THREE

Kai P.O.V

I look at the team in the monitoring room, the atmosphere in here is relaxing today, the chain of command is moving smoothly, compared to the usual blocked cogs in the system. I hope it stays this way, but there is one thing bothering me. The screen is showing the old targets instead of the new, but the more I look, I start to notice each person is being tagged, there is a symbol or name showing who they work for now, most of them are working for the one bastard I hate more than anything, “You are telling me that Toya Hiryu has all these kids with powers working for him, dealing Niveaux right under his father’s nose?”

“Yes sir, it must come in handy when your father is the chief of police. He collected all of them under the guise they were being targeted for their powers.” Cat, my second in command specifically for the task force division who actually fight on the ground for me reports, though this is not his job, I wonder why he is suddenly interested in these kids with powers specifically, all the ones on screen are classified under a file that says 21 and Under, why are we now looking at Minors?

I sigh I guess waiting for them to be 22 for recruitment might be his plan, he seems to think like Toya Hiryu, than again Cat has a military background, maybe, I should listen to his ideas from now on, clearly I am losing here and he is the one who feels the loss more than I do, what my men need the most is for me to be out there with them not in here behind a desk, now that I think about it Toya’s strategy to recruit people with powers was flawless, yes they were being targeted, instead he saw an opportunity for a powerful army rather than making a profit selling them to rich scientists. I am not too happy about it, because now he is bullying me since I am his next-door neighbor territory wise, he does not even care about me, he is just using me to test his strength, and I need to show him mine before others get ideas about me

“Sir, Toya Hiryu’s school for the kids with powers was also approved, his father pulled some strings, and in the past week, 20 babies with powers were abandoned at his doorstep, do you think it is still true that the ratio of kids with powers is decreasing?” Cat asks with a very serious look in his eyes, more serious than usual, he is really invested in this.

I nod my head, “Hmm, it is, the difference however is that those who ARE born with powers, their abilities are too powerful, and then we have those who do have powers but they are weak, that is what the power enhancing drug Niveaux is for, and the way it is selling, I am thinking we might need to change our strategy from selling the people with powers to having a club where they can get hooked on the stuff and buy it from me instead, to using them like Toya is doing.” I sit in my chair and a file is brought to me.

This is the Golden tetragram, rumored to be the source of powers, “Do we have any information?” I ask Raven who is in charge of sorting out my various projects into files so information is easily accessible when I ask, like right now. He needs to be able to shift from the targets list to Tetra files to answer my question.

“Yes, it might be another fake, but there is one that was just displayed in a museum in this very city, should we go scout and see if it is the real deal?”

I raise a brow that question was not answered by Raven, and no one else is supposed to either, “By we, do you have the means to do that ... uhm ... “I point at the woman, I am not fond of women being on my team, they have quite the mouth on them.

“Rae sir.” She smiles.

“Rae, I only want to see you bringing me coffee or my documents in silence. I do not want to hear you suggest anything to me again. Put the papers on the table.” I turn to the screen showing new targets and there is a video of Toya’s father with his son on fire, “Zoom on that boy.” I must be imagining this, blue flames at his age? That is absurd.

“This is rumored to be Toya Hiryu’s son, unconfirmed since he won’t make any official commentary about it, and any news source or form of publication that has this footage will have the video taken down within 12 hours, it is the work of the kid we were after, Nano, the technopath sir.” Raven reports and points to the file about the Tetragram, I signal him to dismiss it, I have only told him about it, and no one else. Therefore he and I must share information in private.

Damnit, I really missed out on that Nano kid, no matter what I offered him he refused to join me, what did Toya give him to get someone so stubborn on his side? Does a police badge work so easily on these young kids? Because money sure as hell does not, “I want to see him, is he enrolled at the school?” I am not giving up on him, I need his power in this very room.

“Yes sir, anyone under the age of 21 is forced to enroll, that is the rule Toya Hiryu set for his army of powered people.” Cat responds with an annoyed tone, he is just as frustrated about this as I am.

Actually there is something I am curious about, “Exactly how many people are in this man’s group?”

“200 excluding the ones under 21, even though he claims he wants all the people with powers, he does not formerly recruit anyone who needs the enhancement drug for their power to really be a threat or useful.” Raven answers.

I look at Rae whose eyes are glued on the screen, “Can I help you with something Rae?” why is she still standing? Her only job is to put things on the table and get out, I am not fond of people who cannot follow simple instructions, and it is always a woman.

“Oh, sorry, but that looks like my nephew. He has a twin brother with white hair.” Rae leans forward like she will get a better view of the boy by doing so, his face is covered up.

“Your sister is Rina?” I ask.

“Reina.” Rae corrects and takes out her phone, “Why am I finding out like this they have powers? I am the first person she should have called. I am off for the day.” She walks away grumbling as the phone rings, impatiently expecting an answer.

Sir, we have a turf war on our hand. Hiryu’s powered soldiers are really pushing us back, we can’t do anything with guns and bulletproof vests, and there is this new kid, known as Koin, he can turn anyone into wood, and we are not sure if it is temporary, or they are dead or alive.

He is the boy who has been in and out of the detention center, “Has he been reported?” if Toya recruits them using the justice system, we should be able to use the same system to neutralize them as threats.

No sir, we can’t exactly report him, he is protected now. It will be logged as self-defense.

I am powerful, more powerful than Toya Hiryu, “He only has the police in his pockets, but I have the rest of this city in the palm of my hands, the only part I don’t have is Hiryu’s territory. I want you to attack near this Arrow district, his kids live somewhere there, you have a field advantage even on their home ground as long as you fight in this area, they will have to be careful and make sure the kids do not get caught in any crossfires.

“At the moment the twins are at the Chiefs house. We can’t wait for them to return.” Raven shows me surveillance of the twins running around with Toya’s nieces, live footage of the house? When did my team get so advanced? I really should stop underestimating them.

No one else can get away with this kind of insight on thee Chief of Police, soon to be promoted to a war general now that his eldest son is going to fill his shoes.

“Than do not wait. I am not losing my territory even if Toya uses an army of Gods. Push those bastards back, we will not lose a single block of our territory.” I check the second file, “And what is going on with the protection fees?” I have more people under me, yet the money is only getting less, send those who are not able to pay into Toya’s area as cannon fodder, tell them their debt will be paid off if we are successful in reclaiming the lost turf.”

Do we move out now?

“When would you like to get up off your ass?” What the hell kind of question is that? I want my territory back immediately. Did I not emphasize that clearly enough?

Immediately sir.

I look at the time and Kendo just checked in on Kaiya’s whereabouts, “CAT, I want this done by the end of the week.”

Yes sir.