Fire in the Sky [Closed]

"I'm guessing that's where I come in," Delilah said.

She pushed herself from the table and back into her chair before propping her feet on the table. Richard gave her a warning glare, but she countered with a stare that could only say: "Do you want me to cooperate or not?"

"While we report all major events to their respective kingdoms, the Special Forces has a firm grip on the higher-caliper cases that the Expiate doesn't want to go out in public. I've always been under the personal belief is if my team can handle it themselves, the realms don't have to worry about it."

"But now we're in a situation where you can't handle it, right~?" Martel said. She was twirling a lock of hair around her finger.


Delilah scowled.

"I never said that," she said. "What I am saying is that these freaks want details on the attackers we encountered. Something they think I have. It's also why you're here, Jinn. While Richard fled off to god-knows-where with that warlock knight character, you had a good look at the witch, right?"

"I remember it as Chief Commander willfully putting himself in danger to detract one of the bigger threats away from the people," Heinlein defended.

"Save your buttkissing for your consuls, Heinlein," she said.

"Captain!" Richard barked.

Martel stood up.

"Now, now, we don't have to fight," she said merrily. "Everyone did their best at the festival, and that's what's important. We just want a little info, is all! Inspector Jinn presented a very thorough report on the events, but we feel that stuff was missing."

Richard arched an eyebrow.

"I assure you Inspector Jinn is more than comprehensive in his reports," he said. "I do believe nothing was left out when we sent them to the Royal Guard in Saoirse."

Martel pressed a finger against her lip.

"Well, you mentioned the knight, and you mentioned the witch," she said. "But what about those who were involved? I know a scrabble of individuals tried to help the Expiate fight. Let's see, there was a peasant or two, I think? But people were very vague about a certain masked girl that somehow helped nullify certain magical effects."

If Inspector Jinn glanced at Richard, he would very briefly see the man's eyes widening before he glanced away. Martel leaned forward against the table, trying to almost be face to face with Jinn as she smiled playfully. Her pink eyes shone.

"Do you remember such a character, Inspector?"

Jinn maintained a neutral expression as things went on. When a certain masked individual was brought up, the officer glanced at Richard before focusing back on the other. Martel's attention was on Jinn now and her leaning in caused him to retract back a little. He raised a fist over his mouth and cleared his throat.

"Anybody who was present could've testified that much," Jinn stated calmly. "From what could be observed, they had no relation to the terrorists. I fail to see why you'd hold a vested interest in them."

Jinn crossed his hands and remained calm. Oh he was very much aware about everything concerning the masked mage, but these people didn't know that.

"It's not about the fact they were involved with terrorists or not," Martel said, smiling. "It's about what that person did. From the way it appeared, magic signals were blocked temporarily. Though, the Enkidu officer there had already finished performing his own roar and it probably wouldn't have been to that degree. It would have been fine to say if it were like an Expiate binding spell, but other Cartic users were affected too."

"Well, you're not getting anything until we know what you plan to give us in exchange," Delilah prompted. "Don't think you can press our inspectors willy-nilly without first establishing a proper deal."

For a brief moment, Martel scowled. She then shrugged and moved back to her seat.

"That's fair, that's fair," she said. "I think I've already mentioned we were willing to cooperate to influence our leaders to your direction."

"We have Richard for that," Delilah frowned. "Next."

"Well, yes, he talks to our leaders," she said. "But it's not like that's going to be enough. After all, the Expiate has it's own personal interests. You have jurisdiction on practically all international matters, if you really wanted it to. So people like King Alexiel would definitely need more pushing. But even more so the Consulate, am I right, Heinlein-darling?"

Heinelin cleared his throat.

"That's correct," he said. "The Supreme General, as you know, is harder to persuade when it comes to the Expiate's defensive actions in Stahlmin. That must be a major concern for you all considering the little cult riot you experienced a couple of months back."

"We arrested them, didn't we?" Delilah said. "In fact, one of my boys took down the issue with no problem."

"It doesn't change the fact a cult was brewing right under your nose," Heinlein frowned. "While I'm more understanding, the Supreme General is not. And the Supreme General's been very eager to get your headquarters out of here and take Cantic jurisdiction back to the military."

Delilah clucked her tongue.

"Typical of that asshole," she said.

Martel beamed.

"So does that mean we're on the same footing, then~?" she asked.

Delilah frowned.

"Maybe," she said. "I first want to know if Richard and Jinn want to cooperate on the matter."

"Zzz..."


...


Martel tilted her head.

"Is...is someone snoring?"

"Zzzzzzzz..."

