A Demon In The City of Angels

The words moved across the screen with blinding speed while Amanda sat back sipping on a soda from Sonic. Cherry Coke, one of her favorites. She always marveled at how the workers crushed the fresh cherries into the drink, covered them with ice, and then filled it again with the cola, it gave the drink such a fresh taste that she almost missed a piece of important data.

"ORCHID, go back 23 lines and explain."
"Yes ma'am, that information was pulled from LAPD's local data access point and then cross referenced with national and international sources. A bulletin for missing persons, a missing car that was found several blocks away from a crime that involved the owner, and an incident that was labeled, "Possible cartel activity" was then compiled and a few similarities had come up that were not explained. I then cross referenced the data from other sources and came up with possible outcomes. This information was not placed flagged higher due to the possibility of inaccuracy."
"What are the inaccuracies?"
"Though some of the victims of each of these crimes where brutally murdered, some had wounds on them, bite like marks. The police had no interest in following these leads, weather due to incompetence or simply writing them off as injuries from the attack I am unsure. The possibilities range from extraterrestrial or demonic activity to international crime."
"Hm." Amanda said, wondering. She didn't like an incomplete data stream, and some foot work could close the gap a bit. She looked at the clock on the computer. "It's only 9pm. Lets focus our efforts on LA. Lets start with missing persons."
"Yes ma'am... Working..." The computer hummed as it started to spill information in front of Amanda. Face after face of missing people. It was a large city, so it was kind of to be expected. Though, when she compared it to recent years, she noticed that the number was 3% higher than normal. "How many of these people have been found?" The computer hummed again and flicked several hundred pictures in front of her. "How many dead?" She asked, sipping on her coke. The straw started to gargle as she reached the ice and the liquid emptied. The number was still more than normal. Some of the missing people seemed to have died in groups. "Is there anyone working on this information other than us?"
"None to my knowledge ma'am." the computer answered.
"Lets get a flight to LA." If no one was working this it was time to beat some feet. Lives where at risk and taking on the mantle of superhero again was nothing to speak lightly of. She looked at the pictures of the missing people again, each one had a life. Had someone who cared about them. She couldn't just let this missing persons spree continue unchecked.

Amanda spent the reminder of her evening cleaning her gear and getting things packed into a small leather bag she could swing over a shoulder. She packed lightly nowadays, minus her hero gear, but most of that was self contained in her belt and wrist band, and was already packed in its own travel case.

- The next day -

After Amanda landed she went to her hotel and set up shop. Got dressed in her suit, and stood in the room near the door. A holographic map of the city displayed Infront of her in blue and greens light with the spots of the last known incidents marked in flashing orange dots. She wanted to go and check them out to see if the cops missed anything, but it being a few days later she doubted it. The scenes would have been contaminated hundreds of times by now. No, it was close to nightfall. She decided to wait on the rooftop in camouflage and see what she could pick up. Most of the murders where thought to have happened at night and when she is connected to the city could pick up far more data than she could while at home, and she could see most of it stream in live.

Sitting on the roof and watching the sun set. The smell of the city. The sounds. She could feel the memory seeping in, something she wouldn't forget. Then, she let herself go, let her mind be taken away by the horrifying torrent of information of the internet. When she was young she would have fought the sensations, but now she has learned not to. It only made things worse, instead she let her mind be thrown about the waves like a rag doll till she settled on a point. Then focused as the information streamed Infront of her. She could almost feel the city with all of its pulsating electronic networks. It branched out from the internet of the hotel and opened up to the city at large. She could even feel some of the satellites as they passed overhead. If something was going to happen tonight, she was confident she wouldn't miss it.

