New York
"And the next item is a book from the 16th century," a powerful voice of an older auctioneer in an expensive brand suit sounded through the auction hall. The big screen behind him showed the image of the item for sale - it was an ancient book bound in a leather cover with no title or anything - it seemed like nothing special, but there was one person in the hall who was more than interested.
"It is a diary which presumably belonged to a scientist or alchemist from Europe," the auctioneer continued. "It contains various notes and sketches about herbalism, biology and chemistry, including detailed descriptions of experiments and their outcome. It also contains a part about occultism; for example, it describes the author's attempts to summon various demons.
This authentic grimoire can become a welcome addition to a collection as well as a study material for those interested in renaissance arts and science. The author is mysterious and some passages are yet to be examined. The price starts at ten thousand dollars. Any bids?"
One of the men present on the auction raised his hand and offered thirteen thousand. Right after it, another bidder raised the price to fifteen thousand.
A nervous young man sitting in the back of the room started to sweat. He thought that this was going to be an easy one - he presumed to be the only bidder since he thought that no one else had an use for the book other than putting it on a shelf. But he really needed it. Desperately. "Twenty thousand," he said.
"I have twenty thousand dollars," the auctioneer announced. "Any other offers?"
Three bidders gradually raised the price to fifty thousand dollars.
The young bidder offered sixty thousand, hoping that nobody would be willing to go past fifty. But he was wrong and the price soon became a hundred thousand dollars. After two hundred dollars, all bidders gave up except for two - an old bald man and the young bidder. The old man kept bidding and he gave the young one a few threatening gazes. But his opponent couldn't give up.
"Three hundred dollars!"
"Half a million!"
The young bidder was more and more anxious. Getting the book was his only goal. After the old man raised the bid one more time, he finally snapped and shouted: "One million dollars!"
The old man raised his eyebrows and shook his head as a sign of capitulation. A few moments later, the auctioneer announced: "Sold for a million dollars to the young man from Gabriel's Gardens."
>><<
Morningstar, Gabriel's Gardens
A tall, thin man roamed the Morningstar district. It was already long after the sunset and being outside during such late hours was a serious hazard, but the man didn't mind. He was looking for trouble. Engaging in street brawls was his hobby, the only pleasant thing this God forsaken place offered him.
He picked a fight with everyone he met and a small pistol in his pocket ensured that he always won. He enjoyed both brawling with his gang and alone, especially if the victim was other race than white. The swastika tattooed on his shoulder and his shaved head immediately gave away his opinions about racial equality.
He wandered into the corner which he hadn't visited before. He heard some people saying that something weird was happening here. Duke, that was the man's name, just laughed at the stories. He wasn't scared. He wasn't afraid of anything as long as he had his fists, his gun and some promiles in the bloodstream.
His gang, which was named GG-Justice and whose logo decorated Duke's forearm, was already more than feared among Morningstar's Afroamerican and LGBT communities. Their riots already had several casualties. Duke already killed a man too; it was the gang's "acceptance ceremony".
"C'mon, blacks and fags, where are you?" he muttered, his speech slightly slurred because of the alcohol in his head. "Uncle Duke is looking for some fun..."
The street was completely abandoned. Duke didn't mind and went further.
Suddenly, something moved at the end of the street.
Duke smiled and armed himself with a brass knuckle. He no longer cared about the victim's skin color or sexual orientation - he felt like beating up someone and he was willing to do it at all cost. He started to walk faster so the figure wouldn't be able to escape him.
But after a few seconds, something made him stop. The shadowy figure also stopped moving; it was like it was daring Duke to move closer, intimidating him. At that moment, Duke felt something he didn't feel before - fear. He started to shiver and just stood there like pertified.
The figure started to move forward and Duke noticed that it didn't look like a human being. Its sihlouette was somehow hunched, distorted, and it was limping heavily. Duke stood there as the terror in him grew stronger. He tried to reach for his gun, but the fear completely disabled him.
The dark being began to groan and snarl. Duke's bladder spontaneously emptied, leaving him with a wet circle on his pants. The man yowled and started to cry - the fear was overwhelming and the monster kept coming closer. Duke finally regained some control, but it wasn't enough to draw the gun and shoot the being. Instead, he turned away and started running as fast as possible while screaming like a girl.
>><<
Serenity Square, the next day
"C'mon, Dante, sit!" Diane pointed her finger at the puppy.
Dante came closer, sniffed the finger and began to lick it. "Oh god," Diane sighed. "He's adorable, but completely useless."
Alexis laughed. "Dee, he's several weeks old. He's not able to learn this stuff yet; we have to feed him well and play with him. We can train him when he grows older."
"I've always wanted a dog," Diane said. "But this is not a dog. This is a ball of fluff which can only eat, roam around the house and do nothing productive."
"Just like you," Alexis noted.
Diane laughed. "Well, I asked for this one."
Dante lost interest in Diane, raised his rear leg and casually peed on the carpet.
"On the other hand, I can't wait to teach him how to use the litter," Alexis grumbled and left the room to get the cleaning equipment. She returned, kneeled in front of the puddle and began to scrub it. "Sometimes I feel like the only owner of the dog," she continued. "I have to do all the cleaning and all the hard work?"
"All?" Diane frowned. "I cleaned his piss... once. Then I washed him two times."
"During two weeks. The dog comes with a big responsibility, Dee! You can't expect me to do everything while you'll just cuddle with him."
Diane shrugged. "What about Annie? She also does pretty much nothing."
Alexis sighed. "Let me remind you two things. One, Annie doesn't even live with us. And two, if you haven't noticed yet, she's on a wheelchair. She can't just kneel down and clean the mess."
Dante yowled several times and looked at both girls, like he knew that he's the cause of the argument. Alexis grabbed him and squeezed him in her arms. "Of course I can't blame you for anything, Danny," she said. "You're not responsible for the fact that my sister is awfully lazy."
Dante squeaked and licked the tip of Alexis' nose. The girl laughed.
Anna entered their flat and the room. "Hey, girls," she said. "I have something for you." She drove towards Alexis and handed her a small piece of shiny metal. It was a dog tag, beautifully carved so it looked like a rose flower and a bird feather - the insignias of the sisters - fused together. It included even the tiniest details. Alexis turned the tag over. On the back side, there was a name "Dante" and their phone number.
"Annie... this is beautiful," Alexis said in awe. "Did you really make this?"
Anna shrugged. "Yeah. It took a while since I have only a little experience with working with metal... but I think it turned out pretty good, don't you think?"
"Who else has a friend who can make them custom dog tags?" Diane said and attached the tag to Dante's collar. Dante barked several times - it seemed that he liked it too.
"What about your job?" Anna changed the subject. "It seems that you didn't have any client since your wedding," the girl smirked. She mentioned the fake wedding two weeks ago they arranged to attract two dangerous assassins which were responsible for a lot of trouble.
"Please don't mention that 'wedding' again," Alexis muttered.
With a sinister smile, Anna reached into a small bag attached to her wheelchair and took out a few photos. She handed them to Alexis who blushed immediately: the photos depicted her in a white wedding dress. "I couldn't help but to take some," Anna shrugged. "I'm a photographer, after all."
"Who... who allowed you?" Alexis said.
"C'mon, sis, don't take it so seriously," Diane poked her with her elbow. "You looked pretty fabulous if you ask me. There's nothing to be ashamed of."
Alexis sighed and handed the photos back to Anna.
"I'm sorry," Anna said after all. "I just..." she blushed, "I just thought that not taking a picture would be a crime since you were so beautiful."
