Chapter 3: A Delightful Meeting

Jake Blau was not having a good day. It had started off as a normal day, sure, but the second he walked into the station everything went downhill. Margo had practically burst through his office door, a new job. It involved children. Any detective's job that involved children consistently made his nights that much harder to sleep through. Sighing, he pulled on his coat, happily grabbed a donut from the employee lounge, and made haste to their shared car.

As he drove to the scene, Margo briefed him. "According to the police who arrived on the scene, Theresa Yun, 32, left her house to go for a run. She found 4 teenage-looking kids passed out in a heap on her lawn."

"Theresa? Your sister?"

"Yup. Somehow Terri got herself involved in this situation….." They both snorted. From what little interaction Jake had had with the woman, he had gotten the idea that she wasn't very bright.

"Also, a heap?" He looked at his partner through the side of his eye, gaging her reaction to the odd choice of words. She chuckled, catching the hidden statement in his question.

"Hey, her words not mine."

"Christ, what are kids these days getting up to…" He trailed off. "Hey, wait where is this place again?"

"About that….."

"You don't know where your own sister lives?!"

"We normally go out…."

Three wrong turns, fourteen red lights, one sidestreet, and one attempt to throw Siri into traffic, they had finally, finally, for a given definition of "successfully", arrived at 125 Center Street. The duo gaped as they looked at the swan-shaped hedges in the front lawn that decorated the edges of the path behind the huge gate protecting the house. They took slow steps as they entered, so as to not disturb anything, quickly breaking into a quicker pace as they ogled the columns, roses, and- Holy Crap is that a waterfall?!

A throat cleared behind them, doing nothing to break them out of their glory-induced stupor. "Ahm. Detectives?" Finally turning around, they acknowledged the speaker, a young blond haired male. The uniform and crest on his chest suggested he was a cop, his attentive stance only aiding that impression. Noticing he had their attention, he hurried to continue. "Sir, Ma'am, Officer Kamp. I have the witness, Mrs. Theresa Yun, waiting with my associate inside." Officer Kamp lead the way, gesturing for them to follow as he prattled on.

"Her husband is away on a business trip, leaving Mrs. Yun home alone." Swinging the ginormous front doors open, they continued on to a large sitting room. The officer stopped a few feet before the sitting room, motioning for his associate to come to his side. "Any questions?"

Jake opened his mouth to speak, but Margo beat him to the punch. "The teenagers mentioned in the briefing, where are they?" When can we question them?

"Paramedics took them to Our Lady, unconscious, to check for any internal injuries. One of them woke up briefly, a tall ginger kid, but I doubt you'll be questioning them for a while." With that and a nod, he turned on his heel, associate in step, and left the detectives to question their witness.

~o0o~

"-and then I found the four of them in a heap in my yard!" The detectives sweatdropped at her words, wondering how she could say that with a straight face.

"Um, ma'am, err Theresa? Could you be more specific about what happened?" Jake finally collected himself. He was an esteemed detective after all!

"Of course! Why didn't you ask already! And don't call me ma'am ('I'm not that old!') or Theresa! Terri is just fine." She wagged her finger at them, a serious expression on her face despite her teasing manner.

"I had just talked to my gardener, Wade about getting some ducks- he's a very knowledgeable man you know- but he had to leave, children to take care of, chicken to feed, and so he left through the front door and I made myself a some fried eggs and a smoothie."

"And then you went out.. and found them in 'a heap' in your yard? They weren't there when Wade went out? How can we contact him?" As Margo and her sister went back and forth, Jake took a moment to compare the two. He had met Theresa before of course, but never long enough to think about her appearance.

Theresa- with long black hair, green eyes, and a rather tall and fit figure- looked almost nothing like Margo. There were obvious similarities of course, in their cheekbone and eye shapes, but aside from that? Margo had blue eyes, was relatively short, and had light brown hair which would go to her shoulders if worn down. He ran a hand through his own brown hair, brown eyes becoming once more focused on the conversation.

"You can't seriously be suspecting me or Wade! I walked him out, and there certainly wasn't any children on my lawn then! And you can't think that I somehow put them there!"

He decided to step in, "Of course not, we're just trying to get the full story. Margo mentioned contacting the gardener, Wade, earlier? We will need to fact check with him for official records."

Forty minutes later had the detectives bidding their farewells, to both Theresa and the mansion, the gardener's address in hand, along with two of Theresa's 'Stay Fit' smoothies that made them both gag. When the neighbors and the gardener gave them no new information, they gave in to their stomachs and took a break, stopping at their regular little cafe, just a few blocks away from Our Lady Hospital.

The little pink bell above the door jingled as they walked into the air-conditioned cafe, relishing in the relief it brought from the hot air outside. While their car did have air-conditioning, helpful for the hours they always seemed to spend stuck in New York traffic, they had walked a few blocks to the cafe due to parking problems. Jake snagged their normal booth by the window while Margo ordered them some iced coffee and sandwiches. As they munched, the investigation became the topic of their conversation.

"I can't believe no one saw those kids get there!" She angrily sipped her coffee, glaring at her reflection in the window. If people outside shivered, it definitely wasn't because of the temperature.

"Well, I mean, considering the ginormous swan bushes filling the yard…"

"This isn't the time for jokes!" The smirk on her face betrayed her words. He smirked back, earning a smile. "Seriously though. It seems like our only bet is to question them." A pause as she considered that. She sighed. "By the way that officer earlier was saying it though, it doesn't sound like that'll be any time soon."

"Never know till you try."

They tipped the waitress and excused themselves, finding their car, cranking the a/c up, and making the trek to Our Lady Hospital. The clock in the waiting room read 3:00 p.m. That late already? After talking to the secretary at the front desk, they were finally able to make their way to see the victims. Arriving at the room, they found someone already there.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" From her uniform she seemed to be a nurse, not a doctor. That came as a slight disappointment, but it wasn't as if she couldn't lead them to the doctor.

