The car pulled up, avoiding piles of rubble from the front of the mall. The passenger door opened and a woman climbed out. Her hair was done in a ponytail and her eyes were a dark blue. She carefully stepped round some broken glass.

The other door opened and a man stepped out. His hair was fair, but greying around the edges. His light blue eyes glossed over the wreckage.

"Shocking, isn't it?" The woman said, turning to him.

"Oh yes, very." He agreed, though he grimaced at the sight.

The two of them started walking towards the front of the wreckage. There were a lot of other police officers here, making sure the general public didn't try and get into the mall.

Detective inspector Alastair Blake observed the people standing near the police tape. Most of them were taking pictures and he sighed. Things like this always made people stare. His partner, inspector Laura Smith was across the way, talking to one of the officers.

He decided to join her. He could hear the conversation as he drew closer.

"No one was killed. It's just a lot of damage."

"They say it was thiamine based." Laura stated.

"Yeah, they found traces of it, but forensics couldn't be sure of the source." The officer continued.

Alastair stood next to Laura and then glanced over at the people bordering the tape. He stared each one down. The suspect could among them, trying to insert himself or herself into the investigation.

"How many of those people across there are part of the media?" He asked the officer.
"Nearly all of them, detective." The officer replied, eyeing the people.

The police officer went back to what he was doing and Alastair and Laura started to walk away. She sighed deeply and he remembered what he meant to ask her.

"Did you see the video?" He pressed, and she looked thoughtful.

"Not yet." She responded.

They got back into the car and he pulled out his phone, setting up the internet and accessing Youtube. He keyed in the word 'Sphinx'.

The video came up and unsurprisingly it was the first result. The grainy footage appeared as did the two figures. They were wearing all black and their faces were conviniently concealed by masks. Alastair tried to get a look at where they were, but the background was dark. It was obviously somewhere underground or away from the public eye.

"Good Afternoon, Britain. In two days time, a symbol of greed will be filled with noise and chaos." The voice was distorted and sounded demonic.

The video cut out after that and both police officers were met with a blank screen. Laura raised her eyebrows, looking confused.

"Well, that was certainly interesting." She spoke.

"That's what the media say," Alastair chuckled, then scrolled down, reading the Youtube comments. "My god, some of these people."

Some of the comments were anarchist in nature and Alastair couldn't believe that people like that existed. The same people that supported a building being destroyed could be sitting next to you on a bus and you'd never know.

"They're just going with it." Laura sighed.

Alastair nodded, and started the car. He drove away from the scene. The camera's on the lamp posts had detected nothing that day. So much for a CCTV society. The only clue people had about these terrorists was that they wore masks, gave riddles and called themslves Sphinx.

"They must enjoy playing games." Laura murmured.

"This is entertainment for them. They probably watched the news this morning and were proud of what they'd done." He replied.

"I hear the commissioner is getting a specialist in." She grinned.

"Oh really. What does he hope this specialist will do?" He smirked then.

"Apparently get into the mind of Sphinx."

They drove back to the station and got out the car, climbing the steps into the station. It was a fairly busy day and people were rushing around. Alastair saw the commissioner across the way. He was deep in discussion with a girl.

Her hair was silver. Her back was to him so that was all he could make out. He walked over and the commissioner saw him.

"Alastair, I'd like to introduce you to Ms Luna."

The girl lifted her head and stared at Alastair with bright green eyes. She looked young, but was too old to be a teenager. She looked older than his daughter.

"Pleasure to meet you." He said.

"The pleasure is all mine, detective." She smiled, breezily.

"Yourself, inspector Smith and Luna will all be working on Operation Black Sun." The commissioner continued.

"Operation Black Sun?" Alastair asked, glancing at Luna.

"Yes, the higher-ups want these terrorists stopped and believe Luna could hold the key to that." The commissioner replied.

Alastair arched an eyebrow and glanced at the young, silver haired woman. She was watching him too, with a sort of curious patience that he found unsettling. She looked far too young to be taking part in a police investigation.

The commissioner smiled then, his moustache tilting at the corners. He left them to talk. Laura walked over a few minutes later, eyeing the girl with blatant curiosity.

"Laura, this is Luna. She'll be assisting us in apprehending Sphinx." Alastair said, motioning between the two women.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, inspector." Luna smiled again.

Laura looked stunned and nodded. Alastair could sense Laura's shock at the turn of events. Afterall, Laura had a daughter too, who would have been roughly Luna's age.

"Ok, where should we start?" Laura asked, clasping her hands together.

"We need to wait now." Luna cut in.

"Wait? Seriously? They could set up more explosives and this time people could be killed." Laura snapped.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Laura on this one." Alastair said, and Luna nodded, not arguing.

"I understand your reluctance, detective. However, Sphinx will not attack yet. They will film their next riddle and then we shall begin the game. We will need to find the bomb before they detonate." Luna said, calmly.

"So, your advice is to wait for the next video?" He asked, and she nodded.

"I predict it will occur in the next few days." She remarked, analysing her fingernails.

Luna stood then, grabbing her purse and starting to proceed away from the two officers. Alastair frowned and began to follow her, grabbing her arm before she could depart.

"Sorry, for being so forward, but who do you know Sphinx?" He asked.

For a moment, he saw something flash through Luna's eyes then she became calm again. He released her arm, mumbling an apology.

"My relationship with Sphinx is very personal. I completely understand their motives and for the time being I will not divulge that information."

With that said, she turned and marched out of the building, leaving Alastair and Laura staring after her in a confused stupor. Laura stomped towards her desk and sat down, making the old office chair groan.

"We are being bossed around by a girl no older than my daughter, Michaela." She mumbled, burying her head in her hands.

Alastair leaned against the desk, heaving a sigh and shaking his head in defeat.

"There's very little we can do at this point," He said. "We just need to monitor social media and be ready for when they attack again."

"Did she say what their motives were?" Laura asked, staring at him with a weary gaze.
"She said she understands their motives." He replied, and Laura groaned again.

Alastair glanced at the door across the way and ran a hand through his hair. He would cerainly need a vacation after this.

Notes