"So, how close are you to figuring it all out?"

"Closer than ever before. We're going to find the truth in a matter of days. At long last, my research is bearing fruit."

"I'm glad to hear that. Try and stay out of trouble, will you? I'm going to panic if something goes wrong while you're out..."

"Nothing will go wrong. You're worrying too much about this. I'll take care of everything. I'll be home soon with our target at my si-"

"Hey, where are you? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Oracle is now the captive of Occisor. Her end has finally come."

August 31

Morix Law Offices

9:00 AM

Cotoli Morix

"So, are you ready?" I asked, stuffing my hands into my pockets.

Chrysalis nodded as she pulled up the handle of her suitcase. "I'm all packed, so I should hope so," she answered.

"What's up with you?" Yuri questioned from her place on the couch nearby. There was a stack of paperwork sitting before her that she was pretending to work on. The TV was showing a fictitious story about some cat. Even if she was trying to fool us, I knew that she was just watching the Monsieur Cat show she had grown obsessed with in recent weeks.

"I'm going out of town," Chrysalis replied. "I have business elsewhere, so I'm going to be gone for the next three or so days. Try not to blow up the agency while I'm gone, will you? I can only fix so many messes."

"Where are you going?" Deirdre questioned, rising from her place beside Yuri on the couch. "Maybe I missed it, but I never heard you were going anywhere."

"It's just something for school," Chrysalis told her. "It isn't important. I'll be back home in a few days to help you all out again, so no need to worry."

"You can tell us all about wherever it is you're going after you come home!" Lily chirped excitedly, clapping her hands together. "I've always loved hearing about people traveling. It's so exciting. Seeing new places is always a nice experience."

"You can hear about it when I return then," Chrysalis nodded, heading for the nearby elevator. "I'm going to head out now. My flight isn't for another eight or so hours, but I have extra business to take care of first. I don't want to be late for any of that, so I'll be on my way." She waved as she disappeared into the elevator. I waved in return, a small smile on my face as she left. I was a bit worried about how she'd be faring on her own, but I didn't really have the time to ask her anything like that. She'd only shrug it off anyways.

"We should be getting back to work," I declared once she had gone. "We shouldn't be wasting our time talking when there are things to be done. I get the feeling we're going to be getting a case soon since it's been a while. We want to be all caught up before then."

Yuri let out a groan of agony and flopped back down onto the couch in frustration. "I swear, as much as I love finding out criminals and catching the bad guys, paperwork is the real villain of my life," she declared. She picked up her stack of papers and began to fill them out, grumbling sour words under her breath all the while.

"I suppose it makes you appreciate the other things in life a bit more," Lily shrugged before gesturing the TV. "What episode are you watching?"

"I'm catching up on all the previous stuff before the season finale comes out at the end of September," Yuri explained.

"What exactly is it that you're watching?" Deirdre asked. "I don't think I've heard of any eccentric cat shows recently..."

"Monsieur Cat is a show rising in popularity these days. It's about a cat who fights crime in all sorts of clever ways. Since Metal Mercenary is on hiatus at the moment, I've been watching this to calm my television urges," Yuri explained. "It follows the tale of Anthony, a teenage boy blessed with superpowers to fight the forces of evil. In between his fights with crime, we see his regular life. He's madly in love with a girl at his school. Her name is Melody. I can't say it for sure quite yet, but I think that she might have a little secret too. We'll just have to see if anything happens in the season finale in a few weeks. I'm already on my third watch of the series. Man, it would be a dream to meet the cast of the show. The main actor, a boy named James Devine, is actually about my age... I wish I could meet him... I wonder if he's as radiant in real life as he is on the show. I honestly wouldn't object to marrying him. Do you think I'm jumping into this too much? Either way, I don't really care. It's a pretty good show no matter what I think of him."

"Sounds... Interesting," Deirdre said simply, clearly unsure of what else to reply with.

"Can you watch it as you fill in those papers for me? I'm not trying to be pushy, but they're due tomorrow," I cut in. "Feel free to relax for now, but I don't want to get in trouble for not having this stuff in on time, alright?"

"I get it, Mr. Morix," Yuri assured me. She flicked her wrist in my direction, obviously an attempt at relaxing me. "I'm going to show Deirdre the glory of Monsieur Cat and then get right back to work. Everything will be fine."

"I'm glad to hear it," I smiled as I turned and headed for the elevator. "I'll be up in my office filling out paperwork of my own, so feel free to come up and get me if you need anything. My door is always open."

