A rush of anxiety always followed Landis when he would enter the senate’s building. It stood proudly with its art deco aesthetics accenting its solid exterior; it stood as if it was at the heart of its city. The anxiety was made worse when he would show up in his mailman’s uniform. Despite the anxiety, he always offered to take on these special deliveries as it was another opportunity to possibly uncover more details for his ongoing investigation. As long as he avoided Chief Deputy Sunleaf. 

After a casual glance of his surroundings before feinging to scratch his underarm. His index finger tracing over the brand once again. A daily ritual he's practiced since he passed through the city bridge on his initial arrival. Always twice when he came to this particular building. He felt the air condense sharply. Eardrums popped as he felt pressure drip down around him. Inhaling reminded Landis of swallowing water while swimming. To any passersby, he just got a random chill down his spine.

It was a thin level of precaution, nothing powerful enough to be instantly noticed, but not useless. Cloaking one's presence was always a useful tool. Landis' mother struggled to accept the idea, poking holes in Landis' plan. Giants are proud, she'd say. Giants are powerful. Pure blooded Giants are noticeable was his response. He couldn't be proud if it made him a high priority target for serial killings.  

Inside was still the same with tiled walls, suspended light fixtures and stretching marbled hallways lined with evenly spaced doors. Mornings and evenings had the halls bustling with well dressed and groomed individuals with straight postures and dignified expressions. Cautiously, he passed a set of familiar stairs next to a pair of bronze elevators, making his way to the round reception desk that sat at the intersection of the entrance and two adjacent hallways. The female sitting closest to the hallway Landis made his way down, perked up and smiled at him. Doe-like eyes surrounded by white freckles spreading into her cheeks. 

“Welcome to the Senate, you lost?” she said smiling. Her desk plate read R. Temkin. 

“Ha Ha Rose, I'm not totally lost this time,” he replied clearly remembering his first time visiting this prestigous building. “Hello Durbin. Hi, Alem.” adding a quick greeting to the two others who sat behind Rose. A well toned, dull colored skin woman who looked intimidating at first glance and a round face, thin man whose hair texture reminded Landis of feathers. They each reacted upon hearing their names, offering their own half greetings. 

“You sure? Your pink cheeks say otherwise,” Rose quipped back. 

“I'm sure. I actually have to drop this off with YOU, so ha." 

The two shared a friendly chuckle as Landis reached into his messenger bag and produced three paper sized envelopes, each stamped with ‘DO NOT BEND’. Rose took them, glanced at each of their return addresses before Landis pulled out an electronic touch screen scanner. Rose took the attached stylus and wrote in her name, declaring confirmation of the delivery. 

“Have you been keeping up with the news?" Landis casually transitioning from work to small talk. "And I thought the snippets I've heard here were a lot, talk about amping up the drama."

Alem shrugged and Durbin made a so-so gesture with her hand. 

“Election season is obviously one of the more stressful aspects of working here,” Rose sounded not too bothered thankfully. “I'm sure you hear more when you volunteer since you're not chained to this desk” She made a suspiciously eager gesture towards one of the hallways.        

“Depends on the day I'm working I guess.” Eyes darting left then right, his voice softening. “Just between you and me, it does sound like there is some concern over the independent candidate running for office. Something about her pushing towards restructuring our immigration policy?”

The capitol building was a key point in the creation of the 'bridges' that connected their world to that of humans. While there are other keys that keep the connection, it acted like a powerplant for arcana to sustain it. From it the spent years building policies and check points for those entering or leaving, but if those in power, in the capitol building wish to disrupt the arcane flow, it be a chain reaction for the other keys. 

Rose tentatively copied Landis, looking at her surroundings. 

“That's not all,” she looked again. “I've heard that she's wanting to restrict immigration between the human and inhuman realms. Potentially for good.” 

Landis’ brows furrowed. That agenda didn’t make sense. The candidate, Maria Florence, wasn't she a proud half elf? Wouldn’t that cut her off from part of life? Landis guessed he could sort of see the need for a stronger defense force, more advanced government golems patrolling the system could stop the more serious crimes, even if their expressionless doll faces gave him the creeps.

“Its almost alarming to say the least.” Rose continued. “I tried to find out more, but you know how difficult it can be when you're chained to a desk.” she defeatedly shrugged her shoulders. "Guess we'll hear about it when its public knowledge." 

Only knowing a fraction of one side of a, possibly more than, two part story wasn't very helpful. It frustrated Landis trying to put the pieces to an incomplete puzzle together in secret. The serial killings of inhuman citizens that brought him to the city was his priority, but with still so little findings thanks to his low profile, the thought of it having a larger impact on geographical conditions could be a possibility.  Doubling his efforts on his next volunteer shift was his best move at the moment. He added another mental pin to his mental conspiracy board. 

The two's conversation was joined by the sound of pointed heeled shoes, reverberating across the marble floors. Making himself seem like he was just finishing up with the delivery by adjusting his bag and putting away the scanner, he silently watched a posh looking individual strut down the hallway towards the reception area. Sharp and angled heels from their gray shoes matched with their charcoal two piece suit. Tailored fit, fair skin and deep black hair tied into a bun that shined a rich midnight blue under the hanging lights. Rose adjusted her blouse before taking her seat again. Another less put together figure was bringing up the rear, trying to keep up with the powerful steps of the posh individual. 

"Mx. Irion, just a moment please." 

Landis' eyebrows peaked with interest as he looked towards Rose, silently asking a question. Mx. Irion had stopped and nodded as they were handed a folder and the two exchanged a final round of pleasantries before heading in separate ways. Mx. Irion approached the reception desk to remove a visitor badge from their label, handing it to Durbin. Landis couldn't help but watch as they walked towards the hallway he used to come into the building. Mx. Irion had carefully painted eyes that matched their nails with matching silver rings on both their middle fingers that added to their alluring nature. His staring was noticed, Landis gave a goofy smile which was returned with a delicate one from Mx. Irion. Landis couldn't tell if he was blushing or not. 

