The doctor wasn’t amused. “Read your reports Huxley, it's not airborne.”
Xairin’s body had a plastic sheet over it. You could see everything. The first thing Ezra noticed was the man’s face, he instantly gasped when his brain lit up with sparks. He recalled Xairin asking him to dance, and every other detail about the young man. He recalled seeing what looked like a teardrop that had recently moistened the man’s cheek, followed by his polite refusal.
The other details Ezra dealt with now, was seeing Xairin’s mangled body. He looked as if had fallen into a pit filled with fighting dogs. His extremities were torn in numerous locations. The fang marks were clear as day, as were the tearing that occurred. “Jesus.” Ezra said under his breath.
Hilgenberg sighed. “This poor bastard didn’t stand a chance. There’s no doubt he died after the bat attack. Based on what we’ve seen in your other victims, those bats were likely the first eye witnesses to your perp at work. I have no doubt they scared him off before he could finish his usual.”
Ezra kept recalling his encounter with Xairin. He felt horrible. Ezra had a soft heart, and often, optimistic. He wondered if taking the man up on his offer might have changed the outcome somehow. Ezra was bi, or at least that's what he tried to tell himself. His sexuality was one of the reasons he decided to transfer to this division, hoping he could help LGBT victims, being victimized by a new trend in hate crimes. With Xairin, seeing the victim alive, and now lying lifeless. He partially blamed himself, even though he knew deep down the perp would have chosen another.
Marine walked over informing Ezra. “Xairin Dean Thunder, 28 years old, auburn hair, green eyes and 202 lbs. as of last year.” Marine looked at the man’s face. “Well he did have green eyes.” She said apathetically. “Mr. Thunder was single, a medical massage therapist for Global Care, and no known family members.” She tilted her head. “Apparently his civilian file is sealed before age 18. Looks like he was a foster child at some point that aged out of the system. Other than that, the only emergency contacts he has listed is a droid…”
Marine exhaled. “No DNA, no fingerprints, nothing. Just an intact body Ezra.”
Marine looked at her partner. “Can you get a read?”
Ezra was a little unnerved but walked around the head of the table. He placed his hands on Xairin’s temples, cupping the man’s face. The chill made it difficult. Given Xairin’s cells were so cold, Ezra couldn’t get a read, his memory cells were frozen. “I can’t get a read, the body’s too cold.”
The coroner frowned. “Sorry you wasted a trip down here detectives. If W.H. O’s isolation rules weren’t so stringent I’d warm the body up for you, but if I did that, those alien cells may react faster than those tight asses want.”
Hilgenberg informed them. “I did find traces of biotex coating on the victim’s cheeks. We at least know that. Problem is biotex gloves are sold everywhere now. I wish I could be of more help detectives.”
Ezra looked at his own tablet for a moment while Marine uploaded the data to her partner. “The body was kept frozen at 86 degrees below zero, why exactly is W.H.O requiring such an extreme preservation?”
Hilgenberg walked over to the table and pressed a button on the side of the slab. A translucent tube began to expand from the side of the table and encase Xairin like a glass coffin. It had a touch screen to it. She pressed a few buttons and before they knew it, she zoomed in to see inside Xairin’s heart. The encasement gave a vivid detail of what was going on inside his body. “You see the black pod looking things inside his heart there?”
With the temperature rising now that the tube in the ceiling had retracted, Ezra could see the three slits in the nodules slowly opening. When one did, he saw one of the octopi shaped cells swim out, it moved slowly. “Per W.H.O protocols, anyone that died of injuries sustained from a bite, we are to freeze to -86 degrees. Anything higher than that, and those cells continue to flourish and apparently transform the body. Plus, like I mentioned earlier, his blood has some new enzyme preventing ice crystallization. These guys could likely survive any environment based on some of the weird shit I’ve seen.”
Ezra looked puzzled. The look on his face caught the coroner’s eyes. “Look, don’t get your hopes up Detective but according to W.H. O’s latest statement, some of the bodies have been regenerating.”
Marine scoffed. “Wait a second, are you saying this guy is coming back to life? Like a zombie or some shit?”
The doctor zoomed in on Xairin’s broken bones, his ribs to be specific. They could see tiny grey threads, reaching out, slowly pulling broken pieces back to their original resting place. The activity was slow, but they could see the direction they were being pulled too. “Look, all I know is, in two days I have had over a hundred bodies come in from being mauled to death. One of which, sat right up while I was doing an autopsy and I’m not talking spasmodic activity. He became alert, confused, and nearly destroyed lab area 3. These people are strong. I literally needed a change of clothes when it happened. Now I’m no expert, so you’d need to contact W.H.O. But to my knowledge all bodies are to be put in cryogenic stasis until the GA decides what to do with them.”
Ezra looked at Xairin’s face. He zoomed the scanner’s touch screen back out to look at the man’s face. Marine saw the look in her partner’s eyes. She knew that look. It then dawned on her, when she recalled Xairin running into her partner at the Haze. “Ezra, don’t you dare.”
“Marine we may have been the last ones to see this guy alive.”
The doctor jerked her head. “Wait, you know the victim?”
