The last few days for everyone who was part of M1 were extremely hectic due to all the activity during the Rage week holiday. With all that was going on Arron and Kix had been given the easy task of Patrolling Sector 11’s shop district.
“Who did you bribe to get us such an easy job today?” asked Arron.
Everywhere he looked there were no humans to be seen. There wasn’t even a hint of the flying drones or shop assistant bots that normally flooded the dark sky and shop entrances.
“I didn’t do anything. It’s probably the researchers that pulled some strings since they don’t want this bad boy to end up like the last one,” said Kix, hitting the steering wheel of the new APC 7.2.
They had to trade in their old APC for the newer improved armored version that had received several upgrades after the researchers had finished their inspection of the crumpled and exploded 7.0 version.
With such a dull task given to them, Arron had half of his attention on the Live holo-news that was being broadcast above the dashboard while also keeping an eye on their dull surroundings as they drove by many buildings.
“There was a large celebration in the country of Ming. As you might remember it was only recently a savage country that fought against the freedoms given out by the WHO. We are happy to announce that the WHO was able to fully normalize the situation and eradicate the [Troubles] there. The country will soon be accepted as a member state of the WHO,” said Kommy.
“Today we interviewed a special guest Mr. Ran Rod, who is a Party member under Father. Here is a clip of our interview,” said Fela.
“You said you have strong opinions on Party member Buck Boomer’s most recent statements?” asked Kommy who sat at a brown wooden table with Party member Ran Rod.
“Yes, his spat with the junior party member under father is pointless and helps no one. It is taking away from the real problem,” said Ran Rod.
“Which is…?”
Rand Rod was fired up and hurriedly blurted out his reply in one go.
“We are at an alarming free fall of people with knowledge and skill to handle hundreds of different trades that keep the city running. The majority of those people are now growing too old to work or have already died. In 10 to 20 years when another wave of the few remaining skilled workers leave the workforce or die, what will the Megacity do if we don’t train new people to fill in this opening gap? We are already heavily dependent on drones and worker bots, are we to ignore this and become even more chained to the machines? This is where I differ from Buck Boomer we need to focus on giving people actual skills in manual trades to protect the Megacity’s future.”
“You can’t really believe that can you?” asked Kommy, with his left eyebrow raising questioningly.
“What do you mean? The data is right here. Look!”
“Anyways… the spat between Buck Boomer and your junior party member under father… Can you give us the insider’s perspective? How did it start?”
“Why is it so quiet outside?” asked Kix as he drove the APC around their designated zone.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It’s Rage week, it is never this quiet. And since it’s one of the last days it’s always the bloodiest.”
“Breaking news!”
The interview with the party member was abruptly cut off. Both Arron and Kix turned their heads to watch the two news anchors who had serious expressions on their faces.
“A killer criminal known only as [Killer Criminal], has been live broadcasting his brutal murders on the first level holo-net for over an hour. I am told that the stream has been taken down several times by the Office of Reason but it seems he has hacked into the main system and is evading the security systems that have been put in place,” said Kommy, reading out the words from a holo-prompter.
“In his live broadcast, the [Killer Criminal] has stated that he is not murdering people. He says each of his killings are justified since he is cleaning the city of separatists,” said Fela.
“We just received a statement from The Party of Mother and Father: ‘Although we applaud his devotion to Mother and Father… he has committed a serious crime by hacking into the holo-net system. This can not be tolerated and we will make sure to find and catch him.’ end quote,” said Kommy.
“Sources familiar with M1 and the first level police say that they are both unaware that this is going on.”
“Yes, [Killer Criminal] has stated many times on the stream that they are both useless drains on society and should be abolished.”
Both Kix and Arron looked at each other.
“See, what I tell you. It was too quiet,” said Kix.
“How did they find out this info before us?” asked Arron.
Kix shrugged his shoulders.
Ping! Lexa appeared in the upper right of their helmet’s visor, her normally neat hair was a little out of place from all the hectic work.
“I have a direct order from the chief. There have been several murders in Sector 11 zone 1. You are to do all you can to help with the evidence gathering, clean up, and stop anyone from tampering with the crime scene. The chief wants to keep this on the low down as we don’t want to start a panic. If you see anything or anyone suspicious, report it immediately.”
“Rodger!” said Kix.
“I’ve sent you the locations of the crime scenes. If there are any more I will update it as soon as I get the information.”
Arron looked at the holographic map of Sector 11 zone 1 and found three flashing red dots.
“You think this has to do with the [Killer Criminal]?” asked Arron.
Kix shrugged, “Maybe. If it is, then all we have to do is make sure the investigation bots get the data they need to catch the guy.”
The first two crime scenes were quiet and they had no trouble with helping gather evidence and clearing up the area where the victims had been killed.
But when they arrived at the third crime scene…
“That’s right Fela, I’m here at the crime scene of one of the separatists who was killed by the [Killer Criminal]. The deceased separatist was Gran Mahmu, a 60-year-old elderly lady. As you can see there are no police or even M1 officers to be seen here. They truly have no idea what is going on… OH look! M1 has finally arrived,” said Cammy Newsons.
Kix had a sour expression on his face as Cammy stormed over to them, but luckily only Arron could see his expression as his visor was blocking others from seeing his face.
The news drones flew ahead of her and started hovering over both Arron and Kix making sure to get good angles and have the microphones ready to pick up anything they might say.
“Can you two update us on M1’s plans to catch the [Killer Criminal]? Is there any new information on the [Killer Criminal] that you can give us?” asked Cammy Newsons.
Arron felt she was a little too energetic considering the topic and place she was at, she was even smiling as she asked her questions.
Arron put up his hand to stop her from asking more questions.
“Ma’am, this is a crime scene,” said Arron.
“I know it is, It seems like everyone but M1 knew about it,” said Cammy.
“You need to leave. By order of Mother and Father anyone who interferes or tampers with an official investigation must be normalized,” said Kix. His voice was cold and sharp as he looked at the reporter with distaste.
“I am sorry viewers, we can not show you this area any longer. Now that M1 has finally shown up after watching our show and finding out about the crimes, we must leave so we do not interfere with their ‘special’ investigations,” said Cammy Newsons as she walked away to a waiting hovercar.
Kix continued to grumble about stupid news reporters as they finished up taking care of the crime scene.
Arron called the HQ logistics room and added Kix to the call so they could report on the incident but…
“We know, everyone saw it,” said Toothbrush before they could say anything.
Lexa popped into the holocall for a brief moment, “The chief wanted me to pass a message to you Kix, he said to stop being an ass on live broadcasts and at least try to appear to put on a diplomatic front.”
“Hmph…” was all Kix said.
The call ended like that since there was no need to update them.
As soon as they returned to their APC, a new red dot appeared blinking on their map, and so they headed off to the next place.
“$%%&,” Kix cussed up a quiet storm as they arrived at their destination.
“As you viewers can see, this is the site of another separatist who was killed by the [Killer Criminal]…”
