Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Home by the Sea, Ch 1 (Dying Informant, 39)
Title: Home by the Sea, chapter 1: Something Doesn't Feel Quite Right
Author/Artist: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Theme(s): 39; Will you cry if I die?
Character: the Dying Informant
Fandom: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine (unless otherwise noted) and the story is!
Cross-posted to 31_days and my journal
Author's notes: This fic was largely inspired both by an RP with LuckyLadybug and the Genesis song "Home by the Sea." As a bit of a warning, the fic is on the dark side, but I will try to ensure a happy ending, though I know it probably doesn't seem possible at the moment... As always, the characters aren't mine (except for the OCs), and the story is. Thanks to LuckyLadybug for plot help!
**********************************
Darkness… the deepest darkness surrounded him. Not a single shred of light was able to reach his eyes. But he could smell the musty air and feel the cold sweat pouring down his flushed face.
He tried his hardest to draw in breath, but his chest was tight, and the air was stale, offering no relief or comfort to him.
“Where am I…?” he gasped. “What’s happening to me…?”
He tried to move, but his limbs were heavy and hurting. He couldn’t even move so much as a finger. He couldn’t even move his lips to speak.
Help me… he mentally whispered. Help me… someone… anyone… Techie… TECHIE!
The Techie gasped awake as his plane landed with a bump. He blinked, staring at the seat in front of him, and then looked around, out the window, and around the aisle. It was getting dim now… And it was raining rather heavily, too…
“You alright?” asked the man sitting in the seat next to him. “I think you were having a nightmare… You kept crying out to someone…”
The Techie didn’t even seem to be listening… That dream… it had been so horrible… He hadn’t been able to see anything, but he had been able to feel the apparent agony his surrogate brother, the Informant, had been feeling. And he had heard the boy’s voice, clearly, calling to him for help.
What was he thinking about? It was just a dream-he would be seeing him very soon. He would be alright…
“What time is it…?” the Techie asked, yawning.
“Nearly six PM,” the man said, checking his watch.
“Well, that’s nice…” the brunet said, with a wan smile, taking out his cell phone. “It’s my birthday for the next six hours…”
Still drained from the five-hour flight from Domino City, the Techie disembarked from the plane. It had been a bit of a disappointment-the four of his friends on solo missions all across the country on his birthday. But the Informant had insisted that he’d be taking them all out to dinner once they all arrived back in New York, and the Techie decided to take him up on his offer. He knew that the Informant had been planning something for his birthday, and although he insisted that it was no big deal, the Techie’s curiosity was getting the better of him.
The Techie was just retrieving his suitcase from the baggage carousel when the Messenger suddenly threw an arm around him, startling him.
“Hey, it’s the birthday boy!” he grinned.
The Inspector just rolled his eyes at the Messenger and helped the Techie pick up his suitcase.
“Is our youngest brother here yet?” asked the Techie, looking around.
“Nope; he must be running a little late planning that big surprise for you,” the Messenger replied. “Though it’s not like him to be late without letting us know…”
“We tried reaching him on his communicator, but we weren’t able to get through,” said the Inspector.
“Must be the weather…” said the Techie, glaring at the rain. “But he should’ve been here an hour ago…”
The Inspector and the Messenger could only shrug, walking with the Techie to the curbside pickup. But the Informant did not show up.
“Infy… where are you…?” the Messenger muttered. “It’s cold and wet out here…”
“He didn’t say what this surprise was, did he…?” asked the Techie, half expecting to see the Informant suddenly herding an elephant down the road.
“Nope,” said the Messenger. “I think he was afraid that I’d somehow let it slip…”
“Which you have been known to do…” the Inspector informed him.
“Hey, the redecoration of the Chief’s office wasn’t supposed to be a surprise when I first heard about it…” the Messenger said, defending himself.
“That was before he made the hole in the wall and suddenly needed more time…” the Techie said, suppressing a laugh. He blinked as he realized this, and wondered in apprehension about the state of the room he shared with him.
He sighed, his breath visible as he exhaled. He hoped it was something crazy keeping the Informant from getting here, but he couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that something was wrong.
The minutes ticked on without any sign of the Informant. Finally, the Inspector’s expression lightened as he saw the approach of an ACME car.
“Well, it took a while, but…” He trailed off, frowning slightly as he realized that it wasn’t the Informant who was driving the car, but the Recruiting Officer. And in the passenger seat sat the Rookie, his expression blank and unreadable.
