September 1

Morix Law Offices

2:30 PM

Lily Shield

I hadn't been able to take my mind off what happened in the courtroom since we left the courthouse hours ago. My heart had calmed its constant pounding, which I was definitely thankful for, but I couldn't help my panic. I hadn't expected this case to be easy, given the general lack of evidence, but we ended up with a confession regardless. The problem was that the culprit was hiding at an unknown location with hostages. In other words, we were being blackmailed since they didn't cover their tracks well enough. It was awful, and that was putting it nicely.

"I'm sure we'll be able to get out of this okay," Yuri said with a nervous smile. I could tell she didn't mean it, but I didn't say anything. We weren't in the best state at the moment anyways, so any unnecessary tension would just put us off further, which was the last thing we needed.

"I have faith the police won't just let them get away with all we saw in there," Deirdre remarked. "I get the feeling they're already working on tracking down Occisor. If we can find them, we can do something about catching them and freeing the hostages. The TV they sent us must have a signal connecting to somewhere. Since that's the case, a tech genius like Q should be able to track where it came from. Finding them should make this much easier, and I don't think it will be too hard with him on our side."

"I guess that was the one hole in their plan. They did all this under the assumption we wouldn't be able to figure out where they're hiding," Yuri commented. "We can ask Q about it if we see him around. For now, let's think about what else we can do in the meantime."

"I think we should try and talk to Mr. Morix for now. Maybe he'll have an idea as to what we should pursue next. Interpol can wait a little while if you ask me. With the culprit having confessed, we can hold off on talking to D. I doubt she'll be able to give us much of any useful information with what we already know anyways," I said.

Deirdre nodded. "I haven't seen Mr. Morix around yet. Maybe he's up in his office. We should tell him about the phone call. He has a right to know. We haven't run into him since getting it, but I still think he should be the first one to hear the truth," she remarked. "The sooner we can get that out of our system, the sooner he can help us figure out the rest of the case, or at least what we should finish our day with."

"We don't have quite as much time to investigate today, so we'll need to take advantage of every single free moment we get," I reminded them. "Every second we spend not looking around, we're just wasting our time. I'm normally not a freak for order and organization, but we're going to need that to get through this mess of a case."

"Let's head up to Mr. Morix's office for now," Yuri cut in. She headed over to the elevator, gesturing for us to follow after her. She pressed the button for the correct floor once we were all inside.

We headed for Mr. Morix's office next. I knocked on the door once we were standing outside of it. "Mr. Morix?" I asked the door, hoping to sound as gentle as possible. He would need a bit of peace before hearing what we had to say.

There was no answer. I frowned and knocked again. "Mr. Morix?" I repeated.

A few seconds later, I heard footsteps. I looked to Deirdre and Yuri with a worried frown. I had never known Mr. Morix to be the type to ignore others. This was very out of character. He had been watching the trial with us, so maybe he was scared out of his mind by what he saw. I couldn't say for sure until we asked him though, so that was our next course of action.

When the door opened, Mr. Morix's left eye was all that could be seen. It was red and puffy, but he didn't say anything about it. "What?" he asked bluntly, his voice deadpan.

I couldn't help but exchange a shocked glance with Yuri. I hadn't ever heard him so angry before. Something was wrong. "We were just here to talk to you about the trial, if that's okay," I told him, trying to be as gentle and friendly as possible. "Are you alright?"

Mr. Morix nodded, but I heard the chains of Psyche-Locks popping into existence. Even if I couldn't see them due to the door, it was obvious they were there. I gulped upon hearing them. I wished I could see them. I needed to count them out if I was going to break the Locks and figure out what he was hiding.

"Would you be able to come out of there and talk to us for a moment?" Yuri asked with a frown. "We have a few questions is all. We need your help coming up with a plan of attack is all."

Mr. Morix hesitated before opening the door and coming outside. I could see his Psyche-Locks in full view now, and they scared me immediately.

There were five of them, each the color of obsidian. The golden keyholes shone in an almost threatening way. His dark expression matched the dreariness of the situation. I could feel my heart skip a beat. I hadn't expected that. The trial traumatized him, even if it wasn't going on for very long... How was that possible? What could have scared him that much?

