Chapter 3:
Screams of agony echoed and bounced off the walls of the hallow room. The white walls splattered with a bit of blood from the thrashing figure on the table top, unable to fight through the fire that split her system into pieces. The young woman's body convulsed a few more times as struggled cries choked from her throat. Her eyes forced themselves shut as if it would ward off the pain that now coursed through her body. The IV that was connected to her left arm delivered the serum that burned and eroded her veins. Her skin crawled with change and moved some of her features to an unnatural position. It felt as if her bones broke and then reconnected to the serum's will and design.
When the pain became nearly overwhelming, the pump connected to the IV stopped producing the liquid. She felt the pain coming to an end as her muscles and bones settled, yet she also felt heaviness in her heart. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked up at the florescent lights above her head. They hummed in a slight familiar comfort which reminded her of her old school back home. Then the lights above begun to dance and sway, yet she knew she was finally laying still. She couldn't focus on them as they spun faster and faster above her. She saw a figure in the corner with their eyes focused on her. She knew it would fall on deaf ears, but she tried to whisper a plea of help. At least one last time she would call out before she would allow herself to fall under the nearly hypnotic movements.
The heaviness in her rib cage made it hard to breathe and she couldn't even sigh. Then she felt what she always dreaded. Her heart stopped. She tried to take her last breath, but couldn't even savor fresh air that she yearned for. Her eyes rolled back into her skull and her lids closed for the last time.
"Damn it, there goes another one," a heavy voice muttered and a hand hurriedly scratched down a few notes from the small machines around them. The man ran a hand through his hair in frustration and then threw down the clip board before he leaned on the side of the table top where the woman now laid motionless. He chuckled a little to himself, "I guess the slut couldn't take the loyalty I graciously gave her. Some old bitches could never learn new tricks."
His hand reached out and swiped back a couple of hairs that had grown on the woman's face. When he picked her up from the streets she had a round, full face. Now, after the needed changes, it was thinner, and had shifted to make room for a small snout. Maybe next time he would choose another breed of dog. Maybe a retriever of some kind- he heard that they were very loyal to their masters. Maybe even try a bit of swan thrown in. He loved longer necks on his girls. He just silently hoped that it didn't give her feathers too. They freaked him out.
He let out a heavy sigh and pushed a button on the side of the longer side wall. The table tipped to the side where a bin was placed. The body fell into it and he began to push it out after he cleaned the table top of her blood and once human hair. There was no need to contaminate the next contestant he had lined up. He hummed a short tune to himself that he had picked up from his grandmother. Even now, a couple of years after her passing, he still couldn't keep her song out of his head.
"Better luck next time," he said to the body as he pushed the cart into the next room. He tipped the bin and rolled the body into a shoot. There it slid down and waited its turn to return back to the streets. He wiped his hands clean and turned toward a board that had a few dozen pictures of different women spread throughout. A few had red X's through their faces, while only a few others had green checks in the corner of their pictures. He touched a few of their faces and the notes scribbled to the side of each. He hummed deep in his throat, "It looks like I wasn't too hasty in my prey run today. Just went after a prize I am not ready for."
He brushed one of his long fingers over a picture of a red head reading from a copy of Pride and Prejudice and a brunette furiously sketching in a large drawing pad, neither aware of the photo that was just taken. His eyes lost focus as he scanned the picture and turned away, "Just you wait. I will have it perfected by the time I catch you, love. I promise. It will be perfect. It has to be for you."
He smirked to himself and then left the room and walked out to his black sedan. After a run like that, he needed to get some more gas and maybe a new set of tires, "Maybe I should look into some help…"
Analise looked up the side of her apartment building to barely see a couple of the shadows shift toward the top of the building. Deidra stepped beside her and looked up the side of the building as well.
"Almost lost them around Bleaker," she stuck her hands in her pockets and noticed a couple of the other building's inhabitants walk toward them. She nudged Analise in the side and the nodded toward the door, "Come on before people start to wonder what we are looking at."
"All right," Analise followed her in and shrugged her bag to one shoulder in search of her keys, "You don't have to be such a biznatch to them, you know."
