Disclaimer: Most of these 'characters' are real people. I don't own them.
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Third Person PoV
Luke
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Driving down to the old fish factory, Bryce was tapping his fingers on his knees anxiously. Luke took one hand off the steering wheel and stopped Bryce's hand.
"Hey, hey, hey! You're making me nervous, and I don't get nervous!"
Bryce looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, Cartoonz, I'm just---I'm just nervous."
"I can tell." Bryce's eyes shifted left and right and he was biting his right hand's thumb while tapping his left hand's fingers on his knee. "You need to lay off the coffee, Bryce."
Bryce's eyes snapped into focus, looking at his hands. "What? No, no, coffee has nothing to do with me right now."
"Well, damn. I knew this mission was going to be a little nerve-wracking, but I didn't think you'd get this frazzled over it."
Bryce chuckled dryly. "It's not really the mission that's got me in this state."
Luke risked a glance in his direction. They were getting close to the factory. "Then what's got your panties in a knot?"
Bryce side-eyed him. He sighed. "I have a lead on who the BBS is."
Luke slammed the brakes. He stared at him, open-mouthed. "How the fuck did you do that?" Tyler blared his horn at the two, so Luke started moving again.
The cruiser's radio crackled. Ohm's voice came through. "Hey, dude, what the fuck? You almost made us crash!"
"Sorry, Ohm, just a little brake check."
"Brake check my ass. Just keep moving."
"Roger that." Luke turned the radio off and looked at Bryce. "You better explain when we're done with this."
Bryce nodded, face serious. "Of course."
______________
Ohm and Luke broke off from the group of cars to go and block the two roads that led to the factory. It had been Luke's brilliant idea that they also get some construction signs that read 'Road Closed' so people wouldn't try and go in. They didn't need extra people here. They could get hurt.
His Comm crackled. "Everyone in position?" Brian asked.
Everyone gave a chorus of 'Yes' and 'Obviously.'
"All right. Cartoonz, Bryce, open the doors."
Bryce and Luke strained against the heavy iron doors, pulling until they finally opened the doors. Luke breathed heavily, chuckling. "Guess all that working out really came in handy, eh, Bryce?"
Bryce laughed, his breathing no more even than Luke's own. "Yeah, guess so."
Brian's voice came through again. "All right. Ohm, Moo, shields up and move in. Cartoonz, Bryce, you know where to go."
"On it," they said. Bryce and Luke split up and went around the factory, one going left and the other going right.
"I'm fully extending," Ohm said.
They all paused for a second. Tyler spoke. "I'm sorry, you're what, Ohm?"
"I'm fully exten---" Ohm realized what he was saying. "My shield, you fucks! I'm fully extending my shield!"
"Okay, okay! We don't need to know more, Ohm," Delirious said, laughing slightly. "Stay on target, guys. Focus."
"Shield deployed," Moo said. "We're going in." He paused. "Into the building, I mean."
Luke threw a rope up and started climbing. "All right, I'm rappelling in now."
"Same with me," Bryce said.
"Be careful, guys."
Luke chuckled. "Don't worry, Terrorizer. We can handle this shit."
"Yeah, and if they can't, we'll be outside waiting to go in instead."
Luke growled. "Fuck you, Mini!"
"Can I switch with Delirious now?"
"No, Bryce! Not yet. Besides, you'll be better for sniping than Delirious will be with his big ass sledge hammer."
"I was kidding."
"Sure thing, Bryce."
"Screw you, Ohm!"
"Guys! Focus!"
"Sorry, Vanoss."
Luke jumped through the window, glad it was already broken. The smell hit him like a semi. "Holy shit that smells bad." He coughed violently. He swept through the second floor. "Nothing up here."
Bryce chimed in. "I'm not seeing anyone other than Ohm, Moo, and Cartoonz." He coughed. "Man, this place smells like someone died."
Moo's voice came through "Nada down here, guys. And I gotta agree with you. This place stinks!"
"The smell gets worse the farther back you go," Ohm added, his voice strained.
