Sincan went down the stairwell once more and walked into the venue to find officers at every location, guiding the party goers outside while they set up a search area. Sincan walked through the place, looking around at the men and women who were being consoled by the police officers. Some of them had fainted, so Sincan could hear a few ambulances outside whistling for them.

He caught Titanis sitting next to a woman in a dress, talking to her in hushed tones. “I promise you; I’ll get them both back safely, Mrs. Sehli,” he said as he guided her out. Sincan followed the man and waited until he turned back to look at him.

“Sincan, I need you to give me details on everything that happened. A few of them said they saw you running towards the roof, for what reason?”

“I saw the criminal escape through there, so I decided to follow.”

“You can give me most of the details later, but explain how no one fought back first.”

Sincan put a finger up to his chin and scratched it. “I think it was a Wheel of some kind. He looked at us and we froze. Couldn’t move a muscle except our eyes. Didn’t work on our Wheels either, but I didn’t figure that out until later.”

Titanis started walking ahead and Sincan followed. “I’ll have to search the records to see if I know any criminals with Wheels like that. I think you’ll have to go to a professional for help on what specific affinity it was.” He opened the door to his own personal vehicle and waited for Sincan to enter through the passenger seat door.

“Where are we going now, Titanis?” he asked.

“They can handle the investigation at the scene so you and I can look those details over later. We’re heading back to the station. Tell me every detail about what you saw on the way there,” Titanis replied as he turned the car on.

****

“Stop switching between details. Focus on one thing at a time. When you have all the pieces, then start joining them together,” Titanis lectured to Sincan. He told Sincan many other things about the investigative process so that he might be able to make a better detective.

He could have made Sapphire easily as a Solik, Sincan thought to himself on the drive. They parked at the front and got out quickly, Sincan following the derlin man into the station as they entered his office.

Titanis informed the few that were left of the station of what had happened and urged them to come to him with any details that might be prove prudent. He then put on a coat and called someone while Sincan just watched from the side. He’s methodical about this. Not wasting a single beat.

Titanis let go of the phone after saying goodbye and turned to Sincan. “I’m going to meet with a contact of mine,” he told him.

“Shouldn’t we be waiting for a full report on events to come through first?”

“Faster we get this done, the better. If anyone had heard about a madman who wants to bring down the families, he would have. If he hasn’t? Well, I’m going to assume the speech was for show and his goal was the jewelry all along.”

“Then I’m coming as well.”

“Not a good idea. You’re a celebrity. Anyone suspicious is going to start running as soon as you come even a bit near them.”

“I can hide myself. I’ve done it before, and pretty well, I might add.”

“That’s when no one knew you had a giant Gear,” Titanis replied.

“You’re not going to keep me from this. I have an obligation to help as a Solik,” Sincan argued.

“Fine,” Titanis admitted. “You can come along. But put something over yourself first.”

Sincan searched through the station and found an old cap that no one was using at the moment. He put it on along with a change of clothes while Titanis pocketed a second gun.

“Do you really need those?” he asked the man.

“My Wheels aren’t the strongest. At the level I deal with, these,” he pointed to his guns,” are much more useful than anything I can create with bewl.”

They left the station feeling as ready as they ever would.

****

They decided to take a vehicle not owned by the police station, so as to appear a bit less conspicuous when they arrived in the neon lit streets of the city. They stepped out onto the streets and Sincan took it all in. Waiters were for some reason patrolling the streets in front of their establishments and offering drinks to those who passed by.

“It’s how Kernasi is,” Titanis said as he patted Sincan on the arm. They started walking down the street and Sincan looked a bit more closely. The location was a bit… grimier than Gard back in Valkar. It felt a bit more real in that, at least. The blaring music distracted him from the many people offering him a drink here and there.

Titanis took a few and thanked the men but refused to come into their club. But when Sincan let them down, they seem to take more offense. Titanis slowed a bit to let Sincan catch up and began speaking.

“Let them down gently, Sincan. These aren’t the people your usually used to dealing with. Kernasians have a hugely inflated sense of pride, so we don’t take well to rejection.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Is that why you’re so obsessed with your history?”

“Oh, yeah, those tales of our armies protecting our neighbours are more popular than anything else over on this coast.”

They chatted for a bit before finally arriving at their location. A man came up to them to offer drinks and Titanis reached for one again, but Sincan stopped him and took the cup out of his hands.

“Think you’ve had enough.” Titanis grunted and headed inside, while Sincan drank the shot and followed after.

The place was as seedy as it looked on the outside, housing a dimly lit and crowded bar and dance floor, along with music that threatened to deafen Sincan. He tried plugging his ears and following Titanis the best he could. It would have been impossible to do so for any other person, but scutalins were especially good at seeing clearly at night.

He kept his hat on tightly and ignored the people that bumped into him here and there. At the back of the club, Sincan and Titanis found a short derlin man sitting in opposite to two girls. He had an annoying grin on his face and was chatting them up with an air of desperation.

The girls clearly looked unimpressed with his demeanour and quickly left the table, with the man trying once more to get them back.

“Wait! I can pay for drinks!” he shouted out to them, but was drowned out by the noise of the music.

Titanis nudged the man a little and he looked over with that same grin. Once he noticed who it was, it melted off his face and was replaced instead with a serious expression.

“We can start now, Titanis, let’s just find a place first.”

