Murder in the Streets (Open)

A cell phone rang as James was in the shower. He didn't get many calls, and none this early in the morning from anyone he enjoyed to hear from. James let it go to voicemail and took an extra 15 minutes in the shower. He already knew what the message was going to be, and didn't want to hear it until he was good and ready. When he got out, dried himself off, and put his inbox on speaker, his assumption was correct. It was from the NYPD calling about a body. He rushed out the door with his coffee and drove off down the streets to where the message told him he would find the stiff.

It was about a half-hour away with traffic, and so when James got there, boys in blue were already covering the scene like ants, though instead of grabbing bits of food, they were grabbing bits of evidence to take back to the colony. A few "sirs" came from police officers as James passed by, and he waved at them nonchalantly. He crossed the tape, ignoring the civilians that were staring at the crime scene. People always were interested in stuff like this. James couldn't judge though. He loved it too, and got paid to look into this stuff. Though dealing with supers made his life a lot tougher.

"Manson, what's the situation here?" Detective Drifter asked the other detective that had already arrived on the scene. Manson was a bit shorter and stockier than Drifter, but just as good at the job. The two usually didn't cross paths, so this was a surprise for Drifter.

"Good day to you too, Drifter," Manson replied cheerily. Drifter rolled his eyes but smiled a bit at this; he wouldn't admit it, but he enjoyed Manson being full of sunshine. "We've got a dead man here, Pete Remington, according to his ID. Age 31, blue eyes, brown hair, looks like a blue collar guy. Picture of a kid in his wallet, as well as a couple of gift cards, debit card, and about twenty bucks in dollar bills."

"Thanks for all the info, Manson, but I still don't see why I'm here." Drifter looked down at the body. It was lying face-first on the ground, in a bit of a puddle. Not a very fun way to die. Manson turned the body over, and Drifter's eyebrows shot up in surprise. A large hole in poor Pete's chest, burned at the edge. Drifter immediately thought lasers. "Okay, I see why I'm here. Any reason why this poor sod has worse heartburn than me?"

Manson shook his head. "I've got someone at HQ looking up his background for you, but nothing yet. They should have something after CSI gets here and cleans up though. Look through the crime scene if you want, but it seems to be just a killing to me." Manson stepped away and Drifter nodded his thanks. It seemed that way to Drifter too, what with the 3 inch hole in the victim's chest, but Drifter knew that there were people out there that loved to run conspiracies. So James got to investigating.

Relius had just arrived in New York city, after a long while on a couple of planes, but he was out of the airport and was heading towards his new apartment there. He was still studying certain things, and had a lot of old scribbles from the man that taught him the finer points of alchemy in the wilderness, but this was a time for rest, or so he thought. He remembered New York well, and it seemed to be all around the same, including the murders and the super beings. He loved super beings, loved to study them, and essentially enjoyed them all around, as long as they weren't using their power to oppress others or take over the country and kill people. It was early in the morning, but Relius was about ready for sleep, as he had been on planes in which he couldn't get any, and then purposely kept himself awake so that he could re-align his sleep schedule when he landed here. He was a bit jet lagged, and decided to go somewhere for an early cup of tea or coffee, whatever small amount of caffeine he could get into his system to help him stay away until around eight at night, which was a little over twelve hours away. He sighed, the thought of having to stay awake so long really bothered him, as he needed to set up his lab and make sure to buy some proper ingredients so that he could begin his study.

Relius was walking through the streets, when he noticed that there was a larger than usual jam in the walking traffic, and it seemed that there was a crime scene ahead of him. This would make it harder for him to get into the small cafe which was across the street, as everyone had to not only avoid the entire area that was sectioned off, but lots of people had to stop a gawk at the scene. As he was walking by, squeezed in between a shorter man that ate too much garlic the night before and didn't brush his teeth this morning, and a rather portly woman that seemed to be deliberately wedging her cleavage into Relius' sides, the tall, slender and elegant man needed to get away from these people. He slipped under the yellow tape that the police had put up, and it seemed that the press that had showed up were occupying the police enough to where Relius could straighten his tie and brush himself off, before attempting to go back into the sea of random people and get to his cafe. The thought of sitting down in relative quiet and drinking a cup of tea and having some toast seemed heavenly to him. However, he accidentally overheard some of the police and press talking about how a super did this.

