A Ruined Manor

Near a small manor, a man walked toward the gate with a few boxes in hand. The gate was left ajar as was the front door. He struggled a bit under the weight of the boxes as he walked forward with his speed no more than that of a tortoise. As he approached, he suddenly developed a cold sweat and quickly staggered back. He dropped the boxes and looked around.

"What the hell. Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen? What is this feeling of dread?" he said as he scanned his vicinity once more but there was nothing to be seen. Just the howling of the wind could be heard. He shrugged and picked up the boxes again but as soon as he took a step, he was blown back by a powerful shockwave one the was produced by an explosion.

The boxes were scattered and he was sent rolling on the floor. He lifted his soured body felt the ground while clenching his teeth to fight back the pain. He stared towards the manor which had now become nothing but burning rubble. He quickly contacted the emergency service but they arrive too late. When they came, they only thing they found was ash and a few burning walls.

He gave a statement to the police who arrived later and left with the few boxes he came with. "Akira who did you offend?" Rochester whispered solemnly as he made his way towards his car. In one of the police cars, a woman sat at the back peering out towards the burning ruin. She looked really stunning in her uniform. She was so beautiful she could cause a traffic by just walking along a road. A young man appeared near the window and said "Captain, you are needed on the site"

"Okay, let's go. Lead the way" Captain Rebecca said and followed the man towards the burnt manor.

In an office in the prime minister's residence, a masked assailant came out of the shadows and bowed before the prime minister who is behind his desk. "It is done sir" The masked man seriously said.

"Good. You can leave I will handle the rest" The prime minister said as he looked out a window towards the city.

"Sir, might I ask what about his friend Rochester? If he is still around after Akira is released, he taking him in might ruin your plans"

"You take care of it"

"Yes" The man bowed and slowly retreated.

The prime minister took out a picture of a fiery orange haired man with an x scar on his right cheek and a ring on his finger. He then pulled out a small box and opened it to reveal a small gold and red ring. Looking closely, one would realise the ring in the box was identical to the one on the fiery orange haired man's finger. The ring was very pretty and looked like a curled phoenix. It gave one the feeling that it could take off and fly at any moment.

The prime minister pulled out a tiny piece of paper from beneath the ring and opened it up. There was an inscription on it which read "To Phoenix Clan's last royal". The prime minister smiled and said "My task here is almost complete. The rest will be up to you Leycad Phoenix".

In his office, the president was going through a script, preparing to give a speech on the recent happenings involving Akira. A few minutes swiftly went by and the everyone was ready to roll. With the Camera set, he sat up and looked towards it. The camera man raised his fingers and began a countdown which signalled the president to get ready to speak. After the countdown was done, the camera rolled and the president began his speech.

"Greeting to all in Camcot and beyond. I wished my speech tonight was one to be made under good circumstances however our wishes do not always come to pass. It saddened me to learn that one of our own Mr Ashikaga Akira has been convicted of crimes no one would have ever thought he would commit."

"With the incident going on, special investigations have been conducted and the result of those investigations were one's I hope not to come true…"

Across all of Camcot, many people have tunned in to listen to the speech being delivered. From the City Hall to the city square many had their eyes glued to a screen while others perked their ears to radios. Many agree with his words whiles others were indecisive.

By the time he was done with his speech, Akira's reputation that was hanging on by a thread snapped. He was no longer the respected Akira rather; his name was associated to that of the worst of criminals. Though very few people suspected foul play, their number could be counted on one hand. For the others, it wasn't the first time a righteous person in Camcot turned into a demon so they didn't think much about it. To them he was just a wolf in sheep skin waiting to devour.

Among those who suspected foul play was Rochester. Rochester had just stepped out of Yesana Labs when he met someone he hadn't expected to. It was a pretty police officer who seemed to be waiting for him near his car. The woman approached and he looked at her suspiciously and asked "I'm I in some kind of trouble?"

"No, you are not. I was just hoping you could help me answer a few questions concerning Akira" she said seriously. She paused for a moment and said "There are too many eyes here. Why don't we go to some place safer?"

He remained motionless for some time before nodding in agreement. They drove around town for a while before stopping in a secluded space. He turned to her and asked "You are Captain Rebecca of the CCPD right?"

"Yes. Since you were the last person at Akira's residence…" She spoke straight forward without beating about the bush but Rochester cut her off saying "Sorry ma'am but I already gave a statement concerning that and seeing that I am not at the police station must mean you have something else to say than that so please cut to the chase"

She was not offended by the way he spoke. Rather she smiled and said "You are Akira's friend, right?"

"So what if I am?"

"It means you know him more than anyone else in this city and that means you know that whatever is going on now is just bullshit." Seeing that he didn't say anything, she continued "I need your help to expose whatever is happening behind the scenes in these incidents. The people of this city see it as normal because things like this have happened numerous times but you know the full truth about Akira so help me uncover this whole mystery"

Rochester receded into thought for some time and said "Captain I get that you are trying to help but whoever orchestrated this would certainly not sit around and watch you do as you please. If they can do this, then what stops them from covering up whatever you dig and getting rid of you?"

"Fair point but not if they cannot find who did it. If we just put it out there, they would silence us and cover it up but if we release it in a community where they don't have jurisdiction to do as they please, then they can neither find us nor take it down"

Rochester looked at her as if he was seeing a ghost. Obviously as a police officer, no less a captain what she was suggesting was pretty balsy.