Marshall was in a bit of a rush. Almost all special cases officers were called into a sleepy town called Oceanview that had such a large spike in power that the main headquarters three countries north could detect it. Already he could feel the anxiety piling in. He had gotten a decently thorough report from his boss and from the sounds of things the situation came from at least two entities. One they were extremely familiar with and one unknown which he suspected had something to do with Keira. It did leave some questions on his mind, however.
If such a large event occurred, what would be people’s reaction? Would the media finally have enough solid evidence that not even the various organisations around the world could suppress it? From the brief update he got from his superiors it seems like it’s under control but he still sent Maxwell ahead to make sure there was nothing of immediate concern, and to check the others from the field trip. That left just him to go from house to house in order to check whether or not those that went to Oceanview were still under the control of what was there. He left the main suspect, Keira, until last as there was a higher chance that she was protected from the parasite, and he wanted to properly detain her until they got some answers. There was little to no doubt in his mind that she was responsible for this and as he walked up to her front door, he mentally rehearsed what he was going to say.
His fist hit the door far louder than he would normally knock, but considering the situation he didn’t really pay it much mind. After roughly ten seconds an older gentleman which Marshall recognised as Keira’s farther opened the door with a frown on his face.
“Marshall! How can I help you?”
“Something has happened in the town in which Keira’s geography trip went to. We're checking up on the kids to make sure none of them got hurt. Keira in particular, since we've found reason to believe that she might be in danger."
"What can I do to help?"
"Not much. We've decided that it would be best for Keira's safety if she was taken into protective custody after making sure she has no serious injuries.” Her father nodded and called out into the house.
“Keira! Special cases are here!”
“All of them?!” Was the returning shout, and it confirmed to Marshall that Keira was alive and awake. And that she had not been taken over by the parasite. It would take much longer than the time its had to develop individual personalities for its hosts.
"No. Just Marshall, he says that he wants to speak to you about the trip you just came back from." That was met with silence and then shuffling. Keira appeared from the room adjacent to the front door and eyed Marshall up and down. The first thought that came to Marshall was that she looked awful. Obviously tired, skin too pale for it to be healthy and her hair still looked damp from either the rain or a shower. He would have guessed rain as she was dressed in a muddied shirt, her trousers were black so it was hard to see whether or not they were in the same shape. He took in a deep breath and tried to use a kinder tone.
"Hello, Keira. My apologies for disturbing you, but I'm here to check something." He saw her eyes widen but she swallowed and nodded her head, taking a shaky step forward. Her father moved off to the side but he didn’t move away. "Could you move aside the hair at the back of your neck?" She did so and Marshall pushed the skin at the base of her skull. "Thank you. You can settle it back now."
“Are you done then?” Keira’s voice was hoarse and there was a small warble in it.
“No. I would like to take you into protective custody, at least for the night.”
“Ah… okay. Would you like me to pack anything?”
“Your father can gather the bare essentials once we know how long you’ll be staying in the cell, for now you should come with me immediately.” Keira nodded and crossed her arms over herself. She was breathing pretty hard and Marshall suddenly became unsure on what to do, especially when her fingers began to dig too deeply into her arms and drew blood. A look of horror flashed across Keira’s face as she looked at the red liquid that dripped down onto the floor, only to visibly relax after a second.
“Keira! Are you okay? Do you need to me to get you some cleaning material?” Her father started fuss over her almost immediately, checking her arms.
"It’s fine. I... think that it would be best for me to go into custody for now." Marshall nodded in understanding and moved to the side to let Keira walk out. He turned to her dad.
“I will update you when I can.”
“Thank you. Please… catch them quickly.” Marshall nodded in response and let the door shut on his face, then he turned to Keira and gestured for her to lead the way. She started to walk away slowly but stopped after a couple of steps.
“I know this isn’t protective custody.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“No. I don’t want to go too far into questions and answers right now, not without a camera. So, I’m just going to have to ask you to keep quiet.” Keira nodded and they walked the rest of the way to the police station in silence. She didn’t resist him when he showed her the cell, nor when he asked her for her phone.
Marshall didn’t know what he thought about that. He hoped it meant that she would cooperate with them moving forward, but he didn’t want to be too optimistic. Especially now that he was supposed to rendezvous with Maxwell at the new site. He took the local police car, as he was expecting some trouble getting close enough to the scene to park and set off for the long drive. When he finally got to the scene though, he was shocked at just how many reporters had already made it considering special cases had only caught wind of it three hours ago. He found himself putting on the sirens in order to get the line of news vans to move enough for him to fit on the side of the road outside of the quarantine zone. As he stepped out there was an immediate reaction of clicking cameras and questions yelled at him.
"What happened?"
"We heard that there was an outbreak of a new disease."