Now, Relius was somewhat of an expert on biology, including the biology of supers and their powers, and now his interest was truly piqued. He wondered if he could slip in there and get a look at the man, and it seemed the police were still taking pictures of the crime scene, and the body was barely moved to take a picture of the wound that killed the man. It was a single small hole in the man's chest, precision said that it was aimed directly at the heart. Relius didn't know anything about the motives of criminals or anything like that, but he knew what a condensed beam of light from a super could do, and that hole was definitely not from the eyes of a person, as there would be two different holes at that point. So the police should be looking for someone that could control light, not necessarily heat, and one that didn't use his eyes to do it. Relius was probably going to get thrown out of the circle or reprimanded for this, but he decided to speak up about it anyways. He sort of slowly but confidently walked towards the two detectives.

"Excuse me gentleman, but I have some info about this wound. I am Relius Cravel, an expert on biology, and you're looking for a super who can control light, and not through his eyes, but through his hands. The hole not going all the way through the body would indicate that the blast wasn't very intense, so it could incinerate flesh, and not bone." Relius then looked around as some of the police saw him just walk in there, and one of them stopped messing with the press long enough to start walking over to Relius, most likely going to throw him out. Relius secretly hoped that his work in the field of medicine allowed him to be recognized by the press, and perhaps the press would just say that he was working with the police department, so they might have been stuck with him. Then again, while Relius did cure a few major diseases, these press might only be inclined to notice murders and acts of rape.

Stein's morning seemed to be going slower than he thought it would. From the back of the government issued car, he could feel claustrophobia setting in. It could be the size of the car. or it could be because of the tint they used for the windows. It was only moments ago that S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up this ride for Stein. He was to investigate the rumor that a super had murdered a man in cold blood. If the rumor was true, he was to carry out helping the NYPD apprehend the culprit. This was just was Stein needed, to not only be in the same room as a corpse, but to try and help the largely biased NYPD officers fight against a super. Stein pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one up to his lips. Before he lit it, however he turned to the driver. "It ok if I smoke in here?" He asked in a polite tone. The driver nodded and resumed his concentration on the road. As Stein took a drag off the cigarette he felt that sweet rush of nicotine which calmed his nerves almost immediately. As they drew closer to their destination, Stein wondered what he had done to land this job. Out of all the things S.H.I.E.L.D. could have assigned him, it had to be a potential wild goose chase all because of a rumor.

There were cop cars parked almost everywhere, which signified they were in the right place. Stein took one more drag off the cigarette he had, and put it out as he exited the car. The cool New York air was much more welcoming than the cramped car he was riding in. A police officer was manning the yellow tape. The only wall between civilians and the crime scene.

Stein approached the man, pulling out his badge and showing it to him. The famous S.H.I.E.L.D. Insignia was in the middle of the top part of the two part badge while the bottom had his picture, name, and nickname. The officer froze for a second. Was he not expecting S.H.I.E.L.D. to respond so fast? or even at all for that matter? Stein shook off that feeling and stepped under the tape as the officer was still in a stricken stupor. He kept his badge in hand as he walked around the scene. He was quickly becoming disoriented by all the officers coming in and out of the various parts of the scene.

Stein walked up to almost the exact middle, which was where the body was located. From the look of things there was a doctor figure there who seemed to not belong as there were officers who had turned to him in confusion. Stein decided he would wait until there was a detective who would be worth talking to. One who would probably answer his questions. Though from both over hearing what the doctor had said, and being able to see the body from where he was. This was no normal wound. It was indeed Caused by a super. And since that was the case, the detective in charge was going to be Stein's "new best friend" for a while.

