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Robert wasn't exactly the most complex buck out there; sure, he was a noble but that didn't mean that much. Sure, he is a member of a rich household but in the end that didn't really separate him from him being a plain mortal. While it is true that his father made fortune of investing in magical studies and research and made large fortune out of it, all that wealth felt unnecessary for Robert Greaves. He had it all, a luxurious apartment and even a large mansion plus an estate he inherited from his father and top of that an older brother who supported him. Right now, he needed some distraction from what happened in his office not too long ago. That date with Liam proven to be just enough of a distraction to forget that…visitor. That is the reason why he needed that distraction, he felt somehow better with Teal by his side then again, they went through together a lot. Robert sometimes felt that they both went through too much. Plenty of close cases and calls, that cat was a good anchor for him.

After the said date he went to bed and woke up in the morning and did his regular morning ritual but as he was dressing up for his job in that office, he got a phone call. Robert was in a mood and wanted to drink some liquor but then he realized that he has to drive and decided to reach for some exotic sirups instead from the cabinet, he went for the elderberry one. But as he reached for the bottle a phone on his ornate desk started to ring. Buck with annoyed grunt went to the desk to answer the call.

He picked up the phone and said the usual hello and the rest, on the other side of the call was an inspector and he was calling from his vehicle and started to explain the situation. As the call went on and on, Greaves´s expression changed from neutral to confused and once the caller finished his explanation of the situation on the other end the only thing that came to Robert´s mind to ask the caller: “On the roof?"

Robert got into his car and drove off towards the “crime scene", on his way he was trying to piece it all together. The place, the “suspect" and just the general…scene of the crime. Once he got there, he saw police cars, yellow tape and, what really concerned him, a knight unit. Now this was serious. The Knight units were equipped with a standard issue exo-skeletal armour and top of the class armaments. They are usually called at high alert levels, way past some armed robbery or thievery, mainly called in case of terrorists and well…worse. Now Robert was really concerned. He parked his car and got out, he showed his badge to the officer guarding the perimeter and they let him through. Regular procedure for…unregular incident. Once he ducked under and got passed underneath the tape one of the officers instructed him to report himself to the badger. Robert figured that he was the one making the calls and head of this bizarre operation. He searched and found an unlikely duo, a grey rat of a Police Officer and a badger dressed in an inverse cloak and in a bowler hat. Robert introduced himself: “Robert Greaves, P. I. of Magical charged Incidents and Crimes." Badger tipped his hat: “Bonjour, it's nice to meet you. I am Constable Henry LeMat and this is" he gestured towards the rat lady: “Officer Lara Flores." Rat nodded and raised her hand in greeting.

There was a bit of a contrast between these two. The badger was dressed more traditionally, with that inverse cloak like cape and pinstriped vest, one of those fancy buttoned up long-sleeved shirts suit, and the typical rest fit for a upper class, with a golden chain being linked to one of the brass buttons and leading into one of the breast pockets, possibly connected to a pocket watch. He also spoke with a Franco accent, then again he was LeMat the brother of the “Red Stache" and they grew in different nations apart of each other so that was expected. But Lara was more outfitted for combat than for typical police work. Wearing a set of military pants, leotard and a typical top with a Kevlar vest and rig. Stun-stick baton, in a holster a standard issue police sidearm and with a handheld radio. It looked like Rat was through these “rodeos" before, not her first not her last. She was probably expecting trouble with the “criminal".

The said “criminal" was reported on the top of this building, right on its helipad. To make sure Greaves asked: “So can you two describe me the situation again, please?" “Well," said the officer: “here's the short version." Her voice was husky, clear signs of shouting orders and yelling down her radio for a big chunk of her career but there was also a hint of irritation in it. “We have been for like an hour and a half just watching him, a stand-off of sort if you will. Nobody has enough guts to go to him and talk to him."

