Edited by: Waning_Crescents

“A dead body!” a peasant exclaimed with a contorted look of shock and nausea. “A dead body! Call the authorities!”

Onlookers scoffed and grimaced while maneuvering themselves through the scene. Finding a body had become commonplace in the city of Colst. Crime had more than tripled in the last couple of years. People were abducted in broad daylight; the streets were littered with a mix of cheap booze and urine. Every other corner sat an addict riding their high or trying to scrounge up enough for their next fix.

The city had no money to fix the issues of the common folk but what the government couldn’t fix was a drug to numb. As the crime rate went up, so did the drug market's income, and it invested right back into itself. New drugs popped up faster than anyone could figure out how to handle the last one. Drowning in crime and narcotics the Criminal Investigation Bureau or also called CIB found itself chained down in a bottomless swamp of cases.

Therefore, a new organization was established: the Conciliators.

“So, this is the crime scene…” Cal Vaughn, a young man in his early twenties, said. He had his white, mid-long hair tied into a ponytail while one of his bangs covered his right eye as he leaned forward to take a closer look at the victim; his gaze focused on the corpse’s wounds.

“Yeah, and it’s not the first victim. According to the CIB, four victims were found prior to this one. That’s why they sought our help.” Claire Lamont sighed while her back faced the young man. “Just what is happening to this world?” She narrowed her eyes as she examined the traces around the corpse.

“It certainly isn’t a performative art piece intended to have us introspect on the abundance of crime.” Cal’s partner, Sigal Crawford, grumbled as he moved up to him. “Stop stating the obvious and get to work!”

He crouched down opposite Cal and muttered under his breath. “Newbies always treat the job like it’s a crime novel.”

The wind blew through Sigal’s short black hair as he looked over the dead body. Hmm…judging by the arms, there is no doubt that this guy was familiar with narcotics, but was it also the cause of his death!?

Beside the blood that stained the body of the corpse, traces of stitches could be discerned, which raised further questions.

“Let me through!” A woman shouted as she fought her way through the crowd. “Geez, are you all so eager to see a corpse? Disperse!”

The crowd of onlookers let the woman through but remained in their place and even took their phones out to record the procedure.

“Mrs. Kaden, this way, please.” A policeman, who escorted her to the crime scene, said as his colleagues held off the noisy bystander.

“Thank you! I really don’t understand what these people are thinking. It’s always the same with them,” she complained as she approached the Conciliators.

Recognizing that familiar voice, Claire rose and turned around. “Serra!”

“Hey, Claire! How is it going?”

“You are just in time. I just finished and the corpse can be taken away for—”

“Oooh, who is that? I don’t think I have seen this handsome young man, have I?” Serra interrupted Claire as she caught a glimpse of Cal.

Cal glanced at the woman, who stared at him and got up. “Uhm…I am Cal Vaughn, nice to meet you.”

“He just transferred from Section 1 to Section 2, so our chief wanted us to show him how everything is done including inspecting the crime scene,” Claire explained as a sound of someone clicking their tongue penetrated her ears.

She immediately peered at the perpetrator who still squatted on the ground near the victim.

Then she put her attention back to Cal and Serra. “And Cal, this is Serra Kaden, she works in the Crime scene Investigation department at the CIB. The crime scene investigators are doing the same job as we do in Section 3. We share the information we find at the crime scene and then work together if something is not clear for either of us, but we are not only working with them but also with the forensic department.”

“Impressive! Thanks for the hard work.” Cal smiled.

“Don’t mention it.” Serra replied, but then moved closer to Claire and said in a low tone, “So, he is the poor fella, who has to work with that unpleasant, vulgar man?”

Claire nodded and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Unfortunately…”

Serra yanked Cal into a hug. “I feel so sorry for you! Hang in there, don’t let him bully you!”

Stunned by the sudden assault, Cal stuttered, “I…I won’t…Everything is fine…”

“You know I can hear you, right?” Sigal mentioned as he got back on his feet.

Serra let go of Cal and pointed her index finger at the older investigator. “I do and I hope you take this to heart how people perceive you! Better yourself already, you gloomy old man!”

“That’s grand coming from a woman who already hit her thirties. Who is the old one here?” Sigal’s lips curved into a devilish grin.

