"It's not even official, man. No sanction. No command post. Just us, a busted truck, and a bad idea. You realize how deep our asses are if this leaks?" Agent Luro complained, a slight fear creeping into his voice.
At this point, Agent Rhys seemed to have had enough. He snapped, turning sharply to face Agent Luro.
"If you're that scared, you're free to leave. But don't come crying to me when the higher-ups are breathing down your neck for negligence," he said before turning back to the monitor screen. "Besides, you didn't object when we set this up," he added without looking back.
Agent Luro sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
"Yeah, well, back then I thought it would be a quick couple of scans, not living out of a damn trash can for a week," he grumbled, jabbing a thumb toward the biometric scanner. "And that thing? It's ticking like a bomb every time he moves."
Agent Rhys gave a short chuckle at his partner's behavior, but his face quickly turned serious again.
"The nurse did good work. Buried the micro-sensor just under his skin. You saw the readings — baseline Chaos Energy levels are stable. The second it spikes, we'll know before anyone else does," he said firmly, making Agent Luro sigh again.
"Then what next if it does spike?" Agent Luro asked.
"Not sure yet. But be ready for anything," Agent Rhys replied, his eyes glued to the monitor again.
"This is fucked up, man. We're staking our careers — hell, our lives — on a kid who might end up having nothing valuable to our investigation. Why not just report it? Let HQ deal with it officially?" Agent Luro muttered, sulking.
"HQ? You think those old farts care about anything other than saving their own asses?" Agent Rhys scoffed, turning to face Luro. "Why do you think the kid was allowed to be released early? That kid's being called a hero now inside the shelter. Those old fools would do anything to look good in front of the media, even if it ruins our investigation. And even after doing that, they'll still breathe down our necks for results. So we had to improvise," Agent Rhys explained, his voice sharp.
"So we're literally doing this to save our own asses?" Agent Luro asked again, looking more tired than ever.
"Give or take, yeah," Agent Rhys replied with a defeated tone.
"Man, that's messed up," Agent Luro muttered, slumping his shoulders even further. But just then, his eyes snapped toward the monitor screen, spotting something moving.
Agent Rhys noticed the change in his partner's expression and quickly turned his gaze to the screens, but there was nothing — no movement from any camera angle.
"What happened?" Agent Rhys asked.
"Thought I saw something moving. Probably nothing," Agent Luro said, frowning slightly as he stared at the empty screens. Maybe it was just a mistake or his eyes playing tricks on him.
"Could be nothing. Could be everything. We need to be cautious from now on," Agent Rhys said seriously, his eyes scanning the monitors carefully.
In their line of work, even the smallest thing that seemed unimportant could make a difference. Caution wasn't just needed — it was survival.
But unbeknownst to them, despite all their caution, a hooded figure hidden by shadows stood just outside the truck, listening to every word they said. A deep frown formed on the hidden figure's face.
It was the same hooded person who had spoken with Butler James earlier.
"Hmm, this sounds like trouble," the figure muttered under his breath.
His mission was clear: deal with the two agents. That was what his master had ordered.
But he knew killing them would only cause more problems and draw even more unwanted attention. Still, he had to neutralize them and destroy whatever device they were using to monitor Kyoji. The Chaos Energy inside Kyoji must not be discovered.
The hooded figure let out a tired sigh.
"This is a real pain in the ass," he muttered, reaching for the cloth tied around his neck, pulling it tighter to cover his face. He clenched his fists and moved silently toward the rear of the truck, preparing to take care of the two agents.
-
Meanwhile, unaware of the approaching danger, the two agents were seated at the back of the truck, their guard raised.
Even Agent Luro had rid himself of the bored and nonchalant posture he had earlier, now sitting upright and alert.
But then, their senses flared with warning.
Agent Rhys was the first to detect it. He immediately snapped his head to the back, where to his shock, a mold of shadow was forming behind them.
"Watch out!" he shouted to his partner, but it was already too late.
A hand materialized from the shadow, moving towards Agent Luro with great speed.
Agent Luro, who had already sensed the danger by that point, tried to react, but he was too slow. The hand was faster than he could move.
He felt a sharp sting on his neck as some sort of needle pierced into his skin.
The next moment, a heavy sense of dizziness overtook his entire body, his strength draining away as he succumbed to the darkness creeping in.
"You! What did you do to him?!" Agent Rhys yelled out, his voice filled with anger and a hint of panic, as he stared at the figure that had formed from the shadow.
The man was dressed in dark clothes from head to toe, with a hood and mask hiding his face under the dim light at the back of the truck.
Cold eyes stared back at him without saying a word.
At that moment, Agent Rhys knew.
This man was dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. He couldn't afford to hold back.
But before he could act, the hooded man moved.
It was a blur—at least, that was all Agent Rhys could see—because in the next instant, the hooded man was already standing right in front of him, and all he could see was a fist flying toward his head.
Years of training kicked in, and Agent Rhys quickly crossed his arms to shield his head.
But the punch he was expecting never came. Instead, a prickling sharp pain shot through his neck, and a sudden drowsiness flooded over him, making it feel like he hadn't slept in years.
He tried to open his mouth to question the attacker, to ask what he had done to him, but no words came out. His body's last strength slowly drained away.
Darkness was creeping in.
In his final moment of consciousness, he saw the hooded man tapping away at the monitor. In that last second, he grasped a small piece of the man's intention before completely losing consciousness.
Meanwhile, after sedating the two agents, the hooded man quickly got to work.
He calmly disabled the biometric scanner and erased the recent logs from the monitor.
He planted a small pulse device that would fry any attempt to reactivate remote monitoring.
After double-checking, he scanned the entire truck to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
Satisfied, he contacted Butler James to inform him of the development.
After the call, he locked the two unconscious agents inside the truck.
Without making a sound, he vanished into the darkness, leaving no trace behind.