CHAPTER TWO: Word on the Street

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Chapter two is here! Let's just say that it's been a long journey in making sure this chapter is good enough to read. That's not to say this novel even compares to more professionally written ones—it doesn't. Nonetheless, this novel should hopefully surprise you. With that in mind, enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO: Word on the Street

SUNDAY MARCH 29; 9:30 AM

Saitou is interviewing Gordon Johnson. The exchange begins when Saitou says “alright, what's your name?”

"My name is Gordon Johnson", he replied.

"Okay...now what is your address?"

"My address is 1304 Star Avenue."

At this Yuto interjected: “woohoo! Living the big life on Star Avenue, huh?” Saitou replied with an annoyed “Yuto!”

Gordon replied, "Uh...I don't really live that kind of life. I live below my means."

Yuto answered, “I see. Well did you fare well after the robbery?”

Gordon answered exhaustedly, “Ugh. Don't get me started. First of all I lost half a million dollars from the bank. Due to the severity of that hit, not to mention all the lost funds for the clients, I might have to compensate just to save my business! That is assuming my insurance doesn't pick up on the loss...entirely.”

Saitou replied: “Ah, so that was 500 thousand dollars lost...okay, noted. Okay, so before I leave to get some evidence from the lobby, do you care to let me in on the details?”

Gordon replied, “well, there is not much to say. The criminals were brutally effective at their job. Not only did they kill the security guard, but they disabled the alarms! Then they went back earlier today and took the money. There were minions to keep people away. But...they made one mistake!”

“Really? What is it?”

Gordon laughed. “The security tapes...they were neither stolen nor destroyed. And the explosion was not close enough to get the cameras. I got a brief glimpse of the criminals.”

“Really?” Saitou replied. “This will help me a lot. By the way, I have some questions for you. For a start, have you seen these men before?”

“Not a clue”, he answered. "Couldn't recognize them to save my life.”

“Well, the security tapes should do just fine.” Saitou answered reassuringly.

“Alright then”, Gordon replied, “let me show you to the remains of the security office. Don't worry—the back door was cut down by the criminals so you don't even need the key. I don't care how many times you use it.”

“This is much appreciated”, Saitou replied.

Little did they know, however, that the genius behind the attack was watching Saitou and company during their investigation.

Meanwhile

At an unknown location, two men enter into a warehouse. After getting inside, they notice the truck door closing behind them. After this, a voice comes out, saying, “I have been waiting for you two.”

“What?” One of the two men answered alarmingly. This one was Eisine.

The voice in question was General Shock, a tall man in a trench coat and top hat, the former being gray, and the latter black, with a red belt stripe. Chou exclaimed, “General Shock! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I just decided to drop by. Getting to the point, curiosity is getting the best of someone, if you catch my drift...”

Chou nodded and said, “I get it, you're talking about Saitou Morizaki of the...Legion of Avenging...People...is that the one?”

“Bingo! You're right as rain. Little does he know that we know he's looking for you two. Let's setup a trap for that meddling punk!”

“Indeed, we shall do that. Morizaki's gonna die tonight!”

“Good to hear that, Chou.” Said General Shock. But he added, “there is a problem though: make sure not to show your face in front of them if you can help it. With that, I'm off!”

After they heard this, Chou and Eisine got to work. Their goal was to get rid of Morizaki. But how?

Back in the security office, Saitou and Yuto start looking at the tapes that were left behind. The camera outside caught the two men cutting a hole through the door with an absurdly sharp blade. What is this madness?

Confused as anyone would be, Yuto asked what that was; the tool used to cut through the door could not have been a knife!

Saitou explained that the door had been cut very cleanly and very precisely. You could hardly do that cardboard using a knife, let alone a metal door!

He pointed toward the door and sent Yuto to look at it.

Yuto did so, and what he found was interesting. Intrigued, he said: “Saitou, this is no ordinary cutting tool. It cuts cleanly and allows for fine precision such as the hand would allow. It could not have been anything made out of metal.”

