The sound of a lorry reversing made it through the thin walls of a rundown and boarded-up building. In the makeshift loft above, wires criss-crossed and cluttered the floor. Stacks of boxes labelled as delicate, created a maze that navigated to an old mattress in the corner of the room. To its side was a wall of computer screens, all currently switched off.
Huddling an electric heater nearby was a young man wrapped in a blanket, munching on a bowl of stale cereal. His mop of orange-brown hair had been styled by his bed. A pair of oversized glasses sat on his nose, which had been taped in a few places, but remained functional. His clothes were dishevelled and stained. A busted stereo and dissected PC towers were by his side. But he elected to ignore them. There were other pressing matters to deal with first.
He reached for the nearest box, careful to open its folds. With a tender touch, he grasped the item inside, revealing a pink book cover, with the words ‘The Princess Demands Sugar,’ written in beautiful, golden calligraphy. It was the deluxe edition of an ongoing webnovel that had begun publishing physical copies. He owned all previous instalments. But now they were releasing new versions; rare issues he had to collect.
His fingers grazed the book cover. The artwork in these deluxe volumes was done by none other than the author, Leyette Lei; an individual who remains to be unknown. The series itself was a light-hearted fantasy, slice of life, with little to no controversy. So it brought to question the reasoning behind their secrecy.
Were they a Villain with a secret hobby? Or perhaps the mystery helped with the sales. Maybe there was a deeper conspiracy he hadn’t thought of yet. If only he could discover their identity and uncover the truth as to why they wish to remain anonymous. Heck, there may even be a clue hidden in the book in his hands—
—A knock at the door dragged him from his thoughts. Who on earth could be disturbing him at a time like this?
“Oi, Archie! Open the door, or I’m gonna kick it down!”
The man gulped. How did she find him already?
The banging continued outside. His heart began to race. Maybe he could jump out the window and escape? But his eyes darted back to the boxes that littered the room. What about his precious books…
“Don’t bother running away. You can’t outrun me anyway.”
The man bit his lip. Dammit, she’s right.
The door reverberated as the knocks became more erratic and aggressive. It was a surprise that the brittle wood hadn’t caved in yet. But if she continued, it wouldn’t be long until it fell off its hinges, and that would be a pain to fix—
The door whipped open, revealing a bruised tawny-pink-haired girl in a leopard print coat, with her fist hanging in the air. Besides her was an older blue-haired girl, who flashed a surprised look at the sudden permission to enter.
“Why are you so loud so early in the morning?” said the man named Archie.
Leya narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean? It’s almost midday.”
She stepped inside the loft, only to recoil as the stale stench of the room became evident. Zero soon walked in behind her, seemingly unfazed by the odour. Her eyes scanned the room, before settling on the wall of computer monitors.
“Oh God! Learn to open a window, Archie.” Leya held her nose in disgust.
“What?” rebutted Archie. “And freeze to death because I let all the warm air out?”
“You’ll die from suffocating on this smell first.” Much to Archie’s dismay, cold air rushed into the room as Leya opened a nearby window.
“Archie,” said Zero, her eyes finally leaving the screens and meeting him. “Sorry for barging in, but we have a favour to ask.”
The man frowned, before crossing his arms. “It's always like that with you two. What do you want?”
“We need information. We found a guy. And he might have something to do with the Veiled Duchess.”
Archie’s eyes widened. “Wha-What do you mean?”
Zero flashed her phone, revealing a mugshot of a bald man with tiny sunglasses. “Do you know this man?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He held his hands up in defence. “I don’t know anything about anything these days. I left that all behind me now. I’m clean, I promise.”
Leya cocked her head with a frown. “That doesn’t answer her question.”
“No, I don’t know him!” The inflexion in his voice couldn’t hide his earnestness.
But Leya narrowed her eyes, unconvinced by his tone. “Come on, Archie. Don’t tell me you forgot how you’re linked to the mess that was the Duchess. If we go down, you’re coming with us, so just tell us what you know.”
“I am! I don’t know anything.” His eyes darted between the two, as he took a step back. This could be bad. He needed to be careful.
Leya’s frown deepened. Her eyes scanned the room for some aid. Until her gaze landed on a pink book nearby. She leant down to pick it up; her claws grazing the cover. Archie gulped. This is very bad.
“What’s this, Archie? ‘The Princess Demands Sugar: Special Edition,’ eh?” Leya said wryly. She glanced around the room, noting all the other boxes. “Your collections’ gotten bigger since the last time we saw you.”
She opened the book, flipping through the pages in an abrasive manner, barely registering its contents. Flip. Flip. Flip. Archie winced with each page turn.
“Leya,” said Zero, noticing the anxious look in Archie’s eyes. But the girl didn’t stop.
Archie wet his lips as he watched. His breathing became shaky. She was going to shred the book at this rate. He needed to stop her. But how? What could he do to make her put the book down?
He glanced back to Zero, who held her phone in her hand. “Sh-show me the picture again.”
