*sob* *sob* some underage girls were crying in a corner of a small apartment. It was dusty, unkempt, and most of all, full of trash bags. It was already a place not fit to be inhabited, much less for raising kids.
"Please, stop it, stop hitting me. I promise, I won't do it again!"
A man said as he kneeled on the dirty carpet.
"You are already unfit to raise a kid here, and you know what's worse? You laid your filthy hands on both of them!" An officer said as she kicked the already kneeling man.
*crash!* The daughter layer came crashing on the piles of trash that he hoarded himself.
"Stop it, Kunjana. You'll kill our prime suspect. And I already got his actions caught on tape. So, just wait, it is not up to us to punish such a…person." a young man with slicked back hair stopped his partner, he wore an official vest and body armour, with a night goggle strapped to his forehead.
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry, but, seeing someone like him just, boils something within me. I, I knew how that felt, for.."
"Stop it, it's not time for another one of your stories. I'll secure him, you, go take care of those girls."
It's late, hours pass midnight, an hour wasted here, then they'll have no choice but seeing a sunrise, in such a place that brings a dread of tomorrow. As the male officer was securing the suspect, his junior interrupted, again.
"Sir Gris, come here! Please, you have to see this."
Quite unwilling to follow a word from his subject, he chose to only talk from the other room.
"What! Just say it! I don't have time for another surprise."
"Um, sir, they were, still are..just dressed.."
Kunjana said in *staccato*.
"What is it? Please talk in words I can understand." Gris said as he secured the suspect with zip ties and handcuffs.
"It's a boy! They're both boys!"
*crash!* The suspect were yet again, kicked to another piles of trash.
"Um, sir..you said no more harm were to be administered to the suspect?"
Morning finally came, fortunately he saw the sunrise of the day at another spot. His favourite spot. Sitting atop a signal pole, he got to look at the east while overseeing the city, with the golden river behind the walls of concretes and flyovers. Sipping a cup of freshly brewed coffee, he set his eyes on a building much smaller than the rest, it's even lower in height compared to the lowest fly over. There, at the deck, filled with vegetation and urban farming plants, he saw something moving, with repeated set of movements.
With his goggle, he zoomed in to look closer, while taking another sip of his coffee.
"So I finally get to see you again, though it's only me seeing you."
There, at the uppermost level of the smallest building around, he saw a girl. Repeating a set of a boxing move, a one-two.
The girl wore a black facemask. She had short black hair, barely covering her long neck. A skin as pale as the cloud being lit by sunlight, with beads of sweat that glistened just like white jade. Her toned body shows that she's been through dirt and stones.
It lasted for awhile, but the girl kept repeating the same movement, with no variations to the routine.
Gris himself isn't quite sure of what he saw, maybe it's the sunrise, or his eyes playing tricks on him. But, as he zoomed in closer, he saw that the girl had golden hue sipping throughout her hand, all the way to her shoulders.
*bzzt! Bzzt!.* His communicator had a static, meaning that a direct message is coming to him.
"G. H. Your third o'clock, 78 meters above sea level. Lone man, running west, red shirt."
"Range?"
"450 meters. Wind reading at slight left to below."
"Roger, *ssshhhhhhh*"
"Send it."
*Bang!*
"Reporting, right at center. Nice shot."
"Good work. G. H, go take a break. Spotter out!"
Just as he was done taking out his target, he heard another shot at different spots.
*Bang!* From his 12 o'clock.
*Bang!* From his 7th.
Then again from different spots taken by his colleagues.
"Cleaning team, all done? Pack up, we're out!"
Gris proceeded to pack his things. But before that, he zoomed back in to where he was seeing. A building smaller than the rest, rooftop field. The girl he saw before was still doing her one-two reps. He was about to turn off his goggle, but then.
The girl stopped her shadow boxing, looked up, turn her head up, then slight left to South west. Yes, she's seeing straight at her stalker.
Her eyes forming half moons, then she took off her face mask. Moving her lips.
"You've seen enough?" The girl said, it sounds like she's just right beside Gris's position.
Startled, he took off his goggles, checking his surroundings. There's no one here.
He zoomed back in to where the girl was, there she is, still doing her one-two.
"Heh, maybe I need to rest now." He said reassuring himself, that what just happened was just in his mind. But still, his heart beats louder than before.
A drone flew down right above his head, he reached out to it's handle, with one hand holding a cigar to his mouth, he flew away.
---
*Fritatta,* a dish made with potatoes and eggs. Harvesting onions and potatoes from the rooftop, Mr. Heller decided to cut the potatoes into dices, fry it in a dash of olive oil together with the onion until it turned golden, then closed with the lid after turning down the heat. Mixing a half dozen eggs with a spoon of flour, he poured the mixture into the skillet then turn on the heat up again.
Taking another skillet with identical size, he flipped the egg mixture then finished it at the oven that's been preheated.
"It's quite rare to see you cooking for breakfast, sir" Yeri asked after wiping herself with clean towel.
"Yeah, the eggs expired today, exactly two hours from now. I got it at quarter the price last night." Mr. Heller said as he straightened his glasses with the palm of his left hand.
"Not trying to sound smart, but, isn't it kinda eastern style, to cook eggs with flour?"
"And what exactly is your point?" Mr. Heller said as he took out rice from the cooker.
"Yeah, I just, saw it going differently in my mind. Well, I'll go wake the others, then." Yeri said while avoiding eye contact.
"No need, eat first, then you're coming with me." Mr. Heller said as he's done preparing.
Having breakfast, with eggs, carbs, and vegetable juice was not that rare for Yeri. In fact, it kinda reminds her of her eternally broke father.
"Thought so, you say alot, but look at you now, gulping it all down merrily."
Yeri didn't say anything, as she was quite famished after her morning training. Today was the first time she finally managed to do it, after a frequent "tomorrow".
"Done? Now come with me to the gym." Mr. Heller said as he undid his apron straps.
At the gym, he goes straight to the training area equipped with sandbags, dummies, and various combat training equipments including those for weaponry.
"Well now, try attacking me. Use your voice, try to take me down." Mr. Heller said as he rolled up his sleeves, revealing toned arm tempered by his training.
"*gulp*, alright." Yeri said, as she decided not ask any questions.
"Lay Down!" Yeri said out loud. But, at the same time.
Her visions got blocked by fist with protruded middle knuckle of his index finger, aimed in between her eyes.
"Heh, you managed to block the body blow and took a step back." Mr. Heller's left hand that was aimed at Yeri's solar plexus was blocked with both of her hands.
"Not bad. But i see now, that if I moved at the same time you're about to speak, I won't hear your command, thus rendering your voice ineffective." At the same time he said that, Yeri suddenly kneeled down by her own will.
It was sudden, but at the time she stepped back, she felt a stinging pain on her left thigh. So severe that she keeled over and kneeled in front of the landlord.
"I didn't see that coming. God, it stings. What did you hit me with?!" Yeri said as she rolled over on top of the floor mat.
"My toe, as I said, I moved at the moment you're about to speak. It was wise of you to cover your mouth, but wear neck covers next time, I can still see your throat squeezing air out." Mr. Heller said as he offered a hand to Yeri, prompting her to stand.
"Who the hell had time to see that? I got it if it's a man with Adam's apple, but look at mine, it's smooth, look, it's barely noticeable if I were to speak." Yeri stood and looked at herself in the mirror.
"I did, you should be able to see many things at a glance. Do you drive? Did you slow yourself to see everything at the traffic? I sure don't. Well, moving on.."
"I noticed that you can affect your opponent better if you made contact, so here's what I took you here for." Mr. Heller said as he opened the door to a storage room.
"Pick a weapon!"