Shadows Aftermath

Chapter 2

Had she really seen what she’d seen? All throughout the last part of her shift was the image of the detective illuminated against the gray light of the mid-morning sun. As if he were a silvery star contained in a human form that just had no idea what trapped it and the light just lightly coalesced in a faint aura. What the Hell was that?

“Doxie! Snap out of it. We have to get the last of the updates to the major crime labs so the Feds can compile findings.” Agent Reese was always making loud noises. She was that alpha-female with a blazer that had to shoot her coffee through a syringe instead of drink it.

“OK! I’ve got the all the documents of most recent findings already catalogued and the data transfer is in progress. And…” Where was that last file? “Ah! I have it here, the remainder of the classified data that was requested by Agent Dartanian. It’s encrypted per request and sent.” Doxie smiled at the sharply dressed terse looking agent only a hint of snark. Boom bitch, I can space out and type at the same time.

“Good, let’s wrap this up.” Reese turned away and barked some orders at other forensics team members pulling up their equipment from the mobile lab.

It was close to 18:00 hours now and the sky had gone dark. The stink from the blown out sewage system had either grown on her or her nose actively decided to die never to smell again. After cracking through the several hundred gigs of processed evidentiary data there wasn’t much else on Doxie’s mind save getting a good milk shake and some time on the couch. The crowds who stormed the barricades were still thirsty for details so most of the crime scene personnel took routes from the scene that were less obvious during shift change. In the far distance, just as Doxie hauled her bag up over her shoulder, NYTE City started to glow. It would be beautiful if she didn’t know the truth that everyone confronted every day. That aurora borealis of technicolor greens, blues, and white against the growing orange smog of the sky was the horizon of Hell. The allure was only in the distance to the city. If you lived here, it was the sign that things were going to change into the something else.

The mobile lab was easily broken down. Most of the equipment used for spectral analysis and microphotography were setup to allow easy carry. The tables were folded and packed at speed. Doxie just loaded her computer into the bag she had and waved at the other team members as she left. She didn’t make a lot of friends in this job and most were too preoccupied with boosting their reputations, so she didn’t bother trying to learn names or remember faces.

Doxie cut across the street through the hole of the building that had been adjacent to her lab. The alley was quiet for the most part. No signs of intrusion from the mass media swarming at the edges of the perimeter. There were some AVs waiting three hundred meters from the crime scene in a wide alleyway that was set as a staging post. Approaching the secondary check point just before turning into the alley the craters were visible. Didn’t take a genius to recognize the high-powered weapon work at play here. Her best guess, something dropped enough ballistic persuasion that it could have slagged a fully armored caravan by itself. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was where the agency wanted to keep things close to the vest. Some of the surrounding data in the forensic report had been classified against someone of her clearance level. Which didn’t seem to be entirely unusual, as Federal agencies are renowned for intrigue internally, but this time it felt wrong.

A spike of something energetic rippled against her skin. It was in the air as she passed it. Something had torn the veil. There were little scars in the atmosphere. Barely even visible to someone like herself yet she could sense it. The area wasn’t particularly that exciting, mystically speaking. Outside of it being the fringe where you could have some tweaked out cyberpsycho rip your spine out for being present at the wrong time. That being the said it meant that there was someone who was awake who’d been here at the time everything was going down. Likely, they’d shifted through space and time. Maybe to escape when the fighting turned really ugly.

Not slowing down Doxie just kept a steady pace. The designated AV sat with the side door open with only three occupants inside up against the alley wall. They all looked tired. One sat with his head tilted back eyes closed. Not asleep, just exhausted, and ready to get gone. The one next to him was staring at the SMART brace on his arm scrolling through something: screamsheets maybe. The light it was giving off bounced his drawn expression in a faint shifting bluish glow. She took a seat next to the third in the center and let her bag slip to the floor before buckling up. There was a burst of air as the engine kicked over. The door slid shut on its own as the magnetic thrusters pushed the whole vehicle upward in an easy going ascent. Nobody said a damn word the whole way back to headquarters.