August 31

Morix Law Offices

2:00 PM

Deirdre Brigit

"And there you have it!" Yuri cried out, spreading her arms wide in a grand gesture. "That's all we have so far of the show! I hope that you guys have enjoyed it. I love this show more than I love myself, which is saying a lot given that I'm all about that self-love thing."

"It sure was unique," I told her. The show had been something interesting, to say the least, but I wasn't really sure what else I was supposed to think of it. It was peculiar, to put it nicely.

"I'm going to have another marathon of it the day of the season finale. Maybe we could all get together and talk about it more then! It could be really fun to get everybody together for a little intimate get together about one of the best shows of modern day," Yuri continued to tell me.

"Maybe we should switch the TV back over to something live so that we can actually get something done," Lily giggled, looking at the stack of unfinished paperwork sitting before her. She and Yuri had gotten incredibly distracted by the show, so they had barely finished three pages each. I had been a bit more focused, so I only had three pages left to do.

Yuri picked up the remote and pressed a few buttons on it, making the feed switch over to something live. The news was on, which made Yuri frown. "That's weird. This isn't the news channel. Last I checked, this was a cartoon channel or something like that."

"It certainly doesn't look like it's showing cartoons now. Do you think that something bad happened?" Lily questioned with a frown. "I can't think of any other reason they'd interrupt cartoons with the news."

I pointed at the TV with a frown. A large and imposing building was being shown on the screen. "What is that place?" I asked. "I feel like it's familiar somehow, but I can't really put my finger on why I would recognize it..."

"I think that building is the headquarters for Interpol," Lily told me. "They're some of the biggest crime fighters the world has ever known. I bet that Monsieur Cat would easily defeat them all, but we have to deal with reality, so they're kind of a big deal."

"Did something happen down there?" Yuri asked, pulling out her phone. "I haven't ever seen that place on TV. Plus, I thought that business relating to Interpol was supposed to stay all hush-hush. Why change that protocol now?"

"It looks like we're about to find out," I frowned as the camera changed.

A woman with red hair was standing in front of a camera, holding a microphone in one hand. She pressed her hands along her skirt to flatten out the wrinkles before taking a deep breath. The woman made a gesture to the cameraman, which I assumed was code for something, before beginning to speak.

"This is Ayano Tsukasa reporting from the Interpol headquarters. I'm here with breaking news. A murder has taken place in these very halls. The press isn't allowed inside, but I can tell you all that we know as of now," the woman explained. "The victim is an agent with the letter Y. She was found murdered in her office, her head having been hit in by a vase. For those who don't know, agents of Interpol are given letters to use instead of their real names as a way to protect their identities. The agents inside refuse to give out her real name."

"Interpol, huh?" Lily asked. "I didn't expect that. The place is so tight on security. I wonder how a killer could get in and out of a building with so many guards on duty."

"I guess we can see if the press has more information," I frowned, still looking at the TV intently, practically begging it to tell us more about the case.

"The suspect was arrested not long ago. We can't reveal his full name due to security measures, but his letter is M. He's he head honcho of the American Interpol and leader of the company's United States branch. The other agents of Interpol are still in the building being questioned on the matter. Not many details have been let out regarding the case since it took place in Interpol's headquarters, but we'll be reporting more on this story as it develops. Until then, stay out of trouble."

"This is already sounding like a unique case," I frowned. "I never would have expected a murder to take place in the Interpol headquarters. As you both said, the security there is incredibly tight. The best investigators in the country, if not the world, are found in that building, but a murder still took place. Whoever did it must be dangerous."

"I wonder if we could investigate the case," Lily said with a frown. "I doubt it because of the way Interpol works. They probably have official lawyers employed solely to take on these sorts of cases, so a normal defense attorney likely won't cut it. As unfortunate as it is, I guess it could be seen as good. It means we don't need to worry about it."

A ringing sound could be heard throughout the whole room. Yuri got to her feet. "That must be the doorbell. Maybe we have another case," she said as she dashed for the door to the elevator. "We're going to have to go down since Chrysalis isn't here to take care of the front desk."

Lily and I followed after her into the elevator. Yuri pressed the button for the bottom floor. The room moved downwards until we arrived at our destination. A man had just walked in, looking around with a frown.

"Hello there," I greeted, stepping out of the elevator. "Who might you be? Do you need something from us?"

