The first thing Elias noticed was the whole room being white, including the walls, floor and roof. If he had to guess the room had probably been decontaminated several times. The second thing he noticed was the Autopsy table, and the motionless naked man on it surrounded by trays holding surgical tools: scalpels, forceps, a bone saw, and other instruments designed for cutting, slicing, and prying.
For a moment, no one moved. Elias took a deep breath as he noticed the naked man on the autopsy table, without even a cloth covering him then glanced at Michael and Julian "Guess we're not the first ones here, considering the man isnt even covered. Let's get on with it."
As the three scientists moved toward the man on the table, Elias spoke, "Adams, the file." As he came to a stop beside the autopsy table.
Standing at the foot of the table, Adams quickly opened the file. His eyes looked through the redacted documents before he read aloud, "It says the subject's name, well, code-name to be precise is 'Precursor'."
Michael let out a quiet snort. "'Precursor'? Huh. Definitely not concerning at all." He sighed and shook his head, as if trying to push the thought aside. "Anything else?"
"Give me a sec" Julian continued flipping through the pages. "First name's Raziel, last name's redacted." His brows furrowed as he continued. "Huh, has a next of kin, first name's Lilian, last name is redacted just like his is." He frowned, his eyes looked up from the file in his hands to the man on the table. "Feels like i've heard that name before."
Michael turned his head slightly. "Heard the name before have you?" Michael smirked as he spoke. "Didn't take you for that kind of guy, Adams," he said, voice tinged with slight amusement.
Julian's head snapped up. "What? No, I didn't mean it like that!"
Michael moved as he smirked, hidden only becaue of the hazmat suit he was wearing. "Relax, Julian. We're all friends here. We won't tell Naomi that you have a thing for another woman." Still smirking he looked at Elias who ignored him, as he almost as an after thought said "Wouldn't want to be the bearer of the bad news when she gets that pissed."
Julian groaned. "Jesus, no, you idiot. I meant that guy." he pointed at the dead man on the autopsy table. "He was with Night Veil, Or at least a scientist for them, I think?"
Michael sighed in disappointment. "Well, that's boring." He looked at the dead man's face and spoke curiously. "Though, I'm more curious as to why do you even know he could be with Night Veil?"
That made Elias pause. Night Veil. He stared at the still man on the table, thoughts drifting for a moment. 'I gotta stop eating beans…' He sighed, voice firm again. "Well, he's Ex-Night Veil now. And if you two are done flirting, we have work to do." He extended a hand toward Michael. "Hand me the eight-inch blade so we can get this over with already."
Michael reached for the scalpel tray, but before handing it over, he turned, a forced smile on his face. "That reminds me, Elias, Buddy. Why didn't you tell me about Elizabeth's wedding?"
Elias sighed, taking the blade from him. He had expected Michael to find out—just not this soon. The wedding planning was still ongoing, and it was supposed to be a surprise. He shook his head, already eeling the headache forming. For the love of...
Michael crossed his arms. "I thought we were friends! You traitorous bastard?!"
Elias shot a glare at Adams. "You didn't..."
Adams shrugged, a slight smirk on his face as he raised his hands in the air, file still in hand. "In my defense. I was bribed with super bowl tickets and that he was way more dramatic when he asked me." Elias groaned. Michael may not have been the best at his job but he always knew how to find others weaknesses.
"I was going to tell you in time," Elias muttered, his gaze on the corpse. "Besides, the wedding planning isn't even finished yet. There's at least a month left before everything is ready."
'Here he goes again.' Adam thought to himself as he flipped the pages of the file in his hands.
Michael always doted on kids, especially little Elizabeth. Ever since she was a child, he would always get her ice cream, sweets, amusement park tickets, and toys from his trips. At first, Elias and Adams thought it was odd for him to be so dotting, but they understood once Michael had explained. He was sterile. He had always wanted a daughter of his own to spoil.
Mockingly, Michael huffed, "'I was going to tell you in time.' There's only a month left. How the hell am I supposed to pick out a gift for little Eliza, huh?!"
Elias shook his head. "Can we at least save the wedding drama until after we're done with the autopsy? Not sure about you two but I, personally am not a fan of casual conversation while a corpse is present in the room."
Michael groaned "Fine, Fine."
Adam finding nothing useful looked up from the file in his hands and at the body. "There's no time of death mentioned in the file, but judging by no skin discoloration the death must have occured within an hour or 2 ago at least."
"They couldn't even be botherd to give a proper time of death? Just more work for us." Michael sighed, standing near the surgical tools looking at his colleagues.
Elias sighed. "Let's just start by going through the torso." Elias gripped the blade tighter as he brought it closer to the man's flesh to make a vertcal incision on his chest.
With practiced and expirenced ease Elias pressed its sharp cold edge against the man and in a precise motion pulled the blade downward, creating a precise incision. The flesh sliced apart, opening a dark empty maw of flesh oozing no blood.
Just as Elias pulled the blade back, Michael took a step back and looked at Elias as Adam spoke quickly. "That's not normal..."
Quickly Michael spoke up as he looked at the blade in Elias hand and then at the empty dark maw created on the man's chest. "I-It must be lividity? It's probably been a few hours. Right?"
"No visible discoloration and no blood from the incision..." Elias replied slowly as he stared at the incision. Just as he was about to look away he saw light get reflected from inside the opened flesh for but a moment. His breathing stopped, his hands still as he stood there holding the blade, unmoving.
Adam quickly noticed Elias standing still, staring at the newly created incision. "Elias." He spoke yet there was no reply, so he spoke again putting a hand on his shoulder. "Elias."
Elias stood still as he spoke. "Did you see that?!" His eyes narrowed as his eyes darted between looking at the incision and at the dead mans face as if expecting him to wake up any moment. "I just saw light get reflected! It was only for a brief moment but—"
"The blood must be clotted in place then? or could be just a mirror? A serial killers doing maybe?" Michael cut him off as he spoke nervously.
Elias ignored Michael and looked at Adam, voice almost frantic. "Adam, are you certain you weren't given any more information?"
Adam spoke hurriedly, flipping the pages of the file in his hands, breath quick, his movements fast, almost frantic. "Like i already said, I wasnt given any more information than this file!" As he finished flipping through the pages he slammed the file onto the surgical tools. "There's nothing useful in the damn thing!"
Elias grabbed the blade in his hands tighter as he brought it closer to the opened chest again holding it by the end of the blade ready to plunge it in. "What are you doing?" Adam spoke up concerned yet curious but heard no reply.
Michael barely heard anything, as he stood there staring at the body. His voice barely above a whisper. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Elias face hovered right above the parted flesh looking in he saw the light get reflected again and right behind it a slight movement like a snake's. "Fuck! It's moving! Michael grab the—"