The apologize resulted in awkward silence. A few seconds later, Anna said: "You know... I'm an artist, so I can appreciate beauty when I see any. It's nothing... personal."
Fortunately, they were interrupted by a phone call. It was their business phone, so it had to be a client. Alexis answered the call and talked to the person on the other side for a while. Then she put the phone down. "I guess that we can't escape Morningstar from now," she announced.
>><<
"It was some guy from Morningstar," she explained. "I presume he was something like a local gangster because of the slang he was using... and he was cursing way too much," she smirked. "He said that something weird is happening in the district. Something about his friend who became neurotic after he spent a night alone in the Morningstar streets."
Diane frowned. "I'm not very excited about going back to Morningstar."
"Me neither," Alexis sighed. "But we have to check it out."
"I'd prefer to have Lenny with us," Diane said. The giant Afroamerican man with surprisingly soft heart visited them rougly once per week to greet them and see Dante. They saved each other from a grim fate and became close friends.
"We can ask him," Alexis shrugged. "I think he'll be willing to do it - he would hate if we just went to Morningstar alone, with no protection. And I bet that no one will have the balls to mess with him." She picked up the phone again and called the man - the call was short.
"He'll be in twenty minutes near the Morningstar TEx station," she said. "We should go."
"Cool," Diane nodded. "Annie, could you please take care of Dante?"
"With pleasure!" Anna smiled and clapped her hands; Dante raised his ears, ran towards her and jumped on her lap. Then he started to lick Anna's face. The girl laughed. "He's so sweet," she said.
The sisters left the building, knowing that they left Dante in the good hands of Anna. Then they approached the TEx station and bought tickets to the Morningstar district. The difference could be told right from the beginning: the trains to The Centre or Haven were usually crowded with people going to work or shopping, but there were barely any people in the train to Morningstar.
It was no wonder. People usually tried to avoid the two slum districts at all cost. They were dangerous even during daylight and staying there after dark was a pure madness. Even though, some people had to live there and work in one of the countless factories - the industry in Gabriel's Gardens was centered into this district, so the air there soon became almost unbreathable and the neighbouring districts had to solve that problem with air cleaners, high towers built near the edges of Morningstar able to reduce the air pollution.
The sisters already visited Morningstar's streets after their runaway, but they didn't have time to fully "appreciate" the district's misery. In the daylight, the small, insufficent houses and giant, ugly factories hurling tons of smoke into the air looked even more hopeless than at night. Besides that, the term "daylight" wasn't really fitting since the huge concentration of smog in the air caused the district to be engulfed in a permanent gloom. It was like someone turned off the colors. Everything was gray and desolate.
"I really pity Lenny," Diane noted upon leaving the TEx - the conditioned air from the train was immediately replaced with heavy, musty air of Morningstar. Alexis began to cough. "Living here must be really hard also because of the air... it's really horrible."
"I've heard that thirty percent of deaths in Morningstar are caused by lung cancer," Alexis said. "Twenty percent are murders, thirty percent are diseases and injuries at work. Only twenty percent of deaths are from natural causes. And you probably know that..."
"...the average lifespan in Morningstar is thirty years lower than in The Centre," Diane finished.
Soon after, they were approached by Lenny who opened his giant arms and hugged them both at once. "I'm glad that you called me," he said. "This place would be dangerous for you two otherwise. Let me be your bodyguard," he smiled.
Diane laughed. "Who can say that a moving fortress is guarding them?"
"I hope Dante is alright," Lenny said. "I'm certain you're taking good care of him."
"He seems pretty satisfied with us," Alexis said. "He's with Annie now. Serenity Square has a lot of beautiful parks and gardens so..." she realized that talking about more luxurious districts was pretty insensitive towards Lenny who was forced to live in this miserable place. "Sorry," she muttered.
"Don't apologize!" Lenny said. "It warms my heart when I hear that my friends are doing well. I'm already used to living here. As long as you know the basic rules and don't mess with the local crime scene, you are alright. Also my job is acceptable... compared to some other people I know."
Lenny told them that he worked in a car factory owned by a Korean company. It was an exhausting job, but still one of the better occupations that could be found in Morningstar. "So, you said that you have some business here," the man said. "Let's go."
>><<
They wandered through the Morningstar district. Above their heads, there was the Sunrise Bridge, a bridge connecting the districts of Haven and New Eden. The Morningstarians hated this building, along with its twin called Sunset Bridge. It was built so the more fortunate didn't have to drive directly through the slum district to reach their destination. The Morningstarians took it as a symbol of how other districts loathed them. They'd rather built a bridge above the district than going directly through it.
On the other hand, the inhabitans of the slum district were to blame, too; some of them didn't hesitate to stop and rob any car that crossed the district, especially if it had something to offer - rich people from The Centre often used the way through Morningstar to drive to New Eden. After countless robberies and some murders, the city council decided that building the bridges would be the most viable option.
"Let me guess," Lenny said. "You are going to investigate that monster everyone's talking about."
Alexis raised her eyebrows. "So you know something about it?"
"Of course I do, even though I thought it was some kind of urban legend. You know, it usually happens to 'the friend of my friend'. We've already had some of those, but this one is interesting, though. People say that a weird monster is roaming one certain part of Morningstar. Everyone who saw it was completely freaked out and could do nothing but run away."
"What's your opinion about it?" Diane asked. "Real? Not real?"
"I'd have to see it for myself to believe," the man replied. "Majority of the district is either drunk or on drugs - for some people, it's the only way to survive here. Drugs are keeping them alive and killing them at the same time. It's a never-ending cycle."
"What keeps you alive?" Alexis asked.
Lenny shrugged. "Mr. Woofer. Noah's animals. And some hobbies I have."
"You have to show us your home someday," Diane said.
"I'd rather not to," the man mumbled. "I've seen how beautiful your house is. You'd think I'm some kind of savage if you saw my living. It's really humble, but enough for me."
"Do we look like some judgmental assholes?" Diane barked. "We know and understand how hard it is to survive in this district. We're certain you're doing your best."
Lenny smiled. "Thank you once again, girls."
The district was almost empty - most people were working in one of the local factories so they could afford the basic needs to survive. The only people they saw were pitiful, disgusting drunks or junkies, usually mortally gaunt with pale or even greenish skin, depending on their addiction.
"They gave up," Lenny explained with pain and sorrow in his eyes. "Gave up their jobs and their lives and the addiction is the only thing that remains. Once someone gives up, their end is only a matter of time. It happens more than often, almost every day. You have to stop caring about it, just accept it and move on. And try to not repeat their mistakes."
The sisters understood how hard it was seeing people die on a daily basis for this kind-hearted man. To survive in this district, he basically had to deny his true self and adapt a gimmick of a tough, powerful man ready to take out anyone standing in his way.
Thanks to Lenny's help, they were able to reach their destination quickly. They thought that the caller gave them an address of a house, but the building they approached looked more like a small abandoned factory with shattered windows and graffiti all over the walls. "Oh no," Lenny muttered.
"What's up?" Diane wondered.
The man pointed at the logo on the building's main entrance, fancy-written letters GGJ. "This is a territory of GG-Justice," Lenny explained. "It's the most infamous racist gang in Morningstar. They're seriously no joke. One of the gang's members killed my friend."
"In that case, you should leave," Alexis said. "It's not safe for you."
Lenny frowned and the usual kindness in his eyes disappeared - it was a terrifying sight. "I am not running from these people anymore," he said firmly. "I refuse to be afraid of them. Not any longer. I'm coming in."
