"I'm not handing over anything" the manager protested, talking from behind the registration desk. "This is Hotel Geneva and we pride ourselves in costumer confidentiality. First I give you the guest list and next thing, you're shutting us down. People die all the time officer, it's not my fault. Would have thought you'd know better!"
Jennifer turned to the manager, choosing her words carefully. "Sir, I'm sure you're aware that it is an offense to obstruct a criminal investigation." Not that his refusal was actually obstruction, but then she hadn't actually accused him either. "Now, we can come back tomorrow with a warrant and turn this whole hotel upside down looking for what we need to solve this case. If you decide to cooperate with us right now, you might save us both a lot of difficulty."
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
Glancing around the room, Emily tries to avoid touching anything letting the others go over the place. She was wearing gloves, but in a world where psychic resonance can be used to find people what did that even matter?
Brutal and vicious killing, nothing stolen. Previous occupant absent. Bought her and killed her most likely. Who's the fresh blood belong too?
Pulling down her combat visor she flicked through to a setting that had organic material turn up as a light blue haze on a deep blue background. The room was coated with it and as she turned to the hallway there was a fair trail there. It seemed to drag over to the fire exit, so Emily followed. The material scan didn't pick up an alarm and so she pushed into the dark, the low light vision coming on to help aid her following the trail.
She could have teleported right to the bottom, but she might miss some clues, so she followed the staircase keeping an eye out and her smaller anti-personnel rifle unholstered. Whoever did this might still be here after all.
The manager lowered his voice to a threatening whisper. "Turn my place upside down? Listen lady, I don't take kindly to being threatened, especially not by a silly little woman playing cops and robbers. You're not getting anything off me, not without a warrant, so why don't you pick up your fat behind and drag it on out of here!"
Pious didn't feel too comfortable with where this situation was heading. He had full confidence that Jennifer would stay civil but this man had a very foul mouth that may one day get him arrested.
"I have a very foul mouth that may one day get me arrested" said the manager, looking a little perplex. "So I'll be a good little Christian now and respect your wishes. Here you go" he recited, handing the hotel register over to the officer, much to Pious's satisfaction.
Gnash left the LT to stew and looked again at the red leather bags contents
nabbing the nearest female Crimes Scene Technician ,Gnash instructed her in his wants ..making his voice just a fraction louder than needed , and making it clear he had picked on her for her technical skills and knowledge ,while at the same time observing Hicks ..Gnash wanted the cell phone was to be charged , all its contents extracted, numbers , messages ,the lot plus the service provider to be contacted and all call records obtained ..and put a rush on it
.
Gnash turned his gaze to the driving licence
calling over the nearest PPD Officer ..he requested a search to see if the victim owned a car ..and if so its details ..and a APB to but put out on said vehicle ,starting from the Hotel .
Stepping back out side of the room Gnash let his mind drift , sifting the mush of information , and awaiting the Hotel register ..and the follow up on his requests
.
With little though his golden pencil doodled over the open page of his note book ,slowly forming a pattern that from a the right angle looked like a very good sketch of Lt. Hicks face
..
Jennifer blinked, confused by the manager's sudden change of attitude. She took the book from his hands, frowning. "Thank you, sir. You've been most helpful."
She turned to Pious. Had he done something...? No, there was no way he'd be so irresponsible. She shrugged. "Ok, let's head on up. I've gotta warn you, it's not a pretty sight up there."
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
Pious followed Officer Sula up to the sixth floor. The scene was sickening, blood all over the walls of the corridors alone. They stopped by a man holding a notepad and Pious took the opportunity to inspect the room from outside. There was no doubt in his mind that this woman had been brutally torn apart, certainly by someone or something with inhuman strength. The young priest faced the man and offered a handshake. "Reverend Hunter, I'm here from the newly formed Shield Branch. Are you working on this case?"
Following the blood trail down the stairs it gets brighter and thicker the further it goes. Dragged, still alive so heart will pump blood faster and spill more due to aggravated wounds. Must have been silenced somehow. As The trail comes to an end at a basement door and Emily gently pushes it open, gun held in one arm as she covers the gap for any attackers.
The inside was a gory scene, blood slicked over every surface up the walls and spread all over the cleaning equipment. Great pools of it were still present on the floor and Emily's visor's air filter snapped over her mouth and nose before she could even cough from the smell. The Analysis came up free of harmful pathogens, but she still didn't want to breathe it in and sent the thought to override the control reflexively. Emily had been a fusion of woman and machine for a while now and things like that came to her almost reflexively even if half her current tech was 'borrowed' or made up by people with a rather loose grasp on reality. A second thought and a tiny crackle of sound from her gun signalled the activating of the teleporters to refit her normal clip of bullets with tranquillizers, she couldn't afford to contaminate the scene with anything heavier.
The motion detectors picked up movement in the shadows at the back, it was hiding or she'd be able to see it. Guarding the door she scanned the hotel for frequencies, homing in on Hicks radio and turned on the sub vocalisation software.
