Chapter 9
-Abandoned building-
-Parking lot-
The sound of footsteps and chains rattling was heard in the parking lot of the building, as a group of women of varying ages but what was common between them was the dirty clothes, worn out and dishevelled appearance and red marks somewhere on their body, they were being escorted towards a cargo truck by four people who were armed with rifles and covered head to toe in black with a porcelain animal masks to cover their face.
The armored men were silent as they took the women who some were silently sobbing, crying or sniffling to the truck, opening the door of the trailer, the women started to walk inside it and when there were no more, they closed the door and locked it with a keylock.
Two, one with a boar and the other with a dog mask turn around ready to leave while the other two, with one having a bear and the other an eagle mask went to the driver seat of the truck but two thuds, stopped them making the two who were about to get in the truck to turn around to see the other two on the ground unconscious.
"The hell," Bear said as he approached the two slowly to check on them while Eagle had his gun ready to fire at anything.
Crouching down when he reached them, Bear checked on their pulses. "They are fine just out of it," he said as he noticed something odd a small red dot on Boar's neck. "The…" he didn't finish as he felt something pierce his own neck but before, he could move or do anything, he fell on the ground unconscious.
Eagle aimlessly pointed his gun around the parking lot. "Who the hell is out there!" he yelled, getting silence as a response, he took out his phone but before he could do anything, he felt a hand covering his mouth while his arm was twisted and pinned against his back. He tried to struggle desperately to get away from the cold grip.
"There's no need to scream, it will be over in a few." He heard a distorted voice and seconds after, he felt volts reck through his body causing the man to let out muffled screams until he passed out.
The body was dropped, as the figure started to become visible. {Parking lot secure,} Amber said as the two walked out of the shadows.
{Good job, no problems I presumed?} Ben asked as he walked through the empty hallways into the elevator and pressed a button.
{Yes, Sir} Amber answered as she and Yuga went to tie the four up with some chains.
{Good,} Ben said as the door closed and the elevator started to move.
While Yuga and Amber tied the four, Lilith went to the back of the truck. {Amber, look for the key of lock,} Lilith said, getting a nod from the other woman.
{Here} she said, throwing at her.
Grabbing it, Lilith unlocked the lock and opened the door to look at the women who were looking at the floor, something that made her almost shed a tear not only seeing women of her age but some way younger than her. making her tighten her grip on the door, as she scanned their faces. "They are beyond deplorable," she thought. {Do they match the list?}
Yusei went through the list of the missing people. {Wait a moment,} he said and after a while of analyzing. {They are… and even some who weren't yet reported.}
{What is their state?} Ben asked as he lean on the elevator wall closing his eyes.
{They look like they have been through too much,} Lilith said as the prolonged time of the door being opened made some look at her and on instinct back away. "poor souls," she thought {Outside speakers on,} she said, making her helmet beep a little.
"Hey," she said gently, making some flinch slightly at the voice. "We are here to help, you don't have to worry this nightmare is over," she said trying to reassure them, but it didn't have the effect, she wished instead made them back away.
She took out a light grenade and changed the settings and placed it inside of the truck to make the grenade light up and illuminate the inside of the trailer.
Looking at them. "We are going to get you help," she said, closing the door.
{Outside speakers off,} she said walking to the driver seat getting in, she pulled out a flash drive and stick it on the USB port on the stereo. {Now it's your turn Yusei,} she said getting out of the truck.
{Leave it to me,} he said as the truck turned itself on. {I'll get them out of here safely} he said as the car started to self-drive out of the parking lot.
{You better not fuck up,} she said with a grumble.
{geez, Nice to hear that you have so much confidence in me.}
Ben sighed at the comment. {You three stay in your location,} he said as he went to this pouch and took out two smoke grenades.
He looked up. {X-ray on,} he gave the command, as his vision turned gray allowing him to see the three guards in the hallway on the fifth and three others in an office a bit farther from it. "This is going to be easy."
