"A thing there is whose voice is one; whose feet are four and two and three. May we remind the police that cheating is disallowed in our game."

Alastair stared at the screen in silence. Cheating? He assumed they meant Luna. She would not be allowed to answer again. All her help would have to be behind the scenes. He fast forwarded and continued watching.

"You have twenty four hours to solve the riddle and find the place related to the riddle. We'll give you a clue, shall we. At some point in your life, you have been to one."

Alastair paused the video and rubbed his hand over his face, wiping his tired eyes. This video came in yesterday and he wondered what the consequences would be for 'cheating' as they put it.

Laura was still trying to work out he riddle too and seemed to be struggling. The door opened and Luna walked in. She looked better today, but still seemed on edge.

"Have you seen the video?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Yes, i've just been going over it." He replied.

"I will have to assist you from the shadows, detective."

Alastair nodded again and sighed, loudly. Luna sat in the chair opposite him and he noted that she seemed quite calm about the riddle.

"I think I may have solved it." She murmured.

"You have, really?" Alastair couldn't help the joy in his voice.

"The answer is a human. As a baby a human crawls, as an adult we walk on two and in old age we use a cane."

It made a lot more sense now. Although, a place that every human had been to at some point in their life was more confusing. There were many places that humans went to frequently.

"A hospital." Alastair said, suddenly.

"Yes, that would make sense. The compund housed a hospital and it wasn't a pleasant place." Luna agreed.

***********************

The largest hospital in London was a sprawling building and Alastair forced his officers to check every area, leaving no stone unturned. the staff began evacuating the building. The media had soon arrived to document the procedure.

"Can you tell us what is happening, detective?" A reporter asked.

"We believe that bombs have been set up in various locations, this hospital being one of them." Alastair replied, turning to watch the hospital for any signs of strange characters moving through the crowds of people.

Laura walked over and she tapped his shoulder, excusing him from the media who were still waiting patiently.

"I've linked you up to the internet so you can stream directly." She smiled, holding up the phone.

"Hello, Sphinx. My name is detective Alastair Blake. I am the one overseeing your case and have solved the riddle. The answer is a human. We knew you were targeting this hospital and we will find you." He said.

Laura nodded and cut the feed. A shrill gust of wind blasted through the area and Alastair waited with nervous patience to see what the response would be. His phone vibrated and he looked up, realising he wasn't the only one.

Everyone in the crowd and media pulled their phones from their pockets and bags. Alastair opened the text on his phone to find it was a link to a video. He opened the link and waited for it to load.

"Good Afternoon, London. Sphinx commend detective Blake for his resourceful thinking, however crime does not go unpunished." The masked figure said, and Alastair detected a hint of mocking in the tone.

At that moment another image appeared on screen. It was a link to a website. There was a photo on screen of a man in a suit, smiling and shaking hands with a politician. Alastair recognised the man as the director of the hospital.

The words child abuse, endangerment and experiments blared out at him and he looked up to see everyone else looking shocked by this. He looked to Laura and saw her face had paled in horror.

************************

"Scandal today at St. Mary's College Hospital in London. Following allegations made by the enitity known as Sphinx, director Daniel Lyon has been arrested, pending an investigation into his conduct. The allegations date back into the late eighties. Police have yet to comment."

I stared at the screen for a moment in abject horror. I had been to St.Mary's quite a few times in my life. Once when I broke my arm, again when I needed a blood test and again when I was very young for something that I couldn't quite remember.

I glanced to my right to see Dani watching the tv very carefully. He seemed absorbed in what was happening. It was a good thing that these people would be put behind bars especially if they hurt children.

"Did he hurt you?" I asked, and he glanced at me.

"Yeah, it feels like a lifetime ago, though." He replied.

"What did he do?" I knew it was rude to ask, but I was genuinely concerned.

"It's difficult to talk about." Was all he said.

CC didn't seem interested in the police report and was on the balcony, staring out across the city, beer in hand. I got up and walked over to him, placing my hand on his arm. He blinked and then looked at me.

"How're you feeling?" I asked, and he smiled.

"Really good, actually. They evacuated the hospital and Lyon got arrested." He smiled, taking a steadying breath.

I nodded and stared across the city with him. I still had no idea of what the experiments were and whether they'd done any permenant damage. To look at CC, he seemed like an average twenty-six year old.

I left him to his thoughts and entered the bedroom. Ashley was sat on the bed, various tools were spread across the sheets. A mobile phone was open on the bed and he seemed to be concentrating.

"What you building?" I was definitely going to get in trouble with all these questions.

"A mobile phone bomb." He replied.

A million thoughts rushed through my mind all in a blur. He lifted his head to look at me. His dark eyes were blank for a moment and he stared down my body, making me squirm. His gaze went back to my face in an instant.

"Why would you build that?" I murmured.

"It's a talent." He shrugged, fixing some things together.

