Maka brought Soul down to the gym in the basement of the station. It was in the middle of the shift right now so most of their coworkers would be out on patrol or at their desks. People only used the gym if ordered or at the beginning or end of their shifts. As Maka pushed the doors opened, she was happy to see she was right. It was empty. And most importantly; quiet. They could work down here for a couple of hours before they got interrupted. The only problem with the gym was that it was cold if you weren't working out. The AC stayed on constantly and kept the room a brisk 66 degrees Farenheit. Maka had not brought a jacket, but she figured she'd be okay for a while.
"What drug are we looking at?" Maka asked, as she and Soul settled at a table by the exercise balls. Soul dropped some folders down in front of her; as they fell, their contents spilled out across the table. Maka saw a few pictures. How did they get pictures, with a new drug.
"It's new," Soul said, as if reading her thoughts. "We're not sure where it came from New Brenton has seen it too. That's where the pictures come from. They're calling it Spider Bite." Maka took a second to really look at the pictures from their neighboring cities. They were grotesque. And familiar. Some of the cuts looked exactly like the ones from her crime scenes.
"The-theses look like ours!" Maka pointed out to Soul. She quickly grabbed the photos Death City CSIs had taken of the crime scenes from a folder in her bag and laid them out on the table between her and Soul. Indeed there were eerie similarities in the photos.
"Shit" Soul looked on as Maka laid out photos that were similar. There were trends. It was clear to see when everything was all laid out side by side. Who ever was doing this, had done it before. There were eight bodies from the other cities and only four from Death City. Soul noticed at the same time Maka did and met her eyes across the table. Maka couldn't suppress a shiver. Whether it was due to the cold of the room or the chilling fact that they had four victims left before the murderer would mostly likely move on, she didn't know. Suddenly, she noticed a zip-up hoodie in front of her face.
"Take it, you look cold." Soul was holding the warm looking article of clothing in his hands. Gratefully, Maka pulled it on. It was cold, she was scared, and oversized warm clothing helped her feel more secure. It smelled like Soul, which Maka found, she didn't hate. She pulled it up a bit closer around her chin.
"We need to talk to New Brenton" Maka said, quickly transitioning to all business. This was no time to get mushy over handsome men and how well they smelled. "Maybe they got a victim profile." Maka really hoped so. It could save her and Soul a lot of time and effort.
"Ahh," Soul reached back into his folder and pulled out a couple more papers. "I did get something from them. They found a link between victims. All lured out alone like we found, but also, all lured to alleyways within a certain radius from a church," Soul continued to rumage through the papers.
"I can't find the name right now, but it was Catholic denomination. By the time New Brenton police figured it out, the place was cleaned out, but they saw definite signs of.." Soul looked up at Maka, fully meeting her eyes. "...freaky stuff. That's all Det. Armington would say when I asked him." Soul's eyes were still piercing into Makas own.
"We need to find a church like that here." Maka felt calm, scared, and excited. She knew what to do; she had a step forward. She could work like this. Bright eyed but unsmiling she looked at Soul. He looked unaffected, hunched over his elbows on the table with his chin resting in his hands, but Maka could see the wheels turning in his head.
"Well!" Maka brought her hands down on the table, startling Soul with the volume. "We can't just sit here. I have an...uh...ap-appointment I need to get to. Will you be alright trying to find the church?" Maka asked. Not waiting for an answer, she stood and started gathering up the papers they had strewn about the table.
"Yea, I'm good." Soul looked at her curiously. Maka could tell he hadn't missed her stumble over mention of an appointment. She was thankful he didn't ask further questions.
"Good. Thanks!" Handing Soul the papers she had collected, Maka swept out of the room, feeling a more than a little embarrassed about her stutter and the fact that she was still going to mandated psych sessions. Hopefully they wouldn't last too much longer.
A short while, and a Deathbucks run, later saw Maka sitting on a very comfortable couch, sipping a very sweet latte, and talking to an incredibly cheerful woman decked out in yellow and black. Of course the eye patch was still in place.
"Now Maka," Marie began, "I'd like to know more about you." Marie had settled herself across from Maka with a notebook and pen, in a very comfortable looking chair.
"Uh, well..uhm," Maka wasn't sure what to say. "I'm a hard worker. I have one of the best rates for solving cases in Death City. I'm enrolled in a kick-boxing class at my local gym." Maka noticed the pen wasn't moving across Dr. Marie's notebook.
"That's good Maka, but I want to know about more than just you as a worker. What are your hobbies? What are your fears? What do you do in your spare time? Who are your friends?" Maka pulled on the sleeves of her hoodie until they covered her hands. Hobbies? Spare time? Maka didn't have those. She figured she had a few friends. She also wasn't really ready to talk about her fears with this upbeat, pretty doctor. She probably had no problem with men.
"Well, uh.. I hang out with Tsubaki sometimes," Maka replied. "She's another detective on the force. We were never partnered though. And Kid! I'm friendly with him. Oh! And Liz and Kilik. I like them well enough." Maka realized she had more friends than she thought.
"I guess Soul's my friend too." Maka realized. She really had warmed up to him. He was smart and respectful and she had even had a couple of good times with him. Marie's pen had darted across the page as Maka worked through her friends list.
"I'm glad to hear it Maka," Marie beamed at the young detective on the couch. "Now what about the other questions I asked?" Maka realized Marie wouldn't let her off the hook.
"Well, I don't have much spare time," Maka thought back to the last time she had a day off. She couldn't remember. Even on days where she wasn't scheduled to be in at the station, she did work at home. She had been bringing plenty of work home.
"And no spare time means I don't really have hobbies." Maka tried to sound as matter-of-fact as possible. She didn't want the cheerful doctor to notice how defensive she felt. What was wrong with dedicating herself to her work? It made her a better detective and allowed her to get this far so quickly. Marie's pen now danced across the notebook.
"It's okay to feel defensive Maka," Marie commented with a knowing smile. Maka winced; so she hadn't fooled the doctor.
"You've dedicated yourself to the force very admirably." The doctor continued and Maka relaxed a little. She felt less judged. "Now our time is up today, but I do have some homework for you Maka. I want to you think about, and make a list of your fears and be ready to talk about them next session. Yes I did notice that you skipped over that question." The doctor had a sweet smile on.
Maka didn't want to talk about her fears. She didn't think they were that important. They mostly consisted of the usual police fears. Dying at the hands of a criminal, getting hurt and not being able to work, or losing a partner. Well, losing a partner to a death. Getting rid of a shit partner to someone else on the force – not a problem.
Maka was lost in thought as she made her way back home. She didn't even notice when the groper from the morning turned white and ran into a trash can when he noticed her on the subway.
