Shackled Exalted

Emil

Petra's words thundered in his ears.

Mia? Missing?

"What do you mean?" Emil asked, eyes wide. The words were so unfathomable that he couldn't process what he had just heard.

"She's not here. It's way past her curfew. You know her, she would never disobey the rules. And—" Petra held up the shoe in her hands. "I found one of her shoes on the way back from my patrol."

The dim light illuminating the hallway suddenly felt too bright. A dull ring whined in his ears. An oppressive weight pressed down on his chest. His heart clenched as though squeezed by an invisible hand."…How do you know that's hers? It could be any one's shoe?" he asked, frantic, still in denial. The rational part of his mind screamed at him to accept reality, but he couldn't. He didn't want to believe it.

"Her shoes were custom made. I know because I made them by hand," Petra said, her voice trembling, "She had grown out of her old pair. I recognize the small designs I added from her request."

Emil's blood ran cold.

He slumped to the ground, burying his face into his hands. He wanted to scream. His head was spinning. The nausea grew unbearable as his mind spiraled in disarray, drowning in the relentless waves of despair.

Calm down.

Mia was missing.

He let the statement settle. A stroke of anger flashed. Something beside him shattered. Blaze flared on instinct, reacting to his turmoil. He glared at Petra. The woman eyed him with fear, but she looked resigned as if she was ready to accept any punishment.

It's not her fault. And lashing out at her does nothing.

He closed his eyes and soaked in all the wretched emotions that followed. Once the initial onslaught passed, he raised his head.

There's no time to grieve. I need to take action. Do something. Get Mia back.

"Where's Raz?" he asked.

"In his room. I checked already."

Emil took a deep breath. At least one of his family members was still okay. With his objective clear, he killed his emotions and donned the mask of a Steiger Cleaner who was investigating a disappearance.

"…What do you think? Is this a kidnapping? A robbery?" He narrowed his eyes. "Or could this be related to the Sixth Hidden Laboratory?"

Petra shook her head. The panic in her voice had subsided a bit as she gave her thoughts. "I doubt the Sixth Hidden Laboratory is involved. First, the timing doesn't make sense. It's only been two days and the damages we inflicted on the lab should have hampered any attempts at investigating. I would say it's very unlikely for them to have any sort of leads or even suspect malicious tampering at this time. Second, if they did somehow connect the incident to us, then they would have taken a more direct approach instead of going after Mia. Third, I searched the house, but I couldn't find a ransom note or any sort of communication to suggest that Mia is being held hostage."

"So, a kidnapping then," Emil stated. But another possibility suddenly came to mind. One that he really didn't want to entertain. "It could also be murder."

Petra's expression turned stiff. "I didn't notice any blood stains on the ground when I found her shoe. But I don't know, I didn't look too clearly. I rushed back home immediately to make sure that I wasn't mistaken."

"Take me there. I can use my Gift and see if we can find a lead."

***

The two of them put on their night gear. After securing Petra's house and making sure that Raz was taken care of, they made haste towards the site where Petra discovered Mia's shoes.

After twenty minutes of nonstop running, they arrived at a narrow alleyway bridging two side streets of the First and Second Sector. The area was sketchy, flanked by two large walls from a set of dilapidated buildings that had been abandoned for construction. A dull musk hung in the air—a combination of rot and human excrement, reminiscent of the smell of the slums.

Mia, are you stupid? What the hell were you doing here?

"This path leads directly into the Second Sector. She was probably using it as a shortcut," Petra explained as though reading his thoughts.

Emil grunted in exasperation. Sometimes he forgot that Mia had grown up with him in the slums. This sort of suspicious alleyway wouldn't have fazed her at all.

"Here," Petra beckoned at the spot where Mia's shoe was found. Emil glanced around. Aside from a scattered pile of debris and stone, there was nothing out of the ordinary. No blood. No tore clothes. No signs of a struggle. He crouched down and channeled mana.

"Trace," he whispered, activating Seismic Sense.

Mana coursed along the ground. The blue wisps spread, highlighting the miniscule incisions and dents on the earth that were too small to perceive with the naked eye. Emil scrutinized the results.

"Anything?"

He clicked his tongue. "No. There's too many overlapping footprints. This path sees a lot of use apparently. I can't tell which ones were hers."

"She might not even have left footprints. If she was kidnapped, then she was probably carried away by her captors," Petra said.

Emil clicked his tongue and continued to scan the vicinity with Seismic Sense. He was grasping at straws at this point, trying to find some sort of lead that might give them a hint as to where Mia was taken.

"What does she typically wear when she goes out?"

"Nothing special. Just clothes that a commoner would wear."

"Then there's no way she would have been mistaken for the daughter of a noble family," Emil spoke his thoughts out loud.

"Like I said, I didn't find any ransom notes. I don't think this was a targeted attack," Petra reiterated.

