21:55, Marsiling Drive, 06 Jan 2075
The parking lot was now filled with police vehicles. Due to the situation regarding the Scorpions, three officers from VOID’s Roving Unit along with Kegan had been assigned to provide protection for Maxwell Singh, with three other officers taking over from the former once dawn arrives. As for the two youths, Kim Heng and Ajay, they had been handed over to officers from Major Crimes’ GSB who were currently loading the two into their vehicles. As for the Third Investigation Squad, they have converged next to their own vehicles, ready to report their individual findings.
“Someone cleared out the apartment?” Shankar asked, a look of bewilderment on his face as Zai reported to him what he, Ang and De Souza have found.
“The door was already unlocked, and when we went in, only a few furniture were left, and the whole place was completely different from how it looked when Keat Hong and his team investigated it last year. Only thing we could find that looked out of the ordinary was this,” Zai replied as he handed over a small picture frame showing three individuals, two men and one woman, smiling as they stood next to the Suntec City’s Fountain of Wealth, with the man in the middle of the other two being particularly tall and well-built.
“Looks like the guy we saw on the CCTV footage. Hai Yue, can you confirm his identity?” Shankar asked as he handed the picture frame to Hai Yue.
“Yeah, that’s Fudo’s human form. No doubt about it.”
“Then we have confirmed the suspect’s motives. What about the Scorpions’ outpost? Were they cooperative?”
“We, ah, well, one of them made a lewd comment about Hai Yue, so she used him to knock down the front doors. We ended up thrashing half their numbers before the guy in charge put a stop to the fighting,” Shawn admitted.
“You two got into a brawl, again?” Ellen asked.
“She started it!” both Shawn and Joel protested as they pointed at Hai Yue who, remorselessly grinning away, replied, “It was fun while it lasted.”
“Aren’t you going to zip up? You’re a little exposed, don’t you think?” Ellen asked Hai Yue, who looked down at her unzipped jacket before shrugging and leaving her jacket as it is.
“Anyways, those guys confirmed that the Scorpions are washing their hands off Vance. Seems like the Scorpions’ leaders are getting tired of Vance’s antics. They’ve promised not to intervene if the SPD goes after the entire Northern Branch of the Scorpions because they were initially going to deal with the problem themselves until we showed up,” Shawn continued.
“They’re turning on their own people?”
“I guess this Vance guy stepped on the wrong toes one time too many. It also seems the Scorpions are aware of the Kaneki Siblings Murder Case and that Vance and at least some of his lieutenants were the top suspects.”
“Considering that the victims were all lieutenants or top underlings from the Scorpions’ Northern Branch, I say that their guilt is more or less confirmed. It’s just the lack of evidence that made it impossible to charge them in the first place,” Shankar said with a sigh.
“But we now have witness testimony, right?” Zai asked, to which Ellen replied, “It won’t be enough. The court would want physical evidence, even if the culprit makes a personal admission of his guilt.”
“Even the video recording of the attack was not able to clearly show the faces of the assailants. They were all masked and when Keat Hong’s team did a search at the suspects’ house, they couldn’t find any of the masks either.”
“I doubt they didn’t leave anything behind to implicate them. The Zodiac Killer was never caught, but he left behind a few clues that would have led to his capture had he been careless or the right tools were at hand. But the Scorpions are not like him. They’re violent and reckless, which makes them careless. So either someone cleaned up for them, or we were not searching hard enough,” Shankar declared as he opened the door of his vehicle, “Once the GSB finish interrogating those two, we’ll round up every member of the Scorpions’ Northern Branch and see which one of them crack.”
“So, we’re heading back to office?”
“Yeah, nothing much we can do at this point, anyways… Hai Yue, is something wrong? You look restless.”
Hearing Shankar’s words, everyone turned to see Hai Yue staring into a dark patch of woodlands across their location which Shawn recognized as Marsiling Park.