Greaves looked now at the inspector LeMat and waited for details and he told him: “To be absolutely blunt Greaves, we have suspicions that he might be a shaman. A magicien, who is currently trapped in some kind of trance and The Police Department sees this situation as a “ticking bomb" you see." With that Roberth had enough of to fill in the blanks: “So you called upon me to try to diffuse the situation due to my expertise." Said the buck, both of the officer and inspector nodded. “Very well, show me the culprit." Robert said. Officer Flores replied: “Through here. Follow me." Greaves followed her with LeMat behind him. On their way Robert noticed an opened fenced off gate with a sign saying: “Unauthorized Personnel Keep Out" with a chain and padlock ripped-apart. Robert wasn't aware that the he was dealing with a breaking and entering plus trespassing, he started to trying to figure out why would a magic user do this. Possibly a higher vantage point in order to syphon more energy?

They went up the fire escape stairs the culprit used, retracing their footsteps, and made it to the roof which was fenced off and served more of as a helipad. An officer, a canine terrier, was leaning with his back against an open gate with a bolt styled lock ripped off. “Ah, ma´am" terrier straighten himself and saluted Flores: “the perpetrator has not moved from his location and continues to…" he paused and turned his gaze towards the helipad and then back to the group: “...to sway still." Officer Lara Flores thanked the officer and dismissed him from his post for the time being. Now the trio was looking at the culprit. They, the culprit, were wearing a pink poncho with a hood, the hood was over their head and it was hard to determine their identity, and what seemed to be stuck in some trance. Officer and the Inspector looked at Greaves, LeMat asked him: “What do you determine from…that individual?"

Robert decided to squat and scratch his own chin, he was trying to piece it together. From the clothing alone it seemed that the suspect might be a shaman or a seer but then the contradicting lack of runes or runic like markings on his clothes and around the area were giveaway that it might not be a shaman at all, or any mage to be exact. Buck stood up and turned towards his colleagues and proclaimed: “I think we are dealing with a false flag here." Flores asked: “Are you certain, sir?" Robert shook his head: “Not really, but it all lines up so far." Greaves wasn't exactly sure, yes while the likeness of the pink clad person not being a mage is low the danger, but still a chance of them faking it or even masking it are still possible. Due to the lack of tools necessary for confirmation Robert Greaves decided for a risqué action.

The buck asked the officer: “Officer Flores, do you have any experience with magi?" She proceeded to scratch back of her own head: “Well, recently I drop-kicked one to the ground that was doing magical arts without a license in pursuit and then there was one which I tackled to the ground because he was in a state of panic. Managed to calm him down." Rat then turned her head toward the pinkie: “I take it you want me to tackle him too?" Tackling a mage was usual procedure to make sure mage isn't going to miscast a spell which could lead to destruction mostly, especially the ones who still are getting hang of magical arts.

Robert raised his hand and said: “Not yet, I came up with a bit of a plan." He then turned towards both of them, “Okay listen up, Sir LeMat I would like you to call that Junior Knight up here. If worst comes to worst he can be of use. Now you Lara, if the what we suspect to be a magi start to panic or be aggressive I will give you a signal to intervene otherwise if all is safe, I will give a signal to stand down and I will deal with the culprit myself. Understood?" Both Lara and Henry nodded, LeMat ran down stairs to get the Junior Knight meanwhile Lara got ready to apprehend the magi if something goes wrong and with that Robert pulled out is percussion pistol. While outdate it boasted a wide variety of specialized ammunition, he decided to load it with stun rounds as planned and started to carefully and slowly towards the culprit.

In that time, he was looking for some signs of magic, like smell. Magic smelled different depending on what lore or type being used, burnt salt or foul-like were common and other types but for now he smelled…nothing. Not a pinch. Once he got close to the “magi" within arm's reach he quickly examined the person more closely. Besides the pink poncho with a hood, it wore typical jeans and was bare foot. The culprit continued to sway from side to side, again it looked like they were trapped in some sort of trance and was staring far off to distance, like it was looking at something that wasn't there. Greaves tried to match where the magi was looking, but the only thing he saw was reflection of himself and the culprit from the skyscraper across the street. Buck then turned his head back to the clad figure and examined it again, it felt docile and if worst would come at best few bruises wouldn't be that life threatening. He decided to reach out towards the figure, grab their shoulder and shook it.