Then did Mia just get unlucky? What reason would someone have to kidnap a random peasant girl?

He was suddenly reminded of the orphans who were collected as experiment subjects at the Sixth Hidden Laboratory. There was another lucrative underground business that also dealt in human lives.

"Is there a human trafficking ring in Azure City?" Emil asked.

Petra's eyes widened at the possibility. "I've heard some rumors, but I've never investigated them since it was unrelated to our mission."

"If there is, then it might explain Mia's disappearance."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Petra nodded. "I know an information broker in the Second Sector. It's not too far from the main district."

***

Azure's Ale.

Emil narrowed his eyes at the dilapidated store front. Petra led him to a seedy establishment on a side street off the corner of Azure City's main district. Compared to the eye-catching decorations of the surrounding stores, this one was noticeably dull. Its shabby appearance made it inconspicuous, almost bending into the shadows of its attention-grabbing neighbors. The design was probably intentional given that this was apparently a front for an underworld information guild.

"Let me do the talking," Petra said over the noisy crowds. It took less than a month after Vigil's attack on the Academy for the main district of Azure City to be busy again. Drunken commoners filled the streets, singing unintelligible songs and screaming obscenities into the air. Debauchery was everywhere. Emil caught a few Sentinels waiting at the corners of the street. They had two hours until the Sentinels began kicking everyone off the roads.

At least they're doing their job again.

The Council received heavy criticism for the Sentinel's languid response during Vigil's attack. It answered those complaints by proclaiming that the bulk of the Sentinel forces were used to protect the royal family and to supplement the protection of important high-ranking nobles. It was a flimsy excuse given how Princess Aoife ended up being kidnapped. Their competence was called into question and in the end, a few of its councilmen were forced to step down from their positions. Emil knew the truth, of course—the Sentinel's slow response was because most of them had been stationed to guard the Hidden Laboratories.

Still, even though the Council had reassigned a portion of the Sentinels back to the original posts, public safety in Azure City was less strict than it had been prior to the Clash of Dawn

"Give me the coin pouch," Petra asked. They made a detour back to her residence to procure funds to pay for information. "Also, control yourself. Your bloodlust is leaking. The information broker of this establishment, Lugner, has a keen eye. Even if we're masked, he'll notice if something is up. If he realizes our desperation, he won't hesitate to squeeze us dry."

Another greedy bastard.

Emil sighed to cool his head. The cacophonous thoughts disappeared. "Understood."

They stepped into the seedy tavern.

The entrance hallway was narrow. A dim amber light illuminated the interior. A faint stench of alcohol lingered in the air. There was a group of patrons seated by the tables off to the side. The main area of the establishment was small, barely the size of Petra's living room. Emil could feel the probing eyes scrutinizing their presences as they walked towards the bar counter. Not hostile, but not welcoming either.

They're the "muscles."

Petra took a seat by the bar counter. Emil stood off to the side. The bartender soon arrived.

"Good evening, my name is Lugner. How may I serve you two on this fine night?"

Emil winced at the over-the-top flamboyance. Lugner was a tall man with styled blond hair. He wore a tapered vest over a white shirt with rolled up sleeves. His appearance might have resembled a server at a less formal banquet, if it weren't for the sleezy expression plastered on his pale face.

"Service for two," Petra muttered as she pushed two silver coins across the counter.

Lugner nodded. There was a piercing glint in his eyes as he briefly glanced at Emil.

"Very well. Please follow me."

He led them to a room at the rear of the establishment. The quaint room was sparsely furnished. Only a table rested in the center with three chairs already prepared in advance. An oil lamp was placed on a small desk off to the left side of the room. Long shadows were casted from the light source, shrouding the right fringes of the room in darkness.

Emil couldn't help but feel that the placement of the oil lamp was deliberate.

"Please, take a seat both of you," Lugner offered. Emil and Petra both obliged. "Now then, how may I be of assistance?"

Petra reached into the coin pouch hidden beneath her cloak and took out ten gold coins. She spread them out on the center of the table. Lugner's eyes sparkled with greed.

"Lately, there's been rumors about people missing across Azure City. Are there any validity to the claims?"

A blatant lie. Emil and Petra haven't actually heard of any of these rumors. It was a fabricated premise based on a speculation that Mia might have been kidnapped by human traffickers. She's trying to hide our intentions. Emil realized that while trying to remain stone-faced. The question and choice of wording were deliberate to conceal that they were really looking for Mia.

Lugner nodded as if he expected this inquiry. He reached over and pulled two coins from the pile onto his side of the table.

"Yes. The Sentinels have been receiving more reports about missing individuals across the city. There's also been an increase in missing posters put up within the outer districts. Not that they're any useful, mind you, given the poor descriptions and unintelligible portraits of the missing targets. But yes, the rumors are valid."

"Are these missing individuals connected in some way?" Petra continued.

