The Intruder

At the Special Force Division commonly known as SFD, one of the divisions of the Department of Protection and Security (DPS) in Bionic, an officer received an intruder alert coming from one of the security droids.

Although the DPS headquarters was severely affected by Caleb's infiltration in the NTC that resulted in an abnormal state of electric power distribution, it does not affect their operational status thanks to the backup power produced by the backup generators of the DPS facility.

"Sir! I found him!" an officer shouted.

Rexford Symmachus, the presiding leader of Bionic, also the head of DPS, immediately approached the officer.

"Is that the one from Roid City?" Rexford asked.

"Affirmative! Should I call Mr. Richard to inform him about this, Sir?" the officer asked.

"And why would you do that?" Rexford groaned. "I'm currently Bionic's leader and head of DPS, why would you inform someone who no longer has authority? Perhaps, you're mocking me?"

"I apologize for what I have said, Sir!"

They were cut off from their conversation by a beeping sound produced by the computer.

"Sir, SD-216 is currently chasing the intruder at Sector D— no, the intruder had reached Sector B. Sir, what's your command?"

"Give me visuals."

The officer accessed SD-216 and then its visuals were projected at the main monitor. They saw a boy who was being chased by the Security Droid.

"SD-216, don't lose him," Rexford ordered.

They observed the chase, particularly the boy.

"How did he fried the circuits of the droids there?" Rexford mumbled as he rewinds the CCTV footage captured from the interrogation room at Watchtower 2.

"Deploy more security droid and intercept him at the City Gate at Sector B. Don't let him escape," he demanded.

SD-216 didn't lose its sight of the boy. The security droid kept chasing the said intruder as he continues to flee away.

"Sir, SD-213, SD-214, and SD-215 have been deployed and now in pursuit. Security Drones are now having visuals with the intruder. SDr-200, SDr-209, and SDr-211 joined the pursuit," the officer reported.

"Don't you ever let this kid escaped," Rexford demanded.

As the chase continued, Rexford called his assistant, Yna.

"Ms. Yna, call Mr. Greffin and tell him to come here this instant," Rexford demanded.

"Yes, Sir!" Yna replied.

As his assistant made a call, Rexford returns his attention to the officer-in-charge sitting in front of him.

"Officer Heugo, why is it you're having a hard time capturing that kid? Use any means to get that kid! I permit you to use anything!" he compelled. "If you can't capture that kid in five minutes, you are fired."

Heugo was sweating heavily out of fear of losing his job. He didn't waste any time and sent out an order after receiving the clearance.

"Security Droid and Security Drones in pursuit of the intruder at Sector B, you are clear to engage."

With that command, the chasing droids and drones activated their tranquilizers to shoot the intruder and capture him. It didn't take long for the tranquilizers to hit the kid which immobilized him.

Heugo heaves a sigh of relief as he announced the captivity, "The intruder has been captured! All droids and drones in pursuit, return to your post."

"Good job, Officer Heugo. I won't tolerate such performance next time," Rexford warned. "Have that kid in custody and interrogate that brat and make him spill the beans. Use force if necessary! Notify my assistant if you find something," Rexford instructed as he left the room.

A moment later, Cypher Greffin entered the room.

"I was summoned by Mr. Symmachus. Where is he?" Cypher announced.

"Cypher!" Heugo called out as he runs towards him. "Cypher, I thought I was gonna die!"

"What are you talking about? What happened to you, by the way, you look like you were chased by an angry mob?" Cypher asked.

"You have no idea how scary it was for me!" Heugo cried out. "I thought Mr. Symmachus would eat me alive."

"Tell, me what happened?"

"Well, earlier, we found the boy who sneaked into the empire. We couldn't believe it either but we have a hunch that the boy is connected to a terrorist group."

"Yeah, I do hear that it was a boy who caused that incident. Do you know who that boy is? How old is this boy anyway?" Cypher inquired.

"We aren't sure about his identity but we estimated he's somewhere between 12 to 15 years old," Heugo replied. "Have you inspected the watchtower?"