"Lieutenant, I've got a situation in the Hotel Basement that needs to be dealt with immediately. The Perpetrator is potentially present. Quickly now." came the call, calm and efficient with its words.
Gnash broke from his considerations and ,slipping on his policeman face, looked away from his notebook to the two officers
Gnashs gloved hand rose and met the offer with a loose shake .
Gnash PsiDiv ,yes , I believe that I am one of Lt Hicks little helpers
switching his focus .. is that perchance the hotel register your carrying Officer Sula ?..can WE find some space for US to work on it
pre-empting any move by Hicks .
Gnash returned pencil and notebook to the one of the inside pockets of his long coat . ..
One of the psychics mind reading the chambermaid approached the lieutenant. "We did all we could lieutenant, the lady has no useful knowlegde" he reported. "From what we gathered, she came to clean a nearby room this morning and noticed the blood in the hallway. She followed its trail inti this room and discovered the body as it is. She has no recollection of what might have happened in here. However, she did mention that this room was booked by a man in his thirties, caucasian with short brown hair and dark eyes. Apparently he's had the room for about a week, requested no interuption, no cleaning, no feeding. This could be our guy lieutenant."
"Good work detective" said Hicks. "Sula or Gnash over there has the hotel register, I want to know who this son of a bich really is. And remind me again why you can't do your Hudini clairsentient mojo on this crime scene? It would really help us figure out what went on here, you know?"
The psychic didn't look too impressed. "Victim has been dead for too long, Lieutenant Hicks" he replied. "There's not enough psychic resonance for us to sense anything let along perform a clairsentient survey, sir."
"Fine whatever, just make yourself useful and get this poor chambermaid out of here. Reverend!" he called out, noticing the priest. Just as he crossed the room to greet the man, his radio buzzed alive with an urgent broadcast from Agent Emily. "Lieutenant, I've got a situation in the hotel basement that needs to be dealt with immediately. The perpetrator is potentially present. Quickly now."
"Well don't just stand there!" screamed the lieutenant. "Sula, Gnash, Greene, Hunter, get down there. Go! Go!"
From the shadows of the basement came something of a monster. Noiseless, agile and extremely fast. It pounced like a wild predator moving in on its prey, it's huge figure coming to shape the closer it got to the armoured agent. It was a man, an ordinary man, but at the size of a speeding truck, he was deadly. His arm was raised back behind him, preparing to land a heavy blow on his intruder, an attack with such speed and ferocity it was capable of demolishing a solid brick wall.
Gnash turned , blocking the door way of the room ..and vanished
teleporting outside of the hotel via the rooms window , the six storey drop was replaced by a second teleportation ..
Gnash in a rapid series of teleports re-entered the hotel , crossed the lobby and reached the bottom of the basements stair case , the whole journey a matter of seconds
Around Gnash the air had thickened and become mist like as he raised his defences , Gnash activated his Monocular sight as he arrived at the basements door
his mind focused to a razor edge ready to deal with what ever threat has caused the call from Agent Emily
With a staccato of pressurized cartridges discharging, sending steel tipped tranquillizer rounds thudding into the chest of the creature followed by several sticky beacon rounds, their purpose to track its movement on her overlay. Emily quickly pulled up an emergency slide back up the stairway. The Teleport took a second to kick in and she took the punch half to the gut, doubling over as she reformed three floors up, wheezing in pain.
Willing herself to move over to the rail, she grips it with both hands and looks down gasping. Had that even slown the thing down?
The weight of the punch threw the large man into the agent and as she teleported away, he went down hard, hitting the blood-soaked concrete with a loud thud. The tranquillizers were kicking in, neutralising the man's mighty muscles. With his last ounce of strength he crawled into a enough shadow to escape, leaving behind a slimy, bloody puddle of excess skin, muscle and hair. This creature had shed skin in a small outburst of blood and gore. A nearby stack of maid staff uniforms was covered in bloody handprints and missing by one.
God dammit. It's a teleporter as well. Shadow Medium needed though it seems.
Emily ported back down to the bottom as the rest caught up with a crackle and whiff of Ozone. The low light visor let her see the gory remains and she quickly bagged and tagged a sample for herself, slipping it into a concealed pocket. She used the visor's camera to snap pictures of the scene and a close up of the bloody hands fingerprints.
As though in slow motion, the police officers proceeded down the stairs, weapons in hand, followed closely by psychic officers and forensics. Lieutenat Hicks followed the train from the rear and was the last to notice a strange lady in hotel staff uniform, sneaking out of the basement doors and gingerly making her way up the stairs in opposite direction to the police. She kept her head low, hiding her face. Her hair was wet and sticky, probably with blood but it wasn't noticable. What gave her away however, were her shoeless feet. "Hey, excuse me!" called the lieutenant, shouting after the maid. "Let me see some ID."
