Prodigy: New World

3) The Scientist's Scheme

"P-Private detective?" Angela repeated. She gripped the strap of her bag tighter. "What do you want with us? Were you the one who gave us those letters?"

"Oh, I wouldn't put it like that." Detective Ichikaz replied. "That just makes me sound evil and scary. Also, yes, the letter planting business was me. Sorry about breaking into your houses last night. I'll make it up to you at some point. Probably. You'll have to remind me, though."

"Just tell us what you want with us." Edward demanded. "We don't have all day."

"You're right, Ed." The detective agreed. "We don't have all day. We have just under a day."

"What do you mean?" Brooklyn asked, tilting her head curiously.

"I'll show you." Detective Ichikaz replied. "Angela, could I borrow that laptop of yours for a moment, please?"

Angela stood in silence for a moment, hesitating, before reluctantly unzipping her bag and pulling out a black, slender laptop. She turned the power on, typed in the password and waited for it to successfully boot up. Detective Ichikaz pulled a memory stick out of his pocket and plugged it into the side of the laptop.

"What's on the memory stick?" Angela questioned, feverently glancing between the detective and the laptop.

"Nothing damaging, don't worry." Detective Ichikaz assured her. "There's just a small video I'd like to show you all. It's not anything graphic, either, before you dirty-minded boys get any ideas."

The detective double clicked on a video titled 'TOP SECRET'. When the video began, all that could be seen was a dark room, illuminated only by several blue computer screens. In the center of the screen, there was a leather chair. Sat in the leather chair sat a girl, around the ages of Angela, Edward and Jeremy.

The girl had dark brown hair tied into two long braids, electric blue streaks running through her hair. Her blue eyes were framed with purple glasses. She wore a white shirt under a dark green jacket. There was a black tie around her neck. She wore a green skirt with white tights and black ankle boots. Black gloves ran up her arms. A grin was on her face as she had one leg crossed over the other, her chin resting on her intertwined fingers.

"Despair can be one of two things," the girl began. "For some people, it's the end. They've reached their limit, they can't possibly go on with life. They decide to end it out of pure desperation. But, for other people, it's only the beginning. I'm one of those people. The despair I've felt... it's opened my eyes to quite a few things."

The detective watched the teenagers' expressions as they watched. Confusion and worry appeared to be the most common emotions.

"I know that at you police officials are watching this, so listen up." The girl continued. "I have a proposal for you. Scattered throughout the city, I have hidden several robotic units. They're all armed to the teeth and practically indestructible. They're ready to let loose at a moment's notice. Of course, there's a way to prevent that. Find a man called Dr. Alder Delarosa. You've heard of him, I'm sure. Make sure that he's at Ivory Passage at exactly 12pm tomorrow. He needs to be alone, too."

"Who's Alder Delarosa?" Brooklyn asked.

"I'll explain after this is over." Detective Ichikaz whispered in response.

The girl reached into her shirt sleeve and pulled out a pair of shining silver scissors, lightly throwing them into the air and catching them again repeatedly. "If he's there on time, brilliant! He'll be taken away by myself, to be privately executed, and the city will come to no harm. On the flip side, if he isn't there, well... let's just say the city will take the hit instead. My robots will run through the streets, probably killing Dr. Delarosa anyway. In short... it's entirely his choice. He'll die no matter what happens, but... it's up to him whether you live or die with him. That phrase really comes in handy here. That one... 'What's one life when weighed against millions'?"

With one final smirk, the girl's face disappeared to darkness as the video ended.

The teenagers stood in stunned silence as the detective unplugged the memory stick from Angela's laptop. "So? What do you think?" He asked.

"What do we think?!" Edward repeated. "What even was that?!"

"Okay, let me explain from the beginning," Detective Ichikaz sighed. "That girl? Her name is Seraphim Delarosa. She's a Prodigy, like all of you; she's an Inventor. As you can see, she's not exactly right in her head."

"Delarosa..." Saito echoed.

The sound of pen on paper made everyone look towards the source of the sound. Jeremy was scribbling frantically into a notebook before flipping it around for everyone to see. 'She mentioned a man with that surname as well.' He had written. 'Is she related to him?'

"She is." Detective Ichikaz nodded. "Alder Delarosa, also known as Seraphim's father. He's an excellent scientist and inventor in his own right, but he's very odd. Not one for social interaction, I hear."

"Seraphim said that he was going to be 'privately executed'." Angela said. "D-Does that mean that she wants to... kill her own father...?"

"That's exactly what she wants to do." Detective Ichikaz nodded gravely. "So I, being the glorious and heroic man that I am, decided to put a stop to it, and you seven are going to help me."

"... So allow me to understand what you have told us." Light began, running a hand through his hair. "This alluring young woman is going to kill her father and possibly this city unless we do something."

"That sounds like an accurate summary." Detective Ichikaz shrugged. "Glad to see you were paying attention, lad."

"Th-That's insane...!" Light exclaimed, his cool and flirty demeanour breaking drastically. "We need to do something...!"

"You're right, we do." Detective Ichikaz agreed. "First thing on our to-do list is to warn Dr. Delarosa that his daughter is a bit crazy."

"A bit..." Edward scoffed. "Anyway, why should we help you?"

Detective Ichikaz paused and blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I agree that this all seems very suspicious." Saito began. "For all we know, you could be working with our enemy."

Detective Ichikaz blinked before sighing. Hands in his pockets, he slowly approached Saito, his hat casting a shadow over his eyes. "You suspect that I'm working for Seraphim?" The detective asked. "That's nonsense, Saito. You know that. You're a smart guy, right?"

Saito didn't respond. He locked eyes with Detective Ichikaz, noticing a drastic change of expression in the detective's eyes.

"I'm not working with the enemy," Detective Ichikaz muttered sternly, his voice so quiet that Saito was the only one who could hear him. "You believe me... right?"

A shiver was sent down Saito's spine. The young swordsman had never felt this feelimg before. It wasn't fright, but Saito felt almost... intimidated. Saito had never felt intimidated before. Even when, before now, he had been stood in front of an opponent who was much taller than him, he never faltered until now.

"I believe you." Saito replied, having no control over the words that tumbled out of his mouth.

"Jolly good!" Detective Ichikaz exclaimed, stepping away from Saito. "Now then, if that's everything, we need to head over to Dr. Delarosa's laboratory. The good doctor's life is at stake, after all!"

The detective began to walk away, but he was distracted by the sound of more scribbling. 'What exactly are we going to tell Dr. Delarosa?' Jeremy had asked. 'He won't be so willing to believe what we know about Seraphim to be true'.

"Oh, I doubt he'll care much." Detective Ichikaz shrugged. "They barely know each other, so he'll be more confused than anything."

The seven Prodigies hesitated before following the detective, still skeptical about Detective Ichikaz's plan, still unaware of the future dangers that they would face.

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i have nothing important to put here oops

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