Titanis stopped by the station to grab some more ammo. Sincan just assumed that he was paranoid after what had happened, so he let him. Okshender landed beside Sincan with a thud and stood there, waiting with him in front of the station. Soon, a woman appeared from the streets, one Sincan faintly remembered being from the party. She looked frightened, with red eyes that seemed dry.

She grabbed him by the hands and held them up. “Please, pleasepleaseplease, Mr. Tolkin. Please get my d-daughter back…” she begged him. Sincan felt it weigh down on him. He could see her eyes begin to water again. He clutched her hand in his and replied.

“I swear on the goddess’ name, I will.”

“I-I miss her so much. I should’ve been a better mother,” she muttered. Sincan felt his chest tighten as he led the woman inside to be attended to by an officer. He walked next to Okshender and looked up at him. “Why didn’t you say anything, Ok?” he asked.

“It was not my place to, young Sincan.” A pat on his shoulders urged him to look behind at Titanis, who had just come out. “Honourable quality you got there, Sincan,” he said and made his way to his vehicle once more. Sincan followed and Okshender flew into the sky.

Night had fallen over the city, so the warehouse district was empty. Most people’s workday would be over by now, and they would be heading into town to enjoy themselves a little. Titanis’ headlights shined on the road, illuminating the dreary and quite atmosphere that was here. Sincan’s eyes were better than most, so he searched around the vehicle as they got out of it. Titanis had brought out a flashlight but hadn’t turned it on yet.

A distant sound alerted them both, like someone dropping something heavy. Titanis put his flashlight away and gestured for Sincan to get closer to him. They shuffled next to the wall, getting closer and closer to the commotion. The headlights of a truck came into view, showing a group of men picking up crates and putting them in the back of it.

“Gah, these are damn heavy,” one of them said.

“Just haul it in there.”

“Are you sure we can even carry this stuff in the trucks?”

“Yes, now heave!” another ordered.

Titanis looked up at the warehouse number. 358. He pulled out his pistol, gesturing for Sincan to follow him. They both popped out of the alley, startling the men and forcing them to drop the crate in their hands. It cracked open on one side, revealing glittering jewelry strewn on the ground.

“Gentlemen,” said Titanis.

“Officer,” replied a hauler.

“I hope you understand this is private property?” Titanis asked them.

“We do, officer. We’ve got the proper papers here and everything. Come and have a look.”

“Private property, owned by a criminal,” Sincan added.

“Blot my soul,” the man groaned as he pulled out a gun. The fight began instantly, with Titanis firing the first shot to distract them. Sincan ducked back into the covers and cursed his lack of weaponry. Okshender really was making him lazier.

Titanis had taken cover behind another truck, trying to get a shot in. Sincan saw that he was being pressured by fire and decided to gather a ball of flame in his hand. He threw it in the middle of the group of haulers, separating them and giving Titanis the time to take a few shots at them. They fell screaming as Sincan ran out from his spot.

He hoped that his superior agility would help him in evading their bullets. He ran into the middle of them, sweeping his legs to catch some of them off guard. A man pointed his pistol at him from the left, so he grabbed his hand and slammed his face into the wall. Sincan picked up the pistol itself and threw it at another man who was getting up. That gave Titanis the opportunity to shoot him in the side of the chest, felling him.

Sincan saw two of the men try to start a truck. If Alfis finds out about this, it’s going to get more complicated. Sincan ran away, avoiding most of the fire and jumping onto the truck. He clutched the side of it as it started speeding down the harbor. Sincan moved to the front of the door to find a barrel pointed right at his face. He knocked it away in time for the bullet to fire off harmlessly, but the sound still rang in his ears.

Sincan grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it all the way to one side, turning the truck abruptly and smashing the front of the vehicle into the wall of another warehouse. Sincan hit the wall as well, feeling a few bones crack as he fell onto the ground groaning. One of the men got out, but Sincan gathered some fire once more and threw it at the man. The fire hit him and knocked him to the ground. Sincan made sure that he was down and then sighed. The pain in his sides was burning, but he grit his teeth and tried to get back to Titanis as fast as he could.

Returning to the scene, he found Titanis wrapping his arm. “I took a bullet. You?”

“Just a few ribs cracked.”

“Good. Called the station, they’ll be here to take whoever’s left back for interrogation. You and me are going to check the rest of the crates.”

