Summary: Double star crime hunter Mizaistom had seen many strange cases, but he had never investigated a bank heist where the robbers added 4,000,000 jenny to the vault. One-Shot set between the end of the Election arc and chapter 343.
Disclaimer: Useless disclaimer for sites that need one.
Bank Job
As one of the two men near the edge of the scene flashed his hunter's license, Mizaistom nodded an acknowledgment. Temp hunters, hunters with governmental jobs subcontracted to them from the Hunters Association. Not people that he wanted to work with, but there was no need to spark further inter-conflict within the Hunter Association. As a Zodiac, he'd do his best to cooperate with them, even if they were most likely lackeys of Pariston.
Anything to do with Pariston was rotten business. He'd always held tight control over the temp hunter jobs assignments during his time as Vice-Chairman and in doing so gained significant influence over the group. Shady, but legal, dealings passed inside the organization to gain his favoritism and thus better jobs. It was no secret that some less than legal ones went down as well, but concrete evidence linking back to Pariston personally had proven impossible to come by.
Mizaistom had spent six years watching the man's every move and still 18 hunters managed to suffer "unfortunate" accidents right under his nose. Unforgivable.
The pair ducked under the yellow police tape and peered through the heavy steel bars blocking the way to the vault. The damage was obvious even from this distance: the entire back wall had been reduced to rubble by heavy explosives, and a dark tunnel led underground. Following the tunnel would eventually lead to the bottom of Mr. and Mrs. Zuckerman's old bar and grill, That's Some Pig, which hadn't been open for more than a year now after the couple retired to the country. According to the locals, no one had reported seeing anyone go in or out in the past few months, but someone had to have dug the tunnel.
"How much was the count again?" The first temp hunter, Kuro, asked. He was tall and what most women would consider handsome, with a clean face and stunning straight teeth. His black hair was short but messy underneath a knit hat that went down to just above his eyes. He wore an over-sized jacket that swallowed him up and black slacks. But his mouth seemed permanently set in a slight frown; probably because they'd spent all of their time together inspecting such an absurd crime scene. If it could even be called that. Was it a crime if the robbers had given you money?
"According to the records the last count on Friday showed that the vault contained 3.4 million in bearer bonds and another 17.1 million in cash," Mizaistom told him. He had the checked the papers himself; he knew it was accurate. "Plus the contents of the safety deposit boxes. They've been checked over and as far as anyone can tell, none of them were opened. There hasn't appeared to be any damage done to them, and they were all..."
"Don't count on it," The other temp hunter, Shal, interrupted him. He leaned over, trying to see the safety deposit boxes through the bars. "If they weren't after the cash, then there has to be something else missing. There are rumors that Mr. Battera, a millionaire known for collecting rare items, most famously his purchase of a copy of Greed Island for 30.5 billion jenny at last year's Southernpiece Auction, might have kept a box here under a pseudonym. Those boxes just might have something in them worth well over the worth of all the cash. We're going to need to go through an inventory of those and make sure that everything is still inside."
Mizaistom clenched his fist. He'd checked their condition earlier, personally. "That's fine." He answered in a clipped tone.
"The count?" Kuro asked with a hint of aggravation. "Don't get sidetracked, your suppose to be the best aren't you?" He gave a curious hum. "You said they added cash to the shelves?"
"Correct." Mizaistom unlocked the gate and led them into the vault, where the mystery pallet sat right next to the others, still on a handcart. A cart that didn't belong to the bank, no less. "Sequential serial numbers. Another 4 million jenny in cash..." Mizaistom pointed to the numbers visible through the plastic wrapping. "None of them even look like they've ever been touched."
Kuro removed a Ben's knife from his coat and handed it to Shal.
Shal sliced through the plastic wrapping on the pallet. He lifted a stack of one thousand jenny bills and held it up to eye level. Bright green eyes studied the bills closely. He flipped through the stack like a picture book examining the detailed watermarks. He even sniffed them.
"You should have used Gyo," he told Kuro. "These are good, but they glow more than a computer screen. Definitely, counterfeit. Someone seems to have made an exact replica of another stack. We're probably dealing with a conjurer."
Mizaistom nearly smacked himself in the head. 'Counterfeit, of course!' He was slipping to have not thought of that. Due to the recent Chairman election, he'd put in too many hours at his desk and not enough time out solving mysteries. A groan must have slipped out or some other sound because Kuro turned to him with a sympathetic smile. "It's hard to tell. Almost looks legit, doesn't it?"
Mizaistom nodded. The bills in his hand did look real, and he'd seen more than a few counterfeit bills in his time while on a case.
"They're trying to get the counterfeits into circulation," he said.
"Why leave more than there originally was, though?" Mizaistom asked. "Unless we're dealing with the worst bank robbers in history, they must have known leaving more money would draw attention to it. Why not just replace the money instead of only adding to it?"
The two temps looked at each other. "Well, we're not sure how much legitimate currency there is left here. We're going to have to have a look around," Kuro finally answered. "Particularly at those safe deposit boxes. Would you mind bringing over the key sets for us?"