"Watch out for some tarps around there," Brian added. "I got stuck as a drone over there. I imagine there are tools over there, you might trip. Watch your step."
Luke walked down the stairs, trying not to gag. He followed after Moo and Ohm. "You're not kidding, the smell gets so much worse the farther back you go."
Bryce joined, rappelling down so he could get to us faster. He wobbled when he touched down, disoriented. "That's absolutely awful."
"Stop bitching about the smell and look for signs of Michael. Or look for Michael."
"Easy for you to say, Wildcat." Luke retorted. "You're not smelling this stench."
They kept walking, Luke behind Moo and Bryce behind Ohm. They were all breathing through their mouths, trying not to throw up.
Bryce stopped. "What the--?"
Ohm turned around. "What's wrong, Bryce?"
Bryce was kneeling, his sniper rifle on the floor next to him. In his hand was a white shoe. Only it wasn't white anymore, it was filthy with dried blood and dirt from the floor. He looked to the left and saw a couple of tarps covering something. Tentatively, Bryce picked up his gun and moved one of the tarps away. They all gasped, seeing a beaten and bloodied leg and half of a torso. Bryce moved the rest of the tarps out of the way.
"Holy shit. . . ," Luke whispered, staring wide-eyed at Michael's disfigured body and Joshua's shot, dead corpse.
Mini's voice sounded over the Comms. "What? What's going on, guys?"
Ohm spoke first, voice stunned. "We. . . We found Michael. . . And Joshua. . ."
"Wait, what do you mean, you found Michael and Joshua?" Delirious demanded. "What's wrong?"
Luke licked his lips. "We found them both dead."
_____________
They all sat around Smiity's basement table, silent. Ohm, Moo, and Tyler's eyes were all glazed over, completely blank. Everyone else was completely shell-shocked.
"We--We've gotta tell someone." Delirious finally broke the tense silence.
"Well, yeah," Mini said, leaning forward in his seat, his hands cupping his chin. "But who? Depending on who we tell here, they won't help."
Moo snorted. "Make that the whole of Los Santos. Liam's ex-wife is so influential, she can put every single police district under lockdown."
Scotty frowned. "Then we go to the FBI. They're not controlled by these two shits."
"You'd think they'd worry about their kid, though," Tyler commented, his arms crossed against his chest.
Luke shook his head. "They could care less. Once Joshua stopped fitting their mold for being normal, they didn't give a shit about him." I sighed. "It's a shame we can't do much with the Los Santos police districts."
Bryce frowned. "Well, there is one person we can ask for help. . ."
Ohm frowned and shook his head. "No, Bryce. We aren't asking for help from that sanguinarian!"
Luke glanced at him. "English, Ohm, not all of us speak dictionary." He sighed. "And we might not have a choice, Ohm. Dracula might be our only way to get help from the police here."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," he retorted, crossing his arms.
Bryce narrowed his eyes before turning to face everyone else. "Either way, Swag is gonna be our only option."
Delirious leaned forward. "Why? Who is Dracula?"
"It's not actually his birth name," Bryce explained. "It's his gamer tag, Swag_Dracula. He's the head of the upper Los Santos Jae Sung police district--- the only one Liam and his ex don't have family in." He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "The only problem is that Ohm doesn't like him all that much."
"I like him just fine," Ohm insisted. "He just gives me a bad feeling."
Bryce's eyes flashed. "You're just upset because I was playing Friday the 13th with him and not you."
"I am not!"
"Well, then, explain your 'bad feeling'."
"I don't know how to explain it---"
"Exactly! You're just jealous!"
"Am not! I'm just saying, anyone who drinks blood as if it were a drug has got to have a few screws loose!"
"He doesn't actually do that!"
Luke decided to interrupt before things got too heated. "Guys, guys! That doesn't matter right now. Right now, we need Dracula's help. Bryce, can you call him?"
Bryce's angered eyes broke away from his staring contest with Ohm and softened. "Yeah," he said, nodding. He pulled out his phone and started dialing."
