Chapter 12: 847 Maple Street
The police car arrived at its destination, parking in front of the warehouse building. Rob, Jim, and Joe stepped out of the vehicle, heading towards the warehouse under the setting sun.
"How long has this place been abandoned?" Rob asked.
"Years, kid," Joe replied lazily, "longer than I've been on the force."
Jim pulled out a cigarette and pointed it at Rob with a blank look on his face. Rob pulled out a flaming finger and lit the cigarette for Jim.
"Before it was abandoned, it was used to store plywood for Winslow Timber Co." Jim said.
As they reached the doors, Jim pulled out a flashlight and pointed, revealing a large open padlock hanging on one side of the door.
"Looks like it's open," Joe said, shrugging.
"Well, SoulWhisper did have meetings here," Rob added.
Jim's eyes narrowed. "Alright, let's move in. Stay sharp, Joe."
Joe yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "Yeah, yeah, got it."
As they entered the warehouse, Jim shone the flashlight around, revealing a large, dusty space. "Looks like nobody's been here in a while," Joe said, kicking at the dust on the floor.
Suddenly, they heard a strange crackling sound. Jim quickly pointed his flashlight in the direction of the sound, but their eyes only met a large rat chewing on a wrapper; it ran away to a corner as soon as the light hit it.
Jim's expression turned skeptical. "Looks like this was a waste of time."
"Looks like it," Rob repeated.
"Wanna check out the rooms on the catwalks?" Joe asked, looking up at the various catwalks surrounding them.
Just then, a man's voice called out from above them. "Hey, is someone there!?" Jim pointed his flashlight in the direction of the voice, revealing a figure of a man inside one of the rooms on the catwalks.
Jim spat out his cigarette and stepped on it to put out the embers. "I'm Captain James from the BPD; this is my partner, Detective Joseph, and a friend. Identify yourself."
The man's response was unexpected. "Oh, it's you; what are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be here."
Joe raised an eyebrow. "Who is this guy?"
Jim's expression turned stern. "We'll ask the questions. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" The man didn't respond.
"You know us?" Joe asked.
"Oh, I know you, but we've never met before, though. Even you, Robert, I know you very well." All three men expressed shock; Jim had not mentioned Rob's name.
"How do you know my name?" Rob asked, but there was no answer.
"Just who are you? Come out of there into the light so we can see you," Jim commanded, reaching for his gun.
The man still did not answer, so Jim signaled for Joe to take point.
Joe yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "Yeah, yeah, got it." He pulled out his gun and skillfully approached the staircase leading to the catwalk, his rounded belly flopping as he moved.
As he was about to climb up the steps, the door of the room flung open, and a metal ball covered with strange, detailed designs, markings, and intersecting circles all over it fell out.
"Huh?" Joe said, as the markings began to glow blue and the ball started to rapidly produce smoke.
"Gas!" he yelled out, alerting Jim and Rob below. He then covered his nose with his blazer and ran up the steps, pointing his gun.
Upon hearing Joe yell, both Jim and Rob covered their noses. The gas was filling the warehouse quickly, slowly disrupting their vision.
As Joe approached the door, a man in a strange mask, wearing a long flowing jacket, holding a walking cane and a file, jolted out of the room, leaping over the catwalk railing and falling to the ground, landing on his feet like it was nothing, dropping another metal ball as he landed, which began to release more smoke.
"Huh?" Joe, surprised, ran to the edge of the catwalk and looked over the railings, but could only see figures and couldn't make out who was who due to the rapidly spreading smoke.
Jim's eyes widened in surprise. "How did he...?"
The smoke had filled the warehouse, making it difficult to make out the man's figure. At impressive speed, the figure moved through the smoke, attempting to run around them towards the doors.
Jim, his eyes trailing the moving figure, shot his gun in front of the man, causing him to stop in his tracks. Flames erupted from Rob's feet, charging him at the man's figure with speed, attempting to land a swift kick to his head, which the man easily dodged.
'He's a numen user.' Rob thought as he took a fighting stance.
Noticing the man dodged Rob's attack, Jim realized he would only get in Rob's way, so he ran and hid behind a crate. He looked back at them and realized at this distance he couldn't see them clearly due to the smoke.
"Whoa, you are faster than I thought you'd be," the man said.
Now standing close to him, Rob could fairly see his outfit better. His mask was designed with tentacles all over, much like an octopus or a squid. He wore his jacket over a suit; both the jacket and the suit were detailed with elaborate designs and ornate buttons like an outfit from the seventeenth century.
"Who are you?" Rob shot a question.
"Sorry, I can't tell you that, but might I ask you where you learned to use numen?" the man asked.
"I could ask you the same," Rob said. "Tell you what; you answer my question, and I answer yours."