“You!” she gritted her teeth. “That doesn’t matter, it matters how you act, and you act like a grumpy old man!”

“Alright, alright. That’s enough of you two!” Claire stepped in between them and led the crime scene investigator away from Sigal to calm her down.

“Your reputation is pretty bad…” Cal remarked.

“Shut up, newbie!”

Cal only shook his head. No wonder with that attitude of his…she is not wrong…for a twenty-six-year-old guy he really acts way too grumpy all the time.

After Claire calmed Serra somewhat down, the crime scene investigator called her colleagues over to take the victim away. “I suppose you will send us the report of what you found at the crime scene later?”

Claire nodded. “Of course.”

“Great! As soon as the autopsy is done, you will also receive a report of the details either from us or the forensic department.” Serra stated.

“Thank you!”

While the Conciliators acted freely for the most part, certain procedures fell under the police’s jurisdiction, like handling the corpse.

“Everything is done, Mrs. Kaden, Ms. Lamont.” One of Serra’s colleagues reported to the two women.

“Appreciated,” Claire said.

“Alright, we are done here then. I will hear from you later and keep an eye on you-know-who,” Serra mentioned while she glared briefly at Sigal.

Claire chuckled. “Of course, don’t worry.”

As Claire walked back, she only caught a glimpse of one investigator, the other one missing. “Where is Cal?”

Sigal pointed to his right in silence whereas Claire’s gaze followed his finger.

Cal crouched on the ground at the corner of a side-street. He narrowed his eyes as he examined the ground. What is this?

Claire approached the young man. “Something wrong?” She bent over the young investigator’s left shoulder to catch a glimpse of whatever he inspected.

With a gasp he fell on his bottom in surprise. “C-Claire! Don’t just appear like that!”

The woman laughed. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to. So, what caught your interest here?”

He got back up and pointed to the ground. “Look!” Blood stained the corner of the street. “How did blood get here? Was he moved?”

“Hmm…” Claire crouched down, put her index and thumb on her chin, while she focused her gaze on the blood stains; unfortunately, the amount of garbage, which was scattered around this spot, made it difficult to discern the evidence. “It’s actually not so unusual, sometimes we discover blood not only where the victim is found but also in other places nearby. It usually happens as they transport the corpse.” Then she straightened herself again with a concentrated, yet thoughtful expression. “But just to be sure, I will take a closer look.”

“Yeah, but is it even possible to move someone who loses a lot of blood without leaving any stains along the way? I mean there should be at least a few drops of blood, right?” Cal asked by getting up as well.

“Don’t bother yourself with that kind of details, newbie” Sigal commented as he walked over to them. “This is not our job to find out, that’s the job of Section 3. We are just meant to track the suspect down. Don’t you get that yet?”

“So what if it’s not my job?” Cal turned around to face his partner, this time he pushed his patience. "I find what Section 3 does fascinating. If I can learn more about their job and help in the process, then it will also benefit our work.”

Cal furrowed his brow. “And don’t call me ‘newbie’ just because I just joined Section 2.”

Ignoring the last statement of the younger man, Sigal sighed. “Then do what you want.”

“Sigal, stop this!” Claire cut in. “We, in Section 3, are always glad for any kind of help, so are you, I suppose. Don’t undermine Cal every time he shows interest in something that doesn’t fit in your philosophy.”

The woman’s glare pierced right through Sigal. Claire was like a lioness protecting her cub, or in this case a ‘sister’ protecting her ‘brother’; any further arguments would be pointless. Thus, Sigal sighed and resigned.

“Whatever...” the older investigator said, “Anyway, as soon as you learn more about what happened here, let me know.”

“Sure, like always,” Claire replied and got back to work. She put on white latex gloves, tucked her blond-violet bangs behind her ears and started to dig through the garbage.

“Wait,” Cal said, “I will help out as well.”

Claire nodded and handed Cal another pair of latex gloves. Through the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of his partner, who shook his head.

Of course, he is annoyed again…oh well, nothing I can do about it.

Then he crouched down once more and helped Claire in her search.

***

After the crime scene investigators returned from the crime scene, they didn’t waste any time and informed the coroner and the forensic department of the situation. While they waited for the report from the Conciliators and the autopsy report, they had to sit tight, like the Special Forces division.