[WC 849]

"So yeah, that’s basically the whole place”

A set of girls stared across a spacious living room filled with elegant sculptures and lined with bizarre and eccentric art. The dark red walls contrasted the marvel floors and the colors were perfectly balanced with the modernist and rigid-looking sofas and ottomans. There was a fully stocked bar in the corner and a hanging light from the center of the room. This was only one section of the massive mansion Chie Jordan found herself in, a mansion owned by her friend Kim’s family. The two of them were staying here as they went of vacation, the first true vacation Chie had had since her childhood. She found herself staring in awe with the rest of her crew. They were used to sharing townhouses with their family back in New York, and Kim seemed to be aware of how obscene this display of wealth must be.

“When were you going to tell us you’re loaded!” Sam finally blurted out in shock. Sam was one of Chie’s oldest friends, a blonde girl with tawny skin who had never seemed phased by the world around her, even when villains rampaged across Manhattan. So it came as a surprise that even she was taken aback.

“Well, I didn’t want you to think of me differently” Kim replied sheepishly. She was a petite girl, with dark skin and her hair mostly buzzed down. Based on her simple clothing and hunched shoulders, you would never have guessed she was the heir to a fortune. Chie’s hand landed on Kim’s shoulder and she gave her a pleasant smile and reassured her as she always had.

“Hey, this doesn’t change anything. We’re just glad you’re letting us stay here” The young woman stated happily before falling back into a nearby sofa. She grunted when she landed on it. It was practically brand new, barely even sat on, and it felt like landing on a rock. Luckily, Chie was sturdy and used to being hit much harder, and she barely flinched.
“We won’t ask for anything else, you’re really doing us a solid” She added.

Sam did not seem to share Chie’s benevolence to the luxuries around them. She had already moved to the bar and was currently inspecting the label on a bottle of Congac dated a little over 25 years old.
“Hey, your parents won’t mind if we sample the selection, will they?”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sam had convinced Kim to join in the drinks and soon the two of them were giggling fools. Chie didn’t take the drink, not particularly for moral reasons, but rather because she could not shake the sense of nervousness about leaving her city. Chie was more than just a partying girl visiting the sunshine city. Chie was a hero, one who had spent the last few years valiantly keeping the cities as clean as she could. She was only one of many heroes, but she could not shake the feeling that the city needed her, that justice must never sleep. She tried clearing her mind by swiping through pictures and posting on her phone, but that didn’t work either. She had started liking and following new articles and journalist to keep track of criminal activity. Knowing she was in Los Angeles, the post all seemed to center around a strange set of deaths, with it being unknown whether these where animal attacks, murders, or perhaps something even more foul.

Chie made her way to the bedroom she would be sleeping in, one of many in this home, excusing herself by saying she was going to bed for the night. They believed her lies about being jetlagged and exhausted from the travel and hardly protested when she left. Once alone she removed the clothing from her bag and opened a compartment in her bag. Her ninja-yoroi was inside. Chie put it on quickly, it was a rehearsed movement. Her Shurikens had been a pain to get onto the plane, but she had checked them in ahead of time. After failing to defeat the villain who had attacked her school, Chie has never gone without them. It meant she had to pay for a checked bag and unravel an ungodly amount of bubble wrap to get to them, but she felt safer knowing her name-sake weapon was with her. With her outfit prepared, she slipped out a window with the silence of an owl and slithered into the night. Someone had to deal with these murders, and she couldn’t sit idly while she was in town.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


As the sun set in the distance, Chie moved slowly through the alleys of the streets. The few others who dared lurk in such dingy places as the dark sky began to darken slinked away from her, either out of fear or confusion. To the rest of the city, she was an enigma, partially not there, Chie looked for her usual start to any crime-hunting fiasco: a vantage point to search from. There were plenty of large buildings in Los Angeles, yet very few where seemed climbable to her, even with her many years of training and experience.

The sky had turned truly dark by the time Chie had found her mark, a hotel deep downtown. It was more than big enough for her needs and the fire escape made an easy trip up. Chie was still careful to be silent with her steps as she moved up the rusty stairwell as it had become second nature to her. She was Shuriken now, a ninja, and no one ever saw her coming. At least, no one that her uncanny eyesight managed to see.

