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Neon Noir: The Vigil Of The Observer

The city's shadows wrangled the guardian and clipped its wings just to let it live. Too bad for them, those were just a distraction. Now that the guardian is finally free to be where it wants, even in your mind, listen to whatever it wants, even your thoughts, and erase whomever it wants, literally, without facing any repercussions, who would dare to go against it all? Dave is one such person. His life began its downward spiral when his wife lost her memories, wiped away intentionally. A crime he couldn't solve. Due to which he, who wrote two decades of Inception city's history, was reduced to a drunken mess, ending with thugs taking him hostage. But Dave wasn't broken yet, no, that only happened when he returned to the response his methods generated, those that forced death on his admirer. Dave had been naïve, enough to think the people who used his absence to gain power would let him come back in peace. But will their warnings be enough to stop him, or will he merge with the shadows and become obscure, like everyone else against the guardian did? Who'll win? Dave, or the guardian everyone trusts to look after them?

Hooin_Kyoma · Sci-fi
Not enough ratings
45 Chs

Case - 2 : Evidence

Standing up, I walked to the door after grabbing a few evidence bags from my drawer.

And before the door could fully slide open, I slipped past the small gap between it and the wall.

'I need to get a little thinner', I thought again.

"See you later Sergeant Dave?"

Rushing to the entrance, I waved goodbye to Novie who was also happy to see me so soon.

"Althea, when's the next garbage collection round in Inception city?"

"In four days."

"Was there one today?"

"No, but there was one yesterday."

"Shit. At what time?"

"At Seven am."

"Tsk. That tells me nothing. Was the Mnemosyne Memory Solutions building collected around that time too?"

[Calculating the time it takes for Garbage disposal trucks to arrive at Mnemosyne Memory Solutions from their stations.]

While Althea calculated the time it took for garbage disposal trucks to arrive, I booked the closest PTV for me to travel to Mnemosyne.

[According to my calculations it would've been around Eight AM given the traffic disruptions along the way during the morning.]

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

That's about the same time, I got into an accident.

They might've gotten rid of the evidence.

"But they also might not have."

The PTV arrived at the landing deck, the driver was not Raivesh or anyone I particularly recognized. But the driver did recognize me.

"Ser- Sergeant Dave!!" The driver spoke shocked.

"Yes, could you please take me to the garbage disposal floor of the Mnemosyne Memory Solutions Building? I'm in a little bit of a hurry."

"On it." The driver nodded as he inputted the destination into the maps app and allowed the automatic PTV steering AI to take control of the PTV to deliver me the smoothest and fastest ride experience he could.

I nervously tapped my feet as the driver made conversation.

"Are you on a case Sergeant Dave?"

"Yes."

"Oh!? What is it about? A bomb exploding perhaps?"

"I'm sorry, it is quite an important case, forgive me for being unable to share details."

"Oh! I get it! Don't worry. Silence is key, I understand." The driver nodded.

Since the driver hadn't spoken for the next few seconds I began to imagine that he'd understood that I wasn't going to reveal anything, yet he asked me a new question.

"Can I do something to help you? I can act as the backup perhaps?"

"I'm sure you'd make a very good backup." I started and ended with another lie, "But my colleagues are also arriving on the scene, so don't worry. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"I understand." The driver nodded.

Thankfully the trip was a short one since Mnemosyne Memory Solutions was just 'round the corner and I was spared another question that hoped to turn the fanfiction of the driver into a reality.

'I need to get back my AeroStrider.'

I stepped out onto the landing pad as the PTV came to a slow hovering stop and paid the driver using a wavelength ID scanner, giving him a normal tip this time so that he didn't follow me around again as Raivesh did.

Stepping onto what appeared to be the thirtieth floor I walked to the entrance of the floor that was half open yet guarded by two workers in construction orange.

"Ser- Sergeant Da- Da- Da- Dave!?" One of the security guards stuttered out my name while the other was still in the process of opening and closing his mouth.

"Can I go inside?" I asked hoping they wouldn't ask me for a warrant.

But after they remained stunned for nearly a minute they shook their heads.

"I'm sorry Sergeant, even if it's you we cannot allow anyone inside without a warrant or an employee ID."

"Hmm.. Could you help me out a little. It's urgent, it's for a case."

"...*shake* *shake* We're sorry, it would be improper of us to assist you in entering."

"No, I don't need to enter!" I waved my hands lightly to indicate my difference.

The two of them looked at each other confused and asked me, "What then would you be referring to?"

"Can either of you go inside and ask the workers if they spotted a bloody shirt and pant while they were sorting the trash yesterday or today?"

"Hmm…we have a protocol for such things, so unless you were informed about it earlier, it is likely that such a thing was not found."

"Could you still check it out for me? Perhaps you missed it?"

The guards looked at each other and nodded.

"I'll check it out, but you must wait here."

"Sure." I nodded.

The guard left to go in while the other guard waited outside to keep an eye on me.

"Do you know if Mnemosyne Memory Solutions' trash was picked up yesterday?" I asked.

"Yes. It was." The guard replied with confidence.

"And how would you know?"

"Because I was on the garbage disposal shift yesterday. I remember checking off Mnemosyne Memory Solutions' pick-up box."

"Huh. Notice anything strange while you went to pick up their trash yesterday?"

"No there wasn't anything strange." the guard shook his head.

"Even a time delay or something?"

"No, the receptionist handed me the trash as soon as I arrived, like usual."

"Huh."

There was a soft pause before I asked another question.

"Have you ever seen patients come in and out of their office?"

"No, but I do know where they test their tech."

