September 2

Neptune's Car

1:00 PM

Chrysalis Starr

When I came to, I could feel jostling around me. I rubbed at my head. I had a pounding migraine that begged me to go back to sleep. However, there was too much for me to find out for me to go back to sleep now. I didn't want to end up in trouble after all that had happened. The last thing I needed was more danger.

I glanced around with a small groan. I was in a car. I was apparently in the passenger's seat. I glanced to the side to see Neptune driving with a look of determination on her face.

"You're up!" came the gasp of a male voice from behind me.

I tried to turn around, but the pounding in my head demanded that I stop moving. Instead of facing the voice, I nodded numbly and shut my eyes.

"Here. Take this," Neptune said at my side. She grabbed a bottle of water sitting in the cupholder and handed it to me. "I imagine you're parched."

I tried to nod, but that proved to be harder than anticipated. I opened the water bottle and began drinking. It felt perfect on my itchy throat. She was right about me being thirsty. I hadn't had anything to drink since before I was taken captive, which was over a day. I hadn't eaten much of anything either, a fact my empty stomach was happy to remind me of with a groan.

"I have a granola bar in the bag back there. Can you give it to her?" Neptune asked of the boy behind me. "I know you're not fond of them, but you need to eat something. You passed out from exhaustion as soon as we got you out of there. I imagine hunger and thirst contributed to that."

The granola bar was passed over my shoulder and into my waiting hands. I unwrapped it and took a bite. It tasted bad and was a little squished, but I was happy to have something at all. It felt like ages since the last time I ate anything.

"Are you feeling better now?" Neptune asked after I had finished the granola bar.

"I think so," I whispered before taking another swig of the water to wash the taste out of my mouth. "I... Where are we?"

"The highway," Neptune answered. "We're taking you back to the agency. I'm sure your brother is worried about you. He can take you to the hospital from there."

Memories of my abduction danced behind my eyes. I had been cornered by Occisor shortly before I was meant to testify for the trial. I felt a blow hit the back of my hand while I was struggling, which was the last I remembered before the darkness closed in. The next time I woke up, I was in the plane being held down by ropes. I was surprised to be alive, but I was glad for it. I had expected to die as soon as I crossed paths with Occisor, but they had been merciful.

"I suspect you have a concussion," the boy behind me said. "There's blood in your hair from your head wound. We wrapped it the best we could, but without any official medical personnel, we were limited in what we could do."

My fingers darted up to my forehead. I could feel a bandage, likely from a first aid kit, wrapped around my head. However, that wasn't what I was worried about. I was much more concerned that I could feel my hair.

My actual hair.

My breathing began to speed up. They knew. I mean, I was already fully aware that Neptune knew who I was, but the boy behind me, whoever he was, didn't have a clue. I didn't know him at all, and here he was, one of the people who knew the truth about me.

"It's okay. We won't tell anybody," Neptune assured me, as if she could read my mind. "We're going to protect you until you get back home. The good thing about them holding other hostages is that we can pass you off as being one of the other people they took. Nobody will be able to tell. It's going to be fine."

"Well... Alright..." I whispered, letting my fingers drop to my lap. My arm was feeling like a weight. I didn't know if I would be able to hold it up anytime soon. All my energy had been drained over the course of the kidnapping incident. That was probably normal given all I had gone through, but I couldn't help my panic.

"Mr. Morix is waiting for you back at the agency," Neptune continued. "He'll probably insist on getting you medical attention for your head wound, knowing him. He's a panicky mess where you're concerned."

"Thank you..." I managed to say despite my exhaustion.

I turned over one shoulder to see who was behind me in the seat. I saw a girl with white hair asleep, her head cradled against the seatbelt uncomfortably. She seemed familiar, but in my state, I couldn't sift through my memories to see where I knew her from. I had to strain to see him, but I eventually saw the boy behind me too. He had bright blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He looked at me with a small smile and waved. I was halfway tempted to ask him who he was, but I couldn't find a way to form the words.

"You'll be home soon. Go back to sleep for now. You need rest to recover from all of that," Neptune told me. The car eased to a stop at a light. She reached over and placed her hand on top of mine. "You'll be okay."

I smiled gently to myself as I closed my eyes. It didn't take long for the darkness to close in around me as unconsciousness took over. I wouldn't say my sleep was calm, but it was something at the very least.

September 2

Morix Law Offices

1:30 PM

Cotoli Morix

We hadn't been back at the agency for long when I heard a knock come at the door. I darted from our place in the main area and down to the lobby. That had to be Neptune with Chrysalis.

