Chapter Twenty-Three
Pandora's Book
Back in Mutopia, Raphael and Monalisa sat in Pandora's room holding each other, taking in the scent that lingered, as if trying to feel their daughter's presence before she disappeared.
Everything in the room was just the way she had left it, the bedsheets hadn't been changed, the dressing table still had her toiletries on it, the bin was filled with rubbish and there was a laundry bag filled with clothes that hadn't been washed yet.
After Tyroth dismissed everyone until Hacker and Hugh were able to find out anything regarding the Disciples, they had decided to go and sit in Pandora's room to at least try and feel close to her again which they had been doing since the day Pandora was declared Missing in Action.
Both were heartbroken that their only child was in possession of Diablo, and they had no idea what he was doing to her, whether she was there willingly because she was too scared to return, or that Diablo had her prisoner or was brain washing her.
"If only I had known." Monalisa whispered as she picked up one of her daughter's pyjama tops and held it close.
As she did so, she wondered if her own mother had done this when she went missing all those years ago.
Jake had told her that Gina had spent hours in Monalisa's room trying to smell her, feel her and take it all that had been left there and she couldn't believe it that she was doing it herself.
"If only I had known what she was going through," Monalisa lamented "I could have stopped her, or maybe even helped her if she had let me, her behaviour wasn't that much different when I first mutated, I was so angry my life had been stolen, very much like the Foot, Especially Hanako stole your ability to speak hun, and almost kill me..."
Raphael stroked his wife's hair trying to comfort her as well as nuzzled her.
Despite the fact he was still silent, he never stopped trying to tell Monalisa in his own way that she was not to blame, whether it was through his comforting touch or signing to her.
He shuffled his feet to move closer to Monalisa yet as he did, he felt something brush against his foot and he sat still for a moment.
Monalisa noticed his movement and looked at him.
"Raph?" she asked, Raphael looked at Monalisa then put a finger to his lips and pointed down before bending down to pick up something from under the bed.
He soon discovered what it was his feet touched and it was a book, or rather a journal of some sorts.
Monalisa gasped as she saw it and she placed her hands on it to have a look.
Raphael cocked his head and signed.
'What is this?'
Monalisa didn't answer but instead opened a page to find a newspaper article talking about the hostage situation in the supermarket those weeks back along with some diary entries next to it.
With a beating heart, the turtle and lizard read one of the entries.
"I'm glad I went out that night, I saved a few lives, including a pregnant woman, that bastard deserved all that was coming to him! Wish I didn't do more to make him really regret his actions!"
Monalisa and Raphael looked at each other in shock.
"It's not much different to what Diablo did when he arrived in Mutopia." Monalisa exclaimed and Raphael nodded in agreement.
'We have to show Tyroth." He signed to Monalisa.
"We will." Monalisa agreed "But I need to see it first."
Raphael nodded in agreement and they both started to read through the journal from front to back before they were to go and show Tyroth the evidence they found.
Meanwhile Tyroth was speaking to Hugh via Discord in the Mess Hall asking him about any news he heard that could point to Diablo.
The Police chief was shocked to hear that Pandora was in possession of Diablo and he had wasted no time in looking in on cases himself or the police force had looked into that pointed evidence to Diablo.
"I'm running through the files as we speak, it may take a few seconds."
"Thanks Hugh." Tyroth said rubbing his temples in stress "I can't even imagine what Diablo might be doing with Pandora!"
"Diablo might have taken a bad path, but do you think he'd hurt Pandora?" Hugh asked "As far as we know, the Raven and his Disciples have never hurt innocents, but rather those who are in his term 'sinners'"
Tyroth sighed again as he nodded.
"I suppose there's a light at the end of the tunnel that Diablo won't hurt Pandora, but I fear what he'll turn her into if we don't find her and bring her back!"
"Speaking of lights." Hugh said, "I know this doesn't change things, but I did hear news from the victims of the Hostage Situation in that supermarket Pandora infiltrated."
"You did?" Tyroth asked looking up.
Hugh nodded on the screen.
"Amongst the survivors as you know was a young expectant mother, she gave birth to a baby girl recently," he reported "And she wanted to thank the one who had saved them, if she could."
Tyroth sighed again.
"I can't deny that Pandora did a good service to the people that day, but it doesn't excuse her behaviour." He said "She broke the rules... She committed the same acts Diablo did before he betrayed us."
Hugh sighed and was about to speak when a ping was heard on his side, and he looked pleased.
"They're here!" he said, "I've received the files!"
