Chapter Text
VIDEO RECORDING - INTERVIEW 4
“-we waited at the entrance and i stopped Martin from going, i wanted to go too truly i did, but Tim was mostly out of it and so was Rosie and leaving them alone would have been a terrible idea”
The camera was sorely focused on Sasha James and kept zooming in and out. No glitch in any way.
“That matches what everyone else said, including the times, thank you miss James, this is a tremendous help”
“Is it though?”
The officer pauses and asks what does that mean. Sasha looks at him before shifting. “Is there going to be an answer? To any of it? Do we get to know what happened…to our friends and coworkers?”
The officer tenses and says they are all investigating what happened and will be informed accordingly. Sasha stares at them for a long moment before letting out a sigh and apologizing.
“My nerves are busted, i just…they are all gone, and i don't know why or how or what to even do, i just moved on autopilot today”
Officer Addams sighs and says he understands but its too early to truly tell anything, there are investigations to be done and studies to perform along with the autopsies.
“Yes, of course, if you need anything or there is answers please just…just call”
“We will”
It glitches.
No they won't.
The loud noise of the city is a relief, almost, compared to the deadly silence inside the building, it makes the hairs on the back of her arms stand up. Basira stares at the report, paramedics coming and going constantly with bags, the entrance to the building was surrounded by a perimeter as the police moved in and out trying to understand what happened. People were outside looking at them, there were a few reporters already trying to make their way to ask questions.
Her boss was trying to handle it as it were while she dealt with the actual meat of the problem, one good thing is that she doesn't have the spotlight when it comes to that. Basira is many things but tactful is not one of them, she is a bit too blunt for the public eye and if she were to deal with the news she knows she will come out as a bit too cold and callous. Its a pity, but its what it is.
Nevertheless its not the important part.
The facts on what happened were simple, cut and dry, its the reason behind them and the outcome that makes little sense at all. There was noise, the one made by the medical teams, her coworkers and the firefighters. It made the place feel a bit more alive.
But just a bit, the sense of wrongness didn't stop, the quiet was despite all their movement almost deafening. This was an office in the middle of the day, or should have been. People running around and doing their jobs, yet, there is none of that, no one…left.
Its just the emergency response that is making any noise at all.
The Magnus Institute started the day normally, but by lunch time everything went to shit. The police got the call around two pm, by the time they arrived the fire department was there as well dealing with the fire on the archives, or what was left of them, nothing more than ashes and soot. Basira stared at the damage and couldn't wrap her head around it.
Down the stairs leading to the archives, the place was, from wall to wall, carbonized. Not a single thing there remained intact. Only the metal bookshelves were left standing but only barely so, they were blackened and bent due to the temperature of the fire, some of them were even half melted.
The amount of heat that was required to do that was far too great, to burn the entire place in such a short amount of time, the most puzzling thing was that the fire did not extend further than the archives. Somehow the place didn't go down in a blaze by some miracle that kept it all stuck inside the room. Which was as far as she knew not likely to happen, not with a building this old, not with so much paper and wood making up most of the institute’s architecture. By all means it should have spread upwards and caused even more of a tragedy.
Yet it did not, as if the fire was merely concentrated in this place only. Basira frowns and bites her lip, standing in the scorched room, trying to imagine where the fire would have started. From the scorching marks, and the firefighters in the scene she talked to, the fire likely started in the archivist office. Her eyes trailing to the room, the door had completely burned down so she could see part of the room there.
Every last paper inside the archive was gone, burnt to nothing but ashes, same with the wooden desks. It was all just…gone.
All of it.
Basira checks the archivist room. The smell of smoke was deep and it made her cough a bit. The room seemed stable, but the place…it was nothing but a black hole. If the fire started here, it burned bright before spreading quickly to the subsequent room. Her eyes looked around the room, nothing remained, it was inconceivable to have a fire this hot but so…concentrated. Paper burns easy, but when there are stacks of it usually its harder to burn all of it. Usually there are things left, but in this case…
Ashes.
She shivers, the hairs on the back of her neck standing and she turns around immediately, the sensation of being watched makes her uneasy, but when she looks Basira can't find anything strange. The sensation doesn't leave, it persists making her clench her jaw.
As she walks a bit her boot bumps into something on the floor. Puzzled she looks down to what she…presumes was a carbonized carpet. Her shoe had kicked part of it and underneath she saw indentations on the floor.
Puzzled, she calls attention to one of the other officers there who knelt down next to her, they brush the sooth a bit and they see the outline of what she presumes is a trap door.
Well, well, the day doesn't stop being weirder and weirder still, and that wasn't even the end of it. This was, as a matter of fact, the least weird part of the day. She is used to some weirdness, some strange cases, but this took the cake in the seemingly strange and unconnected events of the day.
She is told to leave as more officers come down to try and pry it open, there is a latch for a key but it has been burnt off so they must try and break it.
