The Devilish Assassin Meets The Angelic Detective

At Falcon Cafe Secret Bas.e.m.e.nt...

"What is wrong Elle. Why you look so bothered and absentminded today? Is there any problem?" Phantom asked her with a concerned voice.

Elle was startled when Phantom directly asked her.

'Am I that obvious?'

"Do I really look like that Master?" Elle smiled at him meekly.

"Yes! You even committed mistakes today." Phantom could not help himself but chuckle.

Elle remained silent while staring at Phantom. She was contemplating whether to say something to him or to just keep it with herself.

Seeing her hesitation, Phantom spoke up again.

"Elle, tell me what is troubling you. I am here willing to listen. Don't you consider me as part of your family?"

"Of course I consider you as my family, you and Charles." Elle promptly said.

Phantom was glad to hear that. "So tell me. Speak to me."

Elle breathed deeply before she spoke up "Honestly Master, I don't know what to do and what to feel right now."

"Why is that so?" Phantom asked her curiously.

"Erick confessed to me last night. He has feelings for me."  Elle told him the truth.

Phantom was not that shocked when he heard Elle. He somewhat felt before that the detective has special feelings for Elle.

"Hmm, now I understand why you look like that. So what did you say to him when he confessed?"

Phantom was anticipating her answer.

Elle shook her head. "I don't know what to say."

"But what did you feel that time?"

"I was shocked at first. Then... I felt so happy but then my mind told me that I need to stop this. This is so wrong master." A tinge of sadness appeared on her face.

"Why did you say that it is wrong? Does loving someone is wrong?"

"Yes! Because we can't... we can't love each other. I am an assassin and he is a detective. How can someone so righteous like him accept and love a sinner like me?"

"I can't hide my identity forever. He will eventually find out the truth. And once he finds out, he will hate me for sure. I am the one who he is trying to catch."

Phantom could feel the weight of her every word. He understood what she meant. But one thing was for sure. He knew that Elle felt the same way for the detective.

"So what are you planning to do now Elle?" 

"I don't know Master... I wanted to run away from him."

She smiled bitterly "Besides, I don't know if someone like me is capable of loving someone. My world is full of hatred, viciousness, and bloodbath and there is no room for love. My primary purpose is revenge."

"But you can't control your heart, Elle." Phantom reminded her.

"I know Master, that is why I think I should stop this as early as I can before it's too late."

"How will you do that? Are you going to stay away from him?"

Elle just nodded at him.

'Yes, I should do that because I am afraid that if I stay longer with him then I will not be able to leave him after.'

However, just thinking about leaving him, Elle felt that her heart was being squeezed and she felt suffocated.

"Alright, whatever will be your decision. I will support you. If you need my help I am just here. Okay?"

Phantom gently patted her head. He felt sorry for Elle. If it was not because of that incident, maybe Elle would be living her life like a normal person.

But fate was sometimes cruel. Fate led her to meet someone whom she would learn to love for the first time but still, in the end, it still forced her to decide whether to leave him or not.

--------------------

Meanwhile, in the conference room of XXX Crime Investigation Headquarters, members of the joint task force were having a meeting and currently speaking with Marie who was giving them a piece of important information.

Marie was speaking on the phone and they put her on a loudspeaker so that everyone could hear what she would say to them.

"Marie, how are you doing there? We already missed you." It was Jane who spoke first to greet her.

Marie's soft giggle could be heard from the other line.

"I miss you too sissy. Don't worry I am doing fine here. Black Shadow is manageable. He did not suspect anything so I am still safe."

"Yeah be careful. He is a dangerous man, second to Catseye." Rose commented.

"Yes, I know... that's why it took me some time before I was able to tame that guy and get his trust." Marie admitted.

"I know you can do it. Your charm is all you need. Hahaha," Jane proudly said.

"Sorry girls to interrupt but we should stop this little chitchat for a while and let us proceed to the true business." Captain Jason said to them.

"Yes, sir!"

"Copy sir!"

"Noted sir!"

"What intel have you gather this time agent Marie?" It was Erick who asked her.

"I am sure, you will never imagine what I will tell you. Did you know that Catseye was with you all along last night at Arison Birthday Party?"

Everyone was rendered speechless when they heard Marie.

Marie let out a soft chuckle after that. "Your silence means you are all shock with that piece of news, right?"

"What do you mean by that? Can you enlighten us more?" Captain Jason asked her curiously.

