Evening in Linam City.
The bustling city seldom calms down, not even in this Sunday afternoon, despite the news of the previous day's events having kept most of the citizens at home, as instructed by the royal decree that was released.
Not everyone is lucky enough to get a day off though, as one very bored employee is going through the day's last shift in the National Bank of Soweiland, right before it closes for the day.
He's barely holding his head up, tapping away at his desk, staring at the screen in front of him, waiting for anything to happen. Fortunately for him, his wish is about to be granted.
A man walks up to his desk, a glass screen separating them.
"Greetings, lowly teller of the bank! I am the Hook Master, and I'm here on urgent business." The man said. The teller pays him no mind.
"We're closing in 10, please scram." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
The Hook Master didn't like that response. He unbuckled two hook swords from his back and swung them forwards, slashing away at the glass screen, cutting it open like a piece of butter. This got the bank teller's attention, as his eyes went wide and he took a better look at the Hook Master.
He wore a bizarre mask, resembling the shape of a frowning skull, with bloodshot eyes. His clothes were simple, but very dirty. His swords were curved at the ends, and they each had a differently colored leather handle.
"You will look at the Hook Master when he speaks, teller of the bank." The Hook Master said. "Now, give me that register!"
The teller confusedly stared at the Hook Master, who was just standing there.
"Huh?"
"Ah, forget it, you foolish teller of the bank! The Hook Master is the only one who does anything in this society!" The Hook Master then swung the swords above his head, the crooked ends latching on the teller's shirt, before he swung them back, launching the bank teller in the air, before he landed down with a thud.
The Hook Master then begun manically cackling, before ripping off the register from the wall, and running off with very exaggerated motions, leaving the poor employee stunned in silence, as he called the police.
______________________________________________________________________
In the police station, things aren't much livelier, with only a few AXON agents and police officers being on duty. Detective McCord was amongst the few present, shuffling through casefiles in his office. Yesterday's arrest added quite a lot of paperwork on his load.
Before he could really get into it, an officer barged into his office, pushing the door open.
"Detective McCord, sir!" The officer said, and saluted his senior officer. "You're needed at a crime scene. Bank robbery in downtown Linam, sir!"
"This early? It's only 7PM..." McCord commented, as he put his files away.
"It was a masked robber according to the witness, sir. An officer has been sent to the scene to question him." The officer explained.
"Where's my investigative team, officer? I'm ready to head out." McCord asked. The officer hesitated.
"Uh, the chief said you should deal with this yourself, sir. Something about distribution of manpower..." The officer said, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
"I see." McCord said, scratching his neck. "You're dismissed, officer. I need to talk to the chief..."
The officer left McCord's office, and McCord wore his coat, fixed his tie and put on his hat, before also walking out, and heading straight towards the chief's office, just down the hall from his own.
The chief's office was freshly painted black and red, with the furniture also following the color scheme. The chairs and sofa were made of leather, and the walls were decorated in portraits of the chief himself, Rowan Callaghan of AXON. He had really made himself at home in his new office.
Callaghan himself completely contrasted the posh look of his office, with his unkempt graying beard, and AXON-branded clothes. His feet were up on his desk, and he was fiddling with his keys
"Callaghan." McCord addressed him upon entering the room, with both his hands in the pockets of his coat. "I am certain you've heard of the bank robbery that just happened downtown?"
"Uh, yeah. You're on the case, you know?" Callaghan said, not bothering to meet the detective's gaze.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Don't you think you're putting all your eggs in one basket, assigning only me to this case? Aren't you going to do anything?" McCord asked, crossing his arms. Callaghan chuckled.
"Listen, I'm kind of a big picture police chief, y'know? Cracking down on crime rings, and all that jazz. And I can't exactly make my guys deal with silly things like a bank robber, right?" Callaghan explained.
