by Billy Wong
"I was kind of in pain to notice. But now I don't have a weapon."
She shrugged. "Oh well, we'll find one for you in the city. Maybe PP can take you shopping too."
#
Rupert and the girls followed the directions Meg had given them in case they needed to meet up in the city, to the door of a third floor apartment above an exotic spice shop. "I hope her friend is in and not out on assignment as she and Pat said he could be," Peggy said as Rupert prepared to knock.
"Certainly, but if he isn't we'll have to wait around here for them anyway." He rapped on the wood.
The door squeaked open to reveal a middle-aged woman with bags under her eyes and a harshly lined face. "What do you kids want? I don't have any money."
"Money?" Charlene asked confusedly.
"You must be raising funds for something or another aren't you, especially with most of you being pretty girls with one boy along to discourage ruffians. Well, your cute act isn't going to work on me." Of course Charlene wouldn't have thought of that, not being from a background where she would meet many who needed to ask for donations.
"Aren't you being a tad hasty to assume?" Gwen said. "We don't want any money, we're-"
"Looking to do an interview? I don't have time for you kids, especially when your sneaky fingers will probably pocket something if I let you in."
"Wow," Peggy whispered, "she must have some bad experience with student visits."
Rupert spoke in what he hoped to be a firm and trustworthy voice. "Actually, we're just looking for Gavin. Are his landlady or roommate?"
"That's it?" The woman gave an awkward laugh. "Sorry about all that, he lives over there." She pointed at the door opposite her own.
"Oh, sorry for bothering you." After she shut the door, he turned towards the one indicated. "Wrong apartment I guess." He knocked on it. After a few seconds of no response, he tried again. Maybe he wasn't home... Rupert leaned forward to listen for movement within.
"No need to be so impatient sticking your ears in my peephole," a male voice said, "I was just getting dressed. Unless you're itching to see another man in his underpants."
"Geez, why is everyone up here so rude and hostile?" Charlene asked.
"I'm just joking because Meg told me about your friend walking in on her while undressed."
Peggy perked up. "Yes, it is him!"
The portal opened. A big man in his twenties stood there, a little over six feet and solidly built. He did look like a fitting older brother figure for Meg and Patrick, with his scars and rugged features even clean shaven. "I see you're just as Mouse and her little bro described," Gavin said. His gaze shifted to Gwen. "There's one I haven't heard of, though."
"Gwen just joined us recently," Rupert explained, "so they must not have gotten a chance to tell you about her yet."
"I see. Are you in trouble? Your clothes are torn, and some of you have wounds. The fair Lyonesse girl looks especially roughed up."
Kind of a miracle his neighbor hadn't noticed that in her haste to assume their motives as college kids. "None of them are deep," Charlene said, "some of the cuts to my clothes didn't even touch skin. I'll sure need a new uniform, though."
Gwen frowned. "If they even let us back in school."
They recounted to Gavin what had transpired since the last time he talked to Meg, up to their flight from the university. "Wait," Rupert asked, "with the guards being after us, wouldn't it not be safe to stay with you either? I assume you and Meg's friendship isn't exactly secret knowledge."
"No, but most don't know about this place. My official residence now is at the research center, but this is more like a safehouse I keep and disappear to occasionally when I need a break from there. We were mercenaries you know, we're not going to trust the people in a new place blindly without having a contingency plan or three."
"Then we lucked out on you happening to be here now, if you aren't usually."
He shrugged. "Not really. Meg told me you might need a hiding place soon, so I took some time off to be around here just in case."
"I guess she suspected the guard maybe even earlier than me." Gwen pointed at her temple. "Sellsword smarts!"
"Experience is really useful," Charlene said. "Glad to have the opportunity to learn from the likes of you guys. But now what do we do?"
Peggy grinned. "Wait for Meg and Pat of course—and once we reunite, find this Cain and show him some Pow Pow!"
Less than an hour later, Meg arrived supporting an exhausted Patrick who leaned heavily on her shoulders. "Sorry about taking so long," she said sounding tired herself, "we had to make a few detours to reduce the chances of being easily tracked."
"So did we," Gwen replied, "though not all of them were voluntary given we're not as used to the layout of the city. You were also helping an injured person, though."
Patrick exhaled. "Yeah, not the best look for me slowing Mouse down."
Meg mussed his hair as to show she didn't hold it against him. "Pat is pretty hurt, so he won't be able to come with us. I can entrust his care to you, right Gavin?"
"Of course. But I have to say you look rather damaged yourself."
"I have some wounds, none that'll hamper me much with enough bandages holding me together." She hugged him, face blissful to rest it against his chest after just escaping from a perilous situation. "Let's just eat something to replenish our strength, and then see if we can't get some clues at the experiment site where to find our friend Cain."
#
A few hours later after Gavin bought them new outfits so they would be less easily recognized if the city guard were looking for them, Rupert and the girls arrived at the building where Nick had said the experiment took place. Despite Meg's assertion of being fine, she visibly limped at times, and he hoped she'd be able to handle herself if they met trouble. When they exited the stairwell on the sixth floor, they beheld a bored looking man scribbling behind a counter, beyond which a door lay. "Excuse me," Charlene said, and he gazed up.
