Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Van Leugen: The Nillies

"I did." Von Goethe told Cole, eyes never leaving the phone in his hand. A message had come across and took much of his attention.

Since he got the job as Chief of Police he'd been very busy. This meeting with Cole was one of the few tines he could be out of his office or not putting out a fire.

"I hear you're a good man, Cole. A CSI, honest, wanting to move up in the department." The Chief said, looking up at the younger officer.

"I could use a man like you."
 
"I suppose with the way thing are, an honest cop is either going to move up fast, or end up dead." Cole replied, shifting in his seat.

"So; you can use a man like me, alright. I'll bite. What can I do for you, chief?" The young CSI asked.
 
"It's probably no secret at this point that the feds are breathing down our necks, they want us to rid the department of corruption and actually bring criminals to justice. We have too many obstructionist types, lazy officers, and straight up criminals wearing badges." Von Goethe told the younger man, "I need you to keep me informed about who is who and what they do."

"I mean to do a bit of culling, both private and public, to send a message and hopefully attract more like you to my little faction."
 
"So you want me to snitch on my fellow officers." Cole said, nodding as he sipped his drink. "That's a good way to wind up dead." He added.

"Then again, I'm just a simple CSI, who would suspect me?" Cole asked.

"What about my investigation?" He followed up, to his previous question.
 
"I just need to know who the problem children are, I'll handle the rest. Make it hard for them to retaliate even if they knew it was you." The Chief assured Cole, "And yeah, I heard about your investigation. Superiors aren't biting, I see. You think there's something to this serial killer angle and not just gang crime?" He asked, "Not that a serial killer wouldn't be typical for a place like this."

"I mean, we had Grayson in this fucking city."
 
Cole slowly produced a series of crime scene photos that he rounded up from various investigations, all of them showed the dead bodies strung up, nailed to a wall, some of them had the body slumped over, kneeling with charred head wounds. "These are targeted killings." Cole said, sliding the photos over.

"It's not some random serial killer, these are professional hits, and not professional in the criminal sense, all of these are almost executions, leaving little evidence, no connection other than wrong place wrong time. Witnesses say there's a female, but everyone's too afraid to talk, but one consistent story from every witness I can account is a green flash the night of the murder." Cole said.

"I don't think anyone wants to touch it, the murders have people spooked, cops and criminal alike, not even my CIs know anything."
 
"Green flash?" Von Goethe asked, "Magic? Energy weapons? Both are uncommon here, but with refugees pouring in from Westeria, and criminals too, that's been changing." He said to Cole, "If they're not a contract killer, what are they doing posing these bodies?" He asked Cole, examining the photos closely.

"You ever considered the clear serial killer theme to be a misdirection? We search for a murderer instead of a thief or terrorist."
 
"Here's something else." Cole said. "Everything we've found has been intentionally left, our killer has an intimate familiarity with law enforcement practices." He explained, pulling up photos of footprints.

"Our killer strikes in places that would work well for stakeouts, and this is where things get strange." Cole said, pulling out a map with several red dots surrounding downtown Van Leugen, with concentrations around the Nillies.

"There's a fairly obvious pattern here, our killer is picking strategic places around the city, places near landmarks, major intersections, this is where the most of these kind of murders are being called in." Cole finished.

"Chief, we need to get someone in on this, I can't shake the feeling this is something big."
 
"You have anyone in mind, in house or out?" Von Goethe asked, "Private eyes, feds or fellow detectives that you know share your outlook?" He asked Cole, but the wheels in his own head were turning a bit. "You know Shiva Lowery, right? She works Vice, but she used to be homicide. Good cop, rough around the edges, but someone you'd really want watching your back."

"Shiva tends to be around here in the Nillies at night, busting dealers, lecturing the working girls."
 
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"But I'm just a CSI." Cole retorted. "I'm hoping to make investigation, but there's only so much I can do." He said, looking over the photos. "I want someone who isn't just going to blow this off." Cole said, finishing the last of his drink. "If Shiva's the one, then I'll take her."

With that, the young CSI closed the file, and leaned over. "I don't know about you, but if you ask me, if the feds get involved it'll only make things worse, if we're dealing with a professional, I don't think it's anything that our agency can't handle, I just need the resources and the political leeway to actually investigate this angle."
 
"This is more in their wheelhouse, but it would be a good look for us if we cleaned it up ourselves. Talk to Shiva, I want you on this as much as you can be with your own workload." The Chief said to Cole, "You're a CSI in Van Leugen, I don't imagine you have much time to play detective with as many crime scenes we get in a single day."

"Or a single fucking hour sometimes. I do not envy you."
 
"Look Chief, I've always wanted to make detective, maybe I'm just trying to prove something." Cole said. "What do you think, I bust this shit wide open, there might be a seat for me in Homicide?" He asked. "I'll try to get a hold of Shiva, she's honest, yes?"
 
"Honest as they come, her older brother is a federal prosecutor. She can get away with beating down some crooks, but corruption is a can of worms she can't afford to open." Von Goethe told Cole, "I'll get you in homicide, wherever you want to go, if you turn up something we can use, Cole." He assured the young CSI.
 