Getting home wasn’t terribly difficult. Public transit was dangerous, but she never went through that labyrinth of crazy without keeping her focus. Doxie wasn’t some expert martial artist. However, she wasn’t someone to fuck with either. Her apartment building looked like it flickered in the night. There weren’t any holo ads circling the peak of the building like there were around most others. The after glow and flash of the bright lights and active played off the concrete and glass like there was a thunderstorm nearby.

Inside the man lobby, scanning her SMART brace at the door to unlock it, dim lights were kept on. The tiles on the floor were polished, clean, and had a modern look with patterns of snaking diamonds from the entryway to the elevators. The doorman materialized to Doxie’s left with a smile and nod. The hologram was state of the art.

“Good evening Miss Rhodes. You’ve been out for 13 hours. I trust that you’re taking care of yourself.” His voice had the subtle ring of something electric like it was buzzing.

“Thanks Jeebs, always good to know that someone is concerned for me.” Doxie smiled headed for the elevators across the lobby.

“That’s Samual, Miss Rhodes.” Samuel walked along side Doxie hands behind his back with a look of attempted casual stroll that was a little off but not awkward looking.

“I know that. I was giving you a nickname. You need a nickname. Samuel is boring.”

“Is that true? I don’t think I mind my original designation or a nickname Miss Rhodes. I’ll just have to apply it as an alias for future reference.” The holographic butler motioned in a way that made it look like it pushed the Up button. A gesture that gave the illusion of being able to physically interact with the real world.

“That’s new, when did you start doing that?” Doxie was a bit amused.

“I do tend to take advice from time to time. I appreciate any input that will help improve the user experience here at Murdock Apartments. It’s an important job I have.”

Nodding with a frown of approval, “You’re not wrong. I used to push buttons on the elevator some time ago. Guess you’re just better at it than I am.”

“Well I wouldn’t ever dare presume—” The doors opened for the elevator and Samuel flickered in place a moment, “That was a joke wasn’t it? You’re playing with me.”

“Yes! You got it didn’t you?” Doxie chuckled as Samuel attempted to comprehend the new experience.

“You know very well that my primary functions are not limited to just pushing buttons. Thus you make a friendly jab at my capability making it appear as though I am most useless. Rich sarcasm Miss Rhodes!” Then he laughed. Sounded like a toaster shorting out with a whining screech at the end.

“Ah!” Rubbing her ears, “Work on the laugh, Jeebs. It’s not quite right.”

“Of course! I’ll send you to your floor. Have a wonderful night Miss Rhodes.”

“Thanks Samuel.” Doxie stepped into the elevator letting the doors close as she leaned on the back wall feeling like the pull of gravity with the climb to the tenth floor.

Ding! The doors pulled open to reveal a low-lit hall with tight woven carpets. There were arguile patterns on the walls matching the sconces where the door lights hung. The sound of her footfalls was deafened swallowed by the still air of the apartment complex. It was comforting to not hear the pattering sound of gunfire that resonated like static in the background of NIYTE City from in here.

Down the hall, past a couple turns, was home sweet home. Apartment 1013. Lifting the SMART brace up to code reader the door to the apartment popped as it unlocked. Doxie pushed the door in and closed it behind her feeling enveloped by the pitch darkness of the room. It almost felt like she might be able to evaporate into the darkness for a moment which sounded peaceful given today’s events.

“Lights, fifty percent,” The room became illuminated with the recessed lighting overhead. The windows looking out to the city were still pitch black. The electrochome making it impossible to see out. “Let’s drop glass opacity to zero please.” The apartment responded. NYTE City faded in from black showing the building next door with a column of arial traffic that passed in a constant stream. Further out beyond that flashing holo-ads looked something like fireworks firing off with silhouettes of skyscrapers looming upward into an orange smog blanketed sky.

