Chapter 64

Pandemonia Detective Agency

The Next Day...

2:00 PM...

A few kilometers from Egad's Castle...

Inspector Ticcoran rode in the Pandemonia Detective Agency Mobile Investigation Van driven by Victor Lincel, the crocodile driving the van down the icy country road as it started to lightly snow. Ticcoran was a passenger, as well as Galileo Rosato and Raymond "Ray-Ray" Blackwing. The agency recently approached Ticcoranin Moon City on Tarion III a few days prior, telling him of their current contract with Cailus Foxmoore for the investigation of Runefield Asylum. What they were starting to dig up on the weapon-based businessman had shaken them deeply, as if they were rookie freelance hackers diving deep into the galactic dark web that had just stumbled across a database belonging to an intergalactic terrorist cell. They needed Ticcoran to go with them to the residence of Cailus' brother, Ryan Foxmoore for some answers and to find a safe haven in case Cailus found out what the freelance sleuths were digging up and decided to retaliate. Victor even had the entire van and his personal motorcycle in the van's cargo area weapon-proofed against both solid and energy ordinance, from the body panels to the glass of the windows... Even the van's wheel wells and front grille were outfitted for defenses, along with having a few counter measures added! The van was now equipped with run-flat tires made of regenerative rubber, a heavy-duty four-wheel drive system, road scanners behind the grille and on the tailgate which was now guarded by a set of heavy-duty off-road bumpers, the van even had an active radar system to keep watch for hostile targets, capable of picking up stealth fighters if they were in it's range! To top it all off, Victor had acquired a transporter computer for the van as well, which he took the liberty of programming himself!

"Inspector Ticcoran, are you sure that Ryan will be understanding of all this when we meet with him? Even after all we told him and Mick Daniels over the phone?" Victor asked, anxiety in his tone.

"Monsier Lincel, please try to relax." Jean-Yves said. "Monsier Mick and his father are good friends with Ryan. Besides, I talked to them myself over that phone call over speaker. We will be fine."

A few minutes later, they drove up to the castle's gates, next to an intercom with a standard security camera and speaker under an awning. Victor reached out the van's window and pressed the buzzer on the intercom.

"Who is it?" A youthful voice asked.

"Victor Lincel, with the Panedemonia Agency. I'm here with Jean-Yves Ticcoran." Victor answered.

The speaker panel then slid down, revealing a retinal scanner, as well as a camera and facial scanner attached to two mobile robot arms! The retinal scanner reached up and quickly scanned Victor's eye, right down to the fine details of the iris, then with a camera flash, recorded a still image of the iris. The second arm ran a quick reading over the occupants of the van with a deep scanning ray. A few seconds later, both arms retracted, leaving Victor blinking away the stars in his vision for a few seconds more.

"Welcome to Castle Halcyon, Vic!" The voice on the intercom said. "Mick Daniels will be waiting for you inside, so please proceed to the parking area. It's been converted from one of the old beast stables on the northeastern part of the castle's grounds. Take a right once you are inside the gate, and follow the path to the stable area."

The drawbridge for the castle lowered and the gates opened a few seconds later. Victor drove across it, keeping an eye on the radar screen near the rear-view mirror. Once the van was safely across the drawbridge and inside the gates, the bridgeretracted and the gates closed behind the van. Victor breathed a sigh of relief, and drove the van to the parking area.

While driving up to the parking area, Victor and Ticcoran caught a glimpse of the front doors the castle, which were being repaired. It looked like they had been blown clean off their hinges! Along with that, there was various other damages visible, from blasted statues and a fountain to burnt shrubbery and some broken windows. All the damage was being tended to by contracted construction crews. A local FedEx raccoon post courier was here as well, his small three-wheeled delivery truck parked next to another vehicle, a black Audi SVX-4000.

"He's here, no doubt." Ticcoran said. "That's Monsieur Mick's car."

Victor parked the van, and all of them got out of the van, Victor setting the alarm. They walked up to the castle stairs, where the postman was standing in awe and wonder, holding a small padded post envelope.

"Here delivering a package?" Victor asked.

The raccoon jumped, not noticing Victor. "Uh... Yes, sir."

They all walked up the steps, and into the castle. As they walked through the main hall, they saw bits of broken glass and splintered wood from broken furniture littering the hall. It looked like the place had been hit by a hurricane mixed with an earthquake!

"Woah... What in the hell happened here?" The raccoon muttered, all of them stepping around the construction and cleaning crews, which were being assisted by some of the castle's residents, including a lion, a tiger, a unicorn, and many others, all of them wearing protectiveshoes and gloves ontheir hands and feet.

A tall, horned wolf walked up to them with an even taller dragon at his side. "Greetings, courier. What brings you here?" The wolf asked.

"Uh... I-I-I'm here to deliver a package to Lord Ryan Foxmoore?"

