Morning Routine (1)

*****

Several minutes later, Xavier walked out of the dressing room fully clothed with the Blood onyx outfit. 

"You look perfect." Jayden complimented as she observed.

"Well it was made with my measurement in mind, of course it'll be perfect." Xavier said narcissistically.

Without wasting any more time, Jayden proceeded to take pictures with her cellphone while Xavier took several poses taking on his role as a model. He had taken his role as a cosplayer way more seriously as he even took fighting poses and some acrobatic stunts to get better pictures.

"It seemed like you were having fun." Jayden stated as she scrolled through the pictures she had taken, deleting the bad ones in the process. 

----------

(A few weeks ago, the day after the fire…)

"What the hell have you idiots been doing!" Chief Callahan yelled at Theo who stood opposite his desk.

"As if I haven't had my fill of those godforsaken gangs who from nowhere came to turn this city upside down. Now there's this maniac who is pulling stunts to make the people's trust in the police waver!"

"Sir if you ju-"

"Shut the fuck up Rodriguez." Callahan interrupted.

"Now I don't give a shit on how you're going to do this. I created the special division to investigate and handle any abnormal occurrences so, this is what you're going to do, you will find that maniac so we can focus on what truly matters." He declared after taking a puff from his cigar.

"Do I make myself clear Captain Rodriguez?" he inquired.

"Yes sir!" Theo although disgruntled, replied before taking his leave.

Theo exited the chief's office, waiting for him outside the office was his partner Lieutenant Angy O'Hara.

"So how did it go?" Angy asked with a smile.

"Sigh… he's pissed." Theo answered with a tired expression.

Angy patted him on the back as they stepped out of the SMPD building (Silver Mist Police Department). Theo proceeded to bring out a cigarette pack and a lighter as he proceeded to light it.

*Smack!*

"Hey!"

Angy smacked the cigarette off his hands causing him to drop it, before stepping on it.

 "You can't just start smoking around work premises." Angy chastised.

"Well the chief smokes." Theo protested.

"One he's our boss, two he rarely goes out to the field but tends to deal with way more shit than we do especially from the higher-ups." 

"Touché…" he replied.

"Were you able to find anything with our only lead?" She asked, changing the topic.

"No… not really." He replied with a chuckle as he thought about the events occurring a few weeks back;

---

After Xavier jumped out of the fire, he was quite exhausted as he sat down on a pavement to rest. Theo had decided to approach him for questioning but was unable to as Xavier immediately fled the scene before he could reach him. 

"Who are you, what are you? sigh… they don't pay me enough for this, on the Brightside I could probably ask for a raise." He muttered slightly enthused as he watched Xavier's silhouette fade into the moonlit night. He then proceeded to examine the area were Xavier sat as he picked up an object that seemed to have fallen from Xavier's person.

---

"It doesn't tell us much…" Theo muttered as he stared at the partially burnt up student ID on his hand that barely had an emblem alongside the Acronym 'S.M.H' written on it.

"Only that whoever that kid is, he goes to Silver Mist High." Theo stated while trying to make out a face from the burnt up picture on the card, He could only make out the last four letters of the owner's name which spelt 'ller'

'Either I start some crazy investigation on school grounds, or I'll have to wait till he pops up again…' Theo thought as he examined the burnt up card.

*****

*Beep, Beep*

*Beep, Beep*

The sound of Jayden's alarm clock rang as she reflexively slapped it to turn it off. She lazily stood up from bed a few minutes after her alarm bell had rang. Memories of yesterday's events flooded in causing her to crack a slight smile as she proceeded to pick up her phone to look at the pictures she had took of Xavier. After deciding the ones she was going to use for her entry in the competition, she quickly opened the website. She had spent all night editing the pictures to have better quality and had forgotten to submit them.

[https//Exodus(∞).com//Exodus-summer-cosplay-contest]

[Summer cosplay contest]

[Prize: 150000 Dollars]

[Click here to place entry…]

Jayden was surprised the first time she found out the popular social media channel 'Exodus' were the ones carrying out the cosplay contest, since she thought they only made videos. With much enthusiasm, she quickly tapped at the section to enter the pictures she had taken of Xavier but was immediately surprised when an impromptu announcement was made directly on the website.

[Attention all Exodites! Stanley here, This is a message to inform all those who had made their entry that there will be a change in plans, due to the hacking of our server last night we at Exodus have decided that the competition will hold physically at G.E.E.K three days from now. (note that only those who had initially registered online would be allowed to participate in person.) Thank you for bearing with us, we await your arrival!]

Jayden was slightly annoyed with such an impromptu change, but she honestly felt it would be better if people could see her work live. The only obstacle she faced was convincing Xavier to come with her to a Comic convention filled with cosplayers.

She immediately grabbed her phone as she dialed Xavier's number, it rung for a few minutes but remained unanswered she proceeded to try again but this time…

[Hello?] Xavier's voice sounded from the other side not long after she dialed.

"Yo Xavier, there's been a change of plans in the contest could yo…" She was interrupted by a loud noise from the call.

[Bang!]

[Sorry what did you say? I kind of have my hands full right now…] he replied.

"What was that a gunshot? Where even are you?" Jayden ask slightly worried.

Xavier had woken up extra early in the a few hours before Jayden was up, he quickly snuck out of his room window jumping deftly from the window pane, directly onto the ground. Since it was the weekend, his Mom would usually sleep in due to being tired from work so he didn't have to worry about her finding out of his absence.

After leaving his neighborhood, he immediately entered an alley pulling out a black hoodie and a face mask before wearing them. After he was done, he took a strong leap landing sideways on the alley's wall then proceeded to scale it nimbly by running upwards.

"Wohoo!"

 He yelled in excitement as he jumped from roof top to roof top at full speed crossing a few blocks in less than thirty seconds. He wasn't lying when he told Jayden he had been practicing this was what he meant, as it had become his daily routine either before going to school or while coming back if he wasn't with Jayden that is. Xavier would jump, run up walls, or swing from poles while traversing through the city.

 An hour later, he stopped while sitting on the edge of a building's rooftop, which was directly above a back alley while eating a sandwich when he noticed a group of gangsters attacking a man as they attempted to rob him.

Xavier could tell they were gangsters due to the colors they wore which were a green top, alongside a hat or bandana. He watched on as the Brown haired man fought back with all might against the group of three. This wasn't a rare occurrence as he would normally come across scenes like this on a basis.

He had no intention of jumping in at least as long as it doesn't escalate from a simple robbing. It might have been seen as a cold hearted move on his part but his reasoning was simple.

'Right now my hands are akin to fully loaded guns, just by simply punching at full strength I could blow a hole through a concrete wall, what's stopping that wall from being a person. Getting into fights is probably not a good idea…' he thought internally.

He also would rather not get involved with any form of conflicts involving gangsters since last time he had ended up getting stabbed. Just as he was about to leave his phone rang as his ringtone resounded from Xavier's person alerting the gangsters below.

Startled, one of them pulled out his gun and pointed it towards Xavier who was still on the rooftop directly above them. 

On his phone it displayed he was getting an incoming call and the caller, Jayden.