Chapter 15: Serial Kidnapping?
<strong>Chapter 15: Serial Kidnapping?</strong>
<span style="font-weight:400">Monday.
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin went to work as usual.
<span style="font-weight:400">There weren’t any new cases so they simply continued to work on old cases.
<span style="font-weight:400">While working on old cases, Benjamin frowned.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Another missing person’s case?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin frowned since this wasn’t the only missing person’s case that he had encountered in the old case files.
<span style="font-weight:400">He had set them aside for now since these things usually take too much time and they have already ced an APB on them and just waiting for news.
AN: Btw, I''m not a real police nor do I know much about police procedures so idk if there''s any process or some shit when doing an APB on someone. :P
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin pulled out his drawer where he had set aside the files and noticed that there was already quite a stack.
<span style="font-weight:400">He quickly took it out and checked them one by one again, sorting out the missing person''s cases and the others.
<span style="font-weight:400">The result…the majority of it was missing person’s cases.
<span style="font-weight:400">“This…”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin felt that this wasn’t normal.
<span style="font-weight:400">He picked the files up and went to an empty conference room to plot out the whole thing properly on a big table.
<span style="font-weight:400">Jake noticed him and asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What’s wrong?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...Just a hunch. I hope I’m wrong though…”
<span style="font-weight:400">Jake felt the seriousness of the matter and didn’t joke around. He also followed him to the conference room.
<span style="font-weight:400">Looking at all the case files, Jake noticed the simrities immediately.
<span style="font-weight:400">“These are the old missing person’s cases? There’s this many?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Just the ones on my pile…how about yours?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Wait a sec.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Jake quickly left and checked his own pile.
<span style="font-weight:400">Soon after, he came back with another set of case files of his own.
<span style="font-weight:400">“...I can’t believe I didn’t notice there were these many…”
<span style="font-weight:400">It can’t be helped. They usually deal with a lot of case files so these kinds of things weren’t noticed immediately.
<span style="font-weight:400">But now that they did, they needed to know if there was any connection or not!
<span style="font-weight:400">After a few hours of cross-checking…
<span style="font-weight:400">“...Holy shit. We have a serial kidnapper…or murderer on our hands!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Right…they were able to find a connection!
<span style="font-weight:400">After checking numerous times, they all found that the victims were all people who didn’t have any parents…so to say, they were all orphans.
<span style="font-weight:400">The ones who had reported it were all either the orphanage, friends, acquaintances, neighbors or such. But since none of them were particrly close to the victim, they didn’t follow up after the initial report so it has been neglected.
<span style="font-weight:400">It was as if the kidnapper, or the killer, had picked these people specifically so as to not arouse any attention.
<span style="font-weight:400">The time intervals on each were also spread out and not too consecutive to be noticed immediately which was why it just got buried under the old case files.
<span style="font-weight:400">“...Call Captain Holt.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Jake nodded and rushed out.
<span style="font-weight:400">After a while, Captain Holt arrived and looked at the scene before him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing the numerous case files on the table, he frowned.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What are all these?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“These are all the old missing person’s case files we have…well, just the ones assigned to us right now.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“This many!?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Captain Holt widened his eyes in disbelief.
<span style="font-weight:400">How was this not noticed before!?
<span style="font-weight:400">Soon, Benjamin exined what they found out and his face turned grim.
<span style="font-weight:400">He left the room and shouted at everyone on the floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">“All of you stop what you’re doing right now and bring in all the missing person’s case files you have on you. Right now!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Everyone looked at each other in confusion but did as they were told.
<span style="font-weight:400">After a while…they were all staring at each other in shock.
<span style="font-weight:400">There… were this many!?
<span style="font-weight:400">Next, ording to Captain Holt’s instruction, they set aside all those files where the victims were orphans and were still shocked to find it was the majority of their files.
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing all of these, Captain Holt sighed.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Alright. It should be obvious to everyone by now. We either have a serial kidnapper or a serial killer in the area. Freed, since you’re the one who found out about this, you lead the team. Peralta, Santiago, Boyle, Diaz, you four support him. Sergeant Jeffords, I’ll leave you in charge of everything else for the moment. For now, this matter is their first priority! Is that clear!?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes sir!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then get back to work!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Everyone left the room to continue working while Ben, Jake, Amy, Rosa, and Charles remained in the room.
