Chapter 2
Case 1-2: The Odaiba Bridge Incident
Apartment 1408
Hot…this feeling, Johnny slowly opened his eyes and woke up soaked in his own sweat. He was sprawled all over the floor near his front door. "Its…so hot." He called weakly, and moved his right hand to his face to wipe off some of his sweat.
"Thirsty," he stood up from the floor and walked to his table, his groceries from yesterday were still unpacked and untouched. Then he stopped dead on his tracks. "What the…?!" His half open eyes adjusted to new object lying beside his grocery bags—a black-colored gun.
That's a-! Oh no…Johnny's eyes widened in fright as he recognized the gun. "A Dominator Gun. But only the police can have this-!"Suddenly, the memory of the events last night flashed before his eyes. His mouth hung slightly in dread. "Shit! Taro can you check my Psycho-Pass?"
Taro popped out from his left wrist together with a small holo-screen. "Your Psycho-Pass for today is: 13, your Hue index is: Heavenly White. Good job for-" Johnny breathed out in relief. At least his Psycho-Pass didn't increase due to his sudden tranformation.
"However, I couldn't get your Psycho-Pass last night. Yesterday's data had been corrupted due to an unknown glitch. Please report-"
"Yes, I will, later. Can you turn on the T.V. please?" He knew how it was corrupted. He glanced at the holo T.V., and a news channel blared in front of him. "We're now at the scene of the crime on Odaiba Bridge. Last night, six highly armed men had robbed a bank. The police force had chased them but they were too late. A man in a black leather jacket had already killed the six men-"
"Oh no." Johnny gulped down uneasily as the voice of the reporter was drowned by his loud heartbeat. A heavy dread swirled and began to weight, uncomfortably, inside him.
"We don't know who the Vigilante is," Johnny's thoughts were cut after a man came into view beside the reporter. The man was smart-looking and looked Russian, his hair black and parted to his right. His serious blue eyes looked right into the camera and straight into Johnny's soul. "But one thing's for sure, he assaulted one inspector and two enforcers. Now that…is a crime."
"No shit, Inspector Ivan."
Johnny sighed, frustrated to what had transpired last night. He stood up and checked the Dominator gun.
"I guess I have to return you, huh," he said and touched the handle of the gun.
"Warning, unauthorized user detected! This Dominator will activate its locator-!" Johnny let go of the gun, dived his hand into one of his grocery bags, fishing out and opening a bag of potato chips. Then he took the gun again and shoved it inside. "Ha-! Aluminum foil blocks signals!" Johnny exclaimed and dropped the junk food bag on the table, spilling some on the surface. "My potato chips..." He lamented at his wasted snack, but he only let out a disgruntled sigh over it.
He reached for his right back pocket to get his handkerchief, but his hand brushed another object inside. Hmm, a phone? Johnny took out and scanned the phone with a startled look. The screen was dirty and cracked, and it was wrapped in a plain black protective case. "What's this-?!"
The phone screen suddenly turned on and a symbol — a demonic seal — flashed before Johnny's eyes. The seal was like a complicated Tetris block with a small cross on top and enclosed by a circle. Within the circle was the word 'HALPHAS'.
"Halphas…one of the Counts of hell. Those guys are working under him…What is he doing here in this world?" He frowned in displeasure, but then another dreadful thought formed in him. What if he wasn't the only Devil here in this world?
The Counts of Hell, as long as Johnny could remember, were composed of five powerful demons. Furfur, Bifrons, Raum, Andromalius and Halphas, each of them were endowed with powerful legions. And all of them were loyal to Mephisto, the devil who tricked Johnny into signing a deal with him, the one who turned him into a Ghost Rider.
Johnny stared daggers at the phone as an old and familiar rage rose up inside him. He thought he was free from his dark fate. He thought he would live in a peaceful exile. But reality was cruel and it always disappointed him.
A sharp ring cut through Johnny's deep thoughts. The man glanced at the screen. 'HALPHAS' flashed and it made his skin turn red in fury.
"…" He answered the phone and stood in silence.
"So…did you have fun with my men last night, Ghost Rider?" The man's eyes flared at the deep, bellowing voice of the demon.