>><<
The girls knocked at the door and stepped in. They walked into some kind of entryway, a dimly lit hall with several doors in its walls, where a man expected them. He was tall and muscular, but still looked small compared to Lenny. His arms were heavily tattooed, his head shaved.
As soon as he saw Lenny, he opened his eyes wide, drew a gun and pointed it at Lenny; he was holding it paralell to the ground, like a gangster. "You've chosen a wrong building to enter, you black garbage," he spat out. Before the situation could get any worse, Alexis stepped in front of the muzzle to shield Lenny and raised her hands. "Put that gun down. Please," she said.
"And who the hell are you?" the man grumbled, the gun still pointed to Alexis. "You don't belong here. You seem too healthy and fancy to be local. Is this some kind of mocking? Two rich-ass bitches and a goddamn black guy? I presume it is, 'cuz I feel like I'm being mocked."
"We are Warren sisters," Alexis said while maintaining her calm. "Someone called us to this place, wanting us to solve that thing with the Morningstar monster."
"Oh, you mean that bullshit," the man replied. "That must be Steve's job. That paranoid cretin believes anything he's told. Duke just got drunk one day and got scared by his own imagination. Steve, hovewer, believes that version with monster. As I said, he's a cretin. Now get out before I change my mind."
Suddenly, Diane rushed forward, grabbed the man's hand with the gun and clenched it hard. The man gasped both in pain and surprise. "Look, dude," Diane hissed. "A client called us and we ain't rejecting a client just because some buff is wavin' a gun in our general direction. And now - move your ass and take us to Steve."
"Bitches," the man mumbled, but put the gun back into its holster.
"And also," Diane added, "we demand Lenny's safety. And God help anyone who would use the N-word."
The man opened the door leading to a big hall which was probably the main assembly line in the past. Now, the machines were rusty and dead and the hall served as the gang members' home. The room was gloomy and gray, just like the whole district - the only light sources were the bits of daylight coming through the shattered windows and a few flickering lightbulbs on the ceiling.
The girls (and Lenny, too) were disgusted about how dirty the hall was. There were empty alcohol bottles everywhere and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. Alexis almost stepped on an used injection. The walls were decorated by various hateful, racist quotes and symbols.
There were about twenty people, looking mostly like the leader - shaved heads, tattoos, old, dirty clothes, disgusted expressions. The trio's arrival worked like an alarm clock on them. They stood up, drew their guns and aimed at the newcomers.
"Calm down, you pieces of shit, calm down," the leader shouted. "I command you to tolerate visit - just for this once. They'll just talk to Steve and Duke and leave."
One of the gang members, a black-haired girl with heavily made-up eyes wearing a black bikini top and ripped pants, laughed. "Steve and Duke? Are they going to hear their story about the monster?"
"Hey, Claire, stop talking shit! That monster is real!" a high-pitched voice sounded through the hall. It belonged to a short, thin man in a saggy tank top and black shorts. He was wearing a snapback and a failed attempt for a moustache grew under his nose. Even though he tried to act tough, he looked more like a boy and the tattoos on his body looked really ridiculous.
"I presume you're Steve, right?" Alexis asked. She already heard his squeaky voice on the phone.
"Ya bet, and you're Warren bitches," Steve replied.
"Have some respect," Diane uttered.
"No respect for the bitches!" the guy grinned.
The leader frowned at him. "Steve, just cut the crap and take them to Duke. The sooner they leave, the better. They're your guests, after all, so do it before I lose patience."
Steve looked at Lenny. "But that ni-"
The leader slapped him hard. "Just do it and don't let them mess around."
>><<
It seemed that Steve was used to the physical violence from the leader's side since he seemed to just ignore the slap and move on. He took the trio to one of the side rooms, which was completely dark - a mattress and a pile of personal belongings indicated that someone lived there.
They saw the inhabitan - a tall, skinny, shirtless man with a big crooked cross tattooed on his shoulder. His eyes were constantly in motion like he was paranoid. "You're those ghost-hunting chicks, right?" he said. "My name is Duke. I'm... I'm glad that someone besides Steve believes me." His blue eyes and deep voice were pleasant, but his tattoos, scars and broken nose indicated that he was not exactly a good person.
"What are you trying to hint - that I don't count or stuff?" Steve exclaimed.
"Shut up, Steve," Duke uttered. Then turned to the sisters. "It happened yesterday. I was just roaming the district, a little drunk, but not plastered. Then... it was suddenly there. I don't even know what did it look like - it just ran towards me and snarled. I wasn't so scared in my entire life. I couldn't even draw a gun and shoot at it!"
"He arrived crying, with pissed pants," Steve noted.
"Shut the hell up!" Duke lashed out, then lowered his voice again. "Since then... I can't go outside. I feel like I'm going crazy. Please help me. Catch it or something, just make sure I won't see it again."
"Not so fast," Diane said. "We've not yet decided if we're willing to help some racist scum."
Duke frowned. "It's free speech!"
"I respect your opinion as long as your opinion doesn't disrespect someone's existence," Alexis said. "And hurting or even killing someone is far beyond free speech."
"Then go!" Duke spat out. "But if you refuse to investigate the case, I can't ensure the safety of your black friend." His face crooked with an evil grin.
Diane frowned. "Are you blackmailing us?"
"I call it a business offer," Duke shrugged.
"In that case, we'll need you to come with us and show us the exact place," Alexis said.
The confident grin rapidly disappeared from Duke's face. "No. No way. I'll never go to that place ever again, even under a death threat. I just can't."
"Then how are we gonna find that place?" Diane asked.
"I'll describe it." He started to describe the place where he had seen the being. The girls looked at Lenny. "Do you know where it is?"
Lenny nodded. "I can guide you there."
"Good," Duke said. "Now go and erase that goddamn thing from existence. Look, I have some money saved... I can give you something."
"We don't need your money," Diane said. "Considering it's probably stolen."
Duke jeered. "Take or leave, it's simple. Now get out. We don't need you here any longer."
The trio gladly left Duke's room and headed towards the main entrance; the rest of the gang was watching them like a flock of vultures. They exhaled in relief as soon as they left the buildings.
"Those guys were disgusting," Diane said. "But at least we know where to start."
"You'll probably go hunting after the sunset, right?" Lenny said. "Everyone says that the monster attacks at night. And it's still kinda early."
Alexis nodded. "Yes, are you willing to go with us?"
"Of course. Actually... I thought that I'd invite you to my place where you'd wait for the nightfall. But I presume you'll want to return home."
"Actually, I'd love to visit you," Alexis smiled. Diane nodded in agreement.
Lenny grinned widely. "Great! Mr. Woofer would love to see you again. But... as I said, I hope you'll excuse the state of my house. I'm a Morningstarian, after all."
"Nothing can be worse than the racist hole we've just escaped," Diane uttered.
"Well, we have to decide which one is worse," Alexis said. "A racist gang, or a monster attacking the bypassers? In my opinion, the difference isn't so big."
"Good point, sis."
>><<
Lenny's house was on the opposite side of the district, in a part less plagued by the smog. On the outside, it was a typical Morningstar house, the same as hundreds of others. But after the man unlocked the door (with an old-fashioned key instead of a keycard), they realized that this one was way different from the rest.
It was a bit similar to Noah's house - small, yet neat and clean. Lenny's worries were unecessary. Considering his limited resources, his home was exceptionally good.
