Big City, Small World
New York City, NY
May 2018
New York City, The Big Apple, it is said that “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” However that only applies to the rich and famous or anyone willing to do what it takes to succeed, sadly leaving everyone else to fend for themselves in a beautiful yet cutthroat world. These thoughts often circulated in the mind of Agent Jack Miller, an average built man dressed in a dark t-shirt, jeans, and a coat to beat the chill, as he sat on a bench in Washington Square Park. It was nighttime, but the city lights made it seem like day, fitting for The City that Never Sleeps. There was little time for taking in sites as a voice came over Jack’s earpiece.
“Hey Jack, got anything?” A male voice asked.
“No, not a single hide or hair yet.” Jack responded.
“How do we know if he’s even gonna show?”
“He was in Union Square last night, Madison Square Park the night before, and on his last call he mentioned meeting a guy at the Arch facing 5th Ave. The only Arch facing 5th Ave is the one in Washington Square.” Jack explained as he scanned his surroundings. There were a few people walking here and there; a tourist taking pictures of the sites, a few couples walking through the plaza, and of course groups of teens taking selfies with the Arch before the park closed in 30 minutes but none of them were his quarry. Barely ten minutes after the park closed, a shadowy figure darted from behind the trees, hiding for a split second before diving to the nearest object to hide behind. When the coast was clear the figure, who was wearing a long hooded coat, strolled quickly to the shadow of the Arch. Jack watched as the hooded figure paced in a nervous manner, hiding his hands inside the sleeves, and a long hairless tail snaked behind him along the ground. The male voice returned into Jack’s earpiece;
“Should we move in?”
“Not until we see the person he’s meeting, get a Peep in there, I want to see and hear what is happening.” Jack ordered quietly.
An agent posing as a photographer pointed his camera at the Arch, hitting a button on the side to deploy a low profile collapsible barrel beside the long zoom lens. He aimed a couple body lengths above the pacing person and fired. The dart sailed silently through the air, the piercing thunk as it embedded into the stonework was covered by a blaring car horn and was unnoticed by the pacing person. At the end of this tungsten tipped dart was a camera and microphone the size of a cufflink, affectionately called a Peeper cam, or Peep for short. Jack took control of it with his phone, swiveling the camera towards the subject that was now better identifiable.
Poking out of the hood was a brown furred snout with a twitching nose and unmistakable whiskers poking through a bushy mustache. The person, a male wererat, looked around nervously and checked his phone, no updates which only made him pace faster.
“Confirmed ID, It’s Toby. He’s really a long way from Williamsburg.”Jack said as he observed the guy for a few moments before a third male voice came over the comms;
“Eyes up, we got a guy approaching from the North. Black leather jacket, Black baseball cap. Running facial rec for ID.” He said.
Jack looked over to see a colossus of a man easily over 7 feet tall, buzz cut hair, a combed down beard, and a septum piercing. Just telling by the way he walked he was extremely built, his muscles were barely covered by his jacket and threatened to shred his clothes at the lightest flex. Jack really hoped he didn’t have to fight the guy, his 9mm probably would just tickle the guy.
“Facial rec came back as Ray Denton, he’s a loan shark to humans and sells counterfeit glamours to unfortunate nonhumans. Be advised, he’s a Minotaur.” He added.
“Should we move in now?” The first man asked.
“No, standby. Wait til we see the merch then we move in. And alert a containment unit in case this goes awry.” Jack said, keeping his composure as he synched the audio of the peep to his earpiece.
“You Ray?” Toby asked.
“Yeah, You the rat?” Ray answered as he looked around.
“Yup, that's me. Word is you got the best concealer around.” Toby says whilst removing his hood to fully reveal his elongated rat-like face and ears.
“Money?” Ray asked, continuing to scan his surroundings.
“I got 300.” Toby started, as he reached into his coat.
“Not enough.” Ray said, cutting him off.
“What?” Toby asked, confused.
“300 ain’t enough for a concealer. Especially for the one needed to hide your face.” Ray stated as he stepped to walk away.
“Hold on, Hold On! A Bultungin in Union Square said you sold him a concealer for 300. So what’s the problem?” Toby asked, visibly twitching his nose as his tail whipped out of his coat in frustration.
“I sold him that while it was at a bargain price, the market's changed, and prices have gone up with my demand. I’m gonna need at least 500.” Ray explains looking down at the rat.
“That’s outrageous!” Toby fumed, stamping his foot.
“Sorry, can’t help you.” Ray answered before turning to leave.
