Salt in the Wound

ARIA VERRE LOG #1

It’s a beautiful morning! The sun is shining, I woke up next to my fiancé, and best of all I have the coolest job ever! If you’re reading this, I’m a superhero! My power isn’t too hard to spot— I have a pair of GIANT wings. They make everything so much easier, but I can’t go into small places. Anyways, I have to get ready for the day. I’ll come back to writing soon!

ARIA VERRE LOG #2

I’m back! Not for long though, I’m giving my fiancé, Olive, my journal for a bit. I’ve finally convinced her to start journaling her day! I will say this beforehand, her hand writing can be bad. She has super speed and tends to use it when she writes. Which is why her grammar sucks. She only writes like that when she’s doing something or nervous. Also, she misspells a lot. I find it so cute. I’m getting off track. Be prepared to see some writing from her!

OLIVE MILLER LOG #1

Hihi! I don’t realy know what to write. Aria told me to jus write everthin I’m thinking of. I’m writing this as I’m eeting if that’s anything. Aria’s also starring at me. I think she’s happy I’m takin up her hobby. But we have to go to work now.

ARIA VERRE LOG #3

Olive and I are finally at the agency. I work in the Bigger Bodies Team due to my wings. While Olive works in the Support Team; we don’t usually work together, but teams are a crazy force when we do.

My team has a few heroes. We’re called the Bigger Bodies because of our physical attachments to our bodies. I have wings; our leader, Perch, has strings coming from his hands and back; and the last guy, Kugo, has horns on his head almost like a ram.

OLIVE MILLER LOG #2

I don’t know why Aria wants me to do this, but she wants me to introduce my team members. There’s me, Yuria, Aoi, and Koki. You already know me so I’ll just tell the other’s powers. Yuria can send out a soft substance from her hands to use as a cushion, and Ali and Koki work together to transfer people to safe places. When in close range, the two can teleport and anything not nailed into the ground like a road or building they’re touching goes with them.

ARIA VERRE LOG #4

Oh god, I know this is just a journal where I write dumb thoughts of mine but something really bad happened. I was walking through the halls, minding my business when I heard a scream. It was a really grotesque one. It sounded like it came from the devil himself. I went to check it out because it’s what I’m trained to do. I opened the door to the break room and pinned up the onto wall with all sorts of kitchen items. The leader of my team. Dead. Strung up like a damn puppet. I couldn’t even enter the room without needing to puke. The sight, the smell, the eerie feeling I couldn’t shake. It was way too much. I left him. Now I’m hiding in a closet. I think others found his body. I keep getting pings on my phone, but I’m too scared to check them.

It’s been a while since I got in here, but I finally built up enough courage to leave. I saw that others found Perch’s body, but there’s now another one. The janitor. He didn’t deserve anything like that. No one does, but death doesn’t care

OLIVE MILLER LOG #3

I told myself that i wouldn’t write in here again, but here i am. Aria handed her journal to me, so i think she wants me to write? i don’t know. Two people died in a superhero agency. Aria already talked about Perch, but not the janitor. His name was Rick. He could manipulate water and somehow soap. He was super nice and good-looking. Until I saw him laying there. i peeked over the crowd surrounding him. His face was stuck in this terrifying expression. He was bruised, bloody, and head first in his mop bucket. I just hope whatever he went through was quick. This is supposed to be the one place people find safety in, but i think because of that. We let a villain in. Everyone is still in shock. I’ll start writing in here again if i hear anything.

I can’t write for long, but i was told that one of the lab workers is going to be helping this case. Aria told me that he may take this journal. Which means i probably won’t be writing for a while. Bye I guess

ARIA VERRE LOG #5

I’m just here to say something about Olive and introduce someone. I’m scared for Olive, she’s way too trusting. We have no clue how the two died, but she’s still insisting that it has to be a villain. As much as it could be a villain, we can’t hold complete trust in that. Also, I’m handing my journal over to one of the researchers here. His name is Jordan, his power is that he remembers everything in super vivid detail.

JORDAN LOG #1

I’ve read the past few logs here, so I have no need to introduce myself. I’m using this journal to keep track of my research. I haven’t gotten much information yet. There’s almost nothing to go off of, but what I do have is that it looks like Perch was suffocated, not strangled like people originally thought. I can’t tell what it is, but in Perch’s nose is what looks like marshmallow fluff.

Now with the Janitor, it’s incredibly likely that he was killed from the slit in his throat. It was deep and long. It may have been caused by a Chef’s Knife or any knife of about the same size, and then to stop the blood he was put into his own mop bucket.

