September 1

Interpol Headquarters

3:15 PM

Yuri Rinko

It didn't take us long to arrive at X's desk across the room. Neither he nor Neptune noticed we were there until I tapped the latter on the shoulder. "Um... Hello?" I asked.

She jumped when she noticed I was there. "You scared me!" she cried out with a shake of her head. "Sorry. What is it that you need?"

"We were going to ask what you knew about O. We heard rumors you and an agent named X were trying to figure out where she was," Deirdre explained.

Neptune nudged her friend gently. "X, looks like you're going to have to talk to people," she told him.

X had been typing silently up until this point. He still didn't seem to notice we were there. "What?" he asked. When he looked at me, he let out a sigh. "I see. What questions do you have? And can we make it quick? I have other business to attend to."

"Yes, of course. We'll try to not take up too much of your time," Lily said. "How are you going to find O?"

"Tracking the signal coming from the TV," X told us in a clipped tone. His fingers moved to the mouse to slide it across its pad for a moment. "It's normally simple, but the assassins are making things infinitely harder. I can't believe they got their hands on information like this... No normal group would be able to hide without getting something from the inside."

I looked to Neptune with a frown. "I can only understand about half of what he's saying. Do you know how to speak a bit more clearly?" I questioned.

Neptune let out a laugh, but it was forced and brittle. "I suppose. He's managed to figure out where their signal is coming from, or at least a general area. When we get a precise location, we're going in."

"You're going to help her too? Is that even allowed?" Lily frowned.

"Technically, no. However, I have an agent from Interpol on my side, so that has to count for something. I'm sure I can get past a few barriers by bringing that up. It's crucial that I find Oracle anyways. I can't have her winding up in the wrong hands, I'm afraid," Neptune explained. "It's a long story. Is there anything else you want to ask us about? Have you figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out?" I asked.

"So, he hasn't told you... I suppose I should have seen this coming... I would have anticipated him to bring this up sooner, but I guess the cases with his associates have made him a bit cagey... That's so like him, the anxious little..." Neptune muttered under her breath. "Okay, so I want you to work on gathering as much information as possible about Oracle. How much do you know about her? I feel like it's almost time... God, with the way I'm phrasing this, it sounds like the apocalypse..."

"I'm afraid I haven't followed you in about two minutes," I frowned. "I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I need you to speak a bit more clearly. Can you do that?"

Neptune sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry about that... Hm... How do I even go about this? What do you know about Oracle? That's a good place to start," she remarked.

"Oracle is a spy with various aliases. She first appeared in the city about two years ago. Her supposed motive has to do with the GC-9 murder case, which also took place two years ago. She was first revealed to exist in a public interview due to Jackson Blocker slipping up on the matter. Ever since then, she's been making appearances all over the place to expose corruption in various legal fields. The previous chief prosecutor and head of Interpol are two such victims to exposure," Lily explained. "The only aliases we've heard about for sure as of now are Estelle Burns and Sakura Rai, or O, as I'm sure most people know her."

I didn't comment on her choice to refrain from mentioning what we thought of Shayla Willows. As much as I liked Neptune, I wasn't sure if bringing that up was really the best idea.

"Who do you know is involved then?" Neptune asked next.

"Venus and Cassidy Rinko are known to have been associates before their untimely demises earlier this year. As for others, we have suspicions, but not much that's concrete," Deirdre replied.

"Has Cotoli Morix told you anything?" Neptune pressed on.

"Not much. He's been investigating Oracle for quite some time, but he hasn't said much aside from that, if that's what you're looking for," I shrugged. "You seem to know a lot on the matter. Would you mind opening up to us about it?"

"I can't do that. Besides, even if I did know the truth, it's too risky. Interpol is at risk of being completely compromised. We don't know for sure if O was able to expose all the agents selling information. I'd rather not end up on a hit list again, thank you very much," Neptune huffed. "Anyways, I'm going to have to leave this to you to figure out on your own. I have a few other things to do before tomorrow's trial, if that's alright with you."

"You know who Oracle is, but you won't tell us?" Lily frowned. "Come on, you can trust us. I defended you from a murder charge. Can you please talk to us for a moment? Please?"

