101- A Shift in Reason

Silence; the notion of no sound to hear in a contained space with others, is a false concept. For even in the absence of conversation, there is noise to be found. Within the confines of a car, there was a veritable myriad of noise; the throbbing of one's pulse, the pavement under tires, the wind striking the windshield, shifting of cloth, and nervous breathing.

Phaedra didn't appear to trust the driver of the transport car, as Quayleigh took note of the way he was watching his every move with a wary eye. And despite the attempts to ignore the uncomfortable tension, Quayleigh knew it was going to be a long drive, and the lack of conversation was only going to make it worse.

Pulling out her phone, she sent a text to Tau.

'On my way to the station with Phaedra. Harlowe's orders. Any word on Kavak or Skye?'

"Messaging your boyfriend?" Phaedra asked, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"Lucky guess. Just asked if he had an update about our friends. Was hoping for some insight into this sudden order. I'm also quite curious as to why the magister ordered you to come with me, considering it seems easier to have just sent me on my own," she remarked, hoping there was more to it than just to ensure she was bought back to the MET; not that there was any guarantee that she would go back inside the building.

"As your liaison, it's my duty to accompany you when you're under the MET's care, especially when you leave the safety of our building. Careful though sister or I might start to think you don't want spend any time alone with me."

"Hardly. In fact, I'm hoping this takes long enough that by the time we get back we can skip directly to lunch time," she replied, her phone chiming as she spoke. "I'm eager to know what delicacy you've ordered for me this time."

"I'd tell you, but I don't want to risk having you change your mind about joining me."

"Well, in that case, somethings are best left to a surprise," she said while reading over Tau's reply. "So, Dylan is currently at the hospital and says that our friend made it through the night, but he's barely conscious and not communicating."

"I suspect he's under a heavy pain suppressant, but even partially conscious is better than nothing," Phaedra commented, her phone chiming again while she was typing out her reply.

"I agree. I'd be worried if he hadn't woken up yet. Apparently, he wasn't able to find out anything about Skye. That's worrisome on its own; poor girl." She felt the gentle nudge of Uroxuz's nose against her cheek. "I'm sure she'll be fine in the long run. Nothing a bit of therapy shouldn't be able to help with," she added, hoping to ease some of the guilt she was projecting into Uroxuz's action.

"Never expected you to be so optimistic."

"Well, someone ought to be, and it's not like she was injured. Sure, she's been traumatized by what she saw, but eventually she's going to have to come to terms with it."

"But what happens to her if she can't?" he asked as she sent her reply to Tau.

"Then life will pass her by. It would be a shame if that were to happen. She seemed to really enjoy her career and was a pivotal factor in closing a recent case and saving a woman's life."

"Oh? I'd like to hear that story," Phaedra enthusiastically remarked as he shifted his position to make it easier for him to hear her.

"I'll tell you what I can, and oddly enough, it all starts with the reason I got dragged into this mess in the first place."

By the time they arrived at the police station, Quayleigh had relayed to Phaedra the tale of Three, his crimes, his death, and how Skye was responsible for saving his longtime captive's life. It seemed to her, by the uncomfortable way he shifted and the vacant gleam of his eyes, that Phaedra was truly repulsed by everything she had shared, but he kindly refrained from commenting about what had specially been done to her, opting only to take her hand and hold it tight as he spoke with a hollow tone.

"A great service was done for the city when he was done away with. I hope Skye recovers from her recent ordeal enough to return to her work. Thwarting such evil needs those who are good at their jobs."

Even if his words sounded empty, there was sincerity about them that she appreciated, and it was the slight tremble of his hand when he spoke that conveyed to her the truth of what he was thinking even as he was far too polite to say it.

"Indeed," she replied, feeling the same way.

"We've arrived," the driver stated as he pulled up in front of the police station to let them out.

"Hopefully Harlowe's easy to find," Quayleigh remarked as they opened their doors.

"I suspect we will find out momentarily," he replied as they climbed out.

The atmosphere of the station had completely changed from the previous day. Uniforms and Detectives alike, wore somber and worried expressions. Strangers were eyed with suspicion and conversations were held in whispers. The station was quiet, and tension hung in the air. They had tightened ranks following Kavak's attack, no one was relaxing and sidearms were no longer locked away. Even the desk sergeant was armed, along with a taser that was visible and within reach.

