I

17/08/955, 2015 hours, District 1, Terra

The scene that unfolded before the group's eyes was chaos.

The fire blazed out of the multi-story building, licking the sides of the other buildings that were dangerously close to it. Screams and cries of help from people both inside and outside the building rang louder than the crackling sounds the fire made, and if one were to look closely at the exposed windows of the building, they would clearly see the black silhouettes of the people who were trapped in, and who were crying for help.

It was Hide who first responded to Kado's statement.

"What? What kind of trouble are we in?"

Kado said nothing. Instead, he began to sprint towards the building, where a number of vehicles that were emblazoned with the logo of the Forces, and where a number of agents, equipped with the standard armour of the Forces, were preparing a fire hose.

Seeing him break into a sprint prompted the group to run after him.

When they arrived at the barricade the Forces vehicles had formed, they could see him arguing with one of the agents.

"I'm telling you, sir, please step back!"

"I'm from the Agency! There's someone important in there, and I need to get in!"

"Sorry sir, but I can't-"

"Screw this then!"

Before the agents could stop him, he spread out his wings and flew towards the building, entering through a window and disappearing from sight.

"All right," the agent who had argued with Kado turned and spoke to the crowd that was forming around the scene, "no one else enters the building until the coast is clear!"

The agent's words were met with complaints and arguments from the crowd.

"There are still people in there!"

"What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be saving them?"

The din from the crowd, combined with the roaring from the fire, created a cacophonous mess of noise that drowned out all rational thought and gave way to pure chaos.

Above the roar, Azami was able to pass on a question to Riko.

"Do you think he'll be alright?"

Riko nodded her head, and replied, "He'll be fine. He'll always be fine."

"Hide, what do you-"

But as she turned her head, she realised that Hide, who had been next to her just a few minutes ago, was gone.

Looking back at the building, she spoke her thoughts out loud.

"Please don't tell me you're in there."

 

II

17/08/955, 2025 hours, District 1, Terra

Hide gulped as he stepped into the charred room. The fire had torched the room to ashes and blackened debris, and could now be clearly seen raging outside the doorway.

Gingerly stepping over shards of glass and broken furniture, he tried to calm himself down.

I need to save the trapped people. I can't go back now. I need to do this.

Being careful with his movements, he slowly moved out of the room and into the fire, determining his next location based on the screams and cries for help. Around him, the walls and the floor, damaged by the fire, creaked dangerously close to him and threatened to fall or collapse at any moment.

I can do this. I can do this.

He had arrived at a corridor. Glancing down at the floor, he knew that it was liable to break as soon as he made the wrong move. Ahead of him, past the corridor, he could hear a person screaming for help.

I can't fly over this. I need to cross it manually.

Nervously, he stretched out his left leg and slowly pressed down on the unstable floor. The floor made an ominous creaking noise, but did not break.

I can do this. I can do this.

Filled with slightly more confidence, he took a few more steps forward, ignoring the noises the floor made with every step he took.

I can do-

With a loud cracking, the floor broke apart, sending him down.

"Shit!" he swore as he started to spread out his wings. With a few flaps, he slowed his landing down and crashed down into a room below him.

"Ow..."

As he picked himself up from the floor debris, he stood up and scanned the room he was in.

The room looked like it was even more badly destroyed than the other charred room he had been in. A blackened armchair lay resting on its side beside a broken coffee table.

In one corner, there were the remains of what looked to be a bed.

In the other corner...

He drew his breath in sharply, as he gazed at the burnt body there. The memory of the test he had been subjected to a few days ago now came rushing back to him, and he fought back the urge to feel sick.

He approached the burnt body and closely examined it, in the slight hope that it still had signs of life.

The body had no pulse. It was dead.

However, that wasn't the thing that bothered him the most.

It was the 9 mm bullet hole in its head.

Click.

He froze as he heard the gun click. Slowly, he stood up and, placing his hands over his head, turned around to face the person who was pointing a gun at him.

"Step away from the corpse."

The person holding the gun was largely covered in ash, but the outfit was unmistakable to his eyes.

It was the armour that agents from the Agency normally wore on operations.

"I said," the person repeated in a firm tone, "Step. Away."

"You're from the Agency?"

"You better keep quiet. Don't say another word."

"But," Hide blurted out in spite of himself, "Didn't you do this? You killed this person, didn't you? You shot him?"

The agent's gun lowered in mild confusion.

"No, I didn't," the agent muttered, "I just got here. Hold on, does that mean...you didn't kill him?"

"I don't even know who he is!"

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, before the agent sighed and holstered his pistol.

