"Okay." Sonoda said as the pair slumped into their chairs. They had gotten as far as across the Library Island's bridge before giving up and slumping into seats in front of a cafe looking out onto the island. Neither had bothered to tell the waiter off, so now the pair of them had two small espressos sitting in front of them. "Can we talk about what the hell just happened?"

"We were attacked over the case." Yue summarized.

"I meant more on the fact that you are a freaking magical girl." Sonoda replied.

"I am not a magical girl." Yue shot back was a glare.

"You had a transformation sequence!" Sonoda replied in a burst of energy before slumping back onto the table. "Seriously, this town prepares you for a lot but this is on a whole different level."

"Well," Yue replied. "I can try and explain if you'd like."

"Don't you have some sort of law against that?" Sonoda asked.

Yue shrugged. "You found out for legitimate reasons. Plus, if I claim you as a contact in the Special District Office I can probably defend you knowing everything." She took a sip of her drink before continuing. "interested."

Sonoda stared at her for a moment before sighing. "Sure, why not – worst comes to worst, you'll just erase my memories anyway. So – what can you tell me?"

Yue started simple – basics of magic, who she used to work for, that sort of thing. Then she worked her way out to politics, the nature of Mundus Magicus, and history. It was an explanation that took quite a while, with several pauses along the way whenever she thought a waiter or pedestrian got too close. Then again, after the debacle in the library, neither was interested in staying on their feet.

"So," Sonoda said as she finished her explanation with a discussion of inter-world crime. "You think this guy is some sort of smuggler?"

"Maybe." Yue replied. "But something seems off. Smugglers don't usually kill people."

"Crime bosses do." Sonoda replied. "If only to make a point about failure or something."

"So, what did our grilled friend do to bring down his boss's wrath?" Yue asked.

"Well, whatever it is, they think we've caught on." Sonoda replied. "Given how hard they tried to kill us."

"Might be the magic guns you have in your lab." Yue suggested.

"...magic guns?" Sonoda replied, leveling a stare at Yue before, after a moment, his expression dropped. "Oh gods you're serious."

"Those things your lab tech was working with are a form of focus." Yue explained. "They convert magical energy into pure thermal and kinetic force – no fuss, no muss. Similar sort of technology was used for Mahorefest while I was still in school."

Sonoda blinked owlishly. "You mean that martian invasion thing? The one that you said was an actual martian invasion?"

"The same." Yue nodded before adding. "Though, we thought she was joking about the mars bit at the time. Can you blame us?"

"The time traveling mad scientist mage says she's from Mars." Sonoda deadpanned. "And that last bit is what breaks your suspension of disbelief?"

"I had seen the magic and time travel for myself." Yue replied. "Hadn't seen Mars yet."

"Mars." Sonoda said. "Which has an artificial world grafted onto it thats just out of phase or something."

"Though not quite as out of phase as before." Yue explained. "Think of it as different polarities at the same frequency. It makes travel between world much more straight forward for a lot of groups."

Sonoda stared at Yue again. "I was being sarcastic with that last one, you do realize?"

"Well, it was still a perfectly valid question." Yue ignored Sonoda's head hitting the table with a thud as she continued. "So, if we operate on the assumption that this has to do with those magic weapons, then we can work backward from there. We know that our victim was working with the smugglers, and that he did something to offend our suspect, who we assume was his employer. Any idea's on what that might be?"

"That report said that their contact had had them change where they were sending shipments to, right?" Sonoda said after a moment. "If I was some sort of magic crime boss, I'd be pretty pissed if one of my underlings was selling my goods on the side or something."

"So we work our way backwards." Yue suggested. "Start at the movers and back trace the supply route."

"Except that none of the people we have actually know the rest of the route." Sonoda pointed out. "They just picked up and moved between drop-offs."

"But the middle-men would have known." Yue replied as she leaned back in her chair. "They were in charge of setting the drops so they must have known at least some of the rest of the route."

"The only middleman we have is the roast in the morgue." Sonoda replied.

"Not quite." Yue replied with a small smile. "Remember the new guy they mentioned?"

"The guy with the face tattoos?" Sonoda said with a blink. "We don't even know where he is!"

