Chapter 17: 17. Scheme

Fate 

I can't look away from Rise.

The way she smiled when I explained everything... I've never seen anything like it. She's never worn that kind of expression. And it's all from helping her with her work.

When she asked me to help her, I had no clue what to expect. But I resolved myself to help regardless, even though I was still injured.

And yet, when I saw her face light up—my heart felt lighter than it has in a long time.

Watching her leave, it's annoying to see her so unnerved because of Kenzo's outbursts. His temper flares quickly, and it's clear that he's frustrated.

Before I can be left alone with my thoughts, Lynden's staring towards me, making it clear that she wants to talk.

"Fate, my dear prodigy. You are truly a genius. An unparalleled genius." Alexia—Chief begins in an ice cold tone. She slowly continues walking closer to me.

And here's the one remaining problem.

I have nothing to truly fear from this woman. With my power, she could pull out a gun and try to kill me—but it'd achieve nothing.

Yet, for some reason, her voice is terrifying. I feel a cold sweat for some reason.

What the hell's with this woman?

"You know, I've been an investigator for more than twenty years, and most of that has been spent as a supervisor." She continues her approach.

I'm currently sitting at a table, and she leans almost on top of me. Pushing her face, and chest—as close to me as possible.

We're barely a few inches from each other.

Her face is directly in front of me. It's hard to move my eyes away from her.

"I've seen and managed hundreds of prodigies, of all different types. And I've never met anyone like you. I'll admit, I've never personally met someone so young—with so much potential."

She pauses for a moment, watching me closely.

I've been trying to figure out a way to take control of this conversation, but I can't seem to get a word in. She's completely controlling this interaction.

"However—"

She stops in the middle of her sentence.

"—there is something you lack." She says suddenly, bringing her face even closer to mine.

She's close enough our faces are almost touching.

"You're undoubtedly gifted at deduction. But there's one tiny problem I have." Her voice somehow gets colder.

"I've supervised many genius investigators before, and I know what people can be capable of—but...Being a genius is one thing. Being a genius among geniuses is another. But being a genius alone—that does not make up for a lack of information." Her cold gaze pierces right through me.

She's right.

The information I placed on the map is all real. But it didn't all come from the police records. Some of it came from me researching the Triumvirate with my sixth sense.

I still put it up there anyway—knowing that she'd notice.

I wanted to put them on her radar. Give her a gift—so to speak.

"Yet somehow, you have more information on the Triumvirate than even the police... That is—if those marks you placed are real." She speaks more calmly now, as if she's more curious than anything.

"They are." I reply without hesitation.

"How? You don't have access to that type of information." She laughs mockingly.

I reach towards a file I prepared for this moment. It's full of data I gathered on the Triumvirate primarily using my sixth sense.

I just need to make her believe me.

The second she sees me pull out the file, her mocking laughter stops, and the smirk she briefly wore disappears. Her eyes narrow dangerously as she stares at me.

"Here." I hold eye contact with her, and hand the file to her before she can say anything.

She takes a few minutes to scan through it. Her expression is constantly changing.

I can feel her heart rate increasing with my sixth sense.

She's buying it.

"Interesting..." She mutters under her breath, and then continues reading. With a deep sigh, she closes it. She looks back towards me with a cold gaze.

"This is certainly amazing. The only issue is, how did a kid get hold of this kind of info?.. No offense." She lets out a light laugh. Her voice is still cold, but it no longer has any hostility.

"None taken." I reply.

"Good. Now explain." She says, and then resumes her previous stance, leaning directly in my face.

"If you keep it a secret from Rise, the authorities, and you personally take credit for the information—you have a deal." I suggest.

And just like that the hostile glare is back.

Shit.

"I don't think I like the sound of that." She remarks sarcastically.

"I didn't do anything that's technically illegal. I just don't want them to know—it'd be a pain—and I don't want Rise to know because... You know how straight and narrow she is when it comes to justice." I reply with an honest tone.

Alexia tilts her head slightly.

"Is that so...? Very well." She nods lightly, and then stands up. "Your proposal makes sense. Fine, then. You have a deal kid. But if I'm going to hand in this info, I need to know everything, so start from the beginning." She replies, much to my relief.

She tilts her head away, and I see her mutter "Why can't it ever be easy dealing with brats. Does every prodigy have issues?" She says it so quietly that I'd have entirely missed it—if not for my sixth sense being active.

I can't deny her words.

"When Rise first started working with your task force—I attempted to learn what she was working on. I wanted to help her in any way I could. I misinterpreted her work as being focused on the Triumvirate." I explain while making it sound like the honest truth.

"What?! Are you insa—" She snaps.

"I humbly apologize. I incorrectly believed that she was investigating the Triumvirate, so I wanted to help." I continue with a more subdued voice.

"Are you serious?" She asks incredulously.

I nod silently.

"So I got in contact with a local info broker. We connected online." I say, and continue my story.

