Oh! The Grandeur! (Team Search et. al.)

[Ezikeel]

Thorough Search, Midnight City's top private eye.

Or, at least that's how he liked to think of himself.
Sure, there was that Problem Sleuth guy, but they worked in completely different circles and rarely stepped on one another's toes. Maybe this Sleuth fella was as good as Search. Maybe even better. But Skaia knows he was not anywhere near as Thorough.

On this night, though, he certainly felt like the best. It was perfect.
There had been a crime committed. A nearly perfect crime. It'd been weeks and the police detectives hadn't turned up a speck of a clue. They finally released the case into the public sector and almost as soon as Search decided he was going to pick it up, he got a phone call. The caller was anonymous, but they had information he'd not heard floating around anywhere before. It was too well-formed, too precise, too perfectly detailed to be falsified. At least not completely. He'd met many a liar before in his life, and he'd been fooled a time or two, but, if anything, Thorough Search was a man who learned from his mistakes. He'd trained himself to look and listen for tells, little quirks and tics that would give away a lie, and this anonymous caller didn't show a single one.

If this tip were true, and he was nearly sure it was, then it'd be the scoop of the century. If he solved this case he'd have people lined up around the block waiting to get on his list. He'd never have to scrounge for change to buy snacks at the gas station again.

The old theater.
It had once been Midnight City's most happening attraction, but since movies came into the mainstream hardly anyone wanted to go see the plays anymore. Nowadays, the place was all boarded up. But there had been rumors...
Some nights, you could see lights on in the upstairs, around the balconies. Occasionally shadows would pass by the windows. It had been said that the place was haunted.
But now Search knew better.

He leaned his head out the window, looking down over the nearly vacant city street. The moons were out in full tonight, bathing everything in ephemeral light. He grinned, feeling more confident, more sure of himself than he had in months. This was going to be his big break, and he was going to make sure his friends were there to see it happen. They'd be sure to put every detail down in their reports.

He swung himself into his desk chair, rolling over to the phone. As he dialed, he tapped a merry tune on the tabletop, singing under his voice.

"Piece by piece, and nail by nail, it'll all come down someday before the fires of hell..."
The phone rang twice, and Search groaned as Slander Detector's newfangled answering machine picked up, playing his stupid recorded message.

"Thanks fer callin' Slander Detector! If yer callin' to leave a tip, leave yer name an' number at the beep. If yer callin' to sell somethin', we don't want any."

"Goddamnit Slander Detector, pick up the damned phone! I know you're there!"
He continued to rant in a similar vein for about a minute, before finally deciding the windbag wasn't in after all. He slammed the phone back onto the receiver so he could dial again. He wondered aloud to himself why he didn't think to call Daily Inquirer first. At least Daily could be counted on to answer the phone.
One ring... Two...
"Yooooou've reached Daily Inquirer! How can I help you this evening, sir or madam?"

"DAILY!" He nearly shouted into the phone. He heard a loud rustling which he could only assume was Daily Inquirer nearly dropping his receiver. "Daily, have I ever got the biggest scoop for you...."
- - - - - - - - - -

MEANWHILE....


Tragic Character draped himself across his piano bench, one hand laid, palm up, on his forehead.
"Well..." he sighed, "I suppose our little heist went all according to plan. Weeks, now, with no news whatsoever. No... sensationalism. No... drama. I suppose I should be happy. After all, with all of this money, we can easily open the theater again."
A phantom of a smile crossed his lips at the thought, but quickly disappeared again.

"But... even if we do, no one will come. It will be just like before. All the planning. All the training. All the painting, building, costuming, singing and dancing and sweat and blood...! All for naught."
He allowed his hand to fall limply, swinging over the edge of the bench. His head lolled to the side, his uncovered eye staring morosely across the hall to his companion.

"Why should anyone come to our theater, when there's no... drama! No scandal!"
He swung suddenly to his feet, pacing back and forth across the floor in a fit of artistic frustration, gesturing wildly.

"There's no gossip! No hearsay! No opprobrium! No rumor! What good is a theater with no story, I ask you!"

[THISLOSERHERE]

Hit Comedian cackled in glee.

"Don't you see? We need a tragedy!!" he practically sang as he danced along the cat walk. "We are the phantoms in this theater and it is by our unseen hands that we need to GUIDE our wondrous stories to completion. The world is our stage and its inhabitants our thespians!"

He reached out and took a rope in his hand, using it to slide to the stage below. "Let us make our stories a reality before perfecting them upon our stage! There will be Romance! Tragedy! Action! Comedy!!"

He came closer to the bench that cradled his companion, every step as energetic and airy as some complicated dance with the surrounding shadows that only the dark carapace seemed to know. "When there is nothing, we shape it ourselves, we are artists don't you see, character? We mold that around us into what we want" He smiled, wide, dangerous and sharp, his teeth pointed wickedly as they shined in the light of the stage.

"Our Stage is ready and waiting for us, my compatriot. All it awaits is our sweet whisper of-" Here the Dersite leaned in close to his Prospitain companion to whisper "Action"

[Ezikeel]

"Oh, my dear Comedian... You always know just what to say to cheer me up. What ever would I do without you?" Tragic Character gave his first real smile of the evening, running his claws along the dark shell of his compatriot's face. "And, you know, I think I know just where to begin..."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Having finally gotten ahold of their friend, and having come to the consensus that they all needed to go and get the facts together, the trio of truth-seekers arrived at the old theater in what used to be a nice part of town. Now, everything around there was boarded up and falling apart. One would think that it was abandoned, but there were telltale signs of life, here and there. And that was saying nothing about the way the whole place felt... not haunted, exactly. But something like it. There were definitely unsettled spirits there, to say the least.

"Uhm, Search? Maybe we should go home after all... Let the cops take this one, yanno?"

"Are you kidding me, Daily?! The cops already failed! The tipster came to ME to solve this case, and I'm sure as hell not giving it up because you're afraid of a ghost or two! We could be famous! Just imagine!"

"Yeah... I guess so- wait whatdidyousayaboutghosts?"

"Aw, shaddup, Daily, and come on!" Slanded Deterctor said, grabbing Daily's hand and leading the way through a door that was all but falling off it's hinges. Search brought up the rear, casting a nervous glance behind him.

[THISLOSERHERE]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, Two police officers were responding to a tip about trespassers. The larger man was checking doors and boards, trying to find a way inside, while the smaller man stood back and watched with a raised brow.

"Are you sure there's even a way to get in Bull? It looks pretty abandoned to me" the smaller man stated, crossing his arms.

"And this is why you're jus' tha rookie, Cadet" Bull growled, yanking a whole set of planks off a doorway with ease. They had only been lightly put on to give the appearance of being completely boarded. Torpedo Bull turned to grin harshly at his partner. "Now get yer smart ass in there"

Plucky Cadet rolled his eyes and walked past him into the building, not even pausing as he pulled his badge from his pocket and glitched it into his gun. "If you wanted to use your partner as a shield, maybe you should have picked a bigger rookie" Cadet stated.

"Yer snark is distracting enough ya brat" Bull replied as he followed Cadet, drawing and glitching his own gun. "A'sides yer the only Rookie that was quick enough to get outta my way and not get bowled over.

"How sweet of you." Cadet replied dryly.

Bull let out a boisterous laugh as they ventured farther into the building.

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