I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the rights to any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 3: Investigation
I woke up before sunrise when I heard a police car pull up with its lights flashing. The police radio wasn't that loud, but the lights coming through the window eventually annoyed me enough to check it out. I crept out of the Cabin to the tune of Trey's snoring, disturbing no one as I quickly dashed in between the buildings. I got within earshot and hid around a corner, trying to pick up the conversation. The police car and uniform belonged to a nearby town called Springwood, but beyond the town's name I knew nothing of it. I glanced around to see a cop talking to Mr. Cochteau, and even spotted the kid Robby nearby. I had rescued him from a gang riot the day after we beat Buu and dumped him off at Cochteau's place since he had nowhere to go. He had to have been thirteen years old by now, my guess is he was a budding assistant. He looked very disturbed, like he just went through one of those bad nights on the street again.
"How long ago did you find the body?" the cop asked.
"About thirty minutes ago when Robby came running up to report it. It looks like she had been out all night, the teenagers around here tend to do that a lot," Cochteau explained, looking very upset.
"Well, foul play is obvious so I won't bother asking that question. Are there any troublesome kids on your staff this year?"
"No," Cochteau shook his head.
"Robby, my name is Officer Stubbs. Can you answer a question for me?" the cop asked, changing targets for the moment. Robby nodded slowly, but he looked like he was ready to scream.
"Did you see anyone around here that might have done this?" Stubbs asked directly. He shook his head as well, though his lip was quivering.
"Rachael and Robby have a slight relationship," Cochteau said for him, answering my own question that he had likely seen the body first.
"All right, I'll call a damage team for the body and we'll get a few units out here to search the woods. Try to keep all the children together," Stubbs suggested. Stubbs went back to the car and called in the order while I retreated back to the cabin for now, scanning around for anything out of the ordinary. Once satisfied for the moment, I entered, finding Trunks staring out the window.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Looks like there's been a murder of one of the counselors," I said shuffling back into bed.
"Any clue on who did it?" he asked.
"No," I said, closing my eyes. I sensed a sudden rush of excitement from Trunks and knew what he wanted to do instantly. I stared at him for a moment before shaking my head sharply.
"Oh come on bro, it would be so fun! I'm bored out here!" he suggested.
"We're here to relax Trunks, not to play hero again. The local authorities can handle this one," I said.
"But if they don't, you know our mothers will pull us out and back home, and then we'll have to put up with Bulla's crying!" Shit, good point.
"God Damnit. All right, we can look into it, but if we actually find the assailant, we just beat him up and hand him over. Nothing fancy either, you two have caused enough trouble," I gave in as I shifted around in bed.
"Can't we check it out now?" he asked a minute later. I growled slightly, giving him his answer. He pouted for a minute or two and then crawled back into bed, knowing he wasn't going to budge me from that decision.
Breakfast was a silent affair for the counselors, who had all been informed of the situation, but declined on saying anything to the younger children. Being oblivious to the night's event, they remained the usual chatterboxes. The only major thing was that I noticed Kia's hair was now blue, no doubt due to Trunks changing up Gibb's shampoo at some point and she had been unlucky enough to use it. There was barely a reference to it though, the serious and saddened faces were on. Trunks spent half the morning explaining his plan to play detective to Goten, only because it wasn't something Goten did on a daily basis. Officer Stubbs hung around for the majority of the morning as well, patrolling the compound by the look of it. He had a few other cops with him for a little while, but they drove off once the area was deemed secure. I doubt whoever did this is going to come back anyway, no one is that stupid. And even if they are, they'd be in for a surprise. All of the other kids were engrossed in some sort of arts and crafts contest, nothing I was interested in. I snuck around to the backside of my cabin and sat in deep mediation as I scanned the woods with my senses and with my spiritual vision ability. I quickly locked onto two small ki signals that were emitting a lot of emotional energy. And then I saw why when I recognized them to be Gibb and Trey. Good lord, don't those two have something else to do? A dozen kids are in their future at this rate. I don't care how depressed they are, this is not the time for that kind of activity. I had just detected a third signal moving towards them when Officer Stubbs walked up and broke my concentration.