"Do you need something? There isn't any event today, unless you're here to set up for the upcoming party, but you all seem a bit young to be the organizers."
"No, we're not here for that. If I may ask, what is this place? We thought experiments were conducted here, yet you mention a party?"
"Oh, experiments could be done, but so can many other things. This is a rental space for temporary use, versatile enough to accommodate all manner of events at a reasonable price." He hardly needed to sell to them, when they weren't in the market... "But if you didn't even know its purpose, what are you doing here?"
"Was there an experiment purportedly about unlocking the mind performed here about four months ago?" Gwen asked.
He scratched his head. "It's asking a lot of me to remember the specifics of an event four months back, especially considering I'm just a greeter and don't get involved much in the events."
"Don't you keep a record of what events are held here and by who at least? It seems like it would be bad business not to, in case problems arise in the future."
"We do keep such records. They are not accessible to the public, however."
"We're investigating a series of murders," Meg said. "Six have already died, and others gotten hurt. Even the culprits caught so far, who were imprisoned or slain, may not have been fully responsible for their actions. So I hope you can understand that what we want this information for is to prevent further killings, and bring the mastermind behind them to justice."
He wore a dubious expression. "It seems highly unlikely to me that you are the proper authorities for investigating such matters. Even if what you say is true, why should I guide you towards danger, so you can get yourselves killed too?"
Meg chuckled and gave a dismissive wave. "We may not be professional investigators, but aren't as unqualified as you might think. We're all pretty good at fighting and some of us are seasoned warriors with real world experience, so it wouldn't be that irresponsible of you to send us into a bit of peril."
"It's for a good cause, though! We believe someone is manipulating kids into giving in to their darkest urges and killing their peers. If that someone is your client, then fuck them and their privacy, don't you agree?"
"Eh, well... in principle yes, but in practice I could get in big trouble if I help you, especially if your theory doesn't pan out."
"On the other hand, you might be hailed as a hero for helping expose the fiend behind a string of vicious murders if it does." She reached into a pouch and showed him a handful of shiny metal. "Would some coin possibly make you more open to letting us at least confirm who ran the experiment in question?"
"That doesn't seem like much."
"Does anyone else have money?" Meg asked.
"I left it back at the school," Peggy said unhappily, and Rupert and Gwen shook their heads as well.
After a brief, uncomfortable silence, Charlene worked at one of the expensive bracelets around her wrists and took it off. "How about this? It's not money, but you could probably sell it for a decent amount."
The man's eyes glinted as he seemed to reconsider. "I need to use the restroom anyway. I suppose it would be hard to keep you from looking into that red binder while I'm there." He rose and walked off, accepting the jewelry from Charlene as he passed.
"Generous of you," Rupert said after he was out of sight. "I thought you rather liked that bracelet since you always wear it."
"I do. But I can always get it replaced, and right now I feel I should help my friends to the best of my ability." Meg slapped her back, and the others nodded their approval.
They paged through the binder the greeter had indicated, looking for events from four months ago. Eventually Meg found the entry for "Mind Unlocking Experiment," with date, time, and cost of use listed. Of more interest was the renter's name and contact information. "So he did go by Cain with the rental company. Hope this address is legit too."
Leaving the rental space, they made their way to Cain's address which turned out to be a mailbox inside a postal office in the city. "It looks like he does take some precautions not to be easily found," Charlene said. "Now what?"
After some thought, Rupert replied, "How about we take turns hanging around here and see if he shows up? He has to check his mail."
"But won't it get suspicious for us to be seen loitering?"
"Eventually," Gwen said, "but we should be able to pass ourselves off as waiting to meet someone for a while. Hopefully he doesn't take so long between checking his mail that too many of us have to be here for a second shift."
The group returned to Gavin's apartment for the night. The next morning, Gwen volunteered to take the first watch at the post office. Not surprising she would be eager to find the person truly to blame for her brother's death, and Peggy expressed concern she might act rashly if she saw Cain, but Meg said they should trust her as a professional warrior. Rupert agreed, given the relative calm with which she finished Glen as he lay dying. Perhaps they had already grown somewhat distant due to his mental state, slightly softening the blow for her. A few hours later Charlene went to relieve her, and Gwen joined the others to report she hadn't seen anyone come to check the mailbox.
After Peggy left to replace Charlene and the noble girl came back with a similar story of boredom and odd looks from the mail clerk, Meg said, "I hope he checks his box daily at least."
Before Peggy's shift neared its end, she returned with a grin from ear to ear. "Found him!" she said with a finger sign for victory. "At least it looked like him, tall with blond hair and tight clothes. Guess PP is always the MVP!"
Rupert laughed. "You may have immense strength, be a great fighter and all, but I'm pretty sure this was pure luck."
"True, just playing. Anyway, I followed him as far as the entrance to a shop's basement."