"We can make a guess." Yue suggested. "He's probably as nervous about being caught by us as getting caught by our killer. I'd bet good money he's at least trying to keep tabs on us."

"You think?" Sonoda asked.

Yue shrugged. "If the first kill was supposed to be a message, then it would make sense he knows who's hunting him. If he knew enough about the smuggling route to be able to start stealing from it, then he was probably involved somehow."

"An inside job." Sonoda summarized.

"Exactly." Yue replied. "Which means that our killer probably knows who he is. I'd wager our tattooed man has also figured the same thing."

"So," Sonoda said as he finished the last of his coffee. "You think this other middleman started stealing from his boss with some help, and ran for it when the boss found out and roasted his partner?"

"Exactly." Yue replied. "And he can't get out of town without getting caught – the trains, bridges and magical gateways out are all easy to keep an eye on."

"So he's trying to stay low and he thinks we're hunting him." Sonoda said. "Great."

"On the other hand," Yue replied. "It's possible he's hunting us."

"So there is an off chance that he's within a thousand yards of us at any given moment." Sonoda said. "How do we find him."

"Easy." Yue replied as she stood from her seat. "We wait for him to come to us. In the mean time, we keep doing our job."

"Still means we need another lead." Sonoda replied as he fished a few bills from his pocket and dropped them onto the table. "That research get you anything?"

"Only that he was using artifacts to enhance his abilities." Yue explained. "That was how he could dodge my spells, and how he disappeared. It was also probably how he killed the victim."

"So that melted ruby glass at the scene was leftover from some sort of magic grenade." Sonoda said as he mulled over the new information. "Well, he has to be getting gear like that from somewhere."

"And my research told us where." Yue replied. "The old Ostian ruins."

"That crashed floating city?" Sonoda replied. "How on earth would he have gotten in there?"

"There's only one way I can think of," Yue replied. "But you aren't going to like it."

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them were standing in one of Mahora's iconic squares and craning their necks back to look up at their target of interest. "You're right." Sonoda said flatly. "I don't like it."

The massive canopy of the World Tree stretched out above them, Its gargantuan trunk casting a shadow across a couple of nearby blocks. A tree that massive could probably affect the local weather, and Yue idly noted she needed to ask a University Meteorology department about that when she had the chance. "The tunnels near its roots are the only possible route in and out of the town that our guy could possibly be using."

"Yeah, I'd agree." Sonoda replied. "If you hadn't explicitly told me about all the monsters down there waiting to eat people."

"Technically only the dragon tried to eat us." Yue corrected. "They could be tapping into the Tree for power."

"Not the point." Sonoda replied. "The point is that by your own word, the Tree only works occasionally. So, why would he be down there?"

"Most likely? He found a route in the tunnels leading out of the city or a way to covertly access the Gate system." Yue replied. "We just have to figure out if that's the case."

"So you want to go running around in the undercity tunnels." Sonoda said with a sigh. "Dammit. I hate it down there."

"Why?" Yue asked as she turned to the Inspector with a grin. "Scared of the dark?"

"Its wet and dark and a gorram maze." Sonoda replied. "I'd rather run around the Paris catacombs blindfolded. At least everything down there is already dead. Doesn't help that you told me there's a dragon somewhere down there."

"So we bring some lights and avoid the dragon." Yue said with a shrug. "Also, I can get us a map."

Sonoda raised an eyebrow. "How?" Yue replied by holding up her pactio card. "Right." Sonoda let out another sigh. "alright – lead the way."

As the pair started across the square, Sonoda took a quick glance around before leaning closer to Yue. "See him yet?" he whispered.

"No." Yue whispered back. "Remember – guy with tattoo's on his face."

"Haven't seen him." Sonoda replied. "You sure he'd be reckless enough to let us see him?"

"He will if he thinks we're looking the other way." Yue replied. "For now, just keep an eye out. If we get close to something, he might panic and make a mistake."

"Something like what?" Sonoda hissed back, but Yue ignored him and continued to lead the way across the square. Sonoda could only grumble as he followed after her, and after a short walk the pair took a turn down a small alley between a bookstore and a coffee shop. "Now what?"

