Body of Evidence, Part III
Offices of One of a Kind Investigations, Downtown, March 15th, 1 PM
Shaw watches Vito's face as he watches the video on her phone. As the gun shot ring out over the speaker, she asks "Have you ever seen anything like that?"The soldier mulls over the image of the creature, Community, removing its disguise. "Don't you think your response was a little bit overboard? Shooting the poor thing. That's my buddy from Afghanistan."
"What?" Shaw says, shocked.
"That was my buddy's face," he explains. "Petty Officer Gilmore. There were some interesting things that happened over there."
"Explain please."
Vito tells her the story of the night of the raid on the village. About how they were shot down and found the soldier, villager and insurgents all dead. Finally he relates how Gilmore was killed in action. "But according to my sources, he was reported coming back into the country a couple months ago. I think he might be coming after me. I had a run in with him a couple nights ago."
"You knew this thing was here?" Shaw says half rising from her desk.
"It was a personal thing," he explains. "It ran away."
"What is it do with the bodies?" she asks.
"I don't know but does Mary Shelly ring any bells."
Shaw chews him about withholding information from her. Vito backpedals and explains he was working for the government.
"I thought you were out of the services," she says, sitting back down.
"When you are special forces you are never really out of the service," he offers.
Shaw asks if he shared any of their information with these agents.
"No," he replies.
Shaw weighs his response. She decides she trusts him. "Is there anything you can tell me about the creature that will help our investigation?"
Vito informs her about the radio tracking device the agents have implanted in it. "If we had some sort of scanner we might be able to track it."
He continues, "with you permission, I'd like to talk to my other contacts and see we can't work together on this. We are working to the same ends."
"What is the end goal of your mission?" she asks.
"They are trying to eliminate it."
Shaw is okay with that and gives Vito a copy of the video.
Hillcrest Mental Health Center, Greenwood, March 15th, 1 PM
Dr. Trevor Sorenson mulls over a theory about the patients. With the revelation of Frank's condition and the children, he is starting to think people are being driven crazy by encounters with supernatural.There is knock at the door and a moment later an orderly leads Lara Woronov into the room.
The blond haired woman sits down opposite him. He nods to the orderly and he leaves them alone. "How are you feeling today Lara?"
Her eyes focus on him. "I'm feeling fine doctor, how are you doing?"
"I'm always doing well, I love my job."
She smiles. "I know its like on the letter head."
Dr. Sorenson looks down at his pad People helping people are the greatest people in the world. Smirking, he begins to question his patient about her previous doctor. As he suspected Lara is convinced she was a nurse working with Yee Lin and not a patient. As he probes deeper he finds the stories to be exceedingly clever. She claims Dr. Stephenson hired her. He remembers the older doctor, he retired a few years ago. He'll need to check in on him.
Trevor leans in toward Lara. He asks her what she knows about the basement.
"Aren't the basements off limits?" she says.
"Of course but I've only been here for a few years. I'm always interested in hearing how things used to be," he says hoping to learn more.
"Well we used that area for storage but no one has used it for a long time."
He asks about the children at the facility. Lara claims not to interact with them but does voice a complaint about children wandering the halls after hours. She also lcaims to have seen strange doctors and nurses about after hours in the last few weeks.
He turns the conversation to her career. He ask if she had been promoted recently.
"I was kind of hoping that this meeting was about that," she explains hesitantly.
Sorenson probes her duties and responsibilities. He notes she has cleverly included only the people and locations she actually interacts with. Her medical knowledge is substantial though. She clearly knows her stuff. However when he tries to trick her into a self diagnosis she is unable to figure out what is wrong with her.
After his meeting he talks to the nurses about Lara. They explain how much trouble she is. she is very convincing as a nurse and continually tricks visitors and new nurses that she works at the Hillcrest Center.
He also checks her medication. The mixture is complex and possibly dangerous. He notes that the mixture keeps here docile. She tends becomes problematic after few days off her meds, asking for her doctor or lawyer.