"Is that not what we pay you for?" McCord asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm paying you, and all you do is arrest whoever Leo tells you to arrest. Quite frankly, I think you're a pushover, so It's time you earn your paycheck, yeah?" Callaghan said, then shooed the detective away with his hand. McCord sighed, then waddled out of the room in defeat.
______________________________________________________________________
Detective McCord arrived on the crime scene twenty minutes earlier, the sun having set during the drive to the bank. The state of the crime scene was atrocious, with mudded footprints lying all over and the glass panel where the teller stands shattered.
The witness, a puffy haired, tan skinned man was standing near the entrance, clearly not wanting to be there. However, there was no officer with him, instead being entertained by a charlatan in a Sherlock Holmes-inspired attire, who was speaking loudly and flailing his arms about.
"Excuse me, sir?" McCord approached the two men, tapping the loud man's shoulder. "This crime scene isn't open to the public. There should be an officer around here..." McCord said, getting the attention of them both.
"Oh, hey mate! I'm AJ, private investigator!" The loud man said, and vigorously shook the detective's hand. "I'm the officer you're looking for. Or, well I'm not exactly an officer, but Ms. Renee assigned me to this case, for some reason. Something about evaluating your salary. You could say I'm your investigative partner..." AJ trailed off, losing the other two halfway through his tangent.
McCord turned his attention to the other man, who was busy twiddling his thumbs.
"You must be the witness, then?" He asked. The other man gave a thumbs up.
"Unfortunately, yes. I'm also the victim of being flung 10 feet into a wall. Name's Anthony, we've met before." He said, crossing his arms. McCord took out a notepad and started noting all the information Anthony gave him.
"I work here part-time because my wallet is empty and they hire anything that breathes. I was at the desk, waiting for anything to happen, when that weirdo showed up and told me to give him the cash register. Called himself the Hook Master. He looked like a clown so obviously I didn't do anything, but then he cut the glass open with some weird swords, tossed me aside, ripped off the cash register and dipped. There was at least 10.000 dollars in there." Anthony narrated his recollection of events, the detective nodding along with everything he said.
"You said he looked like a clown; can you elaborate on that?" McCord asked.
"Sure. He was wearing a bizarre mask, but it wasn't a cheaply made carnival one. It looked ancient. His hair was a little more than shoulder length, and we was wearing a red hoodie and blue jeans that had definitely seen better days... He was also really smelly, I don't think he's showered in weeks." Anthony explained.
"I see. Can you describe his weapons in any more detail?"
"Eh, they were two crooked swords that kinda looked like crowbars, except not really. Their handles were weird, and I think they were padded in leather or something."
"Right. Anything else?" McCord asked at last.
"No. Can I go home now? My shift ended an hour ago." Anthony said. McCord signaled him to leave, but before he did, Anthony shared one final word of advice.
"Might wanna check on your investigative partner there, doc. Good luck." Anthony said, before walking out of the bank, twirling a key around his index finger and whistling a whimsical tune.
The investigative partner in question was trying to look at a piece of evidence at the floor through a magnifying glass, except he was looking at it with his eyelids closed.
"Hey, don't touch that!" McCord yelled, grabbing AJ's hand just before he touched it. On the ground were the glass shards that were once part of the panel in front of the teller's desk. The shards were cleanly cut down the middle in an x shape, forming 4 triangles, but the edges were shattered like normal.
"This is a weird formation for glass to take. He must have cut this x on the window before it shattered. How did it even keep its shape?" McCord pointed out. AJ shrugged.
"How should I know, mate? You're the detective." AJ asked. "Maybe he's a glass sculptor in his spare time."
"Aren't you a private investigator?" McCord rolled his eyes.
"Not really, I do this for fun. Missin' kittens are more up my alley, mate." AJ said, and scratched the back of his neck, McCord prayed to God to give him patience.
McCord noted down the facts about the glass shards, and the muddy footprints all over the crime scene, before moving on to the vault door.
"This looks intact. I guess he really only took the register..." McCord said. The spot where the cash register was supposed to be was right behind them. The nodes connecting it to the desk were snapped in half.
