Disclaimer: We do not own the world of Mutant-X or even CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its characters. Both are own by Tribune Entertainment and CBS respectively. Although some of the characters and the story are owned by frickangel/Freak@ngel and RK9.
Note: This is the same chapter 2 that was uploaded previously, only thing is that I had to change a few errors that I had forgotten to correct earlier on.
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Rivers Of Differences.
Chapter 2.
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Coffee was always a welcomed sight to any graveyard shift CSI. This including Nadine herself. First the hot spill of the black brew into her Styrofoam cup, followed by two sachets of sugar. Stir well.
"Ah, lipstick on my coffee cup." The young dark blonde said from the entrance.
"I thought all cups were disposed off after use?" Nadine asked him, her coffee still a distance from her glossed lips.
He shrugged. "Just a figure of speech I guess."
Nadine flashed him a rather unimpressed smile and continued the coffee to her mouth move, until-.
"You must be one of the new ones here."
The coffee trip was interrupted again. "Yes."
"I'm Greg Sanders." He offered his hand. Shifting the white cup into her only other free grip, Nadine shook Sanders' hand. "I…uh work the DNA lab here."
Opening up her mind to read the feelings between the lines, without permission that is, is something Nadine had promised herself never to do. But in this case…
"Whoa, down boy." Another woman appeared that Nadine had recognized as Sara Sidle. "So where is it?" Sidle asked, her palm outstretched to receive something from Sanders.
"What?" Sanders will always seem like he was two cups above the allowed caffeine limit.
"Well you obviously were here to give me that report on my DB right?"
He started to do little hoping movements on his toes. "There's this backlog, and-."
"Not much of a backlog now is it if you can still be chatting up our new CSI?" Sidle gave a little sarcastic smile as she moved her crossed arms a little tighter around her body.
A swish of the bobbing head and Sanders hopped out. "Should I thank you? Or would that be an insult to him?" Nadine asked, the steam from her coffee still whisping away.
"Nah, I think Greg is too overcooked by his hyperactivity to notice an insult." Sidle bent down to pick out a canned Coke from the fridge.
Finally being able to drink her coffee, Nadine sipped the hot liquid slowly but as soon as the unknown flavor assaulted her taste buds, she made a bee line to the sink and spitted it out. She looked up after washing down the taste with water from the sink and saw Sidle chuckling with her very safe Coke. "Oh, by the way, the coffee's not bad when you're desperate." The senior CSI explained. "Before that it used to taste like tar."
Nadine wiped the sides of her mouth with her back hand. "I think it's improving, that tasted more like break fluid."
She let out a small laugh and drank from the can. "Good. Humor. You'll need it in here." Sidle added. "It's the only thing that still is fresh. Anyway I have to go and collect my DB's 'status'." She had pointed to the back with her thumb before taking 2 backward steps with finally a turn and straight out.
Nadine didn't mind Sidle. Maybe it was the feeling of women being strong in a mostly male dominated career. Or maybe because Nadine just liked her. Still holding onto the barely drank cup of "break fluid", the Asian started to toss the contents down the sink's drain hole.
"Here."
Nadine eyed the StarBucks logo printed paper cup and smiled. "I thought I was the empathic one?" she amusedly asked her sister.
"Yeah, but I spotted the new organism they call coffee here first. Knew you would throw this new species to waste."
Accepting the beverage from Alexis, Nadine pulled off the protective tab and savored the aroma and real taste of coffee. "Thanks."
"No problem." Alexis replied, as she pulled out her own cup from the paper bag. "Still no cases?"
Shrugging, Nadine removed the cup from her lips. "Not that I've heard off."
"This is Las Vegas, where are the dead people?"
"Probably still alive and gambling whatever they have left on their backs."
"Oh, how fun…" Alexis said in a flat toned voice.
"Really? I hadn't noticed."
Her rear-end shook from the vibrations milliseconds before the electronically tune of two pagers went off. Both their hands whipped to their jean pockets and retrieved their pagers. "Be careful for what I wish for…" Alexis muttered just as they bolted for the door.
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Shoving herself into the back of the Tahoe, Nadine let her tool kit rest on the empty seat next to her. Over in front was Alexis and Stokes in charge of the wheel. A real case for them to finally investigate with the overview being brief and quick: DB at a deserted area, all available units requested.