"Does that mean we're good?" Hide attempted to say, but the agent interrupted him.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you outside?"

"Uh..."

Hide nervously gazed at the agent and replied.

"I needed...to see if anyone...was in danger," he gabbled as he began to explain himself.

The agent seemed to ignore his explanation and began to walk towards the corpse. As he kneeled down and observed the body, he pulled out a walkie-talkie and began to speak.

"Person of interest down. Primary objective failed."

"O-objective?"

The agent stopped speaking, stood up and fixed him with a steely glare.

"Get out of here. Don't put yourself in trouble."

"Y-yes!" Hide replied quickly, as he slowly backed out of the room.

As soon as he determined that Hide was out of earshot, the agent spoke into the walkie-talkie again.

"Meet me outside when we're done with the evacuations."

 

III

17/08/955, 2230 hours, District 1, Terra

The fire was mostly extinguished by the time the agent exited the building, with a body bag slung over his shoulder, leaving the remains of the building behind. He took a quick glance back at the building and swore under his breath.

"Kurisu!"

A familiar voice reached the agent's ears as Kado ran towards him, and they proceeded to move out of earshot from the gathered crowd.

"What is our next course of action?"

"I'm not sure yet," Kurisu replied hesitantly, as he patted the body bag, "but we have to analyse Mr. Shigero's body for any clues. Hopefully, we can find the culprit behind this."

"Do you think we can?"

"I hope so. If not, we're back to square one again."

"Damn it, I thought we could avoid this," Kado sighed in frustration, "instead, we got so many more people killed. What about the other agents?"

"Couldn't find any trace of them in the building. Must have been killed too."

The screams from the people and the sirens from the Forces vehicles began to subside as the crisis at hand was resolved.

"We have to regroup at the Headquarters. Get a clearer idea of what happened."

Kado nodded in response.

"Roger that. We may also need to get more agents who have seen this to help us."

"You mean the Agency trainees you were with?"

"If that's fine. I place my trust in them, and I believe that they could help us, however minimally."

As he glanced at the group of people standing and watching the remnants of the fire be extinguished, Kurisu could recognise the black-haired boy currently being locked in a hug with a silver-haired girl.

"Do what you must then. I'll be going first."

 

IV

18/08/955, 0355 hours, EGA Headquarters, Meeting Room 1, Eden

The atmosphere in the room was tense. The agents gathered around the table in the centre of the room wore grim expressions on their faces, and some of them paced around restlessly, waiting for the update in the situation.

Eventually, the agent closest to the table broke the silence.

"Show me the pictures again, Dr. Wakasaki."

His statement was addressed towards a female who had her hair tied up in a bun, and who was dressed in a white medical cloak. Upon the agent's instruction, she nodded and placed the pictures she was holding onto the table.

As soon as she did so, most of the agents who had their gaze fixed on the table quickly averted their gaze away from the pictures. It was clear to them that the pictures were definitely unsavory to look at.

The agent opened his mouth again, and addressed the other agents who were trying their best to ignore the disturbing pictures.

"As you can see here in these pictures, these depict the remains of what used to be Mr. Shigero, a high-ranking executive in Shunsho Corporation. This means," the agent raised his voice as he continued to speak, "that this is the fifth executive from Shunsho that has been killed or assassinated by assailants who are still unknown to us!"

There was a buzz. One of the agents spoke up.

"But Chief Kawanari, how do we know for sure whether he's been assassinated? I mean, maybe the fire was an accident, and he was just unfortunately in the premises at that point of time?"

"I do want to believe that," Kawanari shook his head and replied, "But the 9 mm bullet hole in Mr. Shigero's head might suggest otherwise. There would be no reason why he would be shot if the fire was going to kill him. Unless..."

The agents leaned in closer and listened attentively to his explanation.

"There are two possibilies. One is insurance, to ensure that he is truly dead. It would certainly benefit the assailants. However, that will contradict with their other assassinations, which were done so smoothly and so skilfully that it was obvious that a plan had been made and that it had been executed successfully. There wouldn't be a need to confirm an assassination that has been planned to the minutest of details. That brings us to the next possibility. The plan went wrong, and in a panic, the assailants set the fire to successfully kill Mr. Shigero and escape."

Another buzz. The agents began to nod in agreement.

Among the agents, Kado, who was standing in the far corner of the room, sounded off his concern.

"That's all well and good, Chief Kawanari, but that doesn't help us. Even with the fire, we have not uncovered any evidence from the scene that can point us to a culprit. How is this supposed to help us?"

