December 20th
It was snowing a bit heavier as the day progressed but all is tranquil.
Scepter 4's lieutenant, Awashima Seri, had entered the warehouse, brushing the snow from her coat and hood as she scans the area. She finds several empty buckets, one was knocked further away from the others and there was a large puddle of water on the ground, icing over from the cold. She then sees Benzai Yojiro and Hidaka Akira lingering around a trailer with a sailboat on it back and she approaches them. Yojiro kneels down and reaches under the trailer to find a stray gun clip, standing back up when he retrieves it.
"What did you find?" Seri asks and the two men turn to her.
"Ah, just a magazine clip. It seems like someone was being smart during the fight that happened here." Akira explains as Yojiro hands Seri the magazine.
"This belongs to the gun that young man had." She says, examining it and noticing silver scrape marks on the black steel, the result of someone kicking it away, and she hands it back to Akira.
"Any updates?" She asks, returning her attention to the men.
"Yes, we discovered that one of the men who were left unconscious outside is a Strain as we tried to apprehend him. It seems he has the ability to read fast body movements, which is probably why he was given a sniper, but for him to be left unconscious, he seems to lacks the actual physical quality to act on the visual information." Yojiro explains and Seri was astounded.
"And right now, Captain Munakata is dealing with the suspects and Fushimi is investigating that car with the snow in it." Yojiro continues and Seri turns to the apricot car a few meters ahead. "Also, we found eight bullet shells, but the only weapon actually needed to be reloaded was the gun that kid had. No one has any external wounds from a weapon, so that means there was someone else here other than these guys."
"I see..." Seri mutters, "Good work. I'll let you return to your duties." She says, tossing the magazine back to Yojiro and walks off as they salute to her.
She makes her way towards Fushimi Saruhiko, Scepter 4's third-in-command, approaching an abandoned vehicle at the other end of the warehouse that faced the ocean with the garage panel pulled up.
Saruhiko was in the driver's seat of the vehicle, checking the glove-box and dashboard for anything useful and he hears Seri, but doesn't turn to look at her.
"Find anything?" She asks, watching as he shuts the glove-box, sighing as he slowly climbs out from the car and turning to her.
"Well, to begin with..." He scratches the back of his head as he glances over to the back of the vehicle. "Our suspects have filled the trunk with shaved ice, so it wasn't the cause of the snowfall since it's still parked inside; even with the panel open there's no way the snow could come in. I'm convinced they filled those buckets and poured it in, which could explain why they're laying around, and there are signs of a struggle, with the blood a few feet from here and the shavings packed down in some areas, as if someone was trying to stuff someone else inside, but the victim somehow managed to free himself, who may have been tied with these cords." Saruhiko leads Seri to the trunk, pointing the evidences out, finding wrapped cable cords cut into pieces. "We haven't found a knife or anything sharp anywhere though, but we did find bullet shells, eight of them."
"Yes, Benzai told me about that." Seri comments and he continues, turning to the sea, "With the way vehicle is parked facing the ocean and a pier leading out from here, it seems like they planned on driving it out there and drowning whoever would be in the trunk. With the windows busted in like this, it'd make the process quicker, so we can conclude that this is the scene of an attempted murder, but was first a kidnapping." Saruhiko finishes and Seri feels troubled.
"So, with the calls about that speeding car...could it be linked to this?" She asks and Saruhiko shrugs.
"It could be since we were lead here. I found a tracking device under the driver's seat and looked into the system which matches the license plate and belongs to a company named Rush Studios, but that's not all..." Saruhiko steps aside and points to a specific design on the vehicle. "You might want to talk to Munakata about this." He taps a finger on the insignia and Seri takes one last glance at it before thanking him for his hard work, turning away and quickly walking out of the warehouse.
At this moment, Hazuki Ryu, who was handcuffed, was being led to the Scepter 4 trucks by Hiromi Akiyama, Ryuho Kamo, and Domyoji Andy. Ryu was following his other men in a line, as if they were already in prison, and were identified as: Ohno Kei, Matsumoto Hiroki, Sho Misaka, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Tagami Yoichi.
The snow stuck onto their clothes and hair, making the six men feel even more miserable.
Ryu had awoken not too long before Scepter 4 arrived. His face and head throbbing in pain, and to be surrounded by the Blues made it pound even more painfully. They were suddenly told to stop and were approached by Captain Munakata Reisi, his hands behind his back and his head held high. He wore an elaborate blue military uniform with a hood to keep the snow off his hair.
"Oi, what's gonna happen to us?" Misaka, who was one of the snipers Takahiro Shizuka had taken down, asks when the Blue King stops.
"You will be taken to Scepter 4 headquarters for questioning, normally we would have the interrogation here, but with the snow coming in and the weather persisting, we will head back." Reisi explains and the men grumble, except for Ryu, who glared intensely at the Captain, who notices it and gives a chuckle.
"You look like you have something to say."
"Yeah...I want retribution." Ryu states and all was quiet.
