We're the Shit
Dante sat on his bike watching down on the Carson General Hospital on Staunton Island. After a long wait the man he was waiting for finally showed himself. Leon S. Kennedy had at long last recovered and was written out of the hospital. Taking a taxi back to the station on Portland, Leon didn't seem to take notice of Dante tailing him like a shadow. Patiently waiting half a block down the street, Dante watched carefully as Leon entered the station before he drove off.
Leon was given a warm welcome by his co-workers on the station and soon headed down to speak with Dr Wong. «Back from the dead already?» She asked Leon the moment he opened the door. «How did you...?» Leon asked puzzled over that she knew it was him, apparently without looking. «Your deodorant, you're the only one that uses it.» Ada replied indifferent as always. Looking around in the autopsy room, not much had changed since his last visit.
In the end Leon's eyes landed on the covered body that rested on a strap bed. It was too small to be an adult, though judging from the curves and size it wasn't a child either. «She came in a few days ago, the killer is unidentified and thus also running around, happy as a clown.» Ada supplied as if she knew where Leon's eyes were looking and what was ticking inside his head. What a creepy ability, Leon thought to himself.
Leon mounted his courage and took a small peek under the sheet covering the body. It wasn't all that bad he mused. Sure it was cold and pale as a corpse, but other than that the body itself was in perfect condition. On a closer inspection, there were a few scratch marks here and there, along with a handful of pale looking bruises. So at least she put up some sort of fight, though it couldn't have been much.
Putting the sheets back over, Leon calmed himself with a few deep breaths. It would take a while for his guts to get used to this sight he figured. «It's your case by the way, so I suppose you'd like to read her file.» Ada mumbled before handing Leon a file. Taking the file, Leon browsed through it. Subject was female (again...), a junior high school student, leader of the student counsel, mom and dad divorced, 3 step brothers from dad's remarriage and she'd died from blood loss «Any theories, doc?» Leon asked, looking up from his file.
Ada seated herself on a office chair, the five wheels creaked a little as she shifted her weight around. «Black market blood sales. She was a AB negative, quite rare and worth a small fortune to the right people.» She replied, making next to no attempt to hide her boredom. «Wouldn't it make more sense to keep her alive?» Leon asked. Signing some papers, Ada paused in her work for a moment before resuming. «I suppose they screwed up detective. Keeping her alive would mean a kidnapping case and making it hard to keep it going in the long run, though it could have made her more valuable as her later adult organs would ten folded her value.» She said, still scribbling.
A small corner of Leon's mind wanted to bring up Dante and related issues, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to it. It was still far to surreal for him to make up his mind regarding what he should do. For now he agreed with himself that he should just take one day at the time and from there make his stand when the time was right. «Okay, I'll take Marvin with me.» Leon sighed, closing the file and heading for the door. «Marvin's not here, he got hit by a golf ball two days ago and is sitting at home with a concussion.» Ada said over her shoulder. Well no matter, Leon thought to himself. It was just the usual question round anyway, so he should do just fine. Heading to the garage, Leon got a patrol car and drove off to the mother's address
The mother lived over at Bedford Point and upon arrival Leon noticed something was off. Looking around, he couldn't get rid of the feeling of being watched. Was it Dante that was crawling around or someone else? Just as it had arrived the feeling faded away to nothing. Still a little uneasy, Leon knocked on the door. The mother lived alone and peeked through the door crack before letting Leon inside.
The two of them talked about Joan, the victim, hoping something might turn up that would lead to the killers capture. Aside from a obsessive attitude towards video games, Joan appeared to Leon as your average young teenager. No drugs, no spooky friends, in fact her mother expressed only some concern regarding Joan's lack of social life though there were no problems at school either. «Well then, I thank you for your time and we'll get back to you as soon as we hear something.» Leon told her as he rose from the sofa.
As Leon drove off and back to the station, Dante walked up and knocked on the door. Again the mother opened the door and peeked through the crack, the door-chain clattering a little. «Where's Lax you heartless bitch?» Dante grumbled, not bothering with greetings or pleasantries. The mother's eyes opened wide in horror and she fanatically tried to push the door shut, but Dante held it open with one hand.
