"We call him the 'Nightfury'. The unholy offspring of lightning and death.
Fast. ferocious. Destructive.
Vigilante is one word to call him. Murderer, torturer and executioner are a few others.
He hunts criminals in every gang he gets his hands on. There are rumors that he's a devil. Or that he's the Devil, himself. But one thing is sure, if you ever come across him, there's only one thing you can do. Run, hide, and pray to god that he doesn't find you."
From the other side of the one way glass, Astrid watched as the interrogation of one of the surviving criminals arrested from that warehouse. A frown appeared on her face as she heard what the criminal just said. The person in charge of the interrogation continued with his questioning, asking details regarding the incident at the warehouse, etc, but Astrid had already lost her patience and interest.
So, she turned around and left the room.
…
"Nightfury." Astrid spoke, in front of her, sitting around the meeting table, were her colleagues. Fellow B.S.D.I agents who did the same job as her. "This guy appeared out of nowhere 4 years ago, and ever since then, he has made quite a name for himself.
A violent vigilante who targets different criminal gangs and has already heavily affected different gangs, mafias, mobs, yakuzas, etc in the past. Some were crippled, some were outright taken out.
His latest victim was the Falcon cartel, which is now gone following the death of their boss, Jimmy Falcon.
Our job is to track down who this masked vigilante is and arrest him."
"Why are we arresting him in the first place?" One of her male colleagues suddenly said, crossing his arms behind his head as he leaned back on his seat. "I mean, this guy is practically doing our job for us. And that too free. Why don't we just let him do his shenanigans while we sit back and relax and wait for him to catch us, our criminals?"
Some of the others chuckled at his sentiment, and the guy even broke a grin and joined in on the laughter. Some of the female agents were whispering amongst themselves. Astrid on the other hand, frowned.
"Is this all a joke to you?" her cold voice cut through the atmosphere, shutting up the chuckles and whispers. Their eyes were now turned to her while the blonde glared at the male colleague in question.
The man, feeling uncomfortable, straightened his back and put his arms down and looked away.
"Multiple occasions in the past, a confrontation between a crime syndicate and Nightfury had put the safety of regular civilians at risk." Astrid continued as she stepped closer and leaned down, putting her hands down on the table.
"Shootouts at public areas, multiple counts of reckless driving, risking safety of hostages." Astrid took a deep breath,"Besides that, ever since this guy popped up, there has been an increase in unrest among citizens. More and more civilian-criminal confrontations, riots, etc. The higher ups even suspect Nightfury to be manipulating the public opinion to eventually cause a city wide riot."
The colleague, as well as the entire room, were silent by now. Astrid looked up at them, her glare having turned into a determined frown.
"We're arresting him so that he doesn't cause anymore rampage and put the safety of innocents at risk." Astrid said, glaring back at the male colleague. "I have been assigned to this case by the higher ups because they deemed me fit to handle it, and I intend to put a stop to Nightfury, no matter what."
And with that Astrid left the room, leaving her colleagues to their own thoughts.
…
Astrid stood silently as she rode the elevator to her destination. While on the way, she couldn't help but wonder about everything that's been going on.
Astrid Hofferson, a 24 year old B.S.D.I agent, had been selected for handling the situation regarding Nightfury. She had become part of B.S.D.I when she was 17, working as a trainee/rookie and after 2 years of hard work, she became an official agent at the age of 19.
B.S.D.I, short for Bureau of Security and Defence Intelligence, is a government sponsored privately owned organization, dedicated for investigation of organized crime and taking down criminals of various calibers that regular police are unable to confront by themselves. B.S.D.I works in tandem with local police forces in order to neutralize criminals and bring them to justice.
B.S.D.I has several branches spanning in several states and cities across USA, but their HQ is located at Bert, a sizable city situated on the coastline between the states South Carolina and Georgia.
Berk itself is a peculiar place. Built during the 19th century, Berk was established by Norwegian and some other Germanic immigrants. Berk rose to become a prosperous city as years went by, but with prosperity also came problems, namely illegal and criminal activities. During the great depression, crime rates saw a massive spike, and it has been pretty much the same ever since.
Even during present times, Berk is considered to be one of the cities with the highest crime rates in not only the USA, but in the entire world. And with organized crimes, mobs, gangs, cartels, etc running rampant without facing much consequences it wasn't hard to see why.
B.S.D.I was initially established to help the police take down the criminals who had so much power and influence that regular cops couldn't do anything to them. In its face value, B.S.D.I is essentially a glorified private investigation agency, but inside it's so much more.
B.S.D.I was an organization equipped with resources capable of taking down people who law couldn't reach due to their power or influence. Analysts, experts, techies, people in general with skills valuable/necessary for their work, they had it all. But its greatests assets are the agents.
Agents were essentially private investigators employed by B.S.D.I to investigate cases where its involvement is required. Agents had enough power to command and hold authority over even certain ranks of police officers. Due to their way of functioning, an agent has much more freedom to use their skills compared to police officers, who have their hands restricted by law.
With the help of police, B.S.D.I, since its time of establishment back in the 1950s, has successfully taken down many influential and powerful criminals, corrupt politicians, and even took down entire organizations like gangs, cartels, etc. Even partaking in cases which involved risk on national security.
Astrid herself had partaken in an investigation during her initial years as an agent, that lead to apprehension of a cell of terrorists, who were hiding in Berk.
With the backing of law and government funding its activities, B.S.D.I has established itself as a formidable organization.
Astrid closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she remembered how she got involved in this case.
…
1 week ago
The ding of the elevator announced her arrival and Astrid stepped out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. Astrid quickly made her way down the corridor. Eventually, she found herself standing in front of a door. The door that leads inside the office of the head of B.S.D.I.
