Author's Note: Wee! Let's get this show on the road!
Nicole's Prov
We approached the doors to the forensics lab. Ellie and I paused at the huge, ominous doors. I looked at her and she looked at me.
"Ready?" She asked. I nodded weakly. "1…" She put her hands on one of the doors.
"2…" I put my hands on the other door, feeling the cool metal as I said the simple number.
"3." Our voices rang out at the same time, accompanied by the heavy doors squeaking open.
Inside, it was every techie's dream.
There were huge tables on which they put the bodies; one of which held my mother. There were test tubes and more than 10 different types of computers circling the room. In the center, a bunch of people were standing around two boxes between which were a holographic projection.
"Oh!" One of the girls turned to us with a startled expression. "You must be Nicole and Ellie Roberts. I'm Kaye." Kaye smiled and held out her hand with a smile, her other hand still in one pocket of her lab coat. She had middle length black hair and green eyes.
"I'm Nicole and this is my sister, Ellie, and that's my boyfriend, Pein." I shook her hand and Ellie followed suit while Pein just waved lamely behind us.
"Come this way, and we'll talk about your mother." Kaye waved us over to the two boxes.
"Okay." Ellie said, and I gently hit her arm. She rubbed it and mouthed, 'What?'
"Uh, who are they?" Pein asked, quite randomly I might add, while gesturing to the rest of the group.
"Oh! Right, them! This is Angie," Kaye gestured to an oriental woman with a wide smile.
"Are you Japanese?" Ellie asked, wide-eyed and very chibi-like.
"Ellie!" I said. "Don't mind her, just continue."
"Okay then. Well, Angie made the holographic projector right here; she's an artist. This is our bug-guy, Jake. And this is my assistant, Aaron." Two other average looking guys waved at us. I think Pein glared at them. He does that with every guy.
"Anyway, we've determined the cause of death for Katherine," Kaye started.
"Wait, our mom's name is Kaylee, Kaylee Roberts." I spoke up.
"Well, then, this isn't your mother, because we have the best computers in the state, and they say this woman's name is Katherine." Aaron, the assistant, said. "But, it did say she had a twin named Kaylee. We tried to contact her until we realized you were next of kin."
"No, it must be wrong, our mother never had a—wait, and you contacted our mother?" I was trying to clarify things. Our mother and father had disappeared several years back, and we've never been able to contact them since. They really had gone invisible; intangible; untouchable.
"Tried to. All of the contact numbers and addresses were dead ends."
"Okay; but she never had a twin." I said. Then, the worst thing happened: Ellie leaned in and whispered, "That we know of."
"Huh?" I turned to look at her.
"You said it yourself," she continued, "Our parents aren't who they say—said they were."
"I never said that!" I hissed.
"Yes you did, you-" She started, but I interrupted her with a "not now".
I turned back to the other group. "Okay, anyway, for right now let's just say she's our aunt…how did she die?"
"Well, at first glance, it looks like she was mauled by some wild animal, but we looked thoroughly over the body, ran some tests, and figured out that no animal caused this." A holographic projection zoomed in on her reconstructed face, turning to the back. "We found a bullet hole in the back of her head; the kill shot. But then, they chopped the poor woman up with knives to make it look like she was mauled by an animal before dumping her in a park. Whoever did this, it was no accident, and they definitely didn't want to get caught." Kaye put her hands together at the end of her mini-speech.
"So, someone killed our aunt on purpose. Do you think they were after out mom? That's who we thought it was at first, maybe the killer did, too." Ellie spoke slowly, looking expectantly at the super-team in front of us.
"But why would anyone want to kill our mom?" I asked myself.
"OhmiGoddess! We're gonna solve a murder! So cool!" Ellie smiled at me. When I glared at her, she sank back with a "sorry".
Kaye looked at her watch. "Oh, God, sorry, but you have to go now!"
"What? But we just got here!" I protested.
"I know, and I'm sorry, but you have to. It's our vacation starting now, and no one's going to be here for two weeks." Kaye explained.
"So we just have to go for two weeks?" I almost shouted. "But what about our mom—aunt—whoever the hell this woman is—was!? What are we supposed to do?" I stumbled over the words that wouldn't roll off of my tongue right.
"Nikki, let's just go." Pein put his arm around my shoulders and led me out while Ellie dutifully followed.
"Fine. I'll have to wait." I pouted.
"Oh, we should go let the others know you're okay…" Ellie blushed.
"They're still worried about me? Come on, let's go!" I rushed the two to the car and speedily drove us home.
***
We pulled into the huge driveway and ran to the door. Erin startled me by opening it before I did.
"OhmiJashin! You're okay!" She hugged me hard, and I choked for air.
"Uhuh." I rasped. She let go and I took a deep breath. "So, what should we do about dinner?" I asked as I walked into my full house (haha…Full House…).
"Well," Erin said, "I don't wanna go out, but I don't wanna make anything."
I shrugged. "So we order something."
"Oh!" Ellie jumped up and down. "Idea! How about all the guys that we're dating make us a romantic dinner, and we see how romantic they really are." Avery and Marller waggled their eyebrows in agreement.
"Fine, okay, let's do that! All the girls, let's go up to my floor! Guys, get romantic!" I yelled, and I tugged the girls upstairs. This will be fun.
Woo! Next chapter will be me and Ellie's dates, and we'll go from there!
Ellie: Ooh, I can't wait!
Erin: Yay! I was mentioned!
Avery and Marller: We weren't.
Me: Yes you were, go check the second to last paragraph again.
Avery and Marller: Humph!
Pein: Hey! Hey! Itachi, don't set my dinner on fire! It's not a contest!
Me: Let's make it one!!!
Nekomimi's: Yeah!!!
Me: Okay, so next chapter I'll announce to the boys it's a contest…AFTER they're done!
Ellie: So evil! I approve!
Me: Thank ye!
Erin: Woah, this outro is running too long! Stop before it takes over the world!
Me: Never! But, damn, I ran out of things to say. You win this time, outro! *shakes fists in the air at the sky*
Ellie: Nikki doesn't own me, Erin, Avery, or the Akatsuki. But we still have joint custody over Marller.