"Why the hell are there cash registers in a bank anyways? Back in Australia, they don't have the money out in the open." AJ mentioned, puzzled.
"The government decided to give the people an easy way to take out small loans without the long process of taking money from the vault. Some money is printed in cash every month and split between the three banks in the country. I doubt this policy will be in effect for much longer though..." McCord explained.
"No wonder that mook took all that money then. It's easy pickings!" AJ exclaimed.
"I suppose so. Doesn't seem like there's anything else for us to look at in here, then. This evidence isn't too interesting... Let's just call it a night." McCord said.
The two left the bank, after putting down all the police tape, and got in the car to head back to the precinct. AJ picked up a newspaper on his way out, that he checked out during the drive back.
"Look at what this says, mate. 'Weird being prowling around the forest at night'. That Soleman bloke has finally lost the last of his marbles, ey?" AJ chuckled at the article, while McCord simply raised an eyebrow.
"Why don't you go solve that mystery, oh great detective, and leave me to my devices?" He asked, rolling his eyes.
"Please, mate, does the mysterious creature of the night look like it's worth my time? I can't get my watermelons' worth with two-bit chicanery like this! It's probably just some loser with too much free time." AJ shook his head. McCord found the irony of that statement amusing.
The rest of the drive was less than quiet, as AJ was having the time of his live sharing his adventures with the detective, much to the latter's dismay.
______________________________________________________________________
Detective McCord's luck just kept getting worse as he was woken up by a call to action at 2 AM by his lovely investigative partner, as they were called to investigate another bank robbery, this time in Sowei City. Half an hour of driving later, and the pair is in another bank, this one being a much older building.
A local AXON force showed the ever-chipper AJ and the older detective McCord to the scene, which was, just like last time, a mess.
"Again with the weird glass shards and the mud." McCord noticed. "Clearly the handiwork of our friendly neighborhood Hook Master."
"What are we even supposed to deduce from this, mate? The guy never leaves any evidence." AJ threw his hands in the air.
"Uh, excuse me?" An AXON agent at the scene spoke up. "I'm Agent Carlton, AXON. Yeah, we found this letter in the mailbox right outside, it's for you, sirs."
"A letter? What's this doing here?" McCord asked, as he opened the letter.
"No idea, sir. It's pretty weird though, has no real return address. We think it might be the perp." Carlton said.
"Right, thanks." McCord dismissed the agent, before taking a peek at the contents of the letter. The letters were almost illegible.
"What's it say, then?" AJ asked, trying to peek over the detective's shoulder.
"I think he's luring us to his base of operations. It's definitely a challenge of some kind, but why wouldn't he just give us an address if he wants us to find him?" McCord thought out loud.
"Maybe he can't share his address?" AJ proposed, with a stupid grin on his face.
"Couldn't?" McCord asked. "Hold on..."
Mudded footprints all over the crime scene.
"He was also really smelly, I don't think he's showered in weeks."
"Again with the mud."
'Weird being prowling around the forest at night'.
"It's pretty weird though, has no real return address."
"I have it." McCord said, smirking in victory.
"Whoa, what?" AJ asked.
"The witness stated that the perp was very smelly and unkempt, and we know this is true because his shoes were all muddy, thanks to the footprints in both crime scenes. Also, there have been sightings of a weird person in the forest lately, leading me to the conclusion that the Hook Master, is the forest prowler, hence the lack of an address on his letter!" McCord concluded. AJ was impressed.
"Agent Carlton! Form a search party immediately! Follow the leads provided by the recent edition of Sowei City News!" McCord ordered. Carlton saluted the detective and ran off.
"That's a wrap on this case, then." AJ smirked.
"Not yet. We need to catch him, too. I know exactly where he'll strike next, and we can't let that happen." McCord punched his palm.
"We need to gain the upper hand on him, when he inevitably attacks Stormhaven Bank!" He exclaimed.
To be continued...