Once Mx. Irion was down the hall just enough, Rose answered Landis' question. 

"They're the latest on Maria's election campaign and one of her wealthiest supporters, I'm not entirely sure of their whole story, but" Rose shook her head. "they're able to donate several thousands for each donation. I've never even talked to them long enough to find out more, but they're quickly making a name for themselves around here."

When Landis volunteered, he was as a floater, helping in multiple departments from administration, environmental, security and occasionally for election candidates. The initial plan was to be neutral and offer his help to anyone who needed assistance, but in this environment, he found it difficult to ignore certain beliefs. Landis held nothing against Maria Florence, who he met very briefly when he first started, but her ideals didn't seem to align with his. Hearing that she now had a seemingly bottomless well of financial support worried him. Rose could see it as his jawline tensed leaving them in an uncomfortable pause to their conversation. 

"I should get going." He added quickly. "Appreciate the quality time as always friends." Landis offering them all a bright smile and a hearty wave which was returned with the same energy from Rose. He was happy with just the waves from Durbin and Alem. 

~

Outside, Landis sat in the driver seat of his mail truck and let his mind settle with this new information. It wasn't much, but it was something he could look into. He took a pen and some scratch paper from his bag and wrote down the name Irion to look into later. A chill ran down his back, restoring his attention to the current moment. He casually acted as though nothing was wrong before putting on his seat belt and starting the truck. Noticing a pair of similarly dressed bystanders engrossed in a conversation outside of their parked car in his side mirror. They had been there since he arrived. 

Taking onto the road, Landis headed towards the street to redirect himself onto his normal route. The rest of the city was still waking up which made his drive smooth for his first three stops. On the fourth, a set of sewn-together townhouses, something caught his attention. It was a particular scent in the air, pungent and out of place: an sour rust-like corroding metal. Landis knew the smell of magic. This was rotted with ill intentions. Using the charade of locking his bag in the truck, Landis traced the symbol for the rune stone into his palm: a pair of identical shapes resembling the letter E, one inverted, and their insides facing the other. Landis could feel his body adjust to the change, his perception of his surroundings doubling as his pupils thinned into slits and his ears curved, slanting downwards. 

Following his heightened insight, making his way down the sidewalk, head lowered to not draw too much suspicion. The rot was past foul smelling, it was becoming poisonous as the magic's presence doubled then tripled. Landis felt his feet slow as he approached an alley between a set of townhomes. His eyes threatening to water and his skin felt a rush of muggy humidity envelope him. Landis took a breath and peered around the corner. 

He reacted quickly as a body rushed at him, short, white haired and wearing what looked like a uniform. Leaning out of the way, Landis watched them run out of sight, not sparing a glance to look back. His ears picked up an adrenaline-filled heart beat trailing behind them. He turned and stared down the alley again, his vision picking out a standoff between two uniformed government dolls and three roughed up looking men. A fourth off the side, laying limp. The source of the rotting smell was coming off from the one farthest from him, it looked as if he was ready to fight. Landis watched the dolls jolt forward, their movements methodic, but their bodies not giving off any tell. One of the men launched an arrow head shaped bolt of flame, sparkling like a firework, that was easily dodged. The doll's hand clamped around the man's hand, intertwining their fingers together before sharply twisting its wrist, sending the man's scream into Landis' ears as his fingers were broken. 

The second doll had the other man against the wall, forearm pinning his neck, who unleashed a flurry blast of ice against the doll's torso. Landis blinked and the third man was suddenly behind the doll, wrapping his arms arms around the frozen midsection, centering a burst of lightning against them. The doll's expressionless head snapping 180 degrees to face the third man. Through the light Landis could see smears of red around the corner of the man's lips as he took the blast head-on, burning the front of his clothing in the process. The doll's torso made a metallic popping sound as its left side cracked open and began spilling an inky black substance, filling Landis' nose with the artifical scent of sweetened gasoline. 

The first doll wasted no time to react, retracting its hand from the broken fingers, gripping the man's forearm and pulled, dislocating it from his shoulder. The man fell backwards as the doll ran towards the third man, grasping his head, hands covering his ears as a visible pulse of air rippled through the air incapacitating the man. The second doll finally letting go of its captive, a necklace of dark purple around their neck. The two assessed the surroundings before their attention turned towards the fourth who made no movements throughout the encounter. 

"That's enough!" Landis stood clearly in the alley. "They're done resisting!"

The closest doll straightened up, its crest brandished clearly, an open hand with a sword place diagonally across the palm. They raised their own hands to show their empty hands towards Landis as a voice spoke in his head. 

"Please stay where you are and await questioning. The situation has been handled." 

A rather disingenuous and scripted response.

"Will you be taking them to a hospital at least?" Landis tried to keep his words calm. "Its the least you can do."

"They will be taken into custody and properly handled. Please stay back, this is still an active crime scene. Reinforcements will be arriving shortly."

Landis wasn't paying full attention, it wasn't worth probing for information when everything felt so fake when interacting with these golems. His altered eyes were scanning the scene in its entirety, taking in the downed men, finding nothing immediately alarming besides injuries, tattoos and some matching jewelry. As the dolls leaned the three men against the wall, Landis went to stare at the fourth. Its body was much smaller than the other three, almost halfling like: round wide ears, neat tuffs of blond hair on his hands matching the once neatly combed hair and dressed as if they were headed off to work. Sitting in a still wet puddle of fresh blood. A disfigured opened wound in their throat. 

A wound that had been teared open by something rigid and sharp, almost teeth like.