September 18

Sparx Factory

12:30 PM

Cotoli Morix

The hour that followed was a train wreck that didn't seem to calm down. Each time I thought the storm was going to start to level out, something new was added in that made it even worse. Cassidy and Venus wound up stumbling into me, and the two of them were beside themselves with worry over everything that had happened to Yuri. Their younger sister was in the hospital because of the injury she had received over her eye, and she was probably going to be there for a while. She apparently lost a lot of blood and was going to need all the recovery time she could get.

As for the woman who found the crime scene with me, I learned that the young man she had approached was named Anton. The details were beyond me, but the two of them were apparently close, and she wasn't happy at all about the fact that he had gotten attacked. I didn't know her name or why she was at the factory in the first place, but I could tell I was going to hear about that soon enough. It seemed like the truth there was an inevitability as long as this case continued the way it had been up to this point.

I still couldn't believe that it was true; my mother was gone. The paramedics that had arrived on the scene to investigate the attack had declared her dead immediately and said that it had happened a short while ago. My hands refused to stop shaking after that, and I couldn't help the tears that continued to stream down my face. Venus and Cassidy had come to wait with me in the lobby of the factory where we had been put as the police began their full investigation of the crime scene. We weren't allowed to go any deeper into the building quite yet, though I knew it was just a matter of time before we did get the chance to investigate. After all, I was determined to find the truth behind this case. Nothing was going to stop me given the circumstances.

Ghastly had joined us a short while prior, but he hadn't said anything to me, simply placing a hand on my shoulder and letting me continue to cry. I didn't think he knew what to say, though I couldn't exactly blame him; he had never been the type to get touchy-feely with words, and this situation... It was well beyond what any of us could have expected to happen today. This should have been a happy occasion, but instead, we were stabbed in the back by something that should have never taken place. I didn't know who had done this, but I was going to find out soon enough, and when I did, I was going to raise all the hell I could until I was able to expose the truth to everyone.

Ghastly hadn't told me what had taken place with Chrysalis, but I had seen some medics escort her unconscious body out of the factory a short while ago. As desperate as I was to go along and see what I could do, I knew I wasn't going to be allowed to do that. I was a witness to this case, after all, and the police had made it more than clear that everyone who had been in the factory at the time of the crime was a suspect. They hadn't made any arrests yet, but I knew it was just a matter of time before they did.

"We're going to find a way to figure out the truth behind this case," Venus murmured to me, and I glanced over at her a moment later. "I don't know who did this, but I'm not going to let them get away with all of this. You deserve better, and... So does everyone who was attacked." She didn't seem to want to admit that Yuri got attacked just then, seeming to recognize that it would only cause damage to her mental state that she wasn't willing to sustain. All of us were trying to deny the severity of the situation, but I knew we wouldn't be able to do that forever. The bubble was going to burst eventually, and when it did, I had no idea what we were going to do.

I nodded at that, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything in response to her. Cassidy and Ghastly remained silent as well, so I figured that they were just as shaken up about all of this as I was. That made a lot of sense given the circumstances, but I didn't want to push anything or anyone in the wrong direction. I felt so overwhelmingly fragile all of a sudden because of what had taken place earlier in the day, and I could tell that it was only going to get worse from here. I didn't know who the police were planning on arresting, but I had an awful feeling about it.

The sound of shoes clicking against the tile floor reached my ears, and I glanced up to see someone rounding the corner into the lobby area. I realized belatedly that it was none other than Detective Wattson, whose face was laced with concern and something heavy. She looked tired even though the investigation had begun less than an hour ago.

"What's going on?" Venus questioned, her voice heavy in the silence that had come to surround us. "Do the police know what's happening?" There was something weary edging its way through her words, and her concern for her sister was overwhelming. I bit down on my lip, wishing we could all be there for the people who had been attacked. I did my best to push the images of my sisters unconscious and stretched out on the ground out of my mind, but I couldn't do it, and the tears threaten to wash through me once again. I was able to mostly restrain them, albeit at the price of staring down at my hands when Detective Wattson continued to speak.

