“So, there were no casualties?” Tor asked, as he jotted down some noteworthy information in a small notepad in his left hand, alternating his attention between his notes and the security guard that was briefing him on the situation. They were seated in the guard’s office, and in front of them was an array of screens that were linked to recording lacrima, placed at various strategic places within the blood bank. As the security guard spoke, his right hand was deftly manipulating the controls to check back to the recording of the incident.
“There! That’s when he entered!” the security guard called out hurriedly, pointing with his left hand as his right hand tapped down rather furiously on the pause button. Tor quickly turned his attention to the screen that the security guard was pointing to. The Rune Knight looked closely at the recording, trying to take note of whatever he could. The time on the upper right corner of the screen tallied with what he knew of the crime, which was ten at night. The blood bank closed at six in the evening, hence leaving the whole place empty for the perpetrator.
Tor began observing the man’s actions in the recording and from what he could tell, the man was a pro. Every single action he took was unhesitating and fluid. He broke into the place where the donated blood were stored by picking the lock, gave a glance throughout the whole room at the storage cabinets and within minutes had already taken five packs of blood. He stored it gingerly into his backpack. And for one short moment, the perpetrator even looked at up at recording lacrima.
“He’s just challenging us!” the security guard wailed out angrily but there was nothing much they could do. The perpetrator was wearing a pair of tinted glasses and a surgical mask to cover up his face. Only leaving them with a full up shot of his partially covered face, the perpetrator then left the room as it is, with the storage cabinet opened halfway, the door to the storage room ajar as well. He made no attempts to hide his tracks, although Tor had also been briefed that aside from his brazen disregard of the recording lacrima, there were no tracks at all for them to use to track him down.
“That’s all we got, sir,” the security guard said dejectedly as he spun around in his chair. When he turned around, Tor could see the red line across his neck and the bruise on his left eye. The security guard had skipped the part where he had been overpowered by the perpetrator, but he had told Tor verbally about how he had been taken down. While he had been smaller in stature compared to the security guard, the perp had been able to use his size and speed to his advantage. He had first kicked the security guard’s leg, dropping him to one knee and squarely punched the man in the eye before sliding over to the man’s back and pulled out a garotte to strangle him until he fell unconscious. From this point alone, Tor could tell that the perpetrator was extremely skilled and in control of his own strengths, knowing how much strength to knock the guard larger than him and how much strength to put into nonfatally subduing him.
After receiving the recording from the security guard, Tor thanked him once again and left the blood bank. This was the second one in Hosenka that he had visited, and the MO had been the same. Reports from other towns had came in as well, indicating that these two cases were part of a large robbery spree. The reason he was here was because of a request that the mayor of Hosenka had made, allowing for him to be sent over by the Rune Knights HQ to work on the case with the local officers. This would also be the first time that Tor would be leading a team to carry out the investigation.
When he exited the blood bank, two of the local Rune Knights were standing outside waiting for him and the trio made their way back to the office. When they entered the meeting room, Tor sat down at the head of the table, ignored by the other two that had stayed back in the office to sort out the reports they received from other towns. They were currently absorbed in their conversation, about another case that had happened.
“They said that he’s called Doctor K, and that’s the one who operated on DaLousa,” one of them was saying to the other.
However, before the other could continue speaking, the one of the duo that had followed Tor to visit the blood bank earlier rapped his knuckles on the table with an irritated expression.
“Why are you two even discussing about another case?” the one known as Spirone said. “Were you even working on the reports while we were out?”
“Of course we were. But we overheard the other team working on the underground doctor and it seems like they aren’t any closer to discovering the man’s identity,” the one who had been cut short retorted.
Tor looked at the exchanged with a bored look on his face but before could say add on anything, the door to the meeting room opened. It was Rufus, the other one that followed Tor out and had went off somewhere under Tor’s orders when they returned to the station earlier. Tor instantly looked up at him.
“How’s the preparation for tonight?”
“Everything is on track. The Red Plus Blood Bank is afraid of the recent spate of robberies as well and was extremely cooperative. A total of ten men, excluding you, will be involved in the stakeout. It’s not enough but it’s all the men we can spare,” Rufus replied Tor’s questions as he sat down in the seat nearest to Tor. “These are the names of the officers for tonight.”
Tor ignored the list, since he wouldn’t be able to recognize them based on just their names anyway. He just looked down the table at the four local Rune Knights with a stern gaze and then said, “Rest up. We need everyone to be at their best tonight so we don’t fuck up.”
