Tokyo

|| Tera Reed ||

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The inspector was watching the entire time then? Tera wasn't sure why she was surprised because it seemed like something he would do. Monitor the suspects behavior before and after arrest, see how he acted under stress, yes, it should have surprised her more if he hadn't been watching. Giving a grunt of both annoyance and effort, she helped the inspector flip the teenager over, but not before she pulled out her knife from his shoulder as that was her knife that and rolling him onto the handle would have caused a lot of damage to his already heavily damaged body.

With the boy handcuffed, Tera rubbed the blade clean on the boys shirt ignoring the warm feel of her blood running down her back; she had work to do at the moment. The inspector left to the bathroom, probably to clean himself up, Tera was content with the blood on her as the bit on her head was already starting to dry. It didn't matter anymore as she wasn't going to be able to wash up fully, might as well embrace the feeling of dried blood until she could get back to HQ. Pushing herself to her feet, Tera walked over to the door and bent down to pick up her dominator. Couldn't just leave it on the ground could she?

She turned around just in time to grab the second white towel he offered, saying one word. Truly, the man was a master of showing appreciation. It was his fault she was bleeding in the first place. If he didn't need the damn kid, she would have just killed him at the start and would have avoided the whole bleeding part of this, but she took the hit so that he could solve his case against some crazy psychopath that was none of her damn concern, shaking her head, she was about to press it onto the wound when he offered up a flask. The initials made it obvious it was his, raising an eyebrow, she plucked it from his hands.

Tera was almost tempted to smile, but then again, she did get cut, but this was probably the closest her inspector would come to saying thanks, and honestly, she would never say thanks in his shoes. Flicking it open, she took a long swig to numb the pain noting with some elation that it was whiskey. Smooth, so she assumed it was eight years.

Moving to the side to stay out of his way, Tera slid her blazer off and unbuttoned her shirt, gently sliding it off her left shoulder to get a look at her, soon to be, newest scar. The blood was still slowly pumping out, but she estimated the cut was only three inches long, and she knew for certain it stopped at the bone. five stitches. She mused. Nothing that could stop her from working, but infection could, and she had no intention of being stuck in the cell for days until she was ready for work again. Taking another sip from the flask, she poured a little on her wound letting out a small hiss as the amber liquor washed away the blood and burned.

The kid walked in with an older man, but Tera was a little busy to care if the man saw her black sports bra, honestly, she didn't give a shit. She damped a small section of the towel with some of the whiskey and pressed down on the wound to stem the bleeding and to disinfect any strands from the towel that would get in the wound, once again letting out a small hiss of pain.

It wasn't long before she heard the tale-tail signs of sirens and moved to look out the door just in time to hear the kid call about their arrival. Great. She thought with very little enjoyment as this would be the second time in her life she had 'professionals' look at her. Dropping the towel, she picked up her Dominator and the flask and walked to the second ambulance, out right snarling at one paramedic to fuck off when he tried to take the flask away, and the sight of the gun in her hand was enough to convince him to drop the issue, even if she couldn't shoot him with it.

Sitting on the back, Tera ordered the nearest paramedic, "Disinfect and stitch me. I have to go soon, so don't bother with pain killers."

The medic was about to start the song and dance about getting her checked out, leaving the liquor, but she didn't have time for that. She was a little curious as to how the boy managed to get a score of only ninety-five, and if she went with them she would wake up in the cell... She didn't want to go back until she had to, so she snarled that it was about police business and to get on with it because she didn't have all damn day.

Tera let out constant hisses of pain as her wound was disinfected and a hiss for each time the needle stabbed into her flesh and was pulled through, but followed each hiss with a small sip of the whiskey. Not enough to get drunk, but enough to dull the pain. She kept her eyes on the motel door as when the inspectors left, she was going with them. Blood or no, she didn't want to go back to that room yet. Not if she can push it off for a few hours.

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Fortunately for Tera, her inspector were one of the thorough types. As long as she identified herself as with him, she was going to spend a while at the motel. Back in the room, once Tera and the paramedics left the room to Geoff's devices, it became his turn. Reaching back into his coat pocket, he pulled out a pair of latex gloves and donned them, snapping the last one into place. Now with the fear of contaminating the crime scene quelled, Geoff can begin his analysis. Before he made his rounds, he gave the room a thorough look over.