Whimpering in sheer fear, the mother gave up and made a run for the back. With a simple vertical punch, Dante busted the door chain and walked into the house. Picking up the telephone from a nearby table as he walked after the mother, he yanked it free from the cord connected to the wall and threw it with full force after the mother. It hit her hard in the middle of her back and she tripped over herself, landing flat on her chest. For a small moment she lied completely still, then slowly she began crawling towards the back.
Turning his attention to the sofa, Dante picked up a fat pillow, walked over to the mother and put it against her lower leg before he planted one of his guns on top of the pillow. «Where's Lax?» He asked. The mother just kept on crawling, she probably didn't feel the gun, just the pillow. Pulling the trigger, a muffled gun blast shot through the room and Dante quickly darted forward to silence the mother's screams with his free hand. «I'm good at hurting people, it's what I do. So, where's Lax?» He whispered in her ear.
Crying muffled tears, the mother gave no indication that she'd answer. Moving the pillow further up to her lower back, Dante made an extra point by pressing the gun harder against her body. «Where's Lax?» He asked again. The mother just kept on crying silent tears, her face flushed in a pink blush. Another shot fired, the mother jerked around in pain and howls of agony could be faintly heard from behind Dante's gloved hand. Distant police sirens caught his attention, looking over his shoulder, out the open front door and across the street he saw the neighbor nervously observing from behind the curtains, phone in hand.
Looking down at the floor Dante saw two pools of blood that would soon merge into one. «Sorry sweetheart, we don't time for anything else.» He whispered to the mother as he holstered his gun. Placing one hand on the top back of her head and the other under her chin, Dante tightened his grip. Just then, in a last desire to live, the mother called out at the top of her lunges for help, a cry cut off in mid word at the cracking sound of a neck being broken.
Stepping away from the body, Dante quickly wiped his boots clean from blood and darted out the back. Sirens were louder and increasing in numbers, looking quickly from left to right to get his bearings, Dante jumped over some garden fences and slided through some narrow backways to get some distance between him and the scene. Taking a long route to get back to his bike, Dante drove off with no one the wiser. On his way back to the office, he stopped by some local bums that stood around a burning oil barrel. «Nice day today, eh boys?» Dante asked, taking off his gloves and tossing them into the fire. «Very nice Mr D, you have a good day.» One of the bums smiled, showing his many missing teeth.
Leon was busy over at the Old School Hall right next to the Callahan Bridge when he got the call that Joan's mother had been attacked then killed. He rushed over to the scene and met up with Dr Wong inside the mother's house. «What's the story?» He asked the forensic. Glancing over her shoulder, Dr Wong just frowned a little before turning back to her work. «She got shot twice, pillow was used as an improvised silencer and cause of death was a broken neck.» Dr Wong mumbled while searching the dead body's clothing. «Shot? That doesn't seem to fit with the psychological profile, so this isn't the same guy that's responsible for Joan's death?» Leon asked, helping himself with a couple of plastic gloves.
Picking up a small straw of hair, Dr Wong looked at it closely before letting out a long drawn sigh. «You're quite right detective, this isn't the same guy that killed Joan.» She said, wrapping up the hair in a small plastic bag. «Any witnesses?» Leon asked a fellow police officer who guarded the scene. «The guy across the street saw a big guy go in, kneel over the victim, then leaving.» The officer supplied. As the air reeked of blood, Leon left the house and crossed the street to question the neighbor further.
The neighbor was quite shaken up as he answered the door, not willing to open the door, just talking through a narrow crack. Unfortunately he couldn't supply Leon with anything useful, blaming it on the heat of the moment, obscured view, odd angle for viewing and other gibberish. «Well then, if you do recall anything please give us a call.» Leon said finally, handing over his card. He was about to take his leave when the man stammered something. Halting in his track, Leon half turned to see if he was just imagining things. «Y-y-y-you know... the guy he-he-he... was running towards the subway af-after he came around the back.» The neighbor stuttered.
After Leon left, the neighbor closed the door and his breath trembled with fear. «You did well Mr Jameson.» Dante smiled, finally putting away the gun he had pointed at Mr Jameson's neck during Leon's questioning. «P-p-please, don't kill me. I never saw a thing and I've done what you've asked.» He pleaded to Dante. «Relax, just don't piss your pants next time around okay?» Dante chuckled as he walked casually out the back door.
