Author's Note: Hi. I'm back! Told you I wouldn't be gone for very long. Wasn't much of a hiatus, was it? Sorry for putting you through all that. I'll try to be less dramatic in future author's notes, lol.

You'll notice I have completely rewritten chapter 6. Yeah, I realized I didn't like that chapter either. It was uninteresting and very hard to write as well. I thought if I could make it more interesting and engaging then chapter 7 would be easier to write as a result. Turns out I was correct. Writing these chapters was a lot less like pulling teeth than it was before. It's still not 100% perfect but I'm happy with it and actually had a fun time writing it. So yeah. Hope you enjoy the new and improved chapter 6 and the brand new chapter 7!


6. The Virus

Once upon a time, several years ago, GenoMe had been among the most powerful corporations in the world. Their claim that they could analyze your genetic make-up to tell you where you should invest your talents was a lie, but many people fell for it hook, line and sinker. The illegal and shady activities of the company and its staff had attracted the attention of Genius Squad who had helped to bring it down. Now that they had succeeded the giant complex that housed GenoMe was a dark, decaying block of bricks surrounded by concrete. A shadow of what it once was.

But that didn't mean it was no longer in use.

Saul Greeniaus got a bad feeling as soon as he pulled up to the dark building. Now that the building on the street served no use the road was rather obscure. The closer they had come to their destination, the rarer it became to see any other cars sharing the road with them. Hardly any lights illuminated the area as the only streetlamps that worked were spread far apart and some of them flickered in and out, no doubt nearing the end of their life span.

"I thought you said we were going to Vee's house." Saul said as he looked out the front window at the old GenoMe building. It seemed like an impenetrable fortress in the dark night.

"House. Abandoned corporate headquarters. Same thing." Prosper said with a shrug. "The point is that this is where Dr. Vee lives and if we're going to get his help, we have to come to him here."

"I wonder why he'd choose this place, though." The detective mused. "His connection to the Darkkon empire is well known. Surely, this would be a place of interest."

"Oh, Greeniuas." Prosper sighed. "You really give your copper friends too much credit. Sure, they're aware that Vee and GenoMe are tangentially related but because this building has been abandoned for several years, they have no reason to look. For police, once a case is closed, it's closed and there's hardly any changing it back from that."

"Maybe not in normal cases." Saul retorted. "But if the police ever find out your alive, they'll certainly take a look back into Darkkon's empire."

Prosper English narrowed his eyes. "You weren't thinking of going back on our deal, were you, Mr. Greeniaus? Because if you do," Prosper's hands went to his waist where a gun laid snug as a bug in its holster. "I might be forced to take extreme measures."

Saul met the challenge head on. He tilted his chin up and assumed a stern expression. "Don't forget," he said in his steadiest voice. "For once you're not the only one with a gun around here."

What followed after that comment was a very brief and very tense staring contest, where both men tried to assess the other's true intentions. Finally, Prosper shrugged and said, "Touché."

"Touche?" Saul echoed rather stupidly. Prosper sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You know, of all the people to be stuck in a stalemate with, I didn't consider you to be a likely candidate at all. Just goes to show how slow I'm getting in my old age."

"Hey." Said a mildly offended Saul.

"Quick. Let's go before the sun rises. We'll be far more conspicuous that way." Saul could have argued that the two of them already looked pretty conspicuous right now, what with their being parked in front of an abandoned building in the middle of the night but he didn't say anything. Instead, he followed Prosper out of the car, eyes casting about in the darkness for unlikely strangers who could possibly see them.

Prosper English had instructed the detective to drive around to the side of the GenoMe building. That was because this portion of the property was least visible from passing cars, on account of its position in relation to the road and because there was a garage there as well. The criminal had informed Saul that this was for the transportation of genetic samples from all over Australia. "Or that's what I was told." Propser had said. "I never had much to do with GenoMe. I always thought the whole operation absolutely ridiculous."

This meant that to enter, Saul and Prosper had to go around to the back of the building. To Saul's confusion though, they didn't open any doors or stop in front of any windows. Instead, Prosper bent down and started searching the asphalt ground.

"What are you doing?" Saul asked in hushed tones. Just like on the dark road, hidden by trees Saul kept his eyes peeled but he wasn't just looking for other cops this time. There was a very good chance that Prosper could have been leading him into an ambush.

If that happened, he'd have to be ready.