"Yeah, I was there a moment ago after receiving the dispatch signal. I still have no clues. I am currently studying the incident and I've heard SFD recovered a clip from a CCTV camera."

"Yeah, I was tasked to give you a copy of it. It is a very odd clip coming from the interrogation room," Heugo went back to his post and showed Cypher the clip.

"As you can see, after RD-146 guided the boy inside the interrogation room, the boy showed an unusual behavior where he looks like he's suffering from something and collapses on the floor trying to exit the room. After he drops on the floor, the video was interrupted and then it returned to normal, seconds later. As the video returned, he is seen unharmed and well even though the whole interrogation room is destroyed like something had exploded inside. He looks alright while the people outside were all immobilized. We believe that he is carrying a device that has the potential to immobilize its surrounding. Roaming Droids seems like his sole target because all of the Roaming Droids were taken down after their circuits got fried up," Heugo elucidated.

Cypher remained his sight to the screen as it replays the clip. There are a lot of possibilities of what might be the boy's intention but there is still that possibility that it was all mere coincidence.

"I don't think he's the one responsible for this," Cypher suggested.

"Wait, why are you protecting him? I thought you were the greatest investigative agent SFD has? Is our agent Greffin's amazing skills are getting rusty?"

"I'm accounting for all possible reasons even if it's hypothetical. He's a kid, whether he's guilty or not, he might have a reason why he's here. If he is really guilty, what if he was forced because his family is in danger? And there is still that possibility where it is all just a coincidence?" Cypher reasoned out. "Issues like this aren't rare when you lose power. The AP Turret 4 was an EMP Turret when we lost power. It failed to return to its standby mode and is stuck as an EMP Turret. There might be some kind of effects if the AP Turrets doesn't return to its former form. Considering it's an Electromagnetic Pulse Turret, there is that possibility that it's all just a coincidence."

"Welp, whatever it is, it's now up to you to know. It's your job to do so. So, good luck my friend," Heugo said.

As an investigator, he must be neutral and not rush to conclusions. Discovering the truth requires time and patience. However, there is still one thing bugging him.

"How did he know that there will be an incoming burst of EMP?" Cypher mumbled.

Reacting before an incident happened is a very suspicious act. With that, being part of a terrorist group is still up. It will take a very long time to erase that status. Cypher let out a sigh as he tried to figure things out.

"Heugo, I'm going out," he informed. "Call me when that kid wakes up."

A day later, the boy was sent to the interrogation room and sat in there as Cypher waited for Mr. Symmachus to arrive on the spot. It didn't take a while for him to arrive. As he barged in, Mr. Symmachus started giving instructions to Cypher.

"Agent Greffin, make sure that kid spills everything!" Mr. Symmachus demanded. "If Stellar is the one behind this, I won't overlook this!"

"Sir, we shouldn't jump to conclusions," Cypher cautioned. "If we rush to conclusions, we might weaken our relationship with Stellar. As for now, we still got nothing. He was asked for his background earlier, however, we only got his name, Izac. Let me handle the boy for the time being and I'll make sure I'll find out what really happened. If that boy was responsible for that incident, we'll punish him with due process."

Mr. Symmachus seemed unconvinced yet he remained dormant and let Cypher do his job.

"Tsk! Do whatever you want but if you messed up, you know what will happen!" Mr. Symmachus threatened.

Mr. Symmachus then left the room as his assistant followed him.

"Alright, it's time to have a little chat with the kid," Cypher mumbled as he took his pen and paper and went inside the room with the boy.

Cypher takes a sit and observes the boy. The boy seems nervous, terrified, and shivering.

"I am agent Cypher Greffin, an SFD agent. You're here at the Special Force Division. I am here to ask questions," he introduced.

The boy didn't even look at him and remain bowing his head. He looks terrified of something.

"Are you afraid?"

The boy remained silent.

"Izac, that's your name, right? May I ask you some questions?"

"Is this about what happened to that place?"

"You mean the Watchtower 2 incident? This is what it is all about. Can you tell me exactly what happened there?"

