Prologue

So, uh.

Yeah.

Here I am, driving with the crimi- eek~! I mean, the perfectly legitimate business woman who has done absolutely nothing wrong - Mumei Nanashi. We're going for a drive down the southbound Harusaki Freeway towards the Swingwell compound. I was originally going there to follow up on my partner, Amelo- yikes, watch where you're swinging that! Want us to freaking crash, you little shi-!?

Ahem.

I was going there for Phase 2 of my plan with my partner Amelia Watson for our… routine investigation that has totally nothing to do with. Gah! Okay, okay! It's part of our Great Peace Conference plan - to stop the war between the Shrimps and the Deadbeats! After all, I promised Calli that I would drive her and Death-sensei to the train station.

That's all there is to it, I swear!

Now will you let me drive? Please?

…

Mumei Nanashi watched the sweaty Kiara Takanashi from the passenger's seat. The owl-girl had her pistol in one hand and her hammer in the other and hummed while she listened to Kiara's strained monologue. After a few moments of thought, Mumei kept rubbing her chin.

"Well?" Kiara asked.

"Oh right!" Mumei chimed in, suddenly remembering what she was trying to say. She gripped the handle of her hammer tightly and tested, "You're not going on some sting operation with the rest of City PD, are you?"

Kiara blinked.

She remembered the story that Detective Ouro told them at Dicey Odds and quietly crossed her fingers on the steering wheel.

"N-not at all." Kiara told her half hearted lie, sprinkling just enough truth in her tale, "Chief Enma hates our guts, so we don't get any resources. A lot of the cops don't even know we exist! Ame-senpai and I are working on this alone."

"Hoo~" Mumei remarked, watching Kiara closely, "Chief Enma does pick favorites, so I believe you."

Kiara breathed a sigh of relief.

"But…" Mumei warned, "You're not gonna be able to stop this war, Detective Takanashi. I forget a lot of things - but the people who stand in my way and cause me problems?" Her eyes seemed to shimmer bright gold, "I'll always remember them - and what they did to me."

The smile on Mumei's lips sent shivers up Kiara's spine.

Holy crap, she's scary!

More sweat formed on Kiara's brow, but her attention quickly turned to the long line forming on the freeway. Up ahead, Kiara saw a City PD checkpoint on the border between South District and Central. Even from afar, Kiara could see the checkpoint manned by Subaru herself!

Subaru would have been a sight for Kiara's sore eyes, but the looming presence of Mumei Nanashi beside her dampened her mood entirely. The owl-girl stole Kiara's wide-brimmed hat and hid underneath the shadow.

"Wave the duck away, please." Mumei ordered, poking Kiara's side with the barrel of her gun, "Otherwise, there'll be a really big accident on the freeway today."

Kiara gulped.

She drove the convertible through to the checkpoint and Subaru approached. Kiara's eyes met with Subaru's and she blinked twice. Subaru, meanwhile, sauntered towards them and pretended that Kiara was a civilian.

"License and registration please." Subaru spoke plainly, acting disinterested.

Kiara obliged and gave Subaru the documents she asked for. However, underneath the papers, Kiara deftly slipped her little notepad.

Subaru took the papers and discreetly retrieved the notebook. She acted like she went through the papers and made smalltalk.

"Casino Train's back in town. Are you folks checking it out?" Subaru asked.

Kiara felt Mumei's pistol digging into her ribs.

"N-not particularly." The Phoenix lied, blinking twice rapidly.

Subaru frowned. Then, she flipped the papers around and pointed to something there.

"Your registration documents are almost expired, miss." Subaru weaved her own tall tale, "You've got to make sure things are up to code ."

The way Subaru emphasized the word 'code' wasn't lost on Kiara. The Phoenix played off and answered her.

" T-two . I mean, I'll fix my registration in two days, officer." Kiara replied, emphasizing the word 'two'.

Code Two.

' Monitor the situation. No sirens. ' The cipher went.

Subaru nodded and passed the papers back to Kiara.

"Acknowledged." Subaru replied firmly, "You folks have a nice day now, you hear?"

