September 1

Morix Law Offices

5:00 PM

Cotoli Morix

"The Oracle project began two years ago after the GC-9 incident. You see, it started after the murder of my mother, Natasha Morix. She was strangled to death at the Sparx Factory near here. They were working on new technology before her death. It was said to be helpful to all people in society. My mother was the main worker on this technology. She never gave me any details, but I later learned it was a virtual reality simulator. At the time, Occisor hadn't officially formed, but they were the ones behind her death.

"My mother was murdered by Occisor and was hung from the ceiling by the rope used to kill her. Five witnesses entered the scene. We were on a tour of the factory that day courtesy of my mother. Chrysalis, Sora, and Yuri were among those present. Yuri can tell you that much for sure. Two others were there as well, but they aren't relevant to this story. Yuri was slashed in the eye by one of the assassins for Occisor, knocking her unconscious from blood loss. Sora was hit in the head by an object inside the room, making her pass out. Chrysalis was given a drug, but she managed to escape before she fell unconscious. She alerted Ghastly of the murder before passing out. He ended up being the suspect for the case.

"When Chrysalis awoke, she met our adoptive brother, Pieter. He had been living with my mother up until that point. After a mysterious incident, he couldn't live on his own anymore. My mother nursed him back to health. They were planning on meeting up with us at the factory for an introduction, but that never happened due to my mother's death. When he heard his youngest sister had been hurt, he made his way to her side.

"They seemed to bond instantly. He helped her while she was recovering after the murder. Pieter seemed to be carrying some trauma of his own that Chrysalis was able to remedy. I can't say what it was. Pieter was as secretive as he was kind. However, I do know they got along very well.

"Anyways, Ghastly was eventually proven innocent, but no killers were ever caught. There wasn't enough evidence to show who really did it, which was the start of our problems and the start of Oracle. Occisor got away. Pieter knew who was behind it by the method the crime was committed. He didn't go into detail since, as I've already mentioned, he liked to keep his secrets hidden. Chrysalis grew upset the woman she had looked up to for so many years had been murdered and the culprits got away. Her own mother wasn't around much, and she didn't get along well with our father, so my mother was practically her sole parental figure growing up. Out of anger, she couldn't let Occisor get away, so she devised a plan to catch them.

"At first, it was nothing like the Oracle project you know today. It was just asking people to help out in finding the culprits on the side. Ghastly helped us out, Detective Erikson did a little digging, I looked around... In the end, nothing was helping. We couldn't figure out where they were. Nothing was working. Chrysalis got mad nothing was being done and created the Oracle project to help track down Occisor.

"It was a small thing at first, but it grew in size after a while. Our main goal was to find Occisor and have its members arrested. They knew somebody was after them, but nobody could tell who it was until Jackson Blocker revealed the truth on TV. We had been looking into them for about a month before Pieter went missing. He left a note behind for Chrysalis and seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Chrysalis was devastated, so she dedicated her free time to figuring out where he went. We haven't found much of anything, even if it's been two years.

"We only know he's somewhere in Germany. Chrysalis found that out a few weeks ago, so she instantly prepared to head to Germany. She wasn't going on a school trip at all. She was heading to Germany to find our brother. I can't say what happened for her to end up at Interpol for this murder. She can explain that when she returns hopefully tomorrow... Anyways, Pieter went missing. That started Chrysalis on her second purpose of trying to find him.

"As of then, our to-do list was to catch Occisor and find Pieter. As time progressed, we figured out there was something else we wanted done. Well, before I go into what we wanted to accomplish, I should explain who is part of this mess.

"Like you suspected, it was the people in the picture. That was taken not long after we came up with the project. It was like a mark showing the beginning of an age. We all had different roles in the group. Chrysalis and I were to take on any cases to do with Occisor. Sora, Polly, and Ghastly were doing the same but from the side of the prosecution. Venus and Cassidy were helpers on each side as well. Pieter was there for support and to provide us with what he knew about Occisor, though I got the feeling he wasn't telling us everything he knew.

"Anyways, we figured out something else was going wrong. The more investigating we did, the more we found was wrong with the legal system. The chief prosecutor at the time was paying people to forge evidence so he could get guilty verdicts when he went to court. The leader of Interpol was corrupt and would allow criminals to escape if they paid him the proper amount. We knew we shouldn't have our hands on that sort of information, but Chrysalis wouldn't let it continue this way. She was tired of the corruption. A third mission joined our list. We wanted to eliminate the excessive corruption plaguing the legal system.