I stepped closer and watched him close the phone up. He lifted it up and held it in both hands, looking around the edges to see if there were any gaps. I leaned in to look too. The phone looked perfect as though it was brand new. A scary thought occured to me, that Ashley was very good at building these bombs.

"You're really good at making these things." I said.

"I'm just really good with my hands." He glanced at me and a shiver went down my spine.

He set the phone bomb down on a nearby table and moved all the tools onto the same table. I kept my distance until he approached me.

"Did that guy from the hospital hurt you?" I murmured.

"He was one of the people that did," Ashley replied. "He played a part in the abuse."

I sensed the conversation wasn't going where I wanted it to go when he started advancing towards me, till my legs hit the bed. I gasped when he filled the space between us, pressing his lips to my neck. I felt his hot breath on my skin and he inhaled.

I whimpered when he pressed open mouth kisses to my neck. My body was shaking and I wasn't sure if it was nerves or that I was waiting in anticipation. I guessed nerves was the best answer.

"S-so, how's your day?" I blurted out, feeling stupid. I had a knack for dumb questions.

"Shut up." He murmured, nipping my neck.

Another gasp escaped when I felt Ashley's hand toying with the hem of my t-shirt. He must have felt my body trembling because he didn't move to lift my t-shirt up instead he lifted his head and pressed his lips to mine, dominating my mouth.

I was forced onto the bed with him on top of me. He felt so warm and safe. When he was affectionate and gentle, it seemed like a good time to talk to him. His lips went to my neck again and I whimpered when his mouth traced down where my jugular was, nipping and sucking.

I wanted to speak, but no words would come out. Meanwhile, his lips moved down towards my collarbone and ghosted along it. My hands were pinned to the bed and I felt a little nervous at being restrained.

For someone that had been kept in isolation throughout his childhood, Ashley seemed to have no problems with being intimate. He let go of one of my wrists to lower the collar of my t-shirt and continue downwards.

"Ashley." I whispered, and his eyes shot up, locking onto mine.

He paused, shifting so he was eye level with me and for some reason this made me even more nervous. I could feel how close he was.

"What's wrong?" He asked, as though sensing my discomfort.

"I dunno, you just seem really, um, well adjusted for someone raised in isolation, that's all." I managed to blurt out and he stared at me.

That did it. His eyes became amused and a sly smirk flitted across his features. It was a look he rarely had and usually reserved it for moments of sarcasm. His eyes weren't mocking though, instead they were playful.

"Well adjusted? I'm able to have sex, if that's what you mean. I've been with quite a lot of women."

Well, that was shocking and a feeling rose from the pits my stomach. It tasted like jealousy. I blushed then when I realised.

"Did you not like the other women?" I muttered, wanting to know why he was suddenly so intrigued by me.

"Yes, they were very interesting, but they were fake and had no interest in me on a personal level. You seemed intrigued by me and I like that." He replied, eyes raking down my body.

"You're definitely different." I smiled, shyly.

He smirked then and my heart rate picked up. He was leaning over me, tracing patterns on the skin on my neck.

"So, where are you from?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm actually Japanese. My Mum and Dad moved here before I was born." I smiled.

"Your mother died, didn't your dad want to look after you?" He said, trailing his hand through my hair.

"My parents divorced when I was really young. Dad married another woman and he didn't want to see me once they had their own family. It was just me and Mum." I murmured.

Whether it was that he felt sorry for me or that he wasn't sure what to say, Ashley leaned down, kissing me again. He pulled back, smiling. The door suddenly flew opene and his gaze hardened.

Dani was in the doorway, looking sheepish. My face immediately went bright red. Ashley was a little less bashful and he glared at Dani with undisguised hostility.

"Sorry for bothering you both, but I'm gonna get some take-out. What did you two want?" Dani smiled. The shyness was gone and he grinned as though he hadn't just disturbed us.

"I'll just have rice and sweet and sour chicken." I mumbled, and he smiled, glancing at Ashley.

"And what about you?"

"Your head on a plate." Ashley shot back.

"Now, now, let's not be rude." Dani chuckled.

"Chow mein, then." Ashley replied, still glaring.

"What sort?" Dani smirked.

"Fuck off." Ashley snarled.

Whether Dani got the sense that Ashley was going to murder him, he stepped back and smiled at me.

"I'll just surprise you, yeah?" He left, shutting the door.

I couldn't help but laugh a little. Dani was certainly very strange. He had ditched the complete goth look today and was in jeans and a t-shirt. Even without it though, he was quirky.

"He's so funny." I laughed.

"Yeah, right." Ashley chuckled, rolling his eyes.

He leaned down, nuzzling my neck and I smiled. We stayed like that until Dani came back with the food and sat in the lounge eating. CC and Dani chatted and laughed. I joined in sometimes when I wanted. Ashley was very quiet, but he would often be sarcastic.

I assumed he was still ignoring me in front of CC, but every so often he would catch my eye and hold my gaze. I finally knew what Dani meant when he said that Ashley looked at me. I averted my eyes and carried on eating.

Notes