John

Of the things that Leo had skipped over, they of course included his identity and his personality. Leo and Daniel sat in the interrogation room opposite of each other.

Daniel's excitement of capturing Leo that he had felt earlier had long withered away. Instead, he seemed tired, much like Leo.

"So, what happened to the Elinor woman?" Daniel asked scratching his chin.

Leo shrugged, "I'm not sure, I haven't seen her since then, considering you picked me up outside the slaughterhouse."

Daniel started thinking about it while Leo waited for him with a bored expression.

What neither of them were aware of, were the events that happened during Faust, Leo, Kyle, and Evelyn's torture.

A completely defeated Freddie sat in an uncomfortable wooden chair in a worn-down warehouse. His eyes were practically lifeless, and he stared at a tall, pale man who stood opposite of him. Their face was angry as they smacked Freddie in the side of the head.

Despite sitting in a chair unbound, Freddie wasn't able to leave. His legs were too injured to move by themselves, not to mention the constant pain emerging from them. Freddie let himself get hit around because what could he do? The answer was absolutely nothing.

The tall, pale, and very angry man, John Doe, looked at Freddie. John's clothes, a black turtleneck, were bloody, but it didn't come from Freddie. It instead came from an earlier encounter with Elinor, the blood itself, a mix of John and hers.

"I would say I don't want to do this, but I am a very bad mood, Freddie. And I don't mind taking it out on you if I'm being honest."

"I've already told you everything…" Freddie mumbled his mouth full of blood.

"You've told me nothing. I need info on Montague and the Eagles. Why are they involved with the Avery Junior nonsense, who told them to go after him? Was it the doll lady?" John asked while squeezing Freddie's cheeks.

"I don't know, goddamn it! I told you, I was just paid off by the Eagles to rob that damn café! I'm just a fuckin' nobody!" He yelled; his voice distorted by John's hands around his mouth.

John let go of Freddie and took a step back. He sat on some old equipment left behind to rust in the warehouse. John massaged his forehead in frustration while watching Freddie.

"You worked for the Wolves, correct?" John asked in a mumble.

"Yes." Freddie said as he started slouching in the chair.

"Why'd you betray them then?"

"What, you wouldn't do that? Not even if you got the paycheck I got?"

"No, there'd have to be a more personal reason."

Freddie scoffed, "Then you're an idiot."

"Who's the one getting interrogated with both of their legs broken from a different interrogation that happened about an hour ago by different people? Because it's not me, that's for sure."

Freddie's face grew sour, "Yeah, yeah, it's a little late for a lecture."

"You're the one who said something stupid. Actually… tell me about Roderick, this Moneybags guy or whatever he's called."

Freddie grew slightly nervous, "Why?"

"That's not how an interrogation works." John said simply, "Now tell me about him."

"Alright… look. Mr. Overture is not a man you can mess with. I know I robbed his kid's shop or whatever, but I was going to skip town damn near immediately. But before I left from the nightclub to go rob the place, I was told I didn't need to leave. That Montague's backer would deal with Mr. Overture, one way or another."

"What does that mean."

"I don't fucking know; all I know is that his son is a nutjob who immediately hunted me down."

"Well, you robbed his café dickhead."

"It's just a goddamn store!"

"Want me to cut off one of your fingers? They're just used to hold things." John spoke in a low tone, glaring at Freddie.

Freddie shut his mouth promptly and curled up slightly in his chair.

John leaned back and started thinking about the information he received from Freddie. There honestly wasn't much information, but he was intrigued by the Roderick stuff. Regardless, he needed to find Elinor and the easiest way was to investigate the Eagles. They were the answer, he was sure of it.

He needed to get the bell that Leo had entrusted to him back. Leo had given it to him because it was infinitely safer than it being on Leo's person, hence why a year ago Leo had it hidden away. But Leo didn't have a safe place to put it at the military academy, so the safest place was with himself or John. Between the two, it was a lot less likely to be taken from John, but case in point, it still was taken.

He also needed to find Castille squad, and quickly. They were taken by Montague and his men, of that John was sure. While they called for their proctors for backup, John included, they couldn't come, they were too preoccupied with a large fight.

As John thought about what to do, the door to the room John and Freddie were in opened. John turned around and saw another proctor who was supposed to protect the students. He rushed in the room causing John to jump off his seat.

"David lost sight of Mathias! The nightclub was raided by Wolves who were definitely working with the Eagles!"

"Shit! We need to find him!" John said while rushing towards the other proctor.

"No! We already lost him, like, completely! He dropped off the fucking map! We need to go get Faust from Roderick instead! Faust was left at his building before Mathias and Max went to the nightclub! We can't lose him as well!"

"Fuck, alright, we'll head there! They're probably taking Leo to wherever they brought Castille squad!" John replied urgently when he suddenly thought of an idea.

John turned around ominously and watched Freddie's figure shrink slightly in fear.

"…Idea…" John muttered with a grin, he looked towards the other proctor and spoke, "Grab the wheelchair."

Despite their initial protests, John sent the other two proctors to investigate Schloss Adler and the surrounding buildings for any evidence that could point towards where Leo could have been brought. John sped down the roads as fast as city traffic would allow him to and eventually reached a relatively large building. It wasn't exactly a skyscraper, but it wasn't small either. John pulled the car they were provided from Abyss over and practically mounted the curb.

He hopped out and grabbed the wheelchair from the back and shoved the practically lifeless Freddie into it. Freddie didn't even have an expression anymore. Too many times today had he expected to die, and it kept getting worse. He honestly didn't know if continuing his life would be worse than croaking then and there. Alas, he couldn't make himself die on command, so he sucked it up.

