The hovercar ride to the crime scene was swift and silent. Lytis drove with a focused intensity, ignoring her completely. Angella, clutching the edge of her seat, stared out the window as the city shifted from the neon sleekness of the Upper Wards to the crumbling concrete of the lower sectors.

They descended into a shadowy, industrial district, finally coming to a halt before the skeletal remains of an old power substation. The building was a monolith of rusted iron and cracked brick, looming over the street like a dead giant. A small crowd of onlookers had gathered behind a police cordon near the gaping maw of the main entrance, their faces a mixture of morbid curiosity and fear.

Lytis parked the hovercar and flashed a holographic badge at the officers guarding the perimeter. The officers hesitated, glancing at the old, flickering projection, but eventually stepped aside to let him pass.

"I thought you were a private investigator," Angella said, eyeing the device as he shoved it back into his coat. "How do you have a police badge?"

"It’s a souvenir from a former life," Lytis muttered, his tone making it clear the subject was closed. "One I don't intend to discuss."

He ducked under the yellow tape without looking back at her. "Stay here," he commanded over his shoulder.

Angella stood by the tape, her heart pounding. Through the rusted archway of the substation entrance, she caught flickers of harsh white light cutting through the gloom inside.

She couldn't stay back. The pull was too strong. Disobeying his order, she slipped under the tape and followed him, stepping carefully over piles of rubble and twisted rebar.

Inside, the substation was cavernous and cold, the air thick with the smell of damp rot and ozone. The forensic team had set up their lamps in the center of the main turbine hall, creating a blinding island of light amidst the shadows.

A small figure lay motionless in the center of that light. It was a boy, no older than seven.

Lytis was standing over the body, holding a complex scanner in his hand. He was frowning at the readout, tapping the side of the device.

"Messy," he muttered to himself. "Spikes of void energy everywhere. Chaos. Just another gang hit gone wrong with some stolen tech." He sighed, clearly disappointed. "Nothing useful here."

He turned to leave and nearly bumped into Angella, who had crept up behind him.

"I told you to stay in the car!" he hissed, his eyes flashing with anger. "This is a homicide investigation, not a petting zoo. Get back."

"You're wrong," Angella said. Her voice was shaking, but her eyes were fixed on the boy's body.

Lytis blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You said it was messy," Angella said, stepping closer to the body despite Lytis's attempt to block her. She pointed a trembling finger at the ground. "Look at the blood."

Lytis looked down. "It's blood. It splatters."

"No," Angella whispered. "Look at the edges. It didn't splatter. It was drawn."

She traced the air with her finger. The pools of blood around the boy weren't random puddles. They formed perfect, concentric arcs against the dirty concrete floor.

"And his clothes," she continued, her voice gaining strength. "His shirt is tucked in. His shoelaces... they're tied in a double helix knot. That's not a gang hit. Gangs are sloppy. This... this is precise."

Lytis stared at her, then looked back at the body. He crouched down, ignoring his scanner for the first time and using his own eyes. He looked at the blood. He looked at the intricate knot on the boy's shoe.

He went still.

"He was posed," Lytis murmured, a dawn of realization in his voice. "The energy readings were so chaotic I assumed the event was violent. But the aftermath..." He traced one of the blood arcs with a gloved finger. "It's perfect symmetry."

He stood up slowly and turned to face Angella. The arrogance was gone, replaced by a grudging, wary respect. He looked at her not as a nuisance, but as a variable he had miscalculated.

"I missed that," he admitted, his voice low. "I was looking at the energy, not the boy."

"My son was precise," Angella said, the memory of Jackson's perfectly organized workbench flashing in her mind. "He hated mess. He said mess was just energy that hadn't been given a purpose yet."

Lytis looked at the boy, then at the black substance—the "Fear"—pooled in the center of the ritual.

"Fear is messy," Lytis said. "But someone is trying to give it a purpose."

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pair of latex gloves, offering them to her. It was a peace offering. An invitation.

"Don't touch the body," he said, his tone professional now, treating her like a partner rather than a liability. "But... tell me what else you see."

Angella took the gloves. Her hands were still trembling, but for the first time in three years, she didn't feel helpless.

"The symbol," she said, pointing to the wall where the black goo was smeared in a jagged shape. "It looks like a circuit diagram."

Lytis's eyes narrowed. "Then let's trace the current."

 

The hovercar pulled up before a towering, gothic-looking building, its dark facade adorned with intricate carvings and strange symbols. It looked ancient, yet advanced, a relic of a bygone era pulsating with a hidden energy.

The interior was even more striking than the exterior. The entrance hall was vast and dimly lit, filled with an eclectic collection of objects that seemed to defy both time and logic. Antique-looking data-slates sat beside humming, crystalline devices; strange, organic-looking machinery pulsed with a soft, bioluminescent glow; and shelves upon shelves were crammed with books, artifacts, and specimens from across the city and beyond.

