A Mystery is Afoot!

Somewhere in the deepest, darkest part of the Industrial District, a stallion was screaming like a little girl. He'd just lost all his money in a gamble, and boy was he furious. Somewhere else at that exact moment, somepony else was screaming for a very different reason. Mostly because she was being stabbed multiple times by a crazed lunatic. Their face was hidden for they wore a hood over their head, and body. The two were in a dark alley, their figures obscured and turned invisible by the shadows of buildings around them. Darkness spilled into the alley, the only evidence of the murder was the mare's screams.

The next day her body was found. The once-beautiful pale blue mare was now marred by deep gashes and dried, crusted blood. Her green eyes were glazed over, and she was perfectly still. Still and cold, like a statue. Guards surrounded her as lookers on tried to see what had happened, though ponies stood in the way.

In Canterlot, L sat in her small apartment. She stared at the TV, laying upside on the chair. Her head hung over the edge and the TV blared, she wasn't really paying attention though. It didn't seem interesting enough. Nothing was happening. BORING! She sighed an exasperated sigh. She wasn't quite sure what to do now, how dull.

Dual Edge sighed as he rubbed his forehead with a hoof, he was in uniform so naturally his nocturnal eyes burned from the strong sunlight. Just one of the down-sides that came with the territory of being a Night Guard. He had been sent here due to the low amount of Night Guards in the area. An his rounds had just about ended too..

The case seemed strange the wounds on the mare deep but precise she would of bled out slowly how she was unable to escape was likely due to the tendons in her legs being cut aiding to the bleeding and pain. Dual had seen something similar in Griffin wars how they would cut the enemies tendons to prevent them from escaping, making them helpless pray, This mare...was pray her life snuffed out slowly...painfully...

Dual snapped out of his thoughts at the approaching hoof steps and a normal guard hoofed him a scroll, it appeared he had been assigned this case along with another...who was this mysterious partner he was to work with?

(sorry its crappy its like 4 am here...late night posty yay!~)

L heard a quite clink as the letter slot swung itself closed. An envelope had been pushed through, and it fell to the ground in front of the door. The pale mare moved from her sitting position so that she was right-side-up, then stood. She walked slowly to the message and picked it up. Blue magic surrounded the fridge door in the other room and pulled it open, removing a box of strawberries and bringing them to L. She studied the envelope for a moment before opening it. It was obvious that the seal had been broken, and then resealed at a later time. There were two letters within the envelope, one that was obviously formal and the other was just a piece of scroll paper ripped from the scroll. This second letter had been added in after the first. She read the second letter first.

L,
Sebastian here, I was running some errands while I was out and thought I'd check in with the police-since you've been so bored lately. As it turns out, there was a letter for you simply waiting, but they couldn't figure out your address so I took it upon myself to mail it. Don't worry I didn't tell them, and the mailpony doesn't know who it was for so you're alright. Hope this helps with your boredom,
With regards, Sebastian

Hopefully it'll be more interesting than the last case. L thought to herself, tossing this letter over her shoulder and pulling out the original one.

Dear L,
Hello L, we hope you are well. We apologize for bothering you with this on such short notice, but we require your services. A mare has been brutally stabbed to death in the Industrial District in Manehatten. We're not sure where it is you reside, but hope you can make it to the crime scene at some point today. If you cannot, please send the Manehatten guards a letter. If you can, please catch a train as soon as possible. Our best detectives are stumped and we need your help. The crime took place in an alley in the Northern part of town. Thank you in advance,
Manehatten Guard Department

Well, a murder was better than sitting upside down in front of a TV. Perhaps it would even captivate L's attention. Then again, maybe it wouldn't. It was worth a shot. Swiftly, L used her magic to pick up a pencil and paper, wrote a quick note to Sebastian, then headed for the door. She left the note on the table beside her chair in front of the TV. As she left, she grabbed her specialized hoodie, though she didn't put it on. It was a great piece of clothing that L loved and would never part with. It was perfect for her secretive attitude. It covered her entire body except for her tail, and there was a mesh screen extending from the hood that completely covered her face. It hid her face from view, but she was able to see out of it just fine. It was perfect.