"Halphas, didn't you run away from hell together with your frat buddies after I defeated Mephisto?" The demon on the other end laughed beastly. Clearly, he was mocking the Ghost Rider.
"This is our world now. You're not welcome here."
"And so…are you." Johnny berated in enmity. He heard the Demon click his tongue in annoyance.
"Then we'll do a battle. I'll text you where I live." The line went dead and Johnny put the phone down on the table. He then walked inside the bathroom and stared at the mirror.
His eyes were still heavy and filled with fury, trails of smoke whisking out of his ears and nose. He was about to transform into Ghost Rider again when his device on his wrist rang out. "Warning! Your Psycho-Pass has increased rapidly, toleratant level reached."
Johnny clicked his tongue in ire. He couldn't do it without the Sybil System watching him. He gnashed his teeth, hard enough for it to crack, but then he let out a long sigh which relaxed him.
"I'll kill him. I'll kill them all." He declared in steel tone. "And after that, I'll live in peace." His grip around the sink tightened as he closed his eyes. A new, but familiar, feeling of hope had clouded his anger and Johnny had immediately held on tightly to it.
New Sybil Medical Center – Tokyo
"I'm sure of it…that thing could still be human." Arata said to his friend, Kie. The inspector was resting on a hospital bed. Kie Ignatov watched him with intentness.
"Humans don't shed their own skin completely and are still be able to walk, not to mention, except maybe, lift a heavy inspector like you, Arata." Kei countered, his humorless tone made Arata chuckle in embarrassment.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Kei, but you looked dashing on the T.V. earlier this morning."
"Don't change the subject here!" Kei barked, irked at the inspector's aloofness.
"You have to remember, Kei, that this thing also attacked two enforcers." A cold, calculating voice cut the two. Standing by the window was the MWPSB Chief Inspector, Mika Shimotsuki. The Chief inspector shifted her discerning eyes at Arata.
"And I know what I saw. He shot a fireball with his left hand, took down Irei with it, and then a long chain appeared and he whipped Todoroki with it." Arata's voice became serious and it made Shimotsuki's right brow twitch in rate.
"You do know that magic doesn't exist in this era. It could be a hologram. That explanation can also include his skull that is 'on fire'." She air quoted the last two words, and scoffed in disbelief. "In any case, Shion and Hinakawa are still inspecting your body cam. And speaking of inspecting…" She then cast a frown.
"Why didn't you call for back-up and, not only that, you let that Burning Bone Head steal your Dominator!?" Arata sheepishly smiled at the fuming Chief Inspector. "I'm sorry. I did call for back-up and he also strangled me-" His eyes suddenly widened in surprise as an idea clicked in his mind.
"Kei, can I perform mental tracing now?"
"No!" the two people objected in unison.
"Wow, I didn't expect the two of you to object. But I need to know more about him."
"You don't need to know this man. What if he's deranged?"
"He is crazy but I could still feel a bit of humanity in him." Arata cast a trusting smile. "Don't worry, Kei. I will let you pull me anytime." Kei hesitated at first, glancing at the Chief Inspector, who only nodded.
"Ok…but come out quickly." Kei said as Arata put his right hand on his neck.
It was raining hard today…His vision blurred into inky gray color. He found himself back on the bridge. His back was on the car and the Ghost Rider was on top of him, his right hand held his neck. "There he is…Dominators don't work on him…" He observed as the Ghost Rider's hand tightened more.
"Fire…Fire…I'm on fire-" He felt his skin began to degrade, painfully, then he heard the Ghost Rider spoke.
"DON'T. . ME. BITCH!"
"Arata!" Arata snapped back to reality as Kei pulled him by the collar of his hospital clothes. The inspector took a mouthful of breath and faced his friend with a questioning look. "What happened?"
"Your voice changed…That's never happened before. Are you ok?" Kei asked him with a worried look.
"My voice changed…Is it deep and menacing?"
"Yes, as if the devil possessed you." Chief Shimotsuki said, unfazed at what had happened, before she added. "Dominators don't work on him, huh?"
The inspector nodded to her and then he added. "And he knows that I am mental tracing him."
MWPSB
It could detect Arata's mental tracing? How was that even possible? Kei stood beside the Chief Inspector inside an elevator. The two were back in the building after the Bureau Chief called the Chief Inspector for an emergency meeting.
