Chapter 2: The Choosen

"Another group of bodies have been discovered down town Chicago as part of the mass homicide police are baffled by. Little is known except that the killings seem ritualistic and all occurred two nights ago during a freak storm. Stay tuned as we will update you as soon as we receive any more information. As of right now the city is on curfew for the residences own protection-" Zadkiel switched off the radio, the previous night they had caught the tail end of a news broadcast at the motel they stayed at talking about the first group of bodies found. It couldn't be coincidence that these killings happened the same night of the storm and their powers emerging so they made the decision to go check it out.

"Honestly..." Zadkiel said out loud, keeping his eyes trained on the road as they past a sign showing an exit for Chicago. "I'm not sure what we'll be able to do if the police aren't finding any leads. This can't  be a coincidence though." Recalling reading a bit on greek rituals the night prior as they did their usual internet research on google. "but the greeks only sacrificed animals, like in the Old Testament."

Even if the information was reliable, there was still a lot of information passed down through the years and a lot of different interpretations. Human sacrifice could have been performed in utmost secrecy for all they knew. Either way, people were died the night of a 'freak' storm. They had to pass through Illinois on their way to New York any way so they might as well look into it but Zadkiel still had an uneasy feeling about it, specifically because they were going to investigate ritualistic murders.  

Turning off the exit, they could see the city of Chicago. They have never been in such a large city before and Zadkiel could tell the traffic was going to be hell. "We'll need to find a place with a guarded garage. Sure as heck not leaving this car parked on the street." Zad stated, looking around at the scenery. This was it, their tour of america only a little more murder y than he expected.

Mike had his face buried in both his phone, and his brothers phone which he swiped to have multiple internet sources open. On their way to ...where ever they were going, they were on their way to Chicago to investigate a series of murders. "So who is Sam and which ones Dean?" He said jokingly, as two brothers on their way to solve the next case in a sexy car reminded him a little to much of the TV show. When Zad switched off the Radio, Mike went back to reading his seventeenth article on the subject while viewing a map of the city on the other phone. His brother seemed to not be sure what they could do the police could not. "For one we could literally lift up a building to look if needed, I'm sure that gotta count for something."

Zad then made the sacrifice comment. "Well, there have been times when in a crises or war, one Greek would kill the captured soldier of another Greek and "sacrifice" him to the gods as a way of thanking them for winning the war. There are also countless numbers of OTHER potential Meta peoples fitting the same circumstances as us. Who knows how many more children of Zeus there are that have not been drafted? Worse, what if these murders involve a different famed meta human deity god thing?" Mike than saved the page of the Chicago city map, and pulled up a list of secured Garages, some of which would not cost the car itself to park in. "Well, got a garage, 17 West Maple drive. Also, as if life was not hard enough, none of these murders are in any set pattern as far as the location is concerned. The lose comments of "seem ritualistic" are to vague to gauge a real idea.

Finally out of desperation, Mike flat out googled "Murder scenes night of storm in Chicago" ... "What the fuck it worked!" On the phone were displayed the murder scenes. That had to be a leak..or perhaps nothing was sacred anymore. "All of the torso's were cut open, and the blood of each victim seems to have been drained. If we exist, that means all other manners of magic and mayhem can exist, and stealing blood sounds like it is on the top of the NOPE list." A Loud Rumble could be heard, like that of a thunder storm...or in this case Mikes stomach. "Lets stop for some grub and map out a game plan, besides dropping off the car and walking the rest of the time...OH! and roof top hopping, I keep forgetting we can jump that high now." Hey, it was hard to get used to being awesome over night, literally.

Mike then flipped on the Radio and hit 'scan'. The first station to come on was a classic rock station playing "Highway to Hell". Mike promptly turned off the radio "Nope, nah uh, not doing it." No bad omens please. He looked out the window to see a black cat about to cross the street. "CANT YOU AT LEAST BE GREEK OMENS!" They then passed a Graveyard titled 'Elysium Fields' ... Mike face palmed "Lets just get food."

"I think a low profile would be best." Zadkiel stated, switching the radio station to another news channel. On the program the newscaster spoke about a rise in crime and how the vigilantes of the city our struggling to maintain the balance. "Last thing we need to do is attract attention to ourselves. Last thing we need is another group of psychopaths after us." Obliging his brother wishes, Zadkiel pulled off an exit and drove to an old fashioned family run dinner. They were just outside of the city, in the horizon they could see the towering buildings and the faint sound of horns from traffic could be heard.

