"Your milk tea," a voice jolted Phineas awake, rising in shock. Looking around, he is not in the MTR station, but rather sitting at a desk in in the corner of an office which he recognised to be in the Kowloon West Regional Headquarters. Confused, he glanced at the date on his phone. It was 29th December 2133. This prompted his blood pressure to rise by a few levels.
"DAMN IT!!" he yelled, frustrated that he had been rudely awakened from his memories back to the disappointing reality. He buried his face into his hands as he painfully recounted how he had gotten into this mess:
"Last month I tried to stop a group of delinquents from harassing girls in a barbecue joint, which escalated into a fight, one of them tried to punch me, only for him to fall down 3 stories of stairs when I dodged it, he was crippled, which lead to intense smearing by the serpent like medias. Though the court eventually cleared my case, I was still sent to the Kowloon West RCU to do office work for 3 months as an internal punishment, only allowing me to join my team for physical and weapons training."
"When the rest of my team were engaged in counter-terrorism patrols around the city, I am stuck in this room like a glorified office robot. And what's worse that I can't even join the RCU on the field unless permitted."
"Phineas?" she asked again. Phineas turned to her, groggily greeting and thanking her, taking the drink. "How long was I asleep?" Phineas asked.
Senior Constable Ou Yang Rina looked at her phone. "Half an hour."
"I won't recommend you drink that now," she said as Phineas moved to take a sip. "You're going to puke it out," she continued, pointing to a new file which appeared on Phineas' monitor.
Phineas gave a frown at the rookie who is the only one in the RCU that he will consider a friend other than their superior Senior Inspector Jason Lau, or Lau Sir.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because, it'll get disgusting," a foreign voice said at the doorway in an American accent. Phineas instinctively reached for his Glock pistol, only to remember that it is not with him.
A man walked in. He was a tall, lean man, with hawk-like features. One would think he is a human, though his black and white hands would suggest otherwise. He is dressed in a dark yellow hoodie, along with a light blue denim jacket and jeans. His jacket barely hid the shape of the fins along his forearms. He looked at Phineas with his sharp red pupils; a large hat sat on his head, yellowish brown in colour. It resembles a cross between a deerstalker cap and a musketeer hat, with a shark-fin like protrusion to cover the crown that is part of his head which puffed along as he breathed; an iconic piece of fashion from the amphibious aliens, Litas. As if not obvious enough, a pair of gills ran along the man's neck
"He has white hair," Phineas thought. "I am looking at a hybrid, but his hair length is beyond the permitted hair length, he isn't police."
"Hi," he greeted with a smile, "Never thought that I would run into a tactical operative here" the man joked.
Phineas stared at him, puzzled and in shock, while Rina gave a smug grin at the 2 of them, as if she has anticipated this exchange. "How did you know that?" Phineas asked.
He laughed and replied, "it's pretty simple, you instinctively reached to your thighs where your holster would be, that tells me you are not an ordinary officer, since they wear theirs around their waist, only tactical operators wear them at their thighs due to needing to accommodate the equipment, at the same time, that kind of instant reaction and situational awareness is not something ordinary officers will display, thus I deduced that you are a tactical operative. Even though you wear spectacles, the lenses are clean, but the frames are very old, they are from 8 years ago at least, this tells me that you don't actually need them to see, you have been cured of myopia, you wear spectacles out of habit."
"How absurdly simple!" Phineas cried out, thoroughly impressed at how he deduced so much accurately from so little information.
He grinned and extended his hand. "Louis Thomas Fletcher," he said, introducing himself.
"He is a "consultant detective", ex-FBI, main job a private investigator. Lau Sir decided to give him a test as his interview, to help out the RCU on this case," explained Rina.
"My name is Phineas, Inspector Phineas Wang of the CTRU," Phineas smiled, shaking hands with him. Nonetheless, he still has reservations about his identity. He cannot figure out why Lau Sir would need his services.
