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"I think you now owe me some explanations," said Dahnus Drumarien. "I know," said Greg Davis, "I wish I didn't have to but...'s the only way I can get further on this case and that's why I need your help, you're my best runner." "Not YOUR best runner, but I understand." "Right." "How many is it now?" "Twenty...twenty people murdered." "Spirits...who is this guy?" "I dunno, but this shit is getting way too out of hand. Two alone was out of hand but this is just...how is it no one ever saw him?" "Or her." "Right right...I thought it best that you be here, since you processed the victim." "I know...why else would you wake me?" "What exactly did Jamerr want with you anyway?" "He was ranting on about something...saying someone was after him, saying that SHE was after him." "Wait what?! You saying we got a lead?!" "Not much, but I have his logs describing it, I thought it was just corporate espionage gone wrong, like he was being tailed for something he was involved in, he worked for Quad Helix Industries." "Right...maybe you can show me those since he's now a victim, we might have a lead on something." The salarian laid out before them on a cold slab in the C-Sec mortuary, a huge gaping wound torn through his chest cavity as he lied naked without his clothes. His eyes stared transfixed into the ceiling, his mouth warped in the most abject of fear at his final moments as the cool silent room laid in a whitish-blue around Dahnus and Davis, various medical equipment being kept meticulously well-ordered on their various desks. Dahnus shook his head with regret, murmuring to himself as his breaths clouded in the cold morgue air. "I should have taken better care of him." "You did your best," said Davis, "we got some lead with this guy, we have your case report and even for once some security footage we can try out later." "I know...but still, he was my case, he came to me for help and he trusted me." "He went out of bounds and out of your area, there was nothing you could do." "Dammit." "I'm sorry."

A door opened behind them as the coroner came in, a stridantly tall and prim female asari, dark violet and well-aged judging by the spots around her eyes. Her tight labcoat revealed very little almost like she was a walking statue, holding a datapad as she said firmly: "Officers." "Diranah," replied Davis. "How's things?" "Not bad...husband has been rather fretful with the murders, thinks somehow someone will come to the morgue just to kill me. Murderers tend never to come to the basement of the C-Sec headquarters or branches, he always frets. It's...annoying." "John always did have bad nerves on him." "Thankfully I recommended him some sedatives that take the ease off while inbetween his chores. You are here about the victim?" "Yes," said Dahnus. "I was the one who processed him." "I see. Jamerr Merhliss, works in administration for Quad Helix Industries, died exactly one hour ago, single stab through the chest with a large bladed instrument." "Any idea what weapon it is?" asked Davis. "No, only that it's not serrated and perhaps three to four feet in length, extending itself to become larger towards the base." "...that's a huge-ass sword to carry, how the hell would you hide such a thing?" "Same reason the killer's not been found yet," said Dahnus. "What are these marks on his arms?" "Defensive wounds," said the coroner, "but they're not caused by the blade, they look more like scratches like they were from claws or something...not deep enough to bleed but enough to bruise the skin." "He didn't last long I take it." "No...you have security footage don't you?" "We haven't checked it out yet," said Davis, "anything else you got on him?" "Just one. His adrenal state was very highly-engaged at the time of death, his adrenal-cortical system went completely at the time of death and his bloodstream is overloaded still with hormones from such." "Meaning?" "He was terrified for his life. More than usual in such cases like this, this was a constant state of fear he was developing over the past while. I've seen these sort of indicators before in case studies, dissecting animals that had died in such similar states...when they had been hunted." "I see...the hell were you studying them for?" "You have to comprehend the living body in every single state of mind that its chemicals can reduce it to. Lust, fear, poisonings...all sorts." "Right...okay then, so a weapon that's not serrated, widens out at the base and around three to four feet." "Yes." "Alright thank you Diranah, we'll head off now and let you clean this guy up." "Very well," said the asari. "If you need to refer to him again you know where my office is." "Of course."

