(A Spleen x Monkey collab)
[center][b][u]Bastion, The Union[/u][/b][/center]

"Oh shit." Seeker Cordelia couldn't help but mutter as she and her companion, Keeper Fytch, entered the small meeting room. Normally the room wouldn't possess anything interesting. The square shaped, thirty square foot room, was dominated by a large round table. Biege colored walls and carpets were sure to be quickly forgotten once out of sight. There were a few windows that granted the room's occupants a rather unremarkable view of the capital city of the Union. Oh and there was the body of a young woman lying on the table.

One might say it wasn't exactly rare for a Seeker agent to be found dead. It was a dangerous job after all. What was strange was that the body was inside the Capitol building of the Union. The state of the body was also far from what one would consider normal.

"Let's see here" Fytch commented with a casual tone as he approached the table. He pointedly ignored everyone else in the room as he gazed at the body. "This..." He glanced at a photo in his hand before looking back at the body, "definitely looks like Seeker Marissa."

Even in death Marissa was a beauty, the likes of which few others could match. Cordelia found that her beauty was perhaps enhanced further by the serene expression on her now lifeless face. In stark contrast to her unmared face was the grutesque state of her body. Her body rested on the table spread eagle, all of her clothes removed. Someone had taken the time to carefully remove the skin from her breasts, shoulders, and the bottoms of her feet. Her stomach had been torn open, her guts ripped out and left only partially removed from her body. Cordelia struggled to keep a wave of bile from forcefully exiting from her mouth.

"Who... would do something like this?" Cordelia muttered. "Its like someone... staged her."

"Probably some spurned lover." Fytch sounded like he blamed the woman for her own death.

"I don't see any signs of a struggle" Cordelia commented as she looked around. "Perhaps she was killed elsewhere and-"

Fytch made a loud snorting sound. "There's blood in the back corner over there." He gestured toward the corner with his chin before turning his attention back to Marissa's corpse. "Now why don't you be a good girl, stay out of my way, and not blow anything important up."

Cordelia shot Fytch a scowl before heading towards the corner, immediately noticing a small spatching of blood. The stain had an unusual straight edge to it, as if something square, that was no longer present, had been placed on the floor. Noticing another stain, this one definitely not blood, Cordelia knelt down.

Outside the room was a gathering crowd of senators, all formulating rumors as to the cause. Keeping them from the scene were the guards, whos now tarnished reputation of keeping peace was drawing increased scrutiny. They continued to weather the onslaught of insults until a loud voice sounded, burning silence into the minds of the mob.

"Where is Marissa!" a masculine voice sounded, prompting many to turn towards it. From a small set of steps rushed President Gibson.

"Where is she!" he shouted as the crowd made room for him. It seemed in an instant their cries of anger had turned to sorrow as the President forced his way into the room.

His initial reaction to this horrid sight was fury, his demands towards the Seeker and Keeper were unobtainable, but expected from a man in love. "Who did this!" His mind was racing from the sight. His thoughts turned from anger to sorrow as he sat heavily in one of the chairs. 

"We are investigating the scene now" Keeper Fytch sounded entirely unimpressed by the President's display of emotion. Cordelia bowed her head for a moment before rising from her crouch and walking towards him.

"Mister President" The Seeker said as she approached. She positioned herself so she at least partially obscured his view of Marissa's corpse with her body. "You... shouldn't have to see this." Cordelia looked like she was fighting to keep the contents of her stomach inside and was just barely winning the battle. "Would you be willing to answer a few questions for me? Um... maybe someplace else?"

Gibson shot Fytch a dirty look before clinching his fists. "Fine." he said simply before standing up. He closed his eyes hard in an attempt to hide his tears but his face was turning slight shades a red. After taking one last look upon Marissa he made his way out of the room. Guards outside made room for the President and Seeker, pointing towards a small empty room across the hall.

It was a dimly lit room, dominated by two brightly lit vending machines. Gibson gazed about the room, finding memories in every corner which only worsened his state. He bagan to feel light headed so quickly took a seat. "Please." he said breathing audibly, "Please tell me what happened."

Cordelia made a face that was a mix of distress and uncertainty before opening her mouth to respond. "As we had only arrived at the scene moments before you we are still putting the pieces together. It is clear, however, that she was killed in that room. Great effort was put into moving her onto the table and... mutilating her body, presumibly in an effort to stage it. At this time I can not speculate on the reason for either the murder or staging of the body."

Gibson leaned back in his seat before leaning over to bury his face in his hands. "She didn't have any enemies I knew of." He paused, taking a breath. "I don't know what to do." he said softly.

"I suspect the intent behind her murder was less to end her and more to send a message to someone else." Cordelia said after a moment. "Despite the state of the body I am fairly confident that she had passed away before her body had been cut. I'm quite certain, in fact, that a test will show she was either drugged or poisoned. I... found a stain on the floor that might have been made by wine. That might be how the drugs or poison was delivered."

"Ah yes," Fytch's voice dripped with sarcasm as he entered the room, "because you have so much experience investigating murders that you can deduce that from thirty seconds of observation."

