"Name?"
"Cleo..."
"Gender?"
"Female, are you blind?!"
"Behave yourself! What's your occupation?"
"Researcher and director at Heliopolis Life Sciences."
"Why were you bullying a child on the street? And what are all these unidentified bottles and jars on you?"
"..."
In the Arc City Central District Police Station, the officer interrogating the suspect looked with disgust at the person before him, who reeked of chili sauce and barbecue sauce. His mind began to wander, contemplating whether he should go for barbecue with his colleagues tonight.
-
Last night, after the Just after the jjk level jumping was completed, the Arc City police arrived fashionably late, just like in a Hong Kong movie.
It was as if by unspoken agreement: one minute people were beating someone up, the next they scattered. The exhausted brawlers ducked into teahouses, ordered snacks, and started chatting idly, watching the police who seemed to have deliberately delayed their arrival.
The officers, in turn, tacitly loaded a certain "victim" onto a stretcher without pursuing any charges against the crowd... and sent her straight to the hospital.
If there were any real losses in this commotion, it would be a few colorful hydrogen balloons, two jars of chili sauce, several bottles of vinegar and barbecue sauce... and Stan.
The latter couldn't resist licking Jackal, who had been slathered in so much sauce that she smelled too delicious... whereupon the young cat learned the harsh realities of society.
Even now, he's still purring and drinking milk under Rita's soothing care to alleviate the sting of the chili.
-
"So... is anyone going to bail this scum out of the police station?"
Imhotep looked at the World Serpent executives below her, waiting for their answer.
No one responded—not Gray Serpent's clone, who was usually so dedicated to the organization; not Raven, who consistently maintained the highest attendance rate; nor Owl, the slacker who was always goofing off and had been dragged to Arc City.
After the remaining two (besides Raven) learned why Jackal had been thrown in jail, all three showed extreme reluctance to bail out their fellow executive.
The three of them simultaneously reached a unified opinion:
"Disgraceful!"
-
Scowling, Imhotep, after discovering that even invoking Kevin's name couldn't get these three bastards to move...
The white-haired girl, furious, grabbed Cioara with her left hand and dragged Chen Tianwu with her right. With faces that screamed "Is this my social death?", they stormed into the police station to retrieve their colleague.
[Damn it, Jackal, if you hadn't been beaten up by a crowd for popping a kid's balloon—and then arrested for your suspicious attire and carrying unknown dangerous substances—we wouldn't be this embarrassed...]
[Look at Miss Delta next door, who chased you down and beat you up all the way here. She was invited in for tea, ended up receiving a Good Samaritan Award, and walked out with a certificate!]
[And you!]
The two unlucky souls, gritting their teeth, glared at the disheveled Jackal on the other side of the glass, already plotting a campaign of cold-shouldering among their World Serpent colleagues.
"If she weren't a key researcher and director at Heliopolis Life Sciences, who would bail her out? Anyone would be too embarrassed."
Imhotep, her face pale with anger, walked into the room chatting with a police officer. The officer nodded in agreement, looking sympathetically at the trio who looked socially dead from having to bail out this disgrace.
"Ahem, anyway, the paperwork is all complete. Those chemicals have been confirmed to be Heliopolis Life Sciences products... You can take her now..."
"Do you need masks, sunglasses, or anything like that?"
Out of sympathy, the police officer offered what help he could to the three deadpan faces.
"We absolutely need a set. And it would be best if you could put this disgrace in a burlap sack before we take her back..."
"Ahem, ahem, sunglasses and masks are fine, but forget the burlap sack... It would be bad for the police station's image, very bad..."
"Fine... Tell Gray Serpent to drive the van to the station entrance—a cargo van."
Imhotep glanced at the swarm of tabloid reporters outside the station, all buzzing with anticipation for a big story, and flashed a disdainful smile.
Screech—
Soon, a cargo van screeched to a halt at the station entrance... The four of them executed a flawlessly smooth operation that left the entire front desk staff utterly stunned.
Gray Serpent reversed the van, pressing it directly against the station entrance. Raven pulled open the left cargo door, and Owl pulled open the right.
Imhotep, annoyed, shoved Jackal into the rear compartment, quickly jumped into the truck herself. The other two followed swiftly, leaping into the cargo area and slamming the doors shut before speeding away.
"Does this count as kidnapping...?"
A rookie cop's mouth twitched as he watched the van speed away, racing toward the Heliopolis Life Sciences Industrial Zone.
"Their technique is way too smooth... How many times have they rehearsed this...?"
"Trust me, rookie. If you had to bail out a nutcase like that, you'd be just as eager to pull off a move no different from a kidnapper's...."
-
"We have a traitor among us! A mole has infiltrated our ranks!"
Back at Heliopolis Life Sciences, Jackal, finally able to shower and change into fresh clothes, summoned several Arc City executives and a certain "Little Ancestor" from World Serpent.
Ms. Jackal slammed her hand on the table, loudly announcing her discovery to the group before her:
"My impromptu plan from yesterday actually failed! Not a single Honkai energy container was activated!"
"There must be a traitor among us! And a high-ranking one at that!"
Jackal continued her loud tirade as the other four stared at her like she was an idiot....
Finally, unable to stand Jackal's incessant blabbering and long-winded speech, Imhotep interrupted the centaur's rant:
"All I can say is, there's an idiot here, and she's still embarrassing herself.... If your brain got kicked silly last night... I can perform a special American-style FBI Grand Memory Restoration Technique on you."
The white-haired girl pulled a baseball bat from under the table, while Gray Serpent, Raven, and Owl, unsurprisingly, also retrieved items like expandable batons, meteor hammers, and brass knuckles from beneath their own seats.
"Uh... do you all have some objections?"
Sensing the tense atmosphere, Jackal looked at the group glaring at her menacingly.
"I've recovered all of your Honkai energy release containers...."
Owl curled his lip, recalling the truckload of canisters delivered by a certain Schicksal Valkyrie that morning.
"And I inspected them... some of the energy seems to have been directly absorbed, while the rest are completely intact."
Gray Serpent continued where Owl left off, then paused and gave Jackal a look that screamed, "You're an idiot," before speaking:
"And... all these container models are remote-controlled...."
"You dumbass were surrounded and beaten by a crowd all night. When would you have had the chance to activate them...."
"Pathetic." *4
Jackal was utterly defeated.