The rain came down like nails being pounded into a board. It didn't always rain like this on the air planet, but it fit the news he had received earlier that day. Woke him up at four in the morning. They wouldn't go into details, but the crime was clear: murder. More than one. It wouldn't be right if the sun was blazing and the air was sweet. If it wasn't in the middle of winter, even on this ball of hydrogen and oxygen, it probably would have been. Rodney wouldn't have liked that, so for once he was glad for the cold and rain.

He turned the collar of his coat up as he stepped out of his car. Rodney stood looking up at the steps to the station, and listened as the passenger door to the car slid open. The large reptilian creature he called his friend jumped out onto the white pavement, claws scrapping the ground as the four-legged snarl-box darted around the car and looked at Rodney.

The door to the car slowly closed on its own, and the vehicle itself, which had been hovering slightly above the white pavement, sank to the ground. It emitted a sigh that almost sounded human as it powered down and locked up. Rodney observed the rest of the parking lot. They were not the only ones here, but it was still too abandoned for his liking.

Rodney turned to his friend, who even though was cold-blooded, didn't seem to mind the sudden leap into the cold. Rain poured down the creatures black scales, a makeshift curtain of water that enveloped the ground at its feet. The creature was about as tall as Rodney. Its shoulder came up to Rodney's elbow, and the beast could almost stare Rodney straight in the eyes. The creature was very intimidating, and Rodney liked that. It was nice to have a partner that was more intimidating than he was. Rodney wasn't a very impressive man, average height, dark hair, and a perpetual scowl were his defining characteristics.

"A bit foreboding," The creature hissed, its voice more slithery and small than the creature looked. A distinctly feminine tone. Most were surprised when they noticed the big brute was actually a dainty lady, on the inside. "It's not gonna be a good one." Finished the Vogar, Rodney's partner and friend. Her name was Morcant. She was far more intelligent than people thought. Rodney silently agreed, and turned toward the steps. Even then it took a few breaths to convince himself to go inside. Why did they choose him, of all people? Sure, he was a detective. But personally, he believed they had better choices. His main investigatory jobs involved finding out which Creatu trespassed into someone’s yard and ran off with all of their kibble.

The rain hissing down didn't have a negative effect on the stark white building, in fact the glossy sheen of the water almost enhanced its ethereal looks. The gold plated sign on the outside of the building almost glowed as the light from the street lamps reflected off of a hundred little water droplets. Rodney looked up briefly at the brilliant display on the gold letters above the entrance to the station. "Loyna Police Department" had never looked as good.

But it was still freezing outside. He quickly mounted the steps and opened one of the large swinging doors, the hum of rain slightly muffled as he stepped into the sheltered area under the eaves. Morcant took the steps two at a time, and was through the door and pressing the automatic door button for the inner doors with her snout before the other door slowly swung shut behind Rodney. The detective dusted his coat off and nodded his thanks at his reptilian friend, who snorted and shook rain from her head.

Loyna Police Department was almost as cold as the icy rain outside. Rodney hissed in irritation as he flipped his collar back down and rubbed his neck, flicking rain water onto the floor. Whose idea had it been to turn the heat off at night? He felt bad for the guys who had to work overtime. The LPD opened to a large entrance hall, which had always been way to fancy for Rodney's taste, and just behind the statue of Loyna in the center of the room was the reception desk.

The desk was empty, and this bugged Rodney almost as much as how cold it was in the building. Linda was usually sitting here, no matter what the time. He missed her morning greeting. He also missed the hum of the heater, and had no choice but to listen to only the click and clack of Morcant's claws on the slick marble floor.

There were a few doors by the reception desk, and he went through the one labeled Offices 100-130. He didn't want to go straight to the Chiefs office, and found himself rubbing his hands and heading for the break room, so he could get himself a cup of coffee. It wasn't really a break room, it was more like a break corner. It was a wedge in the wall, at the far corner of the hallway, which was behind the smaller, office reception desk at the end of the room.

