No Truth Handlers, You

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina's Fiat Panda pulled up to the gates of the villa, where the siren's fake badge got them through into the grounds proper. She and Wyldclay got out of the car, donning their shades, and strode like they knew what they were doing up towards the main gates of the home proper.

"I'm Detective Song, this is Detective Clay, from Major Crimes," she said, flashing her badge quickly at the officer on the gates, her voice raspy from the effect of the collar pressing into her throat. "We've got a mess in there, do we?"

[Narrator]

"You can say that again. If you're here to bicker over jurisdiction you might have to get in line, I hear somebody called in the fucking FBI or something." he says, waving them through. And he wasn't wrong, there's dozens of people all over the place though Katarina can spot some familiar faces. Agents working to shuffle off the 'regular' cops and assessing the spread of information.

Fortunately, there's not much that first responders or initial forensics would have been able to find, from the looks of it. The main building is partially collapsed and an untrained eye might buy something sinkhole or earthquake related. A more thorough look shows that there's enough debris strewn about, including on the roofs of nearby buildings, that something very clearly exploded outwards first and the remains only collapsed in afterwards.

Aside from the obvious disaster area, a PATHS agent is talking to two women wrapped in emergency blankets.

Meanwhile a suspicious amount of people is all over the guard house at the rear gate.

[Wyll Wyldclay]

The two split up.

Wyldclay headed towards the guard house, sidling up behind some of the Agents they recognized, and threw their arms around their shoulders. "We got a Pollock painting in there, or what?"


Katarina, meanwhile, headed for the women in the emergency blankets, and knelt down in front of them. "Hey there," she said, with a smile. "I'm Katarina. Is there anything I can do to help you right now?"

[Narrator]

"Security cam footage, more like." he says, gesturing at the small but thorough setup. One of the agents is actively scrubbing through the tapes.

"Got a van that came in about an hour ago, those two ladies out there being dragged into the basement, nothing we can't just hand over." he says, though there is a frame or two of a blur moving past the camera. "Got some footage from inside, Hadley Winston, you know the producer? And two guests. Not surprising considering it's his place. Not sure where they went, not a lot of cams inside, but there's no sign of them leaving. Pretty sure we're going to find what's left of them in the rubble."

-----

"H-hola..." one of the women manages. "Uh. Drink?" she says in broken English, then glances at the paper cup of water in her hand. "Strong drink. Alcohólica?"

Both of them look pretty shaken, but the other one definitely looks worse, staring off into the middle distance and shivering.

[Katarina Kane]

"H-hola..." one of the women manages. "Uh. Drink?" she says in broken English, then glances at the paper cup of water in her hand. "Strong drink. Alcohólica?"

Both of them look pretty shaken, but the other one definitely looks worse, staring off into the middle distance and shivering.

"I'll see what I can get you," Katarina smiled, trying to calm them down. "Can you tell me what happened here? I'm here to help."

[Wyll Wyldclay]

"Security cam footage, more like." he says, gesturing at the small but thorough setup. One of the agents is actively scrubbing through the tapes.

"Got a van that came in about an hour ago, those two ladies out there being dragged into the basement, nothing we can't just hand over." he says, though there is a frame or two of a blur moving past the camera. "Got some footage from inside, Hadley Winston, you know the producer? And two guests. Not surprising considering it's his place. Not sure where they went, not a lot of cams inside, but there's no sign of them leaving. Pretty sure we're going to find what's left of them in the rubble."

"Winston, huh? No business like show business, I guess," Wyldclay yawned. "I'll catch this when Blockbuster dumps it into the discount bucket."

Wyldclay then made his way over towards the rubble, looking for something more interesting to catch their eye. With it clearly having blown up from the outside in, the best place to look would be inside, of course!

[Narrator]

The woman nods weakly, looking resigned. The look of somebody who's answered that question before and clearly wasn't taken seriously.

"They said they'd take us to the US for work. That they'd need our pasaporte for the paper filings. On a boat... big metal boxes?" she looks for the word for container, then waves it off as if the human trafficking part of the story isn't even what has her shook. "Take us here, made us put on..." she lifts the blanket for a moment to show a rumpled, very skimpy dress. "I thought... well... you know. But they were strange. Human but not? Just... not right. The woman, she smile too wide." she says, dragging her fingers from the corners of her mouth out along her cheeks. "Man had stumpy legs. Other one skin with... I don't know. Wrong. Espíritu maligno." she adds and makes the sign of the cross.