"Back to the topic," said Louis, clearing his throat, asking Phineas to open the file and make screen it using hologram projector, which he did, and soon many images appeared around them.
Louis tapped on an image, it expanded into a 3D model of bloody human flesh. Seeing this, Phineas gagged and reeled, trying to stop himself from puking as feelings of anger, shock and disgust overwhelmed him, even though it is merely an AI render, the sheer realism is enough to trigger a reaction from him. He then recovered himself, returning to his seat and started to uncomfortably examine the image.
Rina gave a sympathetic smile, being previously from forensics she is used to seeing all sorts of bodies. Louis asked Phineas if he is alright to continue. "Normal reaction for newbies, we all had this stage," comforted Louis, which Rina concurred.
"Newbie?" Phineas asked.
"Oh, aren't you going to help me? You seem interested," Louis replied. Phineas stammered as he tried to think of a reply. The truth is that he is indeed hopelessly curious and also would love to get action at long last, though he is worried that his skills in criminal investigation will be inadequate, and he does not want to get into more trouble for investigating a case on his own accord.
As if seeing through his worries, Louis smiled. "Why did you join the force?"
"To protect this city and its citizens," Phineas replied without hesitation.
"There you have it! Busting down the doors of terrorists is protecting the city, so is bringing justice to the harmed and punishing those responsible. As for your skills, need not worry, just help me along the way."
With that, Phineas is thoroughly convinced and the 3 opened up the images they have and started to analyse them.
"Strange," Phineas commented. "The DNA identification should have arrived by now, why isn't it here?"
Rina tapped on a document. "The report here says that the fragments recovered are boiled and corroded with acid, whatever DNA there is denatured, heck, the only reason why we are certain it's a human body to begin with is half a segment of a human finger here, no fingerprints either. It will take at least 2 days for the DNA to be reconstructed. Right now, the victim's identity is presumed to be Amanda Lok, based on a key to an apartment in Kowloon City found around the bag. She is an intern at Kowloon Hospital, reported missing by her mentor on the 28th after being missing from work since the 27th, which also overlap with the estimated time of decay provided by forensics. Based on information in the system as well as testimonies provided by the hospital, Amanda lives alone, her family resides in Taiwan. Quite a loner, almost no social life. But to confirm that she is the victim, we will need more evidence."
"So that's the first fragments found, then afterwards," Louis said as he opened up more of the images, prompting discomfort from Phineas again.
"That's a bloody human being..." Phineas muttered, his voice shaking from both rage and horror. It may seem ironic, for a CTRU operative that has the blood of terrorists on his hands to be horrified by dead bodies. That is if one ignores the difference between killing to save lives and murder.
"This is why we have to catch the killer," said Louis, in his mind having a growing respect for Phineas' strong conviction towards justice, so much like himself.
"The Kowloon West Police district subsequently recovered more, from small pieces to big pieces, human tissue has been chopped off from the bones and discarded separately," Louis continued. "Torn items of clothing were also found. Judging from the marks on the body we can deduce that the victim was in a fight before she died."
"Now, judging from the principle of small pieces near and large pieces far, what we can deduce is that the body was fragmented somewhere in the area of Kowloon Hospital, Kowloon Tong MTR station and Lok Fu MTR station. Body fragments are roughly scattered along Argyle Street; one direction towards San Po Kong, another towards Tsim Sha Tsui. Right now, the head, neck, lower body and some organs are still missing. To fragment a body at this detail would suggest that the killer has relevant experience, doctors, chefs and butchers are common suspects. On top of that, the killer must have access to a big area to do it."
"The killer got some nerves, scattering body parts right in front of the Regional Police headquarters. As if he wants to get caught," Phineas joked, surprised that his sense of humour is still active even when seeing such morbid images, especially when he is still absolutely disgusted and shocked before.
"The killer had deposed the body fragments into trash cans, the automated collection and disposal system at the landfill will ignore it as food waste and not cause any alarms. Unfortunately for the killer, the heavy rain last night had flooded the streets and toppled a trash can into the waste water canals, causing a cleaner to find a bag of fragments," deduced Louis. "The killer is very self-confident."