He also checks Lara's claim about being at Dr. Stephenson's retirement party. It turns out she had slipped into party.
Back at his office, he begins to plan to trace her records back to see where her issues developed.
Starbucks, Downtown, March 16th, 6 PM
Robert Mill sits down with Mr. Chang, night time supervisor at the County Morgue."Thanks for meeting with me," he tells him.
"Sure," Chang replies. He seems to be staring at Mill's T-shirt.
Robert continues. "So I here you've been having difficulties with missing body parts."
"Yeah, I guess Wilkens told you about that." Chang sips his coffee.
"How long has this been going on?"
"About six weeks." The well dressed man explains their own investigation: the camera photage, the different suspects each time and alibi for each. "Dr. Wilkens mentioned there was some really strange about the culprit."
Robert explains that the culprit is a master of disguise and tends to cast suspicion on others.
"So its just one guy?" he says incredulously.
"As far as we know."
He mulls it over. "I guess it makes sense. As much anything about this makes sense."
"Unfortunately we weren't able to apprehend the suspect last time," Robert tells him.
"I heard it was a crazy scene."
Mill's mind turns back to that night. The sudden reveal of the monster, the gun shots, and the steel door being ripped off its hinges. He lies. "Seems like it was some sort of drug addict. He was shot and ran off. We were hoping if you were hire us we could at the least drive off the thief if not capture him."
"I guess," Chang says. The morgue worker seems skeptical of this causally dressed 'detective'. In the end however Mill wins him over. He agrees to hire the firm for their standard rates. Together they discuss watching the area, with possibly one of the detectives working under cover as an employee.
"Miss Shaw will get back to you about how we will run this operation. But since we believe that it is an outside person breaking in, we will handle things differently. We'll try to cause as little disruption as possible."
March 16th 7 PM
Vito's phone rings.Agent Gray's voice is on the other end. "Up for tonight?"
"Yeah. I've come across something interesting that I'd like to talk to you about."
"What is it?" the older man asks.
Vito thinks back tot he video. "You need to see for yourself."
"Okay. The van will be by in a half hour."
The black van soon arrives with Agent Noah driving. He tells Vito to get in the back. He explains, "there was a sighting north of the city, the others are up there now."
Vito quickly shows him the video by Shaw.
"Where did this come from? Who took this?" the man in black asks.
Vito explains it was One of a Kind Investigations behind it.
Noah starts to drive north. As they make their way up the highway, Vito notices a folder that has slid off a shelve in the back. Some pictures and documents have spilled out. One of the documents mentions a Series C and subject C-6.
Noah pulls into a park. As he gets out, Vito quietly slips the folder into his computer bag.
Agent Gray approaches him as he gets out. Vito shows him the video. After a moment he says, "So it was disguising itself."
"Yes, also from the conversation we learned that it needs additional organs so we should be concentrating on the morgues."
Agent Gray thinks for a moment. "Well we have some signs here too. No morgues but perhaps it has a lair here."
Vito turns to the darkened woods around them. The sky is cloudy and rumbles with distant thunder.
Agent Gray adjusts his black tie and continues. "We think it is somewhere in this park. There have been sightings near here. From what I know about creatures like this, they like to stay away from people. I want to have a better idea of where it is in the park." He outlines a plan to scour the park, searching the cabins and other possible shelters for the creature. "I want you to search in teams of two. Agent Lynch will go with you."
"By the way we need to arrange a drop point so I can contact you," Vito says. Adent Gray assigns Noah to arranges something.
That night's search comes up empty however. As they wrap up Vito asks Agent Gray to consider involving One of a Kind Investigations.