VIDEO RECORDING - INTERVIEW 2
“Mr. Blackwood-”
“Can you just tell me what happened to Jon? He wasn't…the fire in the archives, he wasn't there was he? He- he was supposed to see Elias but if he didnt-”
“Mr.Blackwood, we need you to tell us what you remember please”
“...Sasha and Tim left first, I had to…I had to pick up my lunch from my bag and…and I stayed back for a moment to ask Jon if he wanted…if he would have wanted to come up with us. He dismissed me but he did pause to tell us to enjoy our meal. Afterwards I left to the canteen with my things. It was all okay for a while, nothing out of the- the ordinary. Do you think it could have been the food? Something in it? I don't know what else to explain-”
“Focus please. Continue”
A deep shaky breath, the camera zooms on Martin’s face.
“I wasn't paying attention to the time, not really, Sasha and Tim were joking and I was trying to join in, I have only met them a few months ago since we got promoted to the archives. Before that I worked in the library so i did not interact with them. They were joking when suddenly everyone just…fell flat to the floor, I stood up, I thought for a moment it was a…a prank, you know those videos of people doing like…flash mobs or something like that? But no one got up and the silence was so deep I simply realized something was truly, deeply wrong. Tim simply paled and froze, Sasha moved, and Rosie- i barely even realized she was there, yelled. I might have yelled honestly i can't remember”
“Did anything happen, did you notice something else?”
“N-no not immediately, I suppose. Well, I was the first one who noticed the…smell of something burning but not right there, just later, while we were walking to the entrance door to wait once Rosie called the police. Before that i just did what Sasha asked and checked for a pulse and…god there was none, no one- they all just”
“Deep breaths Mr.Blackwood”
“S-sorry i just- i never had seen an-an actual body in my life, just in- in the telly or stuff like that, you would think working in an institute of the paranormal you would be into that stuff but i always found it too gnarly and-”
The camera zooms in and out, it focuses on Martin for a bit before latching to the officer.
“If you could please keep to your statement?”
“Right, right. It's…nothing more to say really, i smelled the smoke first, i hate the…the scent of it. So I told the others and then I panicked thinking about Jon. I wanted to go check on him but they wouldn't let me, Tim was mostly out of it, Rosie was talking to herself, i think she was saying this was just a bad dream? Sasha was the one who latched to me and told me to stay to not split up”
“I see. Very well, thank you for your cooperation Mr.Blackwood you will be contacted for any new information or question, for now…you should go back home”
“...is Jon dead? Just-” He rubs his face and asks more seriously. “I know you can't say details but is he dead? Just tell me that”
“...Mr.Simms is among the casualties yes”
The camera latches onto the expression of his face, crestfallen and guilty.
“If i had just asked him to come with-”
“Nothing you could have done, just…please”
“Right, right. Im…im going home”
She goes to find Daisy in the meantime. She was checking the mess upstairs more specifically in the office of the head of the institute. In her path there Basira sees more bodies being moved outside.
That's what gets her, what she truly doesn't understand. Because upstairs, every last single employee that worked on the building was dead. All of them fell down and never got up, their hearts seemingly stopped at the same time from the account of the only four survivors of the whole ordeal.
Rosie Zampano, Martin Blackwood, Timothy Stoker and Sasha James were the only ones who were spared somehow, the paramedics were looking at them checking for any signs of anything, from gas poisoning to a virus to anything that could possibly mean they would follow in the steps of everyone else in the building. Basira will talk to them later to get their statements individually, for now they are all kept apart so as to ensure they cant make up a story together. If that is what is happening.
The death’s of everyone in the building so far had been ruled accidental until they had more evidence and studies. There were no signs of struggle, no external injury, nothing. When she finds Daisy, staring at a corpse in the library, Basira notices with some grim realization that they all looked like dolls whose strings got cut all of a sudden. Every single last one of them dropped dead on the spot right in the middle of their day, their eyes still open and their expressions…Their expressions were all set into whatever they were before their deaths, some were smiling, others were frowning, they all just died on the spot.
Now, the only two people who showed signs of their death being more than just a sudden freaky accident, were the head of the institute Elias Bouchard and the archivist himself, Jonathan Simms.
She and Daisy head to the office, they are let in by the research team, since this was an active murder case they were checking every last thing in the office so she and Daisy had to be careful and put on some gloves.
According to what little they got out of the four hysterical employees left alive before their actual interview, Rosie claimed that Bouchard was in his office when she left around 1 o’clock to get her lunch at the canteen. While there she spotted Miss. James, Mr. Blackwood and Stoker all in a little group eating together, the archivist Mr. Simms missing. Which according to her was not unsurprising as the man was a bit of a hermit.
Jonathan had told his assistants that he had to go talk to Elias about something involving tape recorders.
