Returning to LAPD, Fenn is subjected to a Baseline test in the stark white room, seated in a single black chair. He fails quickly - yet again. This repeat failure is concerning, and Fenn is formally written up.
Willa takes the samples from the Snake Pit to ‘Coco’ in the Crime Lab. Analysis reveals:
At the LAPD Mainframe, Fenn uncovers details about the Snake Pit’s infamous past. It was a known hotspot for replicant fighters in 2019, including a crew member shot by Officer Deckard outside the club. Meanwhile, Jelle Schylar, CEO of KILL Magazine, is identified as a significant anti-replicant agitator:
Willa heads to the Esperwall surveillance terminal and retrieves Snake Pit footage. She verifies that a dancer was indeed targeted by a thrown object, matching witness accounts. Outside the Snake Pit, footage reveals a metrokab with a partial plate of ‘4R4.’ Leah is seen entering the cab approximately 90 seconds post-shooting. Records show this cab belongs to a company located at 343 Ellington Street, Sector 5.
A memory surfaces: the night before his death, Sandor knocks on Fenn's door, hinting at a new, possibly dangerous assignment. He hands Fenn a small black book filled with sketches - castles, clouds, dragons, and knights, each rendered in quilt-like squares. He claims that these are images from his dreams, each of a fantastical world. Fenn asks for the stories behind the images, cherishing the moment. Afterward, Fenn places Sandor’s necklace atop the black book on his bedside table.
Willa and Fenn trace the metrokab to Earl, a driver who confirms he dropped Leah off at Animoid Row, a bustling market known for its animoid shops. Leah appeared hurried, and from here, could have headed to either The Aurelian or Doc Badger’s pawn shop, both located nearby.
Fenn visits Doc Badger, a pawnbroker in a cramped shop. The conversation is brief, but Fenn manages to understand Doc’s foreign language intuitively. Doc recalls Leah requesting a Sterline scan to translate her thoughts into machine-readable images, one of which she claimed represented her daughter. However, Doc hasn’t seen her in over a week.
At the KILL Magazine HQ, Willa is ambushed, narrowly escaping an attack after her Spinner is hit by a factory explosion. Her vehicle loses power, and a hail of gunfire ensues, leaving her pinned by enemy shooters.
As Fenn makes his way to The Aurelian, he’s attacked. Dodging a stabbing attempt, he retaliates with gunfire, chasing the assailant through a storefront. Cornered, the attacker resorts to a poison capsule, dying instantly. Fenn brings the body back to LAPD for analysis.