"Thanks Hugh." Tyroth said.
"I'm sending them through to you right now." Hugh reported as he tapped on the keyboard on his side and before long Tyroth saw an alert on his email.
"Thanks Hugh!' he said again "I'll have a look through."
"I hope it helps." Hugh said, "And I'll keep you updated if I hear anything else."
"Much appreciated Hugh." Tyroth said as hung up and started to look through the email he was sent.
"There's got to be a clue to Diablo's activities in these files." He thought to himself.
Meanwhile, back in Pandora's bedroom, Monalisa and Raphael were still reading the journal Pandora had written and they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
There were entries from when they had arrived in Mutopia after the Knights saved them being executed, days when after Pandora had recovered from her injuries that she had started to train more in the dojo to unleash her anger, how she felt she couldn't talk to anyone, that she felt no-one understood her pain.
'I can't tell anyone...'
'How will speaking about it help?'
'No-one could understand...'
"This fear for my family's well-being, it's like a knife within my soul, will my mother, father and Uncle Don awaken from their comas? Or is it too late?'
'At least the Mutopians have the water... I cannot use it, none of my family can... what if I lose my parents? Uncle Donnie, Kemeko?'
'She took my father's voice, she will pay! She will pay! SHE WILL PAY!'
'I hate her! I hate her! She will pay! She will feel my wrath!'
As the couple read the entries, they felt tears in their eyes as they thought of how their daughter was feeling, they could almost fear her voice, her malice, her anger and Monalisa could only understand how it felt when she awoke in the sewers that fateful day many years ago.
"Oh my baby..." Monalisa lamented "My poor baby girl! I wish I had known; I wish I had been there! If Black Mamba hadn't poisoned me..."
Raphael silently placed his paw on the pages and gritted his teeth.
"Oh Pandora..." he thought to himself "If only I could turn back the clock, I would have been there with you, you didn't have to do this alone! I would have been by your side if we couldn't convince you to stop..." tears soaked his mask as he stroked the pages then closed the book looking at Monalisa and they both agreed to go to Tyroth and show him what they had found.
Meanwhile Tyroth had looked through the files and he soon came across something that interested him.
This was about an attack on a couple of men who were part of a Neo Nazi group who had intimated a group of Jewish men before tracking down where they lived and were throwing glass bottles and other items at the house including petrol.
Tyroth narrowed his eyes as he read the articles.
'Police were called to the location of a residence just outside Benton Harbour in the State of Michigan following aggressive behaviour from a group of men harassing the house of a Jewish Family.'
Tyroth read the file more and he soon saw some stills from videos of some men throwing objects that consisted of rocks, and glass bottles.
'Witnesses say they saw the men shouting racists and Anti-Jewish slurs as they attacked the house then they fled before the police arrived.'
Tyroth frowned.
"That first one doesn't help much." He muttered "There might have been an attack that would have caught the Disciples attention, yet there's still no lead!"
He looked through the other files, then he saw another that caught his eye and he clicked on it.
"Mysterious attack on two men who were dumped in an alleyway naked and bruised." He leaned forward in his seat to read the article more.
"Police were shocked to discover two men who were part of the Neo Nazi Group that terrorised the Jewish Community beaten up and naked behind some trash bins, they had been beaten, burned, and cut up, wounds included 'Bigots' 'Nazi Bastards' and 'Sick Bullies' carved into their skin along with some strange bite marks on their throats and wrists."
Tyroth blinked as he realised.
"Carved words... bite marks!" he thought "No way! That's got to be Diablo! And the Bite marks got to be from young Regan!" he then remembered the burns and he knew about Lamia's electrical touch being an Electric Eel!
"That's got to be them!" he cried looking up in realization "On the other side of the Lake in Michigan State! Just Next door and we didn't realise!"
Just then the door to the mess hall opened and Tyroth looked over his shoulder to see Raphael and Monalisa walking over with the journal.
"Raph? Mona?" he asked concerned as he saw how pale and stricken they looked.
"Guys?" he asked again "What is it?'
Raphael placed the journal on the table next to the dragon and signed to him to have a look.
"We found it in Pandora's room." Monalisa reported "It's a journal..."
Tyroth looked at the book of papers and up at the couple.
"Pandora's Book?" he asked to which they nodded.
Tyroth narrowed his eyes and pulled it towards him wondering what he would find within it.
Looks like both Raphael and Monalisa and Tyroth have found clues!
Raphael and Monalisa to their daughter's inner emotions via a journal, and Tyroth on reports on Diablo's activities!