"Get back here!"

A girl with sky blue hair sprinted down city sidewalks in pursuit of two perpetrators, who then decided to split up. A hyper male voice screamed into the bluenette's earpiece. "Runo, slow down! You left me behind!"

"Quit whining, Dan! I'm going after Gus Grav. You should go after Volt Luster since these guys just split up."

"Oh, great. At least the blue-haired people will stay together."

"What did you just—"

"Never mind, I see Volt! Talk to you later!"

As Gus jumped over fences and hopped across dumpsters in his escape, Runo followed suit and was almost close enough to pull the perpetrator down from a brick wall when he suddenly fired a pistol at the bluenette. "Guys, shots fired! I didn't think they were armed!"

"Always assume they're armed and dangerous," replied a different, deeper male voice. "Make sure to add 'concealed carry' to the list of charges later."

"Easy for you to say, Shun. I haven't even caught the guy!" Due to height differences between her and Gus, Runo climbed onto a rolling dumpster before jumping over the brick wall. "Great, I'm in somebody's backyard—" Suddenly, an explosion echoed in her earpiece. "Shun, what was that?"

The bluenette's colleague covered his eyes and fanned the smoky air around him. "I just lost the third person that ran from the warehouse that we searched. He threw a flashbang and smoke grenade at some apartment's fire escape, and all the stairs just fell down and obstructed my path."

Dan heard Shun's report and laughed. "Good luck explaining that to headquarters...or even to the housing department."

"Dan, forget about broken stairs!" Runo lectured. "Shun, it's more important that we bring Gus and Volt back to headquarters. We don't even know who the third guy with pink hair is. Now I have no idea where Gus went."

"I'll track your location and help you soon."

"Thanks. Dan, how is Volt—"

"Gotcha!" Just when the redhead perpetrator was about to climb a fence, Dan threw some debris from a nearby trash can and knocked his target down. "I can't believe you're stupid enough to carry these heavy hard drives while running."

"I assume Dan arrested Volt already," said Shun to Runo. "Hey, I see Gus. I'll cut him off."

"Shun, where are you?! I don't even know where—"

The moment Gus saw Shun running toward him, he fired his pistol again, in which the raven-haired male dodged by hiding behind a wall. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I'm returning fire."

"I heard that gunshot too." Runo tracked Shun's location and made her way out of the confusing neighborhood. With her duty pistol aimed at the perpetrator, the bluenette exclaimed, "Gus Grav, you're under arrest! Put your weapon down and your hands—"

"Never!" Just as Gus was about to pull the trigger again, two pieces of silver metal flew horizontally and landed on his chest. His body jolted as he dropped his pistol on the ground.

Runo ran over to kick the fall pistol away while aiming her own pistol closer at Gus. "Shun, you used a stun gun?! I thought you said you were 'returning fire'!"

The raven-haired male took the liberty to remove the stun gun probes from Gus's jacket and then cuff the perpetrator's hands from behind. "I reevaluated the situation and decided that using a stun gun is best."

"At least you're somehow approved to carry that in addition to your duty pistol! Dan always petitions for a stun gun, but it never gets approved."

"Hmm...I wonder why." Shun handed Gus off to Runo and pressed his earpiece. "Dan, where are you?"

"Back at my own car. Volt is in the back seat. I added zip ties on top of handcuffs in case I'm driving him by myself to headquarters."

"That will mostly be the case since Runo is next to me and nowhere near your location," confirmed Shun as he led the way to his car while changing channels on. "Julie, do you hear me?"

"Shun, what's up?" replied a cheerful female voice.

"Did you send reinforcements to Volt and Gus's hideout to search and confiscate, like I requested?"

"Of course! The team found a lot of useful stuff. Can't wait for you all to come back!"

"Thanks, see you later." Then he asked himself, "Did Dan really need to use zip ties? Those are for emergencies."

"I'm starting to understand why Dan's petitions to carry a stun gun keep getting denied..." Runo sighed.

Coincidentally, all three colleagues arrived at headquarters together and swiped their ID badges to enter the front doors. Waiting for them was a girl who wore her silver hair in a ponytail and a white lab coat over a pink business dress. "Welcome back, agents! The confiscated items are ready when you are! But if you don't mind, I'll have Rafe and Paige take your two perpetrators into the interrogation rooms. Marucho wants you three upstairs for a big meeting."

"Thanks, Julie!"

The three agents climbed upstairs and swiped their ID badged to enter the conference room. "Why didn't Marucho tell us about this 'big meeting' earlier?" Dan wondered. "I really want to interrogate those two guys, but now it's on hold."

"Afraid that you won't appear as big and scary anymore because this boring meeting might put your fire out?" Runo teased.

"We still haven't told Marucho that we 'lost' the third perpetrator," Shun reminded.

The brunet pointed his finger sternly at the bluenette before gently patting his raven-haired colleague's shoulder. "Marucho will understand. We weren't expecting to find a third person because the anonymous tip only mentioned Volt and Gus. Just take a seat."

