The Morbus-verse

"Nah, I'm not," Jong replied. "Who are you tough guy? You the boss of the house?"

"YEAH!" Wooly exclaimed, ignoring his older brother and stepping into the room with a puffed out chest, "I dragged you here! Well...me and Kam. We thought you were dead, dead-man! Why were you in the water? Why is your foot missing? Are you a spy sent to kill us?!"

Jong chuckled. "Damn, you're pretty smart," He muttered, rubbing his bearded chin. "You knew about the foot, you knew about me in the water. Can you keep a secret?" Jong raised an eyebrow and leaned in on the chair. "Mobsters threw me in the river. Bad guys. I'm not a spy... I'm a cop."

Jong glanced up at Gangrin. "And I was about to talk to your brother about a secret mission, wasn't I Gangrin?"

"Uh," Gangrin replied with a raised eyebrow. "You were?"

Wooly looked up to Gangrin with big, excited eyes, "You...you're a spy too?! And you never told me?!?! NICE!"

Gangrin turned to Jong, his arms folded. "What do you mean?"

"You're a doctor but you can't practice medicine, you waste your days delivering weed to slumlords," Jong muttered to the man casually. "I'm part of D.U.S.K... yes, we're back, and very soon we will need a new leader." The man paused, adjusting in his chair. "And I need someone who I know can stitch me up... and watch my back."

"Are you... offering me a job?" Gangrin blinked. "As a cop?"

"I'm offering you a job as an assistant... to the Chief Inspector of D.U.S.K., Meon Jong," Jong blinked. "So are you in?"

Gangrin turned to his brothers, to their decaying home, to the posters on the wall. Of Luxemburg. Of Matterfall. "Why me?"

"You saved my life, and I think you can continue saving my life," Jong replied. "It's not gonna be safe, it's not gonna be easy. But it's something. And something's better than nothing."

Fuck!

Amen sat back in his seat. If he was caught, he was caught. Now all he had to do was see what his target would do next.

There was a moment. A moment of silence, a moment of waiting as car's flashed by Amen, their lights shinning in and dulling out the green streetlights. A few brightly coloured figures moved by his car but did nothing else. After a second Rollo's car began to blast to life again, suddenly ripping through the street at full speed, dodging cars as fast as it could. This wasn't a tailing mission anymore. This was a chase.

***

Gangrin stared at the man he had saved, the man he'd fished out the river. "...I'm interested."

"What, for real?" Amen laughed to himself, even though nothing was particularly funny about the situation at hand to him.

The first thing you learn not to do.

Amen sped up after Rollo, picking up speed as he dodged the cars in his way.

Not dodged...drifted.

"We gonna play this game, you car better sprout wings nigga," Amen smiled as he was gaining speed on Rollo's car.

10:40AM
December 5th, 2117
Songpa Avenue, Goyang

The roads were sleek with ice and snow. A cold breeze blew onto Su-Min's face as she glanced down at her phone once more, reading the text she had sent Camilla just a little over an hour ago.

Hi Camilla, it's Park from work. I'm going to visit the address I found on the tracker. Meet me there at 10:30?
163-10 Songpa Avenue, Goyang.

She sighed and shoved her hands in her pockets, looking around the street impatiently. Was Camilla coming? The woman hadn't responded. Still, Su knew that she was usually late. 5 more minutes and then she would go into the apartment building alone. Even though it was a little reckless to do this the day after she had gotten out of hospital, Su-Min was eager to get this over and done with. This wasn't even her job, but the quicker she could solve this case and get the hell out of D.U.S.K the better.

Rollo's car drifted between oncoming vehicles, splitting in and out lanes, through holographic dividing lines. As Amen gained the car picked up speed, heading into the lane of an oncoming semi, large illuminated billboards on it's side blasting out crystal like lights as it's horn roared for Rollo to get the fuck off the road. And, at the last moment, Rollo did just that, spinning sideways off the road and into and alley, the semi separating him from the advancing Amen for the time being. But, Rollo was heading into familiar territory, as the streets they had driven had sunken lower into the city, the chase moving from the edges of Gasan to-

7:51AM
December 5th, 2117
The Knut Sack

Rollo clutched the wheel hard, looking over his shoulder as they dived off the road and into a side-street of the knut sack, the line between road and side-walk blurring as the morning commuters began to leave their home. On top of that a light rain had started, grey droplets coming down on his car as he drove. "You're one dumb motherfucker, Tuzi, you know that?" Rollo glared at Chinese man who sat strapped in beside him, a disappointed look on his face. "I did not- mean to disappoint you."

