Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 67: … and all the devils are here

“Ah, Mr. Thoma, you’re here.” Schmied turned to face the trio entering the building while very clearly ignoring the irate deputy mayor “I’ll go with you to the conference room in a second.”

Then, he glared at the deputy major “I’m going to head off to try and rescue your nephew, anything you do to delay me or bother any officer will hinder that. Goodbye.”

The group of now four people hurried through the building until they reached a briefing room. It wasn’t the same one seen in the video call, it was larger and contained quite a few more people, most of the in uniform. Presumably, this was the stations primary briefing room, while the previous one had been used to avoid disrupting general operations. After all, the danger had only been theoretical up to the point where the abduction actually happened.

“A quarter of an hour ago, a streamer and influencer by the name of Till Herbig was abducted by a person we believe to be the so called ‘monster killer’. Polizeiobermeister Müller has patrol routes as well as a physical description of the victim and the suspect’s profile, along with what to look out for, which he will hand out ot all patrol officers.” Schmied gestured to a man leaning against the wall next to him.

“Dr. Sarai, Mr. Thoma, please join our crime scene investigation scene at the likely site of the abduction.

“Members of the SEK who have joined us from other cities, thank you for coming, our local SEK chief will give you your assignments.”

And then they basically ended up getting chased all over the place. Isaac had to grab a bulletproof vest he’d like phase out of the instant a fight occurred, given that it barely provided any protection and seriously hemmed him in. Normally, he’d have argued more, but time was of the essence right now. It was more important to get out there quickly than it was to be right.

Another ten minutes after that, Isaac was stepping out of a police car, not the same one that had carried him to Leipzig, and into the public park where the abduction had likely taken place. The so-called influencer had walked into the park, but not come out the other end. At that point, his various groupies/supporters had immediately called the police, then charged into the park to ‘rescue’ him, as if they stood any chance against someone who could take down their boss.

The actual location of the fight was rather clear, given the gigantic slash across a tree next to a trail that had not been there the day before. Given that Herbig’s preferred weapon was a sword big enough to prompt ‘overcompensation’ jokes, there was a good chance that he’d been the one responsible.

However, no blood had been located in the initial survey, so it had most likely missed. The actual crime scene investigators that were here now had the ability to find the trace amounts a casual survey wouldn’t have found, but probably wasn’t anything there to find.

A blow like that, which had chopped through several centimeters of wood, was extremely powerful. If it had hit, it would have a massive wound, with a blood spatter to match.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Sarai.” Isaac greeted the good doctor as the two of them walked towards the area roped off with police tape. The other man had the typical ‘thin but not unhealthy’ look of your typical scientist or bureaucrat, with a bulletproof vest bulging out under his raincoat. There wasn’t even a light drizzle coming down at the moment, but the clouds overhead spoke of a serous downpour in the near future.

“is it normal for a profiler to go into the field, and potentially confront the suspect themselves?” Isaac asked.

“Hardly, I’m meant to avoid the fight itself like the plague. But this particular suspect moves their victim immediately after the abduction. The fact that they were here means they aren’t here, now.” Sarai shook his head.

“And the vest?” Isaac asked. If the police was so damn certain there was no danger, why the hell did they have to wear this damn thing.

“Protocol.” Sarai commented in a tone that made it quite clear he was as unhappy with it as Isaac.

“I see.”

And then they were there, on a path of sand and gravel, slightly scuffed in one location. near it was single large drag mark, as if someone had toppled onto it and then been hauled upwards.

“Are you two Drs Sarai and Thoma?” a man in the stereotypical, ‘doctor in surgery theater’ outfit of a crime scene investigator.

“Yes, but it’s just Mr. Thoma for me.” Isaac replied. That was going to get old fast. He couldn’t just let it go, because that would make it seem like he had a doctorate and when someone he’d let labor under that misconception found that out, he’d look like an ass.

“Ah.” was the only reply for several seconds, then the man caught himself and continued “There’s a truck over there with a mobile lab, as well as access to all the surveillance cameras from around here we got permission to access. If you need anything, just ask. And if you have any suggestions, please tell us. However, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to stay outside the marked area without one of these suits.”

“Alright.” Isaac nodded and took a couple of steps to the side and headed towards the crime scene, past the investigator.

