Chapter 6: Fear Itself
Detective Charr Coal made his way into his favorite diner on his way to the night shift. New Rushland always looked best just before the sun went down. He made his way over to his usual stool at the counter and set his hat down as a familiar waitress walked with a prepared coffee cup and notepad in hand. "Thanks, Gladis." Charr nodded before taking a sip.
"So, the usual?" She asked.
"You know it."
"Alright, so that's one chicken salad… no dressing." Gladis turned around to head into the kitchen before the detective stopped her.
"Hey, wait! Y'know, what? Make it a double bacon cheeseburger. With a side of chili fries! Just, uh… don't tell my husband."
Gladis smiled and changed his order. "Whatever you say, officer."
With that, Charr kicked back to relax before his shift in one hour. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to enjoy it when a civilian tapped his shoulder. "Um, sorry to bother you, officer. But there's a woman smoking in the corner booth."
A heavy sigh slipped through Charr's lips. "Alright. I'll take care of it." He promised. The detective placed his hat back on his head and marched over to the corner booth where a woman with green hair gazed out the window with a cigarette between her fingers. Charr gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Uh, excuse me, ma'am, this is a non-smoking restaurant."
Suddenly, the woman bolted up from her seat to reveal her glowing red eyes. Charr was instantly shrouded in darkness; one of his greatest fears. Instinctively, the detective drew his gun and aimed it around the void. "W-who's there…? Who's there?!"
"Step forward, Charr!" A menacing voice boomed. "Do you hear me, boy?! Do you hear what I say?!"
"D-dad?!" Charr trembled as memories of his abusive father flooded his mind, despite the man being absent from view.
"I always knew you were worthless! A pathetic sissy-boy! You make me regret saying that you're even my son!"
"N-no!" Charr cried. "No, please! Please, don't say that!"
"Then prove you're no sissy! I want you to go out into the woods and kill twenty rats! And don't come back until you do!"
Just then, twenty humanoid rat monsters emerged from the darkness. Charr backed away and aimed his pistol at them, seemingly making them stop. He fired a single shot at the closest monster, sending the others into a fury. Charr continued shooting the monsters until he heard the faint sound of a police siren in the distance. He blinked and found himself back in the diner. The woman he had confronted was nowhere to be seen, and instead of rat monsters, there were twenty deceased or injured civilians. He dropped his gun and got on his knees before his fellow officers even burst in to arrest him.
Meanwhile, Mikhail had received a distress call from his wife and was now desperately driving up and down the streets of New Rushland to find her. At last, he pulled the van in front of an alleyway where a bruised Krasnaya limped towards him. "What happened?!" He asked as he helped her inside the vehicle and gingerly peeled the kevlar suit from her sweat-soaked skin.
"Don't worry, love." Svetlana grunted as the last of her suit was removed. "It was just a little mishap with my sickle's grappling hook feature. It seems to need some fine tuning."
Just then, someone roughly pounded on the van's door. "Police! Open up!"
The couple shared a nervous glance before remembering a special procedure they had planned for such a situation. Mikhail hid the costume and took out a blanket from the compartment under the passenger seat. The two police officers had been searching for the Red Woman, but when they finally opened the van's door, all they saw was New Rushland's most prominent benefactor and her husband in the middle of an intimate moment. Svetlana broke her kiss with Mikhail to look up.
"Good evening, officers." She smiled, coyly. "Is there a problem?"
The first officer tugged at his shirt collar and cleared his throat. "Um, no, Mrs. Crimsonoff. But, uh, you should probably head home. We've got some reports of suspicious characters running around."
"Duly noted." Svetlana nodded. "We'll be heading home right now, thank you."
"Y-yes, ma'am. And sir. Have a pleasant evening." The policeman crossed his arms as he and his partner watched the van drive off. "Lucky bastard."
Later, at the Crimsonoff-Kashtonovy farm, Mikhail tended to his wife's wounds. The Crimson Crusader grunted and groaned in discomfort as he reset her dislocated shoulder and applied ice to her bruises. "You know, if it's suicide you're after, I have an old family recipe." He teased. "It's slow and painful. You'd like it."
"Har-har." Svetlana groaned.
After her medical treatment was completed, the couple made their way back upstairs so Mikhail could begin making dinner. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by the home scroll ringing. After speaking for a few minutes, he held it out for his wife. "Dear? It's Captain Maroon. And just to clarify, she is calling for Svetlana Crimsonoff."
