I Know You

Even while on their trip to the police station, Luca continued to think about what Caseus—or what he knew was Caseus—had said. He met that man before? No, it was the first time that they had seen each other. There was no way he wouldn't remember meeting a level ten…

Could it be the same demon that he met last year? That would be plausible, right?

"I want to go home." Luca heard Noah murmur as they had the police station up ahead. Noah then glanced at Luca before whispering, "Let's escape…"

"It's okay. My words are empty, but I'm here. You'll be fine."

"Heh. If they ended up arresting me, let's escape." Noah chuckled, but he really looked so tired. Perhaps his experience was just too much for a day.

However, they still had to come in to meet their possible sources of information in the future. It's just that a commotion was happening when they got there. A man in an expensive suit was being held down by the police officers… as well as another man who looked like some kind of a thug.

A familiar voice came from the man in a suit. "Let me go! I'm pressing charges against that bastard!"

"Press charges, my ass!" The thug replied, "You're the one crossing the line!"

"…It's Richard…" Luca blinked his eyes. The respectable VP of Connor Holdings was being pressed against the floor by cops because he had gotten rather rowdy. In the end, they managed to cuff the two and kept them in separate detention cells.

"Something must have happened in the hospital. Let's come up with an excuse and fetch him instead." Noah suggested escaping again.

Luca only smiled at him. "We'll just present ourselves and make it quick. You don't have to worry."

The group walked to the waiting lounge next to the detective's working floor, and the leading detective from earlier came with his partner. He regarded the guests—Rebecca, the SCC in-charge, Noah, and Luca—with his eyes and tried to smile despite the exhaustion and shock of the day.

"I'm Detective Scott from CRC. This is Detective Heather." The leading detective presented himself as soon as they sat down. "It's a pleasure to meet special agents of SCC. I was told that you'd be joining us in monitoring the city against sudden terrorist attacks like what happened earlier.

"Even though I wasn't really convinced about what you really do, I still wish you won't choose to operate unsupervised in my county."

"Don't worry, detective. SCC aims for full cooperation between important factions especially in events like this. Though we are keen on keeping our exact orders classified, we will be coordinating with you fully to keep the populace safe." Rebecca then gestured at the two. "These are…

"These are our agents. I hope you can help us when we do need help, and we will help you as soon as you call for us." Rebecca didn't know how to introduce an assassin to the police. She should have brought more documents to defend Sleepydog's stance with SCC rather than willfully killing people.

That pause, however, didn't go unnoticed. The leading detective eyed the two agents and stared at them as if he could run a background check on them with just his eyes. It's just that…

"Wait a moment… I know you…" Det. Scott glared at Noah who only stared emotionlessly at the detective. "I've seen you before."

"Uhm, detective…"

"No, I remember those eyes. It's not like that when we first met, but it's hard to forget those eyes." Det. Scott was growing very suspicious at the moment, and of course, Noah knew what he meant. Who would forget the face of a man who detonated a building and killed more than a hundred people?

They didn't even get to interview him properly since he ran out of the station.

Montana Mills escaped the station in tears a year ago… and Det. Scott remembered that. The man pushed the table away and broke the handcuffs in a second. He broke through the door and seemingly flew out of the station. That day, Montana Mills disappeared right under their noses.

Finally, Noah lifted the corner of his lips and smiled at the detective. "I did not… detonate my workplace or killed everyone who worked on the Finance floor. Else, I wouldn't be here… helping you investigate whoever was trying to use my name like some greeting from Death."

"…really?" Det. Scott was not new to people who were in that situation. Some wrongly accused would run and hide, only to go rogue and hunt down the real culprit in the crimes pinned on them. However, he had never heard of anyone being able to hunt down a world-known terrorist.

"If you don't mind, I'm not here to be arrested. If that's what you wanted, then be ready to lose me again." Noah only huffed and bluffed. It's just that… he knew he wouldn't be able to disappear since the detective knew where he could be found and who could be hiding him.

Noah's just really lucky that his identity as Sleepydog wasn't revealed. Else, he would really need to escape this place and probably run back to Boston. Then again, his enemies were in New York. He needed to stay here without being hunted down like a mouse.

