In Paris
"Gizelle, you'll recall the ancient manuscript Dupont told us went up in auction in France" Chief Ripley asks the new recruit, the abformentioned woman nods her head and asks a question
"Wasn't it the same one that Ms. Grimshaw was threatened with in London?" The detective asks
"Correct, Gizelle, it's the same transcript we believe was used to write a threat to Enid Grimshaw in London." The Chief confirms "The very same. We've heard that the editor-in-chief of the magazine pretty fair, Annette Sommeur, placed the highest bid." She explains
"Anything else?" Gizelle asks
"She booked the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles for a photoshoot and has the manuscript with her. Word is, she won't let it out of her sight." The Chief tells her "We need Archer here at headquarters, so you'll be going with Carmen Martinez and Commissioner Brodeur." I raised my eyebrow at that
"Chief I'm only a Lieutenant, and I don't go out on the field unless Elliot goes, it's in my contract." I say
"Not you Marie, I mean him" Ripley says pointing at the open door
A man steps in the door, he has brown hair with a silver gradient, he's wearing a white and gold t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a brown leather belt with an American flag badge on it, on his face, he's wearing sunglasses that have a silver outline
I see the man, and stand up from my chair "No, you go back to that hell hole you call 'Oklahoma', Martinez and Harlow can handle this case." I yell at him
"Aw don't worry Carly, I'm not here to ruin things, but to make the Bureau better, and keep an eye on my little sister." The man says winking, ugh who winks
I can feel my eye twitching "I'm gonna talk to our newest recruit before the team heads out." I walk away from the table and grab the man by his shirt collar, and drag him out into the hallway, I start circling him as I talk "Okay, I know mom sent you here, but one don't call me by my birth name, my team, minus Chief Ripley, know me by my middle name, two stay out of my way unless it's to get an analysis, and three don't go telling mom some false information like when we were kids. Got it." He nods his head, a little scared of my temper, as Harlow and Martinez pass by I start walking to the tech lab, but not before turning my head, and glaring at the 6 foot tall man "Welcome to the team, Blaze." I angrily say, and slam the lab door
Blaze's POV
"Thanks Sis" I say quietly to myself with a smirk unaware of the accusations that would befall me because of a genetic mutation I was born with, and that my sis currently doesn't know about, well not yet of course.
But she'll find out soon enough.
Marie's POV
Minutes later the door opens, and I turn my chair only to see Elliot standing there "So your brother." He stands by his computer chair, grabbing the arms "Wanna talk about it."
I turn my chair around and face my computer "What's there to talk about, my oldest sibling coming into town, because my mother wants to keep me safe while I'm traveling the world trying to catch criminals who even dare step a foot across that particular line of conduct, Yeah no." I say
He takes a seat "So Carly." My eye twitches again at that name "What's the deal."
"There hasn't been a Carly since my 8th grade year, it's Marie, and I prefer it stay that way if you don't mind." I tell him
"Yeah sure. You have to set up his profile in the database though." He says
"If your bribing me, that's a crime Mr. Clayton." I teasingly say
"Shut it Brodeur." He says
Blaze's POV
I sit next to Carmen reminiscing about the good old days before my dad's death, and Marie and I eventually growing distant, and not talking as much as we used to.
You see the truth is to be honest I didn't just come here because Mom wanted me to, I also came here of my own volition, to reconnect, and make amends with my sister, who I haven't seen in a little over 2 months, and haven't had a proper conversation with in a little over 7 years, and to hopefully find a romantic partner.
To be honest Gizelle's a pretty candidate, but I'll get back to the romantic partner thing later, now it's time to be a Cop.
Marie's POV
Half an hour later Carmen comes in with an evidence baggy with a credit card looking device inside.
"Analyse this camera, teen geniuses, thanks" She put the bag on our desk and leaves just as quickly as she entered
I grab the camera "We need to put a sign on that door that says, knock, it's dark inside and the people inside need to adjust their eyes before their bombarded with a light show." I tell him
"I'll think about it" he says
It takes us an hour to analyze "Call them back" he tells me
I text Carmen "Bring Harlow, and Man-Child, we've figured this thing out."