Sure enough, I was right. Neptune was standing at the door alongside Chrysalis. My sister was leaning heavily against Neptune, looking ready to pass out. I opened the door and allowed them to come inside.

"Thank you for everything," I told Neptune with a grateful smile. I embraced Chrysalis, rubbing my fingers through her hair. I was careful to avoid the bandage wrapped around her forehead. There was a bloodstain on it, but I didn't comment on it. I got the feeling that would only serve to stress her out further.

"It was my pleasure," Neptune said with a small grin. "Do you need me for anything else?"

"Could you come up a few floors for a minute or two? I might need help getting her up there." I was blatantly lying about that. Chrysalis was barely over 110 pounds, and with enough effort, I could carry her easily. However, I got the feeling Neptune wouldn't want to come upstairs and talk to Deirdre, Lily, and Yuri if I told her they wanted to know about her outburst from the day before. She would probably dodge the question by leaving early.

"Sure," Neptune shrugged, following me to the elevator. Chrysalis leaned against me silently all the way. I was resisting the urge to dote on her after all she had been through. I knew she wouldn't appreciate that when we had an audience. Plus, I didn't know what Neptune knew about her since she had always kept the details from me. She was secretive that way.

"How are you going to explain the random disappearance of Oracle to anybody who asks?" I couldn't help but question of her.

"I'm going to say we stopped somewhere and from there, she decided to run. It's not the best excuse ever, but beggars can't exactly be choosers. I take you already reported to the police that Chrysalis was a hostage like I told you to, right?" Neptune asked in return.

"I did. To their knowledge, Chrysalis was there alongside everybody else. There's nothing out there keeping her from living her life normally at this point," I said. "I have no idea how we managed to pull this off, but I'm not complaining."

"It was an impressive gambit, to say the least," smiled Neptune. "How are you feeling, Chrysalis?"

"The world is spinning rapidly," Chrysalis answered bluntly from her place at my side. "I'd like to lay down as soon as possible."

"You can soon," I assured her, pulling her a bit closer. "I... I do have some bad news for you though... I had to tell the other people at the agency."

Chrysalis grew tense. "What?"

"I encouraged them to. I knew they would have to know what they were dealing with in order to go ahead with this trial. I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, but I think it was necessary," Neptune told her. "I've ensured that they won't be telling anybody further though. They already seemed to get the impression it was meant to stay quiet, but I've told them to keep it on the down low."

"Thanks..." Chrysalis said softly, shutting her eyes.

"They still have a few questions for you on all you do, but I'm sure they'd be willing to wait for you to feel better," I whispered.

"Good... God, Yuri is going to be pissed," Chrysalis murmured with a shake of her head. "The incidents behind her sisters' deaths are on my shoulders. Here's hoping she doesn't completely snap when I see her."

"Don't worry about that," Neptune assured her, placing one hand on her shoulders. "Those cases weren't your fault. The people who killed them are to blame. You didn't stab them. This isn't on you."

Chrysalis nodded dully as we arrived on our floor. I had to admit, I was starting to feel bad about tricking Neptune with how genuine she was acting, but I knew it couldn't be helped if we were going to get the answers we sought regarding her sudden outburst the day before. She wouldn't have gone along with it if I told her the truth. She would have turned tail and run in the other direction as fast as possible.

Yuri dashed up to greet us when we left the elevator. She instantly threw her arms around Chrysalis, making her cry out in shock. She didn't try and pull away, but I got the feeling she was uncomfortable. When Yuri picked up on this, she pulled back with an awkward smile. "Sorry," she said with a grin.

"It's fine," Chrysalis assured her. She wobbled over to the couch, where she took her place next to Deirdre. She shut her eyes and was asleep within a matter of moments.

"Hey, Neptune," Yuri said next, looking up at the private investigator. "If it's okay with you, can we ask you a few questions about what's happened these past few days?"

Neptune seemed to know she was talking about her angry outburst at Interpol. She frowned and glanced longingly at the elevator. "I... I really shouldn't stick around for too long. I have to help somebody out. I'm taking one of the other kidnapping victims back to her home. She's grown rather weak and needs to get back immediately," Neptune told her quickly. "I don't have time to stay and answer any questions."

I was hesitant to call her on it, as I had seen her leaving the plane earlier on with a girl with white hair. I assumed that was her. I didn't know why she had decided to escort that hostage home out of all she could have chosen, but I didn't say anything about it. Instead, I shared a quick glance with my coworkers before looking to Neptune. They didn't seem to want her to leave either, but if they were planning on stopping her originally, they changed their minds.

