ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 88 - Emelie’s Contact

"Alright you two. Here are the cloaks that we confiscated from the captured zealots." Dominik handed both Kurt and Emelie one plastic bag each with their disguises inside.

"Thanks. By the way Dom," Kurt threw his arm around Dominik’s shoulder and dragged him away from any prying ears. "There’s another thing that we’ll need in order for this operation to work without running into any complications."

"Oh yeah? What’s that?"

"The cultists’ personal tags."

"What?" Dominik’s eyes widened. "Kurt, I can’t just take those. They’re high priority evidence. What do you even need those tags for anyway?"

"... Forgery."

"What the fu–!"

"Shhhh!" Kurt covered his mouth and looked around if anyone was watching them. Once the coast was clear, he slowly took his hand away while gesturing to Dominik to keep his voice down.

"Sorry for yelling. But Kurt, respectfully, what the fuck are you thinking?!" Dominik hissed, trying his best to keep his voice down while emphasising the severity of what Kurt just said. "Forgery!? Are you kidding me?! You know we have a whole team dedicated to tracking those bastards down! Don’t tell me this was your idea?!"

"It–"

"It wasn’t. It was mine." A strange, secret circle of whispers was formed as Emelie huddled in close to join the two of them.

"It was your idea?! Wha–"

"Dominik," Emelie interrupted him. "Please try to whisper a bit quieter. Your hissing is getting an octave too loud. You’re gonna draw suspicion."

"If you ask me, I say we already look super suspicious being bunched up like this in the corner of the prefect station." Kurt took a quick peek around just to make doubly sure they aren’t being watched. When his and the front deskman’s eyes connected, the man sitting behind the desk simply smiled and waved before going back to whatever paperwork he was busy with.

"Heh, I bet Dominik does even dumber things than this while at work. So we’re probably getting overlooked just by the fact that ginger head is here with us." Emelie smirked when she looked at him.

"Yeah. The guy up front didn’t look the least bit concerned." Kurt confirmed as he huddled his head back in the circle.

"W-What the hell guys? I’ll have you know that I take my work very seriously... But enough about that. Emelie, why are you bringing up forgery? Those guys are a bunch of criminals involved in scamming, identity theft and money stealing. This isn’t something I can overlook."

"Not my contact. This person I know doesn’t do any of those things since it’s not their main objective. It’s just that their certain set of skills allows them to do some tinkering and hacking that most would consider illegal."

"And that makes it better, how? The chief would never approve of this. Although he didn’t let it show, I could tell that he was already pushing it by agreeing to this plan and handing out those disguises."

"Please just trust me on trust, Dominik. This person isn’t like that at all. I would never do something that could put your reputation, or job, in danger. Besides, you’ll have those tags back by the end of the day. They’re just going to make temporary copies of the original and tweak them to fit our mana signatures."

Dominik looked at the plastic bags he gave them, then back up to Emelie. Although he hasn’t known her for long, he has been following her accomplishments and read enough newspaper stories on interviews with her to become a major fan of hers.

This feeling only grew after they met, which turned their only connection they had with each other from someone who was far out of his reach, to someone he can confidently call a true friend. And now, that very friend is asking him to trust her with something that could very well be illegal.

Thoughts of doubt swirled through his mind. But as he saw both Kurt and Emelie look at him with unwavering determination, he got a strong, familiar sensation in his gut that he normally gets when around these two which told him...

"... Alright. I’ll trust you, Emelie."

"Thank you. Dominik." She smiled with relief.

"I’ll quickly get those tags for you. I’ll also stay here at the station and make sure no one comes looking for those tags in the evidence room while you two do what needs to be done." Dominik broke from the circle they formed and left to get the cultists’ personal tags.

"Emy. Is this contact truly trustworthy?" Kurt asked as stood up straight and leaned against the wall. "From the way Dominik was acting and how he described them, it sounds like these forgers are the scum to society."

"Didn’t you literally just ask me a few minutes ago whether they could hack money out of a tags banking account?"

