Which is the crime?

"Narmer." Palladino seemed almost in shock but Magda was focused on her work. Ollie was taking scans and she was checking everything she could form outside. "What… What will they do?" She asked Magda who broke from her procedure to glare at the Red Veil seer. "I am sorry." The red garbed woman said quietly. "But this is supposed to be a safe place. Narmer got here before and many people are very upset by what happened."

"You got loose." Magda replied. "So did I."

"I um…" Palladino seemed to slump. "Yes, we were liberated by the Veilbreaker."

"Kahl-175 was here?" Magda paused, thinking hard.

Kahl-175 had been a Grineer grunt during the initial onslaught of the Sentients under Erra and Ballas. No one knew how he had survived, but he had apparently been one of the first taken and Veiled by Narmer. Somehow, he had gotten loose, managed to get his Veil off, found a gun and started fighting a solo war against Narmer. As suicidal as that seemed, he had managed to survive and find a way to break Veils. He had done just that all over the place, freeing Narmer's slaves, leaving messes and empty Veils all over. The rogue clone was wanted by lots of people across the system for a number of supposed crimes that Magda and her peers as a whole did not consider crimes. No Tenno had asked her or her compatriots to investigate the being who had told his former queens and just about everyone else to go stuff themselves. He had declared war on Narmer all by his lonesome and with the help of several disparate beings including a Solaris and a wayward Orokin daughter had fought his way through the worst of the war, breaking Veils as he went. Grineer had been enemies of Tenno ever since the Lotus had first called them to wake, but Kahl-175 was not Grineer. Not since Narmer. Grineer served their queens, period. Kahl-175 fought for his brothers and the Queens did not like that. They liked it less when he rallied others to his side, including some Corpus! And yes, the Corpus did not like him either, since he had given the soldiers he had freed the chance to fight beside him, not for their Profit. Why was Magda so conflicted about him? The clone was a hero.

"He was." Palladino eyed Magda sidelong but did not comment on whatever she saw or felt with her mind from the Tenno. "He came in with a team of his freed followers, destroyed the Deacons, freed us from our Veils and left." The red garbed woman shook her head. "We offered him a place here but he said 'Too many hunt Kahl, me no stay'. And then he left. Wherever he went, we cannot find him. Red Veil that is. Steel Meridian is looking for him too, but they are having no luck either."

"They want to recruit him." Magda said slowly. "But he goes his own way." Palladino nodded. "We have no call to investigate him. Whatever 'crimes' the Grineer queens or Corpus say he has committed, he has never done any against Tenno since he was freed from Narmer. Before? Almost certainly, but trying to prosecute one clone out of the Grineer army of billions is pointless. There is simply no way."

"Some of my peers want him slain." Palladino said very quietly and Magda stared at her. "They blame all Grineer for the acts that have been done, even Steel Meridian. At one time, I felt the same, but I have known good ones here. Ones who try to be what the queens deny, good people. Then I met him, the Veilbreaker. Grineer who serve the Queens, I would kill still without hesitation, but him? No."

"Hate is a constant throughout the history I have read." Magda replied, half of her focus on Ollie as the sentinel scanned the scene. "Human, Tenno, Grineer, Sentient, hate is the one true constant throughout the histories I have seen and so many used said hate for their own ends, like the fool who barfed."

"Sad, but totally understandable." Palladino blew out a deep breath. "So... Narmer."

"The other bodies did not have Veils." Magda said with a frown that was invisible under her closed faceplate. "Then again, none of them were this new." Most of the others had been heavily decomposed, in one case nothing but bones left. That one would take quite a while to identify, if it even could be.

"Do I want to know how you found about about this before we did?" Palladino asked carefully. Magda shook her head and the seer surprised her with a humorless laugh. "Okay. I won't ask."

"I was called in by a Tenno clan leader who saw a report of the others." Magda replied honestly.

