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 Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:37 pm
Jeremy shrugged. "In Destiny City, I think they should ditch the twenty four hour rule." His lip curled as he thought about being missing.
For almost six full days.
"...Lot of things can happen in three hours. But I guess we don't have a big enough force to investigate every missing person. Can't trust that due diligence would be done, anyway. But."
He leaned back and considered. "...Still, weird for so many people to disappear and then wind up in the hospital with similar traits. I haven't been getting out much these past few days," he admitted. "But Myles might have. The kids in class, you know. They're all up to date on the latest rumors. I'll ask him if he's heard anything."
There was an unspoken thought in the air--that if it was something supernatural, Myles might have had a bit of an advantage, given his previous ties to it.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:37 pm
“If you’re going to ask him, I suggest being tactful about it. Maybe keep the questions specific to his school or classmates so he doesn’t get the itch to go investigate things he shouldn’t be.” She was privy to the other war raging in Destiny City. The one with magic and almost archaic weapons better suited for a fantasy faire.
There were people out there, with monsters or creatures following them that could pass through mirrors. If this whole fog abduction story was actually true the last thing she wanted was for Myles to ask the wrong persons these questions and end up in a place neither of them could find him.
It was hard enough almost losing Jeremy, if the role was reversed Erica wasn’t sure what her partner would do.
“At least, from what I can tell, nobody is still missing from this incident. There haven’t been any follow-up calls seeking further information.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:37 pm
Jeremy gave her a look. "Tactful? Myles? He doesn't exactly pick up on things if they're too subtle..."
He was debating for a moment and then shrugged. "Glad nobody's missing, but. I can ask Myles not to look into it too deeply, if you think it's dangerous. But."
He inhaled, like this was hard for him to say, but he managed, to work out, "I...I trust Myles. He's gotten this far, hasn't he? ...And." He glanced at the test on the fridge.
"He's not the same kid he used to be. Not that there was anything wrong with that kid, mind you." He loved his little brother. He'd have taken out anyone who said a bad word about him if it meant keeping Myles safe. "But. He's grown up pretty good, I think. 'Cause I'm such a good role model."
...Because he had seen the good Myles could do.
"...It's better to ask him bluntly, and then ask that he be safe. If he knows I'm worried, he'll do his best to avoid it."
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:37 pm
“Fair enough,” he knew his brother best and Jeremy definitely had a good point regarding the worry.
“The other two files are cases that are fairly normal by comparison. About four days ago there was a breaking and entering on 5th and Union; a pawn shop. Except there was no breaking in, windows were all intact and according to the surveillance across the street, the door wasn’t tampered with. If anything it looked like the person may have had a key, or a copy of it at least.” Originally they thought it might have been a disgruntled employee looking to get what they felt was owed to them but the shop owner was adamant that the individual caught on camera was not someone they recognized.
“Nothing large or obvious was stolen, a few collectables and a couple pieces of jewelry. Nothing really that would have immediately triggered that anything was missing, if it wasn’t that the owner of one of the items came into the shop to pay off a loan and get back one of their personal belongings then chances are this incident may have never been reported.” For all the things they could have taken, it was a relatively small robbery. Likely the person was there for one item and took other random pieces so it wasn’t obvious what they were truly after. It made it more difficult to figure out motive on this one.
“The last one was just commercial, at least it was to me anyway. Do you remember Lil’ Ricky?” How the hell he got his name was beyond her since the guy was easily a foot taller than she was, however, he was lanky like a tree limb. “He was the young homeless guy that was admitted to the hospital about two months ago. High as a kite on some drug, he took a swing at a nurse and bit one of the security officers.” A real feral one that day.
“Anyway, apparently he ended up in the hospital again. Found unconcious in the back alley way. Everything was gone except for his backpack of unwashed clothes. Aside from the bruise on the side of his face, likely from the fall, there were no other injuries and the toxicology report came back mostly clean. As far as I can tell it was possibly a drug deal gone wrong, someone getting greedy and trying to double dip. Or another homeless person had targeted him. However, he is adamant that it was someone in a uniform that had attacked him.” Any information they got from him was vague at best, he didn’t want to be a snitch and was careful not give any information that might jeopardize his ability to get his next fix.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:38 pm
Jeremy nodded, taking each of these in stride. "Nice detective work. You gunning for a promotion?" he teased, like it hadn't been rumor that he might be moving up at some point. He'd been working hard, he'd been doing this for a hell of a long time.
But.
Being stuck in a hole sort of put a damper on things, now that he was on mandatory R&R. He was going stir crazy, torn between never leaving the house and getting back to the job he'd relied on like it was therapy.
