A/N: I'm so excited to be updating this story again. I'll admit I've been very lazy... but that will change because I have all the remaining chapters planned out.

Also, now that there are less characters... expect more scenes with Bayman. He is now officially a main character.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Tecmo and Team Ninja. Please don't sue me.

BREAKING CHAINS

Chapter 19

As Bayman left the interview room, Gen Fu sighed. He knew he would have to calm Bass down before interviewing him. After all, he didn't want to upset the pro wrestler any further. However, it looked as though the job had already been done. The senior officer was pleased to see that Bass was a little more calm now. It was possible that this was because Bayman had finally gone home for the night.

Just as he was about to begin his interview with Bass, the door unexpectedly opened. Gen Fu wasn't surprised to see that the person at the door was Hitomi. She was holding the files he had given her earlier.

"I'm done with these reports," she cheered. "Would you like me to interview Bass instead?"

Gen Fu took the files from her with a small smile. "Thank you very much. And no, I can interrogate Bass myself."

"If you say so," Hitomi smirked. "What else do you need me to do?"

"Actually, I would say you're done for the day," Gen Fu answered, checking his wristwatch. "It's almost 10pm. You can go home now."

"Okay," Hitomi nodded. "I'll be here for my morning shift tomorrow."

"I'll see you at 7am sharp."

After making sure that Hitomi was gone, the senior officer decided to approach Bass once more. Even though the pro wrestler seemed to be more at ease now, there was still a sense of rage planted on his face. When he finally had Gen Fu's attention, he slammed his fist on the table with anger.

"Come on, Gen Fu! You know I didn't rob Helena's mansion! I also wouldn't kill my own daughter!"

"I believe you," Gen Fu replied.

Bass' piercing blue eyes widened in shock. "You do?... Then let me go!"

"Unfortunately, I can't," the senior officer responded with dread. "It is my job to interview you. Unless you don't want to be cooperative and clear your name, we might be here all night."

"But it wasn't me!" Bass yelled.

"And I said I already know that. However, you need to control your temper… This is why you are seen as a suspect, is it not?..."

"I guess so…" Bass mumbled. "Okay, fine. I'll answer your stupid questions."

"Excellent," Gen Fu said, revealing a rare smile. He then stood from his seat. "It's going to be a long night, so I'm going to grab us some food. How does some doughnuts and coffee sound?"

"You' sound like the stereotypical police officer," Bass laughed. "But yeah, I could go for anything right now. I haven't eaten since noon."

"Very well, then."

As Gen Fu exited the room, he decided to leave the door open since he and Bass were the only two people inside the building. It would also be a good chance to keep an eye on him just in case he tried to escape. After when Gen Fu grabbed a plate of doughnuts and poured two cups of coffee, he noticed something odd…

The small door leading to the secret entrance was open.

Gen Fu instantly knew that someone else was inside with him and Bass. His suspicions were confirmed as he found someone standing behind him. They had a dark glint in their eyes and were holding onto something strange.

"Oh my, I see you've found the secret entrance," Gen Fu chuckled. His hearty expression then turned into a poisonous glare. "I knew it was you."

The murderer chuckled. "You knew it was me?"

"Yes," Gen Fu answered with a curt nod. "You have been very clever so far, but not clever enough… Your clues were very obvious."

"If that's the case, then it's your turn to die, old man."

Before Gen Fu could react, the murderer lunged forward and attacked Gen Fu with their strange choice of weapon. They struck his head several times with the item before he fell to the floor. They were glad to see that the senior officer was out cold.

Now that Gen Fu was unconscious, the murderer searched his body for any weapons. After finding a gun in the officer's pouch, the murderer aimed between his eyes and shot him quickly. Unfortunately for the murderer, they soon realised that Bass was inside the building as well.

"Hey, are you alright, Gen Fu?!" he called. "I can't see anything, but what was that noise?!"

Bass' face paled as he witnessed the murderer enter the interview room. He gulped as he noticed the horrific grin on their face.

"Did… Did you… OH, MY GOD!"

As soon as Bass put all the pieces together and realised what had happened, he tried his best to get up and run out of the building. Unfortunately, his handcuff restrained him from doing so. He attempted to pull his arm free from the handcuff, but it only resulted in the metal scraping against his wrist. He grunted as some blood appeared.

