"Let's get down to business."

We were back in Valentine's agency, must and smoke almost leaching from the cinder-block walls of the office. Ellie balanced a clipboard on her hip, clicking a pen as she waited for the interview to begin. Prompto leaned against a support beam while Gladio, Ignis and Noctis stood against the wall behind me. I adjusted myself in the ratty armchair, bouncing my knee to a nervous tempo, wanting this to be over before it even began.

Valentine sat at the metal desk across from me, the butt of his most recent cigarette hanging from pocked lips. "When you're trying to find someone who's gone missing, the devil's in the details." Yellow eyes darted from myself to over my head, no doubt at my entourage. "Tell me everything you can, no matter how...painful, it might be."

The room felt three times smaller all of a sudden. My airways pinched, the words stumbled out as if someone were assembling them with shaky hands. I couldn't look at the synth when I spoke. "We were in a vault when it happened. Vault 111. It was some kind of cryo facility."

Ellie scribbled away on the clipboard, taking notes of my response.

"You were on ice, huh?" Valentine flicked an ash on the floor. "More importantly, you were underground. Sealed up. That's a lot of obstacles to get through just to take one person. What else can you tell me?"

"My husband was…" The words stopped, air stuck in my lungs. The memory of it played in slow snippets through my head, punctuated by the gunshot that took Nate's life. I recoiled, jolting in my seat. I didn't know how to go on. Searching around the room for something, anything, to get me out of my own personal hell, I looked up at Prompto who offered an empathetic smile;

It was enough. I looked back to Valentine. "My husband was murdered. He was trying to keep them from taking Shaun and they...they just…"

"It's okay, you don't need to say anything more," Ellie reassured.

"So, we're talking about a group of cold-hearted killers, but they waited until something went wrong to resort to violence." Valentine extinguished his cigarette butt. "What else do you remember?"

I supposed the key factor was what my son looked like. "We're looking for my baby, Shaun. He's less than a year old…Why would anyone take him?"

"An infant is a major responsibility," Ignis remarked from behind my seat. "Someone would have required preparation for such an undertaking. And, in this...environment, extreme precautions."

"He makes a good point," Valentine nodded, "Why your family in particular, and why an infant? Like your friend said, a baby takes a lot of care...That confirms it. This isn't a random kidnapping. Whoever took your kid had an agenda."

So it wasn't random, they hadn't trekked into the vault to take just anyone... the facts lined up. It hurt more this way, knowing the people who kidnapped Shaun had planned this, knew we were there, deliberately took him and just him…

My eyes stung, both from the smoke hanging in the air and the pinch of tears at the corners. I held them back, but just barely. Gladio paced from the back wall to the side of the desk. "Are there people around here that do this often? Kidnap people, or babies?"

Valentine thought on it. "Hmm...There's a lot of groups in the Commonwealth that take people. Raiders, super mutants, the Gunners, and of course, there's the Institute."

Oh, oh no. There was that name again. The Institute. "You think the Institute is responsible?" A gross feeling gathered in my gut. The Brotherhood didn't speak well of them, and the tone in Valentine's voice was not doing anything to disprove their claims.

Neither did his words. "Well, they're the boogeyman of the Commonwealth. Something goes wrong, everyone blames them. Easy to see why. Those early model synths of theirs strip whole town for parts, killing everything in their way. Then you've got the newer models that are good as human, that infiltrate cities and pull strings from the shadows."

"Why would they want a baby?" Noctis's voice held a tone of disgust. I couldn't blame him. The ill feeling in my stomach was churning.

"That's the thing," Valentine replied, "No one knows why they do it, what their plan is or where they are. Not even me and I'm a synth myself. A discarded prototype, anyway."

Interesting. "You're a prototype?"

"As far as I know, never seen any other synth like myself. There's the older ones that are dumb as rocks and all metal, and then there's the newer ones that are almost human. I'm somewhere in-between."

The interview was going off-topic. "Either way, I need to find Shaun."

"Right, let's focus on what you saw. What did the kidnappers look like?"

I'd already recalled the scene of Nate's murder and Shaun's kidnapping too many times this evening, each time ripping through my core, leaving raw edges and disconnected memories. Determined to just get this over with, I closed my eyes and focused. The details came soon after. "The woman was wearing a hazmat suit. The man had...Some sort of metal brace along his arm."

"Maybe some kind of improvised armor?" The detective speculated, glancing up at Ellie and shrugging. "Lot of hired guns do that to look tough. However, the hazard suit is interesting. Not many mercs can afford something that fancy. Anything else?"

Goddammit! Get the kid out of here, we have to leave

His words made me wince, salt in a wound that hadn't closed up yet. "I'll never forget that voice. Low, and rough. Like sandpaper across your face."

"Not much to go on, but a commanding voice can get someone pretty far in the violence business...What else?"

In my mind I could see his face, inches away from the pod door window, no trace of remorse on his features despite having killed my husband in cold blood seconds prior. I wanted nothing more than to forget that face so it wouldn't exist in my brain; even giving him that minute spec of existence in my being was too much.