"We don't even know their names. I don't trust many people to begin with. You think I am going to trust these guys without even knowing what to call them?" Deidra reminded her as they unlocked the door. They stepped into the apartment which was dark. Deidra always kept the blinds closed so even the street lights wouldn't penetrate. Deidra thought for a moment and then locked the door behind them, "Wonder if they even have names."
"We do actually," Leonardo spoke up from one of the dark corners of the room.
"Oh, you guys are really good. I didn't hear anything," Analise turned on a few lights and looked toward the couple of windows of the apartment. They were all closed and covered, but the unasked question must have been written plainly on her face.
"We used the fire escape," Leonardo answered for her as his brothers began to file into the living area.
"Ah."
"So," Deidra sat herself down on the couch as Analise made herself comfortable on the love seat as always. The girls looked at the group of brothers who awkwardly took a seat on the floor or other chairs.
Michelangelo made a bee line to sit next to Analise. Her eyes widened a little bit as she threw out her arms toward him, "Wait!"
Michelangelo stopped in mid-motion and tried to balance himself. Analise quickly reached under the cushion he was about to sit on and brought out a short bladed knife. She sighed and put the knife on the other side of her, "Okay, now you can have a seat."
"Thanks, dudette," he said with a nervous smile and sat down by her side.
"No problemo," she smiled back as she nodded toward Deidra, "She's pretty good about hiding weapons."
All of the turtles looked over at Deidra who rolled her eyes and put her feet up, "You could never be too careful. Especially with all my crazy ex's and guys I've hunted through my career."
"Had any that haven given house calls?" Raphael asked.
"A couple…" she shrugged, "But we knew they were coming and set them straight. Isn't that right, Ana?"
"Yup," she nodded.
"You knew they were coming?" Michelangelo asked.
"Call it a sixth sense. I get a very weird feeling about certain people, places or circumstances," Analise giggled, "And then I get a bit jumpy. That, in turn, gets Deidra on her guard."
"So you guys going to introduce yourselves, or what?" Deidra asked and pulled out another knife which she started to play with, "It seems rude since you know so much about us."
"Sorry about the delay," Raphael meant to sound sarcastic, but found himself focused on the blade in her hands. He wondered if it was a heavy as it looked. And if it was she was toying with it as if it was as light as paper.
"My name is Leonardo," he bowed his upper half in greeting, "And these are my brothers."
"Brothers?" Analise asked and looked at the one next to her.
"Michelangelo," he waved his hand, "But you can call me Mikey. It gets a bit tiring to say the entire name from what I hear."
"I know what that's like," Analise nodded her head, "You can call me Ana if you want."
"Deal."
"I'm Donatello," he said absently from his small computer.
"And I'm Raphael," Raphael leaned against the chair that he was sitting backwards in not too far from where Michelangelo made his seat.
"Yeah, all the good ones end in an 'o'," Michelangelo laughed and then was abruptly hit in the back of his head by Raphael, "Ow."
"You are all named after renaissance artists," Analise beamed, "That is awesome for an art buff like me. You all just keep getting better and better."
"So how did you guys get here?" Deidra asked.
"We followed you here," Michelangelo answered without thinking and earned another slap to the back of the head by Raphael while Analise laughed quietly by him, "Ow! Will you stop it?"
"Stop being stupid," Raphael offered.
"You want to take the question, Donnie?" Leonardo asked as Donatello put his laptop away again.
"About twenty-six years ago there was a huge accident involving a truck that contained vials of a radioactive mutagenic substance-"
"You mean that TGRI truck?" Analise asked and earned a surprised look from the turtles and Deidra.
"How did you know about that?" Leonardo asked, "We thought that it was completely covered by privacy laws within the company."
"They must have missed a few reports. I did some research right before leaving for college. I wanted to start out as a biology major and wanted to see anything on mutations. Up popped the canisters that were rumored to have mutagenic properties. I saw a few photos from ten years ago during their clean up of the giant dandelions. I guess the rumors were true," she turned toward Donatello, "That was some nasty spill."
"We were baby turtles at the time and fell into the sewers during the accident. Then we were all covered in the ooze- or mutagen," Donatello further explained, "After a little while we began to learn and grow as any human child would."
