Three Heroes

Michael's POV

"What the fuck do you mean three of them are dead?!" I slammed my hands on the table, "This is ridiculous! Who in the hell would do this?!"

I sat in one of the chairs in a conference room. As soon as I woke up this morning, Pildo called my phone and told me to get to HQ as soon as possible. I knew something was up due to the way his voice cracked so I flew my ass to the building without even having breakfast. Apparently, Aanya and Taejoon were also called because they too were here.

Pildo and Sarah were standing by the door and looking down at the floor with grim looks on their faces. They had just told us the news that 3 bodies were found in Daegu that belonged to three of our Low Rank heroes. Sarah was constantly checking her tablet as if checking for some updates.

I could not believe my ears, to hear that heroes were killed by some shit scum. I couldn't help but feel rage.

"Answer me, Pildo!" I said as I was seeing red, "Who did it?"

PIldo looked at me and fixed his glasses, "We don't know, Michael." He said, "All we know is that they were all killed by firearm. One of them was Red Cap #4..."

He looked at Taejoon who was covering his face with his hand. I could tell it was both the hangover and him being pissed off as well.

Aanya stood up and shook his head, "This is unacceptable..." She said, "Have the authorities given any updates, Pildo? I am very much itching to bash some skulls in."

Pildo shook his head again, "No.."

Sarah looked up from his tablet, "All we have been told is that the other two were also patrolling the area at the time of the murders." she said, "They were not too far away from each other, a couple of blocks at least."

I paced back and forward as I clenched my fist, "No, this cannot be happening right now." I muttered, "The same fucking night as the event. Those Low Rank heroes were fucking happy to be partnered up with the idol groups, this is some fucking bullshit!"

I heard as Pildo's phone started to ring.

I stopped to see him answer the phone, "Hello?" he said, "Oh, Detective Lee...Oh, uhm, alright then... thank you for updating us...alright then....have a good day, call us if you come up with something else...."

He hanged up and looked at me, his face even paler than it was earlier.

"uh..." he said, "One of the heroes was Destinee.....She was uhm, a member of The Heuglyong Dojo..."

I widened my eyes, "What?"

Sarah covered her mouth with her hand, "oh no.."

Destinee was a Low Rank hero that practiced taekwondo in Incheon. In other words, she was Amily's junior.

Taejoon sighed, "Ah shit." he said as he looked up at us, "This is not good at all."

Pildo gulped, "Uhm." he said, "That is not all. They did not want to tell us yet but, Destinee's body was found in...pieces...."

Aanya looked at him with a horrified face, "What did you say?"

Pildo took off his glasses and wiped his face, "They mutilated her body." He said, "Cut off her arms and legs before putting a bullet to her head to end her misery. Good lord, I cannot imagine what other things they did to her, they did not say anything else."

I sat back down in disbelief and disgust. I cannot believe such a thing happened just last night.

Then, the door opened and a tall man in a black suit entered with a suitcase in hand. He made his way to the front of the room where the whiteboard was and placed the case on the table. He adjusted his tie and took off his sunglasses.

I recognized him as Lee Taekyung, the Director of Security here in Purgatory.

He cleared his throat, "Well then, Guardians." He said as he looked at us, "I suppose you have been told of the news?"

I nodded, "Yea."

He then opened his briefcase and took out a couple of files.

"There are already reports made of the deceased." he said, "Destinee, Red Cap#4, and LiveWatt."

He passed the files to each of us.

I opened the one I had and saw the picture of a short haired korean girl. I closed my eyes and clutched the files tightly. This was Destinee's file.

I opened my eyes to read the contents. It said the usual stuff we knew about her. She was born on Incheon and trained in Amily's dojo. She was a first degree Black Belt was quite close to her senior. She was only 20.

I read her cause of death, it read "Bullet wound to the head."

I frowned, but before I could say anything, Mr. Lee spoke up.

"Regarding Miss Destinee's file.." he started, "We cannot let anyone know of the truth. It will cause an outrage and we're trying not to add salt to her family's wounds. The morgue is stitching her limbs back."

I looked at him, "You already told her family?" I asked

He nodded, "yes." he said, "But we're trying to find a good opportunity to tell Amily. One where the result is her not kicking the messenger in the face."

Aanya scoffed, "Good luck with that bud."

Mr. Lee then rubbed his chin and looked at me, "Michael." he said in a serious voice, "We need you to avoid the press this week. And try not to loose your temper, we would like to keep our things intact here. Taejoon, I need you to lay off the alcohol and stay in HQ in the meantime."

I saw Taejoon raise his eyebrow but he didn't say anything.

Mr. Lee then looked at Aanya, "Tigress." he said, "You stay too. Lady Hyejin has called a meeting but there isn't a set date yet. We want all Guardians present, even our Vampire at Seoul has to attend."

He closed his briefcase and placed a hand in his pocket.

"In the meantime, we look for the murderer." He said, "CyberKnight, give us what you got."

"Roger." a voice said behind him

I saw as a metallic orb floated from behind him into view. It was small, around 7 inches large. It had a bright red eye-like thing, I think it was a camera. The voice of a young man was clearly heard from the orb.

This was one of CyberKnight's drones.

It looked at us as it floated around, "From what little info I managed to get, which isn't much, I am still working on it..." he said, "Ballistics from the crime scene state that the murder weapon is the same one, a Colt 1911. 9mm. And last I checked, that is illegal in most parts so I can assume it belongs to someone on the dark side of the country."

Mr. Lee nodded, "Someone from the criminal underground."

"Wait." I said, "That makes no sense. None of the underground groups would dare touch a hero, especially a Purgatory one. Apex made sure they don't do any of that."

Taejoon nodded, "He's right." He said, "Not one of those shit-lickers would make a move on us."

CyberKnight's drone floated to me, "I am aware that our Big Dog scared the wits out of the crime bosses." He said, "But I know for a fact that the gun doesn't belong to anyone else, be it civilian or hero, or even a government related employee."

Mr. Lee nodded again, "CyberKnight's information does not lie, Michael." He said, "If he says its one of the underground criminals, then it is so."

"I checked how many of those pistols were last seen in South Korea in the past couple of years." CyberKnight started, "And could only find 3 of them. And the tracks disappear after June, 2019. So there is definitely someone from the underground carrying our murder weapon. Also, there was no sign of the tool used to mutilate Destinee...so they definitely took it with them. Whoever did it was no idiot."

I sighed, "So what now?"

Mr. Lee cleared his throat, "We wait for word from Lady Hyejin." He said,

"I am afraid she will have Purgatory on high alert."