Joe, who had been watching from the catwalk above, decided to intervene, pointing his gun at the figures.
The man smirked. "Aww, how disappointing. I just came here to pick up something that's mine. May you let me go in peace?" He waved the file in his hand in the air.
"Not a chance," Rob said as he charged at the man once again.
With fluent movements, he threw powerful punches and kicks, flames engulfing his hands and feet, but the man kept up with his movements, skillfully dodging every single one.
As they fought, Joe kept his gun pointed at the moving figures, waiting for the smoke to clear so he could get a good shot.
The strange markings and circles that detailed man's walking cane began to glow a faint Amber color, projecting their designs into the air like detailed holograms surrounding the cane. He raised up his arm and pointed the cane at Rob; it shot a straight beam of light from its tip that cut through the smoke much like a laser.
Rob dodged this beam of light before countering with three consecutive flaming punches. The man dodged all three, but while the man was still off-balance, Rob tried to quickly land a high kick to the man's face. The man blocked it with his cane and pushed Rob back to create distance between them, the shockwave from the impact clearing the smoke around them.
"You are good," the man complimented.
"I'm just getting started," Rob replied.
"As much as I'd love to see more of what you can do, I must take my leave," the man said.
"And how do you intend to get past me?" Rob asked.
"Could you move to the right a little?" the man asked.
Rob raised an eyebrow and moved to the left, doing the opposite of what the man told him.
"That's perfect," a mischievous smirk appeared on the man's face as another strange circle began to glow yellow on the ground below Rob.
"Huh?"
"I drew that while we were fighting," the masked man said.
Suddenly the circle released a charge of electricity, electrocuting Rob, causing him to scream and wail in agony before falling to his knees.
From his hiding spot, Jim attempted to shoot the man, but the man pointed his cane and, with a beam of light, shot the gun out of Jim's hand.
But then he was shot in the shoulder by Joe from the catwalk above, the bullet piercing through him and landing on the floor.
By now, the smoke had begun to dissipate, and Joe had a clear shot.
"Take that, you asshole!" Joe cursed.
"You oversized bastard!" the man exclaimed in a tone of anger.
He shot another beam of light at the catwalk, moving his whole arm, the laser splitting the catwalk in two, causing the whole thing to collapse.
Joe jumped off it, about to fall; he held on to a hanging railing.
"Joe!" Rob, who had quickly recovered from being electrocuted, exclaimed.
He rose to his feet, struggling a bit. The railing Joe held on to broke, causing him to fall.
Flames erupted from Rob's feet, propelling him through the air and catching Joe before he hit the ground.
He placed Joe on his feet and looked back to find that the man had run away.
"Are you guys alright?" Jim asked, emerging from his hiding spot.
"We're fine," Rob responded.
"Are you sure? You took a mighty back blow there," Jim said.
"I'm alright, I'm going to try to catch him," Rob said, taking a few steps towards the door before collapsing. Jim caught him, holding him upright.
"Don't push yourself, kid. We're taking you back home," Jim said, his voice firm but concerned.
Rob protested, "I'm not a kid, and I can catch him."
Joe chimed in, his voice lazy, "It's alright, Rob. He's probably long gone now anyway."
Rob reluctantly agreed and freed himself from Jim's grip. "I can walk on my own." He began to walk towards the door, wobbling slightly.
Joe followed him from behind. "Yeah, yeah, take your time."
Before leaving, Jim picked up the bullet that Joe shot the masked man with. He inspected the bullet, noticing that it was depressed a little, like it had crushed slightly when it came in contact with the man's body.
Jim pulled out a Ziplock bag from his blazer pocket and placed the bullet inside. "Hey Jim, hurry up!" Joe yelled out.
"On my way," Jim responded, placing the bag in his pocket. He stood up and walked to the metal ball that the man dropped, picking it up.
The ball was about the size of a tennis ball and was made of a light weight metal. Inspecting the ball and it's intricate designs, Jim noticed there were no holes for smoke to come out from. He threw the ball in the air and caught it again before placing it in his blazer pocket.
As they walked out of the warehouse, Joe said, "Man, I'm beat. Let's get out of here."
Jim and Rob exchanged a look but said nothing.
Now in the car, Rob sat in the back seat, Joe in the passenger's seat. A memory of fighting the masked man flashed in Rob's mind.
"The markings on his cane, on the balls, and the circle that shocked me were similar to the writing on the coffins," Rob said.
Jim nodded. "We noticed."
Joe added, his voice still lazy, "He might have been the grave digger we've been looking for."
Rob asked, "But what would a person like that be doing with five bodies? What's his goal?"
Jim responded, "Those are questions we'll answer later. For now, we need to get you home."
Rob protested, "Stop treating me like a kid. I'm twenty years old."
Jim and Joe remained silent, their expressions unreadable.