"The police have decided to arrest a suspect," she explained. "They claim to have seen this person on camera footage found within the factory, and... They believe he was carrying the victim's body through the building."

My heart skipped a beat at that, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to speak. I could already tell I was going to hate whatever she said next, but I was still desperate to hear about it. Given the situation, what else could I do? My world had fallen apart within the last two hours, and I didn't think there was anything I could do aside from try to defend the suspect from the accusations of the crimes... The truth would make itself known from there, I was sure.

"Ghastly Bespoke," Detective Wattson continued before any of us could say anything to ask who she was referring to. "I'm afraid that you're going to have to come with me down to the detention center."

My heart seemed to come to a screeching halt for a moment, and all I could do was stare up at Detective Wattson in detached shock. "You can't be serious..." I murmured, but everyone knew she was being about as solemn as it got. This was an awful situation, and she wouldn't do anything to play around with us in a time like this. If she was saying it at all, that meant Ghastly really was the suspect for this case.

"I'm afraid so," Detective Wattson frowned with a shake of her head. "There aren't any other people who the police think could have done it. You're going to have to head down to the detention center and stay there until the trial starts. It's slated to begin tomorrow morning, though I suppose we'll have to see how everything unfolds there."

Ghastly was quiet for a long moment, clearly wanting to protest and reveal his innocence, but he simply shook his head. He knew there was nothing he was going to be able to say if the police had already made their choice so firmly, and he rose to his feet a moment later. "Alright," he whispered, though I could hear the way his voice caught on itself as he tried to force the word out. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at me, a sad ghost of a smile starting to spread across his face. "I'm counting on you to defend me, Cotoli... I know you can do it."

I couldn't do anything more than nod silently as Ghastly was approached by a few police officers that had followed Detective Wattson into the area, and from there, he was guided out of the building. I watched him go, my eyes still wide and my heart still screaming. I looked up to Detective Wattson and saw that her eyes were overflowing with regret. "I wish I didn't have to do that," she muttered. "There weren't many people here at the time of the crime though, and... I'm afraid the police believe him to be the only one who could have done it."

"Could you tell us more about him being seen on camera with the victim's body?" Venus asked, taking charge of the situation because I was too numb to manage to pose the question. I was glad at least she was ready for the investigation, because I still felt like my insides were being hollowed out and sucked away from my body as the seconds went by.

Detective Wattson nodded. "There are cameras stationed throughout the factory to make sure that everything is going according to plan. Most of them are placed in hallways where activity tends to hit a peak, and... One of them just so happened to catch him carrying someone through the halls. I don't know who it was, but if you compare the appearance of the person of his arms with the victim... They look strikingly similar."

I glanced over to Venus at that, my eyes wide. I didn't think that was possible; Ghastly would never do anything to hurt someone like this, and anyone who thought he did was kidding themselves. I shook that off as Venus continued to speak though, determination already starting to gleam brightly yet darkly in her eyes. "I don't know what the police think they saw, but as long as there's evidence out there to show that he didn't do it, we're going to make sure the world knows he's innocent," Venus declared. "He couldn't have killed the victim or attacked anyone who was at the crime scene. I know he wouldn't do that, so we just have to find a way to prove it."

"I'm wishing you luck with that," Detective Wattson sighed as she shook her head gently. "We haven't managed to find anything that could show any other parties were present in the factory at the time of the crime... The camera footage was very selective, you know. I think there was an outage of some kind. A lot of the other footage from this morning was erased, and I can only imagine it was caused by a power outage within the factory."

"That's so weird... Could the system have failed if the rest of the lights were on in the factory?" Cassidy murmured. "We were here this morning, and we didn't see anything that could have indicated the power went out. In fact, the lights were on the entire time we were here."

"I'm not sure, but the camera footage is what the police are most concerned with right now," Detective Wattson told us. "I wish there was something more I could tell you that would make it seem like he was innocent, but... It's not that easy right now. I'm afraid it's going to take a lot more than we have access to right now to prove that he didn't do it."

