Roanoke:

Time: 13:18 PM GST

Location: Residential Area M-6

"Whoa, this is incredible!!!!!! My first case! I can't wait. I've already got all the materials prepared......."

"Is she still rambling on......" I thought

I looked over at the back seat, sure enough the newbie was at work organizing all the case file information about Arterius together. I looked to the seat beside myself to see Chance rubbing his left cheek after his attempt to hit on a waitress at a pit-stop we usually frequent, didn't go as expected. You could still see the red handprint visible on his face.

"Remind me how we got into this situation in the first place?" I asked

"Ugh......" He moaned, rubbing his cheek "This is the third time I'm explaining it to you Chief. When we shot down the newbie, she complained for a decent twenty about how we were her only hope......... then as we were driving off without 'er, she jumped on top of the fricking car bonnet, papers in tow, grabbed the sides and wouldn't let go. I reckon we drove for about a kilo until we stopped, she finally fell off and jumped in. At that point we both didn't want to have to take her back to the precinct and we were at the pit-stop already..."

"And Eri...... I only heard the slap, not what came before it. I was busy outside while the newbie cleaned up her scratches."

"Rubbing salt in my wounds 'eh. Just like ya." He groaned "She was awfully crabby today though......"

"She's always crabby when it comes to you and hitting on her." I replied

"Nah I mean more than usual. I can brush off most of it but today... she was especially crabby. Eh must be her time of the month or something like that. Now leave me alone to wallow in despair, 'kay?" He said turning to look outside his window

I faced forward, I was driving after all. We were coming up upon the residential complex where Arterius was spotted, this entire situation felt off. 'Why would a terrorist decide to land in an area 'this' bad? There's nothing good on Europa anyway, so why here?'

As more questions filled my mind I began to drift off into an autonomous daze, my body driving on its own and my eyes crossing the streets. I looked at all the buildings as they fused and twisted together into a concrete metropolis as we drove between them. It wasn't for long though as we had come up to our stop. A small alleyway just barely wide enough for a car to fit through, but not wide enough to open your doors all the way. Most likely why the others decided to leave their cars outside on the main pathway. I parked and Chance exited first, followed by the newbie, who had finally bundled up all her paperwork in order while incessantly muttering to herself.

As I got out. I was greeted by the presence of Tager's group and the other detectives, who had basically combed and scrubbed the entire crime scene of any remaining clues with an additional feature left behind. Upon noticing us, they all cleaned up after themselves, took the officers on watch of the scene and headed back to the precinct. Subtly sharing menacing glares on their departure, Tager's group especially.

"Oi Chief..." Chance began

"Yeah I can see......" I replied

"The crime scene........." The newbie gasped in horror

"It's destroyed..." I added

The entire scene had been tampered with, and the original evidence had either been stolen or disfigured.

"What do we do now? This... t-this shouldn't be legal!!! They're not allowed to do this......." She continued

"Quiet down!!!" I told her

"But this is, this was intentional......"

"Need I remind you that the only reason I'm allowing you to stand here is because of your own stubbornness."

I gave her a stern glare.

"Right now, you're in no place to involve yourself in the workings of others. Until we get back to the precinct, you listen to me and don't say a word, got it?"

"I...... yes sir." She replied

She dropped her head. Realising the weight of her actions.

"I'll be in the car... sorry to have disturbed your work Detective." She turned around and began to walk towards the car.

At least she can realise her own mistakes. I was reaching into my pocket for a cigar when Chance walked over to me.

"All the evidence here's been given a bloody 180. It's gonna be tricky finding any clues on Arterius location. I hate to say it, but I think were actually stumped this time Chief. Tager and his buddies made sure to damage it well. It's not looking good."

"We'll manage." I said

I began to walk over to the crime scene...

"Chief... another thing..." He added

"What is it?"

"Don't you think ya being a little too hard on the new Sheila." He said pointing to the newbie over in the car, "I mean she was a little crazy but you gotta admit... she's got guts to jump in front of 'our' interceptor, especially on her first day on the job."

He turned to face me.

"Don't you think you should give 'er a little trial run. She does need it after all. Sarge will kill her if she doesn't come up with anything."