He was mulling over the three cases when the front door wriggled, like someone had forgotten how to open it. It stuck, and Jeremy had long since learned that you needed a quick, violent twist when it did so. Myles, however, had a tendency to wriggle it and try to convince it to open before he got to the violent twisting. Like it was his way of asking nicely to be let in.
When he came in, he was bundled up in a sweater and an extra coat and scarf, because it wasn't winter yet, but Myles seemed to get cold as soon as summer was over. He had one bag slung over his arm and discarded it sloppily, kicking off his shoes. "Jeremy," he'd blurted--and then realized they had company.
His socks didn't match, and he stood there with one shoe dangling off, and a deer in headlights look, like she'd caught him doing something bad. "Erica," he greeted, and then seemed to relax as he came in, tugging off his scarf. The door was closed and locked behind him--habit. "Hi, it's good to see you. I knew that food smelled too good to be something Jeremy made."
He smiled, still a bit unsure of where they all stood, but he seemed happy that Jeremy had company. "If I'm interrupting anything, I can go wait in my room."
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:38 pm
“No, no.” Erica held her hand up to stop him from retreating to his room so quickly.
“Grab a plate and sit down.” She set a pair of chopsticks and a plastic fork in front of the open chair between her and Jeremy. “I brought this for all of us.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:38 pm
Myles hesitated and brightened at the offer. "Oh? What's the occasion? --Is it bad news?" he asked warily, stripping off his outer layers of clothing and resting them atop the back of the chair. He always wore something colorful, and it was clear that Jeremy had long since grown accustomed to it
"No," Jeremy said, before Myles could start worrying.
Even as Myles shuffled over, Jeremy began fixing him a plate--with far more than he needed, and explained, "Erica was just bringing me some stuff to go over. She's been busy. Said some weird things were going on."
Myles shifted nervously on his feet and despite his height, he had rested his elbows on the counter and was looking up at her almost guiltily. "Oh...yeah? Weird...weird stuff always happens in Destiny City, right?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:38 pm
“There’s weird,” Erica agreed. “But then there’s the weird you’re more familiar with.”
She passed Jeremy the container of General Tso and exchanged it for the Broccoli Beef. “I’ll let your brother fill you in on it later once he’s had a chance to review the files.” Typically these sort of things were confidential, photo evidence and surveillance footage. But special circumstances required a unique kind of expert witness or investigative strategy; which would be where Myles might be able to come in and help. Granted it was to Jeremy’s discretion of course.
“By the way, the house smelled amazing when I got here. Almost got me hopeful that there might be desert.” She winked at him. “Strawberry cookies,” Erica made a yum sound then took another bite of food before washing it down with the beer.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:38 pm
Myles glanced up when she mentioned his weird, and he glanced at Jeremy instinctively. Jeremy, gestured dismissively, a silent reassurance that this conversation wasn't about to upset him.
Assured, Myles focused on Erica as she spoke, and while he seemed to have expected something worse, he found himself quickly relaxing. His cheeks were almost as red as his hair when she was done speaking.
"Oh!" he said, seeming a bit surprised. "Thank you. I can't cook anything though, that's the best I can do. Do you want some? --I have plenty. Soap and candles. The perfume isn't coming out how I want, the smell is only lingering for like half an hour and then it's too subtle, so I have to tweak a few things, but--I mean, you brought dinner," he said--Jeremy was pushing the plate he'd made for him towards Myles, who accepted it and fumbled with the chopsticks but was trying to use them. He couldn't seem to keep anything on them and then looked up at Erica, a little scatterbrained, anyway. "I can get some packed up for you, everything is ready to go, but I want to get you a nice bag first."
"After you finish eating," Jeremy said, and Myles nodded hastily, once more working his hardest; in the end, he managed to twist one noodle onto the chopstick and bring it to his mouth, but he didn't seem deterred and was already trying for another one.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:38 pm
Erica couldn’t help but laugh at how different the two of them were. Jeremy’s pride and inexperience kept him from using the chopsticks whereas Myles just dug right in, dropping noodles left and right but at least there was a fair amount of effort in the attempt.
Times like these it was hard to imagine that the two were cut from the same cloth.“So, how’s school been treating you these days? Any new friends this semester or a favorite teacher?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:39 pm
Myles was trying to shovel the food in and looked up like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. His mouth was full and for a split second he glanced at his test on the fridge and then back at Erica before he managed to scarf down his mouthful.