The Messenger exchanged a befuddled glance with the Techie, who shrugged, the feeling of unease rising within him as they agents piled their suitcases into the trunk and sat in the back seat.
“How… How’d the missions go, Guys…?” asked the Recruiting Officer. He was trying to sound casual, but his tone of voice also betrayed that something wasn’t as it should be.
“They went fine… Well, mine did,” said the Messenger, frowning.
The Inspector grunted in agreement.
“And Seto Kaiba is close to putting the finishing touches on the ACME-Kaiba Corp collaborative firewall. But never mind about that… Did our little brother wreck the room or something…?” asked the Techie, hoping that this was all because the Informant was feeling too guilty to face him without a proper present.
In the rearview mirror, the Inspector could see the Rookie move his fist to cover his mouth. But the expression in the Rookie’s eyes did not bode well.
“Infy was supposed to meet us and take us directly to dinner…” the Messenger agreed. “Don’t tell me he realized he’s out of cash…”
The Recruiting Officer stared determinedly at the road ahead. The Techie’s shoulders slumped. He knew that something was wrong. They were most likely going straight to the infirmary. And the Informant would probably feel too guilty to talk to him…
“How did his mission go?” the Inspector asked, suspecting that this was the case, too.
“Oh, his mission went off without a hitch,” said the Rookie, speaking for the first time.
The Messenger was tempted to ask what the problem was now. But before he could say anything, he noticed that the Recruiting Officer was talking a turn on an unfamiliar road.
“Hey, this isn’t the way home…” he said.
The Techie wanted to believe that they were going to wherever the Informant had set up his birthday surprise. But the expressions on the Recruiting Officer and the Rookie’s faces, along with the feeling of foreboding in his own heart made it impossible.
“Guys, there’s something you need to know…” said the Recruiting Officer, as he took another unfamiliar turn. “Like the Rookie said, the Informant’s mission went off without a hitch. But something else went wrong.”
The Techie’s heart did a somersault in his chest, and he recalled the horrifying dream he had had not too long ago. What if it hadn’t been a dream…? He and the Informant were close surrogate brothers… What if he had been hearing a plea for help from his poor, tormented brother?
He clenched a fist. But where were they going, if the Informant was in trouble? Shouldn’t they be going back to ACME and getting the details…?
“He was all psyched for the birthday gift he made for you,” said the Rookie. “It was… something he made for you.”
The Techie blinked, touched. Of course… the Informant would’ve been utterly dissatisfied with anything that could be bought, so he would’ve taken things into his own hands…
“He said that all he needed was to go out and buy a card for you,” the Recruiting Officer went on. “So he gave the gift to Rookie and me, telling us to guard it as though the Messenger was after it.”
The Messenger cracked a smile, which faded as the feeling of unease gripped at him, too.
“That was about 10 this morning, right after he had finished his mission,” the Recruiting Officer said. “And… And…”
“And…?” the Messenger prompted.
“That… That was the last time we saw him…” said the Rookie, his voice cracking.
“What!?” asked the Inspector, as the Techie paled. “You mean he’s missing!?”
“I wish it was just that…” the Recruiting Officer said, suppressing a sob as he made one final turn.
They had pulled up to the banks of the East River.
The Inspector stared dumbly at the water, figuring out what had happened in a moment of terrible realization, and the Messenger’s jaw dropped in sheer horror. The Techie’s face was drained of all color.
“No… NO!” he howled, practically kicking the car door open.
“Tell me this is some kind of sick joke!” the Messenger roared, seizing the Recruiting Officer by the shoulders as they departed the car. “Infy isn’t dead! Why would he… still be in the river!?”
“Wait!” cried the Rookie, trying to pull on the furious agent’s arm. “He tried to get them to--”
“Get who!?” the Messenger yelled, causing the Rookie to back off.
The Inspector was about to place a hand on the Rookie’s shoulder, but the Techie’s agonized cry tore through his heart as the brunet knelt on the ground, sobbing. The Inspector knelt by him, drawing the devastated brunet into his embrace.
The Messenger placed a hand to his head, regretting having lost his temper.
“What happened…?” he asked.
“About twenty minutes after the Informant had left, we received a distress signal coming from here, by the river,” said the Recruiting Officer. “It was his communicator. We were heading here when the signal… the signal turned into a flatline.”
