Encounter

8th March 2032

00:21

Hirosedori Station, Aoba Ward, Sendai

Sohel and Kurojawa were talking about their course of action. As Sohel was done, he said, "I'm going back to my hotel room now. Let me know if anything happens."

Kurojawa saluted and said, "Yes, Captain. You can count on me."

Sohel nodded and turned around to leave. Just as he turned around, he saw a shadow move away behind the wall in the main road in the corner of his eye. 

Sohel ran towards the main road. He reached the road and looked in the direction. 

As it was really late at night, there weren't many pedestrians on the road. He quickly ran his eyes through the pedestrians walking away. It didn't take long for him to find the person he was looking for. 

The person was wearing an ash hoodie.

He ran behind the person as he yelled, "Hey. Stop!!"

Just as he yelled, the person looked back, and Sohel got to see their face. The person was wearing a mask. They started running.

Sohel ran behind the person. Kurojawa was dumbfounded by what was happening but decided to follow Sohel.

The person ran at full speed and quickly changed roads in an attempt to lose Sohel. Sohel wasn't gonna give up, as he too kept running with all his might, trying to catch them.

Soon, the person took a wrong turn and found themselves in a dead end. Sohel and Kurojawa caught up to them. Sohel took out his trusted M17 from his shoulder holster and pointed at the person as he said. 

Slowly turn around with hands up in the air. The person complied. 

Sohel then said, "Lieutenant, do you have anything to restrain them?"

Kurojawa quickly took out a pair of handcuffs and said, "Yes."

Sohel said, "Nice. Cuff them. And you, if I see any sudden movement, I'll shoot."

Kurojawa approached the person in order to restrain them. Just as Kurojawa stood in front of the person, the person quickly took their hands down, took out a knife from their back, and stabbed Kurojawa in the stomach in a swift motion. 

Sohel wanted to shoot but couldn't as Kurojawa's body was blocking his line of fire. 

Kurojawa groaned at the pain. The person pushed Kurojawa towards Sohel and started to run towards the wall. Kurojawa uncontrollably fell on Sohel. The push made Sohel lose his pistol. Sohel quickly lied Kurojawa down and ran behind the person. 

The person was half above the wall when Sohel reached them and pulled them down by their legs. The person fell down on their back. Sohel quickly got on top of the person and tried to punch them. But before he could, the person quickly shifted their body weight on the upper side of the body and threw a strong kick, aimed at Sohel's chest. 

The kick sent Sohel wobbling backwards. The person took the chance to stand up and took out another knife from their back.

Sohel saw this and muttered, "How many knives are you hiding in that hoodie?"

He quickly took a fighting stance.

The person lunged at Sohel with the knife and tried to stab him in the chest. But Sohel swiftly parried the attack with his left arm and sent a punch straight to the person's right abdomen with his right hand.

Sohel said, "I'm sorry, but your skills are nothing compared to the person I train with."

The person remained silent and lunged back at Sohel in the same way. Sohel thought, "Is this dude dumb? Why attack me twice in the same way?"

Sohel got ready to parry the knife again, but it turned out that the person wasn't actually dumb. Just as the person got close to Sohel, they swiftly changed their stance, and instead of trying to stab Sohel, they sent a roundhouse kick straight to his side. 

Sohel fell down by the sheer strength of the kick, as he wasn't ready for it. He quickly tried to get back up, but as he saw the person trying to stab him, he quickly changed his plan.

He waited for the knife to come close enough. Just as the knife was about to hit Sohel, he quickly moved out of the knife's way. The sudden move made the person lose their stance, and Sohel took the chance. He quickly kicked on the person's shin, making them fall to the ground.

Sohel quickly fell on the person and locked them in a chokehold. He said, "Who are you?"

The person remained silent.

The peer pressure of the chokehold was making the person pass out when suddenly they closed their eyes. Sohel noticed this and looked up, hearing a small whishing sound. 

He saw a small drone hovering over them just a few feet away. It was carrying something. Before he could realise what's going on, the drone dropped the thing it was carrying, and a loud bang was heard. 

The payload turned out to be a flashbang. It totally took out Sohel's vision and partially took out his hearing. The person elbowed Sohel in the stomach, making Sohel lose his grip. Sohel heard a car stopping, followed by a footstep running away. As he regained his vision, he saw a silver KIA driving away.

Sohel slowly sat up and tried to regain composure. Soon he remembered about Kurojawa and crawled towards him. He inspected the wound and then tried to talk to Kurojawa. He soon realised he had lost consciousness.

He let go of his body and sat down beside Kurojawa's unconscious body. He said, "ARIA, call an ambulance for Kurojawa."

ARIA replied, "Yes, Captain."

A minute later, ARIA again said, "An ambulance is on its way."

Sohel said, "Connect yourself to the Alfa Romeo and get it here. Don't crash it, okay? I can't drive now."

ARIA replied, "Don't worry, Captain. You can count on me."

Sohel chuckled and said, "I know I can. That puts me at ease."

Soon Sohel found his Alfa Romeo come and stop in front of him. Sohel slowly got up and sat on the driving seat.

ARIA said, "Should I play some music? It should help you to relax."

Sohel smiled and said, "Yeah, thanks."

A relaxing beat started to play on the car's radio as the car started driving.

Sohel reclined his seat and leaned back as he tried to rethink everything that happened.

In the other car

Lola said, "You owe me one now."

The person took off his hood and mask, revealing her to be Mimi said, "Yeah. Thank you very much." She rubbed her neck and said, "Ahh. That guy. His hand literally felt like someone was choking me with a metal rod."

Lola said, "But you did handle yourself well there. Good job."

A smug smile appeared on Mimi's face as she said, "Yes, praise me more."

Lola flicked her left hand on Mimi's head and said, "Don't get so full of yourself. You still lost."

Mimi replied, that smug smile was now a frown, "Yes, yes. I got it. Thank you too, Ida. That flashbang helped a lot."

Ida's voice came through Mimi and Lola's earpiece, "It's nothing."

Lola said, "Rest up for now. We gotta rethink our plan."