Sybil quickly adjusted her hat so to keep it from her eyes, which scanned the outside of the mall.
She had made it to Aoyma with twenty minutes to spare. Twenty minutes and the whole place would blow, according to the information she was given from the runaway mailman or woman.
She then got a gut feeling and she stopped walking before checking her wristwatch. Ten minutes had passed.
Sybil grit her teeth and then took a deep breath to calm herself down.
She couldn't fail this. It would take too many lives.
After a moment, the woman suddenly got an idea. She took a tighter hold on her suitcase before picking up speed and making her way towards the stairwell.
Obviously the bomb would be on the upper floor of the mall, near the security office, if not in it. Take out the police first, then the innocent bystanders.
Sybil stopped in front of the security office and checked her watch again. She only had three more minutes.
This wasn't good. If she was wrong, not only would people die, but she would die as well.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, the young woman caught the blinking of a red light. Immediately, she turned on it and saw that it was exactly what she was looking for. The bomb.
It was leaning against the wall of the security office, disguised as a fire alarm.
Sybil hurriedly opened her suitcase and began going through it, soon finding a screwdriver and a revolver. She put the revolver back in the case as she shut it and turned her attention back to the fire alarm bomb.
One more minute. Just one minute and one mistake-
Her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she carefully unscrewed the time bomb and worked to disarm it.
Thirty seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Ten seconds.
Five seconds.
One second.
Sybil let out a sigh of relief as she slipped her screwdriver in the pocket of her black shorts.
"That was too close for comfort." She murmured before kneeling back down to pick up her suitcase.
Sybil then frowned.
Something still didn't feel right. Where were the security guards? You'd think that they would've noticed her messing with the fire alarm by now. Unless they were-
Her eyes widened as she quickly kicked down the door to the security office, seeing each of the seven security guards dead.
Gun shot wounds to the chest. Each and every single one of them.
To her left, Sybil saw a black suitcase and she heard the beeping of a clock counting down.
Immediately, she pulled out her screwdriver again and opened up the suitcase, revealing the time bomb inside. It was much more complicated than the last one and it seemed to have been set to explode after the first bomb.
One minute later.
Sybil studied the bomb for a few moments, seeing that there were two wires. A green wire and a blue wire.
She furrowed her brows in frustration.
She had to stop this now. But, she had never seen a bomb like this. She had only seen them on television. And it was always the blue wire.
The detective raised her screwdriver and held it to the blue wire, a nervous sweat sliding down the back of her neck.
She had five seconds left.
There was a fifty fifty chance of this working. She prayed that the bombers had done exactly the same thing as she saw on television.
Sybil quickly slid the sharp edge of the screwdriver through the wire and she closed her eyes tightly, almost expecting an explosion. However, one did not occur.
She opened her eyes slowly and then let out a relieved sigh.
The timer had stopped at three seconds. Just three seconds. However, that was better than the last one.
"Despite my best efforts, it wasn't enough. Men still lost their lives today." Sybil murmured, feeling tears stinging her eyes as she glanced around at the seven security guards.
The body closest to her still had his eyes open. She reached out with her hand and was about to gently close the eyes, but stopped.
This would ruin the scene of the crime even more so than taking away the bombs.
A tear slid down her cheek.
"Great men. Heroes. It's not those who solve the mystery who are the heroes. It's those who die for those who solve the mystery because those who solve the mystery are too much like cowards-" She stopped herself and stood up.
Then, she grabbed her own suitcase and flipped it open, pulling out her revolver. She then lifted up her shirt, revealing the belt around her waist. She stuck the gun in its holster before pulling her shirt back down.
"Illegal or not, I need to be able to protect myself. This is all I've got right now." Sybil said, not looking at the dead bodies around her.
Then, she grabbed her screwdriver again and stuck it back into the case before grabbing the old bomb case and snapping it shut.
She'd have to take this back home to look it over thoroughly. As well as the fire alarm bomb outside.
Sybil stepped outside of the security office and carefully unattached the disarmed bomb from the wall. Then, she reentered the office, despite her obvious dislike of seeing the dead bodies.
There, she could contact the police department to let them know that there was no more bombs to worry about. However, they would need several body bags.
The detective stood in front of the computer and kept a sympathetic composure as she looked around for a phone. She soon found one and carefully picked it up before dialing
***
Sybil stumbled into her apartment, dropping her suitcase into the hallway closet.
She closed the door behind her and locked it. Then, she reset the alarm system before she continued to the kitchen.
She nearly tripped over her shoelaces, but she didn't care. Frankly, she was too exhausted to care.
So what if she scuffed the hard wooden floor with her shoes? She could always clean it up later. When she had more energy, that is.
Running from her apartment in the middle of the city, all the way to Aoyma to disarm a bomb was hard work. Especially since there wasn't just one bomb. There was two. Two bombs that had nearly exploded.
And, not only was there more than one bomb, but seven innocent security guards were killed. All because they were at work on time. To do their job.
Socks rubbed up against her ankles as she stood in front of the counter, a glazed look over her green eyes.
"Seven men died today, Socks. Seven heroes. All because of Kira." He didn't do it directly, but he still was responsible for their deaths.
At least, in her mind.
If Kira didn't exist, Kira followers didn't exist. Then, there would be less riots and Kira based crimes.
"Stupid Kira. He- he has to be stopped before it's too late." The tabby cat jumped up onto the green counter and his soft tail ran under her chin.
This caused her to break down for the first time in her life.
"I- I need to stop him. At no matter what it costs. He's taking so much away from this world. He's trying to make us all perfect. No one's perfect. The world isn't perfect. It's just impossible to be perfect. Damn it!" She pounded her fist down to the counter, scaring the poor tabby into jumping from the counter and running away.
Tears ran down her face, dripping to the green surface.
"At least, I hope so. I don't want Kira to be right. I suppose it's a selfish want, but I don't care. I don't want Kira to be right in thinking that the world can be perfect and I'm going to go to hell and back to make sure that it never happens!" Sybil's cap had fallen more so into her eyes as she said this, giving her a mysterious, menacing look.
One final tear fell from her chin and she quickly wiped it away before smirking.
"Kira. You've made this personal. Very personal. No one gets away with murder when Carlyle is on their case. Not ever." The woman opened up her refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of root beer, quickly turning the lid and taking a swig.
It was the closest thing to alcohol that she would ever drink. She hoped.
Her family had a long history of being alcoholics. She didn't want to join that long history and she didn't plan to.
Sybil forced her tired legs to continue to carry her weight. This time, the short distance form the refrigerator to her office computer.
There was someone she needed to contact.