Ruban looked up with a smile as Simani walked into the office, setting her dripping umbrella to dry in a corner. It was late in the afternoon and the streets were all but choked with mud and rainwater. “What news from SifCo?” he asked.
“Good news and bad.” Simani flopped down behind her desk with a groan. “Depending on how you look at it. Someone should ban monsoons. Never thought I’d say it but I kinda sympathise with the Aeriels at this point. Everything’s wet and muddy.”
“Good news first, then,” said Faiz, leaning eagerly forward. “I don’t suppose they had a spare copy of the formula lying around all along.”
Simani laughed. Rummaging in her handbag for a few seconds, she finally seemed to find what she was looking for. Leaning forward, she held out what looked like a photograph to Ruban.
“What is this?” Ruban asked, frowning as he took the proffered piece of paper.
“Reivaa,” Simani said simply. “Or as close as we could get, anyway.”
“What!” exclaimed Ruban, squinting down at the photograph in his hand. He drew in a sharp breath. It was the picture of an Aeriel, alright; a full length picture at that. The creature was flying, its silvery form stark against the overcast sky, its monstrous wings outstretched, flaring out in all its hideous, iridescent glory on both sides of the Aeriel, two tiny crimson marks staining the tips of the otherwise pristine wings. “Where did you–”
Simani smirked. “Impressive, isn’t it? It’s a composite, really. Vik helped with the wings, gigantic nerd that he is. He read up on all the reports and historical accounts on Reivaa he could get his hands on; even got Dawad to chip in, apparently. Finally, they managed to produce a more or less accurate copy. Or at least that’s what they say, anyway. It’s better than nothing, so I guess we might as well trust them.”
“But what about the rest?” asked Faiz curiously. For once, Ruban was grateful for his inquisitiveness. He himself felt too flummoxed to say much. He peered down at the picture, trying to see in it any hint of recognition, of familiarity. He felt like he should know it, somehow; feel some inkling of remembrance, looking at the face of the creature that had destroyed his life. He didn’t, though. It was almost surreal.
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“Apparently, one of the junior scientists working in the west wing at the time of the attack had happened to look out of the window just before the blast. She says she saw an Aeriel flying towards the building just before everything went to shit. We got her to cooperate for a composite sketch. Then got the wings photo-shopped into that so there’d be a cohesive picture for the taskforce to work with. Of course, the woman only saw the Aeriel for a few seconds, and from quite a distance at that, so it’s not as accurate as we’d like. But as I said, it’s better than nothing.”
“Why hadn’t this woman come forward before?” Ruban asked, carefully putting the picture down on his desk.
Simani’s lips quirked into a sardonic little smile. “Apparently, before we reached out to her, she thought she had been hallucinating.”
“So what now?” Faiz asked, sitting back in his chair. There was an expectant glint in his dark brown eyes. “When do we get to put a blade into this Aeriel, then?”
“Hema is at the IAW headquarters now, briefing the taskforce as we speak,” said Simani, running a hand through her damp hair. “One way or another, we’ll get a lead on this Reivaa soon. Which brings us to the bad news, Ruban. Once this taskforce has been formally set up, we’ll lose some of the autonomy in this case. The taskforce will be answering directly to the IAW.”
Ruban shrugged. “Well, we have Uncle Subhas to deal with that side of things. Plus, I don’t think they’ll dare try anything so soon after that video was leaked. If luck’s on our side, we’ll have this case wrapped up and over with before the IAW becomes a problem again.”
Simani nodded. “You want to talk to the taskforce yourself? Brief them on the case, what they should be looking for?”
“Nah. I’ll leave you and Hema to handle that. For now, I was thinking of taking a trip to Surai.”
“Your hometown?” said Faiz, sounding baffled.
“Yes. There are some questions I have about this case that only Surai can answer.”
“Are you going to go alone?” asked Simani worriedly. “I can come with you if you want.”
Ruban shook his head. “I need you here, Sim. Somebody needs to keep an eye on things in Ragah. I can handle this on my own. It’s just recon anyway; not like I’m going on a Hunt.”
“You can take Ashwin with you then,” Faiz suggested.
“Yeah. He’ll just be in the way here, anyway,” Simani agreed, perking up a little. “Take him with you to Surai.”
Ruban dipped his head, smiling, his hands raised in surrender. “Alright alright. I won’t go alone. Sheesh. You’d think I’m going on my first school trip or something.”