1. Flashbang

Chapter 1: Flashbang

It was in the year 2025 the scientist made his public statement. It falling on an April had initially made people believe it was some weird April fools joke. No one took him seriously at first. He was just a senile old man screaming on the internet for some attention. There was no way he had found anything he was claiming to have found.

A permanent end to the concept of death, he said.

It was not until he brought out his "test subject" out for the world to see, taking his test subject on a world tour to labs all across the globe all corroborating the scientist's mad claims, did they start to pay heed to what he was saying.

The subject was a man lost in time, one of the greatest myths to have ever lived in human history. The man who should have been dead 2000 years ago and yet seemed alive and well was what shook all the scientists across the globe. This anonymous scientist had claimed mastery of his field to such an extent, he was able to somehow revive the man himself.

It was confirmed by labs all over that Jesus Christ was once again alive.

His DNA, his speech, his behaviour, all of which lined up with the descriptions of the man they all knew only from scripture, and yet here he stood in captive and under supervision of this anonymous scientist.

The fallout that came after this was made public was what shook the earth to it's core.

 Leaders of groups, militia and countries across the globe asked for what was the scientist's interests for keeping a holy man captive. What was his play? having confirmed this was indeed Jesus himself, and what was the plan now that he revealed to everyone he had him under his watch?

The scientist saw the power he wielded with having one of the most important people under his wing, and so he said that if they so desired to have Jesus free amongst them, they had to respect his wishes and provide him a sovereign, a place where he can practise and perfect his craft of nullifying death and of making sure to create a perfect utopia where suffering exists no more. Paradise on earth.

For the next 25 years, chaos and war shook the earth. They did not want to give in to a madman's demands, and wanted to obliterate this horrible being. In the process of doing this they had caused massive economical shifts in the world and complete change in the social structure of society as a whole. All this effort to outsmart a bogeyman. The Scientist himself, however, had followers all over who saw him as god of the new world, someone who was keeping a holy man safe and sound from the horrors of this world, and making sure to achieve true peace in our world. They fought for him, even though he never instructed them to do so.

These were the dark ages, where countries where spent and world geography permanently altered for the sake of greed, for the concept of controlling the most important being alive. Once it was said and done, after having being able to not find and kill The Scientist, a peace treaty and a sovereign was gifted to the man, a country where he can exist in peace and practise his world order in exchange for the teacher of all teachers.

 The Scientist agreed and thus built his country of Deroxia. He set up its monarchy, a monarchy that governed the policies of the people, and granted the people in the countries highest positions access to the cure to death. Lawmakers and academics as well as members of the royal court and king all were given access to what the cure The Scientist created. Anyone who could promote themselves to the upper echelon of society and prove they have the skillset to carry the nation were also granted similar privileges. The Scientist as promised strived to create a utopia. With immortality comes infinite knowledge, and with infinite knowledge comes infinite power.

From the year 2050, Deroxia had only one king. He lived to govern and aid the people and make sure there was fair policies within the nation under The Scientist. for 75 years, this peace was maintained.

However, like all empires of the past, there always comes a time where a crack forms within its history, a sign of bad times.

This sign came in the form of the immortal king, now lay murdered on his throne, his body in plain sight of whoever stumbles upon it.

It was a message, a message of someone or something ready to change this society, ready to tear it down.

*****

"and they don't pay me enough for this trash..." bemoaned Alex, his hands rubbing his tired eyes hidden underneath his sunglasses as camera flashes flooded him from either side. He currently stood facing the body of his king, who lay as if he was still alive and breathing, sitting comfortably on his throne. The only sign of his current deceased status was the head tilting backwards, very uncomfortably. Otherwise his posture showcased a sign of bliss or peace, as if he finally got to experience a long needed rest.

"First they interrupt me out of my binge session..." rattles off Alex to no one in particular as his hands are deep in his trench coat pockets, shivering in the coolness of the vast throne room he stood. "They then ask me to call Akane who has yet to show up..."

Another camera flash

"They then literally assign me a whole new recruit for me to brief them with, crazy new times for us to get a new recruit from overseas...what timing"

Another camera flash

"Ok you guys got it! You got the shot! That's enough shots please just let me think in peace!" Yelled Alex at the evidence collectors as they bowed apologetically at their police chief and decided that he was right as they go off to collect more evidence if any exist in the large room.