Offices of One of a Kind Investigations, Downtown, March 17th, 10 AM
Vito looks over the folder. It is a partial copy, heavily marked up, of a Department of Defense report on a Project Myrmidon. Apparently a military group known as Task Force: Valkyrie partners with a chemical company by the name of Ascendant Industries. The company, a private contractor, conducted a series of experiments in making a better soldier. Oddly to Vito there are classification markings.He flips through the papers one last time. The project had three phases before being shut down. The Series A experiments focused on tissue grafts, drug treatments, and bio-augmentation. Generally unsuccessful, they moved on to total reanimation projects. Series B involved resurrecting small a group of deceased agents from Project: Valkyrie. The results were limited to minor tissue revival. This was a failure but laid the groundwork for Series C. Initially successful, it all went horribly wrong. They were able to reanimate eight bodies. The subjects showed signs of mature cognition and reflexes. The details of the animation process have been redacted but apparently they used some proprietary chemical process by Ascendant Industries.
The Series C warriors were released on an ENE (extranormal entity) infestation in Afghanistan. The location was chosen for its remoteness. The original subjects, overcome by instabilities in the forces animating them, fragmented and formed a multitude of monstrous creatures. They then attacked a village and absorbed the bodies of the villagers and soldiers fighting there. Using their remains to repair themselves.
Vito walks over to Shaw's office and knocks on the door. "Shaw, you got a minute?"
Shaw pauses her deep breathing exercises that Dr. Sorenson had started her on. "Come in!"
Vito walks in and passes the folder to her. "You might be interested in this."
After flipping through it for a few minutes, she asks, "where did you get this?"
"It sort of fell into my hands so to say."
"They are reanimated corpses..." She flips to the last page. There a series of numbers at marked off: C-1, C-2, C-3a, and so forth. It is a check list with all crossed off except C-6b. Shaw realizes that C-6b must be Community.
She passes the file back to Vito. "I should mail this to myself. Just in case someone comes looking for it."
They begin to plan how to find the creature, Community. Vito tells her about the Men in Black's search at park. "I told the group I'm involved with that they need to bring the rest of you in. I'll keep you informed of their search."
"Why do they think it is there?" Shaw asks.
Vito fills her in on their surveillance and the tracking device they had planted on it.
Shaw calls Robert Mill into the office. Her plan is to focus on the morgue plan and find it there. Shaw points out it has been damaged so it will needs parts. When they find it she wants them to follow it. she doesn't want to kill it yet, not until they know what it knows about the Hillcrest Mental Health Center.
Robert advocates bringing Dr. Sorenson into the plan. He also suggests focusing their efforts on people who work at the morgue but are there when they are not on duty. Community seems to like to impersonate others.
They split into two shifts. Meanwhile Shaw directs Erin to investigate the nearby tunnels.
County Morgue, Downtown, March 18th, 2:28 AM
Robert Mill listens to his iPod, leaning back in a chair in the security office of the morgue. The last couple hours had been quiet. Almost everyone had gone home and the morgue was empty except for a pair of technicians down by the coffee machine.Mill looks up at the video feeds as a someone walks past the camera. Its one of the day shift workers heading toward the morgue.
Rob calls Vito outside. "Hey, there is no reason Terrance Johnson should be here at this time. He came in at camera 16."
Vito head toward that entrance and waits for the suspect to return.
Meanwhile Robert watches the suspect do something to one of the body. The angle is bad but he thinks 'Terrance' is operating on the body. After 15 minutes, the suspect leaves the morgue. Robert calls Vito, "He's coming out. He's heading your way."
Robert calls the others and together they trail the suspect throughout the night, passing off the tailing before he can get suspicious. Vito finds the work easy, remembering the training work Shaw drilled into him months ago.
Dr. Sorenson has more difficulties. He clenches up and almost loses the suspect. For a moment the suspect looks back and nervously the psychiatrist trips. He tells Shaw as she takes over, "its so real, not like in practice."
Eventually they tail the creature to a park north of the city. Dr. Ilyes follows the creature into the park but loses track of him. Vito confirms it is the same park as the Men in Black were searching but not an area they have checked yet.
