Traced to Hideki Tech

While your Hideki coffee guests gathered their things to get back to work, you stood at the register to get another drink coffee with Tex, who insisted on trying at least two more of the most sugary drinks on the menu. "You know, if you want to head home, I can make these if we stop at the grocery--"

"Shh." Tex put her finger to your lips while she looked at the others at the table. Ivy slipped her coat on, while Ela chatted on the phone with somebody. "I activated the signal scanner in the Angel Endo. Dr. Lockard is talking with an engineer, Kazumi Ishida, to plan a game night."

You rolled your eyes. "We're not going to intrude on their plans, Tex."

"No, it's not that. I mean, I would like to try games, but this is something else." The synthetic being within the stolen blonde-haired body squinted, her orange eyes focused on Ela. "There's another noise, a high-frequency repetitive pulse. Yabusa Meteor armor make these sound as part of an acoustic synchronization process, in a very complex pattern. The Rider armor makes this sound too, it's a sort of vestigial feature, but because there's no Meteor processor inside it just makes a generic 'waiting' signal and never actually communicates with other machines. I'm hearing that specific signal in this discussion."

Turning away from the barista right as he was ready to take your order, you turned to Tex and spoke in hushed tones. "How certain are you that it's a Rider module and not some other machine?"

Tex blinked, tilting her head. "Would you like an exact percentage? Or does 'extremely high confidence' suffice? I am certain it is a Rider. While there are more Angel 800s in operation than just the SCPD, a Rider would be rare. Kazumi Ishida works at the Hideki Tech building, we could make another trip."

You looked over your shoulder to spot the barista staring at your Angel Seven-shaped ass and squinted. "Agreed. We'll get more coffee later."

A short trip later, after another chance to experience Tex's Exo-Angel design on the road--patting Tex's hip in motorcycle mode to show your appreciation for her innovative designs--you found yourself soon on the Hideki Tech campus. Getting in, though, would be a challenge... though, you did come up with an idea to try. You'd seen spy photos of a new Hideki sportbike design, the FV9, on a motorcycle news website recently, something still in the R&D phase. After showing Tex, the synthetic being quickly printed their best attempt at making a similar-looking shape and paint job from blurry photos, with a big 'Hideki' logo on it. Also constructing riding gear with Hideki designs on you to match, you rode your false FV9 around to the other side of the building, riding slowly past an outdoor test track for testing different road conditions, before coming upon some large open garage doors.

You steered into the hangar-like area, up to a closed garage door with a keycard reader at the side. A technician near it looked like he was playing on his phone. You tapped at your jacket like you couldn't find your wallet--or specifically, your nonexistent keycard. The technician glanced up to see you fumbling around and tapped his own keycard to the reader while rolling his eyes at you. You gave him a friendly wave as you rolled inside, amazed that your plan worked so easily!

"That was very kind of that man," Tex said as you rode further into the building, past an inner test track. "But quite a security oversight. I am surprised that your plan worked, but perhaps I shouldn't be if it's so easy to exploit human nature."

"Yeah, well, people are pretty easily manipulated. Don't even need to climb inside them to do it." You took off your helmet while Tex stood up by you, retracting the vehicle components back out of phase. She adopted a similar riding suit with a Hideki logo, so you both at least looked like you were in the right place. "So which way do we go, Tex? This is a pretty big place, we can't just wander it all day."

Tex tapped her chin as you walked to a door to reach a larger hallway which connected the various R&D garages, strolling along past the windows that looked into the various projects but not seeing anything that helped you. "I will attempt this exploitation of human kindness!" Tex stopped in front of an engineer before they walked past the two of you. "Excuse me, we are looking for Kazumi Ishida."

The engineer looked the two of you up and down, maybe surprised by the two lovely ladies geared up and ready to ride. The form-fitting attire was maybe a bit more skintight than you'd have liked, it didn't leave so much to the imagination, even if imaginations weren't thinking about your original body. Eventually he broke out of his daydream and pointed down the hall. "Ishida is in building 3, right at the junction."

Tex smiled and squeezed the man's hand in gratitude. "Thank you so much!" The two of you continued on toward building 3, as Tex smiled brightly. "I completely fooled him."

You weren't certain Tex understood the difference between sneaking into a building and asking a normal question, but you didn't bother challenging it. Rather, you walked down the hall, with nobody so much as giving you a second glance unless it was because they liked the shape of the bodies passing by. That seemed to happen quite a bit... but nobody gave you any problems as you reached building 3. After a few minutes, you spotted a sign that read K ISHIDA to indicate you'd arrived. You opened the door and stepped inside, with Tex in tow.

The large garage owned by Miss Ishidia seemed packed to the brim with vehicles and engines suspended in air by cradles built into the ceiling, most of which were one-offs or R&D projects not meant to be seen outside the Hideki Tech facilities. More importantly, Tex immediately turned her head toward a noise you couldn't hear, or at least you tuned out, if it was a noise your own Rider armor typically made. She took your hand and led you through the way, toward the source of the noise. While you couldn't hear the noise, you could hear voices as you approached!

Instead of stepping past the shelves that blocked the path to confront whoever was talking, you pulled Tex to the side to eavesdrop. You heard two distinct voices, unable to see their faces from your new hiding spot.

"...not like what I used to do here. I sort of miss this job, y'know?" That voice was familiar to you! Rider Seven?! You felt the recognition twice, as Angel Seven's face contorted into confusion as to why Angel Seven was here, no longer as passive as she'd been for some time.

"I know what you mean," said the woman, presumably Kazumi. "I mean, I know you didn't like being accused of getting a job here because of your dad, but I thought you were having enough fun on the motorsports team to ignore all that. The police, though?"

"I know, I know. It wouldn't have been my first choice, and all the training and stuff was way more than I'd planned. But hey, sitting on a sexy girl all day while she's dressed up as my bike? I'd never say no to that! You know that Yabusa gave them implants to make them look even better in their riding suits? I could stare at my Angel all day. Wish she'd let me wash her in motorcycle mode, I'd totally want to lather her up."

Angel Seven scowled at the words. This didn't sound like friendly teamwork banter... she must have had more trust in Rider Seven earlier, which you understood since he always seemed polite, if a bit quiet. Maybe if Rider Seven said this directly to her, like you'd started behaving with Angel Five, she'd have been receptive! But talking to someone else about all this while never discussing it with Angel Seven felt more than a little gross.

You heard Kazumi laughing. "That's horrible, Steven! It's a good thing you're just 'Rider' in public instead of your real name, can you imagine the press if the son of the director of Hideki Labs was seen washing a Yabusa motorcycle-girl? God, that would be the most awkward headline... that's like a sleazy tabloid front-page story."

You blinked, and turned to look at Tex, who seemed equally puzzled. One of the Riders had family connections to Hideki? Ela mentioned a director... Dr. Brooks? This again felt like more than coincidence... you wanted to ask questions but revealing yourself without a clear excuse why you were there would be a disaster. And you weren't sure Angel Seven would stay quiet about what she'd just heard... but, if you only listened in to this conversation, you might not get your answers!