Hollywood Hills, California
3:11 P.M.
"Wow, this place got trashed." Ron was quick to judge the charred house.
"Yeah... I really hope she didn't let Camille burn up in there." Kim remorsefully followed. "The reports said she died by entry and exit would by a blade." Ron replied.
"Well, at least she didn't burn to death," Kim said, walking towards the recently destroyed house, "Come on, there's got to be a clue around here."
Everywhere they turned, there was nothing but ash. A few support beams holding only chunks of roof left, but mostly ash. The absence of the rest of the house made the duo realize just how big the deceased woman's home was. Kim's parents had a moderately big house, but this one put theirs to shame.
"What are you hoping to find here, KP? Everything was burnt to a crisp inside, not to mention most of the yard. Is there a reason you picked here of all her killings?" Ron asked, looking around the destroyed interior in disgust.
"This was the place where most witnesses saw her fleeing the scene. Though of course, she was still seen as a myth. That means she was being sloppy. If she allowed herself to be seen when she killed Camille, then she left some kind of evidence somewhere." Kim knelt down, briefly inspecting a slash mark through the leg of a coffee table.
"But that doesn't mean we'll find a clue about her identity." Ron chimed in, poking a picture frame, before watching it fall and shatter on the floor.
"True, but we won't get a better opportunity than this." Kim blatantly answered, continuing to look around sharp eyed.
As the redhead began to inspect, Ron had wondered off on his own around the house. He thought if they wanted to figure out the Rogue's identity any faster, they'd need to split up. Though, Ron honestly had no idea what to search for. Especially in a burnt down house. Everything look black and charred. Everything looked identical.
He could still tell furniture apart, but that didn't mean it was easy to differentiate.
As he continued through, he came across a room that was somehow still half standing. He could see the bright paint on parts of the wall, and almost undamaged furnishing. The TV however was finished. Parts of the screen and frame of the television was scattered along the floor next to the dresser, presumed where it was sitting.
But what caught his eye, was the couch.
It was a bright orange color, with a slight hue of red wash. The design on the back had an arrow like pattern, going as far down as the seat cushions. Within an instant, he recognized it.
"No. Way." He said in awe, his eyes glowing like a Christmas tree. "No way!" He then yelled, catching the attention of a certain redhead.
Footsteps quickly pounded along the floor, until Kim finally entered the exact room. "What is it? What did you find?" Kim said in suspense. Then she saw him staring at a stupid couch.
"Kim! Do you even know what this is?" Ron said loudly in shock. Kim stared at him, then back at the couch. "A very ugly couch?" She said in a partially annoyed voice.
"No! It's the couch from Friends! The one from the intro and in the cafe! Awh, Rufus and I used to watch this show for hours!" He grabbed Kim's shoulders and shook her abruptly. As soon as he let go, she could feel her eye balls bouncing up and down in her skull.
"Ron! We're here to look for actual evidence! Not some stupid set prop!" The girl sassily put her hands on her hips.
"I wanna sit on it." He completely ignored her, walking towards the partially burnt couch. As soon as he reached the footrest of the couch, he pivoted around on one foot, and plopped bottom first on the couch.
As soon as he touched down, the couch completely caved in the middle, splitting the bed in half and dropping Ron to the floor. Followed, of course, by a cowardly scream of panic by Ron.
"Huh... so much for a famous set prop." Kim couldn't help but grin at the misfortune.
"More like a cheap ripoff." Ron growled in disappointment, dusting himself off. He patted himself down, then turned around to face away from Kim.
"KP, do I have any splinters on my butt?" He casually asked, because who else but Ron would consider that casual. But what Kim saw, wasn't exactly splinters. She loudly gasped, catching Ron's attention.
"What? What's wrong?" He questioned in shock.
She didn't answer for a moment, she only stared in awe. There were no splinters, no dust. There was only a moderate sized streak, of something crimson red. Her gaze went from his mission gear pants, down to the floor.
"Okay, you're starting to freak me out." Ron said, turning back to face her. However, she didn't answer. The fiery redhead bent down to the floor, right where Ron fell. Underneath the now broken false prop, was a small trail of the same red substance.
"Is... is that-
"Blood." Kim finished Ron's sentence. She quickly jumped back to her feet, and turned to face the direction that the red goo was coming from. "She must have crawled under the couch to try to get away. Though it looks like she didn't make it very far." She spoke, as her eyes followed the trail of musty red handprints on the floor.
She then slowly began to trace them, following them towards the end of the far wall. But, the wall was the only thing that stuck out more than the bloody smears on the floor. It had no signs of burns, tears or even singe marks. It was completely unscathed, unlike the rest of the entire house.
"Something's not right here." She grabbed her chin while inspecting the wall. She again looked around the room, seeing everything in sight burnt to a certain degree.
"Hmm." She thought, as she walked up to the lone standing wall. She studied it for a minute, before briefly knocking on it with her fist.
Clank-clank-clank!
"Whoa. That's one sturdy wall." Ron commented. "Yeah... or maybe a sturdy door. Help me feel around for an edge somewhere." Kim said, beginning to feel around the flat 'wall' with her hands.
She slowly slid her hand along until she found a small ridge near the end of the wall. But, that only solved one problem. "Crap." She said out loud, and pulled the Kimmunicator from her pocket.