As Ilyes wanders along the path, Robert calls him. He tells him to go down the path and see where it leads. He finds a cabin with the lights on. Now they know where it lives.
The group gathers by the park. Robert tells them that the creature stole part of a brain this time. Vito meanwhile checks the sight lines for the cabin. He tells Shaw he plans to take over surveillance.
"What do you hope to learn?" she asks.
"Its activities, when it sleeps, and when it leaves. Maybe we can have a look inside the cabin. Possibly put a video camera inside."
Shaw likes the last idea. She wants to learn more about it.
Robert suggests that Dr. Sorenson be the one to talk to the creature when the time comes.
"Me?" he says surprised.
"If you are okay with that," Robert says. "It hasn't attacked any people yet."
Dr. Sorenson nervously mentions the child at the Hillcrest Mental Health Center.
"Whatever those things are, they are not children," Robert retorts.
Dr. Sorenson catches Shaw watching the video again. "Stop watching it. We talked about it in session."
Robert brings up how they might restrain the creature. He suggests Vito shoot its legs out but Vito isn't convinced.
In the end they decide to have Dr. Sorenson talk to it first.
Shaw explains. "I'm not saying we aren't going to kill this thing, but if we want to get any information on it our best way is to talk to it. And if it comes after us we will makes sure we are ready."
Night of March 17th through March 18th
Dr. Sorenson sleeps poorly, his dreams troubles with images of pitchforks and torches. There is a monster out there.Meanwhile Vito spends the night and the next day watching in the cold damp park as the storm brews overhead. From his hiding spot he watches the cabin. The creature doesn't emerge until near sunset. It is wearing his friend Nick's face again. He sends a text to the other investigators: 'its on the move'.
Shaw is closing up the office for the day when it arrives. Dr. Sorenson is finishing up work. Robert stops the surveillance of a possibly cheating husband. They all gather at the park.
While Vito watches for its return, the other three enter the cabin. The door is unlocked. It is tiny inside, the inside walls covered in hundreds of pieces of papers, each bearing a drawing of some sort.
As Robert to sets up a camera to monitor the creature, Shaw takes a look around. Dr. Sorenson meanwhile looks at the pictures hoping to learn something about the creature's mental state.
"Make it quick, we don't want to stay here too long," Shaw tells the others. She walks around the edge of the room with her phone out, documenting the pictures as quickly as she can. The pictures shows people, places, buildings.
Sorenson looks closer at the artworks. They are well done, drawn in charcoal, pan and pencil. Many are of the Seattle area, especially the Hillcrest Center. As examines them closer he finds writing on the margins and backs: "Azoth calls to me", "I dream of gears turning under the madhouse", "Make me whole", "Make me normal", "I want to be normal", and "Something wants to speak to me." The phrases repeat through out the collage.
The doctor examines its bed. The covers are tossed and the discolored mattress seems to have been shifted in the creature's sleep. He figures it is sleeping poorly. It is also clearly fixated on the Hillcrest Center. It has some unrealistic belief that the building is the solution to its problems. He suspects its delusions and mental imbalances make it unable to function in society.
Shaw meanwhile spots so pictures of locations far from here: deserts, seas, and laboratories. A damp paper on the floor shows a soldier standing in front of a truck bearing the logo of Ascendant Industries. She also notes with some dismay that her phone is working properly. Reception is very poor and the screen flickers from time to time. "There is some sort of electrical disturbance. I hope the camera works."
She turns to the single table. There are dried streaks of blood on the unfinished surface. The trail leads to the edge of the table. below it is a simple tin bucket. The interior of the bucket is caked in blood. She quickly takes pictures of the disturbing scene. The crude tools: a steak knife, some needle and thread, a sharpened piece of metal. There are no signs of antiseptic or painkillers.
Looking up she tells Robert to point the camera at table. Standing on a rickety chair, he makes the adjustments.
