The Response

The unit responding to the alarm going off at Imana's house arrived 6 minutes after the alarm initially went off.

There were three officers armed with assault rifles slowly moving towards the entrance.

Only one of them entered the house, scanning for hostiles.

He got more than he bargained for and began to throw up because of what was in front of him.

His partners hurriedly entered to make sure he was okay.

One of them, named Kaze asked, "Sonoda, what's wrong".

Still retching, Sonoda pointed to what was on the floor a few metres from where he was standing.

"What the fuck?" The last of the three, Edaragi asked, "who would do such a thing?"

In front of them, Imana lay on the floor in a massive pool of her own blood. Both of her arms had been cut off from the shoulder and they were placed in an 'X' shape on her chest.

"I'm calling it in" Kaze said, with his hand calmly placed on his partners back.

At the editing company, the police and ambulance were stunned at the scene in front of them.

A few yards from the entrance, the receptionist was barely clinging to life as she lay there bleeding out. She had tied a piece of cloth around the wound to slow down the bleeding.

Some members of the ambulance tended to her immediately while the others turned left to see if there were any survivors left.

Even after confirming that there were no survivors left, the officers at the scene still felt powerless as the only witness was now in critical condition, being rushed to the hospital, in no condition to talk about what happened.

Looking around, one of the officers asked, "are you telling me none of these cameras work?"

Another officer responded, "they do" he pointed to a room behind one of the destroyed desks. "The server room was shot to shit. Most, if not all of the saved security tapes have been destroyed. So, although these cameras are filming, it isn't being saved anywhere"

There was a huge sigh as both of them looked at each other and then around the room.

They heard a motorbike outside and shortly afterwards, detective Fuhira walked in angrily.

"What a scene this is" he said, with a frown upon his face. "Who would do such a thing? and for what reason?"

The first officer responded, "that's what we are trying to understand, but no luck. The only witness is in critical condition, and there is no accessible footage from the cameras."

"Hmm." Fuhira said, scratching his head.

He switched his eye to UV mode, hoping to see a blood stained footprint or something that could help him identify the culprits but instead, he realised what he wasn't seeing.

"Looking at the circular bullet hole patterns on the walls, and desks, this was probably the work of a mini gun" the officers looked and nodded in agreement. "Then where are the bullet shells?"

The officers looked around, finally realising Fuhira was right.

"Maybe they swept it up before they left so it could not be traced back to them" The second officer suggested.

A red laser came out of Fuhira's eye. Scanning the part of the room that had been riddled with bullets.

"There at about 800 holes in the walls and desks of this office. Given the time frame, it doesn't seem possible to gather every single shard or shell."

Just then, he received a call from Kaneda. He indicated for the officers to give him a moment while he took the call.

"Mr Fuhira. Are you awake?" He asked

"Yes, Kaneda. I'm currently at the scene of a crime. Is everything okay?"

"I'm not really meant to be saying this, but a few hours ago, detective Yagita was attacked by one of the members from that group."

Fuhira was shocked. He stood still, his mind starting to wander.

"Kaneda , where did this happen? Is she okay?"

"She was followed from the station but with the help of Enma she sustained no injuries and was able to launch a counter attack, injuring the two pursuing her"

"Good…do we know which of the members?"

"From the footage taken from her car, it appears to be a bald man, and a woman with dark brown hair. Other footage shows one of them was carrying a quad rocket launcher. Who knows how that was obtained."

A certain memory was triggered in the mind of Fuhira, of a robbery at a museum where a receptionist had been hit with a mini gun, then he remembered his encounter with two men outside the entrance of said museum.

"Kaneda, thank you for the call. It was very helpful. I'll be at the precinct later. This is an interesting development. I'll see you later"

He turned back to the officers. "Gents, I think I know why there isn't a single shell. I've encountered the culprit once before."

"Detective, are you telling us that one singular man walked in here with a mini gun and did this?", The second officer asked again.

"He IS the mini gun. His ability from what I remember allows him to mimic weapons. You should be on the look out for a bald man. Approximately 5 feet and 11 inches tall. He should be injured."

They nodded in response.

"Take the footage with you, see if anything is salvageable" Fuhira instructed, before leaving. Worried and angered.

*

Hearing what had happened Amino Jashin drove at 3 times the usual speed limit. He had no thought in his head except getting to the destination as fast as possible.

Skipping multiple red traffic lights, and driving recklessly, he arrived within a few minutes, and didn't bother parking properly when he arrived.

He was the first one in, and rushed into the entrance at the sound of crying.

Iba was hunched in front of his brother screaming and weeping. He looked up at the ceiling with his mouth open.

Amino called to him, "Iba…are you hurt?"

Still wailing, Iba did not respond. However, a few seconds later, he went silent but was still staring at the ceiling. So, Amino moved closer to the boy.

