"...If what I've been told is true, then the Department of Intelligence will have no choice but to verify your claims with an external investigation. Warrants, arrests, the whole nine yards." Smoke spilled from the captain's mouth as he spoke.

  "They must look into it as quickly as possible."

  "To be clear, Melton. It's not that I don't trust you. But cases like these that end up being really big threats to the empire will require some serious proof and evidence to make sure it's all right before action can be taken to eliminate the threat within our borders. Since you're the only one who has looked into the case, they're likely to take your words as they are but they will dig out their own version of the truth to match with yours, just to make sure the nation doesn't implode over a silly set of lies."

  "I understand." Any flatter and he’d sound like a man possessed.

  "Anyways, good work, Melton. It's one hell of a big fish you pulled out of the water in your first try. I'll update you as they move along the investigation; you ought to know stuff like this. After all's said and done, how about we get a drink? Celebrate a job well done."

  "I'll take you up on your deal, Captain," Melton replied. It wasn’t bad to go out drinking once in a while.

  "Then, I'll let you know when they've come up with more. You may leave."

  "Good afternoon, Officer Melton."

  "Good afternoon, sir."

  Melton could hardly afford his gaze to count the officer's numerous badges before greeting him as he took a seat.

  "I've read through the reports. Excellent work. Most investigations of this scale take upwards of a year to produce any tangible information to work off of. You've gone and accomplished a lot within half a year, of which I must offer my congratulations."

  "Thank you, Colonel."

  "Captain Sergal is on arranged leave for today, so I will be filling in for him for this update of events. We have found the Den of Sin based off of your description and several hounds have managed to enter. However, none could meet with the target named Elisabeth in the preliminary findings.

  We roughly know what she looks like, given the sketch attached to the folder, but the hounds have requested that you provide more detail regarding some of her features. I know that working in the field without trying to have your cover blown can take quite a toll on the mind, but I ask of you; is there any other detail that you can share with us?"

  Melton opened his mouth, as if he was ready to share, but the words couldn’t spill out of it. Melton tried to speak again, but the words simply refused to come out.

  Finally, a small trickle of information dripped out of his mouth. "Her height is about 165cm, her hair goes down to about her waist when let down. She has a tell of tucking her hair back behind her ear when she feels uncomfortable."

  Melton tried to divulge more, but his throat clogged. The words simply refused to spill as he cracked his mouth open once more to try and say anything else of value.

  "I'm sorry, Colonel, but there is really nothing more I can share with you without being completely sure."

  "That will suffice, Officer Melton. Thank you for sparing your well-earned time off to help us out today. Deary me, the trek back up to Headquarters is quite the distance..." The chair for guests in Sergal’s office creaked as the rounded colonel rose, ready to head back to HQ.

  "Thank you, Colonel."

  "It's the least I ought to do for someone who found a debilitating hole in Raul's iron wall."

  "Enter, Captain Sergal."

  His dress shoes signalled his arrival before he could knock.

  "Greetings, Colonel Portstern."

  A muffled greeting emerged behind his desk filled with paperwork, hiding his otherwise rounded figure. "Yes, good afternoon, Captain. Take a seat, but I'd almost prefer you stand; you won't be here for too long a chat."

  A plump face and rounded cheeks, accented by a handlebar moustache sprouted from the mountain of papers on his desk, holding a rather thick file of papers in his hands.

  "You give this a good read when you get back, but I'll summarize what I've called you in for. We'll be cracking down on the Den of Sin by Saturday."

  "That's awfully swift." Sergal sat down as he skimmed a few pages of the report.

  "It is. Usually these large cases are slow to action, but word got to Emperor Acelius, and his orders got the case expedited. So the operation team will be moving in about a day's time."

  "What did the Emperor say anyways?"

  Portstern gave his best impression of the Emperor as he recited the command, " 'Eliminate this threat within our borders as soon as possible. All who associate with the threat must not live. A week will be given to the Intelligence Department,' word for word."

