Late afternoon sunlight lit up the bustling paved thoroughfare as two male Azorius Arresters strolled through the open air markets of Tin Street. Tin Street was one of the oldest and busiest commercial centers of Ravnica's Tenth District and few civilians paid much mind to the blue cloaked law enforcers wearing their polished half plate armor. They both looked to be in their mid twenties and while they both had strong athletic builds, their faces lacked the grim and dour lines that the old grizzled Arrester veterans often developed later on in life.

Arrester Felix Novak cast a lazy glance around the crowded marketplace with his blue eyes before giving a small yawn, "Our patrol is almost over Cas. What do you say we finish up soon and head on down to that new tavern that just opened up on Ivy Lane? I hear they have some good meat pies and cute elven barmaids."

Arrester Casimir Janko gave an amused grin to his longtime friend and partner before shaking his head gently, "If you spent the same amount of effort chasing lawbreakers as you do chasing skirts, you'd be the Watch Commander of the District by now."

Felix laughed and shrugged as they passed a loxodon entertainer juggling various objects with its hands and its elephant trunk, "All right fine. Maybe I'll just ask someone else to go with me. How about that pretty legal secretary who works in the district's Sova branch office... what was her name again?"

"Lydia," Cas answered as he gave a sidelong glance.

"Right... the one who seemed to be pretty sweet on you the last time you and I were on subpoena serving duty over there."

Cas frowned in slight embarrassment and tried to change the subject, "Stay sharp Felix. We're still on duty and a lot can happen between now and then."

"Oh sure," the taller burlier Arrester sighed in boredom, "Maybe after a month of patrolling Tin Street, we can finally bring our pickpocket arrest number up to a whopping four. Then all of Ravnica will be safe at last."

Cas chuckled and gently rolled his eyes while continuing on with his patrol. In a way, the young Arrester could sympathize with his best friend. Things had been relatively uneventful in the Tenth District of late and while the peace and quiet was welcomed, it still made for tedious foot patrols. It was ironic that the city guild he had aligned himself to would be happy with this peaceful status quo, yet part of him inwardly hoped for something to actually happen. After all, if there were no crimes to stop, then how would a young ambitious patrolman like him ever get promoted?

A few goblin couriers scurried by underfoot while the two friends passed by a minotaur merchant and a bunch of scholarly vedlaken having a political debate on the corner. Seeing that everything was in good order, the Arresters turned to make their way back to the precinct headquarters when they heard cries for help coming from the doors of one of the nearby tenement buildings.

Casimir instinctively put his hand to the hilt of his gladius short sword before nodding to his partner, "Let's go!"

The two Arresters pushed past a small crowd that was beginning to form near the entrance to the old sandstone apartment building. At the doorway, they could see a panicked young woman with long black hair scrambling to get outside, "Somebody please help! He's going to kill us! He's going to kill us!"

Felix stopped the frantic woman as she ran into him and he restrained her in his arms, "Slow down Miss. Everything is ok. Who's trying to hurt you?"

"My ex-husband Pavel!" she exclaimed in tears, "He's upstairs with a knife... he's already stabbed my boyfriend Lukas!"

Cas turned his sharp brown eyes inside only to see Lukas, a young fair haired man not much older than him stagger out the doorway holding his side. The entire left side of the victim's tunic was covered in blood from what looked to be a deep knife wound. The woman gasped again as Lukas collapsed to the ground in a heap. Felix immediately ripped a piece of his own blue cloak off and went to the victim's side, applying pressure to the wound.

"Everyone make room! Call the Wojeks! Call a hussar!" Cas shouted to the crowd. Gripping his short sword, Cas turned back to the doorway of the building and poked his head inside. From the winding stairwell above, Cas spotted Pavel, the gaunt scruffy man rushing down the steps holding a bloody knife. Upon seeing the Arrester, Pavel skidded to an abrupt halt and turned to rush back up the stairs toward the roof.

"Hey! You! Stop right there!" Cas shouted preparing to give chase.

"Cas! Hold on!" Felix called from the doorway. The broad shouldered Arrester was still giving first aid to the stab victim, and shot his partner a grave look, "We should wait for backup! This guy is in bad shape!"

"We can't let that attacker get away," Cas argued quickly, "Just stay with the victim. I'll be careful, ok?"

Felix grimaced to his friend before giving a nod and turning back to the crowd, "Hey! Are there any healers here?"

Meanwhile, Casimir Janko charged up the dark winding stairwell after Pavel. Despite his heavy steel armor clattering loudly though the stairwell, Cas pushed himself, hoping to use his momentum to catch the assailant. Huffing and puffing with desperation, the shaggy haired man known as Pavel reached the top of the stairs and kicked open the wooden door leading to the rooftops.

As he scrambled back out into the glare of the late afternoon sun, Pavel looked about, trying to judge if he could make a leap across the roof to the top of another nearby building. He was interrupted from his thoughts as Cas burst from the narrow doorway and reached for his gladius.

