Thorn watched Luona through the bus doors, hanging onto a pole as the vehicle swerved around the corner. Luona seemed like a good kid, albeit in need of rest. But he supposed that the more tired the officer was, the easier it would be for him to carry out his own mission.

He got off in the deepest part of downtown, where walls were blackened and burned and sprayed over with graffiti, where smoke could be seen wafting out of almost every window, where some of the more unsavory ability users would be…

There, down this back alley, almost blending in with the bricks was a door. Thorn rapped smartly a coded knock, and soon the door opened a slit, pulling back against a chain. More smoke wafted out, and Thorn covered his nose with the collar of his coat, trying not to inhale.

“That you, Thorn? You coming to arrest me or something?”

Thorn coughed before answering. “I just got off of work. Let me in, Kendra.”

“Did you bring handcuffs?”

“Just let me in, please.”

Kendra undid the lock, and Thorn dipped his head as he stepped under the low door frame. Kendra was a gaunt, medium-sized woman, her hair dyed silver under the hood of her black jacket, a cigarette in her mouth.  “What’re you here for today?”

Thorn did his best not to erupt into coughs again. “I found him. I found the file.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. The higher-ups were kind enough to put me on the case. I’m confident that this suspect is the one we’re looking for.”

“That’s not going to help much if we don’t know where he is.”

“That’s why I’m here, Kendra.”

The two of them went down even further into the darkness. The place was cramped and low and smelt of heavy incense. Thorn caught a glance of people lying on old mattresses and cots, of ripped couches shoved here and there in the hallways, and finally, around the bend…

Glowing monitors piled high over a desk.

“How much are you paying?” Kendra asked, finding a mouse in the pile of wires on the desk.

“Paying you? Look, if we succeed, you won’t have to worry about money ever again.”

“I won’t work with you without a price.”

Thorn scoffed. “I thought we were friends.”

“Bold words from you. I’m only here for hire, nothing else.”

Thorn found himself staring at one of the tattoos on her fingers. “I’ll give you two hundred and a kiss.”

“Five hundred.”

“Three hundred or nothing.”

“Three hundred then.”

He pulled out a wad of cash neatly folded in his wallet, and as he pressed them into her hand he let his lips brush across her cold cheek. “There. Happy?”

“Jubilant.” She wiped the spot with her thumb and opened up one of the drawers, revealing a black box with a glowing button on top. She pressed it, and it extended an arm with a tray on it with a whirr. She wiped the little bit of spit onto the piece of foam on top of the tray, and let the machine retract its arm.

“I would hate to think what you’re going to do with that,” Thorn commented, staring at the process.

“None of your business. You don’t ask, you don’t have to lie,” Kendra replied, slamming the drawer shut. “Now take a seat, and give me everything you have on the suspect.”

Thorn sat down, pressing the tips of his fingers together, trying to recall what he had seen. “Just a kid…eighteen. The one from the Sakura Incident three years back. Gone off the grid recently.”

“Oh? And do you know where to find him?”

“That’s what I’m asking you. But I’m pretty confident that he’s still within the city.”

“M’kay…what did you say his name was again?” Kendra asked, pulling out a keyboard.

“Dema.”

“All right, please hold…” Kendra opened up a search program and entered the relevant information. “How’s work going lately?”

“Work has been…fine.” Thorn found himself eyeing the tattoos on her fingers again. “There’s a police detective who was in charge of this case…we’ll have to watch out for him.”

“Oh? Give me his name, and I’ll search him up as well.”

“It’s fine for now…I doubt that he suspects anything. He looked like that he was about to doze off at any moment today. But enough about me; what about you?”

“Me?” Kendra glanced at the people sleeping down the hall. “Same as always. Still in this old dump.”

“Anyone bring you any trouble?”

“Oh, plenty. Two police visits in the last month already. But they didn’t have any grounds to convict me or anything, so it’s fine.”

“I’ll try to pull some strings…” Thorn never asked what Kendra did here. Something to do with drug dealing, he supposed. But there was more to it than that.

“Would be helpful…ah, here we go. Found him.” Kendra pulled up a window. “This him?”

White and black hair, purple eyes, and deranged grin… Dema, age eighteen. Mind manipulator. Class S ability user.

“Yep, that’s him.” Thorn stood up to look at the screen more closely. “This is more info than the police had… Can you find what happened to his tracker?”

“He paid a visit to a certain someone to have it removed,” Kendra replied, and quickly put her hand over the screen. “I’m not letting you see that.”

“I won’t ask. But when was it removed?”

“Oh…few weeks ago? Few days? Doesn’t matter at this point. You were right; he’s still within the city limits.”

“Wonder what a kid like him would want…” Thorn murmured, still staring at the photo. “You want me to track him first?”

“Yeah, observe his movements, habits…won’t be wise to take him in so soon… Careful not to let him get you.”

“Of course not. I have this, don’t I?” Thorn patted the gun in his coat.

“Be sure not to hurt him. He’s valuable. Very valuable.”

Thorn gave a laugh. “I’ll try not to. Now, what street was he last seen?”

“According to the security cameras…around Seventh Street, District Eleven.”

“Got it. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

Just before Thorn went back upstairs, however, he asked:

“You were recording this entire conversation, weren’t you?”

Kendra grinned in the darkness. “How perceptive of you. Now get on your way, and don’t come back for as long as you can.”

Thorn’s expression melted back into his usual stoicism. One missing child, wanted criminal, coming right up…