He’d already spotted something, but he couldn’t be too fast. The media might like to exaggerate a serial killer’s tendency to insert themselves into the investigation, but it still happened. And here in Leipzig, he didn’t have the same good reputation he had back home. Sure, they knew he’d been helpful there, but that was only a vague sort of positive inclination.

So he let his eyes roam for maybe another thirty seconds, then raised his voice and asked a question.

“How likely is it that someone’s shoes naturally don’t leave behind any sort of residue? And by that, I mean it looks like someone pressed those footprints into the ground with telekinesis. There isn’t even a spec of rubber there, nothing tracked in from elsewhere, just the vague impression of a hiking shoe pressed into the ground.”

“That … that is very weird. Are you sure it’s a shoeprint?” the man from earlier, who’d been talking to Sarai, walked over.

“Yeah.” Isaac said, gesturing to the closest one, barely visible in to the unenhanced eye, but still clearly present “There’s an entire trail of them across the crime scene, and a bunch around the site of the scuffle.”

“And you can tell there isn’t anything else in there, nothing?”

“I specialize in senses.” Isaac replied “All other shoeprints here have microscopic traces of the shoes that left them, as well as the materials that clung to the soles. Those don’t. So tell me, is there a normal explanation for that?”

“No, you’re right, that is odd. Could it be a [Skill]?”

“In that case, it definitely is a [Skill], one that’s perfectly in line with what we’d expect a [Serial Killer] to have. It would also explain the complete lack of DNA traces at any crime scene. There weren’t any, right? I only had the file in my hands for barely an hour …” Isaac asked carefully.

“… fuck.” the man swore “Please point out any boot prints inside the roped off area, given that we can be more certain those haven’t been disturbed.”

“Alright, nice catch.” Sarai said, nodding approvingly “I’ll be in the van, seeing if can spot anything on the surveillance tapes.”

With that, he bustled off while Isaac craned his neck to look over the police tape and examine ground around the crime scene.

There really wasn’t much there. Not a single drop of blood was visible, clearly, neither of the people involved in the scuffle had been injured. There were traces of material that had clearly come from heavy combat boots visible, most likely belonging Herbig.

Another couple of minutes after that, Isaac felt comfortable heading over into the van. Maybe they’d even have caught the killer coming or going?

But having seen the crime scene, Isaac was more certain than ever before that the perpetrator was Arianne Krebs, someone who’d been notorious in the other timeline due to her hunting down reckless summoners, or even those who merely appeared reckless.

Those footprints had come from a comparatively light person, and he was pretty sure that was a shoe meant for women.

“Mind if I join you?” Isaac called from the door of the van and Sarai waved him in.

“All done out there?” he asked.

“Looks like it. There wasn’t much evidence in the first place, and now we’re pretty sure that there’s some kind of [Skill] in play that destroys physical evidence.” Isaac said “Anything good here?”

“No one carrying a suspiciously shaped sack of potatoes on their shoulders, sadly.” Sarai replied dryly.

“In that case, I have something that might help narrow this down.” Isaac said “The footprint we found indicates our suspect weighs around sixty-five kilograms and wears relatively small shoes. The consensus among the crime scene techs appears to be that we’re looking for a female perpetrator.”

Sarai muttered something that sounded rather unsuited in polite company under his breath and glared at the monitors.

“Run that back again, along the route we think she went along.”

The tech running the screens complied and the images displayed began to change.

“You know, I’m surprised there are so many cameras around.” Isaac commented offhandedly while the right footage was being searched for.

“These mostly belong to nearby businesses.” the tech told him “They’re usually pretty willing to give us access to their external footage, as long there is a good enough reason.”

“And I’m guessing a serial killer is a damn compelling one?” Isaac asked.

“Yep.”

Not wanting to distract the man any further, Isaac shut up. Sarai, meanwhile, was fiddling with his phone. He didn’t strike Isaac as someone who would randomly check their texts or emails in the middle of a case, right after a major revelation, so he was probably onto something.

Isaac was curious but looking over someone’s shoulder to look at their phone’s screen was a considered rude. Given that they were working together on this, though, he’d almost certainly learn what it was soon enough. Besides, if he spotted Krebs in the footage, he needed a plausible reason to recognize her.