Those 9 words were wonderfully specific.
"So is there anything else we're allowed to know about this?" Alexis asked casually.
The scenic route that they were taking would have looked good if only it wasn't so dark. Than again- there wasn't much light at 3 in the morning.
"Gris and Catherine were at the crime scene a whole half an hour before they called in." Stokes answered, his eyes still safely on the road ahead. "Didn't say much, just that we should haul our butts there."
Arching an eyebrow which would never be seen by Stokes, Nadine interjected. "Grissom actually said 'haul our butts'?"
"In Grissom talk: yes."
Leaving the conversation as it is, the entire trip was dipped in silence.
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Las Vegas always had struck Grissom as the sort of temperamental female. Never knew what they would give to you and in what way the presents were going to be wrapped. The weather was another thing as well.
Tonight the air was hot and dry. Just last night it was chilly.
"Fire and water never really mixed right?" Catherine asked from his left side, her soft blue shirt illuminated by the siren lights of the police units.
Points and notes gathered in his mind, like a gun ready to fire already aimed at his victim's heart. "It's more like-."
"Forget I ever asked." Catherine immediately interrupted her hand up in the air, like giving up something. She smiled a little and moved on to start the initial grid search. They had called in more of the CSI's that were on-duty about 25 minutes ago, and Grissom hoped that at least 2 would answer the summons. This was a case that even had left the CSI head supervisor a little baffled. And leaving Grissom baffled was news. But it's not like he was about to let everyone know about it.
Detective Brass replaced Catherine's original position next to Grissom. "Do things ever get to us easily?"
"Does it rain in Alaska?"
Frowning, Brass thought for a while and remained silent, instead he said, "Your CSI's are here, including the two 'imports'. 3 in total though."
Grissom, let the rather debatable 'import' remark slip by, he was more preoccupied with getting the case explained. Threading his way over the burnt leftovers and slipping under the yellow and all important 'Crime Scene' tape, he was greeted by the sight of 3 CSI's. Nick jumping out of the driver side whiles the other two new Asians out from their own passenger seats.
"You rang master?" Nick good humouredly shouted out.
Grissom gave Nick his usual unimpressed glare. "Over here." He led the way again through the same dull yellow ribbon. Stepping onto the crime scene, he looked at Nadine and Alexis. "Meet John Doe."
'John' had laid in the same way since 8p.m., about 8 hours since his estimated time of death. That is; from their initial report from David, their on the scene coroner. The vic was lying in the burnt remnants of a wooden shack.
"What's his story?" Alexis' voice rang out.
"Passer by's reported a fire and by the time the fire department arrived, they wasn't anything to save at all." Catherine appeared from in front, her forehead beaded with sweat as her gloved hands hung loosely to her sides. "Than, we got the call about a dead body."
"Is the night playing tricks on my eyesight, or is our vic wet?"
"If it is than it's playing tricks on me to." Nick backed up.
"Three." Nadine piped in.
Grissom knew it was no trick, they saw what they had seen. The shack was burnt to black cinders, but the DB was still untouched in the middle of the mess.
And wet.
The surrounding area within the fire was damp from moisture as well. Some pieces of wood were only stained with blackish smudges and not complete carbon. "It's wet." He confirmed.
"But the fire department didn't even waste a drop on this place." Catherine said, adding mystery to the case.
"Rain?" Nick tried a suggestion.
"I don't see any umbrellas here Nick." Grissom flatly pointed out.
"How about morning moisture?" Nadine put her 2 cents in.
"This much?" Catherine objected.
"I've heard of spontaneous combustion, so what's this: spontaneous hydration?" Alexis said, confused.
Grissom caught Nadine's annoyed look at Alexis. From the start, he had noticed her air of superiority. As if she was in charge and better than anyone else. Than again, Grissom stopped to listen to his own advice: assume nothing. "Start the grid search." He ordered Nick and Catherine, whom nodded and set to work. "Nadine-Alexis, I heard of what you're capable of. Why don't the both of you work your magic?"
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This place was nothing but smothered junk. Catherine wondered at just what evidence they could recover. "So how are they?" Catharine asked as she picked up a piece of blackened wood.
