The Sun shone brilliantly as another day began in Kyrie, and that includes Gilbert, who was up earlier than usual. While Catherine, a homeless woman he and his friend Angeline rescued yesterday were still sleeping soundly, he’s in the kitchen preparing breakfast for both of them.
He’s frying some sunny side up eggs to go along with sausages and waffles that he bought yesterday, and made both coffee and tea since he didn’t know what her preferred choice is.
Supposedly woken up by the smell of the eggs, Catherine slowly brought herself up and sat on the mattress. With her disheveled hair, she rubbed her eyes and stretched out as she yawned.
“You’re up. Good morning, Catherine.” Gilbert said as he looked from the kitchen while wearing a pink apron, courtesy of Angeline who gave it to him for his birthday last year.
Catherine wrote up “Good Morning” on the notebook while nodding her head in reply.
“I made you something for breakfast. It’s nothing much, but I hope it’s enough for you.” he said as he placed a plate of eggs, waffles and sausages in front of her, before asking if she wanted either coffee or tea. She wrote “Tea please” back to him, and he promptly poured a cup for her.
After finishing their breakfast, Gilbert picked up the plates, utensils and cups to the kitchen and washed them before going to work.
Before he left, he placed a rice cooker and leftovers from yesterday’s sardines on the table. “Here, I left you some rice congee and extra sardines from yesterday for lunch. I also want you to use this.” He said as he took out a makeshift crutch made out of a mop stick and an old ironing board’s metal stand, taped together with duct tape.
“This one’s for you to move around to the bathroom. If you need anything, or had any accidents, just text me with the phone, alright?”
Catherine nods vigorously.
“And don’t open the door if a stranger comes.”
She nodded again.
“Alright then, I’m off to work. See you later.” Gilbert said hastily as he put on his shoes. Just then, Catherine made a sound to grab Gilbert’s attention. He turned around and asked, “What is it, Catherine?” She then pointed her finger towards Gilbert’s briefcase, which was placed nearby the dining table.
“Ah! Thank you for reminding me!” Gilbert then rushed to take the briefcase, and walked towards Catherine before patting her head. “Good girl.” He said, before realizing the awkward situation he’s in, and pulled his hand back. He then swiftly made his way to the door, and went off to work.
The puzzled Catherine was left bewildered, blushed and giddy at the same time.
------
At the office, Gilbert arrived earlier than he usually does. He went straight to work when Angeline, who had just arrived were surprised to see him.
“You’re early today, Gilbert. Did you have your breakfast? If you haven’t had breakfast yet, let’s go grab something at the café.” Angeline asked. He then replied, “It’s alright; I’ve had breakfast at home today.” “I see. By the way, how’s the homeless woman doing?” she asked again. “She’s doing well, her injuries are slowly healing. But I’m running out of medicine and bandages at my house as for now, so I’ll buy some after work.”
“Good to hear that she’s getting better. If you need anything for her, just tell me, okay?” Angeline said.
“Yes, I do. I need some female clothing for Catherine.”
“Catherine? Is that her name?”
“Uh…yes, that’s her name. But she didn’t have a name in the first place, so I gave one for her.”
“She didn’t have a name? That’s weird.”
“She’s also had difficulties trying to communicate, as she is mute.”
“That’s terrible. Not only she’s handicapped, she’s also beaten and extorted by those gangsters.”
“I’ll tell you more about her after work.” Gilbert ended the topic.
“Ah, okay. I almost forgot that I had some muscle ointment back home. I’ll retrieve it and give it to you after work, along with the clothes.” Angeline replied, before returning to her cubicle.
------
As their work shift ended for the day, Gilbert and Angeline went to the local supermarket to buy some groceries for Gilbert and Catherine. Angeline insisted to pay for it, but Gilbert took out some money from his savings to pay instead.
Among the stuff they bought were bandages, anti-bacterial soap, fresh vegetables and fruits, chicken, fish, and two bottles of chocolate milk. Gilbert insisted on the chocolate milk.
They placed the groceries into Gilbert’s bicycle basket, and pedaled away to Angeline’s home. Gilbert was her old neighbor, before his parents sold their home and left the city for the countryside when he started working.
“It’s been a while since I last came here.” Gilbert said.
