Chapter 22 - Plans and Truth

Niccolo smiled as he heard Azel's response. "Excellent. Now, before we begin covering the plan, I think it would be important to know more about just who it is that has taken out this little crusade against you. Felicia, if you would be so kind."

"Of course, dear."

Felicia walked over to the table, letting Nico settle into a chair from his place on her back. She then deactivated her power and returned to normal, pulling out her data-scroll once she did. After a moment of typing on it, she lay it down on the table. A picture of a leopard dreamkeeper was shown on its translucent display.

Azel blinked upon seeing the picture. "Hold on, that's…"

"The police officer who bumped into us the other day!" Lucia said, finishing Azel's thought.

"Police Lieutenant, actually. James Barlow himself." Felicia stated. "His personal vendetta against power users goes back to his experience in the Stadium Massacre twenty years ago. An experience he shares with us, as it turns out."

"A power attack from an unknown dreamkeeper. A creeping shadow that decayed whatever or whoever it touched. We were lucky enough to escape with our lives."

"You lived through that?" Mead asked. "Then is that where Nico…?"

Nico nodded. "I was only two years old, too young to remember it, but yeah. I got the worst of it out of all of us."

"Our dear boy lost his legs because of that power. I nearly lost a leg myself pulling him out before it could take the rest of him," Felicia said scornfully. "If I ever find out who was responsible…"

Azel looked down. "Spirits… Going through something like that, I'm surprised you didn't end up just like Barlow…"

"Barlow was admittedly much less fortunate than us. According to our research, he was with his parents on that day, and they succumbed to their injuries some time after the incident. He was the only survivor out of the three of them."

"That… that's even worse…" Lucia whispered. "No wonder he's so dead-set on catching power users…"

"It is truly unfortunate, what happened to him. But even worse, it skewed his perception to completely ignore the good aspects of powers."

"Good aspects…" Mead mused. "Ones you saw despite living through that?"

"Yes. While Barlow lost his family to that power, it was my power that saved our lives," Niccolo said. "I awakened from a desire to save the two people I love the most in this world, and warped space to open a path for just as long as it took for us to escape. Sometimes I wonder if I was too selfish, if I should have stayed behind to save others…"

"You did what made sense at the time, dear. I could never think less of you for that." Felicia said, moving over to kiss Niccolo on the cheek.

"Yeah, you saved me and mom! It makes sense, what else would anyone have done?"

Niccolo looked at his family and smiled. "Thank you, both of you. Putting my regrets aside, my awakening opened our eyes to see that powers could be used for good. So when Viscount Liddo signed off on all power use being banned, we knew we couldn't stand for it."

"And that was how Radiant Ring came to be," Nadine said. "A nonviolent underground protest movement, powers being used in the name of entertainment, based on the Rossis' prior experience as actors!"

"Well, mostly nonviolent," Fen said with a shrug. "They still let me in, after all!"

Percy put a hand on Fen's shoulder. "To be fair, it is necessary sometimes. The CCA is never happy to find out that there are still dissidents against that law in Anduruna, and they react with extreme violence to suppress them."

"Which brings us back to the topic of the plan. The CCA will be relentless trying to catch you at first. Everyone known to be connected to you, as well as everyone connected to them, is going to be a possible attack vector, and eventually a casualty of the CCA's 'justice.'"

Azel paled. "Including Mead and Lucia…"

"This plan… We're going to be part of it no matter what, aren't we?"

"I'm afraid so, Lucia. It is a shame that Barlow's seen you with Azel before. I had hoped that you could at least be spared the… less pleasant parts of the plan. But since you and Mead have both been seen with Azel, you'll probably both be considered just as bad as him in the CCA's eyes."

Felicia nodded. "If you want to keep the people around you safe, you'll have to cut ties with them. Family, friends outside of this room, work associates, and the like. Any of those people will be acceptable targets to the CCA's shock troopers if you don't."

"So if I don't cut ties with them, my parents will be…" Mead drifted off.

"And Barlow's just okay with that? He doesn't see the hypocrisy in the CCA destroying peoples' lives just to spite one power user?"

"In his eyes, it's for the greater good," Azel said. "I guess pointing that out is what the show is really going to be about, isn't it?"

"Exactly, Azel. If you can escape the CCA peacefully despite the brutality of the shock troopers, it should get them thinking about how they go about chasing down power users, and if it would even be worth chasing you after the raid on the Dry Vein."

