The Precinct

In the dark hours of the early morning, a compact silver car pulled into a large empty lot under the freeway. As the door opened, a young man with short light red hair stepped out, waving the taxi away as stray vehicles crossed the bridge overhead, causing mild trembling in the concrete pillars as he waited in the dark, glancing down at his mobile device every so often like a nervous tick. It wasn't long before he was approached by a tall stocky bearded man in a tattered beige trench coat. He held out his hand to the young man, amber eyes twinkling behind wispy silver hair, a thickly matted beard hung from his chin, an equally torn bucket hat atop his head. With hesitation, the young man cleared his throat and glanced at all directions before acknowledging the homeless man, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, placing it into the man's open palm.

"I'm sorry, that's all I have." The younger of the two spoke quietly, standing as if he was waiting for a response. The old man glared back before examining the coin.

"Very well." He said as he straightened his posture, his voice deep and strong, the frailness of his appearance melted away as he too looked in all directions before speaking again.

"Right this way sir."

The strange man lead the way to an empty back alley two blocks from where they first met. The end was dead with nothing but a large dumpster against the wall.

"Is this the part where it's like Harry Potter the walls depart in some magnificent way?" The redhead asked with a slight chuckle, but the older man exhaled loudly as he stared back at him, as if he wanted to hit him upside the head.

"Right, I'm sorry, It's just, I'm nervous and--" The redheaded man whispered in fervent angst, not knowing what to expect as the older man knelt down behind the dumpster, unlatching the chain that tied the oversized receptacle to the brick wall. Slowly he pushed it forward as the redhead continued on his spiel, revealing a steep and narrow staircase, leading into unknown darkness.

"You haven't even asked my name." The redhead's final retort trailed off as his mouth fell ajar at what was unveiled.

"I already know your name, Felix." The older man grumbled dryly, his natural jersey dialect no longer concealed. "Are you gonna go down, or are we gonna wait here till tomorrow?" He shrugged impatiently. There was a brief pause as Felix was reluctant, but he kept his reservations internal as he slowly scaled the stairs into the darkness, while the older man closed the entrance and followed closely behind. There were no lights inside, only the sound of their footsteps against the damp concrete staircase. The airspace was so small, Felix fingertips could simultaneously touch either sides of the wall, they walked for what felt like 20 minutes, a muffled yellow light that blurred the end of the passage drew nearer, as a shrill buzzing sound permeated the space around the single light bulb. As they reached the bottom, Felix looked puzzled as he saw there was no further to travel and they had reached yet another brick wall. The old man walked to the wall and turned his back to face Felix, who's gulps of fear could be heard by anyone within earshot. Felix began to wonder if this was all just some sort of set up, or a trap as he smiled timidly back, waiting for something to happen. The sound of water droplets landing in a puddle echoed throughout the space, as the old man raised a hand and placed it against the wall. Suddenly the bricks began to tremble and shake, one by one they broke from their molds with the sound of a dry landslide, they folded themselves inward in a convoluted pattern, forming a narrow archway that revealed a steel elevator door.

Felix smiled in amazement as the man continued beyond the archway, pressing the call button to the lift as he removed his trench coat, hat, beard and nose prosthetics. Felix got a better look at the man as he unearthed himself, folding everything over his shoulder as he resigned his cuffs and straightened his suit. He was a handsome man in his mid to late 50's, curly salt and pepper hair and a 5 o'clock shadow to match. On his front pocket hung an ID card with his picture and the name Aldo stamped beside it. Felix who was now covering his mouth with a single hand to conceal his excitement and shock, and the look of a thousand questions painted across his expression, as eager to ask what kind of magic had just taken place before his eyes, Aldo seemed to have met with similar experiences too often. He straightened his tie as the floor number descended to their destination. The large elevator doors split open, the once deafening silence was torn by the sudden increase of volume. The sound of fax machines, phones ringing off the hook, it was a seemingly regular FBI office operating under the high demand of the busy seasons. Aldo began walking at once, to which Felix followed. A brunette woman in a sleek ponytail walked beside Aldo, holding up a clear plastic bucket that she held with gloved hands while Aldo gave every article of his disguise. The woman glanced at Felix and blushed before taking a sharp right down bright hallway to dispose of the remains.