As soon as Lenny stepped inside, a small ball of fur emerged from under the wooden table and jumped at Lenny. "Mr. Woofer!" Lenny cheered and gently squeezed his dog while the corgi licked his face. The girls had to smile at this cute sight.
They entered the house and examined it a little closer. The furniture was old and cheap as Lenny couldn't afford any better, but at least the lightbulb on the ceiling was working properly. A carpet on the floor and several flowerpots also made the room more homely.
But the most interesting things were several unskillfuly framed sheets of paper, each with a beautiful and detailed portrait of a girl or a young woman. Alexis just looked at it in awe. "Did... did you draw this?" she asked. "It's beautiful."
Lenny looked a little nervous. "Well... I said I have some hobbies. I learned to draw in my spare time. Of course your friend, Annie, is much better than I am. I wanted to ask her for some tips, but... I was too insecure."
Diane laughed. "I thought I'd never say something like this to a two-metre-tall burly dude with hands as big as my head," she said, "but you're cute."
"Well... I don't know how to respond to this," Lenny replied.
"You don't have to be afraid of Annie," Alexis said. "She was a little scared at first, but it was before she got to know you. Also, she's eternally grateful for Dante.
"If you say so..." Lenny said while pouring a hot water into three coffee mugs. "I'll visit her soon. She looks like a lovely girl... and her art is beautiful."
Diane pointed at one of the pictures. "Look, is this Marianna from Angel's Tears?" she asked.
Lenny nodded. "Since I have no actual models, I have to draw girls either from TV or magazines I find."
"That's... pretty sad," Diane said.
They spent several pleasant hours with Lenny (they didn't forget to phone Anna that they'll stay until tomorrow) until the night fell on Gabriel's Gardens. As if it was some kind of signal, the district became filled with various sounds: shouting, screaming, laughing.
"Is this normal?" Alexis asked.
Lenny nodded. "Morningstar is waking up. Fortunately, it's usually more quiet near the place we're heading to. Even I don't have enough courage to go to certain parts of Morningstar at night. It's a suicide unless you're well-prepared to fight for your life."
"And how do we know that the stuff we're planning to do isn't even dumber suicide?" Diane noted.
"The whole case is weird," Lenny said. "Lots of people claim that they've seen the monster, but there are no rumors that the monster had ever hurt anyone. Like it was only trying to scare anyone who enters its territory to death. And judging from the expression of that Duke, it's pretty successful."
"So it seems like it protec, but it doesn't attac," Diane said.
Alexis rolled her eyes. "What did I tell you about talking in memes?"
"C'mon, Lex. Memes are cool."
Lenny laughed. "I have no idea what is she talking about!"
Alexis shrugged. "Neither do I, usually. Sometimes I think that Dee has no other uses than being a walking encyclopedia of popculture references. Maybe not even walking since she's just sitting on the couch all day long. She's lazy beyond limits."
Lenny's laugh shook the whole building. "Don't be so rough at your sister, Alexis!" he said.
It was Diane's turn to roll her eyes. "Hah, you're both so funny. Let's see if you can maintain these smiles when we go for some serious monster hunting."
>><<
The silence was engulfing. This part of the district, located roughly under the Sunset bridge, was far away from the most vibrant part of the district - not even the noises of the local inhabitans were audible. The only sounds present here were thumping and buzzing of a few factories which worked even overnight, but it was so muffled that it resembled feeling more than a sound.
"We're coming closer," Lenny whispered. "Stay close to me."
"As if I wasn't," Diane uttered.
Not so far away, a giant structure towered all other buildings in the district. It was the Morningstar nuclear power plant - small, yet efficent. Even though it was smaller than average power plant, it swallowed a big part of Morningstar and a part of the complex belonged to South Haven.
"What if that monster is just a mutant created by the radiation?" Diane theorized while looking at the power plant's chimneys in the distance.
"I really doubt it," Alexis said. "The security measures are extreme. That power plant is more expensive than anything in The Centre - it has the most advanced technologies and it's partially operated by artifical intelligence. Its architects were fully aware of the responsibility - if it blew up, the whole city would disappear from the map. I hope it'll never happen."
"You managed to calm me down and freak me out at the same time."
They walked the empty street between a large warehouse and several smaller factories. All three started to feel strange. Anxious. It wasn't the standard adrenaline before the hunt.
"I have to confess," Diane whispered. "I'm scared."
"Same here," Alexis admitted and came closer to Lenny.
The man said nothing, but his insecurity was clearly visible.
Then they saw a movement at the end of the street.
Normally, Alexis would rush towards it, driven by never-ending desire to solve her case. This time, she just gasped and stepped back, her heart racing frantically.
Diane just stopped and stood there, looking into the shadows. She saw another movement. It was something black, seemingly shapeless. Lenny, even though he felt exactly the same fear as the girls did, stepped forward, ready to shield them with his own body.
"Come on... come on..." Diane muttered. "We're braver than that nazi dude, aren't we?"
"We are," Alexis said, but her voice sounded more like asking for help.
They made a few steps forward. The atmosphere became even thicker, causing the whole trio to shiver. Alexis was used to various creepy things, but this time, she felt like crying. Diane's forehead was shiny because of sweat, even though the night was cold.
Then they finally saw the monster, standing roughly fifty meters away from them.
None of them would be able to describe it exactly. It looked like hulking black mass of rougly humanoid shape - it seemed to have two legs and two arms, but its head and chest were somehow fused into a black blob.
The trio could do nothing but to stare at the menacing figure. They could just use their powers to fight it off, but their common sense seemed to be turned off, with their bodies working on pure adrenaline whose overdose dulled their minds.
"Alexis... Lenny..." Diane yowled. There was no response. Alexis, with tears rolling down her cheeks, whispered a quiet prayer while Lenny muttered something unintelligible.
Then the monster started to limp towards them. There would be something comical about its stumbling, if the monster didn't start to growl and snarl. The inhuman noises finally pierced the mist of fear engulfing their minds. "RUN!" Diane screamed. The trio turned around and ran as fast as possible.
A minute later, Alexis looked over her shoulder. She expected to see the monster following them, but fortunately, she saw only an empty street. "We can stop," she said, stopped her movement and tried to catch her breath again. "Damn... I'm not well-equipped for running."
"What the hell was that?" Diane said. "Not the monster. That feeling. I've never been so goddamn scared in my entire life... considering things we've already seen, that monster wasn't that big deal. But I still felt like facing Hell itself. What could it be?"
"I have no idea," Lenny said, "but if this was no big deal, I'm really glad I didn't see actually big deal."
>><<
Back home, Alexis was sitting on her favorite armchair, slowly stroking sleeping Dante's back, thinking about what happened yesterday. She felt ashamed that she got scared so easily, but it seemed that both Diane and Lenny had the same problem. If it was a normal situation, she would probably try to analyze the situation while Diane would lash out and try to beat the hell out of the creature.
Yet all they could do was to stand like petrified, on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Good morning, Lex," messy, tired-looking Diane greeted her. Alexis' digital watch were already showing 13:17, but she didn't mind just for this once; they managed to arrive home late at night and they had difficulties falling asleep because of the hoarded adrenaline. Alexis had to get up earlier to do some basic household chores and now she could barely keep her eyes open.
"Morning," Alexis stood up, went to the kitchen and started to fry some fish fingers. "Sorry for this lunch, but I really don't feel like cooking today," she said. "You can order a pizza for dinner."
"Thanks," Diane replied. "To be honest, I'm also somewhat miserable today. Yesterday's visit of Daybreak left us with more questions than answers."