"What is it you want help with?" Mr. Morix asked next. I could see he was holding something. It was falling out of his pocket. It was a black fingerless glove. I didn't know what he was doing with it though. I mean, it was obviously way too small for him. It only would have fit Yuri, as a matter of fact. Everybody else in the agency had hands too large for the tiny glove. I eyed it for a moment or two, but upon noticing he was staring at me, I forced my eyes to look away.

"We need your help figuring out where to go from here in our investigation. We were planning on talking to D, the agent who saw the culprit the day of the crime. We have a pretty strong understanding of what's going on right now, but any other details are appreciated," Deirdre told him.

Mr. Morix shoved the glove further into his pocket when he realized Yuri was staring at it. "I see... Well, you should definitely talk to D about what she saw. Aside from that, I'd ask Q for details regarding how to figure out where the assassins are hiding. I get the feeling he's already on it, but it wouldn't hurt," he said.

"We were already planning on doing those things, but I'll go on and add them to our to-do list," Yuri nodded. "Is there anything else? Whatever you say, I'm sure it will be helpful."

Mr. Morix pondered this for a moment. His eyes shut, which just showed how puffy and red they were. I hadn't been able to see quite so well before due to the darkness, but now, his exhaustion was in full view. I couldn't tell if he was just extremely tired or if something else was at play. I got the feeling tears were involved no matter what it was.

"Mr. Morix?" Deirdre asked a few moments later.

Mr. Morix snapped out of his daze and nodded. "Y-Yes, yes, case ideas," he murmured. "Search O's office. You need to see if there's anything in there of value. If she really is Oracle, which she confessed to... You should be able to look around in her office freely now. If you see anything that could further expose her, keep it for yourselves to look over later. I'm sure it will wind up being important. Bring that stuff back here afterwards. If it isn't too much of a bother, I'd like to see what you find as well. Of course, if you're too busy, that's fine. I'll look into it on my own time if you're unavailable..."

"No, we can do that," Yuri assured him. "We don't really have much to do today, if I'm being perfectly honest. I'm sure we'll have a spare moment to look around her office. If we find any evidence, we'll bring it back here and show it to you... Why are you so interested in it anyways?"

The Psyche-Locks appeared again, this time with more ferocity than before. "It's just because I'm investigating Oracle. The more I know about them, the better. Of course, this trial has already shown me quite a bit on the matter..." he whispered. "Long story short, I want to hear about whatever you can tell me regarding Oracle. Don't hold anything back. I'm sure I can find a purpose for even the most insignificant tidbits."

"Okay. We can come back and tell you everything," Deirdre nodded. "It's no issue. For now, though, is there anything else you want to tell us about the case? Anything will be helpful."

Mr. Morix looked down at the ground. "I-I don't think so... You have a pretty strong grip on what's happening. With a confession, all you really need to do is take the last few pieces of the puzzle and throw them together. D should give you a few of those last pieces. From there, it won't be difficult to figure out. I don't think you need my help for that," he told us. "Is that all you wanted?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but I was cut off by Yuri. "No, actually. I want to know what you've heard about Oracle. You must have something in mind, right? I mean, you've been investigating them for years now. I feel like we need information on them now more than ever, so if you can tell us anything, please say it. We need that information on our side," she pressed. "Can you do that?"

Mr. Morix paused before shaking his head. "I've already told you all I know. Oracle is a spy known for exposing corruption in the legal world. One of their aliases is Sakura Rai. Another one is Estelle Burns, last seen a year ago. Their accomplices are unknown. I don't know anybody involved in the project. It's overall insignificant to my life," he told us in a deadpan and blunt tone. "Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Why are you upset?" Yuri asked next. "You've obviously been crying, and I want to know why, if that's okay. I don't like seeing you sad like this. We want to help you, so please don't shut us out now."

"Upset?" Mr. Morix echoed. "What makes you think I'm upset? I'm fine. Besides, even if I was upset, I'd be able to take care of it on my own. I wouldn't want to burden you with the inconsequential issues of my personal life. It's nothing you should be concerning yourself with in this case. If you don't mind, I have a few pieces of business to attend to."

With that said, Mr. Morix turned around and went back into his office. Following his swift retreat, he shut the door and locked it behind him. I gestured for the others to come with me away from the door.

However, as we walked away, I could hear a soft whisper from the other side of the wood. "Chrysalis... I'm sorry."