Neptune shook her head. "I'm afraid not. It's a long story. She should have been able to tell you when she was ready, but this mess has forced her out of hiding too soon. I don't want to go against her wishes further by revealing the truth now. It's not going to turn out well. Just know that the truth awaits you at Morix Law Offices. You'll be able to hear the full story behind the one who knows the Oracle project best. Well, second best. The first person you'd really want to hear from would be Oracle herself, but she's a bit preoccupied at the moment. He's another strong option though."

"Stop speaking in riddles, would you?!" I snapped. "This is serious! Can you tell us what you mean? It would make things a lot easier on all of us!"

"That isn't an option. Besides, how are your deductive skills going to grow if you're just having me force feed you all you need to figure out? It's best if you realize the truth on your own merits. I'm on your side though. Don't get this twisted. Even if I can't say much due to the position I'm in, I want you to hear the truth. I want you to figure out who Oracle is. You three have a right to know above most others. She's been hiding under your nose far longer than you know," Neptune went on. "Go and check out O's office. I want you to get whatever you need from there. Interpol's agents have already gone through the area. They didn't find anything of value, but you have more information than they do. Even if they couldn't find anything they thought would help, there's bound to be something you need in there."

"I don't understand why you're doing this. You want us to find out, but you won't tell us. You want the truth to come out, but you refuse to directly state how it will be revealed. Is this just a thing with you? Is hiding things your superpower?" I asked with a frown.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. That's for you to decide. It's up to you. All that you do from this point out is your choice," Neptune said.

"Have you ever made contact with O outside of Interpol's walls?" Deirdre questioned, her voice much calmer than mine had been.

Neptune paused at that and placed one hand on her chin. "Hm... Now you're asking the right questions. I won't be able to talk for long since O is waiting for help, but I can give you a few more minutes. Yes, I have met with O outside of Interpol. It was shortly after the case at the lake. I gave a message to one of your coworkers, Chrysalis, I believe. I said that my home was a safe place if Oracle ever needed. I told her she could come by as well. Not long after, O appeared to talk to me. I didn't give her much information directly, but she seemed to glean what she needed from our various conversations," Neptune explained.

"How did O even hear about that?" Lily asked.

"I knew that delivering my message to Chrysalis would get it around. She's quiet and secretive, but Oracle would hear it from her. Oracle is someone both all of you know well. Chrysalis knows her too. Even if she doesn't look it, she's a lot sharper than you'd expect. She knew to pass the message on, and in the end, it worked. I got to talk to O, and she learned what she was supposed to from our meeting," Neptune continued.

"What was she supposed to learn?" Deirdre frowned.

"That's something I shouldn't be getting into now. There are much more important topics to be thinking of, after all. She was able to pick up on what I wanted her to know through my speech patterns. She figured out that I knew the truth as well as a few other things. That information was meant for her though. I won't be leaking it to outside sources," Neptune shrugged. "You'll have to gather it on your own time if you want to hear it. Of course, you could always press it out of her yourself..."

"You seem to have it in your head we'll be seeing her again after this. O, that is," I commented.

"That's because you will. I know what's going to happen over the course of the next day or so. X and I are going to find O. She is going to find a way to elude our grasp because that's what Oracle always does. She's going to return to one of her other aliases. She's going to hide right under your nose again. Of course, if you can figure out the truth, you can ask her about it. I can't say for sure if she'll open up, but she tends to do that to people she trusts. If you can prove you're trustworthy, she'll talk. I know the way she operates," Neptune said next.

"I have one more question, if that's alright," Deirdre cut in.

"Go right ahead," Neptune nodded, shutting her eyes.

"Who are you?" Deirdre asked.

Neptune paused for a moment before shrugging. "Who am I? What an odd question... Who are we? As people, what are we? Just souls meant to interact on this plane of existence? It's a peculiar way of thinking, I must say. I will tell you that I am Neptune, and that is that. Any further questions on my identity will bear no fruit. I am Neptune, just as I have always been."

I saw Lily grasp at her magatama from the corner of my eye. I frowned. I could tell she was lying somewhere in there, but I couldn't quite pick out where.

"However, if you're looking for a more direct answer... I am a friend to Oracle. I am her companion, the one who urged her on when no others would. I am the one she turned to for help, the one she looked to above nearly all others. I am the one who was cast aside by fate to live alone. I am one lonely soul crying out softly for another who does not see me. I am Neptune, and that is that," Neptune continued to say.

I frowned. "I wouldn't call that a direct answer, you know," I snarked under my breath.

