Tahiko's exhaustion was immense, and nothing he tried resulted in a positive outcome, just like the countless other times he had attempted something. His gaze at Captain Williams, lying motionless on the ground, terrified him.
"Captain! Wake up, Captain!" Tahiko shouted, desperate for a response. He was drooling as he spoke intensely, and his angry punches on the ground made his impatience evident.
Hideki, on the other hand, was calm, speaking little and acting more. He walked over to where the civilians, soldiers, and the person he would bring to Tahiko's sight were.
Hideki carried Riley unconscious in his arms and took the opportunity to approach Williams. He pushed the body to see the captain's face and noticed the purple mark on his lips; Captain Williams was officially dead. Hideki crouched down enough to take the personal wallet the officer carried with him.
"Documents... Family... Niki Williams..." Hideki quickly glanced at the wallet's contents, but nothing interested him as potentially useful information.
When Tahiko lifted his head, as he had been downcast, he immediately saw Riley unconscious in Hideki's arms and quickly expressed concern. His eyebrows raised, and a new wave of impetus overtook him.
"Put him down! Leave him here!"
"Don't be so reckless. The boy is alive by my choice; he should already be dead like the others," Hideki stated, looking at Tahiko, who was on his knees with exaggerated expressions.
"What are you going to do with him?" Tahiko asked.
"I was intrigued by how you see this boy. Surely, he isn't an ordinary person, and you know little about it. Therefore, I'm taking him with me."
Hideki then threw the captain's wallet in front of Tahiko and said as a farewell:
"Don't blame yourself; there was no way you could win."
Afterward, Hideki and Riley disappeared, leaving Tahiko to lament in anger. Instead of crying, he repeatedly punched the ground to vent his hatred. The entire prison dissolved instantly after Hideki's departure, causing Koji to run over to see what had happened.
"Tahiko! Damn it. What happened here?" Koji asked, extremely astonished and worried, kneeling close to Tahiko.
"Where were you all this time?" Tahiko's angry gaze now pointed threateningly at Koji.
"I was fighting on Port Avenue. I managed to bring most of my group here."
"BUT THEY'RE DEAD! THEY DIED! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU FOUGHT AND SAVED THEM, IT WAS ALL IN VAIN BECAUSE NOW THEY'RE DEAD! WE DID NOTHING!" Tahiko shouted with all the strength his voice allowed, the veins in his neck visible, his indignation uncontrollable.
"I fought two Gyakus, nearly died, and this whole mess was in vain? Is that it?"
"EXACTLY THAT! We didn't do a damn thing."
In a spontaneous spasm, driven by anger, Tahiko tried to land a surprise punch on Koji's face, which was swiftly blocked by the spheres. They basically stopped the punch, automatically increasing the tension between the two.
Seeing this, Koji just questioned himself, curious, opening his mind.
"The spheres stopped it? They defend me from Gyakus... and bearers too. But not from humans?"
"Are those the spheres?" Tahiko pulled back his arm and stepped away.
Meanwhile, Spherea spoke to Koji.
"As I already told you what I needed before, I'm free to say what I want."
"Say what?"
"The contract your father made applies solely to beings he deemed dangerous to you at the time, most likely and certainly the Gyakus and other bearers. After all, bearers are not harmed by anything human, only another bearer or Gyaku can hurt a bearer," Spherea explained.
"He didn't consider humans dangerous, so he only included the creatures and bearers in the contract."
Tahiko, seeing Koji talking to himself, though actually conversing with Spherea, spoke to him while waving his arm near Koji's face to wake him up.
"Oh, wake up. I'm not in the mood to see a crazy person talking to himself."
Unexpectedly, the sound of a helicopter rotor approached, catching Koji and Tahiko's attention, who soon looked up and saw a helicopter descending.
"Who are these guys?" Tahiko asked.
"Looks like they arrived late, just like me, huh?"
Without delay, the aircraft's microphone echoed a warning to the two.
"ATTENTION, BEARERS! WE ARE FROM THE TOWER, REMAIN STATIONARY! WE ARE HERE TO HELP. DO NOT MOVE; WE WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT AND IMMEDIATE RESCUE. I REPEAT, REMAIN STATIONARY! HELP IS ON THE WAY."
"Tower? These bastards only came now?" Tahiko asked, scratching his head and looking suspiciously at the aircraft.
"That's about right..."
At the headquarters of the Brazilian Tower Intelligence Department in Brasília.
The movement in the corridors of the top floor of the large and modern building was intense. A young man, probably an intern, walked with visible urgency towards the main meeting room.
"So much to do... They think I don't know they leave more work for me on purpose," his nervousness lingered in the air, and the trembling in his arms gave him away.
Slowly, he opened the door, as he was not part of the team that regularly met in this important room and didn't want to cause a disturbance as a newcomer to the company.
"Good morning!"
Only one person was present in the room: Commander Ava, the woman responsible for leading all direct and indirect actions of the Tower.
"It's noon," the commander said dryly, standing, looking at the city view through the room's large window.
"Isn't noon 'good morning'?"
"Not for me," she replied, turning towards the table.
Now looking at the intern, she walked elegantly to the main chair of the meeting table and asked the young man.
"Are you new? What's your name?"
"Yes, I am. My name is Cole Fuller," the young man replied, with an embarrassed and slightly excited smile.
"Nice to meet you, Cole. But are these documents for me?"
The young man soon approached, slightly nervous, and placed them on the table.
"These are the initial reports on the two bearers that the flight team rescued a few minutes ago in Dynami," he explained.
As she looked and read through the documents in detail, the young man informed her.
"We don't know their last names yet, but their names are Tahiko and Koji. Both are independent bearers."
"Oh, yes. The drone already informed me about these two bearers... Agent Nahome knows them. They will certainly be able to help us soon. Detail the reports further and send a permission in my name to bring the two here. I want to meet them personally."