Sorenson fills them in on his assessments. "YIt wants to get into the Hillcrest center because it thinks it will make it healthy and normal."
"And you know what is in there?" Mill asks.
"No," he replies. "Its off limits. I'm not even sure how to access the basements. But this creature is getting information on it somehow."
They leave the cabin and regroup with Vito. Shaw tells them about the file and Ascendant Industries. The company went bankrupt around a year ago, after they lost their contract. "They were under contract with the U.S. government, trying to reanimate corpses and things went wrong. This thing is the last of the test subjects. I have some ideas but Vito I'd like to know your thoughts on what to do about the creature."
Vito tells them about the Men in Black. "I think they are covering up their mistakes."
"And what do you think?" Shaw presses. "I haven't shared anything about your time in the service."
vito relays to them the horrors of fight in Afghanistan. "I was on overwatch so I was able to get away. My suspicion is that the agents have been assigned to eliminate evidence of the mistake."
"Do you think they will come after you?" Shaw asks.
He weighs the idea. "Possibly."
"You plan to tell them what we found here?" Robert asks.
"I haven't yet. But they are checking out this park. They will find it soon. We are on a tight time schedule."
Robert turns to the others. "What do we want to accomplish here? If we tip them off, they will kill Community and that's one solution to the problem. Its easy to get that solution."
Shaw replies, "well I think Dr. Sorenson is on to something. Look at how far its traveled. And right to here. Unless it was tracking you, Vito, it seems drawn to Hillcrest."
They discuss their plans. They all agree that it may have information useful to them.
"It may have some answers for us about the children," Sorenson says.
"The important thing is does it know anything about Frank?" Robert responds.
"I think we should talk to it," Shaw decides. "I'd like to watch it for a day and then confront it."
Lake Forest Park, March 19th
Vito spends the day in his hiding spot, occasionally watching the video feed from the hidden camera. The storm rumbles overhead and occasionally the transmission turns to snow. Commmunity returns to the cabin well after midnight. Vito watches on the camera as pulls a severed foot out of a bag and proceeds to replace its own.After the grisly display it puts the remains in the bucket. It takes it outside and dumps the bucket out further down the trail.
Just them Vito gets text message from Agent Gray. 'Meet you at the park'
As Vito heads to the meeting spot, Robert Mill keeps watching. Community is drawing a series of black cubes.
Vito arrives in the parking lot where the Men in Black are getting ready for another night of searching.
"Have you thought about my suggestion at all?" he asks Agent Gray.
"Yes," the old man says. "How much do they know?"
"A lot."
"And they have dealt with things like this before?"
"Yes." Vito continues, "also there are complications to this."
"What kind?"
"We believe C-6 is involved with something under the Hillcrest Mental Health Center. It seems to be seeking something under there. Something that has been there for a long time in the tunnels beneath the center."
"Tunnels," the gray haired agent mutters. "I've lost a lot of good men in tunnels."
"It also can communicate. I think it would be good to talk to it first in case there is a greater threat."
"I should meet with your team," Agent Gray says.
Shaw gets a text from Vito: 'Come down to the park and bring the team, I have some people who want to talk to you.' He adds an address.
She texts back: 'Now?'
'Yes' he replies.
Shaw calls the others. Robert is playing World of Warcraft. Sorenson is still awake, speculating on how the creature mimics other people. She texts Vito: 'We'll be there in an hour.'
Vito tells Agent Gray, "I think searching tonight would be superfluous."
Lake Forest Park, March 19th 11:30 PM
Shaw and the others pull into the parking lot. A black van is parked on the far end. She can see Vito and Agent Gray talking nearby.They pull up and exit the car. Vito walks forward. "Agent Gray this is the head of One of a Kind Investigations."
Shaw extends her hand. "Lillian Shaw."
Agent Gray shakes her hand. "So Chief here," he says gesturing to Vito, "says that you know quite a bit about this."
