Joyce Knightly February 20th,20XX

It was already late evening, but the information the investigator had brought in about a week ago was enough of a reason to keep me at work.

Archer Warrick, the last of the heroes I’d identified.

He and his younger sister currently lived with their aunt and uncle lived in a decent part of the city, securely in the upper-middle class.

I had paid little attention to the hero’s backgrounds, but Archer’s had been odd enough to prompt me to investigate further. There had also been the note in his recommendation letter that had perked my concern.

The family had changed their house three times in the past half a year and had successfully moved from their previous housing in the slums on the outer crust of the city to the edge of the upper-class neighbourhood. It wasn’t normal, but it also wasn’t completely out of the ordinary.

What sealed my intent to look into things were the pictures. I detested looking at them I but needed them as evidence. They had come from a nearby security camera at a store they’d walked by, so while they weren’t the best quality, they were clear enough to be damning as proof of abuse.

It showed Archer and his sister walking around a decrepit neighbourhood. It was an innocent enough picture, but the bruises and cuts on his skin made it hard to see it as a happy one, despite the bright smile on his face.

The detective had also gotten an audio file of an older man and woman being both verbally and physically violent toward the minor. I’d sent a representative to their house a week ago to look into why Archer hadn’t responded to the acceptance letter. Thankfully, his grades were good enough that it was a warranted visit, but they had turned away the representative at the door.

It took me sending three different reps before they were let in and ‘kindly’ informed that he wasn’t interested. The representative had reported feeling uncomfortable in the house and had urged me to look into the family. That was when I’d sent the private detective to go after them, and sadly, my suspicions were confirmed.

This was one case in which I was right, but I wished I wasn’t.

Besides the illegally gained proof I’d gotten, we also had pictures of the couple taking the children to bars and gambling dens, places that were entirely inappropriate and illegal for minors to be entering.

It was sickening to see the adults sauntering around town and spending money they’d probably gotten by abusing the kid’s powers while they treated them so badly.

I’d already contacted Mave to come up with a restraining order and custody abdication form. Going according to the law was a bit unsatisfying, but it would be best for the kids. I couldn’t very well bring them out of one house of criminals into another.

In the name of doing things entirely legitimately, I’d also gotten the police involved. The main reason I wanted them there was for protection if things turned violent, but I also needed to give the kids a choice.

My father was a long registered and trusted foster parent, so I could ask him to take the kids in on my behalf, but if they wanted to go into the foster care system again under the government’s custody, I could be respectful of their decision.

The application letter in front of me and the letter of recommendation from the guidance counsellor at the school was yet another thing that had set off my awareness of the crimes that went on at Archer’s household.

The application letter was standard enough and had stood out little; save for the few questions about the minimum age of acceptance into the program. In the letter of recommendation from the guidance counsellor, the teacher had detailed his concerns about the household and had all but begged me to take them into the program. I wasn’t sure why he’d sent this over to my company, but I was glad that they had.

I tidied up the preparations and scheduled my driver to come in at 8 am tomorrow. It was a weird time for a takedown, but that was as soon as I could have brought the police in without stepping on any toes. I was reluctant to leave them in that household for even a second longer than they had to be, but I couldn’t exactly kidnap them out of their guardian’s homes.

I finished up and prepared to stop by my house when Aaron suddenly called me.

“What’s up, love?”

“Hey, what did you say the names of those kids were again? The twins you thought had pow-abilities?”

“What? Tillo and Kaja Lando. Are you that excited to meet them?”

I lightly teased him to shake off my foul mood, but was taken aback by his next sentence.

“Yeah, I think I found them. But are you sure one of them was a boy?”

“What? yeah, I’m pretty sure. I got their government registrations and birth certificates with their applications. What do you mean you found them? Weren’t you at home?”

He suddenly went quiet, and I heard papers rustling through the phone. When he resumed speaking, he did so in a whisper.

“Yeah, well, Gordon brought them into the house thinking that they were some more fans of mine.”

“And what tipped out off that they weren’t?”

“You showed me their pictures, right? Also, one of them grew their hair right in front of me. I thought I was seeing things, but then the way the other looked at her tipped me off.”

I vaulted out of my chair and grabbed my coat off its back.

“Keep them there! I’ll be over as soon as I can!”

“Yeah, but take your time. They look like they haven’t showered in a week and need something to eat. Let’s at least give them a meal before we introduce a new adult into the mix.”

From how disturbed he sounded, I could tell how bad of a shape they must have been in. That then reminded me of the kid I’d found.

What the hell was I doing with so much planning when there was a kid in so much danger and I knew about it? I started dialling the police and grabbed the ‘evidence’ off my desk as I strode out of my office.

While plans were nice and avoided complications, they had their place and time, and now was neither of those.

“Annora!”

My secretary ripped the headphones out of her ears and tossed her phone under her desk in an attempt to hide that she had been slacking off on the job. She got up, dusted off the snack particles from her grey skirt and fixed her collar as a last effort to look professional.

“Ms. Knightly?”

I didn’t have the time or the energy to scold her and hurriedly put my coat on.

“Get Warrick’s guidance counsellor on the phone and ask him to get to his house as quickly as possible! Also, call the local police station’s chief and tell them that Kingdom’s Joyce Knightly needs them over at that address in exactly half an hour!”

“But ma’am! Didn’t you already have me call for tomorrow morning? ”

“What later tonight? Tell him that if he doesn’t get over there in time, not just Squire but also Kingdom will have a lot to say about his station’s management of domestic abuse cases!”

Again, I pulled out my father’s company’s name, but it couldn’t be helped. I’d just have to use one more favour that the old man owed me.

I brought out my phone to call a driver, but then looked at the time and grabbed my keys off the desk. It was already past ten pm. All of my drivers were probably at home with their families. It wouldn’t be fair to them to call them out and get into such a sticky situation with me. Not just that, but the address was quite far away, and I didn’t feel like I had the time to wait around.