“Hai Yue?”
“There’s a scent coming from that direction… Smells familiar. Could it be…”
Without warning, Hai Yue took off, running a lot faster than an average human athlete despite Shawn and Zai, two of the fastest runners on the Third Investigation Team, dashing after her.
“Drive over to that forested area over there and meet me!” Hai Yue called out to the Third Investigation Squad as she took a powerful leap that saw her clearing the entirety of the T-junction that links Woodlands Centre Road and Street 13, much to the amazement of the Third Investigation Squad…
22:07, Marsiling Park, 06 Jan 2075
It only took two leaps for Hai Yue to reach the area where she had caught the scent. Whoever it belonged to had made the mistake of standing upwind towards her location, and she could not help but find the scent familiar.
Stepping carefully and quietly as she walked down a path, the ever-alert Hai Yue caught the sound of water being disturbed and paused in her tracks, stealthily preparing an attack as she began drawing water from the air around her to form a sphere of water in her palms which then began to freeze into an ice ball. She waited for a few seconds, now aware of the presence of another individual.
The sound of a small twig breaking betrayed the location of whoever that individual was, and in one swift motion, Hai Yue had turned around and hurled the ice ball at them. Someone yelped as the sound of the ice ball shattering was heard, and Hai Yue was about to pounce when the individual came into sight which caused her to relax, but only a little as she greeted the latter by name: “Fudo.”
“Princess,” the individual, a bare-chested Asian-looking male with a scarred face and slicked-back hair, replied as he brushed off the ice fragments that were still on him, “You got me in the jaw, you know?”
“The heck are you doing here?”
“Keeping an eye out for that artist those gangsters were threatening. He saw what happened to- Never mind, it’s not important.”
“Not important? You killed six humans in a span of two nights! You’re already a wanted man in the Night-Sea and Yōkuni, and now you’re here in the Human Side biting off faces and dismembering limbs? When did you become a serial killer? How are you making things worse for yourself? What happened?”
Fudo growled as he looked away in shame
“I’m sorry, Princess, but some things have to be handled this way. I appreciate you speaking on my behalf all those years ago, but I’m afraid I have to disappoint you.”
“Has this got to do with the Kaneki siblings? What’s your relationship with them?”
Fudo looked up at Hai Yue, then he sighed.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“When my identity was exposed, I avoided the Night-Sea Patrol by using one of the Boundary Gates that brought me here. I was planning to hide in this human country for a while, then find another Boundary Gate that would take me to anywhere but the Night-Sea or Yōkuni.”
“So why didn’t you do so? Why stay here?”
“Things didn’t go as planned. I… I met Kazuya and Miharu. They knew I was an Othersider, knew I was in some kind of trouble, but they offered me a place to stay. I got a bit too close with the sister. You probably know how things went from there.”
Now it was Hai Yue who was sighing. Fudo did not need to elaborate for her to quickly piece together everything.
“You two became a couple… So it’s true, then. All these murders were out of revenge. But how did you know it was the Scorpions who did it? The human law enforcement could not even get concrete proof to put the culprits behind bars.”
“There’s a vampire elder who is part of the Singapore Sanguine Court, Aleksandër Eramuzg of the Lugat Clan-”
“The Blood Debt Resolver. No wonder he helped you. Old bloodsucker’s got a fetish for making sure evil acts are repaid with evil consequences. What did he do to help you with your vengeance?”
“Helped me track down the ones responsible, gave me the means to inflict vengeance upon those who violated and murdered my love. He had his agents lure five of the bastards who murdered Kazuya and Miharu to an isolated area where I could ambush them. Even provided me with his personal sigil so I could make sure those bastards suffer as much as possible in the few seconds I took to be rid of them.”
“That scar… You took a vampiric sigil?” Hai Yue asked, her tone slightly horrified as she witnessed the scar on Fudo’s face emit a soft, red glow, “How could you? Are you so desperate for vengeance that you leashed yourself to him?”