"Then we'll simply have to track down the evidence that the police haven't found yet," Cassidy declared, her eyes sharpening with determination. "This factory is huge, and I'm sure there's at least something here that will indicate who the true culprits are. I'm not going to let him get arrested for a crime he didn't commit as long as we can look around here and try to figure out who did actually do it."

"Are you ready to start looking around?" Venus questioned, and I realized belatedly that she was talking to me. "I know that this is a lot to take in, but... Ghastly did say that he wanted you to defend him. I think we're going to have to get out there and search for evidence now because of all that's going on. The trial is tomorrow."

I nodded at her words, though it took me a long moment to kick myself into action to do so. "Yeah... You're right," I murmured. I wanted to sit there and allow myself to understand everything that had happened that morning, but I knew that falling still wasn't going to do much of anything to help Ghastly or my mother. It wouldn't help the other victims who had been attacked either. This was the only option, and I was going to have to get out there and do what I could to prove that Ghastly wasn't the culprit. That was much easier said than done, but I wasn't going to let it stop me.

"I wonder who the prosecutor is going to be... I might see if I can work with them," Cassidy commented. "I don't want anything bad to happen to Ghastly, and if I can work with the prosecutor, maybe I can prevent everything from falling apart in advance... You know, if the trial starts to take a turn for the worse."

"Alright," Venus nodded. "But if you can't do that, you can always come back to find us. I'm sure Cotoli here wouldn't mind at all if you decided to join us. I mean, we can probably use all the help we can get given the circumstances."

Cassidy nodded. "I'll see how it all goes down, but for now, I guess I should try to track down the prosecutor... I'm sure they'll be arriving here soon, so I might as well get to it."

"The prosecutor for this case goes by the name of Polly Burke," Detective Wattson told us. "I don't know when she's going to be getting here, but you should keep an eye out. I don't know much in the way of details for this case, but it's something to be aware of. She's bound to get here sooner or later to carry out the investigation."

"Prosecutor Polly Burke... Got it," Cassidy murmured to herself, clearly trying to internalize the name before she set off on her search. She glanced up to me and Venus again a moment later, though I could tell she was trying to hide her heartbreak over the case because of the intense circumstances. "I'm counting on you two to do everything you can... This is for everyone who got hurt today. They're counting on us, and... We can't let them down. Not now."

I nodded at her words as she retreated from the area, doing my best to ignore the tightness that was starting to gather in my chest. I had an awful feeling about this case, and it wasn't simply a matter of grief. I wanted to shove it all aside, but I knew that wasn't going to be happening. I was simply going to have to live with it and find a way to push on regardless of how impossible it seemed.

"I'm going to have to return to the investigation to make sure the other officers working on this case are doing their jobs," Detective Wattson said next, breaking through my trance immediately. "I'm going to count on the two of you to do what you have to in order to find the truth. You've done a fine job of it so far, and I'm not going to start doubting you now."

I nodded. "Thank you," I murmured, though the words didn't seem to have much influence from my mind when they were pushed out. My stomach was still tied firmly in a knot, not that I was particularly surprised about any of this. I hated everything that was happening, but I knew I was going to have to keep pressing on if I wanted to find the truth. That was what Ghastly was counting on us to be able to do, and I wasn't about to let him down after he had placed so much faith in me.

"Until we meet again," Detective Wattson told us. She seemed to be on the verge of saying something more, but she cut herself off and retreated soon afterward, leaving the area all too quiet. The silence was suffocating, and the buzzing in the air seemed ready to pull my mind to pieces before I could do anything to push back against it.

Once Detective Wattson was gone, Venus turned to me. "Well... I guess we know what we have to do," she said simply. "We're going to have to do what we can to make sure that Ghastly is proven innocent when this case goes to court."

I nodded at that as well, but the action was vague and detached. "Yeah," I murmured, wishing there was something more I could say that would make me feel better about all of this. I knew it wasn't going to be that simple though; everything had felt like it had fallen apart within the span of just a few hours, and there was nothing I could do to pick up the pieces after all that had taken place as far as I could tell. I just had to keep looking forward, but that was so much easier said than done. How could it not be in a situation like this?