<span style="font-weight:400">At this time, Benjamin also received the quest.
<span style="font-weight:400">[Main Quest: Serial Kidnapping?]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Investigate the mystery behind the missing person’s cases!]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Rewards: 20000 MP, 10 Free Gacha Draw.]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Failure Condition: Unsolved after 7 days]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Failure: -50000 MP, Weakened state for 7 days]
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing the numerous rewards and severe penalties, Benjamin trembled slightly.
<span style="font-weight:400">He took a deep breath and started to issue orders.
<span style="font-weight:400">“First of all, Amy, sort out the information of all these files in a more readable way. I want to see it ordered by date, ce, birthdate, and name.”
<span style="font-weight:400">At the mention of sorting stuff, Amy shivered in ecstasy.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Ahh…I’m so turned on right now…”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Focus Amy.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Rosa rolled her eyes.
<span style="font-weight:400">Usually, Amy is quite well-behaved and straightced but she gets turned on at the weirdest things like binders, sorting, schedules, or such…
<span style="font-weight:400">Basically, she’s an organizer freak.
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin ignored her and turned to Charles.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Charles, get a map of the area and plot out each and every ce where the victims werest seen.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“On it!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Jake and Rosa, you two see if you can question the people around these victims. It might be toote now but we’ll get what we can get. You can focus on the more recent ones first.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Alright.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Let’s go.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Jake nodded while Rosa already started walking to the door.
<span style="font-weight:400">Meanwhile, Benjamin continued to look through the case files again to see if he missed something.
<span style="font-weight:400">At the side, Captain Holt nodded and left.
<span style="font-weight:400">He was no longer as apprehensive of Benjamin who had pulled some strings at the beginning and is now thinking of him as a real detective.
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin nced at the quest again and frowned.
<span style="font-weight:400">There weren’t any useful clues he can gain from the quest details other than the failure condition.
<span style="font-weight:400">These old cases have been going on for months already. Yet there is a failure time limit of 7 days…why is that?
<span style="font-weight:400">Was there something happening 7 dayster that will cause it to ‘fail’? Does that mean the culprit will escape 7 dayster?
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin shook his head.
<span style="font-weight:400">This isn’t too helpful at all. It was better to pour his attention on other things instead.
<span style="font-weight:400">And so Benjamin turned to the files again.
<span style="font-weight:400">After some time, Amy brought him a folder with properbels and everything.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Thanks.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No problem. I also noticed that the intervals aren’t too far from each other. It is usually about 2-4 days apart. There are some gaps here, here, and here but I believe that the crime still happened around that time but wasn’t reported.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin nodded as he took a look.
<span style="font-weight:400">Charles also arrived with a big map and spread it on the table.
<span style="font-weight:400">With Amy’s help, the two plotted on it to have a better look.
<span style="font-weight:400">Once they were done, Benjamin took a look and frowned.
<span style="font-weight:400">Overall…the crime seems to be centered around Hell’s Kitchen.
<span style="font-weight:400">“...I’m going to check on something. You two join Jake and Rosa.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Where are you going?
<span style="font-weight:400">Amy asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hell’s Kitchen. I’ll see if I can find something.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin took a police car and immediately drove off.
<span style="font-weight:400">A few minutester, he arrived at a certain building.
<span style="font-weight:400">[Nelson and Murdock Attorneys at Law]
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin went in and was greeted by a beautiful blonde woman.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hi, wee to Nelson and Murdock’s office. Are you here for a legal consultation?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“NYPD. Detective Freed. I’m here to look for Matt Murdock. Just needed to ask some questions.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“E-eh?”
<span style="font-weight:400">The woman was surprised and even panicked a bit.
<span style="font-weight:400">Before she could say anything else, a calm voice appeared from the side.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Is there anything I can help you with, officer?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin saw a blind man with a walking stick and knew instantly he was the Daredevil himself, Matt Murdock.
<span style="font-weight:400">He nodded.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes. You must be Mr. Murdock. Is there any ce where we can talk privately?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Please follow me to my office then.”
<span style="font-weight:400">At the side, the blonde woman looked a bit concerned. Another man also appeared at the side and looked at the scene in confusion.
<span style="font-weight:400">Matt smiled at the two.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll be fine, Karen, Foggy.”
<span style="font-weight:400">With that, he turned and went into his office while Benjamin followed.