All of the desks lining the walls of the room were mostly empty, and most were cluttered. There were a few other early risers here, and Rodney waved a hand at them. As he passed his desk Morcant looked at it forlornly. There was a forgotten coat hanging on Rodney's chair. She wouldn't mind having that thrown on her back. It really was too cold in here. But she'd suffer through it. Just as she'd suffer through the incoming tiny and rather annoying creature that skittered over desks and leapt off chairs to reach her.

It was a yellow and purple ball of fur that skidded across Rodney's desk and landed with a little pitter-pat onto Morcant's shoulder. Nose twitching wildly the creature crawled up to perch on her head. "Hello Morry!" And the voice that came out of the creature wasn't as squeaky as one would think. It was a small voice, but it lacked the shrillness attributed to most Chimby. Suppressing a sigh, Morcant rolled her eyes upward to try and peek at the blonde Chimby lounging on her head. "Good morning, Johnette."

"Did you hear? Something very bad happened. Can you imagine, on Scria? Something like that. . ." Johnette the Chimby sighed, and her little ears drooped. Rodney looked over at them, a frown camped out on his face. A frown was usually the expression occupying his features, but an added line on his forehead said that this was a frown of the more worried variety, rather than general irritation. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee. It was fresh and warm, and just the smell of it was enough to brighten him up a little bit. Linda must be around here somewhere. She was usually the first to brew the coffee. For such a fancy building, they lacked a fancy espresso machine. But that was okay. Rodney didn't mind.  
 
"We heard," Said Rodney, hands wrapped around his white coffee mug. "We're going to speak with the Chief about it," Morcant continued for him. "That is, when he gets here."

For a moment they all stood silently listening. It seemed like the opportune time for the man to come busting through the doors, causing a ruckus. But the station remained silent. Breathing a sigh of what might have been relief, Rodney wandered back to his desk, pausing outside the Chiefs office to peek inside. No, he was not in yet. And yet he had been the one to call them in on an emergency. Rodney sat down heavily at his desk, and sipped his coffee.

There was a stack of unfinished paperwork there, and not much else. A computer, some basic office supplies, and a picture of him and Morcant standing grimly outside the LPD were the only other items on the desk. He leaned back in his armless swivel chair and looked at Morcant and Johnette as the big reptilian beast walked up. "Where's Donovan, Johnny?" He asked the Chimby, after looking around at the desks around him and not spotting the tall, bespectacled woman.

Nose twitching, Johnette scampered off of Morcant's head and went to stand on the desk near Rodney's elbow. "Something's wrong with the heater." Johnette explained, "She went to go take a look." And without asking, she stuck her whiskered nose into Rodney's coffee mug. "Hmm." He patiently waited Johnny to get her nose out of his cup before taking another sip. Rodney didn't believe Donovan was going to be any help with the heater, but miracles had happened before.

Morcant was looking expectantly at the door to the office, waiting for the appearance of their boss. "Hopefully Faris can fix it," She said, nose wrinkling in a snarl. "It's too cold in here." She turned and went to sit on the gigantic yellow pillow beside Rodney's office chair. It was even too cold for a warm-blooded person in here, so Rodney could understand her discomfort. Without a second thought he removed his coat from the back of the chair and draped it over her. With a grateful growl Morcant stuck her nose under her paws and closed her eyes. Rodney steepled his fingers together and sat hunched over his desk, thinking about why they were called in.

There was only one reason why he and Morcant would be called in. It wasn't a human who murdered the people on Scrora Cloud. It was a Creatu. That was their specialty, investigating non-human acts of crime. The line got a little fuzzy when it was a creature killing a human. It probably meant Ms. Donovan and Mr. Lacey would be working with him, too. Homicide detectives. Rodney didn't really like the idea, but he'd manage. Donovan wasn't the one that bothered him, but Lacey. . . well, let's just say Lacey was one of the ones that were not very supportive of Creatu Rights.

