Nero ripped the door open, letting it slam against the door stop with a thud. He looked around, first spotting Don with a broom in his hand, knelt down on the floor.

"You're home early," Don said.

"Where's Fetter?"

"He's in the bathroom. He should be out in a minute. Did you need him for something?"

Nero went up to the bathroom door, still keeping his rapid pace. He banged on it, much more roughly than he normally would.

"I'm in here!" he heard yell back to him.

"Fetter! I need to talk to you!"

"Wait till I'm done taking a shit!"

"Hurry up! It's important!"

The toilet flushed on the other side, followed by the noise of the sink running.

Nero grabbed onto the knob. "I'm coming in." He pushed open the door, smacking it against Fetter as he washed his hands.

"Can't you wait five damn seconds?"

"My friend was kidnapped at school." Nero's face was dead serious despite how he was rapidly panting, trying to catch his breath.

"What?" Fetter looked back, confused, as he wiped his hands.

"I need your help. My friend was kidnapped."

"That's nearly impossible. No one would be that stupid. It's the campus."

"It happened! I need your help."

Don set a hand on Nero's shoulder, his claws slightly jabbing him as Nero spun around. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-" Don started.

"Fetter. You have to help me," Nero demanded.

"I wouldn't even know to start looking. You should just wait for the IMB to take care of it." He threw the hand towel onto sink, turning away.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"And you want me to do something now? Do you understand what you are asking? I'm not saying no. I'm just saying to consider it." As Fetter talked, Don put a warm glow over Nero's shoulder and backed away sheepishly.

"Yes. I need your help. I can't do this alone."

Fetter stared back at him, right into his serious eyes. "Fine. I'll figure something out. Give me your phone. I need to call someone."

"Here." Nero pulled it out of his pocket, holding it out towards him.

Fetter plucked the phone from his fingers, and turned towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Nero asked, grabbing onto his arm.

"To call in a favor. I'd rather talk in private, you know?"

Nero let go. "Ah... Sorry."

Fetter left the room, stepping outside. The sun was still high in the sky, not yet hidden behind the concrete towers. The street below was full of small crowds shuffling about. He leaned over onto the black rails, looking out at the reflections from the windows around him. It was a kaleidoscope of white, blue, and orange. The reflections broke away into advertisements, moving across the glassy windows to showcase their product to whoever happened to be looking up at the buildings. Fetter pulled open the phone, looking down at the number pad, waiting for him to be ready. He let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry Grant."

He typed in the number, and then held up the phone to his head as it rang.

"Hello? Yes. I've got a favor to call in."

***

"It's really you? What do you need? Do you need me to send some money? Sorry I'm at work." Grant looked around cautiously, eyeing his coworkers. One of them glanced back at him with a look of confusion.

"I need some information on a case," Fetter said over the phone.

"Which one?" Grant clicked on the mouse on desk a couple times, bringing his screen flashing awake.

"The kidnapping from the university today."

"I'm not on that case. I'm still on a murder from over in District 5. I'm not sure who's on it."

"Well, what do you know about it?"

"We were shocked when the call came in. It's odd that this would happen. I'm surprised the security team at the university didn't catch on."

"Can you find out who's on the case and ask them what's been found so far? There must be dozens of cameras, and the mayor council should authorize satellite usage for this."

"I know. It's likely they'll send in an enforcement team on this one." Grant glanced over his cubicle, right at the closed blinds of the chief's office. "I'll go see what information I can get. I'll call you back."

"Fine."

Grant hung up the phone, slipping it back into his pocket. He stood up, towering above the walls of the cubicles. He could see down into the ones around him, right at his coworkers sitting idly by, or clicking on their screens. He stepped around his chair awkwardly, pushing it back in behind him as he got out of his cubicle. He went up to the chief's office, knocking lightly.

"Come in!" he heard from the other side.

He gently opened the door, sliding in as he shut it behind him.

"What is it Johnson? Did you find something on your case?" Jessica Sharp looked up at him, looking up from her narrow rectangle glasses.

"I think my case might be connected to the abduction today."

"Really? What makes you think that." She leaned back into her chair.

"There were signs at the scene of a fourth person, unrelated to the fighting. As I told you before, there were two assailants and the victim."

"I'm listening." She put her feet up onto her desk, crossing her arms in front of her.

"So the satellite imagery of the scene showed a newly built structure next to the scene."

"As you've said in your reports."

"So it's clear from the dates that there is no way this section could have been constructed normally. It was placed here by someone's power. This power, however, is inconsistent with the markings left by the altercation involving the victim. Since it would require an ability to reform concrete, and that wouldn't leave gashes in concrete like we saw at the crime scene."

"So you think there was another person. Any chance this could have been the third person instead? The one with the gun?"

"I don't think they would be using a gun if they had a power strong enough to do create a wall and roof there, as well that the structure was made days prior to the crime."

"So how does this relate to the incident at the university?"

"Well, it's potentially another kidnapping, since only the victim was at the scene, and there isn't evidence of another struggle."

"And how does that relate?"

"Excuse me?"

"How does that relate? You're one of our best detectives. I'm certain you understand that that's not enough to link the cases together. It certainly might, but even I can see some big differences. Agent Phillips already made a potential power involvement report, and it includes a teleportation ability user, so this is a high profile case on two accords. This murder only has two kinetic users and one unknown, and possibly this fourth one. How does this relate?"

