Cold steel surrounds the space in four corners. The floors are smooth cement decorated with traces of dry blood. Its only lighting is a steam-powered lantern connected to the ceiling that leaks warm water.
There are two wooden doors on each side, beside the second door is a rather large mirror. Above the mirror is a vent with mold build-up.
On another side of the room is a poster of the Inter-City Police depicting well-built uniformed personnel pointing at the viewer with words in quotations that reads: "DON'T BE GANGSTA!".
In the middle is a familiar chubby person, beaten but apparently looks taken care of. He sits on a metal chair that creaks whenever he breathes. In front of him is a metal table, its top is suffering from rust. The person is not tied, his hands are freely placed on the table, tapping a beat.
Although seemingly defeated by his last encounter, he wears bandages and his wounds are all dressed up. Even with all the liberties he is privileged to, he is not happy and expresses a rather disappointed vibe. Not to the situation but to himself. He stares blankly at the rust, it reminds him of himself. This is Eten at his lowest.
Another person enters the room thru the door, "Eten Lars?"
Eten nodded as if to acknowledge the fact that it is his name.
The man is reading a file in a folder he brought. His features are quite striking because of his bald head that has a birthmark shaped like a sitting duck exactly on his frontal cranium. He is wearing a mechanical monocle possibly surgically connected to his left ear and a single pipe is located on the right ear.
The man walks to the other end of the table, "Quite rusty. I apologize for this... thing. We really don't have the time to refurnish." the man jests, "Because... there's a lot of things happening in this city... crime. Y-you know?"
Eten looks at the man without any expression.
"N-namsayin'?" the man placed a folder on the table, "That's what the kids say nowadays right?"
Eten glances at the folder then back to the man and nods.
"I'm Detective Jaxon, I'm here to ask you a few things." he said as he looks around the room for a chair, "Where's? Where's the chair- Don't we have chairs here?"
Eten looks around, he's the only one with a chair.
"Darn." Jaxon fixes his monocles, "Well I guess I'm going to stand. This is embarrassing, I'm sorry Mr. Lars."
Silence. Eten did not respond.
"What was the last thing you remember?" the detective asked while looking under the table.
Eten shrugged with his deadpan expression.
"I see. So you don't recall anything or you just don't want to tell us?"
Eten leans in closer to get a better look at the folder.
"Ah." Jaxon rotates the folder, opens it, and takes out its contents in front of Eten. "These are you and your friends, correct?" he positions four files in rows.
Before him are the case files of Eten's friends. The first file shows Yami who is currently labeled as missing. The last known relatives are from the Borderhoods. His age is unknown as well as his other descriptions. Strangely, the ink is new and this file is freshly printed.
The second file shows a police sketch of Bai's face. The name provided in the paper is Long Baobao III. His date of birth states that his current age is seventeen. Originally from a village called Little Shang. He is listed as a delinquent with a history of minor charges such as thievery, pickpocketing, and assault. The list of his offenses expanded recently because of their crime spree and now has arson, damage to property, and trespassing. He is currently listed as wanted.
The third file shows Eten. His full name is Eten Lars. He is from a neighborhood called South Dumps. He is fifteen years old. He is listed as a delinquent but the list of offenses he committed is only a few unlike Bai's. But because of his involvement with the crime spree, the list is expanded recently.
Finally, the last file contains Mako's information. Unlike the rest, his details are complete. It also has a complete set of photos of him wearing an Academy Recruit uniform. He is currently seventeen years old and he is from a nice district in the main city. His parents are deceased and he has one surviving family member whose information has been redacted. Mako studied at the Academy but stopped attending classes after his sophomore year. He has the same number of offenses as Bai. He is currently listed as wanted.
Eten nods after reading all of them, he turns his attention back to Jaxon.
"Well you see, we at the station don't have much manpower to hunt your friends. I was hoping that maybe you could tell us where your hideout is?"
