MURDER IN 401 AVENUE

The 401 avenue was what we in the Cosmic Prime liked to call the untouchable valley. A small suburban town in-between the Grage mountains from the planet of Apollos, that was transported to the region after the old Brooklyn bridge.

People who lived there were quiet, peaceful and diplomatic. Basically the Canadians of Yolo central, they had a reputation of always throwing parties and being overly hospitable to outsiders. The major reason why Cosmic Prime called the valley untouchable was due to the fact that most of the political figures stayed there. From Congressmen down to the Mayor of the town himself, this was basically one of the main reasons he granted me my freedom.

"Still think you need to seat in prison?" Lemon asked as she joined me to stare at the bodies while we stood over them.

The victims included a child this time. A mom belly flat on the floor with a bloody slash of the letter X on her back, next to her daughter, who looked like she was around eight or nine, sitting down on a rocking chair with bloodshot eyes that seemed to have bled blood.

She was positioned in a way that made her eyes fixated on the body of her mother lying next to the chair. In her hand was the knife used to stab her mother and create the letter X, making it look like a domestic crime done by the daughter herself.

I sniffed, rubbing my nose. "I thought we already caught the X master."

She exhaled. "We did, this is probably some serial killer wannabe trying to fill in the heavy shoes of his or her hero."

"Zeralf never killed children," I replied. "And his ways were instant, no torture. Look at their eyes and ears, the girl's legs and hands have dents, probably from the ropes used to tie her up while she watched her mom being tortured."

"But there are no injuries besides the X mark on the mother's body," she replied.

"The torture was all neurological. Definitely from someone with any ability involving mind walking," I corrected squatting close to the mother's body.

Mind walking was a special ability associated with telepathy. It was part of the family of the power the chief had of persuasion. The ability gives the user access to someone's neural psychology, not just being able to read minds but also to access subconscious thoughts, predict behavioural patterns, and amplify emotions and senses. So basically a mind walker could heightened your sense of pain to the point that even blinking would be excruciating.

"Whoever did this enjoyed what he was doing," I said, snapping the pen I was holding.

"How do you mean?"

"He was in no hurry to leave, he even made himself tea. Forgot to use a saucer though."

Lemon exhaled looking around. She folded her hands as she walked around the bodies being extra observant.

"This guy isn't a newbie, is he?" She asked.

"Not in the slightest," I replied as I watched the coroners zip the bodies into the black body bags. "Can't believe this is the first thing I get to see after being pulled out of prison. No prints? Finger, Foot, any of those?"

She shook her head. I exhaled, sitting on the sofa nearby.

"Speaking of prison," she said. "Sounds like you were going crazy in that cell. The guards in charge of the cameras said you were all over the cell, running and screaming as if someone else was in there with you."

My attention fell on her.

"At one point, they said your eyes glowed as if you were about to go berserk but then you fainted, for eighteen hours?"

"Okay first of all, I didn't faint, alright, only girls faint. I passed out. Second of all, I wasn't crazy, I…nah you won't believe me if I told you."

I stood up following the coroners out the room as they carried the body out. She followed immediately.

"Hey don't do that," she smiled.

I smirked watching as they put the bodies into the back of the ambulance hover car.

"Do what?" I asked with my hands in my pockets.

"That thing you humans do in your movies and books," she replied. "What do they call it, cliffhangers? Don't put me on a cliffhanger."

"But you wouldn't believe me…"

"You don't know that," she smiled.

I looked at her. Then I exhaled checking the time on my wristwatch.

"Okay, I think we got time before the coroners are finished with the bodies, let's get some fries for Burga Queen and I'll tell you."

I left her, walking up to her car.

"There's no Burga Queen for miles," she replied, getting into the car. "But I hear there's this nice place close to the base of the mountain called Pop's Leftovers, they should have some good fries."

"As long as it's food, I'm starving," I replied.