Cordelia was only partially sucessful in not scowling at the Keeper. "Did you find any evidence that she fought back? Any skin under her nails or bruises on her wrists? Any trauma that would suggest how she died?" Fytch simply shrugged. "See? She must have been poisoned. And it was probably by someone she knew."

"You Seekers always believe that you can't lose a fight." Fytch stated. "She probably got careless and allowed someone to sneak up behind her. It matters not." He held his hand up, revealing the journal and data storage device it held. "I found these placed on top of her rather neatly folded clothing. Whoever murdered her wanted to make it clear that he - or she - has no beef with our organization."

"And?" Cordelia prompted after a moment.

"And so my role here is done. This was not an attack on our organization and the perpatrator did not destroy or steal any information that Seeker Marissa had gathered."

Gibson looked up to Fytch, "How can you be sure?!" he said before pointing at the storage device, "How do you know there isn't information pertinent to this attrocity in there?"

"We'll go over all of this" Fytch patted the device with his other hand "when we put it into our library. If I'm proven wrong we'll reopen the case. Until then I'm closing it."

"We need to find out who did this?" Cordelia said.

"Well you are free to do so Seeker." Fytch said. "That [i]is[/i] your job after all. I won't stop you. Know if you'll excuse me I have more important matters to see to." He slipped back out the door before either Cordelia or the President could respond.

"Go get kicked by a horse and die" Cordelia muttered just loud enough for the president to hear.

"So that's it then? How can he just abandon his-" Gibson bit his lip and shook his head, "What can we do from here. I loved her and who ever did this will pay." 

"We need to find out who did this and why." Cordelia answered. She bit the inside of her cheek as she considered her options. "Ok, let's see if there was anything unusual in her reports." Cordelia said as she pulled out her comlink, switching it on to speaker mode as she set it down on the table.

"Keeper Walker here, what can I help you with Cordelia?" Came a moment later.

"I was hoping you could look into some of Seeker Marissa's reports for me. Does anything seem... odd to you?"

There was a long pause before Keeper Walker answered "I'd love to help you, but those records have been sealed for twenty years as per her agreement with President Gibson."

Gibson sighed before looking towards the comlink, "I could authorize unsealing this." He said aloud, as if weighing his options. A quick moment passed, "Alright, If I can amend that agreement, I'd like to have those opened if it will help me get justice."

"Is that President Gibson" Keeper Walker asked after a moment.

"It is" Cordelia answered.

"Shit. Sorry for your lose Mister President. I'll do what I can to help. Wait one." A few moments later Walker spoke up again. "Aaaalright. There's nothing here that is jumping out at me or has been flagged in any way. That doesn't mean there isn't anything pertinent here though. Shit. Seeker Marissa was meticulous in her record keeping. Almost as much as her sister." That last part came out half mumbled. "I'll go over her reports with a fine tooth comb, but it'll definitely take me a while."

"Copy that, can you focus on the last week or so?" Cordelia asked.

"Anything for the President. Anything else I can help you with?" Cordelia opened her mouth to answer, but shifted her gaze to Gibson before speaking.

"I do appreciate everything that the Librarios is doing to solve this situation. However, I will not lie and state that I am leaving the inquiry entirely up to the Atheneum. I would understand this to be purely an internal matter on your behalf under normal circumstances but we cannot rule out the possibility that this may only be a prelude to more devious actions, such as attacking either of our sovereign governments directly." Gibson replied calmly.

He stood up and leaned towards the comlink, "Please inform Librarium Rylan Cameron that my investigation will not involve probing into your internal workings and people, as I believe that is solely your responsibility. And by saying that, I would very much appreciate being afforded that same liberty." 

Gibson leaned back and crossed his arms and shifted his gaze to Seeker Cordelia, "I was not aware Marissa had a sister. She failed to mention that fact."

"Maybe they didn't get along" Cordelia speculated with a shrug. "Walker, what can you tell me about this sister?"

"Well... Her name is Lyssa. She's Marissa's older twin sister. She's currently serving Librarios as an ARC commando." Cordelia's brows shot up at that last part.

"Interesting. Is there anything in her record about her relationship with Marissa. Also.... where is she now?"

"Interesting, Is there anything in her record about being available?" a gruff voice sounded from outside the room. Gibson watched as a figure walked casually into the room. He recieved a cross look from the President.

"Now is not the time for games, Oscar."

The gruff man made his way behind Cordelia in an attempt to examine her figure before looking to Gibson. "I do not believe we have met." Oscar said smoothly before looking back to Cordelia. "I am Oscar West of the Union NIS."

'"Seeker Cordelia of Bastion Atheneum" Cordelia said with a curt nod.

"Before anyone asks" Walker said, "If you saw Marissa when she was alive you probably have a good idea of what Lyssa looks like."

"Twins?" Cordelia asked, her brows shooting up for the second time.

"Identical twins." Walker specified. "I've met her a few times actually. I can personally confirm that the two women where almost identical in appearance, at least as of three years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if Lyssa has gotten a few scars or changed her hairstyle since then." He almost sounded wistful.

Oscar shook his head. "Guess she is off the table. I wasn't a big fan of Marissa. No offense."