Eten nods again, he signs with his hands, they don't have a hideout.
Jaxon clicks his tongue, "Not much of a talker, huh?" he did not understand what Eten meant, "You don't want to rat out your friends, is that it? That's how you youngins' say it right...?"
Eten nods once more and signs with his hands again. They don't have a hideout.
"You're a tough one to crack, I'll give you that Mr. Lars." Jaxon proceeds to slide more files and arrange them in rows in front of Eten, "These are the Pink Flamingo's top dudes... namsayin'? Okay."
All of the files are incomplete and missing a lot of information. There are no photos or sketches provided. There are only names and designations. "Recognize any of them?" asked Jaxon.
From left to right, the names on the files are Bose, Kidd, Anchor, and Big Poppa. Eten examines all of them. He points at Big Poppa's file.
"You know him?" Jaxon's voice changed, and his vibe became serious, "Tell me more."
Eten then points at Mako's file and motions to the poster on the wall.
"I see. Continue..."
With his hands, he makes a heart-shaped sign and pouts with his lips accompanied by a smooching sound.
"Oh. Intriguing." Jaxon searches for a file in the folder. "Go on."
Eten brushes his hair, pretends to have long hair, and points back at Big Poppa.
"Yes, keep going,"
Eten continues to move his hands, sprinkling with his fingers, then acts as if he is snorting something but he retracts and did it again but instead of snorting he is using his mouth as if he is eating.
"I am connecting the dots here!" Jaxon excitedly said.
Eten stacks his friends' files and placed Mako's on top. Then he did the same at the Pink Flamingo's files but singled out Big Poppa. He moves the files and placed them side by side. He points at Mako then at Big Poppa then back at Mako then did a smooching sound.
"Aha!" Jaxon laughs and claps for himself and Eten, "I can't believe this." from his rummaging of the files in the folder he takes out one more piece of paper and shows it to Eten, "Is this the one you're referring to?"
Eten takes the paper and tries to read it, it has a sketch of Sora's face. The paper is missing a lot of information and has not recorded any offenses. The name provided is only Sora and nothing else.
"So you and your friends were hanging out on the southern edge of the undercity near the sewer lake when Sora gave you guys the Gangster Powder that she claimed she bought from Big Poppa, correct?"
Eten shakes his head and waves his hands to say something is incorrect.
"What? She is not a she?"
Eten nods.
"So he is a he?"
Eten shakes his head again.
Jaxon coughs and looks at the mirror behind him then back at Eten, "So what are they then?"
Eten shrugs and signs that it doesn't matter and wants Jaxon to continue.
"Right, of course." Jaxon clears his throat, "I'm sorry. Moving on. So after you and your friends ate the powder, Sora is nowhere to be found?"
Eten gives Jaxon a thumbs up.
"You and your friends thought they bitched out? That's the word you really meant?"
Eten nods.
'Well, right. Anyways, then that's when you just decided to go crazy and went on a frenzy with the powder's rush? For almost a week? Damn, now that's impressive, I don't encourage it but you really made a mess on Borderhood, I'll tell you that." Jaxon said while he sorts the files back into the folder, "And then you thought you could just trash the Academy like that? Did you know that you hurt a lot of people there?'
Eten frowns and looks at the floor.
"Your friend Mako. He killed an Academy personnel. Fatally injuring another in the eye. Nasty." Jaxon said and stepped closer to Eten, "I believe you were an accessory to the murder. You almost crippled a guy, too."
Eten nods slowly, raises his hands, and offers it to Jaxon.
Jaxon scratches his beard, 'No, I'm not going to arrest you. Not yet at least." he said, "How about we make a deal?"
Eten puts down his hands. He's listening.
"We in the Inter-City Police don't really like gang wars. It creates havoc. The anarchy it gives birth to is just bad for the cities in our country. Are you listening?"
Eten nods, he understands.