Blaze's POV
"Harlow, Blaze, get over here" Carmen says showing us the text "What... The Fuck, Sis" I say to myself feeling my hands twitch and shoulders tense up "Harlow remind me to have a word with my sister about calling me a Man-Child" I said to Gizelle still feeling my hands twitch and my shoulders tense up.
Marie's POV
The three entered the lab 5 minutes later
"Gizelle, we have some interesting news about that digital instant camera, you found at Versailles. Well interesting is a subjective term..." Elliot clarified
"Sounds about right." I said
"If it gets us closer to Annette Sommeur's killer I'm all ears, kiddos!" Carmen says
"Kiddos?" Elliot asks with a raised eyebrow "Ugh... OK, one photo was taken, printed then deleted from the camera's hard drive around the time of the murder." He stops
"So the killer clearly touched this camera. Maybe to capture a parting trophy..." I let Elliot finish the analysis
"We couldn't lift finger prints, but the killer did leave evidence of an addiction behind: loose tobacco leaves." He finishes
"So we know that the killer smokes. Great... We need to find one smoker in France. That should take about ten years... We better get started huh Gizelle." Carmen asks
"Yep" Gizelle says
"Let's go, see you later short things." Blaze yells towards us
I once again open a new tab on my computer and slam my head down on my keyboard, multiple times.
"By the end of the week, you'll have brain damge." Elliot says
"I don't care, brain damage is better than working with my know it all, older brother." I say, my words muffled by my keyboard
"Why can't you just put aside your differences, and accept your brother is here." He asks
"You don't know what it was like after my father's death, Elliot." I lifted my head up from the keyboard "It really took a toll on our family, each one of us did something we're not exactly proud of, even my little brother, and he's only 10, he never met dad, and yet he was effected the worst, he's been falling behind in classes, started giving fake tattoos behind the school, and even started bullying. My biggest thing was the hacking of the government, and I can't even think about what my sister and Blaze did, that was something we could never come back from, but my mother stopped caring about her appearance and the bills. I stayed at a friend's house for 3 years, with little visits here and there to collect things, and see everyone, just to get back on track with life, and well in those 3 years things only got worse for my relationship with Blaze." I paused trying to think my next words "He... um, he told me I was a terrible daughter for leaving, but I didn't know what else to do since I was only 9, and so I stayed home and did everything I could. Eventually we got our lives back together, but the relationship between my brother and I never changed. In fact, in 6th grade I found out I like both boys and girls, and that was Blaze's snapping point. Today was the first day in 4 years he's said a full sentence to me. Usually it's good morning or good night, but he actually talked like we were siblings, and I guess I got frustrated and so I took my anger out on the one person I could. The one person I wanted support from all these years, I was being kinda silly." I chuckled a bit at those final words
"And I thought my relationship with my parents was bad." Elliot says
I yelled at my mentor "ELLIOT!"
"Joking, sorry." He replied
Suddenly Blaze enters with a bag "Oh great your crying."
"I was not." I deadpanned "Anyways, what do you want?"
"Analyse. Now. And make it choppy." He says in a snooty tone, setting an evidence baggy on our desk
I get up to pounce at him, but Elliot, not even bothering to look up from his computer, grabs the hem of my jacket. "Nope, I'm not trying to die today" Blaze says as he bolts out the room to avoid my wrath
"We're not gonna kill people today Marie." The goth teen says "For the outburst you get to analyse the item."
"Ugh" I yell putting my head in my hands, as he slides the bag over to me "What's with the champagne, is someone trying to get drunk?"
He grabs the tag "It was addressed to the victim."
"WHAT?!?" I yelled and surly enough it said Annette Sommeur on it "Holy mother of love, it is." I finished shocked
"Well find out who sent it to her, Gizelle found out the order number for you." He tells me
"Okay." I said grabbing the champagne and entering the code into our database "this is really expensive champane, whoever bought it must be rich."
He looked over his shoulder "What year is it." The goth teen asks
I typed at my computer "1945, I think."