"On that topic, we need to discuss how we're going to get the police and CCA to come to you. Are the police already aware of the Dry Vein?"

Percy spoke up to answer. "I don't think they know just yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they figured it out soon."

Niccolo put a hand to his chin. "I see. Regardless of whether they know or not, the next step will be important. Mead, your parents are among the Dry Vein's investors, is that correct?"

"Oh! Um, yeah, they are! Wait, do you need me to…"

"If you could convince them to pull the Dry Vein's funding, it would force a sense of urgency in the police. Knowing that Azel's venue of choice is likely to close will pressure them to raid on the night of his final show. Can we count on you to handle that?"

"Yeah… Knowing them, they'd probably do it without a second thought, but what about Mister Laurent? Losing the Dry Vein would crush him!"

"I've already talked to him about the chances of the Dry Vein being raided," Percy spoke up, "and we've been making plans of our own regarding his future. Don't worry, Mead, the boss will be in good hands."

Mead smiled and gave Percy a hug. "Thanks, Percy."

"Rest assured, Mr. Laurent has been taken into consideration regarding the plan, and he'll have his own role to play. In fact, Percy, if you could share your plans with us, it would make preparing for the raid much easier."

"Of course. I'll be honest, I'm enjoying working with you two again."

"So, that's the plan?" Azel asked. "Cut ties, pressure the CCA into raiding, then escape while calling them out on their methods?"

Niccolo nodded. "That is the basic skeleton of the plan, yes."

"Well, we know Barlow's not going to back down, so why should we? If he wants to bring the law down on me, on us even, we'll just have to fight back! Ah, peacefully of course."

"If Azel's okay with it, so am I!" Mead declared. "And if we have to run from the law for the rest of our lives, I'd rather do it with Azel by my side!"

Azel moved up to Mead and gave her a hug. "Mead… You're right. Let's do this together."

Lucia was silent for a moment. After a while, she spoke up.

"I'm in. Azel's shows changed my life in a huge way. If he, if any of us really, is a criminal according to the law, then forget that law! I could never agree with something like that!"

"Hell yeah, Lucia! I agree with ya, all tha way!"

Fen turned around to face Niccolo and Felicia.

"Anythin' I can do ta help with tha plan, just say tha word! Azel deserves that much at least!"

"That goes for me as well, loves," Nadine said. "Can't let Fen have all the fun after all!"

Nico stirred in his seat. "If everyone else is helping, I'm going to help too! I don't think I could live with myself wondering what could have been if I didn't!"

Niccolo smiled. "Already learning from my regrets, I see. We'll be glad to have your support, son."

"So, now that everyone is on the same page," Felicia said, "we have some more details to go over before putting the plan into motion. If you'll bear with us for just a moment longer…"

Felicia proceeded to go into deeper detail regarding the plan, with Niccolo adding relevant information alongside her. The group listened on and took their respective roles in the plan to heart. Once the night was over and the group made their respective ways back home, a fire burned in each of them to see the plan through.

—

The day after the Rossis' show, Barlow was in his office preparing to leave for Sabbaton. As he filed documents into his briefcase, he thought through his plans one more time: another day of bureaucracy followed by a look through the citizen registry for signs of Atrox.

Despite his largely fruitless first attempt, Barlow was certain that today would be different. As he was organizing the final loads of paperwork to take to the main office, he heard a knock on his door that he had been expecting the whole morning. Officer Holt quickly came in following it.

"You wanted to see me, Lieutenant?"

"Ah, Officer Holt, there you are. Yes, I'm going to need you to come up to the main office with me today."

"Of course, sir, but what exactly do you need me for? I've never been great at dealing with the suits in the main office."

Barlow set the final load of paperwork into his briefcase and shut it. "Relax, Officer, I don't need you to deal with them. Rather, I'll be needing your help with the Atrox case. You mentioned seeing him with someone the other day."

"Oh, yeah, the girl he was with!"

"As it turns out, when I saw Atrox in public, he was traveling with a girl that time as well, an eagle if I'm remembering right."

Holt tilted her head. "An eagle? The girl I saw him with was a bee. So that means…"

"It means we can confirm two different dreamkeepers having previous contact with Atrox. And somehow I doubt their records have been as thoroughly scrubbed as his were. Whoever they are is going to be important to the case for sure."

"So if we can identify those girls, we might get a better lead on finding Atrox!"