The detective left with his fellow officer out of the mortuary, passing through towards Dahnus' office at Davis' behest on another matter. Drumarien was curious but his friend assured him that he would reveal all in time. Once more Dahnus made the soundproof barrier come up as the two discussed the case details, Davis sitting on his seat opposite of Dahnus who sat behind his desk like always, asking: "So why did we come here?" "First let's get a look of that security footage, I have it here." He held up a datapad and handed it to Dahnus who uploaded it to his terminal. The two watched the scene unfold on his screen, a dark alleyway that was often frequented by people looking to make a shortcut. Normally it was well-lit, but the lights above flickered inoperably, sparking out the moment the salarian came into view, nervously running hard as he stumbled on the floor from being thrown into sudden darkness. He looked behind himself to see something off camera, screaming: "P-please! I'm sorry, I know you need it I'll have the suit for you, I swear I'll have it!" "You...PROMISED MEEEEE!" screamed a panicked female voice. "Do you have any idea what you've brought on yourself?!" "I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY PLEASE, I JUST NEED MORE TIME PLEASE!" "You...there is no time...there's...there's no time left, not for any of us. I gave you ONE JOB and you FAILED ME!" "I'M SORRY, PLEASE, JUST GIVE ME MORE TIME I SWEAR!" The salarian cowered against the pavement, huddling up as the flicker of something appeared at the other end of the alley. A dark shadow that twisted the screen resolution for a second like a glitch, before reappearing a little closer. Suddenly a person in a blue cloak stood in front of the salarian, grabbing him hard by the neck and pulling him up as he tried to fight her off. All they could tell of the woman was that it was human judging by the light-coloured hair woven into a ponytail, her voice slowly twisting into something darker. "There...there is no...tiMe... LeFt...for yOu. _" "_N-NO, NO PLEASE!" He tried to beat her back, but his hands did nothing to stop, as suddenly a weapon came out of nowhere through another flicker of the screen. His scream was cut short, warped by technological interference which screeched at the viewer as the brief shot of a deep impaling thrust went into the current victim, his last words transmitted as nothing more than a gurgling whimper. The killer had disappeared, a blood trail suddenly appearing at the other end of the hallway from where Jamerr now lied, his deep open wound glinting faintly beneath the lights. "...what...the fuck was that?" asked Davis. "I...I don't know," murmured Dahnus. "That was a human...wasn't it?" "Yeah but...go back and check it again, when that thing showed up at the other end."

They replayed it back and sure enough at the very same mark, the black apparition flickered as an error on their screen. But an error that was transfused to the very recording itself, a definite shadow of something from behind Jamerr that came closer. The human appeared without warning straight after as if she teleported in front of him, the whole scene re-enacting out before them. The screams cut off, the wounding stab with some unknown weapon suddenly appearing, now hidden by the most unusual of static. A new dead body. "Dammit!" said Davis. "Why the hell did it mess up like that?! The lab boys told me it was clean, no errors!" "You sure it's not that?" "It has to be! It's not been tampered with, this is BULLSHIT! The fuck is this man!? How can this be her, how could it-" "Calm down!" said Dahnus. "You're not gonna solve this if you lose your head, we have a better ID than we had before at least. We know now it's a human, it's female, and she has blonde hair in a ponytail...you seemed to recognise her though." "Maybe, I dunno, it might just be a coincidence so I wanna make sure I got everything all out on this." "Who do you think it is?" "I can't tell you, look it might not even be who I'm thinking of, it's just that-" "Greg!" "LOOK, I can't tell you alright, I've been busting my ass on this and my boss is riding on me already with another case so BACK OFF!" "...alright." Davis looked rather crestfallen at his outburst and gently leaned forwards apologetically, saying: "...I'm sorry. Just, I've been really stressed lately, I shouldn't take it out on you." "It's fine. I understand that you can't exchange some things between departments." "Which is what brings me to why I asked to come here, to your office." "What's that?" "...I need the file on James Campbell." "What?! This again?" "I know this sounds shady but trust me I NEED to know something." "Davis. That was not James Campbell on that security footage." "I know it's not!" "Then why are you and those other detectives asking about him?!" "Because something you processed of his is now gone!" "...gone? What are you talking about?" "When you processed him...what did he have on him?" "Several items in a satchel, none I can particularly remember, and his weapon.......wait."