The Messenger stared at him in voiceless horror.
“And…?” he asked, dreading the answer.
“We never found him…” the Recruiting Officer said, crying, too. “But his communicator kept registering the flatline until we stopped receiving the signal. He had drowned…”
“No…” said the Inspector, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “If he was going to get a card for Techie--” He flinched as the brunet let out another heart-wrenching howl. “There wouldn’t have been any reason for him to be here, near the river. Someone attacked him and made it look like an accident.”
“But that doesn’t explain why no one had the decency to try to find him…” The Messenger trailed off, gesturing at the river, which had apparently become his brother’s watery grave. He shuddered at the thought. How could he be allowed to remain there!?
“We tried to stop them,” said the Rookie. “But ACME Search-and-Rescue-Net said that they were busy all week-they were heading to the San Francisco branch in the afternoon, and they wouldn’t be back for a week or two, so…” He clenched a fist. “Mr. Schwemphf told them to go ahead, since there were more agents in trouble there whom they knew were alive, and that it was more important to help them than recover the Informant. They declared that the drowning was accidental, and they just… left. The Chief was on her way back from a meeting in Albany when he gave Search-and-Rescue-Net permission.” He clenched a fist. “She was furious, but he said that Search-and-Rescue-Net had the right idea, and that it would be better to help the agents who were… still alive. By the time the Chief had reprimanded him, it was all over anyway.”
“We came back here,” said the Recruiting Officer, as he led the devastated agents to the edge of the river. A few flowers, which they had placed by the bank, were still there.
“The current was… was really strong today…” said the Rookie, trembling. “We think… He’s somewhere out to sea by now.”
But the Techie’s world shattered as he heard these words, realizing that he would never get the chance to look upon his poor brother’s face. The cry he unleashed now was one more haunting and heart-wrenching than the previous ones.
“Techie…” the Messenger said, embracing the devastated agent. He was finding it hard to come to grips with what he was seeing, too… Infy… Little Infy… gone…
The Inspector hugged them, too, and for a moment, the Techie accepted their embraces, hugging them back. But then he looked back at the watery grave, a wild look rising in his eyes.
“Techie…?” the Inspector asked, concerned.
He Techie suddenly tore away from them, trying to crawl into the river.
“Techie, what are you doing!?” cried the Messenger, trying to stop him. “You heard what they said about the current-you’ll drown, too!”
“He’s not dead!” the Techie cried, his eyes wide with fervor. “I heard him calling to me just as the plane landed! He’s alive; he has to be alive!”
The Inspector and the Messenger both pulled the Techie away from the water.
“Techie, you can’t do this…” the Inspector said, softly. “You must’ve been dreaming.”
“He’s not dead!” the Techie cried. “HE’S NOT!”
“We want to believe it…” said the Recruiting Officer. “We didn’t want to believe what we were seeing, but… It was true. It was all true. All of the feedback from his vital signs… could only have been what they were if he was… gone.”
“He wouldn’t want to see you like this…” the Rookie said, through sobs of his own.
The Techie sagged in his friends’ arms, sobbing again. He knew it. He knew that the Informant would want him to have a happy birthday no matter what, but… How… how could he, when he had lost his cherished little brother…?
The Inspector placed an arm around him, silent as he mourned for his brother, too. He knew that there were no words he could say that would ease the pain that they were all feeling.
The Messenger remained silent, too, staring almost unblinkingly at the grave, the silent tears in his face indistinguishable from the rain.
“I killed him…” the Techie sobbed. “He was out because he went to get me a birthday card…!” He let out another anguished cry, and his friends all hugged him.
“It wasn’t your fault,” the Messenger insisted. “The only reason Infy was killed was because of the creep or creeps who attacked him when he wasn’t even on a mission…” It sickened him that anyone would be so cowardly to attack Infy when he was completely unprepared. And it saddened him to realize that his brother lost his life because of that.
“And we’ll find out whoever did this and make them pay,” the Inspector vowed.
The Techie’s head lifted slightly, and he stared at his friends. His eyes reflected the great pain he was feeling-and it was a pain more deep than they had ever seen.
“Even if we do…” he said, between sobs. “It won’t bring him back. He’ll still be gone…”
And there was nothing that the others could say to make the Techie feel better about the whole ordeal.
After all, he was right. What they had lost was irreplaceable-a loyal ally, but, more importantly, a cherished surrogate brother and friend.
