[center][h2]Collab between Azereiah & Jedly
[color=#7bcdc8]Yongzheng Huang[/color] & [color=#FFBF00]Styx[/color][/h2][/center]

Yongzheng Huang, the Undead Detective. The name should strike fear into the hearts of any would-be criminals. At least, that's what Yongzheng thought when he picked up the job - but there was one who seemed to completely disregard his existence, and, more annoyingly, always seemed to be impossible to charge with anything. That person was interfering with police business once again, according to a call that had come in several minutes prior. Yongzheng's new partner - whatever his name was - had already departed the police department for the crime scene being tampered with, and had called in that he had arrived. Yongzheng himself was still only just pulling up to a parking space nearby.

He then got out of the car. Or, rather, he tried to. What would have been a natural motion for anybody else required him to make a sustained effort for several minutes, and instead of opening the door and placing his feet on the pavement, he simply leaned over and fell against the still-closed door. There was considerable radio chatter - most of which consisted of complaints that the only person authorized to investigate deaths who was on duty at the time was [i]late again[/i]. That would be him.

He then got out of the car. Successfully this time, and only after fighting every ounce of muscle in his body to put it into a position where opening the door was possible. [i]That blasted reaper had better not have run off the victim again[/i], he thought to himself as he bounced toward his destination a half a block away.

The disheveled mass of spindly arms and unwavering justice was the last person Styx imagined to be his savior. Golden beaming irises watched as the man fought against the fundamentals of entropy to lug himself out of his own cruiser and into the evening sun. With his hands still raised in surrender, the Ankou made his way over to the detective, orb of a cerulean hue and piss-poor posture shortly to follow. [color=#FFBF00]"Good evening, detective."[/color] A pang of irritation resided within the indirect greeting, relaxing his arms in the new arrival's wake. 

Though it wasn't Styx who was doing the talking, but rather the little ball of floating light next to him. It brightened and dimmed to visualize his speech, and emitted a voice befitting an adolescent male. [color=#FFBF00]"Hey, I have a request- nothing too taxing, don't worry. Mind telling your officers to keep their tails [i]off[/i] the trigger? As fun as picking bullets out of your head wi- well, really, it's not fun at all. At least the first hound showed some trigger discipline."[/color] The Ankou, or as the locals called him, the "Reaper" donned fairly casual attire that would definitely be classified [i]en vogue[/i], as opposed to the relic standing before him practically emanating righteousness. He was as normal as they come in the Imaginary District.

On the outside that is.

The only noteworthy characteristic was the surgical face mask strewn tightly over his mouth. But aside from this sole feature he easily fell under the category titled [i]nondescript[/i]. And no place like the Imaginary District for the term "normal" to be painfully misconstrued and distorted. Styx and his companion Mizar waited idly for the detective to grace them with invaluable words.

They received none. Instead, Yongzheng grunted in annoyance and hopped toward his partner, who was examining the corpse, opting to outright ignore the intruder. The boy wouldn't try anything while he was present, as far as he could tell. He tapped his partner on the shoulder with one of his arms, which stayed outstretched at all times to maintain his balance. [color=7bcdc8]"What've you got for me?"[/color]

The visual difference between himself and the Ankou could hardly have been more striking had the boy been flashing gang signs and wearing one of the local mobsters' signature bandanas. Yongzheng's uniform, which was, strictly speaking, not a uniform, was several hundreds of years old and carried with it the authority of the Ming Dynasty and, indirectly, the now-deceased Wanli Emperor. People tended to not as quickly notice that he was a walking corpse in light of the ancient robes he wore, which he had only gained permission to wear on the job by claiming 'religious significance'. Anybody who wasn't nearly four hundred years old wouldn't have been able to get away with it - and it was still technically a police uniform, albeit centuries outdated.

His partner glanced toward the Ankou, shrugged, and responded to the detective's query. "Gunshot wounds to the head. Several. Looks like he didn't die on the first three. Think it's a murder?"