"Well I think we were approaching this from different angles. Good thing Chief was on both of our teams," she says with a hint of sarcasm.
"He's been very helpful," the man in black tells her.
"Has he?"
"So what is your angle in this?" the old man asks.
Shaw explains their job. "I believe Chief has already shared the video. He also said you are able to track the creature?"
"We were but the tracking device has failed."
Agent Lynch and Agent Jacobs exit the van.
"So what do you want to know Agent Gray?" Robert asks.
"Well since we are both trying to make sure this creature doesn't hurt anyone-"
Dr. Sorenson interjects, "I don't believe it has a violent nature."
"In my experience everything has a violent nature," Gray says.
Vito and Lynch share a look at this.
Gray continues. "We want to make sure this creature is kept away from the general public."
"So are you from some branch of the military?" Shaw inquires, moving closer. She spies a rack of shotguns and rifles in the van.
when Gray doesn't respond immediately, Robert adds, "well we agree we don't want this creature, Community as it calls itself, harming anyone. But through my observations, it has not yet shown predilection towards attacking people. If you locate this creature we have questions for it. I don't know if your plan is to shoot first ask questions later or-"
"Depends on how agreeable it is," Gray says.
"How long have you been tracking it?" Shaw asks.
"We've been tracking it, personally, for a few weeks now," Gray explains.
"But this hasn't been the first time you've been tracking it," Vito says.
Agent Gray gives Vito a questioning look. "My organization has been tracking it for a few months. Since we realized it escaped."
"Otherwise you wouldn't have been in Afghanistan," Vito offers as an explanation.
Dr. Sorenson says, "from our previous encounters with this creature, if it feels threatened its going to run. My intuition is that if it has interacted with you before it might have reason to fear you and your team. More than our team. I might be able to talk to it. We think it might be in communication with others. We want to know before you deal with it. The source of its information would be very helpful to us to know."
Agent Gray mulls the idea. "Sure. You can have a crack at it."
Shaw asks if Agent Gray is looking for any information from the creature.
"My orders are to capture it or kill it if I can't," he tells her.
"How do you intend to capture it?" Sorenson asks. "Our evidence suggests it is tremendously strong."
"My experience suggests things like this can take a lot of damage without dying," Gray says coldly.
"So you intend to wound it until its incapacitated? Then you can bring it in before it can recover?"
"Yes," Gray says.
"I guess tranquilizers would not work on it?"
"No."
Shaw looks to others, trying to gauge their intent. She expects they have delayed the men in black long enough that they won't find Community on their own tonight. Shaw outlines to Gray how they will help in the search. They take part of the park to search and leave.
Vito raises eyebrow at Shaw's duplicity, but she remains composed.
As they drive away to the part of the park where the creature actually is, Shaw says, "we need to get this thing's side of the story. Afterwards its perfectly reasonable to kill it. But if something horribly wrong is happening at the Hillcrest Center and we may need to work with the creature. And Vito I don't think your friends would agree to that."
Vito accepts the logic.
"I don't know," says Dr. Sorenson. "I don't think they are going to hurt us but I do think they are going to shoot first and ask questions later when it comes to this creature. They didn't have any means to subdue it other than damage."
"Yes," Shaw says. "I think we should confront it in the morning."
Sorenson speaks up again. "I have a dumb idea but it could be a good idea. I could just wait in its cabin until it comes back."
Shaw thinks. "It is probably getting home about now."
They decide to adjust their plan and have Sorenson confront it tonight.
"Do you want Mill with you?" Shaw asks.
"I'm afraid it might see a threatening face." He turns to Robert, "did it see you?"
"Conceivably," Robert says.
"Though you didn't shoot it," Shaw adds.
Vito advises Dr. Sorenson to approach the creature from outside the house, rather than surprise it by already being inside the cabin. Dr. Sorenson agrees. Vito then helps Shaw and Mill camouflage themselves in the woods near the cabin. Dr. Sorenson waits farther away until he gets the signal from Vito that Community is back at the cabin.
