“I was running some ideas by Eddi over lunch,” Saxon said. “Mainly picking his brain about the science of a mythos to figure out how our mastermind might be remanifesting them.”
“Anything come of it?” Herman asked.
Saxon leaned back in his chair. “Eddi said it's impossible without a mythos, meaning our mastermind is an avatar, which I already suspected.”
“That supports your theory that they're operating alone since they’re the only one with the power to alter a mythos,” Herman remarked.
“Something else came up,” Saxon said. “Remember the kid I told you about, Octave?”
“Yeah,” Herman replied.
“Well I did some digging on those books he was given,” Saxon said. “Turns out the text in them was changed.”
Herman cocked his head in confusion.
“Where it gets more interesting is how they were changed,” Saxon continued. “The changes were subtle, but it portrayed Orpheus’ music as forcing people to dance as opposed to inspiring people to dance.”
“Just like Octave’s mythos is right now,” Herman realized. “But what’s the point in changing Octave’s perception of his mythos?”
“I was wondering the same,” Saxon said. “That’s when I got an idea. It was bugging me that there was seemingly no limitation on our mastermind’s mythos manipulation.
I picked Eddi’s brain about the topic, and it turns out there is a theory about mythoi that they are constructed based on public interpretation, but at places of difference in a myth, it’s the avatar’s interpretation that guides the manifestation.
What if the mastermind needed Octave’s interpretation to be changed because all they can do is remanifest the mythos, not control how it remanifests?”
“That explains why our mastermind hasn’t simply gone buck-wild with the mythos altering,” Herman said. “If they’re trying to get a specific result, they need to prime their targets first.”
“Just one issue,” Saxon interjected. “I looked and nowhere in any recounting of Orpehus’ myth was his music described as forcing people to dance.”
“So the remanifestations somehow ignore public interpretation, and are based solely on the avatar’s interpretation?” Herman hypothesized.
“That’s my best guess,” Saxon conceded.
“Still doesn’t explain why you want me to lead a raid team with you and a bunch of new recruits,” Herman said, wanting to get back on topic.
“Right, just wanted to get all that out of the way beforehand,” Saxon said. “Towards the end of my conversation with Eddi, Lya called to tell me about a tip regarding Draumur Chimera.”
“Your reporter friend works fast,” Herman remarked.
Saxon smiled. “Sure does. Anyway, I mentioned the name to Eddi, and he seemed to recognize it. He thought Draumur might have spent some time in the Underworld. Took a look in the Library, and it turns out he did.”
“What for?” Herman inquired.
“Robbery,” Saxon answered.
“Did he hurt anybody?” Herman asked.
“No,” Saxon said. “That’s part of the reason he was able to get out quickly on good behavior.”
“So he’s a two-time criminal, what of it?” Herman questioned.
“Him being a former criminal isn’t what matters, it’s that he was admitted into the Underworld, which means his mythos was on record,” Saxon said. “While I was digging through his file, I came across his recorded mythos.”
“Let me guess, it was different from what was on Kenji’s report?” Herman asked.
Saxon sighed. “Yeah. When he was admitted to the Underworld, Draumur’s surname was Anderson, and his mythos was the Chimera. His mythos allowed him to transform into a fire-breathing lion, with a goat’s head, and snake’s tail.”
“But now, he’s Draumur Chimera, and his mythos lets him transform parts of his body into any other animals,” Herman said. “So he’s had his mythos changed after being released from the Underworld. That means he’s met with our mastermind.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Saxon affirmed. “Which brings me to my original point. We both know that when Quinn learns about the scale of this whole thing, she’ll wanna take the Chimera family down as fast as possible considering the rate it's growing at.”
“So during the raid you want me to lead a team with you on it. That’s fine, but why do you want the rest of the team to be new recruits?” Herman inquired.
“Our mastermind had an FMPD badge when they visited Octave at the Epilogue,” Saxon replied.
“That means the mastermind can’t be a new recruit,” Herman noted. “New recruits came in on the same day as Lya, which was the day after Octave had met with the mastermind.”
“An infiltration team won’t work if our mastermind happens to be on it, and alerts Draumur,” Saxon said. “We’ll stick to only people who we know for sure can’t be our mastermind, and that means it can’t be somebody who had a badge when Octave’s mythos was altered.”
“If Draumur is working with our mastermind, then he'll know there is going to be a raid incoming ahead of time,” Herman pointed out, “but we can use that to our advantage.”
“How so?” Saxon asked.
“Think about it,” Herman said. “Their main base of operations is the series of tunnels underneath Backwater, but their warehouses are all topside. If the main force tries to take them out on the surface, then Draumur, knowing that they’re coming ahead of time, will reinforce his forces on Backwater’s surface.”
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“Little does he know, he’s clearing our path straight to him,” Saxon said.
“Not just clearing the path, but also building his tomb,” Herman remarked. “Kenji managed to map out the tunnel network. Look here.”
Herman turned his monitor around so Saxon could see.
“Kenji noted that Draumur frequented this room, and rarely let anyone inside,” Herman said, pointing out the room on the layout Kenji had created. “During a raid, it’s likely Draumur will hunker down here.”
Saxon leaned in to examine the layout of the Chimera family’s underground hideout. “That room is on the edge of the island. Any chance we could go underwater, and bust a hole in the wall?”
Herman shook his head. “No. Even a tiny hole will cause flooding, and the water pressure may bring the whole wall down. On the off chance, Draumur isn’t there, a smash and grab would ruin any chances we had of bringing him in.”
“What about here?” Saxon asked, pointing toward a tunnel’s dead end.
“There’s no entrance to that tunnel,” Herman informed Saxon.
“There is,” Saxon rebutted. “Go to page 24.”
Herman scrolled up to page 24.
