..:ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND CRIME:..

Sean squirmed as the collective gazes of the group of three continued to stay on him. He never counted on any cops being here, let alone an unpleasant blast-from-the-past. The team tried to investigate, hurdling a mirage of questions to their captive. He figured that, maybe if he played an innocently dumb act, he could get out of this situation with a lessened penalty -- and hey, it's unconventional practice for that future career he's always dreamed of! But, the metal of the handcuffs burned his wrist, distracting him from his greatest performance yet. Unease began to creep within the young man as he saw the look of frustration grow on the inspector and Didi's faces. Barnes quietly observed the situation, mirroring his partners' doubts about Sean's sudden cluelessness.

He approached Zenigata and whispered lowly, "We're wasting time here trying to get a different response from this guy."

Zenigata's frown deepened as he knew the other cop was right. He grumbled vaguely, then tugged at his cuffed wrist, which brought Sean closer to him. "Maybe some exploration will bring back a few memories," he said, recalling that his newfounded, cuffed partner claimed he wasn't sure how he got into this storage room to begin with.

Commotion reverberated throughout the space once more, alerting everyone. This time, it sounded like a group of people rather than just one voice. Didi peered out of the doorway that Sean had busted through previously, then beckoned the police after her swift survey. "This hallway's empty, but spooky." She commented.

Following her example, the inspector and Barnes also poked their heads out of the doorway, with the two men and the woman positioned like an unusual traffic light. The hallway was short, but spacious, presumably to help with moving large objects in and out of the storage area. They began to explore quietly, with Didi tracking behind, with a perpetual look of distrust on her round face as she studied Sean. The cops had their guns firmly in hand as an act of caution, as the night had already surprised the two professionals more than they ever would have expected. The exploration vaguely reminded Zenigata of the drug bust that led him to this case, with the man wondering why these criminals chose the most unusual places to keep their sins hidden. The team and their captive tentatively approached the door at the end of the hall, with the voices becoming clearer with each step.

"Would you stop crying?" said a voice sharply, with the exasperation in the stranger's tone palpable.

A reply came quickly. "Let me go, I'm not the one your boss is angry at -- it's Sean!"

Sean's blood ran cold hearing those words scream out of Gaspar's gaping mouth. However, the response gave him a glimmer of relief. "Yeah, but he's not sitting on a fortune like you are." The youthful voice hissed. "He won't object to inheriting that, like you did all those years ago."

Angered grunting and the sound of resistance then took the conversation's place. The noise echoed in the sinisterly quiet location, making it difficult to determine exactly what was happening. Zenigata moved forward in an act of anticipation, with him forgetting that Sean was handcuffed to him, which caused the two to bump into each other. The inspector paused, with mild agitation washing over him. He looked behind himself and found a rather crowded group, with his peculiar team and the criminal watching him expectantly.

He shifted his attention to Barnes, saying, "Whatever this location is, the way the sound travels makes it seem massive." Then, with his eyebrows lowering with concern he continued, "Maybe it would be better for us to split up."

"Possibly," began Barnes thoughtfully, but before he could finish his thought, Didi jumped into the conversation. "Yeah, we can explore the front end of the building!" She said excitedly as she wrapped her arm around his. "You've got an eye for sniffing things out, inspector. You'll do better here."

Zenigata was taken aback by the mechanic's take-charge attitude, with him wondering now how much his idea was a good one. However, he was already busy with Sean, and feared the investigation would be hindered by the two butting heads. He eyed Barnes, looking at the man with a curious, but greatly sympathetic, look. Barnes knew what his fellow cop meant by his expression, but he appeared to be unbothered by her abrassiveness.

He pulled away from her as he spoke, "Mrs. Cavenaugh, may I remind you that you are not an officer of the law." Didi's eager face shriveled into pure dejection following his words, but he continued regardless. "However, it's too dangerous to leave an innocent bystander here -- you're more than welcome to follow as long as you're aware of your surroundings and are cautious." He finished in a stern, but kindly manner.

Didi's eyes lit up like fireworks. "Wow, really? I can't believe I'm in my own Hardy Boys mystery!" She exclaimed happily and proudly. She then silenced herself after seeing the look of disapproval on both of the ICPO agents' faces. She nodded her head sheepishly and cleared her throat, "I'll do my best, honest." She said in a hushed voice, whilst providing an enthusiastic thumbs up.

