*Next morning.

A hotel staff arrives at the group’s door knocking on it. The door opens and Tatsuo’s head pops out.

Staff: Hi. Is one of you perhaps Tatsuo, or Sharon?

Tatsuo and Sharon exchange looks with each other, both wondering what was going on. The staff member proceeds to explain the situation about Victor to them. Immediately the group heads towards the lab.

*At Dr. Crogsbell’s lab.

A door slides open. The group arrives at the room where the steam generator is located. There they see Heymlir, Dr. Crogsbell, Mearl huddled around a bandaged Victor lying on a sofa. Sharon rushes to Victor exclaiming, “What happened?!”

Mearl explains to Sharon in detail what transpired on the streets with a guilty expression.

Mearl: ...And that’s what ended up happening…I’m sorry, this was all my fault…! When I woke up, he was already like this…! I can only assume he stood up for me and defended me while I was out, considering my condition….!

Heymlir places his hand on Mearl’s shoulder, consoling him, “This trouble is not only for you to bear Mearl. Civilian safety is the responsibility of everyone here in Argonaut, as we should all look out for each other.”

Heymlir (faces towards Sharon): I also wish to apologize for the actions brought upon by my people. But now we face another dilemma…

Heymlir: The core has been stolen. It is important that we get it back.

Darren quietly asks for a reminder what the core was. Tatsuo answers back that it was the thing they have to give to Queenie.

Heymlir: I have issued a search and detainment for the core stealer and the city gates are currently under lockdown. As for Punk Riot...Well, things get complicated when it comes to dealing with them…

Sharon seats herself next to Victor, watching after him carefully.

Mearl: We’ve done whatever we could for him. We even gave him a potion. All we can do now is wait for him to wake up and fully recover…

Darren catches Tatsuo sniffling his nose.

Darren: …What’s up?

He sees Tatsuo’s gaze settled on Victor. With his usual blank expression, it was hard for him to figure out what Tatsuo was thinking at this moment. Just now his nose was reacting, was he feeling sad, but just didn't want to show it? Is he mad? Or does he not simply care?

*Outside in the streets of Argonaut.

Sharon: I knew something was off when Victor didn’t return yesterday!

Tatsuo and Darren are trailing behind Sharon. Tatsuo’s nose begins to sniff again. He looks at Darren.

Darren (notices Tatsuo looking at him): …What?

Sharon: But to think something like that happened to him…Poor guy…

Amidst Sharon’s ramble, in a soft tone Tatsuo tells Darren to come with him.

Sharon: I know! We should all get something for Victor for when he wakes up so that it’ll cheer him up!

She turns her head back to the two to ask what their thoughts were, only to see that they’ve disappeared.

*Near the rims of the city: The Scrapyard.

The core stealer has taken refuge at one of the scrapyard sites where piles of trash seem endless to the eye. The silhouette of factories can be seen in the distance where the sky is blackened by the clouds of fumes coming from them.

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Jayce: So this is where you were.

At the pile of junk across from him, the core stealer spots three individuals.

Jayce: You picked a pretty good hiding place. Unfortunately for you, this is one of our turfs.

The core stealer makes no comment.

Jayce: What? Don’t want to say anything? That’s no good, you know? First you mess up some of my bois, then you trespass upon our territory? Must be someone from outside the city.

That wasn’t it. Throughout the entire time, the thief didn’t say anything because he was trying to make out what Jayce was saying to him, being that the three of them were far away from him and weren’t talking loud enough.

Jayce: Get him Malone. Show him how it’s done here.

Malone (the thug with the hat) dashes towards the core stealer, his speed catches him by surprise. The thief quickly lifts his knee to defend himself from the attack.

The thief swings a kick, but the thug bends his body back dodging it, much to the thief’s surprise.

Malone retaliates with another punch which the thief props his leg up to defend himself. Already the fight was dragging out for the thief which began to irritate him. The thief lets out an annoyed scoff.

The fight pattern continues as the two clash in an attempt to gain a direct blow between one another.

Jayce lets out a whistle, impressed at the thief's fighting prowess. He was also curious about the strange fighting style, for the thief has only been using kicking techniques. In fact, he hasn’t used his hands at all as they are always kept inside the pockets. Jayce ponders why that may be.

Finally, one of them manages to successfully land a hit and the thief gets knocked back.

Thief (thinking): What’s up with this guy…? Why is he so good at fighting? It’s also bad that this terrain is disadvantageous for me, it’s difficult to move around!

The thief’s eyes narrow down on Malone as he thinks, ‘I’ll just have to go even faster!’

The thief seemingly vanishes right before Malone, leaving him baffled. Malone feels a slight change in the air currents coming from the side.

The thief quickly appears and attacks Malone, but Malone is quick enough to put his guard up to defend himself from the attack with his arm; leaving the thief stunned from Malone’s reactive capabilities.

Jayce and Hector look in amazement at the thief’s speed, “he’s fast!”

Thief (thinking): What the hell…?! He blocked that one too!?

Caught off guard, Malone sends another punch into the thief, knocking him back.

Right before catching himself, one of the thief’s feet ignites into flames, lighting up the area. The thief regains his footing, his fiery leg skids on the floor of scraps leaving behind a scorched trail.

[https://i.imgur.com/r4E1889.png]

The thief leaps towards Malone with his fire leg streaking through the air.

Thief (thinking): Try and defend yourself from this!

Malone places both his arms together in front of him, bracing himself against the attack. The impact of the attack bends Malone’s arms against each other like twigs that were about to snap in half. Worse than that was the scorching sensation that Malone immediately felt.

He whips away his arms, flailing them as he exclaims, “HOT!”

Malone then sensed heat coming from above his head. Before he knew it, the thief slams a flaming kick downwards against Malone’s dome, pushing his body downwards.

A sizzling mark is left on Malone’s hat. Malone’s eyes white out from the devastating attack and his body drops to the floor. His hat falls off rolling to the side.

The thief lets out a tiresome puff from his mouth.

Jayce from a distance: Ho~, so you actually beat Malone. Impressive.

Upon hearing his voice, the thief turns his attention to the other two thugs.

Jayce: And you can light your leg on fire. That’s new to me. I’ll have you know though, my man Hector here is just as strong as the guy you defeated. You better hope those weren’t your only tricks.

The thief stares blankly at them, still trying to make out what Jayce was saying as all he heard was mumbles.

Jayce signals Hector to finish the job. Without missing a beat, Hector rushes at the thief. Annoyed that he has to fight more, the thief braces himself.

[https://i.imgur.com/hMMOaYK.png]

Right as the two are about to clash, a fist crushes against Hector’s face. Hector gets sent flying straight into a scrap pile, surprising both the thief and Jayce. Both figures speechless to see a grown man’s body flying as if it was a ball being whipped through the air.

[https://i.imgur.com/GDvHaHr.png]

The assaulter is revealed to be Tatsuo who is fixing the cuffs of his sleeves, “Hey look, I found them.” Standing beside him is Darren. All eyes shift onto the two.

Jayce glares down at them while the thief remains indifferent with his expression.

Tatsuo: Care if we join too?