“Wait! I can pay 400 right now, but I cannot leave without a concealer. Please!” Toby begged as he pulled out a roll of cash from his coat.
Ray craned his head to look at Toby before turning to face him.
“Fine, you’ll get your concealer. But, you’ll owe me extra for this uncomfortable position you’ve put me in. Double the normal price in a week, With interest…Or Else.” Ray threatened as he grabbed Toby by his collar and snorted into his face.
“Got it. I'll pull some overtime. You’ll get your money.” Toby assured him.
Ray then let Toby go, took his money, counted it and only when satisfied he reached into his jacket pocket and produced a bracelet with a seemingly mundane jewel embedded in it.
“There you go, meet back here in a week with my money.” Ray reminded Toby before he turned to begin to leave.
Jack had seen everything and pressed into his earpiece to broadcast the order to all agents on his channel.
“Move in.”
In a matter of seconds, the nearly empty park was flooded with agents who seemingly appeared from nowhere. Cars screeched to halts in front of the arch with flashing lights, one group trained their weapons on Ray as he looked around for an escape, while Toby was tackled and cuffed. Seeing none Ray shifted, his face elongated as he blew steam from his nostrils and massive curled horns sprouted from his skull. His clothes erupted in shreds and his shoes split to reveal hooves. Once fully transformed he let out a deep bellow as he charged the closest pair of men armed with riot shields. He easily tossed both aside as he started running for the nearest street, only to get slammed by the front end of a delivery truck. Before Ray could get to his feet the driver got out and stuck him in his neck with something, not that he had the moment to contemplate before passing out.
“Sweet dreams. Bull is secure, but I’ll need some help to get him in the truck.” The agent said into his earpiece as he put away a tranquilizer.
“On it, Hey Rick can you get a couple guys and go help Johnson with getting Mr. Minotaur to HQ for processing.” Jack said to one man as the two who got thrown were being checked out. Rick immediately grabbed some agents to assist Johnson while Jack checked on the cuffed Toby, who also had a pair of agents flanking him.
“Toby Wilson, long time, no see. You been avoiding me?” He asked as one agent gave him the glamour.
“No, just been busy.” Toby replies.
“It’s okay guys, I can take it from here. Go canvas the scene for any possible onlookers and clear out asap.” Jack said as he helped Toby to his feet.
Jack then escorted Toby to his vehicle, placed him in the back then got in the driver’s seat. Jack then adjusted his rear view mirror so he could look Toby in the eye
“Now explain to me why you were not only outside of Williamsburg, past your curfew, and buying counterfeit glamours from a criminal?” Jack demanded with a stern look.
“Overlooking the fact he’s a Minotaur?” Toby responded, dodging the question.
“That ain’t got anything to do with you leaving your zone. That was part of your contract when you chose to live here. So either you talk to me, or I can go ahead and give you your third strike and have you locked up in a Security Max within the hour.” Jack explained.
“You can’t do that, I got a wife and 10 kids at home with 2 more on the way!” Toby shouted.
“Hey, indoor voice. How’s the wife by the way?” Jack asked as he started the car.
“Fine, been a little under the weather, but overall she’s fine.” Toby said, adjusting himself in the seat.
Jack put the car into gear and began driving down the street. He didn’t mind the traffic since there wasn't any rush, he just wanted to make Toby calm down a little. When he stopped at a stoplight, jack looked into the rear view mirror and, since Toby had shifted back into his human form, asked him;
“So who is his glamour for? It can’t be yours, and your wife never had issues with keeping her form…”
Jack paused as Toby squirmed a little, he also looked at the floor, and generally avoided making eye contact. Jack drove on when the light turned green, but kept looking at Toby every time he looked at the mirror. Finally Toby spoke when they came to the next stoplight.
“My youngest, Anny, is having issues controlling her animal form. The glamour shops the Bureau approved were too expensive, way more than what I could afford on my salary. So I reached out to some friends and they said Ray was a bit of a hard-ass but he sold glamours cheap. And I needed one…so you can guess what happened next.” Toby explained.
“Couldn’t have made the guy come to Williamsburg? Why not meet you at your job at the shipyards?” Jack questioned.
“I only got his number last night, and I was in such a rush I just called him and I would’ve set it on my turf but he wouldn’t meet me anywhere else.” Toby responded.