Point is, Rosie was with them when everyone dropped dead. Quite literally that's what they described, everyone was talking and moving and then they were all just gone. Fell with dull thuds on the floor. That was at 1:20 pm, they called the police at 1:30 and by 2 pm, the police, the firefighters and medical services were all there dealing with the fallout.
In that span of time, that window between 1pm and 2 pm, all three events happened, however determining which one occurred first was hard.
Because aside from the seemingly impossible fire and sudden death of everyone working there sans those four, Jonathan Simms and Elias Bouchard were murdered in the man’s office. They were both on the floor however the only reason they know it was different was due to the injuries, which no one else had.
Jonathan was on the carpet, Basira knelt down to see him better, his neck was bruised and like Bouchard, very clearly broken. Someone had murdered both men, and had enough strength to actually break their necks with their bare hands it seemed. Which sent a shiver down her spine. Simms was scrawny and thin, easy to pick if she were honest. Still it was quite the shock to see something so…visceral.
Daisy was standing like a hawk, her nose twitching ever so often as her eyes travelled around the room trying to find some sort of clue. Basira leaves her partner to it as she studies Simms.
Aside from the obvious cause of death, Basira checked his wrists. Simms had gashes on them as if something had held them and cut him in the process, to Basira they looked like claw marks. Daisy’s lip turned at the sight of it, her eyes looking at his body with concentration so Basira did the same.
He was an unassuming guy, academic, he didn't look like much, body wise, he was thin and a bit frail looking, so overpowering him would be easy, it was clear he tried to struggle, but…it did him little good.
Bouchard thought? He was found clutching a bloody pen on his hand. It was the sort of pen that you would uncap it and had a hidden blade. He struggled more than Simms did and the assailant did more harm as well. His neck was broken but he had a bruise on his face where he was punched clearly. His eyes thought…
Basira’s lip thin, he was dead with his eyes wide open like most people in the institute really, they were staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. Not uncommon for dead people she has seen her fair share, but there was just something unnerving about his corpse and his eyes, they seemed almost lively, even if his body was drained of blood and was slowly setting in rigor mortis.
Mr.Simms, eyes as a contrast looked dull.
She turns to Daisy who moves to the door, Basira can see the cogs moving in her head and so she stands by the desk. Her back to the door. She hears the door click open and shut, a sure movement. They must both have heard, if they thought it might have been Rosie… Bouchard would have seen whoever entered first, simply because he was found closer to the desk. Therefore he was talking to Simms when someone entered the room. Basira turns to Daisy.
It was almost shocking how close she was and how quick her hands were on her neck, a mockery of the movement that would have done Simms in.
Yet.
Yet…the marks on the wrist, if someone entered Bouchard would have seen it first.
Daisy must know because she frowns.
Second option.
“What if Bouchard saw, Simms turned around and that's when they grabbed him, he put his arms up like this-” And she lifted her arms up in an x shape in front of her chest. Daisy ponders as she stands back a bit. She lifts her hands and grabs Basira by the wrists, trying to pry them apart. She had to use force, she could see it breaking skin, the claw marks though…well.
Basira hesitates to consider it.
Her answer is pensive as she releases Basira and looks at the room, people were taking photos. “Could be. Then, since Simms was so scrawny it quickly hurts him so it has time to snap the neck. But the strength though-” And that's where Basira’s lips turn into a straight line.
“I know, but we have seen worse and sometimes adrenaline and sheer strength do the trick. He kills him and throws him to the floor in a slump. Bouchard has time to pick the pen knife, tries to make his way out, but he is cornered here. Perhaps the guy punches him? The knife has blood in it right?”
Daisy nods but her eyes narrow at it, Basira sees the pen and the few drops of blood on the floor and her jaw tenses. It was black.
Blood tends to rust a dark brown, or be red for a while, not stark black. There were plenty of drops on the floor and in Bouchard's hand.
“Right…let's just continue. He stabs him, he gets a punch to release him. Then…” Then he is killed by the same tactic, a broken neck.
“Could be, seems it makes the most sense. Still feels like we are missing something important though” Indeed, but for now there is little else they can do other than speculate. Basira has a horribly unnerving feeling in this office in particular, takes her back to the academy and the scrutiny of her superiors. Bouchard's unseeing gaze on the floor does not make it any better to be honest.
She was glad when both bodies were removed from the premises.
VIDEO RECORDING - INTERVIEW 3
“-I have told you, Mr.Bouchard did not say anything else, he did not…he simply told me to go have lunch and so i did and then everyone was dead, he was alive and well last i saw him! You can- can check the camera at the end of the hallway”
“We shall do that but in the meantime, please if you could-”
“I told you, I left for lunch around 1pm, then I spent fifteen minutes chatting with Amelia when suddenly- oh the noise. That noise is just stuck in my- the thud just echoed all around us, it was everyone, the floor shook with the force. I screamed, I did, I admit it. The only other ones who were moving were Tim, Sasha and…that boy from the library i forget his name”
“Martin?”
