CHAPTER 134: CHAPTER 134: IT’S SHOW TIME

"My god..."

"That’s not the word I’d use, amiga."

There has been a lot of red tape going on in Hollywood lately, but now there was literal tape surrounding its sign... and not to mention a lot of police.

"Did we get the statement from the witness?"

"Which one?"

"Uh..."

Detectives Dorothy and Jake were there, of course. How could they not be, when they were the lead investigators of any murders relating to the Darkday murders, or as law enforcement has officially called them—the Megaland Ripper murders.

Not only because his murders started in Megaland, but his murders, in their very essence, mega in terms of flair. And this third one was no different, no. This was his most mega yet.

...And thousands had already seen it before the police even got to the scene.

How could the public not see it, when it could be seen even from far away... and literally painted and sculpted his victims on the large ’D’ sign?

It was almost completely covered in red due to the blood, which was weird as it should have already browned as it was discovered hours ago—and yet the blood all seemed fresh.

"Have we... identified the victims?" Dorothy glanced at the carnage, sighing as she closed her eyes and looked away.

"Yes. Our friend over there, and there, and there, and there, is called Erik Stompton."

Erik’s body was—no. Erik’s body parts were neatly scattered around the letter. His face was on the upper left corner, his torso was a few feet below, and he was completely bruised and beaten. His limbs, however... his limbs were far away.

It was close to...

"And this one is Chihiro Reynolds."

Chihiro, well... Chihiro was completely devoid of her bones, completely. Her limbs and flesh weren’t just hanging up and about, however—no. His soft flesh and skin were wrapped around her body like a cocoon.

And then, her arms in particular were wrapped around her head, completely covering her eyes and mouth along with her long black hair—and she had her back turned away from Erik.

"And... this little boy is... fuck. This one is even younger than the last one. His name is Robert Stompton."

As for Rob, well... he was at the very center of the piece—hanging inside a hammock. Or perhaps a nest would be the proper term for it... because Chihiro’s missing bones were made to use this nest.

Unlike Chihiro and Erik, his corpse was completely intact. Incredibly clean, even. Wearing white clothes with a peaceful expression on his face, devoid of color.

The only thing that was blemishing this peace was the pair of hands wrapped around his neck like a noose. Erik’s hands.

As for his severed legs, they were still missing from the scene.

"Forensics are still pinpointing the time of death, but Lance did an early screening on it and told me that the boy died first," Detective Jake said, covering his mouth with a handkerchief as he shook his head. He then pulled out a glove, using it like a cloth to lightly push Erik’s hands out of the way.

"As you can see, a broken neck. I don’t think I need to tell you that their causes of death are very different."

"And what are you trying to say?"

"...I’m saying from the pattern, and from how this is set up—Darkday’s clearly making it seem like our male vic killed the boy."

"And this woman completely ignored it?" Dorothy continued, scoffing while shaking her head. "Be careful about assumptions in our line of work, Suarez. How are they all related to each other? The boy and the woman are clearly not related."

"The male and female vic are married, and the boy is the man’s son," Jake sighed. "We’ve checked for criminal records, and the man was reported by the female vic’s daughter."

"And what happened?"

"They withdrew."

"...And the daughter? Where is she now?"

"Mega Academy."

"Ah, fuck. Again? Dorothy covered her face, her frustration seeping out from the gaps between her fingers. She sniffled, glancing at her partner for a moment before dropping her arms.

"Has anyone told her the news yet? Don’t tell me it—"

"It’s us."

"Ah, fuck." Dorothy covered her face again and then turned to look at the man who had been standing right in front of the crime scene for an entire minute now without saying anything.

No, not exactly. He was talking to someone on the phone now.

"Boss...?" Both Dorothy and Jake squinted at Prophet, looking at each other before carefully approaching him. Prophet raised a finger at them first, telling them not to approach and to just wait.

He continued to talk on the phone for a few more seconds, letting out a loud sigh as he finally hung up.

"You okay, Boss? You have somewhere you need to be?" Dorothy asked, and Prophet only shook his head in response before saying something that caused the two to jolt and take several steps back.

"That was Darkday." Were Prophet’s words.

"Jesus, you were talking to the perp?!" Jake bellowed, his eyes widening to the point they almost jumped out from their sockets. "Do we have that line?! Can we use it to track him?"

"Don’t bother." Prophet sighed, slipping his phone back into his pocket as he waved Jake off. "If they were able to find my phone, they were obviously using a cloned line."

"What... did he say?" Dorothy asked.

"He begged me to find out his identity as soon as possible to stop him..." Prophet shrugged, taking several steps back to take the crime scene in full view. "...If not, the nature of his crimes is only going to be much worse. And...

...they’re going to be a lot more."

"Jesus..." Jake breathed out, covering his mouth as he glanced at the horrific scene. "Much worse than this?"

"Did you get anything from your conversation? Hints to his identity?" Dorothy stepped closer to Prophet. "Did you... foresee anything?"

"I’m not a seer." Prophet chuckled, waving her off while shaking his head. "I only calculate things."

"...And have you calculated anything about who he might be?"

"No," Prophet shook his head again. "Calculating something when you’re still missing a lot of variables will only lead to more problems. But..."

Both Jake and Dorothy stood at attention.

"...Let’s go to Mega Academy to talk to Riley Ross."

***

"Hmm."

A few hours later, back at Mega Academy, Riley Ross was staring at his face in front of a car window. Well, whatever part of his face wasn’t covered by the black hood he was wearing, that is. He stared at his eyes specifically, and then glanced at the shoulder of the tall person next to him.

"Do you recognize me from this outfit, Underling No. 1?" He asked.

"Ack! Stop calling me Underling No. 1!" Underling No. 1 hollered, grabbing the hood covering her head. She was only a few more muscle contractions from pulling it out, but stopped herself at the last minute.

From the annoying forced tone of her voice, it was clearly Gracey under the mask.

"And what do you mean, do I recognize you?!" She pressed a finger on his forehead. "Your bright, clear eyes are literally reflecting me."

Then, it was a good thing Mr. Albert provided me with a helmet. I am currently one of the most recognizable faces in the world, and I suppose that is quite exciting to think about.

"Hmm. Thank you, Underling No. 1."

"Ack! Stop saying that just because you’re playing the role of the Mastermind!"

Riley stared at Gracey’s covered face for a moment before choosing not to respond to her at all as he turned his focus back to the people who were sitting on the floor.

"Ack!" Gracey once again wanted to pull out her hood. "I should’ve been the Mastermind!"

"You wanted to be the mastermind of an evil organization?"

"... Never mind."

"Hmm." Riley shrugged, carefully approaching the students who were acting as hostages. Their scenario was a bank robbery that was already halfway through the operation—they were on a bridge, and there was a blockade blocking their path, so they had to bring all the hostages down the bus and show the people they meant business by threatening to kill them one by one if they didn’t make way.

"It would have been better to stay on the bus," Riley whispered, sighing as he shook his head. "But I suppose there is something intimate in seeing all of you die one by one—we would also get better media traction... and we can also threaten to push them off the bridge to make it even more sensationalized."

"...Uh." Katrina, who was sitting right in front of Riley, looked around to see if anyone else was hearing his words. This was only supposed to be a mock scenario... why does it feel like Riley was truly going to sacrifice them to get away?

"Boss!" One of the other Underlings, who was from another class, rushed toward Riley while flailing a radio. "It’s show time! The hero is on his way here!"

"Well then..." Riley stretched his arm to the side, while Gracey covered half her face that was already covered by the hood.

"...I suppose it is show time."