《Killer Bay》Immortal Sin
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"Hey there, Adalet... You ARE Adalet, right? Sorry, but ever since meeting a clone, I feel like I have to be extra cautious!" Amy apologizes awkwardly.
Adalet chuckled, "I assure you, I am Adalet, I don't think anyone could replicate my eyes..."
"From robots to mutants, anything's possible in Innovation Valley! And Meteor Systems seems to always be involved somehow..." she remarked, thinking of the company's involvement in their cases.
"Which is why I want you to keep an eye on them, Adalet!" Andrea ordered them as she entered the office, "Meteor Systems has opened up a new lab... underwater! I don't even know how they were able to build such a structure!"
"An underwater lab?!" Adalet gasped, "what is Meteor Systems researching?"
"Swimming robots?" Amy suggested.
"We don't know, since they won't say anything," Andrea grumbled, crossing her arms, "but I'm smelling trouble. So I want you two to go on a reconnaissance mission!"
"Ooooh, I'm great at those," Adalet smirked.
"Deep-sea investigation work? I'm ready if you are, Adalet! Let's get our scuba gear on and scout out that laboratory!" Amy says, heading in the direction of their equipment room.
"Looking good in scuba gear, Adalet!" Amy complimented as she tightened the straps on her oxygen tank, "remember, we're here to work, though it doesn't hurt to have fun swimming too!"
Adalet laughed as she pulled on her goggles, "let's see if we can get a few laps in while we're here!"
"Come on! Let's dive right in and see what we can find out about Meteor Systems' new lab!" she said before popping her breathing piece into her mouth.
Adalet followed Amy's lead and the two headed down to the edge of their boat. They dove into the water and swam down towards the underwater laboratory. The lights of the laboratory lit their path and they continued swimming until they could see the laboratory. They could also now clearly see what was going on around the glass laboratory.
Above the entrance tunnel was the body of Teresa Turning, floating in the water covered in bright pink jellyfish. Adalet swam over to the body and grabbed Teresa by the arm, careful to avoid touching the jellyfish. Before returning to the surface, she looked around and spotted a bottle of champagne inside the entrance tunnel, alongside some pieces of torn paper. She silently motioned for Amy to grab them, then the cops returned to the surface.
Once back above the water, they swam to their boat and Adalet lugged Teresa's body onto the deck as Amy tossed their clues up beside the body.
"Adalet," Amy gasped as she removed her mouthpiece, "you found a dead body! Looks like we came to investigate Meteor Systems just in time!"
"Nobody goes for a swim in their evening wear..." Adalet says, removing her goggles, "so we're dealing with another murder! And it looks like these jellyfish are our murder weapon! The poor woman is covered in them!"
"Wait a second... That blond hair and fake tan..." she gasped again, getting a better look at the body's face, "we've met this woman before! It's Teresa Turing! The wife of Ernest Turing, the man who was killed by his own robot! Didn't he appoint her CEO of Meteor Systems in his will, Adalet?"
"He did," she confirmed, picking up the torn paper, "looks like it's a dangerous position to fill!"
"Something dark is definitely brewing at Meteor Systems! Let's get to the bottom of this! Do you think you can piece those torn scraps back together?" she asks, seeing the captain already hard at work doing that, "and a bottle of champagne? I hope somebody wasn't celebrating Teresa's death!"
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"The tag on the bottle is faded," Adalet noted, placing the last strip of tape on the paper.
Amy grins, "but I know you'll uncover the text in no time!"
"And this is an invoice for... a ton of jellyfish?" she frowns, "OK, I know I left Earth for a little while, but you can just order jellyfish in bulk like that?"
"Wait a second... an invoice for jellyfish right when our victim was murdered with some..." she eyes the pink jellyfish covering the body, "this is suspicious! I bet whoever placed this order was involved in the murder. Looks like the invoice was signed by someone named Karen Knight... Wait, isn't that... Frank's ex-wife? She's also the Vice President of Meteor Systems, isn't she?"
"She certainly is," she says, placing the invoice aside to dry in the sun, "what if Karen had a hand in Teresa's murder?"
"Better not tell Frank that we're going to chat with her, Adalet!"
Before leaving the scene, Adalet picked up the bottle of champagne. Unfortunately, the water had destroyed the tag attached to it so after quickly drying the paper with her warmed hand, Adalet dusted the dry paper.
"Nice, Adalet! You revealed the text from the tag on that bottle without opening the champagne!" Amy grinned, grabbing the bottle, "the tag reads, "Congrats to my beautiful CEO daughter." Teresa was a CEO, so this must have been for her! And since it says "Mom," this must be a gift from her mother! Oh no, I hope we aren't the ones to break the news of her daughter's death!"