Hundreds of people in casual office attire scattered throughout the large subterranean department. They passed the window of a business room where a large congregation sat around a circular steel table.

"Aldo." Called a similarly aged man with slick black hair brushed backward. He approached Aldo with a concerned expression, Aldo turned away from Felix so he wouldn't be able to hear while they whispered back and forth. Felix surveyed everything in sight with wonder, the ceiling was at least 3 stories high, there open space was in the shape of a large L, with hallways and closed office room doors at nearly every imaginable space. Faintly he heard the sound of a woman's voice singing faintly in the background. Felix stood by Aldo who was currently engaged in a heated conversation under breath that he didn't have the grit to interrupt. Slowly he followed the sound of the singing, passing numeround hallways and archways and doors until the voice grew clearer. He took a chance on one of the hallways, but it was empty, there were no doors, just thick navy blue curtains draped along the walls. The voice was coming from behind the wall. It was high pitched, almost as if it was coming from a cartoon of a children's show. Felix curiously pulled the curtain, revealing a wall of glass with air holes up and down the length, covering what looked like an apartment. There was a petite women with bleached blonde shoulder length hair sitting on a stool, gazing as herself in the mirror, Felix felt intrusive and quickly released the drape from his grasp and backed away slowly. He looked up and down the hallway, there were easily 50 curtains on either side. A firm hand planted on his shoulder and a newly familiar voice spoke.

"Ay, you're not supposed to be here. What did you see?" Aldo asked as his eyes narrowed, Felix felt as if he was searching his soul in this moment.

"No, I…. why what's there?" Felix attempted to take the focus away from himself.

"You can't just go looking around in this place, what do you think this is? A museum?" Aldo rolled his eyes and continued in the direction they previously began. motioning Felix to follow him.

After several minutes of navigating through the maze like corridors, Aldo brought them to another steal door with two guards standing outside. He showed them his ID badge and was granted access inside, Felix followed behind.

"So you're here to interview the great David Larson?" Aldo asked gruffly as they walked, before Felix could answer he continued on. "What do you know about David?"

"Just that he's the front man of, possibly one of my favorite bands I've ever heard and allegedly in one of the many the satanic bloodlines."

"And that he's a pedophile?" Aldo interjected abruptly.

"Right. I've read the articles." Felix hadn't read the articles, they made him sick to his stomach. In the name of journalism he had a duty to fulfill.

"And now pretty boy got himself in trouble with his dear old Pappy, he wants to rat out his entire family." Aldo stifled a scoff. "Which works fine for us, we will take all the info we can get. Some of these scumbags are our biggest supporters believe it or not. That Willy Bean guy from tv who was found guilty in sexually assaulting all those young boys on set; he gave us more info than we've had in maybe 20 years."

"You're kidding." Felix felt more ill at the thought.

"Don't be fooled by the celebrity exterior, David is just like any of these wounded elitist children. They wanna bend the rules, eventually after years of enjoying the many depraved pleasures the friggin' cult of Chiron, they get themselves in some dodo, they squeal. It's like clockwork for these brats."

Felix didn't have any input, his excitement was completely squandered.

"You'll get used to it." Aldo assured as he lit up a cigarette. "Only difference is David writes songs about how much he hates his father and the cult life."

"Why would they allow him to expose everything?"

"From the data we've collected throughout the years, I'd say it's because us normal people don't listen to songs as if they were breadcrumbs to a crime scene." Aldo exhaled. "I don't got all the answers, but he's promised to give us literally everything we've ever needed to take down these droned sons of bitches, all for protection."

Felix felt sick knowing they protect these pedophiles just for information, it felt backwards to him, he always felt someone who harmed a child should be put to death immediately. He felt there were many personal merits he would have to part ways with, now that their dealings would be occult focused.

