Shadows and Stardust: A Tale of Ambition & Quest for Recognition

Each man has his thumbscrew, apply the right pressure and they will betray their own mother. – Art of Interrogation

Operation Menu: Phase Dinner (D-98 hours)

FRAGO: Operation: Marianne's Vigil (D+42 hours)

“You two caused quite a stir in my building,” Jones said giving them a half smile. “Sorry to keep you waiting, but I needed to speak with HR before coming here.”

Indigo immediately placed himself between Tauru and Jones.

The shorter of the two lieutenants, whose name tape that read Webb, rubbed his chin.

"Fuckin' Slap Happy Jones," Tauru muttered to Indigo.

“Easy their big guy, that’s a captain your talkin’ too. Don’t start something you can’t finish,” Webb said and squared his shoulders off.

Tauru stared down at Webb, their eyes locked on each other.

“It’ll be finished when I toss your half-pint ass right through the window,” Tauru said pushing past Indigo.

“Enough,” Jones said glaring at Webb. “Both of you stand down. Of all people, I can’t stand Captain Thornewood, but she’s Team Blue and one of our own. Right Lieutenant? One team one fight.”

“Right, Captain,” Webb said. “Luv’ ya Blue.”

Tauru grumbled and leaned against the window.

“Now that everyone is done with measuring their dicks, I believe introductions are in order,” Jones said nodding towards Webb.

Webb gave a half salute and said, “I’m Lieutenant Webb, Rank-3.5 detection mage with a side of tracker on my resume. I could find a fart in a hurricane.”

“Great if Estelle ate beans last night, that might be useful,” Tauru said.

Indigo and Jones snickered. Webb scowled but remained silent.

“I’m Lieutenant Sidedragon, Rank-4 detection mage with a specialty in Akashic Navigation,” he said.

“A useless skill, there’s what, only ten of you twat waffles that can read the Akashic Record in Battle City?” snapped Tauru.

"We’re down to a mere trio at the start of the season. The unique skill has, on several occasions, revealed remarkably advantageous results," responded Sidedragon. “And just for the record, I’m more of a bitch biscuit than a twat waffle.”

“I like this guy,” Tauru said. “I’m Tauru Thornewood, house meat shield.”

“Well as Boss Kitty would say, here’s the short version,” Indigo said and opened a few windows. “I’m a pure warrior, and if you give me one or two shakes of a lamb’s tail, I’ll add you to the operations board.”

A screen pooped up and Jones, Webb and Sidedragon pressed accept.

The comprehensive layout of Battle City unfolded, revealing five distinct chat rooms beneath the map: Teams 1, 2, 3, 4, and the coordination room. A designated section emerged, marked as "notes," each tab bearing the names of individuals.

“That’s actually, impressive. Former military?” Webb asked.

“Computer nerd,” Indigo replied. “Currently, we’re tracking Estelle’s scent all over the city. As soon as we detect it, it’s gone just as fast.”

“You mean it just stops, doesn’t fade or anything?” Webb asked.

“Like hitting a wall,” Indigo replied.

“I see you are using rats and mice to check the sewers in Red and Gold zones, nice one,” Jones said as she continued to scan the documents.

“That was our druid’s idea, Heather,” Indigo said.

“Do you suspect that Captain Thornewood might be stashed outside of Battle City?” asked Webb.

"If she had been absent for any significant duration, ADA would have surely taken notice," Indigo remarked.

Tauru turned around and gazed down at the city, observing pedestrians on their daily commute. In the distance, the train continued its journey.

Sidedragon expanded the map, flipping through the older overlays. His eyes shifted color as he moved between the 'Scent Detection' and 'Witch Sight Detection' overlays. His eye color stopped on a sky-blue hue; he maintained his focus on the map.

When Jones noticed, she asked, "Got something?"

Sidedragon shrugged, replying, "It could be nothing, or it might be something. If the data is accurate and not some false positive, I suspect Guillotine might be eluding standard detection by shrinking down."

“How is that even possible?” asked Webb.

“When we were planning our assault on the Tower, our R&D teams were trying to come up with a solution that would sneak past the normal detection systems using Atomic Manipulation and other skills,” Sidedragon said.

“Okay, that was before my time,” Webb said sitting down.

"We experienced relatively decent success in the field, but when we attempted it at the Battle of the Tower, well, let's just say the results were unsatisfactory," Sidedragon continued.

"Yeah, when you shrink down, you concentrate magic into one spot. It's like turning on a neon light that screams, 'Here I am,' to any detection mage," Tauru said.

Webb turned a curious eye towards Tauru and smiled at him.

"More like a floodlight," Sidedragon added, shaking his head as his eyes began changing colors again. "The other problem is that when you're that small, your body doesn't absorb oxygen as effectively, risking suffocation. Try to reduce the air tanks, and you become even more conspicuous."

"I heard we lost a few kill teams before they realized it," Indigo remarked.

Sidedragon flicked his ponytail over his shoulder and snorted.

"Outside, it's fine, as long as there's no detection mage around, but closed areas like the Tower? You're a slow-moving target. How are you moving around, Guillotine?" asked Sidedragon.

Jones picked up a remote control from the table and activated the screen on the wall. Clicking a few buttons on the remote control, the video of the bag lady. The timecode appeared at the bottom of the screen and played for 60 seconds and looped back.

“Indigo, filter out everything but the 30 hertz frequency,” She asked.

Indigo applied the filters, and the baguette lady strolled off the screen, disappearing from the camera's range. The video looped back, replaying the scene. However, this time, instead of walking out of frame, she transformed into a golf ball-sized sphere of light, pivoted in the opposite direction, and floated down the alley instead of along the street.

"This the alley is where the seventeenth victim was found?" Webb asked.

"Yeah," answered Indigo.

"Remove the gamma filter, slow down the footage, and zoom in twenty grels," Jones instructed.

Indigo pressed a few buttons, and the screen zoomed in. Jones, Indigo, Webb, Sidedragon, and Tauru moved closer.

"There," Jones said, pointing to the screen. "What is that? Is there any way you can clear up the blurriness?"

The video paused, and Indigo made the adjustments. The video began to play again, and a single bee moved across the screen.

“The Shrinky Dink is moving around on a bee?” Tauru muttered.

“Let’s not get too excited, do you have any other surveillance footage of our suspect?” Jones asked.

“Yeah, one minute,” Indigo said.

He brought up the other videos and applied the same filters. The golf ball-sized light appeared in three of the videos, accompanied by the bee buzzing around. Indigo promptly shared the findings with the others who were involved in the search.

“Where’s Gilbert?” asked Jones.

“We have under lock and key with the Wheels, but only repeats the same phrase over and over ‘am I in trouble’ other than that the NPC wall of silence,” Indigo said.

“And that creepy kid stare,” Tauru added.

“How soon can you bring him to the Tower,” Jones asked. “I’ll break him.”

***