"Being a deadbeat fucking drunk while you're supposed to be getting supplies ain't disappointing, it's fucking stupid! But this ain't my op!" Rollo suddenly snapped back to attentioned as a android smashed into his window, shattering upon impact. Rollo gritted his teeth as he road through the accident scene, onlookers gawking at the commotion. "Get that seatbelt undone and be ready to jump," Rollo replied. "I'm driftin' us passed the Roxi."

"Does... that not seem... dangerous?" Tuzi asked, a scared look on his face.

"Yeah, it is, but so is the nigga chasin' us!" Rollo spat. "So whats it gonna be?!"

Tuzi fumbled with his seatbelt instantly, ready to eject himself when ordered. Rollo drifted around a turn, the Roxi Madhushaala ahead of him- orange neon sign flickering as the rain dropped on it. Behind them Amen was there. On a good day Rollo assumed he could kick Amen's ass at a good number of things, but driving in the rain wasn't one of them...

***

10:40AM
December 5th, 2117
Songpa Avenue, Goyang

The birds chirped as Su-Min waited, trees lining the streets. Goyang was elevated a bit above the city, on the natural rising terrain. Full of rich students and their parents, the apartment building she found herself before was nice- it even had a human doorman, at a desk inside behind the glass doors. The holograms on the street were minimal, they for Prada, Alexander McQueen, Mercedes, and all elevated above tree-line, along neatly organized red dots. The street was casually packed with drifting cars, people walking their dogs, and of course students hurrying to class.

"Hey!" A male voice called, a scruffy boy in a sweater approaching casually with a hand up. "You're in my ceramics class, right?" He asked, a white smile on his wide face. Camilla was still nowhere to be seen.

***

8:00AM
December 5th, 2117
Precinct 3 N.S.P.A. Station, Incheon

The Mandible Strangler glared at Iya from the cell across from her, reaching out onto to have his hand stopped by the orange electric field guarding each cell. She'd been in and out of several cells in the station for hours now, ever since she and everyone else at the shop was stupidly arrested. It turned out the gun the robber had wasn't even real, a plastic replica, but still she, Beckendau, who sat asleep in a cell across from her, Beckendau's friend, formerly giving a third interview statement to the beat cops at the station, the robber, who had been taken to headquarters, and the rando who was browsing the store, who wouldn't stop crying in the cell next to hers, remained imprisoned...

7:51AM
December 5th, 2117
The Knut Sack

"You rolled up into the Knut Sack?!" Amen asked, incredulously. "You fucked up now!" He continued as he pulled up his watch.

If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.

"Hey Ishani, what up girl?" Amen asked. "Hey, can you do me a favor real quick? You ain't gonna like it, but I'll owe you one. You need to hurry, though. There's a Ford headin' past the Roxi..."

***

Just ahead Rollo would see his path blocked by a jam in traffic. A food cart had been overturned and anot her car had apparently backed into it, causing a huge scene. An Indian woman was seen arguing with a elderly Korean man, both loudly proclaiming how they were prepared to call the NSPA.

Rollo swerved, narrowly avoiding the people in the street and immediately coming to a stop, his tires burning rubber as they ground to a halt. There was a moment of silence before the car door opened, Rollo stepping out and cracking his neck in the rain. From the opposite door Tuzi began to dash, passed the food cart and toward the entrance of the Roxi.

"Hey man!" Rollo called, blocking Amen's approaching car with arms wide. "What the hell?"

"Uh, excuse me. Sir," Amen responded in a nasally voice he got from a Neo-Punan traffic officer that he found amusing as his legs propelled him upwards above the barricade towards the fleeing Tuzi. Amen had hoped to catch him before he entered the Roxi. "Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to prepare your licence and registration, NSPA officers will be arriving soon. Any attempts to flee the crim scene are not advised," Amen advised as his voice echoed the further ahead he was towards Tuzi.

He landed right behind the drunkard, who was now right near the doors of the Roxi.

Su blinked at the boy as his words jolted her out of her thoughts. After a moment she smiled at him absentmindedly, glancing at the time, "Sorry, I think you've mistaken me for someone else."