"Look, you don't have to kill me," he begged. "You can run free and I won't tell anyone! I swear!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that…"

"What?!" Bass snapped. "So you're the person who is killing everyone and I've been one of the suspects this whole time… Wait a minute… Did you kill Tina?!"

The murderer chuckled at how slow Bass had put the pieces together.

The pro wrestler could feel his face heating with rage. "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" He slammed his fist against the table multiple times and attempted to flip it over. Unfortunately for him, the legs of the table were bolted to the floor. "DAMMIT! AND DAMN YOU!"

As it turns out, those were the last words Bass ever spoke. After being hit on the head repeatedly with the same weapon that had been used to strike Gen Fu, Bass felt something sharp impale the back of his neck.

The pro wrestler's face fell on top of the table with a thud. He died instantly.

All Hitomi could do right now was sob as she continued to look at Bass' corpse. She felt terrible since he had been one of the main suspects but turned out to be innocent all along. This only made her doubt her other suspicions. What if Rig and Lisa were innocent, too? They were the only living suspects left. Her thoughts were then interrupted as Bayman grasped her shoulders. He shook the German girl in order to calm her down.

"You need to stay calm," he said as he let go. He then let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "Dammit!"

Hitomi could tell that Bayman was trying his best not to show any emotion. He was always seen as a cold figure, so any kind of emotion was probably new to him.

"Are… Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm kind of pissed, if you know what I mean," he spat. "Our boss is dead and he was the only person who was good to me. Now that he's gone, everyone will continue to judge me."

Hitomi felt bad for the man. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't judge you at all."

Instead of responding to the karateka's kindness, Bayman headed over to Gen Fu's body in order to write the investigation report. Once when he was done, he handed the notebook over for Hitomi to read. She could barely read his scratchy handwriting:

INVESTIGATION REPORT: "The victim is Gen Fu. Age: 67. His body was discovered at 7:15am inside the Police Station. The cause of death was a gunshot wound between the eyes."

Hitomi decided to inspect Gen Fu's body first since Bayman had already written the report. She couldn't look at the senior officer's body without wanting to cry. She knew how much he had wanted to see Mei Lin. Now she would never be able to see him ever again. The thought of losing a loved one caused her heart to skip a beat. She didn't know how she would be able to cope if her father were to die.

The first clue Hitomi noted was the purple bruise neat Gen Fu's temple. It looked fresh and it definitely wasn't there last night when she had spoken to him. His cold skin was slowly turning blue, and his eyes were wide open. Because of this particular finding, Hitomi instantly knew that Gen Fu had seen the murderer.

After closing the old man's eyes as a sign of respect, Hitomi observed the gunshot wound between his eyes. The young woman looked around the room for a gun, but there was nothing in sight.

Even though the front door of the police station was open, the back door was certainly locked. This was odd since she locked the front door last night. Hitomi then headed over to the miniature kitchen once more and saw that the small door leading to the secret entrance was open. The murderer must have already known about it. She decided to inform Bayman about the clues she had found so far. As she entered the interview room, she saw that Bayman was already recording the investigation report for Bass' death.

INVESTIGATION REPORT: "The victim is Bass Armstrong. Age: 46. His body was discovered at 7:18am in the interview room of the Police Station. The cause of death was a knife impaled at the back of his neck."

All Hitomi could do was look at Bass' face. Even though she had already seen so many dead bodies, it was hard for her to believe that someone could murder the pro wrestler so easily. After all, she had seen him last night. He was perfectly healthy, and regrettably on her suspect list for all the other murders.

Hitomi's eyes began to water once more as she continued to look at the body. She eventually turned her attention to Bayman who was staring at her. Once again, his expression was cold.

"You should be used to seeing a dead body by now."

"I… I know…" Hitomi gulped. "It just doesn't seem real…"

"Well get used to it," he said in frustration. "I can't believe Bass is dead. He was the biggest suspect for my case… Now I'm at square one all over again!"

Hitomi sighed. She, too, felt the same way. "Same here with m-"

The karateka was interrupted as a loud scream filled her ears. Acting on their policing instincts, both Hitomi and Bayman ran out of the interview room. Their eyes laid upon Eliot who was kneeling next to Gen Fu's corpse. His hands were shaking and his face had a horrified look on it.

"What… What the hell happened?!"

