Leo was driving home without knowing what had happened at Marisa's house. He was nervous, but he was gladder that he got out of the situation without getting caught. "Haaa, this is stressful, when I get home, I will take a break for the rest of the day" (Said a tired Leo).
After 40 minutes, Leo arrived home and went straight for the shower. While Leo was showering, he thought about the mess that he had gotten himself into. "A hacker changed the footage of what really happened and wants to incriminate me for the death of my friend, I swear that I'll catch him!" (Leo swore with determination).
Leo got out of the shower after a few minutes and went straight to bed. "I pray that tomorrow will be a good day" (Leo said while closing his eyes). The next day, Leo woke up as usual and made himself some food, after a quick breakfast he just sat on the couch and watched some television.
"This is so boring... all of the content that these channels have are garbage" (Said Leo while he changed the channels one by one). "Anyways... I have nothing else to do so I will just keep wasting my time for a while." After a while of watching television, he got a call from Marisa, "Ring, Ring, Ring" Leo picked up the phone and immediately heard the voice of Marisa talking to him.
"Hey Leo, I'm going to be at your house in about 30 minutes, are you there?"
"Yes, right now I'm at my house."
"Okay, I'll see you there."
"See you later." (Leo said with a frown on his face before hanging the phone).
"I wonder why she would come to my house this early, I guess it's nothing important" Leo just sat on the couch watching tv until Marisa finally arrived. "Ding-Dong" the doorbell rang. Leo got up from the couch and started walking towards his door, after he arrived, he opened it. Marisa looked very calm as she made herself comfortable in Leo's home, and he wondered where her strange behavior came from, but he paid no mind to it. Marisa sat on Leo's couch and told him to do the same, "We need to talk, sit down."
Leo sat down in front of Marisa and said, "So... what do you want to talk about?"
"I know what you did." (Said Marisa with a serious face).
"What I did?" (Repeated Leo with nervousness and confusion).
"I know that you killed Markus, I have evidence of it. I know that you beat Markus to death with a steel bar and you still went on even after his death. You broke his bones you cut his stomach, you beat up his face until it was no longer recognizable, and all his teeth fell out, you ripped his leg and played with it until you were satisfied. Even when you did all of that you still had the audacity to just leave his body there, go shower, and leave somewhere. What do you have to say against that!?" (Marisa said getting angrier and angrier as time passed without an answer from Leo).
"I didn't kill Markus." (Said a shaken Leo).
"The footage proves otherwise."
"I know that it's going to be difficult to believe but, it's not what it looks like. I didn't kill Markus; a hacker changed the footage to incriminate me for his actions." Leo had a hard time saying what he wanted to say but he forcefully pulled the words out of his mouth.
"How do you know that it was a hacker that killed Markus? I know that you don't have a good excuse, just admit that you did it!" (Marisa said angrily).
"I can't prove that it was a hacker, but I know because I didn't do it." Leo was getting more nervous as the conversation kept on going. It looked like no matter what he said, Marisa didn't believe anything that came out of his mouth.
"Why did you do it?! You two were best friends since childhood, what could he possibly have done to deserve dying like that?! We were just about to marry and live a happy life with our kids, but now they don't have a father because of you!" (Marisa demanded answers from Leo while crying from anger and sadness).
Leo was greatly affected by Marisa's words. He couldn't think of anything else aside from a hacker modifying the footage to explain why he appears to have killed Markus, he was even starting to believe that maybe he did kill his best friend even if he didn't remember; however, he couldn't stand this thought and tried again to drive away the incrimination from him.
"I swear Marisa, I have no clue of why it seems like it was me who killed Markus in the footage, but I didn't do it. It had to be someone else; as you said, I don't have any reason for wanting to kill him like that... do you really think that I would kill Markus, Marisa!? You have known me since childhood, you know I'm not like that! (Said Leo while trying to hold his tears back).
Marisa seemed to now doubt that Leo really killed Markus, but she buried that doubt deep inside her mind since she needed someone to incriminate and channel her anger towards to feel better.
"There's no more talking, I already informed the guardians, they should be at your front door any second now."
Leo couldn't believe that her childhood friend didn't believe in him, although he left aside those thoughts when he heard Marisa saying that she informed the guardians about it.
"You did what?!" Leo without asking for an explanation got up from his seat and sprinted through the back door. Just as he was about to leave his house, he heard a shout coming from the front door.
"This is the H.C.G, open the door right now or it will be opened forcefully!" Marisa got up from her seat and quickly opened the door while hurriedly saying to the guardians: "Quickly, he's escaping through the back door!" The majority of the guardians gave chase as fast as they could and caught up to Leo, while a few stayed with Marisa to question her.
Leo, that was running away was currently thinking of how to get out from the dangerous situation. "If I keep running like this, I will just exhaust myself before having the chance to escape. There should be an alleyway around here, I will just have to lose them there" (Leo thought while searching for the alleyway).