"Since becoming a lawyer, I had seen a lot of corruption, and that's probably putting it lightly. My first case was defending Venus from murder charges. I'm sure Yuri will remember that. It was so strange to me how they had quickly come to a conclusion that she must have done it when there were holes in the theory pointing to her guilt. All I had heard while training to become a lawyer said that time needed to be taken to conclusively find a killer or criminal. Chrysalis found it strange too, but we didn't say anything about it at the time.

"Cassidy was arrested not long after under a similar circumstance. She was suspected of killing somebody when she would never raise a hand to a fly. Once again, there was pressure to find the culprit quickly regardless of if it was correct or not. She nearly wound up in jail because of forged evidence and false charges. We managed to free her, but that doesn't make it any better. It's still not a good situation to be stuck in. It only enraged us further.

"This continued for quite some time. I took on a few more cases and revealed who the real killer was when my clients were accused wrongfully. I suppose that I was willing to play along with it for a while so long as I found the truth until Chrysalis and I talked after my mom died... She remarked that while what we were doing was great, we couldn't guarantee everybody that came under suspicion was safe. Some people could easily spend the rest of their lives in prison when they didn't do anything wrong. While the police are right sometimes in tracking criminals, there had been far too many mistakes at the time. She was sick of it.

"Everything became too much for us, so she designed the Oracle project and got help putting it into motion. At the time, we didn't think much of the corruption, but it became more apparent as time went on, as I already mentioned. We haven't gotten rid of all of it, as that's a nearly impossible feat, but we're still working on it. We agree that it has to stop.

"If you want the truth, we weren't ever going to make the Oracle project public. It was going to stay a quiet thing. Nobody outside of our associates were supposed to know. We weren't going to make it a public thing since that could easily put all of us at risk if anybody realized we were looking into their corrupted history. It was for our safety that we didn't say anything. Even if somebody commented on the number of corrupt officials, we were to say nothing. It was a secret. If it didn't concern them, they didn't need to know. We didn't let a single person join in the project for ages.

"Of course, that was when Jackson Blocker entered the picture. Chrysalis, or should I say, Estelle, had been lurking around his agency for a while when he finally approached her and asked what was going on. She feigned innocence at first, but he managed to prove she was involved. To keep him from getting her in trouble, she revealed the truth, but she never told him who she really was. To him, Estelle was the only form of Oracle that mattered. We couldn't say for sure if he was trustworthy, after all. She had been there in the first place to make sure none of his lawyers were slipping into the trap of forged evidence.

"There wasn't much of anything we could do to keep it from him. Luckily, he didn't say anything to anybody. We kept him away from the majority of the business, but he still managed to cause some trouble for us. It was the seven of us working together now that Pieter was gone. We didn't want or need his help. He had been the first one to figure out something was wrong, so we had a reason to be wary. None could say if he could be trusted or not. We stayed away from him for the most part, but Chrysalis was still able to get his help to out a few corrupted lawyers while she was still there. He was helpful, yes, but we still held him at arm's length.

"He slipped up while on TV, telling the world about Oracle. At the time, the only hint anybody had that Oracle existed was that a large number of legal workers and politicians were being exposed for abusing their positions. There wasn't any physical proof left behind by Chrysalis during her excursions to point to her. When he mentioned her, we were forced to accept that the public knew the project existed, which was not ideal. It was meant to be a quiet project that stayed under the surface to avoid arousing suspicion. Now that everybody knew she existed, Occisor could make her into a target.

"Occisor didn't even know Oracle was a thing. They just knew somebody was after them. Without any solid evidence Oracle existed, they couldn't do anything about it. Once it got out into the open though, the danger increased tenfold. Nobody would care about a spy they knew nothing about. However, once it became a matter of discussion, everybody would begin to take note. They could investigate. They could learn the truth as Jackson Blocker had. We were still working to cover our tracks, but things could still slip through the cracks, and with a name to put to these strange occurrences, things went downhill. You all figured out on your own merits because you know a few facts exclusive to this building. We feared that above all else. I know I can trust you with this knowledge after working with you for half a year, but you can't blame us for being terrified.