Svetlana took the scroll and cleared her throat. "Hello, captain, how can I help you?"
"Um, Mrs. Crimsonoff… you know Detective Coal, right?"
"Charr? Yes, since high school. Why?"
Jane could only sigh on the other end of the scroll. "There's no easy way to say this: he's just been arrested for shooting twenty men in a diner."
"What?!" Svetlana couldn't help but gasp at this revelation. "How? Why? I mean, sure, Charr has told me about having some anger issues due to growing up with an abusive father, but he'd never purposely hurt anyone if he could help it. What happened?!"
"That's what I'm hoping to find out," Captain Maroon replied. "Seeing how you're his friend, I'm hoping that he'll be more open to telling us his side of the story if you were present."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Svetlana promised and hung up the scroll. "Mikhail, I-"
Her husband gave her a gentle kiss and reassuring smile. "Go. Your friend needs you."
Sometime later, Svetlana arrived at the police station and hastily made her way to the interrogation room. On her way, she couldn't help but appreciate the irony of how courteous the police officers were treating her since they had no idea that she was the "Red Woman'' they were after. At last, she spotted Charr's partner leaving the interrogation room.
"Good evening, Detective Cash." She greeted. "How's the hand?"
Ayisha gripped her new prosthetic she had been given after the mystery assailant who blew up EcoChem cut her hand off. "Eh… I think I'm getting the hang of it. Good thing I'm right-handed."
"So, how is he?"
"Not so good." Ayisha sighed as she eyed her partner through the two way mirror. "He's been a nervous wreck since we brought him in. Don't tell him I said this, but I just got back from talking to his husband, and he freaked out."
"Alright, let me talk to him." Svetlana offered.
"That's the plan," Captain Maroon declared as she approached the duo. "Like I said over the scroll, we're hoping that having you here will make it so that he's more open to talking to us."
Svetlana merely nodded. "Right: let's see if we can't find out what happened together."
"I don't know what happened," Charr bitterly confessed some time later. "One minute, I was trying to stop a fellow custumer from smoking, and the next, it was like I was in the middle of a night terror."
"Could you maybe describe this customer?" Svetlana suggested. "I mean, for all we know, he or she might have drugged you or something like that."
"Well, I don't know when she could have drugged me, as I don't remember being hit with any needles, not to mention that aside from some coffee that everyone else was drinking without any problems, I hadn't consumed anything before I confronted her, but as to her appearance, she had light green hair, some brownish skin, and was wearing a green and white ensemble," Charr listed off what he could remember. "Oh, and just before I conked out, I was able to note that she had a set of red eyes that seemed to be glowing at that moment in time."
"Oh no…"
Jane took note of how frightened Svetlana was upon hearing that description. "What is it? Do you know this woman?"
"Unfortunately, yes: her name is Emerald Sustrai," Svetlana explained. "She and one Hazel Rainhart used to work alongside Mercury Black as mercenaries under the employ of Loki back during the Menagerie Civil War. The last time I had seen any of them, they had just broken out of jail after Loki had arranged for them to be dosed with a toxin mimicking his Trickster's Madness Semblance following his death…and if the things I've heard about this 'Trickster' character having ties to Mercury are accurate, then it's safe to say that Emerald is back, and more dangerous than ever."
"How so?"
"Emerald's Semblance lets her create mental hallucinations, and I have personal experience with how she could use it to make a person experience their worst fears," Svetlana declared with a serious expression.
Charr Coal gasped upon earring this. "So that's why I was seeing visions of my deadbeat dad and rat people: it was all an illusion!"
"Well, illusion or not, I'd advise that you do NOT underestimate her if you encounter her in the future, Jane," Svetlana felt the need to call out. "This is a woman who was able to keep up with Cinder Fall, aka Agent Crimson, aka the Meta back in her heyday, and this was back before Loki messed with her mind. Like I said, if Mercury, or rather the Trickster is any indication, Emerald will be even more dangerous in the here and now."
"I'll take that into consideration," Captain Maroon promised. "Any weaknesses of her Semblance that we should know about?"
"Last time I encountered her, she could only affect up to nine people at a time, though the more people she affects, the more of a strain it places on her," Svetlana recalled. "Said illusions don't give off heat signatures, and even then, it is possible to figure out what's real and what isn't via context clues, such as how, say, a person you're talking to might normally have favored their left hand rather than their right. Also, she has to be focusing on you to affect you with her illusions and doesn't seem to be able to move that much while using it."