"Aren't you supposed to be over there with the other children?" he asked.
"Arts and crafts aren't exactly my forte. Besides, I'm trying to find your killer," I said as glanced up at him.
"How do you know about that? I told those damn kids to keep this quiet!" he said in anger, not bothering to ask how I was searching.
"Let's just say I have very good ears. Any idea who did this?" I asked.
"No leads, wait a sec, why am I talking to a kid?" he asked himself.
"This kid saved your ass a few days ago, I'm sure you remember that nasty virus," I muttered as his radio erupted with sudden chatter about a high-speed chase in the area.
"Just a second, negative dispatch! I'm up at Crystal Lake! Okay, now what did you say about a few days ago?" he asked.
"Forget it," I said, shutting my eyes again. Just as I did, I heard a scream nearby and turned my head towards the left. Gibb was sprinting barefoot out of the forest, screaming her head off. She only had her undergarments and a pink button down shirt on, one that was soaked in red.
"I think your killer has struck again," I stood up as Stubbs' hand went to his gun. I scanned the woods again, finding no sign of Trey at all. Whatever had been coming near them was also long gone.
"All right, I want everyone to stay in the open, I'll check the area!" Stubbs ordered once the panic stricken Gibb explained what happened. It was rather incoherent for a moment or two, as she had only seen the result, not the murder itself. She described it pretty well though, Trey had been stabbed repeatedly through the back and chest, and had likely been thrown into a tree. No sign of the killer, but he had to have been strong to be able to do that.
"What do you think bro?" Trunks whispered.
"I think that's our cue to check it out. Goten, stay here just in case that creep comes this way. I didn't sense whomever this was for very long. Me and Trunks will comb through the woods. If whoever this is shows up here, power up to warn us, but do not go after this enemy unless absolutely necessary. We don't know what were up against here. We'll find the body easy enough in there, just look for all the blood. Let's go!" I said as we sprinted towards the tree line.
"No don't!" one of the counselors shouted, though I wasn't sure who it was. Stubbs spun when he heard the shout, only to see two dust trails blowing past him. Within thirty seconds we found Trey's body, though the red vegetation gave it away. He was totally messed up just as Gibb had said, only a tenth of a mile away from the camp. The only false information was the fact that he was actually hanging from a partially lobbed off tree branch, one that was sticking right through him.
"Holy crap, this guy sure got torn up. Maybe it's a good thing we didn't bring Goten," Trunks said, looking a little sick himself.
"Block out your nausea as best as possible so you can focus," I replied coolly.
"You're not even a little sick at the sight of that?" he asked, surprised.
"The Zerg did worse. And so did I," I said in a low tone, causing Trunks to noticeably flinch as I resumed my scanning around the woods. I had already seen an array of large footsteps implanted around us, but the direction was unclear, almost as if this killer knew how to cover his tracks with confusion.
"Man, I still can't sense anything! Either this guy is really weak or he can hide his power even better than you can!" Trunks whined a bit.
"If you can't find him with your energy senses, you have to look the natural way, with your eyes and ears. There's barely any wind in here, so smell probably won't do us much good if we can't tell which direction he or she came from," I pointed out.
"Maybe it was a wild animal," Trunks suggested.
"While I wouldn't doubt it out here, what animal does that?" I asked, pointing at the corpse. Trunks shut up for the moment, until we both perked up to gunshots being fired from the area of the camp just as I sensed Goten flare his power just a bit. We nodded to each other at the obvious sign and blasted out of the forest, arriving at the clearing and seeing Stubbs emptying his pistol on a large figure. It was a big man to be sure, with wilted and dirty clothes, and an even dirtier skin tone. He had some sort of old hockey mask over his face and carried a large knife, much like a machete. The blade was dripping with blood, and I knew immediately that we had our killer. Stubbs was hitting him solidly in the chest, and the large figure barely reacted as he stalked forward, despite losing some blood himself. Stubbs' gun ran empty, so he took out his nightstick and ran at this figure, knocking the machete out of his hand with the first blow to the arm and then hammering on the guy's head. The killer barely reacted to the head blows however, and backhanded Stubbs in the chest, and sent him flying over twenty feet in the air.
