The Black Swan Behind

117 Be Seen

As soon as Kenny walked out of the leader’s room-house, the silence seemed to instantly engulf the entire room. A gloomy aura burst out from the body of the man sitting on the black sofa.

Marcel closed his eyes tightly with his head leaning back. His hands rubbed his face roughly. What’s this problem again?

***

In the last two days, the 37.1AM radio channel had suddenly become active. The news about street crimes was suddenly creeping up swiftly and continuously playing.

With a wireless earphone plugged into her right ear, Emma hid in the shadows of a dark alley. She moved her fingers that felt like they were going to freeze because of the cold air. Every now and then, she blew her own hand to give warm air from inside her mouth.

She saw six men with black knitted hats wrapped their heads standing in front of a closed shop. It was a quiet street that led to an elite housing residence.

Finally, after almost half an hour of waiting, two young men were seen walking across the street. But, when they realized there was a group of men standing in front of a small shop, they immediately stopped their steps because they knew it was a dangerous scene. Even so, they were already too late because the thugs had already seen them.

Quickly, the six men chased the two poor innocent men. Even though they had run as fast as they could, the two of them lost speed with the feet that were used to running fast. In an instant, they were caught on the deserted street.

The two of them knelt by the side of the street with the six men surrounding them. With a single threat, the two men were forced to take out all their valuable goods and place them on the cold asphalt in fear.

.....

“Is this all you have?!” Asked one of the thugs.

The two men nodded quickly. They also did not expect that suddenly the thugs that liked to extort people would come on the normally safe street they usually pass to go home.

“Let them go.” Suddenly, a robot-like voice made them all turn their heads. Slowly, a man in black clothes and a black helmet emerged from inside the shadow of another closed shop.

“T-that..” One of the thugs muttered. Of course, the rumours about the man in the black helmet had already spread all over the city. It was the figure named Black who had a small body but was said to be actually a deadly monster.

“I’m going to count to three. If you don’t leave those two and their belongings behind, I’ll make you thugs unable to walk anymore.” Emma threatened.

Even though they know that it was the helmeted hero who had recently become the hot news among gangsters, they would not leave without fighting back. If they did, they would be killed by their boss.

“ATTACK!!” exclaimed one of the men, who seemed to be the leader of the small group.

But of course, with great ease, Emma could defeat them all in no time. Finally, the six men lay on the asphalt. And as promised, Emma broke one of the six men’s legs. She was a serious woman with her words.

“What group are you guys from?” Emma asked, glancing at the logo on one of the men’s jackets. She used her legs to turn the man to see his back, “Hmm... Old Skull? What’s that stupid name? Look. Tell your boss this. If he ever does this again, I’ll crush Old Skull to the ground.”

Then, Emma turned to the two weak men who were still sitting dumbfounded, “Take your things and leave immediately. Be careful from now on. You don’t know things are wild lately.” She said.

The two men immediately nodded and ran with the goods that they had previously collected back while the black helmet was fighting the hoodlums.

“Ugh.. This is getting out of hand! Why could they suddenly appear like this just like a disease?” Emma mumbled as she massaged her own back after two days of fighting dozens of times. Even more troublesome, she sensed that the thugs she’d been dealing with recently had fairly good martial skills and were well-trained. It seemed that it had something to do with the topic that Emma had previously heard from Calvin and Jita Kyoei’s discussion.

“It seems that Hell Gate has a great influence on the dark world of Handway City. Since their destruction, the crime has suddenly increased.” Emma muttered as she walked towards where her motorbike was parked. She was also very confused. Even though right after the Hell Gate had fell things seemed to have calmed down for a few days, it turned out to be a rainbow before the bigger storm.

That day, it was already eleven in the evening. Emma decided to return to her house. She didn’t think she would spend her winter break like this. Hunting down criminals like a hero. In fact, during her life, Emma had never admired a hero. According to her, people who harm themselves to help others were actually stupid people. However, it turned out that she was now the idiot. That was what was called the power of the human heart.

On her way, Emma suddenly saw an old man who had bounced out of a narrow alley. Then, he seemed to be trying to get back on his feet with difficulty before getting back into the mouth of the alley. But, he bounced back hard again, as if someone had thrown him out of there.

Seeing that, Emma immediately put her motorbike aside and ran towards it to see what was going on. The condition of the street was quite dark because it seemed that the main street lamp near the alley, which was the gap between the two shop buildings, was broken. The street was completely empty and gloomy.

“Hey! What the hell...” Emma stopped when she saw a girl being held captive by three men. Around her were ten five other men laughing at an old man who seemed to be trying to stop them.

The thing that Emma hated the most in this world was seeing women abused. She did not know whether the woman who was being held captive would be harassed or not. But of course, she knew who the villain was.

Without any more thinking, Emma quickly ran and attacked the three men who were holding the poor girl. Although her vision was a bit impaired due to the dark streets and her black helmet visor, Emma was able to get her fists and kicks right in the faces of the three men. In her action, she had been afraid that she would accidentally hurt the woman who was among them. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Something was quite surprising Emma. When the girl who was being held was finally freed from the clutches of the thugs, she immediately beat up one of the men who were moving to attack them. It turned out that the girl was quite adept at fighting!

The old man, who had been knocked down several times, was no longer able to fight back. He saw that his granddaughter was freed and now there was a man helping them, or... so it seemed. But, he dared to bet that the man who suddenly appeared like a ninja was really a good person.

In the narrow, dark alley, Emma fought more than five other men. The steam from the sewers made her vision even worse. But Emma was helped by the woman who had been held by the hoodlums. Therefore, she only needed a fairly short time to finish off the thugs.

After throwing a high kick in the face of the last man who had the largest body, Emma finally closes the fight with a happy ending. She immediately approached the woman who was tiredly silent while leaning against the damp alley wall, “Are you all right?” Emma asked.

“I’m fine.” The woman answered breathlessly.

“Let’s get out of this narrow alley first,” Emma said as she walked towards the entrance of the alley.

“Ah..” Emma stepped faster when she realized that the old man was sitting weakly near the mouth of the alley. She immediately approached him and crouched in front of him, “Are you all right, Sir?” she asked.

The man who had only looked down weakly, lifted his face when he realized someone was in front of him.

And, Emma jumped in surprise when she realized that it was the face of a man she knew.

Emma’s eyes moved quickly turned to the side at the woman who should have been walking behind her. Sure enough, the woman was a girl Emma knew. The girl was already standing stiffly a few steps away from her with a surprised face. Maybe they both had the same expression on their faces.

Rachel Markway.

Emma’s body suddenly stiffened. Her tongue went numb. So, the people she was helping earlier were Rachel and her grandfather?

“Y.. you.. Are you..” Rachel muttered, pointing at the helmeted figure.

Emma’s breath suddenly felt heavy. She stood up quickly and stepped back away from Rachel who was staring at her suspiciously. Emma shook her head as she continued to step back.

“No!” She muttered before running away towards her motorbike which was parked on the side of the road.

Rachel looked at the motorbike that was driving away at full speed with a face that was still very confused. But, she immediately shook off all these thoughts because for now, the most important thing was to help her grandfather first.

***

“Shit! Dammit! What should I do?!” Emma muttered as soon as she entered the house and took off her black helmet. She held her aching head with both hands, “How that could happen?!”

“That.. was Rachel.. She.. recognized me,” Emma muttered again by throwing her body to sit on the sofa roughly.

The thing Emma feared the most had finally happened. Her identity had been exposed. In the end, there was someone who knew her identity as a helmeted hero who had been secretly wandering Handway City.