"There is one thing I noticed that is missing from their initial analysis," Louis commented as he continued to analyse the archived evidence. "Acid."
Phineas threw a perplexed frown at Louis, "how is this important?"
"The fragments have been corroded with acid, but not dissolved, which is a more complete way of destroying a body, I deduce that the killer's plan was originally to completely dissolve the body in hydrochloric acid, the body was fragmented to speed up the reaction. But something happened when he was doing it, forcing the process to stop."
"Impressive," Phineas commended, impressed at how Louis quickly noticed important information and effectively pieced them up.
Rina looked up from her phone, "Lau Sir and the rest are still scouring the landfill and the areas along Argyle Street to find the missing parts,"
Louis then asked her if they have searched Amanda's home, to which Rina replied that they have not.
"Let's go have a look then," Louis said, borrowing a pair of handcuffs from Rina just in case and pulling Phineas along. Phineas protested, saying that he has not been given permission to go out onto the field.
"C'mon, just a quick 1 hour, it's all right!" whined Louis, tugging Phineas' sleeve like a little kid tugging his father in the direction of a toy store.
"I don't want to get into trouble!" said Phineas, exasperated.
Rina laughed. "I will give permission. I will stay here."
Louis smiled, thanking Rina profusely. 'See? All's good man!" he pulled Phineas out before he can protest again. The 2 exited the building into the carpark, the blast of 10 degrees Celsius winter air outside soon prompted them to immediately zip up. Phineas looked at the time, it was already 5.47pm, and the sun is already close to setting. He took set of car keys and pointed in direction of a blue-grey mid-size sedan next to him, opened the door and stepped in, starting the car.
"A BYD 22nd century Ming Pro," commended Louis. "Diamond battery powerplant and AI controlled automatic suspension system. Able to hit 100km/h within 3 seconds, range of 3200km, even in below-zero degrees."
Phineas smiled and gestured to the back seat, only for Louis to say that he has his own car and pointed to a yellow sports car in the corner, prompting Phineas' eyeballs to almost drop out in shock.
"A 120th generation Porsche Boxster that has a turbine generator and battery hybrid?"
"A gift," Louis explained, getting into the car and stepped on the accelerator, giving off the iconic whirring of the generator, driving off in direction of Kowloon City. Louis rested on the automated accelerator controlled by the AI autopilot, his thoughts drifting to the person who gifted it. He is not sure whether he should dislike her or feel guilty for accepting gifts and yet leave her hanging.
Phineas sighed as he tapped the dashboard, ejecting out the steering wheel and turning on the autopilot. Phineas keyed in his destination, lamenting why is there such a huge rich-poor disparity between people who does the similar things, following after Louis.
He tuned in to the radio. "In other news, the ring of foreign spies caught by the police in October will begin trials next week."
"Department NS got themselves a big fish," Phineas thought. "We can't fall behind." He grinned, stepping on the accelerator.
(Kowloon City, Amanda's apartment)
"Does she live alone?" asked Louis as the landlord brought them into the elevator, pressing the button for the third floor.
"Usually stays alone, though sometimes other girls show up," replied the landlord.
"Do you know when she last returned home?" continued Louis. The landlord shook his head, explaining that the last time he came here was in September, and this apartment block does not have security cameras except at the entrance.
The elevator doors opened, and the landlord led them to Amanda's home, just as he was about to unlock the smart lock, Phineas noticed a shadow of movement through the door gap. Alarmed, he immediately pulled the landlord back, realising that there is someone inside a supposedly empty room. He turned to Louis, who has realised the same thing as him.
Phineas walked back a few steps, then charged forward, knocking open the door as he unlocked it with the smart key he took from the landlord. Louis and Phineas charged in, just in time to see a hooded man jumping off the window, landing on the roof a smaller house below.
