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“Don’t fucking call Sunny that.”

“… Sammy, please just leave me alone, or I’m going to call security!”

There was a loud hiss of white noise until the audio cut. Hal raised his eyebrows and slumped back with a big sigh. Alex raised his arms over his head, trying to reel in what he just heard. “Damn,” breathed Hal. “She’s actually a bitch.”

Kana scoffed, raising her eyebrows as she reached for her phone again.

“She is definitely hiding something,” Alex mused, reclining in his seat. “So, you got nothing out of that?”

“Not exactly,” said Kana. “Before I left the party, some bouncer guy stopped me and gave me a sample of something. I didn’t know what it was, nor did I care. It was like this weird metal bar-looking thing with a switch in the middle. I remember struggling to use it. When I was about to throw it away, I got this weird text message.”

It took Alex a while to realize that was the reason why they were brought together. “Robin?”

Kana nodded. She went to her messages app, scrolled up, and passed the screen to them.

Robin: hey do you know anything about the Durden?

Kana: who the fuck are you and what are you talking about?

Robin: you’re looking for someone that may be involved with what I’m looking for

Robin: I’d say we are basically looking for the same thing

Kana: how the fuck do you know that?

Robin: I just happened to overhear you talk to your friend back there.

Robin: that’s unfortunate she would be so uncooperative

Kana: ok you’re scaring me. How did you get this number and who the fuck are you?

Robin: Don’t be scared. I’m not here to hurt you. I’d like for you to help me and I can possibly help find your friend.

Kana: k and????

Robin: I’ve had my suspicions that some Durden may be going around this party but I couldn’t get any

Kana: wait hold up

Kana: Is Durden a drug?

Robin: Nixzin. Generic, Zipramine Xinphylline. But it’s easier to just call it Durden

Robin: You didn’t happen to get anything like that did you?;)

“Is it about the metal bar you got or something?” Alex asked, looking up from the phone.

Kana stuffed her hand into her pockets and pulled out a flat black device no bigger than a pen. She slid it across the table. Hal caught it before Alex.

“And they were just passing these out?” Hal asked. Alex snatched it from his hands.

Kana nodded. “Yeah. Robin mentioned checking it. It’s also really hard to open. I can’t figure out—”

Alex turned the rod over in his hands, running his thumb along a barely visible seam. He found the switch and pressed.

Click.

He pulled apart the bar in two parts, revealing small metal rods that held the pieces together and a small glass vial filled with pink liquid inside. The vial fell out and rolled onto the table until Hal caught it with cupped hands. He held it up to the light in between his thumb and index finger, closing one eye and peering through the tiny glass.