The Heroes of Little Springs

"Strange," Crusader replied, still in the shadows, as he was beginning to rig something. "If that were the case, why go after nearby victims when you can't get to me?" He asked, before moving once again.

"No, I don't believe it. You become frustrated when you can't get to your target, isn't that it? It just boils your blood to think they can slip by so easily." He stated, rigging something else, from another spot, before moving.

"Besides, if you were who they think you are, then you would know. So who are you actually?" He asked, but the action given was more of a demand.

The banshee stayed afloat, moving higher as her eyes scanned for the Crusader. But the smoke was too thick. Her head turned as he spoke towards whatever direction she thought she was hearing him. Yet, even still, she could not see him nor what he was doing.

She did not respond to any of his questions or demands. She merely continued her search. However, if the Crusader could see her body language, he would see that she was irritated but irritated because she could not find him. Not because of what he had said. If fact, it looked as though she had completely ignored his statements, as if she didn't care or perhaps didn't know the answers to his questions.

Realizing that the Banshee, or whatever it was, was no longer replying back to him, the Crusader assumed it was either aggravated or that it was simply ignoring the questions. Still they seemed to be having difficulty pinpointing where he was, so that counted for something, along with the constant insulting of her adequacy had to have struck a chord somehow.

He didn't want to push it however, and while he was done with words, because it was no longer replying back, he was not finished fighting it in his own way. Stepping away from the smoky section he was in before, he slipped to another section.

As he did so, a loud stick cracked, echoing in the cold, stale, windless, and snowy night, which amplified it even more.

As the stick cracked loudly, the banshee's head immediately shot towards that direction. Seeing him there, the banshee shrieked loudly before flying towards him.

However, the Crusader was nowhere near this broken stick. In fact, a lone rabbit jolted and squirmed from the Banshee's scream. Aiming his launching compartment, Crusader fired one of his discs, which whizzed by, and sliced a nearby string.

Severing it in two, a bowing branch propelled forward, as the rope restricting its force had finally released, heading right towards the Banshee.

As the banshee realized she had been tricked, it was too late for her to avoid the branch that came towards her. She fell back upon impact yet still managed to stay afloat. However, the attack appeared to be more of an inconvenience as opposed to the serious damage the Crusader had dealt on her before.

Now that she was closer to the ground, the banshee transformed into the woman once again willingly. Her stare was cold and hard. She brushed off the needles from the pine tree that were now covering her jacket.

"Nice trick," she replied though her statement was full of annoyance and sarcasm.

Just as she was about to continue speaking, she turned her head upon hearing the rustling of branches. It wasn't very loud but it was loud enough for anyone to realize that someone was approaching.

The two were now in Quiver's eyesight as she readied an arrow towards the woman. She couldn't see the woman's face but she had no doubt this was the banshee in the female form the Crusader had mentioned. However, the banshee must have heard her for she was suddenly looking directly at Quiver.

And here, Quiver froze.

"That's not possible," was the first thing that flashed through her mind as her arrow was still aimed at the woman. However, that was all she had time to think about because the woman suddenly transformed back into its banshee form and hurled towards her at full speed. Yet, Quiver was still frozen like a deer in headlights.

With the branch swinging into the banshee, Crusader's theories were proven, even if just a little. Now they knew of two things that could touch and harm this entity, iron in any form, and untampered nature. However these just seemed to be an inconvenience to them and nothing more. Perhaps if they found a way to use a larger piece of nature they could get the edge on this thing. But how would they go about doing that? Cutting a tree down on them?

And if they did manage to chop it in time, with it falling directly on the banshee, would it then be considered untampered? However, as he was thinking his new found information within the shadows, Quiver had showed up, but she didn't attack.

In fact, she didn't do anything but stand there. Even when the banshee was heading her way, she stayed in place. He didn't want to call out, unless he wanted to grab its attention. But the archer wasn't moving at all, so he had to do something, because apparently they weren't.