"You must be royalty, to afford something like that. Are you sure it's 1945?" He asks
"Positive, my database says 1945." I tell him "I will cross check every wine store to see who bought it." I started typing again and 20 minutes later got a match at a store not to far from where the bottle was found "Boom, figured it out." I tilted my screen so he could see the results
"Well I'm texting Harlow and the others, good work, I guess." Elliot congratulates as he gets on his phone
5 minutes later we hear a beep from one of our phones
He pulls out his phone again "They said they'll be here soon, they have to fix some evidence and they'll be right over."
About 20 minutes later, all three investigators entered our lab
"Lay it on us." Blaze says
"Well, Gizelle, the champagne bottle you sent us is full of pretty special stuff, if your into luxury, Yawn" Elliot starts "It's from Domaine Tafrèze, 1945 and was dubbed an exceptional year, or "millésime", for the Vinyard..."
"That's some old champagne, any idea who gave it to the victim, little man?" Carmen asks
"Little man, seriously?" He asks
I interrupted before something could start "Well, since the champagne is so exceptional, it isn't just sold to anyone. The serial number showed that the bottle was purchased by Princess Sofia of Girona." I said pulling up a photo of the princess
Elliot took over the analysis again "She's been in Paris since fashion week, which is only too predictable, and she's staying at the Royal Manchot Hotel, equally predictable..." I rolled my eyes at the unnecessary comments
"I guess it's time to talk to her most predictable highness, Princess Sofia of Girona!" Carmen tells her partners
"She can tell us why she offered such a fancy gift to the victim." Gizelle finishes
"Short 1, Short 2. We bid you ado." Blaze says as he, Carmen and Gizelle walk out
"You were right, he's annoying." Elliot says
"Thank you, irony." I say
We turn back to our computers, and let the silence fill the room completly. The only sound heard is the clicking of the keyboards.
Blaze's POV
"So this sorbet...tieme." I said completely mistranslating the victim's name
"Sommeur." Carmen said trying to correct me
"What?" I said not realizing at that exact moment that Carmen corrected me
"It's Annette Sommeur, and I'd like you to remember that when you arrest her killer, please and thank you." Carmen said looking like she was about to go off on me at any second.
"Sorry, didn't mean to it won't happen..." I said as Carmen came over and close lined me to the ground so hard it ended up shaking
Then, next thing I knew, we we're next to the baseboard "WHAT THE HELL, CARMEN!!!" Gizelle yelled having just witnessed what just happened
"YOU DISRESPECT ONE OF MY AGENTS AGAIN AND I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!" Carmen yelled at me defending the two teens, who were not present
"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!" I yelled charging at Carmen ready to beat the shit out of her and still not sure why the hell she just closed lined me "I DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING TO YOU!" I yelled as I started getting up in Carmen's face
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, MR. BILLY BADASS!" She yelled pushing me into the table, I had finally snapped and charged at Carmen at full force bringing her down to the ground, almost smashing her camera, as me and her got into heated brawl until Chief Ripley came in after hearing the commotion
"HEY, BOTH OF YOU THAT'S ENOUGH, BREAK IT UP!!!" she yelled grabbing me and putting me to the wall as Jack came and put Carmen to the other wall in the hallway "LET GO OF ME, I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU CARMEN" I yelled ready to choke to the life out Carmen
"That's enough Commissioner, you not killing anybody." Ripley said to me trying to calm me down
"She fucking close lined me for no reason whatsoever." I said still fuming with rage and trying to calm myself down before i did sometging I'd regreted.
"I know I saw everything" Jack said having actually seen everything like Gizelle did "As for you Carmen, what you did was uncalled for, I don't give a crap what it was about, you don't lay hands on your commissioner" Chief Ripley said identifying my position in the department
"Commissioner or not, he disrespected my tech agents" Carmen said as I finally started to put the pieces together
"Tech agents?!" I said finally figuring out what she was talking about "Wait a second, is this about something that I said to Marie or Elliot?" I asked trying to finally figure out what started this whole incident, "Yeah, something about short things" she said mentioning What I called Marie and Elliot as we left the tech lab.