The detective pressed a button on his monocle and a puff of steam coughs out from his right ear. The monocle opens and reveals a glass eyeball, Jaxon takes it out and puts it in his pocket, "There are a lot of organized crime groups here in this city, especially in the undercity. Some big players and some minor ones. Big groups join together to form an even bigger one and small players create alliances to look big. That's just how it is."
Eten is astounded, he nods but his attention is on his exposed eye socket.
"One major alliance called the Families is not a fan of wars, they've been in a lot of infighting, and they don't want to be involved in another one. Another group, a bundle of smaller gangs called the Rainbow Clan Gangsters is not that eager to start wars but that doesn't mean they'll let Big Poppa's death slide." Jaxon said as he grabs another eyeball from his vest's pocket, it is a metallic mechanical eye.
Eten pauses, he looks surprised.
"Oh right. I forgot to mention Big Poppa's dead." Jaxon said as he shakes the mechanical eye, it lets out a small beep.
Eten nods, slouched and depressed.
"You don't happen to be the one who murdered Big Poppa, right?"
Eten shakes his head. Sign with his hands that he only met Big Poppa once.
"Of course. I believe you." Jaxon said as he puts the mechanical eye inside his empty eye socket, "Even with the powder, the four of you can never take an OG."
Eten sighs and rubs his forehead.
"Big Poppa was the fish and the gangs think that one of the Families fished him out." Jaxon closes his eyes and sighs, and a beeping sound can be heard inside his closed monocle, "And you and your friends are the bait." he said as he opens his eyes to look at Eten, his mechanical eye beeps and the iris lights up red. Then blue. Then red. The color shifts endlessly. "I don't know if I used the saying right. But it's whatever." he chuckles.
Eten is amazed at the Installation Jaxon has on his eye.
"But the other gangs. Those gangs want the status quo to change. They want their turn in the big boy chair. Or table. I don't know." Jaxon steps closer to Eten, "My job is to find out who, which gangs wanted it so badly that they killed Big Poppa to start a war."
Eten looks up to the detective.
"Will you help me find out who?" asked Jaxon whose mechanical eyes still beep every time the lights inside it switch.
Eten gulps at the proposal, but he wants to find his friends so he nods.
"Excellent!." Jaxson said as the whole atmosphere shifts back to his usual merry, "I'll report back to the office and we'll have you get ready." he grabs the folder and taps it on the rusty table top before putting it between his armpit, "Be right back!" he turns around and looks at the mirror.
Eten smiles as Jaxson leaves and exits thru the door.
Outside, Jaxson paused in the hallways and sighs before removing the eyeball and replacing it with the normal one. The walls here are pleasant compared to the room he just went from. He then continues to walk just next door and enters it. Inside is the other side of the mirror from where Eten is. It is filled with papers stacked on wooden racks and other documents. There are cabinets where other files are presumably stored. The floors are tiled with fine mosaic and the air vents work. For lighting, a large window provides it but because it is night time the main city's lights are on full display unveiling the busy posh life of the finest citizens. A single-standing lamp on the corner buzzes its bulb to provide additional light.
Inside with Jaxson is two more individuals in Inter-City Police uniform. One is a tall woman smoking a cigar, her hands are fitted with mechanical replacements. She has long thick locks of blond hair, green eyes accompanied by her thin-framed eyeglasses, the ears of her cartilage have an extra crease giving a prominent pointy look, and is muscularly built.
The next person is a short, muscular man wearing only a tank top that has an Inter-City Police print on it. His hair is black, has a buzz cut and a goatee. He wears really short workout boxers, that reveal his mechanical prosthetic legs. Both arms have a few words inked in them, and when he crossed his arms, both tattoos connect and read: DON'T BE GANGSTA.
"We got our own bait, chief," Jaxson said rather disappointed.
The muscularly short man grunts, "Good."
"You sound unhappy." The tall woman lowers her posture as Jaxson approaches them.