Ezra shook his head. “I was undercover two nights ago, I ran into him at one of the perp’s hunting grounds. Some club called the Haze. The guy asked me for a dance.”
The doctor looked at Ezra. “We can’t save them all Detective.”
Ezra turned around and began scrolling through the man’s file. He saw the listing for K2. “Has anyone contacted the droid?”
The doctor shrugged. “Yes, the droid was contacted. He’s in the other room.”
Ezra scrolled again, looking for any information on next of kin. He kept running into the sealed file. He knew Xairin was in foster care at some point, due to the specific insignia on the sealed file. “Has anyone spoken to the droid? Is anyone coming for it?”
The doctor did nod. “Mr. Thunder had a handful of friends. So far, no one’s coming in to claim it. Anyhow, I figure you’ll need to take that up with W.H.O.” She said while pointing at Doctor Aaron Battle, who had just entered the room.
Aaron walked slowly while he had his own coterie of white medical droids and one HKC with him carrying a blaster rifle. “Doctor Hilgenberg I presume?”
Hilgenberg recognized Aaron from TV. She shook his hand. “Doctor Battle. I wish I could say meeting you was under better circumstances. To be honest, I didn’t expect someone from W.H.O high command to arrive this time.”
Aaron seemed flattered. “We all do our part Doctor Hilgenberg.” Aaron noticed the Interpol badges hanging from a neck strap. “Detectives?” He asked curiously.
The coroner was quick to make the introduction. “Doctor Battle, this is Detectives Huxley and Evans.”
Marine looked at Aaron. The two seemed to know one another based on the way they acted. Ezra squinted his eyes. “You two know each other?”
Aaron bowed, “No, i would remember meeting such a fetching young… lady.”
Marine smiled. “Well thanks.”
Ezra shook Aaron’s hand. “Doctor Battle. Xairin Thunder, the young man here. There have been 19 homicides in bastion city over the past several months, the body here, aside from the apparent animal bites, he has linking factors to the homicides we’re working on. We think a serial killer may be at play targeting gay men in Bastion City. Can we count on your cooperation?”
Aaron looked shocked. “Serial killer? That’s not been in the news.”
Marine put her hand on her hip. “We haven’t went public yet Doctor Battle. It's o
nly speculative at this time, but yes, 19 confirmed deaths, all having traces of a drug called Scopolamine in their systems. Not to bore you with details Doctor, but the bodies have been… For lack of better words, decapitated and cut up This is the first intact victim we’ve found so far. Likely the bats may have frightened the perpetrator off before he could finish his work.”
Ezra tried to read Doctor Battle’s mind. He found it odd that he couldn’t. Aaron smiled. “You’re a sensitive detective?”
Ezra’s eyes widened while Aaron announced. “I have a sensitive aptitude as well. I’m hard to read.”
Jumping at the chance the detective asked. “Then you know that if we raise the body’s temperature, I may be able to get a read on him. Can we raise this body’s temperature so that I can hopefully access?”
Before Ezra could finish, Aaron interrupted. “No, you can’t detective. Global Alliance parliament leaders are prohibited any possible revivals at this time. I’m sorry.”
Aaron could see Ezra shocked, he also noticed him looking at Xairin’s face and could pick up the guilt the man had. “Detectives. If I come across any details, I will be sure to report it. And… If and when they release the freeze mandate, I’ll see what I can do, but don’t get your hopes up.”
Ezra looked back at Aaron and curiously asked. “Hilgenberg says the body is regenerating? Is that true?”
Aaron rolled his eyes. Not rudely, but as if he was running short on time. “It's true, we’ve seen some reanimations occur. I can’t promise you anything in this case. Parliament won’t be allowing any reanimations like I said. This body will have to remain in stasis until they make that determination. I can say this, if they do allow reanimations to proceed, the few we’ve allowed, have had memory loss, and synaptic gaps from their anatomy being rewritten. I can’t say for sure, what state his mind would be in.”
Ezra leaned against the wall while he watched them load Xairin’s body into a body bag and placed him on top of a floating stretcher. Once his body was secured, a new translucent encasement began to form, He saw the blue lights inside the pod, freezing Xairin’s body again. He looked off to the side, and then remembered. “Hey wait a second, Doctor Battle?”
Aaron turned around, “Yes Detective?”
“This man had a droid, what will become of it?”
Aaron could see the man’s body language. One didn’t need to be a sensitive to figure that out. The man was guilt ridden. Aaron looked at Xairin’s body floating out of sight. He turned back to looking at the Detective and looked at his tablet, bringing up Xairin’s file. “W.H.O has no use of an outdated droid.” The man sighed. He knew it could be months before the GA decided on what to do with those in cryo unless something extreme happened. In the meantime, the droid could be dismantled, recycled, or placed in storage, Aaron couldn’t be sure as to which scenario would play out. After all, Aeonian and Immortium rights were still going to need some work up. “Is the droid evidence of some kind?” His voice hinted.
Ezra nodded. “Possibly.”
Aaron smirked. “If you’ll sign the release, I can have him released to Precinct 7 as evidence.”
