Caroline
?
Detective, do you know this guy?
James
No, but it seems he knows us…
(What's with that aura he's giving off?)
(I can feel the malice and bloodlust through that mask…)
(This guy…)
(...Is trouble no matter how you slice it!)
Orion
I've been aware of you for a while Spectre, I've been careful to avoid your attention.
Caroline
Why would you do that?
He's just some lousy detective
Orion
If he was, I wouldn't care about what he does.
No, this man is a legend in the underworld of New York.
Caroline
…
Are we…talking about the same person here?
Orion
PfaAHAHAHAHA!!
You're fun!!
Shame I have to kill you.
Seriously.
This man is a threat to every criminal empire in New York.
It started out small with him getting former mafioso Mother Mother to owe him a favour. With his connections, Mother Mother is a force to reckoned with.
But the mysterious detective didn't stop there!
Next, he went on to capture the known serial killer Chuck Berry who was able to avoid police for years up to that point!!
What was stranger, was everyone recounted the detective's incredible accuracy with a gun, always managing to hit his target, yet no one had ever seen him draw a gun in his life!!
But all of this was childs play.
What truly caught my attention was your actions a few months ago.
Caroline
?
What did you do to get an assassin's attention?
Orion
James Spectre picked a fight with a mob known as the Casa Dei Re, in this organisation were two assassins whose names were feared across the state!
Those names were May and Mercury!!
James tenses up at the mention of Mercury
Orion
James Spectre, already famous for capturing Chuck Berry single-handedly defeated May and Mercury, some of the deadliest assassins in New York State!!
He refused to stop causing trouble there, shortly after defeating the assassins he toppled the Casa Dei Re all together!!
The boss was last known to have entered into a fight with James Spectre–one-on-one–before being found dead in the streets only an hour later!!
The fact that one man was capable of all this intrigued me and the idea of getting to hunt such fine prey excited me~
You couldn't have chosen a more fun bodyguard "doctor"
Caroline
!!!
H-How did you know!?
Orion
Hm?
Oh, easy, I was listening in on your whole encounter back on Alphabet St.
I don't know how this shocks you, you encountered all of my traps on the way here!!
I want to congratulate you two on surviving by the way, my employer said he wanted your bodies in good condition.
James
Who did?
Why do they want our bodies to be good?
Orion
Let me correct myself, he wants your body in good condition Spectre.
He said I could kill the doctor however I see fit.
But not to worry, I have a way of making sure I kill you without having to ruin your body.
James
It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that gas over there, would it?
Orion
Psh, whaaat? Nooo, I would never use something like thaaat~
That gas is a homemade variety of–
UGH!!!
A fist sends Orion flying back
James
Caroline!!!
Why'd you do that?!
He might've been about to tell us something important!!!
Caroline
Yeah, but that guy just doesn't shut up.
He was definitely gonna keep ranting.
And besides, shouldn't you be happy?
We did it!!
We got him!!!
Orion
Ooooh! Who'd we get?
James and Caroline jump back
James
Lacerta!!!
Lacerta sends multiple bullets flying into Orion, but when they connect, they just turn into piles of snow
Orion
Detective, I thought you already knew what my Manifesto was.
Orion flashes a smile
Orion
It's traps!!
The pile of snow explodes suddenly as shrapnel gets sent flying
James
Ugh!
Lacerta!
Lacerta blocks the shrapnel
James
Are you ok?
Caroline is using Lyra to heal her injuries
Caroline
Yeah, I'll be fine
I don't know about you, but I'm not really a huge fan of these so-called traps.
Seems like a stretch if you ask me.
Orion
Nothing's a stretch when it comes to Manifestos!
The only thing that limits a Manifesto is your own creativity!!
I just happen to have a far bigger imagination than you two!!
Now, James Spectre, show me what you've done to earn yourself that wonderful reputation~
Caroline
Do you have any complaints if I were to pummel him now?
James
No, just make sure he's still conscious enough to talk.
We need to extract some information from him first.
Caroline
Fine, I can do that.
Caroline and Lyra leap out at Orion who just takes the punch
As Lyra retracts her fist, she has knives sticking out of her hand
Caroline
Damn it! Another fake!!
It looks like these things can have more than just explosives in them!!
Orion
I thought you were smarter than that…
A bullet flies through Orion causing darts to fly out towards James
Orion
…You can't beat me with brute strength alone!!
Lyra destroys another as another bomb goes off
Orion
How do you know I'm even there?
As long as my Manifesto is nearby, then it can just do the work for me!
I don't even need to put myself in danger to get you!!
James
!!
Caroline is about to destroy it, but James stops her
Caroline
!?
What are you doing!?
Let me crush that thing!!
James
No!!
That's what it wants!!
The goal isn't to kill us with these, it's to distract us!!
The user isn't nearby because their goal isn't to kill us with these decoys, the goal is to kill us with the gas!!
I should've realized sooner, but that gas has been piling into the park ever since we got locked in!!
We don't know how far it's spread throughout the park, so we need to get a move on before we're completely trapped here!!
Caroline
UGH!!
FINE!!!
I hate that that argument makes sense!!!
Orion
Tch
(They caught on, my bad I guess.)
(Shouldn't have let that line slip!)
(But oh well, it doesn't matter if they run now, I'll make sure their bodies are lying before Dr. Sunshine before the end of the day!!)
(With the money I'll get from this job, and the infamy I'll gain from killing the notorious James Spectre, I'll be living on easy street after this job!!)
What other word is there for hunting other than…
…exhilarating!!!
James and Caroline are running through the park
Caroline
Huff, huff, I don't see him!
I think we might've lost him for now!
James
No, we haven't!
Remember, this whole park is his trap, meaning the whole park is his range…
…Even then, it's safe to assume his range is probably far wider than that!!
Caroline
What do you mean?
James
Didn't you pay attention to what he was saying?
He said his body wasn't here, meaning his Manifesto can work at a long range, a conservative estimate would place him at the other side of Central Park, which is around 2 and a half miles from us!! (4km)
Caroline
How do you know he's there?
James
Think about it!
He wants to kill us using the gas, but that gas isn't a controlled attack, the trap was already sprung, so now we're dealing with the aftermath of that activation!!
Even if he's strong, he's not immortal!!
He wouldn't want to inhale toxic gas either!
Orion
He's right, you know.
Caroline
You!
Lyra winds up a punch, but James gets her to keep moving
Orion
As I was saying before being rudely interrupted, that isn't just some run-of-the-mill gas!
That's homemade mustard gas from the ammonia in that building!
Its use during the war was so horrific they banned it a few years ago!!!
What do you think would happen if you were to inhale too much?
James
The only way to stop him is to defeat the user or to find the real Manifesto!!
If we do that, then it'll undo the effects of the Manifesto, including the gas it created!!!
Orion
Ooooh, I'm shaking in my boots.
You should probably worry about getting out of here alive first before coming up with plans to stop me.
Caroline
Can you just leave us alone!!
If you're gonna kill us, then at least give us some peace and quiet before we die!!!
Orion
Awww, but there's no fun in that
I like to see my prey's dying moments for myself!!
I like getting to see how they squirm when they know they have a trap chasing them, and me taunting them!!
Most people don't figure out the decoys until they've already died, so I don't usually get to have these talks with people!!
Thanks for surviving this long!!
Now, why don't you keep making my final hunt more and more fun!!
James grits his teeth as Caroline gets more upset