At least we have the backup…

Power through it, Heather. Power through it. "One of them came right up to me. Bald head, scar across his left eye," I turned around and pointed to Gladio, "like his." Unsurprisingly the man looked quite offended. I tried to mouth the word 'sorry' and his face softened a fraction, though the damage was done.

When I turned back to Valentine, his expression was concerned. "Wait. It couldn't be…" The entire tone of his voice had altered, cautionary. "You didn't hear the name 'Kellogg' at all, did you?"

Kellogg? The name didn't seem familiar, and that wasn't a common one. "I...might have? It's kinda foggy…"

"Hmm…it's way too big of a coincidence..." He turned to look over his shoulder at his assistant. "Ellie, what notes do we have about Kellogg's case?"

The woman was moving before Valentine had finished his question, pulling out a filing box and retrieving a folder. It was fat, a stack of papers crammed inside. Seems like this guy had a rap sheet, and Shaun wasn't the first kidnapping of his. Ellie scanned the profile page before laying the folder out in front of the private eye. "The description matches. Bald head. Scar. Reputation for dangerous mercenary work, but no one knows who his employer is."

"And he bought a house here in town, right?" Valentine flipped through to a bill of sale, skimming through it and flipping back to the written profile page. "And he had a kid with him, didn't he?"

My head snapped up as Ellie replied to Valentine. "Yeah, that's right. The house in the abandoned West Stands. The boy with him was around ten years old."

Ten years old…"You said he lives here, he's still in town?"

Valentine shook his head, the inner workings of wires and circuits in his neck visible through the broken-off skin. "They both vanished a while back if I'm remembering right, but that house is still there…" He seemed to consider something before rising out of his office chair. "Let's take a walk over to Kellogg's last known address. See if we can snoop out where he went."

One by one our group filed out of the agency, Ellie staying behind to refine her notes. Valentine led the way keeping a quick pace but not running so as to not to draw attention to us. Ignis fell into step beside me. "I thought your son was an infant?"

"He was," I replied as we passed a man on the street begging for Nuka Cola. "But after they kidnapped him I was put back to sleep for some time. It felt like only minutes, but it would make sense that time passed after that, before I was let out..." My mind was going a mile a minute. What had I missed in that span of time? I hoped Shaun was safe, though couldn't stop fearing he wasn't.

Valentine looked over his shoulder towards me and motioned his head for me to catch up. Ignis and I matched speed with the detective, who spoke in hushed whispers. "I think you should know. Everything I dug up about Kellogg before his disappearance is bad news. He's more than just a mercenary, he's a professional. Quick, clean, thorough. Has no enemies because they're all dead...Except you. You're lucky you have such"-he looked Gladio up and down-"capable companions."

Part of me was glad I couldn't see his expression, as he grunted in response.

We reached a set of metal steps and filed up them, one after the other. Prompto tried to look on the bright side. "But if we're lucky he's not our guy, right? I-I mean there's gotta be like, twenty some-odd mercs out there that are bald and...have a scar over their eye…" he trailed off. "Dammit. Thought I had something there."

"Actually, nine to one odds he's our man," Valentine moved along the far edge of the metal walkway, keeping in the shadows though the sun was already down. "It's more than just you identifying his distinguishing features. The MO is all him as well. Leading a small team to kidnap a baby, and leaving one of the parents alive for later? Not many mercs in the Commonwealth can pull that off."

We reached the door to the abandoned house and the detective eyed the lock. "Keep an eye out, will ya? Let's see if I can get this open."

He tried the lock while the five of us stayed vigilant. A security guard below looked up just in time for us to scoot away from the edge of the platform, relieved to see him go back to his patrol after a moment's hesitation. Behind us, Valentine sighed in defeat. "No use, it's too advanced for my components. What the hell do you have to hide, Kellogg…"

He stepped back. "Well unless any of you folks are skilled with a lock pick, we'll need to find the key."

Before I could protest where we'd get our hands on the key to a merc's abandoned house, Valentine pointed across the city towards a row of box seats up in the stands. "You see that platform in the distance, near the city entrance? That there is the mayor's office. I'd recommend you go ask someone around there, but they're closed at sundown, so you'll have to try tomorrow."

"Or we could break in there," Prompto suggested.

"Are you out of your mind?" Valentine shook his head. "There's an elevator you need to take to access his office, and it's out in plain sight. You'd be shot down before you reached the top."

I gulped. So breaking and entering was not on the schedule this evening. We'd have to wait for morning. I was somewhat relieved; overwhelmed and stressed to the brim, I was in need of a (unfortunately, cold) shower and a good night's sleep. There was a sneaking suspicion that I would have neither for a while after tonight.

Nate's murderer and Shaun's kidnapper now had a name to the face: Kellogg. My mind threw daggers at his memory, the resentment for him boiling my blood and giving me motivation to kill.

Valentine led us back down the steps and away from the area, passing the agency just a bit. "If you lot can get the key tomorrow, drop by and let me know. We'll pick up where we left off, and maybe get a good lead on where Kellogg has gone."