Swinging through, with his grapple hook, he grabbed Quiver, before leaping them over to the side and out of the banshee's path. "What's wrong with you?" He asked, as he hid them behind a tree and slightly in the shadows.

Quiver was snapped out of her daze as she felt someone grab her. Her arrow went flying in the direction of the banshee as she was being pulled. This caused the arrow to go off course but it still managed to graze the creature who was still coming forward. She stopped upon her injury, wailing at the inconvenience and pain done to her. Though her pain was bearable.

Now hiding in the shadows and hearing the Crusader, Quiver didn't know what to say at first. A part of her still couldn't believe she had behaved in such a way. But still, the thought was in a way terrifying.

"That's one of the victims," Quiver said though she couldn't help but to feel stupid as she said it. "She looks like one of the victims."

"I thought it had you in some kind of hex," Crusader retorted, slightly irritated. Placing his gadgets back into his armor, he distanced himself from where Quiver was standing. "Pay attention to what you're doing, I don't need more challenges added onto this situation."

Observing the angry banshee entity from within the shadows of a large tree, he pulled himself back away and towards the archer. "Interesting, maybe it steals the identities of their victims. But why?"

Although there was no way the Crusader would be able to see it, Quiver's face was turning red upon hearing his comment. If she wasn't forced to act in a professional manner given the situation they were currently in, she'd probably slap him or something. At the very least, he'd get some sort of earful. Instead, all she could was roll her eyes while thinking "Excuse me but who's been doing this longer?".

"If it wanted to steal the identities of its victims, why wouldn't it kill more women? Why only kill one and take her identity?" Quiver said as she tried to focus on the mission, watching the banshee to see how much more time they had if any at all. She knew it there was ever an opportunity for them, they should research this victim a bit more as well as look into the deaths of any elderly women since that was the identity she had seen. "Or, why hasn't it turned into a man yet? That's the perfect disguise for a banshee."

The banshee was now starting to search a nearby wooded area no doubt for the two of them. An idea flashed across Quiver's mind.

"Stay here and don't come out until I get away from the banshee," Quiver said. Before she went to disappear from the Crusader's side, she added, "I want to try something" as an explanation to her actions.

"How should I know why it does what it does?" Crusader retorted. "If I knew that stuff, we wouldn't be jumping into this so halfcocked, for some wishful information." He explained, before Quiver began her new action. He wasn't just going to hide where they were now. Slipping away into the shadows, he readied what armor and gadgets he had in his disposal for whatever she had planned.

Fine, but don't expect me to bail you out again. He thought, as his blade began to unsheathe.

Quiver didn't say anything to the Crusader's response though she was certainly thinking many things. And unpleasant ones at that. Still she remained focused as she quietly crept a ways from where the two had been so that she would not be giving away the Crusader's location.

Before the banshee could continue searching or, worse case scenario, assume they had left and disappear, Quiver stepped out from the shadows. She allowed her feet to crunch the branches below so the banshee would hear her presence. Although her bow was prepared with an arrow, Quiver held her weapons onto the side, showing that she had no intention of fighting.

Like the other times Quiver confronted the banshee, the banshee did not seem interested in her in the slightest. But it did stare at her, clearly not trusting her. Yet, at the same time, its eyes shifted to the various sides of the forest as if expecting the Crusader to come out in a surprise attack.

In theory, Quiver knew the best thing to do would be to attack the banshee and see how it reacted. Yet, she had a feeling that this could end up just like the other times she had tried to attack it: it may end up just disappearing. And then she wouldn't be able to see how it reacted to the Crusader. Of course, there was always the possibility the banshee already knew the Crusader was there. Still, if they had the banshee here, she really wasn't willing to risk letting it get away regardless of the odds. Not again.

So Quiver let the banshee watch her walk away. When the banshee realized it would not be troubled, she continued to search where she had once been looking. And, she was drawing closer towards the Crusader's location.

Quiver hid not far off, watching the banshee's movements. Now she just needed to see if the banshee would attack the Crusader. She just hoped the Crusader mimicked her or, at least, had been in a situation that would prove whether or not the banshee attacked him unprovoked.

