CURIOSITY, A BRIEFCASE, AND THE MYSTIC SHADOW PHOENIX

Detective Comics #0

Ian tapped his pencil eraser on his desk as he listened to his teacher drone on and on at the front of the room.

The class, Algebra, was ridiculously easy, but because of the plethora of morons that filled the seats, the teacher had to go very slowly, repeating himself frequently.

To Ian, it felt like taking a whole class to explain that the sun is yellow, but there was nothing he could do about it. The school didn't have the money to handle the rare intelligent student and just lumped them in with the rest.

Of course, Ian wasn't the only person not paying attention, although most of the others that were doing so could not have answered a single question about the lesson at that moment.

Learning was not really a high priority at this run down, neglected, under-funded school, for either teachers or students.

A few at the front row would put forth the effort, imagining that someday they might go to community college and get a job that didn't pay minimum wage.

Most of the kids, though, sat in the rest of the rows, dreaming about being pro athletes, master criminals, welfare dependents or married to one of those things, with no regard for their lack of talent or intellect or initiative.

Even so, these were the same people that assaulted and ridiculed him, a thought that sickened Ian.

Emily was one of those in the front row and if any of them did make it out, make something of themselves, become somebody, he believed she would be one of them. He only wished he could be right there with her. He wanted nothing more than to be the man she needed, the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

The moment the bell rang, Ian was out of his desk, moving quite quickly in spite of his short, stodgy physique. He wanted out of the school as quickly as possible, so that any thugs that tried to find him that day would not notice that he'd taken a different route home.

It would result in a slightly longer walk, but it would keep him from losing his last pair of glasses.

Ian's plan worked just as he predicted. He was out before anyone who might care could see where he went. He was so confident of that, once he was out of sight, he slowed to a casual stroll, looking around at the buildings as he went.

The surrounding buildings were in no better shape than Ian's apartment - dirty and rundown. They were a testament to some past golden age of the city that had long since run it's course.

Now, they were mostly abandoned, used more often by criminals than anyone else.

Ian had had more than one close call where he'd stumbled into the midst of criminal activity while satisfying his curiosity about some strange noise or odd light.

This time it was an unfamiliar smell that reached out and grabbed Ian's inquisitive mind and piqued its interest. Normally the area smelled old, full of rust, mold, and the dusty air of a place mostly forgotten.

Today though, it smelled of something new, a ripe pungent smell like garbage that had sat in the can for far too long or maybe a dead animal. Whatever it was, the smell was quite strong.

Stepping off into a small alley, Ian followed his nose, searching for the smell. He was no blood hound or anything, but anything with a sense of smell could have followed a stench this potent.

It kept getting stronger as he moved until, it was so bad that he had to cover his nose and mouth with his hand to press on. Finally, Ian turned into a small alcove at the end of the alley and found what he was searching for sitting against the wall. It was not a pleasant discovery On the ground lay a corpse.

Bloated and discolored with flies and maggots crawling around on it, this corpse had once been a man, an older gentleman with brown hair that was perhaps half gray. He was dressed in a suit, and had in his lap a silver metal briefcase. The case was splattered red with blood, partially obscuring what appeared to be the wound that had killed the man, a gunshot to his gut.

It was not Ian's first dead body. He'd once seen a mugging victim that had been shot, and he'd buried both his grandparents, but this one was certainly the worst of the bunch. The disgusting condition of the body was enough to make him quite queasy, but it not enough to kill his curiosity, or even get him to empty his stomach on the ground.

Frowning at the corpse, Ian wondered what could have brought such a man to this part of town. His first guess was that he was some kind of important villain, or someone that worked for one of them.

There were a few powerful mutants in the area that were set up somewhere in the jungle of abandoned buildings and underground tunnels. Of course some regular old crime boss might have need to employ the dapperly dressed fellow as well.

"Well, let's see what you had that was worth killing over," Ian mused, kneeling down to grab the case and yank it from the dead man's hands.

There were no markings on the case, and it seemed to be locked, which Ian took as a sign that likely whatever the contents were, they were still waiting inside.

"I guess I need to find something to open it."

Keeping hold of the case, Ian hurried back out of the alley, leaving the dead man behind in the alcove.

Gone was his leisurely stroll as he jogged the remaining blocks to his building, huffing for breath as he did. He didn't feel safe again until he had the door shut and locked behind him.