"I feel bad about this," Jaxson replied while tossing the folder on the shiny marble table in front of them.
Suddenly, the muscular man flexes his left arm to Jaxson, showing the tattoo on it that reads: DON'T.
Apparently, Jaxson is entertained by these tattoos, "How can I?"
The muscular man shifts his flex and shows the other arm where the tattoos are read: BE GANGSTA.
"Right," Jaxson smirks.
The tall woman turns her attention back to the two-way mirror where Eten is seen looking at the leaking ceiling, "So what now?"
"Now. We wait for the gangtard scums to move." the short muscular man said while raising his hands to ask for the cigar that the woman has.
The tall woman passed the cigar to the short man, "You sure that kid will be useful?" while pointing at Eten.
"His usefulness has run out." Jaxson said, "Let's set him free, focus on the usual suspects." he looks at the short man, "Chief Kafka."
Kafka, Chief of the Inter-City Police in Lostandos. Nobody knows how old he is or how long he's been serving in the force. But he is the poster boy inside the interrogation room.
The chief grunts while crossing his arms.
"Got a soft spot on the kid, Jax?" the tall woman teases and just takes the cigar from Kafka.
Jaxson glances at Eten who is nonchalantly humming, "I know you have the same sentiments, sergeant."
"Sergeant Alice, give me back my cigar," growls Kafka raising his hands to the tall sergeant, "Detective Jaxson, We will proceed with the plans. One of their friends is supposedly connected to a gang. If she's there, the others will, too. Along with the ones who kidnapped this little one's friends. Then we'll connect the dots, case solved, no wars."
"Who, Sora?" Jaxson opens the folder with the files, "Sora's a dead end. Their case ends when they're supposed to dispose of the Gangsta Powder. Sora's role in Big Poppa's murder is clear: lead the OG to the real killers and dump the evidence. But instead of doing that, they gave the powder to their friends."
"Allegedly," Alice interrupts and takes the folder from Jaxson, "You have no evidence of her involvement. As much as I'm concerned, she's out there, and she knows the truth." she takes out a piece of paper, it's Sora's case file, "Where do you get your sources anyway?"
Jaxson pauses, "I got my contacts." he said, "And apparently nobody knows if Sora's a girl or a boy."
"Who cares." Kafka coughs and puts his cigar on an ashtray, "The gangs used these kids in their plot. That's it. They're nothing special. But we still need this one here to identify some people. And if the others are on any gang's side we'll just nab them."
"What's your take on this, chief?" Alice glances back at Kafka, "Should we get the AGU?"
"Fuck the AGU." Kafka coughs more pronounced, "My take is simple. Gangstas being gangstas, they all want a big piece of that cake."
"I still don't understand one thing, chief," Jaxson said with a concerned look.
"What's that?" the chief coughs again.
"Of all the wannabes and nobodies in the undercity, why them?"
Alice laughs, "It's a classic case of wrong place, wrong time. That's it. Get over it."
The chief clears his throat and grunts. Jaxson looks unsatisfied with the answer.
A knock on the door startled them, the three of them looks at the door to see who was entering. A hooded person enters, his clothes are all wet, and he holds an umbrella in his left hand and a box of freshly baked donuts in the other. The people inside beamed at the delightful sight of a beloved colleague.
"Hey! Good evening, guys. I brought donuts for everyone!" the person places the box on the table, and Kafka immediately picks his flavor.
"About damn time," Alice offers her fist at the hooded person.
"Sorry, it was raining. Good heavens, it's been like that for a week now. What did I miss?" the person asked as he removes his hood and reveals a mechanical mask covering his right eye socket. He responds to Alice's fist by knocking her fist with his own.
"Detective Kidd, you're not going to believe this." Jaxson excitedly points at Sora's file. They both smiled as if they cracked the case already, very elated by the prospect of ending a case. Especially Kidd, who leans closer to Sora's sketch and then glances back at Eten.