"I think that's enough," I said as I stepped forward into the killer's path as he picked up his machete. "I suggest you surrender. You're not taking any more life today. Whether or not you walk out of here alive depends on you," I said simply. The killer walked up towards me with his blade out and swung down towards my shoulder. I caught the blade easily and held on as he tried to cut me down, unsuccessfully.
"Wrong choice," I said with a scowl. I rushed up and tapped him in the chest with my fist, watching as he went sprawling backwards some fifty or sixty feet before landing in a very bad position on one arm. I heard the snap of the bone even from that distance and watched as he attempted to gather himself. He got up favoring his very limp left arm.
"Stay down, unless you want to lose your other arm!" I warned as Stubbs walked up.
"Wow, I didn't realize you were the kids from the Special Forces team!" he exclaimed.
"Does this look like the time for admiration?" I asked in all seriousness. The killer decided to ignore my warning despite having a smashed arm, and stalked towards me again. I didn't even hesitate and phased out, reappearing and hammering his other arm with my own. This time he felt it a little more, as his shoulder snapped around the joint, and then I heard his breathing pattern change, meaning I might have hit a rib or two from the impact. He dropped his machete and crumpled to the ground as I heard the crowd of bystanders gasp.
"Are you done yet?" I asked. He didn't answer as he attempted to get up again. Come on moron, don't make me kill you in front of all these kids! I watched as he struggled to move his broken arm to his separated shoulder. Then he did something I didn't think was possible at this point, he popped it back into place. I hit him hard enough to shatter that damn shoulder, what the hell is he? With his right hand, he grasped a hold of his machete that had landed on the ground, and then turned to swing at me. I jumped backwards by reaction since I wasn't sure what to expect, and he missed completely. Due to being a little overzealous, he tripped as he stumbled forward, and I jumped on the opening without hesitation. I rushed forward and lightly kicked the back of his legs, taking him to the ground due to his own momentum. I quickly grabbed a hold of his leg and turned just slightly, more than enough to get a painful reaction as it snapped and fell limp. I backed off as the killer grunted in pain and attempted to stand on his own, unsuccessfully for the first few tries.
"This is your last chance to stop, stay down," I suggested. He didn't take the suggestion and managed to get to his knees, tossing his blade at me. I caught it easily and threw it back, skimming his arm and stabbing through his broken leg. The killer groaned again, but reared back and pulled the blade out of his own flesh, ignoring the blood that squirted out as result. Then, to my own amazement, he was able to stand on both legs, although he was favoring the bad leg a lot as he hobbled forward. He either has a very high tolerance for pain, or he recovers incredibly fast. Either way, this moron doesn't deserve another chance, he's going to keep coming until he's dead. Locking him in jail isn't going to do a whole lot.
"I'm going to lure him into the woods, don't expect him to come back out. I doubt that squad car is going to hold him no matter what I do," I suggested loudly as I backed away, luring the killer towards the forest. He followed, eager to follow through with a futile plan. Once we were safely past the tree line, I powered up slightly.
"This is your last chance to back down before I destroy you, I suggest you be smart and take it!" I said. The man in the hockey mask didn't care about what I was capable of doing to him, and stalked forward anyway. He paused once when I gathered some energy and turned on my Psi sword, but resumed immediately. Just as he cranked back and prepared to strike with his machete, I swung through his neckline quickly, causing him to stop in slight surprise. A thin red line slowly formed across his neck just as gravity took over and removed his head from his body while it collapsed to the ground, twitching slightly. I turned off my sword and paid whatever respects I had before stripping his hockey mask off. His face literally looked like it had been through hell, covered in green algae and scarred badly.
