Heroes are more than just stories, they're people. And people are complicated; people are strange. Nobody is a hero through and through, there's always something in them that'll turn sour... you'll learn it one day. There are no heroes, only villains who win.~ Joel Cornah
Dedication: To uselessopinions, for the nice comments and votes, thank you so much!
Siena
Returning to the scene of the crime was never a good idea. It's basically saying, "Hey, I'm the killer, arrest me!" Kinda like waving a giant red flag not just at any bull, but at the Minotaur. However, I couldn't resist. I thought there maybe something there for me to find out, to figure why Shreya was here, and what was going on.
The area was cordoned off with yellow police tape, but there was no one collecting samples, or even guarding it. I carefully landed in the alleyway, making sure not to step on any evidence. I crouched down close to the ground, studying the alleyway.
The cops seemed to have done a thorough sweep, any garbage cans had been emptied and taken out, and the alley looked cleaner than it had in years.
I carefully stood up and walked around the area where I found the body, my boots crunching against the gravel of the alley. I winced at every sound they took, but it was later at night, and I could use my powers to cover me if need be.
Something caught my eye by the garbage cans. Something was stuck to the bottom of the can, on the edge. It was pressed between the ground and the force of the can.It looked as if It was a tag, the kind you would find on products in a store.
I lifted the can up and pulled out the tag, which was attached to something. A needle. A small, needle.
It looked to be no more than a 14-gauge, and it didn't have anything in it. How could the cops have missed this? Oh well, it was better for me. I put on my gloves and picked up the needle. Studying it carefully, I couldn't ascertain what would be there, or even if there was something there.
My eyes widened. The M.E. was wrong. Shreya wasn't poisoned. She was injected with air. I'd heard of it. Air bubbles bursting in the heart was bad enough to cause a fatal injury, and it was among one of the least known methods to kill a person, since people tested for poison, not air. It was an excellent method, for older people. For a young 24 year old, people would definitely question the presence of air in the bloodstream, but that's only if they did a complete and full autopsy. And I don't think they have the time or the resources to do that.
I looked at the needle very carefully. You couldn't just get a 14-gauge like this from the store. But first, I needed to find out more information about Shreya to figure why she was killed, if I killed her, and if not, who did.
I wasn't any Calli, but I did know how to hack into the police system and search for missing people. I didn't want to involve any more people if I could avoid it.
Back in my car, I got in the database for missing people, and found Shreya. It looked like she had an apartment not very far from mine, and that the police hadn't hit it yet, since they still hadn't identified her.
Great. I tossed my laptop in the back of my car, rolled down the windows, and drove to Shreya's place. It was a regular apartment building, nothing special or different about it. Except, she had her balcony screen open. What person had their screen door exposed to the cold at a time like this?
It wasn't a building where you had to be buzzed in, good for me, bad for other people, but I found Shreya's apartment. I didn't bothered knocking on the door, but picked the lock and entered.
What I discovered was certainly not what I was expecting. I found the apartment tossed, everything in a mess. Obviously, the people who wanted Shreya dead did this. Or did I, and I just didn't remember it?
I crept around the apartment, trying not disturb as much stuff as possible. I looked around the apartment, but no one had checked a few of the most mundane and easiest hiding spots. The best things hid in plain sight. I noticed that of two identical plants that were near the balcony, but one was higher than the other. That didn't make sense. If the plants were identical, why was one a few inches taller than the other?
I picked up the taller plant, the left one, and dumped the soil out. It was tightly packed, and not even real. The soil came out easily, there was only a sprinkling of real soil to cover it up. In the bottom of the pot, I found a few folded papers, and most importantly, a large sheet of paper that showed marking and writing. Tucked into the side was a journal, which I also took.
I stowed all of these in my bag, and stood up to leave. It looked like whoever had been here before hadn't been paying as good of attention as I had, and they had left the apartment without what they had been looking for. I had to get out of there as fast as possible, and find out what all this held. If she hid it so well, it had to mean something.
I got out of the apartment as fast as I could, walking fast and casually to my car. I got in it and drove away immediately, until I came upon a secure location. I switched off the car and turned on the light. I wanted to see what this was all about. The large sheet of paper was huge, with about ten names at the top. I knew what this was the second I saw it. It was a family tree, containing the lineage of Michael Juno and all his lab descendants. This looked to be unfinished, for there were many question marks and notes scribbled.