Dahnus slowly turned towards Davis with a furrowed look of astonishment, unable to comprehend what his friend was thinking. "...nooo." "What was his weapon?" asked Greg. "...a large pair of scissors." "How big?" "...big enough...and they widen out at the base-dammit no, wait...someone stole-" "SHHH!" Greg grappled at the desk in desperation. "DON'T say anything...we can't let anyone know about this so don't you dare tell anyone." "I won't...but...you're telling me that someone...took it...from the evidence room?" "Yes...I never told you directly, you guessed it out on your own." "And it was Mr. Campbell's weapon?" "Yes." "...and you believe that this weapon...is the current killer's weapon?" "Yes...and I might know who the killer is but it makes no sense. We have a log on the people who last used the evidence room, only three of which are humans. Only one of whom...is female. And she has blonde hair. Maria Sondheim." "...could be a dye-job," argued Dahnus. "For what?! There was no one else, you CLEARLY heard there was a woman there!" "Right before the voice twisted into something else, that might either be the footage itself or an impersonator perhaps or-" "It's not the footage, there's nothing wrong with it! Dahnus...someone from C-Sec...might be out there killing more than a dozen people with a stolen weapon." "...spirits save us." Dahnus leaned back against his chair and sighed with the weight of the world coming down on him. The very notion that someone from the police force could suddenly have become a killer was impossible to think, especially so quickly. Yet according to his friend Davis there was nothing else it could be, asking: "Do you even know when the weapon was stolen?" "Yes, and only three human officers were on that day visiting it." "How did-...even if it was stolen by a C-Sec officer, how would you even get it past security?!" "I DON'T KNOW, that's the fucked-up part nothing should have gotten out!" "Was the box interfered with, the container it was in?" "No, as in not broken no. It was opened though." "...I don't get it. I just don't...are you sure these two are connected?" "The killings happened right around the same time as the weapon went missing, the first killing was not far from C-Sec, and to top it all off, nobody has seen this one female officer since the day it happened, cuz on that day, she claimed she was on maternity leave!" "...is she pregnant?" "No!" shouted Greg Davis. "I went and checked if she ever registered at any of the nearby hospitals, nothing, no check-up, no nothing, she hasn't been to a hospital in months!"

The turian leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his head, trying to think of possible leads or lines of inquiry. Somehow this case was getting far more than he expected, and he was starting to feel the same stress that Davis was now having. Eventually he asked: "Does she have family, or any contacts? A name even?" "No nothing," said Greg, "she has family back on Earth but they all stopped talking to her years ago, only one of them is alive now, the mother who's in a care home." "Why did they stop talking to her?" "I don't know, personal issues but the point is, she hasn't spoken to any of her family, and her friends have claimed that she's shut herself up at home telling everyone to keep away the past couple of weeks." "And no one thought this odd to report?" "Oh it got reported, we tried to notify her but she never replied back, that's why we had our suspicions. Then we couldn't find her, her house was empty and everything got thrown around badly in a state, like ruined and torn up." "Did you put out a search for her?" "We did, but again, can't find her, no sight of her anywhere. This footage is the damn closest I've gotten to see her, it HAS to be her." "...the weapon does match the injuries, but are you sure there's no other weapon out there?" "What do you mean?!" "A missing weapon and a missing police officer are one thing, but there's nothing connecting them to a murder if all we have is blurry footage that glitched out on us. There's plenty of other long blades out there on the wards." "Have YOU found any?" "No. But that doesn't mean they don't exist." "I'm convinced that it is," said Davis, "and I'm not believing otherwise." "Don't shut yourself off Greg, that's how bad policework starts." "I know I know...then we at the very least have to inform Mr. Campbell of his missing weapon. Do you know where he is?" "He was last reported on Zakera Ward but that was months ago, I haven't been keeping track on him for a while...but there was one incident." "What's that?" "Lemme find it, I asked someone at Zakera branch to monitor him for me." Dahnus pulled up some older files and found one particular incident that occurred involving James. There was not much to go on sadly due to the lack of reliable eyewitness accounts willing to come forward, except for one bartender. There were also several video shots of cameras across the street that showed, sure enough, a velociraptor having a brutal fight with a krogan. For the most part he looked as if he was losing, being thrown across the street and kicked hard in the gut, strangled as he clawed and punched his way back.