Gibson wasn't amused whatsoever, "There is a time and place for those sentiments." Gibson furrowed his brow, "This is not the time and place for that."

"Sorry boss." Oscar replied.

"Your job is to assist with this investigation. I need your focus. What do you make of this." Gibson replied, looking at him directly.

"Well. I'm fairly certain this isn't political, at least in the traditional sense. It's plausible that there's some relation to her heritage, being the daughter of the previous Librarium." He gazed about the room. "And it's a sick fuck for sure."

"I believe looking in to this 'Lyssa' will yield some information." Gibson said Walker. "Is she accessable?"

"Give me a moment to look it up." Walker answered.

"What can you tell me about her relationship with Marissa?" Coredelia asked. "Given that Marissa has never even spoken about her to the President..."

"You can't possibly think she was behind this?!" Walker sounded legimitately distressed at the thought.

"I'm grasping at straws here, I know." Cordelia said. "But she's an ARC commando. If anyone could have snuck into this building, killed Marissa without a struggle, and escaped with no one being the wiser it would have been her."

"Eh... well I can tell you that it probably wasn't Lyssa." Walker said. "Her last known position has her out in the middle of the desert about three days' drive from here."

"And it's not like the bo-. Marissa had been in that room for days. There is sessions in these rooms nearly every day." Oscar said, further reassuring Lyssa's innocence.

"Well that's odd" Walker seemed to mumble to himself.

"What?!" Cordelia demanded.

"Ah... well Lyssa hasn't reported in for over a week. As I mentioned before, she's incredibly meticulous. I don't think she's missed a single scheduled report in over three years." There was a moment's pause before walker corrected himself "Actually she has never missed a report, until now."

"That... is concerning." Cordelia said with a frown. She turned her attention to Oscar, interested in how he'd assess that bit of info.

"I'll tell you, this sure does feel like a family affair. Strange that one sister suddenly goes missing and then Marissa gets murdered shortly thereafter." He smiled, "Only one way to solve this. Cordelia and I goes in a dark room and examines the evidence together." He said with a toothy grin.

Gibson rose his hand slightly to pause the conversation. "Alright, I am inclined to agree with Oscar on this one. It does seem like a potential family affair. Is Marissa's father still alive?"

"He passed away five years ago" Cordelia said. "Their mother passed away.... ten years ago I think."

"Seventeen years ago" Walker corrected. "No other living relatives that I'm aware of."

"Guess that narrows our options. What do ya'll think. Should we go hunting for some of the Librarios most illusive prey?" Oscar said.

"We need to find Lyssa" Cordelia agreed. "Either she was involved with Marissa's murder or she'll be in need of our assistence."

Gibson nodded, "Then that is the mission. I am curious though, Did the sisters keep contact the entire time? Marissa and I have been romantically involved for nearly three years and not once did she mention Lyssa nor arouse suspicion by leaving in the middle of the night or what not. I am not implying that she was kept on a leash, but Marissa was usually straight forward."

"Its hard to say" Walker admitted. "They seemed to have some minor correspondence over the past few years, but the amount shown on our records for the past three years can be counted on one hand. Not that that doesn't mean they didn't communicate more. Something of particular interest, however, is that apparently Marissa tried to send a message to Lyssa six days ago, but there is no sign that Lyssa recieved the message. And before you ask, no I can not tell you what the message was about."

"Because you don't know or...?" Cordelia began.

"Its not in our records." Walker stated firmly.

"It's Wheeler right? So what was your ARC commando doing in the middle of the desert anyway?" Oscar asked.

"Its Walker" Walker snapped. "And I honestly shouldn't have even told you she was in the desert. I'm getting hit with 'Top Secret' warnings just for pulling her file up."

"I need to know where she is exactly" Cordelia said. "Come on. You owe me."

Gibson furthered the plea, "Mr Walker, I implore you. I need justice for Marissa. If there is anything more you can do."

Walker let out a long sigh before saying "Look, I'll ping your comlink with where Lyssa is supposed to be. But you owe me Cordelia. Like you really owe me."

"What is she doing out there?" Cordelia pressed.

"I can't say." Was all Walker responded with.

"Alright wheels, Thank you for the info." Oscar said clearly on purpose. "I think it's time we got a move on. The longer we wait, the further she could get from the location wheels didn't give us." He paused and looked to Cordelia, "You know, I'd consider deploying a couple fighters for routine patrol. Maybe get a few airial pictures of the area. And with how common our flights are I'm sure she wouldn't think nothing of it." 

"I'm glad you Unioners love your planes." Cordelia answered with a smile.

"Cordelia" Walker said. "Watch your back. Whatever Lyssa is... or was... doing in the desert must have been important. Her records were marked top secret by the very top."

"The Librarium?" Cordelia half asked.

"Yup. Try not to get yourself killed. Ok? Walker out."

Before the two could leave the room, President Gibson was issuing the order for a flight to take high altitude images of the area pinged. "By the time you reach Reiters army base, pictures will be available." 

"That is the base north of town." Oscar said to Cordelia. 

"And you two be careful. The stakes are high, I would expect nothing but the best from each of you." Gibson said before turning away from the two, giving back in to his sorrows.