"Good, I'm going to need someone who can rough up some crooks, because that's probably the only way we're going to get anything out of them." Cole said, signalling for another drink.

"Oh, I almost forgot; found this too at my last crime scene, the one that the other detectives managed to run me off of." Cole said, pulling out a small vial of charred flesh. "I sent it to the lab, for a full analysis. I know what our killer used." Cole said, sliding the small vial over to the chief, along with the report.

"The lab found something odd, the flesh wasn't just charred, it was irradiated, with a very specific kind of radiation. Nadion particles." Cole added.
 
"Nadion particles?" Von Gothenburg asked, "You're going to have to explain that. I bust up gangsters, I don't really have time to get all scientific."

"Or any interest."
 
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"Uhm, they're a certain kind of radiation commonly produced by energy weapons discharge as a byproduct." Cole said, getting somewhat technical. "There's only one kind of weapon that I know of that discharges nadion particles when it's fired." Cole said.

"Disruptors."
 
"We don't get many weapons like that here. Leftovers from the Aschen?" The Chief asked, "Probably being sold on the black market if they aren't being used by Aschen themselves. You know some of them didn't make it off-world."
 
"Leftovers from the Aschen? Probably. Though I don't see to many gangsters using Aschen weapons, those little power cells that they run off of are kind of hard to get." Cole explained, flagging the bartender for another cold drink. "Some of my CIs from when I was a uni told me that Aschen weapons are few and far between on the black market, they fetch a high price."

With the drink poured and served, Cole downed yet another cold whiskey.

"Call me a cynic, but I think we're dealing with an Aschen, someone who knows their shit, so it's probably not some two bit mook trying to cause a ruckus."
 
The Hessian stood close to Jacob as the bruised young man used a payphone outside of a nightclub.

He and Hesh barely got away from... whatever, or whoever, that thing was outside of Windcrest.

"Speak." A voice said on the other end of the line, "It's me, Jake. We got ambushed and I'm not healing. Something's wrong." He told the man on the phone.

"Nothing's wrong, Jacob. You've failed your father for the last time."

The Hessian slipped his own phone from his pocket as it buzzed, watching the messages appear on it's screen.

"Hannibal, it wasn't my fault. We didn't see it coming. I'll get it sorted, sharpish." Jacob pleaded.

Then came the sound of a click on the other line. Hannibal had hung up. The Jupiter Corporation were done with Jacob, he was left all alone.

"Hannibal! You French fuck!" Jacob screamed, eliciting a few lingering gases from passerbys.

He began dialing another number, "Hesh, I'm going to call my boys, get them and some money here and do my own thing. I'll pay you more than whatever my father is paying." He told the silent mercenary.

"I appreciate the offer." Hesh told Jacob, walking slowly towards him. The young Brit turned towards the mercenary, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Talkative now?" Jacob asked, his answer came in the form of a blade being run across his neck courtesy of Hesh.

Jacob dropped the phone to instead grab his throat. His crimson blood flowed between the cracks in his fingers.

"Your father no longer needs you." Hesh informed Jacob as he dropped to his knees, eventually falling back against the nightclub's wall.

Jacob had never felt more betrayed, there was anguish in his face as he struggled to breath.

He watched as the Hessian turned and walked away, trying in vain to call out for help.

The people of Van Leugen avoided Jacob, making someone else's problem your own in a city like that was often deadly.

They might call the authorities, but Jacob would be long deceased by the time they arrived without proper medical treatment.

Hesh knew that, Jacob knew that. This is where it all ended. Jacob figured he'd wear the crown one day.

He instead became another of his father's victims.
 
Halloween night, Van Leugen. A crescent moon hung over the metropolis, over-stitched with thin strands of black cloud. It was a holiday of opposites. In the Nashtons there was a picturesque Halloween, mobs of children dressed as their favorite heroes and villains skipping from door to door in conquest of sweets. In the Nummens, there was near anarchy. Drunks and vandals came out wearing masks, robbing liquor stores and setting fire to anything that would catch a flame. By morning, they will have destroyed 60 cars and more than 13 buildings, all victims of arson. Nine people will be dead.

A slow Halloween for the Nummens, all things considered.

The Nillies was something in between the two. At first glance, there was an illusion of civilization. Casinos and fancy cantina-bars attracted costumers with their evening specials: "WEAR A COSTUME FOR HALF OFF DRINKS", and the like. Police patrolled the streets, patiently waiting for middle-to-upper class bar patrons to stumble into the cars. Fights were quickly broken up. There wasn't a gunfight or arson in sight.

Of course, it was all the same underneath. Mobsters and criminals spoke in hushed tones over drinks, planning drug routes and heists for the coming month. A wealthy businessman slipped a dissolving pill into the martini glass of his date when she wasn't looking. Two politicians and a foreigner laughed and shook hands after closing a deal which would double the child trafficking rates in the city. All the same. This was Van Leugen - everything was built on lies, especially appearances.

From a distant skyscraper, tattered cloak fluttering in the October chill, something was watching.
 
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