Day and Night
Seventeen
Alicia Sevarius bit back a giggle as she surfed the internet. If was a quiet day at Nightstone, or at least quieter than usual, and she had finished clearing out her inbox. So she was having a snack and looking at amusing pictures from the internet.
"What's so funny?" Dominique asked as she left her office. She also didn't have any pressing appointments, and nothing to do other than watching the stock market. Which was fun, in a way, but not something you wanted to do too much.
"Oh, uhm..." Alicia looked guilty, then reluctantly turned the screen towards her. "You have fans, it seems."
"Xena warrior princess?" Dominique blinked, seeing herself dressed in the famous armor. Thankfully not back flipping or anything, but still...
"There's apparently a LOT of fan art on the web of you, Mr Xanatos, his wife and Mr MacDuff after you made the news fighting those monsters," Alicia explained sheepishly.
Dominique didn't get ALL the references, but she caught enough to laugh aloud at some of the jokes. "Oh dear..." she snickered softly.
"I thought the Three Musketeers pic was nice too," Alicia agreed. She REALLY hoped her boss wouldn't ask why she was looking up these pictures.
"It's... interesting," Dominique conceded. "I'm getting some lunch, would you care to join me?" she offered warmly.
"Oh, please," Alicia beamed, getting up and logging off her computer.
"So, why were you looking at pictures of me online?" Dominique teased as they walked out of the office together.
'Busted...' Alicia thought with a sigh.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Matt Bluestone really, REALLY hated dealing with the press. Still it was part of the job. Finishing up the briefing he concluded, "The Investigation into the attack on Xanatos Industries is ongoing, and we would appreciate any assistance from the public."
"Does that mean you still have no substantial leads?" a reporter called out.
"It means we're still investigating," Matt smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, the briefing is over," Matt said as he and the public relations officer left the room.
"You really need to be more polite, Detective," a cop called as he passed, "I think 'The Shark' likes you!"
"Oh god no," Matt laughed. Alexis Shakes aka The Shark had been his sometimes nemesis in the reporting world, both because of her much raking and aggressiveness. If the cops screwed up, she'd happily cover it.
Elisa looked amused as he reached their desk, "That reminds me, she left a message."
"Oh lovely," Matt took the paper from her.
"Love note?" Elisa teased him gently.
"Thankfully, no," Matt noted thoughtfully. "Odd missing person's case she's digging into. Might be related to our case." He related the case of Tony Cheung, PI who was hired to dig into Nightstone, then simply disappeared.
"Shark thinks Anton grabbed him?" Elisa guessed. "I'd be more worried about Dominique doing something to him."
"Now now, the head of Nightstone is a fine, upstanding citizen," Matt teased back, smiling wryly. He looked thoughtful, "Anton DID seem quite fond of Alicia... you think he took steps?"
"Certainly possible," Elisa admitted. "Do you think we need to talk to the detectives who caught the case?"
"Can't hurt, anyway," Matt agreed.
They tracked down officer Cat Devane the next day, the woman having been involved in a bust that evening. A somewhat older cop, the redhead was well known for being a cop's cop, and occasionally being a hard ass.
"You think the cases are related?" she asked as they sat at her desk.
"The people are connected," Elisa admitted, "no idea if our cases are, honestly."
"Well, we got called in after Cheung had been missing a week," Cat noted wryly. "Apparently no one missed him all that much."
"Heh," Matt smiled slightly.
"We turned over his apartment, and he was pretty dirty," Cat admitted. "He had several unregistered handguns, some illegal spy gear and so on. If we find him, we can charge him for a long list of stuff."
"Did he have a office too?" Elisa asked.
"Oh yeah. That was why I was running around last night," Cat grinned. "The idiot kept paper records, including working for Tony Dacon and others. Just from rifling his office I got probably cause on two busts, and we nailed a drug lab and brothel, both of which he did work for."
Matt raised his eyebrows, "Sounds like a major league sleaze."
"Small fish, big pond but with lots of connections," Cat shook her head. "Anyway, we went through his files trying to figure out where he went. He claimed to have something on Alicia Sevarius, and thought he had a line on contacting Anton. Sadly that's his last entry," she told them.
"Do we know he wrote that entry?" Elisa asked after a moment.
"You think someone broke into his office and faked a entry just to throw us off?" Cat looked dubious, "Seriously, detective?"
"We both know that's bullshit," Matt conceded, "but you know a defence attorney would bring that up."
Cat grunted in annoyance but nodded. "I'm not a expert, but the writing all looked consistently the same. And let's be honest... trying to blackmail a mad geneticist is not the dumbest thing we've seen crooks do," she pointed out.
Elisa nodded ruefully, "Got that right."
"All right, we'll keep digging on our case, if anything more on Sevarius comes up can you contact us?" Matt asked.
"As long as you pass on anything on my case," Cat nodded.
"Will do," Elisa agreed as they headed off.
"What do you think?" Matt asked as they left the squad room, heading out to get some coffee.
"I think she's probably right. Tony Cheung tried to either sell the data or blackmail Anton, and Anton either killed him or captured him," Elisa sighed.
"Problem is we can't do anything about it until we either find Sevarius or if Cheung actually turns up," Matt noted. He looked thoughtful, "Should we check the evidence locker for the stuff from Cheung's office?"
"Cat'll think we don't trust her," Elisa noted, then shrugged. "Do it anyway."
"Got it," Matt smiled.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Well," Anton beamed as the scientist clapped his hands, "how are my lab rats today?"
"I keep telling you we are not lab rats," the young man known as Coyote bitched. His animal based mutation was coming in nicely, giving him a sheen of grey fur and animal ears, along with enhanced speed and agility.
Anton just waved that off. "And Panther, how are you settling in to your changes?" he asked.
The tall, already athletic woman had settled on a cat series of mutations, mostly intended to give her greater speed and strength, pretty much. She also had cat-like claws in each hand, retractable into sheaths on top of her fingers.
"It's pretty cool," Panther grinned, "though I'm not thrilled with the black fur coat."
"I think it makes you look striking," Jackal drawled.
Hyena scowled at him, but didn't say anything.
"Liking the armor," Wolf noted as the burly fighter moved and stretched in the combat suit. The latest from Xanatos, or at least the stuff he let out into the public, it provided superior strength enhancement, durability and optional on-board weapons.
"I do wish you had let me augment you," Anton pouted. "You clearly have good genes."
"One of us," Wolf looked at the motley crew of transformed humanoids, "needs to pass in public. Or it's gonna be kinda hard to get take-out, or anything else."
"I would miss my burgers," Hyena conceded.
"All right, final check-up time! I'll give each of you a good check over, then you can take my illegal biological changes out into the world!" Anton beamed.
"Your bedside manner leaves something to be desired," Jackal noted.
"I'm crushed," Anton smirked.
To be continued...