The table turned their heads to Jacqueline, who straightened up. Crumbs fell from her chest as she waved her hands and chewed.

"Mmmff!?" she said. "It's not me! I'm just eating and listening!"

"Zzzzzzz...."


The group turned to the other side.

In his seat, Richard's head drooped. His arms were crossed and he seemed to have fallen asleep upright.

A bead of sweat trailed down Martel's forehead.

"Oh...oh my," she said. "Is he okay?"

Richard's body swayed before he fell forward and slammed his face on the table. Despite the impact, Richard seemed unfazed. Martel, Heinlein, and Delilah jumped back.

"He's out cold!" Heinlein said nervously. "Should we maybe wake him up!?"

Jinn's left hand clenched a little over his right fist. Oh they were going to be persistent about this and that wasn't good. Perhaps they'd be content if told the Expiate simply didn't know anything. But that would risk an end to the negotiations. Jinn never liked the bureaucratic side of things. He'd prefer field work more than anything. For now he'll have to go along with however the commander moves. This concerns him the most after-

zzzzzz....

Jinn couldn't hide his surprise when everyone saw Richard  snoring. Jinn was slackjawed until he saw the commander fall forward.

"Aaah! Commander!" Jinn exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. He ran around the table to get to Richard, gently holding his shoulders and raising him upwards.

"Sorry, we just started but let's take a small recess," Jinn stated. "Miss Delilah, please help me move the commander somewhere he an recuperate."

Delilah ran her hand over her face.

"Sweet divines..." she muttered. "This is why I don't trust early morning meetings."

Martel made a small giggle.

"Poor Richard," she said as she rested her face in her hand. "Always depriving himself of sleep. I mean, I like men who can stay up the whole night, but even I think this is overboard~. Still, I guess it's kinda cute~"

"Oh, you are NOT putting that image in my head!" Delilah snapped as she swung one of Richard's arms over her back. "Inspector, take his other arm."

"Zzz...zzz..."

Delilah lifted up Richard with ease and would gesture to Jinn that she could manage. Jacqueline also got up, but rather to take her smock coat and drape it over him.

"Rest well, Chief," she said in a childish, hushed tone.

"Let's take him to the other room across," she said. "There's a couch there. Just open the door for me, Inspector."

She then glared towards Martel and Heinlein.

"You two stay here," she said. "And you better not snoop around. Dion!"

"Mmph! Yes, Captain?" Jacqueline replied. She was mid-bite into what looked like a biscuit. Delilah's eye twitched.

"Make sure they don't touch any of Richard's notes," she said. "If they do, you have every right to torment them with your mental talk."

"Mmph. Will do!" Jacqueline saluted.

***

The room across was a lounge room, and once there, Delilah propped Richard against the chair in a resting position.

"There we go," she said. "Let me just get him some water."

Delilah crossed the room to where a water pitcher was. She grabbed it but didn't bother with a glass. Instead, she chucked the contents at Richard's face.

"AGH!!!"

Richard jumped awake as he looked around frantically, his head and upper body soaked.

"What!? Where!? Are we under attack!?"

*SMACK!!*


A leather glove slapped itself against Richard's face, leaving a red mark. It was Delilah's.

"What is wrong with you!?" Delilah shouted as she pulled her glove back on. "Did you invite them over just to make a fool of yourself!? To make a fool of me!?"

"And what was that for!?" Richard shouted as he touched his face. He then looked around. "Wait...where is everyone?"

Delilah massaged her temples.

"Jinn, you tell him what happened," she said. "I'm using all of my energy not to bash this pitcher over his head."

Jinn did as instructed and cleared the way to drag Richard into the room across the hall. He quietly closed the door to the room once Delilah lowered the commander into a chair. He calmly watched to see what Delilah thinks they should do next and flinched with his mouth agape when she dumped a pitcher of water over him. He quickly grabbed the pitcher out of Delilah's hand and held it away defensively.

"Right, uhm, let's get along now," he laughed nervously. "Miss Delilah, aside from the commander, you're the highest ranked among us. You should take charge of the meeting in Sir Richard's absence and make sure our guests don't eh, lose patience."

He turned to Richard in seriousness, taking off his bowler hat and holding it over his chest respectfully.

"To brief you commander, you fell asleep in the middle of the meeting and we had to bring you to this room across the hall."

"Commander, your diligence is well known among us and something we all very much respect. However, I must speak above my position and say you may have went too far this once. We shouldn't push this meeting to another time so I believe me and Miss Delilah should take care of negotiations from here. Please brief me on what you had prepared and..."

Jinn looked over his shoulder to make sure the door was still closed.