"I thought you hated the idea of adding anyone to the team." I reminded him, "But if you say so...... plus I do think we may need an extra pair of hands helping us out on this one."

"Good on ya Chief." He beamed patting my shoulder

"Yeah, yeah... get back to work." I said waving him off

"Gotcha. I'll let you know if I find anything." He said walking off

"OI NEWBIE!!!!!" I yelled

She peeked her head out of the car slightly...

"Over here." I called out

She trudged over to where I was standing, meanwhile I reached into my pocket to pull out a cigar. While lighting it I told her...

"Don't get me wrong here, you pulled a stupid stunt earlier. You should be ashamed to be a police officer...but since you're here, I guess we could use an extra pair of hands based on the damage that was inflicted to the crime scene."

Her eyes seemed to light up almost instantly.

"Really Sir!!!"

"Yeah..." I replied while blowing out a puff I had just taken.

"Thank you, Detective Roanoke!!! I won't let you down!!!" She said taking a bow

"Alright none of that bowing shit...... just get to work. You at least know the procedures for investigating a crime scene, correct?" I asked

"Yes Sir. All evidence is accounted for, no matter how small." She replied, shuffling her glasses.

"At least you remember. Now listen up, the evidence here has already been tampered with. Therefore, you're allowed to use any means you see fit to extract anything we can use to help narrow our search for Arterius. Now... Chance has already taken the right end of the alley, so I'm assigning you to the left. I'll take here, the middle where the T-junction forms. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Oh, and there's some gear you can use in the trunk. Chance and I rarely use that stuff, so help yourself..." I said

She rushed off to the back of the car and began rushing back and forth carrying multiple pieces of forensic equipment to her section of the scene. Chance was on his side observing a wall that contained traces of blood that had sand thrown all over it, no doubt that was the work of the others. I took a puff of my cigar, propped it between my fingers and walked towards a small crater impact in the centre of the T-Junction.

"Looks like this is where it all occurred."

The report had said that Arterius had smashed into a billboard and then onto the ground, before running away.

"Let's look for that billboard."

Glancing around I could see that the billboard formerly resided on the right pathway of the junction.

"So, it's over on Chance's side..."

I strolled over to the shattered board taking another puff of the cigar between my fingers along the way, pieces of glass and tech shattering under my boots, Chance paid no attention to me and kept staring the bloodstain, trying to find something useful amidst the newly formed mix of mud and blood. I, on the other hand searched among the shards that lay on the floor for anything the others may have missed.

"Damn it! Nothing..."

A glint suddenly caught my eye. There seemed to be something wedged within a brace that supported the billboard on the wall. The billboard itself was at least ten meters above us, so reaching it in any other way was impossible.

"Looks like I need a ladder or something to reach that." I said

"Hey Chief." Chance said

He was talking to me while looking at the blood trail on the wall.

"I wanted to say sorry for earlier."

"Eh?" I asked confused, "What the hell are you on about?"

"If I hadn't flipped out back at the precinct, those drongos wouldn't have messed up the place as much as they did..."

I cut him off. Taking a good long puff of my cigar, followed by a lovely exhale into the air.

"They wanted us off this case the moment the Sarge's job was on the line. They wouldn't be able to live it down if we took the top spot. That's how it is... besides, that 'ability' of yours has saved my life in more ways than one."

"And......" I said looking over at the newbie working with all the equipment she took from the trunk, "You probably saved her life as well. You should count that as a win."

"But......"

"No buts... I know you hate it, nevertheless stop hiding that skill and put it to good use, if we want to get back at those assholes. This is the way we do it."

I took another puff.

"Damn......, alright fine. I gotta say though. You really love those cigars." He joked

"This one's done with anyway." I said flicking what remained of the cigar into a trashcan.

Chance looked at the bloodstain intensely and took a deep breath.

"Alright mate, let's do this." He said

But just before he did I heard the newbie walk up behind us.

"Detective! I found some...thing..., uh what's he doing?" She asked looking over at Chance

"We'll call it his 'special skill'." I told her

"And......... got it!" he said

The newbie jumped back in shock.

