Chapter 24
A couple of days later, Mike was staking out the high school. He was waiting for Logan to come out. He wanted to ask him a few questions off the record. After he had met up at the lair, he was shown all of the video, audio, and photo evidence from the flash drive. Listening to his partner outright admit to knowing that his son was the killer and admitting that he was helping him really hurt him. He considered Henry to be a friend and he felt betrayed while learning all of this information.
But seeing all of this made him realize that he really didn't know anything about his partner. Devin was Henry's brother and Henry had two kids that Mike didn't even know about. He never talked about his family. When he did, it was very vague details. He just couldn't believe that Henry was involved in all this. Mike sighed as he gripped the steering wheel, still ticked off after hearing the news.
"Easy Mike." Melanie put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "You'll crush the steering wheel that way." she said with a chuckle.
Mike sighed and released the steering wheel. "Sorry."
"It's okay. It's understandable since you just found out about Henry."
"How could I miss this? He was right there, probably sabotaging me the whole time"
"He was your partner and you trusted him. It's okay, we'll get him and his son off the street."
"Yeah." Mike said simply. "Don't get me wrong. I appreciate you being here, but why did you decide to come along?"
"This kid Logan that we're about to go see. Kylie has a bit of a crush on him."
Mike chuckled. "Really? Kids really do grow up so fast."
"Tell me about it." Melanie said with a roll of her eyes. "But the problem is that we saw Logan talking to our main culprit and we assumed the worse. So for her sake, I hope he has no involvement in this."
"Now, when you say that you assumed the worse, do you really mean Raph?"
Melanie smirked. "Yeah, mostly him."
They both had a good laugh about that. Mike looked back out at the school as the final bell rang. Students filed out the front by the dozens, eager to get out of there and relax for the weekend. In the pile of kids was Amber and Logan. They were starting to make their way back home. "There they are." Mike started his car and drove up to them. He rolled down his window and called out to them.
"Hey Dad, what are you doing here?" Amber asked.
"I'm here for your friend." Amber looked Logan confused. He wasn't paying much attention to what happening. Like he was daydreaming about something. "Hop in, we'll give you a ride home."
Amber climbed into the back seat with Logan. It was then that Logan noticed Melanie sitting in the passenger seat. That seemed to snap him out of whatever he was thinking about. "Hey, you're Kylie's mom."
"I am." Melanie said simply.
"Please, I know you're all mad at me, but I promise that whatever you're thinking it's not true." Logan explained himself. "I just want to see Kylie again. I miss her."
Melanie looked to Mike and he nodded. "Okay, you want me to believe that what you're saying is true, then prove that you're no threat to my daughter."
"Okay, sure, how?"
Melanie handed him a folder. "Tell us everything you know about these guys."
"But I told you that I'm not involved in this."
"I believe you, but there's no doubt that you know them. Prove to me that I can trust you with Kylie."
Logan took a deep breath and opened up the folder. What he saw, made his stomach turn. "I... don't understand. What is this?"
"This is what your father was working on. Most of the evidence in there is from your father."
"My dad found all of this."
"He did. He risked his life to make sure he got this info to me." Mike explained. "So we need to know everything we can about them."
Logan looked down at the photos. He was holding his father's work was in his hands. The work that got his father killed. Killed by members of his own family. The thought made him sick and angry. "And you're sure about this?"
"He was very sure."
If that was the case then he would have no problem telling them everything he knows. Anything to see Kylie again and in a way, he could avenge his father. "Okay, so, unfortunately, I don't know where they live or anything, but I can at least give you names and where they work." he told them while showing them the photos of the killer and the cleaner with the tattoo on the back of their neck. "His name is Nathaniel and this person... I'm going to assume by the tattoo is his sister, Jaime."
"His name's not Trent?"
"No. Is that the name he's going by?"
"It's the one he's currently trying to use on my sister."
"Wait, what?" Amber suddenly said. "One of you is the next target."
"Just a misunderstanding. Vanessa has turned him down several times, but he won't take no for an answer. I guess he's not used to being rejected."
"Okay, the name matched up with what Devin said in the videos."