"Peachy." Nick answered, his face a little void of happiness.
"That bad?"
Looking up, he gave Catherine a thinking look. "Actually, Alexis is fine, maybe not so much on the Lang girl."
The blond shrugged, "Still…" Catherine changed the subject. "So where are Warrick and Sara?"
"Momentarily stuck on the murder case. But it's pretty solid, so they should be giving a helping soon," the Texan answered. "This case is high on the weird scale."
"Yeah, but weird isn't actually a foreign language here."
Nick gave her a small grin. He threw aside another small burnt piece of wood. "Speaking of weird, what's with them?"
Catherine followed Nick's gaze and studied the still form of Nadine Lang, sitting on her tool kit and staring at the DB. Just down the other side, Alexis scanned the area, Grissom looked on. "I have no idea, but I heard they give pretty accurate "readings". Whatever that means." She shrugged, her long strawberry hair flopping a little. "Grissom was kinda vague."
"Grissom's always vague."
She too another picture of a burnt something, the flash strong in the early morning night. "True."
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With gloves snapped on to her hands, Alexis snaked through the wreck. It was dark and her MagLight didn't give much help in this time of night. Sneaking a glance at her superior and making sure he was looking somewhere else, she tuned into her night vision. The familiar sepia tint that flashed through her eyesight lit up the dark world, noticing more than just the brighter version of the crime scene.
One step after another revealed nothing.
She hadn't realized just how far she had wandered until Alexis had spotted a small plastic piece. That wouldn't have struck her as to how distant she was, except for the fact that the grass was green and there wasn't any flamed up wood. Taking picturea and saving it, Alexis smiled. From her standard issue CSI vest, she pulled out a plastic zip-lock and picked up the piece with her forceps. The plastic stuck to the side of the bag from the early morning dew and stayed that way when Alexis had laid the evidence to her side. Within the other pocket, she retrieved a black OHP pen and wrote the specific details. Black ink stains left where her hand had lead it and informing any reader.
Trailing through the site another time as far as the predicted crime scene, Alexis couldn't find anything more and headed back to ground zero.
With a thumb flick, she turned her MagLight on once more, this time really needing it to see her way through the darkness.
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He ran.
They followed.
Footsteps. More than 2 sets. Many pairs.
Nadine walked alone the whole area, wrestling with the shadows of John Doe's life. Grissom stood behind as she sat on her tool kit. The man lay before her, face down, back upwards like he was pushed to the ground. The guy looked pathetic. That was Nadine's personal opinion. His wet dark hair clumped to his equally wet face and dirt stuck to his clothes. Everything was dripping wet.
A fountain.
'No.' Nadine thought, 'Not a fountain,'
Gushes of water. Fast flowing water.
Shaking her head slightly, the CSI pushed out the self made mental image of water. It was best to concentrate on her work and not let her own views mix with her images.
John screams- The fire. His death.
Staring intently into nowhere in particular, the telempath tried to focus onto the blurred faces of the suspects.
Funnily it's harder this time. She could only make out their actions and attitudes. So full of duty and professionalism. Was it a hired hit? Thinking hard on a particular action- fire.
Than the images continued.
The suspects walked away from the blaze.
Nadine stood up and faced a direction. Stepping up next to her, Grissom had the questioning look. "This way," she muttered pulling up her tool kit. "They went this way." Not one word slipped from him as Nadine walked on, down the known dirt road she had "seen".
One cursed.
Mud.
One stepped into mud and cursed.
"Here." She broke off her fast paced walk and gazed into the side road. Bending down, Nadine pushed aside the weed growth and revealed a perfect footprint embedded into the half dried sludge.
Grissom examined the same evidence while flashing the MagLight into upon the area. "Looks fresh."
"Don't worry, it is." Nadine answered confidently. She brought herself up again and headed down the path once more. Grissom took his time and followed her after making sure the place was marked and secured.
The car was far off. They skidded off in their vehicle.
Finally her little stroll ended on a perfectly normal deserted tarred road. "Skid marks from the tires of our suspects." She pointed to the ground.
Her companion inspected the marks. "This could belong to any cars' tires."
"It is the real thing." She repeated, her annoyance biting through her words. "Besides even if it isn't solid proof at this moment, it will link the suspects' car to this crime scene."