And with that, she left her apartment and trotted towards the train station. She bought her ticket and climbed aboard the train bound for Manehatten. It didn't take too long, at least not by her standards, and she arrived at 12:00 pm. Pretty good timing since she left at 10. She left the train station as quickly as she could and headed for the Northern part of town, looking for the yellow guard tape. It didn't take long for her to find the crowd of guardsponies surrounding an alleyway. Luckily she'd put on her hoodie before leaving the train. She looked around for someone to talk to but wasn't sure it was she should contact.

Dual Edge continued to examine the body looking for any other strange evidence it frustrated him of course a part him was sadden by this mares death, but one must detach themselves in this line of work he had learned the hard way..

He sighted and rubbed his forehead once again his headache slowly worsened and he closed his eyes sighing when suddenly an image flashed before him  a creature the size of a colt its body covered in black chitin, its legs and insect like wings riddled with holes its horn twisted like that of a blacked dead tree. it lunged towards him its poor excuse of a horn glowing a hellish sickly green.

Dual's eyes snapped open his large wings flared up as he got in a battle stance bearing his sharp fangs, it took him a second to realize there was none in the alley with him. He placed a hoof to his chest plate feeling his racing heart beat starting to slow now before wiping the sweat from his brow before going back lifting the guard tape and stepped under looking around while lighting a cigarette to clam his nerves.

Quote :

To whom it may concern,

A brutal murder has taken place around the industrial district of Manehatten. As it was extremely messy and unauthorised, we shall assume that it was not of ours that did the deed, thus we shall let the normal authorities look into it.

In any case, there is the chance that our activities will be at risk of being observed by outsiders. It is thus your duty to keep an eye on developments and make sure that the true murderers get brought to justice as quickly and painlessly as possible. We shall cover the legal processes

Remember, this is for the security of the Crown and the Kingdom.

Two Dee

Daylight Herald put down the letter and looked at the accompanying documents. They were correct in assuming neither Loyal or Nameless were responsible. They did their jobs quickly and cleanly, despite the former's tendency to sadistically taunt her target's demise.

It would not do for their activities to become entangled in this mess.

The pegasus hummed with annoyance. Though he had honorably retired from being a royal guard, the Enlightenment was something you served until you snuffed it. The Royal Court's Intelligence Organisation. The Illegal Intrigue Division, or IID. 2D. The bastards that got their hooves bloodied so that the average pony could sleep at night...

---

Observe and report were her orders. Observe, report, do not get seen.

Easy.

If Something Nameless was good at anything at all, it was that she was only seen when she wanted to be seen. Her ability not to be noticed was noted to be 'borderline disturbing'.

Maybe that's why her cutie mark was...

Her thoughts were interrupted by her mark suddenly going into a defensive stance, then getting a cigarette. Dual Edge was the name of the Night Guard, she was told, and was one of the two assigned to the grizzly murder. The other was an unknown to Manehatten, and expert from Caterlot, it was said, freelance. This other should be treated with caution.

As for the murder itself, well. Loyal would not have approved. Too messy, too inelegant, and the body was twisted and turned about. The dead, she always told Nameless, should always be treated with respect. Which was why all of their kills were disposed of in a discrete manner, despite their victims being enemies of the crown. It made the subsequent hushing up of the other seven murders in this area that month easier as well.

There would be no murder tonight, though. Just observing.

L sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. She rarely came to Manehatten, and felt that she should have been greeted or something. She had been asked to help with the case, so why wasn't anyone approaching to tell her about the task at hand? It's not like she was wearing something you see everyday, she figured it would be obvious that she wasn't just a passing civilian. Not many-a travelers wore such garments as she. Her annoyance may have been due to not having eaten much that day, which made her thoughts just a tad irrational.

So be it. She thought, pushing her way through the crowd of guardsponies. Some tried to stop her but she stated that she'd been asked to come. It was shocking how many guards were still there, considering the body had been discovered much earlier in the day. Perhaps they would disperse soon. It was of no matter, she finally managed to reach the front, her eyes immediately being drawn to the corpse lying in the alley. She calmly turned to the nearest guardpony, a pale blue-ish pegasus who looked uncomfortable in the light. Probably a Night Guard or something. L figured.

