Day 191

[from Electron]

Electron raced over to Jefferson Avenue as fast as his Jet Boots would carry him, and upon reaching it, he immediately spotted the masked killer's distinctive armour. With a sudden pang of nervousness, he rapidly descended, coming to a halt just in front of the killer and cutting off her escape. To his dismay, he saw that her armour was spattered with blood, and he realized that he had been too late. He could, at least, stop her from taking any more lives. "That's far enough," he said.

The armoured woman took a step back, seemingly rattled. Her hand strayed to the handle of one of her katanas, but she did not draw it. "I don't wanna fight you," she said. "I got nothing against you."

"Yeah? Well, I have something against someone who murders two innocent people in cold blood," said Electron.

The woman's fists clenched tighter, a scowl of contempt passing across the part of her face that wasn't covered by the domino mask. "They're not as innocent as you think they are," she said.

Sparks began to fly around Electron's hands as he prepared his Taser Grip. The same immobilization trick he had used on Titus would not work on this woman; he would have to get in close and shock her into submission. "Even if they're not, what gives you the right to take the law into your own hands?" he asked.

The masked woman was silent for a moment, her scowl growing more pronounced. Electron felt that perhaps his logic and reasoning had beaten her, but he then realized that if she couldn't fight him with logic and reason, she might try and fight him with force instead. A split-second after he had come to this realization, the masked woman suddenly produced a smoke bomb from a pouch on her belt and threw it to the ground. In a flash, the area was obscured by thick white smoke, and under the cover of the smokescreen, the woman darted for the cover of a nearby alleyway.

It took Electron only a couple of seconds to recover from the surprise, and he sprinted through the smokescreen, inhaling a lungful of smoke in the process. He was swiftly brought to a halt as he hacked and coughed, momentarily struggling to breathe. "I didn't… really… think this… through…" he spluttered.

By the time he had recovered enough to follow the masked woman into the alleyway, there was no sign of her. Cautiously, he advanced into the alleyway, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of movement. Every so often he clicked his fingers, sending out showers of sparks to illuminate the darkness. However, there was still no sign of the woman. At the other end of the alleyway was a T-junction, and with no way of knowing which way she had gone, Electron was forced to abandon the search. "Dammit," he said.

Resigned to his failure, Electron contacted Martin. "I lost sight of her," he said. "And… I don't think I made in time to save the next victim, either."

Electron could hear Martin sigh into the microphone. "Well, it doesn't matter that much," he said. "The cops have got the area locked down. Even if she got away from you, she can't get away from all of them."

"I'm not so sure," said Electron. "It was weird, though, it was like… she didn't even try to fight me, she just tossed a smoke bomb and fled."

"That means she ain't just some indiscriminate killer, like Titus," said Martin. "She's deliberately targeting these people, and for whatever reason, she doesn't wanna get her hands any bloodier than she has to."

"If that's the case, then tell the cops to try and take her alive," said Electron. "She may be a murderer, but she deserves to face justice."

"I don't control the cops, man," said Martin, "I only control you. But I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Martin," said Electron. "I'm gonna go look for the house where she struck this time. Maybe I can try to find a pattern that links the victims together."

"Good idea, man," said Martin. "You do that, and let me know if you find anything."

"I will," said Electron. "I'll talk to you later."

"See ya," said Martin, before hanging up.

Electron closed the connection, and headed back up the alleyway towards Jefferson Avenue, heaving a sigh. For a hero, he didn't feel like he'd done a whole lot of heroism since he had been assigned here. His defeat of Titus had been all too easy, the result of his powers happening to coincide with his foe's weaknesses. He had had little to do until this masked swordswoman had struck, and now she had murdered two people without him being able to stop her. He couldn’t rely on the police catching her for him; he had to do something. Going to the scene of her latest crime to look for clues would be an excellent place to start.

Electron hadn't seen where the murder had taken place, but finding it was not very difficult. All he had to do was follow the sounds of wailing, of both sirens and voices. The sounds led him to house number 86, outside of which were parked three police cars and an ambulance. As the hero watched on, a body was brought out of the house on a stretcher, covered in a bloody sheet. An arm dangled over the side of the stretcher, blood still dripping from the fingertips. It was a gruesome sight, and it occurred to Electron that he had never seen a dead body before. Something deep inside told him that it would not be the last he bore witness to.

Approaching the front of the house, he saw that a window had been smashed in; presumably this was the means by which the masked killer had entered. A pair of policemen had been preparing to close off the scene with yellow crime scene tape, but when they saw Electron approaching, they held off on doing so, allowing him through.

"Kinda ironic, isn't it?" one of the policemen remarked to him. "The guy living at number 86 gets 86'd."

"I'm not sure that fits the definition of irony," said Electron as he passed through.

"See, I told you he wouldn't find it funny," said the other policeman.