With that, Kiara nodded and continued her journey down the Harusaki Freeway. Subaru, meanwhile, had one of her Uniforms switch over for her and she marched over to a freeway police box. She picked up the handset and thumbed through Kiara's notepad. Once she heard the switchboard click, Subaru spoke firmly.

"Oozora. Badge seventy-two twenty-five."

" How can I help, Watch Commander? "

"Get me Dr. Ninomae from Forensics. On the double!"

…

Back in the V8 convertible, Kiara and Mumei continued their tense drive. Mumei plopped Kiara's straw hat back on her head and leaned back into the passenger's seat, cross-legged. That was Kiara's cue to speak.

"Why do you want the Shrimps and the Deadbeats to duke it out?" Kiara dared to ask, "Are you trying to reestablish the Owl Pals as a dominant gang of the City?"

"Hmm…" Mumei hummed thoughtfully, "Building back the Owl Pals would be nice - but I actually don't really care who comes up on top in this war. I just want to make the people who opposed me back then suffer. Is that too much to ask?"

The way Mumei said that while smiling without missing a beat made Kiara grip the steering wheel tightly.

"I could stop you right now. We're on an elevated freeway." Kiara warned, "I just need to take a sharp turn here and we'll come crashing down into the city below. I'll take you down with me!"

"Oh, can you?" Mumei's eyes seemed to glow, calling Kiara's bluff without flinching, "Then do it - you coward. Kill me right now. Try to have me arrested even. If I don't arrive at the Colosseum Train Station when the Casino Train rolls in, my Owl Pals will set my plan in motion for me anyways." She grinned menacingly at Kiara, "That - and your plan will be one detective short."

Kiara clicked her tongue.

"Just drive and let things happen like they're supposed to, okie?" Mumei insisted with her sickly sweet voice, "I just wanted to take a ride in this car one last time before I bite the dust."

When Mumei said this, Kiara remembered that this V8 convertible was, in fact, Mumei's old car. The Phoenix held the steering wheel firmly again.

"Are you really okay with this?" Kiara asked.

"With taking the fight to Enma's Central? Of course." Mumei answered, "It's all I've ever thought about."

"No - I mean having this be the last time you ride this car." Kiara clarified.

Mumei's honey brown eyes sharpened.

"What are you trying to say, detective?"

"Wouldn't you want someone else to be driving with you in this car?" Kiara tested, "Maybe a certain snakey detective with an ego bigger than all of Central District?"

For the first time since Kiara saw her, Mumei frowned.

"Are you talking about Kronii?" Mumei asked with grave displeasure.

"Y-yes…" Kiara winced.

"She and her cronies abandoned me when I needed her the most." Mumei scoffed and folded her arms, "She left me to join with that stupid Enma and build up her fake empire. She'll have to reap what she sowed! Hmph~!"

If Kiara wasn't driving, she would have wanted to cover her face with her hands.

What the hell did you do to Mumei, Detective Ouro?

The last thing Kiara wanted to do in a City on the brink of a full-scale gang war was play marriage counselor between an ex-Queenpin and a dirty cop.

"Now, if you're done wasting my time, detective, our offramp to Swingwell is almost here." Mumei reminded, "Unless you want to go all the way down-state to Winningson and miss the Casino Train, then be my guest." Her devious smile returned to her lips, "You know what happens if we miss that train, right?"

I could use a vacation in Winningson right now, to be honest - but I've got a job to do.

Kiara shook her head and took the last offramp into the City's South District, taking her back into the mean streets of Industrial Way.

…

Kiara and Mumei arrived at the Swingwell compound before long. The two of them were running a little bit late from the schedule of 'Hinotori', but Calliope Mori was waiting outside completely unfazed. Moreover, when Calli saw Mumei riding with Kiara, she seemed to be quite happy.

"Yo, Mooms~!" Calli cheered innocently, "I didn't know you knew Hinotori!"

"Salutations, Calli~!" Mumei answered, matching the Queenpin's enthusiasm, "And yes, I do know 'Hinotori'." She wore a devious smirk, "I know a lot of her dirty secrets, actually."