"Nor does it need to be. In other circumstances, we never would have crossed paths. We don't need to talk much on our interaction now or in the future. Just know that I am a friend of Oracle's, just as you are friends to her. It may seem peculiar now, but it will make much more sense when the day of execution is upon us," Neptune replied. "Now, it's time for you to leave me and look into O's office. I have other business to attend to. O can't exactly save herself in her current position."

With that final statement, Neptune turned away and focused on the computer X was typing at. I went to speak to her again, but Deirdre took my hand and shook her head. She led Lily and I away from the young woman and out into the hallway outside the technology branch.

"What in the world was that about?" I asked with a frown. "She was speaking in riddles practically that whole time. I don't have even the slightest clue what she was trying to get across with all that. It made no sense."

"I don't think we're meant to," Deirdre murmured. "Maybe she was letting out some pent-up anger in that conversation. I can't say for sure. However, I do know that I could hear much sadness, rage, and frustration behind her voice. It was overpowering, and that's putting it lightly. It almost sounded like she was... Grieving."

"I don't get that girl. She's got so many secrets and doesn't tell anybody about any of them. I mean, I get that is kind of the point of having a secret to begin with, but it still bugs me a little, you know?" I said with a shrug. "I don't know. We should probably leave it be for now. Thinking about it will only cause us more issues. She has a point in saying we should go and check out O's office. It's bound to have some evidence regarding her true identity. It's like Neptune said. Even if the agents sweeping the place didn't find anything of value, we might find something useful in there. We know more than they do on the matter."

"In that case, let's not waste more time. O's office awaits," Lily agreed with a curt nod. "But first... I know we shouldn't be thinking about Neptune because of the case at hand, but there is one thing I want to mention... She had Psyche-Locks but not just any Locks. They were black. That's the color associated with a traumatizing secret."

"Whatever Neptune was venting to us about, it's clearly hurt her a lot," Deirdre murmured. "I don't think anyone aside from maybe Oracle will be able to get her to talk about it though. It really isn't good on her mental state."

"I guess we can leave it be for now. We can ask Oracle to talk to her about it after we meet them," I suggested.

"Sounds good. Let's do it," Lily smiled.

We were silent the whole way to O's office. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't stop thinking about Neptune. She seemed to practically explode at us, which was odd for her. She wasn't the type to talk openly about everything, but I could still tell something was wrong. Maybe it was the stress of what happened with O. The two of them were clearly friends, even if their relationship was complicated. That would weigh down on anyone. I couldn't blame her for getting upset over it.

I didn't understand the way she worded a few things though. The way she was talking, it sounded like O didn't even entirely trust her, which was more than a little weird considering how close Neptune painted them to be. Her whole rant about who she really was just complicated things further. It just made my head hurt.

We got to O's office before I realized what had happened. That was so like me. I tended to lose all my focus when thinking about other things.

"It's open," Deirdre remarked, pushing the door forwards to let us inside. "I would have expected them to lock it up."

"I'm not complaining. Let's just check the place out before anybody kicks us out," Lily suggested.

O's office looked pretty similar to the way it had back when we were in here for the first time the day before. It felt like an eternity away now despite being just over a twenty-four hours in the past. I shook off the thought as Deirdre reached for a drawer on O's desk. "Hm... There's not much to look at in here," she murmured.

Lily opened yet another drawer to find an object we all knew well. "It's a picture," she murmured, turning it over so the image was facing us. She let out a gasp. "It's the same one we keep seeing."

I peered over her shoulder to see that she was right. It was the picture of Mr. Morix, Chrysalis, Prosecutor Lin, you get the idea. However, there was something odd about it...

"The image is distorted... It looks like there are tear stains on it," Lily frowned. "I guess we can keep this for now. I don't know how else it will help us out, but I'm sure we can use it for something..."

"Hm... I wonder if there's anything else..." I whispered, glancing around the room. My gaze eventually fell onto a bag in the corner. "Is that a suitcase?"

"It certainly looks that way," Deirdre said. She walked over to the suitcase and laid it flat on the ground. We all crowded around it as she unzipped the main pocket. "There are clothes in here. It looks like enough to last a week or so..."

"There are a few papers under them too," I remarked, reaching beneath the clothing to pull out a folder. There were pieces of paper sticking out the top.

