Lightspeed: Drug Detectives

Chapter 41 (Act IV) (TAOTCC): Cut Off Two Heads

.....Guys? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but was I absolutely fucking NOWHERE in that last chapter? Like, NOWHERE? Because it was apparently just Marle Atkins, Xavier Costello, Daniela Acosta, and Angelo Acosta.....and even Erica Shields got to make an appearance, even though she only really said a couple of lines! Aren't I the title character of this novel? The protagonist of the adventure? The fucking centerfold? What's happening to me? I can't be falling out of relevancy so quickly! The author has plans for me, right?

Oh, well. Hey, everyone.....the name's Ariel Axilas, and welcome back to another chapter of my second novel, "Lightspeed: Drug Detectives". In the last chapter, Marle's attempt to hold Xavier and some other Celestial Syndicate grunts went awry when the last portion of the central factory collapsed, kicking up a large amount of dust that caused Marle to sneeze.....and making her fatally shoot Xavier in the damn head in the process. This ends up causing a severe close-quarters brawl between her, the Mastermind Agents, and the Celestial Syndicate team, with even her other captives managing to break their bonds and join in.

The Mastermind Agents ultimately prove superior to the Celestial Syndicate, and while Marle manages to injure and subdue Angelo, my best friend Erica Shields comes barreling in and outright SLAMS into Angelo's wife Daniela, sending her flying away like a ragdoll and making her collide very hard with a side wall belonging to one of the few storehouses left standing. The chapter ended with her fate unknown.....but you're about to find out what it is here!

This time, the attack on the Celestial Compound comes to a decisive close! Three....two....one.....GO!

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My best friend Erica Shields, upon detecting the severe impact thanks to the jostle that occurred, immediately shifts my car to "Park", engages the brake, and uses her "driver" kit to relinquish control over the vehicle, turning it back to a passive state. She's breathing very shakily, wondering if she's potentially injured someone out there.....or worse.

She's about to get out of the car using the driver's side door.....but I, Lightspeed, quickly dash onto the scene, accompanied by the Paragon Herman who's on his motorcycle.

Herman brings his motorcycle to a stop and quickly runs over to Daniela's unresponsive body, which has landed near one of the storehouses.

"Lightspeed?" Erica calls to me from inside the vehicle, seamlessly switching to referring to me using my codename since there are bad guys nearby. "Lightspeed, what's going on?"

"Erica, stay in the car," I instruct her. "Things might be about to get even more dangerous out here if you really did what I think you did."

"What? What did I—"

"Just stay in the car!"

Erica, Marle Atkins, the Mastermind Agents, Angelo Acosta, and the few office workers that Angelo brought alongside him—as well as myself—look on as Herman flips Daniela's body on its back, raises her left arm up, and checks for a pulse. Angelo and the Celestial Syndicate office workers look concerned as hell—and I don't blame them, 'cause I'd be, too—while Marle and the Mastermind Agents with her are more curious than anything else.

He finds none, and looks over his left shoulder at everyone else before shaking his head.

"Vital signs negative. She's dead," he confirms grimly. "I would advise for everyone from the Celestial Syndicate to stand down now to avoid further bloodshed."

"What?" Erica cried, hearing Herman's statement from inside the car. "Who? Who's dead?"

"Shhh," I say, wanting to do my best to spare Erica the guilt of all the deaths, like with Officer Pietro Pedesco back at the Mastermind Conspiracy's Cambridge branch base. "Just sit tight, Erica."