"You tell me," Alexis sighed. "I thought we're professionals, goddammit. Why did we run like a terrified chicken? It doesn't make sense. It wasn't us."
Diane shrugged. "There's nothing we can do about it right now. Lenny said that he'll ask a few people about the monster to see if he can find anything useful... until then, we have a vacation."
"Remember what did that gang say," Alexis muttered. "If the monster doesn't disappear, Lenny will get hurt. And those people didn't seem like they're only big talkers."
"Damn, those problems are piling up. First, that one with Kyle and Marlene. Second, we still don't know who wanted us in jail. And third, we're chasing some freaky monster that, out of all paranormal mumbo jumbo so far, was the only one who could scare us to death. If I knew it will be this hard, I would not choose this carreer and I would probably go sell fries into McDonald's."
"You didn't choose this fate," Alexis looked at her insignia. "It chose you."
Diane rolled her eyes. "Great. All because of a friggin' tattoo."
"Look, Dee, I know it's not easy. I lost my best friend who wants me dead right now. Do you think I didn't ever think about how easy would our lives be if we were born just... normal? With normal skills, normal parents, growing up to have normal jobs. But Fate wanted it to be this way. We were given powers which made us paranormal investigators... and it would be unfair if we just let them go in vain.
"Maybe you're right, but it doesn't mean I can't complain about it."
Alexis laughed. "One day, I'll catch you complain about sky being blue."
"That's a good point," Diane said. "Why is it only blue? It gets red, orange or black every now and then, but usually it's just blue! Just fifty shades of blue, dammit! Why can't we have, like, yellow or red sky for a week straight to relieve that boredom a little? Or imagine a green sky! 420, blaze it!"
They both laughed and Alexis was glad that her sister was able to lighten the thick atmosphere. Even though they knew that they'd have to encounter the monster at least one more time, both refused to stress about it until the day came.
They forgot about one problem - but another one emerged.
Alexis' private phone started to ring. "It's Alyssa," the girl said and answered the phone. She turned on the speakers so also Diane could hear the police officer speaking.
"Hello? Girls?" Alyssa said. "Mind if we meet in ten minutes in Iridescent Park? I have some news that might interest you."
>><<
The woman came in civilian clothing; sleeveless navy-blue blouse and knee-long black skirt. They sat in the gazebo where the "wedding" of Alexis and Noah happened; the girl couldn't erase the bad memories connected to this place, especially the assassin's blood splattered all over her face and dress.
"I have to announce that we managed to destroy the Crosshair," Alyssa said with pride in her voice. "All thanks to the man you met in... the detention centre. This help will cut off a big chunk of years he'll have to spend imprisoned. Look, I'm not naive. I know that Crosshair will regroup in the future and will continue misbehaving, but at least we showed them that justice is a power to be reckoned with."
"So you took us there just to tell us that you destroyed Crosshair and arrested its members?" Alexis said. "Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing achievement, but I expected something..."
"More personal?" the woman smiled grimly. "Here's your personal layer. We got access to the Crosshair database. Considering they were criminals, they handled their accounting pretty responsibly. There were no names except the target - the client and people who commited the murder were written only using code names. But there was another thing which led us to conclusion."
"And that was?" Diane said.
"Bank account numbers," Alyssa explained. "They probably kept the numbers so they could blackmail the owners later if needed. Someone paid for Jon Fletcher's murder and I examined the account number. I expected it to be some obscure, anonymous account somewhere on Cayman Islands, but the client made a grave mistake. He used his actual bank account."
"I suppose I already know who was it," Alexis muttered. She knew it from the start, but she wasn't able to accept it. She hoped that the said person cannot be that rotten.
Alyssa nodded in understanding. "It was the young Fletcher."
"That sick son of a bitch!" Diane exclaimed. "Do I understand it right? He hired some guns to execute his own uncle just so he could send us to jail and brush the suspicion off himself?"
"Unfortunately, that's right," Alyssa replied.
Alexis clenched her fists. "I thought... I thought he had some boundaries after all. But I was wrong. There seems to be nothing which can stop him from making his mind... the more I'm afraid about Marlene right now. You never know what he will do to her... he'd be able to end her life if it brought him some benefits. Alyssa, do something! Arrest him!"
"I'm afraid I can't right now," the woman shook her head. "The investigation of the bank account was more or less... private. My coworkers already suspect me that I have something to do with your runaway. I can't just confess that I broke the rules. Someone might take it as an excuse to damage me somehow."
"Then we'll knock some sense into that sucker ourselves," Diane grumbled.
"I'm afraid it's not possible right now," Alyssa said. "Kyle Fletcher and his girlfriend are both out of the city. I have no idea where he went, but it's a strange coincidence that he disappeared just a few days after you were imprisoned. It's like he didn't want you to stop him."
"He's plotting something... again," Alexis sighed. "Now it's starting to make sense. But whatever he's doing... he's afraid of us. And that's good to know."
Diane grinned. "We already ruined three of his monster plans; fourth should be a piece of cake."
"Don't be so sure, Dee," Alexis muttered. "I have a feeling that he's planning something big this time. Why else would he travel outside the city? To take Marlene to a romantic date? I really doubt it."
"I'll try to track his movements," Alyssa said, "and I hope I'll be able to find out where he went and what was he doing there. Remember, I always have your back, no matter what happens."
"Why are you so protective over us?" Diane asked.
The officer shrugged. "My job is to protect the innocent, so that's what I am doing. Besides that, you helped me to free Gray Forrestal, my brother-in-law. Did I already mention that Melody, my wife and Gray's sister, is eternally grateful for this and wants to meet you someday? It's funny. She acts like she doesn't care about her brother at all because of those... quarrels they had while they were younger. But in fact, she's just as protective about him as I am about my younger brother."
Diane smiled. "You have a bro?"
"Oh, I sure do. He's not in Gabriel's Gardens anymore, he moved to Canada."
>><<
The girls spent a nice afternoon with Alyssa even though the discovery about Kyle was shocking. Shocking, but not completely surprising.
"I wonder what it'd be like to have a bro," Diane dreamed. "A big, handsome brother who would protect me from meanies, who would console me if I couldn't sleep. But nope. I'm stuck with you."
"That's nice, but I haven't seen you having trouble falling asleep so far. You usually start to snore as soon as you close your eyes and remain in this state for the next nine or ten hours," Alexis teased her.
Diane raised her eyebrows. "A brother would let me sleep as long as I'd wish and wake me up with a kiss on the forehead and breakfast to bed."
"Or maybe it'd be an army general who'd wake you at seven and actually force you to do something other than blasting music and watching TV all day."
Her sister raised her index finger. "You forgot about videogames."
Alexis sighed. "Maybe we have a brother, who knows. We have no idea who our parents are. And I'm actually starting to wonder. Would our mother want to see us, or did she leave us in hope she'd never see us again? I mean... Father Warren is a great man, but I'm curious about our real parents."
"I doubt that our mom is some kind of bitch who'd just leave us," Diane objected. "Father Warren always speaks well about her. But he tells us nothing. It's unfair."
"Sis? Let's make an agreement," Alexis said. "As soon as we settle things with Kyle, we'll start to search for our mother. There have to be some clues. Reverend Warren can't be the only person in Gardens who knew her. And even if we won't like the outcome, at least we'll know the truth."
"That sounds like a deal," Diane nodded. "But as you mentioned... we have different things to settle first. Alyssa said Kyle is gone for now, so we'll have to wait a little bit before we'll be able to kick that bastard's ass. Would you believe it? Murdering his own family member just to get us arrested? Why didn't he send the assassins to muder us instead? He's probably even worse than we thought!"