When I opened the folder, I frowned at what I saw. There was a picture sitting on top. It took me a second to recognize who it was. "This... This is Pieter Fury!" I exclaimed. "But how is that possible? He hasn't been seen in nearly two years! Why would he randomly be in this folder?"

"I don't know," Lily admitted. "It seems like O was trying to find him though. I mean, since O is Oracle, that isn't surprising. They were associates before he went missing..."

"I guess O finally figured out where he went," Deirdre commented. "Can I see that folder for a moment?"

I nodded and passed it off to her. She began to skim the pages, her eyes growing progressively wider as the seconds crawled on. I frowned. "What is it?" I asked.

"It says here... Pieter Fury has been located. He's currently in Germany, though his exact location is unknown. I guess O was planning on going to see him," Deirdre muttered. "I don't see anything else of note in here though."

"Our clues right now are a tearstained photo and a file on Pieter Fury. I don't think we're really any closer to figuring out who Oracle really was," I sighed. "We'll have to look around a bit more."

"Let's dig a bit deeper into the bag then," Lily suggested.

Deirdre nodded and shoved her hand as far into the front pocket as it would go. When she pulled her arm away, there was a small object in her hand. Her fingers unfurled to show a golden locket. It was dull in color, but it had its own sort of charm. "Hm... A locket," Deirdre whispered.

"I wonder if there's anything in it," I mused.

Deirdre's nails pulled at the edge of the locket. After a brief struggle, it opened to show a pair of pictures. I recognized one of them, but the other was unfamiliar. It was of a boy, likely a few years younger than me, with brown hair and a white scarf. He was smiling brightly with childish innocence. I could see half a face in the picture as well, though it was cut off by the border of the locket. It was of a girl with red hair and violet eyes.

The first picture was of Venus, which made me frown. "O had a locket with a picture of Venus in it," I said, unsure of what to do with this information. "And some other kid apparently. I don't know who this could be, but it seems like they were pretty important to O."

"I don't get it either. I mean, I guess O and Venus would be pretty close since they worked together for two years, but why go so far as to keep her picture in a locket? It seems a bit over the top, if you want my opinion, that is," Lily cut in. "This other boy looks rather young... If you ask me, he must be around twelve..."

"Let's look around more in the bag. I'm sure there's something else in here we can use," I told them.

Deirdre continued to open a few other compartments of the bag. She didn't seem to find much of anything interesting. I could see her set a few things, such as a bag of hairpieces, off to the side. There was a bag with a few other travel items as well. Lily went through those, but judging by the frown attached to her lips, she didn't see anything of note. I looked back and forth between her and Deirdre as they found new things, though none of them seemed like anything out of the ordinary.

Deirdre finally let out a gasp when she found something else. It was a letter. Once again, it was wrinkled from what looked like teardrops. There was a name written on the back, but I couldn't read it. The water on the envelope had smeared the name beyond recognition. However, it seemed as if we didn't need to look at the name, which was a positive.

Deirdre opened the envelope to show a letter inside. I read it aloud to Lily, since she was still looking into the other smaller contents of the suitcase. "'I hope you can forgive me for leaving this way. Don't forget about me. I'll be back for you one day. Until then, live on happily. I love you incredibly. Thank you for the days we shared. Love, Pieter,'" I finished. "This letter must be from Pieter Fury!"

"This just shows that O was probably going to see him..." Deirdre murmured. "Unfortunately, I'm not seeing much of anything so far that could show exactly who O is. I'm a bit concerned we won't find what we need."

"Neptune seemed like she was sure we'd figure it out... I guess we can trust her on that and keep looking around," I suggested. I headed for the desk next and began to sift through its contents.

"There's another piece of paper in this bag," Lily commented. "It looks like there's a glasses case in this little makeup bag, but next to it is a crumpled piece of paper..."

Lily pulled out the paper in question and unfolded it. "This is all the basic information about O... It has things like birthday, age, gender, all that... I don't know why O would have this since she should know all this stuff by heart," she frowned.

"Of course, she probably has a bunch of other aliases. I guess she would need a file to keep them all straight," I pointed out. "I don't see how that's important though. Anybody could need that. It doesn't point to any specific person being Oracle. I suppose you could say that applies to nearly every single piece of evidence we've found so far. If we're going to find the truth, or rather, press it out of Mr. Morix, we're going to need something that points to one person in particular."