"Said awful things they would do to us, I..." she shudders and pauses for a moment. "And then fourth one came in and..." she swallows hard. "Sangre. Sangre en todos lados. Theirs. All theirs. Blood. They changed, grew, monstroso, but the small one. Tore our chains and kept path to the door somehow and we run..." she rambles, stumbling through her recollection. "Earth shakes once. Bam. We stumble, hide in the bushes and something... I didn't look... something break through the roof."

"Demonio-serpiente. Vi una bestia subir del mar, que tenía siete cabezas y diez cuernos; y sobre sus cuernos diez diademas; y sobre las cabezas de ella nombre de blasfemia." the second one mutters, rocking gently back and forth.


------


Meanwhile Wyldclay wanders over to the collapsed building. Two stories worth of rubble and furniture have fallen into the basement but even they can smell that this is a vile place. Desecrated and polluted. Some rubble has been pulled aside to look for survivors, but Wyll is more flexible and stronger than your average human. The first thing he finds is a pair of round sunglasses, broken at the bridge and one lens shattered. Close by he finds the first body. Bloated, pale to the point of near translucence and a three inch hole straight through it's chest. Torn ribs and deflated lungs have sagged into the cavity and the spine is torn in half, pushed back up when the body collapsed. Scraps of veins and arteries hang where the heart should be.

The second body is harder to identify as such. There's chunks of fat and muscle, scraps of skin and bones scattered about. A lower jaw that's nothing but serrated snake teeth. A lump of fatty tissue that, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a breast, torn at the edges except for four sharp puncture wounds close together, opposite a fifth one, forming the points of a grasping hand. Without a literal scavenger hunt for all of the viscera it's impossible to tell if it's from one or two bodies. There's enough to add up to one (presumably) male and two female arms though, so who can tell. Someone who's job it is to sift through this kind of bloody mess. Like the good Doctor. Certainly beneath the Wyldclay's standards.

[Katarina Kane]

The woman nods weakly, looking resigned. The look of somebody who's answered that question before and clearly wasn't taken seriously.

"They said they'd take us to the US for work. That they'd need our pasaporte for the paper filings. On a boat... big metal boxes?" she looks for the word for container, then waves it off as if the human trafficking part of the story isn't even what has her shook. "Take us here, made us put on..." she lifts the blanket for a moment to show a rumpled, very skimpy dress. "I thought... well... you know. But they were strange. Human but not? Just... not right. The woman, she smile too wide." she says, dragging her fingers from the corners of her mouth out along her cheeks. "Man had stumpy legs. Other one skin with... I don't know. Wrong. Espíritu maligno." she adds and makes the sign of the cross.

"Said awful things they would do to us, I..." she shudders and pauses for a moment. "And then fourth one came in and..." she swallows hard. "Sangre. Sangre en todos lados. Theirs. All theirs. Blood. They changed, grew, monstroso, but the small one. Tore our chains and kept path to the door somehow and we run..." she rambles, stumbling through her recollection. "Earth shakes once. Bam. We stumble, hide in the bushes and something... I didn't look... something break through the roof."

"Demonio-serpiente. Vi una bestia subir del mar, que tenía siete cabezas y diez cuernos; y sobre sus cuernos diez diademas; y sobre las cabezas de ella nombre de blasfemia." the second one mutters, rocking gently back and forth.

Katarina spoke two languages, neither of them Spanish.

"Not right, yes. I believe you. I believe you," Katarina stressed, the ruby pressing uncomfortably into her larynx as she tried to get the women to understand. "Horrible, nasty things that didn't belong."

"And the small one. Very small? Like...a child, but not? Dark hair? Wearing dark glasses, even in the dark?"

[Narrator]

"No child, no. Just short." she nods. "I... thought it had eyes like búho. Owl. Maybe just glasses..." she says and somehow that thought seems to relax her just a tiny bit.

[Wyll Wyldclay]

Meanwhile Wyldclay wanders over to the collapsed building.

"Sloppy. Sloppy and classless. That's our Deva, alright," the Wyldclay muttered to themselves, distastefully poking the body. "Leaving behind little messes for the rest of us to clean up, Agent Ryn? If you can't take care of your toys you don't deserve to have them."

They picked up the glasses -- the most obvious tell-tale signs that an Agent was there -- and pocketed them. That was easy enough to take care of.

The bodies...they were another matter. The torn-out heart could be dismissed as a serial killer type -- this was Los Angeles, that wasn't too farfetched. But the snake teeth? That wasn't get explained easily. No, this wouldn't do at all.

Fire would be the best bet, but with all these non-Agency personnel swarming the site, that would be more than a little suspect. And while they could pick up some of the more damning bits of evidence, there was no guarantee they'd get it all. So, the next best thing...

Wyll looked for whatever was keeping the rubble still somewhat uncollapsed and then, having identified it, kicked it. Hard.