-----
The Red Plus Blood Bank was a two-story building with a flat roof, that was part of a row of shops. It was located in a slightly quieter part of the town, reducing the traffic that Tor and his team would need to keep his eyes on. The simplicity of the blood bank also significantly simplified their stakeout efforts despite their small number of hands on board. Aside from the five men assigned to hide within the blood bank itself, three were posted at the back exit of the building while Tor and Rufus kept an eye on the front.
Tor stood on the side of the road, opposite the blood bank. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans, white sneakers and a black hoodie, a combination that would make him as inconspicuous as possible among the people walking up and down the streets. There were a few bathhouses and spas here as well, relatively cheaper compared to the upscale ones in the prime area. With his hood pulled over his head, Tor bit on a cigarette in his mouth and leaned against a lamppost, looking every bit like a good for nothing young man. Rufus was sitting down on a stool a few feet away from, selling newspapers while wearing clothes of a similar fashion to Tor.
All of them were waiting antsily throughout the night. A few of them were hoping that the perpetrator wasn’t going to appear tonight so that they could finish up for the night and go back to their warm beds but the peace was quickly shattered the moment the clock struck ten. Over the earpieces that all of them wore to communicate, the sound of glass shattering could be heard extremely clearly followed by the muffled sounds of grunts and shouts of pain.
“The perp jumped in window facing the back alley!” one of the two men stationed at the back exit shouted at the same time as the two of them watched the perpetrator soared above them and smashed through the windows leg-first into the blood bank. The moment the ruckus started, Tor spat out his cigarette and Rufus swept away the piles of newspapers around him as he stood up, two of them simultaneously running towards the blood bank’s entrance.
However, by the time the two of them crossed the street, another voice crackled through the earpieces.
“He’s running out of the front entrance!” Spirone half shouted, half grunted. The front entrance of the blood bank, twin sliding doors of metal frame around glass, exploded outwards in a shower of clear glass and red crystalline bits. Tor threw himself to the side to evade the storm of shards but Rufus wasn’t as lucky. The barrier of ice that he had conjured hastily shattered against the onslaught of glass and red crystals, cutting through his clothes and into his skin as he shouted out in pain. A white figure flashed out of the building in the direction of Rufus. Tor could see clearly as he got back to his feet, as something red coagulated around the white-garbed figure’s fist into the shape of a huge blade that was being swung in Rufus’ way.
Shadows surged through the air as Tor disappeared into darkness and reappeared right beside Rufus, Tor kicking the man away and defending against the red blade with his own sword, defusing the momentum of the slash by sliding his sword down the red blade’s length to push it away. The red blade clashed heavily into the ground before shattering, causing a cloud of red dust to pour into the air. The red dust quickly morphed again, becoming liquid and without any indication, transformed into a huge blade and attempted to thrust at Tor.
The Rune Knight defended against the sudden attack by disappearing without a trace, leaving nothing but crackling lightning in his wake as he reappeared outside of the mist. And Tor finally saw the attacker.
Long black hair that reached the neck, shades covering the eyes and a black surgical mask over the lower half of the face. The very same red dust was lingering around him in the air, reflecting the ambient light from the lampposts and shop signs. The red blade that had been formed to attack him and Rufus had also disintegrated, turning back into the red dust but stayed around the man’s right arm, the concentration of the dust there higher than around him.
A glint of coldness flashed in Tor’s eyes as he tightened his grip on the sword as Tor charged forward. Wisps of black energy gathered around his blade as he put all his strength into his slash, swinging his sword from left to right diagonally. Tor could imagine the man smirking as he saw the mask move slightly in response to his facial expression. The man didn’t even needed to make any effort, as the red dust solidified into a shield in the face of Tor’s attack, sparks flying at the tip of the sword scratched against the shield. The shield broke apart the moment his attack was nullified and again Tor was pushed on the backfoot, forming a layer of black flame-like energy around his arm before it extended around Tor as a sphere to block the thrusting attack that shot out of the red shield.
“Who are you?” Tor asked begrudgingly as he slowly stopped from his backwards slide.
“Doctor K,” the man simply replied in a muffled voice, taking off his shades after to reveal a pair of eyes with red pupils. With that simple introduction, the red dust around him suddenly expanded outwards in great volume. When it finally settled, the man who had identified himself as Doctor K had already disappeared.
----
Tor walked down the hallways of the Rune Knight headquarters in his uniform, his expression solemn as though a dark cloud hung above his head. While the instructions for the job had provided that catching the criminal was not a necessity, Tor regarded this as a failure. His quick and furious pace brought him to where he needed to go in a short time and when he finally stopped in front of a door, Tor shut his eyes for a few seconds as he let out a deep breath before raising his hand to knock on the door.