RESEARCH LOG #1

I looked into the substance I found, and it’s not marshmallow fluff, or anything of such. I don’t know what it is, probably a mixture of things. Even when I put it under a microscope; I still couldn’t identify everything that was in there. What I do know is that it’s not edible. Just a small whiff was making me cough up everything and causing me to see spots in my vision. I decided to take a break from trying to identify it after that, and I went to try to find anything on the bodies that might be able to tell me who the killer is. Luckily, the killer wasn’t clean enough and left some hair strands on Perch’s body. I couldn’t find anything on the Janitor’s, but what I have right now can give me a lot. I took a strand of the hair, and it’s currently being run through a DNA analysis. It may be a while before the results come back though.

RESEARCH LOG #2

Dear me, if two dead people weren’t enough— there’s a new one. One of the people who worked Customer Service died. I have their body with me, and from what I’m seeing, it appears that they were killed not long ago. At first glance it looks like they were drowned, but with how the other two bodies were. I want to make sure that claim is correct. I don’t want to assume anything.

I knew it. By the looks of it the killer is getting tired and sloppy. I was right. The victim was killed by drowning, but it looks like the killer was trying to stab them. With how big these gashes are, those would’ve been more effective than drowning. I couldn’t find any hair, but there’s skin under the nails. It may belong to the killer— or to the victim. Whoever it belongs to, I’ll figure it out. It may take longer, but if it means people will stop dying. I’ll do it.

RESEARCH LOG #3

I wanted to start this log now, but I’m about to grab the results of both Perch's killer and the Customer Service worker’s killer. I don’t know if the killers are the same or different, but like I wrote earlier. It’s best not to assume anything. I’ll be back with the results shortly.

PAGE TEAR

ARIA VERRE LOG #6

Hey, I snuck into Jordan’s lab. I know I shouldn’t have, but I need to just write something. It helps me calm down. I don’t know what to do. There have been three murders and Olive is still thinking it’s best to trust everyone. I know it’s a stupid thing to worry about, but I don’t think we should trust anyone that easily. What if a villain is impersonating one of us? She’s just falling for their trap at that point. I have to leave now. I hear Jordan coming back. I’m sorry.

RESEARCH LOG #4

Okay, that’s weird. There’s a page torn out of the journal, but all of my research is still here. Though, I couldn’t care less right now. I have the results of who the killer is, and I’m about to look at them. I’ll be writing down my reaction. The killer is— No. Oh god no. How do I tell people this? How do I explain that heroes, ones working here, killed these two people and maybe even the janitor. Yuria and Kugo. Their DNA was on the bodies. But why? Why would they kill anyone? They’re heroes. They took a vow to protect and serve. I need to tell Aria. Everyone here’s in danger.

ARIA VERRE LOG #6

Jordan just told me who the killers were. And what the heck?! Why would Kugo and Yuria kill people? They’re the nicest people I know! There has to be something wrong. Those two wouldn’t hurt a fly. Oh poop. Olive’s with them! I have to go help her. She’s in danger! Wait, how do I tell her that one of her teammates is a murderer? Flip it, I’ll just pull her off to the side.

Okay so I told her, but she insisted that I was wrong and that the DNA analysis was incorrect. She went back to the group. I don’t know what to do. I’m just going to eat lunch. I’ll be back.

JORDAN LOG #2

I’m with Aria at the moment, I’m trying to keep her calm. While she was eating lunch, Olive was attacked. She’s still alive, but she’s in critical condition. Kugo and another hero, Wylie, attacked her. They were stopped by a group of people, but after we put them in holding cells. They were acting like nothing happened. Almost like they weren’t in control of their own bodies at the time this happened. I don’t know about Aria, but I refuse to leave the work place until this is solved. Aria’s one of the nicest people here, to me at least, and I hate to see her this hurt. I’ll start writing again once I’m in the labs.

RESEARCH LOG #5

Aria and I made our way back to the lab. She’s collecting herself real quickly, but she is determined to help. Mainly because she wants revenge for Olive. Our goal currently is to figure out why people are turning bad, and if a villain is involved. I’m not going to do too much without Aria, but I am going to go ahead and go through our database to see if there may be anyone with the power to control people.

So I went through the database, yet I couldn’t find anyone with the power I’m looking for. Although, there is a villain that caught my attention. Mechanic. He has the ability to create anything he wants if he has blueprints. Even if they’re vague instructions. What I’m thinking is that he drew out a blueprint for a mind control device and is using it on heroes. Though with what I’ve observed, the vaguer the instructions; the worse the creation works. I’m guessing this since the device doesn’t work too well. Especially seeing how Kugo and Yuria don’t remember ever attacking Olive, and how they aren’t always controlled. That’s either because the device isn’t the best, or Mechanic can control when he’s controlling the people. I’m now going to wait on explaining this to Aria. She may be helpful in figuring out where he is.