  "Harsh, even by his standards."

  "I think so too, but this is rather serious in all regards. There's also something I wish to speak to you about, regarding Officer Melton." Sergal stopped reading, his body halting upon the mention of his protégée's name.

  "Yes?" Sapphire eyes met the dull brown of Portstern’s irises.

  The papers on the colonel’s table parted, heaps of documents falling to the floor as he leaned in with a grunt and asserted his arms on the table.

  "On your day off, I went to update Officer Melton regarding the case at your behest. At first, it was just a simple issue of seeing how much more he could remember about Elisabeth, the woman. But then he hesitated when I asked for details. The first thing you are taught when you arrive for work in the Department of Intelligence is to not speak unless you are sure."

  All the captain could show was a wry smile. Melton was always one to get wrapped up in trouble ever since he was young, and some things just never changed. "...I'm sorry. I've never been a good teacher, Colonel Portstern."

  "I understand, but the young man is good at what he does. And we are already short on hands, as you know. Don't let this break him. Make sure you talk him through what comes next, Sergal."

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "...I understand."

  The doors to Portstern's office slid shut following Sergal's dress shoes against the floor of the building.

  "Melton. The operation will commence on Saturday, 11.45pm."

  Melton remained seated in Sergal's office, yet his eyes seemed distant, staring beyond the office.

  "Melton!"

  "!... Yes, sir.” His raised voice jolted Melton from his daze.

  "Are you alright? You look like you've been through the ringer, buddy. Want a cigar?" Sergal's prosthetic whirred as it offered Melton a cigar from his case.

  His fingers pushed away the cigar. "Never smoked. Never will, but thanks. I've been having bad dreams as of late..."

  "Regardless of that, I figured that you ought to meet the operatives working on closing the case. Though I think you've already met some of them in the past..."

  The doors to Sergal's office flung open to two uniformed operators who moved into the office. One had sleek white hair swept to the side under his beret, his uniform spotted with badges that shone under the lights in the office. The other simply wore the standard army uniform like a blank slate that said little more than his name over the breast pocket and rank on the sleeve. His spiked blonde hair and the large cross-shaped scar on his forehead was quite the statement piece, entering the room before he could take a step into the office.

  "I would like to introduce to you Captain Aldrich and Lieutenant Dalton from the 156th Operations Unit. They, along with the 19 other members of Lieutenant Dalton's platoon will be conducting the operation to bring down the Den of Sin.

  "Huh, so you're the man behind this big scheme. If you were as great as your big brother, maybe you could've torn down that building before we had to step in. That's what Zeke would've done. Yet here you are, calling in janitors to clean up your mess-"

  Before his lieutenant could continue to disgrace himself, Captain Aldrich delivered a firm blow to the side of his subordinate's body, snuffing Sergal's cigar from afar.

  "Help yourself out before you can run your mouth any longer." Dalton's breath hitched painfully as he clutched the right side of his body while fumbling with the doorknob, leaving the office.

  "Sorry about the commotion. This hatchling tends to run his mouth quite often, despite his talents. I hope you can forgive him, young officer Melton."

  Melton shook his head, "Nothing I haven't heard already."

  "Do you have any questions for me, young officer Melton? I've been in the field for a while, so I'd imagine I'd be able to answer some of your queries if there are any."

  "...Would I be able to join in on the mission?"

  Captain Aldrich tilted his head to consult the all-knowing ceiling in the office, before his black beaded eyes adorned by thin, furrowed brows stared into green as he gave Melton the straight answer.

  "While it would be a sight to behold the skills of Zeke's younger brother, I'm afraid that I'll have to ask you to leave this job to the professionals. We're under some constraints to finish this fast, so I hope you understand. Any more questions, young officer?"

  After Melton shook his head, Captain Aldrich dismissed himself from the room, Melton looking at the captain's head on a lookout before the door shut.

  "Who's the foul-mouthed bastard?"