Guess he’s not what he looks like on the outside. The man eyed Sincan up and down but Titanis assured him of his legitimacy. Though he knew who Sincan really was, he didn’t ask for an autograph or anything. Maybe he just doesn’t care.

They moved to a more secluded location and sat down at another table. “Cerian, did you hear anything about what went down today?” Titanis asked him outright.

“Did, but I didn’t think it would be something like this. No one’s insane enough to just put this kind of job out there. Thought it was something smaller, less important.” He held a hand up to his head.

“Sorry for that, Titanis, that was my fault.”

“You can make it up to me with some more information. Anything you think might be relevant to my investigation.”

“And something fast. We need to find those children,” added Sincan.

“Alright…”

****

It continued like that for a while, with Sincan interjecting every now and then to inquire more about some topics. Eventually, Cerian noticed Titanis slouching a bit and slurring his words.

“Are you doing okay, Titanis?” he asked.

“Just fine, continue on.”

Sincan looked over to check for himself. “Doesn’t look like it. Maybe you shouldn’t have drunk so much, it doesn’t seem like you can handle it.”

Titanis shot him a glare but didn’t pursue it further.

“Have the families been putting pressure on you again? Especially now, with their children missing.”

“Yes, fine, they have,” Titanis admitted.

“Wait, why didn’t you tell me that?” Sincan asked.

“It wasn’t any of your business,” Titanis answered.

“I think it is, considering you’re working on a case right now. It doesn’t help to have more people piling on the work.”

“There’s a balance here, okay. I do what they say, they stay out of my way. Now about what you were saying, Cerian.”

Fenis stammered over his words a bit. “Y-You said that they snuck in too easily, right? Someone who organized the party must have been involved, that means. Coincidentally, I hear Fenis Showal was seen around the abandoned railway at Rightford street a few weeks back.”

“Fenis? That’s the man who brought me to the event. Didn’t look much like the saboteur though, too airheaded,” Sincan said.

“Appearances can be distracting,” Cerian responded. You got that right, Sincan thought to himself.

“Think that’s good enough for a lead, Cerian. Thank you,” Titanis said as he stood up to leave.

“Take a break every once in a while, Titanis, and have a nice night,” Cerian said to the man.

Sincan followed Titanis as he stumbled out of the club.

“I’m going to investigate the railway,” Titanis said to Sincan.

“You can’t be serious. You’re going to collapse if you don’t rest.” Sincan argued.

“I can’t be bothered about that right now, Tolkin,” Titanis replied. They kept arguing over the fact all the way until they reached the car, where they stopped abruptly. Titanis groaned and rubbed his eyes. A few unsavory types were hanging around the vehicle, making themselves comfortable and generally not caring about the state they were leaving the vehicle in.

The Showal family insignia was spray painted onto the vehicle with a cross over it. Titanis grabbed the butt of his pistol and muttered “Sympathizers…” under his breath. They started moving towards the duo, looking none too friendly.

Sincan considered calling in Okshender but quickly decided against it. It’d take too long. He held up his fists as two men rushed in on either side of him. As soon as their fists connected, any watchers quickly left, except those who were recording the scene.

Sincan backed away and caused some flame to appear on one of the men’s clothes, enough to distract him. He came in range of the second thug and punched him in the face, staggering him. He took a few hits himself but grabbed onto his collar and threw him over to the first man, who by then had finishing dousing the flames. Sincan’s enhanced strength helped majorly in that regard.

Titanis, meanwhile, pistol whipped the men coming towards him, smashing their faces in so hard that blood spilt onto the concrete. One of the men took out a knife and Titanis aimed his second pistol as fast as he could, firing at his hand to disarm him.

The man dropped the knife and screamed, clutching his arm. Sincan looked over for a few seconds and went back to fighting after realizing it wasn’t anything fatal.

Titanis’ arm was nudged off course by one of the men’s Wheels, stopping him from firing. He took his second gun and shot at his glowing arm, breaking the Wheel tattoo and subduing him.

Sincan slammed a different guy’s head into the concrete and looked around to see if anyone was standing. One of the men was rushing towards a civilian on the sidewalk, brandishing a box cutter in one hand. Sincan tried summoning fire as fast as he could, but Titanis reacted faster as the sound of the bullet rung out.

Sincan watched in horror as a splotch of blood started forming on the thug’s back, and he dropped to the ground. The civilian ran away in fear while Titanis put his weapon away. Anyone who was still standing at that point had run away, so Sincan and Titanis were left alone.

Sincan ran over to the thug and tried his best to close the wound on the man. It was futile as Sincan couldn’t get a response out of him. It kept pouring out, the blood covering the ground despite what Sincan tried to do.

Titanis opened the door to his vehicle with a click and grabbed the transmitter out of it. “Bring in an ambulance and a few cars over here as well.” He finished the call soon enough for Sincan to slam him against the car door with bloodstained hands.

“Why… Why did you do that!?”

“Are you actually asking me this right now? Sincan, I’m an officer, that was an innocent person in trouble. I am authorized to use deadly force when needed.”

“Shoot him in the arm, the leg, anywhere except his heart or head, you bastard! You were aiming to kill!”

“I was aiming to neutralize! I don’t know how Soliks operate but I have the legal right to lethal force whenever deemed necessary. Now, get out of my way,” Titanis said and brushed Sincan off. Sincan slumped against the car and let his thoughts consume him at the moment. Cervo could have done it. Cervo would have saved everyone.