1 A Day Without Breakfast

"Alex Bell! You better wake up now!" A shrill voice yelled into the man's ears. "A grown ass man acting like a terrible lazy bum, get up!" The voice continued screaming as Alex felt the poisonous pain of pinches on his cheek.

Irritated, he finally opened his eyes. "It's a sunday! What the heck is wrong with you Melon!" He cursed, only to see the young girl fuming in rage.

"Don't call me melon! My name is Melissa!" The girl stomped. "It's your turn to clean the house!"

Alex sighed and nodded. "Very well, miss. You win."

An hour later, a fresher Alex walked out of his room, walking towards the kitchen to have breakfast, dreading to have to clean the house on his day off.

His father Jim, his mother Anna and his younger sister Melissa were already eating their breakfast while happily discussing about daily affairs.

"There he comes, our royal sloth!" Melissa snorted. "If I didn't wake him up, I'd have to be on cleaning duty again!"

Alex's dad laughed. "Melon, leave him alone. Poor kid just started on his new job. He is busy sorting through files all day. You can't imagine how hard the job of an archivist and recorder is."

Mom sighed with a tinge of sadness. "I'd rather he applied for further studies, but he decided to join the police as a historical archiver. What a waste of academic talent."

Alex ignored these jabs at his choice of work. He knew that his parents were not happy with him. After graduating as the valedictorian from one of the best universities in the countries and with various bright opportunities, Alex ended up choosing the most obscure and unassuming job that anyone could have imagined.

His family and friends had all been shocked by Alex's decision. But he had his own considerations. Alex sighed and picked up his fork and knife as he began digging into his sausages and ham, when the bell rang.

Alex immediately raised an eye. Dad walked to the door. "I wonder who it is so early on a sunday?" He asked out loud.

Opening the door, he found two people in plain clothes. However, their build was massive and they looked very strong and muscular, like they were professional rugby players. "Is this Alex's house?" One of the massive giants asked.

Dad turned to look at Alex, whose fork and knife hung in the air, without him having the opportunity to take a single bite. Alex looked at the two people and turned serious. He took out his pair of black thick framed glasses and wore them. Getting up from the table.

The two bulky individuals nodded. They looked at Alex's dad and took out their police badges. "Sir, we are in need of urgent services of Mr. Alex."

Alex had already put on his shoes and walked to the door. "I guess cleaning day is off." He laughed with mirth. Melissa frowned, but seeing those huge people, she didn't say anything.

Alex bid his family goodbye and left the house with the two people, leaving his parents and his younger sister in thought.

"If it was so urgent couldn't they have just called him? Besides, why would an archivist be urgently required?" Alex's dad wondered.

Alex's mom sighed. "I hope he isn't put in harm's way. Why did he join the police when he could have had a good academic career!"

Melissa looked at the door with a frown. "Alex is very suspicious. He has always been mysterious and suspicious."

Dad rapped her head. "You and your stupid conspiracy theories."

Downtown Third Avenue had been sealed off by the police. Traffic had been diverted and all news about the incident censored. The crucial point of interest was the high school located on the road. Being a sunday, there weren't any students or teachers on campus, only a small skeleton staff.

However, at the moment, the place was swarming with police who had sealed off the area and escorted everyone out of the campus. Among the police were several people in black outfits that seemed pretty unusual and futuristic body suits roaming around. On the third floor of the school, people in hazmat suits were running around, setting up perimeters and using complicated machinery to scan everything, however, one particular room was left untouched.

Alex and the two buff people walked into campus. Alex being the only one in plain clothes. However, he was soon taken to a corner where he was given one of the futuristic black body suits to change into. After a few minutes, he along with five others were on the third floor and entered the room that had been left untouched.

Alex looked at the scene in the room and sighed. "Details please." He said with seriousness in his tone.

"Friday midnight, Maggie Richards, a student at this school was reported missing. According to her parents, she was a very well behaved child who never broke her parents' curfew rules. Fearing something went awry, she was reported missing to the police.

After a search in the area, no signs of her were discovered by the police and a suspected kidnapping was considered. However, cameras showed that Maggie never left the school on Friday. After a thorough search was conducted yesterday, nothing was found in the school.

Sniffer Dogs showed that her scent never left the school either and interrogation of her friends revealed that she had to stay back to perform class cleaning duties on Friday. At this point, we were called in for a preliminary check.

As per protocol, we employed Object "Blotted Paper" as a preliminary check and obtained a positive. Immediately, we began using sensors and interference protocols to scan the entire area before detecting this scene.

We found a stone pillar statue that resembles the lifelike features of Miss Maggie and following that, the school was immediately sealed, awaiting investigations from Black Matter." A lady spoke plainly as if they had encountered a daily phenomenon.

Alex tapped the frame of his spectacles, common habit of his, which immediately turned the others alert. He walked around the exquisitely carved statue, closely observing it from every angle, occassionally nodding, other times frowning, before sighing and making his distance.

"This is the real Maggie." Alex said after some analysis. "She has been 'triggered'."

"Are you sure?" Another young man among the five asked. His name was Merl.

Alex didn't reply, but readjusted his glasses. "The expression on the face is one of shock, surprise and fear; indicating a sudden event that threw her off guard. Her clothes are frozen in an awkward position, which indicates that there was a heavy wind in the room at that very instant before she was petrified into stone.

Her movement clearly indicates that she was tumbling backwards, clearly such a lifelike statue, if carved with such precision would have required her to be in this exact position for a long time, however, it is impossible for someone to be in this position where they are about to keel over for minutes, let alone hours. Thus, this is a case of petrification.

