"I do love this place," Shan admitted, now in an infinitely better mood after having smoked three cigarettes and blasted pop music on the car ride over.
"I hate it," Wen grumbled, now in a worse mood for the same reasons. The flashing lights to the sides were already giving him a headache.
"I don't really get the appeal," Caid admitted, "attaching a casino to a nightclub feels weird. But it's clearly popular."
Hoards of people flitted between gambling tables and the numerous dance floors spread throughout the establishment, illuminated by searing red lights. Wen motioned to one of the many security guards lining the back wall, who immediately nodded and led them to a set of spiral stairs. At the top was a massive black sphere, glimmering with the lights reflecting off its glass surface.
"I'll wait here," Shan offered, planting his feet at the base of the stairs.
Wen shot Caid a look, who nodded back and proceeded to grab Shan's collar and forcibly haul him up the stairs. Wen followed after his protesting brother, scanning the scene below him as he ascended.
He also didn't understand the appeal. Loud music and even louder people. Nights should be spent at home, eating and talking, until falling asleep warm next to the sounds of gentle breathing.
Wen immediately shook the thought from his head and continued climbing.
The top of the stairs led to the sphere's entrance, revealing a singular room. From the inside, the glass was easy to see through and allowed a perfect view of the entire establishment below.
At the center of the room sat a sprawling glass desk, with two women seated at it. One sat in a chair directly in the center, the other off to the side. The woman in the center looked up and immediately scowled.
"I could have you killed," she said to Wen, "for coming unannounced."
"No," Wen replied neutrally, "you couldn't."
That made the woman scowl harder. "Well, I could have him killed," she leveled a pointed glare at Shan.
"It wouldn't make much difference to me," Wen said with a shrug.
"I can hear you!" Shan yelped, finally pulling free from Caid. "This is why I didn't want to come up here!" He turned to the other woman sitting to the side, "But it's always nice to see you Tama."
"If you look at my sister again I will cut your testicles off on the spot," The woman stood and smoothed her glittering top. "What do you want? And it better be good, I still haven't decided if one of you is going to die yet."
"Dema, there really isn't any need for that," Caid said, trying his best to cool the situation before it got out of hand.
"I need information about one of your customers," Wen pulled out the card tucked into his pocket and slid it across the desk. "His name is Day. I need to know how he got involved with you and what he was buying."
Dema stared at the card for a split second. "No."
"Aw, come on!" Shan began to whine, but Wen quickly interrupted.
"All your routes back effective immediately. If your information proves useful to me, any routes you want. Whatever territory, it's yours."
"Boss, no," Caid's shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead, not expecting his objection to be acknowledged. It was not.
"Any territory?" Dema raised an eyebrow.
"Any, I don't care. What do you know?"
"I would have to look into it. I don't personally know every single one of my customers. I run a massive operation here."
"I know Day," the woman sitting on the side said softly, pushing her hair behind her shoulders. "I haven't seen him in a while, is he alright?"
Wen turned to her, towering over where she sat. "Tell me what you know. Why was he coming here?"
The woman's shoulders instantly squared as she sat up straight. "Day is my friend. I don't know what he owes you or what sort of business you have with him, but I'm not selling him out. Figure it out yourself."
Wen grit his teeth. "He's my friend too."
She looked back at him, tilting her head. "He's your…friend?"
"Yes." Wen said sharply, ignoring the smirk Shan was directing at him while mouthing the word 'friend'.
"He's…" Caid sighed, "he's my friend too. We are just trying to make sure he's safe. If you care about him, help us out."
At that, Tama paused and looked at her sister, who motioned at her to continue.
"He used to get deliveries for medicine. He would pick them up here a lot because he would always forget to be home at the delivery time. He probably has a lot of those cards around." Tama smiled and tucked a piece of dark hair behind her ear. "Finally we stopped doing deliveries and told him just to come here to pick up his stuff, which he was fine with. It's nice; he comes at chats and always brings me a slushie." She glanced up at her sister before adding, "And Dema won't admit it, but she likes him too."