Parking the mustang two spots away from the nearest car, Zadkiel switched off the ignition and pulled the key. "No pattern as far as location but maybe there is a connection between the victims but their names haven't been released to the public." Zadkiel stated, this wasn't a conversation to have inside the dinner. Sitting back in his seat Zadkiel let out a sigh pondering how they could get access to that sort of information. Then his stomach grumbled loudly. Letting out a light chuckle he opened the car door which squeaked slightly. They never did get to oiling the hinges after the night of the storm, but part of Zadkiel liked the noise. It added to the character of the car. "Wonder what is for lunch here, sort of feeling like a cut of Parmesan chicken and some pasta."

Zadkiel walked into the dinner first and saw that it was a seat yourself sort of deal. Preferring the counter over the table, Zadkiel sat down on a stool where the busy waitress dropped two menus off for the brothers. "What can i get you boys to drink?" She asked, grabbing a pencil from her ear and getting ready to scribble an order onto her little notepad. "I'll have a coffee and water please." Zadkiel asked politely. The woman then looked at Michael for his drink order and after she got it she moved on to another group of men waiting to make an order.

In the back of the kitchen was the cook and another waitress who was crying. Zadkiel looked and saw a small tv on the counter talking about the mass murders they themselves were investigating. The cook was trying to comfort her, it was obvious that she might have known one of the victims. Closing his eyes, Zadkiel focused to listen in on the conversation.

"...Take a few days off Mercy, come back when your ready. We can manage and you need to mourn your sister." Said the cook, who was also the owner of the dinner. Mercy nodded, wiping tears from her eyes and hugged the manager before grabbing a purse and heading out the back. Opening his eyes and returning to his own surroundings Zadkiel looked at Michael. "This could be our only lead." Zadkiel reached into his pocket and pulled out some bills which he placed on the counter before heading out the door to try and circle around to the back to catch up to the waitress Mercy.

Mike had ordered his drinks, but it was for nothing. The crying waitress in the back was sent home out of pity, and his brother got up to follow her. IT was the only lead they had he said. His stomach however disagreed and said their was a lead to food if he stayed at the counter. What to do what to do....Michael sighed heavily and stood up, following his brother outside of the small time dinner. When will the Carpenter brothers finally get food? Stay tuned!

His brother went and circled around the restaurant one way. Logically speaking, Michael went around the other way. It was not like they needed to corner her, but it was almost a force of habbit when doing something in this line of work...wasn't it? "Excuse me, Excuse me, Miss Mercy, can we talk for moment?" The girl stopped, her breath slightly ragged still from crying. She was startled by Mike's calling out, and she walked faster to her car...excellent, a failed attempt. "Please don't run, please, hey HEY!" Damn it.

Mike's new body kicked in and he effortlessly glided to her side. Okay, not glided, but his strength allowed him to launch himself low to the ground ina suave sort of manner, which only managed to scare the girl more. "Please, we just want to talk about your sister." That got her attention, and she stopped moving. "Wh, why?" is all she managed to stammer. "Brother come here, I think she doesn't believe us to be dangerous anymore!" He turned his attention back to Mercy. "As for why, that is simple. We are here to help."

Zadkiel went around the other side but Michael managed to reach her first slightly startling her but by the name Zad came around the side of the building it seemed that Mike had assured her they were friendly but she was still on edge.

"What can you do that the police already haven't." She said, slightly angered by stranger bringing up her sister, especially after being interviewed by several different officers from different department of the force. She placed one hand in her jacket pocket and looked at the two men, it was clear in her eyes the she was hurting.

"I...we..." Zadkiel was at a short for words, they could do a lot with their new found powers but they couldn't exactly tell her everything, she'd think they were crazy. "We're looking to find those responsible and make sure justice is served."

"Justice!" She scoffed, "what those psychos did, were was the justice for my sister!" Mercy raised her voice, teeth clenched in anger. "No, no your right. There was no justice in what was done to her and the police won't do what is necessary to see those responsible get what they deserve but if you help us we can make sure they do." Zadkiel felt his heart skip, what he had just said or had suggested is that they meant to kill those responsible.

"did you..." She was hesitant to say it but she needed to know. "Did you lose somebody to?"

"n-y-yes" Zadkiel lied, looking to his brother to back him up. They had to get her to see that they were on her side so that she could clue them on to what she could know. Zadkiel hardly ever lied in his life, it seemed wrong to lie to a woman grieving the lose of her sister but a lie was far easier than the truth. The lines that Zadkiel tried to never cross, they were becoming more and more unclear. What path were they heading down, one full of lies and deception to hide the reality and gravity of the situation. They weren't even sure if this had anything to do with what happened several nights ago. If they encounter Hercules again, what would they do, kill him? Could 'demigod' even be killed? Can he or Michael be killed?