Titanis let his arm rest at his sides. He went into the warehouse to find stacks of boxes piled up high. He went near one of them and gestured for Sincan to open it up. Inside was more jewelry. Titanis held it up next to himself and observed it.

Sincan noticed something odd about a certain necklace that he found in the box. He picked it up and showed it to Titanis. “This,” he said, “I’ve seen this one before. One of the women in the party was wearing it.”

“Well, that can’t be right,” Titanis said.

“Why?” Sincan asked. Titanis held up another necklace, completely identical to the one Sincan had held up. Sincan scavenged through the box and found many more necklaces of the same variety. All of them looking exactly the same as the one Sincan had first shown.

“How did they get this? How did they get any of this?” Sincan asked. Before he could think of an answer, Okshender arrived on the scene, landing outside. I think I may be able to answer that. Titanis was startled to hear the voice in his head.

“Gah, don’t do that,” Titanis said angrily. My apologies. I do however know of a certain affinity, lost to time, that has abilities similar to this.

“Great, another ancient power,” Sincan scoffed. You have to understand, young Sincan. These powers are only lost because of greed. But that is a matter for another time. The Physical Shifting affinity, or PS, was known to be able to interchange any material.

“Are you saying Alfis somehow got hold of that kind of Wheel?” Titanis inquired.

My memory isn’t the best with this field of knowledge, officer. I left those tasks to my scholars, so I may very well be mistaken on the nature of the power itself. But yes, I believe young Alfis is harbouring either a Wheel, or a fablade with that power.

“Damn. We’ll deal with that later. First of all,” he stared out over the boxes, “we need to make sure these things are confiscated properly.” Titanis went outside to wait for the police cars to arrive, but stopped in his path. “Thanks… Okshender,” he said finally.

****

Back at the station, several of the haulers had been locked up for attempted murder. Sincan and Titanis stood outside the interrogation room of one of the men, trying to decide how best to get a confession out of him.

Sincan had already thought up his own idea on how to do it, but had no time to tell Titanis of it. The man was once again bombarded with calls after the recovery of all that jewelry. The people, it seemed, wanted a bit of interest along with their returned goods, and were pressuring Titanis into handing it over.

“Yes, of course, but after the investigation. We still need it as evidence- No I know it’s a lot, but we can’t just hand it over, you need to understand,” he continued.

Sincan was beginning to grow annoyed with the attitude they showed towards the police chief, but the current matter was of more importance. He nudged at Titanis and pointed towards the door to the inmate, to which Titanis sighed and nodded.

“We’ll talk about this later, goodbye.” They both barged into the room at the same time, a glare on Titanis’ face while a relaxed look was on Sincan’s. “I’ve had it up to here with you and your little group, Markin. I’m plenty annoyed today so just tell me where the children are being kept and I’ll let you get a lighter sentence.”

The man in the chair didn’t budge. His hard eyes just stared at Titanis. “A reduced sentence isn’t enough to sway me, copper. Because I know that what I’m doing is right. Can’t say that for you, can I?”

Titanis held the man up by his collar, but all he did in return was smile. “I know you’re a good man, Titanis. Can’t you see what they’ve done to Leostita? The pain they’ve caused our people, all for the sake of luxury?”

He looked towards Sincan. “Him? He wouldn’t understand. He’s in his own world, with his giant Gear, having fun. You, though, you know exactly what we’ve been through.”

“You’re right, I do. I choose to do what’s right by the law besides it all, Markin. Because I’m a cop,” he set the man down.

Sincan walked up to him next. “Titanis, you okay if I try my own method?” he asked him.

“Sure, whatever you can do to make him crack. Just don’t hurt him,” Titanis replied.

“Oh, I won’t.”

Later that day, Okshender could be seen flying in the sky, with a scared and screaming homlin man tied to him. Sincan made sure that the ride was as comfortable as possible, making Okshender do dives out of the sky until Markin’s voice ran haggard.

He said he’s ready to tell us, young Sincan.

“Thanks, Okshender,” Sincan said from inside the cockpit. They landed back on the police station softly as to not hurt Markin. As soon as they untied the man, he ran into Titanis’ arms and started confessing the location where they were held.

Titanis noted it down as fast as he could and he and Sincan headed out once more. A few groans were had at Titanis leaving his duties once more to go be a detective, but they weren’t truly angry, as he was one of the best detectives they had in the entire city.