I was standing in the Chief's office again, Daniel and Nix standing there with me as the Chief fumed by his desk. "Aya, I thought I told you not to say anything!"
he yelled angrily. I breathed in deeply, my head up as I looked at him defiantly. "I'm telling the truth, sir." I told him respectfully, though with a little bite at the end.
The Chief looked at me angrily, slamming a fist on the desk. I tensed up slightly from this outburst; I never saw him this upset before… "That is NOT the point! Who's
going to believe you? You'll only stir up the media and cause people to panic!" he shouted. I breathed out, looking down at the floor. Maybe he was right. Maybe I was
a bit too hasty… Daniel stepped forward as he looked at the Chief. "Sir, she was only…" he started, but he was cut off at that moment when the Chief's phone rang.
Grumbling, the Chief swiped up the phone, clearing his throat. "Baker here… Who?... What does he want? Put him through." He spoke. I looked up at Daniel and Nix as
the Chief spoke, the both of them shrugging their shoulders at me. "This is Captain Baker. What? Meet? You'll have to speak up! Yes… What?... Yes… All right." He
finished, hanging up the phone to look up at us. "Some Japanese scientist, I think. Couldn't understand his English too well. He was raving about some mito-
something… Says he's coming over here." he informed us. Daniel raised an eyebrow at this. "Might-O?" he repeated confusedly. I blinked my eyes, tilting my head
slightly. "Do you mean… mitochondria?" I asked him, Nix looking over at me. "Mitochondria? You mean that thing in cells that make energy from oxygen?" he asked
me. I looked over at him and nodded. "Yes. Maybe he watched the press conference. He might know what Eve means by my mitochondria being different. Eve kept
saying it to me last night, about how it's time for the mitochondria to be set free…" I added, looking at everyone as I spoke. Nix then slammed a fist into his hand,
turning to me again. "Hey, I just read that some researcher at the museum wrote a new theory about them." I looked over at him, my jaw hung slightly. "About
mitochondria?" I asked him. He nodded his head, crossing his arms. "Yep, though I have no idea what it's about, maybe it'll help shed some light on this whole thing."
He told me. I smiled lightly at him, my hand to my chin. "Maybe…" I muttered. Then, as if reading my mind, Daniel spoke out to the Chief. "Sir, I'm taking Aya to go
talk to this researcher." I looked up at Daniel, smiling, my gaze shifting to the Chief who nodded his head in agreement. "Go. Better get there before the media. It
may explain that phone call too." Daniel nodded his head at the Chief, before facing me. "Yes, sir. Let's go, Aya!" he told me. Smiling up at him, I nodded my head,
following Daniel out of the Chief's office.
"Go on ahead of me, Aya." Daniel told me as he walked over to his desk, fumbling through the stack of papers and empty ramen cups. "Okay. I'll wait for you
outside." I told him, making my way down the adjacent hallway. I passed some of my fellow officers, giving them a small smile before my eyes fell upon a small
figure some feet ahead of me, looking at the bulletin board. It's a young, black boy, probably around 10 years old or so, with short, black hair. He's wearing a red and
black jacket with matching shorts and sneakers. I didn't see anyone with him, so I walked over to him, giving him a smile when noticed me. "Hey there. Are you lost?"
I asked him softly, but the boy looked at me bashfully, shuffling his feet like he was nervous. I opened my mouth to ask him his name, but I was cut off when a
familiar voice called out. "Ben!" Daniel called out, walking over to us. "Daddy!" the boy called out in reply, turning to look up at the larger man. My jaw hung lightly
when I heard this exchange of words, my eyes on Daniel. "So this is Ben?" I asked, looking down at the boy again as I leaned forward, my hands on my knees. "It's
nice to meet you Ben. Your dad is always talking about you. My name is Aya." Ben looked over at me hurriedly when he heard my name, his eyes wide. "So you're
Aya! My daddy tells me how cool you are, but I didn't think you'd be so pretty!" he exclaimed brightly. My face flushed slightly at this compliment; how embarrassing!
