"Officer Bentley, we are assigning you this case," The Captain slid a thick folder of paper towards Bentley, giving him some time to sift through it for a few moments. It was full of different papers, all full of notes and profiles of different people that even Bentley recognised. Anyone who didn't know of the famous McClain, Kogane, Garret and Holt missing persons cases had to live under a rock deep beneath the ocean. They had been broadcasted on the news for weeks after their disappearance so their faces were etched into most people's minds. The first sheet of paper was filled with information about Henry Griffin, a teacher that had also gone missing around about the same time as the children. "Henry Griffin went missing on the 13th of April three years ago. After a year, officers closed the case because they were unable to find any evidence of a killer or potential kidnapper." Bentley leaned forward in his chair, making direct eye contact with his superior so he knew he was listening to his every word.

"Why open it back up again?"

The Captain cleared his throat before taking the file from Bentley. He pulled out the students's profiles so their faces were on view to the world. "Because of these four."

"Is there a reason you think these kids are related to the disappearance of a respected teacher?"

"Each of them were students at the Galaxy Garrison and this one," The Captain used his index finger to point at the only student whose picture featured a long scowl. He looked like he was glaring at the camera, rendering him unapproachable and looking far from kind. "He had Griffin as a teacher," Bentley nodded. He wasn't one to judge a book by its cover but that student looked like a troublemaker. "It isn't often that people go missing for long periods of time like this but five people in one town? It's unlikely. There has to be some sort of link."

"I agree... could they have been targeted by the same person?"

"That's up to you to investigate," Bentley crossed his legs and shuffled back in his chair. He started to flick through the documents he had been given again, taking particular interest in the photographs of the missing students. The pictures had been taken from the Galaxy Garrison's database so each were grinning widely with their bright, orange uniforms on. All but one, a certain Keith Kogane, Bentley came to realise, who was the one scowling as if he hated the world. There was a distinct kind of darkness behind his eyes which sparked a small fire of curiosity in Bentley's chest. He would certainly be interesting to look into. "We have been notified that one of the children have been found too. Lance McClain. His parents have insisted that we investigate further and, should we wish to speak to them or their son, they will happily oblige."

"Interesting." Bentley's police officer brain was doing spirals, questions diffusing through deep parts of his mind. Why would only one of them come back? Did they escape? Were they in a fit state for an interview? Were they traumatised? Did they have any information? Why did they come back now? Why not a week ago? Why not next week?

"I really think this case could be your breakthrough," The Captain balanced his head on his hands and smiled at the other officer. "If you can get to the bottom of this, everyone will you know your name."

"Of course. Who hasn't heard of this disappearance? I promise I've got this, Sir. I'm going to do you proud."

"Good luck, Officer Bentley." With that, the Captain held out his hand for Bentley to shake. When he did, Bentley couldn't help the heat rushing to his cheeks. It was rare that the Captain shook hands with anyone and it was a sign of serious respect that made Bentley want to hold his head high. They exchanged a curt nod before Bentley walked out of the office. He made his way over to his desk and only then let himself celebrate. He punched the air and shook his hips, a grin filling his face. He only stopped dancing when someone cleared their throat and he realised he wasn't alone.

"Nice dancing," His colleague, Robin, commented. Her lips had quirked up into a half-smile that made Bentley's face flush red. He dropped down into his swivel chair with a lot less enthusiasm, shoulders hunching over. "Come on, Bentley, it's a joke. What's got you so happy anyway?"

"Cap' assigned me a case."

"Let me guess, petty theft? Some kids vandalising property?" Bentley wished he could wipe that dumb smirk from Robin's face because its only purpose was to degrade him. Being the newest member and a stickler for the rules, Bentley had never been the most popular in the precinct. Most of the other officers were much more laid back and had been there long enough to be familiar with everyone's families and hobbies. Bentley had hardly known their first names whilst they had inside joke nicknames for everyone. It was like he was back at school and bullied all over again... but this case... it was his time to prove to them that he was on the same level as them.

"Nope," Bentley smirked to redeem himself. Robin raised her eyebrows in curiosity, though she would never have expected what Bentley said next. "It was a potential kidnapping and murder."

"Well shit, he must think you're capable. I just get stuck with robbery. Nothing as interesting as murder."

"Yup," Bentley would have added something about how Captain must like him more as he was assigned the job but he didn't want to stoop as low as Robin. His mother had always taught him that fighting back only made him as bad as the bullies. He wasn't like them. In addition to that, they weren't in a playground anymore. They were officers, in their job, having to maintain professionalism. "If I want to get home by midnight tonight, I better get reading."

"You better." Robin nodded and forced a smile before turning to her desk. Bentley just caught a glimpse of the sadness hidden in Robin's irises, confirming his mother's perception that bullies had their own insecurities.

Pulling the papers out of the file, Bentley began to sift through them. He started with the profile of the student that was sat on top: Tsuyoshi Garret. Reports had already been given by the Garrison, including his grades and how his behaviour was ranked in the class.

He seemed to be a straight-A student and had an almost perfect behavioural record, with the exception of one bad behaviour mark given for being caught sneaking out of the building with another student. According to one of his teacher's accounts, Garret suffered from crippling anxiety that often hindered him in the simulators but, with the exception of that, he was generally a high performer and never left any students out. "Too kind for his own good," Bentley noted down underneath a heading of Garret.

