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                                                                                     15 years ago

Axel's 21st birthday was one of his most eventful ones, though in a negative manner. Well, his mother and father were in the underground metro bringing the brand new gaming console which had just released for him. Axel had a thing for video games and everything digital since he was small. When the train was just a stop behind theirs, it exploded into smithereens. This was also continued by explosions on other metros in the underground system.

It was a show of terrorism, which had become more and more common after the turn of the century.

Axel returned from college to an empty house. He was surprised. He thought his parents must have gone somewhere to buy him something. So he waited with his expectations high.

After an hour or so he became worried. He switched on the television to distract himself.

The news channel co-incidentally turned out to be on. The headlines were about the serial bomb blasts. He became extremely worried for his parents. Just then the list of the identified bodies came on the screen. He saw his parents' name and broke into tears. He was distraught.

This event gave birth to his hatred of terrorists.

Axel was left alone in his huge apartment near the Westminster's abbey. He knew he wouldn't be able to maintain such a big place by himself so after selling this house, he bought a small 1 BHK flat and moved in. He had been interested in Sherlock Holmes as a teen. Building on that and his hate for criminals, he started his career as a private detective.

Starting from petty crimes his experience began to grow and he had become one of the best detectives in London. Also he had mastered 3 types of martial arts; Karate, Kung Fu and Taek Kwon Do, just in case he got stuck in a tricky situation. On top of that he was fluent in 11 languages excluding English; Latin, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Urdu and Hindi. These sets of talents had brought Axel under the scrutiny of the MI 5; the British spy agency. As his prestige grew, the agency decided to test him before recruiting him.

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Axel had just returned home after a coffee at Starbucks. After his career progressed he had moved into plush 3BHK apartment. He slumped onto the couch.

It had been the umpteenth day without any case to solve. He was starting to get disheartened. He opened his laptop with a slight shimmer of hope and checked his mail.

There was just one new email. He sighed. Must be one of the promotional mails but let's check it for the sake. He jumped up with joy!

Finally he had received a new case. The senders name was Mrs. Marilyn Shaw. In the mail not much information was given except when and where to come for his briefing. This didn't surprise Axel as many of his customers were paranoid, like him, and secretive.

Rejuvenated, he ordered a large pepperoni pizza and turned on the television to watch some humorous film.

Next morning he woke up early, with a child-like excitement. He got dressed up in his favourite suit and his specially modified Rolex watch.

He walked to the subway station and took the first train to Bond Street. He remembered the incident which had occurred in his 21st birthday, as he always did when he rode a train, and a chilling sensation ran down his spine.