"It just happened that Black Shadow also attended that party. I did not know why he is there. He only said that someone invited him."

"He sounded so sure that the person he saw that night was Catseye. Unfortunately, he lost her in the crowd."

"Then what did he do after? Did he check the CCTV recordings?" Bryan asked her.

Marie let out another chuckle. "Yup, he tried to do that. However..."

"However what?" Bryan asked her again, he was a little bit impatient.

"However James Arison already deleted the recordings before that. He also ordered to switch off the CCTV camera for the meantime."

Everyone was dumbfounded after hearing that.

"Why did he do that??!" Bryan asked her. Disbelief was evident to his voice.

"Well according to my source James Arison wanted to protect someone." she simply said.

"I heard there was a commotion happened and they were looking for the CCTV footage to know who was at fault. James deleted the evidence. By the way, what commotion he was referring to that night?" Marie asked them innocently.

Then people inside the conference hall automatically turned their gaze at Erick. They have the same thought in mind.

'The only commotion that happened that night was between Erick's girlfriend, Elle and the nation's famous actress, Chlarice, who also had a crush on Erick.'

"Chief do you know anything about it? James already confirmed the truth. Is that the reason why you and Elle went home early?" It was June who asked him.

Everyone was waiting for his answer. Erick felt a little bit awkward because of the intense gaze that his colleagues were giving him.

Erick cleared his throat before answering.

"Cough! Cough! Honestly, I did not have any idea about James deleting the CCTV recordings."

"After what happened, I asked Elle to go home with me. I believe there is no reason for us to stay further." Erick said to them, partly truth and partly lies.

"Oh my Gosh! Elle was also there. I think Chlarice and Elle had a girl's fight because of Chief Erick!" Marie exclaimed as the realization came to her.

"Chief you are really great. Two beautiful ladies were fighting for you. Too bad, I was not there to witness it. What happened?" Marie added, she was a little bit disappointed.

Erick blushed from embarrassment because of Marie's remarks. And everyone inside the conference hall burst into waves of laughter.

"Hey, stop gossiping Marie. We are here for a different matter. Let's talk about that later." Bryan was trying to save Erick from feeling so embarrassed.

"Okay, let's go back to where we left. Continue Marie." Captain Jason said.

"That's all I got. Catseye was there. Did you find anything suspicious that night? Are members of Arison Family just fine?" Marie asked them.

The team was put in deep thought as they reminisced everything that happened and what they observed last night.

There were no irregularities last night, nothing suspicious and Arison Family was totally safe.

After a long silence Captain Jason spoke up. "Nothing I could think of. Everything was normal last night."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Did you notice? Something is weird about Catseye nowadays." Carl shared his thoughts.

Others turned to look at him waiting for his further analysis.

"Catseye was also there but nothing happened. What is her reason for attending the party?"

"I agree, it looks like she did not go there to cause some fright or hurt the Arison family. What is her true motive by coming there?" Rose asked quizzically.

"And one more thing, the recent killing of Catseye, I am still wondering why she presented some pieces of evidence of the illegal activities of her victim." 

"Is she playing a hero or Is she playing a man of justice now?" Allen also commented

"Catseye is becoming more unpredictable these days. We don't know what she will gonna do next." Erick said with his serious tone.

"Alright, we should start moving now. Let us not waste another time. Black Shadow is the key to knowing her identity."

"I think it is time to catch Black Shadow." Captain Jason said with full determination.

"What are your plans, Captain?" Marie asked him.

"We will do an operation to apprehend Black Shadow tomorrow night. We have twenty-four hours to prepare."

"Yeah, I like that idea Captain!!! Let's catch some villain!" Carl said enthusiastically.

"Count me in!" Bryan said.

"Me too!"

"I am so excited! Team Alpha and Team Eagle in one operation. So cool!"

"It was decided then. Tomorrow night we will catch Black Shadow. Marie, be ready, you will play a bigger role in this." Captain Jason told her.

"Aye Captain. I understood. Should I drug him so that we can easily catch him?"

"No, don't do that. He was an expert on different drugs. He might learn that you are a spy. If this operation will not be successful, we still need you to continue spying. We will use another strategy." Erick suggested.

Everyone agreed on Erick's suggestion. And soon, Team Alpha Cinco and Special Taskforce Eagle planned out their strategy that day on how they would catch Black Shadow.