"Ugh... What happened to me... Ah! You brats!"
While Aran and Elio were talking to each other, the hooded person they knocked out finally regained consciousness before he started yelling at them with anger.
It was only limited to verbal attacks considering Aran currently has him tied down to the park bench.
"You think you can get away with this, you little shits?! There's more of us! You're never going to make it past this night! You're dead! You hear me?! You're dead—"
*Smack*
Without a care in the world, Aran slapped the man full force before he could finish his sentence, leaving both Elio and the man stunned.
"Well, it's good to see you're healthy at least. I'm a busy guy so tell us everything you know. How many of you are there and what are the locations of your allies?"
Grinning at Aran, the man spit on the ground.
"Hah! You think you're going to get me to talk?! What're you gonna do, slap me again?! Don't make me laugh!"
"Oi..."
Elio approached the man, making him shake a little. Seeing this, Aran spoke with a grin of his own.
"Hey now, the slap was just testing the waters for us. If you don't start spilling the beans, I might have to sick my partner at you."
Tilting his head, Elio got confused.
"Eh? I'm playing the bad—cop?"
"Well yeah. I thought that was a given."
Aran told Elio.
"You slapped him first, so I thought I was the good—cop!"
Elio yelled back.
"Oh yeah..."
Interrupting the argument of the two boys, the hooded man started to laugh at them.
"Hah! You couldn't even play good-cop, bad-cop properly! What makes you think you can hope to save yourselves?!"
"Hey—"
Aran tried to speak before he was quickly interrupted again.
"Shut up you little brat! Don't talk to me with your lame—looking face, those stupid glasses and annoying voice! You go to school, right? I can tell that you've never had a girl get close to you before! Your entire figure just screams loser!"
Aran was stunned and stayed quiet.
"...."
"What?! Can't say anything back?! Maybe I was right then—"
"Elio, I think we should kill this guy..."
Aran said, grinning with eyes full of bloodlust as a vein started to pop out of his head.
He was extremely pissed off.
"Wait wait wait wait—"
Elio tried to stop him with desperation in his voice.
________________________________________
20 minutes later
"HAHAHAHAHA! OKAY OKAY, I'LL TELL YOU! PLEASE JUST STOP!"
"You see? Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Aran asked the man with a happy expression.
Why was Aran so happy, you might ask? Well, it's quite simple really! He vented his frustrations out on the man with a 20 minute, nonstop tickling session until the man was close to puking.
His stomach was already feeling an extreme amount of pain, but he couldn't clutch it as his limbs were tied down.
Elio was there to witness it all and was left stunned at the strange sight.
"What's happening right now....?"
Laughing maniacally, Aran spoke to the man.
"Start talking or we might have to do it again from the start"
"Waaah! Okay! I'll talk!"
The man quickly told all of the information he knew.
Their organization follows a hierarchical system where higher ranked members contact lower ranked members of the group.
But this doesn't work in reverse as lower members cannot directly contact the higher members and are just given orders to follow.
The only time lower ranked members can meet with higher ranked members is when they're transporting a package, otherwise known as the children they kidnap.
In the case where the higher ups find out that the lower ranked members failed their jobs, they essentially ghost them, leaving no trace to follow.
And if those same members were to be arrested by police, they are then killed by someone who is being bribed by the organization. Although, there's no evidence to prove their involvement.
After he heard this, Elio's eyes widened from surprise as he realized what that meant.
"What?! Then..."
Nodding back, Aran finished his sentence.
"The men we fought are probably dead by now."
Elio gritted his teeth from frustration.
"Damn it, so we're at a dead end! They cut off anything that leads towards them, and even the police can't be trusted!"
Putting his hand up, Aran tells Elio to not get too hasty.
"Hold on, we're not down for the count just yet."
Looking at the man, Aran tightened the ropes with his glove, making his joints hurt.
"Ow ow ow!!"
"Hey bozo, you can't contact the higher ups, but you can contact those with the same position as you, right?"
"Y-yeah... What about it?"
"Give me your phone..." Aran told the man before he quickly followed his demand.
Thinking to himself, Aran chewed on his thumb as he scrolled through the phone.
If we can't follow any leads towards them, then how about we get led to them instead?
Transporting products or the children they kidnapped is the time where the higher ups are most vulnerable, because it's where lower ranked members can interact with them personally.
Elio and I can pretend to be new members of the organization and let the lower ranked members themselves lead us to the higher ups as they transport a kid.
We'll use the man as a pawn to help confirm our identities by threatening him...
Approaching Elio, Aran tells him the gist of the plan, making him widen his eyes from surprise.
Whispering towards Aran, he gets close to his ear to argue against it.
"Isn't that really risky? What if they find out it's us?!"
"I know, but it's the best shot we got since we can't trust the cops. Don't worry, the fact that the man came back for me to finish the job means that the higher ups aren't aware of his failure. As far as most of the organization is concerned, the two of us are dead..."
Elio stayed silent, showing signs that he was still a little unsure of Aran's plan.
"..."
"It's alright, that's why I got these masks and beanies for us to help hide who we are. An added layer of protection, you could say!"
"Hm... Okay...."
He reluctantly agreed.
"Nice."
The two boys let go from their huddle and went back to watching the surroundings.
As Aran continued to scroll through the man's phone, he found a group chat filled with people who are part of the organization.