As Amen reached out to grab Tuzi turned to look at his pursuer. Rain fell upon the man's pocked face, genuine fear stricken across it- as though he'd seen the devil himself. Suddenly Amen felt a spin kick to his torso, not strong enough to do any real damage but unexpected enough that his grip jolted, ripping Tuzi's sleeve off as the man dashed forward, smashing through the doors of the Roxi.

"Damn, Amen man," Rollo's voice came. He stood behind Amen in the rain. His arms were folded. "Sorry 'bout the kick. Didn't see it was you." It was a deadpan lie, his face expressionless. "Thought some criminals were chasing us. From the old days." Rollo reached out, offering Amen a hand...

***

"You sure?" The boy asked, a cheeky grin on his face. "You're waiting outside my building, and I got something you can mold right here."

From across the street the loud, disruptive sound of Camilla's motorcycle interrupted the scene. The boy glanced across the street at the motorcycle and then at Su-Min. "Thirtieth floor, ya' wanna see?" He asked, waving his key-card in the air.

"Shut the fuck up,' Amen sighed, refusing the hand as he stood up himself. "You gonna try and stop me if I go in after your boy?" Amen asked.m, dusting himself off.

***

"Chaddy Kwanny, Chaddy Kwaaaaan! Chaddy Kwan-O, Chaddy Kwaaaaaaan!" A voice sang, almost as loud as the motorcycle as a young Korean student skateboarded into frame, performing an Ollie as he came to a screeching halt. He glanced in shock at Camilla, someone he hadn't expected to be there. "Oh Whoa," he commenteed with a woah, before shuffling to the side to fet a glance at her sweet ride. "Sweet ride, sis!" Chad commented, making the 'hang ten' symbol with his hands.

He then turned around to glance at his fellow student, folding his arms in irritation. "Ronnie Choi?!" THe Korean youth, Chad Kwan exclaimed. "You know you're not welcome here, duderino! Not after what happened at the big game!" The surfer noted. "Groundskeeper Lu said you were to hand over your keys last night and get out!"

Rollo stared at Amen before looking down to the concrete with a sigh. His hand slid into his jacket pocket, pulling out his gold rimmed glasses and opening them. He slid them on, resting clean on the bridge of his nose, before resuming his stare to the policeman before him. "I don't know what you're talking about." Rain drops slid off Rollo's glasses. "There seems to be some obstruction in the street, that I'd assume the police would want to figure out." Rollo began to walk, shifting in place to look at the Roxi behind them. "I ain't been in the Roxi for a minute, but I'm pretty sure you're free to go in," Rollo replied. "If you wanna search the place though... you need a warrant." Rollo smiled. "Law, right?"

***

Choi glared at Chad Kwan as he smashed his nards or something. "Hey, hey. Let's not," Camilla said, running from across the street, her helmet under her arm. She placed a hand on Chad and Choi's chest, pushing the two back. "No trouble, boys. Keep it in your pants," Camilla smirked. She turned to Park, hooking her arm into hers, and running toward the apartment complex door. With a sharp inhale she flashed the woman the keycard she'd taken off Choi, before slipping it back in her pocket. "Sorry I'm late," Camilla said as they moved. The doors slid open, the bright lobby ahead- a doorman behind a desk in uniform, reading a holopad. Camilla moved forward with Park in tow, giving the doorman a smile. She swiped her card at the lift door- it unlocking and opening up.

"Right," Camilla said as they entered the elevator, the door closing behind them. "What floor? Let's do this." She turned to Park. "I am sorry, by the way. I was... held up."

"Not unless...I know the owner..." Amen shrugged smugly, drawing out his watch and flipping through the holographic screen to his call list and stopping on the names starting with 'R'. "Well shit, looks like I do."

"Things could've been cool, if you didn't run, nigga," Amen continued. "But now..." Amen began, turning to walk towards the Roxi, before immediately turning around. "By the way...I got another question for you. You know anything about dead teachers? Foreign ones?"

***

"Argh," Chad crumpled to the ground after Choi assaulted him, the woman with the motorcycle acting as if they both had fought. Chad hoped he wouldn't have to go to the hospital for this, as he could miss out on the big game. That said, he supposed ot wouldn't be so bad if he ended up in the same facility as the sick kids he was going to visit later on. Things just sometimes ended up that way, he supposed. Small world and all that.