"I think I know what would be today's topic." Shimotsuki sighed deeply and the inspector with her asked. "The Bureau Chief must've heard of the masked Vigilante."
"Yeah and he better. He's got a city to protect and to serve. He will not let some random burning bone head Vigilante ruin his cause." Burning Bone Head? Kei shifted his quizzical eyes at her. "What's confusing though is why he invited the MOFAs too."
"What? They're here too?" That meant that man from the Bifrost Incident case was also here. Memory of the one year old case played in his mind. "What a bother." He murmured in a dejected manner as they reached the floor.
MWPSB – Conference Room No.1
In the dimly lit conference room, seven people were sitting around a long table. The air around them was heavy and tensed as some of the group were either jittered or agitated to the video that they were watching. The large screen in front of them played the surveillance video of the crime last night.
They couldn't believe what they were watching right now.
"Word of warning. Don't. Follow. Me." Kei shivered slightly as the Ghost Rider neared Arata and his body cam. The footage ended and left everyone in a dead silence.
"That ends Arata's body cam footage." Chief Inspector Shimotsuki said. She was seated across from Frederica, the woman still staring at the image on the screen.
"The camera on the bridge matches with Arata's. Is he alright after this incident?"
"He is. His Psycho-Pass is still in on a good level."
"But not for long, I guess." Kei shifted and glared across to Kogami, whose eyes were still locked on the screen, contemplating the skull man.
"Need not to worry. I'll be fine." Arata said, via camera from his laptop, with an uplifting tone. He beamed his reassuring smile through his screen beside Kei and it made Kogami grin.
"In any case. The man that this Vigilante had killed was a suspect that we MOFA's are trailing for a while. Ginoza, if you please." Frederica called the man sitting further form her, beside Kogami.
Ginoza Nobuchika stood up from his chair, his ponytailed black hair swaying as he looked at everyone with his grey eyes. "His name is Rick Chondor, age 30 and his nationality is Irish. He migrated to Japan five years ago. His hue color was yellow before it changed into dark red as his mental health deteriorated. He was suffering from depression and the Sybil System immediately recommended him to take prescribed drugs and therapy sessions." He paused as the screen changed and showed the Robbery group leader's picture.
"But that was one year ago. He disappeared for six months before one of our surveillance cameras detected him. After that, we tailed him and tapped his communication device. We discovered that he was working under a person named Halphas." Another picture appeared. This time, it was a picture of a large, stern old man with a greying beard and yellow eyes.
"Halphas, Chinese-American, age 60 and an immigrant. He migrated here 17 years ago. And he lives in the Shinjuku Abandoned Zone. He was a mercenary with affiliations to Irish Liberation Front." Ginoza finished as Frederica added to everyone.
"We know he lives in the Shinjuku Abandoned Zone and we're monitoring him as we speak." 'And yet, he could send a man to rob a bank, freely.' Shimotsuki thought as she crossed her arms.
"Why you didn't capture him yet?" Kei asked in an irate manner, the man was a terrorist and yet he lived under Sybil System's eyes with pure freedom.
"Because he has a strong backer. Somehow, someone within the government, is protecting him." Frederica answered with a plain tone before she added. "MOFA's would've had enough evidence to put Halphas in jail if only we got to Rick much earlier. All of the evidence was in his phone." She then turned to Arata and made an apologetic smile.
"We already know that Rick will escape via pier, so we set up an entrapment there, but…"
"The Burning Bone Head got him first." Arata said with realization. Frederica chuckled in delight.
"You guys really have a strong imagination when it comes to naming things, hmm?" Shimotsuki's face reddened. Ginoza noticed it, so he turned his head away to hide his smirk.
"Ghost Rider." A voice coming from the seventh man cut the cheerful mood of the room. Everyone turned to the Bureau Chief, Shizuka Homura, who was sitting in the middle, with a peaceful face. He put both of his hands below his chin and calmly repeated. "Ghost Rider…that will be the Vigilante's official name."
Kei asked him. "Ghost Rider? Why that chief?" The Bureau Chief smiled as the video on the screen played again. This time everyone was shocked and startled as the Ghost Rider jumped on his burning horse. The horse galloped off the bridge…and dashed through the surface of the river.
