Ivan left the hospital, or asylum, or whatever the hell it was, shaken. Dammit, he was starting to feel dizzy and the world spun. Bella found him leaning against the wall, trying to catch his breath, and she escorted him out, directing him to a bathroom and assuring that Marty would get punished. He didn't realize it would be so soon.

"Martin Smith is dead."

"Excuse me?"

Ivan yawned, hearing his mentor's voice over the phone. After he filed his report to him, Ludwig offered him to take a few days off. Usually, he would refuse, but the whole experience was exhausting. Even his springy bed felt comfortable for once.

"Marty. The guy who flicked blood on you. Apparently, he got moved to a cell closer to Alfred and he started to whisper stuff to Martin. The man died by biting off his own tongue and choking on it. We're still getting the exact details."

Ivan found it hard to swallow and brought his hand to his mouth imagining swallowing his own tongue. It was a horrifying thought. He didn't feel tired anymore. "I…. Don't know how to feel about that sir..."

"You don't have to feel anything. I read your profile on Jones. Are you sure you left nothing out?"

"No sir. I included everything down to the way Alfred smiled when I addressed him as 'doctor'."

"Are you sure?"

"Practically verbatim. Every word, every gesture. Is there something wrong?"

He heard a sigh at the other end. "Bonnefey is blaming the death on you, but don't worry about it too much, we're going to take care of it for you. You did your job. Look, I know it got ugly last night, but you mentioned a name at the end: Artfeo. I know I told you to take a break, but did you do any follow up on her?"

"Of course sir. Er, one second." Ivan stretched his arms over his head and reached for his computer on his nightstand. Of course, he wasn't able to sleep until he did a bit of research. That, and his only friend in the academy, Yao Wang, was helpful enough to finish his research while he slept. Luckily he emailed him the rest of the information with the subject titled as 'Holy Shit'.

"Ivan?"

"Ah, yes I'm here. So here's what I have. Jones destroyed most of his patient's histories. Or altered them. There's no record of 'Artfeo', but I was a bit interested in Jones's choice of words. The 'look into yourself' reference was too cheesy for him. Then I thought about the word 'yourself'. I emailed Yao Wang and there's a 'Your Self' storage facility outside of downtown. Actually, there were three. One of them caught our eye. There's a unit in one of them that was leased for ten years and it's pre-paid. The contract is in the name of a Miss. Pam Artfeo. Nobody has been there for years as far as the employees know. I was going to get Yao to check it out after all, he was interested in doing some field work-"

"No, I want you. I'm sorry to disturb you, but this is important. This is your case, not Wang's. How soon can you get there?"

"Getting dressed now, sir."

"I can't believe Ludwig isn't letting me come with you. What a fucking asshole."

Ivan smiled. "Careful, I'm pretty sure the FBI knows how to tap cell phones. Who knows, maybe he tapped this phone."

"Yeah well, Ludwig if you're hearing this, fuck you. Also, give me a raise and take me out of these fucking martial arts class. I already know how to kick your ass, I don't need a class to learn that. I swear he's out to get me."

Ivan laughed, keeping his eye on the dark road. He couldn't believe he slept all day. He silently rehearsed multiple lines in his head. It really would have been nice if Ludwig provided him with at least some backup. But maybe this storage unit was more of a 'just in case' thing rather than something to be worried about.

"Thank you so much, Yao. Don't worry, if I ever become a real FBI agent, I'll highly recommend you!"

"Oh fuck you too," More laughter.

Ivan pulled up to a dark parking lot and a man waved him over. That must have been the owner he contacted earlier. Thank God he was available. "I have to go. I'm here. Good luck to me I suppose."

"Yeah, good luck. Remember to give me all the juicy details on that freak's storage unit! Pam, ugh, I hate that name… Reminds me of a grumpy school nurse. Maybe she has a collection of really fucked up sex toys!"

Ivan rolled his eyes and hung up on his friend.

"Hey you. Come spar with me."

Ivan turned around as he was stretching his arms. A man was on the ground groaning. One of the classes he was required to take in the academy was gym. Well, not exactly like gym. Instead of teaching students how to play mundane sports, they were taught about chokeholds and how to wrestle a man twice their size down to the ground. Luckily, Ivan seemed to pick up the skill rapidly. His burly size sure had an advantage. He turned around and smiled at a Chinese man half his size with long hair tied in a ponytail and his hands on his hips. "What's your name?"

"Ivan. And you?"

"Yao. Bet I could take you down like timber!" And he did. The next day, they wrestled again.

"Let's see… Pam Artfeo, right? Ah, her storage unit is 33b." The owner, a man who introduced himself as Jack led Ivan through the storage boxes. This itself, could be an ecosystem. Critters scurried out of the way when Ivan moved his flashlight and the boxes reflected a more solid definition of the term 'concrete jungle'.

