Dela approached the location where she left Johan and Siegfried at high speeds. She still had her hair fixed in a ponytail and wore a form fitting black suit without sleeves. Seeing that the two had recovered from the earlier teleportation, she appeared between them.
"How do you not throw up every time you teleport?" Siegfried asked groaning.
"I used to, when I first began to use my alchemy but my body's gotten used to it. That's the reason I don't really teleport living people."
"That's good and all but are we going to walk all the way to Brimway?" Johan asked writing something in his notebook.
"No, that explosion would have drawn the authorities' attention. They're definitely on their way." As Siegfried said this a large procession of carriages was seen in the distance, each had an officer driving and several inside.
"Do you two have the medallions I made for you?" he asked with Johan and Dela nodding in response.
The officers soon arrived and the scene, quickly exiting their carriages, guns drawn.
"ALL THREE OF YOU HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" A large officer with a booming voice commanded, the three followed the command without hesitation.
"There's no need for the weapons officers, we were the ones attacked." Johan responded examining the group. He noticed that most of the officers did not have any stripes on their uniforms, excluding the man who addressed them earlier. Upon further inspection, the higher ranked man had three vertical stripes on his right sleeve. They had crinkles and folds due to how tightly his clothes hung to him; this tightness was due to his large, well defined muscles barely being restrained by his clothes. His head was clean-shaven, the sun able to reflect on its dark brown surface. This was in contrast to his large, full beard a rich black, with the occasional white impostor. He stood tall and rigid, staring directly into Johan's eyes, the complete antithesis of his own.
"You seem to be the one in charge here." he continued.
"And what of it?" The man asked gripping his pistol.
"The chain of command must be upheld, I'm not going to waste my time talking to cannon fodder." Johan said standing to his feet.
"I would appreciate if you don't call my men cannon fodder but yes, I am the one in charge. Sergeant Cain at your service, now who are you?"
Johan reached into his trench coat and removed a circular silver disc. In its center lay a triangle with circles overlapping each vertex. Its surface was bumpy and uneven.
"Special Investigator Franz alongside my partners," he said pointing to the two behind him, "Special Investigator Guerrero and Special Investigator Claude, we've come to investigate the deaths of two staff members of Sir John Cramlin."
Sergeant Cain stepped back in surprise and moved his hand from his pistol.
"W-Why weren't we informed of this? This is our jurisdiction!"
Johan quickly moved next to him faster than he could react.
"You're a good officer Sergeant but the next time you raise your voice at me, I'll rip your throat out." Johan whispered in the Sergeant's ear, his eyes widen.
"You weren't informed because alchemy is involved and this is a direct command from the regent. You lot don't qualify to know, or are you saying you know better than the regent?"
The Sergeant fell on one knee and grit his teeth with his head down.
"No, Special Investigator Franz please forgive my rudeness earlier.
"All is forgiven Sergeant, anyway we were attacked by a terrorist organization as such we are commandeering one of your carriages. You will drop us off at your station and we will debrief your captain about anything we deem necessary. Is that understood?"
"Yes..sir."
"Sergeant, why did you let that Special Investigator person talk to you like that!?" An officer asked outraged, slamming his hands on the Sergeant's desk. He sighed in reply before putting down the file he was reading.
"Close the door." He said gesturing to it, the officer complied and sat down upon returning. "You're a new hire right?"
"Yes sir! graduated top of my class."
"I can tell, slamming my desk like that means your either arrogant or stupid, maybe a mixture of both." The officer looked away sheepishly. "Do you know how our nation is run?"
"Of course sir! The regent is the head of state and makes a majority of decisions regarding the nation. Below him are the star council, who advise the regent, curate and revise bills and proposals related to their designated ministry and deliver them to the regent. Below them are the ministers who create the initial drafts for bills and put forward proposals to the star council."
"Good to see that the academy's standard's haven't dropped." Sergeant Cain said rubbing his nose bridge with his eyes closed.
"Throughout the one hundred years we have adopted that system, we have had a total of eighteen death row inmates. Eight of them were given special pardons by the regent himself."
The officer's eyes widened and he leaned forward.
"But sergeant that makes no sense, there's no record of that anywhere."
"This information is only privy to those of a certain rank."
"Then why are you telling me?"
"I'm getting to that." he said opening a drawer in his desk and taking out a simple silver, oval pendant. "Those eight pardoned inmates according to official records were pronounced dead, but anyone of high enough rank knows the truth."
Johan placed a picture of Sir Cramlin on the captain's desk alongside to the dead staff's and said something unheard, causing the captain to grimace.
"All eight of those psychotic bastards," Sergeant Cain said with a scowl as Johan sat down on a chair in front of the captain's desk and put both his feet on it, Siegfried then began talking to the captain.
"Make up the Special Investigations Unit, directly under the command of the regent." he finished and put away the pendant. "I want you to tell this to every officer you can, the very existence of the Special Investigations unit is an affront to justice."
"But wouldn't that be putting a huge target on my back?"
"You're right, but your death will bring change to the system. So, will you become my sacrifice? Are you willing to throw away your life for something larger?" Sergeant Cain held an outstretched hand, his face serious with small beads of sweat streaming downwards, his eyes however, burned brighter than the sun with passion. The officer held a wide smile and eagerly shook the sergeant's hand.
