Due to the overwhelming number of gangsters arrested, it took the police a few hours and close to a hundred vehicles to round them all up and distribute them at prisons all across Gemors. The prison at Desordre is the largest one of them all, but still could not fit all of them due to the already existing inmates. On the next day, all the arrested gangsters were identified and charged accordingly.

   ‘After a thorough headcount, we have arrested 1,847 Becco Di Sangue members. However, Silvano Fucile , Rosasco’s right hand man, was not among the arrested.’ Simon reported to Heindriks while they were inside his office.

   ‘Does his henchmen know where he went?’ Hendriks asked.

   ‘Our men interrogated some of them, and the only thing they claim to know is that he went overseas.’

   ‘I take it that they don’t know where exactly?’

   ‘No, sir.’

   Hendriks lied down on his chair. ‘I would love to see him behind bars as soon as possible, but I guess we can’t rush this.’

   ‘There is more, sir. During the interrogations, we also found out something very disturbing.’

   ‘Which is?’

   ‘After Rosasco’s death reached their ears, some of the higher ranking members gathered at an abandoned warehouse and discussed their next plan. While they were busy, a man visited them.’

   ‘They said he appeared out of nowhere, and did not look nervous or afraid at all despite the fact that he had firearms pointed at him. And then, he started to talk. He told them that they should avenge their fallen leader and comrades, that whoever did it must pay. He also suggested luring out the murderer by laying siege to the city.’

   ‘And they just did it? After listening to a speech from a random stranger?’

   ‘Here lies the disturbing part. They said that the man did not use some grandiose speech, or even talked passionately. Even so, the unimpressive speech still riled them up and caused them to do what they did today. It was like they were hypnotized by his words.’

   At the last sentence, Hendriks suddenly sat up straight, his fatigue gathered after today’s event got thrown out of the window.

   ‘Are you telling me that, it was him? ’

   ‘We asked the interrogated gang members to give a description of the man who spoke to them, and it matches the infamous cult leader perfectly.’ Simon confirmed.

   ‘Bushfire is here? Why? What is he…’ Hendriks suddenly had an idea. ‘Miss Simon, please remind me the date of the meeting between the world leaders.’

   ‘It’s in three days, sir.’

   ‘He’s probably planning to hypnotize one or all of them. Miss Simon, please see to it that they and their bodyguards are warned. After that, you are dismissed.’

   Simon nodded. ‘Right away. And see you tomorrow, sir.’

   ‘Likewise.’

   After Simon left his office, Hendriks buried himself deep in thought.

   ‘If Bushfire is here to hypnotize the leaders during the meeting, why would he expose himself by inciting the gangsters to take revenge? I don’t get it… ’

   Hendriks tried to figure it out for more than an hour, but still failed to think of an answer. In the end, he gave up and went home.

   [February 19th, 9:20am, inside Desordre airport]

   Silvano Fucile has just got back from the Republic of Besporyadok after an eight hour flight. The moment he got down from the plane, he turned on his phone and started to read the online newspaper. What he read at the front page almost caused him to drop the suitcase he was dragging behind him.

   “ BECCO DI SANGUE GOT DEBEAKED!

   Fernando Rosasco, age 52, was found dead on the rooftop of the building famously known for being his gang’s headquarter. Besides Rosasco, the bodies of two hundred of his gang members and five accountants were found in various parts of the building. All of them died by electrocution, and the police have confirmed that it was the work of the evil underground hero Blitz. The police have also found a total of three million dollars stashed inside a huge opened safe, presumably opened by Blitz for reasons unknown. Lastly, the lab that the gang used to produce the addicting and life-threatening drug Felicità was found blown to smithereens, also done by Blitz.

   Following Rosasco’s death, his faithful gang members have decided to avenge him by attacking the busy street of Sentrum. Luckily, the citizens had been quickly evacuated to a nearby shelter, so none of them was hurt or killed.

   After close to eight hours, the joined efforts of the police and the heroes led by the mighty Brightman finally managed to suppress the mafia and bring them down. They were then arrested and transported to the prisons all around Gemors. However, Silvano Fucile, Rosasco’s most trusted man, was not among the arrested, and was believed to have gone missing before the death of his boss.