"Stop it Ryu," Kei speaks but it angers Ryu.
"No! Shut the fuck up you filthy Strain! You're another reason why we're in this mess! I can't believe you kept that hidden from me all this time-if only that woman didn't show up this wouldn't have happened!" Ryu snaps and his men were shocked with his outburst
"Wow, thanks. Now I can see why Shuhei thought you were crazy so I'm kind of glad we're caught now." Kei replies to Ryu in a calmly manner.
"Enough." Reisi speaks, silencing the suspects, but he was curious to know who this woman was Ryu spoke about. "What were you saying about a woman?"
"Ah, that bitch...Takahiro Shizuka." Ryu glances away, irritated and Reisi narrows his eyes. Takahiro Shizuka? He asked himself.
"She put us all on our asses, so I'd say that she isn't someone to mess with..." Ninomiya interrupts. "Especially if Kei couldn't take her on with that ability of his, but aren't all women crazy?"
"Hey now..." Kei mutters, feeling ashamed.
"Is that so?" Reisi adjusts his glasses, interested. "Change of plans, we will commence operations here and now. Please escort the men to separate trucks and prepare for questioning, we will wait out the snow if it worsens."
"Yes sir!" Akiyama, Kamo and Andy salute in unison.
Ryu clicks his tongue angrily as he and the Captain glare at each other before he was taken away, but at that moment, the Blue King notices something off about the peaked lapels of his suit jacket, catching a glimmering card underneath his left, front lapel
"Hold on one moment please." Reisi speaks and everyone pauses as he approaches Ryu, who gives him a confused look as the captain reaches out at him. He flinches back as Reisi's fingers brush underneath the lapel of his jacket and he pulls out the card, leaving Ryu speechless and confused.
"What the-what is that?" Ryu didn't know such a thing was there and questions about it, but Reisi just grins, placing his hands behind his back as if nothing happened
"That is all. Thank you."
The men were taken away in confusion as Reisi turns around, walking towards the dock and looking out at the sea.
"Captain Munakata." He hears Seri but doesn't budge, instead, he looks at the card in his hand, keeping his other arm behind his back as the lieutenant approaches.
"There is something I wish to speak to you about." She joins his side, leaving an even amount of space between them and she sees that he is holding a business card. It was a metallic-like pale blue color, with a pearl sheen on both sides that gave off a sparkling effect, but it was blank, with no contact information or anything on it.
"What is that?" Seri asks and Reisi chuckles, handing the card to her and she takes it and it quickly reflects a rainbow spectrum in the process, but what surprised her more was when she turns it at a certain angle, she can see a glimmering, solid white kiss mark right in the center, accompanied with strings of pearls on the borders, but it disappears at other certain angles, almost like those 3d lenticular cards, but it wasn't.
"Wow, this is...impressive." Seri continues eyeing the card with fascination and soon clears her throat. "A-Anyways, Captain. I wanted to speak to you about the vehicle inside the warehouse."
"Ah, yes." Reisi replies, keeping his gaze to the ocean and Seri turns to it as well, holding onto the card.
"It's entitled to a company name Rush Studios and it bears a particular symbol...one that belongs to-"
"The 6th King. The Iridescent King." Reisi interrupts her and she nods her head. "A blossoming iris identifies that Clan, who is large in the art and media industries. A colorful array of artists from around the nation, a King who exists to contrast the late Colorless King."
"Hai." Seri agrees with him and looks at the card again. "A white vehicle with a pearl luster, a business card with the same effect...this could mean that they were here then, but...why did they leave? And why leave this card behind?"
"To avoid confronting Scepter 4, of course." Reisi smirks. "And the card is could be a potential sign that she had the situation taken care of, leaving us with the easier part of the job."
"Sh-She? The Iridescent King is a woman?" Seri asks and Reisi ponders for a moment.
"Just a feeling, that card is quite feminine don't you think?" He asks and Seri agrees with him "...but this needs to be looked into further before we can make any more assumptions and we have suspects to question before letting the local police take care of them, thus, I would request for your participation in this, if you would please?"
"Yes sir, of course, sir" She salutes and the two turn away to head back to the trucks. He maintains a calm smirk on his lips as he recalls the name of the woman Hazuki Ryu had spoken and feels as if he had connected the pieces to the puzzle.
Takahiro Shizuka...perhaps you are this Iridescent King?
At Iris Corporation, Yayoi had just finished answering a phone call and is currently typing an email to a partner at Spire Publishing, but she is interrupted with a notification in her private email and she is drawn aback, familiar with the sender's address and she clicks on it immediately after saving her previous email as a draft.
It opens and her eyes run across the words on the screen. Soon, she leans back in her chair, keeping a hand on her mouse and narrowing her eyes.
"Ah...so you're heading home now. It'll be good to have the other director of operations to help out here." She grins, leaning forward, placing hand underneath her chin and re-reading the name on the last line of the email. "Ne, Kuriyama Ace?"