Book 2: Chapter 9: Aftermath and Ruination (1/2)
”The FBI are going to lose their shit,” Ito commented idly.
”They'll try to take over the investigation,” the other officer, who had introduced himself as Mike Perez, noted sourly.
”Is that a bad thing?” Dan asked curiously. ”They've got more resources than the APD, right?”
”Meddling bastards,” Perez shot back. ”This is our city! Our citizens that are under attack! The feds don't care about that. They're only interested in the good press they'll get from 'avenging' one of their own.”
Dan shrugged. ”Do their reasons matter? If the problem gets solved, why should anyone care what the motives were?”
”It's not that simple,” Ito cut in. ”Whatever help the feds provide for Austin, eventually they'll have to leave, and we'll be stuck with whatever's left. The APD will look incompetent, like we can't handle our own business. The department's funding has been cut every year for the past decade, and recruitment is at an all time low. We can't afford to show any weakness. We need a win, not for Langley to swoop in and save the day. Even if they win, we'll lose.”
”So short-term good but long-term bad?” Dan tried to clarify.
Ito nodded. ”If you like.”
”Kenny! Daniel!” a voice boomed across the parking lot. Every officer in earshot flinched, while several paramedics rushing out of the damaged buildings nearly tipped their stretchers in surprise. Gregoir Pierre-Louise had arrived at the scene, and everyone in the county now knew it.
The giant blonde strode his way towards Dan's little gathering, his massive strides eating up the distance as people scrambled out of his way. Slightly behind him, Dan caught sight of Connor and Freya. The two rookie officers were glancing around the devastation with barely concealed horror. Their scan of the area eventually brought them to where Dan stood. Eye contact was made, and Dan got a brief nod from them both. The pair held a brief conversation, then Connor set off after Gregoir, while Freya moved towards the few conscious victims of the attack that were still being interviewed by officers.
Gregoir's meaty bicep wrapped itself around Dan's shoulder the moment he came into range. The other grabbed Ito, pulling them both forward into the Frenchman's barrel chest. ”It's good that you are both well, my friends!” he cried emotionally. ”When I heard the news I feared the worst!”
Perez watched them both squirm out of Gregoir's embrace with a look of profound pity.
”None of us were here when things went down, Gregoir,” Dan said, finally freeing himself.
”True, but you've both experienced the aftermath!” he declared, loudly. ”Such terrible barbarism leaves a mark that cannot be denied. I was worried for your psyche, but the fortitude of my bosom companions clearly knows no bounds!”
Dan winced, and covered his face, as about fifty pairs of eyes briefly turned his way from across the parking lot.
”That's... nice of you to say, Gregoir.” He didn't have it in him to scold the big man.
”Lower your voice you great oaf!” Ito had no such compunctions.
The insult was like water off a duck's back to Gregoir. He took it without even breaking stride.
”You're right, of course,” he boomed, his voice as modulated as it'd ever been. ”'Tis a sad day, I can take no joy in it. Have we discovered the source of this atrocity?”
”Homicide is looking into it now. Baker's got the lead,” Ito replied.
Connor arrived at last, eyes still wide at the ruination surrounding him. He looked to Ito ”What happened here, sir?”
”A fight between mutates, rookie,” Ito answered simply. He turned to Gregoir. ”We think it was the Coldeyes, given the ice. But we aren't sure why.”
”Was there video?” Gregoir asked.
”Taken out before the act,” Ito said. He rubbed his chin. ”Which is damnably odd. The scene reads like an act of surprise, or desperation. It's rare to see this kind of collateral damage, even from Coldeyes. Our initial assumption was that a group of Coldeyes ran into some Scales, and things kicked off.”
”If they took the time to destroy the surveillance cameras, that speaks of premeditation. Or at least a crime of opportunity, not desperation.” Connor noted.
The young man took a look over the ground. The concrete was still stained bright red, and bloody water ran across the parking lot towards a sewer grate. Connor grimaced at the image, and shook his head.
”Lots of red.”
”That's what happens when people die, rookie,” Perez noted grimly.
”No, that's not—” Connor frowned. ”Scales bleed green.”
”Say what now?” Dan interrupted.
”Scales,” Connor repeated, turning to Dan. ”One of the mods that they give their members makes them bleed green. Don't ask me why; it's just something they do.”
”What, all of them?” Perez asked. ”I thought that was a rumor.”
”No, it seems to be true,” Ito confirmed. He eyed the young rookie. ”We don't spread it around, though. Your uncle talks too much.”
Connor coughed nervously.
”So... no green blood, means no Scales, right?” Dan asked. ”Then what the fuck happened? Why do all this?”
”The better question, I think, is why were they here to begin with?” Connor stated. ”This isn't gang territory. Hell, my old high school is three blocks away! Even if it were rival gangs fighting, what exactly were they fighting over?”
”Something for Homicide to find out, I should think,” Ito interrupted the rampant speculation. He nodded in the distance, at an approaching officer. ”Here's Baker, now.”
Detective Baker was a squat, heavily built Caucasian man. His head was shaved and waxed, and he had a thick goatee streaked with grey. His button down shirt was soaked with grime and sweat, and he'd looped his suit jacket through his finger and had it slung over his shoulder.