It was early in the morning in the Novis police headquarters when a woman with long, dark hair walked through the hallways with poise and confidence, making her way to her captain's office.
Without knocking, the woman entered the room and found her superior sitting behind his desk, finishing his conversation with a young officer.
"Ah, Detective Alice!" the captain greeted the woman, seemingly unbothered by the way she barged in.
"I heard the murder case in Naela went swimmingly. Great job, as always," the captain continued.
"Thank you, sir. They told me you got something new for me," the detective replied.
"Yes. I do have a case for you, but before I give you the details, let me introduce you to one of our newcomers…" the captain continued, focusing his attention on the young female cop sitting in front of his desk.
The girl had short, light brown hair, and her excitement was palpable in the room as she stared at the detective.
"Detective Morris, it's a pleasure to meet you!" she exclaimed, hastily standing up from her seat to greet the woman.
"My name is June Lockhart. I'm a new probationary detective," she continued.
"Hmm, Captain?" Alice questioned her boss as she shook the young cop's hand.
"I know, I know. You don't want another partner, and I can understand that, but give June a chance—she reminds me a little bit of you…" said the man with a friendly tone.
Alice seemed hesitant, but she didn't have a choice when her superior was asking her so nicely to take care of the rookie detective.
The role of probationary detective was given to newcomers who wanted to get into the criminal investigation branch of the police.
Every probationary detective was partnered with an experienced officer, who would mentor them in the ropes of the job and test their knowledge occasionally.
After spending at least six months with their partner, the mentor would report back to their superiors to see if they were ready to become full-fledged detectives.
Once Alice apprehensively agreed to mentor June, they left the office and were given a folder with the documents of the case they were assigned.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to step on your toes…" June said as they walked along the hallway.
"I did ask Captain Slacks to put me with someone who would be okay having me… I'm sorry," she continued.
The girl could tell that the detective wasn't the least bit excited about working together, and she didn't want to be a nuisance to someone she idolized.
"You don't have to apologize," Alice replied with a cold tone.
"You see. When he said he would make me your partner, I got really excited…" said June, looking to the side as she felt too embarrassed to gaze at the detective.
"Why is that?" Alice asked.
"Well, you are the main reason I joined the police force. I saw that article in the news five years ago when you took down an entire network of drug trafficking and… I suppose I was inspired," the young cop replied.
*Sigh* Alice exhaled, feeling a bit guilty for treating the girl so coldly, and turned around to look at her.
"It's okay. I'm just not used to having partners, but I'm sure we'll get along," said the detective, giving June a gentle pat on the head that made her blush before they kept walking to their office.
As the two women sat in front of a computer and scrolled through the evidence, they had a face of concern and confusion.
They were looking at a picture of the chunk of the alley that Dante had utterly destroyed the night he arrived, but they couldn't understand how it formed.
"Could it be some sort of bomb?" June pondered aloud.
"A bomb that doesn't burn?" Alice replied with another question, noting that there weren't any burnt marks in the area.
"It looks too neat. See that?" the detective continued, zooming in on the destroyed street.
"Maybe they used some sort of tool?" June kept pondering.
"Check this out. It says there's a witness," Alice replied, standing up from her seat and picking up her jacket.
"W-where are we going!?" June asked, following her mentor and picking up her jacket and cap.
"To Teko District. Let's see what the witness has to say…"
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When the two detectives arrived at Teko District, they got to the alley that was destroyed by Dante, which construction workers were already fixing.
Still, one-half of the road was demolished, and Alice confirmed that it was impossible for a bomb to produce that kind of damage.
The witness in the report said to live on the fourth floor of an adjacent building, and when the detectives knocked on their door, they were surprised to see it was an old man who didn't look younger than eighty years old.
After the old man politely invited them inside, he served the detectives a cup of tea and told them everything he had seen.
That night, the old man heard a commotion caused by gunshots that woke him up. However, hearing those sorts of sounds in Teko District was pretty standard, as it was an area controlled by a gang called "Red River."
Despite its commonality, the old man walked to his window and spotted a hooded figure running from a pack of thugs, but their chase was interrupted when a man plummeted from the skies into the alley.
"I saw the sky light up with colors, and this man just suddenly appeared crashing down…" the old man explained, making the two detectives a bit skeptical about his tale.
"He got shot by the thugs, but then I saw him raise his hand and 'boom!' — they were all gone," the witness continued.
June had taken note of everything the old man said in a little notebook, even when she found his tale to be wholly unrealistic and crazy. Still, she had to treat it as a witness testimony.
When the two women left the apartment, they returned to the area that was being fixed by the construction workers and started pondering the different options they had to solve the case.
"That wasn't very helpful. All I got of interest is the Red River gang…" said June as she read through her notes.
"June, what do you know about the mafia?" Alice asked, inspecting the torn-down facade of the buildings that hadn't been fixed yet.
"Umm, I know there are four families, and each of them has smaller gangs that work for them, correct?"
Alice nodded but elaborated her point even further.
There were four mafia families who dominated most of the underworld dealings in Novaria, and each of those families had control of different provinces and districts.
Red River was a gang that worked for the Blood Dragons, who were an unofficial mafia family that rose to power eight years ago.
"Unofficial? Aren't they criminals? How can a mafia family become official?" June asked, realizing that she knew less about the criminal world than she expected.
"Well, if a Stellar family doesn't recognize them, then they aren't official—meaning that the other mafia groups won't do any deals with them," Alice replied.
The mentor detective elaborated further and explained that the "Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter" families were the ones known as the Stellar families.
Each of them had a representative they referred to as "the handler," who were people with access to information that not even high-rank government officials were aware of.
"The Winter handler used to work with the Jade Dragons who controlled this area, but after the Blood Dragons took over, they were never recognized…" Alice continued.
"Does it make a difference, though? Aren't they both just criminal organizations anyway?" June asked, taking notes of everything her mentor said.
Alice replied by saying that the Jade Dragons, while they certainly committed crimes, also worked with the police from time to time. Thanks to them, Novis was considered one of the safest cities in the world at one point in time.
On the other hand, the Blood Dragons were the complete opposite, as their crimes not only overshadowed those committed by the Jade Dragons, but their extreme secrecy made it difficult to know much about them.
June had taken note of everything, but she still felt stumped on how to continue the case, feeling like her clues were getting cold.
Nevertheless, Alice pulled out her phone, and the rookie detective knew that her mentor must have had an idea.
"I'm calling an old friend. She might be able to give us some clues about this…" Alice muttered, showing the name "Camille" on her phone's screen.