Impact: Regenesis

Johnson returned his focus to the doc.u.ment and asked what the victim"s ability was.

"She could change the color of anything she touched," he reported.

Johnson scratched at his moustache, "That"s kind of a useless power if you ask me...Why would Cladis want to kill someone with that power?"

"I don"t think the power matters all that much, just so long as there is one. And, well that brings me to my next point." Bryce set the remaining papers on the chief"s desk. "I believe we found a pattern sir."

Chief Johnson set the other paper aside and inspected the new pages Bryce gave him.

"The pattern begins with the first victim, Red Irons, who had O positive blood, and from there the victims follow an A, B and AB positive pattern before the next set of O, A, B, and AB negative blood types, at which point the pattern returns to O positive and recycles."

Johnson scrutinized the list of victims alongside the pattern and checked the officer"s work. "How on earth did all of you manage to see this?"

"I, well, I was going through the files and happened to notice a few irregularities in the doc.u.ment, namely not all of the victims had all of the same fields, missing blood types, job histories, schools attended...and, well, I thought to update it and that"s when I noticed the pattern."

The chief looked at him and asked, "You discovered this? By yourself?"

Maguire reminded him that he wasn"t the only one who helped compile the list. "But yes, I did, I guess."

"Good work," he said with a nod. "What"s the next blood type?"

"O positive."

Johnson reclined in his chair and rubbed his forehead. "Then we"ve got what? Four days to find one specific person with O positive blood?"

"That seems to be the case."

He took a deep breath and asked him to let the others know about his find if he hadn"t already. "I guess the only thing there is to say is good luck."

Bryce told him they"d do their best and rushed out of his office to find the others.

4:57 PM.

Both.e.l.l, Washington Drake casually leaned against his kitchen counter while he worked on a ma.s.sive card castle. The project didn"t take much effort on his part, as he could slow time down and adjust and readjust every card until the structure was flawless. He had all of the time in the world but found himself bored and depressed instead of excited, invigorated, and out in the world. There wasn"t much for him to do, even when he was in another country. Time still moved on, he could see an entire nation in a matter of a split second if he wanted to, but what that left him was nothing more than ma.s.sive amounts of time to waste on nothing more than games, and even those bored him.

Drake waited for Sho to finish up his day at work and call him with a brief update on their pseudo-investigation. He continued to check his watch and wait for the call while he finished his castle. It stood nearly three feet high and upon its completion Drake simply let it fall to pieces by removing one of the lowest cards.

Sho finally called and Drake didn"t hesitate to answer in j.a.panese, ""

"" Sho told him. ""

""

"" Sho quickly cut him off. Drake only laughed though. "

""

"" Sho reported.

""

Sho read them off from a list, ""

"" Drake gave the situation a moment of thought before he asked how he managed to find out about it.

""

""

""

Drake told him that it was what they were looking for. ""

"

""

Sho told him he"d continue to investigate before he hung up.

Drake put his phone away in his pocket while he walked over to his brown U-shaped couch, took a seat, retrieved his laptop from underneath the sofa, and logged on. After he checked his email he made his way onto the REFOIA database under the username eternal_hourgla.s.s. His list of contacts was limited to only Sho and Jessica, but he expected it to rapidly expand after he truly began to delve into the database. As he"d only been a member of REFOIA for a few days his list of followed topics, events, and people was limited. He noticed that Jessica was online and set up a chat with her [eternal_hourgla.s.s has joined]

[jess_VII has joined]

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Hey Jess, how have you been?

jess_VII: Drake, I saw you on the news a few days ago.

jess_VII: Do you really have a power?

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Hahaha...I do, but I"ll show you another time. I don"t want to talk over the internet about something like that.

jess_VII: Oh eternal_hourgla.s.s: So, you never sent me that video about Ghost.

jess_VII: I told you, it was removed.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Really? That doesn"t sound like REFOIA...

jess_VII: I know. Let me see if I can find it.

[balt_raven00 has joined]

[mhanzo40 has joined]

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Wow, the group is really filling up.

balt_raven00: who r u?

mhanzo40: If you read back a bit, you"d know that he knows Jessica.

mhanzo40: And if my guess is correct he"s Drake Winchester.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Yeah, actually...

eternal_hourgla.s.s: How"d you figure that out?

mhanzo40: I already know that Jessica is somewhere around the age of seventeen or eighteen and lives in western part of Washington state, which is where you live.

mhanzo40: After mentioning that she saw you on the news and the mention of "your ability" it was quite clear...

mhanzo40: She also mentioned your name.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Oh...yeah.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Who are you?

mhanzo40: I"m mhanzo40 for now.

balt_raven00: none of us kno who he is.

balt_raven00: hes rather secretive.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: What about you? (@balt_raven00) eternal_hourgla.s.s: Are you actually in Baltimore?

balt_raven00: yes, why?

eternal_hourgla.s.s: What do you know about Cladis?

balt_raven00: what do u know?

eternal_hourgla.s.s: I only know what I can find on REFOIA.

balt_raven00: well I wouldnt believe evryhting on here balt_raven00: everything*

mhanzo40: How can you claim that though? Everything on REFOIA is pulled directly from computers, phones, gaming consoles, the web, etc. and a.n.a.lyzed for factuality before it"s even added to this database.

mhanzo40: How could REFOIA be wrong?

balt_raven00: its not that they"re wrong, they just dont kno everything mhanzo40: Which makes you a cop then.

[balt_raven00 has left group]

mhanzo40: Hmm...That was easier than I"d thought it"d be...

jess_VII: what was?

mhanzo52: Nothing, just getting the truth out of him.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: So who are you? (@mhanzo40) mhanzo52: I"m not the super hero Hanzo, if that"s what you"re wondering.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Oh, I was hoping you would be...

mhanzo40: So what"re we going to talk about?

eternal_hourgla.s.s: I don"t know, but I have to get going.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: I need to make some calls.

jess_VII: about what?

eternal_hourgla.s.s: For a small get-together.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Y"know, me, Nick, and Jordan.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: you"re more than welcome to join us if you"d like to.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: (I"d offer you as well @mhanzo40, but I don"t know who/where you are).

jess_VII: I"ll pa.s.s.

mhanzo40: Thanks for considering me, ha ha.

jess_VII: Sorry I couldn"t find the video.

mhanzo40: What video?

eternal_hourgla.s.s: The one about Ghost supposedly in Vegas a little while ago.

mhanzo40: I seem to have lost it as well. I had archived it but it"s been missing for a while now.

eternal_hourgla.s.s: Where could it have gone then?

mhanzo40: It"s strange. REFOIA usually doesn"t miss a detail...

jess_VII: If I find anything I"ll send it to you, okay? (@eternal_hourgla.s.s) eternal_hourgla.s.s: Perfect. I"ll talk to you (both) later.

[eternal_hourgla.s.s has left chat]

Drake shut his laptop and slid it back under his couch while he fished his phone out of his pocket. He dialed Jordan first, who he knew would never object to a party, and would immediately aid Drake in pressuring Nick into the gathering.

It rang four times before Jordan answered, "Hey Drake, what"s up?"

Drake told him there wasn"t too much going on in his life before he suggested the meeting.

"What? Is Hiromi not available?" Jordan mocked him.

Drake forced a laugh, "No, but you and Nick could come by my place on Friday and we could play video games or something like that."