The street lights shine throughout the flooded streets, as thunder rumbles across the city. The sound of sirens was heard from the Industrial District.
Emergency vehicles surrounded a garage, and a few people were taken away to receive treatment, while the rest were questioned.
A man is screaming his head off talking about it.
"That boy needs to be arrested".
As the female officer wanted the whole story instead of the same response, the man was persistent.
Another officer was looking around the garage, which was wrecked. Tools were everywhere, and the shelves were on the floor. A small crater was found, as if someone's head had been driven into it, and signs of multiple gunshots were fired, but oddly, no firearms were found. He would search the jeep, but without a warrant, it's not possible.
Opening the break room, the place was intact, nothing seemed to be out of place, except for a missing med-kit. Making his way to the locker room, he found the door open. Taking a peek inside, seeing that lockers opened where pride opened, clothes everywhere. Taking a closer look, there were traces of blood that led outside in the alleyway, but the rain washed away the trail.
Looking around the locker room, by the look of it, the trail starts here, but not in the break room or the garage. Spotting a pipe wrench covered in blood and ropes that were cut up, it was clear now that, before confronting the suspects, he had seen one more piece of evidence.
"Suspect is a young male, brown hair, 5'8"- 5'9", skinny build. Are there any other notable features?"
"The boy …. was carrying a sword on him, and wearing one of those pjs that you get from the hospital."
The female officer was writing it down, looking up from her notes, when she spotted the other officer signaling her. The female officer reached into her coat and took out a small cube. Tossing it at the group of men, the cube expanded and wrapped around them.
The man was outraged and wanted to know why he was being detained. The male officer introduced himself as Tenma, Daishun
The officer handed over her note to Tenma and began to read it back.
"At 10:09am, you were doing an inspection on this jeep, and then all of a sudden, the boy appeared and started to attack you. If the numbers are correct, that is five mechanics, you, the Manager, and four other civilians. Is this information correct?
The Manager confirmed the information was corrected. Passing the notes back to the officer, Tenma asked a few more questions.
"So who is the eleventh victim hiding in the back?"
In a cold sweat, the Manager panicked. He said, "The eleventh guy must be the intruder. We did manage to get a few hits or two."
"That would make sense, but if it wasn't for two things. There was no sign that the intruder was wounded and you admitted that there was another and didn't tell anyone."
Tenma breaks down the most likely scenario.
Around 10am, the client arrived for an inspection, assuming you and the client were negotiating prices, and by negotiating, you were in the back torturing the other victim. That's when the boy made his entry. Since there was no sign of forced entry, that meant that you left your garage door open, or he was hiding underneath the jeep. Then the whole fight ensues, the boy slammed one of your guys to the floor, you try to fight an overwhelming opponent, but he was too much, pulling out a small firearm you began firing, but not a single shot hits. After knocking everyone out, the boy passed the break room, entered the locker room, spotted the eleventh victim that had been beaten, grabbed the med-kit, tended to his wounds, and they left.
"Firearms, the other victims. What if the kid does all that"
"That could be the case, but you had at least a few minutes between when the call was made and our arrival. That gives you a small time frame to remove your firearms but the victim was gone. What's left with nothing to clean up?"
"And that will also make your earlier statement false." The officer said. "You stated that the kid had a sword; if he had a firearm, you should have reported it. "
The Manager couldn't defend himself, but Tenma wasn't done yet. Taking out a bag that contains a single large bullet.
"This is an armor-piercing round, and it's illegal to have it in your possession. This gives us more than enough reason to investigate everyone."
Tenma's phone started to ring, seeing that the call ID was his daughter's. Completely changing his demeanor.
" Alright, Officer Heller, you can take over. I've got to answer this."
As Heller was reading their rights, one of the men phased through the bind. Changing at Heller, but she was dead calm. Tenma grabbed the man's shirt and threw him to the ground, and placed a different bind that prevented him from phasing through.
Hanging up the phone, Tenma asked for a description of the boy, and Heller handed over the notes. Reading the description and adding an additional note, "possibly change clothes." Looking up at the sky, even though the morning was slow, the day was only getting started.
On the streets, the sound of horns echoed throughout the city as traffic was jammed. As the storm began to settle, the streets became lively. A mother and two children were by the crosswalk. Once the sign turned green, the children raced down the crosswalk. The mother yelled at them for running in the rain, but the children were unaware of a truck barreling towards them.
One of them looked at the truck, and at that moment, everything began to slow down, and a light flickered. The truck crashed into a barrier, and the children fell over. The mother quickly rushed over, and one of the children was crying, but the other one was mesmerized by the barrier that was cracked. The mother hugged her children and asked them if they were alright, but one of them asked if they had seen the light. She only told them not to worry about such a thing.
The driver steps out of his truck, realizing what he has done. He starts to run the scene, but two individuals tackle him to the ground. The man asked them to identify themselves. Two badges were presented with an emblem of a wolf. Taking a cube out of their coats, they bind the man and carry him away.
As the barrier dissolved, the officer took the mother's statement, checking the time she was late, and quickly ran off with her kids. Entering a busy diner dropping her kids at a corner booth. Her boss began to scold her for being late; the most she could do was apologize for being tardy. Dressed in uniform the boss told her to start taking orders.
Taking one order after another, the task wasn't too demanding, but dealing with rude customers was exhausting. With a coffee pot in hand, she went to a corner booth for her last order.
In the corner booth was a teenager with brown hair, a slim, white shirt, black pants, and a duffel bag next to him. On the table there was a paper that he was writing on and the other seemed to be an unpaid bill. She couldn't help but pity the young man. Introducing herself as Tracy and asking for his order, he answered with a gentle smile, "Coffee and the #5 Special, ma'am." She was astonished that the first customer was polite all day.