It wasn't until he went out of shot of one camera did the report end its footage, as Davis asked him: "Why the hell is he fighting a damn krogan?" "Apparently an argument got out of hand," said Dahnus, "his friend a quarian got insulted by the krogan and he struck out at him...damn stupid of him." "Or chivalrous depending on the friend." "The two then fought out on the streets and after a long altercation, Mr. Campbell managed to grab a bottle of ryncol and set the krogan on fire, killing him with scarring burns. The bartender was forced at gunpoint by Mr. Campbell to supply him some alcohol." "Woah, shit that's armed robbery right there practically!" "Well here's the odd part, he apologised afterwards and immediately paid for the bottle of ryncol, which is certainly not what a robber would do." "Damn...and he killed a krogan with that?" "Ryncol is very powerful stuff...I knew he wouldn't stay out of trouble." "So where is he now?" "Unfortunately Zakera branch lost him after that due to the fact that no one wanted to report on the fight since the krogan was a member of the Blood Pack, a local member threatening people. Basically an unlikeable victim that people were glad was now dead." "Hah, ain't it always the way." "So because of the reluctance to confess about the incident we got slow. However...there was another incident nearby." "What?!" "Look at this." Dahnus pulled up another file on a shootout at a concert, the camera footage from inside the building showing a rock band playing their hearts out to a large theater audience. Then suddenly a very familiar brown blur came tumbling out of backstage whilst grabbing onto a Blood Pack thug, creating a scene that caused everyone to run screaming. James hurriedly ran off with a quarian in tow behind him out the stage doors, with Davis looking more surprised by the minute. "The fuck's with this guy, can't he stay out of trouble?!" "Guess not," said Dahnus, "not when you kill a member of the Blood Pack which is what this looks like." "So what happened to him after?" "From that point on he disappears, I don't even know if he's on the Citadel or not but if you want to track his last movements you've to got to find whoever was there at that concert." "Maybe the band might know something, he left the same way they did." "If we can find them. If you want to help follow this up, look for the Sole Calibrators and where they might be performing. I'm sure they won't forget a scene like this in their career." "You a fan?" "My wife is, so I'm aware of them." "Heh, you sound like an old man Dahnus." "I am an old man. Turian." "So should I buy you a cane now?" asked Greg teasingly. "Only when I lose my leg." "Alrighty then...I was expecting a foot up my ass for that." "I have better uses for my leg than that." "Hahaha...alright I'll try to track this band and whoever was there at the concert, see what I can find. Anything else?"

"There were a lot of Blood Pack bodies at the helipad near the concert hall, presumably some kind of shootout happened of which Campbell must have been involved in. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a license for a weapon either." "So, murder, affray, illegal use of a weapon, possibly theft, maybe armed robbery...man I'm glad you took that weapon off him or he'd have been a serial killer himself!" "Well...that's the thing. He was very adamant about that weapon being kept safe in our care, begged us even to take care of it and seal it away permanently." "How so?" "It was strange...first he demanded that no one but him should touch it. Second...he didn't seem that upset about having it taken from him." "No?" "It was almost...like he was more happy without it, like he was relieved of something. Personally I assumed that we were taking some responsibility off him, possibly a tribal ancestral thing of his culture or whatever...but I found it strange. I think he wanted to give it away, like he wanted us to take it off him and put it somewhere safe." "I see...maybe it has a curse on it or something?" "I don't believe in curses." "No...but that don't mean he doesn't." "True...oh, hold on." A message came through on his terminal, from his wife over a secure channel. His eyes suddenly twitched with a slight sense of panic as his mouth flaps shivered in a gasp. Greg had never seen him like this and asked: "What's wrong?" "...Jarren's been in a fight." "What?!" "...I