"That's helpful," Jane said with a nod.
"Maybe," Svetlana said with a shrug. "Just remember that even without her Semblance that she used to be a trained mercenary and thus knows all the tricks of the trade."
"Will do."
Suddenly, an alarm went off throughout the entire building. "What is that?" Svetlana asked.
"Captain Maroon!" An officer burst into the room. "There's been an attack on Ironwood Asylum!"
"It's Trickster!" Another officer who had burst into the room shouted. "He took advantage of the confusion and escaped!"
"Shit! Put out a bulletin, but get that place on lockdown, damn it! Sorry, Mrs. Crimsonoff, but I have to go deal with-" Jane looked up from her radio to see that the philanthropist had vanished. "Mrs. Crimsonoff?"
Charr shook his head, remembering his friend's habits. "Yeah, she tends to do that."
Meanwhile, Svetlana had changed into her spare costume and used her scroll to summon the Warthog to her side. The Crimson Crusader raced down the streets of New Rushland towards Ironwood Asylum.
"I take it that something came up during the interrogation," Mikhail remarked over the radio.
"You could say that," Krasnaya confirmed as she looked upon the smoke that was rising from Ironwood Asylum even as she spoke. "And I get the feeling that this is just the beginning."
A Few Minutes Earlier…
"Okay, things admittedly might get a bit messy here, but hopefully this will all be worth it in the end," Emerald couldn't help but mutter as she approached the asylum with a bag slung over her shoulder.
"Hold it there, miss: visiting hours are over," one of the guards called out.
"That's fine," Emerald stated as she pulled out some explosives out of the bag as her eyes began to glow. "I wasn't planning on staying for very long anyways." The guard fell to the ground in pure terror, scratching at his skin as if trying to get something off of him. Emerald merely stepped over him and went on with her task.
At the same time, Trickster had noticed the shadowy figure planting explosives outside the asylum's walls, and a sinister grin spread over his lips. He turned towards his guard. "How many of your friends did I kill before you caught me?"
The guard spared a brief glance in response to the gruesome question. "I'm not supposed to talk to you." He responded. "But you killed six of my friends."
Trickster mockingly counted on his fingers before cackling. "Knife wounds, right?" He asked, rhetorically. "You wanna know why I use knives on cops? Guns are too quick. You can't… savor all of the little emotions. Y'see, in their last moments - before they succumb to the darkness -people show you who they truly are. So, in a way, I knew your friends better than you did… would you like to know which of them were cowards?"
The guard scowled and walked away, much to Trickster's disappointment. However, the guard soon returned with the prosthetic legs the NRPD had confiscated from the insane criminal and threw them at him. As Mercury slipped his unarmed legs on, the guard unlocked the cell door and walked in with his nightstick. "I know you're gonna enjoy this." He huffed. "I guess I'm just gonna have to enjoy it even more."
Unfortunately, the hapless police officer was killed by the explosion caused by the woman in green. "I don't suppose I could get the name of my savior," Mercury called out, not even looking in the direction of the woman in question as he took the keys and gun from the dead guard.
"Seeing how I didn't even know you were here, I don't think calling me your 'savior' would be completely accurate," Emerald declared as stepped out of the dust of the explosion she caused before giving a gasp as she looked upon her former teammate. "What the…? Mercury?!"
"You aren't the first person to insist on calling me that, but these days I prefer Trickster," the former mercenary taunted before turning to the voice, his eyes widening in recognition as he did. "Emerald?!"
"Oh, so you do recognize me," she sarcastically declared before snorting even as her old teammate exited his cell. "I see I wasn't the only one who got a new lease on life after Loki's old men paid us a visit to our cell back in Menagerie."
"Yeah, it was tough at first, but what hey: I'm happy with what happened," the Trickster quipped before gunning down two guards that came up from down the hall due to hearing the explosion, scoffing as he turned to leave. "That was your only freebie, Emerald: former co-worker or not, if you get in my way in the future, I won't show you any mercy."
"That's fine: I'm not here for you anyways," the emerald thief remarked before turning to leave.
"Fair enough," Trickster said with a shrug, not at all bothered by how his old companion was acting before going to look for his weaponized prosthetics.
Back to the present
Krasnaya and Cyan arrived at the Asylum and immediately entered the massive hole in the wall. The dynamic duo spotted one someone tied up in a chair and rushed to help her. It was Dr. Esmerelda Cream, Ironwood's top psychiatrist.
