“I know there are people who believe you should forgive and forget. For the record, I'd like to say I'm a big fan of forgiveness as long as I'm given the opportunity to get even first.” - Sue Grafton (V is for Vengeance)
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As always, the morgue in the basement level of ESA headquarters is always deathly cold and even silent to boot. Not to mention creepy. Considering that it is where the ESA stores the dead bodies until they are allowed to release those bodies to the families, it is no surprise.
Hence, Misha dislikes coming down to the morgue. Even still, he will never tire of watching Louis work in his element.
Even as Misha leaned against the wall next to the entrance of the autopsy room, arms crossed over his chest, he wondered for the umpteenth time as he watched Louis perform the autopsy on the dead body that they’d found in the forest, just why in the name of the Goddess did his best friend even leave Forensics to join him in Special Operations back when Team Delta was first created.
Normally, an autopsy requires two people to perform it. But Louis apparently is so skilled at what he does, and so trusted with said work that Forensics trusted him enough to do it alone.
Forensics isn’t the only department that is fighting over Louis, either. If the rumours are true, the Cypher Division too would never have let go of Louis if it hadn’t been for an order from the chief.
“By the looks of things, he would have been dead for at least two days. If not for the fact that the weather had been rather cool for the past two days, the decomposition rate would have been worse.” Louis was rather calm even as he scribbled on the clipboard that he had with him.
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Misha grimaced as he tried to imagine a corpse cooking under the hot sun. Unfortunately, he did chance upon a few bodies in that state since his training days. It causes his stomach to turn every single time.
“Will you be able to get any leads just by examining the body?” Misha was curious. Sure, Team Delta isn’t in charge of investigating this homicide. That falls to Team Alpha. But Misha can’t deny he isn’t interested in this case.
Louis only looked at Misha before turning back to his task at hand. “The saying of ‘dead men tells no tales’ isn’t quite true,” he answered cryptically. “A body can tell you lots of things, Misha. How a person had lived their life. What they are like. And even how they died. The thing is, it is rather ironic, but a person’s death will probably tell you more about the person than they did when they were alive. Even evidence can lie sometimes, or lead you to the wrong conclusion. But a person’s body? It can’t lie.”
Misha felt bile bubble up his throat when he watched Louis make an incision on the torso and looked away quickly. “Lou, why did you leave Forensics?” He wanted to know. “From what I heard, you were damn good at it.” Misha felt brave enough to turn his attention back to Louis. “You can tell how a person died with just one look even without performing an actual autopsy. To the point that you were actually in line for the position of deputy head. Why did you leave?”
Louis was silent for several moments even as he wrote something in his clipboard. Just as Misha thought Louis was going to ignore him, he spoke again. “There’s something that I’m trying to find out,” he said, “though it is one of several reasons why I even agreed to the transfer.”
And knowing Louis, Misha knew that he would never speak of the reasons why unless he wanted to. Sometimes, getting Louis to part with information that he’d already declined to give is worse than pulling teeth.
The steady sounds of Louis’s pen scribbling on his clipboard stopped. “…I lived too long amongst the dead,” he said at last. “When you do that, at some point, you start to feel jaded. You forget how to live. But with the ESA, as you know, you don’t just leave. You can’t leave. Not without being dismissed by them. And that is normally through death. And people like us, Misha? We don’t get good and happy endings. Especially not in Eldario. Not as a Gifted. That, and when I heard that you’re going to be leading your team, my first thought was ‘I can’t let Misha do this alone’.”
Misha let out a light chuckle. “Idiot. I won’t die without you by my side.”
The look that Louis shoots Misha is teasing and reminds Misha of their more carefree days during their training days. “No, but you’re helpless without me. Don’t deny that. You likely would have throttled either Maia or Remi by now if I wasn’t there. Even Coleen isn’t that innocent either.” Louis’s hand then stilled at that moment. “Hmm?”
“Found something?”
“Yeah.” Louis furrowed his brows before he looked at Misha. “I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised, considering what we found in the forest.” Misha looked confused. Louis sighed. “I can foresee lots of sleepless nights ahead for your brother and his team in the coming weeks. Seems like Aegis is back at it.”