"Now wait a second, Don't you guys have nicknames here." I asked reminding everyone of the nickname thing
"We do Commissioner" Ripley said confirming my statement "They are used but mostly by the people in question." She says nodding her head toward the black door labeled Tech Lab. "Now clean up this mess and fix the evidence." Chief Ripley said as she prepared to leave the room
"Yes Chief." Me and Carmen both said looking like a duo of fools, and like a tornado just hit us both.
Marie's POV
Elliot and I heard the the commotion outside our door and chose not to get involved, because of parole reasons.
About an hour and a half later, someone knocks on our door.
"Our chairs are turned, enter." I said to the mystery person
Gizelle enters with a photo in hand "I know how much the light bothers you guys, so I thought maybe I should knock instead of barging in like Carmen and Blaze."
"Wow." Elliot deadpanned
"Well thanks, that's very nice. Did you need something?" I asked
"Oh yeah, here we need you guys to analyze the weird symbol in the corner, we think this is the photo from the camera we found earlier, and it shows Annette Sommeur's murder, but we don't know the object exactly..." She rants
"Stop talking, and breath." The detective does as the young tech expert requests
"We'll look into it Gizelle." Elliot says taking the photo
"OK, great I'll leave you guys to it." She says creaking the door so that she can make her exit
"It's people that talk too much that make me nervous, and I talk too much." I tell him
"So, you make yourself nervous?" Elliot asks
"Kind of, I guess."
About 30 minutes later we finally get a match
I texted Carmen "Hey that weird symbol has been analyzed, come around when your free."
She texts back about 3 minutes later "Great we will stop by once Lars stops making jokes and gives us his analysis."
I smiled at that "They'll be over shortly, they're a bit preoccupied by Lars at the moment."
"Of course" He rolls his eyes
About 6 minutes later they entered our dark quarters
"Except for the shape you wanted us to examine, this photo would make a great 80s Metal album cover." Elliot says immediately, turning his chair to face the three detectives, and the thought of a murder being used as a album cover made me wanna gag, but Elliot continued with the analysis "But the photo also gave information about the killer..." He finishes
"The photo was pressed against the object at a crucial pressing point, an object shaped like a 'Fleur de Lys'..." I tell them
"The image has been used as an emblem of the French monarchy since 750 , or so Dupont keeps telling us..." Elliot groans
"He came in every 10 minutes to tell us an interesting fact about the Fleur de Lys" I tell the detectives
"I ran the object against our database and found a match to a luxury Fleur de Lys brooch from Monpoussin" Elliot finishes
"Wait so your saying the killer wears a Fleur de Lys brooch." The two teenagers nod and Carmen takes out her notepad, as Elliot and I turn our chairs around "I'll file that in."
"We're so close to catching Annette Sommeur's killer, I can taste it." Blaze yells triumphantly
"Yeah, well taste it someplace else, someplace without acoustics." I said covering my ears
We watched all three of them leave to go arrest their killer
"I need some acetaminophen" I said
"Middle drawer." He says not looking up from his work
As I grab the bottle of medicine, I realize my pink and black water bottle isn't with me, so I leave and pass by a interrogation room, only to hear voices, so I go behind the spy mirror to check it out
"Constantin Perrier, we are arresting you for the murder of Annette Sommeur." Gizelle told the French man
But said man had a mouth on him "That's absurd. I told you I wasn't there! I only heard about Ms. Sommeur's demise at lunch." He said
"A lunch where you ate camembert! How much of that stinky cheese do you eat, Mr. Perrier? And do you ever wash your hands?" Carmen demanded, "you left some of it on the blade of the murder weapon!"
"That is nonsense. I wouldn't go near a guillotine! S'il vous plaît, do I look that foolish to you?" he cried, outraged.
"Foolish? I don't know. But you sure are sloppy. You also left behind a photo of the victim in the guillotine!" Blaze held up the picture they had us analyze for emphasis.
Constantin gulps, "the... the photographer probably took that photo! She hated Ms. Sommeur's guts, you know!"