The team, now split into groups of two, went their separate ways, with all of them filled with uncertainty about what was going to greet them during their respective investigations.

Didi followed Barnes silently as she attempted to mirror his every movement, with her brand of sleuthing being composed of unsure steps. This was the first time during this crazy night where it was only the two of them. While her mind would sometimes creep back to Inspector Zenigata and, much to her dismay, Sean, she found herself more fascinated by the man in front of her than she originally expected. She gulped in fear of her volume, and then she whispered hesitantly. "Hey-- I know you're a professional and probably can't talk about this, but... what do you think of everything that's going on?"

The path they went along led them down a winding passageway, with the two eventually entering what appeared to be the back of a stage. Similar to the location she stumbled into previously, the area was cluttered with a myriad of forgotten memories and ghosts of its former identity. Barnes stopped as his senses took everything in, his eyes peeled for any moving shadows. "I'm not entirely sure," he answered rather mundanely, "But I'm certain of the fact our target is looking for better funding if this is where they're hiding."

Didi shrugged her shoulders. "They must be in dire straights if they're targeting Nick- uh, Sean," she replied. "The guy must have made more money with that hustle than I've ever seen in my life." The woman then moseyed towards an old, beat-up piano. "Y'know if someone were to put a little work in this stuff, they'd probably work great! They're not too shabby." Her fingers graced the dust-laded keys, and out of curiosity, lightly tapped one of them. The sound echoed throughout the stage, alerting Barnes immediately.

He approached her swiftly, reminding her in a hushed but intense voice, "We need to be quiet!" The two froze as the sound of someone approaching filled the space, and then they hid themselves behind the piano. The noise was distinct -- heels tapping against the wooden floor of the stage -- which wasn't exactly what Barnes expected.

The footsteps stopped, and after an extended moment of silence, the individual delivered a statement. "Look, I know someone's here -- you don't need to hide from me." The bold voice was one of a woman's, peppered with an Italian accent.

Barnes' eyebrows lowered in well-trained suspicion, grabbing his gun just in case this was a trap. Didi raised slightly in an attempt to see the person, but only a silhouette of her form was visible. "Reveal yourself!" demanded the woman, with the words tumbling out of her mouth before she realized what she just requested, panicking internally at the silence that followed.

"I'm Kitty Capasso," the voice answered brashly. "Your boss' sister. Where the hell are you hiding?"

Surprise flashed on both Barnes and Didi's faces as they heard the news. The latter prepared to speak, but the cop put his hand over her mouth in a timely manner, in which she merely shot daggers at the man in response. Barnes then asked the burning question, "Why are you here?"

The woman's confusion at the situation slowly transformed into suspicion. "Why am I being investigated?" She asked rhetorically, but then a curious thought came to her. She inched closer to the piano and quietly questioned, "You two are not a part of Pauside's team, are you?"

The two emerged from their hiding spot, with Barnes promptly bringing out his badge to confirm their shared innocence. "I'm officer Maxwell Barnes of Interpol."

"Oh, thank God," she said after a sigh of relief, giving Barnes and Didi yet another shock. "This situation has gotten out of control..." Kitty then paused as she saw the mechanic follow Barnes, and after a quick examination of her outfit, she asked, "Did you two disguise yourselves as plumbers to get in?"

Didi's face shriveled into a scowl. "What? No!" She huffed defensively.

Eyeing his unusual partner, Barnes shifted the conversation back to its original subject. "We happened to stumble upon his hideout at the right time," Then, as he placed his attention onto the woman in front of them, he continued. "We have another cop here on the premises -- do you know where Pauside is?"

"Not exactly," she confessed. "But I know he's about to kill two men." Didi then leapt into the conversation, urgently exclaiming, "Our inspector's already arrested Sean!"

Some relief washed over Kitty after hearing the confirmation of Sean's safety, but the pressing matter of her brother's violent desires still loomed large in her mind. She looked down and began to hold her head in her hands as she quietly stated, "I wish he wasn't like this..." After a somber moment, she removed her hands and met Barnes' and Didi's collective gaze. "I want to come with you two." She requested as determination burned in her deep brown eyes. "No one knows Pauside better than I do."