"He's apparently an expert on the Triumvirate. I paid him a fee, and he gave me all the details I needed. The info he provided is all based off of his own research, and his connections with them. I was able to verify the info as legitimate through other sources." I end my explanation, and wait for her reaction.

"That's..." She murmurs, not moving. "...Impressive." She finally manages to form a sentence.

"That's also why I can't tell Rise. If she finds out I used an info broker, she'll be devastated. She's firmly against that kind of transaction." I explain.

"Hm... She'd be fin—you may actually have a point. Fine. I'll need you to hand over whatever information you gained, and any info on your broker—even if it leads nowhere. There's no doubt that I'll be given credit for gathering this information—so I'll keep your secret to myself, and call us even." She says, looking at me.

"Of course." I respond.

"But, I need to make myself crystal clear here. You, are a minor. And you're getting involved in danger that is far out of your depth. You shouldn't even be in this position...but you are. I can't deny your ability. You might very well be a one in a million genius, but you're still just a child. You have limits..." She pauses.

"I'll keep you on the task force—and keep this quiet from everyone—but no more playing solo vigilante. If you're working with the task force, everything goes through me from now on. No exceptions."

"Understood." I reply immediately.

"Good. You can continue whatever you were working on. Let me know if you need anything, or if you learn anything new about the current case... And Fate—don't be afraid to lean on the adults once in a while. You're smart, and you probably believe you have all the answers already, but trust me, sometimes you need the experience of people who've been doing this for decades. Even if they're idiots." She says with a smirk. She starts to stand up, before turning back towards me.

"I'd like to speak with you in private more often—I would usually spend months interviewing new recruits before letting them in here. Also... Well done. I'm proud of you." Her voice is filled with warmth, and she places her hand on top of mine.

She gets up to leave, she even walks out the door.

But as soon as she walks past the door frame, she instantly does a one-eighty degree turn, and is instantly in front of me.

"How much did you pay the info broker?!" She almost yells.

Great.

"Well uhm. Money can't buy happiness, right?" I try to play it off.

"Answer me!" She demands.

So there's one slight issue in my plan.

The amount of info I gave her—there's no way it'd be cheap.

I suppose I'll just tell her the truth. Worst case scenario—she thinks I'm a spoiled rich brat.

"Ten thousand Eden Credits." I answer, flatly.

She goes silent.

Dead silent.

I'm not that surprised.

New Eden's currency—known as Credits, or Eden Credits; has low denominations when compared to other countries. 10,000 Eden Credits is not even close to a small amount. It's definitely more than the average detective makes in a full year. A veteran detective may only make around five-six thousand Credits per year.

So her reaction is warranted.

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She doesn't say anything.

She stares at me.

For a long time.

Finally, after what seems like hours, she responds.

"Where'd you get it.." She says in an exasperated tone.

Before I can even answer, she immediately continues.

"..Nevermind...I will send a message to Rise asking her if she knows where you got that money. Make sure to stay within my sight at all times until we find out the truth." Lynden tells me sternly.

Wait a minute!

"It's my own money. I don't spend much, so I save everything I have. I didn't use my mother's money—for the record." I reply.

"...Are you serious?" She asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes." I confirm.

"Fine. I'll choose to trust you. I guess I'll let this go. For now. Don't push your luck, kid." She finally turns to leave.

"I take back everything I said. You may be a prodigy, but you're an idiot...Get back to work.." She mutters.

I guess I did kinda deserve that.

***

"Fuuuuh." I groan, taking the opportunity to stretch.

I'm finally alone.

I suppose now would be a good time to explain everything.

I've already discovered the identity of the Painter.

To start with, all I can say is that he's astronomically lucky. He somehow managed to do his killing within the hours that I was either asleep, or had my sixth sense inactive.

Had I known of his existence, he'd already be long dead. Someone like him deserves nothing more.

I only became aware of his existence after I learned that Rise had been chasing him for the better part of a year. When Rise first come to me asking for help, I couldn't do much because of how painful using my power was.

Having spent the majority of the last month recovering—I finally found out what Rise wanted my help with around eight days ago.

I constantly monitored their HQ with my sixth sense. I was trying to learn if she was in danger—and how severe her problem was.

Unfortunately, my sixth sense doesn't allow me to hear what's going on, so it took me a while to determine exactly what she wanted my help with. I had to continuously attempt to read their lips, and use context clues to figure out what they were all so focused on.

I struggled with figuring out what she wanted more than I'd like to admit.

But once I knew what she wanted, I hunted down the Painter. I only managed to find him after he killed his most recent victim.

This murderer is a thirty year old man named Charles Erikson. He worked as a surgeon before quitting without notice. I want to get his execution over with, but I can't. For now. There's two main issues preventing his execution.

The first is how important catching him is to Rise, and the entire task force. If he just randomly disappears, it would haunt Rise forever. She'd never forgive herself. That's why I need to ensure that they capture him alive.

