Voodoopunk [Closed- Goibniu/Claes the BEST COP TEAM EVER]

"Why bring her to us, when I can go to them?" he asked.

Goibniu would notice the boy yank off what appeared to be a necklace. If the Enkidu was familiar with Esterelf deities, he would recognize the talisman at the end of the necklace having the carved emblem of Arielle.

Wrapping the necklace around his hand, the talisman glowed. Goibniu would instantly feel the ground quake as giant black spikes of rock jutted from the ground, piercing into Arabella's assailants and suspending them into the air. The boy then leapt off the balcony and hit the ground near Arabella, the latter in utter horror at what she was looking at.

A few more assailants were coming from the sides, but before Goibniu had a chance, more spikes appeared, sometimes catching one of the assailants' arms, sometimes their leg, or knocking them to the side.

A flurry of people appeared behind Goibniu and ran past him, leaping and raising their pistols in the air.

"NOBODY MOVE!" someone shouted.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW! ALL OF YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" a second one barked.

An officer approached the young boy, to which the latter lowered his arm. The spikes that had appeared disappeared back into the earth and those who had been stabbed were quickly healed only to be cuffed and bound.

Whatever had been going on here was now over.

***

Once everyone was rounded up, Goibniu would make his way back to the surface. Arabella had been taken away by other officers for questioning. Looking upstairs, he'd notice some officers fixing up the town, others tending to the injured, and others more shoving criminals away. Near a checkpoint, he saw Marthe tending to Claes who was on a folding bed.

"Well, she offered to help, and uh-" He started saying, before he noticed the talisman the kid was using. Due to the desperation, he didn't realize what it was meant to signal, but as soon as his mind put two and two together, the ground began to shake again, causing several spikes to protrude from the floor, piercing the cultists surrounding Arabelle, a sight that wasn't exactly a pretty one to observe. He was so distracted by the sight, that he didn't notice the boy leap forward before it was too late. "Wait lad! What are you doing!?" He yelled, extending his arm to try and catch him, to not avail.

More hooded figures came around, and the enchantment the boy created kept them all at bay, but eventually a new group of individuals appeared on the scene, one that was focused on the cultists rather than him. Could it be... officers? Reinforcements? Thank god! "Great timing people!" He exclaimed, as the group began tending to the boy, as well as the many minions that were attacked by the earthly spikes. A sigh of relief escaped him, now that he knew things turned for the better.

A few minutes passed. Goibniu managed to change his garments to his usual officer gear, and was allowed to return to the surface as the rest of the team kept itself busy with the fine details of the event. Surely he will have quite a bit to write for his report, but that didn't matter considering the positive result this generated. Not everyone had a happy ending however, as Arabelle was taken into custody for questioning, and while Goibniu couldn't stop the officers from taking her away, as it was standard protocol, he tried to reassure people that she only helped him in this endeavor. He may not be able to check on her for the moment, but there was someone he could check instead: Claes.

Speaking of Claes, he noted how in the closer checkpoint she was being medicated thanks to Marthe. Making his way towards the two, Goibniu bore a face of concern, still remembering how Claes' wound wasn't a mere papercut. "Paramedic! How is Officer Alfson? Is she going to make it? Please say she can make a stout recovery!"

"Officer McCrae," she said.

Marthe straightened up as Goinbiu approached. She gave a brief nod of acknowledgement before inching over to give the Enkidu space. Claes herself was sitting upright in the folding bed. Goibniu would noticed a portion of her uniform had been cut off in order to access the wound. It had been healed but there was gauze where the hit had been made. Claes, for the most part, simply looked tired, but she gave Goibniu as formal of an expression as she could.

"Ah, McCrae," she murmured. She frowned. "Sorry you have to see me in this state. I'm fine. The question is if you are."

Marthe offered a small smile.

"I was explaining to Officer Alfson that you had gone to look for her and were who brought her out," she said. "But that's all I know of the issue. Did you...did you all perhaps find the culprits behind the attack earlier?"

Goibniu's looks didn't change until he heard Claes' voice. He made a sigh of relief, despite the fact Claes was still in the middle of recovering, after all, the wound he saw seemed rather endangering for her health. "Ah, that's a relief to hear Officer! I have feared you'd have been more than just incapacitated." He said, trying to not hug her as she'd probably be rather hurt from the situation. "Me? I'm still right as rain. Thankfully I managed to keep myself together during this endeavor, and it was quite complicated with all the surprises!"

Marthe mentioned that Claes was given a very condensed version of what happened, at least in regards on what happened to her. "I'm glad to say that, in this case? We might actually have." He replied to the medic, a confident smile on his face. "I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to disclose right now, but let's say that it was a shady-looking organization, seeking to use the officer as some sort of living puppet for their deeds. Thankfully, we manage to stop her before they did anything irreparable. Which reminds me... Officer Alfson, do you recall anything that happened down there? Anything you heard?"

Claes looked at Goibniu bewilderingly. She couldn't make two ends of his explanation, so she just shook her head at the idea.