"Unfortunately that is the thing...literally no one, not even the guards noticed anything different" grumbled Alex. His shoulder blades twitched as the large appendages on his back he kept hidden under his shirt struggled to stay hidden.

"Damn it, if only I could vent to someone about this..."Alex grumbled even more, and just as he thought that, he saw Akane from the corner of his eye, briskly walking up to talk to him.

"There you are girl, where have you been? I have been waiting on you for so long..."

"I am sorry Alex, tried to come as fast as I could I did not realise the situation initially was..."

Akane trailed off as her eyes drifted over the body of the king. Thankfully it was not an entire massacre but it was still oddly eerie, seeing a man who was the symbol for this country for around 75 years, to be in a position one one could have never imagined he would end up being.

"Its just alot to take in..."

Alex sighed as he once again allowed his eyes to fall on the body of the king. He had glanced at Akane's outfit, all mostly black and covering herself from neck to toe. They were similar in that aspect. Despite her being much milder and him being a loud wisecrack, they both shared the trauma of their past with the horrors of their bodies, something both of them were aware of, and kept from the rest of the world.

This kinship between him and Akane is what made them close as friends, but it did also help that she was his no 1 detective in the country's capital, in the office he was head of. That fact made them being friends way easier as any substantial case was handed to them and they of course worked on those together.

"Sorry Akane for acting immature again, been waiting for an hour almost...we usually go get a few gang activity hits or whatever to investigate and clean-up but nothing as huge as this, my team and me are currently looking at the crime scene and trying to understand it but I am not even sure what the proper protocols should be with something this massive" Alex paused to rub his temples as he sighed and tried to imagine how he could go about solving this issue, feeling a headache incoming.

"Well on the drive here, I assumed it would be ideal for us to interview evryone in the court, espescially if we could get our hands on their activities 24 to 48 hours before the exact time he was found dead, do an autopsy on the body and also if possible to contact..."

"A very good train of thought Akane but know this...we do not have the jurisdiction or power to enforce or call upon The Scientist. God or whatever above knows what he is up to. Best we can do is refer to the king's court and council and do as you wish by interviewing them."

Akane knew it was a long shot, but in her 20 years of living, she had never given much thought to the identity or the story of The Scientist at all. As far as citizens of the nation of Deroxia were concerned, he granted them their independence after a fair trade of a messiah and established then a utopia 75 years ago. Ever since then he has been just a mystery, accelerating with other great minds on the country the scientific development and progress of the country, as well as ever evolving his death cure. Now that the potential of coming so close to that enigma of the man was granted possible under these horrible circumstances, she could not stop but feel at least somewhat curious to know if this man could give her any details to this investigation, if anyone would know intimate details helpful for the investigation, it should be the man that chose the king himself.

But yes, it would be like asking god for an audience. Some things are just out of the realm of possibility.

"Besides Akane, the greedy pigs at the other police office are handing me a new recruit, some kid from some overseas country but apparently he has done all the police checks and passed with flying colours. First division in his investigative squad and so we have been recommended on briefing him with this case while also keeping an eye on him."

"A foreigner you say?" Akane questioned.

"Don't phrase it like that Akane, I know how awkward you are with interactions and stupid questions like that, sorry for the rude language, can come out pretty insensitive. just try your best to be helpful to the lad and let him be comfortable, this country doesn't seem to have the best reputation outside."

Akane's eyes then followed the direction Alex nodded his head to. In the distance near one of the corners of the gigantic throne room, her eyes landed on the subject of the discussion. A young man who seemed exactly her age. His vibes seemed jittery and nervous and yet he was making small talk with the other cops in the room, awkwardly laughing to prevent himself from falling into an awkward silence.

'Definitely fresh of the academy', Akane mused in her thoughts. She could spy social awkwardness if she ever saw one. Of course hers was a choice, she preferred to be dense and honest rather than try to put an effort to be less awkward but not truthful, but she could tell his bad social skills was his best attempts at connection.

What did bug her with the entire scenario. Why was their a sudden need for a recruit now? Especially a foreign one so soon after a significant death for the nation? Is this a big coincidence? Or is there some dark politics play behind this?

Whatever might be the answer, Akane knew this man was her number one suspect, and she needed to get as much information as she could from this man immediately.

"Shall me start detective?" asked Alex, a small smirk on his lips as he could sense the gears in Akane's head turning.

"Yes chief, lets see if we can find this god killer."