"Three others, yes?" Palladino was musing and Magda nodded. "A serial killer. Joy. Even if they are only targeting Narmer, they need to be stopped. Red Veil are killers, yes, and we do use terror as a weapon, but this? This method is horrific even by our standards. Killing is one thing, but leaving a victim alive and paralyzed as their body decomposes is another entirely."

"The methodology is unique as far as we have been able to determine." Magda admitted.

"This method was done before." Palladino said softly and Magda nodded. "But this is different?" She inquired, not quite pleading.

"It is. I am not at liberty to say how or why." Magda warned and Palladino nodded, accepting that. "But it is different."

"Is that good or bad?" Palladino asked, worry rising. Magda shrugged and Palladino continued. "Are we likely to see more of these?"

"I don't know." Magda replied as Ollie rose up from his scans, spun to face her and beeped twice. "Serial killers are all different, even those who copycat historical cases." At that, Palladino went utterly still and Magda nodded. "All evidence says it is a copycat, not the one you probably read about."

"Thank god for that!" Palladino shuddered hard. "What little I read about Spider White gave me nightmares." Coming from a Red Veil psychic who spoke to the dead? Ouch.

"Me too." Magda was sure that her agreeing in such a way with a terrorist was a first. She did not like Red Veil. Their idea of a system wide purge was the epitome of vigilante justice, anathema to any right thinking police officer. "Have you had anyone go missing recently?"

"Not since Narmer was kicked out." Palladino said slowly. "If that is…" She had a frown in her voice that was covered by her headdress. "I don't think that is one of ours. I cannot tell with the Veil on. His attire is not ours or Steel Meridian."

"No." Magda agreed, turning back to the door. "I better get to this." She looked and several people were standing nearby, eyeing her and Palladino. From their expressions, the smell had reached them. "Before we draw more of a crowd."

"Right." Palladino turned to the Red Veil guard at her side and spoke sharply. "I want two fighters to ward this building until the officer is done. No one else goes in until she says so, am I clear?" That was cold, hard and merciless.

"Yes, Ma'am." The guard replied with crisp nod. Her stepped to the side of the door and drew his Rakta Ballistica. Magda eyed him and he shook his head. "Getting another here, but we will save time and angst by making it clear from the first that this area is off limits."

His voice rang out across the area and the curious moved off, wanting to be elsewhere. Maybe there were a few upsides to being fanatical murdering terrorists? Magda wouldn't know. She focused on her work. She wanted to make sure it was all done right. Most serial murder cases were broken by detailed police work, barring a few of the worst and smartest ones. This one was both really bad and smart, but the more evidence she had, the better. One never knew, after all, what might be important to a forensic specialist.

There are other settlements. Ollie muttered into Magda's head and Magda nodded. No evidence of anything taken from the body. Then yes, this one was newer than the others. The bodies had been desecrated, parts taken for no reason that anyone could discern. With this one found, he may go after another. Maybe even Cetus.

A lot of Tenno are in and out of Cetus fairly regularly, but the Ostrons look out for one another there. Magda mused as she stepped in the door and started her visual survey. Fewer chances for a quiet spot to do such. But a kid? The others were adults from their size. How old, Ollie?

No way to be sure without an autopsy, but I would say, 19. Maybe 20. No older. Ollie replied without inflection in his mental voice. He was upset, but professional enough to cover it. This was bad. Anything dealing with kids hurt far worse than usual. The other two we saw, the age was indeterminate. One oddity. The Sentinel said quietly and Magda stiffened. Someone took DNA samples from this guy. The marks are clear, but would have deteriorated beyond observation in a day or so.

Contact the others and ask them to check the body in Fortuna for such. Magda said flatly. I will start the basics now.

Right.