"I guess I have a lot of catching up to do," she said. "As for what I remember...honestly nothing. I merely remember getting shot and passing out. After that I remember maybe coming to and passing out again as I saw people around me. Other than that and you rescuing me, not much."

Claes sighed.

"I'm sorry I ended up being more of a burden during this case," she said. "I wish I had helped more. That said, thank you, McCrae. You saved me. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't find me."

"Ahem."

A stern voice would come from behind Goibniu. It was the short, red-haired boy from earlier. He was staring directly at Goibniu.

"Officer McCrae," he said, having a surprisingly low voice. "May I have some of your time?"

Sadly, nothing of this experience rung any bells with Claes. Yeah, he did see she was mostly passed out throughout the entirety of the rescue mission, but he had hope that maybe she would have regained some semblance of consciousness thanks to the cult's strange magic. "Darn... well, that's regrettable, but not unexpected. The important part if that you seemingly have not lost any of your faculties. I dread to imagine what would have happened if we have tried to look for you even a second later!" He said, as he put his hand on his forehead, letting out a sigh of relief.

However, this moment of relaxation allowed his mind to process the earlier events. Before looking for Claes, he saw Arielle before... Yeah, it was in that alleyway when things got ugly, just before Claes got injured. He could remember he told Marthe to advice the offices to look for her, but why didn't she mention...

And before he could continue, something shook his mind out of thoughts, as the voice from earlier beckoned him. Turning to the source, Goibniu saw that it was the young lad he saw earlier! "Ah, right, sure." He said, before turning to the girls. "It appears I am needed elsewhere. Medic Marthe, I hope you can aid Officer Alfson as much as you can." A smile was painted in his face when he spoke to her, before he got up and headed towards the smaller officer calling him. "Yes? What its the matter?"

Claes' eyes diverted to the side as Goibniu mentioned his fears if they had gotten to her later rather than sooner. She touched her arm subconsciously. She didn't get to speak further with Goibniu, however, as Klaus summoned him.

In contrast to when Goibniu first saw him, Klaus had a stoicism about him.

"I wanted to inform you that we have cleared the underground," he said. "We have to thank you for locating it in the first place. Sure enough, you'll receive handsome compensation for your work. That said, there is something of other concern to us."

His eyes narrowed.

"A civilian was involved in the altercation and was assisting in battle, am I correct?" he said. "She disappeared a little shortly after we stormed the tunnelway. Can you tell us more about her?"

The words Klaus offered were standard enough; the area was secured, a pat in the back for his efforts, and even a show of congratulations in the form of possibly a higher pay for this individual operation. Of course, Goibniu was focused more on the job well done, as his content expression would attest to. However, his face turned to one of curiousity when he mentioned there was something that 'concerned' the force. "Mmmh? What could it be?" He asked the young officer, as he was filled in the nature of the concern.

And turns out, it had to do with his spunky companion! "Ah, right. Yes that is true, a civilian wished to intervene and help me with this endeavor. Her name was Arabella Sphynx, and as far as I know, she didn't seem to want any sort of compensation... It felt like her desire was altruistic. I'm afraid there isn't much I could say, other than she is quite skilled in the art of Carta Magic, capable of even summoning earth golems. I don't believe she had any connection with the Expiate, or the strange group we ran across, could be that she was a stranger who decided to help." And he really hoped that was the case, it would mean that there were still some people that were confident enough in the Expiate, they were willing to help me at all!

Klaus only stared aa Goibniu spoke. Once the Enkidu was done, the boy wrote something down on paper and made a single remark.

"Interesting," he said. "If you see her again, please tell hwr she's needed at the nearest station for questioning, understood?"

Klaus gave a small nod.

"That's all I need," he said. "You should probably make your way back to headquarters with Alfson and report to the infirmary. I'll be handling this issue hereon out."

With that, the boy who was practically a foot shorter than him left. 

Things seemed to be wrapping up. An ambulance carriage approached to carry back the injured. Goibniu himself would be prompted to accompany Claes. Whatever rebels had been underground were now being taken away. But it still begged the question as to just how deep this issue went. Had they resolved the issue or had things just started?

Now that was an interesting thought. When would Arabella prop up again? He had no idea regarding her as a person, outside of just being some random civilian that chose to help him. In a way, that thought alone was comforting, considering that it could imply the Expiate didn't lose favor with the people, if they were to willing to let one of them come to their aid when needed. Nevertheless, as long as she was safe, he'd make sure to tell her next time he finds her. "No problem, Officer! Hopefully she'd be willing to take part of it." He said, giving Klaus a salute.

At the mention of needing to go back to HQ, Goibniu accompanied Claes on the ambulance so that they can return safe and sound. As the wheels of the carriage stirred and moved, his thoughts couldn't help but go back to the events that transitioned this day, specially regarding the ritual he encounter and the participation of Arabella. Could it be that Claes was a victim of circumstance, or were they targeted for some unknown purpose? Was there some correlation between them and the sudden attack they suffered earlier? There were clearly too many questions and none that would be answered that day, so instead Goibniu was merely relieved that they were both alive and well enough to tell the tale.

Wherever Arabella was, he hoped she was okay.