It's not an over exaggeration to say that the survival of the task force relies on this case.

So long as they capture him, and bring him to the authorities alive; they'll get credit, accommodations, and their funding will be perfectly secure upon realization that they're capable of solving otherwise unsolvable cases.

As for the second issue... It's more of a hypothesis than anything.

I've been monitoring him constantly to ensure that he doesn't hurt anyone else before his capture. This means that I've had to keep my sixth sense focused on him at all times, I even have to wake up in the middle of the night to make sure he's not hunting for victims.

It turns out that he's not a psychotic butcher. He's far too precise, far too intelligent. He's not a mindless killer—far from it. And I don't believe that he's doing this for fun.

He began making effigies out of his victim's corpses close to a year ago, and then now—not even a week after I discover that thing in the desert, the hearts of his victims randomly start to go missing?

I don't believe it to be a simple coincidence.

He killed his latest victim seven days ago, and I discovered him within twenty four hours of that. And no matter how hard I search, I can't find where their heart is. I've combed through thousands of miles looking for that heart.

I can't find it anywhere.

It's nothing more than a hunch, but I need to interrogate this man, and get some answers. By having the task force capture him—I can have them get their credit for his capture, while they transport him directly to me.

He'll be nothing more than a fly caught in my web.

I simply have to wait, and feed the task force the correct information.

There's one other important piece of information.

Charles Erikson, aka the Painter, has absolutely zero ties to the Triumvirate. The truth is that he does use an automated cabin modified by the Triumvirate to live in, and travel in. But he only has that because he murdered a criminal, and stole their vehicle.

Upon learning this, I thought that now would be a good time to stir up a bit of conflict. With a solid connection chaining the Painter to the Triumvirate, the killer will drag them directly into the sights of the law.

I want to know if I can use the Triumvirate.

I want to see how they respond to increased police pressure.

I've already gathered information on all of the Triumvirate's leadership—if it turns out that they're nothing more than a pack of wild dogs... They're no different than your run of the mill murderers.

If they're something more than that—then maybe I can use them as a resource.

And if they aren't worth using—well, they'll only get in the way.

***

I was going to go home for the night, but when the Chief realized how late it was, she said I could sleep at the HQ.  So here I remain.

I'm doing my utmost to help Rise, but she hasn't been my greatest concern.

It's of course been the shadow I found in the desert.

After I recovered my power to it's usual strength, I searched everywhere I could for it. And I can't find anything. That's the main reason why I'm working so hard to gain an opportunity to interrogate the Painter.

If he's connected to that shadow in the slightest—it could give me a massive advantage.

Which is something I'm desperate for.

Even after recovering my power, it felt foreign to me for the first couple weeks. The cause for that foreign feeling was obvious. The shadow's power I stole. At first, it was like a sloppy transplant surgery. My power rejected it's presence.

But after a while, I noticed that things started getting easier.

It began to merge with my power, and finally, it felt as if they've become one.

It feels strange to describe such a thing.

But I feel as if I've grown stronger since I absorbed the shadows' power into myself. I can't tell exactly how though—I've continued my training, so my attributes are continuing to increase, and there hasn't been a massive increase, so I don't know. It just feels...different.

***

I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to move forward. And I realize that I need allies. I need people who view the world like I do; people that wish to change the world for the better.

And I think that I found one person.

Erika Velle.

The woman I saved almost a year ago now.

I'm aware how creepy it may sound, but I've been looking further into her.

She constantly tries to create technology that will help humanity, but she's forced to create the things she hates. Her inventions often end up being used against innocent civilians instead of helping them.

She wants to improve the lives of everyone, but she's stuck creating weapons and tools designed to kill.

So long as her family still needs her support to survive—she'll never be allowed to walk away. They'll threaten her family the second she hesitates to follow orders.

She doesn't hate technology itself, but she despises the fact that she's forced to create products that kill indiscriminately. She's absolutely disgusted by the things she's created.

It's been slow, but I've watched her hatred towards the current world grow.

She wants to stop creating weapons, and instead help humanity. She wishes for a world where everyone is happy, and safe.

Watching her struggle to break free from her shackles...she reminds me of my past self.

I knew what I wanted to pursue, but I didn't have the strength to do so. All I could do was follow the path laid out for me—until I didn't, and then I basically lost the only family I had.

Erika is in the same position I was in.

She may not be able to do anything about her current situation, but she's working hard to move forward. She awaits the day that she can bare her fangs towards the world itself.

I can relate to her. Which is why I want to help her.

I discovered that she managed to create a secret lab where she hides her true work from her superiors. It's a place where she continues to research ways to save lives, improve human well-being, and change the world.

And I know that she's going to continue to fight for what she believes in.

I'm sure that the moment she discovers the truth—she'll stand up against her superiors. Even though doing so would come at a great cost.

But if she were under the shield of an even greater power... Well, that wouldn't be so bad.

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