He had planned on thinking about the case, but instead he was growing increasingly more angry as he thought about all of the remarks and bad comments Lacey had said to Morcant on other occasions when they were forced to work together. One of these days, he was going to punch that guy right in the—

The power went out. A few people jumped, and someone shrieked. It was hard to tell if the shrieker was a man or a woman. Rodney half stood in alarm, but before he could properly react the lights came back on. There were a few sighs of relief, and the quiet office suddenly came alive with chatter. "What was that?", "Why'd the power go out?" Johnette had launched herself at Rodney, and was currently clinging to the front of his shirt. He pried the little rodent creature off and set her on his shoulder. Morcant was the only one who didn't seem surprised at the power outage. "It's Donovan fuddling around down there in the basement." Explained the Vogar with absolute certainty.

"Probably got desperate and just started flipping switches." Morcant muttered, and dug her nose into her paws again. The chatter of the room was subdued by the sudden roar of air powering through ducts. Apparently Donovan finally found the switch for the heater. It probably took someone pointing her in the direction of the actual heater. There were a few cheers, and a round of applause. Rodney shook his head, but had a small half smile on his face anyway.

The door to the office swung open and standing in the doorway was David Faris, the Chief of Police. Immediately the room went silent, and everyone suddenly got very interested in their desks and paperwork. Standing behind Faris were Emily Donovan and Christian Lacey. Donovan was looking a little apologetic. Rodney assumed the chief had gone down there to turn the heat on himself, as he usually did, and found her stumbling around like a fool.

After throwing a disapproving look around the office, Faris stomped his way down the aisle of desks. "Blaise, meeting in my office!" Said the stocky, angry man as he barreled passed. As if he needed to remind him they had a meeting, when he was the one that was late. Johnette jumped from Rodeny's shoulder onto Emily Donovan's, and the woman nodded her thank you to Rodney for watching Johnny as she hastily followed the boss. It was only when she passed when Rodney Blaise noticed the smirk on the punchable face of Christian Lacey.

He was sure Lacey had some comment about how he had always been right and “I told you so.”. Something about how Creatu were raving, mad animals with no sense in their heads. Rodney would have none of it though, and didn't even grace him with a scowl. Rodney ignored him as he followed Donovan to the chiefs office. Morcant, however, leveled Lacey with a stare. It wasn't a mean one, but she knew he didn't like it. Probably had something to do with the fact that she could stare him in the eyes without craning her neck. Lacey was probably the shortest person in the department besides Linda.

Rodney was standing in the doorway to the chiefs office, and he gestured at Morcant. "Hurry up!" the gesture said. Morcant snorted, and headed for the door. An unpleasant sneer had replaced Lacey's smirk, and he skulked towards the door. As the door shut behind him, the once quiet office bubbled to life again. What they were whispering about was most likely what they were going to be going over in the meeting.

The murders on Scrora Cloud.

Faris sat down in his large plush office chair and stared at the three detectives over his desk. Silently he put his hands together, and rested his hand on them. Usually the big man cut straight to the chase. Donovan and Lacey exchanged a glance, and then they took the only two chairs in front of Faris's desk. Rodney remained standing, and it was for the better. He didn't think he would be able to take this news sitting anyway.

It was odd that they were in his office and not the actual meeting room.Shouldn't this be knowledge the rest of the department should hear about? There was probably a good reason for this secrecy, as Creatu crimes were always a touchy subject, but not having the rest of the LPD involved made him nervous. This one must be particularly bad. "There have been three deaths." The chief began, and his eyes lingered for a moment on Rodney's. "Acid burns."

Rodney sighed under his breath. It didn't need saying, but he said it anyway. "Wyrae." He had been appalled when he heard about the new potion that had been going around. He thought they had finally banned all morphing potions. When Faheem finally stopped making them, Rodney had been more than relieved. But that kid, Kafee or whatever, just had to go and meddle with the balance of things again.

It's not that he thought Wyrae were unnatural, but the thought of owners forcing their pets to drink the stuff until they got the pet they desired. . . it put a sour feeling in his gut. But what could they do, argue with a planet Guardian? No sir! They could only advise people to not over use morphing potions. “I knew those disgusting abominations would be the first to murder someone.” Lacey spat, sitting up in his chair and looking livid. People dying was no light matter, but Rodney had to wonder why Lacey took Cratu attacks so personally.