[color=7bcdc8]"Possibly. Can't imagine anyone in their right mind shooting themselves that many times. Any signs of a gunfight? He's armed, but I want to know if he opened fire himself."[/color]

Styx wasn't hurt in the slightest when Yongzheng basically didn't even note his presence, but it was clear that he had sped his way over here simply because of it. The Ankou followed close behind and took his spot on the other side of the detective's partner, craning his neck over to get another good look at the victim. The guy was already long dead by the time he appeared at the scene and did a little investigating himself before the men, gals, and other unique beings in blue arrived. [color=#FFBF00]"Didn't sense any sources of essence vacating the area, but it could have just as likely been a hit and run."[/color] Though if that was the case, forensics would be finding bullets spaced out from one another, which would allude to multiple shooters. [color=#FFBF00]"Though I don't think that's the case."[/color] The teen clarified on his earlier chip and crouched down next to the corpse. 

His eyes fell upon the sidearm clenched tightly in his hand, covered in specks of his own blood, [color=#FFBF00]"Either he shot himself and had quite the tolerance for pain, or somebody placed the weapon in his hand and let rigor mortis do the rest."[/color] Mizar hovered just over Styx's shoulder, acting as a verbal medium as the younger undead offered his own insight. His utterance that followed even had the seasoned and extremely aged detective's head on a swivel.

[color=#FFBF00]"But he was content."[/color]

Huang's eyes shot to the younger undead. As much as he disliked the boy's constant intrusions, even he had to admit that he was useful in determining potential causes of death. He generally refused to respond to any of Styx's suggestions himself, but rather allowed them to steer investigations in the right direction. More bothersome than the boy's presence, however, was the absolute lack of certain people he had mentioned. Forensics wasn't present. Generally they arrived before anybody other than the patrol officer who had found the crime scene, but this time, they had magically disappeared. Heads would roll for this one.

[color=7bcdc8]"Hand me your notes, get back to the car, figure out where the [i]hell[/i] the forensics team is. I'll take care of things here until they get here."[/color]

His partner, the police department's newest recruit saluted and ran off. Now that nobody impressionable was present, Officer Huang turned toward Styx.

[color=7bcdc8]"Might just mean he didn't realize he died - and what do you mean [i]was[/i]? I thought I've told you before that even if they're dead, bothering them like that [i]still qualifies as harassment[/i]."[/color]

Well, at least the rookie's crisp salute was refreshing, in a sense. Styx gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes after the detective's words crept their way into his head. [color=#FFBF00]"Woah, surprised the kid didn't barf. Must have an iron stomach for a rookie."[/color] Humor failed to break the deadpan stare piercing into his... well he didn't really have a soul, now did he? The reaper met the assumption with a response, not wanting to find himself in a pair of cuffs. Granted, it's not like working out of them was strenuous in the slightest, just bothersome really. [color=#FFBF00]"Oi, I have my own ethics I live by too. I only give them a hard time if they're wraith-bound. Anyways, what I meant was I'm barely picking up any trace of his consciousness, which means he's almost completely over the boundary. In other words, he had no lingering ties and passed on without defiance, like it was something he wanted."[/color] 

His voice fell silent for a few moments as he rested his gaze on the empty husk sprawled out in the generic street. A faint sigh finally permeated the silence. [color=#FFBF00]"You'd think in such a unique place as this, people would find more things to live for."[/color] The youth gave the corpse a slight courteous bow with his head and stood back up, [color=#FFBF00]"Well, still doesn't bring us- sorry, [i]you[/i] any closer to the perp. Whether he offed himself or somebody capped him, the guy had no qualms and left this would with haste."[/color] 

The detective looked to Styx. He hadn't seen enough of the world to understand the subtleties of regret to a significant degree yet, having only existed for a couple decades. It was good to see that today's youth weren't obsessed with death as they had been during the 1980s, though. At least, not like the ones wearing dark finery at the time.

[color=7bcdc8]"Living somewhere interesting just means you can find more ways to screw up. If this guy offed himself, he probably had a lot of reasons for it."[/color]

Styx suddenly began glancing around while his expression hinted at subtle perplexity. His eyebrow cocked over his puzzled face as he turned to Mizar, passively floating in place. [color=#FFBF00]"Well, thanks for the powerful insight old-timer, I'll make sure to give you a call when I'm feeling down in the dum- wait a sec. Hey, Mizar, where's your little sister?"[/color] The blue orb jerked as it came to the same realization and spun in multiple direction, as if it was looking with an invisible face. [color=blue]"I-I don't know?"[/color] The voice this time around was of a notably higher pitch and bore a close resemblance to a young boy. 