Serving him coffee, before she had a chance to ask if he wanted milk or sugar. He took a sip, seeing a gentle smile to a genuine one. It was like he hadn't had one in years.
Two men in coats enter the Diner, demanding to be seated. Tracy excused herself and attended to the two men. Greeting them politely, she escorted them as everyone was looking at them disgustedly, like a parasite.
Offering a standard table they displeased, complaining that they deserve better being the protector of the city. See the corner booth with her kid in it; they demand the seats, and she complies. Asking her children to move, she was frustrated at first, but they listened to her and moved to the standard table.
Pouring them a cup of coffee, two men were talking about crime scenes back at the industrial district boasting how they helped solve the cases and how brutal the scene was. Tacy shows no interest and tries to leave after finishing serving them.
Spilling some coffee on the floor, they wave to her back. Tell her to clean up the mess that she made. Taking out a rag, she drops down to wipe the spill. Spilling some more on the floor, they told her to stop being clumsy. The people would look at her in pity, but not do a thing.
The men laughed at her as she was cleaning the floor. Grabbing the coffee pot that was left on the table, before he had a chance to pour out the coffee over her head a napkin dispenser was thrown and hit the man's head.
"Who did that?!"
Looking at the table, one of her children was in tears because the dispenser was missing. Throwing a bottle of hot sauce at them, they were furious. Marching at the children, but Tracy stepped in between them begging them not to harm her children
Pushing her aside, he extended his arm to grab them, but another light flickered and a barrier appeared completely surrounding the children.
"Alright that's enough"
Walking up was the young man with a calm expression, and with a clear look at his face, they noted his silver eyes.
"Leave kid this has nothing to do with you"
"How rich, coming some with such viles in their hearts. You call yourself protectors, but two are just foxes, immediately noise."
Irritated by his comment, they give him one last chance to walk away, but he refuses.
"Alright kid, as part of the Phoenix Division. We are going to teach you a lesson."
Taking out batons from their coats, they began swinging at him. Dodging their attacks, noting how sloppy their movements are. Taking advantage of that, he easily trips one of them to the floor and grabs the other's baton mid swing.
He gave him an intense glare before taking the baton out of his hand. A cube was thrown at him, and binds him. Showing no sign of struggling.
"For a kid, you're quite fast, too bad this is what your mouth gets."
Taking a deep breath, he mumbled "Ruptua" which ripped the binds completely.
As they stood in shock, they grabbed one of them by the shirt and tossed him into his partner, taking them out.
The boss walks in seeing the two officers on the ground. In anger, he grabbed the boy who was responsible and told him to get out. Nobody wanted to defend him, not even Tracy, she was scared, this would cost her job. Seeing the fear in her eyes, he complied, got his duffel, grabbed an umbrella from the stand, and walked out of the Diner.
Cleaning herself up, one of the waitresses came to check on her, placing down the tray that she was carrying. Handing over a bag, Tracy looked at the receipt, asking, "Who paid for this?"
"The boss."
Running out of the Diner to catch up to him. Stopping and turning towards her.
"Why are you here?"
Slightly out of breath, she bowed, "Thank you so much for helping us out."
"Don't mention it, I just hate seeing things like that."
Stunned by his response, she offers the bag to him, but he refuses it. Tracy was persistent and shoved the bag at him.
Thanking him again, she asked for his name.
"It's Gray ma'am. One thing, tell your boss that he's a good man."
Walking there separately, Gray looked up at the sky and stuck his hand out, feeling drops, he could help but smile.
"So this is what rain feels like, looks like you're right, teach."
Walking in a hospital as people were rushed into the I.C.U., Tenma was standing next to a patient on life support, coming into the room, Heller was carrying a medical chart.
"It looks like his blood matches at the scenes. Blunt head trauma, ten broken ribs, multiple fractures, both arms and legs are broken, internal bleeding, he is lucky to be alive, after suffering through all that."
Asking if that was it, Heller looked at the man with a sad expression. Taking out a Post-it note, she gives it to Tenma.
"One of the nurses wrote it down while the patient was still conscious. He gave the name, Ares"
"Ares, if I remember correctly, that name was used in the underground as an arms dealer or loaning money."
"Could he possibly be a traitor?"
"I highly doubt that they would have killed him on the spot, rather than keep him alive."
Walking into the room a doctor wanted to see how the patient was doing. Passing by Heller, seeing her insignia, the doctor gave a snarky look at Heller. Seeing her frustration, Tenma told her to relax.
The doctor took out a photo, showing Gray with eyes filled with coolness, carrying the patient on his back.
"Do you know where he is?"
"No clue, he left before we had a chance to question him."
Apologizing to the doctor, Tenma and Heller left the room and got on the elevator. Seeing that Heller is still frustrated, Tenma asked what was wrong, but Heller did not answer him
"I get it's not my business to know, but don't let your feelings get in the way of work."
Hesitant at first but Heller said, "It's nothing much, just the medical insignia that I wear. I thought I'd get used to it, but it's unsettling that they look at me as some kind of traitor."
"A traitor hum. Of course, they are going to see you like that. For someone with grade-A healing, you would enrich any hospital if you joined them, but you still made your decision."
"Wow, you spoke like a wise old man."
Exiting the elevator, Heller looks at her phone. Seeing her notification, she rushed Tenma out the door.
Tenma wondered why he was being rushed. Heller told Tenma about the traffic accident that happened at the intersection, and they found illegal weapons in a truck