"You can go," I murmured.

"Thanks," Neptune smiled. "Tell Chrysalis I hope she feels better soon." With that said, she turned on her heel and returned to the elevator. She disappeared from view a few seconds later.

"That went well," Yuri commented sarcastically. "And here I thought we would actually get an answer out of her... Then again, this is Neptune we're talking about. She seems to hate being forced to spill her own secrets."

"And yet, she was perfectly fine with pointing you three in my direction so I would be forced to tell you who Oracle was," I commented under my breath with a shake of my head. "I don't understand her."

"Why did you two even decide to work together?" Lily asked.

"She wanted to help Chrysalis. She came to me over the phone last night, saying she wanted to help me get her back. I had heard from Chrysalis that she knew the truth about Oracle. Nobody else working in the project was exactly in a position to help her out at the time, so I had to trust her. I'm not going to lie. I was hesitant to agree to it. I don't know how much she knows about the project. I've never been able to figure that out due to her secretive nature. Chrysalis hasn't been able to press it out of her either," I answered.

"You did it because you had no other options... That makes sense," Deirdre murmured with a small nod. "I wonder how she heard about everything. I doubt Cassidy would betray you."

"I don't think she would either. She had been working with us for two years at that point, and then she randomly told somebody she barely knew according to our theory... That doesn't make sense and is very out of character for her. I didn't believe it, and in all truth, I think that was the right way to go," I said next. "I don't know how she figured it out if Cassidy didn't tell her, but I don't know if I really want to hear about it. It could lead me down a path I'd rather avoid. I can't say for sure."

"I'm glad we're all in agreement on that," nodded Lily. "Now, all we can really do is wait for Chrysalis to wake up and then ask her about more details regarding the project. You said there were a few things only she could tell us, saying it was her choice whether she wanted to bring it up or not."

"I'm sure she'll wake up soon," Yuri assured her. "I guess she was really tired though. It took her all of thirty seconds to fall asleep, and she hasn't moved an inch since. That kidnapping incident must have exhausted her."

"We can wake her up if need be. I don't know how good of an idea that is, but I don't want to keep you for too long... She won't be talking much, that's for sure," I told them with a frown. "I should probably take her later today to get her head checked out, but we can't really ask her anything at a hospital. It's too busy and risky. Anybody could overhear anything. It's too great a danger."

"In that case, let's wake her up and talk to her now before taking her to the hospital," Yuri suggested. She approached Chrysalis and began to gently shake her shoulders.

Chrysalis woke with a start and glanced around with a frown. "What...?" she asked grumpily.

"We have a few questions for you," Deirdre explained.

"Let me guess. You want to know more about the epic spy that's been wandering around the city for two years now," Chrysalis said with a frown. "I heard you found out."

"We did," Lily nodded. "I hope that doesn't upset you too much."

"It doesn't matter if it pisses me off or not. You already know. I can't change that," Chrysalis sighed. "Before we start talking in detail, we need to go over a few ground rules. First and foremost, you are not allowed to speak about this to anybody outside of the project. I actually like breathing, and I won't be able to keep doing that if you decide to go blabbing about me to random people."

They didn't seem to take issue with this rule. Lily glanced at Yuri and Deirdre before nodding to Chrysalis, indicating she should continue.

"Second, don't press me too much on the project. I didn't tell you of my own free will. I still don't know if you're entirely trustworthy or not. Any secrets I choose to keep are mine unless I decide otherwise. I don't want to be forced to spill anything I'd rather keep quiet. I'll tell you when you've come across a subject like that, and I expect you to leave it alone for your good and mine," Chrysalis went on.

I took her hand as she said that. I sat on her side opposite Deirdre. I knew she would want me there for emotional support.

"Finally, you'll stay out of project affairs for the most part. I don't want to put you at risk because of my work. This is more for your good than mine. I don't want you butting in somewhere you shouldn't and ending up hurt because of it," Chrysalis said. "Now that we're finished with those, I guess you can ask away. Please try to excuse my endless pessimism. I wish things could have gone differently is all."

Deirdre, Yuri, and Lily looked at each other silently. They seemed too nervous to speak first after her blunt behavior a moment ago. Normally, she wasn't this bitter, but this case had exposed her deepest secret to people she wasn't planning on telling. Plus, she had been through a lot and hadn't slept much. I made a mental note to explain this to Deirdre, Yuri, and Lily later on so they wouldn't take their anger out on her.