Michael needed to wave a web to catch this girl as a spider would a fly. "My brother and I have lost someone, and that person was our Sister. She was one of the people killed in the murders here, and the police won't do anything to aid us. Even as siblings, due to us being from the other side of the country when she...departed, we are not considered immediate family. Details will not be released till the case is solved, so why should we wait for it to become the next unsolved mystery story on t.v. ten years from now?" Michael held a straight face, letting the seriousness of his voice do more work than any other emotion could, as well as make it more believable.

Of course Mike felt bad for lying ... kinda. He was good at it, but it was not good to use a tainted talent on good people. But the girl finally stopped stammering and shaking, she was beginning to truly trust them, and that was what they needed right now. "Okay" she said. "I will tell you what I know, but not here. Lets go somewhere and talk. I will answer all your questions but I want you to answer mine too." She nodded seriously. "Deal?" She added inquisitively. "Deal" anwswered Mike in return. They quickly exchanged cell phone numbers and then she spoke again. "Take the exit back onto the highway and head into the city. Follow me and we will meet up at the hotel Dumont.

"We want to drop our car off at this garage on 17 West Maple drive." Mercy's head tilted to the side with a look of confusion, rivaling the expression of a golden retriever. "That's fine, its only a few blocks from the hotel. Despite it's name its not as fancy as it sounds, so you won't be paying an arm and a leg. We will talk more once we get settled somewhere. I feel like we are being watched. Please, let's just go." With that the paranoid women got in her car and started it up. The sound was loud and clunky, similar to throwing pots and pans down the stairs.

Mike started walking back to the car. "Well, this is interesting I f we ever come out of Olympus alive can we fix her car? I really wanna fix that car...or blow it up!" His voice escalated to an elated state at the thought of creating a bolt of lightning to fry that old peice of shit to a crisp. "Anyway, drive brother, she seems like a crazy speeder."

Michael managed to pull the lie together seamlessly enough that they gained her trust, it was necessary for them to lie in order to gain her trust and it was for the greater good. She requested that they meet at the Dumont which was only a few blocks away from where they planned to leave the mustang for safe keeping. Once she started her obviously maltreated vehicle she speed of leaving a trail of dust, Michael commented on the horrid sounds it made before driving off towards the exit.

"You know as well as I do that we wont have any issues keeping up." Zadkiel turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life causing a few from inside the café to look out the window to see the source of such power. Zadkiel didn't peel out though, he wasn't one of those people. They had a budget to stick to and new tires wasn't included in that plan. Taking off and hitting the road Zad quickly accelerated catching up to the clunker not to long after.

"She seemed pretty paranoid." Zadkiel stated, following Mercy effortlessly as she weaved in and around traffic. Mery pulled off an exit, they were finally in the city and it looked bad. Much worse than Zadkiel expected. He had heard that crime had gotten worse world wide but he always thought the so called 'super heroes' kept it in line but Chicago looked bad. She passed a parking garage and pointed at it out her window. It was what they were looking for and even further down Zadkiel could see a sign for Dumont, she did not plan to park with them. Zadkiel didn't blame her.

Pulling up to the guard, it was a police officer, eyes tired from a seasoned career. "The police guard parking garages?" Zadkiel asked, stopping before the electronic gate. It was chain link with barbed wire on top and must off stood ten to twelve feet high. The police officer nodded, "We keep a lot of spare squad cars here..." He seemed pretty sad when he said that, "Forty dollars a day" The officer stated. Zadkiel nearly choked, it was more than he expected. "We do routine checks and since your cars high profile we'll put you on the same floor as our brake room, we spent most of our time up there."

That sounded good, this place had no graffiti or indications of trouble. "Alright" Zadkiel stated, pulling out two twenties and handing them to the officer who handed him a tag to hang from the rear view mirror. "Charlie three" He stated, indicating their spot. The officer hit a button which opened the fence gate and then pulled up a newspaper. Front headline was about the ongoing investigation in the ritual murders but there was almost an article mentioning ten more police officers killed in the line of duty the month. It suddenly made sense why the officer seemed down about having spare squad cars.

Zadkiel pulled in and drove up to the third floor, Charlie, where they parked. Switching off the engine Zadkiel let out a sigh. "This place I depressing, I knew the cities were bad but this..." Zadkiel simply sat, thinking about how good they had it back home before Heracles came and fouled things up. He was grateful for the good life he was blessed with. "ready when you are..."