“No! No leash. You and I both know he won’t do anything like this. Besides, he did more for me than the human law enforcement agencies in this country did,” Fudo countered, but then his expression softened as he continued, “Perhaps, if I had not been forced to flee, I could have come to you for help, you and your siblings would have done something.”
“We would have done it even if you were a fugitive on the run! In the two years you were living in the Night-Sea, working for the Royal Family as a gate guard, when have you seen my brothers and sisters turn a blind eye towards those who have experienced great injustice? We would have pressured the human law enforcement agencies into handing the case to us, or at least work with us! We would not have allowed this kind of slaughter to take place!”
“Are you saying I should have turned to VOID? The human law enforcement that hunts our kind?”
“That’s where you’re wrong. The Violent Othersider Incidents Division may have a misleading title, but they also handle cases where the victims are Othersiders and the culprits are humans.”
“I’ve been here for almost a decade. I’ve never seen them help our kind, only prosecute.”
“Then you’re not looking hard enough. Your paranoia’s disrupted your capability to trust.”
“Ha, that’s what Miharu said as well… But it’s all too late.”
“It’s not too late. Turn yourself in. We’ll sort out the murder of your friends.”
“It’s beyond that already. When those bastards violated and murdered her, Miharu was… She was…”
Seeing the rage and grief on Fudo’s face as he struggled to get the words out, Hai Yue suddenly realized just how bad the situation was.
“You two were expecting… Oh, fuck…”
“Now you know why I cannot let go of this. They killed more than two people that night… And they must experience the pain they have inflicted upon me!”
As the scar of his face glowed again, Fudo’s skin began falling away like leaves falling from a tree as his body increased in size and muscles. A dorsal fin formed on his back as his hands turned into webbed claws and his face painfully elongated and expanded in size. Within seconds, a were-shark resembling a great white stood where Fudo was standing, an intimidating seven-foot-half with a body larger than a grizzly bear’s, complete with gills around the neck area and rows of razor-sharp teeth.
“With all due respect, your Highness, our pain comes from different sources, but as a hybrid, have you ever been put in a situation where you are absolutely helpless? A situation where no one is able or willing to aid you, that you have to resolve the situation by yourself by any means necessary?” Fudo asked.
“No, I’ve never been without a choice,” Hai Yue replied as she looked down, but then she hardened herself and faced Fudo again, “But your situation does not warrant an absolute decision. You could have approached VOID, you could have contacted me! Even if I had to arrest you in the end, I would have helped had you decided to trust us! Everything you just did had destroyed whatever defense I provided for you when Yōkuni demanded your return!”
“You speak about trust… Fine, let me ask you: Are you alone?”
“Not for long. VOID officers are approaching as we speak. Some might even be here already. They’ll shoot you if you try to attack or flee.”
“Not even trying to hide it… Fine, how about a deal? Since you insisted, and because I do owe you a great deal, I’ll make it simple. If you and this VOID can bring justice upon the ones who killed my new family based on the laws of this human country, then I shall surrender myself peacefully and without strings.”
“Are you serious? You know you’re pretty much sentenced to death already, and frankly speaking, I currently trust you less than you trust me.”
“I’ll be honest, a couple of years in a cell and a quick death does not suit the consequences of those bastards’ crimes. They violated my lover and couldn’t even give her, her brother and our unborn child the dignity of a proper death! But you were fair to me and thus, I should return the favor,” Fudo replied as he reached behind his back and pulled something out while a look of annoyance briefly flashed upon his face.
“Take this, Princess,” he said as he tossed something at Hai Yue, who caught it and discovered it to be a few pieces of his scales, “As a hybrid of a merlion and a bunian, you should know enough magic to track down my location using those. This is my token of trust to you.”