“Yeah he seemed like the one who was in control.” Jack commented as they crossed the Williamsburg bridge. Jack went through some side streets again before stopping in front of an old apartment building. Jack then turned the car off, got out and helped Toby out of the backseat so he could take off his handcuffs. Rubbing his wrists in relief, Toby looked to Jack with a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
“Before you ask, I don’t really blame you, you’re trying to do what’s right by your family and they can’t live without you. So I will be confiscating this, however so we don’t get another report of you out of your zone…” Jack started but paused to reach into his coat and produce a checkbook. Jack wrote out a check and put it into Toby’s jacket before he looked Toby in the eyes and continued;
“You go to a reputable and approved glamour seller, get your daughter her glamour, and if I see you outside your zone again then I won't hesitate to put you in the deepest cell I can find. It’ll make Alcatraz look like a resort in Fiji. Got me?”
“Yeah..Yeah, I got ya.” Toby answered, holding eye contact reluctantly.
Jack patted him on the shoulder, straightened his coat and stepped away
“Then have a good night Toby, and stay out of trouble.” Jack said, before getting back in his car and watched Toby enter the apartment building before driving away.
-Two Hours Later-
Jack stopped at a drive through and was downing his second burger when his phone went off, showing him a notification with an address and subject title labeled “Homicide of nonhuman”. Immediately Jack put the car into gear and began driving, he was close by so he didn’t mind answering the call.
The address led Jack to the Woodside borough of Brooklyn, a place known for its multi-Asian cultures and fine dining. Jack soon enough arrived at the scene where several unmarked Bureau cars had already shown up. Finishing the last of his drive thru dinner he got out and approached the agent in charge flashing his ID badge.
“Whadda we got?” He asked.
“Follow me.” The agent answered, leading Jack up the stairs, explaining as they walked.
“The apartment belongs to a Lee Hong, he lived alone, no relatives or roommates, kept to himself, and the neighbors barely knew him. As for his species, he’s an aswang, not too sure on the specific type though.” The agent continued.
Jack knew that aswangs were a particularly nasty creature to deal with. Filipino in origin, the name Aswang is an umbrella term for many species of vampiric, flesh eating creatures. They are relatively new to the US posing as immigrants like most magic creatures, one thing Jack also knew and dreaded was Aswang rarely lived alone. Jack got out of his head by asking the agent;
“How’d you guys get the call?”
“The neighbors said they smelled a horrid smell from his apartment and one called the super to check on him, and found a horror show. The super called who he thought was the cops, but HQ redirected it to us. Hope you have a strong stomach.” The agent added as they came to an apartment on the third floor. The door was guarded by one agent who unlocked the door so they could enter; even in the hall Jack noticed the heavy metallic scent, like iron and copper, the telltale smell of blood. When the door opened Jack felt the full brunt of blood and who knows what else, the crime scene investigators were already on scene suited up and taking photos of all potential evidence. Jack felt a knot in his stomach well up as he was shown the body or what was left of it.
On one end of the front room slash kitchen was a detached right arm, in the center of the room smashed onto a split coffee table was the torso of a headless male individual missing one right arm detached at the shoulder, the left leg was broken at the knee with the shin on his thigh and foot against his hip, and his head was on the opposite side of the room with a fixed look of anger. The head had reverted to its true form: a gaunt face, flattened nose, the upper lip split and curled up to reveal a row of needle-like teeth and red orb-like eyes, definitely an aswang. The room itself was covered in blood and viscera, even the ceiling had blood splatter. This was going to be one of ‘those nights’, the kind of night where Jack would wonder if he could keep his food down cause somehow he was always called into bloody messes when he was eating. Jack took some deep breaths before tentatively stepping towards the closest CSI, a woman taking photos of the head.
“So what do you think might have happened to Mr. Hong?” He questioned.
“Well from general observation his head wasn’t severed by a blade or claws. It was pulled off.” She says.
“Pulled?” Jack asked quizzically.
“If you’ll notice over here, his neck vertebrae are not connected to the bottom of the skull, because they, along with his trachea, arteries, and neck muscles are right here next to his head. The best guess for how that occurred was that someone or something grabbed his throat, crushed it, then jerked with such strength that it popped his head off. Won’t know more till all of this gets back to the lab” The woman explained before the lead agent came over to Jack.
“We also found this.” He said, leading Jack to the bedroom.
Jack noticed pictures and plans on maps of a concert hall, there were rifles, ammunition, and makeshift explosives. So whatever this Lee Hong guy was up to, clearly it got him killed, or at least contributed in some way.
“Guy looks like he wanted to perpetuate the next Las Vegas mass shooting. Don’t know if I want to arrest Mr. Hong’s killer or shake his hand. Either way I got to find him first.” Jack debated, whilst looking over Hong's plans.
Jack looked at his watch and rubbed his eyes realizing he should have clocked out twenty minutes earlier.
