Chapter Twenty-Five
Start of a Crusade
Some hours later, just as the sun was setting, Hugh was driving his patrol car as he began his shift in Chicago.
He hummed to himself as he drove along looking out for anything suspicious as well as chewing a doughnut from a box he had on the passenger seat.
He had been driving around for just over an hour and so far things had been quiet, but it wasn't for long as the police scanner on his dashboard buzzed and he grabbed the walkie talkie before holding it up to his mouth.
"Beaugrgaurd speaking!" he said clearly.
"Hugh!" a voice came on the other end "We need your assistance, a group of followers of the Straight Truths Baptist Church rang in to say they found their sermon leader attacked!"
Hugh's eyes widened as he remembered the Hate Preacher he had shown Tyroth and the Chicago Knights and their friends earlier.
"Attacked?" he asked, steadying his voice "What's the Location?"
"Their place of Sermons in Down Town Chicago!" the voice came "The Ambulance services are there now, but we need you to see this."
"I'm on my way!" Hugh said "I'm heading there now! Over!" he then hung up the walkie Talkie and quickly began to drive in the direction of the Hate Preacher's church.
As he did, he frowned.
"I hope this isn't your doing Tyroth!" he muttered.
After showing the video of the Hate Preacher to the Mutopians he wondered if Tyroth had decided to go up there and deal with the menace and he almost wished he hadn't shown them, yet he pushed the thoughts aside trying not to jump to conclusions.
Before long, Hugh made it to the Hate Preacher's church in Down Town Chicago where he was met with people crowding outside in front of the yellow Police Tape.
There were some people cheering and shouting sentences such as:
"Served him right!"
"He had it coming!"
"The Devil's Coming for you!"
"You reap what you Sow!"
"I hope he dies!"
But there were also people who looked upset, obviously the followers of this Hate Preacher and were either showing concern for what had happened, or they were shouting at the other people.
All the while some officers were trying to calm the situation by telling people to leave or pushing some back if a fight was to break out.
Also there were some journalists and TV crew trying to find out details so they could make a sotry for their selected paper, magazine or TV station.
As Hugh arrived he walked under the tape showing people his badge so he could be allowed through.
No sooner did he walk up to the entrance than a female officer who was talking to another saw him.
"Ah Commander, glad you're here!"
"What's going on Sargent Harris?" Hugh asked as he adjusted his trench coat.
"I got no idea sir." Harris replied "Well apart from the near riots and the prying press, we got a pretty nasty sitatuion here."
"Like how?" asked Hugh.
"Come hither." Harris said as she lead the curious commander into the main area of the church.
No sooner did they walk in than Hugh's eyes widened."Holy cow!" he exclaimed saw where the Preacher had been crucified as well as the evidence of his torture, but what really shocked him was the symbols written in blood on the walls as well as the threatening messages!
"Jesus!" he said.
"Sure is something!" Harris said "The followers of this church came in for their afternoon sermon and found the bugger crucified to the alter, and Satantic symbols were carved into his chest, stomach and forehead."
"Yeessh!" Hugh winced then he saw the red writing on the wall behind the alter under an upside down pentagram.
THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
YOUR POISONED PREACHING WON'T SAVE YOU
YOU CANNOT RUN, YOU CANNOT HIDE
I WILL COME FOR YOU...
"It's written in blood." Harris said in a small voice "As much as I hated that preacher, this is really sick, even beyond my standards and I thought I'd seen everything in a crime scene!"
Hugh nodded silently.
"Who could have done this?" he asked. He thought again about Tyroth and the Mutopians, thinking or at least hoping it wouldn't have been them, they did do a good number on criminals, but they never went so far as to write warnings in blood, yet alone crucify.
"The forensics are gathering what evidence they can," Harris informed "And there are already a few guesses on who did this, yet we're not sure if it was a group or an individual."
"What about the victim?"
"He's babbling a lot, no-one seems to understand him right now, seems the torture drove him insane, maybe that was the attackers intent."
"So he's not dead?"
"Nope," Harris said "He's lucky to be alive actually, if he lost any more blood, it might have killed him, either that or he would have died from shock, seeing how nasty his wounds were. That was another thing, the ambulance services were reluctant to help him, not surprisingly, but they know they have to do their job to help people, even bastards like him!"
Hugh swallowed hard, seeing the mess of blood and learning what had happened made him feel slightly ill but he pushed it aside so he could continue his job.
"Okay, Let's see what we can gather here." he said "And find out who did this and interview the witnesses as eventually the preacher once he's regained some of his sanity, if any."
Harris nodded and walked over to some forensics, whilst Hugh read the bloody words over before taking out his phone and taking a couple of pictures discretely, planning to talk with Tyroth later about the incident.
Meanwhile down in Mutopia, it was business as usual with everyone gathered in the mess hall to enjoy breakfast.
Callum pecked at his toast as he looked at everyone sitting at their respected tables, talking and eating.
He was feeling rather pleased with himself after his escapade up top, after completing his personal mission with the Hate Preacher he had raided his office to find anything useful which he had, and it included some weapons he had found in a secret drawer in the office as well as a secret cash hoard.
Upon returning to Mutopia which still slept soundly, he had returned to his allocated room and hid his treasures in his suitcase under his bed.
He had also used the bathrooms in the church to wash the blood off his claws and feathers so there was no evidence and so far no-one has any idea what had happened, but he had to act like he normally would, even though there were times he was struggling to not show his excitement of what had happened a few hours before.
