Tristan sighed as his head rolled back and he leaned into his chair, the victim's notebook slapping down on the desk as he dropped it. Encoded, the damn thing was encoded. Just when he thought they'd found a major break in the case the damn thing felt like it was written in another god's damned language. Tristan rubbed his eyes and squinted at the clock on the wall, groaning when he saw it was half past six. He'd spent the entire afternoon and part of the evening staring at that insufferable notebook.
"I can't make heads or tails of this thing." Tristan muttered, turning to Fields and hoping the older detective was having better luck than he was. "Please tell me you've got something."
"I've got something." Fields nodded, looking up at Tristan from his side of the desk. "It's called a damn headache. Your foot hasn't stop tapping the past three hours!"
Tristan winced as he realized his foot had all but tapped a hole in the floor, forcing a hand down to keep it still. That wasn't like him, he'd managed to keep still for hours while waiting for a target during training. But at least there he knew progress would be made eventually, the last few hours felt like he'd been slamming his head against a brick wall.
"We're not getting anywhere like this." Fields shook his head and stood up, reaching for his jacket as Tristan did the same simultaneously grabbing the briefcase like box he'd been keeping Starfall in during his time with the police. Adjusting the handle so its length was more like that of a bag he slung it over his shoulder and moved.
"Got something in mind?" Tristan asked, following the older man towards the elevator.
"Head back to the vic's place, build up more of his profile." He nodded "Best I can think of right now."
"Heard anything back from Magneti?" Tristan wondered
"Nothing yet, it's gonna take time for him to get all the info we asked for." Fields shrugged while the elevator dinged open to the garage. "Probably longer to make sure its stuff he can show us."
"Alright then got anything particular in mind?" Tristan checked as he slipped into the passenger seat and buckled in, half expecting Fields to drive like a madman again.
"Let's go over what we know so far about him." Fields sighed, pulling out of the garage. "Workaholic, detail oriented, kept to himself…"
"But determined and passionate about work, personal investment maybe?" Tristan suggested "And compulsive, stuck to a schedule by the minute from the sounds of it."
"Agreed, on both accounts." Fields nodded "Guy had an important job but people aren't usually so driven in careers like that. He either really enjoyed it or had a reason to do his best."
"More than his best, better than anyone." Tristan jotted down "Magneti mentioned he was better than the other analysts."
"And smarter too, he created some code for that journal and hid the thing where no one would think to look." Fields realized "No one but the police, since we take hard drives in plenty of investigations."
"Which means he might've known we'd find it." Tristan perked up "You think he knew he was in danger?"
"More than probably, you don't hide something unless you don't want people to find it. He hid that briefcase too."
"Any luck tracking that down?" Tristan asked, partially hoping the key to the code wasn't in it or something.
"None so far, Emmer's good by all standards but even she can't hunt something down with no leads." Fields sighed "It'd be easier if we knew what our vic got himself into."
"If we knew that, we wouldn't have much of a case." Tristan pointed out "Would make things easier though."
A few more minutes of silence passed as Tristan ran over the facts in his head, whatever their vic was involved in that got him killed was likely something much different from what he usually did. If the guy was as compulsive and focused as Tristan thought than it wouldn't be anything he'd been doing for a while, since he'd have some kind of pattern set for that. And since they knew nothing of his personal life they had nothing to go on there either. It had to be something new, it was the only explanation he could think of at the moment.
By the time they arrived back at the victim's house Tristan was partially in a daze as he tried to think of how they could find out more information. Given how little they knew so far there wasn't much he could come up with though.
"Is it just me, or is this place cleaner than it was earlier?" Tristan asked as he stepped into the house shortly behind Fields.
"CSU wrapped things up quick, got every detail imaginable." Fields explained "They'll be combing through it all the rest of the night."
"And they cleaned up afterwards?" Tristan raised an eyebrow
"No, regular officers did." Fields went on "Standard procedure these days. Since we have excessive details of the crime scene a group of officers clean the area out of respect to the victim."
