Emelia was abruptly woken by a harsh squawk from a strange bird. When she opened her eyes, she saw a pheasant perched on her chest.

“Constable! Miki is gone!” Reddy’s voice come out of the bird’s mouth with heightened panic.

“Who? Where?” She mumbled, still half asleep with her brain cogs slowly turning on.

Her eyes blinked a fair amount of time until she saw the bird biting at her blanket to pull it down. She had just gone to sleep as well. It was supposed to be her first night off for R&R, but no sooner had she entered into a deep sleep some bird started pecking at her head.

“Reddy. Couldn’t you have just sent a thunderbird message in the morning?” She yawned, still sluggish.

“No! Miki is gone. The orphanage said she went missing a couple of days ago!” Reddy flew off Emelia’s chest when he saw she was getting up.

Emelia pushed her blankets off and swung her legs over the side. Some of her long white nightie had bunched up beneath one of her butt cheeks. Her long hair was wildly loose and tumbling about her back, shoulders and bosom.

Reddy refrained from picking up her uniform and hanging it up in a single simple closet. Nor voice his first impression of her small room being, well, small: bed, writing desk and chair, window and closet. He concluded that it must be the standard regulation for an officer living in the guard dorms.

“How did you find me and even get in here?” She yawned, asking more as a formality to the conversation he had started.

“I’m a pheasant,” Reddy answered like that explained everything. Of course, it didn’t, but she wasn’t in the mood to question further. Her focus was on his reason for his visit.

“Okay, slow down.” Emelia groggily fumbled around her desk drawer for her notebook and pen.

Reddy was about to assume his human form, but was cautioned by her to stay as a bird. Otherwise, he would be subjected to break in and enter human laws.

“Aah! No problems.” He squawked.

“Hush! Do you want to draw the attention of the patrolling guard?”

“Sorry,” he whispered.

Emelia continued a short conversation with him before she rose and swiftly dressed in her uniform and weapons.

“Follow me.”

She stealthily led the way down an unmarked corridor of white walls and stone floors, which opened into a break room where other officers were returning from their shifts to sleep. Quick waves were exchanged. Oddly, no one paid heed to the bird waddling at a hurried pace next to her.

A chill flowed through the air to make Reddy’s wings feel stiff at his scamper, but he didn’t want to interrupt the momentum Emelia was taking. She power walked out of the smaller side gate, which was almost buried in shadows. There she found the Cannon Fodder 4Hire trio waiting.

“Reddy tells me that Miki is gone. And that your suspect, Maud, is being setup. You do know that if I involve you more than I should, we’ll all be facing a court-martial of some kind.”

“Maud is innocent with this. He may not be for other things, but for this he is. What’s more, Miki is in danger.” 669 earnestly plead with such an expression that Emelia had never seen from before. This case had obviously dragged the henchman who usually detached himself from being too involved into affairs so much so that he had no choice.

And there was something else she noticed of him: he lacked the luster he usually sported. Bags circled his eyes and his complexion was far less fair.

“Have you been sleeping?” She asked.

“I can’t sleep until this case is solved.”

She nodded. “Okay. Wait here. I’ll find a way to get you in.”

777 patted reassurances on 669’s shoulder.

A short while later, Emelia waved them over to an unguarded part of the outer wall and revealed a secret entrance that was protected by a single magic array.

“This is our fire escape exit, but useful if we want to sneak in and out without having to set off every guard check.”

Further words were kept in their mouths as they hastily followed her lead into a back entrance of the dungeons and up a winding flight of stairs that stopped at a brick wall. She activated a spell that transformed the space into an opening where they entered into a cell block level. She carefully reported into the guard snoozing behind the foyer desk, using some believable excuse to be there. He nodded and waved her off, not really listening and caring on her business. He saw a badge and verified it was one of his own, that was good enough.

Flickering light from barely lit wall lamps, haphazardly guided their steps on the grimy stone where shadows were vague reflections of a person. Easily absorbed by the dampening magic, which suppressed virya that ensured prisoners were too lethargic to leave. 669 frowned, recalling his cell was different.

“Have you come to annoy me again? I’ve told you everything you refuse to hear.” Maud levelly stated when he heard the footfalls headed for his cell door, which was a clear barrier infused with complex magic at a very high level. 789 suspected the mastery of the magic set between them and Maud was at least seven levels higher than their own.

“At least Late Nascent Transformation,” She gulped. It was a mastery rank cultivated by high ranking officials.

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“Trying to dispel this barrier will turn you into dust. Guards have key artifacts and the unlock formation spell.” Emelia factually advised.

“Talk quick, you don’t have much time,” she said to 669.

669 stepped before Maud. “Hey.”

“You come for a visit and all you can say is hey.”

“Sorry, not much time. We’re not authorized to be here. Tell me what got you locked up.”

Maud heaved a sigh as he silently deliberated on whether to tell him or not.

Emelia stepped in. “Sir, Risk. I’m sure you have been told that your case is being decided in 72 hours. Should a jury pass a guilty verdict, you will be impaled with your holdings reassigned to the Demon Domination Administration.”

“Did you kill Marcus Poirot?” 669 soberly asked.

