Chương 114: B2. 13.3 - Tipping the Tower

Jeremiah Hall Sgt. Jeremiah Hall of the La Esperanza City Police Department massaged his smooth chin. He had shaved daily since joining the anti-Adumbrae task force for La Esperanza, formed by the BID, shedding his gruff veteran look in a bid to reinvent himself. He even changed his fashion style, taking advice from his nephew, Ramello. A new sense of purpose came with his new appearance, and also made him feel younger. Hall repeated the address of the PCM office that the Hartwell girl mentioned.

"Is that right?"

"Ye-yes? I think so," Erind replied.

"I might not remember it exactly, but I'm sure of the street." Hall nodded. It was the correct address. They had received calls that PCM establishments, including the office that the Hartwell girl mentioned, were supposedly attacked by Adumbrae this morning, which was why Hall took some time to meet Hartwell. The callers didn't see any monsters, but the scene of the crime, especially the state of the mangled and mushed bodies, couldn't have been the work of a normal human.

As there were a number of calls that came in around the same time, some thought it was a prank by the PCM. A new form of protest, perhaps? But it was eventually decided to send some people to check what was happening. Unfortunately, PCM officials reached the office before the police did. They stonewalled police officers and disclaimed any Adumbrae attack, talking instead about vandalism and prank calls.

That was very much possible, if not for the fact that the PCM didn't want the police to enter their establishments. The callers were also nowhere to be seen and couldn't be contacted anymore. What was the PCM hiding? There must be something. Were they truly attacked by Adumbrae? Perhaps this Hartwell girl can provide clues.

"What happened then?" Hall asked.

"Myra left me there. I think she's already a member or something. Or maybe she was already done with that lecture. I-I was too shy to back out, so I thought I'd just endure the session or whatever. I was sitting with the other new people. I didn't really interact with them, just listening in on their conversations. A guy talked about rumors of missing PCM members." Hall started to write. The scratching of his pen on paper was audible in the relative quiet of the lobby.

"Missing PCM members?" He had notes about that as well. Hartwell's statement could present another lead.

"I'm just repeating what I've heard," said the Hartwell girl with a shrug.

"This guy said that one of those members was his friend or something. He reported it to the police but didn't get any action."

"Is that so?" Hall wasn't surprised. There were numerous missing-persons cases on their plates right now that some were… less prioritized. Not to mention those that had been deleted from the system by corrupt cops.

"That's what he said. He also added that some cops are in the pockets of the PCM…" Hartwell paused, probably to check his reaction. Hall didn't give any. She continued, "So, this guy joined the PCM to look for his friend. He warned all of us not to buy into their lies. Some of the other people shot him down. He didn't bother to argue back."

"Do you have the name of this man?" Hartwell shook her head.

"Never mentioned it. I didn't even get a look at him because I mostly kept my head down. I… I didn't want to be noticed."

"Were any of the PCM members listening in?"

"When the guy was telling his story? No. If they were, they would've probably kicked him out. Like, five minutes later, a PCM member came in, and everyone was quiet." Interview PCM lecture attendees, Hall wrote and underlined in his notebook. PCM members would be less inclined to cooperate. But those who were in the process of recruitment, like Erind Hartwell, would be more open to an interview. Perhaps they could point to the demographics that the PCM drew from, providing leads on the missing PCM members.

"What was the lecture about?" Hall asked.

"Um, I didn't really pay attention to it. Just the usual PCM stuff, I guess? Like, about the government being controlled by the Adumbrae, and that the recent Adumbrae attack, plus the stuff at the docks, proves they're telling the truth. With all the stuff that had happened, it's really a very convincing pitch that there's one big conspiracy to hide the Adumbrae among us." Hall simply nodded while writing a couple more lines, the left corner of his lip slightly curling up in a smirk.

There was truth to the PCM's accusations that the government was compromised… because they were part of it. It was like yelling there was a wolf when they were a wolf. Through Hall's help, the BID goldeyes uncovered the network of corrupt cops protecting the criminals dabbling with Adumbrae in the city. It took much of the BID task force's time and resources to root out the cancer in the system, hampering the hunt for actual Adumbrae.

