Wardogs

Chapter 63

Chapter 63

The place was still had workers from the fire department moving around and making more investigations.

They moved for a bit more till they arrived at the middle right corner of the kitchen.

They stopped in front of the rectangular-shaped device that the two fire department officers happened to be inspecting at the moment.

This device used to be placed against the wall but now there was no wall beside it.

Woooshh!

The wind drifted in through the seven meters wide opening. It turned out that when the device exploded, the wall beside it paid the price.

The cops stopped here and turned to face Gustav and boss Danzo.

"This is the equipment responsible for this mess," Officer Betty said after taking off her helmet.

Gustav also turned to face boss Danzo before questioning.

"Boss Danzo, who used to be positioned on this side of the kitchen," He asked with a suspicious look.

He had no idea about how the boss Danzo shared the workers so he didn’t know who managed this spot.

"This place is..." Boss Danzo looked around and pictured how the kitchen used to be before the incident.

"This is where Marilyn used to stay," Boss Danzo said immediately he remembered.

"Marilyn? She resigned some time ago right?" Gustav asked with a look of uncertainty.

"Yes she did," Boss Danzo confirmed.

"Which means... This is where Anu the new guy uses now," Gustav came to a realization.

"Hnm," Boss Danzo nodded in affirmation.

He remembered putting the new guy here after supervising his cooking for up to a week.

It only made sense that he would make use of this spot since this was where the previous worker used to man.

"Where is this Anu, we’ll need to question him," Officer Betty asked.

"He should be down..." Gustav was about to reply when he remembered that Anu wasn’t among the people he saved.

"I don’t think I saw him among the chefs outside," Gustav said with a weird look.

Officer Betty and the rest of the officers stared at Gustav with a contemplative look after hearing that.

"Does that mean..." Officer Betty didn’t get to finish her statement before boss Danzo interrupted.

"Before jumping to any conclusions, let’s go check for him outside," Boss Danzo proposed.

They all went outside after that and called on the chefs to gather in one spot.

The workers were checked out one after the other.

After doing that, they noticed that Anu was nowhere to be found.

’There’s only one more place to check before assuming that he’s responsible,’ Gustav said internally.

"Officer Betty the body detection procedure complete," One of the officers approaching from the left said to officer Betty.

This was the last step that Gustav had been waiting for.

"Mr. Danzo, Gustav, I need you both to come and check out the identities of these bodies," Officer Betty said after receiving the information.

Gustav and Boss Danzo nodded before following her towards the side where the burnt bodies were placed.

The body detection procedure was a process where the bodies would be examined and to figure out the identities of the unrecognizable victims on the spot.

They arrived at where five burnt bodies were placed on stretcher-like beds with a circular device floating above them.

This circular device was shooting out streams of light onto the burnt bodies that projected their looks before the incident.

Normally these bodies were burnt beyond recognition but when these lights hit them, the bodies became fresh once and right before boss Danzo’s and Gustav’s eyes were recognizable corpses.

These bodies didn’t heal or anything, it was just the light projection on them that made them look this way.

This was how bodies were identified before the family of the victims were informed.

"Aria..." Boss Danzo had a crestfallen look on his face as he stared at the first body.

"Samuelle... Goro... Rondo..." Boss Danzo’s eyes went from body to body as he called out their name.

- Visiting Boss Danzos

- Visiting Boss Danzos

- Visiting Boss Danzo's

Trails of tears could already be seen on his face.

The last body happened to be the first one Gustav spotted.

"Anu," Gustav and Boss Danzo voiced out at the same time while staring at the dark-skinned male whose eyes were currently shut.

Officer Betty and the others heard that and immediately figured that this must have been the person in charge of that particular equipment that blew up.

"I guess this confirms that it wasn’t a sabotage," Officer Betty said.

Gustav couldn’t argue with that. At this point, it was obvious that this was just a rookie mistake.

Still, Gustav couldn’t get rid of the feeling that this was planned somehow. How the mineral found its way into their supplies was still unexplained but at this moment Gustav was sure his credibility would be lacking so he didn’t try to bring that up.

As far as the officers were concerned, there was a mistake in the buying of supplies and the rookie had no idea that the machine wasn’t compatible with this mineral which eventually led to this incident.

Boss Danzo already explained that Anu was a rookie to them beforehand so they thought out the entire scenario.

Also one of the dead workers happened to be the one in charge of supplies so there was no way to question her.

"Officers please call their families and inform them," Boss Danzo said with a crestfallen look.

The officers nodded in response.

The sky was starting to brighten up since it was already seven in the morning at the moment.

The sun was rising but the atmosphere was extremely gloomy.

The officers of both the police and fire department did one last routine check-up before rounding up.

The ambulance took the bodies and some of the injured workers along with them and the place slowly returned to tranquility even though it was obvious that a lot had gone down already.

Boss Danzo was asked to head towards the board block.

This was where the principal, vice-principal, counselor, and some other higher-ups in the school stayed.

Gustav and the rest of the workers wanted to go along with him but he stopped them from doing so.

Gustav had no choice but to return to his class afterward.