"His eyes!!! They changed colour, they're fully green, all of it is. H...How???"

"I'll explain later. For now, just watch."

Chance stared at the wall for a few seconds before going back to normal.

"There's scrapings on the wall overlaying the blood trail. Most likely a metal plate scratched over it. Looks likes both the stain and the scrapings occurred at the same time. Additionally, there's strands of hair mixed deep within the blood and dirt."

"What colour?" I asked

"......White? You thinking..." He replied

"Yeah. The white-haired female that was involved." I affirmed. "Well we can clearly confirm that she was on the right, probably ran off in that direction as well, which means..."

"Arterius ran away on the left side of the alley..." the Newbie joined in

I looked at her and thought, "Well since she's right, I figure this is a good chance to test her abilities."

"Any proof?" I asked her

"Uh... Yes Sir, I came across strands of black hair that match known descriptions of Arterius within the database, shoe prints and......"

"And......?"

"You won't believe this but, multiple energy signatures as well. Three I can make out: Palladium, Iridium for a bi-froz engine and Technetium-99m for a biometric monitor. But the fourth one... is unlike any I've ever seen before. It's not even listed on any of the known elements or element fusions created by both Epoch and Humans."

"So, you're saying. It's a new element."

"I'm not sure... It may be something else entirely..." she replied

"Why do you say that?" I asked

"Well the only reason I picked up this signature is because I made a few 'modifications' to the scanner. I was testing for every type of trace I could come across." She replied

"Just make a note of it then..." I advised her

"Nah...... you may be onto something. This place feels off..." Chance said

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Nah it's probably nothing...... I'll be over at my section if ya need me..."

That's strange, he doesn't usually feel unnerved at a crime scene. But there are some peculiar things about this whole scenario. Arterius' case is a rather strange one, maybe we'll finally learn some truths about all of this when we catch him. But for now......

"Hey Chance!"

"Yeah?"

"There's something wedged in the billboard, think you could shoot it down for me?" I asked pointing to what I saw earlier.

"That thing. Alright..." he said taking aim

After he shot it down, I picked it up and returned to my section.

It looked to be a makeshift hook of some kind. There was a torn rope attached to the back, was it used to grab onto something? I pondered on it for a few seconds before placing the item into an evidence bag.

Afterwards I crouched down to inspect the crater, the shape was consistent of two people crashing into the ground. But there's an abnormality, the crater is uniform, there's no signs of an outward drag and yet based on the angle of impact there should be one.

"Hey Chance!" I called out

"Chief!" he glanced over

"C'mere for a second..."

"Alrighty." He said strolling over. "What is it, Chief?"

"Take a look over here..." I said

"What? A crater? Yeah its where Arterius and his 'companion' landed. There's nothing special about that?"

"Take a closer look." I told him while pointing at the crater.

"Hmmmm...... Nah I gots nothing Chief."

"You're hopeless. Oi newbie!!!!"

Within seconds she had rushed over to us notebook in hand...

"Need anything Detective?" she asked

"Take a look at this crater?" I asked

"It's......... uniform.........?"

"You two are both idiots." I replied

"Harsh......" Chance added

"Firstly, look at the angle of impact, it's obvious that this angle would imply that they fell straight down onto this very spot, but they didn't... did they?" I asked

"Now that you mention it..." they both chimed

"Exactly. The scene doesn't match up. If they crashed into the billboard and landed here, then there would be a crater with a drag leading to the left portion of the alley. The problem here, is that there isn't one..."

"What are you saying Chief..."

"I'm saying that I think this scene was tampered with BEFORE anyone of us got here..."

"How is that possible?" the newbie asked

"That's our job to figure out. So, from this moment onwards we're looking at why Arterius came here in the first place." I told them

"Shouldn't we be looking at where he is right now?" The newbie asked

"If we know why he came here, we'll be able to predict his movements, and that can be done a lot faster since he probably hasn't been planet-side for too long." I responded

"So how we gonna do this Chief?" Chance asked me

"Simple..."

I took a few steps towards the car, so much so that the full alley was in view.