When they landed at unit 33b, Jack snapped the padlock. with a large heavy duty wire cutter. "You must understand, privacy is a huge thing with our customers so-"

"I won't move anything, I promise. I'll be out and in." Ivan smiled as Jack shrugged and watched the agent grunt until he managed to open the damn unit. He carefully stepped inside and kept a hand hovering over his gun while the other held the flashlight.

The light illuminated various objects that were rather… Ordinary. A few book shelves, a lot of blankets. Not to mention the place was obviously untouched for years. Cobwebs decorated the place and the agent could hear small mice scurry throughout the unit, chewing on old coats. Ivan was looking at a sofa, wondering if he should tear the cushions when he nearly tripped on a grey storage box. What the….

It was heavy. Something was inside. Ivan held the flashlight in his mouth (the damn thing was taped closed) and as soon as he opened it, a pungent smell hit his nose like a punch. Two milky white eyes met with Ivan's and a smile without teeth made him freeze. Inside, there was a very large sealed mason jar with an entire head. It was as if the head didn't even know it was decapitated. The woman in the jar smiled without teeth, relieved she was finally discovered. She was in a pool of alcohol and the agent even noticed bits of flesh floating around her head. Ivan dropped his flashlight.

"So, why do you want to be an FBI agent?" Yao grinned as he spun himself in one of the office chairs inside the forensic lab. The assignment was to match DNA, and frankly, it was child's play. Ivan looked up from the microscope and scoffed.

"That's a little personal."

"Oh come on, I've known you for months, but I still don't know you."

"Well, I have two sisters. They're very dear to me, but I haven't really seen them in a while..."

"If it makes you feel better, I haven't seen anyone in my family for two years. Hey wait a second, what are you doing with my sample?!"

"Miss. Pam Artfeo. It's an anagram, isn't it Dr. Jones? When you unscramble the entire name, it's 'miss a part of me'."

Alfred grinned, completely delighted. "So you are smart! I knew you would figure it out! Well done, Agent!"

"Which, also means that you rented out the unit." Ivan glared, trying to keep his composure. As soon as he found the head, he called in for help and had the entire place searched. As soon as Ludwig arrived, he instructed him to talk to Alfred right away. Luckily he didn't have to deal with Dr. Bonnefey since it was nearly midnight. Bella however, was working. And she didn't hesitate to let Ivan back in to meet with Alfred Jones.

"Why don't you ask me about the Spider?" Alfred grinned. This was just a game to him, wasn't it? His own source of entertainment, pulling the strings of law enforcement within his own cell.

"Do you know something about him?"

"I might if you show me the case file." Ivan gritted his teeth. Fuck. "You could get that for me."

"Dr. Jones, if you don't get me the information I need, I'm afraid I'll have to leave-"

"Oh come on!" Alfred whined. "But the fun has just begun!" For punishment for Marty, Alfred had everything confiscated. His drawings were gone, books, anything material was stripped from his cell. The only thing that remained was him and the bed. "Her real name was Jillian Suto. I didn't kill her, I promise you that. She was a former patient of mine."

Ivan narrowed his eyes, but sat back down, listening attentively.

"I didn't kill her." He repeated. "I simply tucked her away as much as I found her, after she missed four appointments with me."

"If you didn't kill her, then who did?"

"Who can say? Best thing for her, really. Her therapy was getting nowhere." Alfred rolled his eyes. "Garden-variety manic-depressive. Tedious, very tedious. I now just think of her as a kind of experiment." Alfred looked up and grinned, giving Ivan that same icy stare he gave him the first day they met. "How did you feel when you found her, Ivan?"

"Terrified at first, then exhilarated." Ivan shrugged. After all, it was his first time alone on a field mission. It was horrific, but also enlightening. It was like a final call from God, confirming this was what he was supposed to do with his life.

Ludwig Beilschmidt is helping you a lot in your career, isn't he? Apparently he likes you and you like him."

"I never thought about it."

"Do you think Ludwig Beilschmidt wants you, sexually?"

Ivan laughed out loud."O-kay, doctor, now you're just being ridiculous-"

"Oh please. Don't you dare pull the whole 'I don't swing that way' spiel with me. I'm a psychiatrist. Or used to be one anyways. True, he is much older, but do you think he visualises scenarios of him fucking you?"

The agent rolled his eyes. Now he was just trying to toy with him. "Is your boredom making you pathetic, Dr. Jones? I'll be honest, even if my mentor did think of me in that way, I'm not interested. I'm training to be a professional. And frankly, it's the sort of 'ugly discourtesy' that Marty would say, don't you think?"

Alfred hummed. "Not anymore~"

OKAY so I totally didn't think the puzzle through and Miss. Pam Artfeo worked a lot better than the last one (and actually made sense), so sorry if you read the last chapter before I edited it! Also this chapter is slightly short, but I have AP exams tomorrow and I'm a bit stressed out haha! Thinking of moving this to M... It's gonna get gory. And for the plans I have for Ivan, somewhat smutty...

xoxo Ghost