Angella stared in open-mouthed wonder. "What is this place?" she breathed, her voice barely audible above the hum of the machinery.

Lytis, shedding his long coat, his movements as fluid and unhurried as ever, glanced around the hall with a hint of pride. "It's... my base of operations," he said, his voice a low rumble. "A place where I can... pursue my interests."

As Angella scanned the room, her eyes landed on a heavy, silver case sitting alone on a metal workbench near the door. It looked out of place among the mystical artifacts—cold, clinical, and marked with a high-grade medical caduceus that glowed faintly red.

"That looks serious," she murmured, nodding toward the case. "Is it a weapon?"

Lytis paused, his hand hovering over a stack of files. He looked at the case, his expression darkening for a fraction of a second. "No," he said softly. "It is a Type-4 Bio-Regulator. Military grade."

"What does it do?"

"It buys time," Lytis said, turning away from it abruptly. "It is something we should hope we never have the occasion to use."

He led her through a maze of corridors until they reached a large chamber. The room was dominated by a massive wall, covered in a chaotic array of images, notes, and symbols, all connected by a web of glowing red string.

As Angella approached, she realized with a growing sense of horror that the images were photographs - crime scene photos. Each one depicted a murder victim, their bodies arranged in the same disturbing, ritualistic manner as the boy from tonight.

Lytis watched her, his expression unreadable. "I call it the Murder Wall," he said, his voice flat. "These... these aren't isolated incidents, Ms. Angella. They've been happening for three years. And the police... as you know, they haven't made any progress."

He gestured to the viscous, black substance visible in each photo, the same substance they had found at the crime scene tonight. "This," he said, his voice low and intense, "this is what connects them. I've found it at every single scene. It's an energy source, unlike anything I've ever encountered. I call it Fear."

Angella turned to him, her face pale and drawn. "Three years..." she whispered. "My son... he disappeared three years ago. Do you think... do you think he might have been taken the same way?"

Lytis's expression softened, though his eyes remained distant, focused on some unseen calculation. "I don't know, Ms. Angella," he said gently, his voice a low rumble. "It's... possible. But it's too early to say for certain. I need to examine this substance further."

He moved quickly, gathering various tools and equipment. "I'm going to need to run some tests," he explained, his voice brisk now. "And I'll need some supplies. Will you accompany me? I could use your... perspective."

Before Angella could fully process what was happening, Lytis was ushering her back towards the entrance hall. As they passed the workbench, Angella noticed Lytis pause. With a grimace, he grabbed the heavy silver medical case he had pointed out earlier.

"You're bringing it?" she asked.

"Better to have it and not need it," he muttered, swinging the heavy strap over his shoulder. "Come. There's a market nearby. We won't be long."

 

The market was a stark contrast to the rest of the city. Located in a shadowy underbelly, it was a sprawling network of stalls and vendors hawking goods and services of dubious legality. Lytis, however, seemed perfectly at ease, navigating the crowded aisles with an almost predatory grace.

Angella, trailing behind him, felt increasingly uneasy. The people here were rough, their faces scarred and tattooed, their eyes glinting with a predatory hunger.

As they navigated the crowded market, a burly man with cybernetic enhancements approached Angella, his voice a greasy purr. "Well, hello there, beautiful," he said, his eyes raking over her with a leering grin. "Looking a little lost, are we? Perhaps I could... assist you?" He reached out to grab her arm.

Before Angella could react, Lytis stepped between them, his movements surprisingly swift and forceful. He seized the man's wrist in a grip that made him yelp in pain. "I don't think so," Lytis said, his voice dangerously low.

The burly man snarled, trying to wrench his arm free. "Get your hands off me, freak! Who do you think you are?"

Lytis's eyes flashed with an otherworldly light. "I know who you are," he said, his voice a chilling whisper. He gestured with his other hand, producing a small data-slate. On it was a grainy image of the man involved in a violent altercation, his face clearly visible. "You're wanted in three sectors for aggravated assault and illegal cybernetic modification. I believe the authorities would be very interested in seeing this."

The man's face paled. He stammered for a moment, then, with a curse, shoved past them and disappeared into the crowd.

Lytis watched him go, his expression unreadable. He then turned to Angella, his demeanor shifting back to his usual calm seriousness. "Are you alright, Ms. Angella?"

Angella, still shaken, nodded, her heart pounding. "Yes, I'm fine. But... who was that?"

"A local," Lytis said dismissively, already moving towards another stall. "A member of a gang called 'The World's End.' Best not to get involved with them. Now, about these capacitors..."

At one stall, Lytis purchased a set of intricately wired capacitors. As the vendor handed them over, Angella noticed a small, stamped symbol on the casing: a cross, but with an infinity symbol behind the top part. It was a design she'd seen before, though she couldn't quite place where.

"What's that symbol?" she asked, pointing to the stamp.

Lytis glanced at it, his expression unreadable. "It's nothing important," he said quickly, turning away. "Let's go. I have what I need."