Reconstituting lost files was almost an impossible task even for the tech personnel brought in by the BID, given that they didn't exactly know what was deleted. Also, many reports didn't even have a chance to be encoded in the system. Investigations had to be redone. For now, it was decided not to publicize the dismissals from the police force. A huge storm of scandals it'd be. It'd erode the already damaged public trust. Hall had gleaned from the goldeyes that they were targeting even the mayor.

"But… I think the PCM are the ones hiding the Adumbrae," Hartwell blurted, interrupting Hall's musings.

"Why do you say that?" asked Hall. Hartwell hesitantly smiled.

"Besides the fact that you're investigating Myra and Reo, who are connected to the PCM?"

"Besides that," Hall said. The Hartwell girl was becoming more comfortable with talking. Good. He had much to ask from her, but he had to find the right time, or he might be met with lies like their first encounter. He needed to put himself in the shoes of this Hartwell girl. She lied that she wasn't present during the Adumbrae attack because she didn't want to be part of the investigation—it might've saved her life, knowing what happened to the other survivors.

Hartwell eventually admitted to the truth when confronted with it, showing gratitude to Officer Knowles, who offered her life to save her. She wasn't a bad person; her strong self-preservation instincts influenced her actions. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. If circumstances were different, Hall would no longer bother her. She had been through enough.

However, he felt that the Hartwell girl was more important than a random bystander swept up during the Adumbrae attack. Call it instincts. She might not even know how connected she was to a bigger picture.

"The PCM lecture guy," Hartwell continued.

"Um, I don't know what to call him. Anyway, he mentioned members living together. That sounds like a cult, right? I mean, even without that, a lot of stuff about the PCM just screams a cult or some other cuckoo organization. They were really selling this living together thing in the bunkers."

"Bunkers?" Hall repeated, flipping to the page in his notebook with the label 'Bunker' on top.

"The bunkers under the city that were supposedly built for an Adumbrae attack decades ago? That lecture was the first time I heard about them. Are they really there?"

"Yes, they are," Hall said, recalling the times he had visited some of them because they were popular places for criminal elements to hide. He was even part of a full-on raid with squads armed to the teeth. A more exciting phase of his life. The city wasn't interested in maintaining the bunkers, which would be very costly. Always a hot topic during budgeting. One administration would kick the bucket to the next, and so on, until no one remembered, or cared to remember, about the bunkers.

People broke open the rusty locks and dwelled inside until some developer bought the property from the city and constructed a building on top. In Hall's search for the fourth Adumbrae, and before the incident at the docks, he picked up rumors of a monster lurking underneath the city. He had quite the network of trustworthy informants. Surely, they weren't spreading baseless rumors for the hell of it. And in his investigations, he learned that some of the bunkers had been bought by a corporation linked to the PCM.

"The lecture guy mentioned that the PCM is building accommodations in these bunkers," Hartwell explained.

"Like a doomsday prepper's thing? He boasted that PCM members will be safe when more Adumbrae appear. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But it sounds really suspicious that they're gathering people in these secretive locations. It sounds like they're making a…"

"A Purple Bloom," Tower Cop whispered, flipping a few more pages. It was the last page with notes. The heading of 'Purple Bloom?' had only a couple of lines underneath it. Hall had received a disturbing call from one of his informants, a former drug pusher with a much-shortened sentence due to his help.

'Former' might no longer be the operative word, but Hall decidedly didn't ask about his informant's current activities, so long as he provided good information. This was a unique moment that Hall wished it wasn't good information.

"Are you certain that the PCM aims to make a Purple Bloom?" he asked his informant over the phone yesterday.

"I'm just repeating what I've heard around here," the man replied.

"But it's not some made-up baloney, I assure you that. Came from a very credible source."

"And who may this source be?"

"Can't tell you that, chief. I don't want to have my head bitten off. But you know that I ain't told you no crappy info before, right?" Bitten off? A clue about the wolf beast Adumbrae that attacked the docks? Was his informant hinting at the wolf beast controlling the city's criminal elements in the shadows? His informant couldn't risk getting found out, spilling the beans, or he'd be next on the Adumbrae's menu. This might be the lead in finding the wolf beast!