“Yes, him! They were there and Sasha was talking but i was panicking and i…i froze, i knew i shouldn't have but my legs felt like jelly and i wanted to- i wanted to go back to my desk and call Mr.Bouchard to inform him of this but i couldn't move and then i only snapped out of it when Sasha yelled at me to call for paramedics. I work…I work well under pressure usually, I do. It was just how sudden it all was that it completely blindsided me”
The camera keeps its view but it glitches several times when Rosie mentions Elias Bouchard.
“We went to the entrance passing by all the…the bodies” She shudders and covers her face.
“It was horrible, they were all just…so still, for a moment I could pretend they were passed out, but they weren’t moving. You know, you never appreciate the way one moves when they are sleeping, the way your chest rises and falls but none of them were breathing and their eyes…oh their eyes, that was the worst. They were all dead with their eyes wide open, staring at nothing. At us. It felt like I was being judged while walking down the hallway. I couldn't smell the smoke like Martin mentioned, I just sat and…and wished it was all a bad dream, that's all. Afterwards you all came in and i directed the first responders to the different parts of the building before being ushered out to the ambulance”
“That matches more or less what the officer who first came in said along with the others recollections of events, i'm sorry Miss. Zampano, for all of this. Truly.”
“I just..it was all alright till then, it was a normal day and then…”
“Do you have anyone at home to keep you company…?”
“No- no i divorced my- i…i think i have someone i can talk to”
“Good, if there are any news or questions we shall contact you”
“Of course…sir?”
“Yes?”
“...is Mr.Bouchard dead as well?”
“...indeed”
“I see. Very well, i shall inform his-”
“No, no, we already took care of it, his partner will be arriving later today to see the body”
The camera zooms so fast towards the officer it blurs the image. Yet the conversation shifts as Rosie speaks and the zoom disappears.
“Do you need the personal information of the staff members?”
“Excuse me?”
“Their files? Emergency contacts, most of them as far as i know don't have close kin to call but they had emergency numbers and if i can help-”
“We will look into it ourselves Miss.Zampano, if you could please?”
“Right, right”
Whoever killed Simms and Bouchard is likely the same person who burnt down the archives or perhaps someone in cahoots with the murderer, two crimes at the same time, no one to see it due to…whatever happened to the rest of the staff. It makes sense.
Martin, Tim, Sasha and Rosie were suspects unfortunately. Albeit with the cameras on the institute soon they will have a better idea on whether or not they were telling the truth. Those were already being taken into custody to study and see, there was one near the entrance of the institute, one in the canteen, another in the library, one by the hallway leading to the archives and lastly in the corner of the hallway to Elias office near Miss. Zampano’s desk there was another camera pointing to the hallway, so anyone who came and went would be recorded there.
All that said, there was still a lot to consider and above all else the biggest concern was what happened to the rest of the staff. Because two of them were clearly murdered, while the rest however simply…passed away.
When she goes out with Daisy, she feels seen, the camera above them moves as they pass next to it. Daisy tenses next to her and Basira bites her inner cheek. Something was really wrong with this place.
It made little sense to her what happened and she was starting to believe this was a section 31 deal. Her partner seemed to be quite sure as they made their way out.
“I'm just glad we are not the ones who have to call the families”
She agrees albeit later when she asks, just out of morbid curiosity a few hours later, she is told most workers there didn't have families or people to pick up their calls.
Simms apparently had no one other than his ex-girlfriend who seems to have been his last emergency contact. The poor guy must have forgotten to change it. Somehow so many people are dead and yet most of them had no one to miss them. It just sat wrong with her.
She hears someone speak on the phone on her way to the bathroom in the station. The place was chaotic due to the incident so she pays it little mind when one of her superiors' voice filters through the buzz.
“-yes he is dead, should we inform his…husband?” Basira continues her path, unaware of the things going on around her.
On the other side of the line, Nathaniel Lukas sighs and says to call his nephew to inform him of Elias' passing. When he hangs up he takes a long moment to shudder. As much as he disliked the man, his loss left a vacuum.
The problem, Nathaniel muses, was who did it? Who killed Elias and subsequently got everyone else killed. He knows that's exactly what happened, but the thought of someone being bold enough to go and murder Elias right on his little castle was inimaginable.
He will need to make some phone calls. There is a lot to be done now and plenty of damage control to set in motion. Nathaniel has a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, he was an old man but somehow Elias being gone felt like an omen of sorts. Still, he pays little attention to what his nephew will feel, why? After all it was a blessing, Peter can finally focus and stop meandering with that man and his…feelings.
The lonely will be pleased with it. At last their wayward heir had found himself released of his sentiment.