  "Dalton of House Arretium. Hates the meek and the two-faced, so you can guess how he felt about me as a kid. He's skilled, but ever since I put that scar on his forehead, he's been chasing after me ever since to get his get back."

  "Sounds like quite the obsession.”

  “By the way, captain. Are you sure that you’re allowed to let me know what’s going on in the field? Pretty sure that’s confidential.”

  “It’s not like you’re gonna run your mouth about those sorts of things, so might as well give you tidbits of the process here and there. Even pulled a few strings here and there. Well, I'll give you a debrief regarding the case on Tuesday when the dust settles, Melton. You may leave." Tobacco smoke drew a zigzag as it rose, his metal arm waving to dismiss Melton.

  "Elisabeth, what exactly did he do to you?"

  "No need to worry, Patricia. It'll all be fine. Don't forget you've got a break day tomorrow."

  "Look at yourself; how can I not worry?"

  Elisabeth's skin was a sickly shade of white as eye bags deep as eyeliner plagued her dull violet eyes. The sheen of her white hair had since faded, no longer shining under the lights.

  koff!

  "Elisabeth!"

  Specks of red spotted the ground as blood pooled in Elisabeth's hand. The past few days were still manageable, but it was slowly getting worse.

  "Ah, at this rate I won't be able to see him. Not like I would want to in this state..."

  "He did this to you, didn't he? I'll tear him a new one-"

  Elisabeth croaked, her voice hoarse from coughing up phlegm and blood: "I brought this upon myself, Patricia. Leave him out of this." Thin, slender fingers held back her forearm bulging with veins as Patricia could only watch helplessly as Elisabeth withered.

  "And even if you left, would you know where to find him? You don't remember his address, do you?" The rebuttal rendered her speechless.

  I hope he doesn't come around to find out before this place burns...

  That night, Melton couldn't sleep. His sheets were a mess from all the tossing and turning, but as he sat up on his bed, the view of a sunset flashed in his head. Great, now his dreams were starting before he slept? He’d wanted to get a good night’s rest as the weekend started, but things just refused to go his way regarding bedtime.

  Between haunting dreams of his past mistakes and a blurry figure muttering sweet nothings in black and white, he hadn’t gotten any real rest since the week began. At some point, the figure peeled off their face, but it simply revealed another layer of static that never left. The past coming after him was still a big deal, but this figure was really the bigger fish to fry here.

  Then yesterday, the figure's voice and face began to clear. It no longer sounded like static on a display, but the voice of a woman rang in his ears instead. It was muffled, like a message through a cup and string, but the woman had long hair and purple eyes. Occasionally, the scene would shift and his heart would ease as the vague, muted colours of the sunset would appear in his vision, but he still had no idea where or who the person was.

  “- -ov- --u -o-, yo- -umm-.”

  The only message he could even vaguely make out was nothing but a few bits of gibberish, mutilated by cuts of static between each supposed word.

  But today, the dream began to clear.

  The brilliant mix of crimson, gold and orange that made up the sunset on that day

  "You win, Mr. Officer. That's something I've never heard before."

  Elisabeth's clear, resplendent voice that rang like chimes in the wind.

  "Whatever, I think I like you better. You tell some interesting... Fairy tales? That's what they're called, right?"

  White hair and the smallest purple highlights that Melton grew to love staring at when she turned her back towards him.

  "Then I'll help you. Let's search for it, together. Two heads are better than one, after all. Let's make it so you never have to run away anymore."

  And her smile that outshone even the brightest star in the night sky.

  "I love you too, you dummy."

  The once faded memory of his lover returned to him in full. Every conversation, message and quip. Down to the time he left on each visit.

  But the captain’s words boomeranged back along with the sweet memories, cutting the reminiscence short.

  "The operation will commence on Saturday, 11.45pm."

  And an insidious, frigid chill ran through Melton’s back as he glanced towards the clock. A minute remained.

  Only one thought reverberated in his head as a bolt of blue blasted through the window of his house, racing towards those places of worship.

  Reach her before it was too late.