"Uhm, Aletta?" Jason hesitated a bit before asking..

"What do you guys know about Union Transformation?"

"Union? where did you hear that from?" it was Stephen behind the wheels who replied first.

"I kind of know about it. What's your knowledge about it? considering you are the expert here" Jason heavily placed emphasis on the last six words..

"It's a spell.. no, a technique used by Summoners to merge their souls with their contracted demons. Why are you asking about it?"

"Nothing. I was just curious. How do one learn this technique?"

"Well.." Stephen exhaled deeply.

"Summoners are mysterious introverted freaks while Xpers are arrogant dickbags. They love hoarding all their secrets to themselves so much isn't known about them sorry "

Jason bit his lower lip as he hesitated for a moment.

"Can a non Summoner learn the Union transformation technique?"

"Alright, that's enough vague questions. What the hell are you driving at J.C?" Stephen gave him a deep look through the rear view mirror in the car.

"Nothing. I just figured since I am now a Mystique Hunter, It is natural I know these stuffs. Considering knowledge is what differentiates real experts from amateurs "

"You --" Stephen's brows twitched.

.

.

.

"You three are what again?" the Sheriff of GHPD questioned Jason, Stephen and Aletta as they walked down a winding corridor within the interior of the police department building.

"Investigative reporters for the Avalanche Forum and he's our assistant and photo boy" Stephen flashed his fake Journalist badge as he pointed towards Jason who was trailing behind them, a camera slung across his neck.

"Avalanche Forum? I've never heard of a paper around town that goes by that name" the Sheriff replied skeptically.

"Well.. the Avalanche Forum is a special information center that works in tandem with federal special ops. We are located in Washington and our jobs is to gather as much Intel as we can to assist the FBI and CIA in their several investigations" Stephen replied fluently.

Jason couldn't help but admire how the other party could so smoothly lying through his teeth.

"And this particular case caught your eyes because?" the Sheriff still wasn't sold.

"According to the info we've gathered, all the victims exploded. Now, we've analyzed this might be a federal threat. Say for example if this is a biological weapon or could spell another covid 19 virus, lasa fever, etc. However if this was the result of a hardware, then we have to gather Intel to assist the FBI in locating it's source so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Say for example.. terrorists?" Stephen smirked when he heard Aletta's words..

As expected.. his little sister was quick witted! even he was nearly convinced! And just as he anticipated, the Sheriff was finally convinced.

"I and my department will be honored to serve in the preservation of the nation's security. I'll take you to the morgue right away "

Under the lead of the Sheriff, the trio were led towards the cold room. Stepping into the morgue, the sudden wave of cold caused him to shiver. As for the siblings, they were completely unfazed..

After being Hunters for so long, this little bit of cold was nothing to their body system. Considering they had faced even worse..

"And they are?" the Forensic technician who was actually a black American lady clad in white lab coat gave the Sheriff a curious look when she saw the three foreign but young faces.

The Sheriff then explained their origins before taking his leave. Unlike some certain folks, he wasn't too cozy in such an extreme cold habitat.

"My name is Jesse" the female CSI smiled at them.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I would've shook your hands but.." she flashed her hands wrapped in surgical gloves stained with blood.

"It would seem you were busy? Perhaps we should come another time?" noticing the dissected corpse on the operating table, Jason had the urge to vomit his intestines out, considering he had in his infinite cautiousness decided not to risk taking breakfast.

"It's no problem. Unfortunately there was no full corpse to recover at all the crime scenes. I only managed to gather and preserve bits" Jesse walked over to one of the lockers, pulling out a series of containers..

Seeing their contents, Jason's face went green.

Brain matter.. slightly mashed up fingers.. Jason feared he was really going to puke out his intestines out if he continued looking.

"What kind of camera boy is afraid to see blood?" she chuckled in amusement when she saw Jason's reaction.

"He's a little green.. both literally and figuratively.." Aletta squatted down as she observed the containers.

"What do you think Jesse?" she gave the CSI a deep look.

"A Psycho killer on the loose?"

"Oh? and why would you think so? I mean.. what kind of killer uses bombs?"

"Well.." Jesse exhaled as she used one of her apparatus to scoop out a mangled piece of flesh that resembled a skull.

Placing the skull on the operating table, she placed a lens type apparatus above it as she beckoned Aletta to take a look.

"Internal pressure wounds?" Aletta asked.

"You catch on fast. This skull belongs to the tenth victim. At first instance, it would seem like they exploded from an explosion.. however I think it is far more complicated. This internal pressure wound signifies that the victim either got hit on the head by something.. or they hit their head on something "

"Not to mention, a neuro scan was conducted on two other victims brains that managed to survive the assault and our diagnosis is that they all suffered from high levels of cortisol. The amount of cortisol reading.. it even exceeded that of an insane patient. We have a feeling that this also played a part in their death "

"A part?" Aletta raised a brow.

Jessie nodded sharply.

"We thoroughly combed through every nook and cranny in the locations where the victims were found.. there was zero burnt marks to be found nor did we discover any high level of heat. Whatever exploded these people, it wasn't an explosion. However what kind of hardware can explode people like that without possessing heat? I have been studying corpses for like half of my life lol and I think I have seen a lot of weird. But this.. this.. it is on another level"

"What if the victims were not necessarily exploded?" Aletta folded her hands on her chest.

"You think they imploded? how is that even possible?"

"Do you have an even better explaination?" Aletta smirked.

"B-But that's insane. Forgetting the fact that majority of our innards are mostly liquid, fat or similar incompressible liquids, what can bypass the toughness of the bones to make them all liquified while possessing zero heat? that goes against all the known and established laws of science!". "Welcome to my world " Stephen muttered.

"Well.. that's the only liable explanation no matter how unbelievable it might sound. However I feel something happening like that is also unlikely"

Aletta fished out a card from her trench coat.

"You should continue studying the body parts. Incase you discover something, please give me a call.." Aletta handed Jesse her card before giving the two boys a signal with her eyes.

"A-Alright" Jesse watched as the trio left before shaking her head.

"The human body imploding? why not just tell me witches and flying monkeys are real" she scoffed while shaking her head.