I looked at the image of a man in a suit splattered on the brick wall, face twisted and Riddled with fear and surprise. An image so real and colorful that it could be mistaken for bad graffiti, yet it wasn't.
"This is the sixth case so far Inspector." I hear my deputy say from behind.
"Although he's only targeting petty thieves and criminals, there's no sure proof that he won't shift his sights to the general public."
I nod in response. It's how it is in a world of power users. Any new fellow can simply develop his ability and use it for good or evil.
Is this really evil?
I hear my inner consciousness, Eddie ask.
"After all, his targets are bad people, evil folks, thieves, rapists and the like...
Shouldn't we be finding him to congrat-"
"That's not your choice to make." I tell him inwardly.
"I don't want your incredible IQ to advise me on if it's right or not. You already have a task."
He quiets down for a bit after that.
Everyone can develop a superpower, some useful, heroic and popular, some downright destructive.
Some like mine which are mildly infuriating at best and self destructive at worst.
Yet as I looked at the image of the man painted on the wall, I couldn't help myself but smile at how a power that sounds so impossibly harmless can capture and take down over 16 people and only 6 recorded cases.
Back at the office, I looked at all the information we had so far.
16 people have gone missing just this month, only 6 of those people's pictures have been found on walls, buildings and sidewalks.
Two of the 6 attacks were caught on video.
I replayed each video again, watching as the boy first took a picture of the victim with an old vintage instant camera.
Then he simply throws the developed picture on any surface of his choice.
"This means 2 things."
- "There's no sure way to find him."
- "No sure way to stop him either, since all he needs is to take a picture of you."
"Never have I seen a power so powerful."
"All powers have a weakness." I remind him.
Yet even after saying that, I couldn't see a way to stop him.
His hood was up and a bandana covered most of his face, when the CCTV took a video of him.
He just needs to take a picture of his victims.
"Using Vintage Instant Cameras... Those must be hard to find."
"They are, everything is digital now, even if there are producers, they would be quite a few that are selling to this region."
"The problem about instant cameras is the fact that their films and inks have to be replaced."
"So they have to go to a shop to get the film and ink."
My eyes widened with understanding at what Eddie was trying to tell me.
Immediately I searched our database for the records of all technology shops in town.
Filtering through for those selling instant cameras and their equipment, it showed just 3 shops.
The records of those 3 shops was the real giveaway.
In a single shop, one person had ordered 8 packs of film and 3 bottles of ink this month.
Bingo!
"Nice Job Eddie." I complimented him.
Getting the buyer's details from the shop was a breeze, especially since he paid with a card.
While reading the name that came up on my computer screen. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"Album Glasbury and his power is photo transmission. Sounds like a bad joke."
"Photo Man."
Eddie says and starts laughing.
"That's an even worse joke." I say but I laugh too.
"Quite a simple house for a killer." Mirror man said.
"You expect an underground layer or something?" I replied him
"He's just a normal citizen with extraordinary power." I continued, passively looking through the plan again
"Who has killed possibly more than 16 people. He's a villain who needs to be brought down." Mirror man says while staring at the house.
"His passion is a double edged sword."
Eddie randomly comments on him.
"Selfishly drawing a clear line between villains and heroes.. It's distasteful, especially when the line is clearly not so clear."
"It doesn't matter to me. I care not for his passions nor his way of thinking and neither should you." I remind him
Eddie had a habit of thinking too deep on things around him.
This was something he said to me before.
I don't know if it's the same for others but it clearly defined him.
After a few hours of watching his house, Album finally leaves for his weekly trip to get film.
As he went, immediately I and Mirror man went into his house.
First checking the door for any traps or tricks before rushing in.
It was a mess, there were pictures everywhere. Both those that hadn't been transmitted and were still in paper and those that were plastered on the walls, the ceilings, the floors. It was mind boggling.
"Now this is more of a psychotic vibe than a killer.." Mirror Man said as he gingerly walked around, looking at every picture of a person plastered on the walls with a face of shock and disbelief.
He moved around the house, trying to avoid walking on the images on the floor while he set up his mirrors as traps, even though we had already proven that they couldn't feel any pain.
I picked up a photo and saw a woman still moving in it, washing dishes.
I saw another man watching television and another playing ball. A girl with a school uniform sitting down and writing a test while a boy was playing games.
They were all still moving in the pictures. When I finally saw a picture that was still, it was the picture of the man in suit that was splattered on the wall. This one wasn't moving anymore, the color had faded from the picture, holding no life.
"Well now this is more serious. He has the whole city hostage."
"And he probably set out to get more hostages." I say inwardly, finally understanding the gravity of the situation.
"I'm done and I found something interesting." Mirror man said as he came back from investigating and setting traps. He was holding a laptop.
The screen was on and on it was an email, a request.
We need an art piece of a young business woman in the room, the more colourful, the better.
The money would be wired to your normal address.
I looked at the address that Mr K sent, and his username was The Album.
"Seems the Passionate guy was right. He is a villain."
"And he's selling people as pictures."
"This is a bigger plot than I thought. We have to call the agency."
I turned and was stopped by the sight of a young man with orange hair who had a camera pointed at me from the door.
As the pictures printed out from the side my blood chilled.
He took a picture of both me and Mirror man in his hand.
He flung Mirror Man's picture to the floor and immediately he splattered to the ground where he stood behind me, an image amongst the collection, while his picture faded to black and white.
While twirling my pictures through his fingers he took a deep breath and spoke.
"Now may I ask, why are you going through my pictures?"
This was one of those moments when me and Eddie agreed wholeheartedly on something that we said it at the same time
We're Screwed.
We're Screwed.
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