"Stop right there! By order of the Azorius Senate, put down your weapon!" Cas commanded.

Pavel desperately glanced about and saw there was nowhere left for him to go.

"Put down the dagger!" the Arrester shouted again.

The scruffy man raised his hands before slowly lowering both arms, as if to put his weapon back down on the ground. Just as the disheveled man put both hands on the ground, he scooped up a handful of dust and dirt from the rooftops and threw it in the Arrester's face.

Cas sputtered as he was momentarily blinded and tackled by the attempted murderer. As the two combatants hit the ground hard, Cas felt Pavel's dagger strike a glancing blow off the side of his helmet before the Arrester reached out and grappled his attacker's arms.

Using his own martial training, Casimir painfully twisted Pavel's wrist to disarm him before using another counter move to throw the attacker facefirst to the turf. Pavel gave another pained grunt and tried to break free before Cas twisted the murder's arm behind his back and restrained him from thrashing any further. As he caught his breath, the Arrester pulled out a small pair of iron manacles and locked them tightly around the criminal's wrists.

"Ok dirtbag, I'm placing you under arrest for attempted murder, resisting arrest, and assaulting an officer of the law."

As Pavel relaxed and gave up struggling, Cas gave a relieved sigh and inwardly patted himself on the back for his impressive solo arrest. He took a quick look around the calm rooftops and wondered how things were going down below with Felix and the victims. Certainly all the commotion would have attracted the attention of the Boros Wojeks or some other Azorius officers by now.

Deciding not to waste any more time, Cas hauled the criminal to his feet only to notice a black ink tattoo on Pavel's forearm. There was no mistaking the sinister skull-like mark of the Rakdos cult. Taking violent criminals off the streets was one thing, but being able to take down one of the cult's bloodthirsty followers would make the arrest today all the more satisfying.

"All right pal, let's get moving," Cas grinned to himself while escorting his new prisoner, "You wanna get over your ex-wife? You've now got a hot date with a detention sphere."

Upon reaching the ground floor of the apartment building, Cas was surprised to find a trio of the Boros guild's Wojeks had arrived to help stabilize the stab victim and keep the rest of the crowd under control. Two of the red and white garbed soldiers kept the crowd at a safe distance with their long steel halberds while the third helped Felix staunch the victim's wound. Seeing that the third Wojek appeared to be a trained medic, Felix gladly stepped aside and let the female Boros warrior work over the victim with her kit of bandages, salves, and healing magic.

While Felix waited, he saw the crowds begin to part, allowing for two heavily armored Azorius hussars to ride up on their warhorses. He immediately recognized the face of the impressive horseman leading the way, Nikolai Resnik, a fellow Arrester who had been promoted earlier in the year.

"Arrester Novak! What's going on here?" Nikolai called as he rode up and dismounted his black stallion.

Felix gave a respectful nod and gestured to the scene in front of him, "Sir, we have what looks to be an attempted murder. Arrester Janko and I responded to a call for help from this lady here. She claimed her ex-husband stabbed her boyfriend with a knife and was attempting to kill them both."

Nikolai removed his helmet with a haughty air and the red haired man glanced about the scene in the streets, "And where is the assailant?"

Just then, Cas emerged from the entrance of the apartment building with his prisoner in tow. Felix gave a relieved smile as Cas handed off the criminal to him before removing his own helmet, his short dark hair now matted down with sweat. "Cas! I can't believe it! You got the perp!"

Cas gave a tired nod to his partner before glancing at the scene in front of him and then to Nikolai. A dark expression crossed his face but he gave a quick salute, "Officer Resnik, I've apprehended the attacker, sir."

Nikolai glanced to his old colleague and frowned, "It looks like you've also apprehended an injury to the side of the head. You're bleeding, Janko."

Cas touched the side of his head and was surprised to find a little bit of blood on his glove. He hadn't even realized that he had suffered a minor head wound from getting struck during the fight on the roof, "It's nothing sir. I'll be fine."

Nikolai shook his head, "Come on Janko, you should get that looked at by the medic here when she's done with the victim. Let me take your guy in for booking and..."

Cas took hold of the attempted murderer and fixed Nikolai with a hard glare, "And steal my arrest again, sir?"

Nikolai huffed in frustration, "Oh let it go Janko! That was a long time ago! It only happened once and I said I was sorry."

"Officer Resnik, law enforcers do not steal each others arrests," Cas said defiantly. It was a known fact in the precinct that Nikolai had a history of poaching other people's hard earned arrests in order to put himself on the fast track to promotion.

Felix reached out and put a hand on his partner's shoulder, "Cas... buddy, be careful how you're talking. Resnik's a superior officer now."

Just then, Nikolai's partner, a bald lanky hussar by the name of Cezary dismounted from his own black horse and stepped forward, "Calm down Arrester Janko. I'll take the prisoner in for you as a neutral third party here, ok? You should get patched up and take the statements of any witnesses."