"Just wait one moment." Prosper responded, sounding annoyed. After a few more moments of searching and muttering he finally shouted. "Ha! I've got it!" What followed was the peculiar noise of metal scraping against road and after that, the sound of water.

Saul jogged over to where Prosper was standing. "What's making that sound?" he asked.

"The sewer." Prosper explained helpfully.

"The what!?" Saul pulled his phone out and shined the flashlight right at his feet. What he saw made him gasp.

Prosper English had pulled back a manhole cover and underneath it, dark green water flowed in a river made of concrete. "Is this our way in?" Saul asked, even though he already knew the answer and didn't like it one bit.

"I'm not exactly looking forward to diving into toilet water either, Mr. Greeniaus." Prosper said, immediately picking up on the detective's hesitance. "But neither of us can afford to be caught right now. And there's no way in that's more discreet than this one."

"But if this leads right into GenoMe's headquarters…" Saul began.

"It's not filled with chemicals if that's what you're thinking."

Saul still looked uncertainly at the green water.

"Look. It's fine!" Prosper said, sounding exasperated. "How do you think Dr. Vee got in? Here." The psychologist thrust something light and flimsy at Saul. "We're going to need light down there, and I don't think It'll do either of us any good if our phones get ruined."

Saul looked down in his hands. Inside, was a plastic bag. "I wonder what this was originally for." He said drily. "Were you planning on using this in another murder?"

"Oh, just get down there before I push you in." Prosper snapped, his mouth curled into a snarl. Saul sighed. He turned on his phone's flashlight and put it in the plastic bag.

Then he went in.

Fortunately for Saul he didn't have to jump into the water. A rather helpful metal ladder led down into the concrete chamber. The detective climbed down as quickly as possible to get the unpleasant part (acclimating to the cold water) out of the way. This didn't make things any less miserable though. The water, when Saul entered it, was still freezing cold and despite the fact that he had his phone light, it was extremely dark as well.

The sound of water streaming through the underground filled his ears.

"Alright! I'm in." Saul called up to Prosper.

"Okay. Stand back." Saul did as he was told and within a moment Prosper joined him in the dirty water. The detective heard him shiver as he went in.

"Ugh." Saul heard the psychologist mutter to himself. "Why oh, why did you have to choose here of all places Dr. Vee?"

Saul shined his flashlight at Prosper. "Where do we go now?"

"Just follow me. And don't shine your phone in my face or you'll turn me blind."

From there, the two men wade through the dark sewers. Saul presumed Prosper was leading him to a secret way into the GenoMe building but he was still nervous all the same. This was the perfect sort of place to murder somebody. The water was definitely deep enough to drown in. Could Prosper be luring him into a dark chamber, only so he could hold his head underwater until he blacked out?

No, Saul decided eventually. That's not likely. Prosper was just as vulnerable as him in this situation. There was nothing stopping the detective from killing him in the same way. Aside from his moral compass of course.

Saul's worries were eventually proved to be false when the two men reached a second grate. Soft, silver moonlight shone through it and onto the dirty green water. Looking through it, Saul could see the ceiling of the GenoMe building's first floor.

Prosper English removed the grate without a word or sound and in a manner that implied he had done this many times before. After removing it, he tossed it aside and the two men climbed out of the sewers and out onto sterile, white tiles. Their hands and feet made wet slapping sounds as they stood. Their clothes were dripping with dirty water.

"Alright. We're in." Prosper announced. "Oh, Christ! What a horrific stench!"

Saul looked about. They seemed to have entered the building through the laboratory. Dusty microscopes littered old steel tables. Under and around these tables were uncomfortable looking, plastic stools. Tubes and vials were strewn all over the floors and tables. They were covered in the remains of various science liquids, creating a foul stench that was most certainly not helped by the open sewer grate. In the corner, an old refrigerator hummed. Saul assumed that was where the scientists kept sensitive materials such as DNA samples before they were forced to shut down.

Saul had been told that the GenoMe facility had been forced to close in a hurry and thus, the scientists who worked there were forced to leave their work behind, not even having time to properly clean their workspaces. This resulted in a rather disturbing setting that unnerved the detective to his very core.

"Where do we go now?" Mr. Greeniaus asked, eager to get in and out of this place as quickly as possible.

"Dr. Vee's hiding out on the top floor." Prosper answered. "Unfortunately, the elevator doesn't work, so we're going to have to take the stairs."

Saul sighed and prepared himself for a long and tiring trek.