Astrid knocked on the door, and moments later came the reply,"Come in."
Astrid opened the door and welcomed herself inside the room, and was greeted with the sight of the head of B.S.D.I and its current owner, Stoick 'The vast' Haddock.
Stoick Haddock is a giant man with a large red beard and green eyes. Dressed in a formal brown and green suit, he always gave off an aura of authority. Having spent his younger years as a staff sergeant in Afghanistan, he is a man of strong will and a natural leader. After his service, Stoick had even started his own export company and was fairly successful. But after Stoick's father, Harris Haddock, the founder and previous owner of B.S.D.I stepped down from his position, Stoick had stepped in to fill his position. His leadership and knowledge further enhanced the capabilities of B.S.D.I, making the organization even more efficient.
B.S.D.I has a whole board of directors who discuss what's best for the organization and manage various functions of it. And Stoick is the one who finalizes any and all decisions, and can even overrule any decision. His say is the final say in anything regarding the operations performed by B.S.D.I.
His authority and leadership has earned him the non-official title "Chief Stoick" among the employees of B.S.D.I
At that moment, the man in question was sitting at his desk, getting some work done on his computer. The large glass wall behind him let in the sunlight that illuminated his entire office.
"You asked for me, sir?" Astrid asked.
Stoick looked up from his work. "Ah, yes Astrid. Please have a seat." He gestured at one of the chairs in front of his desk.
Astrid sat down and Stoick continued,"I'm sure you've heard of the rumors regarding Nightfury by now."
Astrid nodded. Nightfury has been a popular topic for gossip for some time now. News channels have also covered this mysterious vigilante and his exploits.
"Yes sir, I've heard of him."
"Hmm." Stoick got up from his seat and walked over to the glass wall, staring down at the city through the glass,"Nightfury has been a hot topic lately. And considering what he does, it's understandable why. But there are concerns."
Astrid stared at his giant figure as he continued to speak. "There have been concerns regarding Nightfury for a while. Police have been trying to apprehend this vigilante, but he always manages to slip out from their grasp. Things have gotten so severe that now B.S.D.I is requested to step in."
Stoick then turned towards her. "Astrid. You might be new to this line of work, and are fairly inexperienced, but you are amongst the best agents we have. I want you to take over this case and find out who Nightfury is and bring him into the hands of the law."
…
The ding of the elevator broke Astrid out of her thoughts and she stepped out as the door slid open. Her stop, The technical department.
There are many departments in B.S.D.I to maintain different functions. There's an RD department, whos job is crafting specialized or custom equipment for the agents to use for their investigations.
IT department for handling many computer or electronics related stuff, such as data decoding, hacking, etc.
The technical department, is responsible for supplying and maintaining the gear of the entirety of B.S.D.I. And it's overseen by the head of the department, Gobber Belch.
Gobber is an odd person. Despite being among the board of directors who dictated the function of B.S.D.I, he would rather spend his time in his workshop, nicknamed "The forge".
He had lost left hand and right leg during his service in Iraq. But despite that, he was a very cheerful and optimistic person. Sometimes, it is hard to believe that he's a close friend of Stoick Haddock, considering how different their personalities are.
Stoick on one hand is, well, stoic and serious, while Gobber on the other hand, he's quite carefree and cheerful. Then again, perhaps that's why they bonded so well, after getting to know each other during their military days.
Astrid walked around the corridors of technical department, which was filled with separate workshops of different kinds where the technicians would do their jobs. Soon, she found herself in front of the forge and walked inside the workshop, and saw Gobber working on something on his workstation on one side of the room.
"Hey, Gobber." Astrid greeted him.
The older man was startled and swung around before his eyes widened and a grin appeared on his face. "Astrid, lassie!" Gobber cheerfully greeted her back,"So, what're ya doing here?"
"Well, I came here to pick up my gun, and since I'm already here, I thought I'd say hi to you." Astrid replied. "So, is it ready?"
"Ah, of course. It's ready. Wait for a minute, lass. I'll fetch it for ya." And with that Gobber got up from his seat and hobbled towards the backroom of his workshop.
Astrid, meanwhile, looked around the room. Suddenly, her eyes fell on another workstation on the other side of the room and Astrid stopped in her tracks, and her breath hitched slightly. Her eyes were practically glued to that very familiar workstation as she kept staring at it.
She didn't know how long she was staring at it, but she snapped out of her trance-like state when she heard Gobber enter the room again.
"Here ya go, lass." Gobber said as he handed her a firearm.
A customized 9mm HK P30L. Complete with a textured grip, lighter trigger pull and flared magwell.
"Did all the necessary maintenance on it. It should fire as smooth as butter now."
Astrid held the P30L in her hand, getting a good feel of the grip and then racked the slide, checking how smoothly it glided along the frame. A smile formed on her face.
"Thanks Gobber, you're the best."
"Heh, don't mention it. Now go and return yar replacement piece and fetch some ammo for the gun while ya're at it." Gobber told her before returning back to what he was doing.
"Will do Gobber. See you around."
"See ya too, lass."
And with that, Astrid left the workshop.
…
Astrid sighed as she entered inside her office. She had returned her replacement firearm back to the department and filled out the necessary paperwork and now back at her office, she could finally focus on her work.
Her office is decently sized room, with a desk and a cabinet on one side. On one of the walls, a large board was hung with pictures and notes related to her case stuck on it with pins.
Astrid sat down on her chair and stared for at the board for a few moments before taking a deep breath and dropping her head. She then looked forward with determination burning in her eyes as one single thought went through her mind.
"Allright Nightfury. The hunt begins now."