"And if everything is back where it belongs—"
"Then we can get a better idea for how our vic lived when things were normal." Fields nodded "Like I said, standard procedure these days. It's not like those old TV dramas."
"Well duh, those shows were recorded when you were my age." Tristan smirked
"Watch yourself kid." Fields warned, betrayed by the similar smirk on his face.
Chuckling under his breath Tristan took a few more steps into the house, standing just in the entryway and pausing. Building a profile on the vic was a good idea, they needed more to go on then what they already knew. But with what they did know, Tristan had a feeling he could figure out the guy's daily routine. And with how close the office was to the front door it was a safe bet that was where he went first whenever he got home.
Moving slowly, letting his mind take in as much information as possible Tristan stepped into the office and flicked on the light. It was a stark contrast from how it had been when he first saw it. Back then the chaotic mess had made it impossible to see any fine details or take in the room in general, this time he gave himself all the time he needed to look over it all. It was a decent sized room, quite a bit bigger than most home offices he'd seen (which was limited to Amber's dad's office). He got the impression it was meant as a guest room from the size and the large closet on one side. Opposite that the wall was taken up entirely by a bookshelf filled with various books and a few knickknacks. Most of them appeared to be medical journals that the victim used for work. There were a few novels off to one side close to the desk which sat in front of the window. The desk itself was a large dark wood desk, with deep drawers on each side. Pulling them open Tristan found them empty, with small labeled tabs for separating papers. Most of them had labels like taxes or records, nothing out of the ordinary aside for the fact that physical copies were being kept. But some people were old fashioned.
"Hey Fields!" Tristan called out after shoving the drawers back in. "We take any papers from the office here?"
"Yeah huge mess of them were dumped on the floor, I'm guessing CSU is sorting them out." The detective echoed back.
"Well let's see if there's any missing." Tristan suggested, pulling the drawers back open snapping photos of the tabs as an afterthought. Closing them once more and raising his head he saw a small shelf tucked into the desk and pulled it out. It was small, barely enough room for a few stacks of paper.
Or a journal. Tristan guessed, figuring this was where he wrote down his encoded information. His eyes poured over the rest of the desk before settling on something he knew wasn't there when he was this morning. Lightly scuffed and with cracked glass was small picture frame, resting in it was a picture of a young girl probably his own age or a bit older. Her hair was the same dark brown as the victim, though Tristan could tell if she had the same eyes.
"I thought our gut didn't have any family." Tristan spoke up as he left the office, picture in hand.
"Or close friends." Fields nodded as he rifled through some of the cabinets in the hallway.
"Then who the hell is this?" Tristan asked, sliding the picture into Fields' vision.
"Someone who didn't do their job very well." The older man growled taking the frame from Tristan and removing the photo. "How the hell did we miss this?"
"You got me." Tristan shrugged "I'm just your intern."
"And yet you're doing better than half our officers." Fields sighed "At least we got something, this place is pretty bare."
"I'll say, I think this is the most superfluous thing in this house." Tristan joked, motioning to the photo. "Hell my team leader, who's practically a soldier mind you, has more decoration in our—"
Tristan didn't get any further, cut off midway by a series of loud cracks and a dulled sense of pain in his back. Not enough to knock him down, but more than enough to tell him what was going on. His eyes widened for a moment before training kicked in and he tackled Fields to the ground, shielding the only one of them not protected by Aura. Gunfire pierced through the air above the two, shattering glass on their way in and tearing through wood as they hit the walls. Tristan rolled off the detective, slipping the weapon case off his back as he shuffled on the floor.
"What the hell is going on?!" Fields roared, reaching into his coat as Tristan raised his head.
"What do you think?!" He answered. "We're being shot at! Stay down!"
"Are you nuts?!"