Kiara tensed up behind the wheel, not knowing what to say to that. Calli, on the other hand, burst out into laughter.

"Oh Mooms~ you little joker you." Calli waltzed over to Mumei and proceeded to give her a tender noogie and then hug her, "I'm glad that you'll get to join us at the big meet today!"

A troubled expression formed on Kiara's face.

Either Calli's way too nice for her own good - or she's a terrible judge of character, hugging a psychopath like that without any reservation whatsoever. I hope it's the former.

Thinking about that, Kiara didn't want to know how messed up Kronii's moral compass could be for chumming up with Mumei too. She decided not to pry.

While Mumei was being hugged by Calli, she gave Kiara a sidelong glance and smirked smugly. The owl-girl's mouth moved, spelling out a wordless question.

' Jealous? '

You little shit.

Calli let go of Mumei and turned to Kiara.

"Your friend Pudding can't make it?" Calli asked.

"Unfortunately, no." Kiara frowned and shook her head and made up her story on the fly, "She's feeling under the weather, you see."

"Is that so…?" Calli hummed, seemingly disappointed.

Before Calli or Kiara could say anything else, Death-sensei emerged from the Swingwell compound with eight bat-armed Deadbeat gangsters. The Deadbeats huddled together in a large delivery van while Death-sensei himself approached the convertible car.

At this point, Mumei stepped out of the passenger's seat and proceeded to have a complex handshake with Death-sensei. Calli watched her Lieutenant and the ex-Queenpin happily. Kiara, on the other hand, could see glimpses of the scheming spirits of the two in their shadows.

It became clear to Kiara that Calli wasn't Mumei's favorite Deadbeat.

"Birds of a feather…" Kiara muttered beneath her breath.

"Did you say something?" Calli asked.

"N-nothing." Kiara denied. She forced herself to smile, "Shall we get going?"

Calli nodded. She took the front passenger's seat while Mumei and Death-sensei took the back seats. Then, Kiara drove all four of them towards the Colosseum Train Station near the Gladiator Diner.

On their way there, at one of the South District's many railroad crossings, Kiara, Calli, Mumei and Death-sensei saw the eleven-car Casino Train and its distinctly chaotic livery rolling through the tracks before them.

Calli watched the train with a hopeful glint in her eye. Then, she turned to Kiara with a bright smile.

"I'm really glad you managed to coordinate this peace conference thing with Bae, Hinotori. I knew taking you and Pudding on as my henchwomen was the right move." Calli started wholeheartedly, "Hopefully, Gura and I can put this whole war business behind us after today." She looked over her shoulder and grinned at Mumei and Death-sensei, "You think so too, right you two?"

Mumei and Death-sensei, meanwhile, just pretended to smile.

…

Queenpins

It's Owl Good, Man

…

Epilogue

Meanwhile, at City PD Headquarters, Dr. Ina'nis Ninomae huddled over the desk in her office together. A small mountain of case files - documents about the dozens of incarcerated Owl Pals and Vesties nabbed in the back alleys of Parliament Road - piled on her desk. In particular, the case file of Vesper Noir was filled with hours upon hours of transcribed testimony - something he insisted on calling a 'Zatsudan' about bicycles and bicycle accessories - but Ina had given up on poring through them.

Her mind was too distracted by the anxious phone call she received from Sergeant Subaru Oozora that ended just half an hour ago.

"Ame… Kiara…" Ina's lips twisted with concern, "We might have bitten off more than we can chew here."

Unable to sit still, Ina stood up from her seat and looked out the window of her office. It was at that time that she saw a large convoy of police cruisers pulling out of the underground parking lot. Police sirens blared out through the streets of the normally peaceful Central District.

"Sirens?" Ina furrowed her brow, "A Code Two means no sirens, doesn't it!?"

Moments later, Ina spotted Chief Enma's personal car among the police cruisers. Ina's face went pale. She promptly reached for the telephone on her desk and got through to Dispatch.

"Ninomae, Badge seven-three-three-two. Get me Sergeant Oozora. Immediately!"

Little did Ina know, however, that Enma's departure would be the least of her concerns before long.

To Be Continued