The turtles, Mona and Jake were sitting at a table together along with the Chicago Knights, and the children were sitting at a nearby table together chattering and discussing what they were going to do together later, although Pandora seemed keen to join in with the Knights and her family when they did their training later.
Callum peeked at his toast again, thinking about the rush he had felt when he attacked the Preacher topside, he knew that once he opened his mouth about what happened to him, everyone would think he was mad, and he would be a laughing stock and his followers would be scared shitless when he, Diablo would come and terrify them and attack them, and give them the same treatment.
"How I've wanted to really show people terror after pain they have inflicted on others." Callum thought "It was like I was born for this, I never got away with fights with bullies or other dicks when I was human, and this new body is a privilege! I already can't wait till the sun rises and I can search for more victims, or rather, other haters of this hate preacher, there's nowhere for them to hide since I have an idea who they are, and where they live due to the records that bastard kept on them!"
Taking a drink of juice he looked at the Mutopians.
"I don't belong with these do gooders, these cowards who hide under the city! He thought as he narrowed his eyes "Why should I live under their rules? Why should we stay hidden and away from the Humans? We should live the way we wish! According to the government, we don't even exist! So why should we live such rigid lives?"
As Callum pondered, the others had no idea what was running through his head, neither did they try to speak to him since they still felt he didn't want to talk to anyone.
Tyroth was talking to Jack who was still asking him if he had thought about the Hate Preacher, and in fact as they Dragon was about to deliver his verdict, his shell-cell rang making him jump slightly.
"Hey!" Hacker commented as he was sitting behind the Dragon at another table "Talk about the pot calling the kettle! You tell me not to have phones at the mess! Yet you do!"
The others laughed and Tyroth blushed as he pulled out the shell-cell to check to see who was ringing and turn it off, only to see it was Hugh's number.
"It's Hugh." he said.
The others went silent as Tyroth answered it.
"Hugh?"
"Tyroth." Hugh said "I think you have some explaining to do!"
The Dragon's eyes widened then he frowned.
"Explain myself?" he asked "What you talking about?"
Sephie also frowned and looked up at her lover, and the Chicago Knights, the Turtles, Mona and Jake stopped eating and socialising to listen in.
At the same time Callum picked up on the conversation and strained his ears to listen.
"What's going on man?" asked Tyroth.
"That Preacher I showed you the video of, that's what!" Hugh's voice came from the other side.
"What about that asshole?" asked Tyroth.
"He's been attacked!" Hugh's voice came again.
"Attacked?!" Tyroth practically shrieked causing almost everyone in the room to look at him to which he gave them a look and mouthed 'As-You-Were' to which they did, yet they started talking in low voices.
"He was found in the late hours of the afternoon..." Hugh continued to which he explained all that he found including the words in blood behind the alter to which Tyroth went slightly pale.
Sephie who was sitting close by also heard Hugh's descriptions and looked shocked.
"By the Gods..." Tyroth said "That's nasty!"
"Exactly." Hugh's voice came again "But I want to know, since you knew about that Preacher..."
But before Hugh could continue Tyroth cut him off.
"No way." he said "This isn't something me, or the Knights would do, not even the Turtles and Mona, despite all we do in the city above, yes sure we have killed before, but never as brutally as what you described, and when it comes to threatening warnings in blood on the walls, that's way beyond!"
"Very well." Hugh said "In all the years I've known you, I've never believed this would come from you or any of the Mutopians."
"Listen friend." Tyroth said "If it makes you feel any better, we will make a note of this and keep our eyes peeled when on patrol?"
"That would be a comfort yes." Hugh said "In the meantime, I'll keep you informed of anything up here."
"Thanks Hugh." Tyroth replied then hung up.
After he hung up, he told the others what he had heard, which made everyone gasp in horror, although a few of the Mutopians looked rather pleased.
"Served him right!" Kate smirked.
"I agree!" said Jack "Looks like someone decided to do what I suggested after all!"
"You agree with that kind of brutality?" Sarah asked shocked.
Jack turned to the cheetah.
"Well not exactly that torture the guy went through," he defended "Rather being scared into insanity."
"Best punishment for that cunt!" Kate piped up.
"Enough!" Tyroth snapped making everyone look at him "Listen, whilst I am in agreement that that preacher got what he deserved..."
Kate smirked again, and Raphael also looked slightly pleased but he put on a serious face as Tyroth looked in his direction.
"...We should be cautious, whoever did this might not just be targeting those like him, but maybe other religious bodies."
"What makes you think that?" asked Heather.
"I don't know." said Tyroth "But it's a hunch, I have read about people targeting religious places, not just Nazi's persecuting Jews or Muslims being labelled terrorists by white supremacists."
"So what should we do?" asked Leonardo to which the others agreed.
"We'll need to have a proper conference about this after I've had a moment to think." Tyroth said "Meeting in the Dojo after we've finished here and dealt with the kids, alright?"
"Alright!" everyone agreed.
After watching the Knights and the Turtles, Callum turned his back and smirked, satisfied.
"They don't suspect me." he thought "But they are aware of what happened, and they believe it to be someone who hates religion, whether it be like that Hate Preacher, or your average God-Loving leader."
He tapped a talon as he thought hard.
"If they don't suspect me for now, then I am safe to continue what I plan to do, they will find out eventually, but they will have to accept this this my way of living now! I became this, thanks to my brother and sister, and I intend to use it my way! And my way alone! They'll soon realise that Callum is long gone, and Diablo is here."
So Hugh's been called to the scene of the crime and has confronted Tyroth about it who was practically shocked!
Meanwhile Callum/Diablo hasn't been suspected and he plans to do the same again the following day! Who will he target next?
Find out in due course!