As she reached the top of the stairway she skulked towards the edge of the building, completely unaware of an invisible entity near inches from where she stood.

LA was so filled with people. Those living here and those just coming through, all tantalizing treats for him. A roaming wraith, constantly feeding his own insatiable desires with little concern for those he took from. He avoided the Hollywood stars, their existences a little too bright to be fed from without someone noticing they were missing. Even Osiris would not suffer through that kind of slight without hunting him down. Even now, the ancient was not someone he wanted to trifle with, not when he knew how that would go. Isis wasn’t going to clean his messes up every time that they happened.

He arrived in the city a few weeks ago,  riding in on one of their buses that still ran cross country.  Making use of mortal transportation had a certain feel about it, mere inches away from bags of blood that smelled all too sweet. Very little kept him from giving into that hunger, only the threat of his own kind turning on him was enough to hold him in place. There was much to do, irritating his own sires' little agendas in these cities.  He picked out a little, nifty hotel room with the use of someone elses credit card. He was sure they wouldn’t care, since no one had seemed to find the body it used to belong to. Credit cards were fun things. All the money with none of the work required to get it, which made sleeping around in those soft beds much easier.

”Cities have gotten so boring these days. Most of them feel all the same,  concrete streets and faceless blood banks walking around.” He complained through his small little cellphone, Isis agreeing with a chuckle, one which he joined in on with her.

The bodies began piling up as they always did.

He had to eat and Lazarus wasn’t the kind of person that held back on anything. Draining his victims dry, leaving them with nearly no blood. Others were torn apart, much like some butcher scenes caused by the metahumans of recent. It was all so much fun, slaking the fire of his boredom like so much water.

So settled back in his hotel, Lazarus took in the sounds of the city around him. Heartbeats were the constant, rushing of blood his senses honed so keenly on. It was a special kind of agony he never truly got over, even above the scent of millions of cars releasing their exhaust into the air. Focusing on the sound of heartbeats around he fell into a torpor, almost losing himself to the music of it all.

Exhale.

Slipping into a pair of jeans and a white button up shirt, he  wandered through the hotel. Inevitably he did what he always does and moved to perch on the roof,  high enough to see out across the city stretching out underneath it. So high up he still heard the sounds of heartbeats so close.  ”Strange. I normally don’t see someone else up here.” His eyes scanned the shadows up here, focusing on the source with a smirk. ”Brooding spot?” He mused, all too interested in what he was seeing. Was this one of those costumed vigilantes he’d heard so much about?

Within her deep state of focus she didn’t realize someone was there on the roof till he spoke. Then she had to question weather or not he was speaking to her. She stayed quiet. Not that it mattered. Her sound dampening device was working perfectly, at least her holographic display told her it was. A small dot flashed green in the corner of her vision letting her know that all suit functions were operating as specified. She was confident that even if she jumped up and down no one would hear a thing. Instead Amanda let her focus drift off to a passing satellite. KH-11, Blackjack, a series of spy sats that were passing overhead provided quick real-time images of her position. The first one was dark as night, nothing was visible, the second shot was a type of night vision where a person could be seen clearly. That was the man who spoke. The third image was thermal which revealed two things. First, that there were three people on the roof. Secondly, the man’s body temperature was lower than hers and the other persons. It wasn’t a large change, and maybe one she would have overlooked if it wasn’t for the immediate comparison.

“ORCHID, see if there is anything on the web for this guy. Also, establish a link and keep a watch on the satellite footage, start a digital record and send it to the main data center for later analysis.” Amanda sat her hand on the hilt of her sword that lay at the small of her back. Due to the presence of the people her focus started to dwindle, she could no longer feel the city or the satellites. A little part of her felt lonely but she told herself this was the normal state of things.

