I Am The Truth II

Chapter XVI: Zeviant12

Films glorified what hackers looked like. In almost every film, there was someone with a suspicious black hoodie in a quiet corner somewhere, bending over a computer and typing random nonsense as a meter filled up to a hundred percent. And of course, the tense music.

In reality however, it was nothing of the sort. A hacker could be anyone in the goddamn world. They are simply highly intelligent couch potatoes with an incurable obsession of making everyone else feel like nowhere is safe.

And so it turned out to be just that for the police of Mahoa that came knocking on the apartment door, a proper arrest warrant in hand: the hacker was nothing short of a young, chubby man in black tank tops and beach shorts, finished off with pink flip-flops. From what Lucan had reported directly back to Kiyoshi... this was one of the Necromancers.

As Niika, Lucan, and the other two Felinas had planned, they would allow the Necromancers to try entering Ataraxia through Lucan's phone. And only a little later, an unsuspecting Necromancer had fallen for the trap. In an instant, they had captured his personal details and sent them back to Kiyoshi. And now, here the police were.

"Hey man, I didn't mean nothing," The guy protested, but the police had him cuffed and were leading him out of the apartment as his fellow flatmates watched in confusion.

"Not so scary in-person, huh?" The policeman said. "You have no idea how much shit we have gone through to catch you."

"Hey look man," The man protested in a whiny voice. "I joined 'cause of the money man. I was in for the money 'cause my landlord charges too much man-"

"Speak when we reach our destination," The policeman interrupted tersely, slapping duct tape over the man's mouth.

Kiyoshi had never been so pleased. The rat was useful to him after all, even from Ataraxia. The captain now stood with Alec before the arrested Necromancer. The man had gone silent after entering the high-security prison. He was bound to a steel chair for this particular meeting.

"I travelled all the way to Mahoa to meet you," Kiyoshi stated, pulling up a chair and sitting right in front of the bound Necromancer. "How have you been?"

"How have I been?" The man repeated with a shaky voice, incredulous. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Kiyoshi replied, his features darkening dangerously. "Because you will be quite scarred from the ending of this meeting, I can assure you."

The man's eyes widened, suddenly terrified.

"Hey, hey man-"

"Don't 'hey' me," Kiyoshi snapped. "Felden could have been an ally of the coalition. We could have helped you when you needed us. Instead, you sent all your goddamn hacker organization to spy on us? I get that those stupid Ardoni and Magnorites are something of a nightmare for you people, but are Felinas too?"

"I don't underst-"

Kiyoshi suddenly lashed out, slapping the man hard across the face.

"Do not lie to me," He growled. 

"Yo!" The man squealed. "I was forced to do it!"

He was squealing like a stuck pig now As Kiyoshi grabbed him by the scalp and shook him violently. The captain let go, sitting down again. 

"As I was expecting to hear," Kiyoshi grumbled. "But you didn't seem so reluctant when you decided to go gung-ho into Ataraxia, did you?"

"I literally joined 'cause of the money," The man continued, rambling on. "I told the officers too, I promise-"

"Yeah?" Kiyoshi replied. "Money from some organization incentivized you to try breaching Ataraxia? I know that was not what got you in on this, and you want to know why?"