Hole. Approximately two and a half inches in diameter. Body left otherwise untouched. Lack of calling card on scene. ID intact, no extra damage on body. Statistical probability of hit for local gang: 80%. Not nearly enough information. Require background on victim for confirmation. James's mind ran through the information he was given. Any second now, Manson would have the vic's info, what he did, what he got arrested for, and probably his profile on some inane social media site. James took out his pen and notepad, and gave the pen a soft click. The pen touched the paper and-

"Excuse me gentleman, but I have some info about this wound." Great. Fantastic. James's mind went into sarcasm mode immediately. That wasn't a voice he recognized from CSI. It means that they switched around people, or the more probable idea that someone snuck through the police line and had their two cents. James turned to face the man. "I am Relius Cravel, an expert on biology, and you're looking for a super who can control light, and not through his eyes, but through his hands. The hole not going all the way through the body would indicate that the blast wasn't very intense, so it could incinerate flesh, and not bone." Yup. It was definitely the latter. Relius was a bit taller than James, a tad bit skinnier. He didn't look very professional, but at least the man was observant. Or part of the plot. James gave a slight nod to Manson, who started looking up information on the so-called expert.

"We could also be looking for a low-energy laser gun, handled by a common mook who was trying to kill the man and succeeded," James replied at first with a neutral tone, but the sarcasm started creeping in almost by nature. "See, I'm an expert at figuring out how and why this happens, so if you would please not interrupt this crime scene, and go back to your lab, it would be fan-" A badge caught James's eye. S.H.I.E.L.D. Great. Fantastic. "Hey shield brat!" James yelled at the kid coming up flashing his badge like anyone cares about it. "Get your pretty boy off of my crime scene. When you're done with that, follow him." It didn't surprise James that there was a S.H.I.E.L.D. on his crime scene already; he had to fight them almost every time. He lost more than he won.

Today was the day!. What was today you asked? The day the plan started. Ace had clear instructions and things were beginning to fall into place. He knew his assignment and he knew exactly how he'd carry it out as a mercenary. It was still early morning and Elijah hadn't groomed himself yet and he planned to do so just not at this very moment. Getting up butt naked he'd yawn into his giant glass wall-window view of the city. His member hanging for the world to see. After he yawned and stretched he proceeded to make his way to the bathroom where Elijah grabbed his toothbrush and turned the water on. Looking himself in the mirror you saw his stripe of white hair infused with the black hair he mainly had but that wasn't all you saw. It was blood. His face was covered in dried up blood.

Elijah's face was blank as he continued to brush his teeth which seemed to be riddled with more blood until he finally cleaned himself of it. He'd begin to run the shower as he heard his phone ring causing him to walk out of the bathroom and grab his phone off his bed "Talk to me" said Elijah as his voice appeared distorted on the voice. This was obviously for the sake of his identity. "Phase 1 has been completed. Initiate Phase 2" said the voice on the other end of the phone "Already done" said Elijah before he put the phone on speaker sending the man on the phone a picture it of a John Doe. "Phase 3 is underway right now. I assume" said Elijah before he walked back into the bathroom. The voice on the other end of the phone began to speak "Indeed. Initiate your end of Phase 3 and report back to me immediately" the man said which caused Elijah to chuckle "Ace out" said Elijah before hanging up tossing the phone on dirty clothes bin.

Hopping in the shower Elijah placed his head down as the water rained down on his body removing him of the stains known as blood. The dry crimson went down the drain as a more clean look on Elijah could be seen. He washed all the essential areas before coming out of the shower grabbing his towel off the towel rack and heading towards his bedroom. He lived in quite the nice condo. As he dried off Elijah removed the towel tossing it to the ground and put on some boxer briefs before finding a fresh wife beater in his drawer putting it on before going to his closet grabbing a fresh suit. The suit was a slim fit and showed his physique off perfectly. It was black with a white shirt and a red tie. He wore a pin on his color. It was a giant M with a line through it. That was the insignia for Morrow Enterprises. Picking up a pair of loose pants on the floor Elijah grabbed a wallet, his gun and oh how could he forget his badge. Placing the badge around his neck you could see the name "Goodwin" He was a detective. Heading downstairs and towards his front door Elijah existed his condo calling for the elevator.