"ID?" said the woman, just as the train of officers disappeared into the basement. She raised her head and locked eyes with the lieutenant who suddenly froze with fear, a horrified look etched to his face as though he'd just seen a ghost. The woman before him was none other than Maria J. Gardner, the murder victim. Hicks didn't have much time to process the information as the young woman's pale fist came flying into view, followed by a sharp pain to the forehead and blackout. Hicks hit the floor like a sack of potatoes, momentarily unconscious, allowing Maria Gardner to escape into the first floor hallway and out through a nearby window.
It didn't take long for the lieutenant to recover. Before clambering to his feet, he reached for his radio and pressed it to his lips. "This is Lieutenant Hicks, suspect has been spotted on the first floor. I repeat, suspect is on the first floor. And er... well, it seems to have the appearance of Maria Gardner and dressed as a hotel maid. My best guess is... we're dealing with a shapeshifter! For God's sake people, approach with caution!"
Jennifer grimaced and lowered her sidearm, listening as Hicks made his announcement. She'd only ever met one shapeshifter before, and he hadn't made a good impression. Could it be the same one? She wished she knew more about Cyril and his organisation, but this didn't seem like their style. She sighed, and looked around to see where the detectives had gone.
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
Gnash took in Hicks' words and stopped ..and engaged his grey matter ..what ever this thing was it was not dumb ...trying to pass as a maid was a good way to get out of the hotel ...a maid would leave via the rear of the hotel ...Gnash once more made a series of teleport hops and came to rest one the rear fire escape of the hotel , a good spot to have a clear view of the rear exits from the building ..Gnash then went to work on his radio ..
Gnash here I have the rear scoped , I want units at both ends of the main ally , clear out all civilians ASAP ...keep well clear of any suspect and call for back up ....
he paused ..further grey matter at work ......
Officer Sula care to join me ? (( recall friend )) ..
Officer Jackson rushed onto the first floor to meet Lieutenant Hicks, brandishing a new and updated case file which now included background information on the murder victim Maria Josephine Gardner. "Sir" the officer begun, "we got an arrest on Maria for prostitution when she began her illegal career early this year, but get this, she has been placed on the scene of four major bank robberies this last week alone. Which I don't understand, how does a pretty little lady go from a rookie ****** to a major bank robber with super strength in a matter of months? And according to forensics, Maria has been dead for almost a week, it doesn't make any sense."
Hicks kept on walking towards the nearest hotel exit, following Detective Gnash's orders. He was so preoccupied with tracking down the escaping suspect that he didn't really pay Jackson much attention. Besides, his team had already figured out half the mystery. "As far as we know Jackson" said the lieutenant, "the killer is a shapeshifter, and from what you have in this file, our killer is the bank robber, probably using Maria's body and identity as a cover." The lieutenant suddenly froze in his tracks. "Jesus Christ that's actually ingenious, catching this guy just became a matter of highest priority, go and find Reverend Hunter, tell him to meet me at the east alleyway. And I want forensics and those two psychic detectives down in that basement, I wanna know what the hell happened down there, like now! Go!"
[ QUOTE ]
Officer Sula care to join me ? (( recall friend )) ..
[/ QUOTE ]
"Whoa, what the - " Jennifer stumbled slightly as she rematerialised near to Gnash, and looked around. "Oh. Right. We're watching to see if he... she... tries to get out this way, detective?"
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
"Lieutenant Hicks, sir" came a voice on the radio. "We found a body in the basement, looks like Abigail Christenson. Her heart has been perforated and her hands bound with ropes. Agent Emily theorized that Abigail, looking for Maria this morning, might have interupted the killer from the hallway of Room 4 and was then attacked, bound and dragged into the basement, leaving the trail of blood she followed into here. Detective Frost and I are about to commense a clairsentient survey."
Suddenly, wild gunshots are heard coming from multiple corners outside the hotel. Those that could see over the fences and beyond the alleyway would notice about a dozen men in smart casual suits and colour coded shirts, wielding guns and an array of melee weapons. They approached the staff exit with maximum force, quite possibly attempting to rescue the cornered killer. Several bullets ripped at the fences and walls, one guman with a grey shirt noticed Detective Gnash and Officer Sula and suddenly charged at them with unbelievable speed, his arms swinging for a knockout blow.
"We're under attack!" Jennifer threw out a hand toward the charging man. A haze of light shimmered around her as she tried to form a cage around him before he got close enough to land that punch.
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
Jennifer's vague reveries about places she felt like kicking Lieutenant Hicks were broken as a familiar voice called out across the hotel lobby. She looked up, startled. "Wh - Reverend?"
She hurried over to meet him, her face breaking into a smile. Though this wasn't the first time a friend had come back from the dead, and she'd had some warning, it was still a whole other thing to see with her own eyes. "It's good to see you," she said, lowering her voice as they drew close enough for conversation. "I'm afraid I'm just here for crime scene security, though." She indicated her uniform. "The detectives are all upstairs already. I can show you up there, as soon as I get the register from the manager?"
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.