The Techie once again continued to sob, kneeling on the ground as he wept.
Author/Artist: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Theme(s): 39; Will you cry if I die?
Character: the Dying Informant
Fandom: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine (unless otherwise noted) and the story is!
Cross-posted to 31_days and my journal
Author's notes: This fic was largely inspired both by an RP with LuckyLadybug and the Genesis song "Home by the Sea." As a bit of a warning, the fic is on the dark side, but I will try to ensure a happy ending, though I know it probably doesn't seem possible at the moment... As always, the characters aren't mine (except for the OCs), and the story is. Thanks to LuckyLadybug for plot help!
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Darkness… the deepest darkness surrounded him. Not a single shred of light was able to reach his eyes. But he could smell the musty air and feel the cold sweat pouring down his flushed face.
He tried his hardest to draw in breath, but his chest was tight, and the air was stale, offering no relief or comfort to him.
“Where am I…?” he gasped. “What’s happening to me…?”
He tried to move, but his limbs were heavy and hurting. He couldn’t even move so much as a finger. He couldn’t even move his lips to speak.
Help me… he mentally whispered. Help me… someone… anyone… Techie… TECHIE!
The Techie gasped awake as his plane landed with a bump. He blinked, staring at the seat in front of him, and then looked around, out the window, and around the aisle. It was getting dim now… And it was raining rather heavily, too…
“You alright?” asked the man sitting in the seat next to him. “I think you were having a nightmare… You kept crying out to someone…”
The Techie didn’t even seem to be listening… That dream… it had been so horrible… He hadn’t been able to see anything, but he had been able to feel the apparent agony his surrogate brother, the Informant, had been feeling. And he had heard the boy’s voice, clearly, calling to him for help.
What was he thinking about? It was just a dream-he would be seeing him very soon. He would be alright…
“What time is it…?” the Techie asked, yawning.
“Nearly six PM,” the man said, checking his watch.
“Well, that’s nice…” the brunet said, with a wan smile, taking out his cell phone. “It’s my birthday for the next six hours…”
Still drained from the five-hour flight from Domino City, the Techie disembarked from the plane. It had been a bit of a disappointment-the four of his friends on solo missions all across the country on his birthday. But the Informant had insisted that he’d be taking them all out to dinner once they all arrived back in New York, and the Techie decided to take him up on his offer. He knew that the Informant had been planning something for his birthday, and although he insisted that it was no big deal, the Techie’s curiosity was getting the better of him.
The Techie was just retrieving his suitcase from the baggage carousel when the Messenger suddenly threw an arm around him, startling him.
“Hey, it’s the birthday boy!” he grinned.
The Inspector just rolled his eyes at the Messenger and helped the Techie pick up his suitcase.
“Is our youngest brother here yet?” asked the Techie, looking around.
“Nope; he must be running a little late planning that big surprise for you,” the Messenger replied. “Though it’s not like him to be late without letting us know…”
“We tried reaching him on his communicator, but we weren’t able to get through,” said the Inspector.
“Must be the weather…” said the Techie, glaring at the rain. “But he should’ve been here an hour ago…”
The Inspector and the Messenger could only shrug, walking with the Techie to the curbside pickup. But the Informant did not show up.
“Infy… where are you…?” the Messenger muttered. “It’s cold and wet out here…”
“He didn’t say what this surprise was, did he…?” asked the Techie, half expecting to see the Informant suddenly herding an elephant down the road.
“Nope,” said the Messenger. “I think he was afraid that I’d somehow let it slip…”
“Which you have been known to do…” the Inspector informed him.
“Hey, the redecoration of the Chief’s office wasn’t supposed to be a surprise when I first heard about it…” the Messenger said, defending himself.
“That was before he made the hole in the wall and suddenly needed more time…” the Techie said, suppressing a laugh. He blinked as he realized this, and wondered in apprehension about the state of the room he shared with him.
He sighed, his breath visible as he exhaled. He hoped it was something crazy keeping the Informant from getting here, but he couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that something was wrong.
The minutes ticked on without any sign of the Informant. Finally, the Inspector’s expression lightened as he saw the approach of an ACME car.
“Well, it took a while, but…” He trailed off, frowning slightly as he realized that it wasn’t the Informant who was driving the car, but the Recruiting Officer. And in the passenger seat sat the Rookie, his expression blank and unreadable.