The students started streaming into the school about thirty minutes later.

During the school hours, Gustav was very uneasy. He was very worried for boss Danzo, knowing how the school higher-ups were the type to make a matter seem worse than it was.

Well, in this case, the matter was already very bad, if word got out about this, it would take a toll on the school’s reputation which meant they would definitely need a scapegoat.

’Why did this have to happen today of all days... His granddaughter’s birthday,’ Gustav sighed internally as he thought.

Even during the break period, he had to listen to the rants of the kids around him.

-"Did you hear about the kitchen fire?"

-"I heard about that, the entire place was burnt down!"

-"There was also a mysterious masked man that saved almost everyone,"

-"I wonder what caused it,"

-"What else if it isn’t the incompetent chief, what was his name again... Something Zo,"

-"I hope he gets fired,"

Gustav nearly got pissed when he heard some of their conversations but he calmed himself down and waited for the day’s activities to end.

-

After the day ended Gustav walked out of his classroom and started heading towards miss Aimee’s office immediately.

"Hey, Gustav,"

He heard someone call to him from behind while walking on the path that led to miss Aimee’s office.

He turned around and noticed that it was an average height male student.

"Hmm?" Gustav exclaimed with a low tone.

"An old man asked me to pass this to you," The boy handed a folded sheet of paper to Gustav.

Gustav was surprised but he still collected the paper.

The male student turned around and left after giving the paper to Gustav.

Gustav opened it and noticed a handwritten message inside.

Paper was hardly used these days so he was surprised to actually receive a message instead of the usual device-to-device messages.

--------------------------------

Address: Aistery block, Durkin Industrial area.

Starts at four, don’t be late.

-Danzo

----------------------------------

Gustav read the message with a bewildered expression.

’Boss Danzo’s message is so well written,’ Gustav liked the handwriting which wasn’t so much of an item these days.

He also knew how to write as it was a basic thing that was thought to them at a young age but along the line, lots of people forget how to write because these days it wasn’t necessary to do so.

In classes, they had information storing lenses that recorded the teachings in the classroom so they could be replayed at any time.

Of course, Gustav never had one of these in the past. He always had to learn everything by seeing the teachings once without being able to store them anywhere except for his brain.

’Hmm, looks like the party is still holding,’ Gustav said internally and turned around.

He wasn’t having training with miss Aimee today but he still wanted to visit her office because of boss Danzo but now that he saw this message, he changed his mind.

Gustav turned around and headed out of the school.

-

Twenty minutes later he arrived in a neighborhood that had different sizes of houses.

Unlike somewhere the sizes of all houses are similar, this one was quite versatile.

Gustav walked towards a house at the end of the street.

This house was a duplex that was shaped to look like two plates covering each other.

Gustav was surprised that this house happened to be the one in the letter boss Danzo sent him.

’Boss Danzo’s house is more refined than I expected,’ Gustav said Internally while chuckling.

It was obvious that it was built to look like the shape of two plates.

"Gustav," A short and stout middle-aged-looking man dressed in a casual outfit called out to Gustav from ahead.

"Boss Danzo," Gustav voiced out as he arrived in front of the man.

Both of them exchanged pleasantries again before boss Danzo led Gustav in as they discussed.

"Boss Danzo are you okay?" Gustav asked as they ascended the elevator.

"I’m fine," Boss Danzo answered with a smile.

He was smiling but Gustav could tell that the smile was just a cover-up for the way he was feeling deep inside.

"Don’t mention what happened in school today to my granddaughter," Boss Danzo said with a pleading look.

"Uhm... sure but, Boss Danzo... What happened today with the board?" Gustav decided to ask.

"Hmm, nothing much, just some questions asked and how they’re going to decide on what steps to take about the kitchen soon," Boss Danzo replied with a dismissive expression.

Gustav still wanted to ask more but they already arrived up.

Immediately they walked a few steps forward along the corridor, they arrived in the living room.

------------------------

Oh it’s someone’s birthday

I’m giving you a fountain of my love

I want you to be full of joy

I’ve left some of the mund...

--------------------------

Classical music drifted into Gustav’s ears as they walked into the living room.

Chatter Chatter!

Low chattering voices could also be heard as they walked in.

About fifteen people could be seen within the room discussing with one another. They were holding onto glasses with drinks in them as they laughed and discussed.

Their faces were full of smiles as they stared at Gustav and boss Danzo approaching.

-"You’re back,"

-"Oh, is that the young man you were referring to?"

-"Welcome,"

Several of them voiced out at boss Danzo and Gustav.

Gustav exchanged pleasantries with them and started checking out the place.

The living room was large than his by at least four times and the materials used to decorate them were unique.

Golden colored sofas, a projection on the southeast side that displayed boss Danzo and a girl that looked no older than five years.

Beautiful artistry that depicted the art of cooking on the walls. There were different kinds of dishes, along with different imagery of chefs cooking.

It was obvious that Boss Danzo was affiliated with food in some kind of way once you see the interior look of the house.

