Venturing: Light's Torture

We stared at the fox before us. A wave of surprise washed over our faces and heads; mixing in with the feelings of shocks and something else however. Staring back onto the fox again, only Kyro was the one who broke the silence as he stepped forth towards him with a frown, stretching out his claw and grumbled something underneath his breath. Nothing that anyone else had heard about from him however. Then, turning around to face me again, he nodded his head. I exhaled a breath, relented with him before responding to the silence surrounding us with my own voice that everyone else turned their attention towards me. Nothing came from their mouths while they listen to whatever I had to say at the time being.

“Everyone, pick a room and stick with it. Search in it if you have to. I do not want to see anything missing." I ordered, everyone nodded their heads and split off from me. Natty and Kyro headed towards the east. Zander went to the North alone; Ozkun and Takaki headed South. They all left me alone together with the animal before me as I turned my attention towards him. I frowned, with thoughts surrounding my head in wonderance of who had committed such a thing. Nighttime had fallen however, the stars and the moon shone dimly in the night skies. Illuminating the streets with their lights for anyone on the road to see. We, the VPD, are inside of a building. Staring down onto the light sensitive animal that was in front of me. Tied down to a cross; two arms stretched out. Head hanged low. Yet he is breathing somehow. The animal in question looked pale. It had seemed that he had not ate anything for the time he was tied down however.

'Perhaps. Close to dying.' I thought, recalling the facts about canine nature while my eyes looked upon the animal before me with worry and sadness. Anger as to wonder who had commit such a thing. But I released that breath and closed my eyes for a bit; opening them up before setting my eyes back upon the animal again. Getting up while heading down the halls, straight towards the pair of doors that we had entered through after getting the report of a canine before here. Everything was peaceful upon the halls; no words were exchanged. Silence looming over my head with the slight ringing irritating my ears. I raised my claw overtop of my head; stretching as I yawned. Having remembered that I had not sleep ever since this incident had started. My eyes were closed at the time, but reopened again and set forth towards the streets before me. Staring at them, when someone called me from the  void of silence behind me.

Suddenly, I turned around. Spotting Kyro and Natty whom were together however, a surprise for me. I stared at them. Showing nothing of emotions while Kyro spoke out, “In the West room, we found some art supplies scattered across some desk. A lamp was sitting adjacently to this too." “Art supplies? So we are dealing with an artist?" I questioned without giving much thought. Remembering how those artist struggle in everyday life everyday every years and so. A nod came from Kyro; though he was silent which Natty protested to me “I do not think it is an professionally. Just someone who is armature or have a passion for art." My head was tilted to the side in question of what Natty had just said however. But a shake of my head, rid my thoughts and the confusion of the pair as I just said to them instead “Just lead me into the room then." “Roger." Both responded, no hesitation as they turned around and walked back towards that room with me in tow behind them however.

We all entered the room. All at once, if I may add. Where a breath of air brushed past my scales, I shivered before raising my eyes high glancing at the horizon before me. Staring down onto the table that the two had spoken of. It was still there. Underneath a light shade of the lamp next to it. There were two other desks besides it too. Both of which looked empty upon their surfaces however. While staring at the desk in front of me; both Kyro and Natty walked forth towards the desk. Then leaned forward with their claws touching upon the surfaces before them and lowered their heads down, hanging while staring at the surface. I watched them for a moment; then walked by their side also. But never mirrored what they had committed and instead just stared at the desk's surface before me.

There, I noticed a couple of things. Hot glue, paper, saw were the first things there. Scissors were the next apparently. Some cut paper was adjacent to the scissors, forming into shapes such as the most common one however; the sun or the moon. Circle. I find myself staring at the outline circle shapes towards my right and left; pondering as to what the culprit was doing with such a thing. But my thoughts were cast to the side when Kyro started coughing, gaining my attention towards him while I turned to face his attention. A smile came upon his face; thought no words said shortly after, he just enjoyed it. But that short moment came and gone when he averted his head away from me and pointed towards the surface of the table before us, explaining something that was lost in my own mind.

For I kept attention upon the table itself; staring down onto the hot glue and paper instead. Pondering back onto the victim a few moments back, my head was tilted to the side and I had interrupted Kyro momentarily as he and Natty turned his head over to me while I spoke, questioning him “Do you think that the cut out circle papers were attached to the victim with hot glue gun? It would make sense considering that the victim was hot underneath them. Despite the heaetness from the cross itself however." “It would make sense." Started Kyro without another thought or hesitation while he kept eye upon me then turned his head back towards the surface of the table again before adding, “But there were not any paper sitting upon the victim. Zander stated that there was something blocking the heat from contacting his fur." “Then that is the paper that we are looking for." I started, Kyro nodded his head after looking to me again, “Right." “Then our culprit must had place the paper and used the scissors to cut perfect looking circles, remove the excess and tied the victim to the cross." I concluded, excitement running through my scales. Yet it was only short lived as I had recalled about the hot glue. “Then how did he place the hot glue? Was it inbetween the two objects? There was nothing noting up front upon the canine himself."

