Adam peered through his scope, scrutinizing Figaro’s concert hall from across the street. The building was quite an impressive display, Adam chuckled to himself, impressively gaudy that is. The oval structure was surrounded by colossal columns that held up its monstrous roof. The ivory white stone of the edifice contrasted starkly with the garden of crimson poppies that surrounded it. It was like a trickle of milk poured into a mug of blood.

Adam looked to his own surroundings. The shabby little office he was in paled in comparison. The concert hall was lined at the top with thin windows, a chance for a mocking glance to the peasantry left outside its brilliance. It was fitting such a patronizing feature would be the cause of Figaro’s bloody death. From this vantage point, he could see most of the interior besides the actual stage. He would need to go up another few floors to get the full view.

There was a low chime as the computer behind him finished its task. Adam turned to read its dialogue box.

FOOTAGE BACKLOG DELETED

Press Reinstate to Reactivate all Connected Cameras

“Perfect. Thanks for your help buddy,” said Adam patting the corpse’s shoulder. The body of the security officer was still sitting in his desk chair. Adam pulled out the combat knife that was still jutting out of the cadaver’s neck. Some of the officer’s warm blood trickled onto Adam’s fingers as he pulled out the steel.

“Ewww,” he said wiping his dirty hands on the poor bastard’s blue uniform.

Adam looked back to his scope. Traffic had begun to get bad on the street and the usual city crowd had begun their routines however that wasn’t what had caught his eye. A black SUV had pulled into the concert halls parking lot and stopped. Two men stepped out of the car. One was a man with dark skin and a black t-shirt that was stretched tightly across his muscle ridden chest. The other was lean, with pale skin and wore a large fur-lined coat.

Detectives Grey and Caliban.

Adam smiled as he decapitated a gummy bear with his teeth. “Took you guys long enough.” He stood and flung the sniper onto his back by its strap. Adam took the security officer’s peaked cap and placed it on his head. As he headed out of the office and towards the elevator he clicked on his music, “Time to do some chores.”

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“It’s cold as shit,” said Grey rubbing his large arms.

Caliban stripped off his fur coat and handed it to Grey absentmindedly, as he looked towards the office building across the street. The overcast sun gleamed off the structures plate glass side.

“Won’t you be cold?”

Caliban churned through his thoughts. The air felt heavy and dark. He did not feel good about this, something was off, very off. It was as if the universe was screaming at him. Telling him to run, to run as far away as he could. Maybe he was just nervous.

“Hey! Cal!”

Grey’s voice pulled Caliban back into reality.

“What?”

“Are you alright?” said Grey with concern in his eyes.

“Yeah…” said Caliban with a cautious tone, “Let’s go.”

The two detectives headed towards the massive concert hall. Figaro’s last safe haven.

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Sinclair stepped out onto the main stage. All of the lights were on him and he could see nothing of the auditorium. Sinclair’s pocket vibrated so he pulled out his phone. Of course, it was from Adam.

“Detectives here. Good luck! ;P”

He put his phone back. So, they finally caught up. Samuel pointed his gun to his left, aiming at the darkness as light footsteps clicked against the wooden floor.

“Good day Samuel. It took you some time to find me didn’t it?”

A man stepped into the stage light.

“It was only a matter of time, Figaro.”

The man grinned. He was well kept and dressed in a custom black suit. He had black hair that came down to his jawline and a tightly shaven beard. Sun-shaded skin surrounded black eyes that carved their way over Sinclair’s form.

“You had so many monikers to choose from,” said Figaro putting up his hand as if showing off a beautiful prize, “You could’ve called me the man of shadow, the conductor of angels, the composer of passion, the envoy of ecstasy, Cambion of the Night,” Figaro looked back to Sinclair with a malicious smile, “Even Cicero.” Figaro’s smile faded, “And yet you ruin my climax with the most boring of them all. Figaro.”

Sinclair clicked back the hammer of his gun, “You are running my patience thin. Give me what I want or you are as useless as the other 16.”

“The girl? That’s what you are after am I right?” Figaro ran his fingers through his black hair, “Do you know how I got to where I am today Samuel?”

Sinclair said nothing.

“By learning one simple rule,” Figaro raised both of his hands into the air, and the lights to the auditorium turned on, “Always make yourself indispensable.”

Sinclair turned his silver eyes out to the countless seats that looked upon him. Every single one was filled with a child. Hundreds upon hundreds of children stared back at him all completely silent as if lifeless dolls. They all wore matching clothes; the boys wore baby blue suits and the girls wore baby blue dresses.

Figaro laughed a mocking laugh, “If my information is correct, you don’t even know what Avaes’s little pet project looks like. Without me, there is no way you will determine who the right one is.” Figaro stepped closer to Sinclair, “You NEED me.”

Sinclair said nothing but stepped to the edge of the stage, looking out at the audience of a hundred eyes.

Figaro continued, “Now I’m not cruel. You’ll get what you want once you do a few little things for m-“

“You continue to be annoying,” interrupted Sinclair, “However you continue to be stupid as well.”

Figaro’s smile faded yet again.

“You slipped up and told me what I’m looking for is a girl,” said Sinclair scanning the crowd, “and from what I can see that more than halves my options. For someone who is that loose-lipped, Figaro, what is to stop me from blowing off limbs until you tell me which is the right child?”

Figaro’s jaw tightened.

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Adam stepped out of the bathroom, flinging his hands through the air to dry them off. Hopefully, the old man wasn’t dead already. He popped a few more gummy bears in his mouth. Not like it really mattered, it would just make it harder for him to get candy without the old man, since you know he couldn't drive and all.

Adam turned his new cap to the side and got into position as he chewed. Through the scope, Adam saw someone outside, right by the entrance of the concert hall.

“They’re still outside?” he whispered. “That’s strange.”

The detectives were being super cautious. They must be scared of the old man or maybe of Figaro. Adam readjusted the scope to get a closer look. Now was as good a time as any to take out the detectives. As the scope focused, a fur coat filled his view. It was Caliban and his back was towards Adam’s shot. He gripped the gun tighter as he moved it up slightly to Caliban’s head. The fur coat turned and a dark-skinned face looked back at him.

“Wait what?” said Adam, but before he could even react he felt the cold push of metal against his head. Adam turned slowly and locked eyes with the real Caliban. The detective pressed the gun harder against Adam’s head.

“Gotcha.”