~Earlier in the day~
Tech was in the lab more than usual, having to juggle the mission on the robbery while also figuring out about the girls' true identity in secret as well. He was working on the footage with Rev to figure out how it was that the footage was tampered with in the first place when no one else noticed the interval, including Zadavia's technology, which was supposed to be far more advanced than what they had in Acmetropolis.
"I-was-able-to-tranfer-all-of-their-footage-to-our-computers-including-from-the-room-where-we-found-the-open-vent," Rev rambled off at his usual speed.
"Thanks, Rev," Tech replied. "We need to figure out how they did it. It seems too easy for them to have such quick access to the security system when it should be tough to do so."
"Right?-It's-so-weird-that-they-were-able-to-best-the-system-without-alerting-anyone-until-they-noticed-something-was-off-about-it-and-actually-checked-and-found-it-was-stolen."
Tech was back into his world as he tried to figure out through the data what it was that interfered with the system. Rev was looking through the footage and splitting it so that they would have the images of the time intervals of when the thief could have entered. After several minutes, they finally made a breakthrough.
"I got it!" Tech cried out. Rev zipped over and tried to see what it was that Tech found. "They used a more advanced system to breakthrough. It's a crude way of doing things, but I imagine they had to create a powerful program on their own and a machine to plug it into the system from the outside to hack it all completely."
"Wow-they-must-be-a-really-smart-hacker-enough-to-stump-you-in-the-beginning-just-like-Malerie."
"But this isn't Malerie. She's still in prison and more into getting revenge and destroying the team. This means it's someone just as intelligent and a third party that we never thought of. The question is, who could it be."
"Well-we-can-check-the-government's-system-and-look-for-the-person-with-the-highest-IQ-and-see-if-they-could-be-our-suspect."
"That would make it too broad and forever to find our thief. They could also try to hide their intelligence if they don't want to be caught." Tech continued to mess around in the system while Rev decided to do his idea on another computer to double-check. Tech was having a hard time getting to the bottom of this mystery. It was hard enough to find 'how' they did it, but it was even harder to find the 'who' did it. As he continued to investigate, he noticed something was off about the footage. Everything in the background was clear, but the person was off. A thief couldn't be dressed in complete black, and their gender also remains entirely anonymous. Their clothes would have had indicators of pockets or if it was tight, but not this person. He tried zooming in on the figure, leading to the image blurring up unusually.
"That's weird. It shouldn't be that pixelated even when this enlarged. Meaning this person is using the same device to blur out their silhouette, or they do have powers."
"You-really-think-so-Tech?" Rev went over, holding a sandwich he was eating.
"That's the only conclusion that we have. Which still leads to nowhere."
"Of-course-we-went-somewhere-it's-just-one-tough-nut-case-to-crack-shouldn't-be-that-hard-for-you-or-Ace-to-solve-soon-though-oh-Ace-called-me-in-to-go-on-patrol-with-him-and-the-girls-to-help-them-know-our-routes."
"Well, good luck with that."
"Want-me-to-call-Lexi-to-come-help-you?"
"I'll be fine. I probably need a quick break anyways from staring at this for so long. Need to look at it with fresh eyes again."
"If-you-say-so." Rev zipped off to finish his sandwich and go on duty.
Now that Tech was all alone, he sighed in exhaustion and frustration, set the footage aside, and resumed research on the girls' ID situation. He pulled up all the profiles he had found before and decided to look through the majority to see what life they all had.
"Looks like they lived a simple life. Didn't buy a house, no family, no marriage or children, with a bare minimum on education. Hardly any medical records too. Their jobs were so simple and their lives so bland that they could have been...," Tech mumbled to himself as he started to realize a pattern. He went over more of the profiles, making sure to take notes on any patterns he noticed and any clues this time. As his research continued, he cross-matched the girls' faces with any pictures that would be out in public. Images started to appear that he least expected to appear, such as pictures of charity balls and in some stock photos where they were in the background and not the focus. As they weren't center of the attention, some of their images blurred and hazed, making something click in Tech's mind.