Next was Katie Holt who appeared to have attended the Garrison under an alias known as Pidge Gunderson. Her grades had been perfect but her behavioural report was far from it. In the past, she had been banned from the Garrison as a result of sneaking into the premises on multiple occasions and attempting to hack into their databases. Something Bentley also made a note of was her brother's death, following a pilot failure on the Kerberos mission. That kind of incident was most likely behind her bad behaviour, though it didn't excuse it.

Thirdly was Keith Kogane, a boy that had a behavioural report that was about as long as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, jam packed with different incidents. His grades were mediocre with the exception of his almost immaculate performances on the simulators. It seemed he was much better in practice than in theory. After sifting through the incidents Kogane had been involved in, he found a significant pattern. The first incident was a fight between himself and another boy his age known as James Griffin. According to the notes, Griffin had made a sideways comment about Kogane's heritage. After reading into it further, Bentley came to realise that Kogane had been in foster homes since the age of eight.

As he read further into it, he noticed that Kogane got into frequent fights with his peers, clearly not getting along with them. That was most likely the result of his insecure and inconsistent upbringing. Up until a point, they had mainly been with that one boy- Griffin- but they suddenly stopped about half way through Keith's first year. Then the fights seemed to be with random people, apart from one exception where he had hit Commander Iverson. Apparently that had almost resulted in Kogane's expulsion but hadn't because a higher-up, Takashi Shirogane, had stepped in to prevent it. He had seen the potential Kogane's piloting skills.

The frequency of the fighting increased substantially after the date of the Kerberos mission. The notes told Bentley that Takashi Shirogane had come to mentor Kogane, the pilot who made the mistake that cost him and his team the whole mission. The absence of his mentor most likely lead to him acting up again.

With Kogane's past with Henry Griffin's son, Bentley couldn't help but wonder if Kogane had somehow been involved in his disappearance. He certainly seemed capable of something as terrible as kidnapping.

Last up was Lance McClain. It was easy enough for Bentley to gather that he was a rather outgoing and confident boy: that much was apparent in the almost cocky grin he was wearing in his school photo. His grades were about the same standard as Keith's, though he appeared to underperform and fail most of his simulations. His behavioural log suggested that McClain sneaked out of the school building a lot and got caught most times, though that was most likely due to him being a teenage boy wishing to rebel. It didn't shock Bentley as much as Kogane's constant urge to get into fist fights.

Right at the back of the folder was a piece of paper where the officer who had spoken to Lance McClain's parents had jotted down some notes. From what Bentley could gather, McClain was refusing to tell anyone what he had experienced and had made up some bizarre story about going into space that was more than obviously delusional. That meant interviewing him most likely wasn't going to get anywhere at that moment. McClain was also seeing a psychologist, something that seemed significant. A trauma such as kidnapping or witnessing murder probably had the potential to traumatise someone into making up something so crazy as a trip into space.

Bentley decided that it might be worth investigating Kogane's residence as a start, with his dodgy history and all. He'd work forward from there.

-

Bentley ducked beneath the bright yellow police line do not cross tape, beginning to walk around the scene and inspect everything in his view. It was his first case regarding a kidnapping and potential murder so he had to get it right. He had to prove to the Captain that he was a worthy detective. He wasn't quite Sherlock Holmes or Connor from Detroit Become Human but he was Bentley. Bentley didn't make haisty assumptions; nor did he make mistakes. He took things slowly so he could analyse anything and everything, no matter how tedious. Is there a pair of earphones on the floor? To a normal person, that would seem like nothing but strangulation using them couldn't be ruled out. Well... not unless the victim didn't display any signs of strangulation...

Forensics had already been through the place, dusting for fingerprints in what appeared to be the most significant places. They had come to the conclusion that each of the missing children had been in the small shack at some point on the last day they had been seen. What was even more interesting was the fact that they found fingerprints that belonged to none other than Takashi Shirogane.

Already thinking it was suspicious since Shirogane had supposedly been killed on a mission into space, Bentley had arranged a meeting with the head teacher of the Galaxy Garrison. They had talked for well over an hour over a pot of tea until Bentley had drained all of the truth from him. The 'pilot error' that had apparently cost the Kerberos mission, had only been a cover-up and they didn't actually know what happened to those on board the ship. They didn't have any records of the ship ever arriving on Kerberos so it was likely they had gone missing somewhere along the way... but where? Dozens of people had watched the ship take off and it was unlikely that Shirogane had been kidnapped somewhere in the sky. A top pilot and scientist, along with the scientist's eldest son who had amazing potential and they didn't want it to get out to the rest of the world.

"Just imagine the publicity we'd have got," The headteacher had said, refusing to make eye contact with Bentley. That avoidance alone made it clear that even he was embarrassed about what the Garrison had done. "Takashi Shirogane was one of the youngest pilots of our generation to lead a journey into space and we... we lost him. We don't know where he went. No one would ever want to attend this school again... we'd get shut down and we're this close to revolutionising space travel. We can't stop now."

What Bentley had proposed inside his own mind was Shirogane's involvement. Was there a possibility that he lead the crime? Did he purposely throw the Kerberos mission so he could get away undetected to kidnap the children? With Kogane's destructive past and his relationship with Shirogane, Bentley couldn't deny that there was a high possibility.

Bentley mapped it all out. He could see Kogane falling out with the teacher, letting his anger get the better of him and accidentally knocking him out. As Shirogane was his mentor, he could have cared enough for Keith to help him cover up. That could have lead to him throwing the mission, kidnapping the children and then running away with Kogane. It made so much sense... all Bentley needed was the evidence; if you knew what you were looking for, that would be simple.