Venus hesitated for a long moment, reaching out one hand in my direction before she seemed to think better of it. "Can I touch you?" she asked, her face a war of emotions that she couldn't seem to figure out how to articulate. I was surprised at hearing her question, but I nodded gently in response, knowing that she only wanted to help. A moment later, she wrapped her arms around my body, and I allowed her to pull me in closer than she ever had before. I didn't think Venus and I had ever gotten this close physically in all her time of working at the agency, as a matter of fact. "I'm sorry... For all of this."

It took me a long moment to get over my shock, and soon afterward, I pulled her in closer as well. "I'm sorry too," I murmured to her. I knew this couldn't have been any easier for her. We still didn't know what had happened with Yuri, and that wasn't even factoring in the other assault victims who had been hurt over the course of the crime. We were going to have to go to the hospital later on to speak with them, but I knew we had business to take care of here first. It was so tempting to give in fully and let my emotions control me to take me there, but that wasn't an option. We were operating on a time crunch, and it would be for the best if we waited until after the assault victims had woken up.

After the embrace was over, I pulled my phone from my pocket and sent a quick message to Sora and Chrysalis asking them to tell me as soon as they were awake. The worry was practically tearing me apart, but I knew there wasn't much I could do about it yet. The rest of the case was still calling me, and I couldn't let Ghastly down. I didn't even want to imagine what could have happened if we left him to be defended by someone else, especially since we didn't know the prosecutor. If he was going to be released from the detention center and proven innocent, this was the best option for everyone regardless of how exhausting it was to think about.

"Where should we start?" Venus questioned. I could tell that she was doing her best to keep herself composed in the face of all that was happening as well, but the way her hands shook ever so slightly showed me that it wasn't going to be as simple as she was making it out to be.

"I don't know," I admitted. I didn't think we were going to have much in the way of luck when it came to the scene of the crime since the police were likely still carrying out their investigation there. In other words, we were going to have to come at this from a different angle, though I would have been lying if I said I knew where we were supposed to go from there. I bit down on my lip, desperate to come up with something resembling an idea even though I knew it wasn't going to be quite so easy.

"Maybe we can try and see if there are other people around here that we know," Venus suggested. "Maybe we can try to find the prosecutor on this case too. I mean, we're going to have to talk to her eventually, and she might be able to tell us something of value. We won't know anything about her until we go into the trial unless we can actively reach out to find her, and I don't know about you, but I want to do that."

I nodded at her words, knowing that she had a point. It would probably be for the best for all of us if we did what we could to talk to the prosecutor. It wasn't going to be the same compared to my last cases since we weren't going to be talking to Ghastly about the case't details, but I knew this wasn't something we were able to control. Hell, that was the reason we were involved with this whole mess to begin with. We were going to have to wait until a bit later to talk to Ghastly. After all, he was bound to still be talking with the police if we left the factory immediately, and we couldn't waste any time if it could at all be avoided.

"You're right," I said softly, hating how hard it was for me to push the words out. I let out a small sigh before forcing myself to take a step forward. I didn't know what was going to be waiting for us at the end of this path, but I knew I was going to have to see it eventually. I wondered silently who the prosecutor for this case was going to be since I didn't have any facts to pair with the name of 'Prosecutor Polly Burke,' but it was only a matter of time before the pieces came together. That was the hope, at the very least.

Venus and I started to walk through the factory hallways from there, and I couldn't help noticing how unfamiliar everything felt all of a sudden. I had once dreamed so grandly about coming here, but these days, it seemed like every hallway was lined in something sinister that I didn't know how to push back against. That was the price of a murder taking place here, doubly so since it was someone I knew. There still weren't any factory workers in the area, and I wished there was something I could do to find that answer easily. I wanted the truth of this entire case to come together easily, for that matter, but it wasn't going to be that simple. Nothing ever was these days, especially not with what had happened that morning.