The door opened with a loud ding, Ben walked out of the elevator, he threw the grenades into the hallway soon enveloping it in smoke.
"What the hell is this!" one shouted as Ben dashed at the source, while the masked man was trying to clear his vision. "Call…" he didn't finish as Ben decked the man in the mask causing a loud crack and sending the man into a wall.
"We are under attack!" Another yelled as he took aim at what he thought to be Ben but before he could fire, he was elbowed in the face also breaking his mask as Ben grabbed him by the arm and threw him over his shoulder slamming the man into the ground.
The last one tried to run away but Ben fired a shock grenade hitting the fleeing man on the back shocking him and knocking him out.
"Like, I said easy," he started whistling loudly, as he walked past the three unconscious men towards the last three.
-Inside the office-
The three men who were left, where inside a large rundown office that only had one decaying wooden desk, a torn chair on the far back and one only working lamp with the only way out a wooden that looked to be door that was being aimed at by two men with their guns aimed at the door ready to fire, one had a crocodile and the other a Hawk mask while the other was on his phone had a Tiger mask.
"Come on pick up," he said, tightening his grip on the phone. "Come on," he said again but the call didn't go through making the man yell as he threw the phone to the ground.
"Not working," he grunted, grabbing his own rifle and took aim.
"What are we going to do now boss?" Hawk asked.
"What else, we are going to fill whoever is attacking us with holes," Tiger said as he placed his finger on the trigger as they heard the whistling tone Ben was singing, getting closer.
They stayed put as they heard the whistle getting louder and louder.
With each passing second the whistle would get louder and closer, they aimed at the source slowly following it until the song stopped in front of the door.
The room was silent for a few seconds but that moment of silence was broken when the door handle jiggle caused the three to fire at once filling the door with many holes and after a few seconds, they stopped.
The door was practically gone and the wall behind filled with many bullet holes but there wasn't a sign of their target. "Crocodile, go check it out." Tiger ordered making the man hesitate slightly. "Now!" he yelled, making the man comply.
Walking with his gun aimed to the door peeking out to the corridor seeing no one was there. "Any signs of him?" Hawk asked as the masked man backed to his former position, with his gun still aimed at the door.
"I would've probably told you or already be on the ground, if that was the case, wouldn't I?" Crocodile replied as Tiger focused on the door.
"Where could he be?" he muttered under his breath.
"Oh, that's an easy answer behind you," They heard a distorted voice saying, causing them to quickly turn around guns aimed at Ben who was sitting on a chair with his feet on the desk. "Hey there." He said with a wave as Hawk and Crocodile were about to fire but Ben was faster hitting the two with a shock bomb in the chest making the two men fall to the ground screaming and twitching in pain as Ben aimed his wrist at Tiger. "Better stop right there."
"Who the hell are you?" Tiger asked in a calmer tone as he dropped his gun.
Ben looked at the man with intent. "Well, I thought you would already know me about now, aren't I famous on the news recently?"
Tiger chuckled slightly. "Today has to be my fucking lucky day, to be face to face with Omuni himself," he sighed once again. "I honestly expected you to be bigger."
"I get that a lot, anyways are you gonna give me information willingly or not?" Ben asked, looking at the masked man who sighed again.
"Nah, I prefer you keeping my mouth shut." Ben sighed as he fired once again, but Tiger dodge and threw a knife at Ben.
Leaning his head as the knife pierced through the chair and the wall making Ben look at it. "Okay, the hard way then," Ben kicked the table at Tiger who took another knife and cleaved it in two. "Okay, either he's strong or those knives are extremely sharp." Ben thought as he formed his own knife and placed it in a reverse grip.
Tiger took another knife doing the same as Ben. "This might be interesting," he thought smirking behind his mask as he went first with the attack trying to stab Tiger in the shoulder, the attack was cancelled with a parry from Tiger.