"...How we should proceed about their persistence regarding... you know who."

"Lose their patience?" Delilah said dryly. "Hah. If anything, they'll make me lose my patience."

She lowered her hands, her eyes still glaring hard at Richard.

"But you're right," she said. "We can't look disorganized. Especially in front of people like those two. I'll go on ahead. Make sure this one either gets his rest or is sure he'll stay awake before he even tries stepping in the meeting room. Richard has his notes so I'll bounce off of that."

With that, she moved out.

Richard's expression still read as being confused, but there was now a mix of both worry and guilt. When Jinn explained what was going on, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh no..." he groaned. "I can't believe I'd do something as stupid as fall asleep. Agh..."

He fell quiet for a moment, taking in what had just happened.

"I called that meeting to share information about several major incidents we've had the past few months," he said. "The festival, Sakigake, the cult attack in Stahlmin...it doesn't sit well with me that they all happened within a small amount of time and with our forces cut short because of the Unanimity festival, I had no choice but to ask for aid in ensuring proper defenses in all the kingdoms. I've already spoken with Aldmerrow, but Saoirse and Stahlmin prove a little harder to convince. Saadedge won't even consider it. I called in Martel and Heinlein to help us put things in our favor."

He sighed.

"There's no doubt about it that those two have their own motives to agreeing," he said. "But we have the info so that's what I was planning to hold over them. As for her, well..."

Richard got up and moved over to a nearby cabinet. He pulled out a towel to dry his face.

"I'm not sure there's much we can do," he said. "She ran away from home and it's hard to say where she is. In a way, that oddly makes her safer. But for how long, I can't say..."

He turned back to Jinn, his eyes still dark and strained.

"I'm guessing you aren't quite sure why they want to know though, do you?" he said. "Before I tell you though, what did you surmise when you saw what happened? Specifically what she did?"

Jinn listened quietly to Richard's summary of what they should be doing. When his superior asked about Jinn's thoughts, the ginger closed his eyes in thought before replying.

"It was reckless," he stated plainly. "Such actions done without coordination caused chaos. However... It was clear that they had the best intentions for the populace and it was thanks to them that the VIPs were able to successfully escape. The attackers left on their own. As for the magic itself..."

Jinn pinched his chin and pondered thoughtfully. "There are plenty of anti-magic methods developed in the cartic arts. In Eislyn, it's standard to equip soldiers with spears enchanted to bind down incantus and pierce magical defenses, and cuffs designed to prevent magical casting of any kind is commonplace in the law enforcement of any country. However, the magic that we saw was indiscriminate and affected a large area at once. Unlike the special ability of the enkidu, rather than causing magical energy to shake and become hard to control, it plain made it disappear. I'd be lying if I said leaving such a chaos factor loose isn't concerning. However, it's another question on who has the best intentions."

Richard nodded his head.

"There's been news in Saoirse of similar anti-magic accounts," he said. "Our officers in Valdell, for instance, mentioned that there are individuals they arrested who were able to disarm their magic not by any means of shielding, but just outright canceling their magic altogether."

Richard hunched down, pressing his interlocked fingers against his face. His eyes closed as he began to sway. He stopped himself.

"Saoirse has been wrapped up with concerns over the La Magie," he said. "The rebellion group's efforts died down several years ago, but the circle itself never really split. Something very interesting about the La Magie were accounts of individuals who could fully counter Cartic magic, similar to how Cartic magic is capable of countering Cantus. The Prime Minister of Aldmerrow mentioned something akin to it. Grey magic."

Richard paused for a moment. He then looked Inspector Jinn straight in the eye.

"As you said, such a thing existing, an anti-magic that not only works against Walpurgis, but Cartic magic could be dangerous," he said. "And not just towards the Expiate. I'd be worried if such magic were organized in a way that could be a threat to a kingdom's foundations."

Richard rubbed his eyes and then continued.

"I don't know how my daughter was able to pull of such magic," he said. "It's why I've kept her under house arrest. We've tried interrogating her, but she says nothing. We even tried examining her weapons, but they use charges similar to any of our own. So I need a favor of you, Inspector, though I can see you and I already agree to what needs to be done: We can't let anything on about Liseran that night. At least not yet. Delilah's right not to fully trust those two. They are traitors in their own right. But I need them on our side without us giving too much away. Can you promise me you'll do what you can to omit Liseran from the narrative?"

Jinn puffed his chest and saluted.

"You have my word, sir," Jinn stated. "Even regardless of the pressing circumstance, I would never expose your daughter."

Jinn folded his arms behind his back.

"Now sir, I believe it's best you get some rest."