"With some exceptions," Raphael added on.
"I could understand that," Analise nodded.
"Where did you learn to fight?" Deidra asked quickly.
"Our father," Leonardo said without thinking, "He taught us everything we know."
"Father? Is he a mutant like you guys?" Analise asked and pointed around the group.
"Yes and no," Michelangelo waved his hand in a side to side motion, "He is a mutant all right, but a bit different than us."
"How so?"
"It's difficult to explain," Leonardo shook his head unsure if he wanted to tell the girls about Splinter.
"What do you know about this guy that was chasin' ya?" Raphael asked to change subjects and to get down to business, "That car was following you two pretty tenaciously."
"Wow, pretty big word there," Deidra smirked at Raphael, "Did you hurt yourself?"
"Why I otta…" Raphael began to get up from his chair. Leonardo quickly put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down.
"Don't start, Raph. We are a guest in her home."
"And you. Be nice, Deidra," Analise threw one of her tabloids at her friend to get her back on track.
"All right, all right," Deidra tossed the tabloid back on the table where Michelangelo picked it up. Deidra got up and walked toward her room, "I'll go get the details I have and we can start from there."
"Sorry about Deidra," Analise apologized, "Once she knows how to get under your skin she likes to tease you constantly."
"Aw, you can annoy Raph at the drop of a hat," Michelangelo waved her worries off as Raphael disputed on whether to hit him upside the head or not. Michelangelo looked at the tabloid in his hand with a familiar shadow on its front cover and then looked at Analise, "You read about us often?"
"Here and there," she blushed a little and took the magazine back.
"Every story that she sees on you guys she grabs up," Deidra chuckled and held out a small folder for all of them to see, "Care to join me around the table?"
The group moved to the small dining table where Deidra set out the couple of reports and crime scene photos. She sat at the head of the table as Analise sat to her right. Michelangelo sat next to Analise with Raphael over his shoulder. Leonardo stood next to Deidra while Donatello took the last chair at the table. Deidra sighed and pushed a few of the photos to the middle of the table.
"I hope you guys can stomach gore," she looked directly at Raphael.
He looked at the scenes and although some were pretty bloody… "We've seen worse."
"Are these the new ones you were talking about?" Analise caught the edge of one of the pictures and pulled it toward herself, "I don't remember seeing this one when you first picked up the case."
"I just got it yesterday; we are going to be completely briefed when we get the team together in a couple of days."
"Aren't you grossed out by these?" Michelangelo asked Analise.
"I am sickened by the guy that could do this to people and animals," she frowned at the carnage, "But if it helps Deidra take the guy down, I will do what it takes. I think some of the newer pieces that people call 'art' sicken me more than these ever will."
"He went after animals?"
"Most serial killers have a history of animal torture before they continue on to human victims," Analise explained and showed him a picture of a mutilated dog carcass, "Although this guy has stuck to what he knows along with honing his new skills."
"You know this stuff, too," Donatello noticed.
"Didn't you find out about my criminology background?"
"I didn't think you kept up with it."
"Not as much as Deidra, but I know enough to keep her on her toes."
"Anything that we need to look out for while on the streets?" Leonardo asked and leaned over the briefs and pictures next to Deidra while Donatello took scans of each page.
"Just from what we have so far…" Deidra hesitated and closed her eyes to better visualize the un-sub, "He's male, late twenties- early thirties at the most. He is probably clean cut and charming for his victims to trust him. Unseemingly innocent…"
"So a momma's boy?" Raphael asked which made Deidra open her eyes and then shook her head.
"I doubt he has much affinity toward his mother or any female figure really," she turned the page on one of the briefs and then pushed out another picture, "He targets women mostly. From the three bodies that have been recovered he uses a variety of tools on them. From scalpel marks to electrocution to suffocation, they have been killed by a variety."
"Scalpel?" Donatello's head poked up, "Mutilation?"
"Possibility," Deidra nodded, "One of the bodies had a very big area where there was a patch of what looked like hair on the forearm. Almost like fur. I don't know if the freak implanted the hair there or what."
