Masked: A PewDieCry FanFiction
Chapter One: The Case of the Unknown
I have edited this chapter through the help of my lovely Masked Crew members/editors, so you can thank them for making this story a little easier to read.
~~{Third Person: Omniscient}~~
Dull sapphire blue eyes scanned the passing New York City scenery though a bus window. Light gray clouds concealed the midday sun as the air was repleted with a thick, dense fog. The pair of eyes that were the same color as a certain gemstone belonged to a young man whose facial language showed those of which, exhaustion and lifelessness.
The man sighed, tearing his cold dead eyes away from the transparent glass that showed him the world mankind has inhabited. His gaze fell downwards to his lap, to which where his hands laid. He stared intently at the palms of his clammy hands, as if they were showing him an open gateway to past events in his life.
~~{Meanwhile in Gothenburg, Sweden}~~
"Good afternoon, Detective Lane." A thick, Swedish accent rang throughout the room, followed by the sound of a door shutting and a 'click' of a lock being set into place. The voice roamed in the air, soon slipping into the ears of the young detective, Jennifer Lane.
Detective Lane's deep, dark gray eyes, in which had been cemented to an open file folder filled with documents labelled, "Classified: Top Secret" on her desk, managed to descend upwards to meet the owner of the Swedish voice. She smirked once she saw the broad figure who stood by the wooden door of the dimly lit room which its only light source was the sun light seeking though the wooden shutters on the window.
Detective Felix Kjellberg. Sweden's best detective.
~~{Back in New York City}~~
The man glared at his hands, pursing his lips while his hands balled into tight fists. His mind reminisced moments of his life, thus causing the man to sneer at nothing in particular. The bus came to a halt, causing the individual to look up toward the front of his transportation. A curtain of chestnut bangs had fallen in front of his eyes once the fellow looked upwards, affecting his vision to be slightly shielded by his hair.
He crossed his eyes, narrowing them at the oak brown strands of hair that covered half of his vision. The male breathed out, pushing his lower lip outward to direct the air up and blow the stray locks away from his face and out of view. He smiled triumphantly to himself, but his smile of victory quickly vanished once his gaze returned toward the front.
A blank expression engulfed the male's facial features as he observed the plug doors part away from the other, unblocking the way for the small wave of people either exiting the bus or entering it. And as the small pool of people moved about, something noteworthy had hit him square in the noggin. He had realized that he was one of the very few people on the large vehicle, which was very abnormal because Rush Hour had just began. The vacant streets should be overflowing with people and different methods of transportation; the air should be filled with car horns and the soft purr of car engines mingling together. There should have been blurred and overlapping conversations from faceless people drowned away into the man's ears as he walked past them to the bus stop earlier, but there wasn't any. It was strangely quiet and still; the opposite of how things should be. Perhaps, it was just a very, very slow day?
As the handful of people flooded into the bus, some of them dressed in formal business suits while others wore more casual-like clothing, a particular man and woman in their late twenties to mid thirties with dyed red hair entangled with their natural brown, caught the attention of the young brunette. The pair were already in a deep conversation as they entered the bus, their arms extending out towards the driver of the very large vehicle so they could hand her their tickets before proceeding down the aisle. The volume of the woman's high-pitched voice increased with each step closer to the blue eyed male who was now wishing for noise canceling headphones, regardless of the silence that swam outside in the barren city and inside the bus.
"-and so I said, 'Michelle, if the man truly loved you, do you surely think he wouldn't have had multiple affairs with that dirty, lowlife, prostitute he calls a woman'?" The female said with slight ignorance lacing her tone of voice. The older man she was with gave a curt nod in response, showing her a symbol of his agreement towards the woman's statement.
At this present time, the man and women chose to sit in the bus seats that just so happened to front of the young man with the sapphire eyes who, in his displeasure, groaned mentally. He had no intention of sitting by a pair of 'Chatty Cathys".
"That women always put herself into nothing but trouble and pain," The man, or "Krism's" companion replied in a sour tone. "I'm telling you Krism, she doesn't know how to pick out the good men from the bad ones."
"If you just ask me Mark, I'd say forget about these traitorous, heart-breaking, cheap pigs we call men and move onto to-" Krism came to a halt midway through her rant after glancing over to her male friend. The man named Mark had a face contorted into one that showed signs that he was offended at what his lady friend had said about his own gender.
"Oh, not you Mark. You're a wonderful man. A great one indeed." she assured him, her hand reaching over to be placed on top of Mark's shoulder in an act of comfort him from her own insults.
With a roll of his eyes, Mark let out an, "Mm-hm" while he crossed his strong arms over his chest. "Whatever you say, Krism."
Krism smiled up at her companion. "I'm being truly honest with you, Mark. You're a brilliant man. One of the greatest males I've ever seen and/or met. Without a doubt." Her smile turned into one full of reassurance as Krism lightly gripped Mark's shoulder, squeezing it gently. Mark looked down at her smaller figure, smiling softly before uncrossing his arms. Krism's hand retracted from Mark's shoulder and rested back on her own lap whilst she continued her previous opinion.
"As I was saying, she should forget about men and try women instead."
Mark raised a questioning brow at Krism. "Are you implying that Michelle should go lesbian?"
"Or at least bisexual." A deep, loud sigh slipped past the woman's lips. "For heaven's sake, Mark, I just want her to find someone who would love her deeply and for her to return the feelings towards them. I. . . I just want her to be happy." She spoke in a manner that contained an array of emotions: desperation, exhaustion, irritation, but overall, consideration for her love troubled friend. Mark soon caught what Krism was trying to imply and simply nodded in pure understatement at Krism's words.
"I can see what you mean, Krism. You're not the only one who wishes that. I do as well. And perhaps a majority of her family does too." Mark spoke his words softly, receiving only a curt nod from his lady friend.
Silence fell between the two, pleasing the sapphire-eyed man whom sat in the bus seat behind the pair. There was the small, faint sound of other individual's voices involved into a conversation around them, but their voices seemed muffled and blurred out like a whisper. Very, oh so very, faint and weak in volume compared to the couple in front of the blue-eyed male.
Finally... Peace and quiet.
The sapphire-eyed gentleman inhaled through his nose, the air travelling down to expand his lungs before flowing back up, only to be exhaled through his nostrils. He leaned back in his seat, his eyelids growing heavy from the lack of sleep. The young man let them flutter shut, his body shifting to a better and more comfortable sitting posture. By completing this action, the man could possibly take a small at the least, rest his eyes until his destination arrived.
He pondered to himself as to why he had decided to listen to Krism and Mark's conversation. Was it due to pure curiousness? No, it couldn't have been that. The male had never shown any interest or put attention to mindless, unimportant conversations carried by others. He's lived in New York all his life, and all around him were people with opinions and words that meant less to him than human or animal feces, so what was the sudden eavesdropping? Perhaps it was the fact that he had forgotten to bring his ear buds with him before heading to the bus station. He had grown used to the constant need of listening to something while he rode the bus. For all one knows, it could have been this.
Yes, as it may be, this was the only possible and reasonable explanation. He lacked the need of listening to something, and Krism and Mark's conversation seemed interesting enough that he had unconsciously decided to listen in and fulfill that need.
But now that the tired man had his fair share of gossip and noise, the stillness of sound around him provided that perfect lullaby to guide him to slumber.
"On account of us already being on the topic, can you guess who I found out was lesbian?" Mark questioned, breaking the peaceful silence that had enveloped around them. Krism gave her partner a look of interest to the topic.
For divines sake! Is it not, perhaps too early into the day to speak of such gossip?! the gemstone eye coloured male thought to himself, irritated as he swallowed a giant breath of oxygen before blowing it out harsh fully. Without a second's delay, he thought it best to decide to tune the pair out as he tried to get some shut eye.
~~{Back to Gothenburg, Sweden}~~
The smirk was still plastered on Detective Lane's features, her dark gray eyes scanning Detective Kjellberg's broad figure, up and down. Her smirk increased in size.
"Well, well, well..." Her American accent filled the room, replacing the other detective's Swedish one. "If it isn't the 'Sherlock Holmes' wanna-be."