"Nope." Tristan said quietly, rapidly opening the case with one hand and ripped Starfall out of it. The blue grey rifle hummed as its battery switched on, sending power coursing throughout the weapon. Taking a deep breath Tristan pressed the stock into his shoulder and waited. Seconds dragged on as gunfire ripped overhead and Tristan focused his ears on identify the weapons. Not what they were specifically but how many there were, he could tell easily there was more than just one. Four maybe five if he was right, it was hard to be sure though. With so many automatic weapons being fired at once it could be anywhere from six to ten if the shots were all being taken together. He pushed that thought from his mind, if there were that many he'd find out in a moment and kick on his semblance.
He finally got the lull he was waiting for however, as moments later the firing ceased and the clink of magazines dropping to the ground echoed in the place of shots being discharged. With adrenaline flooding through him Tristan brought himself up to his knees, raising Starfall over the remains of the windowsill and taking aim outside. His mind was scarily calm as everything on Remnant slowed down for him, this wasn't like with Grimm. These were people, and the person closest to him wasn't a friend with Aura and the strength to fight effortlessly, as far as Tristan was concerned it was a helpless civilian that sat prone next to him.
In the span of three seconds he caught sight of four men all in black, large rifles raised in their hands as they scrambled for more ammo. Raising his own up to his face Tristan sighted the nearest man through the scope and squeezed the trigger. Tristan watched a round pierce through his target's shoulder before the sound of the round cracking into the night air even registered in his mind.
Non-lethal shots. He reminded himself as his aim drifted to the left, focusing on the next target while all the men outside stared in awe at their friend as he was knocked back by the force of the round that hit him. Normal guns couldn't do that, not outside of cartoons and those cheesy Spruce Willis movies. But there were guns that could, guns meant for monsters.
"Huntsman!" one of the men outside shouted before he was whipped around from the force of Tristan next shot slicing his rifle in two. He took off running as he steadied himself, joining the other man Tristan shot as they both tried to get away. Tristan barely noted them as his shifted, eyes narrowing on the other two men who were braver than their buddies.
"Backup! I need backup on 33rd street!" Fields shouted into his scroll, pulling Tristan's attention back to the man on the ground. Taking his direction well the detective hadn't moved from the spot Tristan knocked him into, and he was glad to see there was no blood on the ground next to him.
The split second distraction was enough to cause problems though, as when Tristan refocused outside the two men he'd noted staying behind they had already reloaded. Bullets erupted from their weapons as they tried to provide cover for their allies retreating. Tristan winced as one impacted on his cheek, flattening against his Aura and undoubtedly leaving a bruise. But it would take more than that to kill him, and the Aura meter he installed into the electronic display of his scope barely registered the round making a dent in the protective shield around him.
Triggering his semblance, Tristan faded from sight and moved to the other side of the window. With their attention solely on him the people outside had managed to concentrate their fire on just him. Which left the other side of the window clear. Normally that wouldn't make a huge difference since whenever someone popped up to aim they'd be seen and refocused on. But Tristan had the added benefit of turning invisible. Allowing himself a grin he felt far too much like Kobalt's or Nickole's whenever the two of them found themselves with a major advantage, Tristan raised his rifle once more while keeping himself completely clear from being seen and took his time aiming.
There was one side effect he had never mentioned to other people when it came to his semblance. Refracting light from the every surface of his body and his weapon made it impossible for him to see himself as well, which meant he couldn't look through his scope like he normally could. It had taken years after unlocking the ability, but he finally managed to overcome it by sense of touch and his natural sight alone. Pressing the scope back to his right eye and closing his left, Tristan centered his vision on one of them men and flickered his camouflage. As the invisibility dropped he jerked Starfall ever so slightly down and brought the crosshairs onto the first non-vital target he saw. The elbow.
Steam hissed through the vents along the barrel as Starfall discharged another superheated round, burning through the target's elbow and nearly ripping it into two. A large cut like wound was cauterized instantly as the round passed through and the man fell to his knees cradling his arm. His friend was on him in an instant, dropping his rifle and hauling the wounded one to his feet, all but dragging him along back to the van the other two had already started. Tristan cursed under his breath as lowered his rifle, unable to get a clear shot and stop the men from fleeing without critically wounding one. He vaulted over the window, ignoring the shards of glass that dug into the Aura covering his hand.