"STOP, POLICE!" Phineas yelled, jumping after him, with Louis following behind. The man parkoured across several walls and rooftops, then landing on the floor and dashing to a staircase. Phineas pursued him down the steps, the man made a turn, only to be intercepted by Louis. Panicked, he hopped down the stairs onto the ground level, running into a crowd, but was soon caught up by Phineas and Louis. The man pushed through the crowd, trying to throw them off.
"HALT!" shouted Louis. The man ran past a rack of bicycles, which he toppled over to stop their advance. Phineas jumped over them quickly and effortlessly, such obstacles a child's play to a CTRU operative like him. Louis is not so quick, and is tripped by the bicycles, falling. He gestured for Phineas to keep pursuing.
The man grabbed a pot of cactus from a store next to him, throwing it straight at Phineas, Phineas dodged it, catching it with his right hand before it hit a civilian beside. Grunting, he threw it at full strength back at the man, hitting him in the back and causing him to fall. Taking the opportunity, Phineas charged, tackling him down. By then, Louis had recovered and caught up to them, taking out the pair of handcuffs.
The man grunted, pushing Phineas off with a hurl, drawing a knife and swinging it wildly, only for Louis to punch him back with a hard punch to the face. Taking the opportunity, Phineas swiftly disarmed the man, locking his arms tightly in a takedown as Louis handcuffed him.
"We got him!" Phineas exclaimed in satisfaction, happy to do finally get action.
(Kowloon West Regional Headquarters)
"WHAT THE HELL WERE THE 3 OF YOU THINKING?" roared Inspector Gregory "Greg" Soong of the RCU. Louis, Phineas and Rina bowed their heads apologetically as he reprimanded them, objects around him hovered as Greg tapped into the supernatural powers genetically locked to his alien species, Sellardraxians to pressure the 3. They are the ancestor of the Homo Genus, completely identical to humans, except for elf-like years and horns that resemble that of Chinese dragons sprouting from their heads.
Louis and Rina shivered at the aura of destructive energy. On the other hand, Phineas feels more intimidated by Greg's fierce demeanour fitting of a stereotypical "bad cop", growing up with a Sellardraxian whose power levels are considered monstrous has made him immune to all displays of power by this species.
"The force hired you to be assistance, not to be a risk source!" scolded Greg while pointing angrily at Louis. "The man was armed, what if the 2 of you didn't react fast enough? He could have hurt the people there! You should have called for backup!"
"Sorry sir..." apologised Louis meekly. Greg then turned to Phineas, folding his arms accusingly.
"And you Phineas, you are already in trouble for excessive use of force, you want to go on the news again? Utter lack of discipline! Is this how the CTRU operates?!"
"Sorry sir..." apologised Phineas meekly. Greg then directed his rage at Rina.
"You too! Lack of discipline!" he scolded. Rina is too scared to even apologise.
"Easy bro, easy," said his younger brother, Station Sergeant Bryan Soong entering the room with Senior Constable Eddie Lu. He poked Greg's dark cyan horns that cut through his black hair in jest, prompting Greg to swat him away in annoyance. He turned to Rina, comforting her. "See, Greg, you got too fierce with our guests," he pointed to Louis and Phineas, "and my junior here," he said, giving Rina a headpat.
Rina buried her face into her hands, seemingly out of guilt, though Louis could tell that it was in fact to hide her blush.
"To be fair, it's a good thing they went. Eddie and I interrogated the dude they caught, turns out that Amanda Lok also had a part time job in a nightclub, the reason why it isn't recorded in her personal information is that this nightclub also provided...well... "that job"."
Greg's eyes widened in shock, "you mean pros-" Bryan nodded vigorously before Greg can finish his sentence.
"Legal or illegal?" quipped Louis.
"Hard to say," replied Eddie. "We need to prove that it is organised to charge them. Based on his testimony, her role is roughly that of a pimp. The reason why he broke into Amanda's place was because she was suspected to have embezzled 88,000 HKD, only to run into Phineas and Louis."