"Now," Yue replied. "I can check the map." She pulled out the card and held it in front of her. "Adeat."

The card glowed and an instant later her book materialized and settled into her waiting outstretched hand. As soon as she cracked it open, the collection of holographic-like screen materialized around her, glowing faintly blue in the darkness of the alley.

"Nice piece of kit." Sonoda said as he poked at one of the screens and watched his finger pass through it like it wasn't even there. "Can it play tetris?"

"No." Yue replied. "But it can get us any piece of documentation on the tunnels if it exists in the magical world." The screen's exploded with a collection of maps and charts as soon as the words had finished leaving her mouth. She smiled as she saw one map in particular. "It seems Negi uploaded his father's map to somewhere – how convenient."

"Negi – that was your english teacher who got you involved in all of this, right?" Sonoda asked. "The genius ten year old?"

"Yes." Yue said as he scanned through the other maps. "Though he's not ten now, obviously."

"I'm surprised he's not thirty given how much you said he used that time-bottle thing." Sonoda replied. "So, McDowell...she's an actual vampire?"

"The most powerful on record." Yue said without looking up from her work. "Why?"

"Might explain a few things." Sonoda replied with a shrug. "I imagine she still needs to feed at least occasionally?"

"I think she might get it from blood banks?" Yue replied, tapping a finger on her cheek as she considered it. "You know, I never really asked her about it."

"Let me get this straight." Sonoda leaned around Yue so he could actually look her in the face as she worked. "You know an actual, honest-to-god vampire, who is a self-admitted villain, and you didn't ask her about where she gets her meals?"

"Pretty much." Yue replied before her display beeped. "Ah, here we are. Looks like the ISSDA did a ground-piercing MIDAR survey about six months ago."

"What's MIDAR?" Sonoda asked.

"Magic Interference, Detection and Ranging." Yue explained. "Lets them get an accurate 3D map even with all the magical interference due to what's down there."

Sonoda just stared at her for a beat. "...okay, now you're just making shit up."

Yue dismissed the displays with a wave of her hand, plucking her pactio card out of her air and returning it to her coat pocket. "Come on. There's an entrance three blocks to the south. The walk underground is a long longer than it is on the surface due to the meandering, but it shouldn't be too bad." She fell back a little until she was in stride with Sonoda. See anything?"

"Would you stop asking?" Sonoda shot back. "I thought mages were supposed to be subtle or something. Trust me – if I see him, you'll be the first to know."

Reluctantly, Yue went back to leading the way to the entrance to the underground. The route took them out of the alley and back into the main square, once again staying the the edges as they avoided the worst of the crowds. As they worked their way through the square, Yue felt a hand on her shoulder as Sonoda stepped up behind her. "I think I spotted him."

Yue resisted the urge to simply start looking around, instead whispering back. "Where?"

"About twenty meters back and to our right." Sonoda replied. "He keeps ducking behind other people and looks flighty as hell."

"We should grab him before he runs." Yue suggested.

Sonoda shook his head. "No dice – we'd never be able to catch up to him. Better bet is to string him along and grab him when he have a better chance."

"A trap it is then." Yue replied. "There should be a good spot once we get closer to the entrance." The two continued on, taking a left onto a small side-street. On such a sparsely populated street, their tail had a much harder time staying hidden, but he managed – ducking between building corners and stacks of crates left out on the back road. No doubt the opposite sides of these buildings were eye-catching storefronts, but this street led you to the back-of-house.

A block and a half down the street and the pair came to a stop before a large pair of metal doors that were built into the side of the street. "Okay," Yue announced. "According to that map, this lift should drop us straight into an unfinished basement. Half these storefronts are built on the remains of old buildings – from there, we can get into the underground proper."

"Great." Sonoda replied. "One problem – these lifts are one way. They only operate from the inside."

Yue replied by pulling out her wand and muttering a quick spell. The door's swung open with a heavy crash. Yue knelt down and hit a switch that brought the lift to life with a shutter and a screech. "Some of these old lifts also have emergency access options. Usually you need a fire department key to get the doors open, but when all you have is a wand..."