"Unfortunately, Amy, we are," Adalet replies, moving Teresa's body further onto the boat.
"I hope you'll do the talking with Teresa's mother, Adalet!" she says, grabbing the invoice.
While Adalet steered the boat back to shore, Amy radioed into the station and requested Roxie to meet them at the docks to collect the body. Once the boat was back at shore, Adalet and Amy transferred the body over to Roxie, then left to inform the victim's mother of her daughter's murder.
After a quick search for Teresa's mother, they located Greta Medusa's home address and the partners made their way out to the luxury mansion. The housekeeper let them in and showed them to the backyard pool where Greta was suntanning on a pool chair.
"Mrs. Meduse, I'm Capt. Adalet and this is Officer Amy," Adalet introduces, getting the woman's attention, "we found this bottle you gave to your daughter, Teresa Turing..."
"I bet you're shocked! A woman as young as me, having a daughter!" Greta fluffed her hair, "but I'm so proud of my precious Teresa!"
"I'm sure you are... Mrs. Meduse... I'm so sorry, but your daughter was found murdered near one of Meteor Systems' labs..." she broke the news as quickly and painlessly as she could.
"What?! My baby girl is dead? That's impossible! How awful! Being killed in a lab! What was she doing there in the first place?!" she wept, her face in her hands, "I'd been telling her since she was little to stay away from science! Our family motto is: "Clever girls get degrees, but pretty girls get whatever they please"!"
"That... Is quite the motto," Adalet wasn't sure what else to say.
"And look at all that Teresa accomplished just by being pretty! The CEO of Meteor Systems without even knowing how to switch on a computer!" Greta praises, "what a waste! I guess I'll have to carry the weight of being the family beauty!"
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Leaving the woman to her... Grief. Adalet and Amy left the mansion and drove out to Meteor Systems' headquarters to ask Karen Knight why she purchased so many jellyfish for the company. After being shown to Karen's office, they took the seats across from their teammate's ex-wife.
"Hello, Capt.," Karen says as she places her pen down, "please tell me Francis isn't here, I've got enough on my plate without all his personal issues."
"I'm replacing your ex-husband today, Mrs. Knight," Amy answers, "Adalet needs to know why you signed this invoice for hundreds of jellyfish..."
"Oh, it was for the latest pet project from my new boss, Teresa Turing. She's had an entire underwater lab built so a team can study jellyfish!" she explained, "apparently, some jellyfish never die. They just regenerate themselves. And Teresa's trying to mimic this ability to make humans immortal!"
"You're telling us she was researching immortality?! Well, it didn't do her any good. She was murdered... by jellyfish stings, I might add," which Adalet did add.
"Teresa's dead?! But that's... impossible! I saw her this morning! She was going to the gym, she practically lived there these days!" Karen seemed genuinely shocked, "first Ernest, now Teresa... Sorry, Capt. Adalet, but I've got to make sure I'm safe! Somebody could be targeting the heads of Meteor Systems!"
Karen showed them out of her office and Adalet and Amy continued down to the elevator.
"So that's Frank's ex-wife? Not quite like I pictured her..." Amy admits as they get into the elevator.
"We're not here for Frank's personal life, Amy," Adalet reminded her, "we're here because a woman has been murdered!"
"Sorry, Adalet, I know I shouldn't gossip," she apologized as they reached the ground level, "but she didn't seem at all concerned that the jellyfish she ordered were used to kill her boss..."
"Maybe not, but Karen mentioned Teresa often went to the gyms. Which means we should go there next!" she decided.
After finding out which gym Teresa was going to, Adalet and Amy headed over to it to search for any clues that might help their investigation. There was no one inside the private gym when they arrived, so they easily found some clues. One was a gym bag left behind near the lockers, the second was a faded book resting against the weight lifting machine.
"Find anything useful in the gym, Adalet?" Amy inquired as Adalet set the clues down on a bench, "that bag might be hiding something, let's have a look inside! And that book you found, someone wrote, "Enjoy my book, Teresa!" This was a gift for our victim! Enjoy my book... Could the book's author have given this to Teresa?"
"It would make sense," Adalet agreed, unzipping the gym bag, "of course, the cover is faded..."
"But you'll retrieve that in no time, Adalet!" she says confidently.
"And speaking of retrieving," her hand closed around a card and she pulled it out of the bag, "I've got the victim's security badge!"