"It seems that he... needs us or something," Alexis guessed. "He doesn't want us to interfere, but doesn't want us dead, either. It doesn't make sense to me. I only know one thing. We must be extremely careful as we know that he's afraid of nothing. Who knows who his next victims will be?"
"Probably only him," Diane uttered. "And maybe Marlene."
"Do you think she knows about that... matter with Jonathan?" Alexis frowned. "She probably does... Kyle probably came out with a heartbreaking story which described his uncle as the greatest villain in the world's history. And about me getting arrested? She'd be happy about it," she smiled grimly.
She still remembered meeting Marlene during the Festival of Founding. Her explosion of rage, the unforgiving anger in her eyes, and most importantly her words: You're a sorry bitch, Alexis. I wish you died.
Alexis started remembering other things Marlene said. Things from the era before she started dating Kyle.
I wish we were sisters, Alexis.
You mean the world to me. Nothing could ever tear us apart.
Alexis, I'm really glad I had the privilege to meet you.
These memories were too painful. Those times would never return.
"I'm sorry," Diane said.
"For what?"
"For bringing up Marlene. I saw you right now, you got lost in your thoughts. Thinking about her. That was cruel... I must learn how to think before speaking, but it's hard since my tongue is faster than mind."
Alexis was surprised of Diane's unexpected self-criticism. "That's okay," she said. "I think about her everyday anyway. Just imagine Annie turning her back on you and calling you a sorry bitch."
"She actually did," Diane grinned. "Once, when we were on a walk. I inserted a stick into one wheel of her wheelchair, so it couldn't move, and ran away." Both girls bursted into laughter. "Poor Annie," Alexis noted. "Being friends with you is more dangerous than having an enemy."
Alexis' phone started to ring. "Lenny," she muttered and answered the call.
"I have found one guy," he started. "He says that he managed to take a shot at the monster. Nobody else managed to do this so far. He agreed that he'll ride to Serenity Square with me, so you won't have to go into Morningstar again, but I had to promise him that he'll get a dinner. Is that alright?"
"Of course," Alexis said. "We'll be waiting."
>><<
They met in a middle-class restaurant stylized into the Wild West, with cow skulls, cowboy hats and native American art all over the walls. When Lenny arrived, some people started to panic - they expected that the giant man would cause serious trouble. Lenny's face indicated that he was hurt by this kind of reaction. He just walked through the restaurant and sat next to the girls.
Then they noticed his company. It was a thin Afroamerican man with big eyes and dreadlocks wearing a yellow tank top and saggy pants. "Hey hey hey," he said. "My name's Doug. This fella over here said that you need to know something more about that monster, amrite?"
Alexis nodded. "We're Warren sisters, nice to meet you."
Doug looked at both of them. "Ya cute, but too skinny. I prefer cuuurves, understood? But ya promised me some food, right? Hey, waiter! I'll have the biggest steak aviable with a huge pile of fries and some beer to flush it down, is it 'ight?"
Fifteen minutes later, Doug was chewing on his steak while the others satisfied just with steak and coke. Their guest's dining etiquette was far from perfect and Alexis felt a little ashamed of him. He also didn't hesitate to comment bypassing women and burp loudly. Some other guests turned around with disgusted looks.
"That was so good! Probably the best food of my whole miserable life!" Doug complimented the food. "Our pact is now sealed, cuties. Now Imma tell ya a story. With ghosts, action, sex, drama! And..."
"Stop it and just tell us about the monster," Alexis groaned impatiently.
"Oh ya, the monster," Doug said. "So I was just walkin' home from a long day at work. It's no big deal since boss always makes me work overtime, so I'm pretty used to walkin' home late. So y'know, I was just walking home with my earbuds, listening to some Tupac, when suddenly something started to move. I tell ya it scared the living shit out of me, no lie, and I usually ain't afraid of no shit.
Then I saw this huge motherhecker right a few meters away from me. I thought it was just some drunk gangsta, but it was hella huge. Then it started to stumble towards me! But I ain't afraid of no sucker in my territory, so I just pulled out mah gun and took a few shots at him! I tell ya, having a banger is a must in Morningstar. It started to run away, so I did too. And that's the end. Any questions?"
The sisters exchanged confused looks. How did this street gangster-wannabe managed to overcome that intense fear they felt when they encountered the monster? It was also possible that Doug only bragged and was willing to exaggerate his story for free food. Maybe he just ran away, exactly like other witnesses of the monster.
"Are you telling the truth?" Diane said. "It's a matter of life and death."
Doug made an offended expression. "Are ya calling me a liar? I swear to God. I swear to the almighty sky daddy above me that I'm telling the truth! Look, I admit I ain't no saint. I was stealing and stuff. But I'm not a liar! I swear I took a shot at that monster."
Alexis analyzed his story, trying to find anything that was different from their own encounter. Then she remembered something. "You said that you had earbuds when it happened, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, listening to some Tupac and..."
"How loud was your music? Could you hear something from the outside?"
"Look, lady. When I listen to music, it's go big or go home. So I always blast it to the fullest. That means no, I didn't hear anything except Pac. Is it all? Can I go now? I'm going for a night shift today and maaan, that shit will suck the soul out of me one day."
"Yes, that's all," Alexis nodded. "Thanks, Doug."
The man smiled. "I thank you for the excellent food!" He stood up along with Lenny, who was willing to escort him back into Morningstar. "Take care," he said, "and send my regards to Dante."
"Of course we will," Alexis said. "See you soon, Lenny!"
"Bye bye bye!" Doug shouted at the whole restaurant. The visitors looked genuinely relieved that the man was leaving. His manners really belonged more into Morningstar.
>><<
"So... did we learn anything useful from Mr. Snoop Dogg?" Diane asked later that day, back home. "Maybe the key to controlling the fear is to be high like Burj Khalifa."
Alexis shook her head. "I doubt it. He was a little wilder, but he didn't seem drugged. Besides that, marijuana is more rampart in the richer areas. In Morningstar, they usually take something heavier and cheaper to make. Nobody there can afford a growroom. I believe I know what's the answer. Doug said he couldn't hear a thing when he was attacked."
"And what's the connection?" Diane frowned. "Do you think that Tupac gave him so much courage?"
"No, but he may have blocked some sound from the outside. Remember the case with the "cursed" song? Many teen people fainted because of a backmasked message hidden in the recording. Maybe the monster itself isn't the main source of the fear. Maybe it was something around us. Like sound."
"I didn't hear anything when we encountered that sucker," Diane objected.
Alexis shrugged. "Maybe we couldn't."
"Sis, I'm afraid I don't understand you."
"You don't have to, but we'll have to test my theory. Tomorrow, we'll go to Morningstar again with a little extra gear. Then we will..."
"No no no no no!" Diane interrupted her. "You can go there if you wish, but I ain't going there. No more. This is the first time I admit I almost pissed my pants and I have absolutely no desire to go through it again. So I'm sorry, but my answer is no."
"But we have to solve the case!" Alexis sighed.
"You can if you wish, but I give up."
"We can't. That gang will beat up Lenny if we just back off. We have to do it, if only because of him. And I already have an idea how to overcome that fear. Please, trust me. This time, you'll be as bold as always and you'll be able to beat that monster to pieces."
"How are you gonna do that?"