Didi looked at Barnes, staring at him with a dumbfounded expression. Barnes squirmed slightly as he felt their eyes on him, with the man wondering how many unintentional recruits he was going to have by tonight. He cleared his throat, and began reluctantly. "You... did say something earlier regarding his location -- that you did not know exactly where he was." As an eyebrow quirked curiously upwards, he continued, "I'm assuming you have a hunch about where he is?"

Kitty began to walk away from the two, stopping once realizing they were not following her. She turned towards the unusual duo, and with a beckoning hand, she said, "It's easier for me to explain while we walk."

Sean stood quietly as Inspector Zenigata poured through the cabinets of a long-since-abandoned dressing room. The latter was aware of the other man's presence, finding his complacent attitude about his arrest to be refreshingly unusual. It was rare for the seasoned cop to witness a crook having a no-fuss approach about their wrongdoings, but he couldn't help but to internally question his lack of fight. The inspector had yet to find where the voices were coming from, as their taunting sound continued to reverberate throughout the space. He was struggling to be thorough with his one-man investigation, as it seemed at all corners of every room something vied for his attention. The dressing room had been converted into a storage area for files, detailing weapons deals and partial murder confessions. It was a hotbed of terrible information, with Zenigata wondering if Pauside Capasso is the direct cause of the plague of inner-crime deaths.

With a fistful of important information in hand, the inspector stuffed a disorganized mix of papers into the deep pockets of his well-worn trenchcoat. There wasn't enough time to keep them in order, as Zenigata surmised having the evidence itself was more important than how it was presented. The man's frantic movements occasionally made Sean stumble, with the latter becoming increasingly tired of his captor. The mad ruffling of paper stopped suddenly as the sound of a door opening cut through the space. This alerted the two, specifically Zenigata, finally waking from his fixation on the papers. They froze, then listened keenly as the mysterious voices had finally become clear.

"Have you changed your mind?" stammered a voice. Sean jumped slightly, immediately recognizing it as Gaspar's.

The inspector and the young man urgently moved themselves towards the closest wall, nearly hugging the structure in an attempt to obscure themselves within the shadows of the room. Zenigata was the closest to the doorway, listening intently to the discussion.

"No." An offended growl answered resoundly. "Where did that weasel Sean run off to?"

Sean tightened his hands in fear as he heard the conversation, with his heart pounding rapidly, but yet there was no escape. He eyed the inspector, then the doorway, hoping that this would all be over soon. Zenigata's eyebrows lowered thoughtfully, surmising that the other voice belonged to the Bear.

"I don't know," Gaspar confessed. "Your guess is as good as mine." Following the sound of a chair scooting against the rough floor, he added, "Your time's better spent looking for that brat. He's probably off somewhere crying to the police."

"This isn't all about Sean," the mob boss fired back. "Putting our attention on him isn't going to change your fate."

Another voice then joined in on the conversation, but it was low and quiet, making it difficult for the eavesdroppers to assess what was said. Zenigata slightly leaned his head closer to its direction, in which he was greeted by Pauside's screaming. "Speak up, man! This isn't a library!" Both Zenigata and Sean flinched in shock, with the former taking a step back to his former position.

"What my pal's trying to say is that Gaspar here has a point," a younger voice huffed. "It's not a good idea to let that Sean guy run free. This place is a maze, there's no way he's gone!"

The sound of pacing feet filled the room, with it stopping as a heavy sigh replaced it. "Fine," Pauside grumbled. "Go find him."

Inspector Zenigata and Sean sunk further into the shadows of the old dressing room as the two goons entered the hallway. "Geez, that guy is really starting to get off his rocker," said the shorter of the two men. "What's all of this about anyway?"

As their voices and footsteps grew faint to the ears, Zenigata poked his head out of the room to get a once-over of the location. The interrogation room was close by, but he knew he couldn't just simply waltz in there and arrest the men peacefully. He turned around, looking over the dressing area again. Sean looked at his captor with concerned curiosity, greatly worried about what was going on in the cop's head.

"I am not going to be used as bait." He suddenly blurted out as he looked at Zenigata sharply.

The inspector partially listened to his threat as his eyes scanned for any details he might have missed. His gaze then met a vent that was in the top right corner of the room, with excitement faintly sparkling in his eyes. "Don't worry, you won't," he responded as he rushed towards the vent, then stopped after the realization that he was still handcuffed to this man. He looked at him, and then said warningly, "This... might be difficult."