Lake Forest Park, March 20th 1:40 AM
Vito gives Dr. Sorenson the word. The nervous psychiatrist walks up the dark trail to the cabin. He knocks.As Community opens the door, Dr. Sorenson has his hands up. "I just want to talk. I promise I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk. I have some questions. I'm from the Hillcrest Center."
"Come inside," the creature says.
Just as Sorenson enters, the video feed cuts out.
Inside, Community offers Dr. Sorenson the one chair in the room.
As they begin talking the video pops back up. Dr. Sorenson sits down, putting his hands on his knees.
"You are from the Hillcrest Center," Community says calmly.
"Yes, I'm a doctor there," he explains. "I'm wondering what your interest is with Hillcrest? I know you think it will help you but do you have more specific information? Why do you keep wanting to go there?"
"There is something beneath the building," the patchwork man explains.
"Do you know what it is?"
The creature has trouble answering. "No, no. It is...beautiful. I see it in my dreams."
Sorenson presses for details. "How do you know there is something there? Who told you?"
"No one told me," it says serenely. "It calls to me."
"I'm aware of your condition. That you have degenerative difficulties with your organs and limbs that need replacing."
"Can you fix me?" Community asks.
"I'm not that kind of doctor," Sorenson explains. "I focus more on psychology and understanding the mind. I might be able to help in other ways."
Outside in the woods, the others become aware they are not alone. Shaw alerts Vito. The sniper scans the woods, picking out Agent Gray among the foliage.
Dr. Sorenson evaluates the creature's intelligence. Its vocabulary is good but its sentences are simple. He probes some more asking about its goals. "...and whatever is there will help restore you to how you were before you gained this condition?"
"No," it clarifies. "To make me whole."
"To make you whole? To who you were before this happened?" Sorenson asks.
"I don't know what you mean by 'before'."
Shaw tries to text Dr. Sorenson but the electrical disturbance interferes.
Dr. Sorenson continues his conversation. "I know there have been others looking for you and trying to hurt you. I'm afraid they won't stop their search."
He asks about Community's dreams. The creature tells him of glimpses of a machine beneath the earth, of gears turning, and strange black cubes.
"Have you located an entrance to the tunnels?" Trevor asks. "I've been looking for an entrance as well for my own reasons."
Community confides in him. "I think there is an entrance in the subbasements. I think I know where they sealed it off."
"Can you describe it to me?"
Community describes the details: the stairs to descend, the passages to take, the wall to break through. All elements of his dreams. Outside the vito watches it on the video as he texts to Shaw about what to do about Agent Gray.
"Who were these children trying to stop you?" Sorenson asks.
"I'm not sure. They weren't...," Community struggles to finish.
"I don't know what they were either," Trevor says. "But they are inside the Center. But they don't work there. I want you to know that."
Community admits to killing one of the 'children'.
Dr. Sorenson asks, "did you have to kill anyone in the past?"
"Yes," is its reply.
Trevor realizes the creature has only a child-like morality. It fails to realize the consequences of its actions. For a moment he feels a little bit guilty killing it.
Vito sends a message to the Men in Black to hold position. He also sends them a link to the video feed. Somewhere Agent Noah fails top notice the message.
Inside the cabin, Sorenson tells Community, "your condition is very unique. Do you know how you came to be like this?"
"They made me like this," the thing explains.
"Who made you?"
"The scientists. They created me and the others. But we were made wrong."
Trevor agrees with it. This thing should not exist. But he doesn't let his disgust show. "You think you could lead me to this entrance and we could use this entrance together?"
"Yes," it agrees.
Trevor however worries what they will do if they meet the children.
"I can protect you from them," it tells him. "They are weak."
"Sometimes talking someone is better than hurting them," Sorenson tells it.
