mitochondriaaya | Sometimes you don't get a week.

She'd been at the Bed and Breakfast for three days, leafing through a field guide that had been in her dresser drawer (she assumed it was in every room like a room key) and generally familiarizing herself with the town. It wasn't a hard place to memorize, as little towns went, and she'd played chess with Yinsi when she wasn't helping in the kitchen or doing the supply run.

It was, oddly, almost like being on a vacation, and her anger had abated a little more each day. She was still angry, granted, but it was easier to sort and contain now. Easier to target. That was...reassuring. She hadn't cared for being so easy to enrage. Who would?

The fourth morning though? That was different, she came down to the breakfast table in the early hours, hair dripping from her post-workout shower, and the faces were grim instead of sleepy. The elusive oddball, Pierce, was even present, nose glued to a laptop screen, "nothing we've seen before, Elcy. No, not a single match for missed items or missing items...you sure it's a ping? Psychos do happen..."

Yinsi sighed and passed the coffee pot, "four murders and four people coming into the station in hysterics the next morning to confess?"

"...hypno psycho. A Svengali effect maybe?"

Aya leaned in the doorway and accepted a mug with a nod of thanks, bemused, "Svengali made a star, not bodies. There's been murders?"

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From:

sliceitwithwind

"Whatever it is," Dilan said from his spot leaning against a counter, "we have to check it out."

Braig grunted from behind his cup of coffee, mumbling something that those versed in the art of Braig-before-fully-awake identified as a need for a new bulletproof vest.

"People aren't being shot, dear." his mother pointed out, "They're having their heads bashed in." then, to Aya, "Bashed in, with bottles of vodka left in the wound."

Although it didn't stop any of the people at the table from eating. They were old hat at this sort of thing.

Yinsi added, to Braig, "Which means you're not going anywhere alone. I know you've got a hard head for Olia, but it's only Olia. If at all possible I'd like for you to outlive me." It was grimly understood that with the number of dangerous artefacts out there, Braig was the agent most at risk. His body already looked more bashed up than his father's, and Yinsi had seen multiple wars.

From:

mitochondriaaya

"That is really creepy," Pierce noted. "Please don't call and tell me it's techie and I need to be there. I will NOT answer the call, nope, not even for new girl."

Aya snorted and moved from her spot to settle at the table for food. She had the feeling she'd need the meal at this rate. "With four confessions they've ruled out a copy cat killer I'd assume?" Aya noted. "Unless there's a new drug I don't know about that can make others kill for you." It was possible?

"...that's possible too! Artifact drug!" And Pierce was back at his keys after a grin at Aya.

"That was kind of wishful thinking, sorry," Aya winced. "That's, hmmm, Pichushkin's MO. Since you've got something from the Rostov Ripper only makes sense something from his 'competitor' would pop up? Maybe?" She was new to this okay? She had no idea what was possible.

From:

sliceitwithwind

"Not likely." Elcy said with a sigh, shaking her head, "Oh, thank you Aya. That's a good place to start. Would you be so kind as to fill us in?"

The two active agents turned to look at her more closely.

From:

mitochondriaaya

She'd kind of been worried they'd think it was a viable option. It was incredibly odd to slide a dead killer into the role of 'current threat'. She took another moment to lay her thoughts in order and nodded, "Russian serial killer operating in the same time period as the Ripper, in Moscow, Bitsa park mainly. He was obsessed with competing, planned to kill sixty four people, one per chessboard square, convicted of 49 when caught. Psychopath, tempted strangers with a friendly drink, hammer attack from behind to cave in skulls and leaving a vodka bottle in the wounds." That was the Cliffs notes version?

"How many did your Ripper's knife get? Would it be crazy to look at the competition angle?"

From:

sliceitwithwind

"So hammers, vodka, and things relating to chess?" Dilan mused, "That's...a lot to look for, but not as many as everything. I'll get our go-bags."

Elcy gave Aya a mildly harassed smile and said, "I know you're wanting to stay here and talk to Ansem, but I really need you to go with the boys. I'd send Pierce, but he develops hives around murders. Literally." Her voice held the bemusement of someone who just didn't understand how a person could be allergic to murder.