“Another victim…” Vergil Rivera, the head of the Special Forces division at the CIB, said. He sat in his chair with his legs resting on his desk.

“Yeah...” his partner, Elena Lanford, replied, “It’s the fifth this month, and we still couldn’t catch the perpetrator.”

“The criminals lost their chance to redeem themselves, it’s not up to us anymore.” Vergil exhaled. “This is so annoying.”

Because the Special Forces division’s efforts to catch the culprit hit a dead-end, the case got reassigned to the Conciliators.

“I know, but what can we do? It’s better to let them handle that than having more victims along the way. The city is messy enough.” Elena commented while tying her mid-long blond hair together into a ponytail.

Vergil crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Right, right...I know, but this was the only interesting case lately, other than that we are mostly stuck with quite boring ones, like catching thieves or participating in stakeouts.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “The chief gives up way too easily on the interesting investigations. The Conciliators are not better than us.”

“Maybe not, but they are not restricted by the law, like we are. They have way more freedom on how to handle criminals and, therefore, more possibilities,” Elena remarked.

“Unfortunately…” He nodded. “It’s just not fair, don’t you think? I mean, don’t you also like the exciting cases? When a mystery needs to be solved and the danger is so exhilarating that the adrenaline strikes through your whole body!”

Elena shook her head at her partner's behavior and murmured under her breath. “What’s there to like if you have to be afraid that you’ll be killed because of an excited idiot?”

“Anyway!” she clapped her hands together. “There are other cases that need our attention, let’s get to work!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Vergil sighed.

***

Just a few hours after the discovery of the fifth victim, the Conciliators received the reports from the CIB’s forensic department. This, along with the report from Section 2 helped Section 1 to uncover information which led them into the right direction.

In the meantime, Sigal and Cal waited in their office until further notice as finally Sigal’s phone rang.

“Any news chief?” he asked as he answered the call.

Sigal nodded by paying attention to what the chief reported to him. “I see. Anything else?”

He peeked at Cal before he replied to the caller once more. “That certainly makes this easier, yeah, but—”

The chief cut him off mid-sentence which made Sigal huff. “I got it. Just send me the coordinates on my phone.”

After the call ended, Sigal grabbed his Jacket and walked to the door of the office. “Come on, Newbie.”

Cal flinched as he got called by that unpleasant nickname again but didn’t react to keep the peace. He got up from his chair and followed his partner out of the building. Outside, the two of them got into a car to get to the bottom of this crime.

“What did the chief say?” Cal finally asked.

“The victim died of drugs,” the older investigator answered as he started the car.

“What? But the blood…how—“

“The drug was the actual cause,” Sigal interrupted the younger investigator, “but the goal was another.”

“What do you mean?”

“They wanted his internal organs,” Sigal explained.

Cal’s eyes widened for a brief second. “I see…that’s pretty sick…”

Then he crossed his arms. “What about the extra blood stains we found?”

Since Sigal pushed Cal to leave the crime scene as he inspected the blood stains with Claire, the young investigator didn’t know the outcome of that search.

“Nothing about it was mentioned, so I guess they didn’t discover anything that stood out,” the older investigator replied. “But they could pinpoint the location of their hideout and that is where we are heading right now. It’s an old, abandoned building outside of this district.”

“An abandoned building…” Cal murmured with knitted brows. That was quick…

“What evidence do we have?” the young investigator pressed further.

“According to Section 1 enough that they are fairly certain that this is the right place. They even got their hands on the name of the head of this group. It’s a man named Lester Brown.”

“I see,” Cal uttered, “Do we even know how many people are involved?”

“No, that’s on us to find out and handle.”

Cal grabbed his right hand with his left and slightly squeezed it, which didn’t escape Sigal’s gaze, “If you are scared you can wait here at the car, I don’t care. Just don’t get in my way and screw things up, got it?”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine by myself,” Cal replied in an angry tone. “But if you have a problem with me, tell the chief about it, instead of constantly irritating me. It’s obvious that you don’t like me, and wish I would quit, but I won’t do you this favor.” He glared at the older one with determination showing in his ice-blue eyes. “I will never give up and I will never back down, even if you insult and yell at me forever!”