need to get home, Shara said he's in a bad state." "Aw shit, look um, I'll try to put a search out on the band, see what happened with them." "Alright if you need me, you know my number." "I'll cover for ya, don't worry." The turian officer rushed out as he checked himself out of C-Sec, explaining the situation as he was given allowed time to leave explaining he would come back to finish reports. Thirty minutes later, he arrived home by shuttlecar outside his house, landing on the veranda of soft green grass as he saw Shara waiting for him, just outside the door. The sunlight made the house look much darker than it was inside, but the mood made it more sinister as he rushed to his wife, not wasting a second asking: "Is he alright?" "He's...fine." "...but?" "He's not hurt too badly...but he won't talk about what happened." "What happened?" "I...I got a call from the teacher, Jarren was found outside with a bloody eye and...two human kids were lying on the ground in front of him...both of them had their noses broken." "That...what? Jarren did that? Why would he ever do such a thing?" "He's just clammed up, he's really scared about something...one of the kids has a concussion." "Wh-...what did...what did he DO?" "I don't know!" said Shara nervously. "He just...the teacher found him standing over the two of them, he had one of his friends nearby too, a girl I think, human as well." "Is she alright?" "She's fine, she's not hurt one bit, she was right behind Jarren." "...behind him?" asked Dahnus. "Did she say anything?" "No she...she was really scared too by something." "...hmmm...I'm seeing the picture in my head already on what might have happened." "I think the same thing too, but...if that's the case then why is he hiding it from us?" "Probably because he might be embarrassed about it...or it's not that. He might have attacked first and knew that it was wrong after." "I don't want it to be that. He's a good boy, he would never-" "I know. But he's still young, kids do stupid things. Come on, let's talk to him."

They walked in one after the other, as Dahnus saw his son sitting on the couch like a prisoner in his new cell. The sunlight from outside slanted across his face, one side of which was crusted with blue blood which had been mostly cleaned off, but his eye was still rather swollen and not closed properly. He gasped slightly before looking back down again, clearly ashamed of something. His father sat opposite of him on an armchair he pulled up, wanting to see his face as Shara decided to let father and son talk things out with each other, whilst she went to listen from the doorway to the kitchen. "Jarren? ...you alright?" "Mmm..." "How's your eye?" "Hurts." "It'll heal up soon, don't worry. I came down soon as I could, what happened?" "I'unno." "You don't know? You can't remember?" "N-no?" "...the teacher told me that she found you standing over two human boys with both their noses broken. Did something happen between you and those boys?" Jarren said nothing and tried to look away to his left, struggling not to meet his father's gaze. Dahnus tried to resist the urge to use his interrogation tactics on his son, but he also knew that one or two of them would work in his favour so long as he played them softly. "Do you know what happened, Jarren? I want to hear your side of the story." "N-n-...nooo?" "Are you sure?" "Uhh huh." "...Jarren. Please don't lie to me." "Wh-huh?!" "If you lie to me then it looks very bad on you. If you don't tell me what really happened, people are going to think worse of you, that you might have actually done something that you maybe never did. Now, daddy's had to deal with a lot of liars...and the ones that do lie never manage to get away with it." "A-am ah goin' to jail daddy?!" "No no no, you're not Jarren, you're not...little boys don't go to jail." "But...wh-whut if they're bad boys?" "Then they get punished. ...but they get punished even worse if they try to lie. I don't want to punish you for something you never did, now please...what happened?" Eventually Jarren sighed with weak resignation and tried to muster up his strength to speak, saying: "Wuz outside playin'...den...dese two boys come up an' start bein' mean to me...so ah told 'em to go away...but they didn't." "Who started the fight?" "They did! Cuz they wouldn't go away!" "I see...who attacked first?" "......they did."