She drove to the cottage diner at the foot of Garge Alpha, the first mountain you see after crossing the old Brooklyn bridge and also the tallest mountain among the three mountains. Pop's Leftovers they called it, which had me thinking we were going to be served leftovers of other people's food.

I pushed the front door open, alerting the bell stuck at the top. Not much crowd, atmosphere was quiet and the air smelt delicious. We found a seat and was approached by one of the waiters, unfortunately they didn't have fries.

When we were done with our order, I began the story of how I saw my father in the cell, and how he fixed my berserk problem and showed me a system status screen that revealed how much potential I had. Of course she didn't believe me, just like I predicted.

"Ezra, the cameras didn't catch any sign of someone else in there with you," she replied while our food was served. "Are you sure you weren't hallucinating?"

"I wasn't Lemon," I replied taking a bite of the waffle pancake. "He was there, I could see him, hear him, heck I could touch him!"

"That means you saw a ghost?" She asked, taking a sip of her hot choco.

"Ah, not a ghost. Ghost aren't real."

She kept quiet for a while, watching me as I ate, eating her waffle pancakes slowly. I looked at her simultaneously while I ate quickly like a starving hyena. Then she said;

"Alright let's see it then."

"See what?" I asked.

"This so-called system you supposedly have."

"Oh that," I smirked. "Don't worry, I got you. Let me just…get this over with."

She nodded, watching me gobble up the food. She smiled, sliding her leftovers over to me and then sipping her chocho as she watched me gobble up that one too. After a while I was done.

"Okay I'm ready," I said rubbing my hands together.

"Alright, shoot boss," she replied, dropping her cup.

So I did.

"System activate!" I exclaimed. Nothing happened, there was no noise, no swoosh and the appearance of a blue screen. There was nothing.

"System activate!" I exclaimed once more, this time taking the attention of some in the diner. They turned wondering what was happening…nothing, nothing was happening.

Lemon grinned, taking her cup and sipping some more of her drink.

"Don't say a word," I growled.

"Hmm," she replied holding her laughter in.

"It worked the first time, I swear!"

She burped a laugh, almost spilling the drink. Then at that moment my Bandphone rang.

"Saved by the ring," she said laughed.

I glared, answering the call. It was the coroner, I had told them earlier to give me a call if they found anything about the bodies that could help with the investigation.

"What's the 501?" I asked.

"We found something Ezra," he replied. "I think it's something you've gotta see for yourself."

"We're on our way," I replied, ending the call.

We left the diner immediately, driving forty five minutes to the Coroner's Morgue, a building not too far from the Precinct where bodies are kept in coolers until relatives came to claim them.

We were shown where the bodies were being examined and you wouldn't believe what we saw. Their hearts had been compress, squeezed like paper, into a small tiny black sphere that was hovering in the expanse of the heart's pericardium.

"What the hell is that?" Lemon and I asked, peering into the opening.

"Our tests show high levels of dopamine as indicated by the levels of excited neurons found in the brain," he replied.

"Dopamine?" Lemon asked, "so they died happy?"

"Not necessarily," the Coroner replied, scrolling over to another page on his holo clipboard. "The facial haemorrhage was as a result of the rupture of multiple veins and arteries in the head while the heart was being turned into…that."

"Damn," Lemon and I simultaneously said, folding our hands.

"We have reason to believe this was done by three individuals and not just one," he added. "We've narrowed the possible powers down, would you like to see them?"

"Yeah," I nodded, taking a last look at the sphere in the pericardium.

Lemon was already ahead of me, walking out the door. I was being left behind, I had to catch up. But before I could take two steps away from the dead body, the hand of the dead girl grabbed my arm! Her eyes glowed blue and it was fixed on my eyes.

"Return my powers!" She growled, her voice sounding like the unanimous voice of ten men.

I tried to free myself from her but her grip was strong. She spoke again;

"Return my powers or your world shall plummet down into the abyss of doom!"

After that, she let go and fell off the table, down to the ground, as lifeless as she was five minutes earlier.