Template:Featured Articles/48-2020
 The door was locked. Shaking her head, Hope reached for the small leather kit she always wore with her when doing field work and removed two slender lock picks. Footsteps behind her made her pause and she turned to greet Alex. "Hey, what have we found so far?" "A collection bowl with way too much money. I say we take it and donate it to a pro-mutant charity or the underground or something." Alex's hands were in his pockets, eyes moving this way and that and trying not to think about the scene they had left downstairs. "What's this?" "I suspect it's the priest's study. All the other doors I have come across are unlocked." Hope turned back and crouched down to get at the lock. Staying strictly focused on the task at hand was the best thing she could do now. Strictly locking away the memories till she was alone at home and could try to deal with it. "Not a very sophisticated lock though." She commented as she rose a few minutes later and pushed open the door. "Not a very sophisticated group," was Alex's dry answer as he leaned over and peeked in just to make sure there was nothing waiting to stab them or something. He might've preferred the stabbing when he saw the pictures on the wall. Mutants in various states of being hurt and tortured and "exorcised" and... "Son of a bitch." Hope let out a low hiss as she took in the pictures, careful not to look too closely at the details. "What the hell have we found?" She muttered in a low voice as she moved closer to the ones of the wall. "I wonder how many disappearances and even murders are going to be explained by this." Alex had his phone out, taking pictures and sending them back to XFI. He didn't want to take any evidence that might help put these bastards in jail. If the police even bothered. He paused on a particular picture. "Well, we just solved one murder." He took the frame off the wall, holding it out to Hope. "Look familiar?" She accepted the picture and had to swallow at the starkness of it. Two bodies dangling... their faces an expression of pain and fear... "Wasn't this a few years back? I think Quentin was involved... and we tried to find who did it?" Hope had to carefully pitch her voice low to keep it steady. "And we didn't." Alex shook his head. "This place didn't even exist yet, did it?" "Not from what our research showed..." Hope frowned as she recalled the information they had gathered. "But that doesn't mean some of the people or even a precursor of the group weren't around either." "They better hope they end up in jail." Alex took a picture of the photo. One case closed. "Stone walls and metal bars might be the only thing that stops Q from shredding their minds. And I'm not even sure those will help." |