Ben tried to apply pressure on the knife only causing it to break, using the chance Tiger aimed a stab at Ben's stomach to no avail as the armor didn't allow the blade to pierce through it only scratch it.
"The hell?" the masked man questioned as hand was placed on his shoulder and the knife aimed at Ben's stomach broke.
Using the split second of distraction, Ben landed a knee on the man's stomach sending him back slightly, continuing his attack Ben grabbed him by the neck and choke slammed him to the ground with enough force causing the floor under them to give way and making the two men fall into a bathroom.
Tiger fell back first onto the tiled floor making him grunt and cough loudly. "Hell, that hurts!" he mentally yelled, turning on his stomach taking a few deep breaths as he forced himself to get to his feet, while Ben landed a few feet away from him.
"So, still want to fight?" Ben asked, walking towards the man standing with a slight sway on his stance. "I'll take that as a yes."
Tiger grunted as he pulled out another knife from his pouch with his left hand. "How many do you have?" Ben asked as Tiger glared at him while his knife exactly on the blade was starting glowing a dim white.
"Is either this or I get killed by this guy," Tiger thought, grabbing the hilt tighter while Ben looked at his blade. "Probably his last one," Ben thought as he dashed at the man ready to punch him.
Tiger dashed at Ben and swung his weapon in a horizontal slash almost hitting Ben, but it caused cracks on his armor and sliced cleanly through the mirrors of the bathroom.
Tiger didn't stop as he went on the offensive following attack after attack some managed to hit Ben either scratching his armor and even some left a few cracks but they were always being repaired.
"Okay, that's enough," Ben as his hand glowed green trying to grab the attack but it failed, the blade pierced through his ki protection and pierced Ben's armor and hand.
"Finally!" Tiger shouted as he tried to push the blade deeper but Ben grabbed his fist with his pierced hand.
Before Tiger could react, Ben landed a punch on the man's face dazing him for a few seconds.
Grabbing Tiger's wrist, Ben pulled him and landed a headbutt causing Tiger's mask to crack and the porcelain shards to dig in his face, recoiling from the impact but it was short lived as Ben followed the headbutt with a stomp kick on the man's chest sending him into the wall.
"Thanks for the souvenir," Ben said pulling the knife out of his hand, steam erupt from the sound closing it entirely and then the armor closed the hole "I'm going to take good care of it," he said analyzing the knife, the knife was 30cm long overall, with a 17cm blade, the blade has double wide serrations on each side of the diamond cross-section shaped blade with a handle cast made out of black metal. "Damn, this thing is of quality."
Tiger coughed once again, taking in deep breaths of air, as his lungs felt they were on fire. "It's getting harder to breath." He coughed a few times as blood started dripping off his chin.
Ben looked up at the man. He had short red hair, one of his eyes was closed while the other was open to show, it was a light shade of gray with light tanned skin and a bleeding gash on his forehead. "Giving up?"
Tiger scoffed. "Hardly," he replied slowly, getting up using the wall and sink as support. "I'm surprised you haven't killed me or cut off one of my limbs, yet." He spat making Ben shrug.
"I'm in a merciful mood and besides, I'm not a fan of killing on willing pawns," he said, making Tiger grit his teeth.
"You really have a superiority complex," Tiger looked at the sink at one of the shards of glass.
Ben rolled his eyes. "To a certain extent," he started making his way to the man.
Tiger took a breath and went to attack Ben with a shard of glass as a last-ditch attempt but Ben dodged the attack and stabbed the knife on Tiger's leg right at the bone making the man scream in pain, but kept trying to stab Ben.
Ben stopped the attack with his forearm and landed an uppercut followed by a punch to the man's face sending him to a sink back first making the man fall to the floor grunting in pain and anger.
He gritted his teeth, only increasing the pain in his jaw as he desperately tried to get up but to no avail. "I'm as good as dead," he thought, tightening his fist as Ben stood in front of him.