"We managed to evade Occisor for quite a while, but all times of peace must come to an end. That's just how the cycle goes. Where there is peace, chaos is soon to follow. When there is darkness, there's light at the end of the tunnel. In a way, I suppose that's what we were looking for all those years. We were just searching for quiet after the hurricane... That's enough flowery talk for now though. We avoided Occisor after they learned Oracle existed, but it didn't last. The first step in things going even further downhill was the case from last year.

"I'm talking about the murder of Jackson Blocker. He was killed by a member of Occisor for not revealing who Oracle was. I must thank him for that, even if he and I never got along well due to his abrupt appearance. I told you about that case already when you asked about it a few months ago. It wasn't part of the plan for Estelle to be exposed though. I'm sure that much was obvious. When the culprit revealed that he knew, she could have been killed. The fact that she was spared at all was a miracle. Unfortunately, her wrists were cut, marking her as their prey. It meant they would know who they were looking for if they checked the back of their suspect's hands. She was mortified at the time, but I feel like she's gotten used to it since then. Well, as used to it as she can be. I see her staring at the back of her hands from time to time, but she doesn't bring it up much to me. I guess she doesn't want to worry me...

"That's why she wears the gloves, actually. She doesn't want anybody to see. It's a matter of life and death for her. She has no choice but to hide it. She's never seen without them, even when she's at home. She's too paranoid about it. I can't really blame her. Anybody would be freaked out. There's a group of murderous assassins who want her dead. She wouldn't even think of leaving her gloves behind when she could die for removing them. It's a small detail, but one she can't ever forget because of that day.

"After her wrists were cut, she ran from the courtroom. I told you about that. Venus chased after her. To everybody else in the court, it seemed like she was going to try and catch her so she could testify again. However, since she was working alongside Estelle the whole time, Venus actually helped her to escape. That was the last time Estelle Burns was ever seen. The alias has been abandoned and is never to be used again. It was created for the purpose of sneaking into Blocker Law, so I suppose it's only fitting that it ended with Blocker Law as well. In some twisted way, it's almost poetic.

"Venus helped her into a private area we knew didn't have any security cameras. She changed clothes and became Chrysalis once again. She claimed to have been driven over after finishing a rehearsal with her theater group. She decided to go back home with Venus and me. I intentionally didn't mention that detail before since I figured you would grow suspicious if I brought her up. I apologize for withholding that information to begin with, but now that you've heard the truth, I might as well reveal everything. There's no harm in telling you what I held back on before.

"After that murder, we grew more cautious with our investigations. We couldn't have any of us being exposed for our involvement. The project could have very easily crumbled if one of us was removed from the situation. Without Pieter, we were down to seven, all with our own roles to play. We couldn't afford to change things further. It would have been risky.

"Not much really happened from then on. Around that time, Chrysalis exposed the chief prosecutor at the time and revealed he was corrupted. I mentioned that before. Ghastly was the one who was set to inherit his position, which made this much easier on all of us. We had more power to investigate and go much deeper than we could before with him covering for us. His help allowed us to reveal the corruption working behind the scenes of Interpol. Afterwards, Chrysalis decided to infiltrate the company to learn more. Interpol is a hub of information of all sorts. She would have been able to expose all sorts of dark dealings if she was able to learn more from there. With her manipulation powers, she was able to worm in as Sakura Rai, or O. She was working only part-time though so nobody would get suspicious as to why she wasn't around much.

"We didn't do much of anything over the year before Venus' death. We were careful to avoid being caught. Venus was doing her job as the second-in-command for Chrysalis. The two of us were her main helpers throughout all of this. She was doing a lot behind the scenes to learn the truth behind Occisor. At the time, we didn't know very much though since they hadn't revealed themselves. Our one-way ticket to learning the truth was Pieter, but nobody had seen him in ages. Venus and Chrysalis were doing their best to find him, but you can only try for so long before you realize it isn't going much of anywhere. Chrysalis was starting to lose hope in finding Pieter, and by extension, the culprits behind my mother's death, because we had been looking for over a year and a half and didn't know anything. I suppose you could call this the lowest point in the project's history. Everybody was growing tired and didn't know where to go next. It seemed like the killers would get away again and Pieter would be lost for good.