In the end, Prosper ended up leading Saul up five flights of stairs which left both men positively winded by the end. But as he walked through the halls of the fifth floor, he noticed a difference between it and the first. Walking through the ground floor, Saul had mostly passed by science labs, filled with similar equipment to the one he had entered through. He had eyed those rooms with quite a bit of curiosity.

The top floor, however, consisted almost entirely of offices with the odd break or meeting room here and there. Moonlight streamed through the windows of every office and shined down on each old computer and filing cabinet. Saul assumed this was where all the important people worked.

Eventually, the two men, wet and exhausted reached the only closed door they had encountered in the building. "Here we are." Prosper said. "The home of the Virus."

Saul looked at the door hesitantly. "What's wrong?" The psychologist demanded.

"It's three o'clock in the morning." The detective said. "Are you sure he'll be awake at this hour."

Prosper scoffed. "He better be, for his own safety." When the detective gave him a look of alarm he sighed exasperatedly. "Look, Mr. Geeniaus. Dr. Vee is always awake so there's no need to worry about that. It's because he's always got the flu. It stuffs up his nose and keeps him up at night."

"The flu?" Saul repeated stupidly.

"Or maybe he has a cold. I can never quite tell with him." Prosper paused for a moment, a pensive expression on his face. But it was gone as fast as it came. "It'll be fine, Mr. Greeniaus. Don't be too uptight."

And with that, the psychologist knocked on the door.

Immediately, shuffling could be heard on the other side of the door. Then a cough. Then footsteps. Then a sneeze. Then the door unlocked, and Saul Greeniaus got his first peek of the Virus.

Vee only opened the door a crack. Through this narrow line of vision Saul could make out orange skin, wispy white hair, and a single pale green eye with a sty in it. Fat, meaty fingers curled around the wooden door.

"Good evening, Dr. Vee." Prosper said by way of greeting, displaying his wolfish smile.

"Prosper English?" Vee said. Prosper had been right about the illness thing. His voice had the telltale sound of a stuffed-up nose. "What are you doing here? And in person? And in the middle of the night, too? Did you get in through the sewage system?"

Prosper grimaced at the mention of wastewater treatment but said, "Yes, I did. As for what I'm doing here," He glanced to a window in an office opposite Dr. Vee's. "I'd prefer if we waited until we were somewhere more private to discuss it."

"Hmmm. Alright then." The Virus said. "Come in- woah, woah, woah!" The Virus had just noticed Saul Greeniaus in the hallway. "What did you bring the detective here for!?"

"He knows who I am?" asked Saul.

"Of course, he does." Answered Prosper. "You'll remember when I was first put in jail I had the Virus keep an eye on Cadel through various computer systems. Unsurprisingly you showed up quite a bit in various files so Vee ended up learning quite a bit about you."

"Oh…" Saul said. This piece of information slightly unnerved him. He didn't like not knowing much about someone who probably knew a lot of personal things about him.

"He won't be any trouble, will he?" The Virus asked as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"No, he won't be." Prosper replied jovially. "Mr. Greeniaus and I have a deal. And we've spoken about it. If he acts out of line, I have insurance policies." The psychologist made eye contact with the detective and once again his hand went to his holster where his handgun was tucked inside. Saul narrowed his eyes but didn't say a word.

This reasoning seemed to assure the Virus who opened the door all the way. "Alright. You can go in. And no speaking a word of this to anyone."

"Oh, I can assure you that won't be a worry at all. Right, Mr. Greeniaus?"

"Of course." Saul said begrudgingly. The Virus's room, when he entered, turned out to be quite a peculiar place. To start, the room had no windows, and the lights hadn't been turned on meaning that all the light in the room came from the various pieces of computer equipment that Vee had lying around. It cast the room in a peculiar blue glow that made it feel even more like a hacker cave.

Speaking of computer equipment there was tons of it everywhere. Laptops both open and closed were scattered all over the shaggy gray carpet. In one corner stood a series of desks. More laptops and large computer screens sat on top of it. In a sea of ramen cups, soda cans and fast-food leftovers sat a mini fridge with a microwave on top of it. There was still a tv dinner in the microwave despite the fact that it wasn't on. Elsewhere, one could find discarded chip bags and candy wrappers.

But the most prevalent and most important thing about Vee's room were the tissues. They were everywhere. On the carpet. On the fridge. On the computers and the desks and the discarded food containers and the food itself. In fact, Saul thought he counted at least 30 different tissue boxes, all with distinct patterns. And those were just the ones that still had tissues in them.

