Sitting on a plush burgundy sofa, Captain Ormain casually leafed through the report that had turned up on his desk at the conclusion of his trip to KF-14. After his team had entered Glass Heart through an apartment earlier today, he had directed his subordinates to block the exits while enjoying the silence among the horrified occupants. Once subdued, the group was taken into custody and he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He hated it when he needed to be anywhere below the green floors. They were a mess of commoners crammed into a depressing concrete prison where the only living things were the people themselves. Stagnant air and noisy crowds ensured that there was never a moment of peace, and any eyes for fine design were unsurprisingly nonexistent. It was an assault on every single one of his senses that he, unless ordered to, would avoid like a plague.

At only 27, Captain Ormain was young considering his post, but nobody would say that he didn’t deserve it. Not only had his striking blue eyes and charm set him apart from the crowd of already attractive SuTSU staff, his ability to solve problems and manage people had placed him on the fast track for promotion. It was common knowledge that SuTSU usually prioritized experience when promotions were considered, but they were also intelligent enough to see that real talent should be nurtured as soon as possible.

If Nina had been standing in the office, she would have recognized this man as the suit who had left her entranced. What would surprise her even more, however, was that this man was currently lost in thought with her at the centre of it. Ever since their brief encounter, Captain Ormain had found it difficult to shake her face from his mind, even with seemingly bigger issues in front of him.

There was something about her, he had concluded. What that was, unfortunately, was not something that he had worked out yet. Not that that was a problem for him, in fact maybe he would even say it was the opposite. Challenges were something that he enjoyed, and this challenge was mysterious. He had initially chalked it off as his own error, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to conclude that it hadn’t been.

Ormain’s office was lavish, a mixture of dark woods and deep reds. The timber paneling which ran up the walls was covered with ornate tapestries while the dark floor was covered with thick red carpets. His desk, which was three meters long and carved from a single tree, had taken a team of twelve an entire day to get inside. Matching the intricate swirls that ran through the timber, pot plants with bending green ferns were randomly littered across the space to remind him that there was more to this world than concrete and steel. Sighing as he looked through the light curtains that fluttered in the breeze, the sound of approaching footsteps entered his ears. Unfortunately, footsteps usually resulted in him being pried away from the fresh air that he enjoyed so much.

“Captain,” a voice came from the other side of his door. Without waiting for a response, one of the heavy wooden doors was pushed open as a young man stepped inside. Dressed in the standard suit uniform, a gloved hand appeared from a hidden slot in his cloak as he gave Ormain a curt salute.

“Lieutenant,” he replied without raising his eyes from the document. The fact that the lieutenant was here told him that there was more work for him to do, which was something that he wasn’t interested in right now. Not only did he need to rest after visiting such a horrible place earlier during the day, the answer to the mystery he had come across seemed to be on the tip of his tongue.

“The head would like to see you.”

About nothing that this report couldn’t tell you, Ormain thought as he looked up at the lieutenant. He had come across the young man during another mission and had quickly seen his value, bringing him into his own fold before anyone else could. Reliable and with good technical knowledge, the lieutenant had soon found himself becoming an assistant of sorts, not that that was a bad thing. Anyone with a decent head on their shoulders could see that Ormain was destined to climb further, and riding in his pocket as he ascended through the ranks was an opportunity that many would snatch without a second thought.

“Did you get a good look at that woman in blue from earlier today?” Ormain asked as he ignored the instruction. His lieutenant often followed him around, so if anyone else had also seen this woman, he was probably the best place to start.

“I did, but I didn’t recognize her,” the lieutenant replied. “Do you have any idea where you would have met?”

“I don’t, but I feel as though it wasn’t that long ago,” Ormain frowned as he thought. “It’s as though the memory is fresh, as odd as it sounds.”

Hearing his response, the lieutenant shuffled awkwardly before looking to the ground. Ormain knew that there he probably had something to say, but didn’t want to say it. Saying the wrong thing in the hierarchy at SuTSU could be disastrous if the wrong person took offense.