Detective Kjellberg scoffed whilst sauntering over to his female partner's wooden desk. As he made his way over, Detective Lane caught notice of an apple in Kjellberg's hand. The young male detective hoisted himself on the flat surface of Jennifer Lane's desk, turning his torso to the side to allow him to rotate his head and get a better look at his female partner. He lightly tossed the red-skinned fruit straight into the air before it quickly free fell downward and back into Detective Kjellberg's awaiting hand.
Felix stared at the apple in his hand as he brought it up closer to his face. His eyes burned into the small fruit's skin, almost as if he was trying to memorize every microscopic detail of the healthy snack. "There is nothing more deceptive than the obvious fact, that I,"
The dirty blonde haired man glanced over at Detective Lane, whom had a look of curiosity in which he had to say. Detective Lane was currently leaning forward in her seat, in a more, slouching manner. She rested her chin on her open palm, her elbow on the smooth, wood surface.
Felix continued. "-am nothing but a man, who is just doing what he loves most." The icy blue eyed male placed the apple to his lips, opening his mouth and sank his teeth into the red surface. He bit into the apple, causing a noisy munching sound to fill the room.
Detective Lane's smirk retreated from her face, her lips recovering and shaping into a sly smile. "So you say..." Jennifer leaned back in her wooden chair, arms crossed over her chest as she stared at her partner, whom had continued to noisily eat the small red fruit. "Is that apple mighty pleasing, Sherlock?"
Felix's eyes which had been on the object in his hand, travelled over to the young woman. "I'm not sure Watson, care to try?" He outstretched his arm, offering the red skinned fruit to the female investigator of crime, who just simply smiled and declined the gesture with a shake of her head.
Felix smiled and pursued to offer his companion the apple. "Well, you know what they say, 'An apple a day, keeps the doctor away'." He quoted, smiling whilst doing so. Jennifer chuckled and shook her head again due to the amusement that Felix had brought upon her.
"Felix, you do know that they only tell that to kids so they can eat more fruits, right?" She questioned, her brow raised with a smile of delight on her feminine features.
The male shrugged, putting the apple back to his lips. "So? They're still good." He bit into the red fruit, the familiar sound of munching refilling the room.
Jennifer chuckled once again, rolling her eyes playfully. Detective Kjellberg's eyes in which had been gazing at his female partner, moved downwards to the file folder that laid on top of Jennifer's desk. "What's this?"
Jennifer's deep gray eyes - which seemed almost completely black thanks to the given dim lighting - shifted over to the papers. Her delicate hands gathered the documents, collecting them into a perfect stack before picking them up. "This," she started, stretching out the word as if putting an emphasis onto it. "is a new crime case we have been designated to."
Felix raised a brow, his eyes fixed onto the forms in which had been seized into Detective Lane's hold. His eyes containing a look of curiosity and hint of desperateness from the need of wanting to see what information the documents held. "By whom?"
"By none other than Stephano Pierre." Came Detective Lane's simple and brilliant reply.
Stephano Pierre. The Chief of Police. The Arabian-French man who was in charge of everything in their agency. The man whom had made Sweden's best detective the greatest he can be. Stephano, the man who is responsible for leading the entire police force in, not only Gothenburg, but every town and city in Sweden. His ultimate responsibility and goal is to protect the public and public property. He oversees the police officers who make up the police force in all of Sweden and its civilian employees as well. Stephano sets the mission and direction for the police department and establishes its goals. He spends much of his day in meetings, discussing crime issues and departmental management concerns. He is truly a man of honor, integrity, dignity, confidence, faith, and trust. He is the man whom, Detective Felix looks up to in a time of need or for guidance.
But most of all, Chief of Police, Stephano Pierre, is Felix Kjellberg's hero and a long time friend.
Detective Kjellberg smirked. "So the Arabian-French man sent me a new crime case." The dirty blonde haired man chuckled with amusement. "He hasn't sent me one in months. The last one he sent was a hard case to crack, but it was solved in the end."
Felix took another bite from his apple, the sound of his munches once again crushing the silence that had enveloped the room.
"Speaking of a hard case..." Felix wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and glanced over at Detective Lane, who had her full attention on him. "Stephano only sends me cases when other detectives can not solve them. I haven't heard anything on the news that would have him send me a case that inquires me to get to the bottom of. Exactly what kind of case has he assigned me to?" He queried, pure confusion lacing his tone of voice.
Felix got off Jennifer's desk and walked over to the side of it to throw away the (now) apple core into the small plastic trash bin.
"A crime case." came the simple response from the now playful Detective Lane.
Felix rolled his eyes, scoffing. "No shit, Sherlock." He was too on edge to know what the case was, and was not interested in any games that Jennifer wanted to play right now.
The male strolled around the wooden desk, standing beside his sitting companion. He towered over her smaller figure, his eyes boring into the sheets of paper that deliberately clawed at his curiosity. "You know what I meant. What is the case about?"
Detective Jennifer Lane sat up in a more straight and professional position, clearing her throat as she turned her body to face Felix. She tilted her head back slightly to look up at the tall male. Her dark eyes scanning her partner's body up and down.
"Well, wouldn't you like to know?" She teasingly questioned, slightly entertained by Felix's immense curiosity to the case. He was like a child on Christmas Morning, wanting to know what toys and other miscellaneous objects they've received once they've woken up from a peaceful slumber.
"Yes, yes, I would very much like to know, now tell me woman!" He pleaded. His gaze never once left the documents in Jennifer's hands, fearing as if he'd look away or even blink would somehow result in the documents to vanish into thin air, before he even got a chance to read them.
Detective Lane chuckled heartily, leaning forward in a slouching manner once again as she transferred all the documents into her left hand for it to hold. Her right elbow rested on the polished wooden surface of her desk, her chin in the palm of her right hand as she turned her head to the left. She outstretched her left arm up to Felix, offering him the documents as she spoke, a smug grin engulfing her facial features.
"It's the case of the 'Unknown'."
~~{Back in New York City}~~
In the end, the sapphire eye colored man never did get his rest.
He tapped his foot impatiently in a repeated motion, bored out his mind. Although he did succeed in tuning out the chattering pair, his bored state only seemed to worsen than it was when he was eavesdropping on the two. His blue eyes in which had been glued to the bus window once more, rapidly glanced over to Krism and were presently and actively engaged into a conversation about a humorous topic, considering the light laughter that escaped from their mouths. It was the sound of their small laughter that lingered in the air that caused the brunette to ponder about whether or not he should eavesdrop. But once he had finally decided to listen to the pair in front of him, they ended their current conversation.
Wonderful! Perfect timing! Right when I want them to talk, they shut up!
The young lad groaned mentally, tilting his head back as he closed his eyes. He inhaled deeply through his nose, oxygen filling up his lungs as his chest expanded. He exhaled out of his mouth, the oxygen leaving his lungs as they flowed up and back out as carbon dioxide. He was worn out, bored, irked, and desperately wanted to reach home. Silence soon settled throughout the bus, only occasional murmurs and mumbles from other bus riders were heard.
The silence lingered for a few moments until a soft, feminine voice sliced through the stillness.
"Can you believe what happened last night on the news, Mark?" The voice was mixed and laced with fear and slight excitement. It belong to none other than Krism, who was staring up at her companion with a slightly warm smile that lacked what clear emotion her eyes contained: pure apprehension.
The way Krism poised her voice when she had spoken had caused the young male sitting behind her to open his eyes. Straightening his neck as well as sitting up straight, he young lad stared at the pair in front of him with pure interest swimming in his eyes.
Mark sighed heavily, shaking his head. "I still can't. It still makes shivers go down my spine."
The brunette's attention spiked greatly once he heard Mark's reply.
"What happened on the news last night?" The sapphire eyed man blurted out due to intense curiosity. The young male's sapphire eyes widened once realization slapped him across the face, the sound of his deep, soothing voice floating in the air for Mark and Krism's ear to absorb. The sudden outburst caused him to tense up, silently hoping that the chatting pair had not noticed him speaking.
Alas, upon hearing the new voice, both Mark and Krism turned around in their seats, a mixed look of surprise and shock engulfed both of their facial expression.