"Mr. Kado, please be patient. I haven't explained everything yet," Kawanari raised his hand to silence Kado, before he turned to Dr. Wakasaki and continued.

"Perhaps Dr. Wakasaki here can explain her own theory to the agents here in this room, so that there might be a better understanding."

Dr. Wakasaki nodded and stepped forward.

"When we designed the safehouse for Mr. Shigero, we deliberately placed a few safeguards and took a few precautions in the design. Among those precautions was the need to fireproof the room he was in, and that meant that nothing in the room could be flammable or combustible."

As she spoke, she pointed down at one of the pictures on the table.

"However, in this picture, the room has clearly been scorched. In fact, if we compare this room to the other rooms in the apartment complex Mr. Shigero was in, this room seems to be more badly scorched than the others. This, despite the room being fireproof, as we mentioned before."

Kado spoke again.

"And what does that mean exactly?"

"I was getting to that," Wakasaki adjusted her glasses and continued, "the fact that the room was more badly burned than the others suggest that the assailant might have started the fire in that room. However, the assailant can't have managed to start a fire in that room."

"But it was started anyway," one of the agents pointed out.

"Sorry, I should have emphasised it clearer. The assailant can't have managed to start a fire using natural means."

"What are you suggesting, Doctor?"

"I am suggesting," Wakasaki hesitated before she finished her statement, "that the assailant we are facing might be an Element Holder who could easily start the fire without any flammable materials to go on."

As soon as Dr. Wakasaki gave her theory, clamour broke out among the agents.

"An Element Holder? Seriously?"

"I thought Element Holders were a myth!"

"Are we really going to go with this theory? It seems a little out there."

"Quiet!" Kawanari thundered, silencing the arguments.

"It may be ridiculous in nature, but the fact is that we need everything we can get right now! Shunsho Corporation is in a crisis over these repeated attacks now, and we need to solve this problem before it collapses, because that's what we must do as peacekeepers! So, instead of questioning theories, we must work with the theories we already have! Any more complaints?"

None of the agents dared to respond to his outburst.

"Thank you," Kawanari continued, "Now, based on this theory, we can therefore formulate a plan of attack the next time the assailants strike. This plan is of course based on the theory, so it might not work, but in the chance that it does, the crisis at hand would most likely be solved. Hence, I need your willing cooperation in executing the plan. Do you understand?"

"Yes Chief!" the agents proudly shouted in response.

"That's good. Now, I already have a plan in mind, and I need your opinions on it."

 

V

18/08/955, 1115 hours, Sector 11, Eden

In a derelict building located in the seedier areas in Eden, someone was humming a tune.

"Hmmm hmmmmm hmmm..."

The person's orange eyes roamed over the object in his hand. It closely resembled a cigarette packet.

He toyed around with the packet in his hands, shaking it, passing it from one hand to another, before he stopped and took out a stick from it, and placed the stick in his mouth.

"I thought you quit smoking." another person who was shrouded in shadow at the far corner of the room spoke.

He muttered, "I just need to calm my nerves. I'll be fine."

"Are you scared of what happened?"

He raised his left index finger up towards the end of the cigarette. Almost immediately, a burst of flame erupted from the finger, lighting it up.

"I'm not scared," he retorted as he took a puff from the lighted cigarette, "just shocked. The plan went a little too overboard."

"Heh. You did burn down an entire building though."

"I didn't wish to. That bastard didn't die fast enough. If I hadn't reacted fast enough, I would have already been captured by the Agency."

As he took another puff from the cigarette, the person who was standing in the corner moved closer to him, such that he came out of the shadows, and his face could clearly be seen.

A pair of orange eyes similar to his eyes lingered on him, and an identical face stared back.

"You sound tired."

"Well, using my abilities does take up a lot of energy. You should know that."

"Be glad you didn't go and lose control last night. That would have been bad."

He said nothing in response. The identical replica of himself moved such that he was beside him.

"Tell you what. There's another target we have to hit tonight. Why don't I go and do that instead of you?"

"Nope," he immediately shot down the request, "as your older brother, I need to ensure your safety. You need to stay here until you are needed."

"You're only older than me by 12 minutes. Besides, I don't need your permission, I need your promise."

"What promise?"

"That you'll rest here, and let me do the killing."

The man paused, deep in emotional thought.

"Fine," he finally said, "just remember to do this efficiently. Don't mess this up like I did."

"Pfft! Of course I won't! Just wait and see!" his twin brother remarked.

In response, the man smiled.

"Please just come back alright."

"Yep, and if I don't?"

"We'll see. Good luck, brother."