He ended up pulling out his phone and googled ‘woman angry over summoned monster’, then set it to show the earliest results from the day of initialization onwards. There were quite a few short videos posted off people ranting about monsters, as well as the occasional talk show that had gotten heated, but one of the first few results was the one he was looking for. Isaac continued to scroll through it, pausing as each new face appeared as if to memorize them all.

“Alright, we’re ready. I’ll just play videos on all these screens simultaneously, starting at ten minutes prior to the abduction. If you have any questions or want me to do something, all you have to do is ask.” the tech said, hit a button, and nine separate video feeds began to play.

“We’re running facial recognition for the existing list of suspects, correct?” Sarai asked.

“Of course. We’ve run it over every piece of video footage available for all confirmed abduction and dump sites, but none of them have been seen, nor do we have anyone confirmed to have been at multiple sites.” the tech confirmed.

And then the waiting began. The video was being played at one and a half speeds, blurring past. This ran the risk of them missing something, but they couldn’t afford to take their time right now.

Despite how quickly the video was running past, all he needed to do was spot a single specific person, a single face he’d memorized every facet of. So when he saw her face, he recognized her immediately. Rather than pointing it out instantly, he decided to wait five seconds before saying anything. After all, if anyone would be in able to figure him out within mere minutes of meeting him, it would be the people around him right now.

But when a finger stabbed the screen, accompanied by a snapped ‘pause the video’, it wasn’t him that did it.

“Right there, her.” Sarai glared at the screen “She’s the ‘monster killer’.”

“She looks familiar.” Isaac said thoughtfully and pulled his phone back out “Let me see … right here. Arianne Krebs, widowed by a Ghost right after the [Systen] initialized, ranting at a reporter about how all summoners should be put to death.”

“So you were also checking news reports?” Sarai asked, glancing over at him.

“Yep.”

“I hate to interrupt, but you put Mrs. Krebs onto the list of possible perpetrators a while ago, Dr. Sarai. She’s on the list of people we use facial recognition to check for every time we get video footage from near an abduction site. This isn’t her, otherwise, she’d have been flagged a while ago.” the tech cautioned them.

In response, Isaac held his phone, displaying the paused video, next to the still on the screen.

“These two videos are of the same person, no doubt about it.” Isaac said “Or do you disagree?”

“I don’t doubt that these are two very similar people, but if they were the same, the computer would have recognized her the instant we ran the search. These are two very clear images, there is no real chance of a mistake.” the tech insisted.

“That’s a sane world explanation. But the world isn’t same anymore.” Isaac replied “Can you compare these manually, somehow? Compare the mathematical formulae the program turns these pictures into to compare them, and then run those?”

“You think a [Skill] is messing with us, then?” Sarai asked. He’d clearly caught on to what Isaac was trying to say, and he also had the authority to decide to override what the program was saying and positively identify the woman in that video as Arianne Krebs.

No, that didn’t sound right.

Perhaps it was more accurate to say he could declare the computer’s analysis to be flawed and tell people to disregard it in favor of what their own damn eyes were telling them. Still, it didn’t really matter. Point was, they got her.

“All units, we have positively identified a suspicious individual near the site of the abduction as one Arianne Krebs, who has made numerous threatening remarks against summoners after the death of her husband at the hands of a [System] monster and was also implicated in the death of a summoner by an anonymous call. We have reason to believe she is the serial killer known as the ‘monster killer’. Her image will be distributed to you shortly.”

After that short speech was over, Sarai put down the radio and turned his attention to the tech.

“I send you a link to that news clip in second. Get a good picture of her from there as well as from the surveillance video, then disseminate it to the officers on the ground. Once that’s done, put together a group to try and track her through surveillance, manually.”

“Sure thing. But do you think there is any way to get around that [Skill]?” the tech asked, directing the question at Isaac.

“In theory, it could be as easy as getting a [Skill] that counters whatever is messing with your program. But the issue with that solution is that whatever this [Skill] is, she’s clearly been using it for a while, therefore, it is almost certainly going to be at a higher Level than something you pick up now.” Isaac explained.

“In addition, you would need actually have something like that available for purchase. It should be something available for [Police Officers] and their tech support personnel, but I don’t know if it’s something that requires an evolved [Class] to get.