"No wonder you wore this thing, hopefully you find your peace," I whispered as I fired small blast and incinerated the body, head and all.
"What was that explosion a moment ago?" Stubbs asked as I walked out of the woods. I tossed him the mask that had been on the killer's head,
"The end of whatever that goalie was pissed off about," I said as I stared at him coldly.
"You killed him?" he asked directly.
"How much detective work did it take to figure that one out?" I asked in a similar cold tone as I walked off.
"Hold on young man, I have questions I need you to answer!" Stubbs shouted, chasing after me. I growled slightly as I glanced back at him, eyes flashing briefly as my energy surged.
"Or it can wait," he said, filling up with fear all of a sudden. I snorted slightly at the cop's sudden cowardice and went back to my cabin, tearing through a large sandwich or two as I thought things over. Scum like that don't deserve the mercy I offered him. Ugh, ok Verto, calm down, the threat is over. You did what you had to, its obvious it wasn't the first time that guy has killed someone. They probably would have needed three Swat teams to take that guy down anyway.
A few hours later a group of police officers from the same town were around the forest line, investigating the large burn mark I had left behind and the body of Trey. His friend Blake had gone from being clueless to enraged about his friend's death. He mostly sat on the edge of the dock, refusing any food or attempt at conversation. Gibb had also separated herself from the group, crying softly out on the bank of the lake. Her friend Lori managed to console her a little bit, but she was pretty shaken up herself. I took note of the young janitor that was eyeing them and myself carefully. He had a mysterious look to him, but rarely stuck around once his work was done. He also vanished once the rest of the cops showed up. That left Cochteau with only a few teenagers to mind the other kids, but they managed since most of the kids were scared out of their minds. What caught my attention was why the cops were hanging around so much, the case appeared to be closed for the most part. They were all from the same department as Stubbs as far as I could tell, though they all seemed nervous about something. They questioned the crap out of the teens, but left the smaller kids alone for the most part. They finally walked up to me as I was lazily sitting on a picnic table next to Stubbs, watching them all carefully. I had sent Trunks and Goten off so they didn't have to deal with the cops and their questions, they pretty much kept to themselves on the far side of the lake and stayed out of trouble for once.
"You better make damn sure none of these kids knows anything," the Chief whispered to one of his deputies, assuming I couldn't hear him. The deputy ran off to check things out again as they rest of them walked up.
"Well Stubbs, right time, right place, good work. And you too young man. Let's wrap this up!" the chief ordered.
"Wait a sec sir, we still don't know of a motive, or who that was exactly. Personally, I think it was a Jason Voorhees copycat, there was some history of that in the area for the past fifty years!" Stubbs pointed out. Ah, so I have a name for that goalie, not that it matters now.
"We know exactly who did this and we'll handle it, now please go make sure these stressed out campers work things out. We have a few questions for the boy," he ordered. I lifted an eyebrow just slightly as Stubbs walked off, confused. I was a bit surprised as well, there was nothing else to say about this case from what I could tell, and the "save the day" job was done.
"Son, how have your dreams been lately? Have you had any strange dreams in the past few days?" he asked me.
"What does that have to do with the hockey player from hell?" I asked.
"Just answer the question to the best of your ability," the chief said.
"No, nothing out of the ordinary," I said simply.
"Then it couldn't be Krueger…" another deputy whispered before the chief cut him off.
"Don't even say that son of a bitch's name!" he warned.
"As much as I'd like to answer pointless questions about this, I think its obvious what has happened. I was nice enough not to leave anything but his mask behind. I suggest you get the other body out of here and back to the family so they can get through their mourning process," I suggested, standing and walking off.
"Have you seen anything else strange lately?" he asked. Lately, as in the past few years? Boy that story would throw him for a loop.
