Sharky was standing guard outside of Jack's room when he was approached by one of the two faction leaders. Such a predicament always left him feeling divided loyalties, between the faction itself and his boss, Jack. Although he was the son of the leaders, their interests did not always perfectly align, so balancing between them was occasionally a difficult and precarious predicament that he would rather avoid.
"Is he here?" asked Queenie.
"He's got company," he replied.
"Woman?" she asked.
He simply nodded.
Queenie banged on the door. "Get some clothes on, we've got business to discuss."
"I'm busy," said Jack, indignant. He really had been interrupted too many times in this past week. Faction business was beginning to infringe on his personal life a little too much.
"It involves shadows," she said, placing emphasis on the final word.
A moment later, the door opened, just a crack. "What room?" he asked.
*
The three of them found themselves in a familiar room. Solomon addressed his wife and son, giving them the general outline of what had taken place.
"So now, if we are to appease the Shadow faction for what has taken place, we must find out who was responsible for a death of one of theirs—and report it back to them immediately."
"Who was the boy who was killed?" asked Jack.
"Some nobody, a bastard child of one of the grunts. He could barely use the ability himself. It's not the point, a shadow user has been killed, and whoever's done it cannot go unpunished."
Jack considered for a few moments. "If we don't find out who's done it, are we accountable?"
"Do you really wanna find out?" said Sol.
There was no doubt about it: the Shadow faction was at the top of the food chain. While the pillars dealt with all those above, the underworld had its own rulers, and it was less divided. Sure, there might have been less to go around, but money travelled up to one faction who controlled the slums throughout. They had the best weapons, the best armour, the most men, and as if that wasn't enough, their ability was incredibly overpowered. That's how they'd come to be the undisputed rulers in the first place.
Besides, the slums were more compact, accounting for twice as many bodies as those from the upper levels. In some ways, they were responsible for a greater section of the public than the four pillars, although, to be fair, it was usually the latter who would respond to beast attacks. The Shadows only became involved when their commercial interests or their reputation was at stake.
"So, what's the plan?" asked Queenie.
"I say we find his gang and torture them all till someone spills the truth," said Jack.
"I can live with that plan," said Solomon.
*
Captain Pyre had staked out the casino. With not much else to go on, he decided to pursue his only lead and parked a few rows back from the owner's usual vehicle, sat in the dark with a pair of binoculars. It had surprised him when he spotted Sol and Jack leaving on foot.
He presumed this meant one of two things, either: a, they weren't doing anything important, and would be back shortly; or b, who they were going to see was located in the surrounding slums.
This did present a problem, however. George was not the sneaky type and had always dealt with his problems directly. If he were to follow on foot, his chances of getting caught would shoot up. But if he were to stay here, he could miss something important.
In overthinking the situation, he missed the opportunity, deciding to get out to follow them just a little too late. However, an hour later, they frog marched a young man into the building. He took a picture and sent it to someone from the Salamander's office. A few moments later, the name and background details of the young man appeared on his phone: Dave Carter, 203B Wordsworth Court…
*
The young man had wondered how he had ended up in his current predicament. Only a few weeks ago, his gang were terrorising the streets, taking what they liked from the local youths without incident. Then, they had ran into those Sanctuary kids, who had turned out to be ability users. And now he was tied to a chair in the basement with the lights out.
Jack had been giving him some time to stew, but looking at the infrared camera, he could see the youth had just pissed himself. He thought it was as good a time as any to proceed with the interrogation.
The lights flickered on. Jack always enjoyed this moment. If the whole interrogation was a performance, the flicker of the lights was its true beginning. The lights were intentionally very bright and disorientating.
"Hello," said Jack. "Do you know who I am?"
The boy nodded.
"Good, that should save me some time then. I want to know what happened to that young shadow user you hang around with."
"He's dead," the boy said.
"Well, obviously," Jack replied. "I need to know how exactly he died."
"It was those Sanctuary kids. We tried to mug them and he got stabbed."
"A shadow user killed by a common weapon? He must've been very weak." Jack said, pondering how simple the answer had been.
"No, it was a spirit weapon. I know because that boy used the same one on me and it had some kind of poison aspect."
"What boy?"
"I'm sorry, I dunno his name. But he's one of the Sanctuary kids.
"You mean the kids looked after by the church?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, that's the one."
Jack began to laugh, just a little at first, but it grew in volume. "That's brilliant," he said. "All this trouble caused and it's some orphan kid, probably a choir boy." Jack considered the boy for a few moments. "Are you telling me your whole gang was defeated by one kid?"
"No, there was a few of 'em. There was the boy with the weapon, the earth user, and a healer too. There was a couple others too, but they were the main ones."
"Eight-ball, is everything we've just been told true?"
Eight-ball stepped forward from a corner and banged his head backwards and forwards. "Signs point to yes," he finally said.
"Do you know what family your friend was part of?" Jack asked the boy.
Dave shook his head.
"The shadow users are one of the most dangerous factions out there. Your friend might've been a useless tool, but I assure you, they are not, and they are demanding retribution."
Dave gulped.
"If you can point out which of the kids were responsible, I am sure their anger can be pointed elsewhere."
"Of course," said the boy. "I'll tell you anything you need."