The BID gathered all videos and pictures they could about this yet unrecorded Titan, preventing them from spreading to the public to avoid panic. There was debate as to whether the wolf beast, though reaching the height of a smaller Titan, was actually one. The goldeyes told Hall that there were next to no traces that the site's fabric of reality was warped. It was unlikely that the Adumbrae had already Bridged. It probably was an Adumbrae that could change its size. Titan or not, it was a huge problem.

But it might be an even bigger problem if the PCM was making a Purple Bloom. Wolf beast vs. PCM —Hall had jotted it down yesterday. This would explain so many questions while birthing more. It was progress nonetheless.

"Do what you can to stop them, chief," said his informant.

"This is the real deal!"

"A real deal…" Hall whispered in front of the Hartwell girl, remembering the end of the phone call.

"I hope it isn't real," Hartwell hastily said.

"It's just my guess that they're making a Purple Bloom. Like, I've seen a lot of documentaries about Adumbrae cults. I-I don't want to falsely accuse anyone…" Hartwell trailed off, looking at the floor. Falsely accuse. Those words made Hall stiffen.

"I mean, I may be mistaken," the Hartwell girl continued.

"But I think that you should look into it. And… and… Can you make sure that no one knows I told you about this?"

"Of course, Ms. Hartwell. Your safety is my primary concern. I have a few more questions to—" Hall's phone rang. The tone was reserved for calls from the more important numbers. It was the BID.

"Good morn—" Hall started to say.

"Sgt. Hall!" said an unfamiliar voice in a jovial tone. This must be the new BID goldeye that Hall was supposed to accompany.

"This is Agent, uh, Matt. Agent Matt. Let's go with that. We have some urgent business. Very urgent." Hall furrowed his brows.

"I'll be at the office in—""I'll pick you up. In fact, I'm entering the building right now." Hall turned to see a towering man push open the glass doors and enter the lobby. The imposing man—Agent Matt, Hall presumed—was unnaturally wide, almost filling up the doorway. The front of his coat was bulky. The sides of the coat flapped as he walked, revealing arms folded across his chest. However, Agent Matt also had another set of muscular arms by his sides.

"Who… is that?" Hartwell asked in a concerned voice.

"Huge! And he has way too many arms. The badge on his coat… the BID?"

"Yes, a BID agent," said Hall, frowning. This goldeye might be a pain to deal with, looking down at local law enforcement and imposing himself on them.

"Pretend that I wasn't interviewing you about Adumbrae. Just follow my lead." The BID agent approached them, drawing curious stares from other people in the lobby. Hall stood up, his six and a half feet was still a head shorter than the goldeye. This Agent Matt stared down at him with bionic eyes flashing gold instead of disguising them with normal colors. A show off? A display of authority?

"Agent Matt, I presume?" Hall asked, extending his hand. The man nodded and flashed his identification. He appeared to be half Hall's age, with perfectly sculpted features akin to a Greek god statue in museums. But since the agent was augmented, he might very well have replaced his face. His skin did have a strangely reflective sheen. The man returned the handshake.

"You can call me… Matt. Let's go with Matt. Oh, I already told you that moments ago!" He laughed while continuing to shake Hall's hand. Hall grasped the agent's hand firmly and tested the strength of the grip. Even though the palm had the texture of skin, beneath it wasn't human flesh at all, more like the feel of a Kevlar vest. The hand had an unnatural weight to it as well.

"How may I help you?"

"As I've said, we have urgent business that just came up. I hope I'm not interrupting you," said Matt, clearly aware he was interrupting.

"You were talking to…?"

"A classmate of my nephew," Hall readily replied.

"She has a problem with a possible stalker that—""If you're done, can we go?"

"Yes, we're done here." Hall turned to the confused Hartwell girl.

"Take care of yourself. Don't hesitate to contact me if you spot any suspicious people following you."

"Tha-thank you, sir."