He sat there, silent. He brightened up a little. "Hey! Dracula! How's it going, man? Yeah, I know I called you yesterday. What? Can't a guy call his friend twice in a row?" He laughed. "Don't go getting caught, cattle are expensive."
Cattle? Los Santos didn't have cattle. Luke looked at him questioningly. Bryce shrugged.
"Hey, I've uh, actually got something important to tell you." His eyes widened. "What? No! No, ew. Dracula, I need you to go to the address I'm going to text you. It's important, you need to go right away." He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Dracula, we'll play F13 later. Just get over there!"
He hung up and groaned, hitting his forehead lightly with his phone.
Vanoss looked at him expectantly. "Well? What happened?"
"I hope you guys are happy," Bryce said. "Now I'm stuck playing F13." He started typing out the address.
Delirious frowned. "What's wrong with that? The last time I played it was really good."
Bryce looked at him, disbelieving. "Clearly, you haven't played it recently. It just keeps crashing. I barely make it a whole game sometimes."
Delirious shook his head and sighed. "I'm sure the devs will fix it. If it's crashing that often, people will complain until it's fixed."
Bryce shrugged. "Either way, Drac's going to the factory now."
Everyone sighed in relief.
"Good," Vanoss said approvingly. "Now all we need to do is. . . What?"
Scotty frowned. "What do you mean, 'what?' We're gonna track down the killer and put them behind bars! We can't let this end like this!"
"I don't think we can," Vanoss sighed. "This might be something too big for just us."
"Do we even have the ability to track this guy?" Smiity butted in, concerned.
"Guys," Luke said, trying to get their attention.
"I don't know," Vanoss admitted. He sighed.
"Guys."
"Well, we can't just sit here with our thumbs up our asses!" Wildcat said, his shoulders tense.
"I know that, Wildcat!"
Luke finally got fed up with their arguing. "GUYS!" He yelled, slamming his hands down on the table. Everyone turned to look at him, startled. "You're forgetting that Ohm, Moo, Bryce, and I are cops. Bryce here was top graduate in investigations of murders and such. He can track this guy down."
Everyone turned to look at Bryce. He winced at the sudden attention but nodded.
"First off, it's forensic science. Second, I can do it, but it'll be a little difficult." He frowned. "But I'm gonna need some help from Max. . ."
Mini cocked his head to the side. "Who's Max?"
"He's a friend on the force," Moo explained. "His gamer tag is Gassy Mexican. He works between our district and Drac's district. He graduated with Bryce in the academy for investigation."
Mini nodded, understanding. "Oh, okay. Cool."
Delirious clapped his hands together. "All right, guys, let's get to it."
______________
Bryce and Luke quickly left, him giving Bryce a ride. Luke side-eyed him. He was chewing on his bottom lip, frowning and thinking.
"Ey, Bryce, you still gotta tell me how you got a lead on the BBS."
He snapped out of his thinking and looked over at me, eyes wide for a second before they returned to normal. He nodded.
"Oh, yeah. I completely forgot about that. . ." He stayed silent. Luke waited for a few seconds.
"Well?" He asked. "You gonna tell me or what?"
Bryce nodded. "Yeah. See, I went through all the camera footage we have on the BBS. Unfortunately, all paper evidence, like the witness reports and DNA results, were stolen yesterday; so all I have to go on are the tests from yesterday, which aren't done yet, but I got the footage from officer Lester."
"The British guy? The one that always comes in with a wacky story?"
"Yeah. He's a cool guy. Anyway, at one point, one of the three looked at the camera head on."
Luke looked at him, impressed. "Good job. Any idea who it is?"
Bryce shook his head, his fingers tapping a bizarre pattern on his knee. "No, the picture is too grainy for that, but I can make out the general facial features. I have the photo currently running through every single criminal in the system, from vandalism to murder. So far though, there's been no connection."
Luke sighed and shook his head. "Well, you've gotten farther than most people. Good job, dude. So, how are you going to track down this asshole killer?"
Bryce looked out the passenger window. "I don't know," he admitted, looking down. He turned and looked up at Luke. "But I will track this guy down."