"This video came from a surveillance drone that give chase to the rider. As you can see, he was holding a Dominator." Everyone in the room looked at him and then to the Chief Inspector. "He stole Arata's gun." The Chief Inspector confirmed and gulped down in tense.
"Wait a second. His horse ran on water. What kind of Vigilante is this?" Frederica was aghast to what she had just watched.
"And he used the Dominator gun when he blew up that truck. How did he use it?" Kogami questioned Arata, but the man only shrugged.
"It changed when he touched my Dominator. It no longer recognized me as its user." Kogami was puzzled. Did Ghost Rider hack it? Dominators were not easy to be hacked for it had a strong connection to the Sybil System. A hacker would have had to hack the whole system before he could manipulate one Dominator. It would take a long time.
"For now, I've come to a conclusion. We can't let Halphas roam freely while under Sybil's eyes. His actions must be judged and enforced by MOFA. The same can be said for 'the Ghost Rider'. We don't know him and we don't know his intentions. The Public Safety Bureau will be the one to handle him."
Chief Inspector Shimotsuki darted her appalled eyes at the Bureau Chief. 'Eh…Eh?!' She was flabbergasted by his decision and she wanted to shout out a strong objection. But instead, she swallowed hard and clicked her tongue mentally in dismay.
MWPSB – Chief Inspector Office
"We should've raised an objection, Chief." Kei said with a bitter tone at the Chief Inspector. Chief Shimotsuki only snorted hotly and swallowed a lot of mints from her mint dispenser. Then she slammed her hands at her table and argued.
"I would love to, but those are the Bureau Chief's orders. Besides he was somehow correct." She stood up again from her chair and moved to her window. "A Vigilante of unknown being, and our Dominators don't work with him. This is truly a problem to Sybil…and a threat to this country."
She then turned to him and then sharply ordered. "Earlier this morning a place called 'Happy Family Park and Zoo had reported a disturbance within their premises. Their den of horses 'were ransacked'. They said none of their horses were stolen, but…"
'Zoo? Den of Horses?' Kei arranged the pieces and then he realized what the chief was saying. "That's where the Ghost Rider had acquired his horse."
"Correct." The Chief Inspector grinned and sat on her chair again. "Go with Arata. He is being discharge as we speak."
Happy Family Park and Zoo
"You don't need to push yourself too much, Arata." Kei reminded as the two inspectors walked passed the droid barricade surrounding the broken black gate. "But I want to investigate the Ghost Rider. Plus, Chief Shimotsuki said that she will have to devote all of the manpower into capturing this Vigilante. Right, Sho?" The inspector beamed at the enforcer behind him.
Sho Hinakawa fixed his messy red hair for a bit and only nodded weakly. "Yes, but there's no need to push yourself hard today." He shifted his grey eyes at the tree shrubs on his right.
"Hinakawa is right. You're not fully healed yet." The woman enforcer on left of Sho said in a cold voice. Arata only cast a relaxed grin at her.
"Thanks for the reminder. Mao-san!" Mao Kisaragi only let out a low sigh. She knew the inspector will ignore their warnings soon.
"Hey, Sho. I don't mean to ask, but…are you an expert in horses?"
"Um, no."
"Sorry I asked." Arata and Sho stood in front of a pale white horse. The four of them had reached the horse den area. Kei and Mao were talking to the caretaker in one corner. As for the other two, Sho and Arata, they were still inspecting the horses.
There were six horses in the den, and all of them didn't fit the description. Arata observed the six horses resting under the shade of the tree. His thoughts were cut after a horse licked his left cheek. "Wow, thanks. You're not a flaming skull horse, right?" Arata caressed the mane of the horse, making it lick him more.
On Kei's side, the inspector was still interviewing the caretaker, an old man in his sixties. "Do you have a horse named Vendetta?"
"Vendetta?" The old man grumbled and shrugged. "No, but we have Victoria." He then pointed at the horse that Arata was playing with. It didn't look like the one from the video.
"Inspector, I don't think that's the horse." Mao whispered in a matter of fact tome and he silently agreed.
They said their thanks to the caretaker and the two went to Arata and Sho. "Oi, Arata don't play with the horses. They might have germs or something." Kei reminded, but Arata only leaned closer and sniffed at the horses neck, startling everyone.
