JULY 26th, 2014.
Not having slept much at all, Seth begrudgingly leaves the comfort of his bed to get dressed for the day.
As to be expected, he had another nightmare regarding Gabriel again, like every other night. However, it doesn’t remain in his mind for long as he recalls a detail he almost gazed over the previous night.
Come to think of it, the most recent post on that site… It was two days ago.
If they’re actively torturing them… they should still be alive.
The only issue is that he doesn’t know where those pictures were taken. A concrete wall by itself doesn’t exactly give too many hints away. Was it an abandoned warehouse somewhere? Or maybe they had made their own concrete molds in an improvised torture room somewhere. There wasn’t any way for him to tell.
Agh… another pain in the ass case.
Throwing his parka over his shoulders, he’s gotten so used to this routine that he instinctively approaches his computer desk, searching for his tie. Failing to realize that it was around his shirt collar this whole time.
It’s always the obvious crap that sneaks past me. Like the date of that post.
Though he wasn’t all that sure it counted because he did remember it before his meeting with Liam and the rest of Company 14 later. So it didn’t count, right? Surely.
No, that’s just an excuse… probably…
Uncertain about it, he walks over to the door, grasping his hand around the knob as he turns it to its right. The second he opens the door inward, Asuga stops just outside of his doorway and to the right, shocked. At least, that’s how she appeared, with the wide eyes and all. But to Seth’s surprise, or rather, dismay, she holds her hand smugly to her chin and chuckles.
“...Of course… You would sense my presence and attempt an ambush like that…”
She’s, like usual, showing off her exaggerated behavior as Seth does nothing but stare in disapproval at the woman in front of him.
“...I wouldn’t be surprised if Pneuma allowed me to do that, but no, I didn’t sense anything.”
To his surprise, after staring at him for a few short moments, she puffs out her cheeks into a pout.
“You’re no fun… are you heading to Liam’s office, or what?”
As if to answer her question without words, he begins to head in that direction, but not without confirming her suspicions verbally as well. Internally, she thought something like, ‘the audacity of this…!’, but she didn’t say it aloud.
“Yep. Didn’t he call you over, too?”
“Yeah, of course…!”
She had no idea the meeting was even taking place. As such, she was too embarrassed to continue talking about it, so the two of them walked in silence until they reached the double doors belonging to Liam’s office. Just beside them, Kat was leaning her back against the side wall, twirling her index finger around her longest fringe. She brings her hand down into a casual wave as soon as she sees the two of them approaching.
“Hey. Don’t be surprised if it takes a minute.”
“Why?” Seth asks, stopping a few feet away from her, “Did something happen?”
In response, she gently cracks open one of the doors, only to be met with…
“For the final time, you cannot go around and—” Liam attempts to say before getting cut off by Yasu.
“For the final time, I don’t give a damn. I’d rather pay off a hundred thousand dollars than touch a damn ghost with my bare hands.”
“We’ve been over this, when something goes awry, the Administrators look to me for an explanation. If you would just—”
As a hand slamming against a desk rings out from the room, Kat gently closes the door once more, putting an index finger up to her lips.
It’s that bad, huh?
Asuga, who as far as Seth knew, hadn’t even met Yasu yet, reverted back to her shy behavioral pattern.
“U-uh… he’s kinda scary…” she lightly states under her breath, hiding behind Seth.
As she clutched against his parka, only slightly peeking out from it, he realized just how uncomfortable the situation was.
Wait, why me? Can you maybe back up a bit?
Expecting her to somehow read his mind, she remained close behind him as he gave up, not making his discomfort heard.
“So… we’re stuck with this for now,” Kat explains with a sigh, “Who knows how long the two of them will go at it… a few hours? A day? Hell, maybe a week…”
Right as the three of them had accepted their fate, mourning the loss of the time that was sure to pass, the doors opened behind Kat. Yasu stood there, glaring at the three of them, annoyed by their very presence.
“Stop loitering and get in here,” he says through an unimpressed scoff. That was generally just his overall mood, Seth thought.
Also, ‘loitering’? Will someone tell him we were waiting for them to stop arguing?
He brushes off the thought as the three of them move past Yasu and into Liam’s office. Now, normally, it was a place that found itself impeccably neat. Without a doubt, the most well-maintained room in the entire building. So when Seth saw a bunch of books flung around the place, opened down the middle of them with some pages even bent against the wooden flooring, it was clear that this was the work of the man behind them. The only thing that seemed to keep its sense of routine was Liam, sitting at his desk. That, at least, hadn’t changed.
Even with the circumstances, he appeared deathly calm. But Seth had seen this type of behavior before and knew that he was just a few short moments away from losing it. Asuga and Kat picked up on this as well, with even the latter, as stubborn as she normally was, shifting her body language to appear more polite. Liam cleared his throat with his fist bunched up in front of his mouth before speaking to them.
“Right, well… with all of that taken care of, I’ve finished looking through the report. I must say, you did splendid work, Seth.”