"Wade."
The boy appeared on the screen.
"What's up Kim? Something wrong?" He questioned.
"We've come across a door she had disguised as a wall, and I have a hunch that it's some kind of safe room. We're trying to get in but there's no knob of any kind. Ideas?" She questioned.
"You have your laser lipstick with you?"
"Always."
"There are three hinges to the door, melt down the metal around them. But don't touch the hinges or any part of the door. Any kind of pressure or threat will cause the door to go into immediate lockdown." He frantically added.
"Got it. Wait, how did you know that?" Kim asked, digging the exact object from her side pocket.
"I have a set of her house codes, camera footage, blueprints, ya know. That sort of stuff. When she reported she was being attacked before she died, I dug up everything on her security features I could. Though, I think she made sure this secret room was kept out of official prints. Well, other than the door." He spilled, almost embarrassed.
"Good thinking Wade. I'll keep you updated." The redhead said, as she turned off the young ward and placed the device back in her pocket.
She took the cap off the lipstick, and aimed it at the wall. "Okay, I've got to be smart about this." She said out loud. "How do you know where the hinges are? They're not exactly in plain sight." Ron stated.
"I don't. I'm just going to have to improvise and make a sharp guess." She said, pointing the deadly stick closer to the corner of the intersecting walls.
"Cross your fingers." She said before pressing down on the button. In one smooth motion, she fired a carefully guided laser from the false lipstick, guessing where the three hinges would be. As the laser made its way toward the ceiling, it cut itself out.
"What the hell?" Kim questioned, just as in awe as Ron at the laser stopping so suddenly. She pounded on the back of the lipstick in hope to restart the laser. But alas, no luck.
"You haven't used any of the gear in ages, it's probably depleted by this point." Ron suggested, grabbing the stick and trying to get it to function himself.
"Well how are we gonna get through the wal-
RRRRR... FOOM!
The large door fell forward, tearing off the small chunk of wall they lacked to cut through. It shook what remained of the house, shaking some ash from the ceiling.
"Huh... well that's one way to do it." Ron scratched his head. Kim answered with a shrug, and entered the vault-like room. Ron followed close behind, looking around curiously at the sturdy structure. It was clear the interior was made of the same material as the door, given the inside had no sign of damage. But, it did have... something else.
"No way.." Ron said in awe, looking at the back wall. He was waiting on Kim to say something snappy, as she always did. However she was in about as much shock as he was.
On the far wall, was a half finished enlarged blueprint. An enlarged blueprint, of the Insanction building. Aka, Now Kim's Insanction building.
"Why... why would she have this?" Ron asked, looking over at his narrowed girlfriend.
"Because she knew something we didn't." Kim quickly answered, already well aware. She inspected the blueprints for a moment, reading a few of the sticky notes and torn paper notes Camille had strung up in certain rooms of the map. It looked like something a crazy conspiracy theorist would have in a hidden room. Well... like this one.
But the more Kim studied, the more she started putting the pieces together. There were bloody hand prints lying in the safe room as well, gathering Camille must have been forced out of the fortress-like room.
Though the one handprint that caught her eye, was the one on the table. It was bolted against the left wall, covered with the remaining pieces of the blueprints Camille was hanging up. And on those blueprints, were two very unlikely objects. They too had bloody smears on them.
One item was a contact card for Insanction with Señor's name and number on it. A card Señor Senior only gave to people he had interest in. And he was very selective about such. Kim would know, only due to the fact that's how she began to work for him.
The other item, was a simple knife. It was clear Camille had grabbed it to defend herself against the Rogue, considering the black grip had blood stains as well.
"I don't get it... why would she have a card from Señor? He only gave out his number to people he had heavy interest in hiring or collaborating with. He said he's only given out four since I've worked with him. Me, President Bush, Dr. Chen, and-
"-And Camille Leon." Ron's eyes widened. The two exchanged shocked expressions, then looked back to the only remaining evidence.
"But... but this doesn't make any sense! He gave up the villainous antics! There's no way he'd given her a card like that!"
"Maybe she stole it from him?"
"Unlikely. He only carried them when he intended on using them. Plus, what would she need it for? This doesn't add up." Kim continued to try and justify Camille's last bit of evidence.
But as she babbled to herself, Ron's eyes continued to look at the rest of the bloody bits on the table. Inspecting the rest of the blueprints, the card and the knife. But what caught his gaze, was the blade of the knife.
It too, had blood on it. But not much, only covering about the first centimeter of the rich woman's blade.
"KP, look at the knife." Ron cut the redhead off, and pointed at the blade. Kim, still in shock, stopped talking and followed his finger. She too saw the blood on the tip of the blade.
"Do you think it's hers? The Rogue's?" Ron asked, knowing if anyone could put it together with reason, it would be her. "Only one way to find out," She stopped, and reached in her side pocket, pulling out a small plastic bag, "We need to get this to Drakken. I bet he can find who this DNA belongs to." She easily places the knife inside, and puts the bag back into her side pocket.
"And if it's Camille's?" Ron questioned.
"Then our trail goes cold. Now come on, we don't have much time before she kills again." Kim then grabbed his wrist, and rushed to exit the burnt house.