"You didn't hear the news?" Krism questioned, her brows raised as she stared into the sapphire man's eyes.
The man slightly and slowly shook his head, still shaken up about the fact he had spoken aloud. He made it perfectly clear that he had been eavesdropping onto the older pair, by voicing the question. Just the thought made his cheeks turn into a very faint, pink color due to embarrassment and shame.
"Uh, no… No. I don't, I don't watch television that much." The embarrassed male replied nervously. One of his cold hands came up to awkwardly rub the back of his neck as his gaze fell downward to his lap.
"Well you should!" The sharp reply came from Krism. The sapphire eyed man looked back up at the older woman, a serious expression stitched onto her features. Mark, whom just simply nodded in agreement, had a more worried look on his face.
"Why?" The man asked as he stared at the pair in front of him. The embarrassment he felt had vanished and was instantly replaced with pure confusion which laced his tone of voice.
Krism glanced over to Mark, whom was pursing his lips as his eyes locked on the younger male.
"Because on the television, the news tells you what kinds of things are going on in this cruel, jacked up world we live in." Mark replied, causing the man to raise his brows at his statement.
"Well, what's going on in our 'cruel, jacked up world that we live in'?" The young male quoted Mark's previous words in question. The red and black headed man tore his eyes away from the blue eyed fellow and looked at his companion who was chewing at her bottom lip.
"So, have you noticed that New York City has seemed dead and empty this morning?" Krism asked, slight uneasiness interweaving into her words.
The deep blue eyed young male slowly nodded, his head turning to observe the inactive city from the bus window. "Yeah… I have."
"Do you know why that is?"
"No," The male tore his gaze away from the window, placing his full attention back onto the pair in front of him. "But I am anticipating that you'll tell me soon."
Both Krism and Mark turned to look at each other, identical worried expressions plastered on both of their features. Mark gave Krism a curt nod, as if signalling for her to continue. She let out a shaky sigh, slowly turning her head back to the young man who started to grow anxious.
"Okay, it has to do with what was on the news last night."
The man stared at the pair with eyes glistening in intense curiosity and anxiety. He had said nothing, beckoning Krism to advance in her little talk.
"The reason why New York City seems so barren is because… Last night on the news..." Krism stole a quick glimpse to Mark, whom was currently staring down at his lap. "A reporter said that..."
The deep blue eyed male took noticed of how Krism's hesitation. But of course, why? What was she so afraid of?
It was at this moment when the young man took notice of how still the air seemed eerily still. There was no noise. No faint sound of conversations in the background. There wasn't any noise at all, only the soft and low roaring of the bus' engine. The male looked around the bus, seeing as everyone fell silent and a small handful of people stared at the three. Others just hung their heads and stared at the ground as it was the most interesting thing that ever existed.
The sapphired eyed man furrowed his brows together, rotating his head back to the older individuals in front of him.
What the actual hell happened on the news last night?
It was almost as if Krism had read the sapphire eyed man's mind when she answered his question. The feedback he had received from the woman made shivers run down his spine. His breath hitched and the blood that flowed in his veins to run ice cold, as his throat ran dry, making it difficult to gulp when he tired.
Her words rang throughout the whole bus, entering the ears of every passenger on board.
"Someone was murdered two days ago. And this wasn't just like any other murder… This one was committed by the 'Unknown' himself."
The young man's sapphire eyes widened once he had realized what the woman had said. "You mean...?"
Krism slowly nodded. Her next words were measured as she spoke in a slow, clear manner.
"The Masked Man is here, in New York City."
~~{Back to Gothenburg, Sweden}~~
Detective Felix's eyes widened once the words spilled out of Jennifer's mouth.
"You better not be fucking with me, Lane." His eyes travelled downwards to where Jennifer's hand was offering the documents, his own hands quickly coming up to snatch them out of his partner's hand. Jennifer just shook her head, her pitch black hair swaying side to side with the action.
"I'm being completely genuine with you, Felix. If you don't believe me, just look at the documents." The female detective shrugged, smirking at Felix as the proposal was sunk into Felix's brain. She watched in amusement as her partner stared at her with wide icy blue eyes. He hurriedly glued his eyes to the papers in his hands, scanning over the black printed words that were inscribed atop of the first document on the pile.
The Masked Man.
Those three simple words filled Felix with slight happiness and excitement. Beside the nickname was a photograph of a white, porcelain mask that was paper clipped to the document. The mask curved outward slightly, almost like a small dome, allowing the wearer to place the mask more comfortably onto their face. On the mask were two small circles engraved onto the object, right about where a person's eyes would be. A small, straight line was drawn approximately where the mouth was, making a complete and simple poker face. The mask in the picture had a small amount of blood on it's left side, confirming the obvious fact that they took the picture from a past crime scene.
A wild grin crept upon Felix's face as his eyes shone with delight and enthusiasm. "Oh my god..."
Jennifer's smirk widened in size as she observed her partner's amusing reaction. She folded both her arms on top of her desk's surface, her dark eyes staring up at Felix's beaming face.
"What is it, Kjellberg?" Jennifer questioned, although she already knew the reason why her Swedish partner was acting this way. Felix's eyes tore away from the photograph, his gaze turning to Jennifer's face. Two pairs of eyes met the other, one deep gray and entertained, the other an icy blue and shining with utter glee.
"I got the case..." came the small whisper of words that slipped through Felix's soft, plump lips.
Jennifer arched a brow, a smug grin stitched onto her features at the same time the female detective changed her sitting posture. She had crossed her legs and unfolded her arms, therefore allowing her hands to clasp together before propping her elbows on the wooden surface on the desk. She rested her chin rested on her intertwined fingers.
"And may I ask, what case is it that you got?"
"The case that I've wanted for so long..."
Detective Lane rolled her eyes, before fixing them onto Felix's blue eyes once more. "Well, what case is it that you 'wanted for so long'?" She pressed. Her patience was slowly slipping away like sand in a hour glass. As amusing as Felix's state was, she was starting to wear thin. She loved messing with the older man, yes, but there was a limit to things.
"The case that I've been longing for the past ten years for!" Felix exclaimed, stretching his arm out to offer the pile of documents to his partner. "Jennifer, it's the case of the Masked Man!"
"Took you long enough to say it." Jennifer grumbled. She accepted the documents and detached her eyes from Felix's in order to look at the photograph with the white porcelain mask. Jennifer felt a tingle run down her spine as she stared at the two small circles, causing her to slightly shiver. Though, the shiver was oblivious to Felix, who walked to the front of Detective Lane's desk, a boastful look on his face. His hands on his hips as he stared at the wall behind Jennifer, lost in thought.
"Oh, hush." Felix's gaze shifted downwards to look at his partner, who was currently putting the papers down on her desk. An unknown expression consumed her facial features and locked them in that state as a smug grin crept onto Felix's tan countenance. "So Stephano finally entrusted this case onto me, huh?"
Detective Lane blinked and shook her head, the previous unidentified look on her face disappearing. She looked over to her partner and narrowed her dark gray eyes at Felix, who ignored it the small light glare. "You mean us?"
With a wave of a hand in dismissal of the statement, Felix rolled his eyes. "Yeah, us, whatever."
Jennifer's glare grew icy at the Swede. "He unwillingly gave it to us," the female replied firmly with an emphasis on the word "unwillingly".
The response that Jennifer gave Felix shocked and confused him. "What do you mean by, 'unwillingly'?"
Jennifer shrugged, a smug and knowing grin surfacing on to her features. "The Chief of Police did not want to give us the case."
"Then why did he?" By now, full confusion laced into Felix's words and was displayed on his face. His brows were scrunched together, his eyes once again consumed by interest and pure curiosity as he kept his gaze on Detective Lane.
The young woman visually examined her partner, studying him for a while before casting her dark grey, almost black eyes downwards to the paper she held in her hands. "The case was being passed around before it was given to us. It has been in the hands of several detectives who either dropped the case or just 'disappeared'." She temporarily let go of the documents to raise her fingers up into air quotes, where they rose and fell around her final word.
Felix blinked several times in a rapid manner, unsure if he heard his partner correctly. "Disappeared?"
