needed facts.
He t Joy and Tayo at the briefing room, today’s mission was warehouse security, so company had reported strange noises coming from their storage facility at night, probably rats or goblins, standard pest control.
The supervisor was a guy nad Riku, D-rank Hunter who looked bored before the briefing even started.
"This is going to be easy," he said, pulling up photos of the warehouse. "You three clear the interior, I’ll wait outside, call if sothing actually dangerous shows up, which it won’t, questions?"
"What’s the company storing?" Tayo asked.
"Electronics mostly, old tech from before the fracture event, collectors pay decent money for pre-2025 computers apparently." Riku checked his watch. "We leave in thirty minutes, gear up, try not to break anything valuable."
They geared up, loaded into a van, drove to the warehouse district in Katutura.
The facility was bigger than expected, three stories, security fence around the periter, caras that probably didn’t work anymore.
"Alarms have been disabled," Riku explained as they approached. "Owner didn’t want the noise bothering neighbors, which is how you get infestations, your job is to clear whatever’s inside, collect evidence if it’s monsters, call exterminators if it’s just rats."
He unlocked the main entrance, gestured them inside. "I’ll be out here smoking, don’t die."
The interior was dark, rows of shelving units packed with boxes, electronics in various states of disrepair, the sll was musty but not organic, no indication of living creatures.
"Spread out," Rin said. "Stay in visual range, call out anything suspicious."
They moved through the aisles, flashlights cutting through the darkness, the warehouse was silent except for their footsteps.
Too silent actually, even with rats there should be so ambient noise.
[Warning: Environntal anomaly detected]
[Sound dampening beyond natural acoustics]
[Sothing is suppressing noise]
’Predator tactic.’
[Correct assessnt]
[Likely ambush hunter]
"Heads up," Rin said quietly. "Sothing’s here, using sound dampening."
Joy imdiately went alert, her emotion manipulation prid, Tayo adjusted his grip on his sound emitter.
A shape moved between the shelves, too fast to track, disappeared before Rin could get a clear look.
Then another movent, different direction.
"Multiple hostiles," Tayo whispered.
More shapes, circling them, staying in shadows, whatever these were they were smart, coordinated.
One finally stepped into the light.
Not a goblin, not a rat, sothing Rin hadn’t seen before.
It stood about four feet tall, bipedal, covered in dark fur, eyes that reflected light like a cat’s, hands that ended in claws, its mouth opened showing rows of needle teeth.
[Analysis: Unknown entity]
[Does not match any docunted monster classification]
[Threat assessnt: Uncertain]
The creature made a sound, not a growl, more like a chirp, high-pitched and wrong.
More of them erged from the shadows, at least a dozen, all identical, all watching with those reflective eyes.
"What are these?" Joy asked.
"No idea," Rin channeled fracture energy into his hands. "But they’re about to be a problem."
The creatures attacked simultaneously, moving fast, using the shelving units for cover and elevation.
Rin caught the first one, his fracture energy-enhanced grip crushed its skull, it dropped.
Another ca from above, Joy hit it with fear manipulation, the creature faltered mid-leap, crashed into a shelf.
Tayo fired sound blasts, the compressed waves knocked two creatures backward, but more kept coming.
They were fast, aggressive, worked together to flank and overwhelm.
One got past Rin’s guard, claws raking across his arm, the reinforced fabric tore, blood welled up.
He grabbed it by the throat, slamd it into the ground, fracture energy discharged directly into its body, the creature convulsed then went still.
The fight lasted maybe three minutes, bodies piling up, Rin lost count of how many they killed.
Finally the last creature retreated, disappeared into the shadows, they waited but it didn’t return.
"Clear," Rin said, breathing hard.
Tayo was checking his equipnt. "What the hell were those things, I’ve never seen anything like them."
" neither." Joy approached one of the bodies, examined it carefully. "They don’t match any monster classification I know, fur pattern is weird, claws are too long, teeth structure is wrong for carnivores."
[Analysis: Creatures demonstrate signs of artificial modification]
[Claw length suggests surgical enhancent]
[Dental structure indicates forced adaptation]
[Conclusion: These are not naturally occurring monsters]
’Soone made these?’
[High probability]
[Recomnd reporting to supervisor imdiately]
Rin pulled out his phone, called Riku.
"Yeah?" The supervisor sounded annoyed at being interrupted.
"We’ve got a situation, the hostiles aren’t standard classification, they’re sothing else."
