The rest of the week, I nailed my plans for the campaign against the Omegas down, mostly to keep from making and discarding ways to help Sophia. Until she asked for help or intervention from me, I had sworn to myself that I would not stick my nose into her family. Not much, anyway. I had looked into the church her father had joined and what I found was chilling. The church itself was located outside of town, a few kilometers away within a small community made up of church-members. While they called themself Church of the Righteous Path, they had no affiliation with any other organisation, religious or otherwise and had been founded forty years ago, by the father of their current leader. What little information I was able to find, all talked about leading a righteous life which meant following their faith and sprinkled in a mixture of old-testament fire and brimstone-preaching for good measure.

Just from the information I found and the images I saw, I would bet that the whole thing was a cult, with the usual tactics hidden beneath the surface, maybe even reinforcement of the usual cult-tactics with a suitable power. But humans had been awful and controlling to each other forever and were able to be, without needing to be brainwashed by a Powered.

But even knowing those things, I could not formulate a strategy to reliably bring Sophia’s father out of the cult, every way I could come up with had a high chance to either strengthen his belief in the cult or turn him against Sophia.

Saturday evening found me in an interesting position, I had a meeting to attend. Sadly, the other party was not aware that the meeting was scheduled so I would have to be presumptive and actively insert myself into her schedule.

So, I sat in a dark living room, on a Saturday evening and waited for a slightly tipsy Detective Kendall to come home from an evening of drinking with her friends, I think the colloquial term is a ‘Girls night out’, She had done so the last couple of Saturdays, each time returning in the same fifteen-minute window, each time taking a cab and each time alone. I had a drone surveilling her, making sure that there was no change in her routine, it would be slightly embarrassing if she brought someone home with her.

But her routine held, she left the club she had visited right on schedule and got into a cab.

As she walked up to her apartment, I had to smile behind my mask, she truly was a creature of habit. With minor modifications, I could have used last weeks recording to spoof the cameras and I doubt anyone would have noticed. But her evening would turn up a lot more interesting.

Right on time, I heard the key unlock her door and heard her step in and deactivate the alarm. Once that was done, Galatea made sure that the apartment was isolated, including a short-range jamming of wireless communication. The only reason she still had contact to the drone hovering outside was that I had placed a laser-repeater at one of her windows, routing a signal from a cable to the outside.

Her routine held true, until the moment she stepped into the living room and saw a dark shadow sit on her sofa. Her curse was not something I would ever repeat but it might be better than a squeak. At least, more dignified.

“Who the hell are you?!” she asked, with a small pistol pointed at my chest.

“Why, is it not obvious? I am a woman in a mask.” I said, drawing inspiration from an old movie.

“Hah?! I can see that.” she barked, getting agitated.

“Evidently. I never questioned your powers of observation, Detective Kendall. If I did, I would not be here. But, my remark was aimed at the absurdity of asking a masked woman who she is. For the sake of conversation, you can call me Metis. It is, after all, what I am known as.” I introduced myself, giving her a seated bow.

“But why not take a seat? And put that toy away, it cannot hurt me anyway. And you would not shoot someone not threatening you.”

The look on her face was rather confused, but my calm demeanor had taken the wind out of her sails. It was hard to yell at someone who was calmly sitting down. The effect would have been even better if I had a classic tea or coffee-set, allowing me to placidly stir my beverage while she ranted. But drinking with a mask was sadly not possible.

After a short glimpse at her mobile, she switched on the light and moved to the armchair across the coffee-table and sat down. However, she kept her pistol in hand, not holstering it.

I could see a bit of confusion on her face, now that she could see me clearly. Once again, I had clad myself in my armoured business-suit with the claw-like gauntlets.

“So, Metis, why are you here?” she asked, now business-like.

“I am here, to find the answer to a simple question. Are you still in the police-force because of conviction or because of stubborness?”

A look of surprise came over her features, before turning grim. ”Both. I will be damned if I let some idiots bully me out of the force. And if you think I can be bought, you should have let me shoot you.”

“Excellent answer.” I said, the smile in my voice even evident after the distortion. “I am not in the market for a police-detective. No, I am looking for something entirely different. I am looking for a hound, a Tisiphone, if you will.”

“You want me to catch a murderer? Why not go through ordinary channels?” she asked, getting my meaning in an instant.

“Wonderful, working with an educated individual. Not just a murderer, an entire group, a gang of them, the Omegas. You will be hound that brings them low, if you follow my guidance.”

“They killed someone you are close to and you want revenge?” she asked, getting closer to the truth. “Never heard of the saying that the best revenge is a good life?”

“I have heard that one. Have you ever heard that forgiveness is the mark of a great man?” I countered and after a second continued, “And can you see me as any sort of man at all?”

“But no. I am not in the market for revenge. Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged. You will be the instrument of my vengeance, the bringer of justice, fitting with your role.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why, I thought it obvious, maybe I was wrong about your powers of observation. My desire is to see the gang known as Omegas broken up, brought low and left to rot in prison, sentenced by a judge and a jury of their peers.” I said, eliciting a surprised noise from her.

“Do not worry, I am not the type that seeks to crush their enemies, to see them driven before you, while listening to the lamentations of their women.” I said, lying a little. I would happily do so, if I could get away with it. But I was not blinded on my quest, maybe because it was not my vengeance that I was seeking. I was seeking vengeance for Sophia.

“What exactly are you offering?” she asked, licking her lips.

“Simple. Everything I was able to learn about you, and that was a lot, tells me that you are an excellent police officer, strong in her convictions and morals. What I am offering, is to pass on information that will allow you to start digging into the Omegas. Currently, they are kept safe due to corruption on the police-force. But, if you start digging and happen to find evidence that leads you to the corruption and you pass it on? That will be my first strike against them. You only need to do your job, to follow the evidence.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“From me? Nothing. But you will have done your job, the job you have been doing despite the backlash against you. You will restore your honour, proving all those that they were unable to break you.”

For a moment, she was silent and looked into her lap and at the pistol she was still holding. Then, with a deep breath, she looked up at me and asked, “I’m in. How do we do that?”

“Your first clue, is that an anonymous source told you that she has seen something strange at the empty, old house, at the corner D-street and M-street.” I stated in a calm voice.

“If you want details, the source told you that they were riding in a cab and saw a few people in Omega-colours argue inside as one of them was leaving. If you have a need to pin a name to the source, the cab your friend Leandra was using took D-street tonight. I certainly do not mind if you credit her.” There was a look of shock on her face, the realisation how much I knew slowly sinking in.

“When you search it, you should be thorough. Who knows what you might find.” I said, giving her some encouragement. I knew that there would be something to find, I was planning to place it there tonight.

She simply nodded, apparently still working through a bit of information-overload.

“Now, I wish you a good night.” I said and rose, taking the repeater and dropping the jamming-field at the same time before leaving through the front-door. The cameras outside were in a loop, hiding me from view.

And for the next part of the evening. Place some evidence in an old house.