Chapter 2: Detectives
In the summer of 2040, a ciphered invitation spread across the globe via the internet. Most of the greatest minds in the world deemed it to be unsolvable, but that was because the extremely intelligent individuals who had deciphered it vanished from the face of the Earth forever.
A figure of a woman strolled nervously on the streets of Los Angeles City in California.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter!
She lowered the umbrella she was carrying to cover her face from other people's gaze and to protect herself from the relentless rain, wary of the city's delinquents.
It was already past midnight, so the busy street during the day should have been deserted.
However, this was not the case in downtown Los Angeles' residential district.
No, not just downtown Los Angeles, but most of Los Angeles was often livelier due to nocturnal people who party in clubs, gamble in casinos, and so on.
In a nutshell, it's a city that never sleeps.
However, the streets in downtown Los Angeles' business district, which the woman had to cross after leaving the bustling residential district, remained clear at night.
A hair-raising and lecherous pair of eyes from a dark alleyway landed on her alluring figure as she walked on the empty sidewalk.
She wore a slim-fitting pencil skirt that ended just above her knees and a fitted white blouse that accentuated her curvaceous figure.
She walked faster towards her destination, fearful of attracting unwanted attention while walking alone on an empty street.
Regardless of how hard she tried, her hot bikini body was bangin.
Her body language reflected her anxiety, looking from one side to the other and involuntarily shaking while walking faster and faster as if there was an impending danger.
Another dark alley she had to cross awaited her like a creeping monster before she could reach the next block.
She bit her lower lip to gather her strength and did not turn her head in the direction of the dark alley as she passed it, murmuring something as if she hoped nothing bad would happen to her.
But then she noticed a looming arm morbidly pulling her into the shadows.
She tried to scream, but no sound came out because another man enigmatically appeared from behind her, covering her mouth.
They dragged her into the dark alley's perimeter, hurling her against the dead-end walls.
She wanted to fight, but her nervousness prevents her from even lifting a finger.
Her legs twitched violently, eventually causing her to collapse to the wet floor due to the relentless rain.
They were about to attack her, but...
"Boss! A man is smoking in the alley's passageway; he'd see what we're about to do to this woman," one henchman carefully whispered.
However, his voice echoed a little in the quiet dark alley, enough for the man to hear and make him walk closer to them.
Tap... tap... tap...
"A man, you say? Just show him your gun and scare him away. Don't bother me while I play with this woman. This is a good catch. She is a blonde bombshell," the one who appeared to be the pack's leader furiously replied while hurriedly removing his belt, which took longer than usual because he was rushing it.
After the relentless rain made the woman's white blouse so transparent, the leader noticed the woman's under-wired bra.
"Hahaha! I apologize for intruding, but if I were you, I wouldn't even think about it."
Despite their numbers, an imposing, lone smoking man confidently walked into the scene as brave as a lion, stealing the attention of the thugs, including their leader.
The man was tall and slender, with pale skin that they could easily see in the dark.
He pushed his big round eyeglasses back up onto his nose ridge and adjusted them properly in front of his jet-black eyes.
He was clad in a white shirt with a loosened black necktie around the collar of his unbuttoned white shirt, and his sleeves were rolled up to his forearm, just below his elbows.
The man spat the cigarette on the floor and stepped on it with one hand inside his pant pocket, scratching his head that has his jet black disheveled hair and provoking them with his dreadful grin.
It was pouring unceasingly, but despite being soaked, the man didn't seem to mind.
The man's relaxed demeanor alarmed the gang, which was made up of six muscular individuals.
The man's casual behavior gave off an impressive atmosphere, but it sent chills down to the thugs' spines.
"W... Who are you!?" the leader demanded nervously, as if he already knew the man's identity.
He turned his body to face the man, his eyes narrowing to identify the lone intruder.
"Oh, and by the way... If I were you, I wouldn't take my gaze away from that GORGEOUS woman," Liam indicated solemnly, laughing.
"Huh!?"
KSSSKK!!!
Before the leader could fully return his gaze to the woman on the ground, a foot flew in his direction and greeted him with a devastating kick.
"UAAACCKKK!!!"
The five-inch heel of the woman's shoe pierced the leader's face, piercing through his cheek and making him taste the mud.
The leader's head rotated outstandingly several times before completely detaching from the body.
As the leader's head futilely fell to the ground and bounced several times pathetically, the blood from his body was sprinkled artistically in the air, landing on the thugs' already petrified bodies.
"B... Boss?!" mumbled the person with whom the leader had earlier spoken, terrified at what had happened in front of him.
It only took one precise kick from the woman they were dragging to end their leader's life in an instant.
No, the force used was far more than adequate; it was overkill.
The fact that she did it in a difficult position and with little momentum from the ground only demonstrated how capable she was as a combatant.
Some thugs tried to flee, but Liam stopped them and laughed hysterically.
He looked at them menacingly, as if he was peering deep into their souls, hoping to gain entry into the game.
The thugs were caught off guard by the setup, but... every fiber of their being warned them that the two assassins were not on their level, causing them to stand still.
The woman stood firm close to them, bursting out in uncontrollable laughter as if the thugs were amusing her.