The man jumped at being addressed. He had dark brown hair that was cut close to his face and brown eyes. He had a black jacket that was a few sizes too big on over a simple navy and gray shirt. He had black trousers that covered his midnight colored boots. "Y-Yes, I do, as a matter of fact," he replied. "You three must work here, yes?"

Lily nodded. "We do, yes," she responded.

"I need you to defend somebody," the man said, still clearly a little bit nervous. "It's important. One of my close friends was arrested on murder charges this afternoon."

"What's the case about? We'll gladly take care of it," I told him.

"It was at Interpol's headquarters," the man explained. "I should probably explain who I am first. I'm N. I'm an agent from Interpol and the right hand to M."

Yuri let out a gasp. "I guess we'll be on that case after all!" she cried out. "And here Lily thought it wasn't going to happen..."

"Can you blame me?" Lily asked with a shake of her head. "Anyways, N, could you tell us a little bit more about the case? We can ask our boss if we can help you."

"A-Alright," N stammered. I got the feeling he was a nervous young man. He sat down stiffly on the couch of the lobby. "What do you want to know? I can't promise I'll have everything figured out, but I suppose it's worth a try to explain it all..."

"We heard a little bit about the murder on the news," I began to say. "It took place at Interpol headquarters and an agent by the name of Y was found dead in her office after being hit in the head by a vase. Is that accurate?"

N nodded. "Yeah... It was rather sudden. Everything was fine this morning, but a few things happened that resulted in her death..." he whispered. "Do you want any specifics on the case first?"

"What do you know about the victim?" Lily questioned.

"I can't reveal her name for security reasons, but her letter was Y as you already know," N began. "She was a researcher on all sorts of mysteries. She was recruited a few years ago to help us take down a criminal group she had close ties to. She helped us lock them away in a matter of days. She's always had peculiar luck that helped her to stumble upon the answers to her cases."

"Do you think she was investigating a particular case that would cause someone to want her dead?" I asked next.

"She was looking into the Oracle of the Law, I'm pretty sure," he replied. "She was working with another agent, O, to figure out who Oracle is, but that won't be happening anymore..."

"I remember O!" Lily exclaimed with a sharp gasp. "She was at the crime scene of the lake case a few months ago investigating Oracle! We were able to talk for a little bit about it. Is she involved in this case somehow?"

"She's an important witness," N answered. "Even if she hadn't seen important things at the time of the crime, she'd probably be testifying anyways since she was Y's partner in the Oracle case. They haven't had any significant breakthroughs, unfortunately, but they've been working on it."

I frowned at his last statement. I could hear something in his tone that indicated he was lying, but why? The victim was dead, so why try to hide secrets for her? Anything relating to Oracle could be important, which meant that withholding that sort of information could prevent the case from being solved.

"We'd be happy to take on the case for you, N," Lily suddenly cut in. "We're going to defend M, assuming that's okay with you. Then again, if it wasn't, you probably wouldn't have come to talk to us about it..."

"I'm glad... I figured you would be the best people for the job. Your agency has been involved with quite a few cases involving Oracle, so you'd have more information on the matter than the average person. Call it a gut instinct, but I feel like Oracle is going to be an important part of this case," N told us.

"We can take care of this case for you, no problem," Lily smiled. "What about you take us down to the detention center to meet this M person? I feel like he'll be more open to talk if somebody he knows is there."

"I can do that," N nodded. "Just try not to be intimidated by him. He can be a bit scary at first, but once he realizes how much you can help him, he should calm down. He doesn't exactly mean to scare you, but it just comes off that way..."

"It'll be fine," Lily assured him. "Yuri, you should probably text Mr. Morix and tell him that we're going to be out on a case. Also, tell him that we'll finish up our paperwork later in the afternoon after we've finished our investigation. He'll be okay with that, right?"

"I think so. I mean, so long as we get our work done, he shouldn't mind," Yuri replied, pulling out her phone. She began to type on the screen as we headed for the door of the building. N was trailing behind us nervously.

Suddenly, Lily seized my wrist and pulled me in close. "I took on the case all of a sudden because of Oracle," she whispered. "If they have something to do with this murder, we can get more information to use with Mr. Morix should we need it. Call it a gut instinct, but I feel like we're going to get the answers we seek here."

"He said that there haven't been any major breakthroughs about Oracle, but I could tell that he was lying. He does know something," I whispered to her. "You must have been able to tell that too."