"Gen Fu was murdered," Hitomi answered. A few tears spilled down her cheeks. "Bayman and I found him only a few minutes ago..."

"Bass was also murdered," Bayman added.

"What? Bass, too?" Eliot wondered. "I guess he wasn't the murderer after all…"

"Yeah. I feel so ba-"

"We need to avenge them!" Eliot interrupted Hitomi. He had determination written all over his face. "We wrongly accused Bass, and Gen Fu was the best mentor I've ever had… We will uncover all these murders!"

"That's great!" Hitomi cheered. "Okay, well, we haven't found any weapons yet… Maybe we should start with that?"

Eliot tapped a finger against his chin. Hitomi could tell he was deep in thought. "Well, it's clear that Gen Fu was murdered with a gun… and the gun law here is very strict… I don't think anyone in the town would own one."

"Except for the four of us," Hitomi added.

"That's right. And if I'm not mistaken, Gen Fu was the only officer here last night, meaning that…" Eliot said as he dug through Gen Fu's pockets. He found a gun. "... the murderer used his own gun against him."

"Let me see that," Bayman intervened, taking the gun. He inspected the bullets inside. "Aha! One bullet is missing… I assume it's the one jammed into the old man's skull."

Eliot was surprised that Bayman was helping them, even though he had his own cases to solve. The Russian man noticed that the male detective was looking at him oddly, so he cleared his throat.

"What? The boss was really nice to me… We need to avenge him."

"I agree," Eliot said with a smile. "Okay, guys, let's go and see if we can find any clues on Bass' body."

The three officers headed over to the interview room. There wasn't much to inspect around this area. The door was wide open, and the only other items in the room were the table as well as the chair Bass was slumped on. Bayman headed over to Bass' body and inspected his head.

"There is a bruise on the side of his head," Bayman said. "He was probably attacked with the same weapon as Gen Fu."

"That also means that these two murders are the same as every other murder so far," Hitomi concluded. "Every victim has been attacked on the head…"

"We have a serial killer among us," Eliot said. He shook in fear as he said those words.

"Hm, what's this?..." Bayman muttered to himself. Hitomi watched as he tugged at something behind Bass' neck. He pulled it out and showed the two detectives. "There was a knife stabbed into his neck."

Hitomi tried her best not to puke at the sight of the knife. The blade was bloodied. All she could do right now was cover her mouth.

"Wait a minute…" Eliot began. He was looking at the knife. "I think that's the same knife that was used against Hayate."

Hitomi arched a brow as she headed over towards Bayman. She took a closer look at the knife. Just like the other knife, it was black and had the gold embroidery of a dragon onto it.

"You're right, Eliot… It is the same knife!"

Bayman placed the bloodied knife into a clear ziplock bag and continued to inspect the rest of the room. Hitomi decided to concentrate on Bass' body some more. She eventually came across his left wrist that was still handcuffed to the table. There were some deep cuts around his wrist and there was a light trace of blood. Hitomi noted this as a sign of struggle.

"There is a sign of struggle on Bass' wrist," Hitomi informed them. "That means it is possible that Bass witnessed Gen Fu's death and tried to escape."

"So that means the old man died first…" Bayman noted. "Hm…"

Eliot proceeded to write all the clues down inside his notebook as Bayman and Hitomi continued to inspect the scene. Eventually, Bayman came across something that piqued his interest.

"Was there always a tennis racket behind this door?" he asked.

Eliot looked up from his notebook. "I don't think so… Even if it was, the interview room would be a strange place to hide a tennis racket."

"Very interesting," Bayman muttered, inspecting the tennis racket. "There are quite a few dents on the edges… Almost as if it had hit something a few times, if you get what I mean…"

"Are you saying that the tennis racket was used to hit Bass and Gen Fu on the head?" Hitomi asked.

Bayman nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. It's severley damaged and would have been used to hit them a lot."

Eliot approached the two detectives and took the tennis racket from Bayman. He inspected the possible weapon and came to the conclusion that the Russian man was correct. The dents were deep enough to cause bruises on the head. He then found something else that caught his attention.

"There are letters on the tennis racket," he said.

"What does it say?" Hitomi asked.

"HD… High definition?" Eliot guessed. "Why would a tennis racket be high definition?"