Krasnaya took out her sickle and gently sliced apart the ropes that kept Dr. Cream in the chair. "Are you alright?"
"What's it to ya?" She remarked, rubbing the rope burns on her wrists.
"Trickster could've killed you." Krasnaya pointed out, put off by her nonchalant tone.
Esmerelda just shrugged. "Occupational hazard. You're here for that green girl, right? She's waiting for you in the cafeteria."
Krasnaya, while still confused by the psychiatrist's attitude, slowly made her way down the halls.
Emerald actually winced a bit as one of the guards put a bullet in his mouth due to what he was seeing. "Yikes, that's the third one tonight. You'd think that the people in charge here would hire some folks made out of sterner stuff," she couldn't help but call out as she looked at the carnage left from her attack. "In any case, though, I wonder if this will be enough to get her attention."
"Well, it certainly grabbed mine."
The former mercenary gave an unsettling grin as a certain red clad individual dropped down from the ceiling. "Ah, you must be Krasnaya," the emerald thief remarked. "I figured that I might run into you sooner or later."
"What do you want?" the Red Woman demanded.
"All in good time," Emerald called out with a wicked grin before her eyes started to glow. "For now, I feel it's time that you face your fears, Crimson Crusader."
Krasnaya tried to shield her eyes, but it was too late. Emerald's semblance had poisoned her mind with images of her deceased parents, her deceased friend Penny, Mikhail leaving her, and Cyan being killed because of her.
"Yes, yes!" Emerald cackled, gleefully. "I am the mistress of fear! The queen of despair! With this power, I shall rule over this city with great prejudice and terror! Goodbye, Emerald Sustrai, the mortal thief! HELLO, NIGHT TERROR, THE GODDESS!"
"Good, I've always wanted to arrest a deity!" Aiysha Cash remarked as she and a few other police officers arrived on the scene.
"Wait, really?" Officer Rojos couldn't help but ask even as she kept an eye on the suspects before her.
"Yeah, it's right there on my bucket list next to 'make friends with a shapeshifter,'" Detective Cash said with a teasing grin.
"Oh, please," Night Terror called out as she focused on the officers, her eyes glowing as she did. "How do you plan on stopping me when you can't even save yourself?"
"Joke's on you, Night Terror: we know all about your Semblance," Captain Maroon smuggly declared as she and her fellow officer shielded their eyes. "You won't be targeting us with your mind games any time soon."
"Whoever said I was targeting you?" Night Terror asked with a smug expression.
"What are you…?" Before Jane could even finish her question, she found herself ducking for cover as several of the guards that had shown up started firing upon them. "Hey, what are you doing?!"
"Their job: dealing with lowlife criminals like you," the former mercenary said with a mocking grin. "After all, that is what you are…or at least what they see you as right now."
Detective Cash gasped in realization. "Your illusions: they aren't limited to individual fears."
"Indeed they aren't, though like I said, I don't even need to use my illusions on you to bring out your worst fears," their adversary remarked with a low chuckle. "After all, there isn't much that cops like you fear more than the prospect of having to kill your own comrades."
Jane just growled before turning towards her men. "Aim to disable, not kill everyone: we won't give her the satisfaction of letting our fears control us."
"You pitiful gnats," Emerald declared to the struggling officers with a laugh. "You can't escape the Night Terror!"
"Want to bet?" …and that was all the warning the green clad ex-mercenary got before Krasnaya knocked her off her feet, looking like her illusions had barely even affected the Crimson Crusader.
"How are you…?" "Night Terror" couldn't help but ask.
"You think your illusions scare me, Emerald?" Krasnaya growled out. "I face my real fears on a daily basis!"
"Impossible!" Night Terror drew her weapon at the Crimson Crusader. "Without fear, life is meaningless!"
Krasnaya threw her hammer at the gun, forcing Night Terror to discharge into the cieling while she tackled her. "Get off of me!" Night Terror yelled out, pushing off the vigilante before suddenly grabbing her head. "No, stop it! I can't…I can't concentrate with all this noise!"
Taking advantage of the confusion, Krasnaya took out her handcuffs and slapped them on Night Terror's wrists. Unfortunately, the former mercenary had retained enough of her training to jump into the air and out the window. But the crimson crusader wasn't finished with her and rushed to the window to convert her hammer and sickle into a long-range rifle that fired a microscopic tracer into Night Terror's back. As the villain got further away, the effects of her Semblance died down and the officer's under her influence began to return to their former selves. Ayisha was the first to stand up and saw the masked vigilante escaping through the window.
