Vigil: Part 1
Chapter 3
Hours later.
Detective Lynn Williams grumbled as a heavily armoured van rumbled to a halt behind the patrol cars. The van bore the familiar symbol of the premier anti-mutant security force in the city, NovaSec.
“Armed robbers robbing the city bank, fifty kidnappings in District 42, gang fights in the West Docks, and they don’t show their faces…” she murmured to a patrol officer, “But one vigilante decides to show her face…”
The officer laughed. “Well, dealing with them ain’t my job. Have fun, detective,” he said, waving at her as he walked backwards away from her.
Lynn gave him the finger, before turning around to see armoured men disembark the van. They were NovaSec troopers, clad in their signature white armour with faceless helmets. As if a vigilante rampaging through her crime scene wasn’t bad enough, now eight former commandos were about to trample about in their ridiculous outfits.
At least the vigilante would leave a nice, neat envelope at the scene, containing pages of notes, pictures, sometimes even USB sticks containing video footage that would easily incriminate the suspects. NovaSec, however, would turn the entire crime scene upside down.
Lynn looked to who she suspected was their leader. “She’s gone, shark.” she said, using the term the cops had coined that poked fun at the fin at the top of their helmets.
“What do you have over there?” was the reply that ignored her dig. The armoured man pointed at the grey envelope in her hands. Shit.
“It’s...evidence. Y’know, the stuff I need so I can do my job?”
“The cape left it here, right? Hand it over.”
Lynn aimed a scowl at him. “Now wait a damned minute. This is my crime scene, my case. You guys don’t hand over pieces of evidence because some random dude on the street rolls in on your crime scene and asks for it, do you?”
“Give it to him, Lynn.” a tired voice came from behind her, and Lynn grimaced.
“Et tu, sarge?” Lynn said dramatically as she turned to face her sergeant.
Sergeant Kane Barnes shrugged. “It’s the law. NovaSec has jurisdiction over any crime scene involving domestic terrorism.”
“Oh, sure—so the KCA Bank robbers weren’t terrorists? Those AK-armed dummies at the docks weren’t terrorists? But a girl who takes down a gang of kidnapping racists and leaves us with more than enough evidence to pin them down is?”
The sergeant sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “...hand it over to him, detective, that’s an order…”
Lynn rolled her eyes, reluctantly passing the envelope over to the gloved palm of the trooper. “Just so you know, she doesn’t leave any fingerprints on these notes, so this is a huge waste of time.”
“We’ll see for ourselves.” the trooper replied back, and Lynn could swear she could see his stuck-up face grinning through his faceless helmet.
The trooper turned to his men, obviously giving some orders over their private net. Lynn watched as they filed into the warehouse. She gave her sergeant a look.
“Don’t look at me like that, Lynn, you know the rules.”
Lynn sighed, sitting down by the pavement. “So what now, now that they’re not gonna let me do my job?”
“Well, we work with what we have. What have you gathered?”
“These people were running a kidnapping scheme,” Lynn said. “They seized women from District 42, drugging them with black market double-A.” Lynn shuddered. The commercial variant ranged from five to ten percent purity. She’d tried one at a party before, and ended up masturbating in the station’s restroom for thirty minutes straight. To be forced to take something five times stronger...
“I inspected the warehouse, while you were talking to the hostages. We found heavy-duty locks on many of the bedrooms, and several crates full of syringes.”
“This...was a housing area for their captives. It lines up with what the hostages were saying, though I think most of the suspects need some rest before interrogation.”
The sergeant nodded. “Agreed. Get some rest tonight, Lynn. I know I will.”