“Speak lieutenant.”

The man paused before taking a breath. “If that’s the case captain, I believe you are mistaken. You have hardly left regional HQ during the last couple of weeks and therefore haven’t had the chance to meet anyone new.”

Ormain paused as he dropped the paper onto the sofa with a sigh. “You’re right lieutenant, thank you. I will see Grant shortly. Dismissed.”

Watching as the lieutenant saluted once more before disappearing through the door, Ormain leaned back into the sofa. The lieutenant was correct, there hadn’t even been a chance for him to meet anybody in the last couple of weeks. Thinking that his meeting with the head could wait for a moment, he closed his eyes while massaging his temples. He didn’t enjoy it when he was wrong, but right now it was looking like that was the case.

The woman herself had said that they hadn’t met, although it was still possible that she had been lying. He had his suspicions about the three women that had been walking in the general vicinity of Glass Heart when they had dropped by, but if they were guilty they had hid it well. He could tell that the woman in blue had been nervous, but that was a common reaction to suits, especially below the green floors. She had also seemed genuine in her answer.

And if she was genuine, then he was wrong. After all, it was impossible for two people to have a one way meeting. He thought he had met her, but she hadn’t met him. Therefore, it should be impossible.

But it wasn’t impossible, he realised. Standing up, he walked over to his desk before sitting down and thinking at the keyboard. There was a way that he could have seen her, but she wouldn’t have seen him. To reinforce his belief that he had found the solution, it would also fit in with the fact that he had hardly left the regional HQ in the past couple of weeks.

He had seen her on file.

Opening the filing system on the closed SuTSU network, he trawled through his previous file history for any types of reports that would contain photographs. Now that he was sure, the fact that he was supposed to be meeting the head could wait. Depending on which file he found the woman in, they would be having a completely different type of meeting anyway.

Picture after picture flashed before him as he repeatedly tapped a key to flick to the next profile. After getting to the end of a file, he would open the next one before repeating the same process. Wanted criminals, SuTSU staff under investigation, known foreign spies, every folder continued to turn up a blank. The feeling that he was wrong began to creep in, but he shook it off as he continued. The dread that he was going to have to explain to the head why he had been left waiting was another point that he didn’t want to think about. His fingers tapped faster as he opened the next file and he continued to rifle through it.

And then he stopped.

He had seen it. He had flown past it in his relentless tapping, but he had seen it.

Back, back, back.

He smiled as he sat back in his chair while breathing a sigh of relief. He had backed himself and his faith had paid off. There, on the screen before him, was a picture of the woman in blue that he had seen earlier during the day. Her appearance in the photo was plain. Black hair with a white shirt and a black jacket was matched by disinterested look on her face. He looked for the source of the photo and was surprised to see that it was the photo from a corporate ID card.

From Caecus.

Seeing that she was from the world above, he checked the title of the folder where he had found the file. Seeing the title, his mouth curved into a thin smile. He always thought that he would find something interesting, but this find was more than he had bargained for. This was a case that would, if he could solve it, propel him up the ranks of SuTSU faster than he had ever dreamed of.

Abducted Calldown -Extreme Interest-

Calldown’s were relatively uncommon. As SuTSU had such a large pool of people to pick from, there was rarely a need to source someone talented from another plate. It did happen though, and when it did happen, the person almost never disappeared in transit. It had always been something that SuTSU didn’t chase as the cases were few and far between, and finding information was almost impossible. People adapted to their new environments quickly, and the sheer amount of people on the plate made it easy to hide until your file was buried among a thousand more.

This, however, was recent. He had only remembered the file in the first place because it was newly created. Printing the file and collecting it from the printer on his desk, he smiled as he thought about how this meeting with the head would now be going in a completely different direction. This woman was his ticket upwards, and he was going to find her no matter what it took. He was going to unravel the mystery of talented people disappearing when SuTSU needed them the most, and become a star in the process.

Ormain strode out of his office with the piece of paper, ignoring the report on his coffee table that he was supposed to present.

I’m going to find you, Nina.