Barlow nodded. "Exactly! And with the two of us looking, it will go faster either way. But that's enough talking about it, let's get going. Big day ahead of us, and I'm getting my hopes up that we'll find something."

"Yes sir!"

Following Holt giving him an emphatic salute, Barlow left the office with her, and the two of them headed toward the district tower. Along the way, they began talking yet again.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Ruskol I mean. I never get tired of seeing the mountains around us."

Holt shivered slightly, then nodded. "It does have its charms, once you get over the cold."

"Ah, I forget you're originally from Norvondire. A bit of a difference in temperature to be sure."

"Yeah, for me the castles there were like the mountains here are for you. I actually imagined myself flying around them when I was a kid. I probably would've ended up being a courier or something if I ever got a flying license!"

"Heh, now that would have been something to see! But I guess that never really took off, so to speak."

Holt sighed. "You've got that right. Turns out flying lessons and licensing somehow involved more tedious paperwork than joining the police force, so I ended up here instead. It probably helped that I was already interested in springers before then, too!"

"Well, I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes. But for the life of me, I can't understand why they make flying such a hard thing to be able to do!"

"Right? Bad enough that you have to be lucky enough to be born able to fly, but then they make it impossible to even do it without running the bureaucratic gauntlet too!"

"Yeah, between you and me, I can't really say I agree with everything the CCA stands for. Their insistence on having all this paperwork is too damn much, for one!"

Holt blinked. "Really? You think so too, sir?"

"Damn right! If I were in charge, I'd probably just get rid of the whole system, I've gotten so tired of seeing papers cross my desk for the slightest thing!"

"Well, best we can do is imagine that kind of world, I guess…"

The discussion continued as the two of them made their way up to the district tower, to the telepad, and on the way to the CCA main office. Once they arrived there, Barlow and Holt endured sitting through hours of processing the very paperwork they had complained about on the way over. Once the final document was cleared, Barlow received a new load of papers for his briefcase, and the two headed to check the citizen registry.

"Spirits, I thought that would never end!" Holt said with a sigh. "You have to deal with that every week, Lieutenant?"

"Unfortunately, yes. To think I could be out there, doing some real good for Anduruna, but instead they have me stuck here once every weekend, pushing the CCA's papers…"

In a brief moment, the two of them reached the door to the room where the Citizen Registry could be accessed.

Barlow smiled as he turned the knob. "Well, at least we can do some good here now. Whoever Atrox's friends are, I'm sure we'll find them."

The record room was as drab and bleak as the rest of the CCA's office. Inside, an older tortoise woman sat behind a counter with a blank look on her face and some indiscernible magazine in her claws. She looked up as she noticed Barlow and Holt entering, and smiled faintly.

"Ah, Barlow. Good to see you again. Back for more dirt on that criminal you've been chasing down?"

Barlow nodded. "Right. Taking a different angle this time though, and I've brought Officer Holt here to help me with that."

Holt bowed slightly and extended her hand to the woman. "Officer Ciella Holt. Pleased to meet you."

The clerk lazily took Holt's hand and shook it. "Charmed. Here's hoping you two find what you're looking for this time. Spirits know this place can drain the life right out of you."

Reaching under the counter, the woman pulled a pair of data-scrolls out and handed them to Barlow and Holt.

"Barlow already knows this, but these things are keyed to the registry servers, or whatever it is they call them. Just use them like any old data-scroll. Good luck on your search and all."

With that, the woman returned to lazily eying her magazine, and Barlow and Holt took the data-scrolls over to a nearby table to start looking through the registry.

A couple of hours passed as the two searched through the registry for anyone living in Ruskol who matched their respective memories of Atrox's companions. Occasionally, they would show each other their data-scrolls in the vain hopes that a face one of them didn't recognize would be familiar to the other. After scrolling through hundreds of faces, Holt lay her data-scroll down on the table.

"You know, Lieutenant, I just had an idea. The girl I saw Atrox with said something about going to see her parents with him. What if we've been going about this all wrong? What if these girls don't even live in Ruskol?"

Barlow looked up from his own data-scroll. "Spirits, you might be onto something there, Officer! Come to think of it, the girl Atrox was with when I saw him looked completely out of place in Ruskol, shivering and everything! Couldn't hurt to try our luck with other districts!"

Holt nodded. "I think I'll try Sabbaton first on my end. I think she mentioned it in particular."

"Good call. No clue about where my lead came from, so I guess I'll just have to check the districts one by one."