No, he did not care what that meant for Peter other than later on they could perhaps arrange a marriage more suited for him. Perhaps at last he would deign himself to produce heirs of his own.
Nathaniel smokes a cigarette and calls Fairchild and Rayner.
Someone has to help deal with this mess.
VIDEO RECORDING - INTERVIEW 1
“-i need you to tell me exactly what happened”
“I have told the detective i met first-”
“Just bear with us, you wrote your statement to us-”
“I know how this works! Okay? I know how this works, I have talked to the police before to do follows up!!! I just dont- are they all-?”
“Mr.Stoker please, we have it written but we want your account on tape, the paramedics have released you already, there is no foreign substance or anything in your blood, we just need to know what happened from your perspective and if there is anything else you remember”
“....”
“Mr.Stoker?”
“What happened to Jon? No one will tell us, did he…is he…?”
“...we can't give you that information yet Mr.Stoker, please”
The man shifted uncomfortably, his body language was closed off and stiff.
“Me and Sasha left the archives first, Martin had to pick up something from his bag, it didn't take him long, five minute tops, we arrived to the canteen around 12:50, i know because i had to make the line and i was joking with Sasha about Jon being…being uptight about how long we took for our lunch break” His voice breaks a bit at the end. He clears his throat and continues as the officer nods at him.
“The three of us made the line and waited to buy some food, Martin had his own food but still came in with us to sit down at the table, he was fretting over Jon staying over recording statements but Sasha piped in saying he was going to talk to Elias about using tape recorders since those did not distort like our usual equipment-”
Timothy takes a deep breath and releases it, opening and closing his palms over the table.
“At around…1 pm I think I spotted Rosie entering the canteen. There is a big clock there you know? I suppose Elias thought it would ensure we didn't skirt our duties if we had time hanging over our heads so its fairly accurate to be honest. We didn't talk to her, she went to chat with some of the girls from the library and that was it, nothing much. We were eating and joking but then-” He stands straight and his muscles tense, his eyes stare at his hands with a look of fear. “Do you know? How a body sounds falling to the ground? its like a big thud, dead weight really, now picture that noise in one single fell swoop multiplied by 20 to thirty people. I remember the noise vividly, the loud thud as everyone in the room, just…just fell down on the spot. Completely boneless”
“...what did you do then?”
“Me?” Timothy runs his hand through his hair several times blinking rapidly as he grips his hair for a second before laughing bitterly. “I froze. Big moment really, I always just freeze when something-” He goes silent, his expression pained. “I completely froze because they all looked like dolls who got their strings cut. Martin let out a noise of distress i think? Rosie stood up too, her hands on her mouth as she started to breath heavily maybe she screamed i can't remember honestly. Sasha- oh Sasha was the one who went to check on them, she was pale but she moved to check for a pulse”
At last he slumps his hands covering his face as he takes a deep breath.
“She urged Martin and me to move and help check on the rest but I couldn't, I actually just…i think my pressure went down, I got dizzy and I had to sit because the floor felt like it was moving. They were all so still in the worst part was the silence, aside from us the canteen had gone dead silent”
“That's when Miss Zampano called?”
Timothy nods. “Sasha yelled at her to call, she was shaking badly and I think Rosie was frozen like me. Fight flight or freeze instinct you know? We both froze, but Martin went to check on me and Sasha to Rosie and then she was calling and Sasha was dragging me out and that's when we realized, it wasn't just the canteen, it was everywhere. After that things get a bit blurry. We went to the entrance to wait for the police, I think. Martin was jumpy and kept asking about Jon but we kept him there because we didn't know what to do”
“I see. Then at 2pm the police, ambulance and firefighters arrived”
“...yes, we didn't even know the archives…we could smell smoke, but we couldn't tell where it was coming from”
“Alright, thank you Mr.Stoker that's all, we will come up with an update once we know more and we are able to inform you of any changes”
For a moment there is a look of bitterness. “Of course officer, i'm sure you will”
The recording glitches for a moment before going back to normal.
MORGUE
5 PM
Today was the mother of bad days, there was not enough space for the amount of bodies and they had to actually find other places to put the rest of the corpses from the Magnus incident.
He was waiting for a visitor, he was surprised there weren't as many people coming in to ask about the bodies, but this one supposedly was important. The husband of the deceased was from a rich family from old money and they had to make this whole affair go as quickly as possible.
Kevin stares at a body writing down in his tablet some details for the coroner's report.
A knock on the door makes him let out a sigh, he goes to open it, an officer stands next to a…mountain of a man, He was two heads taller than Kevin and he was even more wide. His expression was set in a vapid smile while his eyes were empty, he can't imagine he must be happy considering the circumstances of why he is here.
But there is something truly unnerving about the man he can't quite place. It makes the morgue feel colder than usual as the two enter, the officer stands by as the man stares at him. Kevin clears his throat and the officer says they have come to see Mr.Bouchard. The man doesn't speak.
