- Dark Omen

A rain droplet fell on the then dry grass, as many more followed, a drizzle starting in the park. The droplets moved slowly but surely to their destination, each different leaf of the short grass soon to be wet, and soon after, soaked. "You really have awful timing, don't you?" The detective sat on a bench, his arms over its back, and was staring off into the distance, the man approaching him snapping him out of his trance. "How could I have known this would happen? Maybe you just showed up too late." He looked at the man with him, though a man was not the best way to describe him. The being to his side was covered in scales an almost orange red, his snout extended far beyond his neck and reptilian eyes, the sharp jaws contained within visible slightly as a space was opened for the cigar that the creature had in his mouth, the foot of it still burning and red hot in spite of the precipitation. The creature had a jacket on, over the black suit he was wearing, the pants still visible, though a small part of them was covered from view by the briefcase the man had with him. "At least I'm wearing a jacket, I suppose." The detective tapped a spot on the wooden bench he was sitting on "It's dry for now." The beast he was looking in the eyes glared at him for a little, the orange slits on his eyes appearing as if they would pierce right through the man's skull if given the chance, but, he decided to take a seat on the bench regardless. "So, what did you want to report?" The detective remained silent, but held his left hand up and open without even giving the other man the dignity of looking at him, the creature groaned a little "You people and your money…" He placed the briefcase beside him on the bench. "No respect for honest work these days." Zach, still looking into the distance to his front, snarkily replied "This whole ordeal is dishonest, no?" The man continued opening the briefcase, revealing several stacks of cash, he took two of them out, placing them in the detective's open hand, which had a somewhat hard time containing both. The man closed and locked the briefcase, returning it to its previous state of security. "So, as I said before, what did I have to come here and get my suit all wet for?" Zach took the two stacks of cash, inspecting them to check their authenticity, before putting both into a single one of his coat pockets. "I think I might be getting close to your perps." Zach stared into the beast's eyes, who met his own in return. "How so?" The detective drew a deep breath. "Well, I went to meet my contact first-" "The Buddha?" The beast cut in, the detective continuing after. "Yeah, so I checked in and-" "Hate that guy" The beast muttered. "...right, so I checked in and as it turns out there was some Needle sold recently going for a lower price. More importantly, whoever it was hadn't been whacked as far as he knew." The beast he was sat next to looked at him intensely, his eyes wide. "So you found who sold it?" The detective looked at him for a moment, then disappointingly shook his head "Nah, he wouldn't tell me who it was. Or he didn't know himself, either way, I couldn't find out who it was. At that point… I got kind of lost on what to do." The beast looked at him with furrowed brows "That's it? That's all?" His voice intensifying with each word, but the detective's remained level "Now hold on, I wasn't done yet." The suited man looked at the detective suspiciously, but lowered his shoulders, returning to a calmer pose and took a large puff of the cigar, removing it from his maw momentarily with his claw-like hands before returning it. "Alright, continue your little story, then. How did you go on?" Zach looked back into the park's scenery ahead of him. "Actually, I checked in with some people, specifically this guy I know from a fighting ring not too far from here. He actually confirmed that there was one person in particular, a rookie, who was likely not to have too much cash, that had quite the amount of Needle, was bringing it to every fight, too."

The beast smirked, the flesh around his snout opening up as row after row of fangs revealed themselves in his eerily eager smile. "So you need some of my boys to do some interrogation work, then?" The detective quickly looked at the man next to him "No, no, I found him, for now I want to pursue him myself. He's an… intriguing guy." The beast's excitement waned, his mouth curling back down, and his pupils shrinking. He took the cigar from the side of his mouth, placing the half that remained at the front, he took one deep breath, then turned the remains to ashes in what seemed like an instant, scattering it into the breeze. "What's this guy's name, then? In case you stick your neck in too deep." The detective looked at the man next to him. "Marcus Liberté." The man retracted his head a little, then slowly turned it to the detective "Liberté? You're sure?" The detective slowly nodded. "Pretty sure… why?" The man heard the confirmation of the detective, then looked up to the sky with a puzzled look plastered on him "No, it's the name, Liberté, it's familiar to me. I've never heard of any Marcus though. Probably just a coincidence." 