Cas grimaced again and grudgingly handed over his prisoner and evidence to Cezary. In a way, the hussar was right. He probably did need medical attention and there was still a lot of work to do here in sorting out the incident. As the hussars mounted up and began to head back to the precinct headquarters, Felix put a hand on Cas's shoulder to lead him back to the crime scene, "Come on partner. First things first."

After getting his head wound cleaned and bandaged, Cas finished up at the crime scene and headed back to the Tenth District's precinct headquarters along with his partner Felix. By now, late afternoon had turned to evening. The bright sun had dipped below the city skyline bringing with it the gentle light of the stars, punctuating the blues and purples of the evening skies.

After returning to the administrative offices of the precinct building, Cas and Felix stopped in to file their incident reports and close out their shifts. After handing over a small sheaf of papers, Cas glanced over to the bulletin board where new prisoners were entered. As he read down the list of names of arresting officers, his eyes went wide when he caught sight of Nikolai Resnik. Next to his name was credit for the detention of a Rakdos cultist in an attempted murder... dated today.

Cas clenched his fists in rage and gave a low growl while marching quickly out of the office.

After submitting his own report, Felix turned and caught sight of his partner quickly stalking off toward the meeting rooms of returning patrolmen. He hurried over to fall in step beside his friend while wearing a concerned look, "Cas? Hey, what's wrong?"

"Resnik!" Cas fumed as they walked down the polished marble floors of the district station, "That slimy bastard did it again! He stole my collar!"

The two young Arresters passed by a few Azorius clerks and lawmages in blue robes before turning a corner and heading into a room full of returning hussars. As he marched into the lounge, Cas spotted Nikolai joking loudly with a handful of his fellow hussars, all of them still adorned in their immaculate ornamented plate armor. "Resnik! What the hell?"

Nikolai turned around in surprise before giving an amused smile and waving off his fellow hussars from intervening. "Arrester Janko, you finally made it back. Is there a problem?"

"You bet there is," Cas fumed, "And don't play dumb, sir. You know what you did."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Cas narrowed his eyes, "You and Cezary stole my collar and then took credit for the arrest this afternoon. The bulletin board doesn't lie."

Nikolai grinned again with a mocking laugh, "You may have caught that Rakdos scumbag, but when I brought him back to the precinct, I got him to make a full confession. It'll be a gift wrapped case for our Advokists to prosecute. That's why I'm on mounted patrol now and you're still just pounding the pavement."

The two men stared each other down for a long moment and Cas closed his fist preparing to strike when Felix stepped in and restrained his partner, "Don't do it Casimir. It's not worth losing your badge over."

Cas glanced over toward the other hussars who closed in and stood ready to jump in if a fight broke out.

"Come on partner, just walk away," Felix urged, "We'll cool out over a few pints of ale at that tavern, huh?"

Casimir Janko growled and stalked out of the precinct building followed by the sounds of the hussars' mocking laughter trailing behind him.

Later that evening, the off duty Arresters Casimir Janko and Felix Novak sat in the bar of the Goldleaf Inn, the new tavern that had opened up on Ivy Lane. They had dressed back down to plain tunics and slacks to fit in with the civilian crowds that they would normally be policing. The local neighborhood was primarily made up of Elves and humans and the decorum reflected a more natural earthy aesthetic. Much of the furniture and paneling was made from Selesnyan trees and the carved designs throughout the tavern reflected that of flowers and leaves. Nearby, a warm fire crackled in the corner while a thin cloud of sweet smelling pipe smoke hung in the air.

Amid the laughter and banter of the other tavern patrons who were eating and drinking, Cas sat with a dour frown looking into his half empty mug of ale. Felix sat quietly and finished drinking his ale before giving his partner a sympathetic look, "You know Cas, I was thinking... maybe if we go tell our commanding officer about this..."

"No," Cas replied, "It's not going to do any good. In the end it's just going to be my word against Nikolai's and he'll have the upper hand due to his rank."

At that moment, an attractive blonde Elven waitress came to the table to pick up their drinks. Felix gave her a charming wink and handed her a gold coin to buy another round of drinks, "Keep the change."

As she smiled and walked off, the burly fair featured Arrester turned back to his friend, "So then what are you going to do? You can't just sit and let Resnik get away with this either."

Cas remained silent, still pondering his next course of action.

After a pause, Felix gave another thoughtful sigh, "You know... it's kinda ironic. It's our job to stop criminals and thieves, and here we have one of our own acting like a thief himself."

Cas perked up in his seat as a slow smile began to form on his lips, "Wait... that's it Felix! You just gave me a great idea!"

"I did?"

Cas nodded to his partner with a sly grin, "We'll fight fire with fire. Nikolai Resnik is a thief who took something from me... so, what better way to get back at him than taking something of his."

"Oh boy... I really hope you're not planning on breaking the law Cas," Felix muttered in apprehension.

Arrester Casimir Janko shook his head with a conspiratorial smile, "Don't worry partner. We're going to do this by the book... but I'm going to need some help."