Luke nodded. "And we'll be there to drag his ass to jail. Maybe bruise him up a bit if he tries anything funny." They chuckled at that. Their laughter died down as they neared Dracula's police department. The drive took a while, but they got there reasonably quickly.
Bryce unbuckled his seatbelt. "All right, thanks for the ride, Cartoonz."
"Yeah, no problem. Hey, Bryce?"
Bryce turned to look at him, car door open. He gave Luke a questioning look. "Yeah?"
Luke stuck his fist out to him. "For Michael and Josh."
Bryce fist bumped Luke back, smiling determinedly. "For Michael and Josh."
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Third Person PoV
Ohm
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Ohm didn't like arguing with Bryce. Especially over something as stupid as this. Drac was a pretty cool guy, Ohm had nothing against him. But seeing Bryce almost completely ignore the rest of his friends when they all finally had enough time to play together, it definitely wasn't something Ohm was going to stand by and watch happen.
Ohm sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Today had been stressful. What had been a simple rescue mission became a murder investigation. Dracula had requested Bryce be put on the investigation, which was all part of the deal. Bryce got Drac to put the cops on red alert and start an investigation, Drac then put Bryce on the investigation. From there, they would arrest the murderer.
Ohm leaned back in his computer chair, not worried about falling from tipping back so far. He'd gotten so used to stretching while sitting down to the point where he knew how far his chair leaned back before it fell. He thought back to Joshua and Michael and shuddered. Who would beat someone to a pulp and then shoot the other one in the head? Who would willingly do that? Police shoot, but they had a moral code. They shot when necessary. That was their mantra, their code, their nindo, or whatever. Obviously, not every cop lived by this mantra, which was a problem. Police violence wasn't right.
Ohm frowned. How had he gone from thinking about why he argued with Bryce to police violence? He guessed it was true, humans did only have an attention span of about eight seconds.
Ohm chuckled lightly at the thought. He got up off his chair and went to shower. He had work in the morning, and him showing up so stinky that Liam would just be barking at him the whole time was not how he wanted his morning to go. After he quickly showered, Ohm changed into some pyjama bottoms. He didn't bother with a shirt, it got too stuffy in his room during the night for him to comfortably sleep in more than pyjama bottoms. Especially with his fluffy blanket.
Ohm couldn't sleep. No matter how much he tossed or turned or lay silently, he couldn't get his brain to shut up. He kept thinking about the rescue mission gone wrong, about the double murder, about the BBS break in, about the whole argument with Bryce, and his brain just wouldn't shut up.
Ohm picked up his phone and turned it on. 1:47 A.M. Ohm groaned. All that planning on waking up early and in a good mood flew out the window. He had been hoping he could sleep just a little more than usual, but clearly his insomniac tendencies just weren't letting that happen. Ohm got up and sat at the edge of his bed. Ohm cupped his face in his hands, pressing his palms into his tired eyes, and sighed heavily.
"Okay, Ohm," Ohm said to himself, rubbing his face. "Just. . . Rationalize every thing." He sighed and nodded to himself. "Okay. Here goes. The thing with Bryce and me is going to blow over. It was a stupid fight and we're both adults, we can handle this. Josh and Michael were. . . ," he licked his lips and closed his eyes. "Josh and Michael were. . . Were. . . Were m-murdered. I have to acknowledge that. Bryce and Drac's police department are working on tracking down the killer. Until then, we just have to wait, easy." Ohm looked up at the ceiling and chuckled darkly. "Like shit it's gonna be easy, but I'll have to power through. I don't exactly have a choice. The BBS break in. . . God, Liam's gonna have a fit tomorrow. I wonder if he'll finally blow up and give himself cardiac arrest?" He shook his head violently. "No, don't think like that, I'll only keep myself up more." Ohm took in a deep breath, held it for a second or two, before letting it out. "All right, let's try this sleeping thing again." He laid down and pulled the covers over his shoulders and snuggled into the comforter. Ohm sighed in bliss at the warmth of the blanket before finally, finally, going to sleep.