Snapping his fingers, Aran smiled.
"Bingo."
These higher ups are most likely using different locations randomly to be as untraceable as possible.
This organization is a sly one... What's it called though?
Thinking about it a little, Aran asks the man a question.
"By the way, what's the name of your organization? I don't believe I've heard it before..."
"I don't know..."
The man weakly said before screaming from Aran tightening the ropes even further.
"Ow ow ow!!! I'm serious! We just get separated into groups like group A, B or C!"
"Is that so..."
"Yes!!!"
Aran loosened the ropes a little, making the man breathe a sigh of relief. If they were to let him go now, they would see that his limbs have red marks all over.
"Alright, let's see... Are the kids you kidnap targeted or do you guys pick whoever's available?"
"W-we target kids with abilities that have immense potential. We usually overlook the ones that we deem weak..."
"I see... Are there any kidnappings or transport deliveries happening at this moment?"
"I'm not sure which group it is, but yeah. There's a kid we've been targeting for a while now."
"Alright then. If you're lying to us, I'll hang you upside down."
He said with a creepy smile
"Eek!! I'm not!!!"
The man's knees started to shake uncontrollably.
I didn't know highschoolers were so scary...
As Aran nodded, he shifted his attention back to the man's phone and sent a message to the group chat.
[Hey, the boss told me one of the groups is gonna take a kid tonight. DM me if that's your group.]
After waiting for a moment, Aran received a notification from someone.
Seeing this, he pressed the icon and got led to a private message channel.
[Hello, this is Group B. We're the ones assigned to take a kid tonight. What's the matter?]
[Nothing, the boss just told me to help you guys out.]
[But we don't need any help, though...]
[That's what I thought too, but the boss insisted.]
[Alright, I'll send you the address.]
[Thanks]
Looking towards Elio and the man, Aran told them the place that was sent before the two boys put their hats and masks on.
"Let's go."
He said.
If we don't get them by tonight, their location might change or their operations might abruptly stop.
In the case where that happens, they'd have enough time to prepare for our next attack. We need to quickly strike while they're still not aware of our presence.
________________________________________
Aran and Elio, along with the hooded man were walking through the city streets before taking a turn towards a dark and quiet street with a parked vehicle. This time, it wasn't a van, but a small cargo truck.
Aran's body shuddered when he saw it... It was the same one that ran him over that day...
I didn't expect to see this here...
"You okay, Aran?" Elio asked him.
"I'm fine..." He said as he waved it off.
Looking towards the hooded man, Aran spoke.
"If you blow our cover, I'll make you regret it.
"Y-yeah, I won't..."
Walking towards the truck, the driver notices them and walks out.
This must be the guy who ran me over then...
Aran thought to himself as he balled his hand into a fist.
"Are you the guy from group C? Bringing two people with you is a bit overkill, don't you think?"
He said.
Feeling Aran and Elio's gazes aimed at him, the hooded man desperately tries to explain as best he could.
"The boss told me the city officials were on high alert tonight. So they needed extra hands..."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Two of our guys lost to a bunch of kids, right? But I heard that a hit was put on those brats. They're probably dead by now!"
The driver said he started laughing.
Aran and Elio wore disgusted expressions behind their masks after hearing the man's lack of guilt.
"Yeah... Hehe..."
The man with the hood nervously chuckled back.
Continuing the conversation, he asked for instructions as he scratched the back of his head.
"So what do you need us to do?"
"Well, my buddy is getting back soon. The kid is in the back, so you guys can just sit there and wait."
"Alright then."
As they followed the man's instructions, Aran opened the back and saw a little boy that was shaking from fear.
It was such a pitiful sight at Aran and Elio couldn't help but feel an immense amount of guilt wash over them..
I'm sorry bud, you need to stay strong for us a little while longer...
Aran said to the boy in his mind as he and Elio sat face to face on opposite sides, leaning against the walls of the truck's cargo.
As they got close to the boy, he quickly crawled towards a corner and hugged his knees while crying for his mom.
After a few minutes have passed, they hear the truck's engine start and felt the vehicle start to move.
Because there weren't any windows, Aran had to get his phone and watch the GPS to see where they were being taken.
The trip took two hours.
The driver made a series of turns and maneuvers to make sure they weren't being followed. Until finally arriving at a place that's outside the city of Astrum.
Looking at the GPS, Aran realized they were in the desert outside of Astrum's border.
"Get ready Elio..."
"Yeah..."
Without skipping a beat, Elio quickly knocked the hooded man out cold before Aran went to open the door, Taking out a stun grenade that he packed from Brok's warehouse.
But before he pushed the door open, he suddenly heard men yelling from outside.
"Who the hell are you?! Get the hell out if you don't want to get hurt—
*BOOM*
Multiple loud explosions were suddenly heard from outside the truck.
Surprised, Aran and Elio quickly opened the door and saw the sight of a destroyed warehouse.
Several crates were crushed and the place was surrounded by bleeding bodies of men.
In less than a second, the entire place was destroyed before the two boys could even exit the truck.
At the center of it all was a man with brown hair and glasses, floating in the air.
He was clutching another man by the throat with one arm.
Getting closer to his head, he whispered in the man's ear with a voice full of repressed rage.
"Where is my daughter...?"
He said, choking the large man until the skin of his neck started to bleed.
Aran and Elio knew who that man was. He was the father of the girl they saved.