When he got close enough, he noticed that even though he wasn't making any sound, he was staring at the ceiling with blank eyes, nearly in despair.

From where Amino was standing, it looked like Iba's eyes would roll to the back of his head at any point.

He instinctively smacked the base of Iba's neck with the side of his palm, causing the little boy to become unconscious.

Amino was distressed. He wasn't sure what to do and was frightened at what would happen when Iba eventually woke up.

He heard sirens outside and carried Iba out slowly. He handed the child to a member of the ambulance crew before quietly retreating to his car, placing his head in his hands.

[oh, Kiba ] he thought.

A few hours later, at the prison where Kiba was being held, there was an unusual silence as the officers and guards tried to be sensitive to the situation.

They were all worried about Kiba, who they thought was a hero despite all that had happened. So, they placed him in a private cell away from all other prisoners.

Kiba lay silently on his bed, reading a book to pass the time. He had no gauntlets on like most powered prisoners did, another benefit of being the hero of the people who had imprisoned him.

He noticed something was off. Usually, at several points during the day, some of the guards would come just outside his cell to have a conversation with him or play card games with him to keep him company but no one had said anything to him all day, even when they brought him breakfast.

He put his book down and decided to listen in to see what was wrong by mimicking the hearing abilities of a bat.

For a while, all he could hear was radio chatter, from which he heard that several police stations had come under attack in the early hours of that morning.

[who would be crazy enough to attack a police station?] he thought to himself.

He picked up his book again, realising that the officers were acting strange because their friends in other precincts had been attacked.

[it's only natural] he told himself

A few minutes later, a particular conversation between two guards caught his attention.

"I can't believe someone would do that" the first one said, drinking a cup of coffee.

"Did you read the report? So much blood, and a child witnessing all of that. I can't imagine the damage that must've been done to the child…"

[A child witnessing an attack on a police station? At that time? That doesn't seem right] Kiba thought, then listened more as the first officer began speaking again.

"What do you think happens now?" He asked

"I think we are about to witness the greatest manhunt in known history. Every resource at our disposal will probably be used to hunt the people responsible."

"It's a shame Agent Kiba will be behind bars while the entire country hunts those who killed his family. He's a formidable-"

There was a loud bang coming from the direction of the isolated prison cells, followed by an alarm ringing throughout the entire prison. Within seconds, guards armed with shotguns raced towards the direction of the sound.

Upon arrival, one of the officers noticed Kiba walking slowly towards him after breaking out of his cell.

"Agent Kiba" the officer said, visibly terrified "please, get on your knees. Do not make this harder than it needs to be"

In a voice that had severe malice in it, Kiba addressed the officers coming after him.

"You all knew." He began walking towards them slowly. "You all knew, and said nothing. You kept me locked in there acting like you didn't know what was going on."

He stopped a few metres in front of the guards, he still looked extremely angry.

"Move out of the way" he said, "I will not repeat myself"

At this, the officers took aim. Kiba acted immediately, with the thoughts of his family dead, he had become unhinged.

He mimicked the whistle call of a sperm whale, (a sound loud enough to rupture the eardrums of human beings in its vicinity, potentially cause their bones to vibrate violently, and kill them.)

The five officers in front of Kiba dropped to the floor, already dead before they hit the ground with blood pouring out of their eyes, ears, nose and mouths.

Kiba's carnage had caused most of the prison cells to become unlocked. A large number of convicts escaped and overpowered the remaining guards.

Just as Kiba and the army of inmates behind him approached the front gates of the prison, they encountered the warden, Akamasu Tabi.

He was well respected in the police community, often regarded as a legend because in the 20 years that he was the warden of the "imp Prison" as it was known, not a single inmate had successfully escaped whether they had outside help or not.

He leaned back against the gate with his arms crossed.

Most of them stopped as soon as they saw him. However, Kiba carried on walking.

"I'd advise you to stop walking, Kiba" Warden Akamasu said, his arms still crossed.

Just then, an inmate brushed past Kiba as he ran towards the warden.

"Akamasu!" He yelled, "I've been waiting for this moment"

His eyes began glowing red but before he could do anything he was suspended several meters in the air by what appeared to be some hardened spider-silk like material coming from Akamasu's arm.

The silk wrapped itself around the inmates neck and wrists, and outstretching both arms.

The silk wrapped tighter around the inmates neck, as Akamasu began speaking again, walking towards the group of inmates as he did so.

"You all have a choice here. Return to your cells, or… well, you know what"

At this, several inmates decided an escape attempt wasn't worth it, and ran back inside.

About 20 others remained, excluding Kiba. Who was currently trying to understand the warden's ability.

"Warden Akamasu. I'm in no mood. Legend or not, I will kill you if you get in my way"

"Oh, so you've grown fangs, Kiba?" Akamasu responded, "let's see exactly what you're capable of"

Kiba cycled through information of various animals in his head, trying to figure out which was the best to use against Akamasu.