As John stood behind the wheelchair with Freddie sitting in it, he leaned down and whispered to Freddie, "It's been a long time since I've done something like this. Despite the circumstances, I'm kinda excited to fight indiscriminately after all this time…"

"What's that supposed to mean."

"You'll see."

With that, John started pushing the wheelchair and walking towards Roderick's building, the base of operation for the criminal syndicate known as the Crimson Wolves. He reached the glass doors and let himself in.

On the other side of the glass doors, there were multiple people, best described as well-dressed ruffians, hanging around in the lobby. They turned upon hearing the doors open, and they saw John and Freddie walking into the building.

"Oi, who're these cunts, No-Thumbs?" The man closest to John and Freddie asked.

"I've not a clue, don't ask me." Presumably No-Thumbs answered.

"Richie? You've any idea?" The closest man asked someone else.

"None." Presumably Richie answered.

"Well, that means we got a-" The closet man was cut off.

"Gentlemen, please be quiet. Just because you don't recognize som-" The receptionist said calmly from behind their desk before being cut off.

"Wait a minute! It's that dickbag Freddie! Fuck are you doin' around here after we let you leave with your life. You betrayin' us or somethin'?"

"Gentlemen…" The receptionist interjected, "Perhaps the man behind Freddie has an answer. Perhaps let this man speak up before you jump to conclusions."

Instead of speaking, John just lifted the back of the wheelchair and let Freddie fall onto the ground. Freddie groaned out in both pain and exasperation about his situation. The receptionist though, kept professional and didn't even spare a glance towards the man on the ground.

John strode forwards to the desk, past all of the gangsters, and stood before the receptionist.

They asked, "Do you have an appointment sir? If so, please state your name and who you're seeing."

John answered, "I don't have an appointment."

"Would you like to make one? Unfortunately, we don't allow walk-ins due to the nature of our services."

"I'd like to see Mr. Overture."

"I'm sorry to say he isn't someone you can make an appointment with."

"I'm sure he'll meet with me."

"Unfortunately, that's not how the system works. At least give me your name, sir."

"Ah, it's supposed to be a surprise, you don't want to ruin a surprise, do you? Just send a photo of me to him, he'll understand once he sees me."

"Sir, I'm afraid I can't do that. If that's all, I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Do you think I brought Freddie back for no reason? I'm aware that he's been kicked out of the Wolves."

"That's true… but. Hmm…" The receptionist turned around and thought for a moment. John watched them without rushing himself. The receptionist then picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you…" They spoke.

"…" There was a pause as the receptionist listened to the person on the other end.

"Yes, sir. Yes, I'm sorry to bother you. But someone brought Freddie back and they wish to talk to you about something. No, they didn't give me their name. They said they wanted to surprise you and so I should take a picture of them to send to you. Might I suggest you turn on the lobby cameras and take a look?"

The receptionist turned back around and squinted their eyes, scrutinizing John's face. It wasn't until they got a much closer look that they noticed the small stains on John's black turtleneck. They looked a bit closer because the stains looked fresh; their brows furrowed as they tried to make out what they were.

Ultimately, it wasn't until John's hand gently grabbed their forehead that they realized anything was wrong. Immediately John's body transformed, and black scales grew all over him. John squeezed his hand, popping the receptionist's head like a melon. All of the gangsters took a step back in horror at the strange creature.

Said creature looked up at a camera pointed directly at him and stared deep into its lens. John truly looked like a monster in the light. His body was covered in scales, and his head seemed to be some sort of animal skull with creepy horns sticking out of it.

He turned around and looked at everyone in the room. He instantly disappeared behind one and snapped their neck. The gangster immediately slumped to the floor revealing the horrifying thing behind him.

John stood behind the dead body and waited for the rest of the room to react.

A moment later half of the men ran, and the other half decided to try and fight. The half that decided to fight took out their guns if they had them, otherwise they used a blade of some sort. The men with guns fired but John always disappeared from their sight before he took any damage.

And every time he disappeared, another life was reaped. The men died quickly, and their bodies laid on the floor, their heads twisted in odd directions, separated entirely, or turned to mush. Once the massacre was over, more men arrived in the lobby.

John gave them a single look before he made a strange hand sign. Once he did so, orange chains shot out from the ground and walls. They passed through all of the gangsters and disappeared, leaving everyone except John confused.

While they were busy checking themselves for wounds and looking at each other, John simply looked towards the camera he had seen earlier. As his eyes locked onto the lens, the men's bodies fell apart, the origins of the separations were, of course, located wherever the orange chains struck. They fell apart and landed onto the floor, each piece of their bodies bleeding profusely.

John made another hand sign and the camera broke.

Roderick stared at the monitor with the words, 'SIGNAL LOST' shown is large letters. Sweat trickled down his entire body. He quickly reached for his phone, fumbling it slightly. He tapped away at it before bringing it to his ear.

It rang for a moment before someone answered.

"Yes?"

"TELL THAT ELINOR WOMAN TO COME HERE, RIGHT NOW! THAT LIGHTNING DEMON IS HERE!"

The other end went silent, Roderick went quiet when he realized his mistake.

"Did you just try to order Lady Elinor?"

Roderick swallowed saliva as his entire body shivered in fear. He meekly spoke into the microphone, "I-I… I didn't mean it like that. I apologize."

The other side went silent once more. After a deafening silence, the pause ended, "I shall tell her your situation." Then the line went dead.

Roderick collapsed in his chair, sweating all over his body.

At the same time, another person arrived in the lobby, ignoring the dead bodies completely.

Their body walked with conviction, and they had a long scar across their face.

Maximillian had entered the building.