It was raining when Ren arrived at Scales’s office. The man had been more secretive than usual, stressing that it was important they speak face to face. Personally, Ren thought Scales was more paranoid than was warranted, but with him being the only lead on the eyeball, he wasn’t in a position to complain.

“NEON?” Ren frowned. He sighed, then put his hands in his pockets, thumbs exposed. “That drug they’re talking about on the news?”

“I wouldn’t strictly use that term, but yes. The eye was covered in it,” Scales said from the other side of a large chrome table. In the center was the organ in question, now floating in a large cylinder filled with an unnamed fluid. Ren didn’t care to know what the fluid was. Some sciency thing, he figured.

“What’s this NEON shit even do, anyway?”

“Are you going to listen, or are you playing at interest?”

Ren rolled his eyes. “Bro, come on.”

Scales paused. “Very well. For starters, it removes the desire for sleep, and creates sensations of euphoria.” He adjusted his helmet and straightened his back. Something he seemed to like doing whenever he was explaining things. “Truth be told, this is the first time I’ve had such an opportunity to examine it, so I’ll need more time to understand its full potential.”

“You think this is the new hot garbage making its rounds on campus?” Ren remembered hearing some of the college students talking about a new way to get high as a kite. Maxis had mentioned it in passing as well, but neither of them had thought much of it at the time. Likely popular in high schools as well.

“Hard to say,” Scales admitted, “but I would wager that it is. If it is, then we have a rare opportunity to unveil its secrets.” He shook his head, then sighed. “No. I’m getting ahead of myself. What’s important right now is that we keep its location here a secret.”

Ren gestured the zipping of his lips. “Gotcha covered, Rudy.”

Surprisingly, Scales nodded. Ren had expected a more exaggerated response from calling him Rudy. “I’m willing to wager it’s already lining the pockets of most Were Street stockbrokers and politicians.” As he spoke, his voice descended to a whisper and Ren had to pay close attention to hear him. “A large enough dose could keep someone going for days.”

“Where is this going?”

Scales clicked his tongue. “Forget it. Anyways, some preliminary testing showed where the eye came from.”

“I’ll do a drumroll for you.”

“Vinny,” Scales hissed just before Ren could start.

Ren gaped. “Wh… what? Vinny? You don’t mean Vitriani… do you?”

“Scared now?.”

“Fuck,” Ren hissed, biting his lower lip. Vinny wasn’t a popular man, but he loyally served Bruno Vitriani—the current family head of the Vitriani mafia, and Amber’s father—for years. Seeing Vinny’s eyeball floating in the cylinder, he figured he was as good as dead. No one crossed Bruno Vitriani. “Amber hasn’t said anything.”

“She probably doesn’t know,” Scales reasoned. “I can’t imagine they tell her much.”

Ren licked his lips and blinked. His heart skipped, and when he opened his eyes, he’d appeared on the couch. “Great.”

Scales sighed. “Try to relax. I don’t want you teleporting all over my lab.”

“Easy for you to say,” he spat before suddenly appearing behind Scales.

Scales turned around, gently pushing Ren away. “In any event, I do have Vinny’s address if you want to continue investigating this.”

“Man, I don’t know.” He began to pace the room in thought. “I don’t even know what the hell I’m looking for. Bruno’s ruthless, and I do not want to get between him and whatever the hell he’s doing. You know the motherfucker almost beat someone to death because their soup burned Amber’s tongue?” He half-laughed, running a hand through his hair to calm down. “Who does that?”

Scales fell silent.

“Seriously. I’d rather fight a dozen Lurkers,” Ren continued. “The guy’s unhinged.”

“I’m aware. But there’s no one else we can trust.”

“Yeah. Right. Uhhh, right.”

Scales tapped Ren’s shoulder, motioning for him to move aside. Ren complied, and Scales pulled open a drawer from the opposite desk against the wall. He plucked a slip of folded paper from the drawer, then closed it before turning around and holding it out to Ren.

“Something else is going on here,” Scales said. “I don’t want to be a part of it any more than you do. If what you said is true, and the kids were the ones who found this eyeball, then this implies something utterly horrid occurred to our ‘friend’ here. Whatever method he used to eliminate Vinny is dubious, even for a crime ring. Doesn’t that bother you?”

Ren took the slip of paper from Scales with a bit of hesitation. He gazed at it for a few seconds before sliding it into his back pocket. “Yeah. It does. But man, I don’t even know what the hell I’m looking for.”

“Anything. Everything. Something that tells us what’s going on here.”

Ren didn’t like Scales when he got like this. It meant something dangerous or awful was about to happen. Scales could barely stand to have Ren around most of the time. If not for his abilities, Ren wagered the man wouldn’t tolerate his presence for even a minute. Scales was combative, short-tempered, and exceptionally blunt. To see him mellow out and choose his words more carefully was enough to send a chill down his spine.

“All right. Well, I… guess I better get going.” Ren made his way to the front door, and pushed it open.

“Hey,” Scales said. “Be careful, all right?”

“I will be. Thanks, Rudy.”

Ren shut the door behind him and retrieved the slip of paper from his back pocket. He mumbled off the address, then slipped it back in. He couldn’t afford to do this the way he usually did. For this, he’d need backup. The best a guy could ask for.

Someone like Maxis.