—Rachel General POV—
Rachel looked over what their investigation has uncovered during this month, and so far, it's nothing substantial. Not even their spies in other countries have uncovered anything of the wolf. The earliest possible sighting of this Laura Underwood was from four years ago.
She appeared one day inside one of the Phoenix Clan's cities applying for a part time job. Anything before that was a mystery, especially since a year later she would quit her job and disappear before reappearing sometime later in another town in another country and would continue this pattern until recently.
"Yet her Majesty claims to know her origin. We can't even confirm it, how can she?" Rachel muttered to herself.
She was worried, but Iris was restless. The poor girl was close in age with the Queen and felt personally honored to be picked as a Condor by her Majesty. While she does feel a little upset she wasn't chosen as a bodyguard, she was mostly worried by the unknown threat that was Laura.
"There has to be something, unless she just spawned into this world there must be some trace of where she comes from."
They of course don't think Laura was her real name, but it was a good place to start, and they already seem to have found the original use of that alias. The next step was to try and track the person and figure out when and where they changed their name.
It had to happen on this continent at least since the Phoenix nation was land locked. Iris has even left the capital and using the excuse of, "coordinating with New Veroso more effectively," and entered the country on a diplomatic mission. She hoped to investigate while there.
Rachel was half convinced the twenty-three-year-old had a crush on their boss. Honestly while the rest of them distrust Laura, they were sure Iris hated the wolf. Though that didn't stop Iris from doing her job, which was one of the reasons their Queen made her a Condor in the first place.
"Rachel, I got some interesting news from Iris." Xavier said, walking into her office without permission.
"... Mind knocking next time?" Rachel asked annoyed.
The Elf shrugged as he presented some documents to her. Taking them, Rachel opened the folder and realized it was about Laura. It was detailed accounts of the woman's activities for the past four years. Apparently, she was some kind of saint.
"This feels like a weirdly nice picture Iris is painting of Underwood." Rachel pointed out.
"That's what I said." Xavier agreed. "Iris did try to find dirt on her. And while she did uncover some strange dealings and interactions. Specifically, those in the illegal arms trade, she spent most of her time wandering or helping strangers."
"Yet you're showing me her saint list instead?" Rachel asked dryly.
"That's not the point, Iris noticed something weird in these accounts." Xavier said. "Read it again more closely this time."
Doing as told Rachel read through the file with a bit more scrutiny than before. She quickly found what was wrong, the woman's abilities were never consistent, constantly changing. Sure, some are similar or the same, but others were just straight up different.
Lightning abilities, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, wind manipulation, water manipulation, telekinesis, super strength, enhanced senses, enhanced reflexes, invisibility, intangibility and many, many more.
"That's…."
"Not normal right?" Finished the Elf.
"Is she even an Arves?" Rachel asked.
There was never anything that made people truly question if Laura was an Arves. Yet no matter who it was, people always seem to hold a doubt in the back of their minds. Right now, that doubt was becoming prominent to the four Condor's.
"I don't know." He admitted. "I doubt her Majesty is unaware of this."
A pause. Rachel noticed and looked up to see the Elf hesitating to speak.
"What is it, Xavier?" Rachel asked with concern.
"Iris thinks Underwood could be a Void creature."
"Seriously?" Rachel asked incredulously. "First off none of these accounts mention them having to do something in return, Underwood disappeared from their lives the moment they finished helping."
"Second off." She continued. "Her Majesty would never make a deal with those creatures."
"Yes, I don't think she would make a deal either, but we also can't discredit the theory."
"...."
He wasn't wrong. The cat woman sighed and set the documents aside. If Laura was truly one of those… creatures, then it would explain her lack of a past. The only thing discrediting this theory was the lack of deals being made.
One could make the argument that all those that made a deal had died, but that was unlikely. There were a lot of people who she's helped already, and it was with that number alone it wasn't likely she killed all others. If she was that cruel, she would have stuck around trying to convince the ones mentioned here to make a deal with her.
"Fine, we'll observe her more closely for a while longer, where is she now?"
Before Xavier could even open his mouth, a chime sound came from both their encrypted communicators, which were specialized phones, and Rachel's computer. The sound indicated Zenesha had sent out an email. Pausing their conversation both recipients opened the message.