"Now, we get to the early segments of this year. I had been working on my own for quite some time, but Venus made a casual suggestion that maybe I should take on a few other lawyers. After all, maybe helping expose corruption would be easier if there were more people working at it. I thought on it for a little while before agreeing she had a point. I conducted some research and found Lily and Deirdre online. I interviewed the two of you over email and decided you would be fine additions to the company. You weren't supposed to start working for a little while, but a wrench was thrown into our plan to get help.

"Venus was on the phone with Chrysalis, who at the time was in one of her aliases, Shayla Willows, at Venus' request. She was supposed to talk with her about something, though Venus was never able to explain that in detail. However, that was when she was killed. Chrysalis testified as Shayla against Buff Guiy, though she defended Anton since the two of them are close friends. I had Lily help me out, thinking I could start her on the path to helping expose corruption in the legal system. We were able to find the real killer and lay Venus' soul to rest... Well, sort of.

"Venus has been strange compared to the spirits of other deceased people. For some odd reason, she cannot be channeled. Chrysalis and Sora have been attempting it for quite some time, but success seems unlikely at best at this point. We were planning on talking to her about what she wanted to know the day of her death, but that has proven impossible since then. It's an odd phenomenon we've never heard of happening before. However, there isn't much of anything we can do about it now.

"Nothing of note happened until our new recruits officially began to work here. That was the day Buff Guiy died. I'm sure you remembered how Chrysalis left before our meeting was done. That was because she was called to the crime scene to investigate under one of her aliases. I'm not going to tell you who it was as of now since I believe that's her story to tell you. She can explain it when she returns. Anyways, she had to go and check out the scene of the crime. When she appeared to help the investigation alongside Deirdre, it was after she had finished her job as an investigator. Also, I'm sure you noticed how she always seemed somewhat distant when talking to newer faces. That's something of a side effect due to her position as Oracle. She doesn't want to end up in danger by trusting somebody she shouldn't. I told her to go and help the investigation to hopefully minimize her issues with trusting others. I suppose it's been somewhat successful, but I can still sense her hesitance. I guess it's just hard for her to let go of.

"After Yuri was returned to us, things began to change. We were all a bit unsettled after seeing the message in blood at the crime scene. Plus, the culprit had finally announced the name of the group we were after. It was Occisor all along. Now, we didn't need to know where Pieter was to learn who was behind the death of my mother two years before. Of course, we still wanted to find him an learn more about who he really was, but he was no longer needed for our plan to come to fruition. That changed everything.

"Our investigations were proceeding faster than ever. Things were going perfectly well. Of course, there was a problem. You three were beginning to snoop into things. You were trying to figure out who Oracle really was behind the mask, even if it wasn't an intense investigation. You already knew a bit more than you should have because of Prosecutor Shield's investigations into Shayla Willows. You knew Oracle was Shayla, or at least that was one of the aliases. Chrysalis avoided using that alias from then on out due to her fear once I told her. It was probably a good idea on her part.

"We were able to learn more about Occisor during those months, though we weren't able to find the full truth. We didn't have any names. The members of Occisor were always using aliases when killing people. We couldn't find their hideout without names. There wasn't any conclusive way to track them. In other words, we had hit another brick wall. We would need to find them if we were going to have them arrested for their crimes. That was a large issue. We would have to find their real names while avoiding suspicion from the three of you and Y.

"After being assigned to work at Interpol, Sakura was set to work alongside Y, an agent working under M and N to find the truth behind the Oracle case. M only grew more curious after being promoted to his position as the head of Interpol, which he didn't know was Sakura's doing. He knew Oracle was behind it, as Chrysalis sent a letter to the local chief of police after the exposure of the previous head of Interpol saying she did it. He pressed Y and Sakura to find the truth behind Oracle's true identity, likely out of his own curiosity. Since he was the leader of the company, he didn't have the time to look into who Oracle really was, so he put it on the two of them.

"Y was getting closer to learning the truth. Sakura did her best to hold off the investigation, even offering to help by investigating out in the field to gather more information to hide the truth behind her identity. This is where the third murder since your joining began. I'm talking about the murder out on the lake during that boat race.

"No direct associates of Oracle were involved in that case, though that showed us one important detail: Neptune Mercure, a private investigator, figured out the truth on her own. We were sure we had covered our tracks well enough. We all pitched in to figure out how she had found it out, but we couldn't come up with anything. Quietly, I came to the conclusion that somebody had told her. I didn't want to think we had a traitor among our company. It simply didn't make sense to me. Why work with the rest of the group for two years only to betray us?