"Everything looks like a nail." Sonoda completed. "So, how deep is this exactly?"

Yue shrugged. "About five stories. This is one of the shallower sections."

Sonoda stared at her for a minute before staring down at the ground between his feet. "Tell me again how half this town hasn't collapsed into its own underground?"

"Robust engineering." Yue replied with a shrug. "And maybe a little magic."

"Wonderful." Sonoda replied as his shoulder's slumped. "Now I'm gonna be worried about my apartment building disappearing into a sinkhole or something. Thank you for that."

"No problem." Yue said with a small shrug and a smirk as she gestured to the lift. "Please. After you."

Sonoda leaned over the edge and stared down at the aged metal platform that was the lift sitting a good meter or so below. "Yeah...no. You weigh less. And you can fly. So, ladies first."

Yue muttered something about chicken before hopping down and landing on the platform with a thud. "See?" Yue jumped up and down on the platform. "Perfectly stable. Now can we get going please?"

"Fine, fine..." Sonoda grumbled before he jumped on as well, landing with a slightly heavier thud. After a moment, the lift groaned back to life and the lift began its slow decent, the sound petering out until silence returned to the alley.

A moment later, their jumpy tail poked out of his hiding spot before slowly beginning to edge his way over to the still open lift and peering down into the shadows below. When the lift was raised, it would have risen until it was just below street level. Now however it was gone, leaving the short ladder and small control box hanging in mid-air, along with the small maintenance space just below the street stuffed full of mechanical equipment. "oh no." He muttered. "nononono..."

"NOW!"

The tail gave out a shriek as an arm reached out from inside the shaft, grabbing him by his shirt collar before he could recoil back and dragging him down and hurling him down toward the center of the shaft. He let out another shriek that was cut off as he felt the wind get knocked out of him as his back collided with something hard.

He was nearly hyperventilating as he cracked his eyes open and looked below him, seeing the shimmering semi-transparent floor he was now pinned against before moving upward to the two figures standing in the middle of elevator shaft. His eyes drifted forward to the Inspector who had him pinned to the barrier with one arm. He was grinning. The mage next to him was also grinning. For some reason her grin scared him a lot more than his did.

"So," Sonoda started as he hit the lift button with his other hand, the mechanism groaning to life again as the platform further below began its climb back upward. "What brings you around here?"

The tail sputtered and just stared at the pair with wide eyes. Yue just let out a sigh. "Okay, lets start with something simple. You have a name?"

"Y-Yes!" he finally managed. "I-I h-have a name."

"Care to share it?" Yue asked."

"M-Meegeren." He stammered. "My name is Meegeren."

"Okay, Meegeren." Meegeren's eyes darted to the Inspector has he spoke. "What did you do to piss off your boss so badly? You steal some of his toys?"

"H-He wasn't supposed to find out!" Meegeren sputtered. "How did you?"

"We got some of your wares." Sonoda replied. "One of the guys that came with it mentioned you. And your roasted friend had that nifty little handkerchief with that funny little mark."

"And we put one and one together." Yue replied. "So, who was buying them?"

"And where can we find your boss?" Sonoda added. Before Meegeren could reply the lift crashed to the top below them, dispelling the translucent shield and dropping all of them onto the steel platform.

All three of them paused as the steel beneath them groaned, and the trio stared down at the aged, rusted, rickety lift before, slowly, looking up at each other. "Sonofa-"

Sonoda was cut off as the lift gave out beneath them and plunged downward.

All three of them screamed, Sonoda yelling a steady string of curses in Japanese while Yue opted for Latin and a smattering of Greek. Mr. Meegeren, meanwhile, opted for a nearly continuous high-pitched scream.

Part of Yue's brain – the one not currently occupied by her flight-or-flight response – noted that they seemed to be descending at less than terminal velocity, which was good for their chances of survival once they reached the bottom – which should be momentarily.

Surprisingly, the lift began to slow as they neared the end, sparks shooting from the guide rails before the lift finally came to a crashing, bone-jarring, but thankfully survivable stop at the bottom that left all of them sprawling.

"Okay." Sonoda groaned. "That sucked. Why didn't you magic something?"

