Chapter 41 - The Rene Group

Another morning another Holly waking up in bed. There were worse ways she could come to, she had to admit. The hotel was nice, the lap of luxury even.

“Your great plan was calling the police?!”
“I thought having other people here would help!”

Her and Solana’s voices from only hours ago rang in her head. Learning about Mysterion Air was a decent consolation prize for the Director escaping them, again.

Another property of it appeared to be that it allowed the cryptid to vanish unnoticed. Despite them watching the downed Resonator, it poofed away in the blink of an eye; as if it was nothing more than a waking dream. Did that property extend to the cryptid’s Maestro too? The way the Director got away last night felt so unnatural…

What was stuck on Holly’s mind was exactly that trait. If Mysterion Air nullified technology and allowed cryptids to flee even while under heavy surveillance, how in the world did the Rene Group get a hold of so many of them? The Director had wielded three distinctly different cryptids against them so far.

It was about time she got down to the bottom of this mystery – she needed to learn more about cryptids. It was the only way she was going to put a stop to this insanity.

As she showered, the little plant considered another topic that needed exploring: the Rene Group. The Director claimed to work for them; but who were they? What did they do besides harass little girls? Another mystery that needed to be solved.

Holly finished washing up and stepped in front of the mirror. She wiped away the fog coating it to appraise herself when she noticed something peculiar.

The clinging condensation made it hard to see, so she hastily grabbed a hand towel and dried a small part of the mirror.

“Leaves?”

Adorning her head where her hollies normally grew were four fresh tree leaves, two for each side. They weren’t in the same style as her hollies. The curve around the edges of the blade were solid, with no sharp points and lacked the distinct shine her native leaves bore.

“These must be apple leaves…” she realized. However, there were no other signs of fruiting bodies, just the leaves.

“So they must take a longer time to produce fruit than other seeds. Though if leaves are sprouting that should be a good sign. Maybe a couple more days?” she mused to herself.

Either way, they were of no use to her as they were. Admittedly she did like them and thought of them as cute accessories. Oh if only the general public knew what these innocuous little leaves were in truth.

“At least I didn’t waste them.”

She had a checklist of what she wanted to accomplish today.

1.) Go get clothes and a new bag
2.) Wash clothes
3.) Do research

Hopefully the first two wouldn’t take so long that the third would forfeit its place on the list. The only way to ensure that was to get going now.

Daytime should be safe to go it alone, so for that, she left her bedroom and moved to leave the suite as a whole. However, as she was getting her boots on, she was joined by the rest of the inhabitants.

“Good morning, Holly,” greeted Solana with a wave. She was still in her pajamas, unlike her two Resonators who came from the third room dressed to impress.

“Morning,” Holly greeted in return.

“Where are you off to?” inquired the chef.

“Got stuff to do.”
“What about breakfast?”
“What about it? The sun’s up, that’s enough to get me through the day.”
“Hrmmm…”

Chef and plant stared one another down, the older Maestro frowning at the younger Resonator.

Holly finally broke the staredown. “If you got something to say, just say it.”

“You’re in such a hurry it makes me wonder what you have to do,” the Maestro voiced her thoughts.

Holly shook her head – she didn’t have time for this. “I need to pick some stuff, and do some research.”

“On the internet?” asked Solana.
“Probably.”

Solana looked to Vivi. “Do you mind?” she asked.
“I was just gonna watch TV, go nuts,” said the linsang

Before Holly could figure out what they were going on about, she had a tuner gently tossed to her. “I’ll make us breakfast – you can do your research there.”

The zalavan didn’t know what to say, the red tuner lay in her hands as if she had been gifted an apple. She watched as Lee plucked his own blue tuner from Solana’s side and took a seat next to the zalavan on the couch.

“I too, am curious about a few things, Lady Holly – we can pool our efforts this way,” he waved his tuner to her.

This Maestro was so weird. She didn’t protect her tuners like a priceless heirloom – her Resonators had as much freedom to use them as she did. Solana even asked Vivi’s permission before letting Holly borrow her tuner.

“Are you familiar with the tuner’s interface?” Lee’s inquiry snapped the plant from her thoughts.
“I’ve only used a computer once,” admitted the zalavan.
“Here, let me show you how to use the tuner.”

Lee went over all the basic functions. For Vivi’s stats and such he just gave a quick overview. He spent the bulk of the explanation on the web browser and touch keyboard functions.

Holly knew she wasn’t the fastest on the touch keyboard. The way Lee’s thumbs glided across the touch screen spoke to his familiarity with using the device. This wasn’t just some kind of show Solana was putting on for Holly’s sake – they were like this behind closed doors.

“I am curious about the cryptids,” Lee again drew Holly out of her thoughts.
“I’ll look into the Director then,” she decided.

Two heads were better than one and with Lee’s help, Holly could cover more ground than she could alone.

While Lee got to work on cryptid research, Holly started simple – the Rene Group.

After some tapping around, she found what she was looking for.

The Rene Group - SEARCH

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About Us We partner with health centers and other stakeholders to provide health services and address social determinants of health for the Maestros who protect the world. Our Mission We are passionate about access to quality, community-based care for hunters, duelists, composers, and their teams on the Lyberteran continent. We partner with Maestro Affairs Offices, and service agencies to provide outreach, primary care, and social services to eligible groups. See our Impact

They were some kind of healthcare group? It wasn’t entirely clear what they did (at least to her.) Holly tapped the big inviting button on the page.