"I see. I figured that maybe it would be good to point out the potential link in case more evidence comes up in the other case."

"Agent Johnson. I'm sure you are aware that you cannot start working on this until your case is closed. I understand it's high profile, but you can trust Agent Phillips. His record is almost as impressive as yours."

"I understand. I'll take my leave now."

"Before you do. Has Fetter Young tried to contact you again?"

Grant paused, looking down in thought. "No ma'am. I'll be sure to let you know if he does. I value my position here, after all." He slipped back out of the door, softly shutting it. Once it was closed, he let out a deep sigh.

He looked around the office, trying to catch glimpse of a familiar face. Agent Phillips was sitting at his desk, with the top of his messy brown hair poking up over the cubicle. Grant went over, staring down at him. A long beige trench coat hung from his chair, while he wore matching beige slacks and a white dress shirt. His black tie hung loose, and a dark brown fedora sat on top of a stack of papers next to him. His sharp jawline was covered in a five o'clock shadow, with a unlit cigarette poking out from his lips.

"Need somethin' Johnson?" he asked, carefully gripping the cigarette with the corner of his mouth.

"I heard you are on the university case."

"And?"

"I was just thinking, it's a really high profile case and all..."

"I don't work with people. You know that. Can't have people getting in the way of my power."

"Come on Phillips. I'm not here to get in your way. I was just wondering if you could tell me about the case. Maybe I could give you a few pointers."

"I don't care if you've got a higher solve rate or whatever the hell she says it is this week. I don't need pointers from you."

"Maybe you can just bounce ideas off of me."

"I'll tell you if it'll make you leave me alone. Coming here is already the worst part of my job. I don't want to listen to your sob story any more."

"It's like you can read my mind."

"Funny. Listen closely. I'm not repeating myself."

***

Fetter looked out across the glistening sunset reflected hundreds of times around him. The actual sun itself was nowhere to be seen, just the hazy panels, like a million paintings coming together to make a single image of the sun staining the thick clouds. The crowds of people below had thinned, and their noise had changed from a constant buzz to a mere drone.

Nero's phone rang in his hand. He snapped it up to his head almost immediately.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I have the information you asked for."

"Well?"

"The student that got kidnapped was one Maria Watanabe, from District 12. She apparently stopped the abduction of a different student that was the actual target. One Nero Satou."

"Goddammit."

"Is there a problem?"

"No. Carry on. It's fine."

"So they did indeed get permission for active satellite imaging of the island, and they found a match to the guy responsible."

"Already?"

"I gave them some pointers on where to look, after watching the recording from the incident."

"Why hasn't he been caught yet?"

"He's in an old hydroponic tower in District 13."

"13? Fucking hell. Have the mayors approved an extraction mission?"

"Not yet. The proposal is still being drafted."

"Was the girl there?"

"We couldn't tell."

"Do you have an address?"

"You should hold off on doing anything. We don't know the specifics yet."

"Just give me the address."

Fetter nodded his head as he turned back towards the door. He slid the phone into the pocket of his olive green jacket, before proudly shoving the door wide open in front of him. Nero immediately jumped up from his seat on the bed, staring at him with expectant eyes.

"I have a lead," Fetter said.

"When do we leave?" Nero asked, clamoring over to his shoes.

Don sat up, having been sprawled out on the floor. "This doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Please Fetter. I have to go." Nero's eyes were stern.

Fetter looked from Don to Nero. "You're right Don, but we leave as soon as you are ready Nero."

Nero frantically shoved his feet into his shoes, trying to pull them around his heels.

"No!" Don stood up, with anger spreading across his face.

"I have to Don," said Fetter, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Why? I'm sure the IMB is already on it. There's no reason for you two to go!"

"Sometimes a man just has to do things. Even if they are unreasonable. Even if they make no sense. Especially if they make no sense. Let's go. Watch the fort, Don." Fetter left through the wide open door with Nero trailing behind him. Don could only stand there as Nero awkwardly shut the door between them.

"How do we get there?" Nero asked, heading down the stairs as Fetter stared up at the sky.

"We fly."

Fetter grabbed Nero by the arm, letting a pale green light envelop them both. The sensation was unique to Nero, as his feet lifted off the ground against his will. He kicked downward, trying to plant his feet, but only managed to spin himself around midair.

"Stop that," Fetter said. "I need to focus to get both of us going."

A flash of green light appeared under Fetter's foot, and he kicked off, sending him flying upward. Nero flew up along with him, feeling the wind rush past him as they easily cleared the tops of the skyscrapers. With another flash of green light, Fetter repeated this process, climbing higher and higher, until they were right under the clouds.

"Oh my god it's cold. It's so cold." Nero said, shivering. He tried to curl his arms around him, wrestling himself around in Fetter's grip.

"Stop moving unless you want me to drop you! It's not even below zero. I'll even drop back down a bit for you."

Nero stopped, with only his teeth left chattering as he shivered. Fetter turned around midair, before kicking downward, sending them both plummeting downward. Nero tried to say something, but he couldn't even hear himself over the wind. After a ways, their bouyancy caught them, slowing their fall.

"That windchill is terrible. I feel like I'm going to freeze," Nero complained.

"Deal with it. It'll only take me a few minutes to get across the city." He kicked off again, dragging Nero behind him.