"Define sothing else."
"Modified, enhanced, possibly engineered."
Silence on the line, then Riku spoke again, his tone completely changed. "Don’t touch anything else, I’m coming in, secure the periter."
He arrived two minutes later, took one look at the bodies, his expression went dark.
"Fuck, these are breach creatures."
"Breach creatures?" Joy asked.
"Illegal experints, so groups try to create monsters for various purposes, combat testing, biological weapons, black market sales." He pulled out his phone, started taking photos. "This is way above E-rank clearance, we need a containnt team."
He made several calls, within fifteen minutes the warehouse was swarming with Association personnel, technicians in hazmat suits collected the bodies, officials cordoned off the area.
Rin and his team were separated, taken to different rooms for individual debriefing.
An investigator nad Yuki sat across from Rin, recording device on the table between them.
"Walk through exactly what happened," she said.
Rin explained, the creatures’ behavior, the fight, how they moved and attacked, left out the system’s analysis about artificial modification since he shouldn’t know that.
"Did you see any indication of who was controlling them?" Yuki asked.
"No, they seed autonomous."
"Any unusual energy signatures before the attack?"
"Just sound dampening, nothing else."
She made notes. "You and your team did well, breach creatures are dangerous, you should’ve called for backup imdiately but given you didn’t know what they were, your response was appropriate."
"What happens now?"
"Investigation, we’ll trace the origin of these creatures, find whoever’s breeding them, shut down the operation." She closed her notebook. "You’ll receive hazard pay for encountering unclassified hostiles, probably looking at two thousand credits, maybe more depending on threat assessnt."
Two thousand for an afternoon’s work, not bad, though Rin would’ve preferred knowing what he was walking into.
They released him after another hour of questions, Joy and Tayo were waiting in the lobby.
"That was insane," Tayo said. "Modified monsters, illegal experints, this is way deeper than pest control."
"You think it’s connected to the contaminated sli?" Joy asked.
Rin hadn’t considered that but she had a point, two anomalous encounters in a week, both involving entities that shouldn’t exist.
"Maybe, or maybe we’re just unlucky."
[Analysis: Probability of two unrelated anomalies in short tifra: 12%]
[More likely: Increased anomalous activity in Windhoek region]
[Or targeted deploynt of experintal entities]
’Why would anyone target random warehouses with breach creatures?’
[Unknown]
[Insufficient data for conclusion]
His phone buzzed, email notification.
Subject: Records Request - DENIED
That was fast, he’d filed the request three hours ago.
He opened the email.
"Your request for access to classified incident report RE: Jin Hanazawa raid has been reviewed and denied. Reasoning: Active investigation, sensitive operational details, no imdiate need for disclosure. You may refile this request after investigation concludes. Estimated tiline: 6-12 months."
Six to twelve months, they were stonewalling him.
Which ant Fiona might be right, if the report was routine they’d have approved it with redactions, full denial suggested they were hiding sothing.
"Bad news?" Joy asked, reading his expression.
"Request got denied."
"Maybe that’s for the best, sotis not knowing is easier."
"I need to know."
"Why? Will it bring Leo back? Will it change anything?" She lowered her voice. "All it’s going to do is make you angrier, give you another reason to not trust the Association."
"Maybe I shouldn’t trust them."
Joy looked like she wanted to argue but didn’t, they headed to the paynt office, collected their mission completion bonuses.
Rin’s account showed the deposit, six hundred for the warehouse clear plus two thousand hazard bonus, twenty-six hundred credits total.
He was building up savings, another few months of this and he’d have enough to be financially independent, wouldn’t need the Association’s housing or equipnt subsidies.
Small steps toward freedom.
His phone buzzed again, ssage from Fiona.
"Heard about your warehouse encounter. Breach creatures in Windhoek. Interesting timing. We should talk."
She wanted to et, probably had information, possibly wanted sothing in return.
Rin typed a response: "When and where?"
Fiona: "Tonight, 2100 hours, Prosperita rooftop bar, co alone."
Joy saw him texting. "Let guess, Fiona?"
"She wants to et, talk about the breach creatures."
"And you’re going."
"Yeah."
"Rin, this is how people get manipulated, she gives you information, makes you feel like you’re allies, then when she needs sothing you’re obligated." Joy grabbed his arm. "Whatever she’s offering, it’s not worth it."
"What if she knows who sent those creatures, what if this is connected to sothing bigger?"
