CHAPTER TEN
Back the suburban neighborhood frequented by Michelangelo, a black van drove up to Mrs. Ester's house, which had been ransacked a day or so earlier by Bebop and his friends. A very well kept-together man in a white shirt and red tie emerged from the van, and walked over to the building's front door. He knocked twice.
After a few moments of waiting, the door opened and Mrs. Ester emerged.
"June Ester?" the man asked
"Yes" June replied.
"My name is Serling with the "Darius Anders' Missing Numbers" foundation" the man responded, introducing himself and extending his hand. June anxiously shook it.
" We were wondering if you would like to donate anything to a 'lost and found' mural we're putting together" Serling continued, "We're hoping that it will inspire people who have come into contact with any missing persons featured on the mural to step forward and give us the information necessary to track them down and hopefully reunite them with their loved ones. You wouldn't happen to have something, someone, you can share with us would you?"
June hesitated for a bit, but sensed sincerity in the man's tone.
"…I…I…yes. Yes I do. Just a moment please" she said, and walked back to her living room, which was no longer a very kept together abode following the burglary. Ester reached for one of the few drawers that hadn't been titled over by the thieves and took out her box of valuables, which had been recovered from the burglars.
She reached through it and found the photograph of a handsome teenaged boy with a crew cut, attired in military garb.
June briefly closed her eyes and held the photo close to her, before meekly walking back through the apartment building back to handed the photo over to him.
"Please...if anyone contacts you.." she began, Serling cut her off, knowing what she meant
"Have no worries" he said, "We're extremely thorough. We'll keep in touch" he assured her
"Good luck, and thank you" June said.
Serling bid Ester farewell and walked away. As soon as June went back into her apartment and out of visual sight, Serling examined the phone very carefully, before contacting his boss by phone.
An altogether different person than the one he had lied to Ester about.
"Saki? Serling. We have confirmation" he announced.
"Good, I'll let him know" Saki answered from a wild and darkly lit room in his warehouse lair which was ripe with activity. He causally walked through a menagerie of caged birds, monkeys, dogs, and warthogs, all making unending noise, and approached a hulking, webbed figure shackled to a chair, making a series of rasping sounds.
Saki put the phone down, and placed one hand gently on the furry shoulders of the creature.
"We've found her" he said.
The creature rattled the chair it was seated on, ecstatic.
Saki smiled.
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At the sight of The Portal, now a huge wreck being cleared by a highly skilled maintenance crew, April was talking with the chief of operations, Lawson, about the discovery he had made.
"It started off like any regular clean-up job. Just as we were working on removing the remnants of the roofing, we found some...thing."
"Something?" April asked
"Some. Thing " Lawson replied, putting the emphasis on "thing".
He guided her to a large lorry and searched through the debris loaded onto the back draped in a white sheet. He swiftly produced what appeared to be a small, near-featureless robotic contraption. Tiny arms, larger legs, its sole facial features were a large jaw comprised of sharp dagger-like teeth.
Lawson passed it over to April, who turned it over and examined it. She felt it out, noting its density.
"Right, lunch break's almost over. Take your scoop and scram" Lawson said. April nodded, took out her wallet, and took out a large roll of dollars. An obvious pay-off, she handed it to Lawson.
"Thanks. I promise not the blow the whistle on you as a source" she said, and put the robot in her bag and ran back to her car. Lawson bid her farewell as the car pulled out of the drive way and headed down the road. Then, just as swiftly, he took out his phone and called someone else.
"…This is Lawson. Yeah. She took It. Look…I like her alright, she's just a kid, don't…just don't try and scare her, alright?" he said.