 An article by Harris Clayton, Desordre Daily Paper.”

   ‘... Boss is dead? The HQ’s gone? Everyone got arrested? I left for five days and this is the bull I get the moment I come back?’

   Due to the overwhelming news, Fucile had to stand at a corner for a while to calm himself down.

   ‘Now that the gang is pretty much finished, what am I supposed to do with that?’ Fucile asked himself while taking a glance at the suitcase. ‘There’s no way I can execute the plan boss made all by myself.’

   [February 19th, 8.30am, Donvalley High School]

   ‘Okay, class. Today, there is a transfer student who will be joining us.’ Jonathan’s class teacher Rebecca Cross announced during homeroom.

   ‘Really? Is it a guy?’

   ‘A hot guy would be nice!’

   ‘As if there isn’t enough guys in this classroom already.’

   ‘I second your opinion, so can you do us a favor and quit school?’

   ‘Hey watch it! You wanna get clobbered?’

   ‘All right, settle down now. As for the transfer student, the person is a she, and she came all the way from Binec.’

Based on what he heard and combining them with the event that will happen in two days, Jonathan immediately knew the identity of the transfer student, although he sincerely wished he is wrong.

   ‘All right, please come in.’ Miss Cross called.

   Upon hearing the call, the transfer student went inside the classroom. Everyone in the classroom knew her, and the emotion they generated were roughly divided into two. Some students got excited, some groaned and felt like they want to die. Jonathan belonged to the latter group.

   ‘Hello everyone, my name is Tilia Dawson, pleased to make your acquaintance!’ she said energetically.

   Tilia Dawson. The daughter of David and Margaret Dawson, the CEO and vice CEO of Dawson Group, the multinational company that earns billions a year. Despite being young and rich, Tilia, who has a strong sense of justice since she was small, has joined the police force when she was fourteen. Just one year later, she managed to become a sergeant, and she is the youngest one in police history.

   After homeroom has ended, the girls in the class offered to give Tilia a tour around the school, which she accepted. After they left, all the boys except Jonathan gathered around and had a talk.

   ‘Aw man, I can’t believe it! Her! Of all people!’

   ‘Suddenly, quitting school sounds like a sweet idea. Or transfer to a new one like she did.’

   ‘I heard that in all her previous schools, she joined the disciplinary committee and enforced tons of strict rules. Is it true?’

   ‘Oh, it’s true all right. She was the former classmate of my cousin in Nered, and he told me that when she was there, the whole school’s practically a jail! All students were forced to wear the exact same uniform, even the socks! They were also forced to go straight back to their home the moment school’s over, and made sure everyone did not take detours by forcing them to wear wristbands that has GPS in it! I could continue, but I would just scare you guys.’

   ‘Too late. Besides, we don’t have to hear it. In a few day’s time, we will be experiencing them ourselves.’

   To be honest, Jonathan was not really bothered by the strict rules. He is, however, bothered by the fact that if Dawson is staying for a long period of time, she might sniff around too much and ended up uncovering his secret identity.

   During lunchtime, Dawson revealed the reason of her transfer, which was just as Jonathan had suspected.

   ‘The meeting between the world leaders will be held at the President’s Manor on the 21st , and majority of the police force will be dispatched to guard the place. I want to take time to familiarize myself with the local police, so I asked for a transfer. ’

   ‘Um, will you be fighting terrorists?’ one of the girls asked worriedly.

   ‘Let’s hope it won’t come to that. Even if it does, I believe that the police and the heroes will take care of any terrorists, even those underground heroes!’ Dawson said confidently.

   Jonathan gritted his teeth when he heard the last part. While it is true that he and the other underground heroes are not exactly good guys, they are protecting the peace in their own ways. Calling them terrorists is a bit too much. There was also Harris Clayton, the journalist who pointedly ignored the underground heroes’ contribution towards rounding up the gangsters, but had no qualms about reporting Blitz killing Rosasco. People like them were plain rude.

   After school is over, Dawson declared that she will be headed to the disciplinary committee, and went out immediately. As for Jonathan, he left the school and head for Book Attic, the bookstore where he works part time.