Seeing as how they were expected, Quayleigh and Phaedra picked up his visitor's badges and headed to the second floor where Folsten greeted them the moment they stepped through the door of the main squad room.

"Thanks for coming," she remarked before leading them to Harlowe's office and beckoning them inside.

"How's the Kid doing?" Harlowe asked as Folsten closed the door behind them.

"I'm not entirely certain. As far as I know he's still with Dylan at the hospital. Last night he was good about putting on a brave face, but he was barely hanging on and I left this morning before he had gotten up. I want to thank you, for sending him to us. He's going to need time, but I think he'll manage to get back to himself, eventually."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't about to let him go home by himself and you seemed like a reasonable option," Harlowe said while motioning to the chairs in the room. "Take a seat."

"As welcome as your hospitality is, why the urgency for us to come here?" Phaedra questioned, stepping back to give Quayleigh Yechiel's desk chair.

"Thank you," she whispered to him and sat down as Harlowe huffed at Phaedra's impatience.

"Last night one of my detectives was attacked by the creature responsive for this plague of murders, and early this morning, a fresh body was found a few blocks from here," he remarked. Picking up a folder he passed it across to Quayleigh. "Jason Noble, aged 43. He was a respectable businessman. Owned and tended bar at the Noble Tavern and Billiard Hall, a little watering hole at the far end of Freetier's main street. He was found in the alley behind his bar with two gunshots to his chest and one to his abdomen," he explained as she opened the file, pulling out a stack of photographs.

"By the gods…" Phaedra reacted as he turned away having caught a glance of the gruesome photo from over her shoulder.

"As you can see," Harlowe continued undeterred by Phaedra's unsurprising reaction, "he has the same terrified look on his face as the others."

"So, what's different?" she questioned, placing the folder onto Yechiel's desk and sliding the top photo to the side.

"Third picture down. And why did you ask what's different?" Harlowe replied in his usual suspicious detective's tone.

"Because you wouldn't be showing me this…" she briefly paused as she pulled out the third photo, "...if it were the same as the others." Lifting the picture, she briefly looked it over, and then set it down. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"That is what was left of his right arm," Harlowe replied as Phaedra made the mistake of looking at the photo.

"It ate his arm?!" he questioned, nearly gagging at the thought alone.

"Only the muscle," Quayleigh corrected as she held up the photo and examined the details most closely, fascinated by the change in Uroxuz's behavior. "See here, the skins been peeled back to expose the muscle. But to your question, it's possible this was an act of curiosity. Did you find the missing portion of the muscle anywhere nearby?"

"No. From what Mugg's could tell, the entire brachioradial muscle and portions of the neighboring muscles are missing. All the gory details are in the preliminary report. You'll find a copy of it under the photos."

"So, first Kavak, and then this?"

"Or the other way around," Folsten replied as she moved up beside Harlowe. "We have no idea if this happened before or after that thing showed up here. All Muggs could tell for certain was that the gunshots were going to be fatal. Even if he had yelled for help instead of smoking a cigarette, no one would have reached him in time."

"I brought you here because we need answers, and the only way we're going to get them is if you know what to look for. Skye put in your request to see the videos we have of the creature. I had hoped the photos were going to be enough. Even as a special consultant, showing you too much of the evidence could risk a conviction, but I'm certain we're already past that. Every cop in Turnage City is out for blood. If this thing has a human handler, it won't matter what you've seen, no judge is going to deem it inadmissible in court. We've set up a temporary tech lab in one of the vacant evidence rooms. Lilah's waiting for us."

"I'm glad that you've agreed to let me see this footage. I'm curious about this entities behavior and the way it speaks. It may help us identify it or at least give us insight as to why it attacked Kavak," Quayleigh remarked as she put the pictures back and closed the file. "I'd also like to speak with your medical examiner, if possible."

"I'll take you down to meet Muggs if you still have questions after watching the footage we have," he replied as he stood up.