The magi took a deep breath, like if he was being suffocated and started to franticly look around. “Where am I? What is this place?": the magi took of their hood; it was a wolf. His was voice deep and yet still young sounding, fit for a radio host. Wolf locked his eyes with Robert´s and asked: “Who are you?" Robert replied with: “A detective, you are safe now." Greaves then gestured towards Lara to stand down, this one definitely not a mage then, just someone…lost? “My name is Sir Robert Greaves; I am a Detective specialized in all things magic. Are you a mage?" The wolf shook his head: “No, I do not possess any magical abilities." “Very well," said Robert: “I take it since you were in some form of a trance, I take it you don't remember what happened?" The wolf opened his mouth agape getting ready to answer and slowly blinked, he was trying to find pieces to string together but ultimately: “No sir, I can't recall anything. The furthest I can remember I fell asleep and then I-I- “

“Stop, stop." The buck calmed the wolf down, “Let's start over, you know my name but who are you and what is your occupation sir?" Greaves need to get to a bottom of this, too much ordinance was called here to apprehend was could have been a simple case of a sleep-waking. There must be more to this. Robert pulled a notebook from his coat and started to write things down, the wolf´s name is Lucas Moon. He is a graphic designer in marketing for small business, the pink poncho that he was wearing is not his own, it's his girlfriend's. “But why the symbols?" asked Robert. “Oh, these?" answered Moon. “Yeah, my dear she is into…spiritual things. Like tarot cards, dream catchers and cleansing auras. I guess you could call her a medium, oracle or a fortune teller. Even a querent, maybe." “I see.": nodded Greaves, he made some notes but then he noticed something else about him, the limbs. Greaves took a quick look at Lucas´s right arm and left leg. There was a certain “shine" to them. A question came to him to ask the wolf and decided to do so: “Tell me mister Moon, are you a cyborg?" Wolf answered with a short “Huh?" and Robert pointed at the shiny limbs with his pen. “Oh, yes" started Lucas: “allow me to explain."

Lucas explained to Greaves why he has cybernetics, to make the long story short he was born with faulty limbs. Once he reached the age of six years, he got his first cybernetics installed which was an arm and a leg alongside a chip in his head that helped with control of the said limb. “I take it you must have been chipped too in order for them to receive the signals. “: said the buck and pointed at his own head. “Yes," answered Moon “you could say, the chip, functions like a secondary brain in order for those limbs to move. Even though some models don't need that anymore." “Like the synthetic ones?" asked Greaves, Lucas nodded. Robert was referring to synthetic material that was being developed, few breakthroughs were made yes but it still had a long way to go. It would essentially replace these cybernetics like Lucas here had, instead of metal it would be more flesh like alongside not needing the additional chip it would have artificial nerves and veins that would work together with the original body. Sure, it would be false flesh but still it would be a step up from the current cybernetic models, old and newer.

But now it was time for the big question: “Why are you here?" asked the buck, wolf answered: “I honestly have no idea, I was following someone and thought I was dreaming…" Robert interrupted him: “Okay, wait a minute, when were you before you started “to dream"?" Wolf took a deep breath and begun to recollect: “Okay, so I recently finished moving and had a ton of stuff to unpack. After a while I was tired and it was almost midnight and then well…" Lucas paused but Robert encouraged to continue:" …I went to sleep and then this figure appeared in my dream, the weird thing is I remember it clearly. Like I recall everything had this off colour like only blue and darker shade like some kind of filter. Anyway, this figure begged me to follow him, he sounded like radio static most of the time like talking through one of those old ham radios with a weakening signal. Cutting out and in. So, I followed him, he kept on phasing through walls and doors like a ghost and the places I followed him took place like…in a void or some form of ether. The locations were small island like of my room, the street and so on and so on. I then stumbled upon a like a locked gates with a padlock and since it seemed so urgent I just ripped it off and followed the figure. Once he stopped, I felt like a gust of wind and I could finally fully understand him." “What did he told you?" asked Robert. “The Reaping, is close. Heed my warning. Thats all he said.": said wolf. Robert slowly blinked, he was processing what he heard and wrote down some of details that bearded major significance. “Could you describe him to me please? The “ghost" I mean." Asked buck. Lucas nodded: “Definitely some vulpine, a red furred fox. He wore some kind of simple cloth like the saints do and priests and…he had his back strapped to some kind of sphere and sounded overall a lot…digitally. Like partially a machine."