________________________
Three Days Later
______________________________
Ohm walked in through the double doors of the police department, early for once. Moo glanced over before going back to his work. He doubled back. "Wait, Ohm? What are you doing here early? And where's Bryce?"
Ohm swung his keys around his finger. "First off, I know, it's a miracle. Hallelujah! Second, Bryce is at a dentist appointment."
Moo nodded and gave a soft 'Ohh,' before returning to his work. "Well, that explains why you're early. Usually, you'd go pick Bryce up."
Ohm nodded. "Yeah, and then Bryce would take forever feeding his cats."
"Kittens," Moo corrected, not looking up from his work.
"Kittens," Ohm amended, dead panning. He looked around. "I'm guessing you stayed over night."
Moo nodded, yawning. "Yeah. I've had about six cups of coffee."
My brows furrowed. "Wait, shouldn't you have left by four, though? What are you doing here at 6:30 in the morning?"
Moo looked panicked for a second before he calmed down. "Oh, I, uh, must have missed time pass. Is it really six?"
Ohm laughed. "Man, you probably passed out. Go on, I bet Lauren's waiting."
Moo gave Ohm a grateful look. "Thanks for telling me the time. I was wondering why you were so early. I was gonna tell you you were too early, but turns out my internal clock just sucks." They both laughed at that. Moo stood up and patted Ohm's shoulder. "Tell Luke I said good luck with morning."
"All right. See ya, man."
"Bye, Ohm."
The doors slammed shut behind Moo, the sound deafening in the silence. It was just Ohm right now. Not even a janitor to keep him company. He went to sit down, propping his feet up on his desk. Maybe he shouldn't have told Moo the time. . . Then again, he looked about ready to collapse. Coffee could only get you so far. Ohm stifled a yawn as he put his feet down and turned his computer on. Quickly inputting his password, Ohm played several rounds of Solitaire before getting bored, then he played Minesweeper, but even that got boring. Eventually, he just went on YouTube and looked up a tutorial on how to make paper kunai. He made several kunai and Shuriken out of the printer paper, although he ended up using staples and tape to keep everything together instead of the original origami style.
By now, people had come in. First officers McLoughlin and Signe, then several Ohm didn't know too well, and then finally, Luke. He came in with bleary eyes and a thermos of what Ohm assumed was coffee. He came up to Ohm and tried fist bumping Ohm with his thermos.
"Shit, sorry," he said before switching his thermos to the other hand and fist bumped him properly. He looked around. "Aight, either I'm blind, or Brock and Bryce aren't here."
Ohm chuckled and fiddled with one of his many, many paper kunai. "Bryce has a dentist appointment today, he won't be back until later today or tomorrow. Brock had the night shift last night, so he won't come in today. By the way, he says good luck with morning."
Luke groaned. "Fuck, I forgot about that." He chugged his coffee. "Well, here's to hoping I don't fall asleep and have an accident."
They laughed, Luke's thermos sloshing over the edges a little. He walked off, opening the door and letting it slam shut after him. Ohm sighed. Luke would be fine, no matter how tired he seemed. If anything, if he did fall asleep, he'd sleep parked behind the sign. No way an accident could happen unless Luke had the worst luck ever.
Ohm started working on actual work, now that everyone was there.
Several people really liked his kunais, saying it reminded them of their younger ninja years or that their kids really liked Naruto at the moment. Ohm gifted several of them and ended up making several more.
Ohm chuckled as he took another piece of tape from the tape dispenser. Last night, in his insomnia ridden thoughts, nothing like this was what he expected. It was nice. Calming, even.
"Phil, Phil! Watch out for your---" A yelp of pain. "---eye." Officer Howell sighed as he went to help officer Lester, who was rubbing his left eye, dropped paper kunai forgotten.
Ohm winced and 'Ooh'ed to himself. Maybe not so calming. He went back to making more kunai, Howell still fussing over Lester in the background.
"What the fuck did I just get back from?" Luke asked, eyes trained on Howell telling Lester to not be so clumsy.