With their attention now focused on districts other than Ruskol, Barlow and Holt returned to scrolling through the registry. After just a couple more hours, Holt smiled and got Barlow's attention.

"I've got it, Lieutenant! I found the girl I saw Atrox traveling with!"

"Really? Good work, Officer! So, who is it?"

Holt showed her data-scroll to Barlow. On its screen, the image of a bee girl was displayed, as well as some relevant information about her.

"Someone living here in Sabbaton, just like I thought! Apparently, her name is Mead… How exactly is that last name pronounced? Lux, mine?"

"You've got me. Never seen a name like that before, and it doesn't look like she has any notable connections to Ruskol. You mentioned her parents living in Sabbaton, right? Maybe there's more to this."

"Right, I'll give it a look."

Holt returned to her data-scroll, entering the last name Luxmyn as a search term. In mere moments, the data-scroll returned its results.

"Okay, here they are… Gage and Salera, same unpronounceable last name. Looks like they're investors, and they do business all across Anduruna! Maybe this Mead girl has connections to Ruskol through them after all!"

"Yes, that would make sense. And if she's connected to Atrox, the record scrubbing could've extended to erasing anything about Ruskol from her files! This is some really good work, Officer!"

Holt smiled and downloaded the information on the Luxmyns from the registry data-scroll to her own one.

"Okay, so that's one lead down! How about I help you go through the rest of the registry, see if we can't find your mystery lead?"

Barlow nodded. "I'd be glad to have the help. Sounds like a plan."

The rest of the work continued at a much faster pace with both Barlow and Holt searching the remaining districts for Barlow's lead. After a while, the two started scrolling through the Theophanies registry until Barlow saw a familiar face.

"Officer Holt, I think I've found our other mystery girl."

He turned his data-scroll so Holt could get a better look.

"Lucia Santoro. Nothing to say about Ruskol, but I expected that. What it does say about her is pretty interesting though. Seems she works at the Sacrare Hall of Records in Theophanies."

"The Hall of Records? What would that have to do with Atrox?"

"I might be going out on a limb here, but it could be that he got the inspiration for some of his shows from going through the old scrolls they keep there. Wouldn't be surprised if he was inspired to put on a show about the war with Serapeum from reading about it in Santoro's workplace!"

Holt's eyes widened. "And then he went and ordered that Serapean robe from Ms. Mercier for that very show!"

"Exactly! But to go so far as to get Santoro herself to see his shows, just what kind of corruptive influence does Atrox have…"

As he mused, Barlow suddenly went limp. He nearly fell over onto the table before being caught and supported by Holt.

"Lieutenant! I've got you."

She turned to the woman behind the counter.

"The lieutenant's having one of his traumatic episodes again! I'm going to need some help here!"

The woman stirred slightly at Holt's words. "Spirits… A traumatic episode, you say? Not to worry, I'll get some more able-bodied officers over here to help out. Good excuse to get moving at least…"

Holt nodded. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

As the woman left the room to find assistance, Holt returned her full attention to Barlow.

"Lieutenant… I wish you didn't have to put up with all this… What even is it that keeps triggering your flashbacks?

—

Barlow found himself crouched beneath his seat in the fallguard stadium, as a brown-feathered eagle girl activated her power to the collective shock of the rest of the audience.

Spirits, it's happening again…

In an instant, a yellow halo began glowing over her head, and she focused her eyes on the other dreamkeepers around her in the stands.

Wait… again? Has this happened before?

The girl smiled as she made precise strikes out at her fellow audience members, each reach of her taloned hands finding easy purchase in flesh, causing her victims to crumple as blood poured forth from each carefully placed wound. The crowd started screaming as each new victim was dispatched with minimal effort from their killer.

That's right… it's like this every time… Just a different power… But what kind of power is this?

The power user moved as quickly as she could through the crowd of audience members, striking fast and leaving lethal wounds on each one that was unfortunate enough to end up in her way.

"You all aren't paying much attention," the killer said with a bright smile on her face. "If you'd just let me pass, I wouldn't have to end up killing so many of you!"

She just wants to pass? What does she want, exactly?

As she weaved through the crowd of escaping dreamkeepers, the screaming increased as her precise attacks left more of the ones around her bleeding out. On occasion, she would be attacked, only to effortlessly dodge or parry the incoming attackers and deliver punishment to them in the form of another surgically precise killing blow.

Eventually, the power user approached the aisle of seats where Barlow was hiding. As the screaming continued around him, she came to a stop just before getting to his hiding place.