"Asking what was wrong really struck a nerve with him," Yuri muttered with a shake of her head. "I get the feeling it's a big secret why he's like this all of a sudden... I don't like it."

"We're going to find out who Oracle is before the end of the day," Deirdre declared. "After we investigate O's office, we'll have all the proof we need to confront him. I can't say I'm sure on who it is as of now, but it should become clear with a bit more evidence. Call it a gut instinct. I know that doesn't mean much in the legal world, but it's all we have now."

"He knows the truth," I said. "He had Psyche-Locks throughout the whole conversation. I can't imagine those would appear if he wasn't trying to hide something huge from us."

"If it has to do with Oracle, that would explain a lot. Seeing his coworker at the mercy of murderers like that would obviously freak him out. He's always been a bit anxious and awkward, so this doesn't really surprise me," Yuri remarked. "I've never seen him hide like this though. It's like the rest of the world doesn't matter to him anymore. I don't get it."

"Did you see the glove in his pocket as well?" Deirdre asked. "I don't think I've ever seen something like that before. It's much too small for him. I don't understand why it would be there... Perhaps it has something to do with why he was in such a bad mood."

"I can't think of any other reason he'd be carrying it around in his pocket. He doesn't keep things in his pockets very often," Yuri frowned. "In fact, this is the only time I can think of him doing it in recent memory..."

"It must hold relevance then," I nodded firmly. "Maybe the truth will come to us while we're in O's office. If we can find proof regarding who Oracle, and by extension, O, really is, maybe we can crack the code behind his bad mood."

"We'll just have to see," Deirdre said. "I'm positive we'll find out who Oracle is like I said before. The pieces we need to complete the puzzle are bound to be found in O's office. We should head there immediately and talk to D. We can ask Q about tracking the assassins while we're there. After we go there, we can go to the detention center, talk to M and N, and return here to talk to Mr. Morix again. Maybe he'll open up a bit more then."

"I can't be the only one who found it odd he asked us to bring back any evidence we find. Even if he's an investigator, it strikes me as weird," I frowned. "I think he wants it since he's an accomplice of Oracle and is trying to clear their tracks. If their real identity got out, it would be a problem for both him and Oracle since they know each other and work together."

"It's fishy," Yuri sighed. "I guess we can ask him more about it if we get the evidence. He'll probably be more willing to talk if we have that with us."

"As much as I hate to say it, we might need to hold the evidence over his head for a little bit," I murmured. "If we find something he wants, maybe we can bribe him into talking to us about what he's been hiding by telling him we'll hand it over after he tells the truth. I'm not normally supportive of actions like this, but I want to make sure he opens up to us. Whatever is bothering him is clearly tearing him apart at the seams. The sooner he talks about it, the better."

"Then let's get down there to ask about it. I agree it would be for the best if we got as much evidence as possible to talk to him with," Deirdre nodded.

"I think we should hold off on it for a little while," Yuri cut in. "The detention center might not be open still after we're finished up at Interpol. I think we should drop by there to speak with M and N about what happened in court today. That way, we can still have taken care of that if it closes earlier than anticipated."

"I must say, you have a bit of a point there," I agreed. "We can ask M and N what they think about the situation with O. They'll probably have more to say about it than any of us. They knew her much more personally, after all... I'm a bit nervous to see how they respond though. They'll probably be a bit angry to think about how they were deceived by a spy for so long."

"O was still treating them better than the agents from the technology branch who were selling them out though," Yuri pointed out. "I mean, think about it. Those agents were selling information to Occisor. That's the only way they would have been able to get inside to kill the victim. It would have required them getting their hands on important information hidden away from the world otherwise. Occisor could have easily done so much more damage than just killing one agent and taking the files on her desk, and that already is despicable."

"I guess you have a point," Deirdre admitted. "Let's go and see them. We can drop by a drive-through restaurant on the way there. We haven't eaten anything since breakfast. Even if we still feel sick from the trial, we need a little something to hold us over for the rest of the day. Does that sound alright?"

"Let's get to it," Yuri nodded. "I didn't realize how hungry I was until you just brought it up... I guess I really was distracted by all that's been happening... Then again, it's sort of hard to focus on food after seeing that."

I felt my stomach rumble its agreement. "No more standing around here to talk. We have business to attend to," I remarked, placing one hand on my torso.