Detective Lane nodded, her eyes still glued onto the documents as she looked over the words on it for what felt like the millionth time. "Yes, disappeared. Y'know, vanished. Gone. Left without a trace. Listen better next time, Kjellberg."
Detective Kjellberg raised his arms up in surrender as his brows arched. "I was listening! It's just that... They disappeared? How?"
Jennifer sighed through her nose, gently placing the records down onto the desk surface. She propped up her elbows beside the papers, hands coming up to the side of her face. She planted her middle fingers respectively on the temples of either side of her head. "I don't know, I wasn't there. Anyway, other police departments around the globe had notified Stephano about what has happened with all the detectives."
Detective Kjellberg put his arms at rest by placing them at his sides. His right brow raised at the implication behind Jennifer's information. "And?"
"He requested we should kept this a secret from the media."
Shock engulfed Felix's face and emotions once again, his jaw dropping a tad bit while the feeling appeared. "But, these are people with families! Shouldn't they be allowed to know of what was to come to their loved one?!"
Jennifer put her arms down, folding them carefully on top of the important files.
"Felix, they have been told. Just in private. Stephano sent officers to go and pay the families a visit to inform them of their vanished loved one."
The male detective's mouth closed shut, his jaw tightening. "Damn... I take it none of them took it well."
"Ditto on that."
Felix sighed, looking down at the hardwood floor, motioning for his partner to continue talking with a hand gesture symbolizing 'Please Continue'. "Anyway, continue."
Jennifer unfolded her arms, grabbing the papers and let her eyes scan over the words. "Many departments enquired that we should be assigned to the case, hoping that we would be able to crack it. But..."
"But?"
Jennifer's gaze turned over towards Felix as she spoke her next words slowly and carefully. "Stephano denied any and all requests of us being appointed to the case. He has been for the past three years."
Three years.
Those two words alone shouldn't have angered Felix as much as they did. His brain shut down on any other thought other than those three simple words and their meaning. Three years that his boss kept this job from being assigned to him. Three years that could have been spent saving innocent lives instead of wasting time and letting those die to a monster. Three years that could have past since he solved his case and his Masked Man vendetta would have been fulfilled.
Stephano knew of his hatred passion towards the Masked Man, and yet he shot Felix with an arrow of betrayal through his heart with what he did. There is no such thing as forgiveness in this action.
Like a serpent, anger slithered into Detective Kjellberg's veins and slid right up to his rapidly pounding heart. It wrapped itself around the organ and squeezed it tightly, devoiding it of any emotion other than fury. His blood boiled with adrenaline and cortisol as his vision showed nothing but the color of crimson red. With clenched and tight fists glowing pale white from the exertion of force as every muscle in his body tensed up, he narrowed his eyes into deadly slits at Jennifer.
His inhalation and exhalation of air in and out of his nose increased in speed as his body temperature rose, causing his facial skin to flush in a light shade of red and slightly sweat. Like a ticking time bomb with no diffusion manual for Jennifer to use and calm him down, Felix burst into a fit of rage. His heated emotions entangled themselves against his words all the way down to the very syllables and letters used as he yelled out his anger. "AND WHY THE HELL WOULD HE DO THAT?! HE KNOWS I'VE WANTED THIS CASE FOR SO DAMN LONG!"
Functioning with only his feelings, Felix raised his fist into the air before aggressively slamming it onto his partner's desk. His action caused Jennifer to jump in her seat and for a few objects on her desk to shake if not jump a few centimetres off the desk's surface. "That fucking bastard!"
The slightly confused and scared, but nevertheless angry Jennifer pursed her lips as her thoughts zoned out Felix's outbreak.
That fucking idiot! Can't he see that Stephano just wants to protect him?!
It was troubling to think of how narrow-minded and outright stupid Felix could be at times. Out in the field, he was incredibly good at his job on thinking his way around obstacles and piecing things together. To him, the clues formed a clear image of the unsolved puzzle by the end of the case, and he had the convicted criminal on their way down the road of justice. But when it came to his own personal life and wellbeing, he was the complete opposite.
He was oblivious with no idea on what to do or how figure things out and always asked his close companions for input on situations at home. Felix was also young, which meant he had interest in what the "cool kids" did nowadays - especially in video games. As far as Jennifer knew, he's love virtual gameplay since he was a child, and uses it as an outlet to escape to a nonexistent world full of fictional characters he's played as and grew to love.
The female detective always found it bizarre that a man of criminal profession would play video games in his spare time, but hey, whatever helped Felix keep his sanity long enough to catch the bad guys in the end.
Detective Lane yanked herself out of her thoughts, her face burning red with the anger and irritation she held for her partner's lack of thinking. "Felix! Are you even thinking right now?!"
"Yes, I'm fucking listening!"
"Well it doesn't seem like it!"
Jennifer sighed, her hands coming back up to gently massage her temples in an desperate attempt to calm herself down. She shut her eyes, finding herself ease down a small bit after a while. "He didn't want to assign us the case because he didn't want us to get hurt or go missing. He's worried about us."
With those words, Detective Kjellberg felt some of his anger towards the Arabian-French male dissolve and evaporate from within. "What do you mean by that? Why should he worry about us? We're capable enough to do this on our own! We're the best detectives out there! We can handle it! We've crack every case thrown in our way, we're unstoppable against those criminals!"
Detective Lane pursed her lips once more, feeling her anger slowly return. "Felix, don't you get it?! Stephano cares about all his employees endlessly! That's why no one in Sweden has been assigned the case! He doesn't want anyone to be harmed in anyway! And even if we are the 'best detectives', he wouldn't want to lose us!"
The sigh Jennifer released was devoid of anything but exasperation when Felix tried to intervene and call her out on being wrong.
"If we go down, criminal active around Sweden and its cities goes up. Criminals are afraid of getting busted, and with us out of the way, they think they could do as they please because the best officials are out of this game we're playing. More cases will be put upon the police departments, thus causing many cases to be put on hold and allowing criminals to have more time plotting their next move and spread bloodshed and heartbreak thought out the country! Is that what you want?!"
Detective Kjellberg fell silent, all anger and rage flowing out of his body. His face lost its red color and the vein that had appeared on Felix' forehead had also disappeared. His mouth hung open, trying to form the words that had been caught in his dry throat. "N-No. . ."
Jennifer huffed, glaring at her male partner. "I thought so. And don't go on saying that we're 'unstoppable' because we're not. We're only human. Not superheros. We can be easily crushed just like any other typical person. And this game we play with those unlawful, scandalous, corrupt bastards is a deadly one. One wrong move and it's game over. No extra lives and no second chances."
Bringing a video game reference into the situation definitely worked as Jennifer had planned because she could visibly see Felix cast his eyes down at the ground, staring at it sadly.
"I know that..."
Detective Lane nodded in acknowledgement. "Good. Don't ever forget it." As soon as Jennifer finished her sentence, a knock came from the door. Both detectives turned to face it with slight curiosity. "Come in."
The wooden door creaked open, exposing a small, young brunette with brown eyes and thin framed glasses in an officer's suit. "Felix? Jennifer? Is everything alright? Me and the others heard yelling and-"
"We're fine, . Jennifer and I just had a small argument over something, s'all," Felix replied, his voice soft and soothing along. His icy eyes melted into something more caring as he stared at the younger officer, who nodded at Felix's feedback.
"Yo, ! What did they say?"
Another officer called out, jogging over to the door and stood next to . Jennifer smiled, staring at the arriving male officer. He towered over his partner, who almost seemed delicate in comparison who was obviously taller than . "Piggeh." She gave him a curt nod.
Piggeh smiled and returned the nod. "Jennifer." He looked over to Felix, giving him the same nod. "Sherlock."
Felix pursed his lips, glaring playfully at the pink haired male. "Fuck you."
The room was filled with the sound of soft laughter. Piggeh soon broke that happy noise in the air by asking a question. "So what was with the yelling?"
He gasped, changing the tone of his voice into a baby-like one as he teased the two detectives. "Are Mr. and fighting over spilt milk again?"
Both Felix and Jennifer glared at the Piggeh for a moment before Felix soon spoke up.