Several hours later

Magda desperately needed a shower but the work was done, finally. The body and all of its environs had been packed up and shipped off for more detailed scanning than could be done in the field. The web had been a pain in the ass to package, but Magda and Ollie had managed. In the field, they couldn't do a lot of the more detail oriented forensic work, so the cops had a system. They digitized the body along with whatever other physical evidence they could find and scanned as much of the surrounding area as they could with every sensor available, then they sent the mass to their primary ship for analysis. If they could ID the body, they would put it in cold storage and notify the next of kin, but that was often not as easy as most assumed. In this case, with so little time since permanent brain death, it might be possible. They would try. If the body could not be identified within a year after all the scans were done, they would give him a short service and commit his body to the Sun. They had found that was the easiest and most appreciated for any relatives who might show up later. Yes, that had irritated people who wanted to put the bones in dirt, but that was very few out of the cases the group had solved.

Magda. Ollie said softly. Time to go.

"Yeah, Ollie." Magda stretched out her warframe's arms and gave herself a shake. She didn't really get cramps in the frame, but it helped to unwind mental muscles that often got lethargic if she didn't push them. "Not much more we can do here. Need to get the data to Laney, see what she and the others make of it."

Yeah, it is odd. Ollie seemed a bit distracted and Magda paused, looking at the sentinel.

"Other than the spider stuff?" Magda asked, trying to keep from being snide with her best friend. He understood, but she really wanted to keep him as a friend.

Yeah. Ollie said absently and Magda stared at him. I need to check some things, but I don't think this guy died here. Certainly not in the last few days.

"Really? He might have been-" Magda paused and then shook her head as she saw people trying to hear what she was saying without blatantly looking as if they were eavesdropping. She set her stance and marched off towards the transport landing pad, ignoring the gawkers with the skill of long practice. "Any initial thoughts?"

Too soon to say. Ollie was lost in thought. But it is odd.

"Right." Magda saw Palladino walked towards the pad and angled to meet the seer. The Red Veil woman tilted her head in query and Magda nodded. "Palladino, the building is clear. The stench may take some time to settle or be cleared by the wind, but everything else is gone."

"Thank you." Palladino actually sounded appreciative, but Magda wasn't about to take anything this woman said as Gospel truth. "We are also investigating and Cressia Tal says her people are looking into it as well. Should we coordinate?"

"If this 'guy', and I use that term carefully, since I have no idea what gender, if any the killer has…" Magda said grimly. "...is half as dangerous as I fear, then anyone you send out will be in grave danger."

"You cannot be everywhere." Palladino said quietly. "We may not agree on much, but we both want this 'guy'…" she put the same inflection on the word as Magda had. "...stopped and stopped hard. We may not all be trained as you are or experienced, but more eyes can help, no?"

"Just make sure they know when to run." Magda warned and Palladino nodded. "If you find anything, send whatever you do to the Administrator of the Relays. She can get it to us."

"We can do that, but… I get a very odd feeling around you." Palladino said softly as Magda strode out onto the pad, watching as her ship arced down to settle up against the edge so that she could step into the rotating airlock. "I never dealt with you before, but I dealt with others of your kind. I know what you are and what you are not. You feel odd to my senses."

"Bad?" Magda inquired, pausing just out of the airlock.

"I am not sure, to be honest. Nothing I have encountered." Palladino said slowly. "Not even the Veil I had forced on my by that cursed Deacon felt like you do. Different."

"Well, if you think of what what it is, tell the administrator. If 'I' am a problem somehow, we need to know sooner rather than later." Magda said with a nod. Palladino returned. "I hope I don't have to come back soon."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Officer, but I hope you don't either." Palladino had a smile in her voice and Magda was snickering as the airlock enfolded her.

"Yeah." Magda said soberly as Ollie flew to his charging station. "We are not very welcome even at the best of times."

We do tend to make a mess even when we try hard not to. Ollie offered as Magda moved to the bridge and set a course. So, Venus?

"No, we need to talk to Rachel." Magda felt tired now. Her fatigue levels were rising. "Ship? Set course for Antarctica. Best stealth speed in atmosphere."

"Roger that." The ship Cephalon said quietly as Magda felt her feet turn towards the deeper part of the ship, connected as it was through the Void to her assault craft.

"I…" Magda was suddenly in front of the door and balked. "No!"