"Arata…?"
"Kei, this is the horse that the Ghost Rider used." Kei and the two enforcers blinked and peered over him, at the sickly pale horse, then back to Arata. The inspector raised his right hand. "Smell it. It's sulfur and brimstone. It's the same smell as the Ghost Rider."
Kei leaned over and sniffed at Arata's right hand. Sulfur and brimstone filled his nostrils. "You're right." Kei faced the horse with a puzzled look. "Could it be he used a hologram to make it look like it was on fire?"
"Actually, no," Sho said and pressed his device on his wrist, "I've analyzed the whole video three times in a row. I didn't detect any hologram programs on it…as if it's a real deal."
"Wait a second. Flaming horses and riders don't just appear randomly. That only happens in Manga and Anime." Manga and Anime? Arata rose his right brow at Mao, but then Kei butted in.
"And yet it happened. It even assaulted Arata and the two enforcers."
The group only stood in silence as a cold wind blew through them. The sound that it created was eerie and foreboding. But a sharp sound cut through it and Arata glanced at his CommuDevice.
"Ah, its Shion." Arata answered and the Analyst Shion came into view.
"Hey there, Arata, I've got a good news and bad news for you." He grazed at the horses after one of it neighed loudly.
"Please tell both."
Shion took a mouthful of smoke from her cigar and blew it on the air. "Apparently, Ghost Rider returned your Dominator. Its already in the analysis lab." Arata and Kei looked at each other, startled by the news.
"What's the bad news?" Kei then asked. Shion sighed dejectedly.
"It was badly damaged so, it's very likely we won't be able to know where the Ghost Rider brought it. Plus, it's coated with chocolate potato chips." Blast! Almost had him. Apparently, this Vigilante wasn't stupid. Kei thought hard while Arata looked at the ground.
"He returned it? Why would he return it?"
MWPSB – Analysist Laboratory 1
Chief Shimotsuki glared beyond the airproof glass and watched as a mechanical handle brushed and scanned the stolen Dominator. She had heard the news and it bothered her.
"So, there's really no way we can know where this Dominator had been?" she asked. Shion was standing beside her. The analyst blew her cigar to the air.
"Yes. When it was discovered, it was wrapped inside a chocolate potato chips bag. The wrapper was made out of aluminum foil, which can block signals and transmitters."
'So, our Vigilante isn't stupid. That's not good…' Chief Shimotsuki thought gravely as Arata and Kei observed the Dominator more.
"I never thought you could do that with potato chip bags of all things." Arata said with amusement to Kei, who glanced at him with a weird look.
"I'm guessing that our Vigilante has military experience…" He explained to Arata. The inspector moved closer to the glass and then a light bulb inside of him turned on.
"Say, Kei, can I use my mental trace on it?"
Chief Shimotsuki and Kei looked at each other, skeptic of what Arata had asked. "Ok, just as long as you will let me pull you immediately if you start talking in a devil tone again."
"And please don't rotate your head 360 degrees. That will definitely make everyone's Psycho-Passes increase." Chief Shimotsuki said in a mischievous manner, making Arata laugh.
Just then, the air proof glass opened as the machine shut down. The analysis was complete and it showed that the Dominator was beyond repair. Arata breathed in and looked at the handle of his Dominator. Time to meet the Ghost Rider again.
It was raining…raining hard. Arata slowly opened his eyes and met the familiar grey and smoky world. He was sitting on a tatami floor. The room that he was in was a small, tenement sized place. A table was in front of him and on his right was a dirty kitchen.
A tenement apartment…Wait, does that mean-?
"You're here again, you stupid brat!" Arata's eyes widened and found himself unable to breath as a familiar grip lifted him by his neck.
The Ghost Rider snarled inches away from his face. The fire around his skull crackled dangerously into small tendrils as if it was always ready to burst into a raging inferno.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to Mental Trace me!?" The Ghost Rider slammed the man's back on the wall, making the human yelp.
"I'm…not afraid of you-!" He finally mouthed the words with a strong voice. The Ghost Rider tilted his head in a questioning manner, then he chuckled, devilishly.
"Then this is a good bye!" He raised his left hand, revealing a Dominator that quickly transformed into Lethal Enforcement mode.
