Chapter 1:

Avirous week 1

Fragments of madmen


2043 Month 3 23rd Monday

The funeral was far from a spectacle. No one was there, making Avirous feel more alone as he lowered his father into the ground himself. At least I could bury him here at home, Avirous thought to himself. Usually cremation is the way to send off the dead but being buried was considered an honor. It was the only control over the situation Avirous was afforded.

Once the casket hit the ground, Avirous pulled off the straps and reeled them back into the lift. After a moment of thought looking down into the hole, he grabbed a shovel nearby and started to fill it. He couldn’t produce tears, the thought of a premature death was consuming him since saturday. The kill was too clean, almost as if a professional had done this according to the autopsy.

After burying his father, Avirous sat on the edge of a small hidden cliff off Mt. Whittlesey in Wisconsin, the view offered a calming effect. Overlooking the valley below he looked back a few feet at his fathers burial site, he couldn’t help but think there has to be something he can do. After about 3-4 hours of lying around not really knowing what he wanted to do , the answer finally came to him. He got up, and descended to his vehicle and headed home.

Upon entering his earliest childhood home in the Wisconsin Montreal, Avirous felt a nostalgic feeling rush over him but it didn’t slow him down it added to his ambition. He made his way to the basement and walked over to a seemingly normal cement wall with a part in the center where the blocks didn’t interlock. He ran his right hand along the right side until he found an indent, then mirrored the same with his left on the other side of the part. Once he found it he pushed them both down simultaneously.

The wall made a strange sound of gears turning. Avirous stepped back as the wall began to part trying not to get caught in the dust cloud. A small hallway with a stale stench led to a room with only a desk with a chair and a small cabinet. The cabinet had to come first drawing the most attention.

Avirous opened the door to the cabinet revealing a weapons locker along with a couple of gadgets. He left to the hallway for a moment and came back in with a box. He dropped the empty box in front of the cabinet and put the contents into the box. Turning his head slightly to the desk, he spotted an actual paper envelope. He picked it up and opened it. Inside was a small paper that said burn me..he flipped it over to check the back, there was a date, time and location it was in 2 days from that day. But under that is what gave him a slight shiver despite it only being a few words;

Avirous it’s time we meet.

2043 Month 3 25th Wednesday

Please keep clear of solid red lines surrounding boarding areas until the vessel has entered the station. An overhead played a female robotic voice announcement as holographic warning lines began to rise from the ground to about waist level. The next train is about to board.

Avirous, leaning on a pillar, waited for the district NW sky train to dock; it should be arriving in 4 minutes on the next ship coming in. A woman wearing all white seemed to be walking toward him. She had a very small envelope in her hand that was also white, come to think of it the shades she had one had whites lenses. Avirous tried his best to pretend he wasn’t staring at her, but his eyes kept coming back to her. She was almost angelic in a white dress but it was her stiletto boots wrapping up her legs to her knees that caught the most attention.

She was a few feet away but didn’t slow down. Avirous was about to say something but as soon as she was right in front of him she stuck her hand out with the envelope and dropped it by his boots. He grabbed it but not before he shifted out of his stance. Avirous practically had to dive for it. He was about to ask what was in it but when he looked up for her she kept walking as if nothing had happened.

Glancing down at the sealed envelope and seeing his fathers name Racanelli, Jack at the center triggered paranoia and an urge to keep it safe. Avirous hid his newly acquired treasure in his jacket.

Please keep clear of solid red lines surrounding boarding areas until the vessel has entered the station. Avirous neared the red lines as his ride was about to pull into the station. The ship was massive, one of the biggest that passes through multiple states. This station was one of the original 25 stations to connect the country east to west with sky trains. At least that’s what a plaque says down in the washroom. Avirous wouldn’t know if he didn’t have to pass through Wyoming to get to what he’s searching for. Regrettably he really wanted to pass Colorado on his way to California but he couldn’t lose his only lead.

Standing on the glass tiles looking down at the rest of the high rises and various crafts hovering about their business, Avirous tried to shake the uneasiness but couldn’t help but feel like he was being watched. You’re just lost in the wrong thought, you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re just gonna take a look and see if something makes sense up close. Everythings fine, you have an authentic piece of paper among the commonwealth, nothing odd here.

The train was even bigger up close. As the door opened, Avirous took a step on the train simultaneously. He scanned the cart for an open seat but none felt right so he continued down the aisle toward the lower level. There he spotted an open seat in a corner he felt comfortable enough to sit.

It wasn’t until after the train took off that Avirous finally calmed down and cautiously checked if anyone on the cart was suspicious, but not even a glance came his way. He took out the envelope and it had a thin finger scanner on the opening. He placed his finger on the scanner forcing it to open revealing a small piece of paper. On it were four names with an address on two of them and a date on one.

Frost, Niyla was the closest in Paisley, Oregon with a date in another 2 days. DaVante, Cruella was in St. Augustine, Florida. Oregon seemed to be where he was headed as if planned.

2043 Month 3 27th Friday

“Thank you for meeting me Mrs. Frost.” Avirous said while eating a cherry danish with a coffee Mrs. Frost had prepared.