Ohm barely looked up before going back to his kunai. "Nothing much, really. Officer Lester just poked himself in the eye with one of my paper kunai while trying to do a trick shot."
"And officer Howell is scolding him?"
Ohm nodded, setting the finished paper kunai down on his desk. "Yeah. They're like that."
"I noticed," Luke said, smiling a little. Ohm started another kunai. Luke looked at what Ohm was doing. "Why are you making paper kunai?"
Ohm shrugged nonchalantly, taking another piece of tape. "I came in early and I had nothing to do, so I played a few computer games. But I got bored with that, so I looked up how to make paper kunai on YouTube." He picked up the half-finished kunai. "I'm actually not supposed to use tape, but I couldn't fold it right."
Luke shook his head and chuckled. "You're crazy. Why'd you come in so early?"
"I didn't have to pick up Bryce," Ohm explained, waving the now finished kunai around. "So I got here earlier than I expected."
Luke nodded, scratching his beard a little. "Oh, okay."
Ohm's phone started ringing, its tone blending into the rest of the noise of the police department. He picked it up. Caller Unknown. He pressed answer.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Ohm?"
Dracula. Ohm narrowed his eyes, confused. "Yeah, what's up? Something wrong?"
"Well, uh, Bryce had an allergic reaction at the dentist's."
Ohm's eyes widened. He sat up straight, his kunais fell from his lap. "What? How?"
"Apparently, something the dentist gave him caused an allergic reaction. Right now we're at the hospital, they're giving him a steroid shot to fight it off. Bryce said he wanted you guys to know."
Ohm nodded appreciatively, Luke looked at him, concerned. "Yeah, thanks, dude. I'll tell everybody else."
"No problem, anyway, I gotta go, the doctor's here."
"All right, see ya."
"Yeah, bye."
The call cut out. Luke looked at Ohm.
"Well? What happened?"
Ohm looked at his phone. "Bryce had an allergic reaction at the dentist's."
Luke's eyes widened. "I thought he wasn't allergic to anything."
"So did I," Ohm said. He shrugged. "Apparently he didn't know."
"So he's at the hospital, then?"
Ohm nodded, sighing a little. "Yeah, they're giving him a steroid shot to help fight it off."
Luke shook his head and whistled. "Well, I'm guessing the investigation is gonna be postponed while he heals."
"Probably not." He thought for a second. "He's just one investigator, they have other people there that can do that too."
"Well, yeah, but I kinda meant that we wouldn't know about the progress."
"Oh, well, yeah, that's true. I'm sure Bryce'll be fine in no time."
"Oh yeah, definitely. He might not look it, but he's strong."
________________________
Six days. Bryce was gone six days so far, because of his allergic reaction. The whole team was worried about him, but whenever they came and visited or called, he wasn't there.
Moo looked over at Ohm as he got into the car. Once again, Bryce wasn't home. He couldn't even hear Bryce's cats. "Hey, we knew the door wasn't gonna open."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I wasn't hoping differently." Ohm growled in frustration. "We haven't seen him for six days. The most contact we've had was a text that said 'I'm fine. I won't be in for work for a while.' Not much reassurance there, though."
Moo started driving, backing out of Bryce's driveway. "Yeah. Not much we can do, though."
Ohm looked out the window. "Yeah."
His phone started ringing. He really didn't want to answer, especially because it was an unknown caller, but he knew he had to. Proper manners. He pressed accept.
"Hello?"
Draucla's annoyed voice came through. "Can you tell McQuaid to stop coming to work?"
Ohm's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, he keeps coming to help with the investigation over the double murder of Michael Herrera and Joshua Peterson."
"What?!"
Moo looked at him, concerned. Moo's eyes shot back to the road as he swerved slightly to avoid bumping into the curb.
"Yeah, I keep sending him home, but he just keeps coming back. He's sick, he needs rest. This is probably the reason why he hasn't gotten better. Oh, my God, not again! Bruce! I swear, go home!" His voice sounded distant.