Just then a little bulge formed in the back of Yongzheng's attire. It slowly worked up the undead detective's spine, surely making the man experience intensities of discomfort he's never met up til today. With a high-pitched [color=red]"Puwaaaaah~!!"[/color] a rosy orb, smaller in contrast to Mizar shot out of the detective's collar. Alcor whizzed its way over to Styx and began nuzzling the Ankou's cheek. [color=red]"Styx~! Styx~!"[/color] 

The detective shot several feet into the air when the ghostly orb appeared in the back of his robe. The living wouldn't have felt such a strong reaction, but as a walking corpse, the feel of death itself touching his spine was, in a sense, extraordinarily [i]cold[/i]. [color=7bcdc8]"Ngah! I thought I told you to keep that one on a leash, kid!"[/color]

Styx held his arms out at his sides completely powerless, [color=#FFBF00]"You know kids, they like to explore new horizons. Though Alcor, that's not a cavern you want to go spelunking in, no matter how aged it may be,"[/color] The Ankou rubbed the younger familiar with his finger, [color=#FFBF00]"And I'll keep my familiars on a leash [i]if[/i] you tell that one officer of yours, the hell was his name- ah, I don't know. Anyways, mind just telling him to take a bloody chill pill or something?"[/color] His response was very "teen-like", filled with enough laxation to even put a noteworthy undead such as Yongzheng to sleep. [color=#FFBF00]"I think my work here is done for the most part. Mind if I just sanctify the body so a lurking spirit doesn't make it its new home? Even you honor the dead, right?"[/color] Styx was already in the midst of loosening his face mask while Mizar conveyed his intentions. 

[color=7bcdc8]"Not before Forensics gets here and checks the craters in this guy's skull out. If it's such a big deal, I'll keep him from getting back up again myself until they've had the chance to take a look."[/color]

Though it wasn't his area of expertise by any means, Huang knew from experience that draining every last drop of vitality from a body would make it extremely inhospitable to what he liked to refer to as squatters. The rookie returned, eyes shining with admiration for the older officer for having successfully prevented the younger undead from tampering with the body. "Sir, they're on their way now. Somebody had apparently baked laxatives into the communal doughnuts."

[color=#FFBF00]"PFFFFFFT."[/color]

The Imaginary District Police were in utter shambles. It was a disgrace to all law enforcement officers who had ever lived, as far as Huang was concerned. The next step was figuring out whose heads were on the chopping block after today's misadventures, and the first was the trigger-happy [i]jackass[/i] that had opened fire rather than redirecting Styx. Even though the boy was clearly no worse for the wear, it was difficult to tell what kind of undead anybody was, and had he been a zombie or vampire, then his head would be missing and the I.D.P.D would be facing a massive lawsuit.

Huang turned to Styx again. [color=7bcdc8]"You didn't touch the body, right?"[/color]
Without waiting for his response, he called out to the other officers on-site. [color=7bcdc8]"Nobody here saw him touch the body? Nobody at all?"[/color]

Silence. Dead silence. The other officers collectively shrugged. [color=7bcdc8]"Go on, get out of here. Nothing to charge you with. And do me a favor - if you want to screw with dead people, [i]ask first[/i]. For that matter, you said you got shot at, right? I'll deal with it."[/color]

Styx basically had to fight his way through tears and internal whooping laughter, though the blue orb laughed in his place while he nearly doubled over and tightened the mask. [color=#FFBF00]"Well, I'll take your word for it then. Anyways, thanks. Hey, if you want to keep the crime scene clean there's a diner a block over. Sure they'd be more than happy to offer your co-workers a restroom or two for private use..."[/color] The Ankou trailed off when he produced his cellphone and gave it a quick tap to check on the time. 

Without even transition or lapse denial took over his visible expression, [color=#FFBF00]"Crap, I'm late."[/color] Even though it wasn't an exclamation, it was obvious he was a bit rattled. [color=#FFBF00]"Oh yeah, detective, thought I should inform you. We're technically mutually connected now."[/color] Styx raked his head in disbelief, completely unaware how quickly the time flew by, [color=#FFBF00]"Recently joined the MYO, so I'm supposedly a lawful civil worker now."[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]"Damn it.[/color]