Chapter Text
“Er…” said Apollo, “okay. Yeah, this is definitely the scene of the crime. Many crimes were committed here.”
The trio stood at the edge of the… well, the only really appropriate word was “blast radius.” What had once been a decent place to buy kale was now a battlefield, with craters pocking the lawn and holes of varying sizes allowing one to see the inside of the store from the outside. Phoenix had a moment of sympathy for the poor groundskeepers who would have to deal with that.
Not that they’d be able to do anything for a while, of course- the scene was absolutely swarming with police. As they crossed the tape, Apollo spotted a familiar figure in white in the middle of all the blue. “You guys should probably start the evidence hunt,” he said. “I’ll get the initial reports from Ema.”
Phoenix nodded distractedly, already headed inside. Athena took a moment to lay a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “She’s probably running on nothing but coffee and snackoos by now. Try not to grate on her too much.”
He grimaced. “How many cases have you worked with Ema Skye?”
“Just the one with you, with the fish.”
“And what do you think my odds of ‘not grating on her’ are?”
Athena winced. “Maybe just try not to speak.”
“I’ll keep that in mind…” Apollo muttered as he headed in Ema’s direction.
Detective Skye certainly did seem to be at the end of her rope. She glared at him as he approached, her fingers twitching as if they itched to fire a stream of snackoos at his face. Apollo checked her over again- it wasn’t that she was restraining herself, she seemed to actually be out of ammunition. How long has she been out here? he thought to himself.
“Justice.” She said as he reached her.
“Ema. Er… how’s it going?”
Apollo was suddenly glad that looks could not, in fact, kill. “I’ve been here all night taking statements and herding this cat farm the city has the nerve to call a police force. This is a forensic scientist’s dream playground and I’m talking to bystanders! So please, please tell me you’re just here to see the mess and not because…”
“We’re the defense.”
“God damn it.” She took a deep breath. “Right. Of course you are. Fine. You’ll be wanting the initial autopsies of the victims, I take it?”
“Actually yeah, that’d be really help-“ Apollo cut off as a stack of documents the size of his head, spikes included, was pushed toward him. “Are these…?”
“Yup.” Ema’s glasses slid into place. “Your clients are thorough- diverse, too. It’s a veritable buffet of CODs. Bat to the head, burnt to a crisp, blown to bits, swiss cheese’d by way too many bullets, decapitated, exploded, decapitated THEN exploded, headshot, knife in the back, windpipe crushed, and one poor guy who was poisoned.”
“…Poisoned? With what?”
“We’re honestly not sure. The guy had about twenty-five syringes stuck in him, and the lab is gonna be figuring out what the hell was in them for a while. Coulda just been the blood loss, it’s a toss-up what got to him first.”
“…Right.” Apollo hefted the stack of autopsies. “See you in court, then.” She gave a single, pointed grunt, turning to go. “Er, Ema?” That glare is really quite impressive. Although I don’t think the eye twitch is voluntary at this point. He dug into his pocket, withdrawing a bag of snackoos. He tossed them her way. “Here.”
Ema’s eyes darted between Apollo and the bag of chocolaty goodness in her hands. “I-“ she stuttered, her brow furrowed intently. She looked as if she could barely believe what she was seeing. “Damn it, Apollo. Now I feel bad for yelling at you.”
The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. “Don’t worry about it.”