"I'll become your tool, let's change the world!" After saying this the officer quickly left. The sergeant turned back to window, after hearing a small knocking sound. He opened the window and immediately a short, dark skinned woman with extremely short hair stood on window sill. She then flipped forward and landed directly in front of Sergeant Cain, extending her hands to her sides and slightly upwards, the umbrella hanging gingerly off her left hand.
"Tada!" She exclaimed with a very satisfied expression, as Sergeant Cain shook his head and sighed in response.
"Your umbrella is going to fall." As if it were prophesied her umbrella feel from her hand and made a 'clonk'. Her face flushed red with embarrassment as she quickly dropped to her knees to pick up her umbrella, this caused him to sigh once again.
"You're going to dirty you're dress, Selene." he said he lifted her over his shoulder with one hand and picked up the umbrella in the other. Selene, crossed her arms and pouted.
"You're no fun uncle." Suddenly a devious smirk was plastered on her face. She began reaching into her dress-
"If you put an insect anywhere on my body I'll hit you."
"What about chivalry and not hitting women?"
"I'll be disciplining a child and you only act ladylike when it's convenient." Upon saying this he put her down on the chair in front his desk and turned to sit in his chair. As he sat down, Selene had made her way unto the table and was sitting swinging her legs.
"You make me want to drink." he sighed as he rubbed his nose bridge and leaned back.
"Blaming a child for your alcoholism, that makes me sad."
"So now you're a child?" After about five seconds of waiting for a response, he opened his eyes and saw her letting a millipede crawl across her fingers.
"Anyway, what did you want to te-"
"What do you think clouds taste like?" she asked looking at the insect crawling across her fingers. Sergeant Cain leaned forward and flicked his niece in the forehead where she perked up in response and stood on the table.
"You should join us uncle." As she said this light suddenly began to shine behind her causing her and her white dress to glow. It especially emphasized the '7' tattooed on her neck. Her uncle began to clap and feigned wiping a tear from his face.
"Bravo, bravo! Excellent showmanship, I loved the use of light,"
"You're mean." She pouted in response.
"Well that's what you get for asking me a question you already know the answer to."
"Oh, ok" She said a small frown on her face.
"That couldn't be the only thing you wanted to tell me." Selene's face suddenly became serious and she came down from the table, sitting in the chair her uncle initially placed her.
"Please ensure that Sir. Cramlin is not arrested and no officer goes near his manor for the next two weeks." Sergeant Cain, was deep in thought, his eyes eventually meeting Selene's. "Uncle, please you know I don't ask you for much."
"It's already out of my hands, the special investigators took over the case."
"What? Why would they-"
"Because you lot bombed their carriage and they think Cramlin is connected."
"What the hell did Godfrey do!" she muttered to herself. "Welp, guess this trip was pretty useless." she exclaimed before standing up and stretching and walking to the window she entered through, not before picking up her umbrella.
"Sel,"
"Been a while since you called my that, did I finally do something right?"
"When are going to come home?" he asked unable to look at his niece, his face filled with regret. Selene held a somber look before placing one foot on the window.
"You already know the answer to that uncle." Leaving as suddenly as she came, although this time with less flair; Sergeant Cain sighed and covered his eyes, his mind unsteady.
Johan, Dela and Siegfried left the Chief's room maintaining a neutral face, Johan's eyes however, revealed the anger he kept below the surface. As they exited the station Johan looked towards the direction of Sir. Cramlin's estate.
"How deep does this go?" he asked to no one in particular, as Dela and Siegfried both looked intently at him. "The chief knows Cramlin, I can just tell. So is he connected to Geister?"
"We can't waste anymore time." Siegfried said, the other two nodding in response as they moved towards and entered a horse carriage parked in front the station. The captain reset the curtain back to its original position. He reorganized the chairs strewn across the room, and wiped the desk that Johan's feet had been on. This disrespect would never be forgotten for as long he lived.
"Damned special investigators." he moved towards a picture of the station behind his desk and gently removed it from the wall. Behind it was a small, perfectly rectangular hole carved into the wall, its only contents a single black rotary telephone. He placed his finger in whole at the top of the rotating mechanism and moved it towards the printed "2" before letting go. This was repeated for "3", "3", "9" and "7". He held the receiver close to his ear until eventually he heard,
"Hello?"
"John, Special Investigators are coming for you. No, I'm not joking you twat! We had a deal you keep what your doing hidden and I ensure you remain a free man. So tell me why the hell were Special Investigators in my goddamn station John!"
"…."
"So now your silent! Listen to me if they learn anything about the organization it's both of our heads on the chopping block!"
"Then help me out of this."
"Hear this twat! You put yourself in this situation and you want me to help you?! Are you forgetting I'm the goddamn police chief, how do you think it would look if I have officers intervening in Special investigation!"
"But if you don't assist me we will both definitely die, even if you lose your position it's far better then being eliminated by the organization."
"….." "I still can't use any of my officers."
"I know you have other means Arthur. Please remember everything I do is for our lady."
"Yes everything is for our lady."
The phone call soon ended and a figure veiled in shadows placed down the receiver back in its original place. He picked up a cigar cut off the top and lit it before taking a long draw.
"Some guests will soon be arriving, please treat them with the respect they deserve." He said to five servants with lifeless eyes and unchanging expressions.
"Yes, master Cramlin." they all said in the same monotone voice, Cramlin grinning cigar still burning in his mouth.