"My mistake." Yue replied as she waited for the world to stop spinning. "I was busy being terrified. Where'd our guy go?"

"Uh...Oh." Sonoda replied as he looked down. "I landed on him." Their guy was currently splayed out and quite effectively pinned by the fact that the Inspector was sitting on him.

"Well," Yue replied as she got to her feet with only some minor wobbling, "get off him and make sure he's still breathing."

Sonoda complied, pulling himself off the poor bloke before roughly pulling him up to his feet by his collar. Meegeren gave a little squeak of surprise, flailing for a moment before he was set back down on his feet. The inspector turned back to Yue. "He's good."

"Ugh..." Meegeren groaned. "My head..."

"Okay." Sonoda corrected himself. "Mostly good."

"That's good enough." Yue finished dusting herself off before fishing her wand out of her pocket. A quick muttered spell, and the tip of the focus lit up with a pale blue glow. Yue's visage must have been at least somewhat unsettling, half-shadowed under the eerie light of the wand, since Meegeren gulped nervously as he watched her approach. "So," She asked. "Whats down here?"

"I-I don't know!" he stammered in a panic. "I've never been down here before!"

Yue studied him for a moment, trying to see if he was lying, but that didn't seem to be the case. "Well then, I suggest you stick with us if you don't want to run afoul of some of the nasties running around under her."

"You said there was a dragon down here, right?" Sonoda asked nonchalantly as he checked his revolver. "I would love to see a dragon...assuming it wouldn't eat us."

"I'm more worried about the golems, to be honest." Yue replied. In front of her, Meegeren was losing what little color he had. "The dragon isn't as mobile usually."

"Y-Your bluffing." Meegeren stammered. "There are no monsters down here. I would have heard about it. All those stories are just..."

"Things you heard about." Yue replied.

That made Meegeren draw up short. He froze for a moment before what little color was still in his face fled for the hills. "Please!" He pleaded, dropping to his knees in front of Yue. "I don't wanna die!"

"Oh, grow up." Sonoda cut him off and pulled him back to his feet. "If you cared about your skin that much, you shouldn't have pissed off the warlock you were working for."

"We never did learn where they were getting moved to after you took them." Yue commented as she walked past Sonoda and started examining the tunnel ahead of them. It was roughly cut rock, more akin to a mining shaft then the highly finished areas she had seen in her youth. "So, who was your buyer?"

"He never gave me a name." Meegeren replied as Sonoda walked him forward, keeping one arm pinned behind his back as they followed Yue. "Hell, I never even saw his face. He contacted me via the mail."

"This side or the other side?" Yue asked.

"The other." Meegeren replied. "Megloabresian post. No return address, and nothing I tried could backtrace it."

"Well, they're clever." Yue replied as she paused just long enough to indicate to the pair behind her an over-sized stone sticking out of the ground. "So this letter told you to deliver them around on this side?"

"Right." Meegeren nodded as he stepped over the rock. "I'd drop the goods where the letter told me to, and the next day all that would be there would be the payment and a letter detailing the next order."

"How'd he pay?" Sonoda asked.

Meegeren shrugged nervously. "All sorts of ways – Japanese Yen, gold dust, Ostian coin – one time he paid in diamonds."

"Interesting." Yue said as she mulled it over in her head. "So was it just the weapons?"

"Weapons, foci, potions ingredients." Meegeren listed off the items. "Anything we were smuggling, he wanted some of."

"Sounds like your mystery buyer was stockpiling for something." Yue commented.

"Stockpiling for what?" Sonoda asked.

"Maybe nothing." Yue said with a shrug. "Maybe he's just paranoid."

"Paranoid and rich." Sonoda added. "I mean, who pays with diamonds?"

"Somebody who doesn't want anything to be traceable back to them." Yue replied. "Which could mean anything."

"Well, thats just what we need." Sonoda grumbled. "More freaking mysteries."

"Well, lets focus for now on the immediate one." Yue replied as they rounded a corner. At the far end a glowing oval of light indicated the exit. "Oh, good – we're almost to one of the more built-up areas."