"Oh? You know what they're working on?" I asked a little surprised since all the employees were supposed to sign an NDA.

"Yes, I know because usually Prometheus hands over the morning trash, but he hasn't been for the last two weeks."

"And?"

"And I once heard him and Lazarus argue about their product, but I haven't revealed this information to anyone else."

"Do you remember what the argument was about?"

"It wasn't anything big, they were just arguing something about the parameters at which the system runs. If I am right they used the words, 'this here can't be negative! If it is, nothing would work!' or something like that."

"Hmm…I see. Thank you for answering my questions."

"Ah! There's no need to thank me, compared to you I only handle the garbage."

"Haha! Don't sell yourself short, you bear a lot of trash to keep the city clean. Just like me." I patted his shoulder and to give him some breathing room I walked over to the edge of the landing deck and looked down at the traffic below.

'If my theory is right, there should be a bloody shirt stashed somewhere.'

'I know I'm right, all I have to do is find the evidence now.'

"Sergeant!" The security guard that had gone in to look for my evidence called back.

"Oh? You found it?" I asked surprised since he'd returned quite quickly.

"No. Unfortunately not. There trash hadn't been unpacked yet and I checked through it, but didn't find any bloody clothes."

"...I see. Thank you for looking through it anyway." I nodded.

"No problem Sergeant anything for the city."

"Haha, thank you." I nodded one last time and picked up one of the hoverboards left behind on the landing deck to travel toward Mnemosyne Memory Solutions directly.

'If the trash isn't in the garbage collection area then it still has to be with the murderer.'

'Where else could it be?' I thought as I floated by on the hoverboard, climbing rungs of traffic on vertical crossings as I inched closer and closer to Mnemosyne.

Arriving at the landing deck, I left my HoverBoard to park automatically and began to walk towards the entrance of Mnemosyne Memory Solutions.

*SSSSHHHHHH*

The glass doors opened silently as the cool Air conditioned wind blew at me from the inside and cooled me off a little.

Evelyn the receptionist still looked busy and hadn't realized I'd entered the office as I slowly stepped past her and entered the main area of the office.

'Now all I have to do is find the eviden-'

But before I could even begin, Lazarus suddenly appeared in front of me.

"What happened Sergeant? You've returned?" He asked.

'Does he have no other work?'

"Oh nothing, I was just wondering if you were available to answer a few questions."

"You couldn't have emailed them to me?"

"Oh come on, don't be a tease, you know the law is weird, sometimes only recordings suffice."

"Please tell me what questions do you have?" Lazarus directed me toward the glass wall office from where he could see everything like a panopticon.

"A few simple questions regarding your event in a few days."

"Ask away."

"Althea please record the following as evidence." I said out loud for Lazarus to hear.

"Will you be demonstrating how your device works in the upcoming event?"

"Yes, we will be. We will choose a lucky volunteer from the crowd to demonstrate the effectiveness of our device."

"Wouldn't the crowd think it's risky? Trying to recover memory after they have to first be mindwiped?"

"I'm sure there will be people willing to try out the product when we've already proved its effectiveness to the Feds."

"I see. And how many guests will be arriving to this event?"

"About three hundred guests."

"That's quite a lot, is it not?"

"We've rented a large open area hall to accommodate everyone."

"That's nice and will the employees be invited too?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure they'll come there."

"Oh? Why so? Wouldn't they like to meet a few celebrities?"

"Haha, I'm sure some of them would but most like me are just tired of working on the project so much that we've gotten fed up of it."

"I heard recently that you and Prometheus had an argument about something over the last two weeks. What would that be about?"

"Argument?" Lazarus pretended to be confused but then his eyes widened.

"Ah! You mean the theta parameter."

"What is that about?"

"Ah that parameter was nothing too big, we just figured that the device wouldn't work right if we made a mistake while setting up the machine. It wasn't an argument more a sort of dishing out so that we could figure out the solution. That's generally how I and Prometheus talk abotu things. While other people think it is an argument to us its just a conversation."

"Makes sense. Those were the only questions I had. Is there anything else you would like to add to this QnA session?"

"No. Nothing else Sergeant Dave."

"Thank you then."

"No thank you."

Lazarus stood up but I sat him down saying, "I can see the eyebags under your eyes, you need proper rest and sleep. Take care, I can show myself out."

Lazarus still wanted to escort me out but he was too sleepy to even try.

'Huh. He hasn't slept in a while. Is that a side effect of using the device?' I wondered.

'Now where's that evidence?' I thought as I continued to walk out under Lazarus's gaze that lingered on my back.

As I continued to walk, my eyes fell on the unassuming fire escape that was still blocked by a bucket full of water and mops and other cleaning equipment.

'Found it!'

I wanted to rush toward the cleaning equipment and verify if my theory was true but Lazarus was closer to the fire exit than I was and I didn't have a warrant.

But I knew of a better way to get the evidence than the fire exit.

I just had to get to the other side of the door.

Walking out, I pulled up my HoverBoard once again and began to ride it as I hovered past the windows and ended up on the backside of the building.

The side with the fire exit staircase attached.

Leaving the Hoverboard to hover I jumped into the stairwell and began to climb the staircase looking for my evidence.

I didn't have to search for long until I found it.

The trail for my evidence.

The blood trail.

"Althea, record this blood trail leading to the fire exit of Mnemosyne Memory Solutions as evidence."

Picking out an evidence bag from my back pocket I swabbed some of the blood to send to Hawthorne later so that an analysis could be conducted on them.

'I finally did it.'

'I finally had evidence.'