Lily nodded. "I noticed it, yeah... I don't exactly know what it could mean for us, but we're going to have to go along with it for the time being. Maybe we can ask him about it when we get to the detention center. Our client might have something to tell us on the matter too, which will be even more helpful," she told me. "I can tell Yuri on the way there. From what I can tell, she's trying to loosen his lips in another way."

I turned over my shoulder and saw that Lily was right. Yuri had tucked her phone away and was now chatting a million miles a minute with N, giggling every now and then. He was smiling gently in response, clearly feeling a bit awkward. I could still tell he was more at ease chatting with her than with the full three of us though, so I didn't interrupt.

"It appears that it's time to put our plan into action," I frowned. "I didn't expect it to be so soon, but fate works in peculiar ways like that."

"For now, we should focus on the case. We can think about this stuff after we've finished our initial investigation," Lily told me. "Now, let's get to it. If you ask me, we've lingered around here for too long already. There's only so much time in the day to investigate a murder and make deductions about a mysterious spy if you're still going to finish your paperwork, you know?"

August 31

Detention Center

2:30 PM

Yuri Rinko

N dashed up to the glass immediately after we arrived in the detention center. Deirdre, Lily, and I trailed after him by a few feet. N placed his fingers against the transparent surface, his eyes locking with those of a man.

He was tall, almost as much so as Mr. Morix. His black hair was spiky, and he had brown eyes. Stubble lined his chin faintly, so much so that it was difficult to see. He had on black pants and shoes. He wore a black jacket over a white shirt. His tie was also dark. A small flower was in the chest pocket of his jacket, peering out ever so slightly.

"Are you feeling okay, M?" N asked hurriedly, his face coated in a layer of panic. "I hope that they haven't been pushing you too hard. I got the lawyers you asked me for earlier. They said they would be happy to take on the case and help defend you."

The man, M, nodded slowly and solemnly. "Thank you, N," he replied before looking to Deirdre. "I think the time has come for introductions."

"My name is Deirdre Brigit. I work at Morix Law Offices," Deirdre answered, bowing her head gently. She gestured to Lily and then me. "This is Lily Shield and Yuri Rinko. They work with me at the agency."

"It's nice to meet you," I smiled. "N seems to think very highly of you." I had to bite back a comment about there potentially being something more to their relationship out of respect. I was positive that it would be frowned upon to say that you thought the head agents of Interpol were romantically involved based off purely gut instincts. Plus, it wasn't my business, so it was best if I stayed out of it.

M shot a brief glance at N, whose face had gone bright red from embarrassment. Now, I was positive there was a relationship brewing between them, but I held my tongue once again, even if I'm not entirely sure how I pulled it off. "My name is M. I'm the head agent of the American branch of Interpol," he told us, arms crossed over his chest. "I have heard highly of your agency in these past few months, so I figured you would be the right people to take this case on."

"We heard that the victim was killed in her office with a vase. Do you happen to know anything more on the subject? Our knowledge at the moment is somewhat lacking," Lily frowned.

"I can say that there's some sort of foul play going on behind the scenes, if that's what you're asking," M grumbled. "Y was one of our best investigators, but now she's gone so suddenly... It's all rather peculiar, especially considering..."

His voice trailed off as his eyes moved down to the ground. I could feel a frown pulling at the edges of my lips. "Considering what?" I asked.

"It's a long story," N said awkwardly. "We can probably get into a bit more detail on the matter later... For now, feel free to ask us any questions you potentially have about the case."

"What did you see at the time of the crime?" Lily questioned first. "It's important to start off with witness testimony, I think."

"Something really peculiar happened the time of the crime, which was just a few hours ago, as a matter of fact," N said. "The power of Interpol went out, if you can believe that. It shouldn't even be possible. Interpol has a backup generator in case of a power outage due to weather issues, but the generator was turned off as well. The generator normally kicks in should the power go off, but that didn't happen a few hours ago."

"I don't think there were any weather issues today either," I remarked with a frown. "So, you think that somebody did this on purpose. Somebody interfered with the power for some reason or another."

"I can't think of any other explanations," Deirdre murmured. "Do you know who would have the power to do this under regular means? Who has clearance to enter a room with the ability to turn off the generator?"

N swallowed nervously. "I-It's just me and M... That's one of the reasons he was arrested, I'm afraid..." he said quietly. "None of the regular agents are allowed into the power room without one of us present or our express permission otherwise."

