Search Warrants

It was much as unfortunate that California was in perhaps—controlled.

A state controlled.

Life changed.

And three people who were searching for the predictable history of SEOT, and their weak points.

With the stolen roadster—technically stolen from SEOT—they drove through the gray haze of the city. "Thanks for getting us back this car," Arthur said, admiring the glints outside the car.

"My pleasure," Jini responded without a bit of expression. "I'm just trying to find the location of her house."

"Um, shouldn't it be known already?" the colonel abruptly asked, extending his head from his seat. Jini shrugged, leaving the steering wheel. "She has many places, you never know where the evidence could be." "But, she had a family here, how could it not be here?" Arthur reasoned. They became silent with a dreadful pause.

Jini stopped the car at a gas station. "We're running out of gas," she announced—although it was quite obvious. Colonel Strong went out of the car to get some fresh air, from the other side of the gray haze. Arthur did the same and joined with him.

"Well, isn't this a series of unfortunate events?" Arthur said, blending with a sigh. Colonel Strong nodded in response. "I just want to go back into my office, and get my hot frappuccino."

Arthur chuckled. "Same." In all the laughing was a certain view, which caught his eye. A factory with many people in line. It looked like construction until he saw a masked guard raise his pistol and as he pulled the trigger, people fell in response.

But—there wasn't any noise. And it was much so high in the hazed sky. "See that," Arthur said pointing to the slaughter.

"Yes, I see plenty of that—why are they doing that?" the colonel asked with concern. "I don't know, I'm still wondering why I can't hear it." Colonel Strong stared at Arthur. "He's obviously using a suppressor." Arthur shook his head, "Quelquefois, you have to hear very closely."

With an abrupt exit, Jini came out. The two men shookly looked at Jini. "Just came to get something for us."

They both smiled with pleasure. They both took the creamy donuts and ate. "Hey, Jini—look there." She gazed at it and her eyes began to harden. "We'll worry about them later—we need to turn this place back to order." The roadster began to carry them a long way until they found her house. But, it was guarded. Why? "They have the place guarded—that's suspicious," Arthur observedly said.

"Too suspicious in fact. Look, all the other houses aren't guarded at all. So why this house?" Colonel Strong continued. "We might have to go in a sneaky way," Jini said. She navigated to the back of the house and stopped there. "So, what do you expect us to do? Create a back door?" the colonel said, rolling his eyes hopelessly.

Jini apparently thumped her fingers on the medal wall randomly. A door blended with the wall opened, and they entered. Inside was a light as bright like the sun—tiles with grout that were as clean as gold. The room had pink walls towards the stairs, and king-like chairs. "No wonder he fell in love," Arthur jested. "Turn off the lights."

Jini turned off the light behind her slightly. "Okay, that'll be good." Colonel Strong got a flashlight from the box beside him. *Click* The leading light shined on the glinting tiles. Footsteps were heard since it was quiet as if there was no such thing as the world. "I don't see anything down here," Jini reported disappointedly.

"Let's go to the stairs," Arthur ordered. They went up the stairs still checking for any things. Nothing. They went upstairs but it didn't have any rooms.

"Weird," the colonel sighed, looking around. "Perhaps it's in the walls like the back door." Jini shook her head vexedly. Their own footsteps sounded mysterious as they walked. Suddenly, they came upon a spot with many footprints. "See that," Arthur breathed. "It's a bunch of footprints."

Colonel Strong rolled his eyes, "Any man or woman can walk there or leave footprints."

"They're rich."

Colonel Strong nodded. "They would've had a maid to do those stuff," Arthur said. He tapped on it and it seemed to open like a door from the floor—because that was what it was. "What the…" Jini said amazedly with a muted tone.

Doxin saw two doors side by side with windows. "That's where I came from," he said. "Wow, d'accord," Jacques congratulated sarcastically. "You want me to go through a furnace." "That's probably the smartest thing I ever heard you said then that coffee machine."

Jacques looked at him as if he was crazy by making his eyebrows lower and his eyelids shrink. Doxin shrugged. "There were smarter things."

No guard was out there luckily, so the detectives ran through the hall and to the other door. "After this, you owe me many cups of coffee," Doxin commanded. Jacques rolled his eyes. "But, I don't know how to use a coffee machine." Det. Doxin looked at him. "Honestly, you're starting to sound cliche."

But none of that mattered. Jenora was trapped and guarded by a bunch of guards—in a so-called furnace. "Okay, I got an idea," Doxin verbalized, looking down. "I'm gonna go down there and break the furnace switch. Then, you shoot those guards then we save her, got it?" "Okay," Det. Jacques said, securing the ammo on his pistol. "This is what we—French men do, mon amie." Doxin rolled his eyes jestedly.