Crusader wasn't sure what to make of the female archer's latest actions. In fact they confused him, but at least it didn't attack, nor did he have to do any rescuing this time. That at least put him at ease, as well as other things. Still he wasn't sure why it attacked.

He never initiated the attacks, the banshee always did. Nor did any of the other victims show signs of fighting back. The construction employee, who was somewhat of an friend, showed no signs of struggle. His body was just found frozen and beaten badly. There was no signs of him fighting back though.

And he only fought back once it screamed painfully and attacked. So what was it? Did it only attack men? Did it have some kind of prejudice? That would not make sense if some of the victims were females however. Did it just simply favor Quiver over the others?

All this speculation was getting him nowhere. What they really needed to do was somehow find a way into the archives of this town. See the records of the victims and their bodies. First thing they needed to find out if the body this banshee shape-shifted into was still in possession of the police.

That was the only lead they had. He surely wasn't going to mimic Quiver and walk out into the Banshee. It already proved that it wanted to kill him, didn't matter if he attacked first, was strolling innocently, sleeping, or pretending to. That would just be a waste and risk he wasn't willing to take.

With that he sheathed his blade, and began to disappear into the shadows of the night.

As the Crusader left the park, waiting outside was Quiver. Once she had realized he was not going to come out in front of the banshee, she figured he might have tried to leave without her.

"So were you planning to just leave me in the park all night?" Quiver asked.

Crusader continued to trudge through the snow, even when Quiver appeared in front to complain. Momentarily he stopped, staring at her. "I don't have time to be playing cat and mouse with that thing. We need real information, not guesses and theories." He added, now once again traversing through the snowy park. "You can do what you want to, I'm doing what I need to."

"I'm not asking you to play cat and mouse," Quiver said, the irritation clearly present in her voice now. "You said we should team up. Teaming up doesn't mean you do whatever you want without consulting your team mate. We're not going to get anywhere like this."

Quiver didn't say anything for a moment.

"I agree, we need more information. I'll keep an eye on the banshee as best I can and make sure she doesn't kill anyone else." Of course, had they gone over this plan before they both left the banshee, this would have made things a lot easier.

"You go and do that," Crusader replied, before handing her a bag of shaved lead. "You'll probably need this more then me then." He finished, before heading towards the police station.

Not saying anything, Quiver took the bag of lead before leaving the Crusader to head back towards the banshee.

The police station appeared to be quieter than usual. Patrol had doubled for the evening due to the latest victim regarding this still mysterious serial killer. The room containing the various filing cabinets each filled with an array of information regarding various cases (both old and on going) was in a similar state as when Quiver had visited the night before. The window was locked, the door closed as shadows of officers passed by.

Elsewhere, Quiver scoured the woods in her attempt to search for the banshee. She was no longer where the three had parted. Quiver only hoped that the banshee hadn't decided to follow the Crusader. He would never get anywhere near the files or information with a banshee following him.

Finally arriving at the police station, at the dead of night, darkest hours, and coldest time, Crusader began advance. However, he did so quietly, sneaking through the shadows, and kneeling at times to avoid confrontation.

There were a lot of lights still on, and guards moving about. It was expected for such an organization and building to be operating even at this time of the hour, even more so with this rare case going on. Still something seemed up. Why were the police concealing and hiding so much about this case?

Was it to cover up their inadequacy in this case to find an suspect or was there something deeper to it? First thing first, he needed to find some evidence through files and the morgue. Luckily both were close by, so traveling wasn't a concern. What was, was obtaining the information without being caught.

So far he did well in avoiding the guards, but that would only work as long as he was outside of the building. When he went inside, that was a whole different story. Almost the entire place was lit up, with guards and staff working all odd hours.

Now up against the side of the building, he peered into one of the windows subtly, making sure not to reveal too much of his body, as he inspected the area. It was a standard hall, tiled, with incandescent lights covered by a thin layer of plastic above the ceiling. They buzzed irritatingly, yet bathed the entire white walled and floored hallway quite well.