"We're gonna assume everything but the crater and the billboard are relevant."

They both stared at me blankly

"That would only leave us with two things to question. Can you tell me what those things are newbie?" I asked her, putting her skills to the test. She still had a lot to work on to impress me.

She fumbled about for a few seconds reviewing her notepad then prepared herself to speak...

"Based on the evidence we have, the only two leads we have are the escape points of the suspects and the energy signatures that were found here." she said

"Go on..."

"Ah... yes Sir." she continued, "Based on the information given by Detective Chance and the information given by the case file. We can implicate that Arterius' partner or victim had escaped capture by using the right path of the junction, which means Arterius used the left path to escape, as the officers on duty used the path we used to encounter them."

"Very good, and the energy signatures..."

"The main three signatures follow the unknown suspect, however the fourth and most puzzling one moves alongside Arterius. It's almost like it's a part of him."

"What do ya mean?" Chance asked, finally joining the conversation

"Whatever signature it is..." she said grabbing the scanner that she was using earlier and turning it on, "It's highly concentrated. And I have a feeling that its 'growing'. The scanner claims that the signature is slowly increasing in strength. I... I don't know what could happen if it reached critical mass. But it's possible that it could be catastrophic."

"The reason being?" I asked

"Sir, the energy is...... volatile. The scanner reads it as purely destructive."

"Ya think it could be a bomb, Chief? I mean there's still that whole unexplained hotel video about him that's trending lately. No-one can wrap their heads around how he could turn a building that big into nothing but rubble without some kind of explosive, but the only eye-witness refuses to budge on the real cause. Says the kid did it with an energy wave from his body or some shit..." Chance said

"I didn't know you were one to keep up on the news Chance..."

"It took the time slot of the show I wanted to watch this morning, that's all." he said shrugging his shoulders

If that was the case...... would that kid seriously be thinking of detonating something within the city? The number of casualties would be extreme. No-one would be able to survive outside of the city. Would a kid like that seriously plan a global genocide? Based on his recent endeavour, I don't want to take any chances.

"So Chief...... What do we do?" Chance asked

I took a puff of my cigar.

"Simple, we find him. Change of plans. Looks like we're gonna follow Arterius' breadcrumbs. Newbie. How far can we trace that signature?" I asked

"At least three kilometres with the scanner." She said

"Too short a distance. Chance, is it possible for you to track it further?" I asked

"Never tried it before... Hey sheila, where's the source of the energy flow?" he asked

"The biggest trace so far..." she said waving the scanner around, "...would be near the crater.

"Alright then, Chance and I will check it out. You pack up, we're leaving, but keep that scanner on you. Its gonna help if we're in a pinch." I told her

She agreed and walked off. I walked over to Chance, he was already kneeling near the crater.

"What's up?" I asked

"Nothing... waiting on you." He said

"Go for it."

And with that... he felt around the air a little bit and triggered his power.

"Alright just gotta track the energy like a bullet trail... and... got it!"

"Nice. Where is he?"

"Well it's all over the place but it looks like a good amount of it is hanging around the Bazaar over at the spaceport."

"Great. OI NEWBIE! We got a location, get ready to move out!" I yelled, "Alright Chance let's head......"

"Woah! WOAH!!!"

"Chance? Chance!"

He suddenly jumped up and became giddy, his eyes began to glow brighter than usual.

"This is... this is... FUCKING AMAZING!!!! Whatever this stuff is Chief. Its off the hook, the raw power that this kid has with him!!! He could power ENTIRE PLANETS!!!!"

"Chance, what the hell are you talking about?"

He looked over at me, like some kind of junkie.

"Chief. If you could feel this... You would want a piece of it as well." he replied

But something was wrong, he wasn't his usual self.

Suddenly he burst out into a fit of laughter, like a genuine psychopath. His glare changed, it became one of madness. Like someone drunk on power. The newbie rushed over, only to be terrified by what she saw...

A gust of strong wind began to blow, but not from the environment, but from the area where Chance stood.

"What's happening?!" she said in a panicked tone, her voice laden with fear.

"Chance! Turn it off!!!!" I shouted

But he didn't respond. At this point he just stood still, staring at us both.