I giggled lightly at him, smiling broadly. "Why, thank you Ben!" We both started to chuckle when Daniel cut in. "Ben, what are you doing here?" he asked his son, a bit
of worriment in his voice. Ben glowed lightly as he reached into his pocket, handing his father what was clearly a ticket. Daniel seemed a bit confused by this gesture
as I was, but he quickly realized what it was, his face falling. "Ah… the concert… Sorry Ben, but daddy is really busy today. I promise I'll make it up…" he started, his
son's face contorting with anger. "FINE!" he shouted, throwing the ticket on the floor and running away from the both of us. "Ben!" Daniel called out, but his son turned
a corner toward the exit and disappeared from view. Daniel sighed, his shoulders slumped as he closed his eyes, remaining silent. I just stood there next to him,
unsure of what to say, when I looked down at the ticket. I knelt down to pick it up, looking at it to see Melissa's name printed on the front. Oh… that's right. Melissa
wrote down in her diary that she was supposed to have a solo concert today at Central Park. But… she's dead, her body taken over by Eve… Is the concert still going
to be held in spite of last night's incident? Who's going to replace Melissa? I can't imagine Eve singing a solo in front of hundreds of people… At that moment, Daniel
spoke out to me. "Let's get going." He said simply, walking away toward the exit as well. I stood up fully, watching him as he walked. Sighing out, I pocketed the
ticket, following him.
After a few minutes, Daniel and I were in the squad car with Daniel driving. "We're going to the Museum of Natural History. The guy's name is Hans Klamp." he told
me. I considered the name for a moment, my eyes on the road. "Dr. Klamp… What's his area of research?" I asked. "Well, according to the papers, he's working on a
new theory…mitochondria something, but it seems to cover the whole genetic spectrum…" he answered. My brow furrowed at this, my arms crossed over my chest.
"But that's odd… To have a PhD and be working in a museum…" I muttered. Daniel shook his head, shrugging his shoulders at my statement. "Well, apparently he's
really anti-social and doesn't like to waste time outside research." he replied. I rolled my eyes to this bit of information, my elbow on the base of my window, my chin
resting on my hand. "Oh, great… We're gonna have a grand time with this one…" I muttered sarcastically, Daniel chuckling. "Yeah, yeah. I know where you're going
with this. Just be careful this time, ok?" he told me. I blinked my eyes and looked over at him, frowning slightly. "…Are you referring to the press conference?" I asked
him, to which he nodded. I huffed slightly, looking outside my window again. Even though it's only about 5 in the afternoon, it was already pretty dark… "Daniel, why
do you kiss the Chief's butt?" I asked him dully. "You two joined the force at the same time, didn't you?" I added, looking back at him. Daniel merely shrugged, his
eyes on the road. "Yeah, but that was years ago. Now, he's my boss." he replied simply. I sighed again, looking out my window as people and cars passed us by.
It took us only about 15 minutes to reach the museum from the precinct. I looked up at the large building, my eyes shining slightly in anticipation; I haven't been to
this museum since I was a little girl. Stone steps lead up on three different sides to a large set of double doors, banners hanging over the entrance as different statues
dotted areas around the perimeter. It was truly a sight to behold. Daniel parked the squad car in front of the building on the side of the road, looking at it through my
side window. "Looks like it's closed for Christmas." He noted. He was right; people walked up and down the street, but no one walked inside. "This'll be better for us,
won't it?" I replied, smiling at him. Daniel nodded his head, the both of us getting out of the car. "Let's just hope someone's home" he said to me as we walked up the
steps side by side. We were lucky enough to find a janitor outside the doors. We explained that we were police officers and wished to speak with Dr. Klamp.
Thankfully, the doctor was in his lab, so the janitor let us in. The hall we came into was simply breathtaking. Chandeliers hung in rows across the entrance hall, the
white walls and ceiling exceptionally clean. Banners advertising different exhibits occupied the walls, ranging from ancient Egypt to colonial England, and more so. It
seemed that we were in the dinosaur exhibit, since there were skeletons of different dinosaurs on display all around. The one display that intrigued me the most
though, was the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the center. I looked up at it, marveling at its large size. It seemed almost ominous with no people around... "Aya, let's get
going." Daniel called out to me, breaking me out of my trance. Feeling a little embarrassed, I followed Daniel and the janitor up a set of stairs, heading for the second
floor. We turned around a corner on the left side, and came up on a closed door, a name plate to its right reading: "HANS KLAMP". We said our thanks to the janitor,
who left us to our business, and looked at each other before Daniel knocked on the door. "Dr. Klamp? I'm Daniel Dollis from the NYPD. Are you in there?" he called in,
but there was no answer. We looked at each other in slight confusion, Daniel placing his hand on the handle and turning; the door's open. "Hey, it's open… Let's check
it out." he told me, opening the door fully.