The Rene Group - SEARCH

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Impact We are proud of the work we have accomplished, together, with our Partners, to improve access to quality primary care and health-related services for Maestros on the Lyberteran continent. 1,905 Maestros & their Teams Served 1,121 Medical Transports 4,189 Health Education Sessions ~21,833 Outreach & Social Services 937 Festas Organized 1,161 MA Office Visits to provide Health Education, On-site Clinical Services, PPE & More

“It stinks.”

Holly looked up from the screen, to find Vivi hovering over her shoulder, reading the website.

“What do you mean?” asked the zalavan.
“What word is missing?” Vivi quizzed.

The nature element scrutinized both pages again.

“Wait, that can’t be right…” she mumbled. A couple scans later she discovered the missing word.

“The word ‘Resonator’ is nowhere to be found…” Holly realized.
“Bingo!” Vivi threw herself back against the couch.

“It sounds like the Rene Group is trying to hide what they do in plain sight then,” Lee commented.
“What’s that?” Holly raised a brow.

“Commodify Resonators, obviously.” She didn’t like the way Lee smiled as he said that. Even so, to maintain that cheery demeanor strained the axolotl. She could sense it was taking everything in his power to not say what Vivi said next.

“Sick fucks,” snarled the fire element.

Remembering the story of how they met Solana, it tracked both of them felt as strongly as they did. This, alongside the lengths their Maestro went through to save them before they were ever registered to her… she understood their dynamic.

Unfortunately, that also meant she understood what the Rene Group was after – they wanted her because she was rare. They wanted her because she was a resource. They wanted her, because presumably, she couldn’t fight back.

That was an assumption she’d have to quash.

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“So, from what I found,” Lee began as they set out on their errands for the day. “Cryptids are null-element mirage-class Resonators. Just like you are the nature representative of mirage-class, Lady Holly.”

The zalavan nodded, though she didn’t like being on the same level as the frankly horrifying cryptids.

“Not much is known about them as a full species, but that man spoke the truth in our encounters with him. Mysterion Air really does block any recording devices in the vicinity of it. Tuners still work for spellcasting, but if you even try to make a phone call the signal gets jammed.”

Holly furrowed her brows. “How does that even work?”

Lee shrugged. “No one knows from what I could find. Just like their origins – supposedly they just appear. There are no documented cases of a cryptid being born. Any place where they’ve manifested will have an outage of cameras and the like before reports start coming in about a strange Resonator wandering about.”

“How fascinating,” Solana commented.

“Why have they been so different though? I was able to kick that deer one’s teeth in but that elephant snake was like a brick wall,” Vivi grumbled.

“They’re akin to dinosaurs and mermaids – they may be one meta species, but their appearances and skill sets vary wildly from individual to individual,” Lee explained.

The quartet came to a stop in the hotel lobby.

“He’s used three different ones against us so far, so there’s no real way for us to prepare for what he’s going to bring next. They obviously have a ton of resources to do whatever they want, so we should expect anything to happen – especially the unexpected,” Holly reasoned out.

She earned three agreeing nods for her thesis.

They soon arrived at a little department store and the four ventured inside. Unlike the markets of Inverna or Pietri, this building appeared to house many other buildings – or at least rooms designated to many different businesses.

As they walked along, Holly came to a realization – they were following her.

That couldn’t be right.

It was time for some experimentation.

First, Holly stopped by a sporting goods store. She knew nothing of what kind of sports Riterrans played, but all the staples seemed to be there, baseball, football, there was even equipment for rhythm tag. She had no reason to believe Riterrans wouldn’t play the same sports given what she had learned about the invasion of Riterran culture into the zalavan gardens. It was still nice to see some familiar items.

She shook her head and refocused. Solana and her two Resonators followed Holly dutifully. Vivi even checked out some of the athletic wear.

“Don’t need anything here,” said the plant before rushing past the trio and out of the store.

Next she stopped in a candy shop. Here she actually did make purchases – of which Solana tried to pay for, but Holly was faster.

After that, the zalavan tried at least four more stores, including a doll making store, a jewelry shop, a book store, and even one selling rubato crystals.

No matter where Holly went, the trio of chefs followed her like a shadow.

“Alright.” The zalavan turned to her much taller counterparts. “What’s the deal?”

“Huh?” Vivi raised a brow.
“Whatever do you mean, Lady Holly?” asked Lee.
“Aren’t we shopping?” came Solana’s question.

“Hrmmm…” Holly scrutinized the three. They didn’t falter, they truly didn’t see what the big deal was.

Why did they defer to her?

At that moment, it clicked.

“Oh my god,” she breathed.

Blair led their group. She had no idea why she came to that conclusion, but it was all the little things. The masks, the way they couldn’t say his name – did they see him in her?

For just a split second, she could see hope in all of their eyes. They wanted her, not in a possessive sense, they wanted her to lead them?

How would that even work? Solana was a Maestro – as far as she was aware, such an arrangement didn’t exist in Riterra.

Holly shook her head. She was probably wrong. There was no way that was what was happening here. “Come on,” she waved them to follow her to her true destination so she could arrange getting herself some pajamas and a new clothes bag.

She didn’t want to get attached…

…but it was just so damn easy…

Before she could even consider a life with anyone else, there was still a looming threat that hung over her.

The Director. She needed to figure out a way to rid herself of that pest. She didn’t have any ideas outside the obvious. It would be risky. Too risky to get Solana and the others involved. They were too good of people to risk.

She’d end it all tonight, one way or another.