Valkrie devoured her cheeseburger while Tanith sat across from her, staring blankly into the distance. Valkrie wiped off her mouth with a napkin, set the napkin of fire, and threw it into a near by trash can. She noticed the slice of pizza sitting on Tanith's plate, completely untouched.

"What's wrong?" Valkrie asked.

"I can't believe China's dead." Her face was a mixture of sadness and anger; either she was truly, genuinely upset, or the lunch lady had screwed up her order. "We were good friends, you know?"

"Me too. China was a good person."

Skulduggery came pulling up a chair. He sat at the edge of the table so he was next to both Tanith and Valkrie. "Plan of action anyone?"

Valkrie and Tanith both shook their heads. Marcus came strolling over.

"Sweet! Group meeting!" He pulled over a chair and changed into Vincent. "So what exactly is our course of action for the location and repossession of the Scepter?"

"I was just asking them same question."

"I believe," Vincent started, "that one possible solution to this dilemma would be to scan for DNA at the crime scene or sample that which has been previously found, scan all available archives for a possible identity that has known of the existence of the Scepter or the location, then cross reference the two with all of those capable of or possessing the ability to perform magic to an degree that would possibly manage to break into a charmed containment unit without damaging it to a visible extent. This list could then be used as a suspect list, further narrowed down by the list of those who China either disliked or did not know."

Valkrie rubbed her temples. "Oww, my head hurts." Marcus smiled at her then rolled his eyes.

"Look what you did you living encyclopedia."

Skulduggery gave him a questioning look and addressed the table. "He actually would have made sense if you had managed to understand him. Tanith, you should go to the file room and pull out every single file you can of those who knew about the relocation of the Scepter. Valkrie, you and I will go to the crime scene and try to pull any more information. Vincent-"

Marcus coughed and looked around half-mindedly. Skulduggery sighed. "Marcus, you and Vincent will go to the human relations section of the file room and pull out China's file. You may not be able to access it now that it is being further examined by the high-ups, but you should manage to at least get the list of people she knew."

Valkrie stood up and started putting her jacket on when the door to the café burst open and Guild, with almost 15 Cleavers at his side, strolled in. Skulduggery stood up to confront him, but a Cleaver stepped in front of him and pushed him aside. He fell into a chair and looked away, tripping the next Cleaver that walked by him out of shear annoyance. Guild walked up to the table and looked at the three of them who were still there; Valkrie, Tanith, and Marcus. He stared all three of them down, but his gaze abruptly stopped as he looked at Tanith. Tanith was about to meet his scowl when she was grabbed from behind by a Cleaver and held to her chair.

"Tanith J. Low," he said, in a tone that made you know something sad was about to happen, but he didn't give a crap. "You are here by under arrest."

Tanith's scowl faltered for a second, but then quickly grew into a deadly expression of anger. "WHAT?" she screamed.

"What?" Valkrie asked.

"Hold on a second," Marcus asked, holding up his index finger. He took a sip of water, and then spit it out on the table. He looked at them with a cheesy expression of shock. "What?"
"Under what grounds?" Tanith asked.

"For the murder of China Sorrows and the theft of the Scepter of the Ancients."

"Oh please!" she shouted at him. "I knew you were stupid from the first time I had the burden of looking at your ugly excuse for a face, but this is just outlandish and rash!"

"Is it?" he asked. "As far as I can recall the evidence is quite clear. The gun you borrowed from Skulduggery that was missing a round. China Sorrows was shot. The box was secured with a spell you are not only a master at, but misuse on a regularly basis."

Valkrie recalled the time when Tanith had muttered "withstand" to the bathroom door while Guild was on the privy. He immerged 3 hours later, covered in toilet paper and very mad.

"You know China Sorrows well, and have never respect he Council of the Elders-"

"Council of One," Tanith muttered.

"Exactly my point!" he shouted.

"What?"

"You have no respect for me or the other… never mind. The point is that the evidence has been presented in such a way that-"

That's when Tanith lashed out. She punched the Cleaver pinning her down in the face and stood up. Two more Cleavers charged at her but she quickly ducked and tripped them. Guild reached for her but she tossed him aside and drew her sword. As a Cleaver was drawing his scythe she cut the handle in two. She ran across the café and ducked behind a counter, shielding her form view. The Cleavers started walking toward the counter precariously. One Cleaver slashed out with his scythe and the counter exploded.

"What the blazes?" screamed Guild semi-ironically. The fire ball burnt itself out and the fire extinguished.

"Valkrie," asked Skulduggery. "What just happened?"

Valkrie paused a second before answering. "Tanith just died."

Then Skulduggery uttered the words a million fans of the series were thinking; "About time."