“Yeah, I think the last time you were here was when we were still in high school.” Angeline replied.
“Are your brothers around?”
“Nope, Alan went overseas for his studies, and Arthur went to work in the neighboring city. Only my parents are here.” she answered.
“Wait inside; I’ll go grab the clothes and the ointment. Just leave the bicycle at the front of the car porch.” she added.
As Angeline gathered the clothes for Catherine, Gilbert was warmly welcomed by Angeline’s parents over tea time. Her parents were very helpful towards his family; they even took care of him when his mother was sick and his father’s away at work when he was young.
After a while, Angeline had finished collecting the clothes and ointment. Gilbert thanked her parents for the tea and biscuits, before going back to his home.
While on the way to Gilbert’s home, the two chatted for a bit while he’s pedaling his bicycle.
“Man, going back to your place sure brings back memories.” Gilbert said.
“Yeah, we used to play together at my backyard, and even do some camping there.” Angeline replied.
“Ah, yes. If I remember correctly, you don’t want to share a tent with me at that time, even though we were ten years old.” he added.
“What the?! Don’t bring that back up!”
“Of course I want to bring that back up, because at that time you were acting really weird when I asked you to share a tent with me.”
“Why would I share a tent with you? I’m a girl, for goodness sake.”
“Ah, silly me. I always forgot that you were a girl.”
Suddenly, Gilbert felt a strong strike to his ribs.
“Dude! What was that for?” he asked.
“Nothing in particular!” Angeline yelled back.
------
“Erica, we got a hit. The rogue Magister Hunter had been spotted in Kyrie, nearby the tram service office.” Cindy informed her partner.
“Zoom in the picture, please.” Erica asked, while munching her evening snack, an egg sandwich.
Cindy zoomed in the video’s live feed, and both of them got a very clear picture of the rogue Hunter, who was dressed in a long, dark brown trench coat while wearing steel toed boots, fingerless gloves and a bandana fashioned as a mask.
“If that way of dressing doesn’t scream ‘I’m a dangerous man’, I don’t know what to say.” Erica sarcastically dissed the Hunter’s clothes.
“You got that right.” Cindy smiled at her friend’s remark.
“And we also got his identity after retrieving some of his fingerprints back at the railway depot. His name is Vince Marlone, 38 years old, from Ashenvar. He had almost two dozen of criminal charges in his record, including unlawful break-in, theft, robbery, battery, and murder. But since this record existed way before Oracle Twelve came into existence, he only had multiple trips of incarceration in prison.”
“Adding the fact that he had been abusing drugs for the past two years, his actions had gone drastically erratic to the point that he can’t even keep his Power in check.” Cindy added.
“The drug he used greatly amplified his Power, to the point that the side effects had started to backfire at him. It’s an illegal prescription, once used to aggravate the user’s emotions during an old government experiment. The drug was found to have negative impact to the user, thus they pulled it out from the military healthcare system.” Erica replied.
“But somehow, the drug was and still is circulating within the black market, highly sought for by criminals like Vince. If we can take him into custody, we might be able to get some info on the drug dealer.” Cindy said as she took a sip of coffee from her mug.
“I’ll be taking him back personally.” Erica said as she rolled up her shirt’s sleeves.
“Remember what I said to you yesterday? Please bring along some backup with you.” Cindy warned Erica.
“Of course. I’ll bring along Six and Ten along with me.” Erica assured her friend with a pat on her shoulders.
“Okay then.” Cindy smiled, and took a microphone from the desk in front of her.
In the lounge, some of the Oracle’s members were doing their own things when Cindy’s voice echoed from the PA system.
“Six and Ten, I repeat, Six and Ten, please be on standby with One in the van. We’re going to catch the rogue Magister Hunter. Please exercise caution when engaging the target.” Cindy’s message rang from the speakers.
“So it’s our turn this time? Alright then.” Ten said as he closed a book he was reading.
“Alright, let’s do our best today!” Six replied.
Just then, Erica came down the main stairs, located in the middle of the lounge. Donned in black long sleeved shirts with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, dark purple vest, black trousers and dark brown loafers, she’s getting herself ready as she took out her favorite choice of weapon; a pair of stainless steel knuckle dusters.
“Yup, let’s give it our all today.” Erica replied Six’s enthusiastic support.
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