Det. Scott leaned on his chair and turned to Rebecca. "Did you run a background check on that guy?"

Rebecca nodded. "Everyone accepted into the elite squad was handpicked by Mr. Cicero. I hope you'd be able to understand that the country's enemies are now people who could disappear into thin air and perform magic tricks. We needed a few magicians to be able to match them."

"Is that what happened when you took off a year ago? When you disappeared? That's magic?" Det. Scott glared at Noah again. "It's interesting to find out that the state's most wanted is sitting in our lounge."

"And I actually want to go home before this. Guess we can't be choosers."

Luca cleared his throat and decided to cut in before things became less favorable. "Det. Scott, have you heard of the name Bomberman? He���s quite a famous terrorist in different parts of the world. Didn't you think that his modus operandi resembled what happened in New York last year?"

The detective only glanced at Luca. "We don't use that codename here. New Yorkers know his real name."

"It's Nadin Jaeger," Rebecca answered, and her answer didn't match the one in Det. Scott's mind. "Detective, Montana Mills is falsely accused due to the abilities of Bomberman's accomplice. We don't know how talented she really was, but at best, she could manipulate any kind of video surveillance.

"The SCC investigated the events after the first night of the disaster. It seemed that everyone who knew Montana Mills was killed unless they were not openly seen interacting." Rebecca shook her head. "The incident earlier proved to us that the terrorist group was using a familiar name to rack the masses.

"Our goals now are to make sure they wouldn't succeed this time and to take them into custody." She paused for a while. "If you're going to be hung up on the wrong suspect, please be ready to give us free rein instead. This terrorist group will only take advantage of your thinking."

Det. Scott eyed the woman and then the two other males. He then finally looked at the SCC in-charge. "Free rein is out of the question. If you want to operate in my city and be first responder, you'd need to sign up with us." He then eyed Noah. "Your agents criminal or not."

Rebecca then took out a contract from her bag and pushed it to Det. Scott. "Thank you for your cooperation. Please have your chief go over and sign this document of confidentiality between us. Whatever kind of operations we have in the future should be concealed from the media.

"Please remember that we're dealing with enemies who will get worshipers. Publicizing them would only make them more powerful."

…

"We almost messed up," Noah whispered as they got out of the station.

"You should have told us you were having real troubles with the police." Rebecca herself couldn't believe the information being relayed to her via an earpiece. If it didn't come from Allan himself, she wouldn't believe the words that she had forced down Det. Scott's brain.

Noah only hummed. "So SCC knew about my little secret. It's funny. No one told me."

Rebecca then took out her earpiece and handed it to Noah. The witch received it and heard Allan's voice from it. "Noah, you shouldn't probably wonder. I thought you have seen the expanse of our information network. A simple thing like this could come out from the lips of a certain VP."

"Talking about that VP, have you found his mother?" Noah didn't want to dwell on it anymore. Perhaps it was true that he couldn't hide much from an underground organization who had the guts to be in contact with government agencies.

"Not yet. We have cleared some locations, but she remained to be missing."

"Should I pick up the VP from the station? He looked like he got into a fight."

"No need, someone else will do so. For now, proceed to Seclusion and find out what you can about Druid's coven." Allan was in his office, going through a lot of papers on hand and on his computer. "Moreover, we discovered that the level nine was of gluttony. If the witch called Druid is of Beelzebub…"

Noah frowned. "That meant that they might have taken Mrs. Connor for real. Why would they even want a dead man's wife?"

Allan paused for a while. "If you have a chance to make contact with a person named Yvette Larke, you should try to get as much information about Randy Connor from her. That man is involved with…"

"So we're clashing with Chroma's coven now?"

"…or what's left of it. Report to me directly when you're finished."

Beep. Noah took out the earpiece and handed it back to Rebecca. He didn't say anything, but he gestured to the side as if calling for someone. The three only saw him walk into the shade and vanished right before their eyes. None of them were shocked though.

Rebecca then looked down at the earpiece. 'What could have Boss told him?'