There were many doors, but no signs as to where they lead. The archives and supercomputers would always be close by the electrical generators and backups. He would just have to figure out where the heat source was.

Pinpointing where less snow had accumulated, mainly because it melted, he had an idea where as to start. The lifespan of a back up generator usually lasted an hour before all power was out, or they were able to repair the damages.

With that in mind, he pulled away from the window, found the fuse box and generator, and shot one of his discs into it. Sparks shot out, as electrical discharge hissed, until the entire building's power failed momentarily.

With a buzzing whirl, only a few very weak and dim lights came on, and most of the power was redirected towards the areas where it was needed the most.

Several police officers looked around as the station momentarily went dark. When the dimmer lights resurfaced, everyone instinctively gazed around one another.

"Funny, I didn't think there was going to be a storm tonight," one of the officers said. He was young but clearly a more experienced officer and clearly the sort of person that felt the need to check the weather every five minutes.

"It's probably just this damn building. This place is falling apart," another retorted. He was much older, looking to be in his fifties. He gazed up at the flickering lights as he spoke, as if it were the lights fault for the loss of power.

"God damn it!" a third officer was shouting in the corner by his desk as he stared at his computer. Clearly, the power outage had forced his computer to shut down and whatever he had been doing had not been saved yet. He shouted a few more profanities before eventually subsiding.

Elsewhere, where the power had more faithfully been restored, the filing cabinet room rested. Just a few doors down was where the towers were kept, storing an enormous amount of data. One of the Lieutenants' offices was nearby where she was working late. A rim of purple was starting to form under her eyes due to lack of sleep as she stared at the computer screen with a few files resting on her desk.

With his plan working, Crusader spotted where the power went out and remained that way, and where the power was quickly restored. With those locations pinpointed, he would now need to find a way inside. He couldn't just risk breaking open a window, especially if it was locked.

Instead he ascended to the roof of the building, using his grapple hook, and then went from there. Still it would be nice if a few of the officers were out of this building, if only for a little while. He wasn't about to create a fake and dangerous crime activity in order to flush them out.

He didn't have time to worry about that and instead grabbed the ledge, and swung into an nearby opened window. As he kept to the shadows and sneaked through the hallways, he eventually came towards the rooms where the power still remained.

There were two rooms he found could be useful a filing room, mostly articles and papers, and a computer room, where there was probably more information. Unfortunately the lights were still in on that room, which allowed a figure's large shadow to cast onto the darkened hallway.

He would need to get them out somehow, especially because it was too bright in there to even think of sneaking in. Instead he slowly slipped into the filing cabinet room, where power to the lights wasn't needed, and it was pretty dark.

Not even knowing where to look for information in this spot, he quietly opened the first drawer, inspecting whatever was inside.

Out of all the filing cabinets, there was one open just ajar. Inside the filing cabinet were a series of folders each with some sort of lettering system for organizing the files. In between two folders was a sheet of paper carefully sticking out of a folder as if it were a place marker. The folder was labeled 'SLP'.

Within the folder were a series of slimmer folders each containing information on the individual victims that had been found in Spring Lake Park. However, the latest two victims, the one the Crusader knew and the man who had died previously, were missing.

Out of all the victims, only two were not mentioned in the slightest in these reports. It was probably because the murders had just happened recently, although the fact that not even a single speck of information was to be found was quite alarming. Something was amiss, at least Crusader thought so.

Pushing the thought aside, he then opened what documents were found and filed of the other victims...

The two folders that currently remained were in order of the victim’s deaths. The first one contained that of a woman. It was not just any woman but the banshee. Or possibly, the form the banshee chose to take.
Her name was Caroline Keen. She had gone missing in the park during the gap between the incident with Quiver and Jet and the Crusader’s arrival. Her body was discovered in a wooded area of the park, the same area the Crusader had first encountered the banshee. There were a number of crime photos depicting her body and the surrounding area. She had suffered a blow to the head. A few images showed possible evidence: there were signs of someone attempting to cover up muddy footprints, making these footprints unidentifiable. There was a broken bottle stained with blood. The fingerprints had been wiped clean.