Sigal stopped the car and glanced at Cal in silence. The stubbornness of this young man took him by surprise. However, he shook it off eventually and sighed. “Just do what you want already!” Then he got out of the car, slammed the door shut and murmured, “Annoying brat.”

As Cal exited the car, his gaze fell onto the huge building in front of them. It appeared to be an old factory or storehouse. The actual purpose it originally served remained unclear, yet it gave the impression of a haunted manor with the cracked walls and broken parts. If the culprits truly hid in there, then they had to move forward with extra caution.

“You take the right side; I’ll cover the left. If you encounter anything suspicious, call me, and remember what I said before,” Sigal instructed.

“I got it.” With a serious expression Cal moved into the building where aside from flecks of sunshine, which dimly penetrated through the dirty windows, no light brightened up the place. This made the whole operation even harder.

Cal stopped for a moment and rubbed the sweat from his palms. I am more nervous than I thought I would be, but I worked so hard to get to this point, there is no way I will turn tail and give up!

Then he pulled a flashlight out of his jacket and put one hand on his chest.

Calm down...it’s not like you haven’t hunted criminals before...

Then his eyes flared up with resolve as he pressed on.

On the other side of the building, Sigal already entered with caution. As a veteran investigator, cases like this didn’t pose much of a challenge to him. Over the years, he got used to the procedures and routines. He also didn’t worry about failing but about his partner’s skills.

Better get this over with quickly!

As he moved deeper inside, he came across a staircase that led downwards, therefore, he carefully bent over the railing, but below only pitch-black darkness awaited him.

Either they are in the basement or… Sigal pondered for a moment, but then took his flashlight out and walked down the stairs.

So damn dark...

The deeper Cal went, the less sunlight shone in, not that it made a huge difference to begin with. Thus, he lightened the way here and then with his flashlight.

Why did we separate anyway? He sighed. I know it’s more efficient to search separately, but considering the circumstances wouldn’t it be safer to move together? Especially when we don’t even know who we are up against or how many of them are here?

He turned off his flashlight again and felt his way around the walls while he also tried to survey his surroundings in hope of finding any useful clues.

Then he stopped in his tracks to listen for any kind of noises, but nothing. There was only silence in this darkness. At this moment, he wished things would be different.

Just why can’t he cooperate with me? Cal put his right hand on his forehead. I am new, but I really do my best here… He gritted his teeth. So why can’t he see that?

Then he put down his hand and sighed. Guess for now I can only rely on myself…not that I am not used to it, but… He shook his head. No, I have to stay focused, this is no time to get distracted by little things.

Then he took out his phone to check if he received any messages from his partner. Guess he didn’t find anything either yet…or…?

Doubt arose inside of him. Would Sigal even bother contacting him?

He pondered over the possibility whether his partner would leave him in the dark as silent tapping noises drew closer behind him.

Whatever, this won’t change anything. He thought as someone grabbed him from behind and pressed a wet cloth, which was soaked in some liquid, on his mouth and nose. Startled, he dropped his cellphone and flashlight, while his eyes widened in shock. Cal Instinctively grabbed the attacker’s arm with both hands by trying to break free, while he also tried to scream, but he only produced muffled sounds.

When did…?

A faint, yet sweet scent penetrated his nostrils as he yanked at the attacker’s arm while he also started kicking around, but the attacker didn’t even flinch at that.

Let me go!!! He screamed in his mind, while he pounded even harder at the man. The attacker, however, just sighed unimpressed by his efforts. Ultimately, he released the arm around Cal’s waist, grabbed the young man’s hands in a tight grip, and he pressed them down to keep him from attacking further.

This can’t be happening!

Cal tried his utmost to get his hands free again, but at the same time his limbs grew numb, as if his strength got drained. Even his vision blurred by the second.

Dammit!

He tried his best to stay awake, but to no avail; the effect of the liquid was just too strong.

I… His eyelids grew heavy, unable to keep them open any longer. …screwed up…

The attacker grinned viciously in the darkness as the young man’s body stopped resisting.

“Curious rats get caught,” the stranger whispered and then shouldered the unconscious young investigator by taking him away.