   As an underground hero, Jonathan will get paid every time he kills or captures a wanted target, and the money he received for killing Rosasco was enough to last him five months, even six if he was very careful with it. However, it is practically impossible for a student that does not receive any financial support to be able to survive on his own, so he had to take up a part time job as a cover, even though he does not need one.

   He chose this job because Book Attic does not have a lot of customers, and the job is relatively easy. Furthermore, his employer Walter Foreman is a mild-tempered man in his fifties who treats his employees nicely, so Jonathan is quite content to work here.

   ‘Ah, Mister Tesla, you’re here.’ Foreman greeted Jonathan as he went inside the bookstore.

   ‘Good evening, Mister Foreman.’ Jonathan nodded politely at his employer.

   ‘Good evening to you too. After you re done changing into your uniform, please help us with the newly arrived stocks.’

   ‘Yes sir.’

   Besides Jonathan, Foreman also hired one full timer and another part timer who already were at work. Between the four of them, they were able to take care of the stocks fairly quickly. After that, they ran out of things to do, so they started to clean up the shop while chatting pleasantly. Jonathan did not participate in the chat much, but he still responded properly when someone was talking to him.

   The bookstore’s closing time arrived in a flash, and all of them left the place after they changed out of their uniform. While making sure he was not followed, Jonathan took his time in finding a deserted alleyway. There, he transformed into Blitz and went to Smuggler’s Den, an underground information center.

   Smuggler’s Den is a place frequented by cutthroats, pick-pockets, and all sorts of shady characters. While they are here, they seek information of their next target, exchange goods or information, or just hanging out with their peers. Anyone who so much as cause trouble will be severely beaten up by the owner of the place Felix Thomas, who was a notorious bouncer when he was younger, so everyone is always on their best behavior.

   ‘Hey there, Mister Thomas, got any new information for me?’ Blitz went straight to the counter where Thomas was sitting and asked.

   ‘Let’s see, I believe the young sergeant Tilia Dawson just got transferred here today.’ Thomas raked his brain and answered.

   ‘Seriously? That one? Oh man, things are gonna get troublesome.’ Blitz had to act surprised on this info.

   ‘And Silvano Fucile? The lackey whose boss you killed? He came back from Besporyadok this morning.’

   Now this surprised Blitz. ‘What was he doing there?’

‘Rosasco told him to get some sort of mind-controlling device from a researcher whose name I can’t pronounce.’

   ‘Probably used to take control of the world leaders. But how will they plan to pull it off when the cops will be watching the place like hawks?’

   ‘That I have no idea. What I do know is now that Becco Di Sangue is finished, Fucile had to resort to selling the stuff to Piume Fruscianti.’

   ‘Delightful, another gang has it.’

   ‘Oh, and the reason the Becco Di Sangue boys got wild is because their group leaders got agitated by Bushfire.’

   ‘He’s here too. Yup, not surprising at all.’

   ‘The meeting might turn out to be one hell of a mess.’ Thomas predicted.

   ‘Wouldn’t be surprised if it did. Well, thanks as always, Mister Thomas.’ Blitz took out the usual amount of money and paid Thomas.

   ‘Likewise. Thank you for your patronage.’

   After Blitz left Smuggler’s Den, he was about to fall into another depression since tomorrow means another day of school, but then he remembered that tomorrow is a weekend. In other words, NO. SCHOOL. Since he did not have to wake up early the next morning, he wanted to stay awake a bit longer. That said, he could not suddenly think of anything to do, so for now he settled with patrolling the street.

   For quite a while, Blitz did not have a particular destination, so he just ran and ran and ran. When he reached downtown, he stopped running and took a good look at the place.

   Since it’s only been a day, the damage was yet to be repaired. Bullet holes, burnt vehicles, and dried blood were everywhere. The downtown is in a huge mess because of him. All because he killed Rosasco.

 Blitz suddenly sensed someone is standing behind him, so he turned around. A few feet away, he found a man standing next to a burnt van. He was wearing a hooded black cloak, so his face was mostly covered. Even so, Blitz still know who he is, despite the fact that they have never met.

The man is called Lester Ferguson, or more infamously known as Bushfire.