Marine and Ezra sat inside a black oval shaped drone mobile with K2 sitting right behind Ezra. The droid was looking down at the bottom of the seat. His AI chip’s emotional capacity was clearly in overdrive.
The dronemobile was set to autopilot. Marine and Ezra were quiet as the droid sat there reflecting on its situation. Ezra decided to try and be polite and engage the droid. “Are you ok?”
The droid slowly looked up and then back down at the floorboard. “I am functional.”
Aside from the droids at work, Ezra had no real experience with assistance droids. Even though he realized K2 was a former HK unit, his data link had given a good insight as to his new subroutines he had upgraded himself with. “Look, I know now’s not the best time, but, can you tell us anything about your handler that might have… made him a target?”
K2 could only shrug. “Xairin was kind, often too kind in my opinion. He lacked confidence in acquiring a mate and could be awkward at times.”
Marine was curious. “Your handler’s civilian file has a lock before age 18, Any insight?”
K2 seemed to further himself into depression. If droids had the capacity to cry, he would have. “Xairin’s father was a detective for Interpol. I was his father’s cybernetic counterpart before my model became obsolete. His father acquired me. After Xairin’s family died, I was put into storage until he was old enough to sign me out as per his parent’s will. I was all my handler had.”
Ezra and Marine both looked at one another. Ezra spoke softly. “I’m sorry for your losses.”
K2 looked up. “What is to become of me?”
His continued feelings of being responsible haunted the detective. He couldn’t help Xairin, but maybe he could at least help his droid. “I can promise you this, I won’t let you get recycled or dismantled.”
K2 just looked out the window.
_____
The Alley.
“CALLING ALL AVAILABLE UNITS. ZONE 7, 10-91E reported. Possible mutation. Mandated, all available units respond.”
Hearing the commlink, Ezra and Marine both just looked at each other. Marine cursing. “AH SHIT!”
“We have to take it, we’re in the vicinity.” Ezra reminded her.
Marine pressed the commlink on her badge. “Can we confirm, is this a mutant sighting or not? Over?”
The voice the replied back was mechanical. “Two 187’s has been reported near alley H in zone 7. One confirmed 10-91E has been reported. UPGRADED 10-91VM… I repeat Upgraded, 10-91-VM.”
Marine scoffed. “Fucking great!”
Ezra responded. 10-98 Detective's Huxley Badge 8847-H and Evans Badge 7706-E in route.”
Their oval shaped vehicle landed right outside an alley where two other police units had arrived. Both enforcers. Ezra was quick to notice the two rookies kneeling down cautiously. Before getting out of the cruiser he turned around to K2, “Look, stay here, don't do anything.” K2 nodded.
The surrounding area had pedestrians looking about, trying their best to capture something on their phones. Ezra could hear one woman telling another while walking by. “It just drug that poor girl kicking and screaming!”
Ezra walked up to one of the enforcers. He noticed both of them in black kevlar with their black helmets hiding their eyes. The youngest man took off his helmet and acknowledged the detective. “What’s the situation?” Ezra demanded.
The young blonde-haired man was fresh out of basic. He probably hadn't been an enforcer for but a few weeks and stuttered when he spoke. “A mutant wolf sir, it bit one civ, and drug off another down the alley. We’ve been using sonar guns but we’re getting some kind of distortion.”
Ezra looked down the long alley. There were four dumpsters blocking his view. He then looked at his tablet, bringing up any data on canines infected by what was now being universally coined the Aeon Strain. “How big was it? And was it a biped?”
The other enforcer left his helmet on. All Ezra could make out was the man’s smooth-shaven face. “Eye witnesses reported it being bipedal sir. It grabbed a woman by the shoulder and drug her down the alley with its teeth.”
Ezra scoffed. “OK, set your blaster pistols to max setting and let’s nab it. Remember, shoot for the head.”
The young enforcer trembled. “Blaster pistols won't vaporize, we need rifles sir.”
Ezra seemed perturbed. “Yeah, and we don't have time to wait if that thing has a civ, we need to save the civ, and do as much damage until a task unit arrives. Now nut up and let’s get this done!”
Marine was less than pleased. “We should wait until a proper unit gets here Ezra.” Ezra smirked.
“And it could shred the poor woman to pieces before they get here. Let’s go!”
Cautiously Ezra took point. He could see the blood trail on the black solatex tiles of the alley. It wasn’t a lot, which gave him hope. Seeing h
er purse however, the shreds in it, gave him pause for thought.
When it came to establish himself as being assertive Ezra had no qualms in that department. When it came to saving lives, his dedication was always commendable. He always leaped first in dire situations when a life was involved. He had the hero mentality, that often bothered Marine.
They all hunkered down, trying to look under the dumpsters as best as they could. Ezra could make out something in the distance. Of course, it would be the one on the far end.” He thought.
He tried to reach out with his senses. He could feel a woman’s pain. It was as if it had happened to him. He sat back for a moment to catch his breath. He felt a searing pain in his shoulder, a bite wound. He felt another in the left thigh. Her heart was starting to slow. “We have to hurry, she hasn’t much time.”
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