A sense of doubt came flickering from Jarren's throat. Dahnus felt an ache of shame from his own heart as he asked softly: "Are you sure about that? You seem unsure." "U-um, um...m-maybe they did, ah dunno! Ah can'ts remember!" "Yet you remember everything up to that point, and you're not the one with a concussion." "AH DUNNO 'BOUTS A KONCUSHION, AH DIDN' HIT 'EM!" "JARREN!" Hearing his father shout made his eyes well up, sending him to tears quickly as he shrinked back against the seat wincing with his face in his hands. Dahnus tried to calm down and ask: "Please don't shout at me again. If you did nothing wrong then there is no reason to get angry." "BUT AH DIDN' DADDY, YOU DON' BELIEVE MEEEEE!" "Because you are not telling me everything! Did they actually hit you first?" "Y-yeah!" "Then why are you hesitating Jarren? Why are you panicking about it if this is just the truth?" "THEY WOULDN' GO AWAY, THEY KEPT BEIN' MEAN TO ME AN' MAH FRIEND THEY WERE GONNA HURT HER AN' TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME!" "What?" "D-dey said...cuz ahm not a human ah sh-shouldn' be friends wif a human girl! Bu' she's mah friend, she likes me bu' we're just friends!" "...you were defending her." "Y-y-yeah! She didn' wanna go wif them so she wuz cryin' help, ah told 'em to leave her alone but they wouldn't so ah hit 'em! Ah hit 'em an' dey fell a-a-an' dey wouldn't get up! Dey wouldn't get up daddy!" "...wait, only one of them had a concussion, why didn't one of them get up?" "AH DUNNO DADDY AHM SORRY, AHM SORRYYYYY!" The boy sobbed openly in front of him, tears stinging his wounded eye as he shrieked in crying. Dahnus felt his heart break as he slowly went over towards his son's side, holding him tightly. Shara came to his other side and hugged him in turn, rocking him back and forth. "Jarren shhhh it's okay," said the mother. "It's okay...you were just protecting your friend, it's alright." "B-but they wouldn't get up...ah didn' wanna hurt them mommy, ah didn'!" "I know...it's okay baby..." "A-ah...ahm ah goin' to jail?" "No no no," said Dahnus, "no one is going to jail. I'm very proud of you for standing up for your friend Jarren...you should never be ashamed for that." "N-no?" "No...never." "But...b-but......okay."

Even in his weakest moment, Dahnus could feel that Jarren was still hiding something. He had managed to find out what happened but there was something else his police instincts knew was lurking beneath the surface. But he didn't want to push his son further, letting him go to bed to recover after making sure his eye was alright. It was bruised but it would heal in time as they let him sleep a few days off school. Shara however sensed something from her husband before he headed back to work, asking: "You know something don't you?" "...Jarren is hiding something." "What?" "I don't think he told us everything." "After all he just told you and breaking down like that?! What else could there be, he was protecting his friend!" "I don't think he's doing it maliciously, he's not capable of that. But I need to ask something." "Yes?" "...can you ask the school further about how the other boys are recovering, and...if there was any weapon used?" "What?" "Ask if there was any sticks or bruises on the two kids." "...are you...saying that they faked it to get Jarren in trouble?" "No, the school's better than that. I just need to know more details, call it a cop's instinct." "Alright then." "Glad to see your instincts were going somewhere." "It's happened, I will not let my son be accused of something he never did, remember when that money got stolen?" "Oh yeah, last year...that was hell on him." "Exactly. I will not let my son be treated like a criminal, he deserves a better life of being trusted." Her eyes fiercely burned at saying this, gritting her teeth as Dahnus gave her a hug and kiss to calm her down before leaving, heading back to work once he was sure that Jarren would be alright sleeping. Shara in the meantime had her own investigation to uncover, knowing that while the school was not so privy into giving away information on other students besides her own son, she had other ways of finding out info by herself. Back at the station however, Davis managed to uncover some new info a few hours later, greeting Dahnus back into the fold with a rather worried look on his face. Walking back in to head back to his desk, he met up with Davis soon after whilst the turian was working back on his reports, trying to get as much work done as possible by the end of the day as his fingers blurred on the keyboard.