September 1

Detention Center

3:00 PM

Yuri Rinko

The detention center was pretty empty when we arrived. After Deirdre asked for M, we stood around in silence. I glanced at the walls and floor. I didn't have much else to do, so I had to entertain myself somehow.

M appeared on the other side of the glass not long after. N came walking in at the same time, almost as if he had been cued. "What are you doing here?" M asked, looking past us at N.

"I was worried about you. I figured you would want to see me for a little bit," N answered. "Plus, I feel like we need to discuss what happened in court today... I don't know what to say about it, but I want to hear your thoughts."

"We actually came here to ask you about the same thing," Lily said. "Do you think we could chat with you for a little while as well? We'll get out of your hair soon since we have to get to Interpol, but a brief conversation won't hurt, right?"

M nodded. "Alright. Let's get right into it. I think we all know the elephant in the room. O is Oracle. She was presumed to be a regular agent for so long, but in truth, she's been snooping a lot more."

"What do you know about her? When did she come to work at Interpol?" Deirdre questioned.

"It was roughly two years ago. Shortly after she appeared, the previous head of Interpol was exposed to the press for corruption. That was when I was brought in to lead the company," M explained. "I always thought she was a bit strange, but I didn't question it. She could be spacey, but she was good at investigating. I placed my trust in her to look into the Oracle case when it was announced to the world Oracle existed. I'm sure you remember that interview with Jackson Blocker two years ago, yes?"

"We've heard about it, yeah," I affirmed. "You know, you putting her on the Oracle case probably helped her out. I bet that's why it took Y so long to figure out who she was. If O was on the case with her, she could cover her tracks. Y probably went off on her own to investigate after realizing something was wrong. That was about when O and Y stopped talking. It was risky for Y to talk to her and risk slipping up about how she knew something. I hadn't been thinking about it before, but it makes a lot of sense looking back on it..."

"I can't believe we didn't see this before," Lily admitted. "Looking back, it seems so obvious... The world was practically screaming the truth at it, but we were too focused on other things to realize the truth. I guess that's how most twist reveals go, though. It feels obvious afterwards, even if it was rough to figure out to begin with."

"O was there before you started working at Interpol... Hm... I can't help but wonder if she had any accomplices at her side. I would imagine it would be hard to get into Interpol without anybody at her side," Deirdre commented. I resisted the urge to say she did have accomplices, namely those in the photo that liked to continuously pop up during our cases. I didn't want to spill information like that when M and N would undoubtedly use it against her.

"I don't know how she got in either, but I'm almost glad she did," N admitted. "Think about it. If she wasn't there, the agents leaking information would have been able to reveal even larger secrets to the world. Countless agents could have been killed if that stuff got out. She was able to help us catch it in the earlier stages to prevent that. You can't help but agree that was helpful."

"I've never really been the biggest fan of Oracle, but that situation definitely changed my mind for the better. Maybe she isn't as big a villain as some people make her out to be," M said. "I'm thankful she was able to help us find the traitorous agents in Q's division. Y wouldn't have been the only victim if she hadn't gotten involved."

"Speaking of Y, we all know why she stopped talking to O a few weeks ago. After she came to you about knowing who Oracle was, she and O completely stopped interacting. O claimed she didn't know what happened, but it seems pretty obvious now she was lying. Y knew who she was and stayed away for her own safety... Of course, that didn't really help much in the long run. Y ended up dying regardless and O was taken hostage by Occisor. This is all one big mess," I sighed with a shake of my head. "I wish it wasn't like this... If we had figured this out on our own before the kidnapping, we could have talked to O. I bet she would have been able to tell us a lot about the Oracle project and those involved. It would depend on if she was willing, but with enough pressing, we could have at least gotten something out of her."

"On the matter of O, is there anything else you know about her?" Lily questioned.

"Not really. Unless it was strictly necessary, she tended to stay on her own. She spent a lot of time in her office doing investigations that way. She was good at deductive reasoning, almost on par with one of our best investigative agents, D. She was almost like a completely different person when she started trying to figure out the truth behind a case. I suppose that should have been a large hint she was hiding her true nature behind a mask," M told us.