He was wearing a blue coat and a sweater that seemed to be thrown on quite haphazardly. A pair of jeans and some sneakers didn't scream heir of a rich family. It did scream man who put on what he had at hand and left his home in a rush, the laces on his left shoe were half unmade as well. He was still smiling but even Kevin could tell it was forced.
The room was getting colder and Kevin really wanted to go back home to his girlfriend.
With that said he moves and pushes the body he was studying back into the freezer. Then he checks his files and moves to open the door to the right body. He pulls and the man stands there as Kevin shows him the body.
There is no outward reaction at first, the man simply stares at the man’s body for a long awkward moment, the silence only interrupted by the sound of the air conditioning system. After a beat, he sees him move to stand right next to it, towering over the body and Kevin himself who was still standing next to it. He knows its not a nice look, they haven't performed the autopsy yet. They were waiting for the husband to sign the papers and to see the body.
A broken neck and a bruise in the face were the only signs of violence they could see.
“I-”
“ Out ”
Kevin takes a deep breath and says he can't leave him alone with the body since its evidence for a murder case. He gives a look to the police officer who stares at the man’s back with a wary look. He didn't look like he wanted to be here.
When Kevin looks up again he is startled by the smile on the man’s face, far more wide and toothy. It made him think of a dog, for a moment, of a dog showing its teeth before biting you. It wouldn't be the first time someone got too emotional after seeing their loved one. Its not often he gets people here, so…close. Usually a window to separate them so he they can confirm the identity of a body but he was called by his superior to handle this.
“Sir-”
“Can I have just a minute? You can wait outside, look through the window, I'm not asking for much…?” He hears the question so he says his name to him. The man snaps his finger and then nods. “Of course Kevin, now, may I have one last moment with my husband?”
And…it is not a difficult request, not one he hasn't heard before, the officer is right there. He considers saying no, but just for a moment, a single moment where a chill runs down his spine and for a horrible second he thinks he is never seeing his girlfriend again. He doesn't know why he thinks it, why he suddenly remembers all the sleepless nights he spent in college, of all the friends who were not his friends, of his parents disappointment at his career choice and how much they wished he was like his brother.
Kevin swallows and thinks very deeply before he nods and moves away. The man pats his shoulder and tells him that was a good choice, it won't take long, not really.
He dislikes this man, terribly, he gives him an awful vibe and usually Kevin is a bit sympathetic, but this job also means he has to be colder, you have to be when you deal with dead bodies so much, especially with murder cases.
This man makes him uncomfortable despite the unassuming look he gives. He can't tell if he is mourning or not. Just that there is something unsettling about him. He moved quickly towards the hallway, the morgue had a window that you could see into it. The officer stands next to him as they watch the back of the man stand next to the deceased.
The camera on the hallway moves, Kevin pays it little mind as it adjusts itself. His eyes are glued to the man, he can't see what he is doing, only that his right arm moves close to the face of the man, there is a long pause, if he is talking he is doing it so softly he can't hear it. After a long five minutes the man shifts, at last he can see his hand touching the body’s cheek. His lips move and his expression is-
Its merely a glimpse but the man looked downright conflicted, as if he didnt know what to do with his face. His smile was in place but it was wrong and his hand quickly stopped touching the man before he retreats and stands to look at the two of them.
His expression now closed off, not even the smile remained. Somehow it made him feel more exposed. If the officer feels anything he doesn't say, he merely nods and the man walks to the exit.
“When will he be ready for a funeral?”
“With…the investigation it will take a few days, we must do an autopsy and prepare everything for-”
“A week then?”
He gives him an incredulous look but he is staring at the officer. “We would want a bit more time considering the circumstances of his-”
“A week will be fine, i must depart afterwards, make it happen ” He is not listening to either of them, the man simply clears his throat and turns one last time to stare at the body, his expression unreadable. “Or there will be consequences ”
With that he turns and goes, he hasn't noticed he started to shiver; the cold in the morgue was almost unbearable now.
When he reaches home, he is especially thankful for the sight of his girlfriend. Somehow it made the aching pain on his chest disappear and the cold he could not shake to melt away for once.
He does not think about the man anymore.
The Panopticon is empty, where a corpse should sit, there is nothing but a pile of ashes and a knife on top of them. The beating heart is gone, the silence is deafening.
You are about to leave when your foot hits something, when you look down you see a single tape recorder. You pick it up and press play.
Not even 24 hours pass from the incident in the institute when something happens.
At around 3:40 in the morning, an explosion happens, its so loud it shatters several windows nearby with the shock wave, it causes panic in the streets. Fire grows as it consumes the remains of what was the Magnus institute in a blaze of glory. Car alarms, people screaming, children crying, the explosion made the ground shake. There was chaos on the street and nearby buildings.