Cash gasped in surprise but managed to draw her gun and badge. "You have the right to remain silent-!" The detective was cut off when Krasnaya threw a pellet on the ground, masking the entire room in a thick smokescreen. When the smoke finally cleared, Ayisha slammed her prosthetic hand against the wall in frustration as she saw the assailant had disappeared. "Damn it! They got away!"
"Not necessarily," Jane called out as she nodded to a blood trail leading out of the building. "Odds are good that if we follow that, we can catch up to whoever left it behind before their aura recovers."
Cash merely shrugged in reply. "I suppose in this instance, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
Meanwhile, Night Terror stumbled into a warehouse that had been close to the asylum. "This should be…" …and that was as far as the ex-mercenary got before she found herself grabbing her head, crying out in pain as she did. "Shut up! This is all your fault anyways."
She then stumbled back as if she had been struck. "Please don't be mad," Emerald called out with a whimper to a person only she could see. "I don't…this isn't how this was supposed to happen…"
"It rarely is," Krasnaya declared as she revealed herself. "But there's still time for you to do the right thing, Emerald."
"Don't call me that!" the emerald-wearing girl growled out. "Nobody acknowledged that weak little girl when she was out starving on the streets before she turned to thievery. No one acknowledged her when she lost Cinder Fall, the only parental figure she ever knew, before she aided in the Menagerie Civil War. No one acknowledged her when Loki ambushed her in a prison cell before she killed the ones guarding her and escaped. So tell me: why should I acknowledge that name when people only noticed me after I became their Night Terror!?"
Krasnaya felt a twinge of sympathy for the villain, but she knew she had to bring her in for her crimes. "It doesn't have to be this way," she proclaimed. "I can help you, if you'll let me."
"I…I don't…" …and unfortunately this was as far as Emerald would get before a flashbang was tossed into the room, catching both of them off guard as the police stormed the place.
"Nobody move!" Officer Rojos called out as she and her companions burst into the room.
Night Terror just growled as she took a device out of the sack that she was carrying. "You thinking what I'm thinking? …yes, I think it's time that we blow the lid off of this place."
"What is she…?" Detective Cash started to ask before her eyes widened as she took note of some explosives that had been placed around the area. "Everyone out! Out now!
With that, the police and Krasnaya hastily left the warehouse, with Night Terror using the fire to cover her escape. "Oh, great, she got away again!" Rojos growled out some time later. "Who knows what Night Terror is planning next."
"Assuming the plan is hers in the first place. After all, I don't think she's in full control of her actions here," Jane remarked with a frown. "I can't quite explain it, but back in the asylum and then again at the warehouse, she kept acting like there was another person there that we couldn't see."
Detective Cash nodded in agreement. "It's possible that whatever Loki did to her had a different effect on her mental state than it did with Mercury, or rather the Trickster."
"That doesn't matter. We still have to bring her in," Rojos growled out.
"I'm not saying we shouldn't," Jane clarified. "I'm just saying that she might be just as scared right now as any of her victims, and as such we should be extra cautious going forward. After all, an opponent is at their most dangerous when they feel threatened."
"You got it, boss," Ayisha said with a determined expression. "Hopefully we can take her down without anyone else ending up like Charr Coal. What happened at the diner definitely wasn't his fault, after all."
"I agree, and yeah: taking in Emerald, Night Terror, whatever is indeed the plan here," Captain Maroon declared with a light smile.
"You know who's really to blame for this?" Rojos asked, rhetorically. "The Red Woman! She's the one who keeps attracting these kinds of freaks!"
"As much as I hate to agree with the lieutenant, she does have a point." Detective Cash nodded. "The Red Woman is still as much of a threat to this city as the people she fights. We shouldn't end our manhunt for her, either."
"I'm not saying we'll do that." The captain replied, patiently. "But for now, finding 'Night Terror' should be our top priority. Put out a bulletin, but tell everyone to proceed with caution and set weapons to stun."
"Yes, Captain Maroon." With that, Lieutenant Rojos went off to deliver her captain's orders to dispatch.
In the meantime, Krasnaya and Azure were in hot pursuit of Night Terror as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop. The dynamic duo finally managed to catch up to her and the green thief found herself cornered. She drew both of her weapons and expertly fought off both costumed vigilantes. Flashing her eyes at Krasnaya again, she managed to startle her back long enough for her to shoot down nearby scaffolding that trapped her enemy in place. Without thinking, Azure closed her eyes to protect herself from any visions, only to leave herself vulnerable to Night Terror's attack. "Hey, let go of me!" she called out as the green clad woman held her aloft.