"I presume that the creature, whatever it is, uses some kind of sonic weapon, a sound of certain frequency which can distort human mind to some degree. I've read about some cases of fake haunting where the owner of the 'haunted' house played an inaudible sound which resonated with human brain somehow and caused vivid hallucinations. I think this may be a similar case - the monster uses sound to pertify its prey."
"Prey? But it doesn't seem to be hunting," Diane said. "It seems to only scare off the trespassers."
Alexis nodded. "Maybe it protects something. Maybe its offsprings, who knows."
"What? There would be more of them?"
"I don't know," her sister shrugged, "but any animals are always the most protective about their offsprings. There's only one way to find out. Do you trust me enough to risk it?"
Diane sighed. "Do I have a choice?"
"Stay here and take care of Dante," Alexis said. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She changed her sweatpants for a skirt, put on her shoes and went outside. She returned half an hour later, holding three pairs of ear protectors resembling large headphones; the ones which workers use on the construction sites to minimize the damage caused by unbearably loud noises.
"Could the solution really be so simple?" Diane muttered and put one of the protectors on her head. "Come on, say something. Let's test this thing out."
"Even a broken Roomba with no wheels would do more chores than you, lazy-ass," Alexis grinned.
"Hey! I can read your lips, you meanie!" Diane bursted out. "But that thing works well, I can't hear a single thing. It's weird. Going deaf must be an awful experience."
"I guess I'll have to phone Lenny again," the fair-haired girl sighed. "I don't know... I feel like we're using him too much. Do you think he does mind?"
"Probably not. He promised to help us at any opportunity, right? And it's also his own business because of that gang. I think that he won't mind going with us once more."
>><<
She was right - the giant man was more than willing to help with the case. The next evening, they took another trip to Morningstar where they explained Alexis' theory to Lenny.
"I'm not that much into science and stuff, but you may be right," the man admitted. "I've actually felt some weird miasma in the air. I thought it was just nervosity, but now I realize it might've been some kind of vibrations. Or an inaudible sound."
"We have to establish some kind of hand signs, because we won't hear each other," Diane suggested.
They spent an hour in Lenny's house trying to make and memorize some basic signs for words like "Stop", "Be careful" or "Run". Finally, they agreed that they were prepared enough (or at least as well as they could be) and stepped out of the house.
Another eerie, depressing walk through the district awaited them. Screaming and laughing of the nocturnal inhabitans was audible in the distance, but the sounds became more silent as they ventured deeper into the depths of the district. Finally, Alexis pointed at a large warehouse ahead of them. "This is the place. Protection on."
All three put on the headphones and walked further. They remembered that this was the place where they started to feel the uncontrollable anxiety. Now, they felt nothing besides slight nervosity and excitement. Alexis showed thumbs up, hinting that it was working so far.
Diane gestured a tiny bit using her thumb and index finger. She wanted to say that they were really close to the place the monster showed for the fist time.
And really, something started to move not too far away from them.
This time, the monster didn't scare the trio which started to move forward instead of freezing at one place. That seemed to confuse the creature. It raised its strange, distorted arms and stumbled towards them, probably also emmiting its infernal snarl.
Diane charged towards the creature. This time, it was monster's time to be confused and petrified. Thanks to the ear protector, Alexis and Lenny didn't hear Diane's battle cry as the girl tackled the monster to the ground. Alexis didn't know which was better - stunned Diane unable to move, or the badass which attacks anything in sight without even knowing how dangerous it actually is?
She was afraid that the monster would start to fight back, but that, fortunately, didn't happen. The creature fell to the ground and Diane locked it with her strong arms. She raised her fist to punch the creature, but she was stopped by Alexis. The brunette raised her eyebrows in a silent question. Alexis just shook her head and pointed at the monster, which wasn't monster at all.
It was a man, but a very strange man indeed. His most prominent feature was a big hump on his back. His limbs were clumsy, crooked and atrophied. The face had no particular shape, it looked more like a pile of dough with little eyes, bulbous nose, chubby lips and a tuft of dark hair. He was wearing headphones, too.
The man was wearing all-black clothing - an oversized hoodie, along with the hunch, helped him to hide his shape and maintain the blob-like appearance. Although he was disfigured, he wasn't scary; it was him who was scared the most. He stared at Diane with his dull eyes and kept saying something which the trio didn't hear.
They exchanged looks and nodded. Then they removed the headphones.
"Let go! Let go!" the man shouted in an unnaturally deep voice. "Bro will be angry! I'm a monster! I must scare people! Why you no scare! Go away!"
"Who's your bro?" Alexis asked with a soothing voice; the man was obviously mentally ill, a mind of a little child in a huge, disfigured body. "We won't harm both you and him. Believe us."
"I no know what to do," he moaned. "Bro say that people always scare." The hunchback sighed. "I'll show you bro. He not like outside people. He punish. Louie disappointed."
"Don't worry, Louie" Lenny said. "We'll make sure that you'll be alright."
>><<
The trio followed heavily limping Louie, whose right leg was shorter than left, to a small, inconspicuous warehouse only a few steps away from the place of the incident. The hunchback knocked at the surprisingly solid, ironclad door. "Louie here," he muttered. "Bro, please open."
Several mechanisms sounded inside the door - probably a sophisticated security system. Then they opened and the heroes saw a tall, skinny man with glasses, shaggy blonde hair and a goatie dressed in blue flannel shirt and black sweatpants. He sighed. "So, it seems that someone finally revealed the only weakness of the Morningstarian Monster," he said. "Come in."
They stepped inside the warehouse and gasped in surprise. The warehouse was transformed into a lab with various chemistry equipment and closets full of mysterious chemicals. Left side of the room was, however, built as a modest shelter for two people with matresses for sleeping, a table with chairs, a little bathroom and a pile of basic supplies. The warehouse was illuminated by still working LED lights at the ceiling.
"What is this place?" Diane muttered. "And who are you?"
"My name is Roger," the man said. "Louie is my brother. We're just surviving here."
Louie touched his brother's waist with his crooked hand. "You angry. Louie sorry."
Roger gave him a tired smile. "Of course I'm not angry, bro. It was only a matter of time before someone found us. Well, we have to do some explaining and hope our guests are understanding."
Alexis examined an apparatus standing on a table near him. "I know this kind of stuff!" she hissed. "I've seen that on TV. You're making drugs here!"
The man smiled. "No, it's complete opposite. Everyone sells drugs here and it's far from being profittable for a long time already. But when you create medicaments, you basically rule the district. The medicines are expensive and lots of people die of the most basic illnesses just because they can't afford the cure. I'm a self-taught chemist. I can produce basic painkillers, antibiotics and remedies for some most common diseases. It's not so hard to make them once you know how to do it, and even if you sell it for twenty percent of the store price, you still profit. I can both make money for me and Louie and help people. Sounds like a good deal to me."
Alexis nodded. She understood. "And you didn't want anyone to destroy your lab, so you chose a bit strange security measures."
Roger nodded. "When I started my business, this lab was still under siege of various robbers who wanted either my medicaments to sell them themselves or my equipment to use it for producing drugs. I was about to give up before I even started. I tried various security systems and they were more or less successful, but there was always someone who was able to breach it. This one was the most successful so far."
"How can you explain that panic we felt without the headphones?" Diane asked.
"I was just about to explain it," Roger smiled, apparently proud of his own work. "Have you ever heard about infrasound?"
"It's a sound which is too low to be audible by the human ear," Alexis replied. "So my theory was right, except I wouldn't have guessed the true intention behind all this monster thing."