"But wait a second... Knowing how strict Meteor Systems' security is, there's no way Teresa could have gone to that underwater lab without that badge..." Amy pondered, "so how did that bag end up here, instead of in the water with Teresa?! Unless... Adalet, do you think the killer took the victim's badge after the murder and hid it here?"
"If that's the case," Adalet grabs a cotton swab, "then it'd be a good idea to gather a sample of this greenish substance!"
Adalet swabbed the past-like green substance that had been smeared on the victim's security badge. There was a strange odour to the substance, but not one either of the two investigators recognized.
"Way to collect the green substance from the victim's badge, Adalet! Let's get it to the lab!" Amy says, taking the sample for safekeeping.
With the unknown substance out of the way, Adalet dusted the cover of the book they had found. They recovered a black and white outline of a man in a finger-gun pose and according to the name below the image, the man's name is Dirk Evans.
"Way to go, Adalet! You revealed the author of that fitness book to be one Dirk Evans!" Amy read the cover of the book, "was Dirk Teresa's fitness trainer? He did give her a copy of his book after all... Let's go talk to him!"
They ended up finding Dirk Evans inside the office of the gym and asked him about the book he gave to the victim.
"Capt. Adalet! Are you looking to tone those biceps of yours? Because I've got just the workout for you!" Dirk declared.
Adalet smiled, "oh, I don't think your weights would do me any good... But I'll keep the offer in mind! We're actually here about one of your clients, Teresa Turing."
"One of my clients? Teresa is my ONLY client! She made me drop my other clients to work with her full-time!" he laughed, "jumping jacks for breakfast, squats for lunch, lunges for dinner... that girl's obsessed! She's aiming for the body of a 21-year-old!"
"Well, you won't be working with her anymore... Teresa was found murdered this morning," Amy informed him.
"Seriously? Teresa's dead?!" Dirk exclaimed, shock evident on his face, "I can't believe it! Guess all those squats were for nothing!"
"One fish, two fish, redfish, dead fish..." Roxie sings, "or rather, dead victim!"
"Hilarious as always, Roxie!" Amy says sarcastically.
"I thought it was. Anyway, Adalet was right: the victim died from a jellyfish sting! Or rather, multiple stings! Jellyfish are dangerous enough alone, but no one could have survived such an attack!" she babbled, pointing to the various sting marks on the victim's body, "Adalet's also correct in calling this a murder. See that hexagonal mark on her face? Someone knocked her out, then pushed her body into the water."
"Do you know what could have made those marks?" Adalet inquired, examining the mark on Teresa's face.
"The shape matches the hand weights people use to work out," Roxie picks a small hand weight off her desk, "I guess your killer likes to stay in shape!"
"This murderer might like to work out with hand weights, but things won't work out as well for them in prison!" Amy joked, making note of the information.
"Our victim really was killed using jellyfish," Yann remarks as he walks into the morgue, ever famous coffee mug in hand, "fascinating..."
"It's times like this, I see the resemblance between you and Nathan," Adalet smiles, "I'm assuming you're here to tell us about the substance we sent you?"
"Adalet, that green substance you collected from the victim's badge was quite palatable!" he answers, "the substance is a mixture of two unique ingredients typically found in Japanese cuisine. I found residue of processed fish, but the main part of the substance was wasabi."
"Wasabi? The spicy green paste that you put on sushi? That explains the processed fish residue. Though I personally can't handle the nose-burning sensation of wasabi!" Amy wrinkled her nose as she recalled the spicy taste of the paste.
"I can't really taste spicy foods," Adalet admitted, "because of my fire demon DNA, my taste buds are highly adapted to handle heat, just like the rest of me, so I need a lot of spices to taste anything!"
"Should enter you in a hot pepper eating contest!" Roxie teased, nudging the captain, "could make a quick buck!"
She laughed, "I'd have an unfair advantage... But even if the killer can handle spice on their sushi, I doubt they'll be able to handle prison once we catch them!"
"Adalet, something fishy is definitely going on at Meteor Systems, and I'm not just talking about the jellyfish!" Amy says as they sat at their desks, "Teresa Turing had just been appointed CEO of Meteor Systems, and now she's dead. Seems like CEO is a deadly position in this company!"
"Karen Knight told us that Teresa had started funding research into jellyfish, in a quest to achieve immortality..." Adalet took over, "which confirms what Dirk told us, saying Teresa worked out non-stop. Seems like she was obsessed with looking young. Though becoming immortal is a bit of a stretch..."
"Hey Adalet, mind if I butt in? I think I know why your victim was obsessed with immortality!" Roxie announced, entering the office.
Adalet turned around to face the coroner, "well then, don't leave us in suspense, Rox!"