"Gustav I’ll be back, I need to check on the kitchen," Boss Danzo said and started walking towards the second corridor on the east side.

"Can I join you?" Gustav asked politely.

"No you don’t have to worry, just make yourself feel at ," Boss Danzo replied before he continued walking forward.

Just as Gustav was about to say something, someone called out to him from being.

"Are you Gustav?"

He heard a small cute feminine voice turned around.

It was a beautiful and slim girl with an oval face shape. She wore a fancy pink gown sporting dark red hair and blue pop socks.

Her eyes looked extremely lively and she seemed overjoyed to see Gustav.

Gustav didn’t need to be told before he knew that she was the celebrant.

"Yes I am," Gustav replied with a slight smile.

- Gustavs Worry

- Gustavs Worry

- Gustav's Worry

It was a beautiful and slim girl with an oval face shape. She wore a fancy pink gown sporting dark red hair and blue pop socks.

Her eyes looked extremely lively and she seemed overjoyed to see Gustav.

Gustav didn’t need to be told before he knew that she was the celebrant.

"Yes I am," Gustav replied with a light smile.

"Ah," Her eyes shimmered even more after hearing his reply.

"I’m glad to finally meet you, grandpa has told me so much about you," She voiced out with a look of excitement.

"Nice to meet you too, Mara," Gustav replied.

He remembered her name from when boss Danzo mentioned it earlier.

"Come on let’s talk over there," Mara said with a delightful voice and dragged Gustav towards one of the sofas.

--

Two hours later Gustav was returning . His mind couldn’t help but wander back to Mara’s birthday celebration.

Mara was really the jovial type. She couldn’t stop talking and making fun of lots of things. She mentioned some of Gustav’s funny and embarrassing past experiences with boss Danzo and also how Gustav had to cook for her one of these days.

Mara really liked eating like Gustav but unlike him, she didn’t have the talent for cooking so she focused on something else.

She asked Gustav lots of questions about himself. He answered some and ignored some but she didn’t pry too much even when he answered.

Gustav felt she was a bit similar to Angy but Angy was more of a nice girl that couldn’t make fun of anyone while Mara wouldn’t hesitate to make fun of a lot of things.

He remembered she shoved a large palm-sized portion of cake into his mouth forcefully. She was very playful also.

Gustav couldn’t deny that he had a wonderful time with Boss Danzo and Mara but he was still worried about boss Danzo because of what happened today.

He really hoped that boss Danzo would be okay.

Gustav got back to his apartment around six pm. His plan earlier was to get by four pm so he would infiltrate the border once again, but he couldn’t disappoint boss Danzo so he had to push that aside.

Now that it was six pm, he could only spend about an hour within the border before it was time for the night patrol.

He started hesitating on whether he should still go or not since he couldn’t tell whether he’d be holed up in there for more than an hour or not.

Gustav was still contemplating while sitting on his bed when he heard a knock on the door.

Trrooiinn!

Rays of light shot out from the ceiling, forming a holographic projection in which a beautiful girl with two horns on her forehead was displayed.

This was one of the functions Gustav added after when he upgraded the security protocols in his apartment.

"Hmm, Angy’s early," Gustav muttered as he stood up and walked out of his room.

He got to his living room and walked towards the door to open it.

"Hey, Gustav," Angy voiced out immediately she saw Gustav’s face.

"Hey Angy, is something the matter?" Gustav greeted and asked.

"Hmm, no nothing is wrong, we’re supposed to meet today," Angy said to Gustav with a reminding tone.

"Yes I know but it’s still really early, we’re not supposed to meet until an hour later," Gustav answered.

"Uhm, I thought you had something to show me, that’s why... But I’ll leave if I’m disturbing you," Angy said while turning around to leave after noticing that Gustav didn’t seem to be in a receiving mood.

"Hold on," Gustav said while walking out of his apartment.

"Follow me," He added while walking down the corridor.

Angy stared at him with a curious look while following behind.

-

Some minutes later, they arrived in the sparse forest region before Gustav came to a stop.

"Angy," Gustav called out while his back was still turned towards her.

"Yes, Gustav?" Angy replied.

Swwoosshh!

Gustav suddenly turned around and dashed towards Angy while swinging his fist at her.

Angy was shocked and reacted by moving a step backward while turning her face towards the side and closing her eyes.

Fwooom!

Gustav’s fist stopped inches away from her face causing her to feel a slight touch of breeze on her cheek.

She slowly opened her eyes after noticing that no contact was made.

"Why didn’t you dodge?" Gustav asked while still hanging his right fist in the air.

"Well... I... There’s..." Angy stuttered as she tried to find an answer.

"Angy... You saw my fist approaching right?" Gustav asked.

Although there was no reply, the answer was already obvious from the look on Angy’s face.

Angy was currently faster than Gustav so she definitely saw the attack coming but didn’t counter or try to dodge.

"I want you to remember how you felt when that captain was beating you up," Gustav stated.

Angy’s mind immediately went back to the exchange event and her face shone pain as images appeared in her mind.

She had truly gone through a traumatic experience at the hands of Zim and it was something she didn’t want to experience again.