It was a typical motel room. Standard two room design-- bedroom taking up a majority of the space and the bathroom a simple closet space. The decor was cheap, palm tree wallpaper with beige accents. A broken lamp sat in the corner, which Geoff chalked up to Tera's and the suspect's scuffle. Next to the door was a chair that Geoff had planned to throw if things went south for his Enforcer. It was good thing he didn't touch it-- the chair was position in such a way that someone obviously sat in it at one time. Squinting his eyes at it, he made a mental note to get it checked out for DNA. Though the chances of it pulling up something besides thirty other people was low. They hardly cleaned motel rooms like this.

All of that was axillary however. The focal point of the whole room was the body on the floor. Geoff took a step closer, careful not to step in the blood and bent down next to it. Female, young, the artist's usual victims. His mouth formed a hard line as he inspected her. They were late and she suffered because of it. He was going to have to find another bottle to drown in after that. To try and forget that failure, the darkness of it all-- though it never worked. He always woke up to another dreary morning with his head pounding like a drum.

He moved to gently cup the victim's face, putting his thumb near the curve of her chin. There he pulled back and inspected her throat. The Artist had a pattern of gouging out the victim's eyes only for their examiners to find them in their trachae. If they were in her throat, then they were further down as he couldn't see them. His hand fell from her chin to her throat where he felt around for anything unusual. There were lumps, which could have been her eyes, or they maybe they weren't. He wasn't a medical examiner after all. He'd let them test for rape too. Standing up and taking a few steps back, he looked upon the "art piece" in full.

How sick does someone have to be to think such macabre acts could even be considered art. What went wrong in that person's life to make them walk down that road? Geoff tilted his head curiously at the thought. They her was, trying to play armchair psychologist again. It wasn't his job to speculate, it was his job to nail down the hard facts and evidence. In front of him, the woman was displayed in an angelic pose. Her body was cut and bloody, the blood of which was used as paint to create the outline of wings on the floor. If there were any doubts that this was the artist's doing, then that fact alone dismissed them. Still, he had to keep an objective mind. Akira very well could be working alone-- a copy-cat killer though he didn't bet on it. Blood spattered the walls and floor in a haphazard manner as well, though these he'd analyze later to better under exactly how they were caused.

Geoff knelt down again, this time beside a bloody knife. It wasn't the butcher's knife or the pocket knife. Gingerly lifting the weapon up with two fingers he turned it over in his hand. It was covered in gore and viscera-- probably the victims. Tera's wound wasn't near that bad, and he was pretty sure that that knife wasn't the one that inflicted the injury on his Enforcer. That honor would probably go to the clever stuck in the door behind him. It'd be easier to cause injury with the cleaver than it would the knife anyway. The blade was made better for exact cuts-- ones that matched the victim's. The pocket knife was flimsy enough to not be the murder weapon either-- it could cause damage yes, but one would have to be proficient in it's use to be an effective killing weapon. His thoughts went out to Tera once more. Setting the blade back down, he added the the laundry list of mental notes to get the DNA checked out as well.

Standing back up he moved away and closer to the side wall to get a better view of the crime scene. Crossing his arms, Geoff set about tapping his bottom lip with his finger as he digested the information and added more mental notes to his already substantial list. In fact, he retrieved a small pad of paper form his pocket and began to transcribe some of them. He began to write down his thoughts and even some of the objects that the artist was likely to touch if he was, indeed, in this room as well at one point. A lot of them would be useless due to the number of people renting out this particular room, but being thorough was better than missing a collar because he was lazy.

Tera was going to get plenty of fresh air, because Geoff was going to be there for a while. Inspector Byakurai was probably getting the security tapes from last night-- he'd also take a look at those at some point. He'd let Inspector Itsuya and his new partner interrogate Akira-- Geoff wasn't much of a talkative person to begin with. Jotting a number of things down, he began to head toward the door, curious as to the contents of the adjacent rooms. Stepping over the threshold of the entrance, Geoff turned right and tried the door on the left. The door gave way and he peered in. Nothing, the room was empty. A lingering gaze affixed the room for a few moments more before his curiosity was sated, and he closed the door.

He passed by the door to the crime scene on his way toward the rightmost room, expecting more of the same. He gripped the doorknob and twisted, but what followed next he didn't see coming. Instead of opening to an empty room, he opened to the barrel of a gun and the intent stare of a single green eye. The rest of the face was obscured by a gas mask and a red hoodie. Perhaps the quickest thing he'd done his entire life, he jerked himself to the left, which very well might have saved his life, at least for a little bit longer. A long cracking gunshot echoed through the motel, and a gunshot ripped its way through his shoulder.