Izac was trembling in fear as he remained his head down. Izac was silent not until he looks at him directly in the eyes. Cypher was speechless by the peculiarity of Izac's eyes.

"I didn't mean to hurt people! I didn't want them to be harmed. I hate this world but not to the point where innocent people got hurt. I don't really understand what's happening to me but I must keep going for the sake of everyone," Izac replied.

"Hm…I don't really get what you are trying to imply here, Izac, yet I still don't understand how you made that whole situation. Can you tell me in detail? Tell me everything from the start."

Cypher noticed the sudden clench of Izac's fist. He looks at the boy again and he thinks that something horrible had happened to him. Showing a complete expression of fear and dismay is a shred of clear evidence that Izac had suffered.

"Izac, were you forced to do this deed?" Cypher inquired with a strong intuitive feeling.

"Whether I like it or not, I must keep going."

With that reply, it is now confirmed that this boy is guilty of forced terrorism. However, it is still not clear who is behind this and what kind of device he used to destroy the droids in a blink of an eye.

"Izac, if you cooperate with us, there is a chance that your sentence will be lighter. If you tell us who is behind this and what device you used to eliminate the Roaming Droids at Roid City, I will assure you that I'll help you during your trial," Cypher proposed.

Izac looks at Cypher again. He looks hesitating yet confused.

"Officer, I want to be honest with you. I do not know what exactly you want, if you just want me to become your slave I'll accept. I'll follow everything you say just please, don't hurt me! I can't take it anymore!" Izac begged.

Cypher was surprised by what Izac had uttered.

Slavery? Did this boy suffer from slavery? Cypher hunched.

"Izac, are you a victim of slavery?"

Izac clenched his fist even tighter. He is shrinking in terror as he nodded yes.

"Rest assured, Izac. Bionic doesn't tolerate slavery. It is punishable by law. We'll help you find justice but please, cooperate with us and help us find those people behind the Watchtower 2 incident," he said.

"Even if I cooperate with you, you won't find anything because I do not have any companion. And, Sir, I didn't come here to threaten the lives of people who live here," Izac explained.

"Then, why are you here?"

"I was sent here, Sir, by people I do not know, claiming that they know me. They said that I need to go here and to three more places. They didn't tell me exactly why but I think they want me to meet certain people or maybe see something," Izac elucidated.

"Did this group of people gave you some kind of a device to bring with you as you go here?"

"No, Sir! But they provided me a map to guide me. I think it was confiscated from me and I don't know where it is now," Izac honestly replied.

The map was, indeed, confiscated and it is now under the custody of the Investigatory Unit. Cypher scanned the map hours earlier before engaging in a conversation with the boy. The map is oddly detailed and unusual. The map isn't the same map sold in any stores in the continent except for Stellar. This is the reason why Rexford is accusing Stellar of the incident. However, they still need concrete proof that Stellar is the one responsible for the event to support their claims.

"About that map, where did you get that?"

"I got that from T12 at the empire called 'Morr'."

"T12? Oh, the Table Series!" he recalled. "But are you sure? Because the details of the map are similar to Stellar's map designs."

The conversation is going nowhere. And with that, Cypher decided to bring out the suspected organization logos and showed them to him.

"Izac, look closely. Do you recognize any of these?"

Izac looks at the images provided.

"I'm not familiar with these. It's the first time I saw them."

"Alright, last question, what is your relationship with Engr. Onyx Matwain?"

Cypher saw a surprised reaction from him. It rose some suspicions towards Engr. Matwain.

"28-years old, a graduate from Bionic University, a civil engineer. Projects: NTC... Hmm... Badly criticized by the design of NTC. No longer receiving projects, no stable job other than receiving fixing projects for NTC, currently in dept, divorced at the age of 27, and now, under the suspicion of terrorism. Having this kind of background, it might be difficult for him to clear his name even if he's innocent."

Izac remained silent.

"Mr. Matwain is the last person you talked with. Is he your accomplice?"

He didn't respond.

"Mr. Matwain will be put in prison if proven guilty of terrorism. Is he your accomplice?"