"During the autopsy, I noticed that Teresa's blood appeared strange, so I took a sample, and it looks like she had an extremely rare and deadly disease!" she explained, passing over a file, "Adalet, Teresa Turing was studying immortality because she was terminally ill!"
"What? Teresa was dying? How come nobody said anything about that before?" Amy wondered.
"Probably because she didn't want anyone to know," Roxie theorized with a shrug, "but perhaps that is why she was using the company's money to fund two separate research labs."
"Wait, there's a SECOND lab?" Adalet cuts in.
"What were they working on?!" Amy asked.
Roxie shrugged again, "you'll have to figure that out. I've sent the address for Meteor Systems' experiment center to your tablet. Good luck digging for clues!"
Following the address Roxie had provided them with, Adalet and Amy hurried over to the secret lab to search for new evidence. Looking around the high-tech laboratory they saw recliner-like chairs with strange glowing wheels on either side of the headrests. The machines looked to be hooked up to the main computer, but there was no information displayed to tell them what the machines could be for.
On the seat of one of the recliners, they found a locked metal box, about the size of a small cage, with little holes drilled into each of the box's four sides. They also picked up the laboratory's trash can which no one had emptied yet.
"You can find clues just about anywhere, can't you, Adalet?" Amy teased, "there's certainly going to be something hidden away in this trash bin! And what could be inside that metal box? Break the code on the lock so we can find out!"
Adalet grabbed the lock and turned the dials on it until each was in the correct order. After the lock clicked open, she removed it from the cage and opened the door.
"What the... Adalet, there's a hamster in the box you found in the lab! The poor thing, how long has it been locked up in there?!" Amy cried as Adalet gently removed the small animal, "someone put some sort of electronic helmet on the poor creature! How dare they?!"
Adalet stroked the hamster's back, "I don't know, but they sure are heartless! We'd better send this hamster to the lab! Hannah will be able to tell us what they've been doing to it!"
After finding an empty cardboard box to place the hamster in, Amy held onto the box while Adalet examined the trash bin. After sifting through the pieces of garbage, she found a photo stuck to a candy wrapper. Peeling the wrapper off, she saw that their victim was in the photo relaxing in a chair as what appeared to be an android kneeling at her feet slipping Teresa's heels onto the victim's feet.
"Hope you didn't get your hands dirty pulling out that photo from under the trash, Adalet!" Amy says as she continues petting the hamster.
"Nah!" Adalet denies, "but check this out, it's our victim in the photo! Someone is helping her with her shoe..."
"Wait, is that a robot? She looks nearly human, she must be very advanced!" she remarked, awestruck, "we'll have to check the Meteor Systems database in order to find out her identity! Let's go, Adalet!"
After finding the right database on her tablet, Adalet scanned the face of the android and sent it through the database. After several seconds and selecting some matching aspects of the android, they had identification for the machine.
"Nice work finding the face on that photo in Meteor Systems' database! Looks like Teresa's robot is called Aphro-Dyte!" Amy reads from over the captain's shoulder, "considering Teresa's late husband was killed by a robot, we'd better make sure this Aphro-Dyte isn't a killer! Lead the way, Adalet!"
After dropping the hamster off at the station for the lab to analyze, Adalet and Amy drove out to Meteor Systems' headquarters and tracked down Aphro-Dyte who was walking around the grounds and got her attention to ask Aphro-Dyte about working for the victim.
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Unlimited Evolution [New]
“If anything can go wrong, it’ll go wrong”—Alex found the truth of this quote the hard way when his Thursday evening was ruined by a blinding golden light. Thrown to war against his wishes, in a world that was not his own, he didn’t even survive the first day. But, death was not his sweet retreat. It was just the beginning. Reborn as an Imp in the hellscape of a dungeon, Alex’s life just got more complicated. In a place where you are food to other monsters and a lump of EXP to humans… survival was nothing but luxury. But Alex will survive. He will squeeze every last bit of potential from his [System] and work his way up the ladder of the food chain until he is strong enough to step out of his prison. The first step to such a lofty goal is to conquer the menace of goblins. Unlimited Evolution narrates the struggles of a young man from earth who gets the short end of the stick even in a different world. After a betrayal that resulted in his death, he wakes as a monster in a dungeon where even his fellow monsters saw him as nothing but food. The story will be a little slow-paced in the beginning and the battles will be calculated, brutal, and short. The litRPG element will be there and the system plays an important role in world-building. I'll try to explore each and every character I introduce as much as I can. Hopefully, I do a good job in that aspect. **I hope you enjoy this book of mine.**
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