Cognitive Deviance

24. Coggins

April 17, 2045 - 9:45 PM

Once the threats inside the House of Pleasure were eventually neutralized, Margo and several other officers were sent to the hospital. The target himself, Geoffrey Coggins, took a hell of a beating fighting for his illegal slice of land. Thanks to Margo, his left arm was just a collection of burnt chunks of flesh limply dangling off the rest of his body. He'd need a prosthetic limb for sure.

If he managed to impress the doctor-cops, that is.

Mason, Andrade, and Carl—who had still passed the baton over to Vince—were on their way to the interrogation room where Coggins was locked up. Other Psychwatch officers were racing up and down the hallways, many of them on their way to uncover the identities of the Sentients they had rescued. The small lens of Mason's ThoughtControl hovered in front of her eye.

"Still hard to believe only one officer was killed," sighed Andrade out of relief. "Those Blurs really work wonders, don't they, Commissioner?"

"Sure," Mason replied blankly, focused on the path in front of her. "If they were perfect, then I wouldn't have a dozen officers in the hospital right now."

"There's always a way," Vince mumbled, neither of his colleagues hearing him.

"I can't help but feel sympathy for Sandoval," Andrade added. "Poor girl came in expecting to be a regular shrink, and now she's out on the streets of the Psycho Slums picking off Bod-Modders. I mean, it had to happen at some point, but it's all happening so abruptly for her."

"What are her conditions?" Mason asked.

"Critical bruising around her torso and ribs and a hairline fracture in her left arm, both due to an upgraded shotgun that managed to blast open two holes in her Blur. She'll be feeling like shit for the next few weeks, but she'll be fine."

"Everyone else?"

"Pretty much the same, Commissioner. Nothing worse than a few small fractures. In fact, Royce was reported with two broken ribs, but all he talked about was getting home to 'Sofia' or somebody like that."

"Do you know of his personal life, Andrade?"

"I'm afraid not, Commissioner. However, many of the other officers had grown delirious due to their concussions, so we'd assumed the same happened to him. Sandoval also sounded like she was speaking nonsense."

"How so?"

"She kept claiming she heard the screams of Dottie Forrester, one of the girls we rescued a week ago. However, none of the Sentients we retrieved resemble her. Poor girl is just guilt-ridden. I told her she could sign up for a session here once she's out."

"Making her think she's crazy is the best solution?" Vince grumbled.

"Inspector Andrade didn't say she convinced her she was crazy," Mason answered. "Sandoval can believe whatever the hell she wants as long as she gets her job done."

The three officers finally reached the interrogation room. Several other doctor-cops waited in front of the transparent screen of the one-way mirror, a dozen holographic screens hovering around the room. Geoffrey Coggins sat at a silver table on the other side of the mirror. His left arm was completely gone—having been amputated an hour ago—and he sat in a slouched, austere position with his remaining hand cuffed to his seat. His eyes and expression were as cold and synthetic as the Sentients he once had control over.

"Atkinson," Mason said in reference to Nikki, who sat in front of another screen in the corner of the room, "is the subject's mind stable enough for the PACER?"

"N-N-N-No, ma'am," Nikki stuttered. "His diagnosis by the P3S uncovered multiple paraphilia within his mental state as well as symptoms of antisocial personality disorder."