As his twin turned and began to walk towards the doorway of the room to prepare for his upcoming task, he found himself muttering under his breath.

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

 

VI

18/08/955, 1945 hours, Sector 7, Eden

"Are you sure this plan is going to work?"

The walkie-talkie buzzed a reply to Hide's question.

"Positive. There's a high chance that the assailants will hit the target we're currently protecting. If one of them is indeed a fire element holder, the plan will work. We just need them to take the bait."

"Understood."

Hide, along with the other trainees, were sitting in a vacant apartment in one of Eden's residential sectors. While the view the apartment boasted was not entirely fancy, it overlooked the operation, and served as a good observation post.

For the operation, the trainees had been assigned as backup reinforcements in case it went sideways, and as a result, they were decked out in the standard uniform of the Agency and were handed actual weapons.

As he observed the Anti-Celestial Pistol in his hands, Hide spoke to Kichi, who was sitting beside him.

"Do you think this plan will work?"

"We do not have enough information on the enemy we're facing, so I'll say that there is a high probability of failure," Kichi replied, "but I guess we can't know for sure. Who knows, maybe we can pull this off."

"Right," Hide noted, as the walkie-talkie buzzed again.

"Is everyone in their positions?"

"Yes," almost a dozen voices echoed from different locations.

"Right then. Commence Operation Dragonslayer!"

-----

18/08/955, 1957 hours, Sector 7, Eden

"Coast is clear. No sign of anyone." the assailant muttered as he carefully walked along the corridor to his target.

For some unknown reason that he did not know, he found himself shaking uncontrollably.

Don't panic. You promised him, remember? You have to do this right.

Filled with slightly more confidence following his own reassurance, he soon found himself outside the room where his target was, with only a locked door separating him from the unfortunate person.

After cautiously checking for traps, he knelt down and positioned his finger near the lock.

Fssssshhhh

With a hissing noise, a burst of flame from his finger began to heat up the lock. After a few minutes, the lock came apart and allowed him to enter.

Trying his best to be as quiet as possible, he slowly opened the door and pulled out a silenced pistol. Finding his target pleasantly sleeping in the bed at the far corner of the room, he readied his pistol and took aim.

...

However, before he could fire, a blunt force struck him on the head.

"Gahgh?"

Slightly reeling from the pain, he could see figures jumping out from behind the shadows and rushing towards him. As they moved towards him from all directions, he found himself being forced down onto the floor as multiple pistols were trained on him.

"Do not resist. You're under arrest!"

As he was forced down onto the ground, a feeling of panic began to surface inside him, which slowly began turning into anger.

I promised him.

As the feeling of anger grew, his hands moved and began to draw heat energy from the surroundings. As he gathered the energy together, he activated his ability to set the concentrated energy on fire, creating a rapidly-spinning ball of fire in his hands.

"Get out of here!" he could hear one of the people around him say.

But it was too late.

He broke free from the person pinning him down and launched the ball of fire towards the center of the apartment room.

As soon as the ball hit the floor, it exploded.

-----

18/08/955, 2003 hours, Sector 7, Eden

Hide started as the apartment the trainees were overlooking exploded into flames, and the trainees began to react to the scene unfolding before them.

"Is this part of the plan?"

"Do you think anyone got hurt?"

Seemingly as though it was responding to them, the walkie-talkie buzzed, silencing them.

"Trainees, do you see the assailant?"

The trainees moved towards the window of the apartment they were in, and closely checked for any movement in the flames.

After a few seconds, they could see a black shadow darting out of the burning apartment and flying away from them.

"Yes, he's on the move."

"Good. Eagle, you know what to do."

 

VII

18/08/955, 2007 hours, Sector 7, Eden

"Copy," Riko responded.

She was standing on top of a radio tower located a few hundred metres from the apartment. Carefully positioning herself on the red girders, she loaded her weapon, a high-powered sniper rifle that was capable of piercing through solid concrete and took aim at the desired location.

"Wind speed a little too high. Reevaluating trajectory," she muttered to herself as she repositioned her aim according to any of the factors that could affect her shot.

After a few minutes, she finally saw her target flying towards her.

With careful precision, she drew her breath in and squeezed the trigger as soon as he entered the scope.

The first shot made its mark as it passed through her target's left wing, ripping out a sizable hole in it and causing his flight path to falter.

The second shot passed through her target's right arm as he was going down and created a spray of blood as he fell down towards the target location.

With an exhalation of relief, she looked away from the scope and spoke into the walkie-talkie next to her.

"Eagle's task completed. Target ready to be received."

