The Organization and the Black Diamond were the two main forces colliding in the city, however there existed a third force. This was the force of the law. The morning after the ship sank in Stronginzburg harbor, the docks were coated in red and blue lights. The police knew that there was no way to completely eliminate the criminal organizations, but if they were able to reduce public impact then they felt they were maintaining sustainable order. On a regular basis they would have liked to avoid issues like ships catching fire and shutting down the entire harbor.
Within the vast ranks of the law, there was a special department dedicated to elite tasks. This group was called the detectives. While they were called detectives, their role was not always just collecting evidence and clues to solve a murder mystery or sitting in a car taking photographs of suspects. Most who served in the special ranks of the detectives preferred to go toe to toe with the criminal organizations. For this reason, it was not exactly a highly sought after role. It consisted of the elite, the insane, and the truly noble.
That morning at the docks, Emi, the captain of the detective force, was calling the shots. “Alright, let’s get this area taped off,” she commanded. “I want witness reports. Somebody call the police chief. And where’s my coffee?” Everyone rushed to follow her orders.
Emi had been a respected detective for the last few years. Last year, at age twenty-six she became the captain of the detective squad. She was a calm and calculated person who fit the job perfectly. She had strong deduction skills and was quick to pick up on clues.
Aside from her personality, she was always well dressed in a business suit. It filled her role as captain. Her inner genius leaked out into her hair which was relatively short and usually dyed a light pink color. Emi’s friend, and the newest member of the detective team was Aiko.
Aiko had just finished interning with the detective squad while finishing her last year of college. Her and Emi instantly grew close through their opposite personalities and intense skill sets. After her internship with the detectives she was instantly hired. Within the last few months she’d helped the detective agency take on a variety of cases and even assisted in a couple of intense battles against the criminal organizations.
Aiko grew up in Stronginzburg city. To her parent’s displeasure, she’d always been a bit of a trouble maker. This forced them to put her into a private school that she was almost expelled from twice. Her father’s influence, aka donations, to the school were the only thing that kept her enrolled. Aiko’s father was also a detective and well respected member of the community. He was the type of person that could have run for mayor.
During her time in college, Aiko maintained a stern four point grade average. She was very intelligent and hardworking when she needed to be. Her time in private school placed her ahead of the average population making college quite easy. This was a combination of good and bad. On the positive side, she had a lot of free time after doing her assignments so quickly.
Aiko had a big heart and wished only good upon the world, but couldn't stop causing trouble even in college. Her reputation for having fun and causing mischief seemed to never end.
During her first year of college she sat before the dean of students for disciplinary actions after posing as an official events organizer from the school. The entire college got to enjoy a concert from one of the most famous bands in the country right in the center of the campus courtyard. Once again, her parent’s influence was the only thing that saved her from expulsion. During her third year, she developed a rapid-test for that year’s flu using only the campus science lab. It saved hundreds of absences and possibly even lives. This had been an accomplishment that her parents were actually proud of. It gave her a bit of immunity with her bending of the school rules as well. Lastly, just a few months ago in her last semester of college. She organized a precisely timed building-wide shutdown by having every toilet flush at the same time which caused shaking in the century-old floors and walls. Everyone mistook it for an earthquake. Her motivation was nothing more than forcing the rescheduling of a quiz that would have caused half of a class to flunk. Students swore that the professor was out to get them.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
She had all of the traits needed to join the detectives. She was elite, a little crazy, caring, and came from a prestigious family that provided a recommendation.
After graduating, the weather began to warm and Aiko Settled into her new role as an honorary member of the detective team. When she pulled up to the scene of the crime at Strongzinburg harbor that morning, she instantly began to look for clues and analyze the situation.
“So what happened here?” Aiko asked Emi, holding her hair back as it whipped around in the brisk morning wind.
Emi started down the grated ramp onto the wooden docks and Aiko followed. “Still piecing the scene together, but it seems like there was some sort of dispute between The Black Diamond and The Organization early this morning. It ended up with that yacht catching fire and sinking.” Emi pointed to the tip of the ship sticking out of the water about a hundred feet out from the docks. “Looks like they tried to make it back to the docks to grab hoses and put out the fire, but didn’t quite make it before sinking completely. According to reports, a few Black Diamond members jumped off and swam to shore, but we’ve got a few bodies that were pulled out of the water as well.
“They drowned?”
“Definitely not. Their bodies looked like Swiss cheese. They were dead before the ship sank. This particular yacht belonged to a known Black Diamond member so we can be pretty sure that it was The Organization that attacked them.”
“The groups are getting more and more aggressive. At least no civilians were involved. I can't stand when innocent people get hurt over their ridiculous activities,” said Aiko with a stern expression.
“They’ve certainly increased their activity. There has to have been some sort of change happening. The groups have never been this troublesome before,” said Emi as she stepped to the edge of the dock and looked down. She stared into the murky salt water and thought deeply, trying to piece together the information.
An assistant detective walked up to Emi with a clipboard in hand. “Captain, we have identified a parachute that was just pulled out of the water near the ship.
“A parachute?” she said, confused.
“That’s correct, captain. That's all the new information I have for now,” he said.
“Thank you. It's starting to make a little more sense already,” she said, turning to look at the nearby skyscrapers. Her eyes bounced from the tips of each building as her brain fit pieces of the puzzle together. “In order to attack the ship with so many Black Diamond members on board they needed a distraction. Someone must have parachuted down from one of the nearby buildings and landed on the ship allowing backup to come onto the boat while they served as a distraction and caught everyone off guard.”
Aiko thought for a moment and then chimed in. “To think that they’d try something as risky as this. Average people aren’t skilled like that. They must be working with someone who’s really dangerous.”
The detectives finished the day out by dragging bits and pieces out of the water. By the end of the day you would have never known there had been a half-sunken ship just off the docks. The harbor was back open for regular business.
The local fishermen and dock workers were more than a bit shaken up by the event. There were rumors that went around about the criminal organizations planning more attacks and paranoia of that sort.
When a picture of the incident made its way to social media and the news, people were all up in arms. The general public was aware of the criminal organizations for the most part, but generally they were no big threat. Not much more than a couple of wild bumblebees on a spring day. This event was different. A whole ship had sank in the harbor causing a huge economic shutdown for the day. It worried the public. It forced the inner gunk of Strongzinburg city to the surface.