Opening the door, Folsten lead the way to the temporary lab on the third floor. When they arrived, they were introduced to Lilah, a petite brunette in her late twenties who hadn't seen sunlight since her childhood. Sitting down before a large monitor, Folsten took the opportunity to warn them about what they were about to see.

Phaedra attempted to appear calm and collected, but knowing he was more squeamish than he was letting on, Quayleigh grabbed his hand and held his arm, planning to fake being disturbed by whatever they were about to see giving him a reason to turn away to tend to her, whether he needed it or not.

They were then shown the video from the Schneider case and the security footage from the attack on Kavak. Quayleigh was so captivated by watching Uroxuz on screen that she had forgotten all about acting surprised at the sight of him and instead, shook herself loose from Phaedra and approached the monitor.

"Can you play that again? Ah, from just before he appeared about ten seconds of it?" she asked as she looked over at Lilah, who was staring silently at her. "And turn up the volume."

"Do what she says," Harlowe stated causing Lilah to blink and tap on the tablet she was holding.

"These might help," Lilah said as she set down the tablet and retrieved four headsets from a nearby tote offering them out, Phaedra politely refusing as he shifted uneasily on his stool.

Once the others had put on their headsets, Lilah played the section of the video Quayleigh had requested several times, on repeat.

"What is it that you think you hear?" Harlowe questioned as they pulled their headsets off.

"As you wish," she replied as she looked up at him. "I think it's saying, 'as you wish.' It's faint and high pitched but Kavak called it out, and it sounds as if it's obliging."

Cranking up the volume, Harlowe put his headset on again and had Lilah play the footage for him once more. With a harsh swallow, he slipped his headset off, seemingly surprised that Quayleigh had managed to make out anything, given how faint and unexpected the comment was, seeming to fade in from nowhere, and being masked by the sounds Mazurka was making.

"You heard it?"

"I can hear 'wish', but the rest is too incoherent for me to make out. Either way, now you know what we're up against," Harlowe said as they handed their headsets back to Lilah. "What's your take on it?"

"I don't know," Quayleigh replied, which wasn't entirely a lie. She truly didn't know how to answer him. She could tell by Harlowe's tone that he was even more desperate for answers, which meant that he was going to be more inclined to believe whatever it was that she told him. At the same time, it also meant that he was going to be more apt to force the MET into holding up their end of the agreement, for as long as it took for her to get him answers. This did little to ease her trepidation at the thought of returning to the MET, being positive that Inniken had been responsible for her headaches earlier that day, but she also knew, that now, having seen the videos for himself, Phaedra was bound to be more willing to let her read whatever she wanted in the archives, which much to her surprise, he confirmed as he spoke up a moment later.

"Contract Magister Gerotherine. I'm giving Quayleigh educational access to our archives."

"What does that even mean?" Harlowe questioned as Phaedra stood and placed his hand upon her shoulder.

"It means that I am giving her access to everything available inside the MET's archives, outside of research and preservation. Whatever that thing is, he is most definitely not a typical summoned creature. Have an amendment to the contract written up extending her content of study to include whatever I deem necessary."

"Then you must have some idea of what that thing is?" Folsten questioned him.

"I have a possibility in mind, but I need to speak with Quayleigh, and we're going to need to see your case files on each of the murder victims."

"You know I can't let you do that," Harlowe replied rather hastily.

"Detective Harlowe," Quayleigh interjected, "the only way we're going to be able to get you any answers is if we have all of the information. If we can't work together on this, then what exactly are you hoping we can achieve on our own?"

"Fine. I'll speak with my Captain, but I need something, anything, to convince him this is necessary."

Quayleigh looked back at Phaedra, his expression was one of certainty, resolute to this being the only way forward, a firm squeeze upon both her shoulders telling her everything she needed to know.

"I believe…"

"We believe," Phaedra corrected her with a polite nod.

"We believe this to be a servant of the god, Death, and in order to confirm it, we need to establish a pattern of behavior," she told Harlowe, even as she felt her anxiety in the back of her throat, threatening to undermine her conviction for the path that she had chosen.

"And then what? What difference will that make?"

"It will make all the difference Detective Harlowe. The gods and their servants aren't described by appearance but by behavior, action, and intent. If we know his, then we can confirm what he is, and then we search the archives for a possible way for you to stop him."