Maud stared at him in the eye for a moment before shaking his head and saying, “no.”

“The silver disc that was in your safe. How did it get there?”

“I don’t know.”

“Could someone have put there? Like Molly, maybe.”

“No! She would never do that.”

“How can you be so sure? She’s bound to you by Shadow Guard rites! A slave will break for opportunity to run.”

Maud’s eyes narrowed. He itched closer so the pitiful light, which was cast by the wall lamps, were showing irregular angles of his face. “She wouldn’t. I’d never seen that thing before. It was planted: no doubt by Fairy Blossom’s allies.”

“Why would she bother? What did you do!” 669 was doing his best not to sound impatient with his friend.

The stocky man closed his eyes, tilted his head back with thoughts then resumed his sober position and line of sight with 669. He explained that the day had been like any other for him. Molly had been overseeing a new squad of henchmen to replace the dishonored guards who had taken an unauthorized job for Ashton Miller.

“Wait. Unauthorized? You didn’t send the guards?”

“Do I look like an idiot? No. I made a suggestion to Marcus that he should hire guards if he was about to do a shakedown. The man was pestering me with advice on something he could say and blah blah. I didn’t care to know. His business. As long as it didn’t bother mine.”

Everyone shared glances.

“Who could implicate you like this?”

Maud scoffed. “Fairy Blossom’s dead. So there’s only one man. Lau Poirot.”

He explained that Lau had a grudge against his business: constantly stirring up good neighborhood committee movements against the porn industry and other businesses that traded in healthy shades of gray. The man was such a righteous good boy: naturally, he was a dear friend of the Royal Guard’s Superintendent.

“That poncy stiff mustache man sees him as a second son. Thanks to the Poirot’s business these dungeons have the most advance magical artifacts. In fact, Lau traded a mysterious artifact to Ashton Sommerville at my place of business! Poncy, two-face, bro-con.” Maud grumbled the last part of his complaint as he stared at Emelia.

“Bro-con? What does that mean?” 789 blurted her question, having heard and even been able to decipher the mumble.

Maud chuckled and smirked with a wicked look in his eye. He leaned in closer. “I heard from a friend of a friend of someone else's friend, that Lau Poirot has a sick admiration for his younger brother.”

“Bosgar?” 669 gasped and chuckled. “Let me guess, he would’ve been the one to spread this.”

“No! Here’s the thing. One of the other lords had joked about it at a table next to Bosgar. They didn’t see that he was seated behind them, so kept the gossip going. When they joked that Lau wanted to lock Bosgar up and have his way with him, Bosgar got up in an angry fit and confronted them. He poured poison in their wine and left.”

“Damn.” 789 gulped.

“Okay. What could prove your innocence?” 669 gulped, shaking the scary image of Bosgar out of his head.

Emelia answered this question, “Finding the real murder and having them confess to the jury. We’re on a clock, but I might be able to delay the hearing if I’m able to speak with the Forensic team.”

“So you believe that I didn’t do it?” Maud asked.

Emelia nodded. “There’s a lot of looses ends that don’t add up when we add you to the equation. But my department is being pressured to close this case from our Administration. You’re their strongest lead to make an example of.”

“How would the Forensic Team be of help?” 777 asked, to bring the topic back to their action plan.

“Their processes are strict and take a lot of steps. I can request they run a ‘full’ process over every piece of evidence gathered, which will stretch out the investigation by at least five hours more.”

669 nodded. “Maud. I’ll do my best. Just… don’t go anywhere.”

“Is that quip meant to make me laugh? Hilarious.” Maud huffed, sarcastically appreciating his bad joke.

Emelia sighed when she noted time on her notebook, then led them out of the dungeons and complex.

“I’ll start the delay process and check out Lau Poirot’s leads with Detective Morse. Then track down Miki. We’ll need to organize a missing person’s hunt.”

“Thank you, Emelia.” 669 bowed before her.

“It’s good to see you're loyal to your friends. But I wonder if you’ve picked the right ones sometimes.”

“I know good people.”

“Well, I’ll take your word for it.”

Reddy was dismissed back to headquarters. The Cannon Fodder 4Hire trio discussed their next step. They activated time on log glass badges 789 handed them.

“I’ve set the sand flow for 72 hours with my magic. Perks for being an air mage. The time starts when you tap the top glass. The sand will go from white, which is plenty of time to orange that is a hurry-up warning and red. That should be obvious.”

They pinned the log glass badge to the left side of their leather breastplates and started the time in synchronized unison. Then activated their mechanical wings and flew at rapid speed to the Peony Soap House.

The case was on a clock. If they didn’t solve it and bring the real murder for Marcus Poirot to justice, within 72 hours, Maud would die and many innocent people working at the soap house would have their lives uprooted and, likely, be executed by the Administration. It’s what the Skeleton Place Syndicate did to companies and groups they had deemed rogue upstarts.

“Let’s solve this case and save Maud. And hopefully, Emelia and Detective Morse can track down Miki.”

669 allowed the icy breeze and slapping snow fall to keep him alert and awake, as he saw the string of yellow-orange lantern lights of the soap house drawing nearer to his view.