Memory Shards

Warsaw's Charger Bravo Massacre - Part 2

I figured there would be plenty of interesting things to see around here. The problem is that I know for a fact that Paul is not interested in the slightest about any of this. He'd be far more interested in catching whoever broke in here – I figure his detective work regarding the contents of the R&D department would stop at “the suspect wants a piece of rare weapon tech.” There is no reason for him to bring this up to me, I'm just the security guy.
“Right. I figured.” - I reply with disinterest in my tone.
My disinterest is merely aimed at his attempt to distract my attention. If anything, he has me here to aid his investigation somehow. In most cases he doesn’t like anyone getting in the way of doing as he pleases in a crime scene. Something really bad happened here.
“Yeah, feel free to look around if you want – we've assessed that chances are nothing will happen today, it would be incredibly rare to see the suspect return so soon.” - He adds, as if to encourage me.
This is all to say he’s asking for my help specifically – I get that this isn’t something he can do directly, or at least not easily. My job here is merely to be on-site security for this affair, so if he was to ask anyone to assist in the case, he’d have to go through all of the legal hoops and fill out a bunch of forms that he simply doesn’t have any time for. He sure is shady for a detective - this probably has to do with the off-the-records situation that Foxhound was talking about, and if the tech that Twelve Bore mentioned was for the Paradis Corporation, it only means it’s got to do with weaponry technology. It’s unlikely that it has anything to do with WMDs, or explosives; that’s not what they handle here.
Then again. If there’s anything for me to look at, that means whatever the suspect might’ve been looking for is still here.
Just who breaks into a secure research complex, and leaves without taking anything?
He brings me closer to the temporary R&D department’s entrance. For what apparently used to be a service area, they spare any expenses when installing blast doors to the complex and full biometric scanners.
“This is it, just remember not to touch anything, forensics will want everything as it was.” - He warns me, as if establishing his terms, or limits, to my contributions here. It’s like he thinks he’s doing me a favor.
At some point I figured they must’ve given him some sort of special access for today – it makes sense as most people would jump at the opportunity of stealing valuable information from here, at least this way they’d know exactly who was here if the access is restricted to a single day. I figure my name is on the list too by now.
He opens the door, as I’m greeted to the sight of the slaughter. It takes me a solid minute to adjust to just what I’m looking at – the bodies are basically unrecognizable; I can only presume they are those of Solus's security staff. They’re a bloody mess; missing arms, some others have no legs. I spot some limbs further back into the complex, away from the bodies. They were all standing around the door’s entrance, standing guard and ready to shoot.
They died where they stood.
All of them died in an instant, in quick succession, blood splattered violently, facing away from the door. Like something blew up in front of them. But then again, there is no mark of any explosive, or any burn marks on the ground.
“We really aren’t here to do anything besides stand guard around the bodies before our people form forensics arrive. The suspect escaped hours ago, we have the CCTV footage and things are conclusive. Moving all the forensics people in and out without anyone noticing takes a long time, so we’ll be a few hours here uninterrupted.” - His words come out of his mouth so effortlessly, I really wonder if he listens to himself when he talks.
“So, you’re just here to take a closer look.” - It seriously wouldn’t surprise me if he did this just because he can. But something tells me he’s playing at something else.

“We, are here to take a closer look.” - He corrects while putting his hand on my shoulder. I slap it away without hesitation.

“Just tell me what happened here then.” - I reply in discontent.
His strategy is to use me as a consultant in his investigation, one he conducts separately from the police department. Now this is something I knew he did, but my line of work has never been at the crime scenes – only stopping ongoing crimes – two very different worlds.
Had I known of this I simply would’ve said no – I should’ve known that he wasn’t doing anything different from his usual MO. He must have had Twelve Bore talk me into coming - I’ll give him a piece of my mind later - and brought me to the crime scene to trap me into helping him. I walked right into his trap; all I can do now is finish this up as soon as possible.
“Alright then, let’s just get down to business. You see, the suspect entered through the cargo area and was captured in full view in the CCTV feed recordings; he basically barged in, killed everyone with unidentified experimental weaponry and left after briefly looking around.” - He says calmly as he slowly walks around the corpses before us.
All the more why all of this is to stay off-record like Fox Hound said; this was an utter humiliation to not just the in-house security staff of the most powerful tech corporation, but also to the local police department. Whoever did all of this was trained and well-equipped – chances are they simply didn’t find whatever they were possibly hired to look for. I could think of a few groups who could’ve armed an effective death squad to steal from Solus – but that’s the thing.
One person, just one, with no guns. A highly trained enemy, or just a sicko with augmentations?
I get down on one knee to get closer to the mutilated bodies of the Solus Corp Security staff, carefully enough to not touch anything. I wouldn’t want my fingerprints on anything here.
I didn’t really think about it at first, mostly due to the sheer bizarreness of the situation, I notice slight traces of burnt ends on their clothes.
Against my better judgment I get closer, almost down to the floor where the body is – I can tell I’m getting a weird look from him, but honestly, my priority is simply to get out of here as fast as possible.
I place my hand on the floor and smell the charred extremity – and I notice a very distinct smell. It’s not the sharp smell of gunpowder I’m accustomed to, it doesn’t have the distinct burn of ammonia to it. It's something else, it’s more like a car’s fumes, more like a fuel station.
“Neon. Whatever killed these people, it was some sort of neon compound, it burnt so fast, and so strong it didn’t leave a trace behind, besides at the afflicted area.” -
Neon onto its own is unable to be ignited by regular means, it is not out of the question, however, that a different chemical was used to ignite it or to destabilize it into detonating. It’s not too different from the theoretical neon bullet. But this, this was made to kill instantly.
I get back on my feet as I closely watch the charred fabric.
“Do you still have access to the recording?” -