1
"No one will go home tonight. We've got a lead about these white van abductions," barked Capt. Valdez as I took another sip of black coffee. I took a long drag from my cigarette.
We gathered round his desk as he opens a video file on his PC.
"This is the only solid evidence we've got now," the Captain said as the grainy CCTV footage started to roll.
It was what we expected. Two SHS students, girls around 14, were walking down a poorly lit street. Then, after a moment, a white van stopped in front of them.
Two masked men, armed with guns, came out of the van. They grabbed the girls by the arms and forcefully pulled them toward the van, trying to get them in. I sighed, as it seemed to be of no use. The men wore masks, the van got no plate number or stickers.
But it was not that caught our full attention. It was the moment after that.
A big man, about 6'5 in height, suddenly fell out from the adjacent building. He was wearing a yellow hoodie, his face was covered with a black face mask.
He suddenly pulled the door of the van, ripping it from the vehicle. That was quite a feat, for we have never seen a man, no matter how big he is, literally tear the door of a fucking car.
We heard gunshots from the footage and panicked screams from the girls.
We saw sparks as bullets hit the big man's body. He did not even flinch a bit, as the bullets bounced one by one after hitting him.
The gun fires ceased. The big man made his move. He grabbed inside the van, pulling the first masked man out, slamming him so hard against a wall.
It was so hard that the man's innards exploded like spilled taho all over the place, his head bouncing off the ground like a basketball. Blood soaked the back of his yellow hoodie, painting it bright red.
He grabbed inside the van again, pulling out the second man. "Who do you work for?", he screamed with his deep booming voice.
"A-azcar-agga!", the masked man stuttered as he struggled for breath due to the big man's hand wrapping around his neck.
"Salamat," the big man answered as he pulled the masked man's left arm, ripping it off his body, followed by the right arm. The masked man wasn't able to scream anymore, the big man punched him in the face so hard his head flew a few feet away from his body.
"Umuwi na kayo," the man in the yellow jacket said. The two girls frantically ran away from the van, screaming for help.
The man opened the van's front door. He grabbed the driver by the neck. The driver fought off, even punched the man in the face but he just broke his fingers.
On a final attempt to fight off for his life, the driver grabbed the man's jacket, ripped it open, buying him off time to run as the man was distracted. He does not like his jacket ripped open, so it seems.
The driver was able to get off a few feet away from the man and the van, but still within range of the CCTV. We could not believe what we saw after that.
The man in yellow grabbed the van by the roof, lifted it with one hand up in the air and threw it toward the sky like a ball
The van fell right into the driver, crushing him. Then, the big man faced the camera, in an angle good enough that we can see what was tattooed on his bare chest.
It was a tattoo of a barbell with ten plates on either end.
"We get Azcarraga, and then this man."
That was Capt Valdez, clicking on his PC again.
"This city's got enough vigilantes, we need to get them outta streets."
Ah, I recall last week. We got sightings of a woman in a red leather jacket punching her way out a wall.
It's gonna be a long night for the precinct.