Venom

22: The Great Mayor (P1)

The article was torn at the end. I wasn't at all surprised at the information there. You could only hold silent control over a group for so long until they began to wonder why it was that they needed to be controlled in the first place. There was self-awareness in witches, we knew in the wrong hands, powers could be used for evil and tragedies but so could claws that grew from the bodies of beast shifters, and yet no one expected them to keep their claws short. Different power spectrums, sure, but the issue was still there. Flickering through most of the files I was supposed at how the majority of those who went missing were all around their teen years or later in life. Was the council backing away from snatching babies or were the people beginning to learn how to hide better? A shift of the all-knowing power the council wielded? I checked the clock on the wall before looking back at the floating monitor.

"Can you memorize most of this-"

"Already did."

"Please put it back then." I went back to the monitors as the sound of multiple cabinets shutting sounded off behind me softly before she leaned over me, neck exposed as she peered at the monitor, hand on the table. I paused for a moment before focusing back on the issue at hand. 

"What's that?"

"Someone's password." I reached up and tapped at the monitor, starting a different timer in my mind just in case the usage set off some sort of alert to another room here. The silver flecks rushed into the screen as it glowed and came to life, flashing the same logo and statement on the front of the building. Beneath it, a long rectangle appeared just as the table in front of me shook slightly, a soft layer of table turning into sand before a keyboard appeared. 

"How did-"

"Someone left it underneath the chair, more likely something to ease the necessity of having to remember such a long password." I spread the paper out with one hand as I typed in the nearly fifty-eight-worded password, numbers and signals included. I could very much so understand the reluctance in remembering the jumbled password. 

"And you just.. found it?" I was too preoccupied typing to look over to see what expression she wore as her tone of voice made my brows furrow. 

"Yes." Entering the last key I watched nervously as the logo spun around and around. This would either work magnificently well or the screen would flash red. I nearly glared at the screen in front of me with a locked jaw as I willed it to work. 

"Just like-" The screen cleared away before unlocking. I released a breath. "...that." 

"What?" I turned to look at her, not having really followed her train of thought on whatever was wrong. She looked down, face not nearly as expressive as usual, but with her face pulled tight, lips pinched she shook her head slightly, braids knocking into each other as they tumbled over her shoulder. I turned back to the screen and began looking for where all of the records would be stored.

If this person had been lazy and careless enough to leave their passwords beneath a chair where anyone could have found them then I sincerely doubted they had high enough clearance to unlock top files in this area, but they would certainly have enough clearance to surpass that of anyone walking down the street. Which was all I needed for now. At the bottom of the screen the name Lanceileot Markenial and what must have been their employee number read. Thank you very much. There were two places that caught my attention, one labeled Index and the other Void but it was a no-brainer what the criminals and troublemakers of this world would be labeled when putting them all together so I went into the Void and sure enough options for names, categories, age, sex, species, crime rank and more popped up. Well, they sure were organized. 

During the stakeout, I had time to think about what to search for and what to avoid if the opportunity really did arise. So without hesitation, I went over to the category and began my search. Criminals of all types and crimes filled the screen, the lists endless, the crimes ranging from various grades of harmless pranks gone wrong and purposeful harm to a second-by-second update on street slaughters that happened when inevitable bawls took place. It was not surprising to see that crime was unchanging even if the new perpetrators changed. Information was key to knowing my next steps, but knowing the council as I did, they were always watching and waiting for who came digging into their business, and last I was here, I belonged to them. Thus, their business. But just because I could not search for anything on myself did not mean I could not dig up anyone who I suspected would be outlasting. Starting out with small repeat offenders, some files were closed off with their deaths, so on it went. A few died, the rest missing or closed off but nothing I could use. I drummed my fingers in as my mind raced, Viper was oddly quiet but I was grateful for the silence. I had to choose risk searching for a risky name or keep digging up and hoping that with our limited time frame I could find something useful.