"How did you end up at Interpol when you were planning to go to Germany to meet with Pieter?" Lily started off by questioning.

"I decided to leave a few hours ahead of time. I had been called to Interpol and knew I wouldn't have time to get there and back if I was still planning on catching my flight. I brought my suitcase with me and headed up to my office. I called Cotoli to tell him that plans had changed a little bit. The window slammed shut a few doors down. I jumped in surprise, causing me to accidentally hang up on him. It was irritating, but at the time, I had more important things to think about. I wanted to know what that sound had been. I'm pretty sure you know the story from there," Chrysalis replied.

"What happened with Y in the weeks leading up to this case?" Deirdre asked next.

"She stopped talking to me. Her knowing who Oracle was... That wasn't common knowledge. It was only a few people who were aware of it. I wasn't one of them. When I caught wind of that, I was planning on talking to her about, but she died before I had the chance to ask her to keep it quiet," Chrysalis answered.

"Why are we still asking her about the case? We should ask her for the juicy stuff!" Yuri exclaimed. "What are your aliases? Would we know any of them? How many do you have?"

Chrysalis blinked for a moment, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of questions. "Um... I have quite a few, but I'd rather not get into all of them. There are a few that you've met by now though. I'm sure you remember Shayla Willows from February at the very least. That was me. Uh... What would be next...? Oh yeah. When Buff Guiy died, I left the agency early to check something out. I was asked to investigate it under the alias of Jo Jade. I managed to worm my way out of it by sending a few calls to Ghastly. He was glad to relieve me of my duties so I could help prove Yuri's innocence."

Yuri gasped in shock. "That was you?! Wow... I didn't see that coming."

"Did you ever see us in a room together?" Chrysalis asked with a smirk.

"I guess not, but there are a lot of people I haven't seen in the same room as you," Yuri shrugged. "I don't really think you can call that conclusive proof you two are the same person."

"That's true," Chrysalis said, leaning back against the couch. She repositioned herself before continuing to speak. "Next up would be Estelle Burns, but I think that's sort of a given. You already heard that she was Oracle when Cotoli explained the case a few months ago. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you already knew that..."

"After that, I met O on the lake when Neptune was under suspicion of killing that private investigator," Lily said next. "Of course, we already know that's you. Occisor going after you proved that loud and clear..."

"Yeah. I'd rather leave Sakura Rai where she is for the time being... I hope Neptune is going to get rid of my wig soon. I don't want her to be found with it," Chrysalis murmured.

"I'm sure she'll burn it. She doesn't seem like the type to leave something so decisive behind," I assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She leaned in closer to my grasp with a small smile.

"Are there any others?" Yuri questioned.

"There's one other alias that you guys know. Do you remember when Cotoli was arrested and I supposedly hid away in my room to avoid all other people?" Chrysalis questioned.

"Yeah. We had trouble getting a hold of you since you were hiding away from the world," Yuri nodded.

"That situation is similar to Venus' death in a way. I told everybody I was hiding in my room since I didn't want to face reality and needed time to myself. However, as you already heard, I was doing all I could to find the truth in Venus' murder by testifying and eventually pinning down the person who killed her," Chrysalis began. "That's what happened with Cotoli's case too. I wasn't a witness there, but I was helping to prove him innocent."

"And how were you doing that?" Lily frowned. "I didn't think you were there at all. As far as I was concerned, you were away from everything to do with the case..."

"Remember the assistant prosecutor on the case, Amy Kalles? That was me. You could call me friends with Cotoli given our relationship, so I used that as a cover for why I took the case. Plus, I got to boost Niamh's confidence. She deserved it after spending all that time curled up in her office avoiding cases," Chrysalis said. "Normally, I don't use Amy unless I have Ghastly, Sora, or Polly by my side, but I made an exception. I wasn't actually planning on prosecuting him anyways. I was investigating all the possible ways to prove Cotoli innocent that whole time. Even if you threw in the towel and couldn't find an explanation, I was planning on raising something."

The look of shock on their faces made me smile. "You didn't see that one coming, did you?" I asked.

"Not at all... You really had us fooled," Yuri murmured with a shake of her head. "I guess it makes sense looking back on it, but... Wow. You're good, aren't you?"

"You could say that," Chrysalis shrugged. "I've been at it for a while. Plus, I have good people working alongside me to eliminate this legal system's corruption."