"Don't come any closer! James doesn't deserve to hear-"

The voice of his mother was quickly silenced as the power user drove her talons straight into her neck.

I don't deserve to hear something? Is she trying to say something to me?"

His father was the next one to speak. "You can't do this! It'll crush the poor boy!"

A swift movement of the power user's hands brought Barlow's father down to the ground, his neck twisted grotesquely.

"Sorry about that, sir, but the boy needs to know." The killer said in a mock apologetic tone.

Needs to know? What do I need to know?

Barlow shuddered in his hiding spot as the power user reached down and pulled him out. She placed him down in his seat, and he could see the carnage she wrought in the form of a crimson trail stretching down to where she started from.

"Sorry about the whole 'killing your parents' thing, kid, but they wouldn't have let me say my piece." She poked him straight in the forehead with one of her fingers. "Honestly, it's about time your brain got around to flashing back to someone with a mental power."

After a moment of trembling, Barlow found his voice. "Mental? You mean all of that was…"

"An insight power. It told me everything I needed to know to get this far. And it also told me plenty about you, too. Real interesting stuff."

"I-if you're going to kill me, why don't you just get it over with already?"

The power user laughed. "Kid, I'm not going to kill you! I just want to tell you four words!"

"Four words?"

"Four completely true words that you'll wish I never told you. All because your fucked up head finally decided to cast Lucia Santoro as the star of your latest trauma show."

"W-what does it matter who the killer is? Why is it so important that it's you this time?"

Santoro laughed again. "It's not important that it's me, Barlow! Haven't you figured it out yet? It's the power! That's always been the most important part!"

"The power? Insight?"

"And there it is, you're finally using your head! You needed to remember someone who has a power that reveals the truth, otherwise you'd never be able to hear these four little words!"

"So what are they? What are these four words you're so certain I don't want to hear?"

"You really are a glutton for punishment, you know that? Probably why you keep coming up with these 'powers kill' farces to torture yourself with! Well, if you want to know so badly, I'll tell you. Don't say I didn't warn you, though!"

Santoro leaned in close to Barlow, and whispered four words in his ear. The moment the last one was said, Barlow froze.

—

Barlow slowly came back to his senses, finding himself surrounded by Officer Holt and a number of other officers he recognized from around the CCA office.

"Lieutenant! Good to see you're all right." Holt said with a warm smile.

Barlow muttered to himself. "It- it can't be… There's no way…"

"Is something wrong, sir?"

Seeing Holt's confused face, Barlow shook himself and gave her a somewhat unsettled look.

"It's nothing, Officer. I… I'm fine… Thank you for watching over me this whole time."

"It's no trouble, sir, but what did you end up seeing? You seem off."

"It, it's not important right now. Let's just get everything we need and head out, it's probably gotten late."

Holt frowned. "O-okay sir."

With the incident apparently resolved, the other officers left the room while Barlow and Holt finished downloading everything they needed for the investigation. Before they left the office, Holt spoke up one more time.

"Are you really sure everything's okay, sir? You know you can tell me anything."

Barlow simply frowned and shook his head. "No, Officer, I don't think I can tell anyone what I saw." Or what I heard…

"Spirits… It was that bad? Sorry sir, I didn't mean to pry…"

"It's alright, Offi… Ciella. It's alright. Maybe once I get my head around it, I can tell you. But for now, I think we just need to head back to Ruskol."

Holt nodded slowly. "Okay, sir."

The rest of the trip back to Ruskol and the CRPD office was made in complete silence. Once they returned, Barlow and Holt relayed the information they learned to the rest of the office, though Barlow only spoke halfheartedly about it.

Once everything was said, he clocked out early and returned to his house. As he made his way inside, Eira was quick to welcome him home with a hug. He slowly returned it, giving her a faint smile.

"Darling, you're home early! Did something happen?"

"Ah, y-yeah. Another flashback. Hit me pretty hard this time."

"Spirits… Well, whatever it was, you know I'm here for you."

Eira gave him another hug, followed by a quick kiss.

"Thank you, my love. I think for now though, I just need some time to get my head together."

"O-of course, darling. Whatever you need to get through this, just let me know."

Barlow headed for a chair in the living room and threw his entire weight into it, weary from the day. He gave a warm look to Eira, who watched on from a short distance away. As he sunk himself into the upholstery of his seat, he shuddered as the only things that came to mind were the four words he heard from his flashback.

You're using your power.