"You sure that's what you want?" Night Terror mockingly remarked even as she vaulted up to the roof. "Well, okay, but just remembered: I'm only doing what you asked."
Meanwhile, Captain Maroon and her squad arrived at the warehouse and prepared to enter before turning to her lieutenant. "Keep an eye on the perimeter."
Rojos blinked in response. "Excuse me?"
Jane just sighed as she turned back to her colleague. "This is a very delicate situation, and I'm hoping to make sure that Mercury, well, Trickster doesn't show up here, as we don't know how Emerald will react to seeing her old colleague right now. If he does, though, you'll hopefully know what to do."
Rojos merely nodded as a hard expression settled on her face. "Believe me, if anyone else shows up here, I know exactly what to do."
Back on the roof, Night Terror held the robin Faunus by the cape over the edge of the building even as Krasnaya struggled to free herself.
"Don't!" Krasnaya desperately reached out, but her leg was still trapped.
"If my illusions won't scare you, then maybe reality will!" With that, Night Terror threw the robin Faunus off the roof towards the pavement.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" Azure closed her eyes and waited to impact the pavement. But after a few more seconds, she still hadn't hit the ground. Reluctantly, she opened one of her eyes and saw that she was gently hovering above the sidewalk. With both eyes wide open now, she looked herself over to see that her aura was glowing brightly. "Oh, my gods… is this my… my Semblance?" She asked herself.
The robin Faunus clenched her fists and kicked her legs and focused on spinning herself around into an upright position. As she'd hoped, she was now rightside up and slowly rising further into the air. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she looked up towards the sky. "Look, mommy… look, daddy… I'm a real Flying Robyn now." She whispered, happily.
Needless to say, however, Night Terror didn't share in Azure's newfound joy. "What the…she can fly now?! That's not…that's not possible," she fearfully declared. "No, I…can't fail. I…I need to get this done. I'm not supposed to lose here: not now. I…I still haven't met my goal. You…you will all know fear…"
"Is that you talking there, Emerald, or is that simply what you think Loki would want you to say?" Krasnaya couldn't help but ask even as she finally pulled herself out of the rubble as Azure lowered herself down onto the ground.
Emerald actually looked conflicted at this…but before she could reply, she and the two vigilantes were knocked off their feet by gunfire, much to the surprise of the other cops in the area.
"Get down on the ground, you freaks!" Rojos called out, having revealed to have disobeyed Captain Maroon's orders to maintain the perimeter in order to try and take out her intended targets.
"I'm handling this, Alex," Jane declared, trying to keep some distance between the Lieutenant and the already volatile situation.
"No, I'm ending this now!" Rojos growled out. "I won't let Krasnaya or her partners continue to terrorize this city any longer!"
No sooner had he said this, however, Rojos found himself on the ground due to taking a bullet to the knee. "Is that what you think this is about!?" Emerald screamed with a snarl as she held her gun at the ready. "I don't know what angers me more: the fact that you think I'm partnered with that Crimson Chump or the fact that you haven't figured out that I've been choosing all my targets to try and lure out the person I'm REALLY after: Svetlana Crimsonoff!"
"Wait, what?!"
Emerald lowered her weapon just a little bit here as her eyes began to water. "The diner that I've seen her visit, the mental asylum that she regularly donates to, the warehouse belonging to her company, even the spot we're standing in right now: all of them have a connection with Rushland's favorite daughter, the one person who knew Loki better than anyone. Surely if anyone could get rid of the nightmares that were plaguing me it would be her!"
"I was right then," Jane couldn't help but declare, a look of understanding forming on her face. "All this time, you've been fighting Loki's ghost as much as you've been fighting us."
Emerald lowered her weapon just a bit more before nodding. "I know I'm not a saint, far from it, but I never wanted to be the kind of monster Loki wanted me to be. I just…I didn't know what else to do…"
"I'll leave this to you," Krasnaya declared as she took her partner and left, knowing that the police would be able to take things from here.
Rojos growled. "Hey, you can't just…"
"Let them go, Alex," Ayisha remarked with a glare. "I think it's been made clear that you aren't always right."
Rojos merely scowled in silence as the two of them watched Jane cautiously approach the distraught girl before them even as the dynamic duo left the building.