He ran and ran until he eventually found the alley. "Now I will have to lose them somewhere around this place" (Leo murmured while searching for places that would be hard to pass through). In the meantime, the guardians were having trouble getting closer to Leo, their outfits were heavy and were not suitable for running.
"When are the dogs coming!? We are starting to lose the suspect!" (A guardian asked through a communication device).
"They should arrive in five minutes, hold on and don't lose sight of him" (A male voice behind the communication device said).
"Copy, we will not lose sight of the suspect. Sir, do you give us permission to use incapacitation guns?"
"Permission granted, all the guardians in the troop are allowed to use incapacitation guns, capture him immediately"
"Yes sir!" (Said the guardian before stopping the transmission).
"Attention, everyone has permission to use the incapacitation guns, capture the suspect!" (The guardian screamed before taking out his gun).
The other guardians followed the lead and took their incapacitation guns out. Leo had just taken a right turn before he heard something blasting behind him. "Blam! What the hell!? That thing passed right beside me; I can't take more time to lose them, I can't imagine the consequences if I don't." Leo sprinted at his maximum speed and took a left turn while the guardians followed behind him. There were two paths, one left, and one right, Leo ran towards the left without stopping and took another quick left. He was sure that the guardians split up because he heard some shouts from the left and others further away.
Leo, after taking the second left, found out that there was a spot where he could hide. After contemplating whether he should hide there or not for half a second he made up his mind. He jumped to a big pile of trash bags that were on the ground and buried himself on them. There was a big space in that location of the alleyway so Leo wasn't that worried that the guardians would step on his body and find him. Just as Leo suspected, the guardians kept on running past him and after some time he couldn't hear them anymore.
"That was intense, I should get out of here if I don't want them to find me, the question is... where should I go now? I'll just focus on getting out of this location for now" (Said a tired Leo to himself before he walked far away from his current location).
Leo walked for hours until eventually, night came, he found another alleyway far away from his last seen location and was now searching for a place to sleep, he was hungry, and afraid, but that didn't stop him from being careful and complacent from his surroundings, people with bad intentions or the guardians could be anywhere, if he wasn't careful, he would regret his decision.
"Hmmm, I think this is a good place to sleep. I'm quite tired from being careful and all that walking towards here. That cardboard box over there looks like a good place to rest, the only thing that I have to worry about now is the cold" (Said Leo who was starting to shiver a little). Leo grabbed the cardboard box and put it over his body while he was laying on the ground. After doing that he closed his eyes and fell asleep soon after, it seemed that the cold he was feeling wasn't as great as his tiredness. While Leo was sleeping, he failed to realize that people had noticed his presence and were now walking towards him.
"Hey guys, there will be a feast tonight." (Said a person with a horrible smile).
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"Damn you, Leo!! I had to go through all that questioning, and they still haven't found you. You're lucky, but sooner or later you will be sent to Doomtown, and when that happens... you'll go through something much worse than what you did to Markus." Marisa was furious because of what happened, she let Leo escape because she was careless; even retaining him for a few seconds would have been enough to help the police catch him. Just as she was contemplating what to do next, a message was sent to her phone, she looked at the message and started to smile. It seemed that the contents of the message made Marisa have a better mood, after sitting in silence for a while she said, "Your time has come, Leo."
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{At the headquarters of Hope City.}
A Hope City detective was looking through Leo's files before he got a phone call, "Ring, Ring, click; I wonder what the hell do these morons want!" (The detective said to himself before answering the phone). After the detective accepted the call, a voice could immediately be heard from the other side of the phone.
Detective Oliver, we have received news on the location of Leo Bright. It seems that he's been found by some people that want the reward money for his capture; so, we won't need to keep using the dogs to track him.
Detective Oliver immediately got into a good mood, it would have taken some time for the dogs to fully track him, but now, even if he had moved from his last seen place, it would be rather quick to track him with them. And when he finished thinking about the situation, he quickly gave out his orders.
"I want the Doom Guardians to immediately go get him, I'll follow soon after."
"The Doom Guardians?" (Asked the person at the other side of the phone). "Sir, with all respect, I don't think that they will be necessary to catch this guy, the H.C.G can take care of this."
"And with no respect, I tell you to keep your opinion to yourself and mind your own business! This guy is not normal, he's a danger to all citizens of Hope City, you would understand if you were allowed to watch the footage of the crime he committed, he needs to be caught as soon as possible!" (Detective Oliver said enraged over the fact that this person questioned his decision).
The person on the other side of the phone stayed in silence for a while before saying: "Alright Sir, I apologize for questioning you. I'll send the Doom Guardians to his location right now." (Said the person before hanging up).
Detective Oliver tried to calm himself after his subordinate hung up by thinking about something else. "This is incredible, it seems that I'll get a promotion sooner than I expected." (Oliver said with joy filling his voice).
