Radioactive: Chapter Twelve

Radioactive

Chapter Twelve

~Cover Story~

Riu sat down into one of the computers and started to tell the others in the room what had been going on in the neighborhood, “You see,” she started, “there have been more people that have gone missing in the last few days.”

“In this kind of neighborhood, isn’t that that to be expected?” Kiri asked, “Isn’t it possible that they just moved on to another city or town on their own?”

“Now around here, unfortunately,” Riu typed at the computer, “When someone goes missing usually you can guess you won’t see them again.”

“I used to live in one of these neighborhoods,” Jekyll tugged on his hat, “Memories that I’d rather not relive.”

“Anyway, there have been an increase of people missing in the area,” Riu continued, “along with that but there have been a few brutal murders too. The number of murders is only in the single digit but the brutality of the murders is very concerning.”

“How so?” Kaiba walked over and looked over her shoulder.

Pictures of several of the crime scenes popped up on the screen. The homes were a mess with overturned furniture and were covered in blood. The scenes were excessive even if someone were to go into a blind rage. There were also strange claw like markings on the wall in some of the pictures. It was apparent that something that was not human caused the carnage.

Riu rolled in her chair and started typing at another computer, “So how do you plan to go about this?”

“We’ll have to see the disappearance sites first to see if we can pick up any leads,” Kaiba said, “Also, it would be a good idea to get to know the neighborhood.”

“In that case, I suggest looking thuggish. Which would be…” she looked around and pointed to the man with the tattoos, “you! Congratulations you’ve won the prize! What is your name?”

“Duke,” the man said.

The others in the room looked at him. It was the first thing he had said since their encounter back at the Island. Riu didn’t know that of course and continued with what she was doing.

“So he does speak,” Fang muttered to himself.

“I guess the old man could pull off a tough don’t-mess-with-me vibe,” Riu said.

Fang looked in her direction, “Who are you calling an old man?”

Riu chose not to answer, “The guy with the hat gives off a creepy serial killer feeling. I suggest you just keep to the shadows. No one’s going to want to talk if they feel their life is in danger.”

Jekyll smiled, “Ah, right where I feel the most comfortable.”

“Loose the jacket Kaiba,” Riu snapper her fingers at him, “No one’s going to want to talk to someone who looks like a Fed. Keep in mind most of these people have records.”

“What about me?” Kiri asked curiously.

Riu looked over her shoulder, “Yeah, I’m sure I’ve got something in my closet you could use. You use to live on one of these places Duke?”

Duke shrugged, “When I was a kid.”

“Yeah?” Riu smiled, “You know how to talk to the locals?”

“I guess,” Duke seemed like one of few words.

“Well, you’ll play as my cousin tomorrow. People around here love me! When they hear I’ve got relatives in town they’ll warm right up to ya!”

“Great,” Duke said.

“Well,” Riu clapped her hands together, “off to bed then!”

She stood up and walked up the small spiral staircase to the upper levels. Kiri followed Kaiba as he walked up the stairs. Duke brought himself to his feet and walked some distance behind. Jekyll followed as well. With a sigh, Fang brought himself to walk toward the stairs.

“How on earth did he drag me across the ocean into a place like this?” he sighed. “It will be fun, he says. It won’t take more than a week, he says. He’ll wipe my less than impressive rap sheet with the Tower, he says. Now he sticks me with the rouge robot.”

Fang looked over his shoulder. The kid was still sitting in the corner with his head still down.

“Hey, kid, are you coming?” Fang waited a while.

“I’m fine,” Ing said quietly.

Fang eyed the kid closely for a few moments before turning to walk up the stairs. “He’d just better understand that there is no way I’m just going to roll over to everything he says like a dog. Seriously, who does he think he is?”

Ing waited until Fang was upstairs before he ran to one of Riu’s computers. He temporarily merged the computer into a kind of extension of himself. Ing quickly gained access to the Tower’s system and maneuvered his way around. He made contact with Miwa. The other android yawned and looked at the screen.

“You won’t believe it!” Ing said with excitement, “I made it!”

“You better have,” Miwa crossed his arms, “I don’t usually tweak documents for free, man. That Nightwing was supposed to weigh about one android less until I got my hands on it. You owe me for this, you know. That reminds me, Chaud still owes me for erasing that speeding ticket he got last week. He’d better not have forgotten. Nah, that guy never forgets anything. He might act like an idiot but he’s really not.”

“There is one tiny problem…” Ing twiddled his thumbs.

That got Miwa’s attention, “What? Did Kaiba see you? Don’t tell me he spotted you! Whatever you do, I didn’t have anything to do with it! You are on your own if you get caught! I’m already deleting any involvement I might have had! Did he see you?”

“Well…” Ing smiled, “Sort of…”

Miwa stared back, “Sort of? How can you sort of see someone? Either he did or he didn’t.”

“Well, their contact spotted me and Kaiba did the lecturing,” Ing scratched his head, “I’m in for loads of trouble when we get back.”

“Drat,” Miwa groaned, “I need an alibi. Dang it, I guess I could ask Chaud to be my cover. Do you know what you did, Ing? I was going to get a good check this week for my services now I’m trading favors for favors.”

“Sorry,” Ing apologized.

Miwa waved it off, “Nah, it isn’t your fault. Let’s see. Hey, Ing, we’re buds right? If Kaiba really pushed for my name just tell him that I really had nothing to do with anything, okay?”

Ing looked skeptical, “I don’t think he’ll buy it.”

“No, no, no, he can’t do anything to me if there is reasonable doubt see! If there’s a chance I didn’t do it than I get to live another day out of the scrap heap!” Miwa smiled triumphantly, “With Chaud being my alibi, Kaiba can’t touch me.”

Ing sighed, “Alight, I’ll tell him you didn’t do anything.”

“But don’t say anything if he doesn’t ask!” Miwa said, “And since you’re going down for this all on your own, I’ll do three free jobs for you in future.”

“Whatever needs to be done?” Ing asked.

“Whatever it might be!” Miwa smiled.

“Promise?” Ing crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

“Hey,” Miwa spread his arms out to both sides, “I’m just an honest droid trying to make a living. I’d hate for my cliental to get angry with me. That and they probably have a lot of dirt on me too…”

Ing thought he heard something upstairs, “I think someone is coming! Any pointers for me before I go?”

“Just don’t get caught,” Miwa sighed, “You seem to have a tendency to do that.”

Ing saluted, “Roger, over and out!”

The connection was broken and Ing ran back into the corner after deleting any trace of his contact on the computer. He sat in the corner and put himself into sleep mode. As his power cells began to recharge Kaiba walked down the stairs to grab something that he had left. He glanced in the corner at the sleeping android and rolled his eyes. He would have a talk with Miwa the second he would get back from the mission.