Initially too distracted by the mess around the office, Seth’s eyes found themselves looking at a dark grey laptop, sitting just in front of Liam.
“I took the liberty of looking at the site for myself… something Tiga was not too fond of… and noticed that—”
“The date of the last torture post was two days ago! I… glanced over it last night,” Seth explains, cutting Liam off as he bursts the words out with urgency.
“...Yes, that is what I was going to bring up,” Liam says through a smile and shut eyes, clearly a little annoyed by Seth’s interruption for a moment, before opening them to continue. “With that in mind, we now have sufficient enough evidence to act on. As such, I’ll be sending the 14th Company to search, and, if you find the killer, apprehend or eliminate them.”
Liam brings his head down, setting his chin upon the clasped fingers of both his hands.
“Whichever means are necessary. Do not hesitate to increase your chances of survival.”
Seth, Kat, and Asuga each nod their heads, with the latter’s voice trembling due to Yasu standing close behind her.
“Got it,” Seth replies.
“Heard you loud and clear,” Kat replies.
“R-right… I’ll do my best,” Asuga hesitantly replies.
Smiling, Liam stands up from his chair, slowly clapping his hands twice.
“Glad to hear it. Now, go. There’s no telling how much time we have left.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As they turn around and make their way to the door, Asuga suddenly turns back toward Liam to ask another question.
“I almost forgot… did the changes I requested come in yet…?”
Liam shakes his head in a firm ‘no’.
“Not yet. Don’t worry about your suit getting damaged, for now.”
She gives a slight nod and heads toward the open door that Seth and Kat have already stepped through.
“You three!” Liam calls out, startling all of them as they look over their shoulders with a questioning gaze toward him.
“Come back safe. Oh, and, before you go…” Liam trails off, tapping his desk after Kat and Asuga flash a smile. “Seth, that attachment you requested was left in your room. Take care to use it responsibly.”
Giving an apprehensive nod, Seth appears the most worried out of the three.
I detailed it in the report, but… the host authorizing me is… worrying.
As Asuga closes the doors behind them, he slowly shrugs the thought off.
No, even if they expect us, we still have the advantage.
At least, that’s what he wanted to believe.
. . . . .
The area around the modernized apartment where the victim disappeared near is very poorly maintained, with cracks forming in the side walls surrounding it that protect the main parking lot from outside view. It was an odd choice, especially given how the entrances and exits had no gates to speak of. The apartment itself is nothing interesting compared to any average three-story complex, there were a few owners here and there, going about their daily lives. But as Seth stared outside of the passenger side window— a fact that Asuga was not satisfied with— he didn’t notice anything terribly off about the place.
Breaking him out of his train of thought is the parking brake engaging, with Kat’s hand pulling it up into a set of ratcheting clicks.
“So… does anyone have a plan?”
She looks at both Seth and Asuga, who hadn’t thought one up yet. Sighing, she lets the car run as she continues.
“Cool. How about this? Asuga, you’ll keep your eyes peeled around the complex, trying to spot anyone suspicious,” she orders, putting her arm behind the passenger seat to look back at her. “Seth and I will take the more… direct route. If you hear us yell or something else happens, back us up, okay?”
“Right…” Asuga meekly responds, but quickly raises her head with a questioning look, “...But what if it’s the other way around…?”
Giving a reassuring thumbs up and a grin, Kat answers her.
“If that happens, just yell for us, and we’ll back you up.”
It’s a simple enough operation.
“Let’s go,” he calls out, opening his car door as the other two do the same.
Asuga stays close to the outside perimeter of the complex, while Seth and Kat begin to walk along the first staircase leading upward as he looks down at his flip phone. Before the operation, Liam had Tiga, begrudgingly, look into the source of the site’s host location. Unfortunately, it was on the third floor of the complex, meaning that both of them were effectively vulnerable until they reached it. For all the experience he had, he knew one thing, if nothing else. Thinking about it would only make him hesitate.
“So…” he trails off, attempting to start a conversation, “...I’ve been wondering. Why does everyone say the name of their spirit out loud, but your gravestones just… appear?”
Her eyes widen in surprise before she stifles a chuckle. Having been just as stressed as he was a moment ago, it took her by surprise, but she felt as if an earnest answer would be best.
“Yeah, I guess it’s my fault Liam skipped over all that… Basically, most spirits have a ‘celestial law’ that they have to follow, for whatever reason. Couldn’t tell you why. Since I’m a reaper, though… that only applies with Verdict.”
Her kind are not favored nor respected by celestials.
Cutting in, Yggdrasil sounds almost drowsy.
Did you just… wake up, or something?
It isn’t as if I ‘rest’ like you humans do.
“Hey, are you in there?”
Waving her hand in front of his eyes, he snaps out of his internal conversation with a few blinks and raises his hand in front of him in a show of apology.
“Yeah, I just zoned out for a sec.”
