It was early in the evening when Detective Alice brought her new partner, June, to a rooftop restaurant located at the top of a skyscraper in Novis.
The place was fancy, and there weren't many guests, which was a testament to how exclusive it was.
After the two waited for over twenty minutes, Camille Winter arrived, making all of the servers greet her with the utmost respect.
"Alice, it's been a long time!" the platinum-haired woman said as she approached the table of the two detectives.
"It really has. How are you doing, Cami?" Alice asked, clearly familiar with the woman.
"Not too bad. Who is the cutie with you?" Camille continued, referring to June.
"She is my new partner, so please go easy on the teasing," the detective replied.
The handler chuckled and sat down in front of the two women, ordering a glass of water before they could ask her any more questions.
"I'm just going to cut down to the chase. That thing at Teko District… What happened?" Alice inquired.
"Hmm, you are going to have to be more specific. Lots of things happen everywhere all the time, you know?" said Camille with a somewhat sarcastic tone.
"Please, Cami. We don't have time for games…" Alice replied with a more severe tone.
"Okay, let's say I did know what you are talking about. Why are you asking me? Why not capture and question a gang member?" the handler said.
"You are seriously asking me that when you know what happened last time I tried that?" the detective asked, confusing June, who inquired about what happened.
A few years after the Blood Dragons took control, the gangs that worked under them, like Red River, were formed.
One day, one of the gangs committed terrorism by blowing up part of a building, and Alice managed to capture one of the culprits, who belonged to a gang called "Scarlett Bullet."
However, before they could even transfer the man to a police department, he took a cyanide pill and killed himself, as they preferred to die rather than divulge any information.
"What could they be hiding that they would do that…?" June pondered aloud, making the two detectives gaze at Camille.
"Guys, I may have a clue, but even I don't know everything," she replied, shaking her hands in denial with a smile.
"Wow, that was the first truthful comment you've said since you got here," Alice remarked, making the handler chuckle at how much the detective knew her.
The detective asked June to show Camille her notes when they were speaking to the witness, and Alice noticed that the woman's face changed for a very brief moment, making her understand that she knew more than she led on.
"See that witness testimony? It's crazy, right? —A man with black hair and red eyes fell from the sky, pointed his palm at some thugs, and destroyed everything before him…" said Alice, repeating word for word what was in the document.
"It does sound pretty crazy, but not impossible…" the platinum-haired woman replied.
*Sigh* "Cami, just tell me what's going on?" the detective continued, her tone friendlier than before.
"I'll tell you when it's time, Alice…" Camille replied, her voice sounding serious with no room for negotiations.
June felt a little offended at the fact that Camille spoke to her superior that way, but Alice was wholly indifferent to her attitude as if she had seen that side of her plenty of times before.
"Let me ask you something, detectives. Would you like it if the Jade Dragons took back their position?" the handler asked with a sharp gaze.
The rookie wasn't sure what to answer since she didn't live in Novis during the times that the Jade Dragons ruled the underworld, so she had no way to compare the two criminal organizations.
"Yes, but only if they operate like they used to back in the day," Alice replied confidently.
Camille nodded, returning the soft smile to her face. "Good. Then, I'll contact you when it's time," she said, standing up from her seat and waving farewell to the pair.
"Miss Alice, who was that?" June asked her superior as they watched the platinum-haired woman leave.
"That was Camille Winter. The handler of the Winter family…" she said, almost whispering her answer.
"WHAT!?" June exclaimed, standing up from her seat and slamming the table with both hands.
"Should we follow her!?" the rookie inquired.
"No. Unless you have a death wish…" her superior replied.
June took a deep breath and calmed herself, sitting back down and asking Alice how she knew Camille.
Alice was born and raised in the poor district of Dewmore, and being surrounded by crime all the time was what made her want to become a police detective.
When she was sixteen, she saw a group of men harassing a little girl, and Alice stepped up to them so they would leave her alone.
While the little girl ran away, the thugs punched Alice in the face and slammed her against a wall at the side of the alley, where they planned to take advantage of her.
However, a group of men wearing suits appeared out of nowhere and knocked out the group of thugs, allowing a girl of the same age to approach Alice and help her up.
"Are you okay? Don't worry, I'll make these guys suffer greatly!" the platinum-haired girl said while pumping her fist.
Alice was entranced by the girl's beauty and gentle demeanor. Likewise, Camille believed that Alice was a brave girl for stepping up to those thugs, so they became friends almost instantly.
After two years, when the pair turned eighteen, Alice expressed her wishes to join the police force, which slightly disappointed Camille at first, as she wanted the detective to be on her team.
Nevertheless, the handler respected her wishes, and while they were on opposite sides, they still maintained their friendship.
"I know it sounds strange coming from a police detective, but I trust Camille's judgment," Alice commented after telling her story.
June was in disbelief, not expecting her superior to utter something like that. Still, she felt glad knowing that they could potentially get to the bottom of the case.
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After Camille left her meeting with the detectives, she made her way to Dante's apartment, holding a small envelope in her hands.
When she knocked on the door, she found the warlock alone in the living room. However, instead of reading a book like he always did, he was looking at his smartphone attentively.
"Getting familiar with your phone?" the handler asked, sitting beside him on the couch.
"Sort of. Sophia taught me how to look up stuff on the internet, but there are some things I don't understand…" Dante replied.
"Like what?"
"Well, I got this message saying I won a giveaway, but when I pressed it—it sent me to this other site that has nothing to do with it…" the warlock explained.
Camille placed her palm on her face and sighed. "That's a virus, Dante. You shouldn't click those…" she said.
"What were you trying to look for?" she continued.
"I met this cool guy at the campus who had a video game machine called BeamDeck…" Dante explained.
He was looking for the price of the console as he was considering getting one for himself, but when he saw that the price was 700 kepi, his search turned to "how to make money?"
"And that's how you landed on this phishing site…" said Camille, finishing his story.
Still, Camille had visited Dante to give him something important, and it seemed like she arrived at the perfect time.
"Now that you have all your documents, I opened a bank account for you—here is your debit card," the handler said, handing the envelope to Dante.
The warlock knew about the use of cards and banks since he had read a lot about them, and he attended a few economy classes as a guest, so he wasn't totally ignorant of how they worked.
Camille said that she would transfer money to his account every few weeks so he didn't have to worry about running out, and while the warlock felt extremely grateful, he also felt a bit of guilt.
'I don't feel like I've done anything for these people. Why do they treat me so nicely?' he pondered.