 

VIII

18/08/955, 2018 hours, Sector 7, Eden

"Copy," Kado replied as he watched the target land a few metres in front of him.

He raised his hand and signaled for the agents beside him to advance towards the target.

"Be careful. He's injured, so he could potentially lash out," he warned as the group of agents got closer.

As they neared the target, with their weapons raised and ready to fire at any moment, they could get a closer glimpse of him.

He was clutching his bleeding arm, futilely attempting to staunch the blood flow, while his wing lay bloodied and limp on the ground, all the while he cursed and swore at the approaching agents.

"Stay the fuck away!"

"We can't do that, buddy," Kado remarked as he stopped just a few inches away from him, "We're afraid you're going to have to come with us."

"And what if I don't?"

Before the agents could react, a ring of flames burst out between him and them, separating them. The flames towered high into the sky and showed no indication of stopping, much to the agents' annoyance.

"Let's see how you get over this!"

In response, Kado clicked his tongue and nodded to the agents beside him, who immediately spread out their wings and simultaneously flew up into the sky, positioning themselves at a safe distance away from the ring.

After they had done so, all of them removed an Anti-Celestial grenade from their belts.

"Wait. What are you doing?" the target shouted in confusion as he watched the agents.

"You should probably know where you're on first before you react," Kado remarked as he flew up into the sky and pointed down towards the ground.

With a jolt, the target realised his mistake.

"Wait!" he screamed as the agents threw their grenades down towards the ring of flames.

Almost immediately afterwards, the grenades exploded.

-----

The brother looked up from the papers he was holding in his hand as soon as he heard the explosions. A growing sense of dread began to fill his stomach.

-----

They had been standing on a large water tank. In fact, in the industry-focused sector of Eden, the water tanks one would find there would be the largest of their kind.

As a result, the explosions had broken the tank to pieces, showering them with a deluge of water and extinguishing the flames instantaneously.

Fortunately for them, the flood of water that was created was not large enough to damage the nearby apartments.

...

As soon as the flames were extinguished, Kado had dived towards the target and disappeared into the water.

After a few minutes, he emerged from the water, panting and carrying the unconscious target on his back.

As a few more agents assisted him in carrying the target back to dry land, he smirked, and with a triumphant tone, he remarked, "Mission Successful," before he laid down on the dry land.

 

IX

19/08/955, 0755 hours, EGA Headquarters, Eden

"So, I take it that everything went smoothly?"

Kado nodded in response to Chief Kawanari's query and replied, "Of course. Apart from a few casualties, the target is safe and we have captured the person who we believe to be behind the attacks. All we need now is his confession, and we can put an end to this crisis."

"Hopefully," Chief Kawanari frowned and mused, "if the threat has been eliminated."

"You think this is not over yet?"

"In my opinion, such an audacious attack needs to have a purpose behind it. More importantly, what concerns me is whether other people share the same purpose or motivation as the element holder we apprehended."

"Mmm. That is why we have to be on guard at all times. Who knows when they'll strike again."

"Agent Kado," a black-suited agent walked in and interrupted their conversation, "the element holder's ready for interrogation."

"Right then," Kado remarked as he began to walk towards the interrogation room in response to the agent's statement.

"Let's see what makes him tick."

 

X

19/08/955, 0800 hours, Sector 11, Eden

"This is a surprise, Abel. I didn't expect you to call for a meetup before you finished your job. Something happened to you or Cain, didn't it?"

"It's none of your concern," Abel responded, his orange eyes flashing dangerously, "I just need some help. I request for some of the Council's men to assist me."

The person he was addressing, a person wearing a blank-faced mask, shook his head and responded.

"No can do, Abel. Not until you finish your job."

"But-"

"Those are the Father's orders. I trust you know what will happen if you cross him."

"...understood."

"That's good."

As the blank-faced person left the warehouse they were in, and he was left alone again, he angrily swore under his breath.

"I know something happened to you, brother. How could I be so stupid?" he muttered to himself.

Unconsciously, he found that tears were flowing down his face. Wiping them off with a hand, he began to walk towards the warehouse exit.

"I promise I'll avenge you, brother. Just you wait and see. The Agency won't know what's coming to them," he declared, as small flames burst out of his hands.

 

Agency Files #3: Element Holders

Capable of harnessing the power of the [DATA RESTRICTED] elements: Fire, Air, Earth, Water and [DATA RESTRICTED], element holders are exceedingly rare, with only one pure Celestial being capable of wielding one element at one time.

The control and usage of the elements by the element holders are not restricted by any means, and are varied accordingly to the experience they have in using and controlling their powers.