They’re now on the second floor, and more residents are walking about. Of course, for every resident, there’s a door that resident belongs to. Generally speaking, this part of the complex was just as poorly maintained as the rest of it, with the exception of a few doors here and there that had been replaced entirely. To the side of each walkway was a concrete wall where anyone could walk up and look off toward the lot. Asuga was down there, trying her hardest to appear normal.
That wasn’t especially working out for her, given… well, it’s obvious.
Kat waves to a few of the residents who give the two of them some stern glances, making it clear that they neither belonged there nor were welcome to stay.
We get it, we get it. We’ll finish this and get out of your way.
As the two of them make their way onto the third floor, Seth’s stress gets the best of him. He’s only staring down a walkway. Yes, it’s empty, and a stark contrast to the other two floors. Yet, it’s just a walkway.
Images of the countless posts, pictures showing off the torture, flash into his mind.
Just a walkway.
Another few steps from the both of them, as they slowly get closer to the door to the far side of the floor.
It’s only a walkway.
Reaching into the internal right pocket of his parka, he pulls out a palm-sized silencer, before unholstering his pistol and twisting it around the threaded muzzle of the barrel.
“...Huh. Good idea,” Kat retorts.
He nods in response, not bothering to anything back. Or, no, it was more that he didn’t want to speak, as he felt the fear creeping up the back of his throat, only a meter away from the door. Glancing over to her, he points toward her blazer.
“Do you have anything flat… like a laminated card?”
“Does an ID work?” she asks, fishing into her pockets for a wallet.
“...It should.”
Pulling out her wallet, she slides out her ID with her thumb and hands it to him. On it, he sees an almost identical picture of her to how she is now.
‘Katherine Lament’, age 22, height: 5’10, date of birth…
“Are you going to stare at my info all day, or what?” she sternly says, staring at him with an annoyed glare.
“Right… my bad,” he replies before walking up to the door and placing the card between the door and the frame.
The lock was an electric card-reader type, usually only requiring a card inserted into the top to unlock it, but this model specifically had horrible latch retention in the quality control department. Usually made with a steep angle, they were infamously easy to pass through, which is why cheap motels and apartment complexes are the only ones that still use them. That was a fact that Seth accurately betted on as he pushed his body against the door lightly, holding his free hand onto the knob and keeping it turned, allowing a gap between the guard of the frame before jimmying the ID card parallel to the knob itself.
After a few moments of going back and forth with it, the lock gave and the door opened slightly. A flood of red light poured past the edges of the doorframe, the kind typically seen in darkrooms, typically used to develop photographs. The door swung open just a bit further before halting harshly, refusing to budge, with something pushing against it from the other side.
“Shit… there’s a stopper underneath,” Seth says under his breath, still keeping quiet in case someone’s home.
Pulling out his flip phone, he opens it and leans down against the bottom of the floor past the sill of the doorframe, getting it flat before pushing the top of the phone underneath the door, which in turn pushes the stopper back due to the frame hitting the very bottom. Seth continues that process until the door is open just wide enough for the both of them to step into the apartment, one after the other as he’s the first to enter, holding his pistol out in front of him and clearing the place slowly.
…Ugh, man. This place is… disgusting.
The apartment itself is a complete mess, turned into an improvised darkroom with curing stations for photographs lined next placed near the small kitchen to the left, beside the counter, with shelves above it and a cheap fridge to its opposite side alongside a sink with dirty dishes piling past the edges. The living room, just in front of them, was a tiny section with enough room for a computer desk, a coffee table, and a two-seat couch.
Nothing that could have resembled what this place had looked like before was out of the ordinary, really.
However, scattered throughout the entire apartment were…
Photographs.
Hundreds of them, haphazardly stuck to the wall with black tape. Anything but neatly arranged, as well, as most of them were tilted, and some of them were torn.
Initially, neither Seth nor Kat could make out what they showed, due to the harsh red lights scattered throughout the space. All the regular bulbs were replaced with crimson, if there was a spot that could’ve been missed by them, there were horizontal lamps taped to the corners of the rooms to finish the job.
It was, by all means, the home of a psychopath.
Even the red lights strained their eyes after a few moments, so how could someone live in a place like this?
Then, he began to smell it. A faint but sharp smell entered his nostrils as soon as his mind had regained its composure. Looking down near his feet in response, he notices dried bloody footprints etched into the dirty, flat beige carpet that welcomed anyone who entered. They fade out a few centimeters in front of the entrance to the kitchen, where the carpet stops and is replaced by a dark hardwood, paneled floor.
As they make their way forward, with Seth checking each corner with his pistol, they both notice out of the corners of their eyes that the monitor on the desk is on. Most of it was in black, and as such, didn’t give much of a glow to the room.
But they were met with white text regardless, that burned itself into their brains.
They were led here, and it was made entirely clear as the screen read:
THE BUG, IT WISHES TO
CANNIBALIZE ITS ANGEL
BUT ARE YOU A MANTIS,
OR ARE YOU A ROACH?