Bryce's voice came through faintly. "My name's not Bruce," he answered, laughing a little. He sounded tired. "And I'll go home when I'm done here."
"No, you will go home now! This investigation had been going on for a week and three days and it'll probably go on for another several days, maybe even weeks. I'm not having you here living at the station."
"I'm almost done, just gimme an hour or two."
"Swag, put me on speaker." Ohm looked straight ahead.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."
"Bryce?" Ohm called out, stern.
The line was quiet for a second.
"Yeah, Ohm?" He sounded like a kid who was caught trying to find their Christmas present early.
"Shouldn't you be resting?"
". . . Maybe. . ?"
"There's no maybe there, McQuaid!" Swag exclaimed. "You should be in bed cuddling your cats."
"Kittens," Bryce corrected.
"Kittens, whatever. They'll be cats soon enough."
"Well, yeah, but for now they're kittens."
"I don't care----"
"Guys!" Ohm interrupted, scaring Moo a little. "Bryce, how efficient do you think you're being right now?"
"I don't know, pretty efficient?"
"Bryce, you're sick. You're gonna tire easily. You're gonna miss something if you keep going like this."
"But---"
"No, Bryce, we need you at one hundred percent. What if the investigation is put off for longer than it needs to be? What if we end up stopping the investigation, because there was no conclusive evidence but it was just that you missed something? We can't risk something like that. We miss you, dude, and the longer it takes for you to recover, the more we're gonna miss you."
Bryce didn't say anything. The line was silent.
Bryce sighed in defeat. "Okay. . . I'll, I'll go home. But only because I don't want to put the investigation at risk. And because my kittens need me."
A soft mew came through the phone.
". . . Bryce?" Swag asked, voice even.
"Yes, Swag?"
"Is that a kitten in your coat?"
"Would you believe me if I said no?"
"No."
"Oh, well, uh, well, it's not a kitten." Another mew, echoed by another. "It's two kittens."
"Bryce, did you bring your kittens here?"
"Would you believe me if I said no?"
"You know what? No." Dracula sighed before speaking again. "All right, bye, Ohm. If you find out Bryce disappeared, it most definitely wasn't me."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure you'll have had nothing to do with Bryce suddenly dissapearing."
Moo stared at Ohm, surprised and worried.
"Riiight. Bye, Ohm." The kittens mewed in the background. "MCQUAID, YOU SON OF A---"
The phone cut out before anything else could be heard.
Moo looked over at Ohm for a second, his hands gripping the steering wheel. He slowly parked outside Ohm's house. "What was that about?"
Ohm sighed. "Well, I found Bryce."
Moo's eyes widened. "Really? Where?"
"At Dracula's police department, trying to continue the investigation while he's still sick."
"Isn't that dangerous? He could miss something."
Ohm nodded, scratching his chin. "That's what I told him. I got him to go home, but it turns out he'd also brought his kittens in today."
Moo laughed a little at that. He ran a hand through his short hair. "That sounds like something Bryce would do. How'd he sound? Sick? Tired? Hurt?"
"He sounded fine," Ohm answered. He tilted his head a little. "A little tired, but fine."
Moo sighed in relief. "That's good to hear."
Ohm unbuckled his seatbelt. "Thanks for the ride, Moo."
"No problem, Ohm. Cars break down all the time."
"That's true. Anyway, see you tomorrow, Moo."
"Yep, see ya."
"Tell Lauren I said hi."
"Will do, man."
Ohm got out of the car and took his house key out. He unlocked the door, Moo's car leaving his driveway at the same time.
Ohm walked in. "Buddy, I'm home." He called out. He could hear Buddy's little paws run across the wood floor. He barked excitedly in response. Ohm chuckled and scratched him behind his ears. "Hey, Buddy, were you good? Of course you were, you good boy."
Buddy barked in response, his tail waggling excitedly. He jumped up on his hind legs and leaned on Ohm's legs. The two stood there for a moment before Buddy jumped back down all fours and ran off, barking for Ohm to follow. Before Ohm got to the kitchen, which was where Buddy had run off to, he came back with his dog bowl in his mouth.