This place wasn’t much compared to a lot of people who were on better pay levels, but it was extremely nice compared to most other people. The entry way led to the living room where Doxie stepped down on step then flopped over the arm rest of her overstuffed couch. Her bag smacked into her stomach making her grunt. She forgot she still had the that slung over her shoulder. Doxie let out a comforted sigh letting her eyes close a moment.

“Hey, we have work to do, gorgeous”

If it were possible to blast a mud flap through the ass of her jeans in raw terror, then she likely just did. “AAAAAH! Shit! Bravos! You have got to stop doing that!”

“This is like… the third time I’ve done it. When are you gonna realize I won’t quit until you’re paying more attention?” Bravos smiled with his perfect teath. He had the look of being on the cover of a romance novel. Dark skin, black shoulder length hair the almost shined, wearing a tight short sleeved shirt with black pants that suggested he packed some heat. The Hello Kitty icon with the bloody butcher knife on the t-shirt was a bit of a weird touch. Bravos moved to coffee table and sat down on it.

Doxie tried to get her hear to stop pounding. “Holy hairy Christ. I get you don’t have to do the whole knock on doors and shit, but do me a favor and stop being you’re asshole self for a moment.”

“Not until you start paying more attention. I just said that.” Bravos smirked at her.

“Can we do this another night? I am not really ready to jump into the wonderland of magic mushroom shenanigans. I am tired, OK?” Doxie rolled over to the back of the couch smooshing her face into the cushions.

“No can do my young Padawan. The night is just begun and you need to the help. Get coffee or something. You’ll survive. We have to start getting the basics covered.”

Face still smooshed, “Mh dff wamf ddooff!”

“What are you? Eleven?” Bravos asked indignantly.

“Rrr! Yes! I am eleven! And I want to sleep damnit. Why did you have to show up tonight?”

“For the same reason I always do. Look it’s time that you start to understand what you’re seeing and sensing, or it will be a rough ride for you. You can’t have your awakened mind grabbing at all details of everything around without expecting to go insane from over stimulation.”

Doxie growl sighed as she tensed her arms then letting her muscles go limp. “Fiine. But I am going to do coffee first before you start to make things more complicated.”

“Excellent! Let’s just talk about what you saw today. Anything weird?” Bravos always seemed genuinely interested in her day. In her, even. Beyond the fact that he looked like the Spanish love god mande manifest, he actually did have a genuine kindness about him. Doxie wondered if there was chance that all spirits could just materialize like Bravos could. If they had that talent, what stopped them from just freaking everyone out all the time.

“Yeah, actually. There was something weird. This guy… Wei? Was his name. Had this glow about him. Silver light was just coming off of him. An aura? I guess.” Doxie pulled up into a sitting position unlsinging the bag from her shoulder.

“That is interesting. You’ve not seen that before me or as a kid or anything have you?”

Nothing about seemed familiar, “No, nothing like that. I ended up staring for a minute which creeped him out, but he didn’t say anything. I guess there was a sense that he was… a good guy? I don’t know, that’s retarded. Nobody really can call themselves a good guy.”

“Naturally. You were made aware of someone else who is like you. Magic is multifaceted and has a tendency to accumulate sediment when it flows through sentient beings. You likely were just picking up on his personal principles shaping the magic he uses.”

“I don’t think he’s aware of it, honestly.” Drawing the business card from her pocket she marked the name in her head as it showed on the card. Arnold Wei-Donnovan. Some research would be needed to find out more about him.

Bravos watched her mull over her own thoughts for a moment. “What makes you think he’s not aware?”

“He didn’t react to me like I reacted to him. When I was just staring, he was put off by it. Something about his demeanor just screamed ‘clueless’ to me. But the weird part is I know he was able to tell when I lied to him.”

All these thoughts started to swim a little. That coffee was sounding really good now. Bravos nodded with a thoughtful expression. “OK, then we should be careful around this guy. He’ll likely attract a lot of trouble. Is he someone you’ll be working with?”

