Arc awakens as the first rays of sunlight shine through the window. He looks down to see Ember curled up in his arms.
“Ember?”
She slowly opens her eyes and smiles at him.
“Good morning, Arc.”
“Ready for another day?”
Ember lays her head on his chest. “Yes. In a couple hours anyways.”
“Very funny.”
Ember sighs as Arc sits up. “Can’t blame a dragon for trying. Although you really should sleep in more often.”
Arc points out the window as he stands up. “I did. See? The sun’s up.”
“Har, har. Funny.”
“Cybil should be home soon. I was hoping to have breakfast with her.”
Ember gets up. “Oh? What for?”
“She works at the Police Station. Maybe she heard something about the fire last night.”
Ember walks up behind Arc and wraps her arms around his waist. “Using her as a source of information now are we?”
Arc shrugs as the pair head for the Bathroom. “Seems fair. After all, she is living here rent-free.”
“Not completely. Cybil does her part to keep this place clean.”
Arc chuckles as they pick up their respective toothbrushes “With four guys, you, and a dog living here that can’t be easy.”
Ember shrugs as she begins brushing. “The guys do their best to keep things tidy. Besides, she says it helps.”
“Helps?”
Ember nods as she spits into the sink. “Cybil says she needs to keep busy to stay away from alcohol.”
Arc sighs as he rinses his mouth. “Makes sense. That must be especially hard right now.”
Ember turns to him as she dries her mouth. “What do you mean?”
“She has a lot to worry about. Life without her husband, Angel still living at the orphanage, and now she has money. It wouldn’t take much for her to walk to a gas station to pick up a case of beer or something.”
Ember nods as they walk downstairs. “You’ll be happy to know that she hasn’t had that stench on her since moving in here.”
“Good. I’d been wondering about that.”
The pair head for the Kitchen. Arc’s squad is just setting the table. Max looks up as they enter the room.
“Good morning you two.”
Xenos looks to Ember. “Feeling better?”
“I am after a night with Arc.”
Arc blushes. “Ember, I wish you wouldn’t word it like that.”
Hugh chuckles. “We know what she meant, sir.”
Viktor smiles and nods. “Indeed.”
Arc sits down at the table with Ember. “You guys been up long?”
Max shrugs. “A couple hours.”
“Anything come over the police scanner?”
Xenos shakes his head. “Not much action except someone reporting some vandalism at Town Hall.”
Max turns to Arc and grins. “Any idea how that happened, sir?”
Arc shrugs nonchalantly. “Not a clue. Did they pick up Mio?”
Viktor turns from a nearby cupboard. “They reported seeing no one. Damage was minor. Some dented filing cabinets mostly.”
Ember frowns. “Darn. I was hoping the guards would nab that witch!”
Arc sighs. “I was hoping they wouldn’t.”
Xenos raises and eyebrow. “Come again, sir?”
Rose and Sereb walk into the kitchen.
“Do tell, Arc.”
“Mio? That magic user?”
Arc nods. “I know Mio tried to capture us at the Shard Base. But she’s actually kinda nice when you get to know her.”
Cherry giggles. “It’s true. She was a bit abrasive at first though.”
“Well, considering we’re on opposite sides, her behavior was normal.”
Hugh grins. “Does this mean you have another admirer, sir?”
“Wait, what?!”
Sereb nods. “You were with her for some time last night. Perhaps the two of you got to know each other better?”
Ember frowns. “You better not have! That harpy is nothing but trouble!”
“I… uh… was kinda thinking of bringing her back here yesterday.”
Max steps back. “Sir?”
“Her arm and leg were injured.”
Cherry gasps. “We can’t let her know where we live! She’ll tell the Shards!”
“Yeah. That’s why we parted at the Town Hall.”
Ember glares at him. “Why here though?!”
“I was worried about her. The whole time I had to carry…”
Ember’s jaw drops. “Wait a minute! You CARRIED her?!”
Max nods approvingly. “Very admirable, sir.”
Xenos shrugs. “Yeah! I don’t think I could have…”
Ember puts a hand over Xenos’ mouth. “Let’s stay on topic here! Carrying?!”
“She couldn’t walk!”
“Well… that doesn’t mean you have to get so close to her!”
“I was wearing my armor.”
“THAT’S STILL TOO CLOSE!!!”
Sereb cackles. “Jealous, Ember?”
“NO!”
“My scans show such emotions in your cerebral cortex, Ember.”
Xenos puts a hand on Ember’s shoulder. “The commander did what he had to.”
Ember nods. “I know. It’s just… she’s just so…”
Cherry giggles. “Pretty?”
“Kinda. I was thinking more along the lines of ‘unworthy’ actually.”
Max nods. “And you felt threatened by her?”
“I suppose so.”
She turns to Arc.