Dr Wong was wrapping up things at the scene, so Leon decided to follow up the only lead he had so far; the subway. Taking with him another officer, the two headed for the nearest subway station and looked around for something, or quite frankly anything out of the ordinary. They stopped people at random, asking a few questions before moving on and repeating. There was a ragged bum sleeping in a pile of paper trash, holding his whiskey bottle close to his chest that caught Leon's eye. It could be just a trick of the lights and shadows, but it looked like he had dried blood on his chin. Not just a small spot either, it was more like the whole chin was covered with it. It could of course also be just plain old dirt from somewhere. With these guys you never knew and you didn't really want to know either.
«Mister? Do you have a minute? R.P.D., I'd like to ask you a few questions.» Leon said as he approached the bum. One moment the bum was deep in wonderland, the next he jerked to life as if he had a bolt of thunder shoved up his ass and leaped out of his paper bed before scrambling away. Leon called after the other officer and the two gave after in pursuit. The bum ran and hid himself inside the mens WC, which , Leon noted, was surprisingly clean for a subway WC. The bum smashed his whiskey bottle and used the broken bottleneck to slash wildly in the air, to keep the two police officers away. «Calm down mister, we don't want to hurt you.» Leon tried the diplomatic approach first.
One of the bums random slashes cut Leon's partner and quickly resulted in a couple of shots being fired, though they hit nothing but walls and floor. «Are you aiming for an Oscar or something?» A man grumbled from the doorway. All three men stopped dead in their tracks and spun around towards the voice. «Been a while... Lax.» Dante said as he stepped into the light, a large sword strapped across his back and a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun in his left hand. «You think you're something special, but I've seen your type plenty of times. Loud as a motorbike, but couldn't bust a grape in a foodfight. What proof is there that you are even one tenth of the man you claim to be, Dante?» The bum snorted, his attitude and composure changed drastically as if the whole bum look was just a mask.
Calmly Dante drew his large sword with his right hand, pointing the tip down at the floor to his right. A gun got cocked and everyone turned their attention towards the source of the sound. The officer that Leon had brought along was pointing his revolver at Dante. «D-d-d-drop the sword and the shotgun and-and-and keep your hands where I can see them.» He stuttered. The gun was trembling with fear, despite that it was being held with both hands. Dante gave him an annoyed look. «You remember what happened last time, don't you – officer Sheridan?» Dante asked the officer. In a fraction of a second something seemed to snap inside the officers mind and before anyone could react, the officer put the revolver at his own temple and pulled the trigger. The bang sounded extra loud and far more bone chilling than the previous shots.
Leon just stood there gaping at the blood splattered wall as pieces of brain and skull slided downwards. «Leon, get out.» Dante grunted. «Like hell I'm going to walk away from this! This is an official police investigation and you have no fucking businesses down here Dante, so YOU get out!» Leon objected loudly. With a expression that looked somewhere between dull, bored and annoyed, Dante pointed his shotgun at the bum called Lax and pulled both triggers. The smoke of gunpowder sunk into Leon's nose, his ears was ringing from the loud bang and his head felt like it would bust open at any moment. Swaying around like a drunkard with a blurred vision, Leon saw Lax falling to the floor, presumably dead.
Walking up to Leon, Dante snatched a wooden pencil from one of Leon's pockets. «I'll just borrow this while you get some rest.» He whispered in Leon's ear before he dropped the shotgun and used his free hand to slam Leon's head against the nearest wall, knocking his lights out. Before Leon's unconscious frame even hit the floor, Dante walked over to Lax and stood astride over him. «You're dust n' bones Lax.» He grunted. «Dante, you son of a bitch... I curse you!» Lax spat, blood flowing from his mouth and wounds. «Yeah, yeah... silver instead of lead, gets you guys every time.» Dante smiled before diving down without warning or mercy, digging Leon's wooden pencil through Lax's heart.
Gathering his belongings, sheeting his sword and dusting vampire ash of his clothing, Dante took one last look around the WC before he left. Flipping on his cellphone, Dante started a speed dial as he climbed the stairs up to street level. «Doc, Leon needs a pickup in the subway, officer Sheridan had a close encounter of the fatal kind with his own gun and I've dusted the killer. I'll give Leon an anonymous tip later when I have a scapegoat for him to catch.» Dante said, killing the conversation before Ada could dig up a reply to his instructions.