“No idea, he’s part of the local district police. I think he felt that he could get something out of me which is why he gave me the card.” She waved the card nonchalantly before setting it on the coffee table to next to Bravos. Doxie went to the kitchen to make make a cup of go juice for the night. There was a bar and window that looked into the living room making it easy to see guests if she ever had those.

“I guess you’ll worry about that when the time comes.” Bravos walked around the couch up to the bar. He sat and perched his arms on the counter resting his chin on his hands. “Let’s work on some meditation while your coffee is getting ready. Should loosen you up.”

“Why do you do this for me?” Doxie turned to face Bravos with a serious look.

Bravos raised an eyebrown, “I want to, actually. Everyone needs a friend. You don’t have anyone else right now and budding magic can create a lot of trouble if you don’t reel it in. It’s like aiming a spotlight over a lake in the middle of the night. Hungry things in the darkness follow it right to you.”

That was a weird answer. Not really the most acceptable one, but this was not the time to press the matter. “I better not find out you’re a ectoplasmic stalker or something. I’ll find your bones and burn ‘em.”

“You’ve been watching old TV shows again?” Bravos lifted his head off his hands with a wry smirk.

“Yeah, so what. I am eleven remember?”

Rich sunlight danced across her skin. The scent of flowers was carried by the breeze that playfully caressed Doxie’s hair. Peace was all she knew or understrood. The grass under her feet was soft and cool. The dress she war was light and flowed like you’d see in the movies. A forest surrounded her with tall trees reaching impossibly high. The glint of the sap in nonday sun made all the tree’s sparkle.

There was no rush. Doxie took it all in as she walked the grassy path to somewhere. She was connected to everything. Life was teeming in this place. Dancing. Her senses were enriched revealing the beauty in all of it. As though heaven had reached down infused itself into her to show the truth. A smile crossed her face cultivated by the sense of growing subtle joy.

Time was distorted. She’d been walking for a while. Not sure how long it was, but if she only walked for eternity that would be just fine. A twinge of pain disrupted this peaceful state. Like a knife of black glass, colder than ice, just pricking the back of her neck.

What was happening? This place seemed familiar suddenly. A shadow swelled across the ground and trees from a sudden cloud cover. The breeze chilled dramatically making her breath steam. The rumble in the earth reminded her that something had been there all along, dangerous, and waiting.

Another rumble came making the grass shudder a little. Doxie turned to see what could be causing it. The forest was dimming further under the shadow of the darkening sky above. The dread that comes from the deep seeded instincts of animals bubbled up in her brain. A threat, something unseen, was moving her way. Where should she even go? What should she do? Was it possible to hide in this forest among the soft underbrush of ferns, moss, and grass?

“You must waken. Don’t linger here.” The voice was calming but alien. Like a naturally chaotic thing had found some form to speak with and uttered a warning to her in her mind.

Doxie spun looking for the origin of the voice. Behind where she was a man—no not a man—a thing stood that looked like a man. No mouth, just smooth skin where a mouth should be. It was dressed in sharp old-fashioned clothes. A long coat, slacks, high polished shoes, and it wore soft black leather gloves.

Its eyes were like pooled mercury that constantly rippled. Even without pupils it was looking right at her like it could see into her. In a startled panic Doxie shrieked as she stepped back to put distance between herself and this thing that stared expressionlessly at her.

“Holy kibble shits! What’s happ—”

“Waken or die child!” It shouted with a force that knocked her free of the dream and onto something soft. Air poured into her lungs like she’d been holding her breath for several minutes. The lids of her eyes came open and wide. The darkness of her room seemed bright for a moment before her breathing finally settled. In a single motion Doxie shot up to a seated position clutching at her chest.

Bravos was sitting at the side of the bed looking worried. “That was close.”

Doxie stared at Bravos angry, scared, and confused. “What the fuck was that?”