"Just wondering why the cops are so nervous about a supposed killer when I already wiped him out, enjoy the rest of your day calling parents," I said as I walked off. Just as the chief was sweating off what I had said, I sensed a sudden low-level spark of energy nearby, followed by another not far away from it. I quickly scanned the area, noting that it was not coming from the boys. As quickly as it had happened though, both sources were gone before I could pinpoint their exact location.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was rather uneventful, except for the stares of that janitor kid. I wasn't sure if he was actually the janitor or not, but he seemed to be cleaning everything up all the time, and managed all the trash, so I only assumed it. He still strayed away from any and all activity though, especially while the cops were around. Eventually all of them left after handing Stubbs a duffle bag. As I understood it, Cochteau had requested an officer stick around for the next few days just to help everyone feel more secure, and Stubbs was the victim. They probably didn't need to worry much with me and the boys around, I doubted though that any other wannabe copycat killers were going to show up. Eventually Stubbs settled into the roll as we all sat around a large campfire, apparently they were going to go forth with telling scary stories. Shortly before they started however, Linderman looked to be trying to put the moves on Lori, who had been stressed out all day.
"Hey, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always available!"
"Hey, nice try but we don't really need to deal with date a dork right now! Get lost!" Kia interjected. Linderman became very furious with this and stomped off towards the woods, he obviously needed to blow off some steam away from the smaller kids.
"God that guy is annoying, even more than Mitch," she said as Lori nodded. Yeah, the Trey wannabe. I grunted slightly, recalling that Mitch was another so called camp counselor that was out there to go fishing for a girlfriend, only he hadn't latched onto any of the older girls yet. Speaking of Mitch, he looked quite fixated on the two girls as Cochteau started telling some tale about ghosts that haunted the campground while holding onto what he called a story stick. I honestly don't recall what it was about since I nearly dozed off in the middle of it. Then he passed the stick over to the strange janitor kid, whose name was Mark. He seemed hesitant to speak at all, but was egged on by the others and suddenly got a serious look in his eye.
"There was once a sick old man on Elm Street that loved to torture children. He would kidnap them off the street and take them back to his house and do all kinds of horrible things to them. His name was Freddy, Freddy Krueger. He always had a glove with knives attached at the finger, that was his weapon of choice. Well, the parents of Springwood finally had enough when he was found innocent after a trial, and they burned his house to the ground while he was in it," Mark explained. Cochteau wasn't sure what to make of this, and neither was anyone else, but he held out his hand to pass the story stick to someone else.
"I'm not finished. Even though he was dead, Freddy could still kill people. He would come back in their dreams time and time again and their fear gave him the power to kill children in their sleep, in their dreams. After the town's attempt to get rid of him failed time and time again, they simply made everyone forget about him. This gave them peace until this day. But you never know when Freddy might come for you!" he finished as Cochteau cleared his throat. The level of fear in the area had increased ten fold, clearly Mark had a talent for telling a scary tale. It had even spooked me just a bit, but I had dealt with much worse than his feeble mind could conjure up.
"Okay, I think that's enough for tonight," Cochteau said nervously as Mark walked off. As me and the boys were heading back to the cabin, I sensed another disturbance in the forest as several twigs snapped loudly. I spotted Linderman tripped as he fell out of the tree line, running for his life from something. Just as he got back up, a long arm reached out and snatched him back just as he screamed loudly.
"What the hell?" I asked aloud as I dashed over. Linderman's body was thrown from the trees and landed just as we ran up, without his head. It came out a moment later and landed sideways on his stomach, a very shocked expression on his face. Judging by the shape of the rigid necklines, Linderman's head had been ripped right off. I growled sharply as the dark figure from the forest emerged just as the other teens ran up. He was a very tall and built man with a filthy outfit on. But when I glanced at his face, I almost panicked when I saw the hockey mask. You have got to be fucking kidding me!
"No way!" Trunks exclaimed. In all his glory, Jason Voorhees was back.
A/Ns:
WDG: heh, regeneration from ashes. That's a neat trick! You'd almost think he's immortal, wouldn't you… Well, one thing's for sure; this summer camp definitely won't be a boring one!
VB: Yes, our forecast calls for a one hundred percent chance of gruesome deaths throughout the week.