"I've discovered a frequency of infrasound that can play with your brain and trigger an immense sensation of fear and despair in anyone who hears it. It worked for a while, but not perfectly, since I've had some trespassers soon after I tested the idea. So I decided to upgrade it. I taught my brother to 'do a monster', which wasn't so hard since the infrasound did a majority of the job. Louie! Show us the monster!"
The impaired man put on the hood, hunched even more, started to wave his atrophied arms and snarled loudly. His unusual voice managed to pull completely believable animalistic noises. Even though they knew that Louie was harmless, they stepped back anyway, including Lenny.
Roger smiled. "All the people needed was to associate the fear with something. That fear was like a sunlight - pretty harmless alone, but if it focuses on one point using magnifying glass, it can ignite a fire. In this case, Louie was the point of focus. And the rumors about the 'monster' soon begun to spread, which was even better. Soon I had an urban legend protecting my lab."
Diane did a theatrical bow. "You, sir, are a genius."
>><<
Roger seated them in their humble house and offered them a coffee. He had big reserves of food and even a water source, unlike the most Morningstarians who had to live hand to mouth. Then she started to tell them about his and Louie's life.
"I've never knew my father," Roger started. "We were a typical poor Morningstarian family. Mom had to sell her own body to feed us both. But, you know... an accident happened and she got pregnant, that was when I was fourteen. Soon after, she gave birth to Louie.
She tried really hard, she really did, but Louie's condition made it hard to take care of him. Then one day, just out of the blue, she commited suicide. Without any signs of warning. One minute she was there... and the other, she wasn't. It was just me and Louie.
Other people would just abandon him and live on their own, but I couldn't. He's my brother, after all, and I wouldn't be able to live with such regrets. I've started looking for a way to survive. And since I've always experimented with chemistry, I stole some books and began to learn. That was the last crime I've ever commited. A year later, I was already able to produce the medicaments. And, well, that's how we managed to survive until now. It wasn't easy, but we managed to do it anyway."
"I love bro," Louie added. "He sells cutes. Has money. Has food."
Roger laughed. "It's cures, not cutes."
"But now, we'll have to seal a deal," Lenny spoke. "These two ladies have a deal that they'll catch the Morningstarian monster. And that's, as we already know, your brother. What now?"
The chemist sighed. "I was aware that this moment will come. If you really need to do it, just go and debunk the myth. Tell anyone how to bypass the security. But keep in mind that if you do so, we'll probably die soon. Please. Louie has instructions to not hurt anyone, ever. We mean no harm. If you just walk away and keep silence about what you discovered, you'll save us both."
"We'd love to, but there's one small problem," Diane noted. "A few days ago, Louie scared a member of a local racist gang. He told us that if we wouldn't manage to find and eliminate the monster, he'd rally the whole gang and attack Lenny. And it can't happen."
"I see," Roger said. "I'm certain we can solve it somehow."
"And even if we can't, I can take care of myself," Lenny said firmly. "As you know, I've never picked a fight, but I think I'd be able to defend against them if they raided my home. My safety is inferior to safety of a man who provides medicines for the whole district."
Roger nodded, touched by Lenny's resolve. "I really appreciate it. But I think I have some ideas how to prevent it completely. You know, that infrasound emmiter I use isn't the only one. It's only the strongest. I can provide you two more."
The man stood up and reached into a wardrobe where he grabbed something looking like a wireless speaker. He smiled sinisterly. "Should I turn it on?"
"No, we're good," Diane replied.
Roger handed the device to Lenny, along with a small remote. "Just attach it somewhere on your house, preferably near the front door," he explained. "Then just press this button and the speaker will start emmiting infrasound. It won't be as strong as here, but it should be enough to scare the attackers away, especially when you step outside and show yourself. Focus of fear, remember?"
Lenny nodded, smiling. "Thank you, man. You probably saved my butt."
"Hey, Roger," Diane said. "You said something about providing us two emmiters. What about the second?"
Roger smirked. "That'll be more like a gift for our friends."
>><<
They left the building and let "monster" Louie to do his guard duty. They went through the district while carefully avoiding any trouble until they reached their destination - the headquarters of GG-Justice.
"They're not here," Alexis muttered. "Probably making some late-night visits."
"The better for us," Roger said. They walked around the building until they found a rusty ladder leading to the rooftop of the abandoned factory. The man and the girls climbed up; Lenny stayed where he was because the ladder looked too unstable to carry his enormous weight.
"Just as I hoped," Roger mumbled as he examined the entrance of the ventilation system. He threw the device inside the pipe and listened. Soon after, they heard a satisfying clank as the speaker hit the grid of the ventilation. "Then... we'll turn it on." He pulled a remote from his pocket and pushed the button.
Diane smirked. "So it seems that they have their own monster in their headquarters, right?"
"Exactly," Roger returned the smile. "The sound isn't very strong, so they won't start to panic or such. But it's enough to make them stressed and insecure for no apparent reason. They'll have trouble sleeping and it can even drive the weaker individuals neurotic."
Alexis laughed. "So it means they'll have different things to do than assaulting the minorities?"
"Exactly."
They left the rooftop and, alongside Lenny, left the area as quickly as possible. Everyone had to chuckle upon imagining the racist gangstas stumbling around their stronghold, searching for the source of their sudden and uncontrollable terrible mood.
"For how long will it last?" Alexis asked.
"It can operate for many months before the battery dies. And I can assure you that they won't be able to stay there for so long. They'll either have to relocate or go completely insane."
Alexis touched Lenny's wrist. "That means you're safe. If you utilize Roger's device correctly, they won't be able to harm you." Then she looked at Roger. "Your secret is safe with us, you can be sure about it. If someone will ask about it, we'll pretend that we are another victim who couldn't overcome the fear."
"I'm really grateful," Roger replied. "You didn't save only me and Louie. But also countless people who would probably die of a simple flu if they didn't get my medicaments."
"This will be our first officially unsolved case," Diane noted.
"There are things more important than money or prestige," Alexis smiled. "And this is one of them. Some cases are better left unsolved. Either keeping it unresolved will make more people happy, or its resolving would bring more evil than leaving it how it is. This is the first case."
Diane nodded. "Got it."
Lenny offered Roger a handshake. "Thank you, man. And good luck."
"I thank you. And good luck to you, too."
The girls caught a late-night train to Serenity Square, where they finally could go home, undress their smoke-soaked clothes and go to sleep.
Alexis was waken by something wet on her face.
"Oh, Dante," she muttered. "You must be hungry, right?"
"Bork," Dante replied.
The girl got up and offered the pup a can of dog food. Soon after, Anna drove into the room. She looked at Alexis, who was only wearing a short nightgown, and blushed. "Lex?" she said. "It's eleven. At this time, you are usually... already active. By the way, that chemise is... cute."
"Well, we had to do some monster hunting at night," Alexis replied. "We arrived home late at night." She decided to ignore Anna's remark about her sleepwear.
"Sounds interesting," Anna smirked. "Tell me more."
"Mind if I get dressed and groom myself a little?"
"That's not necessary. Augustus in the morning offers way more horrific sight."
Alexis had to decide which version would she tell. She picked the truth; Anna was like her second sister, after all. She spoke while feeding Dante and Anna listened closely.
"You did a really good deed," the paralyzed girl said. "Those guys didn't deserve to be revealed."
"Yes, that's what we thought," Alexis grinned. "Besides that, that nazi garbage also got what they deserve. Right now, they're probably waking from a sleepless night in various stages of depression and anxiety. The case remained open, but we managed to do much more."
Anna smiled. "Some cases are better left unresolved."
"Bork," Dante replied in agreement.