"Hmm? Ohh!" The woman fiddled her hands in front of her, turning around to face them. "I'm sorry, you scared me. Is there something I can help you with Mr..?"

"Blau. Detective Jake Blau and my associate Margo Thotch with the NYPD."

Done examining the odd looking teens that took up the room's full space, Margo joined in, "We're looking for their doctor, Dr. Richie. The lady at the front desk said his attending would know? Given the circumstances we would like to see him as soon as possible. We of course have questions about their conditions."

"Of course! Right this way, he's in the lounge going over their files now. I'm actually his attending."

The attending opened the door to the lounge, collected the doctor, and led the way to a small conference room where they could discuss the patients. She then excused herself, leaving the detectives and doctor alone. "I wish I could stay, but we're short staffed today and I offered to help at the front desk."

The three watched her leave, an awkward silence filling the room before the doctor introduced himself. "Agny Richie, nice to meet you." A marginal grey showed at his temples and the slight wrinkles in his face crinkled as he gave a polite smile.

~o0o~

"Their vitals are normal, they aren't injured except for the occasional bruise or scratch." At the sharp look thrown his way, he clarified, "It's not consistent with abuse. However the scars marring their bodies are very unusual."

"Scars?" Metaphorically sitting up and taking notice they fixed a rapt attention on the doctor.

"Many. On all of them except for one boy, there doesn't have even a small mark on him. Of course, I'm only going by what the nurses who changed them into gowns said; we won't have consent to fully examine them until they wake up. Not to mention the huge scar on the youngest boy's face! He can't be more than 13, 14, yet that scar looks old and violent."

The duo cast a horrified look at him. It wasn't unusual for violence in their cases, it was an odd day if violence wasn't present, but how the doctor explained it made them both uneasy.

"That's all I have on their conditions, but there is something else that might help you." He turned, walking over to a wall-mounted phone and calling for something. That something arrived in multiple zip bags stuffed with clothes.

"These are the clothes they were wearing. As you can see, there are what look like uniform jackets, combat boots, and some really old style shirts, pants, and a skirt." He handed them a bag that contained an old-fashioned button up shirt, another with a deep red bowtie, and yet another with a small, white, pristine pair of men's leather gloves. "Then there were some extra items." He handed a bag with a eyepatch in it. "We checked his eye, and there was no injury or physical reason to wear this."

A sharp caught Margo's eye and she walked over to find a bag with a mallet in it. The bag next to it held what looked to be a thigh strap for the weapon. "What's up with this?"

The doctor stopped his rant, only to continue it again when he saw what she was pointing to. "And those!" On his way over to her, he grabbed a different bag, one filled with a sheathed sword. What the hell is that a sword?! "We found two of them carrying these vintage looking weapons. I don't how they got them, but we know for a fact that they are real. We had forensics look into these weapons, but they didn't find anything. It doesn't help that there is no model number on them." He let that sentence hang for a moment before Jake caught on.

"You think that the weapons are somehow illegally made."

"I try not to accuse my patients of things, but I can't think of any other reason why the model numbers and even logos would be missing." The next several minutes were spent examining the items, everything from uniforms to pocket junk like business cards inscribed with the ominous name of 'Black Order', whatever that was. They would have to get someone on that as soon as possible.

"Thank you for all your help, Doc."

They walked through the hospital, headed for the waiting room, when they passed their victims' room. The plan was to wait for the teens to awaken, but from the sound of chatter in the room, they assumed that plan was bunk. Margo quickly peaked her head around the curtain, sliding the curtain a crack so Jake could do the same. Sure enough, crowded on one bed, there were their John and Jane Does.

The hushed conversation paused a moment as one boy, with fiery red hair, was singled out. Suddenly, the bed erupted in barely whispered shouts.

"IDIOT!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT BEFORE!"

"BAKA USAGI!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The youngest boy, whom the doctor had described earlier, reached out to attempt to strangle the redhead. The detectives were about to rush in, but the girl next to him was quick to slap his hands down.

"Stupid idiot!" She whispered her earlier statement, and the attention was turned to her. "That would've been nice to know earlier!" She smacked him lightly on the head and continued. "'Our Lady'? I've never heard of it. It's in English so that narrows the location down quite a bit..."

Jake smirked. Time to make our grand entrance. "We might be willing to help you with that." Margo followed his lead, and they both dramatically stepped into the room, shutting the curtain behind them.

The red head, apparently very surprised at their presence, let loose a girlish squeal, followed by a, "Holy!-" His curse was cut short as he was abruptly shoved off the bed by a tall black haired kid.

"Che."

A/N:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Today we get the perspective of the detectives investigating the exorcists. The other chapters have been about 1,420 words each. Today's chapter is 2,101 words! ;) Please know that I don't include Author's Notes in that total, I only include content.

ALSO, I NOTICED THAT NO DGM FUTURE STORY (that I've found at least) BRINGS UP THE CONCEPT OF CLOTHING (and the difference of fashion between the 19th and 21st Century)! That will be addressed here.

Important-ish News:

I signed up for NanoWrimo. What is that? It is a writing challenge for the month of November. The goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month. Check out my profile there with key words nanowrimo participants hopetabby There you can be updated on how many words I have written the whole month, and maybe even sign up yourself. I found it very easy to use and very welcoming.

Now, reviews:

Shy Mary Butterfly- Hopefully this chapter makes you even more anxious about where this story is going!

alexc1209- I haven't quite decided the Earl's role, it may even be minor, but I hope to at least make a few jokes about him over the course of this story.

Until next chapter,

Hopetabby