"Then let the Association investigate, that’s their job."
"Their job is to control information, keep Hunters in the dark, I want actual answers."
Joy sighed, let go of his arm. "Fine, but I’m coming with you."
"She said alone."
"I don’t care what she said, you’re not eting a killer by yourself on a rooftop, I’m coming or you’re not going."
Rin considered arguing but Joy’s expression said she wasn’t budging.
"Fine, but stay back, let talk to her."
"Deal."
They spent the rest of the day training at the Association gym, working on coordination, Joy’s emotion manipulation paired with Rin’s fracture energy created interesting combinations, she could make enemies hesitate while he delivered killing blows.
Tayo joined them for an hour, they practiced three-person formations, covered each other’s blind spots.
By 2030 they were ready, headed to Prosperita, the rooftop bar overlooked the city, expensive drinks and atmosphere, not Rin’s usual scene.
Fiona was already there, sitting at a corner table with a clear view of the entrance, she saw Joy, raised an eyebrow.
"I said alone."
"She insisted," Rin said, sitting down.
Fiona studied Joy for a mont then shrugged. "Whatever, this concerns you too I suppose."
She pulled out a tablet, showed them photos of the warehouse creatures. "These aren’t random experints, they’re prototypes, soone’s testing combat applications in controlled environnts."
"How do you know that?" Joy asked.
"Because I’ve seen similar creatures before, about a month ago, different city, sa basic design, enhanced predator characteristics, pack tactics, disposable and replaceable." Fiona swiped through more photos. "Soone’s running a breeding program, creating monsters for sale or deploynt."
"The Association is investigating," Rin said.
"The Association will find nothing because whoever’s running this operation has protection, you don’t conduct illegal experints in Association territory without inside help." She put the tablet away. "I have contacts who deal in grey market information, they’ve heard rumors, whispers about a group called the Architect Collective, they specialize in monster modification, creating custom entities for wealthy clients."
"Why are you telling us this?" Joy asked suspiciously.
"Because Rin encountered contaminated entities twice in one week, that’s not coincidence, soone’s testing defenses, seeing how new Hunters respond to unknown threats." Fiona looked at Rin. "They’re collecting data, probably on you specifically, the portal guy with weird purple energy, you’re interesting, makes you a target for research."
That thought made Rin’s stomach drop, soone was watching him, testing him, treating him like a lab rat.
"What do they want?"
"To understand what you are, possibly capture you, definitely study your abilities." Fiona leaned back. "The Association can’t protect you from threats they don’t know exist, this Collective operates outside official channels, they’re ghosts."
"So what, I just wait for them to make a move?"
"No, you get ahead of them, find them first, eliminate the threat." She smiled slightly. "Or you could ignore this, hope it goes away, see how that works out."
Joy spoke up. "Why do you care? What’s your stake in this?"
"I don’t like being observed without my knowledge, the Collective has been watching multiple anomalous Hunters, including , I want them gone." Fiona stood up. "Think about it, if you want help tracking them down, let know, otherwise good luck dealing with whatever they send next."
She left, disappeared into the crowd.
Joy looked at Rin. "You believe her?"
"I don’t know, but if she’s right, we’ve got a problem."
"We should tell the Association."
"And say what, that a killer told us about a secret organization conducting illegal experints, they’ll either dismiss it or investigate us for associating with her."
Joy didn’t have an answer for that.
They left the bar, caught a taxi back to their respective hos, Rin spent the drive thinking about everything Fiona said.
Soone was watching him, testing him, trying to understand his abilities.
The Association had him leashed but at least their motivations were clear, control and containnt.
This Architect Collective, if they existed, had unknown goals, unknown resources, unknown thods.
He was being hunted by people he couldn’t see.
And the leash around his neck ant he couldn’t move freely to deal with it.
Fiona’s words echoed in his head: "Eventually you’ll have to choose, stay leashed and limited, or break free and deal with the consequences."
That choice was coming sooner than he’d expected.
But not yet, he wasn’t strong enough yet, breaking free now would just get him killed.
He needed more ti, more strength, more options.
The grind continued.
One mission at a ti, one fight at a ti, one step closer to freedom.
His phone buzzed, ssage from an unknown number.
"We’ve been watching. Impressive performance. You’re exactly what we need. Expect contact soon. - The Architect"
Rin stared at the ssage.
They’d made contact.
The ga had changed.
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