“Sorry. You know how I feel about you.”
Arc sighs. “Let’s just put this behind us. Okay?”
“Yeah.”
Sereb shakes his head. “Now then. Where were we?”
“Talking about Mio being injured. You see…”
The back door opens and Cybil walks in.
“Good morning everyone.”
Max smiles at her. “Morning.”
Xenos gives her a wave. “How was work?”
Cybil looks up from taking her shoes off at the door. “Busy. But that’s pretty normal.”
Ember nods. “Still liking the job?”
“Very much so! I’m intentionally not giving myself too much free time so I don’t think about my addiction.”
Hugh sighs. “That can’t be easy.”
“It’s not. Trust me, don’t even get started with that stuff!”
Viktor nods. “Sound advice.”
Arc waves her over. “Have a seat, Cybil. You look tired.”
“Thanks.”
Arc, Ember and Cybil sit down across from each other at the table as his squad begins cooking breakfast
“Anything interesting at work?”
“Big fire came over the radio last night. Pretty much everyone at the precinct headed over there.”
“Anyone injured?”
Cybil shakes her head. “No. Fortunately it was an abandoned structure.”
“Good. They know what started it?”
“Not yet. Probably take a while for the coals to cool.”
Ember shrugs. “Makes sense.”
“Only other thing that happened before I left was a call about some vandalism inside the Town Hall. They think it was the Shards.”
“Wonder what they were up to there.”
Cybil shrugs. “No idea. The boys that came back couldn’t figure it out either, as nothing was taken.”
A short time later the food is done. They all sit down to eat together. Cybil turns to Arc.
“You’ve had some late nights.”
“I suppose so.”
Ember frowns. “Some things can only be investigated at night.”
“Oh?”
Xenos nods. “Yeah. It’s safer for us.”
Rose giggles. “The dark is perfect for concealing our movement.”
Cybil looks nervous. “You aren’t doing anything illegal, are you?!”
Arc thinks for a moment. “Uh… a bit I suppose.”
Max quickly turns to Cybil. “Nothing too serious though, ma’am!”
Hugh nods. “Right!”
“Can’t you just leave whatever it is to the Marshal?”
Arc shakes his head. “Believe me, I’d love to, Cybil. But his hands are tied on matters pertaining to the Shards.”
Ember nods. “We’re just trying to help out in any way we can.”
Cybil sighs. “Alright. Just be careful out there.”
Xenos grins. “We will, ma’am.”
A short time later they finish their meal. Cybil and the squad do the dishes.
“You boys don’t need to do that. I’m the freeloader here!”
Max smiles at her. “We all do our part.”
Hugh nods. “Working together makes the job that much easier.”
Viktor chuckles. “Teamwork.”
Xenos gives a thumbs up. “Yup!”
Arc, Sereb and Ember head downstairs to the basement together. Arc turns to Ember.
“They should be done with those dishes soon.”
“Yeah. Then we open this thing?”
She points to the briefcase on the table.
“Right. But we’ll wait for the others to come downstairs.”
Sereb nods. “Arc is correct. I’m sure they too are anxious to know what their labors have brought.”
“…what?”
Arc chuckles. “He means we all want to know what’s in here.”
“Oh. Why didn’t you just say that, Sereb?”
“I did.”
A short time later Max and the others come down the stairs. Xenos reaches the case first.
“Now we can see what’s in here!”
Rose joins him with the rest of the squad. “I too am interested in knowing what this leather box holds.”
Max looks to Rose confused. “You mean you can scan it?”
“No. Something is blocking my attempts.”
Arc frowns. “That’s never a good sign.”
Hugh looks to him. “Sir?”
Ember folds her arms over her chest. “Arc means someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure whatever is in there stayed hidden.”
Viktor chuckles. “Maybe the Shards are paranoid.”
Xenos frowns. “I can think of a few better words to describe them.”
Arc shrugs. “Yeah, well, let’s get this thing open.”
Calling forth one of his gauntlets and activating the Magic Blade affixed to it, Arc deftly slices through the small latches on the briefcase and opens it.
“Okay then. Let’s see what was so important.”
The top yields to show a stack of papers. Ember frowns.
“Well that’s not very interesting.”
Sereb puts his paws on the table and peers inside. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. It depends on the words written therein.”
Arc picks up the stack of bound papers. “Right. For all we know, these could be their deepest secrets.”
Max nods. “Yes. They were certainly careful to see to it this was guarded at all times.”
Arc sits down and goes through the stack. “Huh… this is odd.”
Rose looks over his shoulder. “What is it?”
“These are technical notes of some kind.”
Viktor’s eyes light up. “What about sir? Some kind of machine?”
“Worse. My least favorite subject. Chemistry.”
“Chemistry?”
Ember laughs. “What would the Shards want with beakers and potions?”
