Under the Veil of Night

The moment the lights went out, Tommy also made his move. Shin shot the man with the hostage, right at his finger. The moment his finger was shot, he could not pull the trigger as he had lost his finger.

"What the–?" he was stunned.

From beyond the police cordon, Tommy sprinted and headed towards the man. His movement startled the police, and some of them fired towards him, but failed and ended up hitting the glass behind him.

Tommy cursed internally as he swore he would not interfere in police work again if this was the treatment he got. His small sword made its way to the third man's arm, and his feet kicked the girl out from the way.

The man was trying his best to change the finger that was in the trigger, but as his hand was hurt badly, he could not move. The next moment, he felt a pain coming from behind his head as he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

The girl was crying on the side while Tommy stood his ground.

"Can I get out now?"

"If you wish for the police to shoot you with a barrage of bullets, you can move now."

Tommy's face contorted. That damned Oro, what did he say? He was cursing internally as he faced police officers who were looking at him with wide eyes.

"I'll create a distraction when the time's up," Shin's voice sounded. "You have one chance, that's when the lights turn on again."

"Alright, Shin, I got it," Tommy nodded his head.

On the police side, Kano was stunned, but he recognized that outfit. In the entire city, only one person dared to wear that headband and had a scar on his eye. Even if he didn't know whether the scar was fake or real, there was only one person who had both characteristics.

"Tom," Kano said loudly. "What is Fiore Group doing here?"

Tommy heard a thud sound from behind him. He knew that Kanae was taking action inside the room. There were still several seconds left before Shin made his move and Kanae finished hers, so he smiled as he walked outside.

"I'm on a mission, Inspector Kano," Tommy answered with a muffled voice. He had met Kano because the latter was Misae's father, so he was trying to change his voice. It would do him no good to have his identity leaked out. Even if the groups mostly were not considered criminal, some of them were.

Kano's eyes narrowed. "Move back!"

26 seconds

"You might want to put those guns down, inspector. None of them will hit me," Tommy answered calmly. By the time he finished his words, a gun was shot and another glass panel behind him shattered.

Tommy used this opportunity to run to the side. The police were startled. Some of them fired their guns, but most of them were unable to react. Kano raised his hand. Fiore Group was not considered criminal as they did their work mostly on Black Street. Still, the last big battle caused their name to become famous.

"Don't shoot. Let's go in."

Kano led his men inside. He saw that the lights have returned to normal, but the man who guarded the entrance had fallen down. Did Tom also manage to do something during that short time frame?

When they came inside, they were stunned to see the three perpetrators lying on the ground. Two of them were unconscious while the other one was bleeding with a pale face as if he saw a ghost.

"What happened here?"

…

The police cleaned up the place and asked the people who were inside.

"Do you know what happened during the blackout?"

First person:

"I couldn't see anything or hear anything. It was complete darkness. All I know is after a few seconds there was a loud sound of something falling. Not long after that, one of the robbers yelled something, but I'm not sure about the words he said. I was too scared to pay any attention."

Second person:

"I felt that there was a gust of wind not far from me. It happened twice, and I heard a loud sound of metal clashing near me. I was terribly scared. Then there was the sound of someone yelling after some time passed…"

Third person:

"I only heard the thud sounds like someone or something fall. I thought that the robbers were startled, and they might open fire, so I crouched down. There was the sound of a gunshot not long after that…"

Kano heard the story of these people while rubbing his forehead. Although they were slightly different here and there, they all made a complete story. There was someone who moved during that blackout and this person or maybe more than one person knocked down the three men.

He felt the news to be quite unbelievable. After all, two of the men were former soldiers, and he knew very well that they had sharp senses. Even if they couldn't see in the darkness, there was no way they could be beaten up easily unless the opponent could see in the darkness?

That was ridiculous.

"I'm not sure what happened. I know that there was a sound of something or someone falling in front of me and not long after that, there was the sound of gunshot…."

Kano was startled as he felt the voice to be familiar. He turned around and saw a girl wearing a Nolen School C uniform behind him. Although it was common to see a high schooler going to a bank, he recognized her to be Kanae.

"Kanae, what are you doing here?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Inspector Kano," Kanae bowed politely. "I'm withdrawing some money for this month's allowance and coincidentally got involved."

Kano sighed. "Come with me."

Kanae followed after Kano obediently. She knew that he was worried about her because she was Misae's friend. However, she was pretty sure that she would not get into any trouble. At most, he would only scold her and ask her to be more careful.

She heard Jason's voice again.

"I managed to get inside and delete all the security cameras' footage inside and outside the bank. There should be no one who knows where you were inside the room anymore."

"Thank you, Oro (Jason's code name)."

"No problem Captain, but you might want to do something to ease Tom's rage."

"I'm not angry! I'm just displeased with this matter. Those annoying police should have been grateful we're helping them," Tommy complained loudly. He was already back on the Black Street, and he didn't have any intention to go out for the time being.

"We're not police officers," Shin answered.

"Oh yeah, Shin, did you manage to get away?"

"I did, but I can't talk too much. There are too many people around me."

The police certainly tried to find him too, but he could get away easily. Searching for a hidden place to snipe from was his specialty, and he would not let anyone catch him.

"Alright, thank you, Shin."

Jason looked towards the clock. "I have a meeting; see you all later."

With that, they turned off communications one by one. Kanae sighed in relief. She was glad that she had her own group that she could rely on.. Without them, she didn't dare to do anything as she knew how bad it would be if the Nali Family knew about her real ability.