Foxtail and Foreigner sat on a worn black couch on the second floor, another black couch with equal wear and tear, a small aquarium filled with colorful fish, and a wooden table with golden engravings the only sources of flair to speak of. A gentle whistling could be heard from the Italian espresso maker the gruff Fixer was using, the aroma of fresh coffee beans wafting through the room. He set down three cups on the table with freshly poured coffee and sat opposite of Foxtail and Foreigner, blowing on the drink once before taking a gratifying swig.

“Please, by all means, help yourselves.” He gestured at the cups. Foxtail grabbed the cup and balked at the liquid as soon as she tasted a drop. Foreigner imbibed an entire cup as if he’d inhaled air, warm liquid sitting in the pit of his stomach with a soothing sensation spreading across his nerves. “We should get to the introductions then. I am Mal-Chin Ma, the Operator of the Turned Stone Office. Who are the both of you?”

“The name’s Foxtail. This man here,” Foxtail poked at Foreigner’s side with her thumb, “is my partner, and we’re looking for some information on a recent case you’ve been working on.” Foxtail crossed her arms.

“I don’t know my name myself but I’ve been going by Foreigner. Others have been calling me by that name and it’s better than coming up with something myself and have to abandon it down the line.” Mal-Chin raised an eyebrow to that last sentence.

“Abandon it down the line? How do you mean?” Mal-Chin reached to his side and pulled out a yellow legal pad from a pocket on the couches end, a pen clipped to the cardboard backing. He jotted down some notes. Foreigner took this as an invitation to speak more.

“Well, I’ve been branded with a device that prevents me from accessing my memories. Our contact inspected the tech and is assured that it’s a mental lock from J Corp but for what purpose they’ve branded me is unknown. I know that I have a family and that they are alive.”

“Woah, okay. I mean we’re an investigation Office but something like this seems way above our pay grade. Aside from me, there’s only a couple of Grade 8 and 7 Fixers. You sure you came to the right place?”

“We did. You see, I’m conducting an investigation myself with the assistance of Foxtail and have a lead on how to access my memories, which is something your group can help with.” Mal-Chin furrowed his brows in confusion but said nothing. “You see, the person with the skill set necessary to handle this predicament is a case of yours. They’re the Meister from the Wired Oceans Workshop? We were looking to ascertain what you’ve learned so far and go from there.” His face went from a frown to a grimace. Foreigner and Foxtail looked at one another and waited for a reply.

“I mean the case is ongoing and we’ve been contractually bound to not reveal details of our cases to outsiders, much less those without an official Fixer license to investigate such matters.” Foreigner could sense there was something deeper to this. He pushed.

“If we can’t participate, can you at least tell us what your progress has been so far?” Mal-Chin grimaced once more.

“I mean our contract was with the assistant of the Wired Oceans Workshop. Unless I got a written statement from them saying that you were taking over as the contracted party, I can’t reveal much more. All I can say is that it’s an ongoing investigation-” Foxtail slammed her hands on the table with sudden aggression, the cups clattering at the force.

“Listen! We didn’t just help you deal with those animal freaks so you could wring your hands and play coy with us. We refuse to leave empty handed after saving the lot of you!” Mal-Chin grimaced again, taking the brunt of Foxtails hardened stare before sighing in defeat. Mal-Chin stood up and walked up stairs to a 3rd floor, out of view from the both of them, and then walked back down, setting a manila folder on the table.

“I’m sorry. I know the both of you worked hard to help us out but I’m afraid I’m gonna need to leave you empty handed. It would ruin our reputation to just give client secrets like this. Either get a statement from the client of this case claiming the both of you are our new business partners or kindly leave my office.” Mal-Chin gave a long look at the both of them, tapping on the folder once. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have another batch of coffee to make for the rest of my Office.” He turned his back away from them and laboriously started another brew of coffee. Foreigner and Foxtail picked up the folder and left the Turned Stone Office without another word.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Foreigner and Foxtail found a whole-in-the-wall dive and acquired a private room to avoid the crowded streets from the early afternoon rush. They opened up the manila folder under the blue lights and began parsing through its contents. Of immediate note was the unassuming sticky on the inside of the folder. Its script was clearly rushed but legible:

Sorry. Another Fixer took over our case. Paid us double what our client offered to take over. Too good to pass up. Hope this at least helps. Don’t hesitate to come back in future.

“Who would go and buy up an unassuming case like this for double the rate Jin had placed down?” Foxtail pondered. Foreigner saved his questions for the end but he already had a sneaking suspicion of his own. They looked on at the rest of the case files contents.

“Take a look at this,” Foreigner gestured to a photograph showing a door with multiple scars on it, a jagged hole cut through where the doorknob would be, “It’s a sign of a break in. Question is whether the break in occurred when the Meister was around or when they skipped town.” Foreigner leafed through the adjacent documents. Mal-Chin and his group confirmed a break in had occurred and that the Meisters valuables were still in the room. More depressingly, an unsorted briefcase filled with clothes and other miscellaneous items were found on the bed.

“Looks like they answered your question for you, partner.” Foxtail patted Foreigner on his back. “What do you want to do now?” Foreigner looked at the rest of the documents and gave it a moment.

“We have the address of the Meisters place, right? We could go over there and see if there was anything that the Fixers missed?” Foreigner asked Foxtail, unsure of his statement.

“I doubt that they were so incompetent that they’d fail to figure something out that we could. I trust in our skills, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t be that amazing.” She replied in a straight tone.

“Well, it’s safe to assume that this Fixer the note mentioned is the Banshee woman. What would she need from the Meister though, that I don’t get.” Foreigner allowed his statement to hang and drift as he gave it further thought.

“If she’s a Fixer and she was tasked with killing you and failed, a professional like that would likely want to avoid grieving her benefactors further. She must know about the brand if she aimed for the Meister, because they’re the only ones with the publicly known skills to crack that thing and reveal whatever was locked away.” Foxtail tapped at her chin as she paced through the cramped room.

“If they wanted that information kept secret, why not just kill me then? Why go through the trouble of locking up my memories if they were going to slay me anyway?” Foxtail shrugged.

“I don’t know? That parts getting me tripped up too but that question isn’t directly related to my previous statement. Fact is, the knowledge inside your head is valuable enough that the Fixer didn’t want you to have it and potentially spread it around. At least that’s what I’d try to avoid if I were sent to kill someone with a brand on their mind.”

“If she wants to keep these memories from unlocking, that means that after cutting my options off there, the next moves are to either leave this District and find someone who can resolve the problem-”

“-or find her, the person who’s captured the Meister.” The two of them stood in silence for a moment before gathering the folder from the table and placing its contents into Foxtails bag. “We’re burning daylight now. The apartment is a little ways away but if we book it, we can make it back to Peepers before the evening bell rings.”

“We’re in agreement then. Let’s go find our ghost.”