"... R-Right. But that was more of an impulse question. I wouldn’t have actually gone through with it."

"Oh yeah? Then why’d you keep your precious friend Arlo’s personal tag, hmm Kurt?"

"A-As a keepsake! Look, let’s just forget that I asked that, okay?"

"Mmhmm, riiigghhht. Anyways, to answer your question; Yes. My contact is trustworthy and does not involve themselves in anything illegal."

"Cool."

’However, forgers, huh? I should be on the lookout for them. Keep my ears open in case I hear anything. Without a doubt, Dominik was not a fan. After those kids are safe and everything has calmed down, perhaps I should begin my own little investigation? Hmm. We’ll see.’

Not long after he left, Dominik returned back with a small black pouch that contained the cultists’ tags and handed them to Emelie.

"One two three... alright, it’s all here. I’m also going to need your two tags." She pointed the open pouch to Dominik and Kurt. "And before you ask, the reason I need them is for your face scan that pops up on the display. Imagine we show our information to them only for a different face than our own to show."

"I see. But won’t they find it weird that THE Emelie Herst is joining the brotherhood?" Kurt asked as he put his personal tag in the pouch.

"Are you kidding me?! I’d be overjoyed if she were to join whatever bullshit club I made up." Dominik geeked out at Kurt’s question as he put his own tag in the pouch.

"Whatever you say." Emelie rolled her eyes and closed the pouch. "I’ll be back later to return the original and give you your tags, Dominik. Thank you once again for trusting me."

"No problem. See you later."

"You coming with me?" She asked Kurt.

"Nah. The rain is letting up. I want to use this chance to check in on the orphanage. See if everything is well."

"Alright. Then let’s all meet tomorrow morning by the docks at seven. Kurt, I won’t be back at the hotel today, so don’t wait up for me and head straight for the docks."

"Got’cha. See you tomorrow, Emy."

After they watched Emelie leave, Kurt turned to Dominik and asked him one last thing before leaving as well.

"Say Dom. Is there something special about the cultists’ personal tags? Last time I checked, it looked just like any other. Even the popup was the same."

"Oh, I guess you didn’t know this. The zealots have their own secret page of identification hidden within the popup display. It basically contains the information about their ranking and role inside of the brotherhood."

’Huh. Interesting. I didn’t see anything on Arlo’s. Then again, I’m no regressor. Nor am I part of any government agency, such as the prefects, who’s been investigating the cult for years.’ 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Dominik!" The front deskman called. "I need you to come take a look at something!"

"Oops. Gotta get to work. See you tomorrow, Kurt."

"Don’t let me keep you. Later, Dom."

After they shook hands, Kurt left the station and headed for the orphanage.

.

..

...

- 1 Hour later -

"Good morning, dorm mother."

"Emelie? Oh my, good morning. Or should I say, good afternoon. It just hit past twelve. What are you doing here?"

"Just visiting." Emelie looked around the dorm’s common room and behind the counter which led to the kitchen. "I don’t see Austin anywhere. Is he skipping out on his duties again?"

"Oh no no. He apparently received a message from the school to go meet the principal. I think I heard something about him receiving more punishments for skipping out on work the other day."

"Hmph. Serves him right... And Gary? Is he here?"

"The quiet boy? He went with Austin. I think they are friends? I can’t quite tell since I always see Austin shouting at him and calling him silly names. But they’re always together so maybe they are?"

’Gary... You’re lucky you weren’t here.’ Emelie thought as she clenched her fist.

"Noted. Nice to see you’re well. See you later."

"Good luck with your training, Emelie. I’m rooting for you~"

"Haha. Thanks." Emelie waved goodbye to the dorm mother, went up the stairs towards the girls’ dorm and eventually stopped in front of her room door which was closed.

"Suuuu... Haaaaa. Alright Emy. You can do this." She took a deep breath and readied herself as she raised her knuckles at the wooden door.

Knock Knock Knock

"Amy? Are you inside?"