She flipped her naturally blonde hair to the back of her neck, almost reaching her waist.
"Hahaha! Fools, how are my acting skills? I practiced several variations of that in bed for the pleasure of my husband, who enjoyed consensual non-consensual role-playing."
After hearing it, Liam unintentionally let out a fake cough.
"Oof... I wasn't supposed to say that. Well, nevermind. All of you want to play, right? Then let's play, imbeciles," Selene demanded in a threatening tone with a smirk after looking down on her prey with disdain.
The alley was so dark that the thugs couldn't see the two strangers' faces clearly, but after closer inspection, they recognized the two strangers' identities.
The infamous detective duo who worked for the Los Angeles Police Department at the time.
The public was aware that the L.A.P.D. Chief of Police, William Grayson, had persuaded higher authorities to allow the couple to work together on the same team and department, despite their intimate relationship, in order to bring down the mafia behind the city's rising crime rate.
The President of the United States decided to put them on trial for a period of time to see how they would work together.
Surprisingly, the pair complemented each other's detective abilities and brought down dark syndicates, solved the most difficult crime cases, apprehended disguised serial killers and assassins in broad daylight, and removed more than half of the elected politicians from their positions due to corruption or hidden agendas.
Terrorists, criminals, unlawful entrepreneurs, foreign spies, and even corrupt politicians feared the detective duo.
The two were the ostensibly greatest impediment to the evil creatures' dark careers, an impenetrable massive wall.
Many had attempted to assassinate them or frame them for heinous crimes a hundred times before, but all had failed miserably.
The detective team was always one step ahead of everyone.
Their adversaries could try as many times as they wanted, but the result would be a backlash.
Their efforts would be futile, as if they were locking themselves in a cell with an insatiable beast.
The mere presence of the duo was enough to keep the city safe.
Because of Liam and Selene's growing careers, those evil people in America felt like they were on death row, waiting for their turn to be executed.
And if some people were at a crime scene, the detective duo's arrival was more than enough to make them feel safe, as if their presence told everyone that everything would be fine.
The public perceived them as heroes, symbols of peace and justice, and other comical titles.
There were even rumors that the two had granted authority that other international detectives did not have.
A terrifying power that came with enormous responsibilities.
Nonetheless, almost every living human in the country, including The President of the United States, trusted the two with their lives.
So it wasn't difficult to believe that the rumors about their special powers were true.
No one would object if it was suddenly exposed in public because they knew the duo would not abuse it.
The general public may even rejoice at the news.
International Detectives that were temporarily assigned as Police in LA, that is the background of the two people who appeared in front of ordinary street thugs who preyed on innocent office women in the business district of downtime Los Angeles at night.
The thugs thought they'd caught a big fish earlier, but instead discovered a massive shark in their small pond, ravaging their small wooden boat before they knew it.
But why would elite international detectives like them go after lowlifes like them?
The thugs' shoulders were pressed down by the duo's oppressive atmosphere, as if the gravitational pull in the dark alley had quickly intensified, pulling them strongly towards the ground.
The befuddled horde mustered their courage, desperate to fight for their liberty.
With no other option but to engage in combat with the elite detectives, one of them pounced on Liam in an attempt to flee.
BANG!!!
A bullet pierced the man's head in an instant, frightening the thugs behind him.
It was the same person who had questioned the pack's leader earlier, the right-hand man.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier. I must apologize. Can these gentlemen do me a favor and kindly distance themselves from me? Please don't come near me. I have a not so severe mysophobia or is it germaphobia? Or whatever that is. I hope all of you can understand, gentlemen. I could not tolerate disgusting blood land on my hunky-dory body. Hahaha. Besides, I would prefer it if none of you stain my getup," Liam joked around as if he was going to throw up from the nauseating appearance and reaction of the man he had immaculately shot in the head.
After a brief moment, Liam's gaze shifted from the man he had just killed to the thugs, as if daring them to move.
The remaining thugs were stunned!
They have guns and knives, but they knew that if they tried to resist, the two would have a reason to exterminate them on the spot.
The thugs were taken aback when Liam and Selene killed the leader and his right-hand man without hesitation.
The rumors that they could judge people and execute them on the spot came true right in front of the thugs' eyes.
But, no, that was not the case at all.
The two elite international detectives were nothing more than government executioners, their most powerful human weapons.
The two only knew who they should assassinate after memorizing the list of criminals sentenced to death in secret by the government.
The two felt no pleasure and were disgusted by their killings, but they have reached a point of no return.
The number of lives they had taken is incalculable, and it does not appear that it would stop any time soon, as the two were still at the pinnacle of their careers.
Everyone thought it was a privilege, but from their perspective, it was a burden, a sickening part of their job, especially for Liam, who has a mild mysophobia.
Of course, that was the case.
Who, after all, would choose to kill people?
The consequences of the deaths they had caused would unavoidably haunt them for the rest of their lives, mostly in their sleep.
And the pack's leader, along with his right-hand man, were among the criminals secretly sentenced to death by the government.
"On January 20, 2041, an Asian college student vanished in this dark alley; tell us everything you know if you want to reduce your prison sentence!"
Weekly Power Status
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