Mizaistom complied and returned to the vault to remove the safety deposit boxes. They'd proved helpful thus far so perhaps they would find something else he'd missed. One by one, he extracted the metal containers from the secured cabinet and placed them on the table, where the temps inspected them for any external damage. "We're going to need the customer keys to open them," he told the temp hunters.
"Of course," Shal said with a nod. He shot Mizaistom a playful grin. "Hey, can you go get us that list of customers? We'll work on contacting them."
Mizaistom printed out a list from the bank's records and brought it to the temps. They'd finished inspecting the safety deposit boxes and were currently flipping through stacks of bills that were already on the shelves. They were placing them into two piles: one for 'real,' and one for 'counterfeit.'
Kuro smiled at Mizaistom as he took the list. Reaching into his jacket he produced a book. "Would you mind holding this for a second? I need to get it out of the way so I can find my phone. Pockets, they never make them big enough, you know."
"Sure," said Mizaistom as he took the book. The cover was strange, a black book with a red hand print. He took care not to allow it to open, it was clearly related to the other man's hatsu and even if they were working together it was best not to allow himself to potentially pass any restrictions the ability might need.
"How unfortunate. I seem to have forgotten my phone today. Can I have my book back?" Kuro took the book back and said, "Thanks, Shal you have your phone don't you?"
"Of course," Shal said, looking up at Kuro. "You want me to make the calls, right?"
"In a moment. First, though I'd like to ask our fellow detective what his ability is. We need to cooperate if we're going to find the culprit and to do that we're going to need to know all the resources at our disposal." replied Kuro. He chuckled and raised his book, pointing to it with his other hand. "Naturally, we'll share our information as well."
"I'll pass."
Kuro shrugged. "A shame. It's hard to find trusting people these days." He waved a hand dismissively at Mizaistom. "Well then, if it's going to be like that we'll continue to double check everything here while you can return to following your own leads."
Mizaistom tried to avoid his cold gaze. At least Shal had a smile for him. Granted in the short time he'd spent around the men, Mizaistom had yet to see Shal not smiling. "All right then." He returned back to the front office to finish reading through the paperwork for the insurance claim. If nothing else it was an amusing read as the clerk clearly didn't quite know how to fill in the "Lost assets" column for this situation. He'd seen some strange cases, but this one didn't just take the cake it, it left it and then gave him a second one instead just to prove a point.
The Sheriff, Don Uts entered with his normal slow shuffle. "Afternoon, Mizaistom," he told me. He was nearly 65, but the district's citizens kept electing him Sheriff. The good part of Mizaistom believed it was as kind of a thank you for all his past service, his inner cynic thought it was because of his name. There wasn't much crime here anyway with the Hunter Association Headquarters located so close by, and his deputies were all young and fit so no one really saw the harm.
"Sheriff," Mizaistom nodded to him. "How are you?"
"Oh, fine," he said with a child-like grin. "Back to collect some more evidence. Not every day that we get a bank robbery around these parts! Exciting, isn't it?"
Mizaistom shrugged. He found it rather interesting, but not anything worth getting too excited over. Then again it wasn't his first robbed bank. "If you're here to help with the investigation, the two temp hunters from the association are in the vault doing their investigation now."
Sheriff Uts seemed puzzled. "We... haven't called in any request for any other hunters..." he told Mizaistom slowly.
Frowning Mizaistom returned to the scene of the crime.
The vault was empty. The handtruck with the pallet of counterfeit bills had disappeared, as had the pallets of actual bills, along with a good number of the safety deposit boxes and the list of their owners' names and addresses. The only sign that the Kuro and Shal had ever been there was twin sets of footprints in the dust and rubble leading into the dark tunnel.
Peering into the darkness, there was the crunch of paper beneath Mizaistom's foot.
It was a note."We reject no one. So take nothing from us!"
He knew that phrase, any crime hunter worth his salt did. It was the calling card of Meteor City and by extension the Phantom Troupe. A clue was a clue, at least it was something to work off of given that their names were undoubtedly fake. They'd already proven with the money that they were connected to a skilled counterfeiter and even if the licenses were real hunters often had a different name on their license since just owning one put a target on their back. In addition to that, there was always a chance of a knowing someone's true name being used as a restriction for a hatsu. It was a wonder more people didn't lie about it.
Buzz
Taking his phone out of his pocket he glanced at the screen. It was Cheadle. "I'm on a case now. I assume this is important?"
Her voice crackled slightly with static as she said, "We've got a replacement lined up for the Rat. I'm trusting you to bring him in. I'll email you the full details."
"Understood, I'll pick him up."
Clicking to end the call, he sighed. There were bigger fish to fry. With Beyond sitting in confinement getting the new recruit would have to come first. He'd have to let them go, for now. But his double star status wasn't just for show, in the end, Mizaistom Nana always got his man.
Thanks for reading. Blasted story tags are such spoilers. *Grumbles*