"You know I won't hurt you, Magda." The voice was her ship Cephalon, who wasn't one! "I won't hurt your friends either. Ollie will sleep until we get to Antarctica. You do not have time even for a fast nap, so, I will ease you as best I can until we get there."

"What do you want?" Magda demanded as she stepped into the room and again, her warframe vanished back to wherever it was hidden while this thing did what it did. She was staggering as a hand touched hers, guiding her towards the mattress that lay on the floor. It had clean sheets now. "Oh, come on!" Magda demanded as the hand guided her to sit on the mattress.

"Please…" Magda begged as the two hand eased her down to lie on the mattress and then cupped her skull.

"I am not going to hurt you, Magda." The other was so gentle as energy swept through Magda's internal energy, soothing every hurt and erasing fatigue. "You see the threat now. Even the idiot Veilbreaker is not as dangerous as that one is."

"I… won't… let.. you… win…" Magda snarled in her mind even as her entire self submerged in the energy. It felt so good and it was so bad. She was losing ground to the odd, Narmer style energy but pushed it back again even as the voice that held her sighed. "I will not submit!"

"Good girl!" A new voice! Magda tried to turn her head to see who was speaking, but she couldn't move! Did she know the voice? She wasn't sure. The hands cupping her head fell away as the voice she hated and feared gasped. Warmth spread across Magda and she was…

It was…

Later

Magda jerked awake in her quarters with a tiny cry that she suppressed through sheer force of will. That had been a hell of a nightmare! She was still shaking even as she banished the subconscious fears that plagued each and every Tenno. Being made a slave was the absolute worst fear of any right thinking Tenno. The Orokin had tried several times to make Tenno into slaves and it had cost them a great deal each and every time. Everything had been for their use, their amusement. Everything had been under their control. She barely remembered the Orokin times. She had been alive then, but so long in cryogenic stasis after the Empire's Collapse had taken its toll on Magda just as it had on every Tenno. She remembered the feelings of helplessness when High Orokin had committed horrific crimes and she and her fellows had been unable to do anything about it.

"Ah, Magda…" The cop jerked fully awake as a familiar voice spoke up from where she knew the door to her quarters was. Magda slammed to her feet as Rachel of the First Tenno strode in, her Saryn warframe armed and ready. "Even for one of you cops, this is pretty bad." Rachel said quietly as Magda stared at her and then around wildly. She was in her quarters on her Orbiter, yes. Not in her warframe. Rachel was fully armored and ready to fight. Why? Magda didn't think she had offended any of them. She would know, wouldn't she?

"Have I given offense, Tenno Rachel?" Magda asked as Rachel came to a stop just inside Magda's quarters. Rachel's Saryn warframe tilted its head in query and Magda waved to herself, indicated her unarmored and unarmed status. "I um… What did I miss? I obviously slept through something."

"Yeah." Why was Rachel suddenly sad? "No, Tenno Magda. You gave no offense. I know why you came and what is actually going on. I cannot explain. To be formal…" She stood up straight and Magda did the same. "Yes. It is probably a Tenno who is doing committing the crimes you are investigating. And no. It is not Ariana Arachne."

"Is it me?" Magda asked, suddenly afraid. "My mind is playing tricks and I-" She broke off as Rachel stepped to her and suddenly the Saryn was holding Magda as she fought not to cry.

"No." Rachel whispered into Magda's ear. "It isn't you. You are many things, Tenno Magda, but you are not a serial killer. I am limited in what I can do if there isn't a Technocyte outbreak involved. I know why you came and I can help with that. I have proof that Ariana has not left her prison. I cannot share that proof outside of a totally secure setting, but my word will suffice for most. She is not doing this." Magda nodded bit jerkily, but Rachel wasn't done. "Your mind is playing tricks, but it is not your fault. Be strong Tenno. You will find your way through the dark."

To Magda's shock, Rachel gave her a gentle hug and then, released her, turned and walked out the door again before Magda could find her tongue. A hum heralded her leaving the ship!

What… The… Hell…?