"Last time I talked to someone they shot me."
He tries to calm the thing. "I promise I did not come here to hurt him. I just came here to talk." He asks if there are others like him.
Community explains that it is the last. The other things died in the village. Sorenson also learns that the creature only needs parts when it is damaged. Community however changes parts in an effort to perfect itself.
"I think the ones hunting you might find this place soon," Sorenson says. "Perhaps we should go to the Center now. Do you want to go now?"
"Let's go."
Dr. Sorenson leads Community out of the cabin and down the trail. Trevor decides this thing is better off not being alive.
"I have a car parked not too far away," he tells it. "We can take it."
"I've never driven in a car before," it says curious.
He humors it. "Well I can drive and you can be the passenger. Won't that be fun?"
"Okay."
In the woods, Shaw texts Sorenson. The doctor says, "Oh I have a telephone call."
He looks at his phone. Shaw is asking what to do. He quickly taps out a message: 'Its leading me to the subbasement but I think I can find it without its help. It is dangerous.'
Shaw sends a text to the others: 'prepare for strike.'
Vito checks for any contact from the Men in Black. There is no message but he can see several agents in the woods. They are hanging back for now.
"Do you have a name?" Sorenson asks.
"Community," it tells him.
"Did you choose that name or was it given to you?" he asks with idle curiosity.
"I chose it."
"Why did you chose it?"
"It is what I want to part of," Community explains. "What is is your name?"
"My name is Trevor."
"Why did you chose that name?"
"I didn't choose that name. My parents chose that name for me." Sorenson gets a text from Shaw about the strike. He suddenly stops walking.
Community keeps walking for another ten feet. There is a bang and the sound of shattering bone. Perplexed Community begins to fall, its spine shattered.
In the woods, Robert Mill feels a pang of guilt. He thinks about not firing.
As Community plunges to the ground, Vito readies his second shot. Another blast rings out. Community's torso is ripped open. A spray of blood lands on Sorenson who shocked at the suddenness of the death freezes up.
The Men in Black pour out of the woods, training their guns on the still form on the ground. Trevor drops his phone. In the darkness Robert shakes his head.
Shaw soon reaches Sorenson. "You okay?"
"It just exploded. There was blood and parts..."
Robert catches up to her and begins to leads Trevor back to the car.
"Did you get all the information?" the stunned doctor asks.
"Yes," Mill says. In fact he can't ever forget it or Community's murder.
Sorenson tries to justify himself. "It admitted to its monstrosities. Maybe the things in the tunnels would cure it but maybe not. It needed to die."
"I didn't hear it admit to any monstrosities," Robert objects.
"You didn't?"
"Maybe I didn't hear what you heard."
Sorenson stumbles along the path. "It admitted to killing creatures. It admitting to stealing body parts to upgrade itself."
"Yes, body parts from a morgue," Robert stresses.
"But it admitted to killing creatures before. Maybe it killed them and took their parts."
Robert is upset. "But was it creatures that it sought out and killed or was it creatures that attacked it? You didn't ask that did you? The only time I saw it attack was when it was defending itself. Then it ran away. From what I saw it didn't understand what it was doing."
"But it killed the children."
"They were attacking him," he retorts.
The two argue back and forth on the trail and the ride back to Sorenson's house.
Back at the park Vito asks, "We're done?"
"We're done," Agent Gray confirms.
The agents burn the remains and remove all evidence that the creature was ever there. Shaw snags a trophy without them noticing. Gray thanks the both of them for their assistance.
While Shaw and Gray talk, Vito removes their hidden camera from the cabin.
Shaw says to Gray, "I'd appreciate that you'll contact us next time your are in the area."
"Certainly. I hope you let me in on your plans a little more next time."
"Still learning who to trust," she admits.
"I understand. Its a hard thing."
With that they leave. In the coming weeks, One of a Kind Investigations is paid by the County Morgue and Vito receives a check for his work.
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