“General Phacelia, I would like to give my report on the mission.”
[2126 / 2000 words]
“There! That’s when he entered!” the security guard called out hurriedly, pointing with his left hand as his right hand tapped down rather furiously on the pause button. Tor quickly turned his attention to the screen that the security guard was pointing to. The Rune Knight looked closely at the recording, trying to take note of whatever he could. The time on the upper right corner of the screen tallied with what he knew of the crime, which was ten at night. The blood bank closed at six in the evening, hence leaving the whole place empty for the perpetrator.
Tor began observing the man’s actions in the recording and from what he could tell, the man was a pro. Every single action he took was unhesitating and fluid. He broke into the place where the donated blood were stored by picking the lock, gave a glance throughout the whole room at the storage cabinets and within minutes had already taken five packs of blood. He stored it gingerly into his backpack. And for one short moment, the perpetrator even looked at up at recording lacrima.
“He’s just challenging us!” the security guard wailed out angrily but there was nothing much they could do. The perpetrator was wearing a pair of tinted glasses and a surgical mask to cover up his face. Only leaving them with a full up shot of his partially covered face, the perpetrator then left the room as it is, with the storage cabinet opened halfway, the door to the storage room ajar as well. He made no attempts to hide his tracks, although Tor had also been briefed that aside from his brazen disregard of the recording lacrima, there were no tracks at all for them to use to track him down.
“That’s all we got, sir,” the security guard said dejectedly as he spun around in his chair. When he turned around, Tor could see the red line across his neck and the bruise on his left eye. The security guard had skipped the part where he had been overpowered by the perpetrator, but he had told Tor verbally about how he had been taken down. While he had been smaller in stature compared to the security guard, the perp had been able to use his size and speed to his advantage. He had first kicked the security guard’s leg, dropping him to one knee and squarely punched the man in the eye before sliding over to the man’s back and pulled out a garotte to strangle him until he fell unconscious. From this point alone, Tor could tell that the perpetrator was extremely skilled and in control of his own strengths, knowing how much strength to knock the guard larger than him and how much strength to put into nonfatally subduing him.
After receiving the recording from the security guard, Tor thanked him once again and left the blood bank. This was the second one in Hosenka that he had visited, and the MO had been the same. Reports from other towns had came in as well, indicating that these two cases were part of a large robbery spree. The reason he was here was because of a request that the mayor of Hosenka had made, allowing for him to be sent over by the Rune Knights HQ to work on the case with the local officers. This would also be the first time that Tor would be leading a team to carry out the investigation.
When he exited the blood bank, two of the local Rune Knights were standing outside waiting for him and the trio made their way back to the office. When they entered the meeting room, Tor sat down at the head of the table, ignored by the other two that had stayed back in the office to sort out the reports they received from other towns. They were currently absorbed in their conversation, about another case that had happened.
“They said that he’s called Doctor K, and that’s the one who operated on DaLousa,” one of them was saying to the other.
However, before the other could continue speaking, the one of the duo that had followed Tor to visit the blood bank earlier rapped his knuckles on the table with an irritated expression.
“Why are you two even discussing about another case?” the one known as Spirone said. “Were you even working on the reports while we were out?”
“Of course we were. But we overheard the other team working on the underground doctor and it seems like they aren’t any closer to discovering the man’s identity,” the one who had been cut short retorted.
Tor looked at the exchanged with a bored look on his face but before could say add on anything, the door to the meeting room opened. It was Rufus, the other one that followed Tor out and had went off somewhere under Tor’s orders when they returned to the station earlier. Tor instantly looked up at him.
“How’s the preparation for tonight?”
“Everything is on track. The Red Plus Blood Bank is afraid of the recent spate of robberies as well and was extremely cooperative. A total of ten men, excluding you, will be involved in the stakeout. It’s not enough but it’s all the men we can spare,” Rufus replied Tor’s questions as he sat down in the seat nearest to Tor. “These are the names of the officers for tonight.”
Tor ignored the list, since he wouldn’t be able to recognize them based on just their names anyway. He just looked down the table at the four local Rune Knights with a stern gaze and then said, “Rest up. We need everyone to be at their best tonight so we don’t fuck up.”
-----
The Red Plus Blood Bank was a two-story building with a flat roof, that was part of a row of shops. It was located in a slightly quieter part of the town, reducing the traffic that Tor and his team would need to keep his eyes on. The simplicity of the blood bank also significantly simplified their stakeout efforts despite their small number of hands on board. Aside from the five men assigned to hide within the blood bank itself, three were posted at the back exit of the building while Tor and Rufus kept an eye on the front.