"Y'know Piggeh, if you got ass fucked by over there," He pointed his index finger over to the small brunette, who blushed a dark scarlet color as his eyes widened. "For every single time you called me or Jennifer Mr. or , you wouldn't be able to even walk for a whole fucking year."
Piggeh smirked at the statement. "Hmm..." The pink haired male's eyes wandered over to red-faced and wide-eyed . He then put his arm around the smaller male's shoulders, which tensed up at the light touch. "Ass fucked by to the point of not being able to walk for a year? Sounds like fun to me~"
The smaller officer's jaw dropped as he shook his head furiously, not believing to what his friend had just said. "W-What?!"Both detectives; Jennifer and Felix, and Officer Piggeh, all erupted into fits of laughter caused by the reaction of .
"We're kidding, Charles." Jennifer chuckled, rolling her dark grey eyes playfully.
"Mostly..." Piggeh mumbled under his breath, a small smirk on his features. Unfortunately, the small brunette heard his comment.
"Pete!" 's cheeks flamed a sweet cherry color. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger was a mystery to even the small male. But that was unimportant to him, for he was too busy at staring icily at his short, pink haired friend.
The roseate haired male retracted his arms away from his shorter friend, raising them in the air in a gesture of surrender instead. "I was joking, Charles. Really, I truly was."
His voice rung sincere, and knew it. With a sigh, and his eyes returning to their happy and caring glow as he looked at the ground, smiled. His cheeks slowly returned to their original color.
"Okay..."
Piggeh smiled softly as he put his arms at rest by letting them fall to his sides. One of his hands rose up to gently ruffle 's hair. Felix smiled at the scene, but soon asked if and Piggeh had any work to be doing. It had been adorable to see them mess around and break the ice at work sometimes, but this was a professional place and they had to keep things running all the time if they want civilians to be safe in their town.
"Huh?" Piggeh looked up at Felix with a raised brow, along with who was confused by the question before it clicked in his head.
"Oh yeah… We do." looked up at Piggeh whom turned his gaze to him. "Come on, Piggeh."
Piggeh nodded, turning to exit the room before stopping in his tracks. "Oh wait."
looked over at Piggeh and arched a brow. "What?"
Piggeh smiled and shook his head, signalling to go ahead with his hand. "I'll be there to help you out in a bit. Go ahead without me."
nodded, giving Piggeh a crooked smile before stepping out of the room. Piggeh watched the small brunette leave the slightly lit room before turning around to look at Detective Kjellberg with a smirk.
"Sooo," He stretched out the word 'So,' his smirk widening in size which lead to Detective Kjellberg to deliver the officer a threatening look.
"Sooo what?" Kjellberg lengthening out the word; 'So' just like Piggeh did a few seconds prior, mirroring what Piggeh had responded.
"Is it true?"
"Is what true?" Felix questioned, crossing his arms over his chest whilst he raised a suspicious brow. Jennifer laid unnoticed and undetected by Detective Kjellberg and Officer Pete, but that was fine by the young detective for she was too occupied in reading over the documents of the Masked Man. Piggeh's smirk grew even larger in size before he answered.
"About the rumor everyone is talking about throughout the country."
~~{Back in New York City}~~
Time froze and silence enveloped on the entire bus right after the words retreated out of Krism's mouth. The only audible sound was the sound of the bus' engine running softly in the background as the sapphire eyed male gawked at Krism. Mark had his back faced to the brunette as a result of sitting in his seat correctly. This conveniently allowed him to look down at his lap and avoid the sapphire gaze of the person behind him.
"No... No, he can't be here. This is a joke! A-a scam!"
Upon hearing the blue eyed male's response, Mark turned around, thus making him face the younger man. His own brown eyes locked with the younger fellow's gem coloured ones.
"He is, and unfortunately, this isn't a joke or a scam. The Masked Man is here, in NYC." Mark's stern voice travelled throughout the still air entering the ears of every passenger on their bus.
The sapphire eyed male could have sworn he heard the several gulps coming from different individuals on the bus in response to Mark's words. He shook his head slowly, his own deep blue eyes casting downwards to his lap as he let his shaky, dry voice be heard by everyone.
"No, no way. This isn't real…"
"Listen dude," Krism's soft, yet firm voice laced its way into the heavy silence that still engulfed the atmosphere. "This is real. This is why NYC looks so dead."
Her gaze tore away from the young man's face and turned to the window that he had gazed out of just a few minutes prior. She watched the passing New York scenery of empty streets and abandoned parking lots pass by, a chill crawling down her spine.
"No one wants to leave their homes in fear of being the next target of the Masked Man. We've heard that he targets random people. That he only kills just for the fun of it."
Before Krism could continue her small informational speech, Mark's mumbled response could be heard by only the deep blue eyed man, Krism, and a few civilians around them.
"That unrepentant homicidal bastard."
Krism whipped her head towards Mark, who looked down at the ground. She pursed her lips, brows scrunching together. "Mark!"
Mark ripped his fixed stare from the floor and moved it over to Krism's feminine face. He raised a brow in confusion. "What?"
"Don't say such a thing! No one knows who the Masked Man is, and he could be anyone on this bus! He could have heard you say that!"
"So?"
"So?!" Krism's hard gaze transformed into a light glare. "The Masked Man could target you next for calling him such a name! I mean, we all know he's an 'unrepentant homicidal bastard' but that doesn't mean you have to say it out loud!"
Mark's face paled a bit as the realization of what he said got to him. "Oh shit... But Krism! You said it too!"
Upon hearing Mark's reply, Krism's face flushed a light cherry red. Out of embarrassment or anger or both, it was unknown for the lady. "B-But that was different!"
"No it wasn't!"
"Yes it was!"
"Guys!" The sapphire eyed man's calm and soothing voice echoed though out the bus, pulling the yelling pair away from their small side conversation. Both Krism and Mark's gaze and attention shifted over to the direction of the owner's voice.
"Oh, right. Sorry, um..." Mark scratched the back of his head, his nose scrunched up as he stared hard at the man. "What was your name again?"
Krism blinked slowly, staring blankly at the young man before speaking. "Oh yeah, you never told us your name, kid."
The young individual gave the older pair an annoyed look. "I'm not a kid! Why must everyone come to the abrupt judgement of me being a kid?!"
Krism and Mark arched a brow at the younger male's sudden outburst before having Mark pop a question.
"Wait, how old are you?"
The sapphire eyed man eased a bit from his little outbreak as he thought about the question before answering.
Should I really tell them my age? I mean, come on. I don't think telling some complete strangers my age is a very bright idea...
"I'm, uh..."
Y'know what? Fuck it.
"I'm almost 25." The sapphire eyed man finished, staring at Krism and Mark while waiting for their reactions.
It's not like I'm ever gonna see them again. In addition, they seem like okay people...
Their eyes widened once they heard his response, thus causing the young fellow to furrow his brows together in slight confusion and curiosity, but they were mostly engulfed by a mask of annoyance. "What?"
But I still have my doubts...
With a simple shrug of her shoulders, Krism shook her head as she stared at the younger male with slightly wide eyes. "Nothing. It's just that-"
"You look way younger than 25." Mark cut in. Though a twitch of annoyance crossed her face, the interruption was forgiven by Krism. Mark's soft brown eyes scanning over the man's pale face. The brunette arched a brow once again before asking another question.
"How old do I look?"
"17 or 18," replied the pair in unison, causing the two to side glance at each other with a small smile, before returning their gaze to the younger civilian. He raised both of his brows at the statement.
"I do?"
Krism nodded, a stray piece of her red highlights falling over her eyes. She reached a hand up and tucked the piece of hair behind her ear in one short, fluid movement. "Yeah, that's why we were surprised to hear you say that you're almost 25."
The man nodded in understanding as he quickly detached his eyes from the pair in front of him and scanned the inside of the bus, seeing everyone engaged in their own conversations.
They must've stopped listening to our conversation a long time ago...
The young fellow turned his gaze back to Krism and Mark whom also was currently looking around the bus, seeing and hearing light talk dance into the air.
Wait, what they said about me looking 18 was meant to be a compliment, right?
"So what was your name again?" Mark's questioned, yanking the man from his thoughts and affected him into turning his gaze and all of his attention to the older fellow.