“The only other option I see is that we might be able to work around this [Skill] on a technical level. There has to be a significant distance between us and her by now, yet we’re still being affected. And whatever servers your facial recognition program runs on has to be even further away. Every time you’ve run this search to date, you haven’t got a result. This is clearly a very long range [Skill] that affects most of the continent, that means it can’t be very strong. Even with the [System], big effects have big costs.”

“So we send this footage to, say, Interpol, and have them run the search on an American server?” Sarai suggested.

“Maybe, we certainly can try that, but there might be some kind of magical virus-equivalent attaced to any image that is taken of her, which travels alongside the image to anywhere it is processed. We’ll have to check.” Isaac responded.

“Yeah, except that’s not going to be a fast method. Sending things across agencies is a bureaucratical nightmare, it’ll take a while for something like that to be approved in the first place, never mind actually doing it.” the tech threw in.

“So much for that idea.” Sarai sighed “Back to the manual search idea, then?”

“Actually, I have another idea.” Isaac told them “Like I said, there has to be some kind of limit to this [Skill]. We might be able to dodge its effect by decoupling the comparison from the picture itself. Using the algorithm that reduces the picture to a set of mathematical descriptors which the program actually compares without it being connected to the program itself, then transferring it to a different computer, and then doing the same thing with the picture you’re trying to compare it to, so all you’re doing is comparing two mathematical descriptions that are entire separate from the pictures themselves. Or something.”

“You really think that would work?” the tech asked skeptically.

“I genuinely do not know how to counter something like this. Maybe if I had the [Skill’s] actual description, I’d be able to deduce a direct way to get around it. But as things stand, I have to deduce its modus operandi based on limited information, and then make suggestions based on that.

“What I do know is that there is no such thing as an insurmountable [Skill]. Sure, there are mana hogs that block what they’re supposed to block through sheer power, but those come with their own set of problems. This is an extremely powerful [Skill], but it affects such a wide area, it can’t be that powerful. If we play enough games with the processing of the images, we might be able to sidestep the problem entirely. But as far as my earlier suggestion goes, I’m sure someone who actually knows how this stuff works can work with this a hell of a lot better.”

“I’ll see what I can come up with. First, I’ll send out the pictures, then call around to anyone who might be able to help, and together, we’ll figure something out.” the tech nodded grimly, possibly even taking the very existence of this [Skill] as a personal affront.

“Thank you.” Sarai said “We’ll stop bothering you, then.”

He then left, with Isaac following behind him.

“So what now?” Isaac asked “Do we have to go back to the station and stay there?”

“Normally, that is what the scientific support personnel do.” Sarai agreed “We help from there. But based on your question, I’m guessing that’s not what you’re planning on doing?”

“I’d like to try and help track her.” Isaac agreed “See if I can try and spot any more weird tracks, or maybe see whatever [Skill] prevents her victims from being heard while she stashes them just out sight of the general public being used.”

“Would you be able to see something like that? After all its main purpose is to avoid being noticed?” Sarai questioned.

“Maybe. But I specialize in senses and penetrating information defenses. We’ve run some experiments with low level [Rogues] and the like, getting some interesting results. In essence, stealth [Skills] are functionally impossible to detect as long as the person doing the detecting is anywhere even remotely close to the hiding person’s Level. But if there is a significant Level disparity, or there are anti-stealth specializations in play, at some point, the stealth [Skill] becomes visible to [Skills] that can detect other [Skills] in use, one which I possess. At that point, my high personal Level, [Skill] Level and anti information defense specialization could very well let me see something.” Isaac explained mentally adding ‘I also know exactly what to look for’.

“Are you sure you could see something?” Sarai asked.

“No. But even the mere chance is worth a try. If you need anything else from me, I’ll, of coure, be available.”

“Good. I’ll need to talk to someone about sending a few officers along with you for protection and so there’s someone right there to immediately act on anything you find.” Sarai nodded “Give me a couple of minutes.”

Once those minutes were up, Wirt joined Isaac near the crime scene in full battle rattle, wearing a heavy set of bulletproof gear, including the helmet, with a submachinegun strapped to his side. Three other people followed behind him, dressed similarly.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Thoma. The four of us were assigned to you, we’ll be right there with you every step of the way, ready to step in if need be or act on any information you discover.”

“Thank you.” Isaac nodded “Do we have a car? I’ll be going at this mostly on foot in the beginning, but having a car available will be useful later.”

