The ACS detective was dressed in a regular uniform with light body armour, whereas the two armed support androids accompanying him were equipped with submachine guns; a fact which put the maganiel android on alert.
“Do you know a Dr Felix Kessler?” Detective Bell asked.
“Yes,” Aster replied suspiciously, “I work with him at Jupiter Engineering Co.”
Aster was sick to her back teeth of being interrogated by authority figures, uniformed or not; but she knew better than to be overly rude to him.
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“This morning, at the labs.” Aster replied.
“Yes, you were suspended this morning pending an internal investigation into a security breach there,” Detective Bell noted, consulting his wrist-top computer, “is that correct?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the details.” Aster said legalistically.
“Neither were your employers,” the detective noted, “After you were suspended, did you come straight home or did you go anywhere first?”
“I came straight home.” Aster responded, “What happened with Felix?”
“You haven’t seen the news?” the detective raised an eyebrow.
“No.” Aster answered, her stomach tightening.
Detective Bell pulled up a set of images on his wrist-top computer’s holographic display and flipped the display around for her to see. Aster looked at the screen, and the colour and feeling drained from her face.
It was a slideshow of a set of crime scene photos, showing Felix lying dead in some kind of private room. He was slumped on his side with a gunshot wound through the side of his head. She could tell it was him from his dyed black and gold hair, and from his steel grey eyes, now blank and lifeless.
“He was found dead about an hour ago.” The detective explained, “Bruising on his arms and legs indicates that he was physically restrained by someone, or something, much stronger than himself. Something like the maganiel android you have there.”
Aster was in complete shock, too much shock to register the veiled accusation.
“Has your maganiel android left the house at all?” the detective asked.
“…No…” Aster replied falteringly, “no it hasn’t.”
“This unit has not departed the house since it was reactivated approximately twelve hours ago.” The maganiel android volunteered helpfully.
“We’ll need to confirm that by accessing your maganiel’s logs.” The detective replied, “And I’ll need you to come in for further questioning as well.”
“You heard what it said,” Aster said defensively, regaining her resolve, “the maganiel hasn’t left the house since I activated it.”
“And how do I know you didn’t tell your maganiel’s to say that after ordering it to kill Felix Kessler?” Detective Bell asked.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Aster demanded angrily, “I’ve known Felix for years, you seriously think that I killed him?”
“Dr Kessler went missing in the wake of a suspicious power failure at your place of work, a power failure that you were suspected of causing.” The detective pointed out, “Then you were suspended from work and claim to have come straight home afterwards. Somewhere in that sequence of events, Dr Kessler was murdered; so if you know what’s good for you, I suggest you come with me immediately.”
“Unless you have an arrest warrant, you can fuck off.” Aster said defiantly.
“Verbal harassment of an ACS officer or obstruction of justice, which would you prefer to be arrested on?” the detective asked.
“Again, if you don’t have a warrant, then have a nice day.” Aster said before attempting to shut the door in the detective’s face.
The detective stuck his foot in the door, preventing it from shutting, then tried to force his way inside the apartment. With reactions faster than any Human could match, the maganiel drew its sidearm and stuck the barrel in the detective’s face, pushing him back with the gun. The officer backpedalled immediately as the two ACS support androids in turn raised their weapons, taking aim at the maganiel.
“This unit has been authorised to employ lethal force in defence of the residents of this home.” The maganiel politely informed the detective.
“Oh, you’re definitely my prime suspect now.” the detective said menacingly, reaching for his comm. device, “this is Detective Bell requesting armed backup at my location. One hostile suspect and one armed android present.”
“Would you like to explain to your backup how you tried to force your way into my home?” Aster said gloweringly, taking cover behind the maganiel.
“If you had nothing do with Dr Kessler’s murder, then why don’t you just come in and explain everything?” the detective challenged her.
“Because I’m sick to death of being interrogated over things that I’m not fucking guilty of!” Aster raged, her composure dissolving, “and after being suspended from my job, you come to my door to tell me one of my friends was murdered and that I’m your suspect!”
“Well, sorry for your loss,” the detective replied without sounding too sorry, “but unless you have any information that can point us in the right direction, at best you’re a person of interest, and at worst you are the prime suspect.”
“You needed backup?” said another voice from the corridor.
Everyone turned to see another uniformed individual approaching, also accompanied by his own team of armed support androids. But the newcomer’s uniform was plain and dark, without any insignias, let alone ACS markings.
“Who the frick are you?” the detective demanded.
“Scan me.” The unidentified person replied.
With a glare of suspicion on his face, the detective approached the newcomer and flash-scanned his eyes. His suspicion evaporated when he saw the ID and organisational affiliation.
“That’s right,” said the newcomer, “The acronym for authority here is ‘DNI’.”
“This woman is a person of interest in a murder investigation.” The detective protested.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here,” the DNI agent replied, “we know for a fact that she’s not your culprit. We have the evidence to prove it and I’ll be accompanying you back to your HQ so we can clear all this up.”
The detective’s suspicious glare returned, but he duly turned away and reached for his comm. device, presumably to contact his superiors.
“Dr Thorn,” said the DNI agent to Aster, “we received your communication.”
“It was Jezebel who killed him,” Aster asserted in a hushed tone, “I know it.”
“That may or may not be the case,” the agent replied, “I couldn’t possibly comment.”
“Who else could it be?” Aster insisted, “She took my children home with her from the medical centre, which has to be a massive security breach, and then she tried to–”
The DNI agent raised a finger to silence her, his expression turning serious.
“Never talk about confidential matters out in the open.” He said sternly.
“Well, you saw what I sent, didn’t you?” Aster demanded.
“That’s not for me to say,” The DNI agent answered, “I came down here because the ACS officer was going to arrest the wrong person.”
“Ok, but…Felix was a close friend of mine,” Aster explained, her voice shaking a little, “can you at least promise me that you’ll get whoever killed him?”
“It’s all being sorted out,” The agent promised.
* * *
From a gentle glow, the containment shield had brightened into a translucent ball of light, bright enough to illuminate the entire cavernous central chamber. Standing on the raised dais at the edge of the scaffolding platform stood the self-styled leader of the Faithful, facing the containment shield with his hands raised as if in prayer.
Some distance behind him, eight figures were crouched down in a semi-circle around the prophet like a gathering of bodyguards or attending priests. They were the same type of surgically mutilated scarecrows that the squad had encountered earlier – the remains of their J.E. Co. security uniforms still visible on their monstrously deformed bodies.