Hidden Things

JP with mdman, Redsword, Jaxx, Trustno1 and Cindy

Ekaterina was watching Choi and Dahlia from her bugs perspective. She smiled as she commanded her bugs to interfere with the guard. Suddenly several large wolf spiders fell on the guard's arms and head from above to freak him out. Ekaterina smirked elegantly from afar as she stood next to Agent Powers who was clueless as to what she was doing.

"I knew you people would come." said the security guard to Choi and Dahlia, "Listen, I'm just here for the circulatory system. What these people are fighting over, Gary has been pretty much destroyed, I don't know why the guy that runs it still thinks that he can keep order here. Those others are trying to turn it into a free state, all the while he's trying to push into Chicago. You can go in there but Mr Skorzeny will be gone. You are the hunters right? The ones that listen to those voices? The hunters call them The Heralds,but you seem different. You seem like you've been on the circulatory system a long time.”

As the two descended the stairs, there could be heard sounds of yelling coming from the boiler room as if someone were yelling for help. Sartre grabbed his pistol and covered Alyssa as they headed into the dark room, it was covered in dust.

There are screams coming from inside the boiler, Screams of pain as a man yells "Jim help me!"

Peter shinned his flashlight over the boiler in the room. They are the only two in there except for the screaming coming from the boiler.

"Careful Alyssa, What should we do?" Peter said.

Choi took the 9 mm from the security guard. “Gotcha!” he replied. He trained the gun on the man, then said, “You can go in first.”

Dahlia was smiling, for she knew Kat sent the spiders. She wasn’t sure if the man thought magic was involved or if it was a coincidence. Either way, the man dropped his guard. She was thankful, not wanting to kill the man.

Dahlia inquired of the man, “Circulatory system? As in blood? Are we talking blood magic?”

When the scream first occurred, Alyssa had grabbed her knife. She now stood in the boiler room holding it. "Sung said someone had been killed in here. I am guessing he meant this?" Alyssa said.

She took a breath and called out, "Hello? Who's here?”

"Jim!!!!!!!!" howled the voice as if in pain.

"You want to open it, Alyssa?" asked Sartre.

"Yes," Alyssa responded. "You might want to stand back.” Rather than just making the boiler fall apart, Alyssa focused on the pieces holding the boiler in one piece, causing them to fall out and the boiler to open.

Inside the boiler, Sartre and Alyssa could see a man curled in the fetal position being emulated and burned alive while sitting atop hot coals. It is as if his clothes are a burning shroud. He screams in agony and cries for help. After they blinked, he was gone as if he were never there.

"You could say that, it feels magical. It's the greatest drug that's ever come through the state. I've heard some of them can make it magical. I think they call those guys "The Tremain" or something. These spiders don't bother me, as long as I have access to the circulatory system and the drug that comes out of it. Out of that pipeline. I'm always in a good mood. You can go check out the office but Skorzeny won't be there.” The guard said to Choi and Dahlia.

Ekaterina was a bit shocked to see the security guard so relaxed while covered in spiders. This was not a normal reaction and what was this drug "The Tremain" he was referring to. She then looked at the confused Agent Powers and replied elegantly, "Mr. Powers, it seems the security guard is some kind of drug called "The Tremain". Have you heard of it?"

Agent Powers gave Ekaterina a smolder and paused before replaying, "No it must be a new drug. I have destroyed a lot of Cartels in the past but that name is new. It could be made by the government. They have been trying to make super soldiers and pandemics."

Ekaterina nodded as she elegantly replied, "This whole mission seems very wrong. A missing person who is not missing, a haunted theater, a security guard on fearless drugs in the middle of a poor gang ridden city. Any ideas?"

Agent Powers sighed as he replied, "We should check in with Alyssa. I know she is with Sartre but she might be in danger."

Ekaterina agreed and both headed to the basement where Ekaterina's minions saw her heading to.

Choi and Dahlia made mental notes of the Tremain. From the explanation, it sounded as if this was an organized criminal organization. The drug was called the circulatory system.

Dahlia poked her .38 into the man’s back. “Okay,” she demanded, “you heard my partner. Enter the door. We’ll be right behind you.”

Choi still pointed the man’s own 9 mm at him. Flicking his wrist, Choi motioned with the gun, confirming Dahlia’s words.

Dahlia asked as she followed the man into the office, “So, who are the Heralds?”

Though shaken; Alyssa did not lose her grip on reality.

Sartre asked, "You alright,Alyssa?”

As they made their way into the basement, Agent Powers led the way as Ekaterina used her minions to search the area. She quietly guided Agent Powers in the direction of Alyssa and Sartre.