He extended his hand. Zero passed him the device. With his other hand, he snapped his fingers, turning on the broken stereo. The gentle sound of 90s UK pop began to play. He tried his best to hide his embarrassment, but Leya’s snickering made it difficult to do.
As the music continued to play, the phone screen began to flicker under his touch. The light reflected in his glasses. He snapped his fingers twice more, turning on the wall of computer monitors, as well as the PC towers nearby.
Muttering to himself, Archie moved his attention to the wall. Waving his hand around, he controlled the screens from where he stood. The two girls watched as windows popped up on the computers. Social media pages, documents, pictures—people’s entire online lives were on full display. The information flew by, moving at an alarming rate, almost disorientating them. Until one caught their eye.
A picture of the bald man leaving a club.
“Ok,” Archie heaved, wiping the sweat on his brow. “This is all the information I could find on him.” He enlarged the image, alongside some documents. “He goes by the name Fission Fist and was one of the leaders of a gang.”
“Was?” Zero asked.
“Yeah, he was until he left. It’s hard to say why, but from what I could glean, I think he was overthrown because the gang has a new leader now.” Archie flashed the same image of the club, but this time a different man was exiting. Leya’s eyes widened in recognition. It was the same man that was found unconscious when they had met the Villain.
“Well, that explains what happened that night,” she muttered to herself.
Archie raised an eyebrow at her comment, opening his mouth to question her further. Only to be interjected by Zero. “What else did you find about him?”
“Uh…” Archie scratched the back of his head. “Well, when he was booted out, there’s some records that show he went to Japan and that he stayed there until recently.” He expanded on the documents, highlighting the flight details.
Zero and Leya shared a concerned look. How was this linked to the Veiled Duchess?
Leya stared at the image of Fission Fist. There was something off about it. She leaned forward, comparing the image before her to the man she saw yesterday. Her eyes scanned his face. He still wore those ridiculous sunglasses. Then she examined his clothes. But the image version was wearing a full suit, covering his arms. She bit her lip hard. What was different?
Her eyes gleamed over his figure, until she landed on his hands. She turned to the man beside her. “Archie, can you show me older pictures of this guy?”
The technician nodded, displaying an array of photographs. An unsettling feeling rooted itself in Leya’s stomach. She pointed at the screen. “His hands aren’t glowing.”
Zero perked up. “What do you mean?”
She gestured for Archie to put the mugshot onto the monitor. Other than the whirling sound of the computer, they sat in silence as they compared pictures. But the answer was clear. Before he left for Japan, his arms did not glow. So why had this changed?
Zero let out a frustrated sigh. What was she missing?
“Archie, do you still have information about Aidan Murray?”
Archie released a lip trill, blowing air out from his lips. “The name’s not ringing a bell. Who is he?”
“He’s the missing person case we were working on,” Zero answered. “The one that led us to the Duchess. And you.”
Archie gulped, while Leya shared a glance at Zero. “What’s Murray got to do with this? His case is nothing like this one.”
“You’re right,” said Zero. “But he was on the Duchess. So, maybe we’ll find a connection.”
“Oh man, it might take a while though. If he’s the one you were looking for during that massive spike in cases, then it's gonna be annoying trying to find info on him again.” Archie stretched his neck, before blitzing through information on the screen.
Zero could feel a headache creep up as she recollected the sudden rise in missing people’s cases during her investigation of Aidan Murray. The police and Pro Heroes were stretched too thin and struggled with the abrupt quantity of cases. And it wasn’t helpful that they shared no patterns with one another. Just a sharp increase of people disappearing with no clues left behind.
She rubbed a hand across her temple. “I really hope the number of cases have dropped these days,” she muttered to herself.
“Hm?” Archie raised an eyebrow, still not looking away from his work. “I can find out if you like. I mean, you can take a look at the figures while I’ll get Aidan’s info for you.”
He twirled a monitor towards the two girls, before presenting the data. Zero and Leya's eyes widened as they stared at the graph. A knot began to form in the centre of their stomachs. The number of cases had started to diminish. But only after the Veiled Duchess had burnt down.
“What does this mean?” Leya asked, tilting her head as she stared at the screen.
Zero studied the information in front of her. If there were other missing people like Murray aboard the Duchess, then it could mean that whoever was responsible for operating the ferry was probably linked to the increase in cases.
She surveyed the former gang boss; their current and only lead to the Duchess, before focusing on the reports in front of her. This is a stretch but if he was in Japan, then maybe…
“Archie,” said Zero.
“Yeah?” His eyes never left the monitors.
“Can you see if the cases of missing people have increased in Japan? And bring up recent cases as well please?”
“Huh?” Archie shared a perplexed look, even though he had already begun completing the request. “Why? People go missing all the time—”
His mouth hung open as he displayed the data from Japan. Reports revealed a sharp incline of cases in recent months. But what grabbed their attention was the latest news article. It reported a man had gone missing from his home. His picture showed that his arms were glowing.