"Regardless, O slipped onto the crime scene at one point after Chrysalis excused herself from the investigation. She spoke briefly with Lily and scoped out if there was any dangerous evidence at the scene of the crime. She found nothing, so she left. That case did show that Neptune had a lot of proof against Chrysalis, though it only made sense to those who were fully aware of the complete truth. The photo she carried was also an odd addition, as it wasn't at all relevant to her. We hid it for a while the best we could, but it seems you figured out in the end that it was related to our motley little crew anyways. Chrysalis went to Neptune as Sakura, and it only proved that she knew the truth.

"After that case, not much of note happened. I mentioned the potential of a traitor to my sisters, and from there, it spread to the rest of the group. Chrysalis mentioned that Neptune was a friend of Cassidy's, which seemed to point to her as the one who told Neptune the truth. We didn't want to believe it, but we had no other choice in the matter.

"We decided to meet up at the local carnival in town, Happy House Carnival, to talk about the matter. However, we were cut short by the explosion on the Ferris wheel. Cassidy was killed in the explosion, and I was the one arrested for it. I'm sure you remember that. I left the agency that morning to meet up with the other five living members of the group to talk about the betrayal. We never learned the truth due to Cassidy's death... And to this day, we still can't say for sure if Cassidy was the one who told Neptune everything. Much like Venus, we can't channel her for some strange reason. I wish I knew why.

"We dropped everything behind the betrayal afterwards. Chrysalis told us Neptune claimed to have found out the truth on her own, and without any evidence, we couldn't prove somebody had told her everything. It was unfortunate, but we didn't have any other choice but to let it go. Also, Chrysalis was somewhere else at the time of that case. You can't possibly think she would let me get arrested and not do anything about it. She can tell you about that herself though.

"After that, she began to help Interpol reveal the truth behind the traitors within its walls. She sent letters to M and N about who was selling information. She was able to get them all arrested without exposing her identity. Y, however, found out the truth and wanted to reveal it, but M stopped her.

"Now, we get to the present day. Chrysalis was set to head to Germany to talk to Pieter and bring him back here now that we had a rough location for where he was. She was asked to drop by Interpol to speak with Y on the way though. She never was stalled at the airport. She was forced to go to Interpol to talk to Y, as she had figured out the truth. However, she never got to talk to Y, as she was killed by a member of Occisor for her research. Luckily, the research only revealed Sakura as an alias of Oracle. Her true face was kept under wraps since Y had no idea.

"It didn't take long for Y's research to tell Occisor exactly who Oracle was. From there, you understand exactly what happened. Sakura was kidnapped and is now being held hostage alongside around twelve others, though they didn't say who they had. I don't know why they kept it open-ended, but I suppose we'll figure out the truth soon enough. Now, they're using Sakura against us in hopes of getting M a guilty verdict for their crime. We're lucky they haven't realized Sakura is just an alias. Chrysalis would be in even more danger if that was the case. Now, after we save her, she can come home and go back to her regular identity without much risk.

"And there you have it. That's the full story."

"Wow... That's... I can't believe it," Lily murmured.

"Thank you for telling us," Yuri said quietly.

"Now, you know exactly what you have to do. You know who you need to save. You must do your best to defend Chrysalis from Occisor by finding a way to trap them in their own game. It's a huge gambit, but we have no choice," I frowned.

"We're going to save her," Deirdre told me firmly. "Don't worry."

"I believe in you... I know you and Ghastly will do everything you can to make sure she comes home safely. She'll be back home soon... And then she can fill in the missing pieces for you," I continued.

"Thanks for trusting us with this. It means a lot. We won't tell a soul," Deirdre assured me.

"I know you won't... Now, don't let me down. Show what you're made of. Catch Occisor, or at the very least, hold off the trial until they can be caught. It's not going to be easy, but you can do it. This is your final test as a newcomer to this agency," I said. "Bring Chrysalis home and prove yourselves as lawyers. I believe you can do it."

Whew. Explanations.

I hope I shocked at least one person out there with this reveal. Obviously, there were probably some people who knew about it since it's the same as from the original version, but I hope i got at least one original reader. There was a lot of foreshadowing building up to this. In fact, I basically told you back in chapter six that Chrysalis wears gloves. Ha. Foreshadowing is fun.

-Digital