With that, Fudo turned and fled before Hai Yue could respond, causing her to dash after him only to lose him in the darkness despite her superior sense of sight. Cursing, Hai Yue switched to tracking him down via scent, eventually leaving the park where two vehicles had stopped on the road, their drivers pointing at the direction of a construction site overlooking part of the Singapore Straits, trying to reassure each other that they did see and nearly collided with a huge shark running across their paths. By the time Hai Yue reached the edge of the Straits, all she could see was a dorsal fin moving away towards Malaysia …
02:30, VOID Headquarters, Beach Road, 07 Jan 2075
“The Sultan of Johor has dispatched some of his military forces to assist the Malaysian Coast Guard in looking for Fudo, but apart from some tracks he left behind, there wasn’t much to work on,” Zai said as he put down the phone, with the whole team currently taking a break in their office along with Hai Yue.
“One thing Fudo is good at is staying in the shadows,” Hai Yue admitted as she leaned against a wall with her arms folded, the scales she got from Fudo sitting in a jar on Joel’s table.
“Hey, you doing okay?” Shawn asked, to which Hai Yue sighed.
“Yes and no. I had a feeling we were going to clash. The thing is, Fudo may have been a wanted murderer, but he was a good person. But now, after what he did, I don’t know what to think of him, even if I understood why he did it.”
“We’ll get him,” Joel replied in a reassuring tone before asking, “The only problem after that is whether we hand him over to the Night-Sea Patrol or charge him in our side of the world. I mean, he did kill someone on the Other Side, only that the victim isn’t from the Night-Sea.”
“A diplomat will be present during the sentencing. We will then ask if they wish for the prisoner to be transported back to their kingdom.”
“I’m more intrigued by why he referred to you as ‘Princess’ and ‘hybrid’. You two have history?” Shawn asked, to which Hai Yue shook her head.
“How did you even hear what we were talking about?”
“Joel and I reached Marsiling Park and were looking for you. We didn’t catch much of the conversation since you two took off when we were about to greet you both…”
“Well, now that the cat’s out of the bag, I might as well come clean about this,” Shankar said as he cleared his throat, “Marshal Hai Yue is not just an ordinary marshal of the Night-Sea Patrol, she is also the Ninth Princess of the Night-Sea Royal Family.”
“What the fuck?” Shawn exclaimed.
“You’re royalty? And here we were, treating you like a normal Othersider…”
“Now I get why the other Marshals are so wary around you. No one would dare to offend the daughter of their king…”
“Guys, guys, chill. I may be of royal status, but I’m not of royal blood. I’m adopted,” Hai Yue quickly explained as she motioned for the Third Investigation Squad to calm down, “It’s like what Fudo called me. I’m a hybrid.”
“What do you mean by ‘hybrid’?”
“Othersider genetics work differently from humans. A female elf can marry a male orc but her children will all be elves. Get what I mean?”
“So interspecies relationship doesn’t produce mixed kids on the Other Side?” Zai asked.
“It does happen, except it’s very rare. For every child born from an interspecies couple, one or two out of five hundred would have the misfortune of being a hybrid. On the Other Side, hybrids are seen as dangerous and unnatural, not to mention that they cannot assume what is known as a ‘True Form’, thus they are discriminated against. In my case, one of my parents was an orang bunian and the other a merlion. I was abandoned in a basket placed outside the Royal Palace when the guards found me, or so I was told. The King of the Night-Sea is a kind man, and his wife has a soft spot for ‘underdogs’ as she calls it, hence I was adopted into royalty and became, well, a princess.”
“Shit, this sounds so wrong. And I thought Other Side society was better than what happens on this side of the world,” Shawn muttered angrily.
“There’s always a part of society that’s permanently screwed up, Shawn,” Shankar replied.
“Well, never mind my royal and social status. Do you think we should start tracking Fudo? I do know a spell that will show me his location,” Hai Yue asked, but then Ellen, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly raised her hand, saying, “Actually, I just had a thought, if you guys would indulge me…”