"Well, you guys haven't exactly shared your own names either."
The individual narrowed his eyes at the pair in front of him, who both had shocked and surprised looks on their features. It's true that the young man knew their names, but he needed them to tell him for if he said their names, they'd know he had eavesdropped into their conversation from earlier.
"Oh we haven't?" Krism spoke with pure confusion lacing her tone of voice. She tore her gaze from the younger citizen in front of her and turned it to Mark. "Well, that's Mark," Mark waved his hand at the younger man in a gesture of "Hello" as Krism pointed a finger at herself, turning her head back to the young male. "And I'm Krism."
The individual nodded in acknowledgement as stated his own name. "Cry."
"That doesn't sound like a name someone would give to their child," Mark commented, smiling as he stared at Cry with a questioning brow arched. "A nickname, I assume?"
A low, soft chuckle escaped from Cry's lips as he gave Mark a smile and nodded in response. "Yup," Cry turned his attention away from Mark and fixed it towards Krism. "And by listening to yours, Krism, I'm guessing it's a nickname as well? Correct me if I'm wrong."
Krism gave a soft chortle as she bobbed her head once in a nod. "Yeah, it is."
"Hey, I have a nickname too!" Mark exclaimed, earning the attention of both Krism and Cry. Krism provided her partner a knowing look while Cry gave him a look of slight doubt and excitement.
"Oh, really? What is it, Mark?"
"Markiplier." Mark stated, his voice lacing with proudness as the name rolled off his tongue.
Cry smirked once he heard Mark's long nickname, nodded a bit as he glanced over to Krism, whom snickered. "That sounds kinda badass, Mark - I mean, Markiplier."
Mark smirked triumphantly as he stared at Cry, who now prefixed his gaze on Mark. "Hey, I know it does. After all, I did think of it."
Cry chuckled to himself as Krism simply rolled her eyes with a smile on her feminine features. As soon as the sound of Cry's chuckle died out, the large vehicle the three were currently riding, slowed to a stop, causing them to looked over towards the front of the bus. The plug doors folded and opened, making the older pair look back at Cry. The younger male was now standing, his hands digging into his jacket's pockets.
"Well guys, it's been fun."
Cry smiled softly at the pair down in front of him, whom both returned it. Krism nodded in agreement before speaking.
"It was. And if fate decides to let us meet again, I'd have no problem with that. That is, if this buffoon," She brought her hand up and gently patted Mark's shoulder. "Doesn't get us killed by the Masked Man with his big mouth."
"Hey!" Mark lightly glared at Krism. She chuckled and Cry felt his breath hitch in the back of his throat. He simply let out a breathy nervous laugh that came unnoticed by the pair.
"Yeah..."
~~{Back to Gothenburg, Sweden}~~
Curiosity sparked in Felix's eyes bringing their cerulean depths to life.
"What rumor?"
Piggeh's wide smirk remained on his features as he stared at the male detective.
"Aw come on, Sherlock. Don't tell me you didn't hear about the rumour yet." His tone of voice was laced with fake surprise and practically drenched in a melodramatic color. Piggeh planted his hands in his back pants pockets as he stared at Detective Kjellberg with a smug grin. By now, Piggeh also held the attention of Jennifer, who was now narrowing her eyes at the officer.
"What was the rumor, Pete?" Detective Lane asked in a firm, almost threatening voice. The pink haired man turned his gaze over to Jennifer as Officer Pete heightened a brown colored eyebrow as the unchanging smirk remained on his pale features.
"I don't think I like that tone of voice, Jen."
"Just tell us what the rumor is, Piggeh." Felix urged. The young detective felt his patience quickly slip through his hands as he crossed his strong arms over his broad chest, staring coldly at the pink haired male. Piggeh stuck his hands out of his back pockets and put his arms up in surrender.
"Alright, alright." He still had the same smug grin masking his face while his words laced with enthusiasm. Piggeh's eyes flicked between Felix and Jennifer, his smirk growing in size. "The rumor was about you guys being assigned the case of the century."
Detective Lane arched a brow once she heard Piggeh's response before turning her gaze from Piggeh over to her partner Felix.
"'Case of the century'?" Felix turned and stared at Detective Lane with a slightly confused look on his features,as he shrugged. She furrowed her brows together as she pulled her gaze away from the Swedish man and looked back at Piggeh. "You mean the 'Masked Man case'?"
Piggeh made pretend guns with his hands by making a fist, putting his thumb up which now, made a 'Thumbs Up' gesture with his hand. And he also stuck out his index finger and did the same procedure with his other hand. Piggeh pointed his fake finger guns at Jennifer, clicking his tongue whilst he winked at her. "You got it, chica." Piggeh grinned as he spoke his last word in Spanish and with a perfect pronunciation.
"Well, what about the case? What was the whole rumor, Pete?" Felix questioned, his curiosity clawing at him from the inside as he spoke. He needed to know what the rumor was. It involved himself and the case he always dreamed of being assigned too. The case that persuaded him into getting into Criminal Law. The case that he finally got a hold of. By now, Felix was unaware of the fact that his eyes were narrowed at his close friend.
Piggeh turned his body to face Detective Kjellberg, putting his hands back in his back pockets. "Word around the whole country is that the two best detectives in Sweden, or more like the world in my opinion, were assigned the 'Masked Man case'."
Detective Kjellberg and Detective Lane glanced at each other, the action being picked up by Officer Pete, who smirked and continued.
"Some people think its a joke and say that they're not willing to get their hopes up due to some rumor they heard. Others are saying that 'God is finally showing us mercy by giving the case to you guys and that we finally have a chance at stopping this guy.' They're the ones who believe the rumor is obviously true." Piggeh's soft light brown eyes looked in between Jennifer and Felix. "So I ask you, is it true? Were you guys really assigned the case?"
Felix took a deep breath through his nose, breathing out through his mouth. He nodded. "Yes. It's true."
Piggeh's self-satisfied grin grew in size as he gave the detectives a curt nod. "Alrighty then." The pink haired officer turned his back to the pair, heading to the door and opened it. He stopped walking, turning his head in order to talk over his shoulder to Jennifer and Felix. "Good luck with the case. You'll need it."
And with that, Piggeh left the room, closing the wooden door behind him. Both detectives stared at the door for a while, silence engulfing the entire room once more.
"Hey."
The single word was enough to slice through the silence that enveloped the dimly lit room. The word was spoken by none other than Detective Kjellberg, who continued to stare at the door even as he spoke. Detective Lane, attention ensnared, looked over at him.
"What?"
"When did Stephano give you the case?"
Jennifer blinked slowly at the question before mentally searching the back of her head for the memory.
"Uh, last night after you left the station. He originally planned to give it to you, but you were already gone. Why?"
Felix gave Jennifer a slow nod, his blue eyes not once leaving the wooden door.
"No reason. It's just that word travels fast in this place. It's only been less than a day and the whole country is talking about it already."
Realization struck Jennifer, and her dark grey eyes widened.
"Oh yeah, you're right."
The male detective sighed, tearing his gaze over from the door and moving it over to Jennifer. "I give it a week before the whole world knows about this." Felix walked over to a wooden chair that was currently placed in front of Jennifer's desk, and heavily sat down on it.
Jennifer nodded slowly in agreement and sighed, looking back down at the documents. Felix stared at his partner with a bored expression on his facial features before he asked a question.
"So now that Officer Asshole and Officer Blush-A-Lot's visit is over, can you tell me about the case?"
Detective Lane chuckled at the nicknames Felix gave his friends before nodding and picking the papers up. She began to read through the documents, shuffling them around while doing so. "Well, we've already gone though the notion that this is the Masked Man case."
Felix nodded. His eyes caught a small flip notebook on Jennifer's desk, and he leaned over to grab the small journal pad along with a random black pen. He then leaned back in his seat, flipping to a clean sheet, and let Detective Lane continue talking.
"Alright, so on the account of all the case droppings and disappearances, barely anything was found out about this case. Well, until the last detective found this major clue and added a whole bunch of stuff to it."
"Okay then, so what do we got so far?" Felix asked calmly.
"Even with everything the last detective gathered, not much."