Tor stood on the side of the road, opposite the blood bank. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans, white sneakers and a black hoodie, a combination that would make him as inconspicuous as possible among the people walking up and down the streets. There were a few bathhouses and spas here as well, relatively cheaper compared to the upscale ones in the prime area. With his hood pulled over his head, Tor bit on a cigarette in his mouth and leaned against a lamppost, looking every bit like a good for nothing young man. Rufus was sitting down on a stool a few feet away from, selling newspapers while wearing clothes of a similar fashion to Tor.
All of them were waiting antsily throughout the night. A few of them were hoping that the perpetrator wasn’t going to appear tonight so that they could finish up for the night and go back to their warm beds but the peace was quickly shattered the moment the clock struck ten. Over the earpieces that all of them wore to communicate, the sound of glass shattering could be heard extremely clearly followed by the muffled sounds of grunts and shouts of pain.
“The perp jumped in window facing the back alley!” one of the two men stationed at the back exit shouted at the same time as the two of them watched the perpetrator soared above them and smashed through the windows leg-first into the blood bank. The moment the ruckus started, Tor spat out his cigarette and Rufus swept away the piles of newspapers around him as he stood up, two of them simultaneously running towards the blood bank’s entrance.
However, by the time the two of them crossed the street, another voice crackled through the earpieces.
“He’s running out of the front entrance!” Spirone half shouted, half grunted. The front entrance of the blood bank, twin sliding doors of metal frame around glass, exploded outwards in a shower of clear glass and red crystalline bits. Tor threw himself to the side to evade the storm of shards but Rufus wasn’t as lucky. The barrier of ice that he had conjured hastily shattered against the onslaught of glass and red crystals, cutting through his clothes and into his skin as he shouted out in pain. A white figure flashed out of the building in the direction of Rufus. Tor could see clearly as he got back to his feet, as something red coagulated around the white-garbed figure’s fist into the shape of a huge blade that was being swung in Rufus’ way.
Shadows surged through the air as Tor disappeared into darkness and reappeared right beside Rufus, Tor kicking the man away and defending against the red blade with his own sword, defusing the momentum of the slash by sliding his sword down the red blade’s length to push it away. The red blade clashed heavily into the ground before shattering, causing a cloud of red dust to pour into the air. The red dust quickly morphed again, becoming liquid and without any indication, transformed into a huge blade and attempted to thrust at Tor.
The Rune Knight defended against the sudden attack by disappearing without a trace, leaving nothing but crackling lightning in his wake as he reappeared outside of the mist. And Tor finally saw the attacker.
Long black hair that reached the neck, shades covering the eyes and a black surgical mask over the lower half of the face. The very same red dust was lingering around him in the air, reflecting the ambient light from the lampposts and shop signs. The red blade that had been formed to attack him and Rufus had also disintegrated, turning back into the red dust but stayed around the man’s right arm, the concentration of the dust there higher than around him.
A glint of coldness flashed in Tor’s eyes as he tightened his grip on the sword as Tor charged forward. Wisps of black energy gathered around his blade as he put all his strength into his slash, swinging his sword from left to right diagonally. Tor could imagine the man smirking as he saw the mask move slightly in response to his facial expression. The man didn’t even needed to make any effort, as the red dust solidified into a shield in the face of Tor’s attack, sparks flying at the tip of the sword scratched against the shield. The shield broke apart the moment his attack was nullified and again Tor was pushed on the backfoot, forming a layer of black flame-like energy around his arm before it extended around Tor as a sphere to block the thrusting attack that shot out of the red shield.
“Who are you?” Tor asked begrudgingly as he slowly stopped from his backwards slide.
“Doctor K,” the man simply replied in a muffled voice, taking off his shades after to reveal a pair of eyes with red pupils. With that simple introduction, the red dust around him suddenly expanded outwards in great volume. When it finally settled, the man who had identified himself as Doctor K had already disappeared.
----
Tor walked down the hallways of the Rune Knight headquarters in his uniform, his expression solemn as though a dark cloud hung above his head. While the instructions for the job had provided that catching the criminal was not a necessity, Tor regarded this as a failure. His quick and furious pace brought him to where he needed to go in a short time and when he finally stopped in front of a door, Tor shut his eyes for a few seconds as he let out a deep breath before raising his hand to knock on the door.
“General Phacelia, I would like to give my report on the mission.”
[2126 / 2000 words]