The wind began to increase in intensity, so much so that it became hard to stand upright. The newbie grabbed onto my shirt, while I shifted my weight around to find some balance. When I looked back up, and the wind finally died down. I didn't even know if the person that was standing in front of us was someone I knew...

"Chance?"

No reply.

"This isn't funny... Chance!" I said getting annoyed

I looked him in the eye and took a step back. They were black, like an abyss. His irises were white, like a negative photo that hadn't developed yet. What the hell happened to him.

He just stared at us, in utter silence... I looked over at the newbie to see her scared out of her wits.

"De...Detective Ch...Chance?" she asked him, leaning closer, "Are you okay?"

He shifted his gaze onto her, staring at her for a few moments, then slowly opened his mouth.

"wHy dO yOu AsK fOr SoMeOnE wHo IsN't hErE?"

"What???" she gasped

That wasn't Chance's voice. Someone was 'speaking' through him. That was impossible. Just what in the world happened...

"hE...... iS lOnG GoNe?"

"What do you mean?" I asked

"AnD nOw......?"

"Answer me!"

"yOuR'E nExT!!!!"

I pulled my gun from its holster.

"GET BEHIND ME!!!"

The wind from before started up again, I turned around to shield the newbie. When I looked back... he was gone.

"Where did he...?"

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!"

We looked up to see Chance floating in mid-air above us. But it wasn't really him. Through him echoed the voice of what seemed to be someone......... younger. He continued laughing hysterically for another moment.

"Oh my GOD!!!! You people are sooooo easy to fuck with! Hahaha, whoo... hehehe gimme a moment. Oh god that was too funny, you actually fucking believed me!!!" He joked on

At this point my patience was thinner than a hair. I locked my pistol on him...

"Who the FUCK are you?!!!!" I demanded

"Wow, Roanoke. You'd shoot your own partner. Damn!!! Little Chancey over here wouldn't appreciate that would he? Then again...... he'd be dead. Because, believe it or not, no matter where you shoot. I'll make sure that it's a headshot. GOT IT!!!" He replied

I lowered my weapon. I couldn't afford to take any chances with what I was dealing with.

"How do you know my name?" I asked

"Well I guess I can give that one for free." He said hovering over to an elevated ledge on the opposite building, "I scanned all his memories in a split-second. I basically know his entire life right now. Well, as long as I'm in his body at least, the connection isn't a fixed one, so I'm a little 'limited' right now." He said as he sat on the ledge

None of this was making any sense. Who the hell was he? And what happened to Chance?

"Where's Detective Chance?" the Newbie suddenly blurted out

"Tut tut tut." He said shaking his finger, "Roanoke's question was free, if you want answers to anything else. You'll have to play the game."

"What... game?" I asked

His eyes lit up like some sick freak.

"I'm so glad you asked!!! Are you guys familiar with the game 'hangman'?"

He formed a fist with Chance's hand and used it to punch himself in the face several times, resulting in Chance having a nosebleed.

"The fuck you think you're doing!!!"

"Making this game a little more......... interesting...... this is how its gonna work. I'll ask a question, if the answer is satisfactory... well let's just say I'll torture this guy 'less' than I would have if I didn't find the answer good enough. Sound good?"

No. It was absolute garbage...

"Ahhh. I made you angry, good. It'll make you more desperate to save him."

He was laughing while he said that, all the while blood dripped from Chance's nose. Just what does this guy have planned...

"Alright...... we'll play your 'game'. On the condition that we also get to ask a few questions."

His amusement turned into a cold, dead stare aimed at me.

"i'M NoT sOmEoNe YoU gEt To AsK qUeStIoNs!!!!"

He turned around and started headbutting the wall at full force!

"HEY STOP THAT!!!!"

"WhY sHoUlD i!!!! YoU... iDiOtS... tApPeD... iNtO... mY... eNeRgY... sTrEaM!!!!"

He said that while ramming Chance's head into the wall. Damn! If I don't do something soon, he'll seriously hurt Chance.

"Wait a minute......"

He stopped and turned to face us, a small stream of blood began to drip down Chance's forehead.