"Don't try to pin this on an innocent person! The photographer doesn't wear a luxury "fleur de lys" brooch, Mr. Perrier. But you do!" Blaze points at the shiny gold broach pined on the man's lapel.
"Oui! Oui! Fine, I DID kill Annette Sommeur, but I only did it for the money!" he confessed, "it was my turn to live like a king! Do you know what it's like to be surrounded by such wealth day after day and be looking at a pittance for retirement? So when they offered me money to kill Annette Sommeur and steal the manuscript from her I didn't hesitate!"
"They" offered you money?" Carman echos in surprise, "who are they?!"
"If I told you, they'd kill me!" Constantin whispered.
"And these people have the manuscript?!" Gizelle demanded.
"I don't know! I never gave it to anyone! After the murder, I... I panicked! I don't remember where I left it!" he insisted.
"You better remember soon! In the meantime, you're under arrest for the murder of Annette Sommeur!" she says, cuffing the man's hands behind his back.
I smile and leave the room to go find my water bottle, as I do so I pass by the detectives and the now arrested killer
Gizelle and Carmen keep walking with the man, but Blaze stops "What are you doing out of the lab, I thought you guys had more work to do after this photo?" He asks holding up the evidence
"Well I was dehydrated and saw my water bottle was nowhere in sight, so I'm heading to the briefing room to see if I left it there." I tell him sliding the pill bottle into the pocket of my jacket
"Yeah I might have saw it when we were doing the investigation update." He says
"What color was it." I deadpanned
"Ummm... Blue?" He says
"The last time we had any real conversation, what was my favorite color."
"Well you were obsessed with the color red, your school uniform had to always be red, your boots were red, and you wouldn't eat unless your food was on a red plate." He says
"Okay, well you learn something new everyday." I look at his hair "Nice hair."
"Yeah well you've inspired me." He says
"What?" I question
"If you remember, you used to dye your hair every month, I had a bit of inspiration, and I see you haven't stopped." He says eyeing the pink strands
I reach up and touch them "Yeah, I haven't." I say nervously
"They're not real, are they?" He says hearing the uncertainty in my voice, He reaches and touches my hair and I jerk back only for one of my strands to land in his hand "You still do extentions? Wow! I thought you stopped when you were 14." He says holding up my extention
I grab it from his hand "Yeah well, I wanted to dye it, but they said with how damaged my hair is, my hair would fall out if I bleached it again, but I wanted pink hair." I huffed and looked him in the eyes "Do not tell anyone that my hair is fake, I can't live with that right now."
"Fine." He smugs
I huffed again remembering why I left the comfort of the tech lab "My water bottle is pink and black, have you seen it." I ask the man
"Yeah now I remember, it was in that chair you sat in when I first met the team." He tells me
"Yeah, you might wanna hurry Judge Adaku is not a patient man, the dude wants to go back into retirement."
"So I've heard." I start to walk off towards the briefing room "Also you shouldn't be taking those, they're for adults and can cause serious heart complications in kids under 18, and last I checked your only 16." He says looking smug
I look at my pocket, then back at him a more mad then before "How did you know I had them." I ask
"Well I saw you put them in your pocket, also, I kinda guess your little partner had something like that, he's not exactly one to follow rules, read that in his portfolio." He says holding up a briefcase
"I thought that was filled with evidence against douchebag over there." I say
"It is, among other things, but just remember, if you think you can hide things from me, I'm two steps ahead of you." He says winking and clicking his tongue
"I'm gonna smack you, don't do that." I tell him, crossing my arms
He pulls out a manilla folder "Wouldn't be good for your parole, you know slapping a police officer. I dont think your parole officer would like that." He says
"He's in the states. Besides you didn't get your Bureau badge until 4 hours ago, I've had mine for 2 and a half months." I tell him
"I worked for the Oklahoma police department before landing this job, and I worked there for a year." He says
"It was so quite around the house, which I was happy for." I say
"And leaving you there with Mom was a bad idea, cause look where you are now, 16 years old working for a police job, as a tech assistant, because you thought hacking our Local Government was a good idea and you forgot to cover your tracks, rookie mistake." He laughs
"Hey at least the Bureau recognized my talents and invited me to join rather than going to jail, and I feel more at home here then I ever did in the states, these people, Elliot, Marina, Lars, Angela, everyone here treats me like I'm a human being with feelings, if you remember I was miserable back in Texas. I deserve my spot on this team, learn yours before you land yourself a black eye instead. If you excuse me I'm gonna go grab my stuff and get back to work before I blow up." I say walking towards the briefing room feeling my headache turn into a migraine.
