Ashley woke up the next morning. Then they all got ready to work.
On the way to the hospital, Ashley and Paolo were having a discussion about their conspiracy theory and how they were getting bored of it.
"I'm bored of this thing." said Ashley.
"Yeah, me too. Let's do something else." suggested Paolo.
"Like what?"
"Rock with our powers?"
"Duh."
So they decided to drop everything about their suspicions of the government's plots.
And turned to focus more on saving as much of the world as they can.
Back in their a-MAZE-ing condo,
"Harvey, since you're our technician," said Paolo. "We need you to hack into the police database and get us that radio thing."
"Yeah, so we can listen in on the crimes in town and get there faster than they do." said Lyca.
"Pfff, you think I can actually do all those things?" asked Harvey.
"Yes."
"Well, you're right. I can. But it'll take me about... an hour."
"No problem. American Idle is starting now anyway."
"Oh, but its a 2-hour special."
"Okay, so start hacking after one hour."
"Ok."
"Oh, look... Lee's auditioning again..."
----------------------------------------------------------------
After 2 hours,
KSSSSSHHHHH
"What's wrong with it?" asked Annika.
KSSSSSHHHHHH
"Nothing's wrong with it," said Harvey. "Its just that... nobody's reporting in."
"So we're gonna wait until someone does?"
"Yep."
"And in the meantime, we have to listen to this crap?"
KSSSSSSHHHH
"Yep."
"Thank God it's in your place then." said Ashley.
"Yeah, see ya!" waved Annika.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While Ashley, Lyca and Annika were watching... That 2009 Show, Harvey and Paolo burst in.
"We got something! We got something!"
They all ran back to the boy's place.
KSSSSSSH
"We need back-up ASAP here on 5th and Main. It's a double homicide. Over." said the police guy.
"Affirmative. Units set out. Over." said a female voice.
"What's happening on 5th and Main?" asked Annika.
"A double homicide. She just said!"
"What's a double homicide?"
"It's police lingo for mass murder."
"Do you think this is a job for the WB?"
"Dunno... the act's already been done. I don't see what use we can be now."
"Did they say if they caught the killer? Coz if they didnt we can catch him."
"You wanna go there and ask?"
"Yeah, sure."
So the WB went to 5th and Main to ask questions.
"Excuse me, officer," called Harvey. "What happened here?"
"Double homicide, sir."
"Do you have a suspect?"
"So far, just one, sir."
"Who is it?"
"I'm sorry sir, but that's classified information, sir."
"Oh... okay, then. Thanks..."
Harvey walked back to the others.
"Annika, its your turn." he said.
"Yipee..." and she walked over to the officer.
"Excuse me, officer sir, what just happened here?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.
"Double homicide, ma'am. I don't think a pretty little lady like you should be hanging around a murder spot."
"Oh... so caring... I like that in a man."
The officer giggled.
"My, my... do you have any suspects?" she asked.
"Sorry, ma'am, that's classified information."
"Oh, sorry... I just thought a high-ranking officer like you could... well nevermind," she turned and pretended to walk away. "I guess I expected too much of you..."
The officer looked worried.
"No, wait! I can tell you... if you promise not to tell anyone?"
"Oh, of course!" she came running back. "How awfully nice of you!"
"Uhm.. and maybe after this.. we could get a cup of coffee back at Java Perk maybe?"
"It's a deal then, officer handsome."
He giggled again.
"Well, we're still not sure yet.. but the suspect could have been one of the guy's roommate. Coz witnesses say the three were having an argument, then it got a little carried away... and the third guy shot both of them."
"Oh.. dear..."
"Yeah. Turns out the two dead guys are cousins. So we sent out a team to check in one's apartment."
"Oh, thank you so very very much, officer good-body."
"Not at all, ma'am... so... how about that coffee?"
"You're on you own, pal.. I'm not interested." and she walked away, leaving Officer Good Body with a broken heart.