“Is that so? Anything else?”

Yuto groped for clues. Finally, after a minute, he came up with this conclusion: “a device that can cut through metal with little, if any, resistance, that doesn't melt the metal, leaving

“You know what that sounds like?” Saitou asked. Yuto shook his head. “It means that a laser cutting tool was used.”

Yuto was skeptical: “lasers? Are you serious? Where would these tools have come from?”

Saitou replied, “I heard of a professor at Yozou Town University over in the east part of Uptown that's doing research in optics. He is hoping to improve the way parts are cut out. Sure enough, lasers are already used in manufacturing to some extent, so this counts more as an innovation.”

 

Back at the Docks

Near the docks on the eastern part of town, the two men from earlier stopped in the warehouse. A group of armed men showed up and requested their orders. Chou explained what they needed to do: ambush Saitou and his buddies. They would be quickly...dealt with, and dumped out into the bay, where nature would take care of the rest.

“Okay boss. We'll send that man to his doom!”

11:30 AM

Saitou and Yuto were at the Yozou Town university while Shouto visited the library. The former identified himself, and asked the clerk about anyone who might have invented laser cutting tools. After getting his answer, Saitou and the clerk now made this exchange:

“Oh yes, you are referring to Eugene Williams' laser cutting tools. Personally I called them the laser welders, but that's just me.”

“I see. If you don't mind I would like to see this professor. I need information regarding the theft of his tools.”

“To the best of my knowledge, his tools were never 'stolen', more like 'loaned'.”

“What? But how does that account for these two crooks using them?”

“If I had to guess, maybe the borrower of those tools got robbed while he wasn't looking. I never had the feeling that Mr. Williams would hand his tools over to bad people. The other guy, however...I don't trust him.”

“What's this now? Please tell me about this guy.”

“There isn't much to say. His name is Striker. A silly nickname, if you ask me. Doesn't even sound cool at all.”

Yuto interjected: “I'll have to concur with that! And the idea of having a nickname like that is suspicious.”

Saitou answered, “indeed, that is weird. But that does not mean anything on its own. For all we know, he may just be protecting himself because he has such powerful tools. People are not in the dark about the robberies!”

“Even then that man just had a bad vibe. I can't put my finger on it...but he certainly seems kind of shifty.”

“I see. This man's name is what again?”

“Striker...I don't know his real name.”

“Where is professor Eugene?”

“I don't know. He isn't in his classroom right now; not his office either.”

At hearing this, Saitou explained to Yuto that they needed to leave for a while to let time pass. They would investigate if the professor does not happen to be there. With that in mind, they went to John's Pizza Fortress.

12:30 PM

They came back to the University, and to their surprise, a couple of police cars were there. Their cars were parked near the front of the parking lot. Saitou thought to himself: what is the meaning of this? Why are there cops here? Does this mean...

Saitou looked around. Nothing looked out of place, so he went inside. There he found two policemen talking to the same clerk. “Alright ma'am, thank you for your time.” As he said that another cop approached the two. He said: “There is a cleanly cut hole in the window.”

Saitou and Yuto conversed with the police for a minute. There they found out that Eugene Williams has mysteriously disappeared. With a hole through the window and no other way to do that than a laser, it must have been the bank crusaders!

The professor was described as a Caucasian with a white lab coat and black tie underneath. After Saitou described the bank robbery and how a hole was cut cleanly through the back door, it was believed the same people are involved. Yuto added that no conventional tool can cut a door so precisely, much less quietly.

After that exchange the cop had this to say: “laser cutting tools are said to exist here. Professor Eugene Williams did design them. He recently won an award for doing that. Those tools have a lot of potential for improving construction work, as mobile laser tools can now be used. But if the good professor disappeared like that, what do you wanna bet it's those two men that robbed Yozou Town Bank?”

Saitou and the policemen went into Eugene's office and checked for fingerprints. After a few minutes, Saitou came up with something: maybe there are witnesses who at least saw the faces of these criminals. The catch is, the kidnappers would not just waltz in here and state their intentions, and even if they did, it would under a friendly guise. There was still another problem: there weren't any witnesses.