Meg bit her lip. "A shop basement... I wonder if he lives in an apartment there or it's a cover for something. Either way, time for us to get some answers."
"Should I go with you?" Gavin asked.
She hesitated a bit. No doubt she would feel better having him watch her back, but in the end she said, "No, five's already a crowd. We we should be more than enough to take down one Cain, no need for you to risk doing anything else to interfere with your work."
"Good luck then little Mouse, and come back safe."
"You bet!"
Chapter 12
Peggy led them back to the cellar door she had trailed Cain to. Meg picked the lock, struggling for a tense minute or so as it wasn't one of her most used skills before finally succeeding. They entered what appeared to be a shabby basement apartment, dark and sparsely furnished—and with nobody there. "Did he leave already?" Peggy asked in a flustered tone. "Not that it's a huge shock since it took a while for us to get here, but still."
"I suppose we should just wait for him to come back," Charlene said. "It won't make much difference whether we meet him a little sooner or later." She sounded anxious though, a feeling they probably all shared to some extent.
"But we didn't bring any food, I'll get hungry if it takes too long."
Rupert chuckled and patted her head. "Don't worry, we can just steal some of his food while waiting."
"Actually," Gwen suggested, "why don't we check around and see if this place doesn't hide some secrets? It's possible of course that he just left, but he could also have gone somewhere in this building not so readily assessed..."
Meg nodded. "Good point. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this humble dwelling hid the entrance to a less innocuous place. Who wants to watch the door while the rest of us start looking?"
Charlene agreed to stand guard as the others poked around the apartment. They moved objects, searched behind cabinets and a desk, and felt around the walls, but had no luck in finding anything unusual. "Maybe there isn't any secret passage after all," Gwen said putting some books back on a shelf, "and we'll just have to wait."
Rupert leaned over the narrow bed to look at the wall it rested against. "I suppose, but it's kind of strange we haven't happened across any documents related to his work in the process of searching. Or has anyone found something like that?"
"Not me."
"Nope," Peggy added.
Meg said, "It could be he just doesn't bring his job home. But that would be a bit unexpected given it seems like the type of involved work one wouldn't leave all in the workplace." Her gaze drifted downward. "Hmm..."
Rupert caught on quickly. "I presume you're thinking we haven't inspected the floor yet?" They did so next, examining the floorboards for signs of a trapdoor. Moving the singular rug in front of the bed, Rupert discovered a faint square outline under it, fairly well disguised but not well enough. "I think I found our entrance. But I don't see any ring or handle with which to open it." Meg tried to stick a dagger into the gap between the door and surrounding floor to pry at it, but found it too narrow. "Maybe there's some mechanism to do it?"
"How about I just break it with Lolipop?" Peggy asked.
"That would almost certainly alert Cain to our presence though, if he's down there."
They searched around for a means to unlock the trapdoor, but still couldn't find one. "It might be that there's some esoteric way to open it, or even a key Cain carries with him," Meg said. "In that case, brute force could be our only way to get in, at least within a reasonable time frame."
"So I can try using Lolipop?"
The group exchanged uneasy looks, but after a moment Meg answered, "Go ahead."
"Lolipop Full Scale!" The mace came down, crushing a hole into the floor to reveal a stairway leading down. "I wonder how far underground the path leads," Peggy said in a meek tone.
"The invincible PP isn't scared of the depths, is she?" Charlene asked teasingly.
"No, just concerned about causing a collapse if we have to fight with my style. I guess I'll have to be careful."
"He probably is if he's around," Meg said. "Even if he isn't, we'll likely learn some of his secrets there, unless this place is so complicated it's only the start of a maze."
The passage opened up into a round chamber lit with torches and lined by tall oval glass pods. Though the glass was too opaque to see easily through, Rupert felt a chill to glimpse the shape of humanoid figures inside them. Dead bodies, or something else? Behind a chest-high pedestal at the center stood a blond man of above average height wearing sleek black clothes, arms folded across his chest. The haft of a large polearm jutted over his shoulder, reminiscent of Charlene or Patrick's weapons but more imposing combined with his stature and unsettling calm.
"You must be Cain," Meg said with an edge in her voice. "What did you do to those boys in that mind unlocking experiment and why?"
With a smirk he replied, "And why should I humor you entitled kids? Some mentally unsound schoolboy with his harem making demands of me, do you even have a clue what you've gotten yourselves into?"
Charlene flushed. "Not again with the harem talk! Do you men all share the same mind?"
"If anything," Meg said, "I daresay I should be considered the leader—no offense, but I am council president. And hey I'm twenty, that's not a kid! The eighteen year olds around me, those are kids."
"I didn't have much of a childhood as a young soldier," Gwen pointed out, "so I would not view myself as a kid either."
"I jest, I jest. I know we're all respectable young adults here." She drew her sword and leveled it at the dark man. "And that's why Mister Cain had better take us seriously, lest we beat the truth out of him."
"Well I'm hoping we can hand him a beating anyway, after the things he did."