"It's good, I think. I'm only taking a few classes, it's just part time. Um. I'm not good at juggling things, but my business is doing good enough that it takes some time. I'm still working towards my business degree. The math part kills me, but the other stuff isn't so bad. I'm getting good grades this semester, I've been working really hard. I don't--I mean, I don't really talk to the teachers or the students, but we have a Google Doc that we go through, the others in class, so we have a really comprehensive note section, and if you have questions you can ask there and people will answer and it's really neat. Plus, nobody knows who you are, so you don't have to be embarrassed if you're the dumb one!" he laughed.
Jeremy sighed, as if exasperated, but he was proud of Myles, anyway.
Myles, clearly, was not ashamed. He was doing his best.
"How's, ah--work? For you? Jeremy's been home so I haven't gotten updates. Not that I pry!" he insisted, now afraid she'd think he might only be using his brother for information. "I know things are private! I just mean--you know!"
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:39 pm
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Poor kid got stressed out so easily.
“Work is going well enough. I have a newfound respect for your brother though. Keeping an eye out for Drew feels like a full time job within a full time job.” Honestly, she hoped the hazing would stop soon, why they were targeting him so bad was beyond her but it was getting out of hand and she considered going to their Captain and ask him to step in.
“All things considered, everything has been normal” Erica even added the air quotes to emphasize that normal was just by Destiny City standards. “Patrols have been pretty uneventful and there’s still a backlog of reports waiting to be written or followed-up on.” But in a city where every night there was some incident or another that had unexplained circumstances or partial truths and half information it could be expected to some extent.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:39 pm
Myles nodded, listening intently even as he continued to fumble with his food. "Oh, well that's good," he suggested a bit hopefully. "Not keeping an eye out for Drew, um. That things are normal."
Jeremy scooped another bite of food and shrugged.
"I was worried something was going on and they were going to want to be all hands on deck. Even though they told Jeremy to take it easy. I don't think he knows how to."
Jeremy snorted at this, but he didn't protest. He had a look almost like a caged animal trapped in a small space and ready to lose his mind, but there was something else. Jeremy wasn't afraid, not of most things.
But that had left him shaken.
His confidence had wavered, and though he did his best not to let Myles see, there was something lingering in his expression. "I'm trying," he grumbled, stabbing into his food and taking another bite. "Myles." It was enough to get his brother's attention, and briefly, the younger of the two looked like he was preparing to be scolded. When he had his attention, Jeremy continued, "Have you heard anything about that fog?"
"From the other night?" he asked. "I saw some on the news. I was inside for it," he said to Erica quickly, like he was worried she thought he had something to do with it.
"--Yeah, no. She knows that, I told her. Apparently people went missing during it. A lot of people. And then showed back up three hours later. But it was like they vanished. I wondered if you'd heard anything about it."
Myles blinked, not quite understanding for a few seconds, but something about the way Jeremy was looking at him made the lights switch on. "Oh! Oh, no. I mean, I don't really talk to a lot of people. I mean, I might have heard something. Um." He glanced at Erica, still not certain about all of this. But then, she had brought food so...
"...I don't know if you'll believe me."
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:39 pm
“A few months ago I would have balked at the idea of teleportation or people jumping through mirrors. Nowadays I’m a bit more willing to listen.” She understood first hand now that there were things going on beyond her current knowledge. Supernatural and magical incidents were happening in dark alleyways and around corners they couldn’t see and it gave more validation to Jeremy’s suspicion that there were more corrupt officers on the force and within other facets of the governing body than she would have originally thought.
There would always be a few rotten apples in a bunch but this corrupt nature seemed to have possibly reached the core of Destiny City.
“Try me,” she almost dared Myles to surprise her.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:39 pm
Myles shifted positions uncertainly for a moment and looked at Jeremy, who was watching him closely. It was only when Jeremy nodded, a silent insistence for his brother to share what he knew, that Myles worked up the nerve to say anything.
"I haven't been powering up a whole lot since Jeremy got back. I wanted to spend time with him while he wasn't working," Myles began, "I bumped into one of my--you know--uhm. My 'friends', between classes, earlier today. We didn't talk for long or anything but I can ask for more information if you need it? He said people weren't gone for three hours, it was like, three weeks. To this weird little village, with a monster that was hunting them down. I guess when they finally tracked it down and killed it, they wound up back here? I didn't get all the information, I only had a few minutes. But I can ask around if you need to know anything else? Um. But. You probably shouldn't put that in any of your reports or anything. If people heard you saying things like that, they'd think you were crazy. Or worse, it could put you in danger."
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