When she walked into the kitchen to dig up something for dinner, Dassah found Bahena in the living room, eyes glued to the TV.
“What’s going on?” she asked with a careful voice.
“There was another ‘incident,’” the garule woman said with concern. “Stella still in the game?”
“Another murder?” Dassah said as she pulled out some bread and made herself a sandwich. There wasn’t a whole lot of crime in the Iceberg cities, but where there was, it was big news. At first, the murders seemed like separate events, but as time passed, that assumption began to change.
Bahena nodded as Dassah moved to the couch with her food. “At least one. Maybe two.”
“Where?”
“Io.”
“That’s... close.”
“Enough to cause concern,” Bahena said, nodding to the television where images and videos of officers and dogs were going through streets and people were doing tear-filled interviews. “The ‘Bergs are big but condensed enough that most communities have some contact with everyone in the area. To think all this happened without any witnesses is... frightening, to say the least.”
A blonde announcer came into focus on the screen. “Authorities are now confirming reports that more than one body has been found in the Iceberg City of Io,” she said. “While the IFPD is not yet confirming a connection to those killed in the recent string of murders that has been spreading through the cities of Myrrh, Waithe, and Cy, sources are reporting that the killer’s MOs appear to be the same. People in the areas say that....”
“It’s so sad,” Bahena said as the camera switched to an officer talking about safety concerns. “This kind of stuff shouldn’t happen here.”
“What kind of stuff?” Stella asked as she strutted in from the hall. “What’s for food?”
“I just made a sandwich. The lunchmeat and cheese are on the bottom shelf,” Dassah told her.
“Thank you!” Stella replied.
“You’ll have to be more careful going out, Stella,” Bahena said. “Especially those night trips you take.”
“Night trips?” asked Stella, blinking innocently. “What night trips?”
“I’m serious, Stell,” Bahena rolled her eyes. “If you have to go out, at least don’t go out alone.”
“La-la-la!” Stella started, plugging her ears with her fingers. But after a moment of letting Bahena’s words settle in, she went, “Wait. What? Another one?”
“At least two, from the looks of it,” Dassah told her. “They’re still waiting on confirmation. I’m a little bit out of the look.”
“Well, that’s scary.” Stella took a seat next to her, and they watched as the blonde announcer from before came back on screen with a large ‘Breaking News’ banner.
“We are just now receiving confirmation from the IFP that the body count has risen to four in the Io City Iceberg, and they do appear to be connected to the recent murders in the other cities, bringing the total confirmed number of victims to 29.” She looked behind her and waved her hand in the general direction of the scene. “You’ll see here that — that the officers here are from many different branches of the Idela Fleet Police — most notably, perhaps, are Police Chief Mari Landau, head of the Idela Fleet PD, Detective Ulari Zi, the lead Detective for the Homicide Department, and Detective Corvax Sai, who is serving as the representative of the Virtual Crimes Unit. All three of them are — I don’t know if you can see them — but they are over there getting ready to hold a press conference. They will be informing everyone of today's events and giving us as much information as they can about the process they will be following during this ongoing investigation. Please stay tuned.” With that, the screen returned to the red-headed man, who was reviewing the morning's events.
“Four bodies?” Stella’s face was white. “How does that just magically happen? What have the police been doing?”
“We don’t have enough details to be making any real judgments on the police yet,” Dassah told her between bites. “I’ve looked into the case a bit, but they aren’t announcing much to the public. The MO is always the same, but unless whoever is doing it can be in more than one place at a time, there are multiple murderers — maybe a group or even a sort of gang — which means even if they find a guilty party, the murders still happen. Plus, the only connection that all the victims seem to have is that they are either human or valkyrian.”
“So, some kind of human-valkyrian hate group?” Stella asked.
“Speculating on the matter is pointless,” Bahena sneered. “The police are good at their job — let them do it. In the meantime, if you see anything strange, report it — it's that simple. Or you can call me, and I’ll make the bad people butter the sidewalks.”
Her lungs tightening, Dassah cleared her throat and pointed to the screen where the tall, black-haired valkyrian woman with the commanding presence Dassah had seen give the press conferences before stood surrounded by reporters. Corvex Sai and another well-decorated bug woman flanked her. The reporters were loud, filling the camera's microphone with tons of questions. The bug woman — whom Dassah assumed was Ultari Zi, stood with four arms crossed, the long antennae coming down from her head twitching, and emotionless, compound eyes glistening in the camera light. Her mandibles gnashed together.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Those mandibles suddenly opened wide, and the bug woman stood at attention and shouted: “Respect! For! The! Chief! ...worms.” The area suddenly went silent. “Thank you. Worms,” The bug woman said. The valkyrian at the front nodded to him and stepped forward.
“Greeting citizens of the Enclave,” she said in a firm but soft voice. “As you know, I am Police Chief Mari Landau. With me today are Detective Ultari Zi, the detective in charge of this case, and Detective Corvex Sai, of the Virtual Crimes Unit. We have come before you today in humility and determination as we mourn the loss of our great citizens to what cause is yet unknown. Our floating continent, the Idela Fleet, has been plagued by this unknown menace for four months. Thus far, the men and women of the IFPD have been unable to stop or prevent these deaths — and for this, we experience the most heartfelt regret. There are no words of consolation that we can offer friends and families looking for justice other than this: We will catch them.”