It was raining, albeit weakly, perhaps the only reason why it didn't spread so fast to the nearby office buildings.
Officers and firefighters quickly came to the scene of the crime to try and mitigate the fire, but unfortunately by the time they were done there was merely rubble left. Nothing that could be saved or spared.
On the exact week mark of the deaths of the deceased from the institute incident, something happens, albeit it is not noticed until the early hours of the morning when Kevin heads to work and goes to check on the bodies.
Kevin was tired. He slept terribly the entire week. He couldn't remember exactly what happened but he was sure he had nightmares that left him feeling drowsy. His girlfriend told him he kept shifting in bed, moving around a lot and mumbling something unintelligible with a consternated face. Perhaps he ought to take a vacation after this whole mess is solved, he hadn't taken one in a long while.
He waves to the people he meets on his way down to the basement, there were few of his coworkers in, they would start filling out later in the day, it was still a bit dark outside, but his shift started like that and he was really looking forwards to doing as much as he could today to compare data and give the official report to the police regarding the bodies. He had been performing all the proper autopsies in all the corpses given to him through the week so he finally had all of it compiled, he just needed to send it.
All their blood work was perfectly fine, in fact by checking their bodies the only thing he discovered is that they all died the same way. Their hearts simply…stopped. Sudden cardiac arrest is what he came with. Now that is not that impossible, it happens, the thing that makes no sense is for everyone to suddenly die the same way, he was thoughtful in his testing too, there was no other cause.
It just baffles him albeit its not the weirdest thing he found. He has seen his fair share of unusual, sectioned officers have come with bodies for him to study, not often, they have a guy who is more used to their brand of weird, but Kevin had consultations.
On Elias Bouchard’s body he found…he found masses. He calls them that because the alternative is just too horrid.
To say he found a few eyes inside his body would be too much to bear. The worst thing though, was the fact that his own eyes did not deteriorate in the entire week he had been here. Most eyes, after death start drying, become dull before starting to decompose after 2 to 4 hours if not in a proper environment. Afterwards the rot becomes visible as they start to liquify a bit. His eyes though did not do that. Not at all.
Everyone else’s yes, but Mr.Bouchard’s eyes remained exactly the same with no signs of rotting or becoming dull. It unnerved him. He was glad his eyes were closed but when he had to check on them, he would always get this shiver down his back that made him feel sick.
As he goes down he doesn't notice the way the cameras were off, the red light that usually showcased they were on was just gone. He was too preoccupied. When he finally reaches the bottom of the stairs and walks the short hallway to his work station, he pauses.
A shiver runs down his spine as he stares at the end of the hallway, it was empty of course, it was just him, the assistants would be coming later to help him with the rest of the work but he had to open up the place first. Vanessa should arrive in 15 minutes more or less.
It had never bothered him, his job that is, maybe at first, but he lost the fear about the death a long time ago, you had to when you are studying medicine. Kevin always felt at ease at work, made morbid jokes with his friends, nothing major, but one does get used to the silence and the cold of the morgue. That had never stopped him before, but today…today he feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand, today he feels himself squirm as his legs refuse to budge and move forwards.
Something in the back of his brain, some animalistic sense was screaming at him, a bad feeling that made his gut lurch.
His hands felt clammy and his mouth was dry as he nervously made himself walk. The camera on the hallway is still and lifeless. When he reaches the door he notices with a vague mounting sense of dread that it was unlocked.
He locked it the day before leaving, the only ones with the key its him and Cecil and the man was out for two weeks on his honeymoon. His fingers twitch as he pushes the door open, the lights were off so he turns on the light switch. The room was freezing, more than usual, his eyes turn towards the wall were the freezer is and his stomach drops.
“No, no, no, no-!” The doors to all of the bodies were slightly open, letting the cold escape. If this ruined the bodies-!
He runs towards it and pulls open a door, his body goes stiff.
There were no bodies. His eyes drift around, he starts to pull open the doors, over and over and over again and all of them are empty. The bodies were all gone.
They bodies-
Where would they be!? How do you lose almost 20 bodies!? They couldn't have just gotten up and walked out on their own now could they???
His breath picks up and he grabs his head terror spiking, what is he going to say? Who do you call when someone robs 20 bodies from a morgue? Bodies that were meant to be studied because they died in a freaky way? He looks to the side closest to the wall and notices something…well unusual in the sense that compared to the slightly ajar doors, this ones were closed.
Kevin rushes there. While he deals with the panic that implies losing at least 20 bodies, he opens the closest latch, the first one had Jonathan Simms, his body was left unharmed and exactly as he had left it the day before. Pale and resting peacefully, or as peacefully as any corpse.