"Well, I still think it's kinda funny-"

Ignoring the policemen, Electron proceeded onwards into the house, carefully climbing through the broken window. His gloves meant that he didn't have to worry about contaminating the crime scene, but even so he tried not to touch anything on his way in. Having entered, he found himself in the living room, which he immediately realized had been the scene of the murder itself. The television was on, though the screen was splashed with blood; a larger pool of blood lay on the carpet before the TV, marking the spot where the man had fallen. Electron noticed a hunting rifle lying on the ground near the blood pool, and another mounted on a wall rack above the TV; hanging above the rifle was a large Confederate flag.

Sitting on the sofa was a woman who, presumably, was the victim's widow. Her own clothes were spattered with blood, and she was sobbing uncontrollably into her hands as a policeman tried desperately to console her. Looking up, he noticed Electron and exchanged sombre nods with him before silently getting up from the sofa and allowing Electron to take his place. I hope I can handle this, Electron thought. I'm not very good at talking to people who just watched their husbands get killed; I dare say I haven't had much practice.

Electron gently put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Hey," he said gently, "it's gonna be okay. I'm gonna catch the woman who did this. I promise you."

The woman managed to calm herself down enough to speak. "You… you promise?" she sobbed, looking tearfully at Electron.

"I promise," said Electron. "But I'm going to need your help, alright?" The woman nodded, wiping her eyes. "Okay. Thank you. What's your name?"

"S… Sarah," the woman sobbed. "M… my name is S-Sarah."

"Her husband's name was Kevin McAllister," said the policeman. "He's the man who was murdered."

"I kinda guessed that last part," said Electron. "Did your husband - Kevin - did he know John Baxter, the previous victim?"

Sarah sniffled and nodded. "They… they knew each other," she said. "They used to go out together… buy some beers, go fishing at the wharf… oh God!" She buried her face in her hands and started sobbing once more.

Electron, unsure what to do, simply patted her gently on the shoulder. He knew his mission was to interrogate her, but he simply didn't have it in him. "I've never been fishing," he said finally. "I guess different kinds of people have different kinds of fun, right?"

Sarah nodded, seeming to appreciate the more sympathetic line of inquiry. "I was never interested in it either," she said, drying her eyes again, "but Kevin… he really loved fishing. Sometimes I'd go with him just to sit and watch him…" Her voice petered out as she tried to hold back her tears once more.

"Did… anyone else ever go with him, besides you and John?" asked Electron.

Sarah gasped, as she came to the same conclusion that Electron had. "You… you think they might be in danger?" she said.

"I think these murders are connected somehow," said Electron, nodding. "Right now, the only link I have between them is your husband's fishing trips. It can't be a coincidence."

Sarah thought for a moment, the agony and sorrow on her face now tinged with panic. "Oh God, let me think… okay… there are these two guys who went with Kevin and John whenever they went fishing, and they met for other things as well. Oh, what were their names… Paul! One of them was definitely called Paul! I'm sorry, I don't remember his last name-"

"It's okay," said Electron gently. "That should still be enough for us to find him. Do you remember the other man's name as well?"

"No, I'm sorry," said Sarah, shaking her head. "I-I think it might have begun with an M… m-maybe Michael, or Matthew…"

"Well, if we find one, I'm sure we'll find the other," said Electron. "Thank you. Now… umm… this might be hard, but if you can, could you possibly give me an account of… what happened?"

Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep, rattling breath, steeling herself. "I… I'll try," she said. "It was over so fast, though… one minute, we were sat here watching TV, the next… th-the window was smashed in, and we turned to see who it was, and it was the woman from the news reports. Th-the woman who killed John. I thought she was gonna kill us, but she… she just stood there… staring at me. I don't know why. Kevin… got up to get his rifle… and…"

Sarah couldn’t bring herself to say anything further, and dissolved once more into tears, but Electron could work out the rest for himself. Kevin had retrieved the hunting rifle from the mantelpiece, but before he could fire it, the killer had struck him down. The fact that she had hesitated upon seeing Sarah gave him pause for thought. Perhaps she hadn't expected there to be witnesses.

Electron gave Sarah another comforting pat on the shoulder. "It's okay," said Electron. "You've been very helpful, and very brave, telling me all of this. I'd like to ask you one last question, if that's okay, and… try not to get too upset by it." Sarah nodded, and Electron braced himself. "Do you… know of anything that your husband or his friends might have done to anger this woman? Any reason at all that she might be after him? I'm sorry, but I have to ask this."

Sarah forcefully shook her head. "No," she said. "My husband was a good man. He didn't deserve this… he didn't deserve this!" Sarah started sobbing again, even harder than before, and this time Electron sensed that he would get nothing more out of her. In any case, he had nothing more to ask. All that remained was to leave the poor woman to her grief, though not without some final parting words of comfort.

"Nobody deserves this," said Electron. "Nobody deserves to see their loved one get taken from them like this, either. I'm sorry for your loss." With that, Electron got up from the sofa and started to go. He took one last look back - at Sarah, overcome with grief, at the blood soaked into the carpet, and at the Confederate flag hung over the mantelpiece - before climbing back out through the window and taking his leave.