"So, you've figured me out. And it seems like I'll have to find a few weapons to survive this one!"
The police officers did not know what he meant at first, but at the very next second, a few guns flew down from the sky and landed right in front of Cluez.
"Oh my, I wonder how that happened?" He ejaculated a sarcastic laugh and picked the guns up.
"I'll just have to make do with this, I guess,"
One gun was an automatic while the other, a plasma blaster. They were some of the newest products from gun companies; it was a wonder how he just happened to come across them.
"What the?! Men, hold your ground, put up the shields!"
The captain of the squad leading the crusade yelled back at his team and signalled with a few hand gestures.
And seeing the guns, the deadly force option wasn't just an option, it was a certainty.
"Hey, kids stay behind me. Wouldn't want to risk one of you injured or my reputation as a friendly everyday abductor." He cocked his gun and nodded to his back.
Most of the kids also realized that they had no will to die and shuffled their ways to his back.
"And now that it's taken care of, my automatic can finally spill its rage upon the world!" The sound of gunfire followed his sentence and a rain of bullets beat down on the police officers.
"Don't falter, men. Maintain the energy levels of the shields at 70%"
Those shields he was talking about were little bubbles of blue lights that encased all the police officers, they weren't shields so to speak, but more like force fields.
"What's the point of that? I'll break through those, anyway!"
His voice was inaudible over the sound of gunfire, but that didn't matter to him, or anybody for that matter.
Eventually, the gunfire stopped, but that was only because he had run out of bullets.
"Wow, these old guns were so inefficient! Physical bullets are an immense waste of resources. Thank god this plasma gun has a close to a never-ending supply of plasma within its generator,"
He flung the gun across the room over to the officers' area and focused his attention on the plasma gun.
"Call the retrieval team to confiscate this weapon of crime!"
The captain spoke to one of his underlings and put his focus on Cluez once again.
"Haha, you remind me of someone I know. You might also know him; he called himself the Judgement. He took care of criminals such as myself without working under the jurisdiction of the government. What do they call those types again? Vigils? Vigilants? Ah right, vigilantes!"
"I don't understand your point, villain." Menacing hisses squeezed through the captain's gritted teeth, hoping to embrace Cluez.
"My point is, you were both the same but different. You two have similar senses of justice that are almost hypocritical from a certain standpoint, but that didn't change the fact that you both would hate each other. Police officers like you are the most pitiful. Not even a weak Awakening to call yours!"
The captain's lips parted and Cluez's speech replaced the determined expression on his face with furrowed eyebrows and piercing eyes.
"I've heard enough of this nonsense. All officers, initiate Lightning God protocol!"
A few looks of hesitation appeared on those officers faces upon what he announced, however, they couldn't question orders.
"Why didn't you just call it the Zeus protocol? Lightning God seems a little stupid!"
The anger on the captain's face remained, but he was no longer as flustered.
"I'll tell your buddies in jail that you stayed criticising the law up till the end."
And then, everything went dark.
. . .
"And... Now!"
Five shurikens shot towards a tree that was trying to mind its own business.
The shurikens aimed towards the same point on the tree, and it was unknown how they would all pierce through its surface.
They didn't. Three of the shurikens fell flat onto the ground.
"Haha, that was even trashier than the last one!"
"What the hell are you talking about? On my last one, I didn't even get a single one stuck! Your logic lacks facts."
"But, it was a good one and you have to admit it." Hugo rolled his eyes as he saw Kiter's smug smirk.
While Cluez was making jokes and spreading terror in City A, Hugo was still trying to find his way around using projectiles.
"The key to using these kinds of weapons is in the wrist flick!" He gestured with a few wrist flicks and flicked a booger to Hugo's face after.
Hugo smacked the large booger away and complained, "I know Kiter, you've said that a few times now. But that doesn't matter!"
"I need real experience, practising on actual people. Trees and good target practices if one wishes to improve."
Kiter nodded a little and asked, "So, what are you gonna do?"
"I dunno? Maybe I'll apply for a mission in a nearby Association branch, that way I can hunt a few criminals and clean my mind too."
"That's a nice plan. And hey, if you travel for the mission, don't forget to bring me souvenirs!"
By the time he was saying this, Hugo had already started walking out the gates of the park.
"Hmph, you don't even wait for your elders to finish speaking before walking out. What has our generation become even?"
Hugo heard his grumblings and snickered to himself.
"Now, where to find the Association in this area?"
Hugo didn't intend to get lost immediately and opted to ask a guy who looked like he would now, right off the bat.
The man wore a costume that bore a semblance to that of a Dancer Hugo knew. It was a raggedy black robe to just barely touched the ground, the robe covered his entire body from top to bottom, which included a hood of similar status.
The man giving the directions was a cosplayer, and Hugo looked to see whether he could recognize the person he was cosplaying as?
"The association? You just take a left on bla bla bla bla,"
'I wonder who it could be? He looks sort of violent like you would imagine from some of the more hardcore Dancers. It could be Giant? But this guy is way too small, perhaps it's Decayer? Yeah, that's it!'
"And that's about it."
"Huh?"
The guy had already gone far enough for Hugo to lose interest by the time he'd realized the Dancer that wore that attire.
"I guess I'll just have to find it myself."
And unlike what he thought, finding the association wasn't as hard. Mostly because it was very easy to spot a few dozen people dressed like heavy metal bands heading in the same direction.
Most of the Dancers were huddled up in front of the mission board, staring at a certain picture.
"Can you actually believe it?!"
Hugo stepped into the building as a duo left, and he just heard a select few words.
"I know right!"
'Why are they speaking like high school cheerleaders?'
"Cluez is actually still alive!"
THose last words gave Hugo a shock, a surprising one.