The Messenger exchanged a befuddled glance with the Techie, who shrugged, the feeling of unease rising within him as they agents piled their suitcases into the trunk and sat in the back seat.
“How… How’d the missions go, Guys…?” asked the Recruiting Officer. He was trying to sound casual, but his tone of voice also betrayed that something wasn’t as it should be.
“They went fine… Well, mine did,” said the Messenger, frowning.
The Inspector grunted in agreement.
“And Seto Kaiba is close to putting the finishing touches on the ACME-Kaiba Corp collaborative firewall. But never mind about that… Did our little brother wreck the room or something…?” asked the Techie, hoping that this was all because the Informant was feeling too guilty to face him without a proper present.
In the rearview mirror, the Inspector could see the Rookie move his fist to cover his mouth. But the expression in the Rookie’s eyes did not bode well.
“Infy was supposed to meet us and take us directly to dinner…” the Messenger agreed. “Don’t tell me he realized he’s out of cash…”
The Recruiting Officer stared determinedly at the road ahead. The Techie’s shoulders slumped. He knew that something was wrong. They were most likely going straight to the infirmary. And the Informant would probably feel too guilty to talk to him…
“How did his mission go?” the Inspector asked, suspecting that this was the case, too.
“Oh, his mission went off without a hitch,” said the Rookie, speaking for the first time.
The Messenger was tempted to ask what the problem was now. But before he could say anything, he noticed that the Recruiting Officer was talking a turn on an unfamiliar road.
“Hey, this isn’t the way home…” he said.
The Techie wanted to believe that they were going to wherever the Informant had set up his birthday surprise. But the expressions on the Recruiting Officer and the Rookie’s faces, along with the feeling of foreboding in his own heart made it impossible.
“Guys, there’s something you need to know…” said the Recruiting Officer, as he took another unfamiliar turn. “Like the Rookie said, the Informant’s mission went off without a hitch. But something else went wrong.”
The Techie’s heart did a somersault in his chest, and he recalled the horrifying dream he had had not too long ago. What if it hadn’t been a dream…? He and the Informant were close surrogate brothers… What if he had been hearing a plea for help from his poor, tormented brother?
He clenched a fist. But where were they going, if the Informant was in trouble? Shouldn’t they be going back to ACME and getting the details…?
“He was all psyched for the birthday gift he made for you,” said the Rookie. “It was… something he made for you.”
The Techie blinked, touched. Of course… the Informant would’ve been utterly dissatisfied with anything that could be bought, so he would’ve taken things into his own hands…
“He said that all he needed was to go out and buy a card for you,” the Recruiting Officer went on. “So he gave the gift to Rookie and me, telling us to guard it as though the Messenger was after it.”
The Messenger cracked a smile, which faded as the feeling of unease gripped at him, too.
“That was about 10 this morning, right after he had finished his mission,” the Recruiting Officer said. “And… And…”
“And…?” the Messenger prompted.
“That… That was the last time we saw him…” said the Rookie, his voice cracking.
“What!?” asked the Inspector, as the Techie paled. “You mean he’s missing!?”
“I wish it was just that…” the Recruiting Officer said, suppressing a sob as he made one final turn.
They had pulled up to the banks of the East River.
The Inspector stared dumbly at the water, figuring out what had happened in a moment of terrible realization, and the Messenger’s jaw dropped in sheer horror. The Techie’s face was drained of all color.
“No… NO!” he howled, practically kicking the car door open.
“Tell me this is some kind of sick joke!” the Messenger roared, seizing the Recruiting Officer by the shoulders as they departed the car. “Infy isn’t dead! Why would he… still be in the river!?”
“Wait!” cried the Rookie, trying to pull on the furious agent’s arm. “He tried to get them to--”
“Get who!?” the Messenger yelled, causing the Rookie to back off.
The Inspector was about to place a hand on the Rookie’s shoulder, but the Techie’s agonized cry tore through his heart as the brunet knelt on the ground, sobbing. The Inspector knelt by him, drawing the devastated brunet into his embrace.
The Messenger placed a hand to his head, regretting having lost his temper.
“What happened…?” he asked.
“About twenty minutes after the Informant had left, we received a distress signal coming from here, by the river,” said the Recruiting Officer. “It was his communicator. We were heading here when the signal… the signal turned into a flatline.”
The Messenger stared at him in voiceless horror.
“And…?” he asked, dreading the answer.