“Please call me Niyla, I’m so glad you’re here. You look so much like your father.” Niyla said genuinely however, much like his father, she had acquired a tone of voice that was soft but stern from years of service.

“I thought that was you back at the station. The woman you sent was pretty stoic, she dropped the letter in front of me and kept walking. She didn’t even say anything.” Avirous was saying as the very same woman entered the light blue living room where he and Niyla were sitting on blue couches.

“I’m sure you meant pretty and stoic and we have to keep a low profile. You haven’t a clue what you’re getting yourself into but you’re persistent so before you end up hurting yourself or falling victim to the wrong hands we had to make a move.” Said the pretty and stoic woman in her same outfit from the other day.

“Who are you? And do you ever change your clothes?” Avirous asked but regretted it once it left his mouth. He didn’t want to be upstaged by someone he found narcissistic.

“Who I am doesn’t matter, I'm on Niyla’s team. You can refer to me as Ariel if you need a name. And I do but my closet has been..compromised. That also doesn’t matter, you're here because your movements are obvious. You were either going to visit your fathers safehouse outside Little Rock, Arkansas or what made more sense given where you were, that shack up in Montreal, Wisconsin. Either way whichever one you went to would’ve landed you here had you heeded the warning.” Said Ariel as a-matter-of-factly then flashed a slight smile as she sat on the arm of Niyla’s couch.

“Warning?” Avirous said confused and a bit annoyed.

“Request.” Niyla quickly corrected, “I just want to lend you a hand that others would not have because of fear. Jack was my friend and you his son, well I couldn’t let you lose yourself in grief or anger. You’re here because your father had built up evidence on a case and wanted me to give it to you.”

“Why give me evidence?” Avirous asked.

“He believed you would see it through I suppose from what I knew of him, though I can’t say for sure I ever knew what his reasoning was. He was hard to read.” Niyla responded but Avirous felt that there was something more but he decided not to press the matter.

Ariel pulled up a box from behind the couch and placed it on the coffee table, “Well, this is it.”

Avirous looked inside the box, there wasn’t much. He pulled out a tape recorder Niyla pointed out, a small metal key, a keycard and a photo in a frame. Looking at the photo he can see it was his father in the photo and Niyla with 2 other people, a man and a woman.

“That was our team when we started out about 7 years ago. The man is Scott Wile and the woman is Cruella DeVante. We should be the 3 names in the letter Ariel dropped off to you. That envelope would’ve set fire to the document if tampered with. It was on my front door just this past Saturday.” Frost said but something bothered Avirous.

“Did my father have other partners?” Avirous asked.

“He had two partners I can think of, one in Osaka and another in Seoul. But keep in mind these were his international partners so I’m not sure how long they spent with each other. Why?” Frost had a look like she was thinking deeply on why Avirous would asked that.

“Look, we’re only trying to help, anything you’re not telling us could leave you stuck where we could help.” Ariel spoke up but Avirous wasn’t convinced.

“I only ask because my father never mentioned anyone or anything he’s done as far as work went.” Avirous said, hoping to recover.

“Well, you’ll be okay. Your father had one last message to relay to you, ‘Mr. Dayton is in bad waters, collect 200 sir esquire.’ it’s all yours whatever that means.” Niyla said as if indicating the meeting was concluded and on that note Avirous got up and said his goodbyes and left.

Niyla and Ariel stood in the doorway as Avirous got in his vehicle and left.

“Follow him.” Niyla told Ariel. Without a word Ariel left to the garage to get her own ride and waited a few minutes allowing Avirous a head start.

2043 Month 3 28th Saturday

It only took a few hours to decode the message. Mr. Dayton meant Harris Dayton, a memorial site in Badwaters, California. If sir esquire meant SouthEast surely Collect 200 must be paces in that direction.

Avirous made it there at about 11 am where there seemed to be a number of hikers he bumped into on his way up the trails to get there. He finally made it to the site but still has to walk the 200 paces. He ended at a small body of water. He hopped in the water but couldn’t find something that stood out. He got out of the water in frustration. He was ready to restart thinking he messed up along the way.

While walking back he picked leaves from each of the small bushes that were lining his way and threw them in the air to watch fall. On one of the bushes he tried to pull out a leaf but it didn’t snap off as easily as the others. He inspected it closer, it was an artificial bush. Avirous couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He thought to himself that his father had to have believed he would pull the leaves off this specific bush.

Avirous looked around to see no one, he started pulling the bush from the ground after applying some pressure, he managed to pull the bush from the ground revealing what appeared to be a casket. Pausing for a moment to apologize to the site in case he was wrong, he opened the casket to find a tape and a hand terminal. After he picked up the items he put the top back down and the bush back in place, having to move the earth around to help keep the bush inconspicuous.

Avirous made it back to his vehicle in a parking lot, while glancing around he saw the only other car in the lot in a far corner. He felt paranoia trickling in but then thought of all the hikers he saw, maybe it was one of theirs. Besides, he couldn't make out anyone inside, so he set his vehicle windows to privacy to ease his mind, his windows started tinting. He clicked the terminal to life and it was unlocked surprisingly. On it was a single photo, it was a map of a city in another language. オ坂 was the only word he could make out.