I saw one full completed one without any marks. This was Shreya's. It only seemed to trace the ones with powers, but sometimes, they crossed over with the other families, which resulted in incredibly powerful children, since they didn't have half unmutated genes.
I saw hers, which went down a few, starting at Lucas Ryter, and stopping at her and her brother. Twins, she had noted in the corner. I knew what Shreya was doing. She was trying to track down all the descendants of the lab assistants, and of Michael Juno himself.
What Shreya had discovered, the blood of this was not like being Irish and Italian, and then the percentage decreasing. It was a genetic thing, so the potency of the powers didn't decrease unless the person was half human.
She had notes, all scribbled in the margins, papers stapled. This was clearly extremely valuable. I decided I would have to put time aside to view this carefully, and I took the journal.
I opened it. Shreya hadn't been keeping this for a long time. It looked like she had just started when she came to the U.S. Most of it was bullets and notes that I would have to view later, but there was one entry that seemed to be more like a diary.
I know someone's following because of what I found out about them. I know the Gemini, and I know what their goal is. I just can't figure if they're working by themselves or with someone. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die, but I need to keep my research safe, so only the intended find it. I know she will. I've been looking and observing her. She's smart, and kind, even though she may not think so. But there's something bigger than her, and she needs all of our help to figure it out.
Was she talking about me? No, that really seemed very vain do assume that. It wasn't far do automatically think that. For all I know, it could be another woman. I took out the scraps of folded paper, and discovered that they had nothing more than addresses on them. These must be where Shreya suspected there were descendants of those involved in the incident.
It wasn't just these. Shreya had scribbled in her journal her suspected places, and they were all over the world. London, Kenya, Auckland, Bangkok, Rio.
How? What? Why was she doing this? Was there a bigger plot here that I had yet to figure out? I had the addresses and names of a few suspected supers here in NYC, but I couldn't figure out what she was trying to do. I thumbed through her journal, looking for where she may have written a few more entries. There was only one thing that seemed to be similar, and entry dated do yesterday, the day before she was killed.
I've figured out what they're doing, and what they plan on doing with the serum. One person can't stop it. Not even two people can stop it. I think we need a few people from all over the world, who have these powers, but there aren't that many. A few didn't marry and died out, and those who did didn't have many children. I would estimate there are fifteen, tops, that are younger than 30 and easily persuaded to help. These are also excluding those who have turned to a life of crime.
Shreya was recruiting. She was trying to figure out who could be used to help her take down these guys. And this investigation got her killed.
I opened up the family tree once again. Other than Shreya's, there were only two or three that were somewhat completed. The descendents of Maya Rivera and John Paulson. The two had gotten married, after going on the run together, and they had one child. A daughter. The tree traced back to an unknown name. Angela Pollock.
I traced my finger over the name. Only one other person from this entire lineage who could help us out. Aside from Angela's ancestry, there was only one completed. Everyone else only had a few steps down the line. The descendant of one of the lab assistants, Kyle Byre.
He had a living male descendant, who, according to Shreya's notes, was only a few years younger than me, 15. Leo Holder.
Shreya had spent hours upon hours trying to figure out what this was. What to do. And now she was dead because of it. Killed by someone who didn't want her to go through with her plan, someone who didn't want her to finish.
Maybe killed by me.
I checked the family tree once again. In the center was Michael Juno. His lineage was completely empty. Shreya had noted in the corner, can't find him, looked everywhere. His direct descendant is the only one who can unlock the last ingredient.
So the descendant of Michael Juno was the most important one. But which descendant? There could be multiple ones from the same family.
I gripped the tree tightly. I knew one thing. I was going to find out who did this, even if it was me, and I was going to finish what Shreya had started.
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What do you guys think? More info revealed. This will set up a ton of the rest of the book and more. I really hope you guys like it, I have literally my own tree. Who's the descendant of Michael Juno? Hint: It's not who you think it is. I don't like to be very predictable. Lots of plot twists are coming your way.
*signing off satisfied and happy*
Don't forget to vote, comment, and hit that recommend button! Please tell me about the spelling and grammar mistakes!
Love from a gum-chewing, mystery obsessed Indian!
~Vi