Another Case

It took a few weeks for Beta to get back to me. Christmas passed, and New Years. Kyle drove up here a few times to visit, and I had some phone conversations with Daniel. He's still looking into High Blood activities. I've been trying to get as much work done on Keursio's case as I could. I've revisited the club, asking questions about Isiore and Dawson. I got a few of what I thought were leads, but they all turned up cold. Although, there was one I feel I should talk about a bit.
Someone informed me of a man in a longcoat who had been seen in the city, a few miles away from the club. I drove down to where they said he had been to investigate. I found myself at a run down apartment complex. I stayed in my car and kept an eye on it for a while. After a while, I saw the man exiting one of the buildings and taking off down an alleyway. It wasn't Dawson. I'm not sure who it was exactly, but the sight of him made me uneasy.
It was a couple days ago that Beta finally showed up at my door. He was accompanied by the Fury. They were both armed. Beta had he signature greatsword strapped across his back, and the Fury had no less than a half dozen long, thin swords in a quiver over one shoulder.
“Are you alone?” Beta asked.
“Hideaki's upstairs,” I replied.
“The Samurai,” Beta muttered. “Never liked that guy. Let's talk elsewhere.”
“Fine by me,” I replied.
We started walking. We had gone a few blocks away by the time he said anything.
“You're looking for Isiore,” he said. “I have information, but if you want it, you'll need to help me with something.”
“And what would that be?” I asked.
“Do you know who Drake Thorne is?” he asked.
“Your adopted son,” I answered. “His parents were killed by the Archangel.”
“Yes,” Beta said. “I need you to find him for me.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“He's gone missing,” Beta replied.
“And the Archive can't find him?” I asked. “I thought you guys were good at-”
“The Archive have decided that this is a low priority matter!” he snapped. “I need outside help for this...”
He seemed... I dunno, sad? Disappointed? Like his faith was being tested? All of the above? I don't know for sure...
“Do you have any leads?” I asked.
“Two,” he said.
He handed me something. It was a few links from a broken chain. Each link was about half a centimeter long and three millimeters wide, and appeared to be made of gold. Upon closer examination, there appeared to be flecks of red mixed with the gold.
“And this,” he said, handing me a few pieces of paper.
They each had some odd lines drawn on them, but I couldn't gather much from that. The paper was pretty thin, so if you held it up to the light, you could practically see through it.
“These were scattered across Drake's desk,” Beta said.
“It's not much to go on,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “But it's all I have right now.”
“I can't promise you much,” I said. “I'll need more information.”
“I'll let you know if any comes up,” Beta said.
I folded up the papers and the chain and put them in my pocket.
“So what about Isiore?” I asked.
“Before her disappearance, she had a few encounters with various individuals the Archive has no information on,” Beta said. “But we do know of William Dawson and Angelo Nox.”
“Dawson's partner?” I asked.
“Yes,” Beta said. “The other people Isiore has met with have seemingly no connection to them, but we know Dawson and Nox are working together. They've been manufacturing weaponry.”
“The super suit?” I asked.
“Yes,” Beta confirmed. “Both of them wear them. Not only that, but the appear to have a backer. A third party who's been financing their R&D. We know that Isiore went missing shortly after her last encounter with Dawson.”
“So you think Dawson's responsible?” I asked.
“Likely, but there's one piece of evidence that makes it unclear,” he said.
“And that would be?” I asked.
He handed me a flier. I looked it over a bit. It wasn't long.
There is nothing wrong. We are all as safe as we can be. The darkness that haunts us is simply a figment of our imagination. An illusion of fear. We live in the best of all possible worlds.
“What is this?” I asked.
“The Panopticon,” Beta replied. “They may be behind all of this.”
“Well, where can I find them?” I asked.
Beta handed me a piece of paper with a couple addresses on them. One was for the Panopticon, the other was for Dawson and Nox.
“I'd suggest investigating the easy one first,” Beta said. “The Panopticon is in know way safe, but you'd be better off with them then Nox.”
“Why?” I asked. “Who is this Angelo Nox guy?”
“It's sort of a long story,” Beta said. “His true name is Angelo Nox, but he was formerly known as the Ace Of Spades.”
“What?” I said. I felt a lump rise in my throat.
“He served that role after the Ace Of Spades that Marshall Smith killed, and before Alphonse Saltown took up the role,” Beta said.
The Game Master servants were called the Deck Of 54. Within the Deck, the Spades served as soldiers. And the Ace was the best of all of them. I've never seen Alphonse in action before, but I know that he is a force to be reckoned with, able to hold his own against other Aces, even while disabled. I don't know what an Ace is capable of at full health, but I did know that I didn't wanna find out. I could save Nox for later. I'd investigate the Panopticon first.
“I'll see what I can do about Drake,” I said. “You don't suppose these cases could be connected, do you?”
“I don't know,” Beta said. “I'll keep in touch.”
He turned and continued walking a different way, leaving me alone with the Fury.
“So,” I said. “What do you make of all this?”
He punched something into his phone, and I got a text a second later.
KILL WILLIM DAWSON THE FIRST CHANCE YOU GET
Then he vanished. Okay then.
I pulled the chain from my pocket and looked it over some more. I'm not sure why, but I kind of liked holding it. I need to see if I can figure out what's it's made from and what it went to.

-Tony Helioson, signing out.