Lots of People Pretend to Be Sherlock, But Only a Few Can Be Like Him

He looked up from the ground and at her in surprise. "Huh?"

"Cara's gone missing!"

"Wait, so she just took a shit and dipped?"

There was an awkward pause as she gave him a dead stare.

"I mean... yes... but not realllly..." She said, uncertain of how to answer his question.

"What do you mean by 'not really?'"

"I only found a replica of her legs in a stall. Here, I'll show you."

"Okay, bet."

Luca opened the door for him and they both went into the bathroom. It was still empty. Luca motioned with her hand to point at the swung open stall door. Rambone walked over and peered in.

"Huh, oh," Rambone said as he peered in, with a hand on the stall wall. "Yeah, that's... odd."

He turned to face her. "Since we don't have the police to help us out, what do you think we do?"

She shrugged. "Best we can do is ask the desk for help and ask around for clues."

"I mean that's what I'd do, too."

"Yeah, no shit, sherlock."

"You're the one trying to be sherlock here, sherlock!" He said mockingly.

Luca punched him in the shoulder. He flinched.

"Ow!" He let out and rubbed his shoulder. "That actually hurt for once."

She smirked. "Good to know!"

He sighed. The two then headed out of the bathroom and began their search for clues.

"We should go to the desk first."

"Yeah, what else could have we done first?"

"Asked around before asking the desk."

"That's just weird, though."

She nodded and they went to the desk for answers and to report the incident, the near orange stone tile flooring and walls calming them just a bit.

"Hey, we'd like to report that someone's gone missing." He said.

The secretary then rolled her chair over to them, giving the two a weirded-out look.

"Someone's gone missing, huh? Do you know who this was?"

"Cara Rochelle."

"Hmm... okay." She made a few clicks while moving the mouse before typing her name on a computer."

"Cara Rochelle, female & registered fighter since 2001, born on June 23rd, 1981, has a record of 117 and 3, short bronze hair, bronze eyes, and light skin? Is this the woman you're talking about?"

They both nodded.

"Alright. I'll put them in the system as missing."

"... and?" Luca asked.

"That's all about we can do, hun. We'll put up some missing posters with her picture on them, but Wolfshaus is too dangerous to go searching for her."

"Huh?" Rambone was shocked. "Can't you send out your best fighters to go looking for her?"

"No, we don't make our other registered members go looking for missing members. It's just too risky, sorry." She plopped her hands back down on the desk.

"Why not?!"

"I just told you? Are you new to Wolfshaus by chance?"

"Yes! Yes, we are!" He said, clearly annoyed.

"Okay, then I'll give you the whole explanation. At its core, this underground town is nearly lawless. Everyone tries to keep themselves and others from doing bad things. There are some loose groups of people and people dedicated to investigating and tackling crime to keep this ship afloat. However, this place is a place for countless criminals and the poor to escape to."

Luca stroked her chin. "Then why hasn't the Perpinin government stepped in and tried to lay down the law into here?"

"Some corrupt senators like to bribe cops to turn a blind eye to this place."

"Man, that's shitty, bro," Rambone commented, disappointed.

She agreed. "Mhm. We try our best. I'm sure you've seen the streets."

"Must be the cleanest streets we saw," Luca said, sarcastically.

The secretary gave them dirty looks. "Good luck with that, though."

They nearly went off before Luca came up with another idea. "Oh, wait, why didn't you call her room?"

"Sure, hun."

The secretary took a quick look at the computer again and input her room's telephone number, taking glances between the two. As she finished putting in the number, she pressed the speaker button. The phone line beeped and buzzed a few times before there was a response on the other end.

"You have reached a blocked number. Please do not call again." They heard from an automated voice message.

Rambone and Luca both dropped their jaws.

"She blocked the office?!" He asked.

The secretary shrugged, also confused by the number being blocked. "We constantly call her to give her match information. I don't know why she's gone ahead and blocked us."

"Soo... could we give her a call?" Luca proposed.

She took a moment before answering. "Sure, I guess I don't see the harm in it."

She wrote down her room's telephone number on a sticky note and handed it to her. "Again, I wish you two the best of luck."

As they headed off to their rooms, they need to decide who would call the number.

"She's probably tied up right now," Rambone said.

"Nah, I doubt that. She's too strong to be tied up by anyone."

"Just about anyone can be tied up, Luca."

"Why are you saying it like you know a thing or two about tieing people up?"

Rambone dodged the question like a reasonable person would do when asked that question. "I just know that rope is strong."

She gave him a playful look in response. "Suuuurree you doo..."

"Trust me, bro, dad liked to use rope for stuff."

"Okay. I'll trust you with that" She said, playfully skeptical. "Now, she likes me more, so let me call her."

"If it makes you shut up, sure."

She punched him in the back of the neck, angry.

"Don't you insult me!"

"Ow... I won't."

"I'll break your neck if you do it again."

The two arrived at Luca's room. She took out the key from her back pocket and fitted it into the keyhole, turning it and then the handle.

They stepped in as she took the key out and shut the door behind her.

She waltzed over to the telephone on the nightstand and looked at the sticky note, punching in the number. She put it up to her ear as he took a seat on her bed. After a few seconds, it picked up.

"Hello, this is Cara Rochell-" She said, sounding oddly distant.

"Hello, it's Luca here. Are you doing okay? You kinda left us hanging."

Then a completely different voice began speaking.

"We are currently dealing with Cara. Do not attempt to reach her." It was mostly muffled, monotone, and nearly robotic.

"Huh?! What do you mean by this?!" She responded, worried and panicked.

"Cara has done some very bad things. We are currently handing out her punishment."

"Is she okay?! Where the fuck are you holding her?!"

Rambone's ears perked up in surprise.

"She is fine. But do not attempt to intervene."

"You bet your sweet ass I'm going to intervene!"

"Do not attempt to intervene. She is in a safe place where you will not find her, and if you try to intervene there will be a fate worse than death awaiting you." They hung up immediately. Luca put down the phone and turned to Rambone.

"Any clues?" He asked.

"She's being kept up somewhere. Something about a punishment being dealt out to her for some things she did."

"Have you thought about if she did actually do some fucked up shit?"

"It doesn't matter. We need her."

"I don't think we do." He stretched and yawned.

"What if she's going to die? What if we're the reason she dies?"

"I doubt she's going to die. And I doubt that she actually did anything bad, relax."

"I'm going to take off and go find her!" She scoffed.

"If you're going to do that, then don't leave without me!"

He quickly got up and they both headed out the door, their search to find the lost Cara now ever more perilous.