"Y....yes,' Alyssa shakily responded. "He...was... do you think he was killed that way?" It was horrible to think about.

Agent Powers then yelled, "Alyssa you down here?" He was looking around for her as Ekaterina was looking around the room.

"Yes," Alyssa called back, "we're in the boiler room. Turn left at the bottom of the stairs.”

Ekaterina confirmed that Alyssa was correct as she guided Agent Powers to where they were. After a bit of walking they arrived and saw Alyssa seemed to be shaken up.

Agent Powers looked around with a smolder as he asked, "Are you okay, Alyssa? You look like you are having nightmares again."

Princess Ekaterina elegantly asked, "Did you see something off?”

"Not a nightmare, but this place is definitely haunted." Alyssa's throat was dry, she swallowed but it didn't help much. Pointing at the now dismantled boiler, "I think we found the man that Sung was talking about or at least the spirit of him. He was...being burned alive - screaming - then he disappeared." Alyssa spoke quietly as if scared to invoke the man again.

Agent Powers looked and saw nothing as he was puzzled by this. Sadly his amazing strength was no good against ghosts and his knowledge of the occult came from movies and video games so he was not sure how much he really knew on the subject.

Princess Ekaterina on the other hand had some knowledge on the matter as she looked at the boiler and elegantly said, "That sounds a lot like an echo spirit."

Agent Powers asked, "What's that?"

Ekaterina replied elegantly, "An echo of a spirit is merely their imprint of energy left behind in a location. Say, they had the same routine everyday for years, their energy would be left in that location much like a tape recording playing over and over. However in this case it was a traumatic experience since they burned to death. If we have any psychics in the group we get more information.”

Alyssa knew they should have waited to come to the basement, she texted Choi, Ekaterina about Sung and asked them to come to the basement. "I just asked the others to come to the basement. We might have some luck with that.”

Ekaterina the elegantly spoke up, "It seems Choi and Dahlia are dealing with a troublesome security guard who is high on some drug. They may be delayed for a bit.”

"Are we sure that guard isn't also a ghost?" Alyssa commented.

Ekaterina pondered elegantly then replied, "That is a good question. However he did have a gun, admitted he was on drugs, he mentioned some hunters calling themselves "The Heralds" and a boss named Mr. Skorzeny. Right now Dahlia and Choi seem to have captured him and are questioning him.”

Alyssa nodded, and started typing in her phone "Mr. Skorezeny, Gary, Indiana " being her phone was tied to the Illuminati database, figured she might get something.

Sung had come in from the back area like he had the night before the same thugs seemed to still be there from the early morning and some homeless people sitting with their stuff around them who he took note of.

Sung went to the same window he had the night before and opened it. He did find it strange that the night before it was unlocked. The window was just stuck shut from old paint and age. He looked around and then went in making no noise shutting the window behind him. The small room was dusty and only had an old wooden desk and two wood chairs. A door that leads to the hallway to the other side.

Opening the door he looked into the hallway and walked to a back stairway down there was more to look at than the boiler room. The experience last night. He made his way to another room and the door was locked but the lock was one from the early 1900s and was easy to bypass. walking into the room. It was full of boxes and stuff left behind. Sung started to look through everything looking for old scrapbooks, yearly publications, and commemorative albums. Anything that would give him or who ran, and owned the theater and when.

As Sung looked to his left, it looked as if the wall had something behind it. It was as if the wallpaper was hiding a door of some sort.

"Who do you think the guy and the boiler could have been?" asked Sartre

Ekaterina pondered for a minute then elegantly replied, "Perhaps this crime was reported to the police? There might be a record from the past if this was a past crime.”

"I'm ahead of you. Running everything through the database." Alyssa responded.

Agent Powers looked around quietly since he really had nothing to add to the investigation. He felt a bit out of place since investigations was not part of his skill set, but he kept that to himself since he was taught to not to share his weaknesses to anyone. His father strictly brainwashed him to understand that he could be betrayed by anyone, at any time, and that it was best to keep his emotions and private information to himself. Sadly he was already feeling guilty for opening up a little with Alyssa and Ekaterina since they were nice to him. Sadly none of that mattered on this crazy case since the only thing he could do is beat up the gang members who get in the way. He wondered why his father never trained him to do investigations before. He wondered if that was part of him working with a team and he needed to learn on the job. He looked at Alyssa type away and realized he could not follow what she was doing.

Satrre said, "Who is to say what we saw was even real?" It was only there for a second." Perhaps we should ask the other employees. Maybe we should go see if we can find that guy Raymond.”