“We can get this place processed and on your desk in the morning if you’d prefer.” The lead agent said.
“That may be best, I'll leave this to you then.” Jack said leaving the apartment building and drove to HQ. One would think that the Empire State Building would be the last place to have a super secret base but strangely no one noticed. Jack pulled into a parking garage next to the building which was closed for the night and wouldn’t open for another four hours. Jack pulled up to the kiosk and showed his BSRC badge, a few seconds passed before the doors opened for him and closed as soon as he was inside. The way the garage was laid out was you’d go through the gate and through a two lane tunnel divided by a brick wall, one side for outgoing and the other for incoming, that turned to the right into the multi-level parking garage.
However, Jack sped up and drove straight for the wall. Instead of crashing and turning into a metal sandwich, he went through the wall like it wasn’t there, which of course it was. The wall was fifty feet thick of brick and concrete, and on the other side was a tunnel that continued downwards to another parking garage. The wall was put there to seal off the tunnel from the outside world, and the only way through was a portal. Once someone was through, the portal closed until it was opened again by the agent on gatekeeping duty.
Jack slowed down to take the turn into the actual agency parking garage, found a spot closest to the elevator and took it down to the facility living quarters for its agents. Jack didn’t bother turning on the lights to his quarter as he knew the layout like the backs of his hands, he walked over then fell onto the couch and drifted into sleep. Jack awoke to his quarter’s artificial windows being open, the artificial sunlight making it hard to sleep. Jack sat up looking at the grassy plain with blue sky and the sun in the background, as well as the time and date in the top corner of the window.
“Nothing like an AI screensaver to make you feel like you’re on the surface.” He thought to himself, checking his phone, 2 new notifications.
He decided they’d have to wait while he took a shower and changed at least. When he was finished making breakfast Jack finally checked his phone. Barely past 9am and the case report for Lee Hong was on his desk, and he had a visitor in his office. He had a visitor in his office? “Who?” Jack thought.
He looked at the messages and the second one was sent nearly an hour ago. Jack quickly finished his breakfast and coffee before grabbing his badge and sidearm, heading for the nearest elevator. Once the elevator let him off at the offices, Jack had to pass the rows of desks where other agents were at work. Some on computers handling reports, tracking the various nonhumans in their respective boroughs, and Jack also noticed several nonhumans talking to agents about various issues. A few Jack recognized from previous cases; like a harpy who killed a man in Central Park back in 2010, although in her defense the guy was a serial killer about to claim another victim, still don’t know if that constituted her dropping him from 600 feet. Jack passed the rows and on the other end of the room was a reception desk and a set of doors that were currently closed. He showed his ID to the agent on duty, who cleared him to go through, opening the doors with the press of a button. The doors weren't even closed before Jack got a simultaneous look from the other agents in the room. Before he could ask why his colleagues were staring at him like he just kicked a puppy, another agent with a nervous look quickly approached him.
“Hey good and bad news, tried to text ya but you walked in before I hit send.” He babbled.
“Okay, calm down Harvey, what’s the problem?” Jack asked calmly.
“There is a woman in the conference room, she says she knows what happened to the aswang that was killed last night.” Harvey explains.
“And isn’t that a good thing?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well sure, but we ran her name, Victoria Cho…she’s a Kumiho. And she wants to talk to the Agent in charge of the investigation.” Harvey whispers, looking towards the guarded door of the conference room.
Jack knew Kumiho were creatures to be wary of. They were Korea’s form of a nine-tailed fox, only the most recent lore pegged them as having a taste for young men, their hearts and livers, more precisely. Jack recalled several cases where young men were cornered and killed by Kumiho, one incident in particular where one agent was killed when trying to apprehend one some years ago. Jack‘s head was whirling with questions. Why would a Kumiho come into a BSRC compound, where there were hundreds of armed agents and protocols in place to restrict magic spells? Why did she want to see him in particular?
Harvey spoke again, stirring Jack from his thoughts;
“I’ve already let security know, they’re on the way up.”
“Call them back and tell them to stand down.” Jack replied.
“What!? Why?” Harvey asked.
“She walked into this facility and waited for a specific person, she has a reason for being here and if she does kill me, I’m sure the hundreds of agents here will manage to avenge me. Now, I’ve got to meet this Victoria Cho.” Jack responded as he walked away from a flabbergasted Agent Harvey.