"Is it true that the entire town has disappeared?" They were all ignored as he approached the fenced area and lower ranked officers watching the perimeters. With a quick flash of the badge, he was let through and told that the centre of the town was where most of the personnel was. There was an oxidised statue of a fisherman in the centre of the town and at the foot of it were two men standing behind a cheap plastic table. Marshall recognised the one in the clean three piece, and the second man who was smoking was one he only recognised from files.
“Boss!” Marshall called out to the man in the three piece and he looked up from the sprawl of maps and pieces of paper.
“Marshall! Glad to have you here.” The man next to his boss gave a grin that was all teeth as he turned his head in Marshall’s direction. His sunglasses completely hid his eyes but Marshall knew that he was looking directly at him.
“I would say that the feeling was mutual but from what I’ve gathered this is a bleak situation. Which begs the question of him.” The man in sunglasses chuckled slightly and went back to looking at the papers, tugging one from out of his boss’ hand.
“Kheka was the one who originally called us about this. He was also the first to arrive and make sure no poor souls stumbled onto the scene ahead of us.”
“Did he arrive fast enough to catch the person responsible for the ritual?” Marshall asked. Although he already knew the answer, it was something someone who didn’t would ask. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was put Keira in Kheka’s crosshairs. With a sigh that blew a puff of smoke in his boss’ face, Kheka answered.
“The wave of power that came from the ritual didn’t travel fast enough. I came as soon as I felt it, but alas, it was too late. Can’t say I’m disappointed though, the last thing I want to do is Darian’s job for him.” His boss frowned.
“I would’ve thought catching the culprit would’ve been mutually beneficial.” Darian replied, keeping his very obvious annoyance in check.
“I have complete faith in in your abilities, Darian. After all-“ He brought his voice down to a conspiratorial whisper, “you are a bit of a triple threat, aren’t you?”
“I shall take that as a compliment.” Darian said through gritted teeth before abruptly turning his attention back to the papers in front of him. Kheka only barked out a laugh at that, before flicking his cigarette behind him and approaching Marshall.
“Your little buddy Maxwell is talking with the few remaining survivors, why don’t we go and say hello?”
“Sure…” Marshall let himself be led away by the hand on his shoulder. Once they got far enough away from Darian, he dropped his voice. “You’re not the type to let someone do all the work for you. Why are you actually unbothered?”
“Marshall, Marshall, Marshall. Don’t you know it’s best to quit whilst you’re ahead? Maybe I know more than you think I do.” That… was unsettling. He didn’t say anything else until they rounded the corner and saw Maxwell getting into a rather heated discussion with someone that Marshall didn’t recognise. There were a few shell-shocked looking people watching the argument from a distance, but it winded down once they got closer. Kheka tutted. “Don’t stop on my account gentlemen!”
“We were just finishing.” Maxwell spoke in a clipped tone, sending a glare toward the man he was arguing with. In return the man just threw up his hands and went to the victims. “Kheka. You finally get bored.”
“Oh yes. I was only really staying around to see how you reacted to the Order being here, or how they wanted to mend relations. It’s a shame you stopped so early into it… In any case, I do have a small piece of advice for you. Or more of a warning really. You have a lot of eyes on you now Weil, more than usual. Be on your best behaviour now!” Then he patted Marshall on the shoulder and turned the corner into a nearby alley way. They both waited a moment before Maxwell sighed and turned to Marshall.
“Has Keira been taken into custody then?”
“Yes. Are all the other kids free of the parasite?”
“Yeah. Say what you will about the unauthorized use of force, it was damned effective. Probably saved most of their lives.”
“I guess that’s the reason the boss isn’t too focused on catching someone yet. What’s the official statement going to be? Kheka pulled me away before I could finish up with Darian.”
“Well it helps that there was announcement a few weeks ago about a disease killing all the birds. We’re going to say that the residents weren’t careful enough and didn’t follow the guidelines put into place. It will cause a bit of a panic, but it’s better than what would happen if the actual truth got out.”
“Fantastic. Though I noticed a few media outlets that weren’t run by any of us by the perimeter. Will that be an issue?”
“Hopefully not. Just like how these survivors shouldn’t be an issue going forward as well.”
“I have been meaning to ask, Maxwell. How did they survive? Once the parasite fully integrates with it’s host the only way to get rid of it is to get rid of them both.”
“Oh, it never reached them. Once they noticed everyone starting to act weirdly they locked themselves in their houses, and then barricaded the doors once the behaviour got more erratic.” Marshall nodded with a frown.
“I just pray that they can get some semblance of normality back. As well as Keira… Though I think she might finally be willing to cooperate now.”
“Good.” Maxwell huffed. “My old colleague is handling the survivors so let’s finish sweeping this sector for him and then we can go back and get some answers out of Keira.”
“Sounds like an idea.”