From her HUD she took a photo of the man and ran it through the web, letting ORCHID take the lead. Almost instantly footage of the man popped up in front of her, some of the images were twenty or thirty years old. Some from the US others being pulled from INTERPOL. “We have another old one here.” She said, noting how little has changed in the man’s features since the last photograph.

“All complete. The link has been established and a record is being streamed to the data center in NYC.” Orchid said in his soft male voice.
“Thank you.” Amanda said as she stood. She took a few extra steps back and leaned against one of the structures on the roof. Her mind going to the man then searching the shadows. She could feel a device close by. A cell phone located in the man’s pocket.

Cell phones, along with ATMs, and doors where always willing to cooperate after she told them a sob story about her forgetting her pin or losing her access card. Very understanding machines. It didn’t take long for her to get the phone number and then look up most recent calls. “Boss Lady?” She thought aloud as she flicked her hand on the holographic screen in front of her to scroll down. “Could be his wife.” She shrugged. Beside her, there was maybe two more callers/recipients ever from the phone, a contact labeled, “Adam” and a spam number. “Who is this guy? ORCHID, keep an eye on the others numbers and start a dive into their devices. Let me know what you find.” The machine chirped in response as it started to work.

Amanda looked in the direction of the other person on the roof. She couldn’t see them clearly so pulled down her goggles. The infrared showed the person clearly and her mind started to probe for electronics. Another phone, the same sob story, and “We. Are. In.” She said, pulling up contact information, photos, and social media accounts. “Chie Jordan. 18 years old. From New Jersey.” She flicked past photos of her and her friends. “So, is this some kind of clandestine meeting or are we stumbling upon something far different?” She asked no one.

Amanda would sit there for now. Waiting to see how things panned out. A part of her worried she was going to miss the perpetrator that she was looking for, but another part of her started to calculate the odds of three people being up here all at once. This was either The Spot in the city to admire it, or there was something else.

Once she had made her perch, Shuriken’s eyes scanned the ground around her, simultaneously unaware and unknown to the woman mere feet from her. She scanned the streets like a sniper without a scope looking for a mark, and she seemed to find one, throwing a shuriken with a level of strength that sent it soars far out of view. Whether she hit her target or not would be impossible for anyone but her. Chie knew she had hit her target though, she always did. Searching again, she slowly reached for another throwing star when she heard a rattle on the stairway.

Acting fast she slunk down behind an air vent and steadied her breathing, making herself silent once more. She was a tested ninja, and stealth had saved her life more than once. Submerged in darkness and obscured from vision, quiet and still, she feels invisible. This was her element, the darkness. unfortunately in her year as a street vigilante, she had never dealt with vampires and super-computers. She was seasoned perhaps, but far from honed.

”Strange. I normally don’t see someone else up here.”

Lazarus spoke out to her, mocking her as he came into view. A sense of dread fell over the girl as she questioned how he had noticed her, she was a shadow in New York, what was different here? He seemed normal, a young man perhaps even a handsome one. Yet he spotted her like a pro. Her eyes met his with intensity as he looked right at her.

”Brooding spot?”

She couldn’t help but chuckle at his teasing words the second time. Slowly she rose to reveal herself, seeing as hiding was doing her no good. Chie's costume was far from extravagant, nothing more than black garb with pouches at her sides. Her face was covered by a simple black bandana that she had cut holes out of to cover the top half of her face and tuck her hair into. Her eyes were glowing in the dark like an owl, a sign of the girl's powers, and she suddenly averted her eyes to hide them, realizing how bizarre she must look to a civilian.

“You could say that. What brings you up here?” she asked with a pleasant smile across her lips.
“Not every day that I come across someone in places like this, at least not normal people”

The response to his question was a chuckle, a sound of laughter echoing from the darkness settled at the apex of this hotel. A shape rose, easily seen even in the darkness. His eyes had no problem discerning someone even in the dark, their heartbeats were like a beating drum and the scent of their blood like the most pungent candle. No human could hope to hide from him, not even if they considered themself the greatest stealth expert in the world. Even in death they were all too easy to find. All of this to say he could hear another heartbeat, smell even more blood with a different scent not too far away. Despite that he didn’t see anything else in the darkness, which meant there was someone hiding a little better than this one.