“You are right about that however." Kyro responded, nudging his head towards the far corner of the table. One thing that we had forgotten to check or noticed at all initially as I shift my attention towards me. Blinking in surprise at the other clue that we were looking for. So I reached for it with my claw, stretching my arm as far as it could go despite me straining myself and my arm going a bit numb because of it too. But after a while of struggling, I had managed to grab it and pulled it off from the hiding corner of the table. Throw right into the center or other end whereas we could see it with our own eyes. Natty was the first to response; shockingly while her claws were raised to her mouth, eyes widened. Both me and Kyro nodded our heads; confirming what Natty had said however. Though she did not look a bit surprise after her response while glancing at the jar for a moment. Kyro was the one who picked it up however.

“This is a jar of blood." He explained, “No." I protested shaking my head while he stared at me for a moment, then corrected himself “A jar of hot sticky blood." “Apparently our culprit must had stick a needle inside of it to draw out the blood as a sample." I suggested while both Kyro and Natty shift their eyes towards me , frowning shortly before Natty question suddenly “How would they draw blood from him? There are not any needles about or canisters or anything-" “It never need to be so neat." I cryptic, glancing over to the dragoness who looked onto me with shock again. Something that I nodded however while Kyro frowned, but shook his head before agreeing with me. “Ling is right. There are no needles about. What was the next best thing to do? Cut someone with a small medical knife that could be use for sharpening bricks and among other stuff found inside the art room."

“ I think I am going to be sick." Commented Natty while she drew herself out from the room, leaving behind me and Kyro while we looked upon one another in silence. But said nothing else other than the silence of the room, then turned back towards the table again. There are not much upon the table however. Everything we had discussed were found here. Seeing nothing more than the common items, Kyro suggested “Let see what the other had found. It would be a good environment for us besides sticking ourselves inside of the art room however." “I nodded my head and we followed Natty out of the room. Back upon the halls; Ozkun, Takakri and Zander were found there. All three of them were discussing something; though their voices were a bit low at the time. However, the conversation was clear because of the silence looming over the hallway which everyone was gathered upon.

But as me and Kyro had exited the room; the footsteps we had created were noticed by the others as they shift their attention towards me without hesitation upon themselves. Kyro nodded to me before departing from my side, heading forth towards Natty as the two regathered themselves. A pause of silence had came. Something that I had taken advantage over while splitting my mouth opened and speaking out towards the other officers. With arms running cross against my check, my eyes narrowed while I spoke “Ozkun, Takakri. What have you found upon your place?" “Nothing out of the ordinary sir," Responded Takaki who was first before Ozkun who glance over to his partner with a surprise look onto his face. But kept silent as Takaki take over the conversation, reporting to me. “All we found were; marketing and tape." “Marketing and tape?" Commented Kyro while he stared at the two in silence, growling in response adding “What does this culprit plant to do? Canine trafficking?" “Calm down Kyro." Commented Natty but Kyro ignored her afterwards and kept attacking Takakri, “Enough." I barked, silencing the argumentative atmosphere above us as the sounds of talks and chats faded, replacing it with the silence. I kept my eyes upon the two offensive officers; exhaling a breath before responding to either of them.

“I want Takakri to speak, not you Kyro." I started; Takaki nodded his head. Kyro frowned and stepped back to his line with Natty, remaining silent for the time while Takaki explained to me afterwards. “We saw marketing slogans and artifacts upon the table. A feather pen off towards the side. Upon the slogans and artifacts were words; but they were hard to interpret without a book or someone with an expert of the language however." “What were the words?" Questioned Zander, looking on with interest while Takaki frowned before exposing it “Pictures." “Seems like ancient." Commented Kyro “Seems like it." I agreed which Kyro shift his attention towards me, but said nothing more while Takari continued, “It was really odd considering that there are marketing slogans now. I had wonder what they, or rather, the culprit would do with the victim with them?" There were many suggestions. But most of them seem a bit perplexed and far fetched however. Others were a bit grounded; though not realistic at the time. Though the session had indeed ended at this; I still pondered over the clues we had so far. However, none of them made any more sense, other than the victim upon the cross.

Considering nothing more, I kept my eye upon Zander who nodded his head, acknowledging me while the silence fell overhead. But before he could explain, a moan escaped from the interior of the hallway which had stopped and startled some of us. Myself, included however. Which we all turned around and glance, searching about for the source of that sound. But when Zander laid his eyes upon the victim before himself; he spoke towards the rest of us while pointing a claw towards it. “So he is awake." Commented Takakari, with a smile onto his face. Yet no one egged him on however and kept silent while all eyes were upon him. I, on the other claw, stepped forth in front of my unit and growled at the victim for a short moment. It was caught onto as the eyes opened up and glanced towards me and the unit behind me. Though it was not a pleasant warm welcome however.