"What made you think this was a good way to expose corruption in the first place?" Deirdre questioned next.

"If you want the truth, I absolutely hate this current legal system," Chrysalis admitted. "I don't trust it. It seems like nothing that needs to be done ever gets done. People get away with their crimes if they have enough money or influence. They manage to avoid the hammer of justice if they know the right people. I hated that. I thought everybody should be judged equally, but I didn't really think I could trust the legal system to evolve on its own and come to that conclusion. It was too risky. There were too many pieces of forged evidence. The number of false charges was on the rise too. If I wanted change, I would have to do it myself."

"So, you got together a group of people you knew you could trust to help you change things and went into action," Lily commented. "It makes sense..."

"Cotoli became a lawyer for a similar reason to why I started the project. We wanted to end corruption. The legal system had screwed us both over countless times, and we were sick of it. To keep others from suffering the same way we had, we got to work. In his first few cases, we saw the excessive corruption ourselves. Our first case had us defending Venus, as a matter of fact. That was how we met Yuri, Cassidy, and Venus. Her case began to show corruption, which started to wane my patience," Chrysalis continued.

"Cassidy's case just got worse. She was our second client a few months later," I said, picking up from where she had left off. "There was a piece of falsified evidence in her case that nearly put her in prison. It was irritating to us that something like that could happen and was actually common under this system. It never should have been that way."

"Exactly. Our next few cases slipped further into the hole showing how bad the legal system was. After Cotoli's mother died and the culprits escaped, I couldn't take it any longer. I made the project and started trying to track down Occisor for what they had done. As long as I had something to say about it, people who committed crimes wouldn't be walking around safely. They would be rotting in prison, doing exactly what they deserved," Chrysalis finished.

"Do you like the legal system, Mr. Morix?" Lily asked, looking to me next.

"If you want the truth, not really. The legal system separated me from my mother for many years. The legal system allowed a known criminal to walk free in our everyday lives. The legal system let a horrible man go free while I was in college. I was sick of all that was happening. The third of those examples made me become a lawyer. I wanted to quell this corruption once and for all after all the pain it had caused," I answered.

"It sounds like a lot contributed to the eventual creation of the Oracle project..." Deirdre whispered. "I always knew it was complicated since a spy group would take some time to set up, but hearing the details gives you a bit of a new perspective."

"Is there anything else you want to ask me about?" Chrysalis asked. "I don't know how much longer I'll be willing to answer your questions. I feel like I'm going to pass out any moment now."

"Um... We found a locket in your bag at Interpol. We brought it back here, so you don't need to worry about getting it again," Lily said next. "There were two pictures inside. One of them was of Venus, and the other one was of a boy we don't know. If you don't mind my asking, who was that boy?"

Chrysalis grew tense under my grasp. She looked at the three waiting faces before shaking her head. "Remember how I said earlier that I have a right to refuse answering any questions you bring up? I'm going to take advantage of that now. The boy in the locket... There's a long story behind him and how we're connected. I'd rather not talk about it. I can't say if I'll ever be ready to explain how we know each other. Just know that it's best if you leave it alone."

"Alright..." Yuri muttered with a frown. I could tell she wanted to press the issue further, but she didn't say anything to bother Chrysalis on the matter further. I internally thanked her for that. I didn't even know the details of the boy in her locket, just that they met each other on her first investigation as Oracle two years before. She had only ever explained it to Venus, and now that she was gone, it was Chrysalis' secret alone.

"Then let's talk about something else," Lily suggested. "What about we talk about Pieter? I would like to know a bit more about him. It sounds like the two of you were really close before he went missing."

Chrysalis smiled to herself. "Yeah... You could say that. When we met each other, we hit it off right away. We grew close in a matter of days. I proposed the Oracle project to him to help weed out corruption, and he agreed to it... He even encouraged me to bring it up with the other people involved in the case," she explained. "I wish I could say where he went when he went missing, but I don't even know. It's like he disappeared off the face of the planet..."

"Then why don't you start from the beginning? Tell us everything you know about Pieter and where he could be now," Yuri suggested. "I'd like to hear these spicy details too. I only saw Pieter a few times, and I want to know more about him."

Chrysalis looked up to me hesitantly. I nodded to her, prompting her to sigh. "Alright. Let's jump right into it."

I know it isn't Thursday, but it's my three-year anniversary with my girlfriend, so you get an update as part of her gift.

Yeet.

Love you, wife. You get all my uwus.

-Digital