"I heard about that incident in Guri a couple days ago. Dead teacher in the street," Rollo replied, adjusting his glasses as he followed Amen toward the entrance of the Roxi. When Amen looked back at Rollo the man smiled. "Nigga I'm here for a drink," He said with a smile. "As for the teacher... pretty sure the bloods on your hands on that one. N.S.P.A. More G.H.S.T. bullshit, according the hypernet," Rollo continued as they entered the establishment.

The bouncer was a sunglasses, tattooed Korean man. His muscular build was only outweighed by the fat wrapped around his muscles, gave the two a smirk. He knew them both. The smell of alcohol, fruity vapes, and a distinct dash of nail-polish remover & gasoline (synthetic coke) hit you like a rock when you entered the Roxi. The lights were dark, save for the stages, where dancer's of all genders wore holo outfits. Screens lit up off their pasties, videos of curved fucking and moaning over the nipples they covered. Videos of tied up men and women gagging and slapped over the bulges they contained. Surrounding the stages elderly men and women watched with hunger. At the bar a few sadder souls sat. It wasn't full, but nowhere near empty.

"Yeah, this is the crowd you'll find on the Roxi at noon on a weekday," Rollo said as they looked over the scene. "Don't know who the fuck you're lookin' for, Amen. You here to arrest the seniors?"

Best to avoid the Rollo's question for now. No point in wasting time with distractions when the bigger picture was looming in the background.

"Oh, that dude?" Amen asked about the teacher, his eyebrow raised, as he walked into the club, looking more unimpressed than usual. "I don't know shit about that dude. Sad way to go," he stated. "Nah, I'm talking about some other dead teachers. "Abaeze Soyinka, Esiankiki Fanaka, Demetrius Wallace..." Amen listed as a man in suit that looked to have cost hundreds of thousands of Dutongs, stumbled by, on a buzz from artifical coke.

Amen gave a humorless chuckle and continued, "Three names, three corpses...and those are just the ones I could identify. All washed up on the shores of Yanyang..." Amen went on. "But they didn't work anywhere near there...Shit's weird!"

Rollo rose an eyebrow to Amen. The two men shifted through the club, characters pressing against them as they moved. "You're aware the Korean Teacher's Pension got some bad connections, man," Rollo said as they moved. At the end of the bar was a cloth covered entrance to the back of the club. A hand grabbed Amen's shoulder, stopping him. Rollo turned the man around. "Now I don't know what you're after... but trust me man, the bad shit, the real bad shit in this city." Rollo blinked. "It ain't here. It ain't me."

"Bad connections? That's only scratchin' the surface..." Amen noted. "There's a Triad connection...the Shí Shí. They own the Haetae. I'm sure you know that, though. They probably own your friend too...and I'm sure you also know that."

Amen looked over his shoulder at Rollo. "And you can go ahead and try and convince me you don't have any connenctions, but the fact that you're still tryin' to stop me, means I should probably check this shit out," Amen stated, brushing the man's hand off his shoulder. "Besides, you don't have too much to worry about," he continued, taking an appetizer from a tray of a passing waiter, glancing over it once, before flicking it back on the tray. "I don't arrest black people..." he laughed as he made his way through the cloth covered entrance.

Su punched in the floor number and shook her head, "It's no problem. Is everything okay?"

Rollo stopped as Amen pushed through the cloth. He didn't have a warrant, but it was the Roxi, and it was Amen. Rollo sighed, before turning around and marching toward the door. Time to get his damn car.

***

Amen moved down the stairs of the crowded backway. Yellow lights hung from the ceiling, illuminating the concrete walls. A performer adjusted their makeup before pausing on the stairway, going to the wall to let Amen pass. The performer swallowed, but instead of questioning Amen he continued to fix his lipstick. Strange men entering the back of the Roxi was not so unusual a sight.

Amen reached the bottom of the stairs, into the undercroft of the Roxi. The makeup and dressing rooms were to his left, the cold room, Roxi's office, the wine cellar. The wine cellar. Glass was on the floor, broken...

Amen approached the wine cellar, examining the broken glass...before heading on inside, muttering something to himself as his hands dipped into his pockets, hidden behind his jacket.