”The view.” He offered simply, because it wasn’t a total lie. ”The higher the better if you ask me. What about you? Vigilante of some kind?” She sure looked like that with how she was dressed. It was fascinating really, seeing what kind of human would actually dress up and beat down criminals like that. Why didn’t Adam do anything like that. He’d heard his little progeny had taken to hunting down criminals, so it only made sense to him.

He approached the edge, looking down over the city that stretched out beneath him. Little cars weaving through the streets like blood cells, the occasional honk of the horn. ”I suppose you could say i’m not normal. Haven’t been for some time. You’re not either, by your own standards.” He looked around for a moment, for the source of that second heartbeat with the an unreadable expression, a couple of minutes passing between his last statement and the next. ”Did you know we’re not the only two up here?”

These two either didn't know one another, or were acting the part well. Amanda was waiting for the system to pull up photos of the ninja in the shadows when ORCHID chimed in. Her heart sunk for a moment as he spoke, like she was a kid again getting caught steeling from the cookie jar. It was a normal feeling when you sneak around, but she was new again. Her body still getting back into the swing of things.

"We have been spotted, it seems." The male voice said calmly.
"But how?" Amanda looked down at the bottom of her screen. The light still flashed green. A virus maybe? Her eyes flicked to the live feed from the satellites. Three figures where the only ones atop the building. "Run diagnostics, when this is over I want a total breakdown."
"Understood." The computer said before it started to hum.

With a flick of her wrist the screens vanished and her camouflage and sound dampening devices disengaged. In front of her it would look as if small square mirrors turned to different angles and dropped to the floor, vanishing. The building top felt a little different with everything down, the breeze was a little more cool, and the noise of the people and traffic below seemed to echo more perfectly between the buildings.  Shock-heart stifled a deep breath.

"How did you know that?" Shock-heart said curiously as she reveled herself. Her face was out in the open, her suit a mix of bright yellow and black. The long white braid of her hair was draped over her left shoulder and her left hand was on her hip. Her right hand started to channel Ex power without her really noticing, something she has been doing when she's nervous. The black hued lighting traveling down her forearm to her finger tips in small sparks.

Her posture was playful, like an old friend asking a question. Something shed learned long ago in conflict resolution. This was a conflict. She had just been spotted spying on people. Though, it wasn't her intent, that is what it looks like. As much as she hated it, things were as they appeared. "Perception is reality". In the back of her mind she wondered if she could recruit these people to help her find the killer that was roaming the streets. But first she'd have to gather a little more information.

”The view. The higher the better if you ask me. What about you? Vigilante of some kind?”

Chie relaxed somewhat as the boy responded casually with a reasonable enough explanation. She couldn't help but smile brightly when he called her a Vigilante, as so much of her work was done without witnesses or thanks. The recognition swelled Chie's pride.

"What gave me away?" She said with a chuckle, gesturing to her outfit.

Her eyes met with his and once more they seemed inhuman, her power apparent by the glow they had in the night sky. As he moved to look down at the city, Chie moved to do the same. Her eyes scanned inside cars, through windows a quarter mile away, taking in the city in her own unique way. Lazarus commented on her evident strangeness and once more she chuckled, but he cut her off before she could reply.

”Did you know we’re not the only two up here?”

Chie felt a sudden sense of dread as her eyes darted about looking for the culprit, her hand moving to the pouch of shurikens at her waist. The observer made themself known soon enough, appearing seemingly from thin air. A strange-looking woman dressed even stranger, in some sort of sparking, electronic suit. Her pale skin and white hair made her seem peculiar.