“Right there,” Saxon said, pointing to an image of a collapsed tunnel.
“The pile of rubble?” Herman asked.
“It’s an old subway tunnel, or unfinished would be more accurate,” Saxon replied. “I pass it sometimes whenever I go near downtown on the subway. Apparently, it was built, but it didn’t pass safety tests, and soon the whole thing collapsed due to all the water above it weighing down on it.”
“So how’s it going to help us?” Herman inquired.
“Charon,” Saxon answered.
Herman’s eyes widened with realization.
“Normally Charon would be serving as transportation for the main force, but because Backwater doesn’t have any subway tunnels, nobody will be using him,” Saxon said. “We move into the land of the dead to phase through all the rubble, pass through the subway tunnel, and come out the other side. It’ll also make a good escape route.”
Herman leaned back in his chair. Saxon could see him spacing out, lost in thought.
“What’s on your mind?” Saxon asked.
“Even if Draumur reinforces topside, being on an infiltration team is a lot for a new recruit to handle,” Herman replied. “I can handle the infiltration, that’s my job as raid team leader, but Draumur is still going to keep his strongest avatars close to his chest. Recruits won’t be able to take down high-ranking crime family members.”
“Maybe not a traditional crime family, but the Chimera family is unique,” Saxon said.
“In what way?” Herman asked.
“When I found out about Draumur's file, I called up Kuri to cross-reference Draumur’s mythos from the Underworld with the one on Kenji’s report,” Saxon said. “Turns out, Kuri had found out something important as well. Backwater has an abnormally high number of unmanifested avatars, so Draumur has been distributing mythology books, causing avatars to manifest their mythos.”
“And since they’re new, Draumur can easily overpower them, and coerce or threaten them into working for him,” Herman said. “Did Kuri get a list of the books?”
“I asked her to send over the ones that were in the photos,” Saxon answered. “We can’t be sure if those are the only ones Draumur has, but it's a good jumping-off point. Also, Kuri mentioned that a common point across all the books was that they featured mythological creatures.”
“The Chimera family being made up of different creatures sounds about right,” Herman joked. “Think there’s any reason Draumur focused on books with creatures?”
Saxon shrugged. “Could be he wanted to keep with the Chimera theme as you said. Could be because he felt there was a lack of avatars with a creature for their mythos. Could be because they were the cheapest books. Could be a coincidence. Who knows?”
“No point wasting time on baseless theories,” Herman said.
“Yeah, who would do that?” Saxon questioned, rhetorically. “The takeaway is that the Chimera family is composed of new avatars. Most probably don’t even have a year of experience being avatars. Top recruits, even if they’re new and lack experience, should be able to handle the Chimera family’s upper-ranking members.”
“It’s still dangerous,” Herman protested, exhibiting caution.
“What isn’t?” Saxon asked. “This is our best lead, and even forgetting about the mastermind, the Chimera family needs to be shut down.”
“Okay, you got a point,” Herman admitted. “You got any ideas for who’s gonna be on the team specifically?”
“Not yet,” Saxon said, “though I’ll want to keep the numbers low considering it’s an infiltration operation.”
“Then can I make a recommendation?” Herman asked.
“Go ahead,” Saxon said, hesitantly.
“Lya,” Herman said.
Saxon’s face shifted to a look of disapproval.
“Lya was top of her class, is a new recruit, she's a powerful avatar, and Hermes is a useful mythos,” Herman reminded Saxon. “Also, it’ll still be around 1-2 months till the raid is called, depending on how quickly everything moves. In the meantime, Quinn is gonna have you two working more cases, so you’ll work together well.”
“Lya would be a good asset to the team,” Saxon admitted.
“Also, speaking of Quinn, we’re going to have to let her in on at least some of this,” Herman said. “She’s never going to agree to have us lead the raid team, especially if it’s only you, me, Lya, and new recruits unless we tell her there might be an informant in the FMPD. Same thing with Varick.”
“If it’s coming from me she won’t believe it, given that I have a tendency to give theories without a whole lot of evidence, Desmond being my most recent failure,” Saxon replied.
“Varick doesn't have a badge, and Quinn was with me working overtime when Octave met the mastermind, so it’s safe to assume it’s neither of them,” Herman said. “We’ll keep what we tell them minimal, only the essentials, but still enough to convince them.”
“Well none of that matters if Quinn doesn’t put me on the Chimera case in the first place,” Saxon said. “Even if we tell her everything, she’ll still refuse to move on without disclosing how I found it. If she found out the info was acquired by me breaking into Midas and stealing their data, then fighting a Killian, then I’d be lucky if I lived till tomorrow.”
“So be on your best behavior, and take it easy,” Herman suggested. “No more breaking the law, getting into fights, or tracking down leads. We’ve got a good lead, so let’s follow it properly.”
Saxon sighed and nodded his head. “Right. I’ll volunteer at Torch for a little bit. Octave’s starting to enjoy the supply runs, so I might join him and Elly for one of those. I’ll also check in at the Underworld more often, to see if any of the avatars I talk to know anything about Draumur. It’ll also help me stockpile more mythoi, and learn more about the avatars of the ones I already have.”
“Funny to think how in a couple of months, you and I will be back in Backwater on a raid team again,” Herman said, reminiscing on how he and Saxon first met.
“Guess everything does come full circle,” Saxon remarked. “Well it’s getting late, and part of taking it easy is not working overtime.”
Saxon stood up from his chair.
“Being a lieutenant, I, unfortunately, do not have such a luxury,” Herman said. “See you around detective.”
“You too partner,” Saxon replied as he exited the room.
As the door to Herman’s office shut behind him, Saxon took a deep breath in and out to calm his mind. For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t the time for work, but rather for rest; after the last couple of days, with the Chimera family raid right around the corner, Saxon needed all the rest he could get.