Robert was captivated and scared, while it may sound like a standard case of having a vision or a visitor case, this…felt off. Like Lucas here didn't have any signs of being a medium. No auras or a special afterglow in his eyes, none of that. No signs, period. But then Greaves started to get a hunch. Cybernetics. Chip in a brain. Digitally. “Have you downloaded anything iffy lately, that could pose as…malicious?" asked Robert. Wolf was a bit stunned by that question: “What, no! I update my cybernetic software at the hospital as described. I don't do all that illegal software nonsense, I read what all it can do and I don't want to end up on an operation theatre." “I see.": answered Robert, he had a hypothesis in the making but it wouldn't hurt to ask. The “interview" ended in Robert telling the wolf what next is happen to him now, besides maybe paying a small fine or maybe a month of a public service, it really depends on what he is gonna be charged with, probably with nothing much severe to impact his life.

He returned to the inspector and the officer waiting for him. Inspector then sent The Junior Knight to take care of the wolf, just to comfort him further and tell him what's going to happen to him. Probably going to go to the local precinct and be cross-examined and so forth. “So, what do we know about our not-magi, monami?" asked inspector LeMat. Greaves put his hands on his own hips, took a glance at the wolf in poncho and then back at the inspector and then on his own hoofs and sighed. He looked up at inspector and said: “Well, here´s my sewn together theory. We are looking at a protentional hack victim…maybe." Robert started to share notes he wrote down and stated that why it seems like a hack attack is that the wolf is chipped and it seems that he was sent a message from some hacker who used a saint looking avatar. Either way he looked at Officer Flowers and asked: “Do your people have an expert in these mechanics or technological cases? I am not an expert in this field." Flores did a combination of a shrug and a nod: “Yeah someone like that we do have, Officer Onyx was recently transferred to us from Cybercrimes Division. Little bit of a green-horn but he could definitely do scan of the pinkie." Greaves nodded: “Very well, I suppose my work here is done." He then beckoned the badger to come to him and said: “Here are the notes I have written down while talking to the wolf." He tore the pages from his notebook and handed them over to Henry. “You already have ways to contact in case you need a testimony in the court and so on.": said Rober. LeMat nodded: “Merci, Monami. I will see you later." Greaves then turned to Officer Flowers: “I do hope you can handle things from here, officer." Lara replied with a smirk and a short salute: “You bet, sir." Rober then bid them both farewell, went down the fire-exit stairs and got into his car and drove off.

However, on his way to his office he started to think. Yesterday he had that encounter with that ghost, then his assistant Liam Teal had a vision with that unidentified person with familiars plus having feeling that he was being watched and now this. A case of an individual with cybernetics seeing a ghost or what he assumed was a simple hack or a virus attack. Robert shook his head, there was no way these things would be connect. It would be like blaming your car breaking down just because your cousin who lives few countries away got married. It's just too farfetched and nonsensical. Did the “uninvited guest" tried to warn him about something? Then, why did he reach for Robert´s antlers? What is the significance of Liam´s vision? Why was that wolf on top of a building? Looking for a signal? Greaves took a deep breath and exhaled. Too many question and no answers. He hoped it was probably nothing. Yes, just nothing.