At 7:12 AM, a body emerged from the dark recesses in the northeast side of Solumus Prime Swamp. The victim's head was only visible from the mud covered greenery; the right cranium bashed in leaving an erie canal indent that extended all of the way to the otic socket and the face was morphed into a wide eyed, open mouthed expression of fear.
At 7:15 AM, two younglings found their missing soccer ball next to the dead body and at 7:30 AM, SVU, Special Victims Unit, received a 911 call about a murder.
Jazz reviewed the facts and pictures in the report he had received as he walked toward the crime scene.
The greenery clung to him, bugs buzzed, and the mud stuck to his newly polished pedes.
The once beautiful Swamps of Solomus Prime had been cast aside and laid in ruins; basically like all of Polyhex, his hometown. It didn't make the swamp any prettier now that it was covered in yellow police tape marked: CRIME SCENE DO NOT TRESPASS and trampled over by many of the members of SVU. He pushed up the yellow tape and entered a flurry of police officers.
The entire SVU station swarmed the vicinity along with forensics, police officers, specialists, and detectives. All were either taking photos of the crime scene, collecting data, and Primus knows what else.
Jazz flashed his badge. "Detective Jazz from SVU. Where's the body?"
A young looking police officer pointed to a small group standing by the edge of the swamp. "Over there, Detective Jazz." His face was pale. "It's bad, sir. I couldn't believe what I saw."
A forensics who was taking samples of the greenery two feet away said harshly, "Now the Praxians have more reasons to say their city is the best. With this crime case, will look as bad as Kaon."
Jazz's stomach clenched and he suddenly felt a small tendril of concern. Mainly at the news of the vic as well as Praxus. Praxus was a city that bordered Polyhex. It was divided solely by this exact swamp. Everyone hated the Praxians because of their superiority complex, especially Polyhexians. But they did have reason to gloat. According to last reports, Praxus had a 0.1% crime rate. Jazz walked toward the direction intended. He really regretted drinking his morning energon
"Is that the vic, Ratch?" Jazz asked as he approached the group, which was composed of Ratchet and Prowl, his partner. Of course, Prowl would come early. From the thoughtful look on his face, he had been here for a while. He knew better than to disturb him, so he didn't even acknowledge his partner.
He looked down. The vic was lying on the ground, white sheet on top of him. Ratchet, the medical examiner, was looking underneath the sheet, inspecting for injuries. Jazz felt more dread. Ratchet, throughout his entire career working alongside Jazz, had always called him out for his nicknames.
"Yeah," gruffed Ratchet, his mouth in a tight line. He removed the sheet. "Vic was freshly killed."
Jazz steeled himself as he stared at the dead body. The vic was a mech. Naked. The protoform was deathly pale, but not decomposed at all. The side of his face was practically gone from the death blow, almost unrecognizable, and the body was a disaster of holes and ragged scars.
"Fragger who did this literally sewed rocks into his stomach," Ratchet said, pointing at the numerous gashes that littered his body. "Either he failed sewing school or was in a hurry, fortunately, for us the stitches didn't take. That is probably the only reason we actually recovered the body in the first place."
Jazz closed his eyes, before he took a breath. "Do you know the time of death?" He asked.
"7:00 AM. Exact time, too." He grabbed the arm that had a watch on. It was vintage. The words, R.S. engraved. "Whoever did this hit him with a heavy object. The victim had tried to defend himself." Ratchet put a hand over his head to stimulate it. "When the murderer let loose the weapon one last time. The arm was shattered and then his skull. The blow literally made the watch stop. That's how I knew the body was fresh."
Jazz shook his head as he assessed the facts. "I don't understand… why where we called? Is this a rape case? Our John Doe seems like he's fit for the homicide department?"
Prowl suddenly shook his head, breaking from his thoughts. "The weapon wasn't what killed him. The vic died from toxic shock syndrome-"
"But he was a mech! Don't femmes get that?" Jazz interrupted, completely confused. Toxic shock syndrome, for as long as he knew, was a result of a retained tampon.
"Not exactly. It's a bacterial infection which can affect anybody. The strange thing about this was that it was the repetitive brutal rape that caused it," Ratchet gruffed. "And this isn't a common rape case." He flipped the body over and to Jazz's horror he saw tattooed on his back a bar code.
"What the-" But before Jazz could finish, a loud voice interrupted him.
"More yourself immediately or you will be arrested for interfering with a Praxian crime scene!"Jazz turned around and a doppleganger of Prowl, except whereas Prowl had blue optics the oher mech had red. The newcomer was quickly followed along by numerous other praxian officers who emerged from the greenery. "The names Barricade. Chief officer of Praxian Homicide Department and I have been assigned by your police department to take over the case."