Felix sighed, his eyes glued on the documents in Jennifer's hands. "Well, do we know the name of the guy? If it is a guy..." Felix mumbled the last bit of his words, however, they were still picked up by his partner, who shook her head.
"Negative, that is still unknown. And the sex of the-"
Jennifer stopped talking once she was interrupted by snickering from her partner. She looked up at Felix, scrunching her brows together in confusion.
"What?"
"You said 'sex'." Felix snickered once more as he smirked. Jennifer scoffed, rolling her eyes at her partner's childish behavior.
"Felix, be mature with me. You're 29 years old for fuck sakes!"
"Okay, okay!" Felix put his notebook and pen down on his lap before raising his arms in surrender. "Sorry! Proceed with the - whatever it was that you were saying." He waved his right hand in dismissal before he put his arms down, picking up the small journal pad and black ink pen in the process.
Before Detective Lane glared icily at the Swedish man in front of her and rolled her eyes once again in annoyance. "Were you even listening?"
"Yeah, yeah, I was." Felix waved his companion off again, rolling his own blue eyes in a well placed mimicry of his partner.
The other detective narrowed her eyes coldly at her friend. "What did I say then?"
Felix sighed in irritation. "You said that the Masked Man's name is unidentified and that their gender is assumed to be...?" Felix drawled out the word, 'be', staring at Jennifer curiously.
"The Masked Man is presumed to be male."
"Yes, male." Felix nodded and wrote something down on his notepad.
No duh, he would be male. He's called the Masked Man. Key word: man. It would be stupid if they thought he was a woman and still gave him the title of the 'Masked Man'.
Jennifer nodded, smiling slightly before she spoke and pulled Felix out of his thoughts. "Good, so you were listening."
Felix scoffed, smiling a tad bit. "Since when do I not listen?" Jennifer opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Felix talking once again. "Don't answer that."
The female detective chuckled, shaking her head at the Swedish male. "Fine. Anyway, may I continue?"
Felix showed his perfect snow white teeth in a grin and nodded. "Please do."
Detective Lane grinned back, bobbing her head in a nod. She casted her eyes away from Felix's face and downwards to the documents in her hands. She scanned the words written on the papers, continuing to inform her companion about the case.
"His age and date of birth are both undiscovered. His occupation are a professional criminal, murderer and serial killer."
Detective Kjellberg nodded in acknowledgement while he listened to his close friend and wrote something down on his small journal pad.
"Does he have a home town and do we know a place where most of his killings occur?" Felix asked whilst his pen scribbled words onto the lined paper. Jennifer shuffled the papers around, her eyes leafing through the words on the documents before she shook her head.
"No, he does not. Well, for the home part at least. And his killings, well..."
Felix raised a curious brow and stopped his writing to look at Jennifer. "What about his killings?"
"They're unpredictable."
"Unpredictable?" Detective Kjellberg echoed in question.
The black haired woman nodded, stealing a quick glance at Felix. "Yes, it seems like he kills anywhere and everywhere. All around the globe. He has killed someone at least, in almost every big city in the world once or at least as far as we know."
Felix's icy blue eyes widened once he heard the new coming information. He looked back down at the journal in his hands and moved his pen moved across the page, printing new things into it.
"Damn... He must be difficult to track down."
Detective Lane nodded, her eyes glued to the documents in her hands. "Yes, he is. It also seems that all victims were not related or connected in any way. Making him have no real pattern of killing."
Felix nodded. "Well, there's no surprise there."
The female detective chuckled, nodding in agreement as she began to speak once more. "His race, hair color, eye color, height, and weight, all seem to be undetermined as well."
"Y'know, I'm starting to get why they call him the 'Unknown', now." Detective Lane tore her gaze from the documents in her hands and set it on Felix, who had stopped writing and was now staring at her. "It's because no one knows shit about him."
Jennifer laughed, relocating her eyes back down onto the papers in her hands before mumbling out her next choice of words. "Ain't that the truth..."
Felix grinned once he heard his partner laugh. "All right, what else do we know?"
"Uh..." Jennifer shuffled the papers in her hand, her eyes searching for more information. "He seems to be an expert with knives and in stealth. Seeing as he's never been caught or noticed by the victim before they were killed."
Felix nodded and resumed writing. "Anything else?"
Detective Lane shook her head slowly, her eyes still glued onto the papers. "Not really. Besides the most IMPORTANT thing about the Masked Man. But I'm pretty sure anyone who knows about the Masked Man, knows about this."
The male detective felt a smirk crawl onto his facial features as he looked up from the small journal, his eyes locking onto Jennifer's face. "The masks..."
The dark grey eyed woman nodded, a smug grin appearing onto her face as she looked up, her eyes locking with Felix's.
"Yup, that."
~~{Switching back to New York City}~~
"Well, goodbye friends."
Cry stuck his hand out for a handshakes, in which, both Krism and Mark happily obliged to. As he shook their hands, two other passengers walked down the aisle, passed the trio and headed to the front plug doors.
"Bye~" Both Krism and Mark replied in a sing-song voice. They had spoken in unison, which caused the pair to smile at each other.
Cry walked down the aisle soon after saying farewell and walked down the bus steps, the soles of his shoes feeling the ground underneath him. He turned his body around, seeing the plug doors unfold and close. The bus driver pulled a lever before the giant vehicle began to move once again, leaving Cry to stand at the bus stop and watch as the bus drove away. It grew smaller and smaller as it disappeared down the almost empty streets. Several stray cars drove down the road, but Cry didn't seem to notice. His gaze and full attention was still glued to the bus and the bus alone.
Once the vehicle was out of Cry's view, he turned and began to walk down the paved sidewalk. His dull, sapphire coloured eyes drifted to the solid ground as his mind wandered.
Mark and Krism...
Cry kicked a small rock that laid peacefully on the sidewalk, which now was starting to be covered by scattered, small, dark, wet spots that went undetected by the thinking man.
They seem like nice people...
Small droplets of rain water formed in a light gray clouds above the barren New York City. Once the sphere droplets were heavy enough, they free-fell downwards, their forms shape-shifting into a teardrop form. The drops of rain water cascaded down, in a diagonal pathway to the ground thanks to the gentle wind that prevented them to fall straight downwards. The single droplets soon made contact with the solid ground, which soaked up the liquid rapidly, like dirt in a desert that hadn't had its first rainfall in a year.
Then again...
A small handful of people strolled down the sidewalk around Cry, some in casual clothing, others in business suits. They either must've forgot about the Masked Man being in New York, hadn't heard the news yet, or just generally don't care. But once again, Cry remained oblivious to them.
You can't just assume someone is a certain thing just because of something they did. You have to get to know them, understand them, learn them for who they are. By then you will not able to judge them, but describe them.
The droplets of rain fell downwards faster, gently pelting the ground as they landed on the solid ground, rooftops, cars, and people who were currently trying desperately to shield themselves from the light rain shower. A small rain droplet landed precisely on Cry's small button nose, causing the young man to be pulled out of his thoughts and come into a halt with his walking.
Cry let out a small, girly sneeze, his hands coming up to cover his mouth afterwards. He felt his cheeks heat up a bit as he looked around him to see if anybody was around, embarrassed if anyone heard him. But to Cry's surprise, no one was around.
Oh yeah, the town is on lockdown because of the Masked Man. But weren't there other people around? Or did I just imagine them?
Cry stared at the ground in front of him, his hands falling to his sides. He furrowed his brows as his thoughts were now consumed by images and rumors of the criminal.
"The Masked Man..." He mumbled to himself, feeling a chill creep down his spine. He shivered once the name came out of his mouth. And at this moment, Cry had a small flashback of the conversation he had with Krism and Mark on the bus only moments ago. "It can't be true... He can't be here."
Cry looked around, finally noticing the pouring rain and his soaked through clothing.
"Whoa..."
He put his hands up in an hopeless act of shielding the rain away from his eyes. The young man began to sprint to his apartment complex, being careful of his steps due to the fact that the pavement was now slippery and wet.
I need to hurry and get home so I can get out of these clothes and out of this pouring rain.
~~{Returning back to Gothenburg, Sweden}~~
Felix chuckled, clicking his pen to make the tip shelter inside of it. "Well, since we already know all about that, we don't need to go over it, now do we?"