"I have to say, it was a nice fight," Ben crouched and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "But all nice things must come to an end eventually," he gripped Tiger's wrist. "And lucky for us, this was just the beginning."
Tiger's eyes widened as he tried to brush Ben's hand away. "Don't struggle, you need your strength for later," he heard followed by a dark chuckle as volts wrecked Tiger's body knocking him out in the instant.
{Fifth floor secured,} Ben said as grabbed Tiger by his leg towards the office
{Finally, what took you so long?} Lilith asked as Ben walked in the elevator.
{I was having some fun, and besides I know that the next part of our plan would take a while, oh and speaking of it, Yusei how are things going on your end?} Ben asked, walking in the office where the other two were still out cold, he fired at the three glue grenades sticking them to the floor.
{I'm near the station,} Yusei said as the truck he was controlling drove towards the location.
{Good,} Ben walked over to the chair and sat waiting for the signal.
-Musutafu Police Station-
Naomasa walked into the police station yawning, getting a raised eyebrow, from the officer on the counter. "Tsukauchi, what are you doing here in this hour?" he asked the detective who walked past him.
"Chief Tsuragamae called me to meet him in his office," he said.
"But the chief left a few hours ago," the officer said, making Naomasa stop and turn around to face him.
"Wait, really?" he asked, getting a nod from the officer.
Naomasa took out his phone and called the most recent number and it rigged for a bit.
{Hello, Tsukauchi, why are you calling me at this hour?}
{Sorry to bother you sir, but I got a call from you about 30 minutes ago,}
{Hmm? I was sleeping until you called.}
{Oh, I apologise for disturbing you, Sir,} Naomasa said, hanging up and sighed. "Well, I came here for nothing."
"Looks like someone pulled a prank on you," the officer said as Naomasa pocketed his phone.
"It seems but I know that, I heard the chief's voice," he said with another sigh as he started to walk to the door.
"Well, you can check about that later," the officer said, getting a nod from Naomasa as he walked out of the building.
Naomasa yawned again as he walked towards his car but stopped when the horns, alarm and blinking lights of the truck in front of him went off. "What the heck?" he thought as he approached the truck and when he did the truck went silent.
Naomasa was a bit confused, but he went back on alert when he heard the noise of static. {Hello there, Detective Tsukauchi,} came the distorted voice of Ben. {I believe, our meeting is up due.}
"Up due?" he questioned himself.
{Ah, sorry this is the first time you're hearing my voice, it's understandable you don't recognise me,} Ben said chuckling a bit. {Take a guess, I have 40 deaths to my name and that's the only thing you know about me.}
Naomasa narrowed his eyes. "Omuni," he said as he turned on a recording device in his pocket while getting the sound of loud clapping and cheering.
{You got it right at one,} Ben chuckled. {Very good detective.}
"What are you planning now?" he asked, getting a yawn from Ben.
{What, am I planning now?} Ben said as the sound of a clock tic-toking started to go off. {I don't know, maybe there's something on the back of the truck,} he said as the sound of the clock was still going. {Take your time.}
"What's inside the trailer?" he asked, making Ben hum.
{Well, if I tell you, that won't be a surprise will it?} he asked with a childish glee. {But I'll give you a hint, it's once again the job you and the heroes are supposed to do but keep failing.}
Naomasa stayed silent for a bit. "He's probably talking about villains, but bringing them here that isn't his usual M.O" he looked at the trailer once again as the sound of the clock ticking was getting faster.
{So, what are you gonna do detective?} Ben asked as Naomasa went to the back of the truck and noticed a light shining through the gaps.
"What is he planning?" he thought, gulping as he opened the metal door to look at the women who were in cuffs.
{I'm impressed you were brave enough to open it,} Ben said with a yawn as Naomasa called for an ambulance. {I have to give you some credit.}
Hanging up the phone, he looked at the group of women. "Help is on the way," he said as he walked to the driver seat to see the glowing flash drive.
