Thanatos

Chapter 9

"So, what did you find out?" Dennis asked as the group comprising of him, Megan, Jay, Kei, Adolf, and the mission master of the last investigation in New York sat around an interactive table in a relatively small conference room on Olympus with the files from the investigation opened in front of them all.

The group looked at one another, no one seeming to want to speak.

"Well?" he asked again.

"Truth be told, Director, we found nothing," Megan replied.

"Well, not nothing, nothing," Jay countered from beside her. "I found an energy presumably lingering from the explosion, but I can't seem to make head or tail of it."

"So, you found nothing masquerading as something," Kei muttered from across him with a scoff, earning a return glare so smoldering that she had to avert her gaze to avoid meeting it head-on.

Dennis let the moment pass without a word, presumably allowing everyone to feel whatever they wanted to feel before they proceeded further.

"Jay, can you expatiate on that energy bit?" he started from him afterwards.

"Well," he tapped an image of what looked like a wave trend in front of him and it popped up in 3D for everyone to see, "I came across this energy when I was at the explosion's point of origin..."

Apparently, the energy was undetectable in any other part of the room except for that small radius, which might explain why the former investigation team had missed it the first time around. It was concentrated in the middle of the radius, right above the spot where the theta sign had been carved into the ground before extending outwards from there like tendrils. It didn't take powers to conclude that it was indeed a remnant of the explosion, or at least related to it in some way.

"But other than that, I got nothing." Jay threw his hands up in frustration. "No matter how I try, I can't figure out exactly what the energy is; electrical, ionizing, electromagnetic. It just doesn't appear like anything I've ever come across before."

"In addition, we were able to use Jay's bracelet to confirm that the wave trend in front of us right now is the actual identifier of the explosion, " the mission master picked up from where the teenager stopped. "The exact same one was found in the Bodø explosion after a comparison test was run there and sent back. We ran tests on other explosion sites in our database just to be sure but none matched. It's safe to assume that whatever weapon was used, it's fairly recent on the market and nothing like we've ever faced before."

A collective sigh rang across the room. There was no denying it anymore. Olympus was in for a long ride against a powerful, well-hidden enemy with a weapon that was even more powerful and well-hidden than they were.

"So, other than the remnant energy, we've got nothing more on the bomb or the bomber." Dennis was looking at Megan now.

She made a swiping gesture from her place and the image of the wave trend moved to the left of the table with an overhead view of the crime scene taking its place at the centre.

"I find the whole incident strange," she said.

"Strange how exactly?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"Well, this is a small insurance company we're talking about," she explained. "The entire office space is barely a few inches bigger than this conference room. It's weird that someone could place a threatening device in the dead centre of such a busy room and no one noticed it till it was too late."

"And the first was an explosion in an apartment in the early hours of the morning with only one dead." Adolf seemed to pick up on her train of thoughts. "Why would anyone in their right mind just leave a strange item alone in the middle of their own room till it exploded?"

"Exactly." She nodded as she smiled in respect to his intelligence.

"Meaning?" Dennis looked between two of them.

"Meaning that we can't treat this case like a standard Olympus mission," Kei completed for them. "We have to investigate everyone related to the two crime scenes in isolation and in comparison."

"Exactly." Megan gave her a thumbs up.

"Umm, I hate to be the wet blanket here but considering the number of the normal occupants of the affected buildings, plus maintenance crew and even past visitors, we're looking at a very large investigation pool here," Dennis said before the group could settle on that plan. "How exactly are you suggesting that we manage our time?"

"Adolf and I will assist to speed things along," Jay offered, looking to the other teenager who nodded his assent. "I can go to Bodø and investigate the residents of the buildings. If they really had come in contact with the strange energy, it's possible that they still have a trace of it on them till now."

"And I can keep tabs on viable suspects from a safe height," Adolf added.

Kei raised her hand. "And I can-"

"Actually, Kei and I will be on a different mission," Megan cut in, prompting confused looks from everyone in the room.

"Miss Months, you have a plan you want to share?" Dennis asked.

"It's more like an idea for now really," she replied. "For it to become a plan, we'll need to go visit an old friend."