He thought about using the whale whistle again but his nose bleeding told him that was a bad idea, as he had taken some damage from his first use.

He came up with a different plan. Like a frog, he leapt towards the warden.

While mid-air, he mimicked the muscle composition of a gorilla in his arm and threw a punch aimed at Akamasu's face.

The initial distance between Kiba and Akamasu was about 20 metres. A distance he covered in a single second with the leap, which was why he was surprised when his punch didn't connect.

The warden spun a web just in time, which stopped Kiba's fist.

Immediately contact was made, the web wrapped itself around the fist and in a few seconds, the rest of Kiba's body just as a spider would entrap an insect who happened to get caught in its web.

The wardens silk was elastic but also very firm, which caused Kiba's efforts to escape his cocoon futile.

Akamasu shook his head and sighed, before releasing the first inmate he strung up, who was unconscious.

He looked at the others who had all decided to charge at him simultaneously. He wasted no time. His silk spread quickly through all of them creating several branches so that all 20 inmates were reached before they could get anywhere near him.

In 5 seconds, the silk had wrapped itself around all their ankles, before raising them into the air and causing a cocoon to form around them. They all dangled there like bodies on a hanging tree.

Akamasu turned around after hearing some noise and walked towards Kiba.

He opened up space in the cocoon so he could hear what was being said.

"I thought you of all people would understand what I'm going through right now. You know exactly how this feels, being told you cannot or should not do something when you're more than capable"

Kiba's words reminded Akamasu of the reason he decided to become a warden.

While he was still a detective, about 23 years in the past. While off duty at a restaurant with his sister, an escaped convict walked into the restaurant waving a gun around. In an attempt to calm him down and apprehend him, his sister was shot and killed.

Afterwards, during the resulting manhunt, he was ordered to stand down as he was "too close to the case".

However, the very same convict ended up killing his partner and lifetime best friend which sent him over the edge because his sister and friend were the only family he had.

He disobeyed orders, went after the convict by himself, and eventually succeeded in bringing him in after a battle which nearly killed the both of them.

After that, he handed in his badge, and 2 years later became a warden with the sole purpose of never allowing a single person to escape while he was in charge so that the tragedy that befell him never happened to anyone else.

Kiba's voice breaking brought him back to the present. "I had two kids and a wife. They're all gone. The people who did it are still out there and you're stopping me from going after them"

"You're unhinged, Kiba. This is for your own good"

"Just like standing down while your partner was murdered was good for you, huh?"

Akamasu sighed, thinking back to how he felt when he heard the news and how angry he was at the higher ups for telling him to sit it out.

He took a deep breath before speaking, "Kiba, I know what you're going through. As you know, I went through the same thing but this hate you carry in your eyes, it will consume you. I know because I was nearly consumed by it too. However, being able going after the man who killed my family made me the man I am today. I'll give you that same opportunity too"

He freed Kiba from the cocoon and allowed him to get on his feet before he finished speaking.

"If you emerge on the wrong side of this Agent Kiba, I will come for you. Understood?"

"Yes sir." He bowed his head, "thank you, Warden Akamasu"

Kiba easily jumped over the 5 metre high gate and disappeared shortly afterwards, leaving Akamasu alone with the cocoons and his thoughts.

[Now then, what am I going to do with these clowns?]

A few hours earlier, 5 called 6, explaining his predicament.

"6, where are you?"

"With 3, you're on speaker"

He coughed, "I need your location. I'm in really bad shape"

6 sat up after hearing how bad 5 sounded. "5, where are you? I need a Street name or something. We'll come to you, all you need to do right now is control your breathing and relax. You should not be driving right now. Tell us where you are."

5 looked out of his window to his left, and saw a sign.

"I'm near King street, I'm going to stop near the-" 5 didn't get to finish his sentence because in the split second he took his eyes off the road, he crashed into a parked van.

3 looked at 6 with concern on his face before asking, "did he just crash?"

6's mouth remained open but 3 was pro-active.

He got out of the van and gave instructions to her

"6 you need to hurry over there. That did not sound good at all. I'll stay here and find another vehicle. Someone still needs to be here to alert 1 and 0 if things change here. I'll be fine, just get to him fast. Also, 6 please be careful."

She nodded and drove off immediately, leaving 3 there scratching his head as he now stood alone, with no escape vehicle in front of a maximum security prison

[well, shit] he thought.

6 got to king Street as fast as she possibly could. Trying her best to avoid cameras.

She spotted a car that had crashed and parked beside it.

When she got out of the car, she noticed 3's head against the steering wheel. When she got closer, she realised just how much worse it was. He was bleeding from multiple places and was now unconscious.

"Oh no, 5" she said, extremely worried.