{So, what do you think of the present?}
"What are you trying to gain with this?"
{Well, I don't know maybe, your attention,} he yawned again. {Or something like that but possibly, I just want an audience.}
"What are you planning to do?" he asked as the ambulance arrived as the sound of an alarm clock went off.
{A massacre and looks like my victim has finally awakened,} he chuckled darkly as Tiger groaned as he woke up.
"So how was your little beauty sleep?" Ben asked the man who looked at him.
Tiger took a few seconds to regain his bearing. "Who the fuck…" he tried to yell but the pain on his chin stopped him.
"You shouldn't force yourself since I hit you really hard back there," Ben said chuckling a little.
Tiger stayed quiet for a bit. "What are you planning to do with me?"
"Well, easy, I want information on your boss," he said with a gruff voice, making the man snort.
"Yeah right, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into," he said, making Ben tilt his head to the side.
"Really?" he asked, getting a dry laugh from the man.
"Yup, the boss will fuck you up, as soon he finds you!" he yelled making Ben first to chuckle then laugh loudly.
"That's a good one, I have to admit," he laughed while Tiger glared at him.
"Don't get so cocky!" he yelled as Ben got up and walked over to him and crouched down.
Looking down at him, Ben opened the palm of his hand as the substance appeared on it and turn into a knife, the knife was It was 20cm in length overall with dark ebony blade that was 10cm with ergonomic handle with deeper finger grooves and it had a button on its groves.
"Tell me who's this boss of yours?" he asked, getting a snort from the man.
"Like I said, I prefer keeping my mouth shut," he grunted, making Ben sighed, lowering the man's sleeve as the blade started to emit a faint red glow.
"Are you sure?" he asked as he pressed the knife's edge on the man's forearm making him flinch as the heat was already drying Tiger's skin. "Are really sure about that?" Ben asked as the man grunted.
"Go fuck yourself!" he yelled making Ben chuckle as he pushed the edge inside of the man's forearm making him scream loudly as he felt his inside being roasted drastically. "Stop it!!" he yelled as he tried to free himself, only getting laughs from Ben.
"Why should I?" he asked as the glow became brighter, making the man scream even louder and thrash trying to escape. "Yes, keep doing that, it only makes things even more fun!" Ben yelled but Tiger's screams of pain drowned Ben's yells.
Tiger could feel his entire forearm being burnt and the shock was spreading around his entire body. "STOP, YOU SICK FUCK!!" he screamed.
Naomasa was sickened to hear the screams and glee on Ben's voice while he tortured the man. "Omuni stop this right now!" he yelled.
Ben sighed. {Fine, I'll stop,} pulling out the knife, he looked down at the man's forearm where the knife left a cauterized scar. "So, are you going to talk now?" he asked the man.
Tiger was trying to move but the sticky foam stopped his movements. "Answer me?" Ben asked as he pressed his foot on the cauterized wound making the man scream again.
"Fuck off!" he yelled as he gritted his teeth so tight that it threatened to shatter, Ben sighed as he grabbed the man's leg and started to drag him towards the wall and he punched through it making a hole.
Ben dangled the man from the edge. "How about now?" he asked as the man looked down and widened his eyes as he tried to reach inside.
"Pull me back!" he yelled as he desperately looked at Ben trying to reach him. "Please, I do anything!" he yelled, making Ben smirk.
"Then tell me who's your boss?" Ben asked, making the man go silent, Ben sigh as he pressed it on the man's leg making the man go into panic mode. "Tell me his name, or I'll cut off your leg," he said, making the man frantically try to reach him but it was too far. "Well?"
"Yìshí! My boss's name is Yìshí Kòngzhì!" he yelled making Ben smirk inside his mask.
"Where can I find him?" Ben asked the man pressing the knife closer, melting the clothes causing even more pain to the man.