"Well, anyway, I made contact with him yesterday. He's agreed to help me out a little with the investigation, haven't asked him the source of his Needle yet, though." The man turned his face down to the ground. "I see." He stood up, taking his suitcase with him as he did so. "Let me know when you find out more, Zaccheus." Zach smirked a little and looked up to the man, "Will do, Gabie boy." The man frowned down upon the detective for a moment, the beast's horns imposing over his head. "You know how I feel about that nickname." The detective smiled from ear to ear. "Yeah I do, Gabie boy."

The detective was promptly left behind as the man turned and began to walk back out of the park that he was invited to, making his way towards the old metal fencing around it and the gate through, where he found a long, black limousine awaiting his return. The same moment the man stepped out of the park one of the doors in the back opened, perfectly timed for his smooth reentry. Inside was a pale woman with long, dark brown hair, sitting with her legs crossed. There was a martini glass in her right hand, though it was empty, bar an olive pierced with a stick still in the glass. "Welcome back, sir." The man nodded at her, then stepped inside as he sat on the red seating at the back of the limousine, somewhat close to the lady with him though not intimately so. She smirked, "Lovely weather today, no?" The man groaned in frustration. "Don't even get me started, Nimue." 

The man took a breather, knocked on the glass of the limousine, prompting the chauffeur to begin their course, then asked the woman. "So, is there anything I've missed?" She complied, "Well, Giles is doing a speech in the region at the moment." The man looked at her. "Anything he's said that's…" He looked towards the front of the limousine, then back to his assistant. "...Bad for our business?" Nimue shook her head. "No, he's said nothing of real importance. Not yet anyway." The beast nodded "Good, good. Make sure to have someone keep an eye on that, it may be important to bring up in the meeting." "Will do, sir." The beast clicked his tongue. "Anything else?" The woman thought for a moment, then answered, "Ah, yes, I recall it was mentioned that Mister Sundial would be bringing an associate with him to the board meeting. One Miss Andromeda. She is a pupil of his, if I recall correctly." The man replied, "Good to know." Then turned his head somewhat forwards and to the other side, looking out the limousine's windows via the corner of his eye. He thought to himself as he watched the eternal grey of the city flash by, everything and everyone beyond the windows a mere blur to him, insignificant in the wider view. "Say, Nimue," The lady turned to face him, though he did not reciprocate. "Yes, sir?" The man waited a few seconds, as if to phrase what he was about to say perfectly before saying it, "You have heard of the surname Liberté before, right?" Nimue quickly nodded, responding just as swiftly. "Yes. Why?" She tilted her head to the side, like a dog, confused. "I don't suppose you've heard of any Marcus with the surname, though?" The lady looked him in the eye, slightly confused. "No, I'm afraid I haven't. Shall I have someone look into it?" The man shifted his neck a little, but refused to look at her, still. For a moment, he thought, his maw hanging open slightly, then closed it before answering her "No, no, that's quite alright. It's a name the detective brought up, but he requested to look into it himself, which I'm honestly fine with. I was just… wondering if you had heard of him in the past, but, if not, then he's probably not of importance to us. Not of importance to me." 