"Oh thank God!!" I heard the newbie whisper to herself

"How 'were' you three able to access the flow of energy I emit. You don't look like any of those E-Tech idiots that are supposed to find me. And it's not detectable by regular means. 'THEY!' made sure of that... So how were you guys able to find it... well...?"

The newbie was the one who was able to do it, so I can't answer him, and she's probably too freaked out to speak.

"Oh? You don't wanna, well then, I guess I'll keep smashing his head into the wall. Hope you don't mind. Let's aim for full on cerebral damage this time!!!"

I had to stop him somehow...

"WAIT!!!" she yelled out

"Huh? Got something to say, big tits?" he asked

"What???" she asked covering her bust.

"Don't be so surprised, it was good ol' Chance here's first impression of you. He mentioned it to Roanoke earlier this morning. Didn't he buddy? Anyway, you got something to say before I bash this guy's head in..." he said

"I... was the one who managed to get a trace on your energy signature." She replied

In an instant, whether by movement or some kind of teleportation. He was right behind us. The body of my partner hovering just centimetres from our backs. That cold, black stare that pierced through the darkness. But it would take more than that to scare me, my partner's life was a necessity. In order to get that back, I needed a plan, or something thereof... one that didn't piss this guy off.

"Oh... do tell..." he whispered to her

"I modified the scanner with a method a friend taught me a while back. It backtracks on signatures that can hide under or are overlooked by the regular scanner's protocols..." she said, her voice sounding squeamish as he hands shook to adjust her glasses

"Techy mumbo jumbo... that's not my forte, so I'll just have to take your word for it. You think like 'he' does honestly. Makes me want to throw up... disgusting brat..."

"Who is he referring to?" I wondered

"Ah well. Since that answer wasn't too bad... I guess I'll allow you the privilege of getting an answer of your own. But only you get to ask the question big tits. Roanoke here will have to wait. Gee, less than an hour meeting you and I already love pissing you off Roanoke. I kinda want us to meet up more often..." he replied shrugging his shoulders, "I guess it can't be helped"

In a flash he went back to where he was standing before, staring at us, the blood that was flowing down Chance's forehead and nose and hardened. Which lead me to believe his injury wasn't too severe.

"Alright, big tits!!! Let's hear what's on your mind!!!"

"Could you sto......"

"I'm gonna stop you right there... If you dare ask 'Could you stop calling me that?' A: My answer will be no. B: That will count as a question and therefore your chance lost. And lastly C: I WILL chop off one of those tits, and wear it as a FUCKING fez!!!! Do you understand me!!!"

What the hell goes on in this kid's head?

"Okay then... Who... are you?" She finally asked

A small grin ran across his face.

"That question... will end the game... are you still prepared to ask it? Because if you do, there's no way to become uninvolved with me, and if that's the case. Would you be ready to sink to the darkest realms of the abyss? And if so, do you think you can survive?" he asked

Before I could see it, the newbie was floating in front of him. I looked to my side to see that she wasn't there. He wasn't holding her but she was clawing at her neck, like some sort of invisible collar was suspending her in mid-air...

"Do you still want to ask Roanoke's question for him?"

"OI! You're choking her!!!" I said

He looked at me again. Those eyes of his were still there. Pitch black, I slowly saw him mouth the words, as if he said them out of pure enjoyment of what he was doing...

"dO i LoOk LiKe I cArE!!!"

"You asshole!!! Let them go NOW!!!"

"Or else what??? You'll 'do something', please... Oooh I know...... let me give her a little taste of the abyss, let's see if she'll still want to ask me that question after that?"

He raised his hand and touched her forehead with his index finger. Her eyes turned the same as Chance's, she started screaming out in pain, her body started flailing about... while he... laughed. He laughed as he did it. It was both sick and twisted. I had to stop whatever the hell he was doing to them. I tried to grab him, but some kind of force knocked me back.

"Agh, damn..."

I need to immobilize him without hurting Chance...

"My Taser!!!" I thought

I kept one for when I got into situations where I didn't want to use violence. I pulled it out of my coat and loaded it.