Luckily for the two detectives, Bayman figured out the answer right away. "No, you moron. They are a person's initials!"

"Hilary Duff?" Hitomi guessed.

"Wh- NO! How did you two idiots get this job?!" Bayman roared. "I'm sure it stands for Helena Douglas."

"That actually makes sense," Eliot replied. "She had a tennis match on the day her mansion was robbed."

"Yep," Bayman nodded. "A tennis racket, some balls, and her trophy were stolen that day."

Hitomi clapped and couldn't help but squeal. The two male officers looked at her with confusion. She headed over to Bayman and gripped his shoulders tightly. The ex assassin slightly flinched in response.

"Do you know what this means, Bayman?!" she asked, shaking his shoulders violently.

"No… What are you talking about?"

"Our cases have been connected this whole time!" she cheered.

"I see what you mean," Eliot chuckled. "Since the murderer has been leaving a pattern this whole time and even used Helena's missing tennis racket… they must have been the person to rob Helena's mansion that night."

"That's right," Hitomi said, her hands still gripping Bayman's shoulders. She then came to a sudden realisation. "... Do you think Helena was supposed to be murdered that night?"

"What the hell are you talking about now?!" Bayman barked. "And get your hands off me!"

"Sorry," Hitomi apologised. "Anyway, maybe it's possible that Helena was supposed to be murdered… but with Marie Rose at the scene, the murderer probably decided to steal some things instead."

"I guess that makes sense," Eliot shrugged. "Marie Rose also mentioned that night that Helena recently hired her as her servant… The murderer probably didn't expect another person to be with her."

"Don't jump to any conclusions just yet," Bayman replied. "Doing so will throw you off and make you distracted."

"You're right," Hitomi nodded.

"Of course I am, little girl," he chuckled. "Anyway, it looks like I'm going to help you both with this case now."

Hitomi smiled brightly at Bayman's words. In a way, she was glad that he was going to help them with their investigation. Now that their cases were linked, it only made sense for the three of them to work together. After inspecting the interview room some more, Bayman turned to his work colleagues.

"Since there are no other clues inside the room, we should call for someone to collect the bodies."

After when both bodies had been collected to be taken to the morgue, the three officers headed over to the meeting room. Since their cases were linked together, Bayman thought this would be the perfect opportunity for him to share what he had found so far.

"So…" Hitomi began, clasping her hands together. "Who are your suspects?"

Bayman crossed his muscular arms and leaned back on his chair. "The suspects all have some kind of conflict with Helena," he said, scanning through his notes. "They were Lisa, Rig, Leifang, Bass, Ayane, and Zack."

Eliot noted everything down in his notebook. "What were their alibis?"

"Lisa said she was at her house that night but doesn't have an alibi. Zack said the same thing," Bayman answered. "Lisa looked like she was lying to me, so I've got my eye on her. And as for the idiot… He's usually a terrible liar but I think he was telling the truth for once in his life."

"What about Ayane?" Eliot asked. Hitomi tried her best not to roll her eyes at his growing smile.

"Why the hell are you blushing?!" the Russian man asked him. "A-Anyway… She said she was at that Sakura place. She said that the idea of Helena being robbed was funny. She pissed me off."

"What about Rig?" Hitomi asked.

"The bald guy with the ugly tattoos?... Apparently couldn't remember where he was that night. He's a liar!" the ex assassin boomed. "And the little Chinese girl told me she was with Jann Lee that night. He confirmed her alibi, so she's in the clear."

"Were there any other suspects?" Eliot asked.

"Yeah. I interviewed Bass at his house yesterday and he gave me an attitude," Bayman answered. "He pissed me off, too, so I took him to the station…. where he died…"

Hitomi gulped. Images of Bass from last night flashed in her mind. She wondered if he knew that his murderer was the same person who had strangled Tina to death. In a way, she was glad that Bass didn't have to grieve over his daughter anymore.

"Hello? Are you there?" Bayman asked, waving his hand in front of Hitomi's face.

The karateka blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"I've called your name almost ten times!" he yelled. "I wanted to ask you who your biggest suspects are. I've shared my information, so now you have to give me yours."

"Oh, right… Our biggest suspects are Lisa, Rig, and Bass… But I guess that just leaves Lisa and Rig now."

"Lisa and Rig were also suspects for my case," Bayman mentioned. "It would make sense for one of them to steal those tennis items."