"This is already not turning out very well, is it?" I murmured with a shake of my head. "What happened after the power went out at Interpol?"

"The whole building was in a state of chaos. We made a few announcements to everybody so they'd stay where they were, which sort of lessened the mess, but there was one person we couldn't reach," N began. "Y was locked in her office. She wasn't responding to any of our cries for her to stay calm. Y was always talkative, so to have her go quiet like this was unsettling, to say the least..."

"In the chaos of the power outage, N and I were separated briefly. This is the time in which the police claim that I was killing the victim," frowned M. "I didn't do such a thing, but they seem to believe that I was responsible for her death."

"That isn't good," Lily frowned. "Do you know anything about the murder weapon? That could help to prove your innocence."

"It was a vase found in her office. It was slammed against her head to kill her, so the cause of death was blunt force trauma," M explained. "The culprit must have used the vase to their advantage in this scenario... The vase was shattered on impact when it hit her head. The remains are covered in blood, but it's nearly impossible to lift prints from it since it was broken into so many pieces. In other words, finding out who raised the vase to her isn't going to be possible."

"Could they try and put it back together?" I asked.

"Probably not. It didn't break cleanly into many pieces. There have to be over a hundred shards of the vase, so putting it together is going to be incredibly difficult, if even possible. Plus, if they have to put it together, chances are the prints of the culprit will have been accidentally wiped off by the forensics team by then," M told me. "In other words, other evidence is going to have to be used to find out who the culprit is."

"We're used to not having a murder weapon to work with at this point, aren't we?" Lily asked jokingly, obviously referring to the case at the lake she had taken on a few months ago. "Anyways, I have a few other questions for you, if that's okay. Do you know anything about a motive for murder anyone would have against her?"

M went tense at Lily's words, making me frown. "I don't think there's any one explanation for why somebody would want her dead," he said bluntly, though I think it was obvious to everybody there he was lying. "Y was well-liked by everybody at Interpol. I don't know why anybody would want to raise a hand to her, much less kill her."

"I see," Deirdre murmured, not pursuing the subject any further for the time being. "N told us she was investigating Oracle while she was still alive."

M looked down, still refusing to meet our gazes. "I understand," he murmured mindlessly.

"Should we tell them about the papers?" N asked. "I mean, I don't see why we should hide it. The truth will come out some way or another, whether that be here by our choice or in court against our will."

"Papers?" I echoed. "What papers?"

M let out a sigh. "I suppose you make a good point... Alright. There were some papers that had been sitting on the victim's death before the crime took place. I can't say for sure what they were there for, but I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with her investigation into Oracle," he explained.

"We saw the papers the morning of the crime, but later on, after she was found dead, the papers disappeared and haven't been seen since," N frowned. "We don't know what happened to them, but I get the feeling it's because of what she had in them..."

"Like I said, she was investigating Oracle. Let's just say that she came to us with a major breakthrough about a week ago, something large enough that it could have resulted in her death," M went on.

"Another murder based around Oracle," Deirdre muttered. "So, you think those papers were involved in her investigation about Oracle. What sort of information did she have in them? Was it anything crucial that would expose Oracle's true identity if revealed to the public?"

M hesitated before nodding. "Yes, I'm afraid. She was trying to find out the true identity of Oracle through her investigation. We've found them to be a rather large issue since there was a breach in Interpol security about a year and a half ago," he remarked. "The previous head of Interpol was exposed for selling positions in the agency to those unqualified. Oracle revealed that they were the one who found such information and exposed it to the public."

"I think a similar thing happened with the previous chief prosecutor, come to think of it," I said with a frown. "I heard that Oracle figured out the old chief prosecutor was corrupt and exposed him to the public. That was when Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was put in his place as the new head of the office."

"Oracle was able to pull it off so effortlessly. We didn't want anything else to be leaked to the public, so we're trying to figure out who it is," M continued. "They would have had to be in Interpol to have access to that sort of information. That was why we had Y and O on the case. We needed them to learn the truth."

"Do you think the victim knew who Oracle was?" Deirdre questioned.

"We don't think it," N cut in. "We know it. She came to us not long ago to say that she had figured out who Oracle was after all that time. She was ready to reveal their identity."

I don't have anything here to say really. I was two weeks ahead of schedule when this update was written, so that's pretty cool, I suppose.

I'm officially on winter break as of now, so I'll be able to update the fates rewrite a bit more hopefully. We'll have to see.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy!

-Digital