"Well, the two deadz are cousins. And the police is checking in their apartment for the one guy's roomate." Annika reported.
"Doesn't the other dead guy have a roomate, too?" asked Lyca.
"Dunno. It doesn't seem clear that they'll check on one guy's apartment but not the other..."
"Do you know the address?"
"No, if I asked that, I'd be too obvious."
"The best thing to do then is to follow the cops to the apartment."
"How?"
"Easy," said Paolo. "Just look for the only apartment building where there are cop cars around it."
So they went to the apartment and talked to the lady behind the desk.
"Excuse me, where is the investigation of the double homicide held? What room number?"
"Are you cops?" she asked as she looked at their clothes.
"Uh.. no, just... hired contractors," said Ashley.
"I told you we should've worn the costumes!" whispered Harvey.
"What costumes?" she whispered back.
The lady looked at them for a few more seconds and said,
"Room 6-10. Sixth floor."
"Thank you very much."
They pressed the up arrow on the left elevator. And saw a sign that said, "Max. 4 persons only"
"Awww, man! One of us has to ride the other one." said Harvey.
"Hmm... girls and boys, then."
So Harvey and Paolo took the left one and Ashley, Lyca and Annika took the right.
In the left elevator...
"Sigh..." sighed Paolo. "What're we gonna do in the guy's apartment anyway? Hang out?"
"I think we should look around and see if he really is the suspect..."
In the right elevator...
There was silence.
Until...
"Dude..." said Annika. "Don't we have jobs? Like, what are we doing here?"
Just then their door opened to the 6th Floor.
Ashley looked at the number on top of the elevator of the left.
"Hm.. the guys are still on the 2nd floor."
In the right elevator...
It stopped at the 2nd floor.
"Going down?" asked a tall, bald man in shades.
"Nope, sorry. Going up." said Harvey.
"That's okay," the man said and got in.
So the elevator went up... up.. so slowly... the door already opened on the 6th floor when,
"If you don't want to get hurt, I suggest you drop whatever you're doing." the man said and pushed Harvey and Paolo out and closed the elevator doors.
"What the--?"
"Finally! What took you guys so long?" asked Ashley.
"Dude! Some guy in the elevator told us to drop it if we don't wanna get hurt." said Paolo.
"By we... you mean... all of us? Or just the two of you?" asked Lyca.
"We don't know... that guy seems creepy... I think we should just drop it..." said Harvey.
"Now you're cowering out? This is just getting interesting!" said Ashley. "Hurry let's follow him!"
At the lobby,
"Hey hey hey!" Paolo asked the lady behind the desk. "Have you seen a uh... tall guy.. bald with shades on? Wearing all black?"
"Yes, sir. He just left."
"Uh.. which way did he go? Left or right?"
"I'd say left, but who knows? Maybe I'm wrong."
So they started to brisk walk (???) toward the door when Annika felt the need to pee.
"Dude! Wait! I'm gonna pee. Lyca, come with me!"
So Lyca obeyed like a loyal dog.
"We'll go around the street asking people, see ya later." said Paolo.
After Annika did her thing, they went out and saw the lady talking to a guy.
"Hey, look!" laughed Annika. "Lady's got a boooyfrieeend!"
"I appreciate you telling them the wrong information." said the guy.
"No problem... are you gonna pay me cash or check?" said the lady behind the desk.
"Gasp!" gasped Annika. "HE'S THE GUY!" [whispered of course]
The guy smiled.
"I don't think so."
He pulled out a guy and shot the lady behind the desk right through the brain.
"WOAH, holy... mother.. bitch!!!" said Annika.
"We have to tell the others!"
Outside,
"No sign of him." said Harvey. "What's wrong with you two? Is Annika's doody shaped like Elvis again?"
"No!"
And they told them everything they saw.
"Wow... but.. what about the body?" asked Paolo.
"We called 911..."
"We've got to find this guy, then!"
"How?! There are a million tall, bald, shades-wearing, black suited guys all over the world!"