Detective Lane smiled softly, shaking her head no. "No sir, we do not."
Detective Kjellberg nodded, standing up from his wooden chair and flipped the small notepad close. He then slid it into his back jean pockets, before stretching his arms out with a quiet yawn. Jennifer watched Felix, her curiosity spiking once she saw Felix put the small journal in his pocket.
"Did you seriously just write down everything I said in that?" She arched a brow, voice laced with slight confusion. "You do know that all the information is on these papers in my hands."
"I wasn't writing anything down relating to the Masked Man." Felix replied as he looked around Jennifer's office, his icy gaze landing on a map of the world on her wall.
"Then what were you writing down?"
"I was making a list of things I need to pack into my suitcase."
Jennifer slowly blinked, not sure if she heard Felix right. "A list of things you need to pack in your-"
"Hey, can you tell me when and where the last Masked Man killing was?" Felix interrupted his partner with his sudden question.
Detective Lane's facial features held a look of confusion as she arched a questioning brow. "Last killing?"
"Yeah, the last Masked Man killing." He repeated whilst he walked over to the map, standing in front of it. Detective Lane looked down at the documents in her hand, trying her best to brush off the confusion that still engulfed her emotions as she shuffled the papers around. She read over the printed words, transforming the written language on the paper into spoken words.
"His last killing was three days ago on March 17th, in New York City."
Felix raised a brow, his eyes locked on the large map. "Isn't that in the United States of America?" Detective Lane tore her gaze away from the files and relocated it on Felix.
"New York City?"
"Yeah."
"Yes, I suppose it is." Jennifer creased her forehead. "Why?"
"Well," Felix cleared his throat, his eyes scanning over the western part of the world before speaking again. "You said that his killings are all over the world and I wanted to know where his last one was."
Detective Lane nodded in understanding as she turned her gaze back to the documents in her hands. "Oh, okay."
"You're American, right?"
The sudden and off-topic question that Felix asked surprised the young woman, who looked back up at her male companion. Felix was already looking back at Jennifer by the time she looked at him, his expression holding a serious look.
"What?"
~~{Back to New York City}~~
The soothing sound of the pouring rain hitting the ground filled Cry's ears as he ran to his home. His footsteps and the light pant of his breathing was tuned out by the rain as he ran past a corner. Cry stopped his sprinting to look up and through the heavy rain he saw a giant apartment complex. He smiled inwardly, jogging up to the constructed dwelling.
The air seemed to shift as Cry strolled up to the front doors to the lobby, pushing the door open. The atmosphere seemed... heavier. And yes, thicker as well. But why?
He walked up through the lobby, heading to the elevator. Yes, by now, the young male noticed the feeling of the air seeming to push him down to the ground, trying to smother him under the floorboards. As much as Cry desired to brush this feeling off, he couldn't. The feeling was too great for a simple person to just ignore, for it deemed impossible to neglect the feeling.
Cry now stood in front of the elevator, pressing the 'Up' button and waited for the shaft to come down. He tapped his foot impatiently, wanting to escape the lobby where this blasted feeling was placed upon. As the elevator neared its destination, Cry felt eyes bore into the back of his skull. It was an intense feeling, for it bothered the man greatly. He turned his body, looking behind him and around the lobby to see nobody there. Not even the person behind the large counter where registration and what-not took place, was there either.
Was the employee on break?
Ding!
Cry turned back to the elevator to see its door open. Relief and happiness filled Cry as the man basically ran into the elevator. He sighed as he turned around, seeing the door slowly close. As they slowly slid to a close, Cry could have sworn that he saw a person standing by the front lobby doors, staring directly at him.
"Huh...?" Cry stared at the figure and for a split second they made eye contact before the elevator doors slid shut. He stared at the doors for a while, his face paling. That person wasn't there before. And he could have heard the door open if they did enter after he did, but he didn't. He also didn't see any sign on their clothing that they were wet from the rain outside. Had he imagined it? Yes, he must've have... That is the only reasonable explanation.
After Cry had thought over the situation, he hit the number of his floor from the various buttons that laid in display beside the doors. Cry let out a shaky breath as he leaned back against the wall, tilting his head back to the ceiling.
"Well today has started off shitty..." Cry muttered to himself, his eyes closing shut as he sighed through his nose.
Ding!
Cry lifted his eyelids, pushing himself away from the wall with his arms, exiting the elevator which now had its doors wide opened. He reached into his back jean's pockets, pulling out his apartment keys as he strolled down the hallway, taking a right turn. He was getting closer and closer to his apartment and right when he was just a few yards away from his door, he felt it.
The feeling from the lobby returned...
The same air tightness and heaviness settled in the hallway, causing the man to stop walking. Once again, Cry felt eyes bore into the back of his head, burning his hair and skull, as if it was trying to melt its way to Cry's brain. The blue eyed man dryly gulped, goosebumps forming on his pale white skin as his eyes scanned the hallway and located his door with a newfound urgency.
Should I make a run for it?
Cry debated whether or not to run to his door, quickly slide the key in and go inside. As he thought about it, his body subconsciously turned him around, facing the way he'd come from. Before he could even react to his body's decision, a dark shadow caught his eye. Someone was peering around the corner of the wall down the corridor. Right as Cry noticed the figure, however, they ran. Cry felt frozen in his stop as he slowly blinked.
What the hell was that?
Out of curiosity and confusion, Cry unfroze himself and ran down the hallway to where the figure was watching him, only to find there was no one else around. He heard no footsteps either when they ran. Had he imagined this as well?
"I'm imagining things. This is what happens when I leave my earbuds at Russ' house..." Cry mumbled to himself as he turned back around and walked to his apartment door. Once he reached it, he slid his keys into the lock, turning it and twisted the doorknob. He pushed the door, and entered his complex before shutting the door behind him with a sigh before double locking it.
Finally he could get some peace and quiet.
~~{Back to Gothenburg, Sweden}~~
"You're American, right?" Detective Kjellberg repeated with an arched brow. "Or at least, use to be before you came over to Sweden."
"Yeah, why?"
Felix smiled softly at Jennifer's response, completely ignoring her question as he asked another one himself.
"When was the last time you were in America?"
Detective Lane thought about the question, grinning a bit to herself as she answered."It was a loooong time ago." She chuckled, stretching out the word 'long' as she spoke. "Back when I was still young and beautiful."
Felix's smile remained unchanged as he tore his gaze away from the map on the wall and placed it onto his partner. He stared into her eyes, speaking his next words with pure meaning. "You still are young and beautiful, Lane. You're just as young and beautiful like my wife, Marzia."
The male detective turned his head back to the map in front of him, his eyes scanning the entire thing. He saw a red pushpin stuck onto the map near by the country of Vietnam. He reached over, wrapping his fingers around the plastic end and pulled the pin out. While Felix did this, Jennifer sat in her chair, a light rosy pink color resting on her cheeks.
"Aw, thanks for the compliment, Sherlock." Jennifer shook her head, her faint blush fading away as she watched Felix still observe the map. "Anyway, why do you ask?"
Felix's smile - which had never left his face - grew in size as his icy blue eyes remained intact with the map. "Because I want you to pack your bags, Lane."
The male detective lifted his hand up to the map with the pushpin, moving the pin so it hovered approximately where New York City would be. He gently pushed the pin into the map until it stayed stuck to the wall, before taking a few steps back and stared at the world map in admiration. Detective Kjellberg turn his head, a grin on his features as his blue eyes pierced Jennifer's dark grey ones.
"We're going to America."
Yes, even after editing this, I used all those names I used for Cry. I couldn't call him Cry in the beginning because he hadn't told us his name yet, and I had to improvise. He's one of the main characters and he does a lot, so I had to do something, okay? The sapphire eyed brunette male it was, and to hell with thinking of anything else.
AND I APOLOGIZE ABOUT THE CHAPTER BEING EVEN LONGER THAN IT ORIGINALLY WAS. It's about 13,500+ words long now, I believe. It used to be 12,600+. The upcoming chapters won't ever be that length. They will still be quite long, about 9,000 words each, but never 13,000. No. Absolutely not. Never again.