As the front guard rushed downstairs, he bumped into a man who he thought was an Apostle. He was already frustrated that he couldn't catch Kai or Lila.
"You guys are just showing up now?? They've left."
The man was masked and wore a strange hat. The front guard felt off from the silence that lingered amongst them, but before he could react—
He was struck to death.
Camila and Ryu, along with the other detectives, made their way in, but no one was found. Camila saw the body of the front guard and covered her mouth in shock.
Ryu turned his face over. It wasn't recognizable, coupled with the fact the face was burnt badly. Camila held her heart and said shakily, "Ava."
The other detectives replied, "It could be…"
But Camila cut in, "Could? Who else can be so heartless?"
Marsh answered, "The teens with abilities who recently escaped could also have done this."
Detective George smiled and held Marsh. "People are calling them the Fallen Heroes."
"Please, their names again."
Detective Marsh nodded and gave him the pictures. "We never get to see their faces. They work for EMBER."
George held the pictures. "Brims, Fury, Lumin, Pyre, and Volcan."
"Seems like we have a handful of them. We need to be careful when we come across them. They have been said to possess terrible abilities."
Ryu thought, "Besides Mind Cultivation."
Camila scratched her head and asked, "Who is EMBER?"
Marsh chuckled and said, "You mean what and not who. It's not a person. It's an organization producing amplifiers for ability users."
"These agents—or rather, teens—which escaped have a handful of them. That's why their abilities are always unstoppable..."
"They usually send them on errands to deliver amplifiers even to our foes—The Shadows."
Ryu pondered and asked, "And how do you know this?"
Marsh replied, "I've been spying on them since the past two weeks. I've been afraid to confront them on my own, because they move in groups."
Camila swallowed hard. "How many nemeses is the universe going to throw at us?"
Ryu only thought, "Lila has to hear about this."
The other detectives left the crime scene in haste, on the lookout for the Fallen Heroes. Ryu held Camila. "I think we're gonna find them ourselves."
Camila smiled awkwardly, "Yeah... wanted to tell you that."
Ryu picked up his phone and called Kai.
---
Next Morning
Kai picked up his phone and saw the missed calls. He looked at Lila, who was still sleeping, stressed out from yesterday's trouble.
"Ryu? What's he calling me for?"
Kai dialed Ryu's number. "Hey, what's up?"
Kai replied, "I'm good. Missed your call. What's up?"
Ryu explained everything that happened at the factory to Kai. Kai nodded and replied, "They don't really seem like tough abilities users to deal with. They're not even ranked."
"Well, aren't you confident. Anyway, I got their next location from Marsh. The guy is too scared to confront them," Ryu frowned.
Kai nodded, putting on his shoes. He was preparing to leave the apartment. "You can't blame him. Poor Marsh has no abilities."
"They are meeting in Lovun tonight. We'll get there before them and just observe. We are not going to draw any attention to ourselves," Ryu said.
Kai sighed, "So no fighting? I wanted some action."
"Well, save the action for later. We're only going to observe. And have you heard from Lila?"
Kai turned and looked at Lila, who was still sleeping peacefully. He thought twice about what to tell Ryu. Finally, he replied, "Nope. Have you?"
Ryu paced for a while. "No. Her line has been switched off, but I would have loved her to join us or hear about this. So if you get in touch... just let her know."
Kai replied, "No problem. See you later, Ryu."