XI. Second Strike

Darrus surveyed the body of Revis. The situation was the same as with the angel, but in a subway restroom. If there had been any footprints this time, they had long since been tracked over. Hell had pulled some strings to make it look like an official police investigation was underway. Szziszzigji waited outside the door, behind the caution tape. A few passersby felt its hot breath, but dismissed it as output from a heating duct.

No one knew anything about Revis' death, aside from its cause. There were five puncture wounds in his chest, each a few inches apart from the others.

"If there was more than one possible perpetrator, I wouldn't think this is the same one." he said, surveying the damage. There were considerable signs of a struggle, the most obvious being a three-foot dent in a stall. "The angel had a single slash wound. This one has what look to be five stab wounds. It appeared that the angel was thrown or fell from near the ceiling, where it looks like Revis was shoved into the stall."

Darrus turned and surveyed the damage to the stall. Odin spoke.

"I think we can rule out this bein' a human with an artifact."

"I'm inclined to agree. Check the Nexus if there are any known artifacts that bestow unnatural strength."

"Hm. Quite a lot, actually."

"Now how many are known to still be on earth?"

Odin paused. "Two, but they're not even on this continent."

"Right, then. We're dealing with something divine. But what?"

One of the attending Searchers came up to Darrus. "Let us know when you're finished, so we can begin cleanup. We'll be doing an ocular examination as soon as the body's back in Hell."

"An ocular exam? Excellent. Odin, are all the observations I've made stored in the Nexus?"

"You bet."

"Good. Proceed with cleanup, give me the results as soon as they're ready."

"Understood." said the Searcher.

Darrus went outside to collect Szziszzigji. "Come along, we're going now."

Darrus wondered where they were going.

"Back home. The Searchers are going to perform an ocular examination on Revis, so maybe we'll have an idea of what killed him."

Darrus wondered how an ocular examination worked.

"They use the imprints of the short-term memory via the ocular nerves to see the last thirty seconds or so of what the recently dead saw. It only works on vision, for some reason. That's why angel's eyes disappear after death; the Big Man already knows what happened, and he doesn't need us figuring it out."

Darrus felt satisfied with the answer, and was ready to head back to Hell.

"All right, follow me. Watch your head."

They went through the door, back into Hell.