Darksun - Volume 1: Neco'ma

Chapter 1: A Bizarre Crime Scene

An hour later –

It's not unusual for passersby and tourists to see the LAPD investigating a sexual assault case on Hollywood Boulevard. However, this particular case would be a first for an officer who had just joined the LAPD after graduating from the police academy a year earlier. Officer Jake O'Neil had never seen a case like this, nor was he prepared for what came next.

He walked underneath a caution yellow tape barricading the civilians away from the crime scene. He pushed on towards the detective leading the investigation; she was looking over the crime scene with her arms crossed and her head tilted. Behind her in the background, the young girl is being cared for by medical examiners.

'So, what do we have Detective?' Jake immediately asked.

'You sure you want to know, rookie?' replied Reyes in a sturdy tone of voice.

Detective Mia Reyes was the detective in charge of the scene. Known for her loyalty and respect amongst her peers, she was sporting a practical attire of a jacket and baggy jeans with her brunette hair tied up in a relaxed ponytail.

Jake nodded and Mia calmly led him forward.

'So far this was an attempted sexual assault case, our witness is now being checked out by the M.Es for DNA.'

'Alright, sounds like fairly normal procedure,' Jake replied confidently.

'Well, not quite exactly,' with a concerned expression Mia slowly explained, 'the attackers sustained some fairly serious injuries during the incident. The police are investigating if these men are the most recent victims of the notorious vigilante that we have been pursuing for the past three years.'

Mia requested for one of the M.Es to give them the details. Dr. Phillips stepped forward, 'I was able to identify a size nine footprint on the man who was kicked to the wall. Despite a wounded spine and a near cracked skull, he'll live.'

Mia and Jake both exchanged an agreeable nod.

'But the other guy probably wishes he was dead. Stab wound right through his right rib cage narrowly missing his lung but puncturing a vein, causing him to bleed out profusely. But the real kicker is his eyes, I don't know how our vigilante did it but we can't identify the chemical which blinded the poor bastard,' just as Dr. Phillips concluded the examinations, an ambulance van entered near the alleyway and stopped in front of the crowd, causing them to disperse.

The paramedics exited the vehicle with a stroller. They headed towards one of the victims lying on the ground, and strapped him onto it. Everyone could hear him screaming out the vigilante's name and confessing to his sins as he was strolled into the vehicle, disoriented.

Mia immediately confirmed her suspicions, 'it's our guy, Darksun strikes again. That's the third set of criminals this month, and I'm not sure how he does it?'

'Is there anything I can do, Detective?' asked Officer O'Neil.

'What you can do is interview the girl, apparently, she saw everything. So maybe she can give us an idea of what our guy looks like, unlike the last attacks.'

Officer O'Neil approached the girl he was about to question. He brought out his notepad, and wrote down every detail he could get from her. The girl explained what happened to her earlier, and then elaborated on how she was saved and what her saviour did to the two guys.

'Did you get a good look at the vigilante?' he asked calmly.

The girl was not sure how to describe him, 'he was fit, black hooded jumper, I couldn't see his face that well, but at one point his hood came off and I could see he looked Latino with lighter skin, black spiky hair, he had a jade pendant and purple eyes,' the girl reported.

This immediately caught Officer O'Neil's attention, 'wait a minute? Did you just say, "purple eyes"?' he asked her.

'Yeah, I'm positive, and they were really strange when I got a closer look. They also looked like cats-eyes, but purple. Unless he got those eyes at a costume shop? But I swear, I could really tell that they were real,' answered the girl.

'Thanks for the info, please make sure you go get some rest,' said Officer O'Neil. The girl left with the medical examiners for a further check-up.

Jake headed to where Mia was and he handed her his notepad for her to have a look at.

She silently mouthed the words she was reading on the notepad. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows lifted as she reached the last description, 'purple cats eyes? Well that's new, and also the first time we got a good report that gave us an idea of what he looks like. I'll get an artist to cooperate with the witness. Hopefully this will finally give us the chance to arrest the infamous Darksun.'

'But why arrest him, he's been doing nothing but help clean up the city?' claimed Jake.

'I know that. But that's our job, not some vigilante doing it for us,' said Mia as she spotted his exhausted expression, 'Jake look, it's late and you've been working your butt off for weeks since you joined the precinct. Why don't you go home early tonight to get some rest, and I'll let you know if we figure out anything in the morning.'

Jake had no other option but to agree. He hadn't had any sleep for days. Officer O'Neil walked off to go home, feeling like he hadn't accomplished anything this night except forgetting a description of the vigilante. In the distance, he didn't realise that the was being watched by the very same purple-eyed vigilante they were investigating.