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Back with Leo that was sleeping, the people were getting closer and closer until they were right next to the box that he was sleeping in. One of the people in the group started to ask what to do now, so one of them said, "Let's rob him, this will be fun."
"I agree, who's going to do it?" (A tiny man asked).
You're going to do it because you asked. (One of the men said with a shaky voice).
"Haaa, okay." (Said the tiny man with a sigh before he got the box out of Leo's body.)
Leo was peacefully sleeping until he felt a sudden strong wind on his whole body. He got up at an incredible speed and looked around only to find five guys staring at him. "Umm, why are there five guys staring at me?" (Leo questioned to himself before realizing the situation that he was in). "Wait a second... oh... shit." His sleepiness immediately faded away and he started to run away with all his might.
"Hey, come back here!" (An angry man shouted while running towards Leo).
"Man, this sucks, one chase after another, when will I get my deserved rest!? (Leo thought to himself before shaking his head). It's not the time to be lamenting for myself and cursing my luck, stop thinking about this and focus on how to get away." Leo stayed quiet after these thoughts crossed his mind and kept on running; at first, he was doing great at evading them but, he soon took a wrong turn and ended in a dead end... he was cornered. The men quickly arrived at Leo's location and started intimidating him.
"You could have gotten out of this situation easier and with far less damage compared to what we're going to do to you for trying to escape, and for not listening to us" (said one of the five men).
"What are you talking about? Anyone would have tried to escape from you guys, and besides, did you really think that I would come back after trying to escape just because you told me to "Come back here?" (Leo asked with genuine concern in his voice).
"Shut up!" (Replied the angry man). Give us all your valuable belongings, if you don't, we'll have to kill you" (He said before getting out a pocketknife). Then, all of the men took out their own pocketknife and threatened Leo. "Although I'll torture you to the point you'll beg to die for treating me like a stupid."
"Be a smart man and do what he says if you don't want to feel hell" (A tiny man said).
"H-hey I don't want any trouble; I'll give you all of my valuable items but please don't kill me" (A scared Leo said before giving his golden watch, golden chain, fancy shoes and more to the five men). "There, I have nothing else to offer."
"What about your pants and shirt? They look like they could sell for a good price" (The tiny man said before he noticed something).
"Wait a second, aren't you the guy from the wanted poster? Hey James, look at him, don't you recognize him from that wanted poster?"
The now mentioned looked closely at Leo while trying to analyze his face and compare it with the one from the wanted poster.
"Now that you say it, he looks extremely similar to the guy from the wanted poster around here. Hey, you, let me take a closer look at your face." James got closer to Leo and looked at his face with incredible concentration. Leo had been shaking from fear since this conversation about him started, he knew that his face would be at Hope City's wanted posters, and now he hoped that they didn't find out about his identity.
"Yeah, he's the guy from the posters!" (James screamed with excitement in his voice).
"Why did I have to hope this wouldn't happen?!" (Leo screamed internally).
"Hahaha, we're rich, this guy's reward is three hundred million dollars!" (The tiny man said while looking at Leo greedily).
"Hey guys, I don't know about a reward, I'm just an average person that went homeless because of some unfortunate events" (Lied Leo with nervousness).
"I don't believe a thing you say, Richard, call the H.C.G, we'll turn him in." (The tiny man gave orders).
"I don't like the tone you are using with me, but I'll let it pass just this time" (Richard said while dialing the guardian's number).
Now, Leo was in trouble, he looked around him just to find nothing, he was completely trapped. Hope was starting to vanish away for him, but he noticed something in the range of his peripheral vision; a crack in a wall that allowed one person to pass through. "God hasn't abandoned me" (Leo cried in his thoughts). He hoped that it might lead him out of the situation so, he made up his mind in less than a second and ran towards the crack while the men were distracted in their thoughts of becoming rich.
Leo sprinted at full speed and the men noticed immediately. They ran after him with full speed, but Leo had already gotten into the crack with some difficulty and started advancing forward. He didn't know if there was an exit, but he had hope. The tiny man followed Leo inside the crack while the others stayed behind and went to round the alley.
While Leo was going through the tight walls and sharp edges that were scratching his body, the tiny man was quickly approaching him from behind. Leo was starting to lose hope again, but he found a ray of light in front of him. With all his strength, he went forwards until he eventually got out of the tight walls, only to keep running as fast as his legs could carry him away from the men without even looking back.
"Hey, I will kill you, stop right now!" (The tiny man yelled while he was getting out of the tight walls).
The tiny man tried to catch up to Leo, but his short legs could only carry him so far. Leo ran and ran until he couldn't hear or see the men anymore. After he found himself free from the chase, he just walked for about an hour while trying to avoid danger, Leo knew that the one of the five men called the guardians, meaning that they would be looking for him in the area that he was last seen. If he was not careful, he might run into them. Having spent a long-time walking, Leo stopped and looked at his destroyed surroundings while saying with a relieved voice, "The chase is finally over."