Jack walked to the door next to the guards, opening it he walked to the large window allowing him to see into the conference room. In the bare white brick room was a single long table with two metal chairs, in one sat a woman guarded by two agents in the corners of the room behind her. A wide brim sun hat obscured her face so Jack figured he had to enter to get a better look. He exited the observation room and entered the conference room, the woman looked up at him making Jack stop in his tracks, her black irises looked like he was staring into pools of ink. He blinked regaining his senses before speaking;
“Miss Victoria Cho. I am Agent Jack Miller, I’ve been informed you wished to speak to me.”
“Yes, I’m sorry for causing such a stir, I’m aware that your coworkers are on edge because of what I am.” She said, glancing at the guard nearest to her.
“If you wish we can move this to my office for a more private chat.” Jack offered.
“I’d appreciate that, thank you.” Victoria said, getting up from her seat.
As Jack escorted her to his office, he couldn’t help but look her over. Dressed in a white lace long sleeved dress that ended mid thigh, hugging her slender figure, accentuating her curves and drawing attention to her long legs. Her skin was white as porcelain and looked just as smooth, her arms hidden by see through mesh sleeves. Her hair was a cascading waterfall of ebony ending in the center of her back. From her neck hung a gold chain with a jade jewel drawing attention to her cleavage, to which Jack quickly averted his gaze. Despite her ravishing beauty, she simultaneously emitted an aura of a deadly predator, yet he still chose to enter the cage.
Jack opened the door to his office, allowing Victoria to enter first followed by him. Greeted by a plain looking office space with a carpeted floor, several bookcases lined the far wall, behind the desk against the wall were a couple of filing cabinets, and a pair of chairs aside from the one behind the desk. One the wall above the filing cabinets was a framed diploma from Cornell Law and several other awards from his college days. His desk was mostly bare aside from a computer, a notepad, pens, and a few childhood pics of him with his parents and two siblings. Jack gestured for Ms. Cho to take a seat before he walked behind the desk and took his own seat before pulling out a camera with a mini tripod.
“For security reasons, this conversation is going to be recorded. If that’s okay.” He explains.
“Of course.” Ms. Cho replied, removing her sunhat.
Once Jack turned on the camera, he stated his name for the record as did Victoria before he began his questioning.
“You told another agent that you had information on the death of Lee Hong. May I ask how?”
“Yes the truth is…I know who killed Lee- I mean Mr. Hong.” She said while she shifted nervously in her seat.
“And who was this person?” Jack asked, though he could already guess the answer.
“It was me. I killed Mr. Hong.” She confessed.
“Would you care to elaborate?” Jack asked.
Victoria explained everything; how as an escort she tended to clients all over the city and Lee had kept her paid good every time she quote “rocked his world”. She didn’t seem alarmed or put off that he was an Aswang since he still paid the price for her time. Over the last couple months Lee started calling for her less and less so she figured he found a girlfriend or something and went about her business. Then last night Lee called her out of the blue and asked to meet at his apartment. She had no reason to suspect him since he already transferred the payment to her account.
When she arrived at his apartment he seemed off, he was nervous and didn’t want to talk business. Lee then began rambling about how he had fallen for her and couldn’t stand her being around other men so his solution was to kill her other clients. Lee revealed he was stalking her and knew the next event she would attend and planned an attack.
“So how did you kill him?” Jack asked, watching her every move.
“I tried to leave but he stopped me, he transformed and nearly attacked me so I defended myself.” She replied.
“The crime scene was pretty brutal.” Jack commented.
“I…don’t know what to tell you. I was scared and I didn’t realize what had happened until it was over. It was like I blacked out and when it was over Lee was dead. I got scared so I left. I also knew you would find out about me sooner or later so I decided to clear my name.” She explains, tears beginning to well up as her voice cracks.
Jack had seen fake tears before, in fact he was nearly an expert in spotting what others hide, but something about hers expressed a sense of remorse and fear. Jack turned off the camera and set his notepad to the side. He then stood up and said;
“Ms. Cho, I’m certain I have sufficient testimony to, for the moment, eliminate you from our suspect list. But the investigation is still ongoing so when I get to the bottom of this I’ll let you know.”
“Of course, I’ve taken up a lot of your time, if there’s nothing else.” Victoria says getting up from her seat. Jack got the door first, opening it for her.
“Also Ms. Cho, if you remember anything that may help with the investigation, don’t hesitate to call.” He said giving her a business card with his personal number. As she took it she slipped him her own personal card.
“Thank you and please…Call me Victoria.” She said, her ink colored eyes flashing a cold blue color before she donned her hat and walked out, a pair of agents escorting her to the nearest exit. As Jack sat at his desk and looked at Victoria’s card, he couldn’t help having the sneaky suspicion that this wasn’t gonna be the last time they’d meet.
