Square Zero

"I suggest you give up. It's impossible." A gray-haired man with a wise face placed some documents on top of a table. In front of him was the delegate of the city police station.

They were in a cafe downtown, in a far corner, as the conversation were more personal.

"How am I going to give this up? Do you think I'm an idiot?" The delegate gave an angry huff and looked away from the window. There were people passing, coming and going in the busy downtown.

Some mothers carried their children in their arms and some were holding hands while showing interesting things to them. That was enough for her to feel emotional, but she threw it to the back of her mind as she looked back at the investigator.

"I'm telling you to give it up....this person is...dangerous." The investigator seemed to have some experience of the world and sighed as he noticed the insistence on his longtime friend's face.

"You know very well who I'm looking for. And you know very well how desperate I am for that." She looked deep into the investigator's eyes. His name was Marco.

He seemed to have given up and said after sighing: "They're not the same person, I can tell you that. There are many reasons, but I'll give you two. The first reason would be that if it really is the person you're looking for, and all that blood is his, then it's very likely he was killed." He then tossed yet another compact document to the delegate. When she opened it, she saw all the information about the men found dead in the small house.

"They were a group of kidnappers who had contacts with a guy named Carlos, recently killed. He seemed to have some weird fetishes and hobbies, and one of them was torture. The "supporters" his father bought opened their mouths after he died in a fire at a clothing store called "Belle Tenue". If you connect the dots, you can tell that the victim was tortured and Carlos probably disappeared with the body." Investigator Marco's words were spoken with consistency and certainty, almost as if he had witnessed it. You could tell from the amount of information in the files and his eloquent speech that he was a great seasoned professional.

"Are you saying that my son died?" Holding back tears, not wanting to believe the facts that were being exposed, the delegate held back to not get out of control.

"I said there are two reasons. This person..." He threw a document with some information and a photo from the front of a handsome and healthy young man. "He has exactly the same genetic information..."

Clutching the document as if it were her hope, the woman had abandoned her cold delegate role and was looking at the photo, wanting to associate this handsome boy with that thin, pale child from her memories.

"Don't be in a hurry to get your hopes up. This boy is perfectly healthy, and there is no record of him in any hospital with serious injuries and severed fingers. But want to know something interesting? I only got this information because this boy "saved" Carlos from the store fire. Any other information on him is confidential and unobtainable…you know what that means, Diana?" The investigator looked back at her.

"Square zero..." Something seemed to have broken inside Diana's chest.

"My work is done. Disregard any payment. I miss that smart brat too. It's a shame what happened..." Marco got up and left the bill money on the table. As he passed Diana, he squeezed her shoulder in sympathy and empathy. "Have hope... miracles are always happening!"

Putting on his cap, he walked away, leaving the delegate behind.

Sitting with her own thoughts, Diana wiped a tear drop that ran down her cheek. She took all the files, as well as the boy's information. Looking at his face, she felt a new determination. Marco's sentence was an incentive for her to go it alone, since he couldn't do anything else.

"I'll go to hell for you if I have to!"

***

"How many favors? I have the slight impression that it's 20 or 30..." Arthur said with a smile as he crossed the finish line again.

"Shut up! You only won 15 out of 30! It's only because we always bet everything." Magikeen spoke resentfully on the other end of the call. She didn't look anything like the cold exterior she always showed off to others.

Over the past month, Arthur and she had competed several times in the street race, bringing the two closer together. Arthur was always beating her with some demonic skill he had in driving, which was quickly developed in this last period of time. As for her, her victory was due to having illegally faster cars and final nitro sprints. She was a great driver, but Arthur really was some kind of mad genius.

"I won't be able to run anymore for now. The police may have given up for now, but they're up to something big. Let's take a break!" She spoke into the phone as she rested in the parked car.

"It hurts me so much that you ask me for a break. I'm going to miss beating you so much again and again..." Arthur also parked his car and sat on the hood. "Come here!" He called Magikeen.

"I don't have to!" She pouted under her mask. She was looking into Arthur's bright green eyes, which held some charm that she was trying to keep from falling.

"I'm not forcing you. It's a favor..." He cracked a smile.

"Hmmph! Bastard!" Even though those were her words, she had already opened the Supra's door. It was a habit of the two of them to compete using her jdm's and Arthur's muscle.

"Come!" Arthur called with his index and middle fingers.

"I'm on my way! What's the rush?" Wearing clothes that made her body sexy but not vulgar, Magikeen unintentionally paraded for Arthur. Wearing her usual mask and cap, she looked extraordinary.

"Open your mouth..." Arthur pulled her mask down, revealing that perfect pink mouth.

Cheeks flushed, she obeyed him and opened her mouth, with him lifting her chin. She seemed to be used to it. Soon, a straw touched her mouth as Arthur pushed it and she closed her mouth again, starting to suck.

"Chocolate, your favorite!" Arthur handed her the milkshake and pulled some cheddar and bacon french fries from behind his back. He also grabbed a hamburger and started eating. It was already a habit since the 15th race to stop at the end to eat.

"Why do you always make it look so naughty?" Magikeen now looked like an indignant and embarrassed little girl as she pinched Arthur's abdomen.

"Because I like to see you like this!" He pinched her still flushed cheeks. Arthur's favors were always like this, containing a hint of perversion in something that should have been simple.