He went for the run as he went down the ladder. He gradually started to sweat from the back of his head. "Whoo, Jesus," he rasped, as his suit began to stick on him unexpectedly. He climbed down, but then the ladder began to sweat itself too. Closer to the ground was more heat. His hands started to slip as he climbed down. He hoped to get down there already before he landed with a throb.

Suddenly, his other hand slipped. He shouted agitatedly as he saw a blur of heat. Soon, he saw the guards picking Jenora up—he was going to miss her soon.

*Tick*

"What the—"

*Thud*

Doxin felt a very painful throb on his head. "Aww shoot, that'll leave a mark." He nimbly got up and raced to the switch. The big lever seemed to sweat too and Doxin's hands felt melted as enough. He pushed the lever but it didn't seem to budge. Doxin grunted as he pushed—but nothing happened.

"One more try."

With a close call, the lever budget and the big box turned to ice. "Weird, not even close to physics."

Jacques faced the pistol at the guard's heads. With the multiple shots he gave—he knocked down all the guards. "Well, that was easy. Should probably sign up for a sniper."

Doxin ran over to Jenora—her face was with sweat and her face was bruised. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked as he observed her. Jenora looked at Doxin weakly, then bursted with a laugh.

"Man, you're funny. Took you all that work to put down a lever," she jested as she put her baked hands on the detective. "Doesn't matter—at all."

Arthur:

"I'm gonna be honest with you," the colonel said, looking left and right apprehensively. "I was never a fan of basements or these dark—wooden alleys." The statement seemed to be ignored as they walked through. "Why would she have this place under the house? What did she need it for?" Arthur whispered to himself as he looked towards the trail.

They continued to walk the endless walk. Colonel Strong cleared his throat with an agitated feeling. "What if she never made this dull-witted room?" Jini gave a hard stare at him.

"Sudden—I meant."

"I don't know at all. But I'm much of certain she must know something about SEOT."

"Possibly," Jini added. But then, something seemed to pull them into a parting turn. Three pathways—up, left and right—were in the midst of them. "Oh, okay. That's a problem," Jini said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we got that," Colonel Strong hissed, with exasperation—looking at the unfortunate event in front of them. Jini commanded that they have to split. "Arthur—you take the right, colonel, take the left. I'll go forward." They all parted their own ways. Jini looked around—but only saw wood. "What is here?" she said quietly to herself—trying to gain a certain hope which would keep her going.

Miles of walking tired her. What could possibly be here? Jini collapsed onto the wall.

Suddenly, she flipped backwards, bouncing her head over stairs which were quite long enough to almost last a minute. "Well, that hurt," she grunted as she looked at the long stairs above her. "Okay, this feels like some Indiana Jones movie." She walked backwards and looked behind her. Then she saw a rusty book covered in dissolved dust. She picked it up with a slow motion as she bent down her legs. She picked up and did a soft sway to wipe off the dirt.

Life of a Changed Woman

Jini sighed to herself as she opened the pages. "This might be interesting in fact. Let's find a place to—" Her mouth froze but most precisely, she was frozen. It showed a line of dead people—dried blood trickling out their heads.

"What is this place?" she wondered to herself with dry belief. She picked up the book and began looking in it—with perhaps—an interested perception.

Arthur:

Arthur faced his flashlight at a door. "A door, eh?" he wondered with uncertainty. He opened the door—but it wasn't welcoming. Men and women were in chains by wooden benches—some with deep blood. This was very uncertain and broad. "Les prisonniers?"

A Mexican woman looked at him and her eyes seemed to gallop in excitement. ��We have a savior!" she shouted. Others started to look at Arthur unexpectedly.

He became quite overwhelmed with deep confusion. "Whoa whoa, before we start. Qu'est-ce qui se passe ici?" The others folded into a blank stare. "What is going on here?" Arthur interpreted. "We were trapped when we were considered enemies."

A man with a muscular face and a very bald head looked at him with his cold blue eyes. "I was trying to drive to Manhattan where my sisters live but they won't allow anyone to leave the city. They took my children and my wife and they put me here."

Arthur tried to hold the sympathetic tears in his eyes. "De toute façon, I'll try to rescue you guys. I'll get my pilot to fly us out of here. Just follow me."

"Hey, who is there?"

Arthur turned around and three masked guards faced their SMB guns at them. He raised his pistol.

"Jailbirds, behind me."