"Red Lotus, he's the owner of the Red Lotus casino! You can find him there!" he yelled making Ben chuckle.
He laughed as he raised the man up. "Tell me what was he planning to do with those kidnapped women?"
"They were to be sold at an auction!"
"When and where?"
"In the casino two hours from now!" he yelled. "Please don't drop me!" he begged.
{Well, Detective you heard the man, Yìshí Kòngzhì is the man responsible for this,} Ben said with a chuckle while the voice of the man who was begging was still heard. {Well, you have run out of your use.}
{No! please no!} the man's scream came from the radio.
"Omuni…" Naomasa didn't finish as the sound of the screams faded until there was heard a splat.
{Well pop goes the weasel♪} Ben said in a sing-song voice and started to chuckle. {Well, you heard it, detective, you know who, where and when♪} he kept talking in that sing-song voice. {Now it's up to you,} he said laughing. {Try catching me if you fucking can!} the radio turned off and the flash drive stopped blinking.
"This is bad, really bad," he thought as he stopped the recorder and called Daishin. "Come on pick up," he thought as the phone answered.
{Tsukauchi, why are you calling me at this hour?} the man asked with a yawn.
{Sorry to bother but we have a major problem, Omuni has planned an attack on someone.}
There was short silence on the other line. {Where are you now?}
{The police station.}
{I'm telling the other to meet you there, I'll be there shortly,} Daishin hanged making Naomasa sigh as he looked at the flash drive using his gloves, he took out the pen drive and analyzed it.
-Parking lot building-
Ben walked up to the van and his car to see the others already out of their suits. "Well looks like, I'm dead last," he said with a chuckle as the suit undid itself and went back to his watch.
"Looks like it," Amber said as Yusei came out of the van with his phone on hand. "What did you find, Yu-chan?" she asked, getting a sigh from Yusei as he pointed his phone to the ground making a hologram of a person to show up.
It was a hologram of a man who had a skinny build, he had a lighter skin complex, short slick back black hair, dark blue eyes and his attire was of an expansive black suit.
"This is Yìshí Kongzhi, the owner of the red lotus casino and someone suspected of having the most unfair casino in town," Yusei said as the hologram changed to show some news articles about the casino being rigid. "Any game in that place seems to dry people's money with ease something, he was taken to court but they were dead ends since, he always had defenses and proved otherwise."
"Is that all?" Amber asked, getting a nod from Yusei.
"Besides claims of fraud, nothing really," he said as Ben walked in front to check the articles.
He then looked at Yishi's hologram "I see, I'm already guessing tonight will be a long one," Ben said as he looked at his watch tapping on the screen making a small square figure hologram to appear as Ben scrolled through some.
"Yuga will go with Yusei while Amber, you are going with Lilith and me."
They nodded and walked to their assigned partners.
Pressing again on the screen making metallic flakes to cover Ben's body and when the flakes settled it showed Ben's different attire.
His new attire was a black button up vest with a white long sleeve and turtleneck undershirt and a green tie, black slacks and formal black shoes.
"Oh Yusei, you should get your backup soldiers ready," Ben said, stopping in front of his car.
"Already, have them ready and just double after you send an invitation to hunt you," Yusei said, making Ben chuckle slightly.
"What's life without a few risks?" he asked getting in the car while Lilith sighed.
"Coming from you it's something else entirely," Yusei said getting in the van and turning it on.
Lilith and Amber went to the backseat. "Don't you think, we should call for the others for this part?" Lilith asked making Ben to look at her.
"No, need. We are going to be enough and besides what the worst that can happen?" Ben asked.
She raised an eyebrow. "Are you really going to use that argument with me?"
Ben tapped on the wheel. "Fair point, fine I'll get Byoki And Sosa on standby," he said, making Lilith sigh but nod.
"I thought this would be a fun ride," Amber thought as Ben led the way, driving off followed by Yusei, driving off towards their next objective.