In the conference room, many people sat around the edges of tables and faced the front screen. A short blond boy wearing red glasses took attendance on his tablet before presenting. "Thank you everyone for joining me in this last minute meeting. For those of you who are new to us, I'll introduce myself again. My name is Marucho Marukura, and I'm the director of this Division of Special Projects."

"No kidding about hiring new agents," Runo whispered. "How will we train them all?"

Shun shook his head. "Not all of them are new. Some are transfers from other locations, which makes them just as seasoned as we are."

"Oh...that's much better."

Marucho continued speaking after a brief pause. "As you may have heard from the news, there has been an increase in the number of crimes occurring amidst the state council's redevelopment plans. Drug cartels, card scams, counterfeit money...you name it. Our beloved Bayview is the state capitol. We must protect it at every cost. Among all the new hires, some of you are starting from scratch, while others are accustomed to where you used to work. Either way, we all have one common goal—protect Bayview from further crime before the entire state goes out of control."

"This sounds like propaganda..." Dan commented, later being elbowed in the arm by Runo.

"He's not wrong," Shun defended. "I've heard this so many times already since our new colleague orientation, but I guess Marucho has no choice but to reiterate this because of the current social climate."

Runo rolled her eyes and continued listening. "We could be interrogating Volt and Gus right now, but we're basically watching reruns of old meetings instead..."

After the blond director finished his presentation, he concluded the meeting and remotely turned the lights on. More than half the of the attendees left the conference room, and a few other staff members entered in return. "Rafe? Paige?" Dan nearly jumped out of his chair after seeing the two familiar faces. "You two finished interrogating already?!"

"They started talking, but then went silent after a few questions," the navy-haired agent answered. "We'll take turns interrogating."

"At least they haven't explicitly requested a lawyer yet," his pinkette colleague added.

Marucho changed slides on his laptop and began his second meeting of the way. "I'm sorry if any of you got bored during the first meeting. This one will be more useful."

Dan smacked his forehead as Runo and Shun both chuckled softly.

The blond director aimed a red laser at the screen. "I would like to thank agents Dan Kuso, Runo Misaki, and Shun Kazami for capturing Volt Luster and Gus Grav after an anonymous tip told us where their location would be. These two are associated with the recent data breaches at many technology companies in city area, which lead to a plethora of private information being leaked onto the internet. They aren't saying much at the moment. Our cyber unit is currently analyzing a laptop from the confiscated items, but the encryption is far more complicated than we thought."

Shun raised his hand. "I don't mean to interrupt, but there was a third person on scene, despite the tip only mentioning Volt and Gus. That tip itself is suspicious to begin with. I was chasing after the third person until he threw a flashbang and smoke grenade, which caused some fire escape stairs to fall and obstruct my path. We still have no idea who the third person is."

"Did you see his face clearly?"

"Just pink spiky hair, fair skin, dark green clothing... I couldn't see his face clearly because rarely looked back. He was the first to run after Dan kicked the door open. We were taken by surprise."

"That makes me wonder if the unstable fire escape was actually unstable, or part of his plan..." Runo wondered.

Julie tapped a few buttons on her tablet. "I can try to trace where the anonymous tip call came from...again. There's no way that this hacking team consists of only two people. Even the warehouse that we searched isn't very high-tech or suitable for heavy internet traffic, but I will run the third guy's features through every database we have and see if we get a match. I'm heading out now!"

"I will never forgive Julie for sending us to attend that first unnecessary meeting..." whispered Dan under his breath.

"She probably wanted Rafe and Paige to have more interrogation experience," Shun replied, before he spoke up to the entire group. "Marucho, what do you want us to do now? We still have Volt and Gus in custody, right?"

"We do, but I want Baron Leltoy and Jake Vallory to interview the perpetrators this time." Suddenly, an orange-haired agent and the purple-haired colleague next to him both jumped up slightly from their chairs. "Yes, you heard me right. I want everyone well-trained to all the uncertainties that might occur in the coming days. Meeting dismissed!"

Dan held his hands up in confusion as other agents left the conference room. "Excuse me?! We brought the perpetrators back, so we should be interrogating—"

"Are you done complaining, Dan?" asked Marucho, who was originally standing at the podium and now suddenly appeared next to the brunet. "I actually want you three to help sort through all the junk from the warehouse. Julie took all the computer equipment already, but there are other miscellaneous items to categorize."

Runo elbowed Dan again, as Shun chuckled again with his hand over his mouth. "Okay, Marucho..."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Your room check-out is complete. Good luck in your future endeavors!"

The courteous hotel receptionist handed a receipt to the redhead female standing at the table edge. The redhead accepted the receipt and left the hotel lobby while holding her one and only purse tightly over her left shoulder. Her right hand opened the GPS app on her phone and inputted her destination.

Eventually, she left the busy metro area and entered the mellow outskirts of town, unsure of where to go next. The redhead then checked the amount of mobile data she had remaining. I still have a lot of high-speed data, so why isn't the map loading?

Then she began dialing various contacts on her phone. All the calls either went straight to voicemail without ringing or indicated that the recipient's phone number was not in service. I haven't been away for that long. Did people change their phone numbers already? Or did people no longer save my phone number?