[Katarina Kane]

"No child, no. Just short." she nods. "I... thought it had eyes like búho. Owl. Maybe just glasses..." she says and somehow that thought seems to relax her just a tiny bit.

Not a clear identification then. Katarina frowned, biting her lower lip. "And this fourth thing...it only attacked the people who were holding you? It didn't come back after you?"

[Narrator]

She shakes her head. "It saved us." she says and then flinches when there's a loud crash of falling and breaking concrete from the building. The dust settles for a moment and then a section of the south wall that had been left standing slooowly tilts and crashes onto the pile of rubble.

[Katarina Kane]

She shakes her head. "It saved us." she says and then flinches when there's a loud crash of falling and breaking concrete from the building. The dust settles for a moment and then a section of the south wall that had been left standing slooowly tilts and crashes onto the pile of rubble.

Katarina turned, frowning.

"We didn't secure the scene, did we?" she frowned to the nearest officer. "Go make sure that we're not in danger here anymore."

When she was left alone for a moment, she bent down to the two women again, pulling a small, blurry photo of Ryn out of her wallet.

"Was this the person who rescued you? This woman?"

[Narrator]

"Sí, sí, this is the thing that saved us!" she nods.

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina nodded, satisfied.

"I promise you, you are safe. The things that captured you are gone, and are not coming back. And if there were more, where they came from? This one will stop them from coming after you. You are safe now.

As for the...rest of it. We're still picking through the rubble here, but I'm sure we'll find your passports and your other documentation. That might take a while, and these things can always get hung up some. But we'll find you somewhere warm and safe while we get this all sorted out. And those...things. They are gone. In your past, yes? You have a guardian looking out for you."

[Narrator]

"Thank you." she says, grasping Katarina's hand for a moment. "For believing." She glances at the blurry picture one last time and pulls the blanket tighter around herself. "And thank it. Her. Ángel de sangre."

[Katarina Kane]

"I will, you have my word. And I'm sure, um, the 'Angel' would prefer it if you kept this quiet. It doesn't like the spotlight so much."

[Narrator]

"Si, yes of course." she's very quick to nod. While thankful she's also very clearly scared at the idea of upsetting Ryn.

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina smiled, and motioned for a first responded to come continue to take care of the women.

"She didn't go nuts. She went violent, but she was trying to help..." Katarina muttered, almost to herself.

[Narrator]

An EMT comes back over and quietly talks to the two women in Spanish.

At the same time, as Katarina is turning away and looking south down the hillside she catches sight of the Sunset Tower Hotel less than half a mile away. Sporting a conspicuous hole in it's side. Pointed pretty much right towards the villa.

[Katarina Kane]

"Subtle as always, Agent Ryn..." Katarina whispered, heading for her car...

[Wyll Wyldclay]

The two agents hit the road, heading towards the sounds of fighting and the smoke emanating from the building.

"That's coming from the Galleria, right?" Wyldclay said, squinting out the window. "You're the Angelino; you'd know, comrade."

"Shut it, Wyldclay," Katarina said, darting between the traffic on Los Angeles' crowded streets.

"You know, she's doing this because of you, right?" Wyldclay added, kicking their feet up on the dash. "Poor little Deva, her brain overloaded."

"I said SHUT it, Wyldclay," Katarina growled. "I know. I know this is my doing. She heard the Voice."

That got Wyldclay to sit up straight. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

[Katarina Kane]

The music swelled, and even with the inhibitor on, Katerina's raspy voice rang out.

"In the neon glow, I see your silhouette,
A force that draws me close, I can't forget,
Electric dreams ignite, my heart's on fire,
You're the star that shines, takes me higher.

In a world so vast, you're my fascination,
Lost within the past, it's a sweet sensation,
No escape in sight, this is my confession,
I'm falling fast into this powerful obsession!"

Katarina steadily avoided looking at Wyldclay as she drove.

"She heard the siren's call, there was there nothing she could do
The power of my voice always was shining through
Implanted in her mind, the seeds of this desire
I'm sure that she will find that I've made her be a liar!

This longing that she has? It's not real.
The fact that I'm a monster is all that she can feel!
This poison in her brain is causing her aggression
She's put her life at risk for this powerful obsession!"

[Wyll Wyldclay]

The Wyldclay just blinked and picked up the melody.

"You must be kidding me, are all humans this blind?
I'm losing all the faith that I had in humankind!
It's not a magic spell, the Deva's just realized
She wants to bury her face, deep betwixt your thighs!

She's not built for this, that much is surely true
But the problem that she has is that her mind is set on you!
She wants to jump your bones and do it without discretion
Your fragile human body's her powerful obsession!"