"It'll be a long shot, but..." He went with his guess and was able to get a full-body image of one of the girls that showed her form well, using that to crossmatch with the mystery thief's body. The computer ran through it and found that it was a 98.9% match. Tech ran a hand through his head and over his ears, shocked that his wild theory could be leading him somewhere. Suddenly, Zadavia's hologram came on in one of the hologrammers next to him, taking his focus away.
"Tech. I was able to confirm my suspicions based on all the information you gave me," Zadavia pointed out as her rainbow image appeared.
"I was going over their profiles right now too. They all have a similar pattern. They make sure to have a basic lifestyle and hardly leave any traces of them anywhere. It's like they want to remain unnoticed," Tech added.
"Precisely. The reason, based on that information and what you have told me before, I have found that the reason why is more...inhuman."
"You mean they're anthros like us?"
"Not exactly. Their kind are called 'half-demons' or 'half-anthros' for us. They are a breed in-between humans and anthro where they retain many properties of their demon or anthro parents while still having many human looks. I traced their DNA back to another planet that is just as advanced as my home planet, but remains traditional in many ways."
"So, these two are immigrants from another planet?"
"Quite the opposite. Layla and Luna do not exist at all. Those profiles they made are just aliases, yes. But on their planet, there is no documentation of them being born or even existing. However, there is one person I was able to find with almost identical DNA."
An image of a woman appeared, looking identical to Layla and Luna. However, this woman seemed more serene and ladylike, her posture that of a woman who was brought up in the home of the old nobility and was dressed in a vintage-style gown. She had a soft look to her features, making her almost look younger and like a live doll. But that wasn't what caught Tech's attention the most. It was the fact that even though she seemed very human, she had brown cat ears and small stripes peaking over her jaw that could be birthmarks.
"This is Hana Shimura. She is the only daughter to Falna Shimura, a powerful woman, and leader. Falna is a full breed demon. Her daughter is a half breed."
"Could she possibly be their mother?"
"Yes. Her DNA is almost exactly as that of our two recruits. However, they do seem to have another parent DNA in them that is unknown in any register I could find."
"Very unusual. Anything else you got?"
"Yes. It's about the species themselves. You had mentioned finding profiles that go back a century, correct?"
"Yeah. It was odd and made no absolute sense. There's no way that they could have lived for that long."
"That is correct. That is, under normal circumstances. According to my research, they can live for thousands of years and hardly age, half breeds having shorter lives than their demon parent, but still living for a long time."
"What?!"
An alarm started to ring, and he checked quickly on his computer, seeing that enemies were surrounding the four on patrol and attacking them.
"What timing. It looks like they've encountered some enemies."
"I'll leave you to it. Good luck." Zadavia's hologram ended, and she disappeared, leaving Tech to figure out what was going on. The alarm suddenly stopped, and he saw they were no longer fighting, leaving him worried and confused. His communicator on his wrist started to beep of an incoming call. He clicked on it, and Ace's image appeared.
"Did something happen, chief? I picked up on our radar that there were enemies close to your location," Tech pointed out before Ace could say anything, though he saw Ace's face hard and severe.
"They retreated for now. I need you to set-up two cells for interrogation."
Tech caught on to Ace's tone, making him serious as well. "I'm guessing you decided not to beat around the bush anymore. I'll go set them up right now."
"Thanks. Over and out."
Tech ended the call and sighed. "Things just got more complicated." He got up and started to head to the cells to set them up. "I need to let him know what Zadavia told me and what I found. This is all starting to piece together bizarrely."
hey guys! Didn't expect me to upload two chapters in one year?! Guessed wrong! MUAHAHAHAHA!
I hope you guys enjoy these epic twists as turns as we get closer and closer to the end of our tale. I do try my best to write as much as I can even with my busy schedule, and I'm currently on a roll too! I feel my passion coming back and my deep roots going deeper!