"Yes, I'm lord Foxmoore." A voice said from their side, startling the courier and the detectives. Egad then walked up from around a corner, accompanied by Mick and Symon, as well as Anthony and Alak. "You have something for me, my good man?"

"Yes." The courier said, again getting his bearings. "Sign here, please." He handed Egad a virtual clipboard.

Egad casually took the clipboard and signed for the package with the attached stylus. The courier looked all around the castle, wide-eyed.

Egad noticed the courier's wandering gaze. "Oh! Apologies for the mess, ol' sport. I just woke up this morning and hated everything!" Egad said casually with a sigh, handing the courier the clipboard.

"...Right." The courier said, now even more confused. "...I'll see myself out if you don't' mind."

"By all means." Egad said, taking the package. "Have a good day, ol' sport!" Egad said.

"Likewise,milord." The raccoon then stepped out, scratching his head.

Once the courier was out of earshot, Ticcoran and the detectives turned to Ryan, Mick, and Symon.

"You must have been very cross and vexed this morning to make such a mess of your own home." Ticcoran said humorously.

"Thankfully, it wasn't caused by Uncle Ryan to begin with." Anthony said with humor as well. "If you don't mind, I think we should continuethis conversation in private."

"Agreed." Egad said. "Please, follow me up to the astronomy room. It's a fairly small room used for stargazing, but it will do for this meeting. Zarch, Bishop, come along please."

"Please brace yourself, Inspector." Mick cautioned as they went up a spiral staircase. "So far, we have only told you things on a need-to-know basis. Now, you are going to hear the raw truth, as well the full story..."

# # # #

Gareth waited in the astronomy room with Damion and Tommy, sitting at a table with high-backed chairs. Other than the table and chairs, the room had several bookcases filled with books on popular star clusters and nebulae in the Milky Way, along with several dedicated astrological computers filled with star charts, connected to the castle's network alongside the data center and supercomputer links. Aside from that, there was a hallway that led to a large, glass-domed observatory, complete with a cutting-edge industry-grade celestial telescope with a chair that you had to sit in to look through it, which was also connected to the computers for image recording.

Damion fidgeted a little as he sat in his chair. "I hope meeting with Inspector Ticcoran and these freelance detectives doesn't land Master Egad in any trouble."

"Regardless, they needs to know. Otherwise, we would be working against what could be a set vital allies against Cailus. All we can do now is explain things, and hope for the best." Gareth reassured, taking his hand into Damion's and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's going to be okay, father. You just said so yourself after making that phone call giving your resignation. All of us are anxious right now, but try not to overthink it."

Damion sighed, looking over to Gareth as he returned the gentle squeeze with his own hand. "Thanks, Gareth. I guess I just needed to hear that from someone else rather than keep telling it to myself."

Gareth nodded. A few seconds later, the door to the astronomy room opened. Stepping in was

Egad, accompanied by Mick, Symon, Anthony, Alak, Bishop, Zarch, and several new faces: A tall crocodile, slightly shorter than Galen with over-sized headphones wearing some light biker attire with a short-sleeved overcoat, a chameleon the same height as Chaosadorned in some light ninja-like garb, a raven that was slightly shorter than Jet dressed like a young rave participant, and a bulldog dressed in a blue-collar suit.

"Detectives, Inspector, please take a seat." Egad said, shutting the door behind him. The new arrivals sat down at the table, Egad joining them shortly after.

As they sat down, the crocodile recognized Damion and the Jarens. "Woah! Junior Councilor Willbringer?!"

"_Former_Junior Councilor, my good man." Damion corrected kindly, his vocal tone retaining a semblance of class and professionalism. "I am sure you have many questions, which we will gladly help our master answer."

Egad then sat down. "By now, aside from needing to know the truth about me and the residents of this castle that live with me, I assume you have found some disturbing information on my brother, Cailus Foxmoore. Information that he is not privy to share with anyone else, hidden from the public eye that puts all of you in danger?"

Victor nodded after a short pause. "You nailed it on the head, Mr. Ryan. It started a few days ago, while we were working on a contracted job for Mr. Cailus. He hired my agency to investigate the attack on Runefield Asylum. While looking over what we though was the crime scene in the lobby, I received a call from Cailus' butler back at his residence, Shadewoods Manor. The butler informed me that Cailus had to leave on a business trip, and that we would be able to stay at the manor as guests. This set off a lot of warning bells for me and my associates that day, as I... Discreetly acquired a copy of Cailus' personal schedule. How I did that I will explain later. The important thing is that Cailus didn't have any business meetings to attend to that he would need to leave for. In fact, he didn't have anything scheduled at all for the next three months. These seemed very unusual, and suspicious for our client. We did some more digging, hacking into one of Cailus' personal computer servers.We slept in the van that night, connecting to the galactic internet via a cyber cafe connection using a VPN and intergalactic proxy chain. What we found has left us greatly disturbed: Aside from having a database listing assassins, mercenaries, and guns-for-hire that takes up an entire terabyte of space, along with links to hidden departments in his weapon companies R&D labs, your brother keeps a personal audio journal that he adds to daily, uploading the entries to this database every week on Saturday. By itself, the journal is nothing more than the typical power-trip raving BS with circumstantial evidence... But combined with the info from the server, it sheds light on some very disturbing information that all points to Cailus being a very dangerous man, as well as a tyrant that is intent on taking over galactic politics using his influence in various businesses, as well as possible moles and infiltrators that he's sneaked into political positions under the radar."