They all thought hard..
"Surveilance tapes!" said Ashley. "We could see the guy's face longer and maybe find out who he is!"
"Great! But how are we going to get our hands on them? They're like, really hard to get."
"Do you have to ask?" asked Harvey. "I can get them. Just give me some time."
They went back to Java Perk and ordered coffee.
"Okay, this'll take only a couple of minutes..." said Harvey, typing on his laptop.
"Wow..." said Lyca. "I can't believe we just saw a woman get her brains blown out..."
"Yes. It's disgusting," said Annika.
"But let's think of this in a bigger picture," said Paolo. "We went to look for evidence of the killer of some random guy we don't even know... then a guy shows up and tells us to leave it alone. What does that mean?"
"It means... that it wasn't the guy's roommate who killed him..." said Ashley. "Because the tall guy wouldn't tell us to leave it alone when the police are already seeing the roommate as a suspect!"
"I don't really follow." said Annika.
"It's like this, if the tall guy wants us to stop looking in to this case, that means he's afraid that we might find something out! Which means the roommate ISN'T the killer! It's more likely that the tall bald guy is!"
"Yeah! That fits!" said Paolo. "But what would the two dead guys on 5th and Main have that made the tall bald guy kill them?"
"It couldn't only be what they have... it could be what they did... or what they know... or who they know.. it could be anything!"
"Wow.. this is a real case!" said Lyca. "We should solve it!"
"Again, guys, we're forgetting something!" said Annika.
"What?"
"Our jobs? Well maybe Lyca and I can sacrifice ours but Ashley, Paolo and Harvey have real jobs! You two are doctors, we can't make you leave your jobs. And Harvey's..."
She looked at Harvey.
"...well... what DO you do?"
Harvey did his stare thing.
"I'm working on a software that facilitates inter-business networking!! I told you that so many times!"
"Okaay.. chill!"
"Never mind... huh?"
"What?"
"The... the surveilance tapes.."
"Oh, you got it? Lemme see..."
"I got it... but look! The video gets cut from 10:30 to 10:55! The same time we were there!"
"What! How could the tall guy possibly get his hands on the tapes before you hacked in?"
"I don't know! He could be--"
On his screen, a message popped up from "xXxKiLLeRxXx":
STOP YOUR INVESTIGATIONS NOW OR ELSE.
Silence...
"Well, that's lame." said Paolo.
"What do you mean?"
"The guy is being too obvious," said Ashley. "'STOP YOUR INVESTIGATIONS NOW OR ELSE'? I mean... its just too predictable."
"You mean... you think he WANTS us to continue our investigation?"
"Yes. I think he's making this look more and more interesting so that we'll investigate it even more."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Very good... very, very good!"
The tall bald man came out from the Java Perk bathroom.
"It's okay. I'm not going to kill you--"
"Duh, there are like, half a dozen witnesses if you do." said Ashley.
"Hm. Smart. But don't interrupt."
The tall guy walked over and sat on the couch opposite of the WB.
"I'm amazed. The five of you figured out our plan in less than an hour. None of our experiments have ever achieved that score."
"What are you talking about?" asked Harvey.
"Oh! The famous Harvey Kim!"
"Famous?"
"Your hacking skill and technology-related knowledge is simply astounding." Baldy complimented.
"Thanks..?"
"I guess I have to introduce myself then. I am Henry Watsisname. And I work for--"
"Henry Watsisname?" repeated Paolo. "You expect us to believe that?"
"Smart as always, Dr. Urquico," he said. "Very well, my real name is Henry Watserface. I have proof."
He gave an ID.
"This is a fake ID." said Lyca.
"Oh course a great artist like yourself would know the difference between fake and real, Ms. Lam."
"Just cut the crap and tell us your real name."
"Fine. It really IS Henry Watsername, I just made a fake ID to test if you could really distinguish the difference."
"Who do you work for?"
"A company."
"A company? Or the company?" asked Ashley.
