An Act of Chivalry (Sander Sides)

Chapter Seven

Today wasn't a training day which I found disappointing. I needed to rematch Remy and make up for my failure the day before. However, today was a physical and mental health day. In other words, a break.

Logan was spending the day caught up in his room, possibly recording information or reading something that would likely bore me. Patton and I were chilling on the couch rewatching the last session of Steven Universe, while Virgil joined Remy on search. People have been frequently murdered within a certain range in the city. Never in a building, only in the allies. There was a pattern and after today that pattern would be finalized.

That wasn't the only thing we were all waiting for. The lab this villain breached has been going on check for days. On the cameras, we saw that he'd stolen something, we just didn't know what. There were plenty of things hidden in quarantine, either because they were too dangerous, or because they weren't finished. The remaining security was doing a check probably even now, Hopefully, we'd get that info today as well.

The episode was just ending when the door burst open. I straightened up, turning off the TV and paying mind to my mentor. Virgil wasn't in the room and that made my heart crack just a bit more. "Where's Virgil?" I questioned.

"He went to rest in his room," Thomas reassured. I was relieved to hear this. Ever since this thing got lose I've known that hot topic stopped getting enough sleep. Hopefully, he gets some.

"Roman." Thomas snapped me out of my thoughts. "Were you listening?" "No sir sorry, please repeat yourself."

Thomas nodded, rolling over a chair and sitting across from us. "So I wanted to inform you what Remy, Virgil, and squad A has found today." I leaned back once more, gesturing my hand back to him. "ok." Was my only response. I hope they found what we've been looking for.

Thomas grabbed the laptop that sat idle on the coffee table and started typing away. He pressed a button on his watch and something popped up on the tv screen. "This is a detailed map of Washington DC, "Thomas started. Thomas pressed a few more buttons on his watch. The screen jumped a moment before making a ding noise. The noise started slow but gradually sped up. For every bing, there was a red dot that burned brightly on the screen. When the noise stopped everything went silent.

"Don't tell me..." Patton trailed off.

The officer sighed. "Each dot IS, in fact, a victim within the last five days. Theirs fifty-two victims and yes, they're calling an evacuation within the next two hours. He hasn't shown up in the city cameras, but they have reason to believe he did it."

"Why?" I asked, curious.

"Because like the girl mangled in the laboratory bathroom, each victim has been found with this cut into their arm." Thomas pulled out a photo and spun it on the table to face us. I was grateful the image only showed her arm, not that the arm looked better. On her arm, in red, the wound read "Deceit".

This made me shiver down to the bone. Deceit? Why Deceit? Was he hunting people? If he was hunting people then this was quite the sick form of vengeance.

As if reading my thoughts, Thomas continued. "We've noticed a possible correlation. about half the victims seem to be journalists, media workers, and commercial professionals." I rose a brow at the statement. Patton, who had been silent so far hummed. His hum was high pitched and I could hear the strain and concern within it.

"Sadly, that's not all." Thomas shuttered. "The pattern on the map at first glance resembles nothing correct?" I nodded. "Well, our detectives quickly found this. He pressed something on the laptop and a transparent image fell over the map.

"Live or die, that's the name of the image he's creating. It's a snake, broken up into pieces...People are brainstorming as we speak."

"L-live or die," Patton gulped. This was a lot to take in. I wish I could question his evidence but I mean, the dots fit over the image perfectly. This thing was insane!

"What do we do?" I asked, getting to my feet and walking up to the screen. "Tomorrow, once everyone's evacuated, a search parties crossing over the city. We can only do it once everyone is gone. The government can't risk mistakes."

"And the president?"

"He was evacuated yesterday." I nodded once more, leaving the room to grab my sword. If people were evacuating I wanted to be out there aiding the process. I only hope it goes well.