From:

mitochondriaaya

"If there's bodies I'm going," she said simply. "I can be as angry and uncomfortable as I want later, but your boys aren't trained in homicide." And she had a duty, even if the edges of such were really blurred right now.

"How do we claim jurisdiction?" She had a backpack of things she could grab, she hadn't really unpacked after all, so a few more minutes to get information wouldn't hurt.

"With the badge I made you!" Pierce offered brightly, "and with the number to Elcy. She's a very good supervisor in charge when cities call to confirm." HE DIDN'T HAVE TO GO!! YAY!!

...wait. This meant he was missing a road trip with the new hot chick. DAMN IT. "I'll book you guys rooms."

From:

sliceitwithwind

"Good." Dilan said, nodding firmly, "Mom?"

"Yes, dear, I'll have Braig capable of driving by the time you're back down." Elcy said with another sigh. Her boy, really.

Dilan, as he and Aya headed for the stairs, explained; "I'm too Katzu to drive. An old friend of the family's attempted to teach me, but after the third car I either rolled or crashed because something moved in my peripheral vision and I instinctively turned to look at it even he gave up. Figuring out what I can and can't do was always fun."

From:

mitochondriaaya

Separate rooms. Pierce watched Dilan and Aya up the stairs then sighed and went back to typing. "Do I focus on background info for murder guy or details from the current cases?" Pierce mused, thinking it over. "And does Aya have more information upstairs than I can find on wikipedia before they're back down..." if she had murder books upstairs he should probably skip historical research for now?

Upstairs though Aya was nodding and ducking into her room, "we had an Alnat in my precinct, same issue, his partner drove them when ever they couldn't hoof it. Does the new badge actually hold up under anything?" It wasn't like she could claim to be part of a national government agency after all.

From:

sliceitwithwind

"Current cases first." Elcy ordered, "Researching a past serial killer probably won't need your skills nearly as much."

Dilan snagged his and Braig's bags out of their room, then Braig's second bag out of the short man's ... armoury. "It should! Pierce has never let us down before. Although the ID for use around here, I'm afraid, identifies you as an IRS agent. We're rather reviled."

From:

mitochondriaaya

"You take the fun out of pretending to debate," Pierce snorted. "On it. Police precincts really need to upgrade their tech, have you seen some of the footage from their cameras?!" And it was back grumbling about the world! Usual babble from a researching Pierce!

"But there's no actual authority in it?" Aya sighed, slipping on a backpack. "I don't like lying." Not in important things like investigation. She'd deal with it though if she had to.

"IRS? Ouch. The people who've been nice to me in town will feel betrayed when that comes out."

From:

sliceitwithwind

Elcy patted Pierce on the head and Yinsi slid a plate of eggs and sausage at him.

Braig, meanwhile, performed the slow coming to life that marked his mornings before bolting food so that he could go make sure the car was ready to house the three of them on their trip to Chicago.

Dilan shrugged, "Honestly, I don't know. We answer to mom, mom answers to Ansem, Ansem answers to the Warehouse and the regents run all of us. What we can do, what our positions are, is pretty much 'people saving the world'. I don't like lying either, but I do what I need to in order to keep the world safe."

From:

mitochondriaaya

"He liiiives,"Pierce moaned when Braig shook awake, constantly amused by the way his friend woke up from zombie state every day. "Got you mints on the pillow!" he called as the man dashed off. Yup, he was a good friend.

"I'll deal," she shrugged, nodding Dilan ahead of her on the stairs. "For now. "And if I'm still here after a week I'll look into getting what certifications I can." Somehow.

From:

sliceitwithwind

"If nothing else, we can help with that." Dilan promised, "Oh, reminds me. You'll be using the Tesla while we're out. It's a non-lethal non-projectile gun. I don't shoot when I can avoid it, and Braig never misses so there's no reason for him not to have a standard gun." He took the stairs four at a time heading down, because the sooner he had the gear packed the sooner he could eat whatever meat was left on the table and go.