<span style="font-weight:400">Matt ced his stick at the side and sat on his chair while motioning for Benjamin to sit across him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Anything I can help with?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes. I was wondering what’s the activity of the Handtely?”
<span style="font-weight:400">When Benjamin saw that the missing people were around Hell’s Kitchen, he naturally thought of Daredevil first.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then when he thought of Daredevil, when ites to secretive kidnapping and scheming on arge scale, the first thing that came to mind was the Hand ninjas.
<span style="font-weight:400">That’s why he came here.
<span style="font-weight:400">Matt paused for a moment but regained his calm.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hand? My hands are fine.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I meant the ninjas. The organization known as the Hand. You should know about them since you fought them a lot as the Daredevil.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t look so tense. I’m not going to arrest you. I have more pressing matters. Recently, we found out that there are a lot of orphan missing people around Hell’s Kitchen so I wondered if the Hand is up to something or if is it someone else.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Matt hesitated for a moment.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not lying. You can listen to my heartbeat if you’re not sure.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...Sigh. How did you know it was me?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Please. A vignte who covers his eyes while fighting in Hell’s Kitchen. Just search for blind people and one can instantly narrow down the list by a lot. After that is just a matter of investigating a bit on who’s the most likely person.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...”
<span style="font-weight:400">Matt was speechless.
<span style="font-weight:400">He sighed again and shook his head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“The Hand is indeed up to something. I don’t know what buttely, they have been moving in the shadow frequently.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Any idea where I can go and ask them?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Matt was speechless again.
<span style="font-weight:400">If his eyes were still functional, he would no doubt roll his eye in exasperation.
<span style="font-weight:400">Do you think you can just go up and ask the Hand just like that?
<span style="font-weight:400">“...From what I gathered, they are gathering at the docks in 7 days.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin frowned.
<span style="font-weight:400">Was this why the quest will fail in 7 days? They will escape at that time?
<span style="font-weight:400">“Any idea what they might be using the missing people for?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Either use them to fill in their ranks by brainwashing them or use them as a sacrifice for resurrecting someone.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin sighed.
<span style="font-weight:400">What a world we live in…
<span style="font-weight:400">He shook his head and stood up.
<span style="font-weight:400">“In any case, thanks for your cooperation. If you found out anything else, please call me.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin handed him his number card with braille on it and left.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh right, tell Jessica I’m still waiting for her to treat me.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjaminughed as he left.
<span style="font-weight:400">Matt felt his fingers on the number card Benjamin gave him and pondered silently.
<span style="font-weight:400">After leaving the office building, Benjamin thought for a moment before driving off and going back to the precinct.
<span style="font-weight:400">Jake and the rest were also back and reported what they had found.
<span style="font-weight:400">As expected, there was nothing at all.
<span style="font-weight:400">“How about you, Ben? Found anything in Hell’s Kitchen?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Charles asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well, my contact said that the Hand is moving strangely these days. There’s a high chance that this matter has to do with them.
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin gave half-truths and half-lies.
<span style="font-weight:400">“The Hand? What kind of name is that? Is there a Feet? A Head? Hair? Ear?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Jake asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin just rolled his eyes at him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“The Hand is a secret group of ninjas who worship some demon hellbent on ending humanity. They also engage in the resurrection of people by means of sacrifice.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...Cool.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Everyone red at Jake.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I mean…not cool…”
<span style="font-weight:400">Rosa ignored him and asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“So you think it might be them?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well, let’s hope not. In any case, continue the investigation and see what turns up.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Time passed.
<span style="font-weight:400">It has been 7 days since the investigation began.
<span style="font-weight:400">Benjamin looked at the quest timer and noticed that only a few hours were left till the deadline.
<span style="font-weight:400">Right now, Benjamin was at the port that Matt had told him about.
<span style="font-weight:400">Here, numerous crates had filled the port and through the HUD Contacts, he was able to see that these crates…were all filled by people!
<span style="font-weight:400">What’s more, most of them were from the missing person’s case files!
<span style="font-weight:400">[Congrattions to host forpleting the Main Quest: Serial Kidnapping?]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Gained 20000 MP, 10 Free Gacha Draw.]
<span style="font-weight:400">Well, all the quest needed was to solve the mystery so itpleted the quest as soon as he got confirmation.
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing the rewards, Benjamin grinned.
<span style="font-weight:400">Now…it was time to counterattack!