"What does that even mean, anyway?" Sonoda asked as they started up the gentle slope toward the end of the tunnel. "This is all just a bunch of tunnels and..." He trailed off as he stepped out of the tunnel and into the cavern. "...woah."

The chamber was a good ten, maybe fifteen stories tall – the tunnel behind them must have slanted downward for a while before ending. The cavern extended far enough to the left and right that the floor vanished out of sight. Ahead of them the far side of the cavern as even further away, much of the far side lost to view behind columns and larger, temple-like structures. All of the buildings looked Egyptian, or maybe Greek. Large carved stone columns and plinths. One of the further structures looked like it might have been based on the pantheon. "This is has all been down here for...how long?"

Yue shrugged. "Ages. I'm not familiar with this part of the ruins, but from what I understand mages have been building under around around the world tree for a very, very long time. The ruins in here likely date to around the greek period, just going by the designs."

"So..." Sonoda asked as they started forward. There were plants growing down here, watered by the spring that flowed through the cavern and lit from above by lights that Sonoda couldn't identify. "...The greek's visited Japan?"

"Mage's didn't travel by the usual means." Yue replied as she climbed over a fallen column. "Most likely? They accidentally ended up drawn in by the World Tree during one of its cycles and were stranded here. Most of the ruins down here are either from the precursors to the Kanto Magic Association or from Europeans after trade started. Puts something of a bound on how old the ruins can generally be."

"But why build down here?" Sonoda asked. "Trying to hide?"

"Trying to get closer." Yue replied as she pointed out a small stone shrine they were walking past. It was small only compared to the massive temple just across the cavern. It resembled a stone mausoleum with most of the walls removed. In the center of it, a massive root emerged out of the ground, arcing over like the back hump of a sea serpent before disappearing back into the ground. "They're after the tree."

"They worshipped the tree?" Meegeren asked as they walked past the small shrine, curiosity temporarily making him forget to be terrified.

"Some worshipped the tree," Yue replied. "Others were trying to tap into it as a power source."

"So this is where worlds collide..." Sonoda replied. "Well, one of the places. Do you know which way you're going?"

"Not a clue." Yue replied honestly. "The more...I guess you could call them 'well trafficked' tunnels are roughly this way. Once we reach an area I'm more familiar with we'll be able to make more progress."

"What if the guy we're looking for finds us first?" Sonoda asked. Ahead of him, Yue stopped as his words registered before she turned to look at him. Sonoda arced an eyebrow. "Did you really not think of that?"

"I was assuming that he was depending on obscurity for his security." Yue replied before turning to Meegeren. "Where did most of the hand-offs with your boss occur?"

"N-Near the waterfront!" he replied hastily.

"Probably using the drainage system for his main routes then." Sonoda suggested. "They'd be better mapped then the mage tunnels."

"They also feed into the same tunnels the Martians used a long time back." Yue added.

"You know," Sonoda sighed. "The fact that you aren't joking is sort of indicative of how crazy my life is going."

"You don't want crazy?" Yue replied as she led them toward a nearby ruin. "Move out of Mahora."

"Just trying to make conversation." Sonoda replied with a shrug. "You know where we're going yet?"

Yue nodded. "We're heading for the nearest wall. From there, We can grab another tunnel and work our way toward the drainage system."

"So," Sonoda asked. "Why are we hiding."

"Because there's three guys loitering around near that temple." Yue replied calmly.

"What!?" Sonoda clambered up the side of the ruins to where Yue was peering over the edge of the ruins. About a hundred yards from their current location, at the base of a temple that look like a miniature pantheon, if it had been kicked over by an over-sized preschooler and now laid in a collection of pieces that the trio of guards were loitering around.

The guards were nothing special in and of themselves. They looked a lot like the mooks that Sonoda had back at the station in lock-up, looking more like street thugs then guards for some sort of mage crime boss. "They don't look very heavily armed." Sonoda commented. "I see maybe a couple of knives."

"I don't see any foci either." Yue replied. "Looks like our guy's been hiring non-mages."

"Still," Sonoda said as he continued to watch the three. "You'd think they'd have more people down here..."

"They do."

Sonoda and Yue spun around just in time to see the two mooks close on them.

Then, blackness.