Saul Greenaiaus had never been much of a germaphobe but the whole setting made him feel very, very dirty.

"Well, you definitely weren't lying about the cold." Saul said to Prosper as they warily surveyed their surroundings.

"Actually, I've currently got the flu at the moment." The Virus said, turning up behind him. He blew violently into a tissue and then tossed it aside, not even aiming for the overflowing trash can in the top left corner of the room.

"Is this really where you've been living?" Prosper asked, appalled.

"Yes, this is where I've been living." The Virus said with a sigh. "I haven't exactly had time to go grocery shopping. What with being a criminal and all."

"I thought you were let out of jail." Saul said.

"I was." The Virus conceded. "And if I stay here then hopefully it'll stay that way."

"Still, I felt cleaner when I was in the sewers. You at least use the bathroom, don't you?"

"Of course, I do!" The Virus spluttered, offended.

"Oh good."

"It's where I empty my bucket."

Saul groaned, "Jesus Christ." Prosper cast his eyes to heaven.

Vee must have had enough of his guests' complaining because he got straight to business after that. "Alright," he said. "What did you come here for? What's the deal?"

All at once Prosper's expression changed. The suave professor faded away and he looked extremely tired. "You'll remember how earlier today we searched for Cadel's kidnapper, yes?"

"Technically that was yesterday." Dr. Vee amended. "But yes, I do remember that."

"Well, I've dealt with the culprit. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one."

"What do you mean?"

"It appears that the man who kidnapped Cadel was part of a larger operation. Greeniaus and I interrogated him. He told us he was working for someone else-"

"Let me guess." Vee interrupted. "You want me to find out whoever this kidnapper's boss is."

"Yes! That's exactly it."

"Then consider it done." Vee reached into another tissue box and blew violently into another tissue. The hacker waddled to his elaborate computer setup, stepping on all the wrappers and containers on his way. Saul and Prosper followed him, though they took a bit more care to avoid the garbage on the floor, no matter how impossible and ultimately pointless it was, considering they had just had a swim in sewage water.

When they reached the Virus, he had already activated his computer. "You don't perhaps have any leads I could use to find this man, do you?"

"We do in fact." Saul said. "We got the license plate number for the car that Cadel was stolen in."

"Perfect!" The Virus exclaimed. "Yes, that will do nicely. Can you hand it over to me?"

"Let me write it down for you."

"Here, use this." The Virus handed Saul a pen and a pad of yellow paper. The detective took it and hastily scribbled the relevant sequence of numbers and letters. Then he handed it back to Vee who only had to glance at it for a moment before he was able to dive into the virtual world.

"Yes, this should be enough." Vee said. "I'll just use this information and we'll have your guy in no time." With that, The Virus began typing away. At first Saul directed his attention to the computer screen but because he hardly knew the first thing about computers, he wasn't able to interpret anything on it and his attention wandered. His gaze finally settled on the hacker. He and Cadel didn't look alike at all. His son was much shorter and paler. Still when he watched the Virus he was reminded of Cadel and his large blue eyes which would be filled with determination and curiosity whenever he typed away on his computer. Oh, how those little hands would fly across the keyboard, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be on his laptop.

The mental image was so strong in his head and hurt so much that Saul was forced to drive them out with something else. He thought he saw a shadow move amongst the discarded candy wrappers. Were there cockroaches in here?

"Aha. Got 'em."

Vee's exclamation caused Saul to snap to attention. "What did you find out?" Prosper asked.

"The car was a 2005 Honda Odyssey," Vee began. "It was purchased from a second hand car dealership in January of this year for fifteen hundred dollars by a certain Doug Dudley."

"Doug Dudley?" Prosper repeated. "Didn't the man who kidnapped Cadel say his name was Doug?"

"He did." Saul answered. "Did you find anything on him?"

"I tried my darndest, but I haven't been able to." Vee confessed. "He doesn't have much of a presence on the internet. No social media, or even an email. I couldn't even find his name in any hospital or school records."

"Hmmm." Saul hummed. "Suspicious."

"It is, isn't it." Vee agreed. "I have a theory as to what's going on but I'm going to have to dig even deeper."

"Then by all means do so." Prosper commanded. "Cadel is counting on us!"

Unfortunately, the Virus wouldn't get a chance to act on Prosper's instructions because at that very moment the alarm went off.