Feeling triumphant in the moment, Avirous forgot about reality for a bit until his own terminal rang. Shit. It was his commanding officer. He took a deep breath and answered.

“Hey there chief, I was wondering when you were gonna call.” Avirous tried to sound cool but ended up sounding as artificial as a plastic bush.

“Cut the crap Racanelli, when will you be back?” The chief inquired.

“I’m not sure yet I’m actually headed out of the country to meet with my fathers former comrades.” Avirous seemed to piece together as he was saying it.

“Alright, you got a month to get over your grievances then your ass better be back over here, understood?” The chief said brusquely.

“Understood.” Avirvous answered.

“Good, you have to get a psych evaluation tomorrow out there in California, lucky you someone volunteered, they're expecting you I’ll send the address to your terminal when we hang up.”

“Sir, yes, sir.”

“Racanelli.”

“Sir?”

“Take care of yourself.”

“Than-” the phone chimed signaling the call was over.

2043 Month 3 29th Sunday

“Racanelli, door 3!” A voice Rang out from large visible speakers on both sides of the waiting room.

Avirous got up from a small plastic chair that gave way as the two front legs snapped off. He was going to pick up his mistake when he looked around, but didn't see anyone who worked there in the waiting room. There were other people waiting their turn, but only one person looked up and made eye contact.

“I’ll be back to fix this.” Avirous seeped out quietly looking around for cameras, he spotted one in the corner and made some sort of gesture that made sense to him, I’ll be back. Feeling satisfied, he advanced down a hallway until he came across door 3.

Upon approaching the door it began to buzz in quick intervals. He opened up the door to find someone smoking a...cigarette?

“Close the door behind you.” said the smoker sitting behind a monitor on a cheap looking desk not glancing up to greet.

“Whatcha typing there?” Avirous asked while closing the door, though his attitude made it hard to believe he cared.

“I forgot to fill out your forms before you got in here. Speaking of, wanna tell me why you’re here?”

The smell of the cigarette was overwhelming, maybe if I open the window, Avirous thought for a moment then got up to follow through.

“Wanna tell me-Hey! Leave the window closed!” The smoker began a coughing fit after raising his voice.

“I can’t breathe and by the looks of it you can’t either.”

“I’m fine, ahem, what are you here for?”

“My chief says I can't leave the country without an evaluation.”

“Where are you looking to go?”

“Japan.”

“Where in Japan?”

“Osaka you gonna ask why? Well, because I need to see something new I'm grieving.”

“Fair enough, how are you holding up? With your father and all that's been going on recently?”

Avirous felt heat rise in his neck, he still wasn’t sure how to feel yet with his fathers recent “passing”. Feeling he could get denied he tried to calm down..sorta.

“Great actually, I didn’t know you were a psychiatrist but you gotta be able to afford those paper killers one way or another.” Avirous said with a twinge of anger offered in.

The smoking psychiatrist smiled, pulled his cigarette, examined his cherry as a consistent line of smoke made it way up in the surrounding air and disappeared into a smell that kept pulling at Avirous’s nostrils. He finally released his smoke out his own nostrils as if teasing Avirous.

“Look, I’m who they call when we gotta make sure we’re not sending a mishap out of the country, I’m special agent Douglas Garcia. Now I’m trying to determine whether you’re fit to do so.”

“So am I fit?”

“Hell if I know, But I know your father, a phenomenal soldier, I'd be damned if I didn’t look out for his son, so I took on your case. I hope I don’t end up regretting this.” the more he spoke the more Avirous could make out a midwest accent but only faint.

“How’d you know my father?”

“We served together on black op missions, saved my life twice.” Douglas’s face shifted from amusement to deep thought. Avirous wanted to ask more questions but didn’t want to get a short handed answer from someone that was beginning to get lost in that thought.

Special agent Douglas finished up typing and added his signature from an option not found on a regular keyboard. His expression was grimace gazing in the distance for a moment before looking up at a somewhat familiar face softening his expression again. He picked up his terminal and motioned for Avirous to do the same. Avirous took his terminal out of his pocket and held it up to the one Douglas had, and a ping sound alerted them that the exchange was complete. They put their hands down simultaneously.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for out there and come back with a clear head. Your father grew to be my friend, don’t let this come back to bite me.”

“I won’t, I have a feeling this will help. I don’t know how to thank you sir.”

“You can start getting over your grievances. And don’t call me sir, you can call me Doug.”

“Thank you Doug, I’d imagine we’ll see each other again.”

“You betcha, bring me some of ‘em Japanese cigarettes.”

“You got it.” Avirous got up, shook Doug's hand and left feeling a weight lift. he left the office and tried to pass the waiting room quickly but ended up making eye contact with someone cleaning up plastic pieces of chair left over, prompting Avirous to only glance then stare ahead to avoid any confusion if he were to blame. He got in his vehicle and headed to the international sky port down in San Diego and prepared for a long trip.

A dark colored vehicle followed a distance behind but arrived at the sky port as well.