“Are we sure it was done on purpose? It's common knowledge that when first changed Wyrae have trouble controlling th—“

Lacey turned to Rodney, perfect teeth bared in a sneer. “Oh, are we supposed to believe this thing accidentally killed three people? They wouldn't have called us in if we were working on a hunch!”

Rodney was about to retort, but Faris cleared his throat quite pointedly. So he had to settle with returning Lacey's glare.

Morcant ignored their interruption, and voiced the thought she had the moment she heard about the murders. “It must have been acting on the order of an owner. Correct, Chief?” Sometimes Morcant was the only one who acted like a civilized professional when it came to meetings. Rodney was relieved to have her as a partner.

Faris nodded slowly. “That is what we believe. However, we're having difficulty tracking down all the Wyrae in the area. So many have popped up in the past few months, and we'll be lucky if even half of them are registered. But we do have a list at the moment, you are going to work up from there. The five of you better be on Scrora Cloud and confirming with the rest of the team at the crime scene or you can consider yourselves demoted to Gondola duty.”

Lacey appeared to be a little embarrassed at his earlier outburst, and cooly tweaked his tie. He had a feeling he was missing something very important about this meeting. It dawned on him, and he wondered why it had not been so obvious before. “Wait, isn't Scrora out of our jurisdiction?”

With a curt nod Faris cleared his throat. “They personally requested our assistance. ” Faris handed Lacey a folder and watched as the team turned to leave. “One more thing. This needs to be kept quiet. If one of you even breathes on a reporter. . .” They didn't need to be told twice.


A half an hour later the five were sitting on a gondola half way to Scrora Cloud. Rodney had wanted to drive, but Lacey had started whining about the environment and gasses in the atmosphere that he had relented just to make him shut up. He was also quite certain his car ran on magic, so he wasn't sure Christian Lacey's argument held any actual meaning. The man sure loved getting his way though. Sitting on the gondola, staring at Lacey's smug face, Rodney could understand how someone could ask their Creatu to murder someone for them. Morcant would probably slap him across the face with her tail if he ever even joked at the suggestion, though.

The rain had not let up at all since morning, and rain thundered on the roof of the gondola with a persistence that was baffling. If it went on any longer, Rodney was sure the rain would find a way to pierce through the roof and onto their heads. He shivered and pulled the collar of his coat up. His car had heating, he thought bitterly as he stared out into the gray sky. Donovan had been silent during the meeting, but now was speaking animatedly with Lacey about past Creatu crimes. There were very few records of a Creatu purposely killing a human. And even fewer of an owner convincing a Creatu to murder for them. Perhaps that was just because they had all been listed as accidents before. The people on the four planets didn't like to think about things like that.

“I'm surprised it was a Wyrae! I've met a few, they're actually very gentle despite their appearance. I could understand a Berrok attack or an incident with a Mutant, but never a Wyrae.” Donovan said, holding Johnette in her arms as she stared at Lacey, who was sitting beside her. “Really, a Wyrae makes the most sense. What better Creatu to use? The only evidence is a corrosive acid. Not much to work with.” Lacey hummed, in his simpering annoying voice.

Rodney let them drone on in the background. He was thinking about the Creatu responsible. Was it really the act of an owners whim? Did it feel remorse? And what where the royals thinking about this? This was supposed to be the most peaceful planet. He was really dreading having to interrogate Wyrae owners. They sometimes got a little defensive over the Random Morphing Potion use. And Donovan didn't like the human part of investigating. Give her the facts and evidence, and she's golden. Lacey's favorite part was questioning people. Probably because he loved to hear himself talk. But you couldn't let Lacey lead.

Once he made up his mind about something, getting him to change it was nearly impossible. He usually ended up upsetting witnesses and angering a lot of people. So did Rodney, but he already had a bit of a reputation for that. Besides, he looked like the kind of guy who would be a bit harsher and uncouth. The thing about Lacey was that he was lacy. His name suited him. He was too clean and he always smelled like expensive soaps and lotions. It was nauseating and far to distracting.  He was small, had wispy honey blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Lacey looked soft, which was why some of the things that came out of his mouth sometimes caught people off guard. Maybe that's why he got where he was today. Donovan would use fancy words to describe him like “elegant” or “courteous”.