Logan looked down at the pictures again pulling up a photo of Henry. "And that is my uncle Henry. I think he works for... the police." he looked over to Mike who was gripping the steering wheel tightly again. "Nathaniel owns a cafe, Jaime also works there, so you'll be able to find them there. I would love to give out addresses, but like I said earlier I don't know where they live."
"That's fine. With the information you gave us, I'm sure we'll figure something out." Melanie said. "Now, what were the two of you talking about when we saw you that night."
Logan sat back in his seat. "Trust me, I wasn't planning on meeting him at all. I was on my way to see Kylie when he found me. To be honest, I thought it was weird that he was suddenly approaching me like that since I haven't seen or spoken to any of them since my father and uncle got into it when I was a kid. What was even weirder was he only came to me because he wanted to tell me that my father was killed. Once he told me that, I couldn't really think straight, And he said it so nonchalantly. Telling me that, this wouldn't have happened if he didn't get involved. There was no empathy at all."
"So he told you about his death before anyone else found out about it? Because we had just found out about it ourselves and I had just called it in, so how did he find out about it?" Mike asked.
"That's not suspicious." Melanie said, taking the folder of evidence away.
A dark thought popped in his head. "Do you think that my uncle is the one that killed my father and then told Nate?"
Neither one of the adults in the car wanted to answer that question because of how possible it was. "At this point, I'm thinking yes. I'm sorry and thanks, kid. That'll be enough."
"What are you going to do now?" Amber asked.
"Now, we stop them."
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Dirk finally mustered up enough courage to go and see May in the hospital. Using Vanessa as a guide, he was able to get to her room undetected. "You sure about this?"
"...No, not really. How is she?"
"She hasn't woken up since she was brought in. It's hard to tell when she will."
Dirk sighed. "Thanks." he said before walking into the room. He saw Casey there, he was sitting next to her in a chair, holding her hand. "Hey, Casey."
"Hey Dirk." he sounded surprised to see him. "I didn't think you'd show."
"Yeah, me neither." he stayed away from them, taking to a corner of the room.
"What made you?"
Dirk shrugged. "Guilt, I guess."
"Guilt? Guilt over what?"
Dirk's eyes moved to the prone body on the hospital bed. All sorts of tubes and wires sticking out of her, monitoring her status.
Casey sighed and stood up to approach the young half mutant. He placed his hands on his shoulders. "Listen, I love May, but this is not your fault."
"Everyone keeps saying that, but it's still so hard for me to believe."
"It's not. She, unfortunately, got involved with the wrong people. I wish she had stayed with you. You were good to her, you were good for her."
"I thought so too. I guess she just didn't see it that way." he pulled up another chair next to her and just looked at her. The woman that he once loved shouldn't have had to go through this. It didn't matter how she treated him.
Then, something happened that neither of them expected to happen. May actually started to wake up. Her small groans of pain, followed by her eyes fluttering open was a shock. She seemed understandably confused at first, not knowing where she was, but when she figured that out she stayed calm. "May! You're awake!" Casey said excitedly, seeing his daughter's eyes for the first time in a few days. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I got run over by a truck." she mumbled as she rubbed her pounding head. She wanted to sit up, but a searing pain in her stomach stopped her from doing so.
"Easy, don't try to sit up." Dirk told her.
She turned to him and her eyes widened in surprise. "Dirk! You're here?"
Dirk shrugged. "Yeah."
It was awkward seeing her ex sitting there next to her after what happened between them. She didn't exactly know what to say. "How've you been?"
So many snarky remarks wormed their way into his brain. He wanted to say one of them so badly, but decided against it at the last minute. "I'm fine." he said, tense.
"Good."
"I'm glad you're okay. I'm gonna go now." he stood up and hurried for the door.
"Wait!" she said suddenly. He stopped at the door, but wouldn't look back at her. "I'm sorry."
His whole body tensed up at hearing those words. He didn't respond, just walked out. Luckily, Vanessa was still by the door. "You feel any better?"
"I... don't know. She's awake though." he said stoically before making his way out of the hospital.
Vanessa went into nurse mode and went inside to take care of her patient, calling a doctor in as she did.
Dirk made it out unscathed and went to the nearest alley with a manhole cover. He decided it was best if he just went home and forgot about all of this.
Almost done.