"Good, he seems distracted. I hope this works."

I loaded the cartridge, but I couldn't get a clean shot because the newbie was in front of him. I needed to get his attention...

"HEY!!!!"

"Relax Roanoke, your turn's coming u......" he said leaning to the left

Perfect!!! A clean shot!

"EAT THIS!!!!"

"Huh???"

I fired and managed to land a clean hit into Chance's left shoulder. The shock sent both him and the newbie crashing to the ground, I managed to grab the newbie just before she hit the ground. Looks like what he had done had knocked her unconscious, I checked her pulse before quickly rushing over to the car and placing her in the backseat. I reloaded another cartridge into the taser and walked off to Chance's body. His eyes hadn't changed so I could assume whoever we were dealing with was still there. He was still reeling from the taser and barely able to get on his knees. I prepped to fire again when I heard the uncanniest of things...

"Owww!!! The damn thing shocked me!!! Knew I should have worn gloves when I decided to work on this gun. Stupid inertia dampeners!!!"

"A second voice??? This shit's getting weirder by the fucking second..."

"AGH! ShUt Up!!! I hAtE hEaRiNg yOuR fUcKiNg VoIcE!!! SAL!!!!!"

"Wait... Sal? As in Sal Arterius?"

I don't know how, but they're connected... I need to get as much info out of him as possible.

"ShIt! ThE cOnNeCtIoN's FuCkEd, CaN't MaInTaIn ThIs FoR MuCh LoNgEr..."

"Oi!" I shouted grabbing his collar, "How are you connected to Arterius?"

"It'S a ShAmE, lOoKs LiKe We'Ll HaVe tO cOnTiNuE oUr GaMe LaTeR, hOwEvEr, I'lL lEaVe YoU wItH a LiTtLe 'PaRtInG gIfT'!!!"

He thrust his palm into my chest.

"I dOn'T hAvE eNoUgH eNeRgY tO kIlL yOu, BuT tHiS wIlL kEeP yOu BuSy FoR a WhIlE. I hAvE a FeElInG wE'lL bE sEeInG eAcH oThEr ReAl SoOn..."

"As if I'll let you try anything!!!"

"ToO lAtE!!!"

"What the hell???"

I stared to feel a pulse roar through my body. I could actually feel my strength draining away rapidly. I tried to grab his hand but I couldn't move it at all.

"WeLcOmE tO tHe AbYsS RoAnOkE!!! I'lL mAkE yOu SuFfEr JuSt LiKe ArTeRiUs aNd HiS cOmPaNiOnS dO... YoU'lL aLl Be BeGgInG mE tO kIlL yOu... In... ThE... eNd............"

"Just who...... the hell...... are you......?"

He looked me in the eye. He looked like he was on the verge of passing out.

"HeH... rEmEmBeR... tHe NaMe... ItO... kYoSuKe ItO..............."

The pulse stopped and he went limp, I checked Chance's eyes to see that they had turned back to normal. I checked him out and it seemed that he was just out cold.

"Thank God..."

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. At least he was okay. I carried him back to the car with what little strength I had left and tossed him in the backseat next to the newbie. I headed to the driver's seat and lit a cigar. I was almost out of those. Opening the window to let the smoke out, I tried to make sense of what just happened. What was he? Just how could he do that crap? If I hadn't known about Chance's ability I would have denied all of this... But... if he has an ability, it could be dangerous...

"Kyosuke Ito... huh? Its probably just a load of bull..."

But then... why were there two voices besides Chance's? Either way I could think about this later. We had a lead, I looked to the back to see those two still knocked out. Looks like I was on my own for this one...

"First things first. I'll wake those two up after I get to the central bazaar. We've got nothing left to deal with here..." I said

I finished up my cigar and tossed it out the window, I took the car keys out of my pocket and tried to start up the car, when I felt a massive shock throughout my body.

"RRGH!!!"

Everything started to get dizzy, my senses were failing... My vision turned hazy, no doubt... I was probably losing consciousness.

"FUCK!!! What... did he do... to... me...?"

I could only fall back and stare at the car ceiling before I slowly passed out completely.........