Much to my surprise, it didn't take long for us to find a familiar face, and a gasp left my lips at the sight of none other than Detective Erikson. It took him a moment to notice us, but Venus and I didn't even have to call out his name before he turned and approached us. Everything about his expression was exhausted, and the skin beneath his eyes was so dark it was almost like his face was being torn to shreds by some unseen force. I could already guess easily enough why he was so tired and stressed, and I resisted the urge to open the conversation with questions about the case.

"I see you two are going to be taking on the defense for this case," Detective Erikson commented. He glanced at us briefly, and I wondered if he was searching for Chrysalis, the third member of our team from past cases. He seemed to realize he wasn't going to be finding an easy answer a moment later, and he let out a heavy sigh. "It's nice to see a familiar face around here."

"I could say the same to you," Venus said. "What are you doing here? Are you going to be working on this case?"

Detective Erikson nodded. "You could say that... I made sure to get involved with this case as soon as I could," he told us, and I could hear the weariness starting to infect his voice already. "I had no other choice."

"What do you mean?" Venus questioned, and I realized that she didn't know anything about the daughter of Detective Erikson's that had been attacked at the scene of the crime. Venus had never met her, so of course she would want to ask questions about Detective Erikson's presence here.

Detective Erikson sighed at that, and all the gusto in his body seemed to deflate immediately. "My daughter was one of the people attacked at the scene of the crime," he replied. "As soon as I heard that, I knew I had to work on this case to make sure the truth was found. She's at the hospital now. I wish I could do something to look after her, but... I don't have an option to do that right now. There are others counting on me to be here right now."

"I'm sorry," I told him softly even though I knew that the word wouldn't be able to make up for everything that was giving him strife in this moment. I understood all too well how he was feeling, and I found myself silently yearning to be at Chrysalis' side as soon as possible. I knew it wasn't going to happen, but my anxiety demanded that I try to approach her when the chance came.

I shook the thought off before glancing back to Detective Erikson. "Would you mind telling us anything you know about the case? We're going to do everything we can to figure out what happened at the time of the crime, and that starts with learning all the details you have at your disposal."

Detective Erikson hesitated for a long moment before nodding. "Well... I was here because I was assigned to look after a new piece of technology the factory has been working on," he explained. "It's something that many people are hoping to get their hands on, so I was here with a prosecutor to make sure nothing happened to it. That was the plan, at the very least... When we got here, the factory was completely desolate, and we decided to look around to see if we could find anything of note. There were supposed to be many people waiting for us, and... We thought it would be safe to split up."

"But it wasn't," Venus finished for him, bitter sadness starting to seep its way into her voice. "I understand making a mistake there... But I don't think we've heard all that much about this piece of new technology. I mean, we knew it existed, but the details were kind of out of my reach."

"You knew about it?" Detective Erikson questioned, his eyes wide. "Come to think of it, why were you two at the factory at the time of the attack?"

"Well, we were invited to come and see this new piece of technology you were talking about," I replied. "My mother was one of the factory workers here, but now... She won't be able to show us much of anything related to this case."

Detective Erikson's eyes were swept over with grief, and he shook his head as he looked down at the floor below. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I wish there was something more I could do to help you, but... I'm about as clueless as you are when it comes to the details of this case. No matter how hard I try, it seems like I'm never able to get close enough to make the pieces of the picture come into focus."

"It's alright," Venus assured him with a shake of her head. "If there's anything you can tell us for now, we would be more than happy to hear it. I mean, we're going to need all the information we can get when this case goes to court, so that means we'd be more than happy to hear everything you know about this case."

Detective Erikson nodded at that, and I could tell he was about to start talking to us about everything that was happening. His hands were shoved into his coat pockets likely so we wouldn't be able to see the way they trembled under the influence of adrenaline. Everything had fallen so far out of everyone's control in such a short span of time, and I didn't know what we were supposed to do about it. I bit down on the inside of my lip and hoped with everything i had that we were able to find the truth.

That was what the victims deserved.

Next week,,, new character

-Digital