"Sir Onyx? I just met him by accident when I run away from the gates. I didn't even expect that I'll meet him again in front of that massive building he is fixing. Sir Onyx is a good person, I can tell. Please don't punish him for talking to someone like me. I didn't mean to meet him. If only I knew that he will be punished for talking to me, I should have run away from him," Izac uttered with regret.

For a kid, he is blaming himself for everything. He looks dejected and remorseful. Cypher cannot let his emotion hinder his job of finding the truth. The only thing he can do to ease the pain of the boy and find out the truth to lessen the burden on his shoulders.

"He was arrested yesterday after interfering with a Security Droid's duty. He was then interrogated about the whole incident and you. And his words and yours, matched. Yet, he will be under surveillance until the accusations are lifted. He needs to prove his innocence. We still cannot erase the fact that he might be a part of this incident."

"Um, is it possible for me to meet Sir Onyx? I just want to apologize for causing him trouble, not like he'll forgive me or something, I just want to ask for forgiveness."

Izac looks dejected.

"I'm afraid I cannot grant you that."

He became even more depressed.

"Can you at least tell him, if you meet him, that I am sorry," Izac requested.

"I'll see what I can do," Cypher replied. "That would be all for now. I'll return later to ask you more questions."

With that, Cypher left the room while the boy was left inside. An officer of the Child Protection and Welfare Organization (CPWO) then entered to exchange words with the boy.

"How come that terrorist still gets protection? Human rights are for humans not for sickening animals," another SFD officer taunted.

Cypher looks at him and clarified, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood: Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Remember that a right is a freedom of some manner; something to which you are privileged by virtue of being human. Family status nor where we're born doesn't matter. We are all born into this world and should be given the same opportunities and given a fair shot at a life well-lived."

"Geez, I know that. Can't handle a joke, tsk!" the man retorted as he left the room.

"Agent Greffin, what are your thoughts?" Wesler, the Head of the SFD, inquired.

Cypher then analyzed his notes and tried connecting the dots.

"Well, Chief, for starters, this boy was caught peeking at the gates from the restricted area where he was caught by RD-146. He was left alone inside the interrogation room and there was a 20-second glitch on the video clip from the CCTV. That means he must have done something during that delay. There's a possibility that he threw away the device he used when he sneaked into the empire since there was nothing recovered from the scene. Our men have already been dispatch to find that device. It won't take long to find that device. This situation was made possible because of the power outage which was caused by the King of Thieves. That opens the likelihood of this boy being connected with that thief. Yet, he claimed that he doesn't know any of the images and especially the crest of Caleb which I showed him. Well, we cannot fully say he is saying the truth. It could be he's just lying to us."

"So, what do you think of Engr. Matwain's involvement in this case?" Chief Wesler added.

"Well, all we have is, they met merely by accident. Engr. Matwain was currently on the NTC repair team when the two met. However, they stated that they met each other at Roid City, right after the incident. That raises a lot of suspicions since they met twice. I'm still trying to connect what might be his part to this whole incident," Cypher elucidated. "It could be, Engr. Matwain was the one who took the device from the boy and hid it somewhere. I am also processing a search warrant to his apartment to find the device just in case he hid it there."

"Who do you think might be responsible for this? Is it really Stellar? The Battlers, maybe?"

"I have a hunch it's the Battlers, or worst-case scenario, the Scavengers. If we prove that the boy has a connection with the King of Thieves, then this whole situation might be schemed either by the Battlers or the Scavengers. Yet, we still need to be cautious for every criminal organization since they might take advantage of our condition."

"I really hope everything was just a coincidence. I really hope it was all caused by the AP Turret failure because it will be too problematic if criminals decided to cause havoc to the empire if they were the one plotting this," Wesler heave a sigh, worried. "Agent Greffin, focus on this assignment and try to solve it as fast as possible so that we can know what kind of measures we must execute."

"Yes, Sir!" Cypher replied.

"For now, I'll notify Mr. Symmachus about this," Chief Wesler said.

Cypher continues observing the boy as he analyzes all information he has. It only takes a matter of time before he finds out the truth behind this boy named Izac.