Chief Landau’s face then changed, with silver eyes bright with a look of calm cruelty on her face as she spoke.“To those responsible, the guilty who may be watching this now know that the entirety of the Idela Fleet Police will be looking for you. Watching you. Thousands of years of technology and skills will be used to track you down. And when we find you, know that thousands of years of the study of pain will serve as punishment for each and every party guilty of these heinous crimes,” She finished, and the reporters were silent and motionless. Chief Landau nodded over to the bug-like woman to her right.
Stepping forward, at ease, Ultari Zi chittered, “Hail, citizens. I am Detective Ulatri Zi of the Homicide Department. I, my partner, and my hive have been working tirelessly to track down these criminals for the many past moons. I wish you to know this. I wish you all to know that we will not give up. We will not fail. Failure is not an option. Should we fail, the lives of my hive and I shall be forfeit. But my hive and I shall fight not for our sakes but for the sakes of the citizens of the Enclave” he told them. Dassah shivered. The bug woman was a ‘Blee’ — one of the strangest and, frankly, most horrifying creatures that Dassah knew of. It wasn’t because they were bugs; Dassah herself had no problems with them. Instead, it was because they were scavengers.
Blee were rare on the Enclave. They were a short-lived race compared to many others, though they had a high breeding rate. The term ‘Blee’ was a reference only to the females or their species, the ‘blee-kai’lak-chak’. This was because each Blee functioned like a beehive. The Blee were the mothers, the queens. Their carapaces served as a fully functional hive, or ‘Kai’lak’, comprised of brainless workers, warriors, and fliers who answered to the will of their Blee. While Dassah liked them even less than she liked the garuli, she could see how they were incredibly useful in specific jobs — police investigation being one of them — though it fed her paranoia to think about the fact that the hive could function as a personal big brother.
After Ultari Zi went over the procedures and transportation issues of the next week, she called Sai up to the front — which couldn’t have happened without Stella putting on a starry-eyed puppy face.
Dassah rolled her eyes as the handsome, silver-haired Sai introduced himself and said, “I want everyone to know that the VCU is serving as a consultant and operating behind the scenes to find any potential links and future threats. All departments of the Idela PD are on high alert and only want the citizens to be safe. We want to remind you that you can submit any complaints — including about things in web-based communities- to the IFPD at any time. If friends, family, or co-workers have been missing for more than 24 hours, please report it, and we will get to you as soon as resources allow. Now, if you have any questions —”
“Detectives,” a reporter went before Sai could finish. “Do you think that the surrounding cities should be worried?”
Sai gave an irritated looking smile as he answered, “At this point, all cities in the fleet should be on alert, as —”
“Detective Sai — the IFPD has already released that there is no known connection to the victims. Many of the victims have already been confirmed to be TheirWorld players. Since you are so heavily involved, is the VCU investigating a possible connection through TheirWorld?”
“I’m not at liberty to give any details about the investigation or the victims,” Sai said. “Please keep your questions centered around maintaining the safety of the citizens —”
“If there is a connection,” the same reporter pressed. “Shouldn’t the citizens know for their safety. Detective?”
Chief Landau stepped forward and said, “It is better to live than live in fear of imaginary creatures in the dark. The citizens should feel comfortable living their daily lives normally —”
“Speaking of creatures in the dark,” another reporter started. Chief Landau looked at him without emotion as he continued. “Recently, there have been reports that the vigilante, Jackal, has been spotted in Bris, Io, and other surrounding iceberg cities. Can the police make a statement about that? Could Jackal's appearance and the serial murders be connected?” Dassah blinked. Vigilante? Jackal?
“There is nothing to say on the matter,” Chief Landau said, looking straight at the man. “Justice should be left to the law. If we find Jackal in our city, we will arrest him, and he shall face a court of law....” The questioning continued for another twenty minutes before Bahena turned the TV off in annoyance.
“How did a press conference about serial murders devolve into a stupid conversation about wanna-be heroes,” Bahena growled.
“Who is Jackal?” Dassah asked.
Stella looked at her in surprise. “You don’t know about Jackal?” she asked. “I would have thought that it was right up your alley! Plus, isn’t he on the news a lot?”
“Not sure...” Dassah said, crossing her arms. The Enclave had a vigilante, and she hadn’t noticed. How did that happen? She wondered.
“It doesn’t matter,” Bahena said, sitting at her desk. “Whatever he is doing, he’s doing it wrong. He’s not proud of it or wouldn’t be wearing that mask.”
Dassah furrowed her brow, “Mask? Is he a valkyrian?”
“They suspect so,” Stella told her. “But the reality is, they don’t know. It’s strange, though. Those who have seen him say that his mask is black.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Dassah asked. “He painted it?”
“It’s yet another mystery with too little information,” Bahena shrugged. “Black masks have a very negative connotation in valkyrian culture. A black mask... It’s saying that a person is cursed in such a way that they are never accepted in society. That someone wears one is... well, I suppose it is a form of bravery.”
Stella was chewing on the end of a pencil when she looked up suddenly and said, “Hey! Do you think Corvex Sai will visit here?”
“What?” Dassah groaned. “Why on Earth would he?”
“Because — as Bahena said — we are so close to the crime scene! And if there’s a connection to TheirWorld wouldn’t we be the perfect people to interview? Or! Maybe I could submit a ticket! And have him come to ‘save’ me!”
Bahena glared at her. “You do something that stupid, and I will report you.”
Pouting, Stella started to whine about wanting to meet her idol, Corvex Sai, the Silver Hound, the face of Virtual Crimes Unit and unofficial celebrity. Dassah could only take so much of it and retired to her room.