It was simple and short, but it was the last thing they wanted to hear. Laura Underwood has left for business. Where she went or what she was doing wasn't explained, like how it wasn't explained why she was given a laboratory or why she was appointed as Her Majesty's second in command.
"That woman has too much power over our Queen." Rachel muttered.
"Still, outside of Laura she's the same as before." Xavier added.
They believed when it came to this wolf their Queen seemed to be blind. However, since she still acted the same, and still made decisions that made sense for her character they believed she was still in her right mind. It was a weird feeling to both fully trust and not trust her judgment.
"Guess we'll wait for her return then." Rachel sighed leaning back into her chair. "Wait, I have a better idea."
The cat perked up and gave the Elf a mischievous smile.
=======
"Danial what are you doing?" Rachel asked the older man.
She found the older Condor picking the lock of Laura's laboratory looking like a guilty child caught eating from the cookie jar. Danial seemed to freeze and stumbled over his words as he looked for an excuse. If it was just a normal researcher or soldier, he could've just used his rank. Not with her though.
Rachel however just leveled a steady glare in his direction. Then she smiled, causing the older man to wonder what was happening.
"I'm messing with you, I see you had the same idea as me."
The Condor let out a sigh of relief before glaring at the cheeky cat. "I nearly had a heart attack, Rachel. Don't do that."
"Sorry, sorry." She apologized, not looking sorry at all. "Let's head inside, shall we?"
"After you." Danial replied sarcastically as he gestured at the door.
"Such a gentleman." Rachel responded jokingly.
Once inside they noticed that the place was mostly empty. Other than a multitude of different types of essence undergoing some sort of process. Thinking there had to be more than what was shown, they started going through drawers and cabinets.
"This is locked over here." Rachel called out as she approached the cold storage built into the wall. Meant to keep things at a certain temperature, this time frozen for whatever reason.
"I found a safe here, it was hidden behind a wall panel."
"Help me with the fridge first." Rachel said as she observed the lock and chain around the handles.
Danial approached from behind and when he saw the lock an idea came to him. "I'll be back; I got something in my vehicle for this."
Rachel nodded and watched as he left the room. As for her, she decided to head over to the safe and check it out. Approaching the area, she noticed a photo of Zenesha on the counter nearby. She frowned and approached it instead.
"I didn't know Her Majesty took pictures of herself…. How did Underwood get their hands on this?"
She picked up the picture frame and turned it in her hand. Looking at the back, Rachel only hesitated for a second before removing the back of it. When it was removed, the back of the photo revealed, she noticed a short message written on it.
'From Zenesha :)'
Rachel quietly put the frame back together and put the picture back where she found it. She decided it would be better to quietly wait for Danial to return.
=-=-=-=
"I'm back!" Danial announced cheerfully holding up a bolt cutter and a spare lock.
"Good. We need to determine how dangerous Underwood is as soon as possible." Rachel said, practically dragging Danial to the freezer.
"Isn't that what we were already doing?"
"Not nearly fast enough."
"Okay, okay, just let me go."
Danail smoothed out his uniform after the cat let go and walked over to the lock. Using the bolt cutters, he broke the lock and proceeded to unwrap the chain. Feeling as if the Human was moving too slowly, the cat shoved him out of the way and opened the Freezer herself.
The first thing they noticed was the wrapped arm. Truthfully it was the only thing they noticed. If there was anything else in there, they wouldn't be able to remember. Rachel reached out and took the arm, bringing it over to an open counter space.
She slowly unwrapped the severed limb, hoping to get a DNA sample and figure out who this belonged to. Instead, what she found was a gray object that looked like a clawed arm with what seemed like gray steam coming off it.
""Uhg.""
Both Rachel and Danial covered their mouths as nausea overcame them. They didn't know why, but the arm just felt wrong. Even their bodies desired to expel the little bit of that gray steam from their systems as soon as possible.
"What… is this?" Rachel muttered looking at the partially revealed arm.
"No idea, but I feel like we just uncovered something we shouldn't have." Danial responded, quickly wrapping the arm up again.
"I think we should leave." Rachel stated. "Put that back where it belongs and let's go."
"Yeah…."
The two of them quickly left with an uneasy feeling in their gut, the wrongness they felt from the arm, and the question of who was Laura firmly planted in their minds?
=======
— ??? —
"Oh? So, you've been hiding in this city huh?" A person covered in shadows and wearing a track suite muttered. "Now the question is where?"