“We never found him…” the Recruiting Officer said, crying, too. “But his communicator kept registering the flatline until we stopped receiving the signal. He had drowned…”
“No…” said the Inspector, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “If he was going to get a card for Techie--” He flinched as the brunet let out another heart-wrenching howl. “There wouldn’t have been any reason for him to be here, near the river. Someone attacked him and made it look like an accident.”
“But that doesn’t explain why no one had the decency to try to find him…” The Messenger trailed off, gesturing at the river, which had apparently become his brother’s watery grave. He shuddered at the thought. How could he be allowed to remain there!?
“We tried to stop them,” said the Rookie. “But ACME Search-and-Rescue-Net said that they were busy all week-they were heading to the San Francisco branch in the afternoon, and they wouldn’t be back for a week or two, so…” He clenched a fist. “Mr. Schwemphf told them to go ahead, since there were more agents in trouble there whom they knew were alive, and that it was more important to help them than recover the Informant. They declared that the drowning was accidental, and they just… left. The Chief was on her way back from a meeting in Albany when he gave Search-and-Rescue-Net permission.” He clenched a fist. “She was furious, but he said that Search-and-Rescue-Net had the right idea, and that it would be better to help the agents who were… still alive. By the time the Chief had reprimanded him, it was all over anyway.”
“We came back here,” said the Recruiting Officer, as he led the devastated agents to the edge of the river. A few flowers, which they had placed by the bank, were still there.
“The current was… was really strong today…” said the Rookie, trembling. “We think… He’s somewhere out to sea by now.”
But the Techie’s world shattered as he heard these words, realizing that he would never get the chance to look upon his poor brother’s face. The cry he unleashed now was one more haunting and heart-wrenching than the previous ones.
“Techie…” the Messenger said, embracing the devastated agent. He was finding it hard to come to grips with what he was seeing, too… Infy… Little Infy… gone…
The Inspector hugged them, too, and for a moment, the Techie accepted their embraces, hugging them back. But then he looked back at the watery grave, a wild look rising in his eyes.
“Techie…?” the Inspector asked, concerned.
He Techie suddenly tore away from them, trying to crawl into the river.
“Techie, what are you doing!?” cried the Messenger, trying to stop him. “You heard what they said about the current-you’ll drown, too!”
“He’s not dead!” the Techie cried, his eyes wide with fervor. “I heard him calling to me just as the plane landed! He’s alive; he has to be alive!”
The Inspector and the Messenger both pulled the Techie away from the water.
“Techie, you can’t do this…” the Inspector said, softly. “You must’ve been dreaming.”
“He’s not dead!” the Techie cried. “HE’S NOT!”
“We want to believe it…” said the Recruiting Officer. “We didn’t want to believe what we were seeing, but… It was true. It was all true. All of the feedback from his vital signs… could only have been what they were if he was… gone.”
“He wouldn’t want to see you like this…” the Rookie said, through sobs of his own.
The Techie sagged in his friends’ arms, sobbing again. He knew it. He knew that the Informant would want him to have a happy birthday no matter what, but… How… how could he, when he had lost his cherished little brother…?
The Inspector placed an arm around him, silent as he mourned for his brother, too. He knew that there were no words he could say that would ease the pain that they were all feeling.
The Messenger remained silent, too, staring almost unblinkingly at the grave, the silent tears in his face indistinguishable from the rain.
“I killed him…” the Techie sobbed. “He was out because he went to get me a birthday card…!” He let out another anguished cry, and his friends all hugged him.
“It wasn’t your fault,” the Messenger insisted. “The only reason Infy was killed was because of the creep or creeps who attacked him when he wasn’t even on a mission…” It sickened him that anyone would be so cowardly to attack Infy when he was completely unprepared. And it saddened him to realize that his brother lost his life because of that.
“And we’ll find out whoever did this and make them pay,” the Inspector vowed.
The Techie’s head lifted slightly, and he stared at his friends. His eyes reflected the great pain he was feeling-and it was a pain more deep than they had ever seen.
“Even if we do…” he said, between sobs. “It won’t bring him back. He’ll still be gone…”
And there was nothing that the others could say to make the Techie feel better about the whole ordeal.
After all, he was right. What they had lost was irreplaceable-a loyal ally, but, more importantly, a cherished surrogate brother and friend.
The Techie once again continued to sob, kneeling on the ground as he wept.