CONT. RESEARCH LOG #5 - ARIA

Jordan explained everything to me, and I have no clue what I’m going to do. I’m so damn pissed. I just want to slam his head into a wall. Why would he do this? I know he’s a villain and all, but this is just uncalled for! Three people have died. My own fiancé almost died. Two of those people did nothing to hurt anyone. They didn’t even have powers. They were completely innocent. I don’t care what I have to do. I’m doing anything to stop this guy. For the two innocent victims, the other heroes I work with, everyone.

RESEARCH LOG #6 - JORDAN

While Aria was writing here, practically ripping through the pages with the pencil, I decided to dig deeper into this guy. I’ve learned that he doesn’t usually commit crimes like this, so that’s why the killings relied heavily on the powers of the people he’s controlling. I also studied Kugo and Yuria. With what I observed, it looks like the person being mind controlled doesn’t remember what they did during. Neither of them even recall talking to the customer service person nor Perch. I also learned that recently he committed two crimes. They were petty, but his status in the villain community was big enough to require heroes to respond. I’m waiting to receive the records of who responded. While waiting though, I’m going to let Aria write. I asked her to locate him or where he may be. I’m handing this journal to Aria now, but I grabbed a new journal to put my own research in. Now I can continue my in-depth research on everything that is happening.

RESEARCH LOG #1 - ARIA

I know Jordan told me to go look around the city, but I also don’t exactly know what I’m looking for. What I’m aiming to find is a secluded area where villains like him may dwell though. This place is huge and finding a build may take some trial and error. I’ll do anything for Olive though, and if I find this guy. I’ll be one step closer to getting some form of revenge.

Alright. So um. I don’t really know what happened but I kind of crash landed into what seems like an abandoned building. It looks like the type of building I was thinking about finding, so I’m just going to look around.

RESEARCH LOG #7 - JORDAN

I got the records of the calls, and I’m not shocked. I was expecting this. Three people responded to the call: Perch, Kugo, and Yuria. Aria and Olive called off that day, but they would’ve been sent out too. The next call four people responded. The three from before, and Aria. Perch is dead, Kugo and Yuria are controlled, but what about Aria? She hasn’t shown a single sign of being mind controlled or anything along those lines. She may have gotten lucky, or Mechanic is waiting to use her as a secret weapon. I don’t know if I should tell her or not. This is a lot to handle, even for me. I don’t exactly know how to tell her, or what her reaction could be.

RESEARCH LOG #2 - ARIA

I’m flying back to the agency, but I found him. The building I crashed into was his hideout. I can’t wait for Olive and everyone to finally be safe again.

RESEARCH LOG #8 - JORDAN

Aria told me what she found. We’re so close to ending this. Kugo and Yuria seem to be doing better. They haven’t shown any signs of being controlled. It’s weird. I expected Mechanic to at least see if they could escape from the cell, but he hasn’t tried anything. Whatever the reason may be— I’m glad for it. Aria’s spending time with Olive, so I may take a break.

ARIA & OLIVE LOG #7

I’m here with Olive. She wants me to write some stuff down, but I’m going to do it for her because she’s really tired.

Olive just wanted to say sorry for not believing me at first, and she wishes she did. She said that I was right to be worried about how much she trusts people, and that she’ll try to be more wary of people. I told her it didn’t matter. It just mattered that she was safe. I’m proud of her for wanting to try though. I just don’t like seeing her hurt. That’s all she really wanted for me to write down, so I’m just going to put this down. Bye.

OLIVE MILLER LOG #4

This is akward. Aria just stood up, grabbed her journal, and left without saying a thing. She just pushed right past the staff and Jordan. I’m just happy Jordan had his journal that way I could write about it. I’m worried for her. She’s acting like Kugo and Yuria but a lot more mean. I hope she’s not in trouble. We almost lost each other, and I don’t want anything like that to happen ever again.

ARIA VERRE LOG #?

Dear god. Crap, crap, crap. I did a bad thing. Like a really bad thing. I’m in the building I was in earlier. I don’t know how I got here but I’m like 90% sure I killed Mechanic. Though, I don’t remember doing it. The last thing I remember was standing next to Olive’s hospital bed, and now I’m here. I feel so lost. There’s already flies. It’s old. What the hell happened? What did I do?