Its when he checks on Bouchard’s that he lets out a yell. He has seen bodies in a lot of states, especially when there is a murder, so he is not squeamish when it comes to blood or injuries. Its just…
The body was intact, mostly , what he did not expect to see when he opened the latch was the sight of the empty eye sockets on his face. Usually the eyes start to decompose around the five hour mark if they are not properly kept, slowly liquifying inside your head, the thing is it shouldn't have started to do that yet, there was no way they just disappeared. Especially because…because of the coagulated blood near his eye sockets, a trail of bloody tears. As if…if someone had taken them out.
The blood runs down his face to the base of the metal slab he was lying in, there were marks of…what he presumes are fingers albeit its so muddy its hard to tell, someone pried his eyes open and just-
Just plucked them out.
The sunken eye sockets seem to mock him.
The lights click out leaving him in half darkness. The only light coming from the window looking into the morgue. Kevin turns in a panicked daze, but the door closes to the room closes on its own, the sound of lock clicking softly as it shuts him in.
There is a moment of silence, only broken by his breathing picking up.
The hallways lights start flickering as he stares at the window showing the hallway.
On and off.
On and off.
On and-
A shadow stands in front of the glass when its dark. Kevin presses his back to the wall. He can see only the outline of something thin and resembling a human, the place where the head should be is a void. When the lights come back on its gone.
He lets out a shuddering breath before the light goes out and then-
When the police come, they find Kevin dead on the floor.
All bodies were right where they belonged, the only proof that something was wrong, was of course the lack of eyes in Elias Bouchard’s body.
Nathaniel holds his face as Simon gives him a grimm look. Maxwell was there as well, and came out of hiding for once. Its been a week, he had been trying to get them to come over while dealing with everything that the destruction of the institute brought forwards.
Nathaniel is not even mad, no, he is furious. “ Who ?”
Simon and Maxwell look at each other, they came in together, he doesnt want to know their affairs, he doesnt care if they made up, if Rayner is riding on Simon’s cottails again or if they are just fucking and messing with each other for the sake of it. He honestly doesn't give a shit, what he cares about is the fact that something is wrong. On too many levels.
Maxwell’s lip curls unpleasantly “Lightless flame clearly, revenge for Agnes, look at what they did?”
“Who is even left of the flame at this rate Maxy? The circus was planning a ritual last I heard, could be them, Gertrude was working on stopping them before her...disappearance” Simon leans forwards with interest, Nathaniel mulls it over that could be, but Elias assured him she was gone.
Maxwell retorts back quickly. “That's what we call it now? Its what Elias told us. Do we even know if he was telling the truth? For all we know after she screwed up my ritual she went underground and was planning this whole thing, who else other than that woman would do this? Who else could kill Magnus and…and destroy the institute just like that?”
At that the three of them stare at each other, unease making all three men pause. If Elias lied to them and Gertrude had been in fact hiding away, biding her time… if she killed the man, who is to say they aren't next?
“...If that's the case I'm surprised she did this instead of waiting before stopping the circus. It…leaves such a big vacuum” Simon taps his leg rhythmically, Nathaniel glares but he wont stop.
Maxwell scowls and says she is a danger and Elias was a fool for letting her run amok for so long.
“Unless of course, he thought her dead, but..who is to say she didn't make a choice? Who is to say he didn't realize she survived?” Fairchild looks between them and Nathaniel rubs his temple before saying that regardless if that's the case, what should be their actions now?
“Bouchard is dead, the institute went down in literal flames, what now and how long before she acts again if that was her and not the lightless flame as Maxwell suggested?”
Neither of them have an answer. They talk and bicker and Nathaniel is about to tell them to piss off since there is no answer when he gets a phone call, he picks up and asks with a dry tone what is it? He is not in the mood.
Simon stares at the long pause after Nathaniel talks, watching his eyebrows furrow and then his expression turn stony, there is a paleness to his already white paper sheet of a face that makes him shift in curiosity. wondering what was it now?
“Are you sure? Did you see the cameras-”
More silence, some mumbling from the line. Maxwell stares just like him as Nathaniel curses-
And that shocks him a bit, the man never one for crass language in all his years, before he calls whoever is on the other line useless and a waste of space. When he hangs up the silence is thick with tension as they wait.
Its a minute before he rubs his jaw and then says that someone stole Elias' eyes right from the morgue. Thats when Simon knows something is really fucked up, a chill runs down his spine as his phone gets bombarded with messages from the Fairchild group chat.
Maxwell gets a call from his phone and when he picks up, his brows shoot upwards and he stands with an expression of terror.
“What do you mean its gone ?”
—-
He opens the fridge in the morning.
Peter is looking at it blearily while trying to find the cream cheese for breakfast, he shoves the strawberry jar to the side, his hands brushing the other jars, his eyes drift to them for a moment before finally finding the stupid cheese right behind the milk.
There we go.
He hums as the cats meow in the distance asking for food. With a last look at the fridge he clicks the door shut and goes to make breakfast, turning on the tv for background noise.