Arc sighs as he stops and looks at a page. “This appears to be instructions of some kind.”
Max looks over his shoulder. “I don’t get it.”
Arc clears his throat before reading aloud from the paper in his hand.
“Combine 100 grams of chemical 376 with 500 grams of chemical 132. Blend to emulsion. Run substance 5 through centrifuge. Heat to 105 degrees Celsius. Add to chemical 7 at a rate of…”
Ember interrupts. “What the heck kind of language is THAT?!”
Xenos shrugs. “Egghead?”
Rose looks over the paper. “These directions are fairly straightforward. Assuming we knew what the different substances were.”
Max nods. “Right. But as it stands this information is useless.”
Hugh shrugs. “At least the Shards don’t have it anymore.”
Viktor frowns. “Who’s to say they don’t have another copy somewhere?”
Arc nods soberly. “Agreed. But we don’t know anything about why they had it, what they planned to do with it, or what it’s for.”
He turns to Rose.
“Speaking of substances, any more information on that weird liquid we found at the gas station?”
“Very little. The Lead Sage will have to analyze it further.”
Sereb sighs. “A little is something we can go on.”
Ember nods. “Right. Anything is useful at this point.”
“The only lead I can offer is the substance contained several organic compounds.”
Xenos looks confused. “Organic… what now?”
Max chuckles. “It means made from something living.”
Hugh frowns. “That stuff was alive?!”
Rose shakes her head. “No. But it was made out of several different plants and other organic material that I was unable to identify with my scanners.”
Arc nods, clearly impressed. “Now I’m REALLY interested it what that was.”
Sereb frowns. “As am I. It’s scent was like nothing I had ever encountered.”
Ember looks at the pages strewn around the table. “So these papers truly are worthless?”
Max sighs. “As it stands, yes.”
Arc nods. “If we had the boxes the Shards were carrying yesterday maybe not.”
Sereb turns to Arc. “You think they had the chemicals?”
“I don’t know what else could have been in those crates.”
Xenos gasps. “Maybe they had the rest of the instructions too!”
Ember shrugs. “Well, the fire took care of them.”
Arc turns to her. “Nothing we can do about that.”
Rose examines the briefcase.
“There’s something else in here.”
Max looks to her. “There is?”
Rose nods as she pulls back the liner. “There.”
A piece of metal falls out. Arc picks it up.
“Interesting.”
Ember frowns. “A key?”
Xenos puts a hand to his chin. “I wonder what it goes to?”
Arc chuckles. “That’s easy.”
“Sir?”
Holding the key up Arc points to the engraving on the head. “This is the key to a safety deposit box.”
Ember raises an eyebrow. “A what?”
“It’s a lockbox in a bank that keeps important items safe.”
Max grins. “Like documents?”
Arc shrugs. “Anything really. Who knows what they’re hiding.”
Xenos looks over slyly. “Maybe the chemicals for this formula?”
Ember nods. “Or the guide to what these chemical numbers mean!”
“Exactly.”
Hugh stands up. “What are we waiting for?! Let’s go!”
Arc turns to them. “Wait a minute.”
Viktor looks to Arc. “The bank should be open by now, sir.”
Xenos grins. “Yeah!”
“That’s true. However the Shards know by now that we have this key. It’s a good bet they’ll be waiting for us over there.”
Ember frowns. “If it’s that important, we need whatever’s in there though!”
“I’m aware of that, Ember. However I don’t want to risk anyone’s safety to get it.”
Sereb nods. “Someone needs to acquire these items though.”
Rose turns to Arc. “Agreed. It’s too important to leave be.”
Hugh sighs. “True. But we also don’t want them knowing who we are.”
Max turns to Arc soberly. “Sir, I’d be willing to risk it.”
“No, Max.”
Ember walks over. “How about me?”
Arc shakes his head. “I’ll just put on my armor and head in there.”
Sereb frowns. “Our opponents are quite powerful. Such a plan is reckless.”
Xenos snaps his fingers. “What about going in cloaked, sir?”
Ember turns to Xenos. “Mio can see through it if she’s there.”
“Right. And who’s to say others in their organization can’t do the same.”
Viktor looks up from the papers. “What about going there after hours?”
Hugh grins. “That’s a good idea! You could just Blink inside, sir!”
“Banks have the best surveillance systems in the world. I’d be on camera the whole time.”
Rose appears confused. “But you would be invisible.”
“Yes. But if the Shards are as resourceful, they’ll find a way in there too. If they decloak me, my helmeted form will be all over the news.”
Ember’s eyes grow wide. “You’d look like a criminal!”
“Right. And without magic I wouldn’t be able to get out.”
Xenos grimaces. “Nor could we get in to help you!”
Rose turns to Arc. “I think I may have an idea that would suit all these parameters.”
“I’m listening.”