Egad sighed. "I see. So Damion isn't the only one he's used to try and manipulate the political scene."

Victor raised an eye ridge. "What do you mean?"

"I'll let Mick and Symon explain." Egad said.

Symon walked up to Egad's side, getting a small, burnt and cracked computer chip out of his pocket, sealed in a transparent plastic zip lock bag. "Damion Willbringer, while under the control and influence of Cailus Foxmoore, due to this piece of cybernetic hardware, launched an attack on this castle last night, accompanied by eleven combat drones. Cailus was exerting his control and influence over Damion using this control chip, surgically implanted into Damion's arm, and grafted into his nervous system."

"Upon examination of this computer chip, we found some other interesting facts." Mick continued as Symon set the chip in the bag on the table. "This chip can send and receive commands from anywhere in a 500-light year range. Also, when it is grafted to an individual's nervous system it can use electrical impulses powered by the body's own bioelectricity to override commands from the brain, as well as send commands of its own. In other words, it turns the user into a remote-controlled marionette, fully at the mercy of the chip, and it's user. Furthermore, this chip contains hardware signatures that are copyrighted by Mirage Digital Innovations, LLC: A computer hardware and software company, along with the drones containing parts and components from Bloodcrest Industries. Both being companies that Cailus owns. I'm sure you can deduce the rest..."

Everyone looked at the chip on the table with horrified expressions.

"My god..." The chameleon whispered. "Cailus had that engineered for his personal use? Implanting it in Mr. Willbringer?"

"He's truly insane... Utterly mad!" The raven added in.

"Indeed." Egad said. "Cailus' crimes are not only limited to his indirect assault on the castle, however. Before that, he kidnapped and held me in Runefield Asylum under a false name: Terry Braveheart. Aside from that, he sent a hit squad after Mick Daniels, and hired the privateers for that missile attack on Moon City, along with many other crimes."

Ticcoran frowned. "I always had a bad feeling about Monsieur Cailus. He always rubbed me the wrong way when I had to meet with him in person for past investigations prior to these events. At this point, I would relay this information to the GCOC's investigative division and have them follow up on the matter, but with this new information coming to light, I'm not sure we can even trust anyone in the GCOC to get this information to the right people."

Victor nodded. "You got that right, Inspector. Also, since we have nowhere else to go, I guess we're all stuck here for the time being. Don't worry, we're not going to act like a bunch of freeloaders, Mr. Ryan. Me, Galileo and Ray-Ray will do our part to help out with anything we can do within reason. We also won't breathe a word of this to anyone. I planned to call Cailus in a few hours, and tell him that the Runefield case is beyond our scope and means, and that we have no choice but to drop the investigation. I'm not going to charge him, either, as that would most likely piss him off."

"Agreed. I'm staying as well." Ticcoran added in. "Luckily, I just took five months of vacation time before Victor approached me with this information. Also, if anything arises back in Moon City, I can work remotely using a dedicated galactic internet connection, as long as the connection is secure and encrypted up to GCOG standards. I brought my smart phone, laptop computer and a few tablets with me, just in case."

Egad nodded. "Very well. I will have guest quarters set up for all of you. Inspector, I will have Jet get you connected through the castle's data network and set up an encrypted VPN so you can work remotely if you need to. In the meantime, we should focus on getting the mess from the attack on the castle cleaned up. The contractors will be done with the repairs by the end of the day. Before we go back downstairs, I need to explain the truth of the castle's residents, as well as a side hobby that I take part in with other business owners..."

# # # #

After Egad explained the truth of the Phoenix Coven, as well as his pleasure slave business, the detectives and Inspector were left scratching their heads for a few moments.

"I see." Ticcoran said. "From what you have described, the Coven isn't exactly slavery by GCOG's standards. They consider slavery revolving around hard, dangerous labor with harsh treatment and bodily injury. From the legal standpoint, the Coven is a group that falls into the category of Chosen Indentured Servitude. I am glad that you treat your subjects well, and take care of them though."

"Agreed." Victor said. "To be honest and friendly, it sounds like you spoil them like nobility."

Egad nodded with a grin. "I won't argue with you on that, Victor. I am also glad you don't see the Coven as illegal, Inspector."

Both nodded, as they all stood up from the table. "Well, we had better finish the cleanup and repairs." Victor said.

With that, they all walked out of the Astronomy Room.