Landing with a thud Tristan rolled and come up on one knee, shouldering Starfall and tracing the outline of the men as they dragged themselves into the van. He practically growled at the lack of a clean view and sighed as the van sped away. He took a deep breath to calm himself and turned around to see Fields only now pushing himself up off the floor, a small pistol in his hands and raised in Tristan general direction.
"You can relax detective," Tristan told him, forcing himself to take his own advice as his heart rate slowed down. "They got away."
Fields' eyes darted all over the darkened yard, settling on Tristan with wide eyes after he spotted the weapons on the ground. Swinging his leg over the ruined window the detective tentatively stepped out.
"Freakin Huntsmen…" he trailed off, and Tristan couldn't help but chuckle as he noticed a slight slip in the older man's accent. "Thanks, I owe you one."
"Don't mention it, partner." Tristan smirked, crossing the distance slowly and reaching over the windowsill for the case he brought. He barely had time to open it and slide Starfall in before he saw red and blue lights flickering on the walls of the house.
"Starting to think this goes deeper than we thought." Fields added, crossing his arms and waving over the series of patrol cars.
"Starting to wish I could call on backup right about now." Tristan nodded
"What's stopping you?"
"You're a rental. My actual partner is in Atlas." Tristan jested "And he's not very subtle. One teammate is more than just a phone call away. And the other, while my lovable brother, is even less subtle than my partner."
"Well if we need some building stormed—"
"Oh he's on speed dial don't you worry." Tristan cut Fields off. "But we still need to find our target first."
"Well we know a little bit more." Fields nodded. "There's that photo, plus…"
Tristan watched as Fields knelt down, reaching out with a now gloved hand and grabbing onto one of the rifles their attackers had left behind. He could easily admit he'd never seen anything like it before, and that was saying something considering the only place with weapons he wasn't able to get easy access to was the Atlas Military.
"They were dumb enough to leave behind evidence." Fields grinned.
A/N
This isn't late, you're late! Please don't hurt me...
In all seriousness the past few months have been pure and utter chaos. First there was my laundry list of stuff to do at work, and once it was done I planned on finishing this chapter. Of course I'm also a student at the same time and by the time I got all that done finals had rolled around. And of course at the same time my boss dumps another list on me and I'm reminding myself over and over in my head that this job is not permanent. I will say I might be blowing some of that out of proportion since when my boss remembered I had finals he eased off a bit but still.
So yeah, that's where I've been, but let's move onto the story!
This chapter was really fun to write once I got around to it, and is some character development I feel Tristan might sorely need. When I got right down to it I realized he's not center stage in the action all that often, but to be fair he is a sniper. And half the time he's dealing with mindless Grimm so he's fairly lax. Here we see a Tristan that knows something serious is on the line, and I hope I was able to convey just how focused he can be at those times. I also did a bit of research into various codes to work out what was used for the journal. The full reveal of what the code is will be in Tristan's next chapter, since I forgot t put more about in this one...
I'll expand more on it but the book is written in standard letters, but doesn't read like them obviously. I'll go more in depth next time but it's my twist on a classic code system.
Now, as an apology for how late this wound up being, I have something special for you all. A new story!
Don't worry if you'd rather have more KNGT, this new one wont be taking up any of the time I spend writing for this. It's simply something easy for me to work on whenever I get burnout from spending too much time working on KNGT. Previously that time was spent essentially doing nothing. So now it's productive instead.
So if you have time or just want to, go check out Fires of Liberation: A novelization of Ace Combat 6. I'll go more into detail there in an A/N about why I chose that particular game and the various other choices I made with regards to the story. Mostly because this note is getting waaaay to long.
In the meantime; comment, critique, tear my work apart and point out all the glaring flaws if you feel like it. Just try to be constructive, I can't fix anything if all you do is slam it. I'l see you next time!