"That's a lot easier said than done. We've already looked through nearly every pocket of this suitcase, and we still haven't found anything that points to anyone. Maybe we can convince him to open up to us and just tell us outright. The chances might be slim, but at this point, it's about as likely as us finding what we need to figure it out on our own," Lily grumbled with a shake of her head. "All of this could easily apply to many people. Why doesn't anything here have a name on it? Something else personal would be helpful as well."

"In all fairness, we came close to finding a name. If that envelope's name hadn't been all blurred out, we would have seen it easily. I suspect it was originally written in pencil like the letter itself was. That would also explain how easily it was blurred out by water. I somehow doubt it was completely intentional, but it's still a bit irritating, you know?" I said with a frown. "Oh well. Let's keep looking around."

"I don't think there's much of anything of note in here," Deirdre remarked a few moments later. "I've gone through each pocket of the bag at this point. There's nothing else I can see helping us. We can take what we've gotten so far and head back to the agency once we've finished everything else up."

"I think we should just go on and take the whole suitcase with us, if you want the truth," Lily told us. "I'm sure Mr. Morix will want it. It seems like he found something in this office to be important, even without coming in here. I wonder if he was thinking about the suitcase."

"We'll probably have to sneak it out then. I don't want to get in trouble for snatching it," I said. "I bet you're right about him wanting the suitcase though. It's where all our important evidence came from too. It'll be easier to carry this stuff around in a bag anyways."

"Hm... Let me think for a moment... I can't help but wonder if maybe Neptune hid any hints regarding Oracle in her speech. I mean, the last one sounded like complete nonsense, but maybe she said something earlier on today that could be of assistance," Lily remarked, starting to pack the suitcase up once again.

"I must wonder the same... Ah!" Deirdre suddenly exclaimed. "Ms. Mercure told us to be careful of what we knew and what others should and should not know. If my calculations are correct, there's something Mr. Morix mentioned knowing earlier that he shouldn't be aware of. I can't think of how he would have been able to figure it out on his own without us knowing about it. Maybe she knew we would realize the truth."

"There is no we here. You're the only one who knows what you're talking about, Deirdre. Can you explain what you mean?" Lily asked. "With how mysterious you're being, you're starting to remind me of Neptune."

"I don't want to get ahead of myself. I think we should hold off on discussing it until we can talk to him about it. We can't get our hopes up too high before we know for sure if I'm right. For now, let's take the suitcase out to the car with us. I think we're done here. What we have should fit in with my theory if I'm correct. I must agree with what you two were saying before though. There isn't much here to point to any specific person. We'll need to go off our own theories if we're going to learn the truth," Deirdre continued to say.

"You really aren't making this easy on us, Deirdre," I sighed. "Seriously, why not just tell us what you're thinking? If you're wrong, you're wrong. So what? We need to hear all that we possibly can about this situation."

"This is a delicate matter, Yuri. Besides, I don't want to risk anybody overhearing us. Interpol could still have somebody on the inside reporting to Occisor. It would be dangerous if I said something where someone could overhear us. You'll have to trust me on this for just a little while. Can you do that?" Deirdre asked.

I hesitated before letting out a huff. "Fine. I trust you. Just promise you won't end up getting us into trouble with this theory of yours. Also, you have to explain everything while we're talking to Mr. Morix, if not before then," I told her firmly.

"Deal," Deirdre replied.

"The bag is all packed up again," Lily cut in, zipping the main pocket shut. "I think we're ready to head out now. We didn't get the chance to talk to Chief Prosecutor Bespoke about what we're going to do tomorrow though."

"In all fairness, we didn't see him at all today. I feel like that's an understandable reason for not speaking to him," I pointed out.

"Let's focus on the task at hand for now. We need to talk to Mr. Morix about what we've learned here today. It may not seem like much, but this combined with what we heard him say earlier should persuade him to reveal the truth. He won't be able to hide away from us for much longer," Deirdre said. "He slipped up earlier, and in the end, that's going to permanently cast aside the secret he's been keeping from us all this time."

I held back another bitter comment about how she refused to tell us what was going on and headed for the door. I turned over my shoulder to give the office one final glance before we left it behind. It was time to face the truth regarding Oracle, whether we were ready for it or not. My stomach was churning into a knot, but I ignored it. There were much more important things at hand, and I couldn't afford to get distracted now.

After all, the truth we had been searching for was finally upon us.

One more chapter for now hooooo boy

-Digital