Grissom didn't object. He stood up and started away. "Make sure you just process this place. I'll get Catherine on the footprint." He shot back coolly.
With a triumphed smile, Nadine knew deep inside that she had found something that no CSI would be able to find, whether accidentally or not. Extracting the digital camera from her tool kit, Nadine sat to work.
'No one.'
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"Did ya hear?"
Warrick turned from the inside view of his locker. "No, what?"
"The new girls practically showed us up."
Laughing at his fellow teammate, he slammed the metal locker close giving him a clearer view of the speaker. "That's 'cause I wasn't there Nick." He strode out of the room and stepped along the corridor of labs and Nick followed along.
"Oh believe me they would've done the same to you."
The laugh turned into a chuckle as Warrick noted Nick's dead serious pose. "Ok, I'm listening. What happened?"
"Well, they found evidence that would've taken 3 state teams of CSI's to search for."
"That's it?" Warrick joked until he saw Nick's un-amused face "Okay, so they're good. Big deal."
"That Lang girl gives me this bad vibe."
'Now which one was that?' Warrick thought, trying to remember who was who. "Don't tell me you're afraid of her?"
"I am not!" Nick exclaimed stopping in his tracks. "She has this thing and I'm not so sure…well…it's…"
Sighing, Warrick faced his friend. "Spit it out."
"It's like she can tell what you're thinking. I mean she just practically pointed at the evidence and where it was exactly."
Warrick set himself in deep thought for a while before answering. "Chicken."
"I AM NOT!" he shouted again, tossing his hands up at the same time.
Continuing his journey to the trace lab, Warrick shot him a smile and left Nick behind.
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Alexis lay within the shadows and listened to the exchange between the 2 senior CSI's. There was going to be trouble within this place and her every self knew it. "Oh boy…" she whispered.
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"Anything new?" Adam asked from over the young blonde's shoulder. Shaking his head and shrugging, face illuminated by the 17' inch computer screen. "Nothing much, usual lab results but nothing solid at the moment." Jesse Kilmartin answered.
"Right, keep monitoring the case." He ordered back. Moving away back to the lab, Adam left Jesse to his work. He rubbed his fingers while the data stream continued to flow across the monitor. 'One of the top four crime labs apparently. Let's see them solve this case.' Jesse let the thought through his mind.
"You still at it huh?" Shalimar appeared from nowhere and leaned on his shoulder.He sighed, "Adam says stay on it, so I'm staying on it."
"When do we butt into this?"
Another shrug. "It's hard to 'butt' into this when the cops are so involved."
"Well, that hasn't stopped us yet."
"Not yet,"
"And besides," she continued, "I've always wanted to go to Las Vegas."
He scoffed, thinking of all the bright lights and headaches. Not for him but for those suffering from severe lack of monetary moments there. "Viva Las Vegas huh?"
"Oh yeah."
"Guess we'll just have to wait and see."
"No problem, I'm a very patient person especially when it comes to finding killers as stupid as this one."
Jesse hit a few keys, "Never doubted that, ever."
"Good." She playfully punched his shoulder with a balled fist.
"Whoa," he frowned, still setting his eyes on the information.
"What?"
"The computer just made a match to the database."
"I thought we already did?"
"Not Bryan Jemlin," Jesse said, referring to the recently deceased man. "We have two CSI's from the Las Vegas crime lab who just submitted in reports. Their names were a match to the new mutant database."
"Them new mutants?"
"Apparently so." He read off the words. "Alexis Lim: Canine Feral."
"And the other?" Shalimar prompted.
"Nadine Lang: Psionic. Interesting bit, they're both related."
"Cousins? Distant something?"
"No, twins."
She frowned, "But why the different last names?"
Jesse scrolled down through the bio. "Parents divorced. Each going with separate parent."
"In that case," Shalimar gave Jesse her best cat-like smile. "I think we just got our reasons to butt in."
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Authors' notes: Well chapter 2 is here. And we I forgot to add something to the explanation, this is set in season 2 for MX and season 4 for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Just to clarify.
And to fulfill our promise, MX is finally in the picture. Tell us whatca think!
Regards:
Frickangel/Freak@ngel & RK9