AN: Hope y'all enjoy this chapter. On a side note, has the pacing been a bit off? I feel like things are moving kind of slow in here, but maybe that's just me. Anyhow, here you go and I'm sorry in advanced for the kind-of cliff hanger.
**7**
"Whoa there cowboy. Holster your weapon" I held up my hands as a non-threat.
"I haven't drawn my gun yet" he was unamused.
"uhh, right" I dropped my hands "that's a bit odd, considering what happened last time." I tried to play off the conversation as if it were happening anywhere else other than a wrecked crime scene.
"About that, what exactly happened last time?" He tried to play into the fake casual, though he hadn't moved his hand from his gun.
"Nothing much, just business as usual."
"That didn't seem very usual to me."
He seemed a shade too calm for what had happened to him only an hour ago "speaking of unusual, you haven't called for any back up. Or help."
"There's no reason for that, we're just having a conversation" he moved his hand away from his holster as if to pretend that this actually was a light hearted conversation.
"Jeez, are you training to become a hostage negotiator or what?"
"Or what" he replied deadpan.
"Ha, you're hilarious" I joked back with no humor.
"But really, what are you doing here?" he brought us back to a more serious topic.
"Just looking for something"
"Or someone, it seems like you had a bone to pick with Murkoffs CEO."
"You got me there" I shrugged like he had made an unimportant point, like what you would do to someone who commented that wood was brown, or the sky was blue.
"If you do find him, I take it you're planning on killing him."
"Well, you did kind of stop me short. I would hate to leave him hanging like that"
"Generally I'm not supposed let murderers walk."
"I keep hearing that, but the DA did just lest the CEO walk, so…"
The young officer sighed "don't tell me, somebody close to you died in Murkoffs care-"
"Kind of" I interrupted
He gave me a looked that said he didn't like being talked over before continuing "-and now you're out after the guy. Right?"
"You're still only half right. Now that we're on the same page, would you mind telling me which hospital he was sent to?"
He paused, as if to consider his options.
"Ok Sanchez, look. It doesn't matter if you tell me or not because I'll figure it out eventually. This way is just the fastest and easiest."
Hearing his last name knocked him off guard, "how do you.. What's in it for me if I tell you?"
I didn't want to threaten the guy, I had already put a hole in the wall using his head today.
"You don't get anything, but you sure as hell don't lose anything either."
He seemed to be thinking about it.
"If I tell you where he is, how do I know you and your guys won't wreck the hospital like you did the court house."
"My guys..?" that's right, he probably assumed that there was more than just me. I mean, he did get knocked out from behind and the whole building was wrecked when I was only in one room. "uuh, I'll tell them to cool it." that sounded full proof, and not at all like a desperate lie.
Sanchez seemed to know that that didn't sound up to snuff. "If I don't tell you, he'll probably die on his own. You did a number on him. Shattered an arm, sliced an eye open, fractured skull, teeth missing, jaw broken, internal bleeding, punctured lung. A missing hand."
"Sorry but my sympathy is lacking."
I didn't mean for that to be a joke, but the cop started a nervous sort of laughter "This whole time I've just been wondering what the hell you did with his hand."
"Right, that old thing, well..." the Walrider ate it.
"No comment, eh?"
"Sorry, no sell. Now, if you don't mind, where's Roberts? I have unfinished business."
"Sorry guy, I'm not telling you where he is."
"I really didn't want to come in here and start threatening people. So throw me a bone, where is he?"
The little bit of humor in the situation had gone out "You don't have your gang here now, I'm not telling you a damn thing". He made a small movement to pull the handcuffs from his belt.
I huffed out a sigh "I didn't have any help"
"Don't try to bull shit me now,"
"I'm not" life would be so much easier if people would buy into the whole 'I have a nanobot monster living in my head' thing I had to deal with.
"I think this conversation can continue down at the station, put your hands behind your back, turn around"
"We're not doing this right now." I ignored him completely, instead I inspected the room.
I felt almost silly for wasting the time I had on the conversation, though talking to someone other than the Walrider did put me into a better mood.
"Hey! I said hands behind your back!" Sanchez was starting to raise his voice to the point where someone out on the main hall might hear.
"Take it easy, I'm only looking for some papers." maybe some therapists or physicians notes had been laying around, most of the papers in the office had to do with the Murkoff case.
"stop moving!" he dropped the cuffs and pulled his gun from his holster, now his yelling was starting to get annoying.
"You already shot me once, what are you planning to do now?" I clawed through more files, passing the one on the Walrider project.
"What? I... " he paused before muttering to himself "I'm so stupid, the guys probably delusional from blood loss."
"I heard that. Do I look like a delusional mess to you?" despite my comment I didn't look up at him, instead opting to go through papers that had fallen onto the ground.
Telling from his next comment he apparently noticed the lack of blood on me "don't tell me, you went home, patched yourself up, then snuck back here… you need a doctor, and a jail cell."
I found a rather thick folder that seemed promising "you're all bark and no bite. Isn't the building full of police? Shouldn't you call for backup?"
"A second ago you wanted information, now you want to be arrested?"
"No, I just want to make sure you know you're acting like an idiot" I plopped the file onto the desk.
There was a wounded silence while I skimmed the first page. It was a report:
MURKOFF ARD
THREE BLIND DREAMERS
Zeichner Facility CA
Patient number: 14306-8
Date of Report: 2013.10.17
PROJECT STATUS:
Patients brain activity has kept within baselines set by previous testing, faculty have claimed waking hallucinations in the corridors surrounding the holding area. Additional shielding recommended. Patients on the upper levels have experienced elevated levels of hysteria, no containment breach is suspected. It is recommended that…
I stopped reading and tucked the file into my coat pocket, this sounded suspiciously like another Mount Massive situation. Never mind that the name Zeichner sounded familiar.
"..that's it, Boyal! Peters! Get in here!"
"What?" I looked up from what I'd been doing to be greeted by more police running into the room.
"Who the hell?" the tall one on the right said as he came into the room
"I found the guy that beat the shit out of the CEO."
"I really thought we were getting to know each other there" I said with mock betrayal in my voice.
"On the ground!" the tall one shouted, I could have sworn it sounded like there were more boots coming down the hall
"Everyone just calm down, let's put the guns away and talk about this."
Hmmm, it sounds like you could sure use my help now.
Where the hell have you been!
Just idly watching, you said you could handle yourself just fine.
You self absorbed bastard.
You're talking about yourself again.
"One more time, get down!" not-Sanchez shouted again.
We'll talk about this later. I didn't want the Walrider to think that I was about to go running back to it just because things got scary In the meantime I need you to do something
You can thank me later I felt the swarm start to slide out from under my skin
Not that! Just get ready to heal some wounds.
...you're so boring.
You can whine at me later.
I could already feel the last of the bullet holes from before healing completely. Just as I was about to take a charge through the line of officers blocking the door, just as they were about to open fire, a bone shattering crash shook the ground.
The courtyard outside the building burst into a panic. All three officers in the room lost their concentration on me for an instant, Just as confused as them I took my chance and dove through the ruined window into the chaos outside.