This new stranger brought up a good question, though Chie was a little less interested in the answer and more in a question of her own.
"How the hell did you do that?" She chimed in abruptly.
" And how long have you been up here?"

He offered a smirk to the dressed up girl. ”Vigilantes tend to have outfits right? Like in the old comic books and in the news articles.” He’d read a few. Some about Atlas, The Talons and the many mainstream heroes that got the attention of the masses these days. There weren’t as many thanks to instances like New York but that was fine really.  He knew it had his kin all up in a ruckus, unsure how long they could hold their little masquerarade.

Of course he didn’t say anything else, instead turning attention towards the second presence. Someone listening in on the two of them or someone here by chance. As soon as the glimmering, invisible veil peeled away he found himself a little surprised. Was this some kind of modern technology he hadn’t heard of before? It was possible but he mostly knew about the more civilian level things.

So he’d been right? Lazarus was just running on a few hunches and the sharpness of his own senses. They never failed him, not as long as he had lived. Granted he mostly dealt with humans and others of his own kind; with werewolves as exceptions. HIs little vigilante friend was caught off-guard by his statement. That small irregularity in heart rate was enough to figure it out.  ”Intuition.” It was all he said to her, the strange woman who had been spying up here.

Why was she up here anyway? That was now three, including him anyway. Was there something that was going on that he didn’t know of? This night was getting more interesting as the seconds wiled on by.  ”So what brings the two of you up here. A strange place to hang around I’d say.” He looked between the two, curious and considering prodding through their thoughts even if they didn’t say.

Amanda was surprised at her first instinct. To lie. She could have thrown the people off with a few words like, "I am a watcher." Or tell them she is from some distant future. She pushed the thoughts away, blaming them on her silly father, and kept with the plan. She was clinging onto the hope that these people may be able to help her find the murder or murders she was after. One was the loneliest number after all, and with three they could even call themselves a team.

"Oh. That was some stealth tech I've developed. I'm... good with machines." She shrugged. The black hued lighting faded from her arm. "And I wanna say I was the first one up here. I've been listening in to try and get a feel for what you guys were doing. Sorry about any intrusion." She lifted both her hands. "Seeing how you are dressed, I take it your some kind of hero around here." She stepped forwards with a light pointing finger at the girl. "Maybe you guy's would be interested in helping me out?" She let the question linger a bit. Letting all of her assumptions sink in.

She wasn't completely naive. These people could be dangerous for all she knew, but it was worth a shot. Extending a hand of friendship to a foe could lead to interesting and peaceful conflict resolution. At the man's question she didn't hesitate to answer.

"I needed a high place to surf the web. I've be searching for clues of a murderer or group of people that have been bleeding people dry around here. Would you guys be interested in helping me stop them?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. Her question was straight and to the point, and her heart started to pound as it left her lips. The fear or rejection and reaction hanging in the air, poised to strike back at her like a vicious snake.

Shuriken remained tense despite the armored figure's lax demeanor. Indeed even the boy, whose name she had not learned yet, seemed less impressed than she expected. He had known this individual was here after all. The explanation made sense, no ninja technique could make her vanish like that, at least not one Chie or her mother learned about.

"Do you have a card or something? I'm dying for an upgrade" Chie mentioned with an unsteady chuckle.

Soon the woman had surmised that she was a hero, a correct assessment and an easy one based on her outfit and the fire in her eyes. Shockingly she was asking for a team-up and seemed to be working on the same case, unless multiple murderers were running about San Fransisco.

Slowly, Chie eased up as she listened to the electronic hero and cautiously moved her hand away from her shurikens. This wasn't the first time she had met heroes up on the roofs. Stareater was on a rooftop when they first met and Chie's eyes always spotted the flying silhouettes in her nighttime patrols of New York.

"Hey, better odds if we stick together" Chie begrudgingly replied to the woman's request for help. She then motioned towards Lazarus with her thumb.
"But the civilian should probably stay, sorry dude"