The victim started screaming; his voice carried through the dead of the hallway. Kyro and Zander flatten their ears, frowning. Takakri and Natty said nothing; bearing the torturous sound erupting as every eye was upon him. Though the screams lasted for a short while before silence took over again; but I and perhaps Zander too was hearing loud ringing in our ears. “Neverminding that now." Kyro mouthed despite me straining myself to hear him as he walked up towards the victim before us and stopped. A sudden growl escaped from his lips as he reached out for the victim and grabbed onto his fur, “How did this happened?" “I… I am not sure however. I just remember the pain and torture I went through to get myself upon here. Nothing else, I swear." “The pain and torture?" Ozkun questioned, tilting his head to one side which the victim nodded his head and further explained himself what he had meant.

When all was said and done; silence then covered the entier hallway which was stopped when Kyro growled suddenly at him. Despite Natty rushing up to snatch Kyro from the victim before us, he still looked angrily at him. But nothing more came from the red dragon as the rest of us fell silent. I exhaled a breath and shake my head; taking Kyro's spot while I spoke calmly towards the victim. “Never mind my friend here. He is just a bit heated right now." No response words came from the victim, something that I had suspected however. A bright smile came from the surface of my lips while kneeling down with the cold ground touching my knees and tail. Rushing the cold high into my scales, I pretended to ignore it however and kept my eye upon him while questioning, “First of all; how do we get you out of there? Seems like the electricity was on for a while, never allowed to burn out at all." “That is true." Responded the victim, eyes averting my gaze adding “But there are electric cables attached to this. All the way towards South of me, North of you by the way." “Ahead?" Zander questioned, a nod came from the victim. I rose to my feet, nodding to the others “Then lets go find it."

We walked down a couple feet into total darkness where no lights had dare to go however. It was totally pitched dark and impossible to see anything about without any flashlights or such, something that we had for emergencies in case of extreme criminal plots and such. But ignored that, we continued walking until we find ourselves in a smaller room. Three walls surrounded us however. Purple stripes were hanging close towards the flooring below us. Above the purple stripes was the electrical switch that we had needed. It was right in front of us and without any sort of protection or anything. Upon noting this, Kyro and Zander frowned shaking their heads as their attention was shift towards me. I ignored them and stepped closer towards the switch. Stretched my arm forth and snatched onto the small bar. For suddenly, I pulled it down. Something laughed behind us; though we had thought it was just a soundtrack or something. We all turned around and returned ourselves straight to where we had last found the victim. A bit surprise that he was gone from his spot; though there was something there that he had left behind.

Kyro and Takakri stepped forth towards the cross; snatching the evidence presented to us and held their claws upward so I could see it for myself. There were two; a piece of strip paper detailing a bunch of binary numbers and a white silvery pole stick perhaps that was used to shove it up his butt. None of us were too happy to see this however as some of us had exchanged confused worried looks upon one another; though I just shook my head and turned around. Glancing back onto the pair of doors behind us as I spoke towards the rest of them. “We do not need to find him. But we do have everything that we had needed however." “So what? Evidence first than apprehend the culprit?" Questioned Kyro as I nodded my head at him with a small smile; before glancing back onto the pair of doors again in silence. There were indeed a lot of things that never made any sense. Save for someone with artistic skills and talent however. But… 'Why marketing, tape and electrical wires?' I thought reglancing at the objects behind me whom Takaki was just staring back onto me again before raising his head; keeping silent while the thoughts encircled around my mind again.

There were many possibilities. But would any of them make any sense? I shook my head while we were led into the same room that me, Kyro and Natty had initially entered in beforehand. Where Takaki laid down everything down onto the table before us; we all stayed silent for a few pausing seconds before Kyro was the first to speak amongst us. What happened next escalated the conflict as everyone started arguing with one another and the voices from us raised to higher pitches and such. Only I covered my ears, ignoring everyone surrounding me while my eyes were kept tabs upon the evidence before us. This had went on for several minutes, maybe longer considering how silent I was surrounding them. For when every head was turned towards me, I grounded my fangs tightly and turned to them. Eyes already narrowed which shut everyone up as the now peaceful silence loomed over us for the time being.

“Whatcha thinking about?" Questioned Ozkun, interested in what I had to say as my eyes dared dart towards him in silence, shutting him up suddenly. “It never makes any sense." I commented, thought whispered that only Natty and Takakri can hear me at the time. Those said perked their ears in interest and raised their heads to meet up with me. I only met their eyes afterwards and shook my head, then explained what I had meant however. “Why would an artist be able to work together with a electrician?" “Considering that they had napped a canine makes me think that they are criminals." Commented Zander, pointing out the rather obvious. His comment caught the attention of Kyro and Ozkun whom glanced at him in anger silence; he shut himself up before shifting his attention towards me. I nodded, “No. I agree with Zander there. They are criminals. But they could had not done this on their own. Why captured a certain canine? More importantly, a fox, wolf or coyote?" None of them had any sort of answer towards that.

Within the silence of me pondering, we had noticed that the sun was already coming up. Whereas the rays shine upon the roads beyond the doors was the time that I had unknowingly yawned at the time and shook my head because of it to rid of the tiredness; however, the other officers around me also yawned at the time following me. I just chuckled at them, noting it before turning around and spoke “Guess we will have to think about this during our break. Good work today everyone." I concluded which everyone cheered at the time as we all headed out the door for the early morning shift.