Caid's brow furrowed, "What medicine does he get?"
"How is that relevant?" Dema snapped. "Besides, it's confidential. I can't give you information about a customer's personal medication."
"Makes sense," Shan nodded.
"No, it doesn't." Caid scoffed, "You aren't a doctor. You're a drug dealer."
"I'm a supplier," Dema straightened up, "and I work with a lot of things. It's not my fault some drugs also get thrown in the mix."
Tema continued on, ignoring the bickering. "Oh, you know," she said with a wave of her hand, "stuff like mine, except the other way. I don't know what it's called."
"What?" Caid asked, entirely confused, and was again ignored.
After a moment of tense silence, Wen visibly deflated and drooped into the seat across from Dema. Shan sighed lightly at the sight and went to pat his shoulders. Wen glared and shoved him away before going back to sulking.
"What's wrong with you?" Dema asked, sounding entirely uncaring of the answer.
"It's a dead end," Shan explained for him, "Day needed medicine so he got it from you. Plenty of ordinary-ish people do. It just proves Day is an ordinary person my brother got kidnapped, which probably sucks to think about."
Wen swirled around to level Shan with a glare.
"It's true!" Shan contented, "He got kidnapped because he started hanging around the Green Seas, mostly you. But that doesn't make it you're fault per se. It was his choice."
Wen looked ready to kill Shan, who was understandably backing away towards the door.
Dema narrowed her eyes, "has anyone demanded a ransom for him?"
"No," Wen responded sharply.
"Has it occurred to you you're looking in the wrong places?"
"Obviously," Caid interjected, "if we looked in the right place we would have found him and we wouldn't be here!"
Dema rolled her eyes, "that's not what I meant."
"Stop being coy," Wen scowled, "tell me what you know or don't, either way, stop wasting my time."
Dema glared back, "Always so impatient. Let me remind you you're the one wasting my time." At that, Wen did have the decency to look at least slightly reprimanded, so she continued, "What I mean, is that you have a terrible tendency to think everything is about you. It might surprise you to hear, but not every bad thing is your fault."
Wen hadn't been expecting that. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you might want to consider that everything could be more straightforward than you've been thinking. Maybe this isn't some convoluted plot to get to you. Maybe this is just about him."
Wen's face paled. "That's not possible," he breathed out shakily, "he isn't like us."
"Well," Shan said, "I mean we did find a golden kni-"
"He isn't like us," Wen repeated.
Dema let out a sharp laugh. "That's true. He really isn't. He isn't like anyone." She leaned back, "but he may not be as separate from the underground world as you like to believe. Why do you think he came to me in the first place?"
"We've already established that," Wen snapped, "I've already figured what he was here to get. And there is nothing wrong with needing–"
"Of course there isn't," Dema said with an exaggerated eye roll, "don't get so defensive. What I meant is, it's legal."
"So?"
"Oh my god, you are dense. I can't believe I bought all the rumors about you being a criminal genius. You look intimidating, but there is nothing behind those pretty eyes."
"How dare you!" Caid began but was instantly cut off by a wave of Dema's hand.
"Calm down, I'll break it down for you since you so clearly need it. Your little missing man needed medication. Legal medication. Legal, cheaper-when-bought-above-board medication. But he came to me and paid significantly more for me to get it for him. Why?"
Wen glanced at Caid, hoping he would have an idea. He didn't, and just shrugged in response.
"Any reputable medical practice requires patients to have an ID, one that gets run through a government database. That's a problem for anyone hiding their identity. Or for anyone without one in the first place. Obviously, you shitheads."
Dema continued, "I look into all my clients. No matter how far they have hidden themselves, if they have any identity to find, I find it. Day is one of very, very few people who I found nothing on—because he never had anything to hide in the first place."
Dema paused, considering, then added, "Or at least, he has no papers to hide."