Lugner pulled another two coins onto his side.

"From what we can tell, they're all commoners. Most of them were girls, ages ranged from teenagers to young adults."

"Then—"

Lugner seized another two coins.

"This is still unconfirmed, but it doesn't take a genius to guess what is happening here. It's very likely that they were all kidnapped. For what nefarious purpose? I'll leave that to your imagination," he said, smiling with a sadistic glee.

Pain screamed from Emil's palms. He hadn't realized it, but he had been clenching his fists tightly. There was enough force to pierce his nails through the skin of his hands. He released his grip, trying to remain nonchalant. Lugner shot him a glance from his periphery.

Petra followed up with the key question, "Assuming they were all kidnapped, who are the most likely suspects?"

"Now that's an expensive question. Azure City's been quite good about cracking down on crime syndicates thanks to the Sentinel's constant presence across the city. Well, up until recently anyways. So, there's only a couple of primary suspects that could be involved. If we assume that all of these kidnappings were done by the same culprit, there's really only one faction that's capable of an operation of this scale," Lugner said as he pulled out of the remaining coins on Petra's end towards him, "They're called the Rubare. They're a clan of individuals that splintered off from the crime syndicates of Lower Dannan."

Emil narrowed his eyes. He recognized the name.

Where have I heard of them before?

He scoured his mind until he uncovered the source of his familiarity. Immediately, he felt a surge of anger rush up his throat. He gulped to push down the indignation.

The documents inside the Sixth Hidden Laboratory's archive room. The Rubare clan was mentioned in the new budget proposal for Project Heilen. They're the same people who were bringing orphans to the lab.

He also recounted a conversation that he overheard before the orphans and him were escorted into the lab. When asked by the researcher why the number of orphans was fewer than before, the two men of the Rubare explained that they had another client who they were prioritizing.

Emil cursed himself for missing this connection.

Petra placed another ten gold coins on the table. She was stoic, but Emil knew that this was all they had left to offer.

"Where can we find the base of the Rubare clan?"

The question hung in the air. Lugner stared at them, his elbows rested on the table and his hands clasped together as he watched, deep in thought. Emil was unnerved. He could feel the slimy man's gaze pour over their bodies.

"I wonder," Lugner finally said. His eyes suddenly grew sinister. "Are the two of you heroes of justice? Or is the cause of this meeting a more personal affair?"

Goddammit. He caught on.

"Is that a question?" Petra asked. Her voice was steady, but Emil could tell that she was shaken. And if he could tell, then Lugner likely realized it too.

"No, it's rhetorical. And frankly, none of my business. But—" Lugner smiled arrogantly. "You're going to need to offer more for this information."

"Ten gold coins isn't enough for you?" Petra tried to stand her ground.

Lugner chuckled. "Here's a little complementary offering. The Rubare are also one of my clients. I think there's a risk that they might cease to exist after I divulge this piece of information to you two. And while they aren't my largest clients, it is still a loss of business that I must compensate for. So, don't you think it's only fair that the price is high?"

Petra bared her teeth.

"Then I guess we'll take our business elsewhere."

Lugner shrugged. "Of course, be my guest. I'm sure you have all the time in the world to find another broker with this information. I'm sure that this isn't a time sensitive issue that must be dealt with immediately."

The greedy man's smile sent Emil over the edge. Rage boiled in his chest as he shot up from his chair. The moment he stood up the long shadows shrouding this room suddenly stirred. Within half a second, enemies emerged from behind the walls and the floor.

The first set of enemies lunged at him with needles and daggers. Emil stood his ground, unfazed by their sudden appearance. He was ready. He suspected a while ago that something was up with the deliberate placement of the oil lamp.

He drew his sword. With a single step, he stormed in and mercilessly cut down the foes that threatened to keep him pinned. A couple of needles found their way into his arms. He felt the foreign substances invade his bloodstream.

Trivial.

He ignored the attacks and dove straight at the remaining warriors in the room. Emil hacked and swung, letting his rage dictate his movements. Blood and screams filled the soundproofed room. Within a minute, the room was quiet once more.

The warriors were all Ordinaries. Perhaps they thought they stood a chance against Exalted with poisons and toxins, but for Emil and Petra, those tricks were meaningless. Steiger had prepared their bodies against these conniving attacks.

Lugner was cowering behind the table. The arrogant smile on his face was no more. Instead, his expression was twisted in horror. Emil mused at the sight at his trembling eyes.

"Y-You're going to die from the p-poison! I-I have the anti—"

Emil cut him off with a heavy blow to the chest. Lugner dropped to the floor. The man held onto his stomach, puking blood as he struggled to run. Emil grabbed him by the roots of his hair. Blaze bloomed, shrouding his back in a maelstrom of dark flames.

"Tell me the whereabouts of the Rubare clan. The price that I offer, is your right to live."