”Something doesn't add up,” Saitou observed. “Why aren't there any witnesses? Someone had to see if there was anyone here with business with Mr. Williams.”

Saitou found the same clerk had returned. He went over to her and started asking questions, like her name. This is the exchange:

“Uh, my name is Ashely Russell.”

“Well Ms. Russell, do you remember who all you met today?”

"Well, I met some...students looking for the lost-and-found; uh, one applicant, and finally, two men that wanted to see Professor Williams."

“Can you describe those two men for us?”

Yuto got his notebook out and waited.

The clerk said, "the first man's name was Chou. He had dark brown hair, a gray suit, and a white shirt with a black tie. His eyes were gray..."

Yuto interrupted, "alright, hold on...okay I'm ready."

She continued: “the second man had brown hair and a gray suit as well. He had green eyes and a rounded jaw. His name was Eisine.”

As she was saying these things, Saitou got anxious. The two men who attacked the bank the other day match the woman's description. Professor Eugene, creator of the laser-cutting tools, disappears when the same two men responsible for the robberies show up. This means...

Saitou called to Yuto.

“Huh? What is it?” Yuto replied.

“It's time for us to leave. Thank you for your time, miss Russell.” Saitou and Yuto went outside.

“Alright, Yuto, this is how it looks to me: those men who attacked the bank also took Eugene Williams captive to keep us from getting information out of him. We need to find out where the men are hiding! We are in broad daylight, so I don't imagine them going far. Let's go!”

After a brief exchange, it was found that reports were made of suspicious activity around the docks. Cars park there without any business tagging, and since the docks were closed down, they couldn't have been employees. Who are they?

Saitou and Yuto went out. They were about to enter the lion's pit.

1:00 PM

The docks are in the eastern downtown area, which is in the southeastern quadrant. They cover a considerable area, at least a couple thousand square feet. The warehouse in the middle...its door is open! This isn't right—someone tampered with the warehouse.

Yuto went on to say, “look Saitou! I bet that warehouse has our man inside! If the docks are closed down then they would have closed their doors.”

Saitou replied, “well, that certainly seems plausible, but let's approach carefully. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Yuto answered reassuringly, “relax—I called Shouto earlier. He can bail us out if need be.”

“Yes, but how will he do that? What if we are attacked?”

“If we cannot handle things on our own, then he will power through in a getaway car. You can relax—our butts are covered!”

“Very well, let's get to it.” Saitou went ahead. Inside his jacket pocket was a gun that shot out a retractable cable. It will hook onto objects and pull you up.

Once inside, Saitou looked around carefully. They were at the west wall right now. The truck entrance was open but the space was empty, or so it seemed. Saitou got a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't right. The entrance shouldn't even be open, plus the warehouse has been well kept. There is no trash laying around, and the floor and walls were repainted. Repairs were made to the roof as well.

There was an empty spacious area up ahead, with some stairs on the northern half leading up to an upper-tier of platforms, connected to the perimeter walls. They have railing. As Saitou went forward, he saw a strange container that has a label: NITROGEN GAS. It was a cylindrical metal container with a nozzle that lets out gas when the valve is pulled. Saitou ignored it and continued investigating. While he did so, the container earlier disappeared. Then Saitou around and noticed this, saying: “Yuto, did you see that? The container just up and vanished. You know why, don't you?”

Yuto understood completely. He knew they weren't alone. He wanted to find the professor and fast! Then again...wouldn't it be nice if he could find a laser-cutting tool? It wouldn't be a problem if they got trapped! Suddenly, as Yuto was in thought, the truck door started closing in on them.

Saitou and Yuto dart for the exit, but as they did so, seven armed men walked out in front of them. Each of them had either an aluminum bat or a crowbar. This is bad, really bad! Can our heroes survive this encounter? Or will professors Williams be left at his captor's mercy? Find out next time!