"All right, all right, I'll get your lunch." Buddy set the bowl down and barked again, tongue sticking out. Ohm poured him his favorite kind of dog food and checked his water bowl to make sure it had clean water in it. Setting his bowl down, Buddy dug in. He happily chewed on bits of kibble, his teeth making a crunching sound as he bit through the tough pieces of food. Ohm laughed and shook his head, walking over to the sofa.
Ohm looked around him, his hand looking for the TV remote.
"What the?" He got up off the sofa and looked around. "Buddy?" He came skidding over. Ohm squatted down so he was at almost eye level with Buddy. "Did you hide the remote?"
Buddy didn't say anything. He just looked around and sniffed the ground.
Ohm sighed and stood up straight. "Well, I might as well get out of the house. . . C'mon, Buddy, let's go out for a walk. God knows we need it. I think my muscles are still sore from carrying that fricking shield into that factory." He rubbed his shoulder a little. He really needed to go to the gym more often. Maybe he could get Luke to go with him. "First I need to change." Going to his room he quickly stripped and threw his uniform into a laundry basket and changed into something a little more casual. Then Ohm went into the kitchen to look for Buddy's leash. Finding it, he clipped it onto Buddy's collar and they set out the door, Ohm locking it behind them.
They walked for about an hour and a half, maybe more. They went to the park that was three blocks away, then doubled back to go to the shore on the opposite side of their house. They played at the park for about half an hour and splashed around at the ocean for about the same time. Afterwards, the air had gotten cooler and the sky got dark, so they went home.
Ohm stretched as soon as he had unlocked the door and stepped in. Buddy joyfully ran in, his toe nails clicking against the floor. Ohm walked into the kitchen.
"All right, Buddy, come eat dinner before you go to bed."
Buddy shot up from his doggy bed, ears alert. He sniffed and quickly dashed for the food. Ohm made himself a simple dinner of reheated fried chicken and some mashed potatoes with green beans added in for some color other than white or crispy golden brown. He went to sit down before he realized he needed a fork or a spoon. Ohm groaned lightly before setting his plate down as he stood up again and went to the cutlery drawer. Ohm rifled through it for a second before pulling out a spork. He didn't feel like needing a spoon for the mashed potatoes and a fork for the green beans.
Sitting down once again, he dug in. Ohm hadn't realized how hungry he'd been all day until then. He ripped off chunks of chicken so big it hurt to swallow. Ohm grabbed a glass and filled it to the brim with water. He chugged half of it down in one gulp.
He wiped the corner of his mouth. "Jeez, I act like I haven't eaten in days." Ohm shrugged and continued eating, although at a slower pace now.
Once he was done, Ohm went to brush his teeth and take a shower. All the sweat from Buddy and him playing at the park and all the salt water from the ocean couldn't be a good mix. Just as he lay down, something dug into his back.
Ohm reached under him, only to pull out the remote. He turned it over in his hands, pensive. Buddy and Ohm went to the park and played around at the ocean, all because Ohm couldn't find the little plastic rectangle. They had so much fun today, plus a bunch of exercise, all because he'd rather go out than look for the remote. It got him thinking: Everything that happened to them, happened because something influenced it into happening in that way.
Ohm thought back to Michael and Joshua. Michael was kidnapped and brutally murdered, and because of that, Joshua went looking for Michael, actually succeeding in finding him. Upon discovering the dead body of Michael, however, Joshua was killed too, most likely to hide the fact that Michael had been slowly rotting in the old fish factory for a little over three months now. Joshua wouldn't have had to die if Michael hadn't been kidnapped, and Michael wouldn't have been kidnapped if. . .
If what? What event had caused the killer to kidnap and murder Michael of all people? What reason did the killer have for choosing Michael as their victim?
Ohm sighed and tossed the remote onto the floor. He turned on his side and pulled the covers over his ears. All this over-thinking because of a little remote. He shut his eyes tight and tried falling asleep.
He'd had enough thinking.
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