Once out of the elevator Elijah made his way near the front entrance where the front end clerk Jessica had always resided. "Out again Mr. Elaire?" said Jessica to which Elijah responded with a smile "Yea, I got called into the office on emergency business" He was lying his ass off but Elijah didn't care. He had a mission to do. Finally out the front doors of the building he lived in. Morrow Towers downtown he made his way to his car which was a 64 Challenger metallic black with a red line going through it. Before getting in Elijah walked to his trunk where he opened it slowly as he smelled what remained of a man. Blood stained a sheet Elijah put under the corpse to keep his car clean and next to the corpse was a black duffle bag which you could see some clothing and a helmet sticking out of. This was Elijah's gear.

Smiling Elijah closed the trunk and left the pantsless man in the back. He was a sinner. Cheating on his wife, Fucking the babysitter. Locking people up with no good reason he was a bastard. The lowest of all lows. Elijah felt no shame in killing those he deemed unfit to live by as of now he had somewhere to be. Hopping in his car and pulling off he began to drive a he reached a trash heap which was labled "Local Lucy's Dump" It was basically a place where you could leave your garbage if you couldn't afford to have sanitation take your trash daily. Parking his car Elijah hopped out and went to his trunk where he rapped up the sheet around the man and tossed the body into the trash heep and pulled off as he drove off once more. Finally no more holdups he could proceed to his destination.

Beginning to drive off Elijah drove for roughly another 20-30 minutes before he pulled up in front of a donut shop. Going into the shop Elijah waved at the owner his name was Sandy. Real standup guy. Proceeding through the back door Elijah went in and out of every establishments backdoor for a 3 block radius before he came out of Marilyn's Famous Pizza and saw two cops in the alley checking for evidence. They didn't notice Elijah but he noticed them. No other cops could even see from this position to indicate Elijah on anything he wanted or was going to do. Quickly he struck like a cobra. Grabbing both their heads bashing them together knocking them out. Grabbing one of their walkies and one of their NYPD coats Elijah put the coat on before walking into the crime scene seeing the people he needed to see and everything else he needed to see. "Detective Goodwin, Precinct 21" said Elijah with a cold facial expression as he pulled out a walkie-talkie from his NYPD coat. "I need a bus at 49th & Welsh right off the freeway." said Elijah as he then walked up to the other officers on the scene. "We are taking him back the lab provided by Professor Cravel to further examine the cause of this DOA John Doe." said Elijah before a flashlight came out of his pocket examining the hole in the chest but Elijah knew who did it.

[OOC: Mofos you can just skip me, also I don't have a lab or anything yet, and I don't work for anyone, I'm brand new off the plane]

Relius was a bit in a daze at the man's sudden outburst, considering all Relius was trying to do was give his earnest professional opinion about the incident. This detective here was most likely one of the reasons that New York had such a horrible reputation when it came to the authorities, and it seemed that Relius was far too kind in his observation. True, a laser pistol of some sort could have been used, but then again, something like that was far easier to track than someone with powers, and if it was that easy, they wouldn't even have needed to examine the body that closely. Still, it seemed that the officer had some sort of ego or god complex, and Relius felt the need to toy with him a bit, a sort of sadistic smile crept onto his face, and he simply shook his head slightly. The officer was a bit older, but Relius hadn't met anyone as smart as he was, but there were people with much more knowledge than he had in their field of expertise, much like this man. Sure, he most likely knew how to solve mysteries better than Relius, but for that he would need clues, clues that he seemed to be foolishly throwing away every second. Still, Relius wanted to give him a bit of a comeback, and he wasn't short on wit either, so he quickly retorted after the smile.

"Ahh, so I see the reputation of the New York police weren't just rumors. I wondered why more than 40% of the crimes that happen here go unsolved. I now have the reason in front of me."

