Early in the morning at the Tower Headquarters in Brasília.
Ava entered the meeting room where Koji and Saik were already waiting. Her posture was serious and assertive, conveying the importance of the upcoming conversation. They were dressed sharply in white vests, black pants, and dress shoes, with their hair neatly styled.
"Let's start with you, Koji," Ava said, sitting down at the table.
Koji adjusted himself in his chair, crossing his arms.
"I want to talk about your cooperation with the Tower. We have a common enemy, and this could benefit us. But first, I need to know about your personal enemies. Anyone specific who could cause us trouble?"
He thought for a moment before responding.
"Leal. He's a criminal carrier, a magnate, and the crime boss across the north and northeast of the country."
"And why does he see you as a target?" Ava asked, leaning forward.
"I owe him. He hired me to take care of one of his rivals, but due to the chaos in Dynami, I didn't complete the job. I'm sure he's not happy about it."
Ava took notes.
"And what is your life goal, Koji? The Tower can help you as a gesture of gratitude for your cooperation."
"I want to know the truth about my father. And fix my pact."
"What makes you want to know more about your father?"
"I'm only here today because of him, and I don't know if it's positive or negative. That's what I want to find out—if his intentions were truly good or deliberately bad."
Ava noted everything down and gestured for Saik to come closer, as it was his turn to speak.
"Saik, now it's your turn. What do you think about the current situation between the Tower and you?"
Saik, calm and somewhat nonchalant, responded.
"I understand that we have common enemies. I'm okay with that."
"And what about personal enemies?"
"I don't have any directly."
"So, what is your life goal?"
Saik took a deep breath and replied in a still calm but now more serious tone.
"Most carriers know about a certain script, which is quite famous. The pact it offers is called the Utopian Pact."
"What does that mean?" Ava asked, curious but maintaining her professional demeanor.
He explained.
"The pact offered by the demon of that script provides a technique as perfect as a utopia. I need it because the pact I have now doesn't fully benefit me. I have internal energy, but not external energy, which is necessary for every carrier, especially for me because I'm vulnerable due to my health."
Ava frowned, intrigued.
"What about your health?"
"Do I really need to tell you?" The discomfort on his face was evident.
"You don't have to."
In a somewhat awkward and uncomfortable atmosphere, Ava stood up, signaling the end of the conversation.
Meanwhile...
In the Tower headquarters parking lot, Agent Tovah, responsible for the arrest of Tahiko, was loading some suitcases into his car's trunk. His movements were quick and efficient, but he was interrupted by an unexpected presence. Nikki Williams, a Special Forces soldier of the Tower and son of Captain Williams, approached in casual clothes, gesturing with his left arm.
"Who is this?" Tovah wondered as he tried to put the last suitcase away with his right hand without dropping his strawberry popsicle.
Tovah didn't immediately recognize the young man as they were not part of the same department.
"Hi, I'm Nikki Williams," the soldier introduced himself.
Tovah, with his usual popsicle in his mouth, raised an eyebrow and started the conversation.
"Hi, Nikki. Need some help? What can I do for you?"
"I'm trying to get information about one of the three young carriers who agreed to cooperate with the Tower," Nikki replied, serious.
Tovah paused, taking the popsicle out of his mouth.
"Three carriers? You'll have to be more specific."
"Tahiko," he said without hesitation.
Tovah let out a quick, relaxed laugh, breaking the ice. A bit of popsicle splashed onto Nikki's arm, who gave a slight, more forced than genuine smile.
"Sorry about that," Tovah said, wiping his mouth. "But why do you want to know about Tahiko? Do you know him? As far as I know, that guy doesn't get along with anyone."
"He was supposedly the last person to see my father alive. This could help me find out who the killer was," Nikki explained.
"And why should I trust you to take you to him?" Tovah questioned, with a more penetrating look.
"The reason I flew from Dynami to Brasília was solely to find my father's killer."
"That's a good reason."
Convinced, Tovah walked and gestured for Nikki to follow. They walked to the Containment Center, an anti-carrier prison equipped with Pure Nullite S1, where humans needed to be fully equipped with specific materials to counteract the effects of Nullite on the human body.
The entire structure of the Center was underground within the vast territory of the Tower base, with numerous large, wide corridors leading to various interrogation rooms, extreme isolation units, and the most secure prisons on the planet.
As they walked down the main corridor of the Center towards the elevators, Nikki resumed the conversation.
"How much power and capability have the Tower and the Alliance not yet used against the carriers?"
Tovah pondered for a moment before responding.
"To me, it's a gamble. The Tower and the Alliance have an apparently infinite budget with every escalation in tensions between humans and carriers. So it's all a bet on what will trigger the use of power. I believe they want to be sure of when, how, and on whom to use it."
Nikki reflected on the answer, then asked.
"Doesn't the immense, still immeasurable power of the world's most powerful carriers scare the heads of the two departments? Because it seems very distant from us."
"It definitely should scare them," Tovah responded directly. "Carriers are directly linked to demons, and that's scary. But the art of military persuasion no longer works; practical combat says much more than persuasive combat."
They reached one of the elevators, which took them to the lowest level of the Center, and Tovah explained.
"We love this level. It was made so low because it will be, especially in the future, the place for criminal carriers who are part of the Foundation."
What Nikki's eyes beheld was something never shown to anyone outside the Tower, and that was one of the privileges of being an employee in some department sector.
A few meters later, they arrived at Tahiko's cell. He was in the dark back of the cell, sitting on the bed, focused as he scratched the floor with a wooden stick. Nikki looked at Tahiko, who had not yet noticed his presence, and felt a mix of hope and determination.
In his perception, he was closer to discovering who had killed his father.