"Skorezeny doesn't come up, it might be an alias. Nothing about a crime, I had run the theater through the data base before and there was nothing but double checked and still nothing." Alyssa sighed. "Peter might be right, it might not have actually happened. I'll keep looking.”

"There has to be something else in there Alyssa. Go Hacker Go!" Sartre smirked and glanced over at her, Giving her that knowing look. After the apparition In the boiler, he was curious to see what her reaction would be.

Alyssa smiled at Peter, and went back to her phone. She looked curiously at something, hit a few buttons and furled her brows. While, she didn’t say it outloud her look said - well, damn - quite loudly. She continued typing, almost as if forgetting she was standing with others in a boiler room.

Agent Powers was confused by Sartre despite being on the same team. He wondered if he was some type of psychic since they never talked to each other much and Agent Powers was in the dark on his skills. Since Alyssa didn't say anything to Sartre, Agent Powers kept his thoughts to himself.

Princess Ekaterina on the other hand was perplexed by this news. She wondered what the other possibilities were for the ghost sighting. She then elegantly looked at the others and asked, "The lack of a crime report could have many reasons such as it was not reported to begin with, we are under the influence of that drug the security guard is on or a psychic force is toying with us. Either way I don't see this going well for us." Ekaterina sighed as her job was getting harder by the moment.

Choi remained vigilant at guarding the guard with his own gun as Dahlia searched the office for anything that might be of use in the investigation. She searched the drawers, office bins. ‘Rolodex, [Rolodex?]’ Dahlia thought. That was a surprise. Most people just use their phones these days.

“You still haven’t answered her question,” Choi sternly demanded. “Who are the Heralds? A rival gang?”

It took only about another five minutes but Alyssa seemed to be reading something, then a few clicks and outloud she said,"OMG. Damn. I don't know if this is something - actually I take that back - I know it's something but this might not be the best place to get into it.”

"Where should we get into it, Agent Wilson?" said Sartre.

"Maybe, back at the hotel?" Alyssa commented. "Its linked to other things which two of you know but Ekaterina, probably, doesn't. And there's the others who are here but not currently with us. I mean you all know how much I hate repeating myself." Alyssa half shrugged. If they really wanted to know now, she'd tell them but she thought it was best done later.

Ekaterina elegantly replied, "If we are leaving, we will need to fetch Choi and Dahlia on the third floor. They are looking for clues and dealing with the security guard."

Agent Powers then gave a smolder as he asked, "Is there anything else to do here?"

"What should we do about the guy at the bar?" asked Sartre.

"We'll also need to get Sung, not sure where he headed off to," Alyssa turned to Peter, "Not sure what you mean. I think the same people should go meet with him. There's enough backup among all of them.”

"Good idea, can someone call Sung to us?” Peter asked.

"Sure," Alyssa sent a text to Sung, asking if he was still busy or ready to go soon. "Ekaterina, should I text Choi or are they still busy?" Being her minions seemed to have a lot of answers about that.

Ekaterina touched her temple as she looked at what Choi and Dahlia were up to. She elegantly replied, "Choi is still questioning the security guard at gunpoint and Dahlia is searching the nearby office for clues. I can text Dahlia since she can answer her phone right now." Then Ekaterina texted Dahlia that they were ready to leave when everyone was ready.

Dahlia received her text. She was disappointed she found nothing really noteworthy. She sighed.

Pulling a dagger from the sheath inside her boot, she held it up to the guard’s face.

“Who are the Heralds?” she asked again, out of patience. “Or I make it so you never talk again by cutting out your tongue.”

“Uh Dahlia?” Choi asked with brows resized.

“This is how we handle it in the Middle East,” Dahlia professed. Turning her attention back totally to the man, she insisted, “Tell me everything you know!”

Sung moved a few boxes away when he saw that part of the wallpaper peeled back and showed something different than the paneling. Sung took out some of his pocket tools and carefully moved more paper as he had learned in forensics.

Sung peeled more back to reveal a door frame. Then a door that had been covered up a long time. This was done intentionally. there was no light from under the door so he doubted the room had windows. The doorknob had some rust on it so it had not been used in a long time.

He felt his phone vibrate. ‘I don't have time for this,’ he thought. He pulled the phone out and texted the others where he was and he had found something.

Sung checked the door, there were no extra wires or traps he could see or find and of course, the door was locked. A search warrant is pointless right now. As he pulled another tool out to push the door latch back. The door was still stuck. Sung concentrated and focused on Anima summoning his Spirit Blade then with one price slice he cut the hinges on the door easily on the side of the door and waited on the others to arrive.

Alyssa’s phone vibrated, she looked down. "Sung's found something. Maybe we should go see what he's got.”

"Let's go see what he found," said Sartre.