"It's okay," Jane declared as she brought the girl into a hug. "Everything's going to be fine now."
Emerald merely whimpered even as she finally dropped her weapon, sinking into the embrace as she did. "Help me."
"We'll certainly do our best."
"I know what you're gonna say." Azure sighed after she and Krasnaya had gotten some distance from the cops. "And I'm disappointed in myself, too. I shouldn't have let Night Terror throw me off the roof. I shouldn't have let her catch me in the first place-"
"Cyan…" Svetlava took off her cowl and brought her ward into a tight embrace. "I'm just glad you're alright."
"So, does this mean I'm not fired?" Cyan couldn't help but ask even as she returned the embrace with a few tears in her eyes.
"Not just yet," Svetlana replied with a smile.
"Good to know," Cyan declared before gaining a slight frown. "Speaking of Emerald, Night Terror, whatever, what do you think is going to happen to her now?"
"I don't know yet," Svetlana allowed herself to admit before the two of them headed home. "We'll just have to wait and see what Captain Maroon and company does with her. One thing is for certain, though: what happened tonight is going to lead to some changes in New Rushland."
"What do you mean I'm benched?!" Alex Rojos screamed out back at the precinct some time later.
"Exactly what I said, Alexandra," Jane growled out, using the lieutenant's full first name for emphasis. "Even if you had been right about Emerald, which certainly wasn't the case, you disobeyed a direct order not to get involved and fired on a pair of individuals who had just saved the lives of myself and Detective Cash. Vigilantes or not, your vendetta against Krasnaya and Azure does not give you permission to act so recklessly with what I thought I made clear was a delicate situation that needed to be handled with the utmost care!"
Lieutenant Rojos just grumbled in reply. "...in other words, I'd be placed on temporary leave even if I hadn't taken a bullet to the knee."
"Indeed, which is something I hope you'll keep in mind going forward," Captain Maroon declared with a serious expression. "Now if you'll excuse me, there are a few other things that I need to take care of before the night is over."
"Yes ma'am," Rojos called out as she hobbled out of the room, a cane being used to assist her until her knee was healed. As she did, however, she couldn't help but cast a hate filled glare upon a TV broadcast praising Krasnaya for what had happened tonight.
"So, can you help her?" Jane couldn't help but ask as she spoke to Svetlana over her scroll, having explained the situation earlier, having contacted the billionaire after she was done dealing with Rojos.
"Hard to say, as I'd need to figure out exactly what Loki did to her in order to have even a chance at reversing it," Svetlana declared, having made it back home earlier that evening. "I will tell you this though: the fact that she's resisting the change is a very good sign, as it means that unlike Mercury, she's not too far gone just yet. With that said, I can't promise a cure right away, but if you can promise to give my men access to her and/or any notes your psychiatrists at the asylum make on her, I'll be certain to do my best."
"That's all I needed to hear," Jane said with a grin. "I'll be sure to let you know what we find out."
"Okay then. …are we still having dinner tonight with the kids?" Svetlana felt the need to ask.
Jane just snorted. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, but you know: business before pleasure."
"Yeah, I do know," Svetlana remarked with a chuckle. "Talk to you soon, Jane."
"You too," the police captain replied with a grin before hanging up.
Not long after she had finished talking to Svetlana, the police captain and her associates delivered Night Terror to Ironwood Asylum where Dr. Cream met them. "I need to inspect your prisoner, Detective Cash."
"Alright, just make it quick."
"Just following procedure." Dr. Cream inspected Emerald's face as she turned away from her. "Hmm, the subject appears to have suffered some minor lacerations, most likely caused in the last hour. There seems to be-"
"BOO!" Emerald suddenly jerked her face back towards the psychiatrist, startling her and prompting the guards to aim their weapons at her. Emerald let out a hearty laugh that slowly changed into depressed sobbing.
"Uh, she's fine." Dr. Cream cleared her throat as they wheeled the prisoner into her new cell.
"Please, don't leave me here," Emerald pleaded, barely even acknowledging the aura dampening cuffs on her wrists. "I'm scared."
Jane's eyes softened as she took the girl's hand. "We'll do everything we can to help you, Miss Sustari: I promise."
Emerald gave a bittersweet smile in reply. "I wish someone like you had been the one to find me instead of Cinder or Loki."
Jane merely nodded even as the young girl was led away. "Me too, kid: me too."