"No, Arata, don't do it!" a familiar voice called Arata back to reality. The grey world disappeared and was replaced a familiar bright blue-green light.
"What the-?!" Arata was wide eyed. His broken Dominator had transformed into Lethal Enforcement mode and he was pointing it below his chin. It whirled loudly to life as his right index finger pulled the trigger.
Somewhere in the Darknet – CommuField - Dark Room
CommuFields were virtual games and chatrooms that resided inside the vast, monitored, internet virtual space of Sybil System. Thousands of people, all over the country, accessed this place to play virtual games or to chat with someone they knew or liked.
However, in the deepest part of the CommuField, away from the monitoring eyes of Sybil System, lay the Darknet. And just like the internet, it also had CommuFields that were downright sketchy and illegal. This virtual space in the Darknet was called Dark Room.
In the virtual Dark Room, there was a round purple table with a mantle. A huge star was etched on the mantle and there are five people sitting around it. All of them were wearing a straight, white cloth that covered their entire body, and a white mask, with a number plastered on the surface, covered their faces.
"A Ghost Rider had just arrived in this world." The person, wearing a white mask with a number 2, began. His voice was that of a man, deep and bellowing.
"Not just any ghost rider," the man on his left, his masks bearing the number 3, cut him, "the Ghost Rider!"
"Johnathon Blaze? But wasn't he ousted and killed?" the person on the left of Number 3, his mask flashed Number 4, asked with concern.
"Hmph clearly you didn't know who ousted him, Number 4." The man on the left of Number 4 leered his mask. His number, 5, cast over the mask of Number 4. Then Number 4 clicked his tongue and argued.
"Then why on earth did you call him? He'll find us and we'll be damned again!"
"Relax. I, 'Halphas,' got it all under control." Number five, whose real name was Halphas, declared proudly and it earned him several disapproving grunts.
"Make sure then." Everyone turned to the last member, the leader of the group. The leader's mask showed his number, 1. He shifted in his seat as his mask leered to Halphas. "If you fail…then you know what will happen to you." He ended his words in a threatening way, but Number 5 snorted and answered him back, haughtily.
"Of course, I know. I will just make sure that he will hear me. Besides, I am excited to do battle with Jonathon Blaze, the former King of Hell."
Elevated Highway – no. ####
"So that's what happened, hmm?" Kogami said in a surprised tone to Shion. Shion, from her screen, nodded. "Yes, Arata almost shot himself unintentionally. It's a good thing his partner, Kei, had stopped him and boy you should see Shimotsuki's face. She almost fainted in fear." She said and let out a light laugh.
Kogami grinned and said his goodbye to the analyst before he ended the communication. He sighed and rested his back on his car seat, gliding smoothly along the highway.
"Arata and Kei. You really make a good duo of inspectors, Akane." He looked over at passenger side where a girl with brown shoulder length hair and eyes answered him back with a smile.
"Yes. When I saw their profile, I knew they were perfect for this job." She smiled with gladness and looked out the window. "So…what do you think of this Vigilante? Do you think he's human?" Kogami asked in an inquiring manner.
Akane stared at the buildings and the red orange sunset on the horizon. "Vigilante's are somewhat similar to Psychopaths. The only difference was that Psychopaths choose their victims in a random manner. They often don't create patterns in their crime. Meanwhile, Vigilantes…they have specific targets and they follow a pattern."
Akane crossed her arms over her chest and resumed. "This Ghost Rider, I think he's human. Because, if he was a strange being, why would he let Arata go? And why would he leave an apologetic note when he returned his Dominator to him?"
Kogami took out a small piece of paper that he acquired before Shion sent the Dominator to the analysis lab. The paper had been taped on the Dominator and it was a good thing that Shion found it and gave it to him.
'I get a feeling that MOFA will soon need to work together with MWPSB in capturing this man.' Kogami thought before he read the note again.
"I'm sorry for hurting the inspector and the two enforcers. I don't really mean it."
Woo-Hoo! Here's the next chapter! What do you think will happen next? Is Johnathon Blaze ready to face his first devil? And how will he defeat the devil under the eyes of Sybil? Stay tuned for more!
Special thanks to Pure red crane for beta-reading!
Disclaimer : I do not own the characters of ghost rider marvel comics and the anime Psycho-Pass.