"Goofy!" Magikeen turned to bite his finger suddenly. It felt like every night was the same, and she'd already lost the shame of many things she didn't dare do before.

"My dear Keen, would you please stop biting my finger?" Not caring too much, he asked her. His body was much stronger than an iron plate, so the bite didn't hurt at all. He was actually enjoying the view.

"Athena. My name is Athena..." She stopped biting and then leaned beside him in the car.

"The Goddess of Wisdom and War... Is your story like hers?" He asked looking up at the stars.

"Of injustice, loneliness and a few other sad things with rare episodes of happiness?" She gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"No, I'm asking if you were born from your father's head... Ouch, no need to hit me." Arthur felt a slap on his arm, but it wasn't even that heavy.

Magikeen, or rather Athena, had already spit out the milkshalke and couldn't stop laughing. Her body slumped onto Arthur's side as he held her so she wouldn't fall. She spent at least 1 minute laughing like a melody before stopping.

"Okay, I have to go home. A woman is waiting for me!" Beating his chest bravely, Arthur announced loudly.

Athena looked at him with cold eyes that were chilling, and her pretty, cute, smiling appearance was gone.

"Come on, it's not like you don't know who I'm talking about. You investigate my life and I know it, eavesdropper!" Arthur wasn't afraid and pinched her cheeks again.

"You're not a gentleman at all! Hmmph!" Magikeen took one last bite before leaving, taking the milkshake. She got into the car without saying goodbye, leaving Arthur alone.

With a smile, he watched her walk away. Only after eating everything did he get in the car and drive away.

***

In a cozy modern office built over the last month, Arthur sat in the comfortable leather chair while looking at Amanda. She had just arrived from her mission in Recife.

"She left the country, and her location is currently unknown. But she's still alive, that's for sure! About the criminal organization information, here it is!" Amanda had already gotten used to the news of her wife's disappearance, but her hopes still haven't died.

She had been communicating all month with Arthur, and he had been a great help to that. In addition to being a leader, he was now her emotional anchor, and she didn't even notice that her admiration for him had increased so much.

"Animals? Is this some musical show here? Who are the leaders? Maroon 5?" Arthur couldn't resist making a ridiculous comment about this group. Amanda laughed too, but tried to control herself.

Basically, according to this information, this organization is formed by different criminal factions. There were 4 leaders in total, commanding different areas of crime throughout Northeast Brazil. They prevented the influence of other outside organizations from entering here. Thanks to that, they had a monopoly on the underworld filled with clandestine struggles, drugs and prostitution.

The Eagle. Runs underground fight clubs and commissioned assassinations all over the place. If something involving violence makes money, then they're into it somehow. They also control some of the pharmaceutical doping market, but very little.

That's because there is another leader in the organization named Spider, with whom Eagle is constantly in conflict. He commands the general trafficking market, which involves organs, drugs and illegal medicines, and can even reach human trafficking outside the country. It was mostly women and children whose husbands were killed for getting involved in this criminal world.

There he is in cahoots with another leading member, self-proclaimed Cobra*. Involved with clubs and nightclubs, as well as prostitution in general. Most of the women obtained by Spider end up in that leader's houses of prostitution.

The last and what seems to be the least important is a member called Raven, the one who passes information. He's practically got eyes everywhere and knows a lot of things. He's also a Level-B mercenary, but it's been years since the test, almost ten years. His strength is now a secret, just like every other member's.

"If the guild knows all this, why doesn't it take care of cleaning them up?" Arthur finished reading the data, amazed at Amanda's work. He asked her as he threw the documents on the table.

"There is no profit like that. The world needs a balance, and if someone takes care of all the bad, then the good starts to lose its meaning. Also, if no one asked or if asked, couldn't eliminate them, then what can the Guild do? Peace does not come without power!" Amanda had already more or less understood how the Guild worked and told Arthur.

He felt a bit disgusted by the Guild, more specifically for the selfish motives of an organization created by the "Owners of Peace".

"Go rest, you must be exhausted." Arthur dismissed Amanda.

"I'm not. I have more news, during this time I was there, I managed to establish an information network. If you have any future projects there, it would be easier to move." Amanda was clearly excited and wanted to show her performance to him.

"Scatter them. I don't want to leave a trail to be followed, even if you managed to make it safe. If there are people involved, fire them and then I'll ask Thomas to erase the data. Thanks for that anyway! It reminded me of doing a similar project. You are very smart!" Arthur thought more about the future and saw that it would do more harm than good to leave such a trail behind. Also, relying on Thomas' skills, Arthur already knew more or less what to do to establish an information network.

Amanda felt a little sad at the first few sentences, but then her eyes gleamed with Arthur's cunning. It really made sense, and she might have thought of it if she hadn't been trying to impress him. A happiness that far surpassed the sadness appeared with his praise.

"Like I said, go rest, it's late. Your room must be missing you!" Arthur ruffled her hair before leaving.

***

"Aaah, finally, after so long of training..." Sitting in a completely renovated training area, Arthur sat down on a metal platform.

Entering a meditative state almost immediately, a smile broke out on his face as he saw the change in his trained body for a month.

___

Author Note: I thought the name was much better than the other. Not to mention having too many enemies with the same codename is annoying. The delay today is because I went to play basketball and I hadn't translated the chapter yet. The next chapter will be out in a few minutes!

Good Reading!