"Thanks, Nick," I offered, as he ducked back into the alcove entrance to his office.

Prompto stretched and bent back to crack his spine. "Welp, I'm starving. Power Noodles anyone?"

Gladio huffed and Noctis gave a "Heck yes, I could eat a horse." Ignis was...watching me, again.

"I'm actually going to turn in for the night," I declined. "Need as much sleep as I can get, you know?"

"Sure thing," Noctis gave a little wave as him, Gladio and Prompto made their way for the Power Noodles stand. He glanced over his shoulder. "Hey, Iggy, you coming?"

"Be there in a moment." He turned back to me as they left, his expression and tone softer. "Are you alright? That must have been very difficult."

"I'm…" My mind couldn't piece the right words together. "I've been better, yeah. Just, having to scrutinize the scene of my...my husbands-"

Ignis held a hand up to stop me. "Understood. My apologies. We'll make progress in the morning, I'm sure of it."

All I could offer the tall brunette was a half smile, the tightness in my chest almost crushing my rib-cage. "I hope so. Goodnight, Ignis."

"Goodnight, Heather."

I walked away, bunching the sleeves of my sweater in my palms both to keep my hands warm, and to hold myself together. I'd most likely cry myself to sleep tonight. Fantastic. The nightmares would make an appearance, they always did, and after the play-by-play of events they were fresh in my mind, primed and prepped and ready to go. I bit my lip, the pain distracting me from my own thoughts. I felt oddly compelled to glance over my shoulder, back where I left Ignis.

He was there, still, watching me, though his expression was unreadable from this distance. And then I reached the alleyway to the Dugout and rounded the corner.

For some reason that I couldn't comprehend, in those brief seconds that I looked back to him, I felt safe. Reassurance, that I hadn't felt even when he was trying to make me feel better. And above all, I felt something I hadn't truly felt since I emerged from Vault 111.

Hope.

"I hope her son's okay."

Prompto's voice lacked the pep of his usual conversation canter. The four of them slurped their dinner at the Power Noodles stand, happy to have the booth all to themselves so they could spread out a bit more. He frowned. "What are the chances we'll find this Kellogg guy, do you think?"

"My guess, he's already dead," Gladio mumbled, tapping his chopsticks on the rim of the bowl. "Dunno about the kid, though. Hope we can find him alive and well. That would ruin her, if not."

"Yeah."

Noctis hadn't looked up since they sat down and Prompto finally called him on it. "Noct, what's up man? You seem out of it. What's on your mind?"

"It's...not that great," He replied, swirling a stick in his bowl of noodles, looping them tightly around one before bringing it to his mouth. "You guys think...we'll ever, you know, make it back to where we came from?"

There was a short silence between the group before Prompto responded. "Of course, I know we'll make it back! We gotta, there's so much stuff to catch up on."

"Yeah, don't worry," Gladio added. "Where there's a will there's a way, right?"

Ignis didn't speak, staring off straight ahead in the distance. Noctis nudged his advisor's shoulder. "Hey, Specs. Your thoughts?"

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on either side of the bowl, hands crossed into a bundle at his chin. "I...am not confident in our return to Eos."

"Wha?" Prompto's voice jumped an octave higher than usual. "Why's that?"

Ignis craned his neck towards the blond at the end of the booth. "I'm just, prepared for the worst case scenario. Needless to say, we're in a post nuclear-war civilization; any technology that would have assisted us in returning to our planet has likely either been outdated or destroyed when the bombs fell."

The group fell into uncomfortable silence for several seconds. Noctis sighed. "Gotta be the voice of reason, eh?" He downed the rest of his supper. "I just...I think a lot about what's happening while we're gone. Are they looking for us yet? Would they even know we're gone?"

"We disappeared without a trace," Ignis's voice was grave. "The chances of them finding any clues to our whereabouts are slim to none. My guess is, when you are a no-show to the wedding, then they'll start to raise concern."

"Damn."

"As I said," Ignis pushed his bowl forward, unable to eat another bite. "It's possible this, may be our new home. Might as well accept it should it be inevitable."

Gladio seemed annoyed by Ignis's choice of words. "You can't just give up on it like that, Iggy. You do that and we might as well be stuck here."

"Giving up is not an option," He responded, rougher than usual. "I never said I would. I'm just thinking realistically."

"He's right," Prompto seemed deflated. "Might as well learn to cope with radiation poisoning and being chased by deathclaws for the rest of our short lives."

Ignis exhaled, fingers pressed to his temples. "There's one thing that remains key in this. We have access to our weapons." He worked a kink out of his neck. "I'm not certain how it's possible, but it is, and that is the only connection to our planet for the time being."

"Good point," Noctis shuffled from his seat, stood and stretched. "Let's hit the hay. We got asses to kick tomorrow."

As the group made way for the Inn, Ignis was fixated on the moment Heather left him, where she looked over her shoulder. The worry in her face was prominent, her small features pained, tormented. It brought several feelings to the forefront in his mind, though one more remarkable than the rest, one he hadn't felt since confronting the paladin back at the police station.

Fear.