15 Chapter 15

[MC POV]

"So what exactly happened?"

I asked my father as we started discussing the events and reasons which led the Virtuosos group to kidnap Elsa.

The thing is that even if they are our enemies, revealing themselves to a normal person is against the rules set forth by the World Awakeners Association. Unless of course if you are related to them by blood.

There has to be something that they gain by kidnapping Elsa. I mean other than using her for negotiation with us with which they can tell us to give up on a part of our business or territory basically to control us.

Right now I only fear a single thing. My Dad may agree to some of their conditions but if they try to go too far, our group will simply give up on her. And I don't think I am willing to let go of her like that.

I mean she doesn't even know why she has been kidnapped.

The worst thing is that she can't live her normal life even if we rescue her because she has already found out about the awakened world. As such we will be forced to get rid of her by the World Awakeners Association.

"Elsa's abduction seems to have been taken place 3 days ago. That was the last time her family saw her."

"Why would they wait for 2 days to send us that photo of her's then?"

"We don't know."

*Crack*

The armrest of the chair got crushed as I clenched my fist.

"..however, there is only one possibility that will allow them to get out of this without breaking the rules and still hold the same advantage against us."

"What is it?"

"Owen....are you sure that Elsa isn't an awakened one?"

"huh?"

Elsa an awakened one?

This thought had never even crossed my mind. Why? Well because it's Elsa.

The clumsy, food loving, loudmouth Elsa. But....

'Could it be? Is she really an awakened one?'

There is no proof if she is an awakened one but her being an awakened one does make sense. Her house comes under Virtuosos's territory so it will be easy to approach her as well.

Just tell her about the awakened ones and that their group looks after them and voila she would agree to go over to their group and they will restrain her.

"I don't know" I said

"What? How can you not know? You have the rare gift to be able to tell who in a crowd is an awakened one yet you don't know if your friend is an awakened one?" Dad asked with his eyebrows raised.

The gift he was referring to was just the Observation Haki. With it's help, I could tell who an awakened one is. However...

"I never used that ability when I was with her. So I have no idea."

"Hmm....This is terrible Owen." Dad said as he tapped on his table with his fingers.

"The Virtuosos group wants to take 10% of our territory and all businesses which we had just recently started and they want a reply by the end of the day. We need to come up with a plan of action."

I fell into thought about how to get out of this situation.

Elsa being an awakened one is the worst case scenario. Because if that is true, the WAA can't do anything to them even if they torture her or do something worse. Basically if Elsa is an awakened one, we lose all our advantage against the Virtuosos group and we will have to cave.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Someone kept knocking the door to Father's office non stop and even before he could complete the words "Come in" the person barged in with a stack of papers and a laptop in his hands.

"What is it Ben?" Dad asked in an annoyed tone as he didn't like his subordinates behaviour.

"Sorry to suddenly barge in Mr. Chairman but I have important information regarding Ms. Elsa."

"Shut the door and explain" I said

He did exactly that and brought his laptop over and played a video.

"I went through the security cameras footage all around the city and tracked Ms. Elsa's daily movements. This is a footage from a week and half ago."

We watched the entire footage but found no problem with it whatsoever and as soon as Elsa reached her house, Ben paused the video.

"What's wrong? What exactly do you wanna tell us?" I asked

"Following this day, all of the CCTV cameras surrounding this entire neighbourhood have had their 2 days worth of footage wiped away. This is Ms. Elsa's common route which she takes twice a week on Mondays and Saturdays after going home from her extra classes."

"However, the last clip that we just saw was of that of Saturday as for her next time using this route, which should be on Monday, all the CCTV footage covering her route from where she gets off from bus all the way to her house has been wiped."

"So she was kidnapped on Monday in this neighbourhood?"

"Not exactly."

Ben said and ruffled through the papers he had laid out on the table.

"On Tuesday morning, these 4 people were found dead in an alley which comes under Ms. Elsa's route."

I looked at my father with a shocked look and only a few seconds later, both of our faces had solemn expressions.

This only meant one thing.

Elsa is an awakened one. Not a normal awakened one either but a criminal one.

The photos of the victims showed ice shrapnels dud into their chest and half of their bodies frozen.

I was wrong before. Elsa being an awakened one wasn't the worst case. This is.

If she had not killed any awakened one, we could still have a fighting chance. However, if the footage of her killing all these people is shown to the WAA, then we will be the ones persecuted for defending a criminal.

'What to do? What to do?'

***

[3rd POV]

Meanwhile inside the Virtuoso Group's HQ

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

Elsa continued to bang the door of her cell as she screamed to let her out.

*sigh* "Man this girl is annoying." Man A said

"She is a teenager. What do you think her personality would be like?" Man B said

"Well.....she could have been a little less rude."

"Maybe you should improve you dressing style so people don't make fun of you."

"How is it MY fault?!!"

"YOU ARE WEARING WHITE SOCKS AND BLACK SHOES!!-- You know what don't get me started it will only hurt you more."

"Why are you defending that little girl anyway?"

Man A looked at the blonde teenage girl from the glass window and said, "Because I don't really like what we are doing right now. That girl made an honest mistake. In fact I don't even think it was a mistake. If I was in her place I would have killed those fuckers too."

Man B was silent as he knew that Man A had a terrible family history related to rapists and thieves.

"Boss is being blinded by his rage against the Knight family and is destroying her life for his selfish reasons."

"Hey!!" Man B interrupted him and looked around and then spoke in a soft but clear tone. "Don't say that so casually. If boss hears this, who know what he might do to you."

Both of them didn't speak a word after that and just continued on with their surveillance.

As two relatively high position holders of the group, the two of them were assigned the duty to watch over the one and only 'Ace' the Virtuosos group had with them.

The two of them reclined on their seats and continued observing their hostage as she stopped banging the door and began crying in a corner of the room.

"You know, we could at least make her a little more comfortable for as long as she is here" Man B said

"Yeah let's do that." Man A replied as the two of them began ordering furniture, books, TV and video games to make Elsa's time a little less uncomfortable.