Everything was drowned out but the acute sense if pain emanating from his shoulder. Even in injury, Geoff proved the silent type, though his usually emotionless face finally betrayed pain. He gripped his shoulder with his hand as he tumbled back and the sound of shattering glass was on the edge of his mind, still gripped with pain.

|| Tera Reed ||

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Tera's ritual of drink, pull, hiss went on as the small wire was tugged in an out of her skin, but she lightly put the flask on the side of the ambulance, being sure to make sure it wouldn't tip over, and grabbed some alcohol wipes to dab at her forehead to clean some of the caked blood off. Now that her adrenaline was starting to wear off, she was finding the blood to be rather annoying since it felt like her skin was being stretched out.

That was until a gunshot ripped through the air, and Tera's body kicked into action jumping off the ambulance and crouching low. Luckily the gunshot had spooked the paramedic, and he had let go of the needle in favor of looking around like a fool. In his defense, he had probably never heard a gunshot before. Most Japanese people hadn't, but Tera wasn't one of those having smuggled in her fair share and firing just a few less. From experience, she knew it was a handgun of some kind and close. Logic said there was only one place that it would come from. The hotel room she had just left. Tera hesitated for just a moment, her dominator was on the frits, her inspector was probably wounded and may now be a hostage, if he wasn't dead... Did she want to run in there with an armed person who had a weapon that didn't need a stupid reading to kill? No... but if she left him in there, she would get stuck back into her cell until they could find another inspector to give her too. Like a dog. The second gunshot blasted her concerns from her mind.

Sliding her knife back out of it's sheath and scooping up her dominatior, she ran for the open door slamming her back against the wall encase the gunman was still in there. Tera paused to look around at the paramedics who were either staring stupidly or crouching behind cars still looking around trying to gather their bearings. The security drones still buzzed around, but they would be of no help. Tera carefully peaked from the door seal, and she saw him. Her inspector was on the ground gripping his left shoulder. Tera let out a small sigh of relief that he was still alive and kicking, but where was the attacker? If the inspector was still alive, what was the second gunshot for?

Taking a breath, Tera swung into the room, pressing her dominator and knife in front of her ready to gut whoever tried to jump out of her. Coming closer to her inspector, she swung to the left to the open door and shattered window. Gone. That was obvious. The man had fled, but she wasn't taking chances again. Ignoring her inspector, she stepped into the room, checking the corners before peaking out the window to find nothing.

"I need medics in here." Tera said touching her comlink, "Inspector down.

It wouldn't take long for the paramedics to get in there, but she couldn't risk the gunman coming back, so she stood next to the window, occasonially taking quick peaks out, "Stay alive, Inspector. You may go into shock, so try and control your breathing." Tera advised still by the window. Looks like I won't be avoiding the hospital after all. She mused as the medics rushed to the Inspectors side.

"I wish that were true, but I think woman in general are turned off by the things that excite me. Ah well. Try and try again is my motto." he said punching the inside of his left hand with his right, as if he were determined to do something. "But," he continue. "I can always just have fun while I wait."

Takeru internally sighed. I wonder how wrong in the head it would be for someone to actually end up liking my persona? Then again, I myself am not someone who is that appealing to befriend either. Guess I'm screwed up too. Have to be if I make some weird act like this an actuality.

He had indeed been listening to the to and from between the Enforcer and the Inspector while he thought. Couldn't daze out too much, maybe they'd mention something important. Not too likely, he thought as he listened to them talk, but it is definitely possible. Eventually Seiren asked a strange question. One that he knew was probably going to be shot back in her face.He briefly thought of the possibility of her nature reaching him and making him reconsider, but logic held true. The detective replied with a strong sentence.

"Hell.No."

And with that, the sparring he and Seiren did just a few moments earlier gained them a consequence.... sorta. Takeshi's job, contrary to popular belief, was not all gunfire and explosions. As the equivalent of a spy or actor, he had many days that were just him lounging around doing nothing in particular, waiting for an opportunity to learn something. Being cut off from his work as a prisoner did not really upset the lazy part of him. Then again, they could find a lead on the Artist. That would piss him off royally.

"Twas wortha shot anyway." Takeshi commented, facing the woman who was probably disappointed she'd be punished. "Just means he gets to do more paperwork, no?" he grinned at her and then turned to Hayato. "So if you're not punishing us immediately, does that mean we're needed for something?" he asked.