"What's the company?" asked Paolo.
"Like in Prison Break," answered Harvey. "The company works behind the government doing bad stuff."
Henry Watserface laughed. "No, I do not work for the company. I work for A company named Kappa Zeta Epsilon."
"Isn't there a fraternity or a sorority like that?"
"I do not know. But if there is, we had no intention of copying their name."
"Sigma Zeta Epsilon... doesn't that stand for the English letters S, Z and E?"
"Yes. Stands for our three founders: Sam, Zack and Eric. They are the brothers who started this organization."
"What does the organization do?"
"Our fake goal is to promote cleanliness and order throughout NYC. But our real goal is to bring down this other company, called New Kappa. Which we found out was actually 'nu kappa' which is N and K."
"North Korea?" asked Harvey.
"No," said Ashley. "Nuke."
"What makes you think so?"
"Because if Sigma Zeta Epsilon was against North Korea, they wouldn't be approaching us."
"Why not?"
"The president declared that all organizations surrounding North Korea will be tied together by the Department of Defense and that all help required would first be sent by mail."
They stared at each other for a while.
"Very good. And correct. I do not work for the president. And New Kappa is an organization is in fact for nuclear weapons."
"But shouldn't to government work on this?" asked Paolo. "Not... independent.. Greek... organizations?"
"Yes, it should. But this case is different."
"Why?"
"Because the New Kappa organization is a secret organization. Of the US."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Like I said, it's secret."
"So... the gov't don't know about it?"
"Nope. They've worked really hard trying to keep it on the down low."
"So warn the president or something."
"He can't." said Paolo. "Well, he can, but there are thousands of threats sent to the president everyday. They have no good reason to believe this one."
"Correct. Which brings us now... to our issue."
He took out a folder.
"You want us to help you shut down New Kappa?" asked Harvey.
"Precisely."
"What's in it for us?" asked Annika.
"Money. Lots and lots of money." he smiled.
"What else?"
"Well... I'm sure once the organization is down, the president would be glad to give you a favor."
"Hmm.. what else?"
"What more do you want?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to see how far you're gonna go.." said Annika. "How much money are we talking here?"
"Based on the gravity of this mission, I'd say about... $5Million would be fair."
"Hmm.." Annika thought. "A little small... but its fine by me."
"So what do you say? Are you in?" asked Henry.
"I am." said Annika.
"If Annika's in, then I'm in, too." said Lyca.
"This could be fun. I'm in!" said Harvey.
Now down to the doctors.
"Well... we're doctors, you see." Paolo told Henry.
"We fully understand your situations. And..." he took out a piece of paper. "He is a letter of request for the both of you to take a year-long leave to Paris. Signed by the president herself."
"But I thought the president doesn't know about this?"
"She doesn't. I know a guy, who knows a guy who has this friend. He asked for a favor from his close friend THE PRESIDENT and got him to sign this for us."
"Great. Them we're in, too."
"Excellent! We will be contacting you in a few days to brief you on the mission."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Do you think he knows about our powers?" asked Harvey after Henry left.
"Hmm... it doesn't seem like it... he didn't mention them once."
"So why do you think he put us through the test? Of all the people in NYC he chose the five of us."
"We should ask that the next time we meet, then."
"Okay. So... what we're doing... is taking down a secret nuke organization, right?"
"Yeah."
"Why is that so bad? Are they planning to take down the US or something? Because if they're planning to use the nuke for a good thing, I don't think we're on the right side, then."
"I get your point... I think we rushed in to this. We should ask Henry more about this soon."
So now we're gonna start taking down the organization. But we don't know a lot about it. For all we know, we actually COULD be working on the wrong side...
In the next episode, we go on our first mission. Sigma Kappa Epsilon (SKE) got a tip that New Kappa (NK) is sending a messenger from Utah to deliver a message to one of the heads in Texas. Our mission is to intercept the message before the head at Texas reaches it.
Copyright.Ashley Magz.2009
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