We need to identify the conditions for petrification and isolate the cause." Alex finally ended his analysis.

Merl raised an eye in shock, but the initial doubts in his eye were totally wiped off. "Your glasses are truly terrifying."

Alex nodded. "The right object in the right hands can create synergy." He walked around the statue, while also observing the classroom. He was looking for clues he might have missed on his first look.

"Where are the girl's possessions?" He suddenly asked, his eyes narrowing.

"..." The woman who had been placidly narrating the sequence of events, Elena was left speechless. "We failed to consider it due to the sudden discovery."

Alex didn't seem to care as he continued speaking. "The girl's statue seems to have her carrying no object. However, her possessions are missing. Either the 'mystery' involved has taken those possessions, or we can consider this the result of the actions of a second party, who tried to naively hide away the belongings.

For now let's try to eliminate the second possibility. Please interrogate the classmates to find out everything about Miss Maggie. Do not depend on the parents rosy views about their daughter. Try to find out if Miss Maggie had a history of bullying or being bullied, or having enmity with any other student."

Elena nodded as she took out her phone and immediately began to delegate orders. Alex turned around and asked. "Can we deploy Object "Searching Radar" to search for her belongings? That will simplify this case immediately."

Elena shook her head. "It is currently being deployed in another case and cannot be used for the moment."

Alex nodded. He looked around the classroom and made further analyses. "The girl is holding the duster in her hand, clearly backing away from the white board." Alex walked behind the girl's statue, to look at where she was looking at. "Her line of sight, is almost as if looking in fear that something is pouncing on her from the blackboard. Get the whiteboard tested with UV torchlight for fingerprints and what was previously written on the board."

Soon, someone shined the UV lights and used another projector to analyze and display what was previously written on the white board. "Sirs, the board is showing signs of blood, and the last word written was Revenge." The investigator said.

Alex raised an eye. "I suspect that the word written on the board turned into a malevolent force that petrified Miss Maggie. The probability of this being the work of a second party is high."

"Revenge. If this word was some kind of curse, then why did the signs of blood still remain?" Merl wondered, before answering it himself. "The source object has just activated."

Alex nodded. "It is some malevolent object that involves a blood ritual and is possibly related to stone."

Soon, Elena received a call. "A few of Maggie's friends broke down under pressure and revealed that she constantly bullied a girl in the next class. Apparently they used to be friends in middle school, but the girl's family fell on hard times and became poor, and Maggie has been bullying her since then."

Alex nodded. He was simply an investigator, the legwork could be done by the Black Matter. Instead, he was interested in analyzing the limits of the petrification. He first took a bottle of water and poured it on the statue, but there was no effect other than making the statue wet. Similarly, other objects on contact with the petrified girl showed no change.

The other Black Matter investigators looked on at Alex's antics and shook their heads. Merl looked at the others. "How did this guy become a consultant?"

Elena looked deeply at Alex. "He helped Black Mtter resolve two incidents at his school when he was a student. He has been a consultant since then. Apparently, those glasses of his bound to him during one of those school incidents, and as you can see, the analysis power of the glasses is considerably magnified in the hands of an analyst like Mr. Alex."

Meanwhile, Alex touched the statue himself, to see that he was unaffected. "This is a directed curse. It is directed at the girl, a natural effect would bloom on contact. Search the bully victim's house for clues."

They didn't have to wait long. However, when Elena delivered the news, her face had a frown. She looked at the others. "Mr. Alex was indeed on the money. The girl, Tessa, was in possession of an Object, which has now been captured."

"Captured? Not procured?" Alex stressed.

Elena nodded. "Captured. The girl was frightened by the sudden approach of cops amd the stone activated, petrifying five agents, however, it was eventually captured. We are now analyzing the object to reverse the petrification."

Merl looked at the statue of Maggie. "Is she even alive?" None of the others responded and he turned to Alex, who shrugged. "I can simply analyze clues. I am not omniscient."

Elena received a phone call after which she looked at Alex. "Mr. Alex, thank you for your help in resolving this situation immediately, the higher ups will now handle the object and the petrification, you can return and enjoy your weekend."

Back at home, the bell rang. Melissa opened the door to see her mysterious brother was back. "Did you finish your clandestine activities?" She asked with hostility in her voice. "I had to clean the house, despite it not being my turn, just because of you!"

"Ha? I just had to analyze some records for some case. You need to stop over working your little brain." He flicked her forehead and walked inside, crashing onto the couch.

"Oh, you're back already?" Alex's mom asked.

"Yeah mom, I just finished my work and returned home." Alex yawned uncontrollably. "Jeez, so tiring."

Right then Alex's dad turned on the local news. "Missing student Maggie Richards has been found thanks to a proactive and urgent investigation by the police department. The rapid action on the part of the police helped save the child from abductors. Maggie was just returned to her parents unharmed, however, information the police have been tight lipped regarding the perpetrators."

Alex saw the news and sighed. The Black Matter had already resolved the petrification and potentially taken control of the artifact. Alex's dad looked at the complex expressions on Alex's face and his face turned serious as well.

"Were you involved in this case, son?" He asked.

Alex shrugged. "Uh huh." He began operating his encrypted tablet given to him by the Black Matter organization and found an encrypted email. He opened it to see details of the Artifact which was involved in the case.

"Code named: Blood Spot Stone. A stone with a soft spot that contains blood. The stone is a living entity that allows the owner to absorb the blood and gain the power to curse their enemies to petrification. The curse is reversible with no harmful effects."