Animals

Chapter 2

 He never liked going over murder scenes. Maybe it was the blood or smell, but just the bodies made him a little sick. Crime families were not usually lenient on troublemakers, often times "donating" their bodies to organ sellers before leaving whats left in the streets. But Fenrir had no idea why the Major would call him on a case like this. It seemed like the usual case of an unlucky mammal getting into the wrong place at the wrong time.

By the time Fenrir had made it out to the front of the complex, he already saw the major amount of traffic on the street, cars of various sizes all locked in together. The wolf sighed. "Walking it is."

Thankfully, the location was not as far away as he thought it would be, only requiring a 30-minute walk. He didn't mind as much as he thought he would. Being up this early meant fewer people on the sidewalks, allowing him to move at a reasonable pace.

It was 10:30 by the time he arrived on the scene, an alleyway surrounded by police vehicles and yellow tape. He flashed his ID to the nearby officer, who let him through into the gruesome murder scene.

And it was gruesome. There was a chalk etching on the ground of where the victim had laid, splayed out in pain. Blood painted the opposite wall in a huge splatter. It was like the aftermath of a Tarantino film. The wolf waited as he heard the sound of loud footsteps behind him.

"This is a doozy, ain't it?" Major Anderson stood behind the wolf, an elk who walked with a noticeable limb. He waited as the wolf turned around.

"Major" Fenrir did a short salute, despite that he was not on the force anymore. He respected the major, It was the only reason he actually went out here in the first place.

"Fenrir. Glad to see you here." Anderson held a folder filled with files, most likely related to the case.

Fenrir folded his arms together. "So, why do you need me? I'm not working with the police anymore, A. I'm not the guy you want."

The elk nodded. "Exactly. When we found the body, the CIA swooped up like a vulture. We've only had so little information on everything, but I believe your... friends may help break this case open without having to go through mountains of tape."

Anderson knew of Fenrir's recruitment by the Freelancer Initiative, he had been the one to recommend him to them. Delaware Anderson was one of the original founders of the Initiative back in 1985, under the instruction of Takashi Oda. Takashi Oda was the mastermind behind the Initiative and gave the North Mammalian World Organization the resources and technology to fund it. Despite his direct actions in the making of the Freelancers, no one knew the true identity of Takashi. Not even those who worked with him.

Fenrir took the files, sighing as he glanced over them for a few minutes.

"So, they took his organs?" Fenrir could see that the murder was not a pretty sight. He bet that the mammal under the cloth was getting a closed casket funeral.

The organ trade was elusive in Chicago. While not many organs were able to be used between species, there were some organs in high demand, like kidneys and hearts. Victor was possibly the victim of one of these organ gangs, taking everything that was still functional and leaving the rest to rot. Fenrir saw them as one of the worst offenders in his days on the force. Many of them never regretted their actions, and saw them as "culling the herd". True monsters.

"Fen, did you hear me?" Anderson looked at the wolf with annoyance. Fenrir realized he had lost himself in his thoughts.

"Sorry, Anderson. What did you say?" The wolf waited as Anderson began to continue speaking.

"Anyway, I was saying that they only left his heart. And we soon figured out why." Anderson motioned for Fenrir to turn through the files until they came on the heart.

"When a patrol found him, he was dead for around 50 minutes. We entered all the details in, documented the scene, took in the body. We barely get everything ready in our files right before the CIA strolls in. They confiscated everything but I got some of it out. I think I know why they wanted this case under wraps."

The wolf came upon the picture of the heart and realized instantly why the Major wanted help. The picture of the heart showed it on a table next to Victor's corpse. The heart was there, untouched, still connected to the bobcat. The heart had a metal square in it, dark grey metal with a port on it. But the wolf could see that the heart was still pink, still active as if the owner was alive. And it was alive, was somehow in the process of beating.

Fenrir was stunned. "How... how is this possible?"

The elk shrugged. "I have no idea. They swore us to secrecy about this. They wired everything. So I had to go to the only person they might not expect."

"Me." Fenrir thought as he stared at the heart, an unnatural organ that was still alive even though no blood ran through it.

Anderson nodded, walking the two of them out to the edge of the crime scene.

"Fen, show this to Takashi. He knows tech like this. Hell, he probably built this. And that's what might scare me the most." The elk shivered.

Anderson was right to be scared. Takashi was a man who limited his tech to those he trusted. The fact that something of this caliber was here in some low-level street thug means something bad is coming.

Fenrir and Anderson separated, saying their goodbyes and each heading off to their destinations. Fenrir knew where he had to go.

Freelancer HQ.