But there was something calculated about how he presented himself. It was more than pretentious. The man was too perfect, for the lack of a better word, and Rodney found it unsettling. Morcant had once asked him if it was because he was jealous. That wasn't the case. But he could not honestly say he was not jealous. Maybe he was, just a little bit. Being average, dark haired and ugly himself. It didn't bother him half as much as it bothered other people.

Emily Donovan was real. Maybe that's why he liked her more, even if the reason he liked her more was because she was every bit not Lacey. Donovan was quiet, open minded and perpetually nice. She wore her dark red hair in a practical bob and almost never wore smelly perfumes. Or make up, for that matter, which Lacey probably did wear. Ms. Donovan was one of those people that was smart, but acted dumb 80% of the time. Rodney was still trying to decide if her moments of stupidity were real or ruse.

Or maybe it was just that she really honestly did not understand technology. He didn't think Atquati was very techno friendly, but he had only been there a few times and didn't really pay attention to what happened there, so he couldn't say for certain. Out of the three humans, Lacey was the only one that was actually from Scria. Rodney was a Reiflem native, but he had moved to Scria a few years ago. He considered it one of the better decisions he had made in his life.

Morcant had been happy about the change as well, even if Scria was sometimes a little too cold. And unlike Rodney who tuned out his unwilling partners, Morcant was paying close attention to what they were saying. Of course, Lacey could not hold a civilized conversation with a Creatu so he periodically had to be an unsavory person. “Don't Vogar have the highest documented attacks on humans?” He asked, in an offhanded tone that was betrayed by his smirk. Morcant lifted her lips in a sneering grin. “That would be Chimby, actually.” She hissed, eyes looking upward at the Chimby lolling on her head. Johnette's whiskers twitched, and she managed to somehow look embarrassed. “We, uh, bite a lot.” She explained.

“Hmm.” Lacey turned his icy stare on Rodney, but was ignored. Rodney was not going to take the bait and start a fight with that obnoxious jerk. The investigation had not even started yet. If he let him get under his skin now they'd be helpless in getting anything done. Besides, they were almost there. He wouldn't have to suffer through being in a closed off space with him much longer. Lacey went back to reading the file Faris had given him, and Donovan and Morcant continued discussing Creatu crimes.

After a moments pause Rodney turned to Lacey. “So where are we going?” It was pretty important to know where they were going. Or at least show some interest in the case thus-far. At least when the case was concerned Lacey could be civil. “Not quite near the palace, but they were found in an alley behind one of those new condos. You know, the ones that rotate? A Drindian who happened to be flying by early last night heard screaming. When he went to investigate, he found the bodies. Apparently the perp had already high-tailed it, but the Drindian claims to have seen something fleeing the seen. I've got the address. We can get the details after we've looked at the crime scene.”

Fair enough. He was worried that with all of the rain some of the evidence might have been washed away, but those condos were so close together on the clouds it was almost impossible for rain to get through. And Scrora Cloud loved using their weather protection technologies. They'd managed to even lessen the strength of the winds there. Clearer skies was something to look forward too, and Morcant looked out the gondola window expectantly. “Do we have a list of RMP dealers in the area?” Rodney asked, rubbing his hands calmly together.

“Yes. And we have the okay to look at their Merchant records if they refuse to be cooperative in this investigation.” Lacey said, and handed the folder to Rodney. Rodney sifted through the files without really looking at them. They didn't have much yet. But full clearance, huh? That didn't always happen. The royals must no about it then, to give them the okay to look into personal business records without a warrant. Scria was pretty particular about privacy. Rodney wondered if a moment if they had not been told something as he handed the folder back to Lacey. Before he could ask for his teams opinion, the gondola came to a stop, and a soft, pleasant voice flooded the room.

“Welcome to Scrora Cloud.”