Relius would have left it at that and simply walked away, regardless of what the man said, but instead multiple people would show up fairly soon. Suddenly there would be SHIELD members here, and this would be slightly troublesome for Relius, as they usually complicated things, but the person that showed up said something about Relius having a lab and that the body would be moved there or something. He had only been in town for about a day, there's no way someone was able to set up a lab or anything, so he was thoroughly confused.

"I don't have a lab, plus I don't work for anyone but myself as of right now, so may I ask what you are talking about?" Relius sounded slightly confused, and this had started to give him a bit of a headache. He sighed, and then simply shook his head and started walking away from the crime scene.

Stein had been watching his surroundings almost without care. He saw different faces come and go while he was waiting to see if whoever was in charge would notice him and come to him. This was the easiest way to find anyone on any crime scene. Had he just sought them out he would inevitably be led around in a circle. That always pissed him off. The police didnt like S.H.I.E.L.D. That was obvious. But they could at least help him out anyway and just get it over with, instead of jerking his chain and just wasting time.

"Hey shield brat!" Stein had heard as he stood by the area where the body was located. His first thought was "What am I? A child?" Being an military veteran, this peeved him off. Turning to the source of the rude comment he was immediately told to take someone off of the crime scene. Stein saw that there must have been a civilian who had wandered onto the crime scene. Did he think that the civilian was part of S.H.I.E.L.D.? That was possible. But before Stein said anything the Civilian explained himself, but not before making a jab at the police department. Stein chuckled and stepped up to agree with the civilian. "I came alone anyway, judging from your authoritative initiative, you must be the lead detective on this crime scene." Stein paused to let this information settle before continuing, pulling out his badge again.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, Ryan Stein. You can call me Stein, or Project: Yokai. I've been assigned to check out this crime scene and oversee this crime's entire investigation, in case it were to be the work of a super. And if you are indeed the lead detective, then get comfy. From this point on, I'm your best friend. When you are on duty, I'll be with you where ever you go." Once again Stein let this information settle.

As he did he noticed something that seemed slightly out of place. A man that had just walked up on the crime scene. Had Stein seen him before? Perhaps this "officer" wasnt really part of the NYPD. His previous experience as an assassin in the Military, Stein was oddly reminded of when he had to blend into enemy territory. He shook his head, as this was not his business anyway and continued, "The proper forms have been filed out and turned in to your superiors, but if you really want to argue it; And I'm sure you do, you can call my superiors." And with that last sentence, Stein held out a special cell phone that led directly back to S.H.I.E.L.D

Oooh, this scientist fellow sure thought he was a know-it-all. James bet he was in favor of cutting the budget for police, since "they weren't doing their jobs." Hard to do a job if there was no money. Sometimes James felt like the only detective on the force in the city, with his payload. James started to bristle at the comment, but then everyone else started to butt in. Ugh. The scientist was getting away without his own witty retort. He'd have to let that go, in favor of keeping control of the scene. Time to focus on what's what. The scientist is leaving, which is good, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was apparently here to stay. Not to mention an overzealous detective. He must have been a new guy, because there was already a bus coming for the body. Time to focus. One deep breath, James was ready.

"Alright, kid, I believe you," James said to the agent holding out his phone. Like he really wanted to try to argue with another person with a god complex. The scientist was bad enough. "And you, Detective Goodwin, calm yourself. We've already got everything taken care of. They'll be here to take the body and dust down the crime scene in just a few minutes. I like your moxie though, so maybe you could help Detective Manson out?" James said, gesturing towards the other seasoned detective. Manson nodded, and gestured towards the tablet. James's phone buzzed, and not only did it have information on the good scientist, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as well. [color=#66ccff]"Awww, you know exactly what I want baby," James said jokingly.

With a quick glance, James noticed that both files had a lot of blank spots, even with police access. So both worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., at least in one point in their lives. Hopefully this detail will be useful. But for now, James put the phone back in his pocket. He had work to do.