Blaze POV
"Okay then, see you later Queen Bitch," I reply with the best come back I can think of at the present moment.
"Go fuck a donkey, you major asshole." She says coming out of the briefing room with her stuff
"Okay the sorry to cut this little..." Jack says before Marie interrupts
"Better yet go fuck pretty boy for all I care." She says walking towards the only black door in the hallway
"I will do no such thing, because I'm not gay unlike you!" I said smugly
She flips me off and replies "Could've fooled me." And that was the last thing said before she entered the hell hole of the tech lab.
"Well that was interesting, some bond you guys" Jack Archer says to Me
"Man Fuck You, Archer" I say walking to the Jeep
"What took you so long, Brodeur" Carmen says sternly
"Take it easy, Carmen had a little 'family-bonding' moment with my bitch-ass little sister and before you close line me just remember these hands are Rated E for Everyone, and no I didn't hit her at all I didn't even touch her it was just a roasting session" I said feeling a pissed after noticeing my sister flipping me off.
"Alrighty then, Commissioner I didn't need to hear that but that's fine with me, now we really need to the courthouse before Judge Adaku flips his non-existent hair."
Wait a minute, he's BALD! I say before Gizelle interveins
"Half bald!" Gizelle said with head half-turned
"Oh uh, Okay" I say breathing a sigh of relief.
Marie Pov
I sit back in my chair and take the medication I had taken from Elliot
"What took so long?" He asks
"Shut it." I say muffled by the pills
Once I finish I pull put my phone "Hey Suzie, It's Marie, the work I had on my hair was kind of undone." I say
A few sounds were heard from the phone "No, my ass of a brother pulled it out." More mumbles were heard "He joined the team earlier today." Even more mumbles filled the room "Will do, See you when my team comes back to the states, stay safe." I say hanging up
"Extensions?" The British boy asks
"Say one more word and your face will match that glove." I threatened pointing to his gloved hand
"Fiesty." He teases
"Whatever." I say rolling my eyes and gluing the extention bead back to my head with hair glue
A knock was heard on the door
"Shit." I say running to a dark corner so that the owner of the knock didn't see me
"Enter." Elliot says to the door
Ingrid enters looking deadpanned "Team meeting in 5." She looks around "Where's Marie?"
"Taking care of 'business' she's in here though, so she heard" The 17 year old told her
"Okay." She says slowly, while exiting the room
A couple minutes later the glue dried and we head to the briefing room to see Blaze, Gizelle and Carmen talking with the chief as we sit in our seats
"I still can't believe Sofia of Girona wants to get into right wing politics to 'Save Europe', guys! Can royalty even run for office?" Carmen asks
"Don't ask me, I just got done with these types of situations back in Pacific Bay." Gizelle says
"Yes, but this is of no immediate concern to us." The Chief says "Team Congratulations on finding the Promethians' Manuscript! It looks like this 'Ancient Cult' is still going strong today, if the recent murders are any indication." She continues
"Yeah and according to Jacqueline Proust, somethings about to happen in Germany next..." Gizelle says making Elliot and I look up from our laptops
"This makes sense, Oktoberfest starts tomorrow! Our informants have told us that festivities in the town of Bierburg could be a target." The Chief replies "Think about it, Oktoberfest is an Institution and large crowds gather every year to celebrate..." She continues her thought "It would be a prime target for the Promethians, a way for them to show the world that they can strike anywhere at anytime." She finished
"Pack your lederhosens and beer packs, team, and get ready to stop a catastrophe in the making!" The Chief yells before dismissing us to our room
'This is just the beginning' I think to myself before closing my door to pack