"Hello, you wouldn't happen to be Dual Edge would you?" She asked politely, shuffling up to him in her strange ensemble, "I'm L. I was asked to help with the case."

Dual's head snapped up looking at the strange pony in front of him before blowing the smoke out the side of his mouth out of courtesy before bowing low his wings outspread in his old fashion way of greeting. "Forgive me for not greeting you earlier, I was told you wouldn't be here for another hour."

He then motioned towards the crime scene "The crime scene is this way if you would like to see it"

The second player had entered onto the stage, wearing some sort of strange garment that both obscured and stood out. Whilst it covered any and all distinguishing features, the very act of cover up drew attention to her. At least, the voice sounded like a her. A her impatient and easily irritated. Maybe some sort of religious nutter?

Not important. It wasn't Nameless' job to speculate. Anyway, they probably would not get a religious nutter on a case like this. Still, the strange garment was too...not normal to be ignored off hoof.

A name, however...that would be good. If she could find out who this eccentric was, then that would be more than enough for Mister Herald to work with.

L grinned, though it would be impossible to see through the mesh covering her face. She nodded, then walked closer to the body. The reek of death was spreading, smelling like rot and decay. However, the mare made no attempt to cover her nose, and simply acted like she didn't notice. She bent her head down to look at the body, walking around it to view it from all possible perspectives.

The corpse lay on it's side on the ground, it's limbs splayed out comically like a cartoon character. The stab wounds weren't fresh, instead festering like an untended wound. Except it wasn't quite as such, since she'd died the night before there was no more blood seeping from the cuts. Some of the scars were long and shallow, while others were small and deep. One particularly long one ran along the left side, dried blood pooled underneath her. There were several cuts to her legs, as if the murderer had purposely disabled her means of escape. It was clear she wouldn't have been able to run like this, and if she had she would have bled to death much quicker. There were a couple deeper cuts near her throat and chest, and only a few adorned her back.

L was silent for a few moments while she studied the mare's body,her eyes darting from wound to wound, from clue to clue. There several yellow number tags next to the clues the guards had already found. These, as was their purpose, drew L's eyes towards anything she may have missed. There were a few blood splatters along the walls, and some dried blood that must've dripped from the knife. She had hoped to find bloody hoofsteps leading away from the crime scene, but even after combing the cement ground for something, anything she found nothing. She returned to Dual Edge, making sure to use her monotone voice.

"It would seem there's not much to work with. No weapon, no hoofsteps, the murderer was fairly clean. But seeing as how the blood splattered against the wall, it's likely the killer got some blood on him at some point or another. Question anyone you can, ask if they saw someone entering or leaving this alley last night. Oh and I was wondering if you had a blood spatter analyst among your guards?"

Dual nods "Already have some nearby shop owners in questioning, maybe they could of heard or seen something last night." He said before blinking taking a drag from his smoke before staring to answer her. "Most likely, being such a large city-" He suddenly stoped and turned looking out the ally way his silted eyes narrowed as he stood up Straighter looking pass the guards before turning back rubbing a hoof over his eyes, he could of sworn he saw something but with the sun this bright he couldn't really see, before running a hoof over his eyes before he relaxed a bit turning back to L. "Yeah..I believe they should be here soon."

Nameless took what she heard from the Night Guard and 'L', and examined it internally. The reason why the Industrial District was such a crime hotspot was because all those who resided in it took a 'Deaf and Dumb' policy to things. After all, everyone here was technically a criminal.

After all, the big corporations need ponies that could take the fall.

Which was why she and Loyal hung around the area. Industrial sabotage of those who try to use their deep pockets and wide influence to undermine the Princess' authority. Their current project was to deal with weapons manufacturers seeking to inflame the tensions between pony settlers and indigenous species to support 'aggressive expansion' and 'manifest destiny'. It was dirty work, and some innocents had fallen.

This, however, was a distraction. At least, that was what Nameless believed. Some Madmare cutting another up and dumping it here. That was why Loyal was kept on the important work, and she was sent here to simply watch.

This 'L' figure, though...the fact that an expert was brought in meant that somepony actually cared about this case, instead of the cause of death just being 'Industrial District'. Was this the hint of a larger game, or was Nameless just chasing after butterflies?