"How is he?" was his first question. "Jarren's fine," said Dahnus whilst typing, "it was a fight at school and he defended someone from getting hurt." "Awww...that's sweet." "He's a good kid." "He has a good father." "Don't try to compliment me unless you want something." "More like to calm you down cuz uh...what's that?" "Hmm?" "Something on your neck." "Oh." He pulled out the bell pendant from beneath his suit, the chain slightly hanging out as he typed with one hand sporadically. "My wife made it for me." "Awwww that's cool." "She has one too, something special between us." "Material looks kinda odd." "Gunmetal, she took apart her old gun finally and made it into this, kind of her way of saying look forward to the future and stop holding onto the past." "Hah...well I wish I could say the same for this because uh...I got some new stuff on James Campbell." "Ah huh?" "...he's not on the Citadel anymore." His typing slowed down as he put his pendant back underneat his suit, trying to comprehend what had just been said. ".........what?" "Tracked down the band's activities in the past few months, had a gig on Illium for a fundraising party was the only thing I could find. Look at this." Davis gave him a datapad which contained a news report, detailing a failed assassination upon a councilor on Nos Astra. A guest who was part of staff for the Sole Calibrators, bravely defended the councilor by fighting the assassin off single-handedly. The video footage taken by guests showed more than enough. both James and the unknown turian battling it out before her disguise was torn off, and she ran off from the estate. Dahnus slammed his hands down on the table upon seeing the last part, roaring: "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" "W-woah cool it man!" "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!" "Wh-I don't know, you didn't even know he left the citadel!" "HE'S NOT ALLOWED TO, HE HAS A DAMN PERMIT LIMITING HIM TO THE WARDS ONLY! HOW IS HE FIGHTING THIS...ASSASSIN, ON A COUNCILOR'S FRONT LAWN!?!" "Dahnus...you don't have the barrier up." Dahnus saw that his office was still open and all of his screaming fury had just echoed out into the hallways, looking rather subdued in shame as he put up the barrier first, before saying in a deep hushed voice: "...find out EVERYTHING you can about both James Campbell and this assassin. I don't care if it's one word in a damn news report, get onto the Nos Astra authorities and demand they tell you everything." "But why-" " EVERYTHING Davis, I'm not fucking around this time." "...jesus fine, you just had to ask Dahn, don't have to get all deep on me." "...you're right." The turian put his hands to his head. "I'm sorry. I'm just...this day is turning-" "No no hey, I got on your ass today too, I'm entitled to you giving me the same back. It's cool, I'll get everything I can on this for you." "Alright...thanks." "No prob...your captain ain't gonna be pleased after that though." "I can handle him." "Alright then, see ya Dahn, I'll let you upload a copy for yourself since this is your guy."

The detective walked back to his department after letting him copy the data, as Dahnus kept typing trying to ignore what had just occurred and eventually getting chewed out by his captain a few minutes later for the outburst. He explained in vaguest terms about a development in a case he processed having slipped under his radar and not being his fault for not being informed earlier, and for his upset he was given a warning. Dahnus accepted this with apologies. But now he was more concerned about two things greatly. Firstly, his son Jarren who remained always on his mind as the biggest priority. The other, which was almost just as big, was one he was trying to ignore whilst typing away reports. Eventually after fidgeting on the last sentence of a report having rewritten it three times, he slammed his fist on the desk and sighed heavily. He couldn't resist looking it up. He typed up a case file to find on his terminal, an old case from about a year ago that he had referred to constantly in his private moments. That one case that always eluded him, like every cop should have. The turian female who no one ever knew running from the scene of a crime, a murder even. The suspect ran past the camera with only the most fleeting of looks, a blur upon her face from moving but still recognisable enough to him. He then brought up the datapad video of the Nos Astra assassination. The perfect still shot of the assassin stood waiting for him to press play, watching both raptor and turian become transfixed in time as they squared off against each other. The raptor hung low with a suit ruined completely through, whilst the female turian was now disrobed of her former disguise and readily starting to flee from the scene. It was the exact same person as the one from the old case. Dahnus sighed as he watched the still image, focusing on her face specifically, bare without paint and heartless like a cold moon. He could only murmur one thing as a hint of sorrow came through. "Where are you...why do you keep doing this...hhhhh...spirits...help me understand."