"I think we should talk about the knife some more," Eliot intervened. "The dragon pattern might be a clue."

"Yeah, I've seen that dragon somewhere before…" Bayman replied. He went into deep thought afterwards.

"You've seen it, too?" Hitomi asked, bewildered. "We know that Rig has a dragon tattoo. That might be a clue."

"I've seen that Jann Lee guy wear some dragon patterned pants at the gym," Bayman added. "They're really ugly, if you ask me…"

"You know, I've seen Lisa buy some dragon fruit at the Seaside Market a few times…" Eliot replied. "Does that sound silly?"

Bayman mocked a laugh. "Yes, but we'll add it as a clue anyway."

"Ryu knows quite a bit about dragons as well," Hitomi said. "I remember he would always talk about them, as well as other artefacts… But he's been out of the country this whole time."

"Yeah. And Jann Lee was Leifang's alibi for the robbery," Eliot added.

"So that leaves us with Lisa and Rig," Hitomi concluded.

Bayman checked his wristwatch and revealed a small smirk. "You know, I think we've actually made some progress today," he said, getting out of his chair. He headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Hitomi asked.

"Home," he answered. "Actually, I think we should all go home for the day. Besides… I have a funeral to plan."

Hitomi nodded in understanding as Bayman took his leave. Eliot followed soon after. The karateka soon found herself locking the front door of the police station as she didn't want another incident to happen. And with that, she headed home with a heavy heart, but at the same time, she was happy to be one step forward to solving all these crimes. Her only wish was for DOATEC City to be peaceful once more, and she felt as though it was going to happen soon.

A/N: Thanks for reading! See you next time!

...

Where you can find the other investigation files:

Rolande: Chapter 6

Kokoro: Chapter 10

Tina: Chapter 15

Bankotsubo: Chapter 17

...

INVESTIGATION PROCESS #5

Time of murder: Between 10pm and 7am

Place of murder: The Police Station

Murder Weapon(s): Gun, dragon knife, tennis racket

Who found the 1st body: Hitomi

Who found the 2nd body: Bayman

...

INVESTIGATION #5 SUSPECTS

Lisa Hamilton: [Suspect because of link to dragon knife / has been a suspect in every case]

Rig: [Suspect because of link to dragon knife/ has been a suspect in every case]

Jann Lee: [Suspect because of link to dragon knife] Has had an alibi before. (cleared by Eliot)

Ryu Hayabusa: [Suspect because of knowledge about dragons / link to the dragon knife] Out of the country this whole time. (cleared by Hitomi)

...

INVESTIGATION #5 CLUES

~ Head bruise #1 - It looks fresh. The mark looks weird on Gen Fu's head, so it is possible that he was attacked with a strange object.

~ Gunshot wound between the eyes - But where is the gun...?

~ Open eyes - Gen Fu most likely saw the murderer.

~ The secret entrance - The small door in the kitchen leading to the tunnel is open. The murderer must already know about it...

~ Confirmed murder weapon! #1 - Only members of the police force have access to a gun. Gen Fu's gun has one bullet missing.

~ Head bruise #2 - Bass has the exact strange mark as Gen Fu. They were both attacked with the same object.

~ Confirmed murder weapon! #2 - Bass was impaled with the same dragon knife as Hayate.

~ Signs of struggle - Deep cuts are found on Bass' wrist from the handcuff. It is possible that Bass saw the murderer and tried to escape.

~ Confirmed weapon - A dented tennis racket was found. This is linked to Bass and Gen Fu's bruises... Confirmed to be Helena's missing tennis racket.

~ JOINT CASES - The robbery and murder cases have been connected this whole time.

...

Explanation #6: I never planned for Gen Fu to survive. His main role was to act as a mentor for Eliot and Hitomi. I wanted him to show Hitomi that it is always best to stay positive throughout the case. He was barely in the story, so it was best to just get rid of him altogether at this point.

Explanation #7: Bass was actually going to survive in this story, but then I changed my mind because I couldn't think of any subplots for him. I actually wanted everyone to think of him as the biggest suspect, but... that did not happen LOL. Oops.

Death count: Maria Douglas, Rolande, Kokoro, Tina Armstrong, Bankotsubo, Gen Fu, Bass Armstrong.