"You're late." A voice from the end of the hall came from a tall thin woman who stood there impatiently waiting. She had a unenthused expression on her face, her prominent cheekbones and beautiful elongated eyes seemed to contradict her exterior. Her deep black hair fashioned into a neat bun at the back of her head. She wore a plain grey dress down to her prominent knees, black nylons and strappy black laced high heels, the sort you'd regularly find at a gentlemen's club. Holding in her long slender hands a clipboard, grasped so tightly the whites of her knuckles were visible.

"Sorry I thought I would stop for a friggin' cony dog on the way." Aldo replied sarcastically as the woman took the cigarette from his mouth and discarded it into an abandoned coffee cup. Aldo stared at her with half shut eyes as if holding himself back from a potential argument.

"I'm Yuki, you must be Felix." Straight faced, Yuki extended her hand to Felix, offering him a flat black lanyard with an ID card attached to it, he nearly dropped it as his nerves were getting the best of him.

"Did you go over the terms with him?" Yuki asked in monotone while flipping through the pages on her clipboard. "Where's the agreement sheet?" She asked noticing he had nothing in his hands.

"Yeah I was just getting to all that." Aldo bluffed.

"Agreement, terms?" Felix asked.

"So you haven't." Yuki's looked at Aldo with her chin tucked in, allowing her aviator framed glasses to slide down her nose. She exhaled and turned to face the door behind her, waving her ID card in front of the scanner. "I'll brief you, just follow me please." Yuki insisted as she guided them through the door. Aldo took a moment to pelt Felix in the back of the head with his ID card.

"What did I do!?" Felix whispered, his hand on the back of his head in surprise. Aldo shook his head and walked through the doorway, while Felix confusedly followed behind.

Yuki led them to another heavily coded door, her identity badge being the only means of entrance.

"No questions about his daily life, no autographs, no pictures. No exchange of contact information. No questions regarding what's been said about him in the press. No Exposing any evidence of this crucial nature would result in your forever being barred from working or collaborating with Z inc." Yuki went down the list of interviewer rules for Felix to abide by as she lead them through an onslaught of similarly puzzling halls. When they reached the final door, faint piano music could be heard from all corners, radiating through the walls. The beauty of the music mesmerized Felix in a heart pounding haze.

"Any further questions?" Yuki asked Felix as she extended her clipboard in his direction, beckoning him to sign his name. The door behind her was circular, painted red with a large gold lever in the center, it reminded Felix of a bank safe. He swiftly signed his name as he struggled to take in everything his senses were observing.

"I have one question." Felix replied as he smiled brightly. "How did you do that with the bricks in the beginning, I gotta know." He chuckled. "Are you some kind of… witch and wizard vigilante group society?"

Yuki stared back at him blankly and sighed before turning her attention to Aldo, who was scraping the dirt from under his fingernails with a pocket knife. After several beats, Aldo looked up shrugged defensively.

"What!? " Aldo said crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows.

"It's just a hologram." Yuki said as she retrieved the clipboard from Felix who's smile melted into devastation. Promptly she turned to the circular red door, placing her long slender hands against the gold lever, she took a deep breath and widened her stance.

"Oh come on, I told you I'd get it." Aldo Gruffed as Yuki pulled the lever with all her force, the veins in her arm began to bulge. Several moments passed without movement before there was a loud thud from behind the door. Yuki forced the lever downward and pulled the door with all her might, opening it wide and setting it against the wall. The music from before increased in volume and pitch. Yuki stood there suppressing a grin, breathing heavily as slicked her hand over her hairline to return the stray hairs that loosened from her struggle. Felix was impressed although it didn't show on his face, he was still contemplating the brick wall.

"Well good luck, kid," Aldo slammed his palm between Felix' shoulder blades, jutting him forward. "This guy's a real nightmare, don't be fooled by his goodie two shoes act."

Felix caught off guard widened his eyes and looked at both Yuki and Aldo before taking his first step beyond the door.