"O always acted a bit spacey too. I'm sure you noticed that from talking to her though. She gets a glassy look in her eyes and stares off into nothingness for a little while. When she comes back, she's either even more distracted than before or has figured something out to do with a case. Even if we wanted her to do a bit more investigating from time to time, she didn't want to. She preferred her time alone in her office," N said next. "Also, I didn't realize this was relevant until now, but she's only a part-time agent. She doesn't work the full time slot for most Interpol agents. She was a part-time before M and I took charge, and she's technically still one now... Of course, I highly doubt she'll still be working for us after this."

"If you get your hands on O, what are you going to do with her? Is she set to be arrested, interrogated, or something else?" Lily asked.

"We aren't entirely sure... While she may be painted as a thief of information by the general public, she never did anything to take our evidence. Besides, I'm pretty sure the reporter who first declared her habits were unjust ended up being outed for corruption a few weeks later... It's not like I really keep up with the news anyways. Unless it's important to Interpol, I mostly avoid it," M went on.

"We might have to arrest her for potential thievery though... It depends on what course of action we think would be best after we see her," N shrugged. "I think it's a shame we'll probably lose a strong agent to this mess... I almost wish we hadn't found out the truth about her. As bad as that sounds, it upsets me a little..."

"It depends on what she does afterwards as well," M continued. "Oracle works in mysterious ways. After the case where Estelle Burns was exposed, she went missing and hasn't been seen since. I would imagine the same will happen with O after this should we let her get away... In other words, this is going to be a bit of a mess, and that's putting it lightly."

"Who do you think would even be able to help them escape? If Oracle managed to get into Interpol alone, they wouldn't have any help. However, if one of their accomplices is inside, that could cause an issue," I frowned.

M shrugged. "I don't know. It's going to be hard to weed out anybody else. O managed to skate under the radar for two years. If anybody was working with her, it could be hard to find them as well... Oracle helped us in finding the agents who were corrupted, but without her or somebody else to reveal the truth, any other traitors will be difficult to figure out, and that's probably putting it lightly... I don't like any of this."

"I suppose you can think about it after the fact. With the way things are going now, you might not even have to worry about it," Lily said with a shake of her head. "At the very least, that's what Occisor wants us to believe. They've got us at an ultimatum. I'm sure we'll find a way out of this. They won't win this time. Every other time we've found one of their agents, they've gotten away. That's about to change. We won't let them escape this time."

"I'm glad you're so hopeful in this situation. I can't help but feel a bit less excited. Occisor is a band of trained killers. From what I can tell, Oracle has been hunting them for two years now with no success. If that's the case, what's to say they won't get away this time? They know a lot about assassination. If we anger them, they can kill the hostages they have at their disposal. Sure, they would lose their leverage over us, but it might be worth it to them to secure their escape route," M frowned. "It's not easy to predict their movements in that respect."

"I don't know how we're going to pull this off either, but I have faith it'll be fine. We won't let them get away with this. For Chrysalis' sake, we will prevail," Lily declared, placing her hands on her hips. "She's going to be fine. We're going to get her out of there and make sure things are okay."

"Who are you talking about?" N asked.

"Chrysalis is a girl who works at our agency. A few days ago, she left on a trip to visit Germany. We called her yesterday while she was being kidnapped by Occisor. I suspect they took her specifically to use as a bargaining chip over us," I explained. "But we're going to get her out of there and everything will be okay!"

"I'm glad you're so confident," N remarked. "Well, I think we're about finished talking to you for now. Is there anything else you wanted to ask us about?"

Deirdre shook her head. "No, I don't think so," she said. "Thank you for talking to us. We really do appreciate it."

"You're heading to Interpol to look around, yes?" M asked.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, we are. We have to tie up a few loose ends. We need to talk to D and Q in particular about what they saw and how to free the hostages."

"I suppose we'll leave you to that then," N told us. "In case we don't see you before tomorrow, good luck in your investigation. We'll be looking forward to what you do."

"Try and stay out of trouble until tomorrow. We can't have any other hostages being taken. That would make this case even messier than it already is," I smiled as Lily, Deirdre, and I walked out. "Bye!"

Once we got outside, we started for the car. "Interpol awaits," was all Deirdre said as we hopped inside and started the long drive to Interpol. My thoughts were racing with ideas of what would happen the next day, but I couldn't say for sure which one would come to pass.

Here's an update.

Have a nice day.

I need better author's notes.

-Digital