To Be Continued
Epilogue:
Charr was about to enter the police station when he noticed the headline of the morning's newspaper. "Night Terror Over Thanks to Red Woman and Ally!" The detective gave a fond smile even as two men stood beside him to look at the same article. One was dressed in a red t-shirt with a yellow lightning bolt with a matching hat, and the other was wearing glasses and a black t-shirt.
"Y'know, I guess one person can make a difference." The red one remarked, happily.
"I couldn't agree more." The black one replied with a smile.
Charr made his way inside where he found the pleasant sight of his partner.
"Welcome back, Charr Coal," Detective Cash called out with a smile.
Charr merely shook his head in amusement as he approached his friend. "I'm not back on the force quite yet, you know: I still need to have some tests run to make sure that I won't slip up like I did earlier, and even then there'll still be some paperwork that'll need to be taken care of."
"Details," Ayisha said with a dismissive wave of her hand before giving a sigh. "How's Jack?"
Charr looked down at his lap. "He and I are gonna take a break from each other for a while. He was already adamant about moving here in the first place, so…"
Ayisha wisely decided to change the subject. "Still, hard to believe that even in death, Loki is still causing trouble for Rushland, huh?"
"Yeah, no kidding: Mercury, well, Trickster is a pain all his own, and yet despite what she did to me, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for that Emerald girl: no one deserves to go through something like that," Charr Coal admitted with a slight frown as he thought over what he'd learned since his interrogation. "And just think: there's still one more of that clown's victims out there. Who knows what this 'Hazel Rainhardt' could be up to even as we speak."
Meanwhile, Sal Gravel - one of New Rushland's top mobsters - patiently waited for his men to arrive at his private airport in Anima. Dr. William Spark - his newest weapon designer - had been bought off from a private company in Anima to join Gravel's criminal empire. Currently, he was waiting for his men to deliver Spark to the airport when they finally pulled up with three unexpected men with burlap sacks over their heads.
"Dr. Spark, you're not allowed to bring guests." Gravel huffed.
"They are not my guests." Dr. Spark nervously licked his lips. "They tried to kidnap me halfway here. They are mercenaries hired by my former employers."
"... the Cult of Grimm." Gravel ordered his men to get the hostages onto the plane before anyone saw them. A few hours later, they were high in the air and just outside of New Rushland's city limits. Gravel's men had failed to get any information out of the mercenaries, so the mob boss decided to take over. He had all three men lined up next to the door of the plane, took out his gun, and opened the door. He grabbed one of the hostages, placed him in front of the door, and held his gun up to his forehead.
"Who hired you to kidnap Dr. Spark?!" He demanded. But when he didn't get an answer, he fired a round into the open air and pushed the hostage aside for further interrogation.
"He didn't fly so well!" He bluffed as he grabbed the second hostage. "Tell me about the Cult! Who runs their operations?! What are they planning?!"
Again, Gravel couldn't get anything. "A lot of loyalty for a hired gun!"
"Or perhaps he's wondering why someone would shoot a man before throwing him out of a plane." The third hostage called out.
Gravel ordered his men to close the door and moved towards the final hostage. "At least you talk. Who are you?"
"It doesn't matter who we are. What matters is our plan." Gravel curiously knelt down and pulled the burlap sack off of the hostage's head. The mobster and his men recoiled in fear at the sight of infamous terrorist, Hazel Rainhardt. "No one cared who I was until I started killing huntsmen."
Regardless of his initial shock, Gravel continued with his interrogation. "Was getting caught part of your plan?"
"Of course." Hazel shrugged. "Dr. Spark refused our offer in favor of yours. We had to find out what he told you."
"Nothing!" The physicist called out, fearfully. "I said nothing!"
Meanwhile, up in the cockpit, the pilot noticed a substantially large blip approaching them. "Uh, sir?"
"Well, congratulations! You got yourselves caught!" Gravel taunted. "So what's the next step of your master plan?!"
Hazel smirked as he discreetly stabbed a strength-enhancing Dust crystal into his wrist. "Crashing this plane… with no survivors!" The terrorist jumped up to his feet, broke his restraints, and grabbed Gravel by the neck.
At that moment, dozens of mercenaries made their way down to the plane and opened fire on the other mobsters. Dr. Spark screamed in terror as he watched Hazel snap Gravel's neck and make his way towards him. With the plane compromised, Hazel's men sent down a rope for their leader to climb up and join them. Hazel latched the hook onto his belt and grabbed the frightened scientist.
"Calm down, doctor!" Hazel called out. "Now is not the time for fear. That comes later."