"Sounds like a nutcase," Raphael looked at the picture of the latest victim and how her eyes seemed to search the empty sky for an answer to her death. She didn't have to die. Most victims don't. He rubbed the edge of one of his sais and imagined what it would be like to have just five minutes with this guy.
"He is, and much worse," Analise sighed and looked away from the photos. She could take them, but she hated the feeling of the anger growing inside her.
"Once I get my hands on him I think I will do some mutilation of my own," Deidra formed fists and made her knuckles grow white, "Make sure he could never handle a scalpel again."
Michelangelo backed away from Deidra a little because of a certain glint in her eyes. He turned to Raphael who had nearly the same glint. It almost looked as if Raphael had a small smile growing on his face. Suddenly a goofy smile lit up Michelangelo's face.
He nudged Raphael in the side and then nodded toward Deidra, "Me thinks that you are fond of the maiden."
"Methinks you are fond of the table," Raphael growled.
"Wha?"
Suddenly Michelangelo's head was slammed into the table top and Raphael's hand to the back of his head.
"Why do you always pick on him?" Analise asked after she jumped a little from the action.
"Told you…" Michelangelo picked his head up after Raphael let go and stepped toward the corner, "…easiest turtle to annoy."
"So," Leonardo turned the conversation back to the briefs, "You do torture them before you take them in for justice."
"Not all of them," Deidra started to put the briefs back in her folder for the meeting in the morning, "Some do it to themselves. I don't stop them. But for guys like this… I want the privilege."
"Don't you find that dishonorable?" Leonardo asked and Deidra looked at him with a quirked eyebrow.
"Dishonorable?" she turned back to Leonardo and gripped the file a little harder.
"Uh oh," Analise watched her friend closely. Michelangelo tilted his head a little in confusion and Analise sighed, "Touchy subject."
Deidra took a deep breath to try and collect her temper, "A ten month old little girl is sleeping in her crib with only an inconsolable grandmother to take care of her because her mother was cut up and mutilated to the point that her blood wouldn't stop spilling out of her until an hour after she was dead. A father will never hold his nineteen year old daughter again. A man lost his fiancée and couldn't even indentify her body. And there are more out there that we haven't found yet- possibly dying as we speak in the most gruesome of ways by the hands of this sicko. I stop him and those like him from killing more. Now you tell me who's dishonorable."
Leonardo stood quiet and looked over the young woman in front of him. He took a deep breath, "I don't think it is our place to judge them."
"I don't think it's your place to judge me either."
"Okay, let's not step off on too much of a wrong foot, huh?" Analise stood in between the two of them, "I think that we could learn a lot from one another."
"How so?" Raphael asked.
"Deidra has the inner workings of the case for you guys to analyze," Analise pointed to Deidra and then to Leonardo, "And you guys are some extra eyes and ears on the streets that we could use."
"We?" Raphael asked and then stepped forward, "I thought you were just an Art buff."
"I am an Art buff," she smiled, "But I am not just anything. I want to catch this guy as much as Deidra. I have criminology back ground and I can use it just as well or even better as the next guy."
"Analise isn't mentioned in the reports, but she has helped to bring down a few of the most recent killers," Deidra explained, "She told me where I could find the Parkside Sniper. If it wasn't for her, he would have killed again."
"Why are you never mentioned?" Michelangelo asked.
"Who needs the notoriety?" Analise shrugged, "I'm just happy that they are off the streets. Besides, Deidra has enough crazies coming after her. I don't need to add any on."
"So what do you think?" Deidra asked Leonardo and held out her hand, "I give you more of a profile to work on, and you give me some street intel?"
Leonardo looked at her hand and then to her eyes. He saw something there that he didn't see in most humans. He turned to her friend, and though she seemed a little softer in spirit, she still had the same fire in her eyes. They had a spirit of fighters- warriors. And determined ones at that.
He grabbed her hand, "Agreed, but we do not kill him."
"Not unless he tries to kill us first," Deidra nodded, "I have a meeting with my team in the morning. I could give you more details then."
"Yes!" Analise pumped her fist into the air, "I love it when a plan comes together."
"And a team," Michelangelo added on, "We needed some girls anyway. And it does help that they're on the bodacious side."