Finally, the map on her GPS loaded with exact directions. I have no choice but to travel by foot. I don't have much cash left, and none of my credit cards work internationally. The redhead checked some files on her phone while walking, further distracting her as she steered off course.

Then she looked up and saw a fence blocking the river. She toggled back to her GPS app and saw the server recalculating her route due to distracted walking. Now I made my route even longer, but I swear something was— The redhead looked around again. She had a clear view of her surroundings due to undeveloped city blocks and the open river. Maybe I'm being paranoid.

The redhead crossed the bridge and checked her complexion in a compact mirror. My appearance should be the least of my concerns right now, but— Her chocolate eyes saw a flash of pink in her mirror that didn't match the surroundings and started running. I knew it! Someone is following me!

The stalker began running as well as he chased his target through the city streets. The redhead blindly ran forward and took every turn she could in hopes of losing the stalker. I did not sign up for this when I flew across the ocean! Eventually, she ran through a narrow alley and tripped on items left behind by homeless people. Just my luck...

By the time she stood up, the pink-haired stalker already caught up and yanked on the redhead's purse. "That's not yours! Let go!" She kicked her assailant on the shin forcefully, which caused both of them to fall back. That was not my intention...

The pink-haired assailant approached his target again. While the redhead tried to swing her purse at him in self-defense, he took out a pocketknife and stabbed her in the abdomen. "Why...? All...for...a...purse...?"

After the perpetrator ran away, the redhead pressed EMERGENCY CALL on her locked phone screen. After a few rings, an operator introduced himself, but the redhead herself was in no condition to speak, as she laid in a pool of her own blood.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Something glassy fell to the ground, as Shun winced in pain after a sliding window in his apartment fell and jammed his finger. "Stupid window..."

"Dude, what happened?!" Dan ran from the living room to where his friend stood in the dining room. "You're usually very careful when opening doors and windows."

"I was trying to push the window up for some fresh air, but then it falls straight down on my hand. Even knocked down this—" The raven-haired agent paused and picked up the fallen item slowly. "When did I have this suncatcher in my place?"

"Yeah, it's not exactly your style. Looks pretty neat, though. Purple clouds, green streaks of wind, and a yellow crescent moon? Looks like something from a high school art elective class. Probably the only time available to make anything—"

"The purple cloud piece just cracked." Shun sighed and placed it over a paper towel on his dinner table. "Where's Runo? I haven't heard her say a word since you walked—"

"You two need to shut up! Look at the news!" Runo increased the TV volume as the news anchor continued talking. "Somebody got stabbed in broad daylight!"

The guys rushed over immediately to watch the news coverage. "The victim is a young woman with red-orange hair and fair skin, presumably in her early twenties. Witnesses say they don't know whom she is, but they did say that perpetrator is a young man with pink hair, fair skin, and below average height."

"I don't recall knowing any females with red-orange hair," Dan commented. "Aside from Volt Luster and our colleague Jake, who else do we know has that hair color?"

Female with red-orange hair... The only person I can think of is— Shun's thoughts were interrupted by a phone call from headquarters. "Marucho, you're on speaker with Dan and Runo."

"Thanks, Shun. We have reason to believe that the third, pink-haired person that ran from the warehouse might be the same person that stabbed a civilian woman earlier today. I need you three to canvass that area immediately."

After Shun hung up, the trio left the apartment, with the raven-haired agent driving solo and Runo carpooling with Dan. Their drive to the destination was cut short by bystanders that obstructed the path to the crime scene. The brunet exited first but immediately ran through the crowd after seeing a flash of pink and green. "I see the perpetrator! He's wearing the same clothes from the other day."

"Dan, take it easy! Don't hurt civilians while chasing!" screamed Runo as she went after Dan.

"What about the crime scene?!" asked Shun rhetorically. Despite identifying himself and flashing his badge, nobody moved out of the way for him. "Julie, what's the situation? Dan and Runo are chasing the assailant while I'm stuck walking through this sea of bystanders."

"Of course, those two would ditch you for better action." Back at DSP, Julie typed furiously on her keyboard as a red alert popped up on one of the monitors. "One of the bystanders called for an ambulance, but it can't park close enough because other bystanders are blocking nearby streets."

"Now you know how I feel. I finally have eyes on the victim." In front of Shun was the redhead female victim lying supine on the sidewalk. Next to her was a civilian pressing his jacket on the victim's abdomen. "I'm Special Agent Shun Kazami from DSP. How long have you been pressing on the wound?"

"I'm doing my best. I was using my scarf earlier, but it ended up absorbing blood, so I switched to my waterproof jacket instead."

"Good idea. If your scarf absorbs blood, then it sure isn't stopping the bleeding. Go take a break." Shun took off his own jacket and pressed on the wound while looking at the victim's face. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

The young woman breathed shallowly and struggled to look up. "It...hurts..."

That voice...sounds so familiar. The raven-haired agent brushed aside the victim's bangs and gasped. "Wait—are you—"

Despite the significant blood loss and trauma, she got one good look of the agent in front of her. "Shun...?"

"Alice! I remember—"

The moment he covered his mouth in shock was the moment he stopped pressing on Alice's wound, leading her to gag and fall back onto the gravel again.