The following pages of Caroline Keen’s file consisted of information regarding her relatives, friends, associates, etc. Anyone that may have potentially been a suspect. While there had been indications of some possible, obvious leads (her boyfriend, past relations, etc.), this pursuit had seemed to reach a standstill, presumably due to the following three attacks.

An interesting note and one that could not be ignored was her mother’s maiden name and consequently the name of her uncle who she had seen the day of her disappearance: O’Neil.

The second victim, Tim Spacey, had been found in the park two weeks later. His body was also discovered in a wooded area of the park. The photographs suggested it was not the same exact location as Caroline Keen but it was nearby. He too had suffered a blow to the head and blood seeped out of his ears. It was unclear if whatever caused his ears to bleed was due to his death or if it was the blow to the head that did it. Unlike Caroline Keen, there was absolutely no evidence left behind as to who might possibly be responsible for this crime.
Like Ms. Keen, the following pages of Tim Spacey’s file consisted of his history. But it was not nearly as thorough as Caroline Keen’s as these pages indicated the police’s suspicion of a possible serial killer.

Meanwhile, the Lieutenant was beginning to doze off as she brooded over the two files that were on her desk. Like Quiver (and possibly the Crusader) had deduced, for one reason or another, the serial killer had moved from outside of the park to the alley where the last victim met his unfortunate end. She was looking over the last victim’s file as well as the one before him. What had occurred between these two deaths that would trigger a break from the pattern?

She took a sip of her coffee. Her hands were beginning to shake from fatigue, nearly spilling her coffee on the documents. Clearly, this was a sign that she ought to call it quits soon.

Going over the documents, Crusader quickly took out a piece of paper and pencil, which he had concealed within one of his compartments. He jotted down whatever information he felt would be useful, like the victim's family members and different names. There wasn't any addresses to look them up though, but he could easily find them in a phone book, with the time and patience.

However, he was unsure how such information would aid him. There was no way that these members were in on this crime, but asking them different information might prove useful somehow. Unless all the murder cases could be traced back through the same family, all this information would be good for is an extra visit to learn more about the victim's actual lives.

While her maiden name did cause alarm, because of the Banshee's lore tracing back to Irish roots, it wasn't enough or anything to jump to conclusions with. Still it was another noteworthy piece to jot down, for the sake of remembering it.

Just like his acquaintance, this Caroline sustained similar cranial damage. Although she didn't seem to have that odd blue lifeless color that he had, but that was probably because he was out in the cold weather longer. There was no way to determine her time of death or when exactly they got to the scene from these pictures.

What was more alarming was how it seemed someone was trying to cover up the crime scene and its evidence. Now why would a Banshee be worried about evidence, the dead body, and its documentation? Unless the police were trying to cover up evidence for some reason or another. Or this wasn't actually a Banshee they were dealing with, like he had theorized.

Whether or not this was the case, this being still possessed powerful strengths, an ear shattering scream, and could easily phase through most objects, unless it was of untampered nature.

The next documentation of Tim Spacey showed the same blunt force to their skull. However just like his acquaintance, they had dried blood and residue which had poured out of their ears. Perhaps this was due to the Banshee's scream, but why did Caroline not suffer the same consequences? Did the Banshee choose not to shriek? It didn't make sense, because every time he or Quiver encountered it, it always screamed.

Perhaps these two documentations he was looking at were from separate cases, which the police unknowingly threw together. Both Spacey's and Crusader's acquaintance crime scene were similar. There was no tampering of the evidence. The kills were clean, without a trace, but not Caroline's.

Because the Banshee was sharing her figure, it was best to push aside all the other cases, and therefore focus on Caroline's. Therefore he would need more evidence, which he could probably find from her relatives. With those notes written and speculated, he decided to head on over to the computer lab.

He was already this far, why leave when he went through so much trouble to get in? Slipping out of the room and into the other quietly and without a trace, he then went to the nearest computer, to inspect its contents.