“We do actually have one of the armored cars the SEK uses waiting for us outside the park. I’ll tell it to meet us wherever we’ll leave the park.” Wirt told him.

“Alright, let’s go, then.” Isaac said, and began to follow the weirdly traceless tracks, but lost them the instant they left the park. A lightly built woman would, for obvious reasons, leave no tracks on solid asphalt.

“Wait here a moment, I’m going to try and get an aerial view.” Isaac told Wirt, and jumped.

All of his formidable power flung him almost thirty meters straight up, and at the apex of the leap, he activated [Poltergeist’s Flight], leaving him hovering up there for about twenty seconds. There was nothing there he could see, so he deactivated the [Skill] and reunited with good old terra firma by way of free fall.

To the officers’ credit, they didn’t so much as give him a weird look after that display.

He repeated this several times, seeing nothing but earning him three Levels in [Hunter’s Gaze] and a whopping four in [Undying Focus]. The latter told him that this was at least partially a mental effect, like [Sneak’s] active effect, while the fact that he was levelling meant she was close enough for him to theoretically discover.

“I think this might be a partially mental effect.” Isaac spoke into the radio which he’d borrowed from Wirt “There are stealth effects that work by making the thing they’re hiding seem less interesting. If you notice you’re paying less attention to an area than you know you should, that is likely something. Also, if your investigative or tracking [Skills] start levelling like mad, you’re likely fighting her [Skill] or [Skills] directly.”

But after he’d sent out that message, he didn’t gain another [Skill] Level. Clearly, she’d left the area, or he’d gotten too far away from her to be fighting her [Skills].

After several hours of running around the city, leaving his escorts panting and sweating buckets in their heavy getup, they finally got the dreaded call. A body had been found.

They got into the car and raced over, arriving simultaneously with the crime scene techs. Isaac hopped out of the car and walked over.

“Mr. Thoma, seems like we’re always fated to meet under the worst of circumstances.” a man sighed. Isaac didn’t recognize him without the getup from earlier, but the statement made it clear who he was talking to.

“Yeah, sure seems like it.” Isaac replied, eyes raking over the body.

“I don’t suppose you know what that wound is meant to represent?” the CSI asked, the two of them coming to a stop just outside the police tape.

“You mean that big, ragged hole in his chest? Yeah, I can also tell you how she did it.” Isaac said, grimacing.

“That bad?”

“The hole is consistent with what Skalli, an Event monster would cause by driving its black hole into a person’s chest. As to how those were inflicted, I can’t speak as to how she got started because the parts in the middle are missing, but as far as the outside goes, I can clearly see the knife wounds and tear marks.

“The killer stabbed the victim just outside the existing wound, blade parallel to the edge, leaving about a millimeter of clearance, and then pushed it towards the center, flat of the blade pressing against the thin strip of flesh until it tore free.

“And then, that was repeated, over and over again, tearing through more and more of his flesh while his supernatural endurance staved off the shock, bloodloss, and even superficial damage to heart and lungs until he either bled out or … shit, I think he actually bit off his own tongue and choked on it as a method of committing suicide, going by the blue tinge of his lips.” Isaac swore softly “What a fucking monster.”

The CSI next to Isaac had turned an alarming shade of green during Isaac’s description, and some retching sounds echoed out from behind the pair.

“Are you sure?” the CSI asked.

“Positive. You’ll have to wait for the official coroner’s report but examining wound patterns is a part of what I do for a living. Granted, I normally work with monsters, but the basics are similar enough.” Isaac replied, glowering at the scene. Everything she’d done in the past had been bad enough, but this, this was beyond the pale.

“Are you alright?” Wirt asked from behind Isaac.

“Do I look alright?” Isaac glowered at him for a moment before his posture turned into a slump “No, I’m not alright. I’m … upset. Upset at the situation, at what people are capable off at their worst … well, this entire situation is supremely unpleasant.”

“This kind of thing is rough even on us.” Wirt put a reassuring hand on Isaac’s shoulder “Don’t worry about it. And if you do need to talk to someone, be it a police psychiatrist or just someone who’s experienced more than their fair share of this crap, that can certainly be arranged.”

“I can deal with this on my own terms.” Isaac replied “For now, let’s find this lunatic. Let’s go hunting.”