The two shared a few moments of silence between them, the background noise of the car and the city preventing a complete silence, though. Then, the car slowed down and eventually came to a halt. Nimue stepped out of the vehicle even before it had come to a full stop, then walked around it to open the door for the man inside, he grumbled something along the lines of a 'thanks' as he stepped up out of the car, suit case once more in hand. The sky was cloudy and the air humid, but in the area there was not a droplet of rain to be felt. The man started walking forward, followed closely by his associate. In his vision stood a massive tower of dark metals and glass, it reached far above anything else in the vicinity, something he had had the pleasure of confirming personally. Its convoluted black shapes painted it as a sort of fortress, then again, the man thought, to designate the place as such would not be too inaccurate. The tower stood in the centre of a city block, shaping the streets around it, and it was encircled by trees, each of the same species, each kept well alive and groomed. He walked up the long, stone tile stairway up to the sliding doors at the front of the building, which opened for him and Nimue the moment they approached them, granting the two access to the main lobby. There were various desks around the place for visitors, some guards in the room's corners, mostly concealed from the outside by the black spires on the corners of the walls. He eyed the guard to his far right swiftly, who nodded to him in acknowledgement, the creature simply walking past. The lobby was fairly empty, so he had no issue making his way to one of the four elevators at the other end of the room. He pressed the button set in the middle of the four, which glowed a dim shade of red after, and then waited. With a *ding* the closest elevator to his right opened up, which he stepped through briskly. The lady following him meanwhile took somewhat long strides to make her way into the elevator quickly without getting in the man's way or delaying him. The man extended his scaly, red finger to press the button on the elevator labelled '24'. The lady raised her eye at the man "Not going to 49?" The beast shook his head, "I have someone I wish to speak to first." "On the twenty-fourth floor?" She spoke with a sense of awe in her voice, wishing to confirm this is truly what the man was intending. "Yes, Nimue, on the twenty-fourth floor." He, too, emphasised the floor number the elevator was headed to. "It's one… Ingar? Something along those lines, anyway." The woman confirmed, "Ingram, you mean?" The man looked at her. "...Yeah, probably." Paused, then asked a question to the lady once he realised what just occurred. "Do you just… know the name of everyone who works here?" The lady obliged and answered him swiftly. "Yes, I find it imperative for your security, and it helps for situations like this. I also know the names of most employees in the company's other branches, though, less well." The man listened to her attentively. "Impressive, Nimue. Impressive as always." With the same *ding* heard previously, the elevator door opened to a much busier environment, filled with desks, paper, and phone calls being heard from all around. The pair walked through a few rows of cubicles, until they were at the end of the rows of desks, and the man quickly took a turn to his right, almost cutting through the corner of the adjacent desk itself.

"Ah, damnit…" A young woman with long, pitch-black hair was lying on her back on the floor in front of him. It would seem the man had walked into her path and tripped her up by accident. He had hardly even noticed. The young woman was holding a couple sheets of paper, but most she was holding previously was now on the floor, scattered around her. "Ah, sorry, I should've watched where I was going" She explained to the large man standing before her, her voice a little out of breath, as she scrambled, picking herself up on her hands and knees, and started picking papers off the floor, adding one by one to the few in her hand. Quickly judging the amount of papers now on the floor, the man figured it would take a while for her to do so, and thus rolled his eyes a little, and reluctantly crouched down to the floor after a moment, slowly laying the suitcase he was holding down onto the floor as well. "Thanks" the lady said. The man didn't respond.

He and the young lady in front of him picked up sheet after sheet, until both had gathered a small stack in their right hand. The man stood up, grabbing the papers with his left hand and his suitcase with his now, free, right hand, and the young woman stood up as well soon after. The man handed her the few papers in his hand, which she took and added to her own with a smile "Thank you, again." After a few seconds of the three standing there in silence, the beast looking the young girl up and down, the lady just nodded awkwardly and walked away at a somewhat fast pace. The man looked after her for a little, then continued on his own path. The lady questioned him "Any reason why you did that?" The man took no time to answer her, and he kept walking at his own, stoic pace. "I felt it might be of use to make a good first impression on Miss Andromeda." As the two kept walking, the man opened the metal door in front of him riddled with holes as designed, and stepped to the side, allowing Nimue through. "That was Miss Andromeda? How did you know?" The man followed through the small door, letting it fall shut behind him. "Nameplate."