(TW: This chapter and the next one will be about possible halucinations, anxiety and other similar stuff).

I'm finally getting to the bottom of the bad guy here. Also, had to edit it all over after finding out his name is Baru.

The past few days were a rollercoaster for Aoki. No, not in that way.

One day it had been just an ordinary talk with her friends at the cafe with their drinks while Eron was interviewing some guy just across the table.

The next, they have been running through the woods like their lives depended on it- which it did- with two of them shot and everyone freaked out of their skins.

The next was simply a school day, in which for some reasons everyone bailed her out to break the ice between Riff and her at lunch.

The next day was pretty similar, except they were driven back to the whole "trafficked arms in an underground secret base". They were meeting again at the One Tower the very next day.

Next day, despite not being in immediate threat, Aoki felt uneasy. As if she was followed or watched. She had turned around several times to check on her way, only to be met with nothing. Eventually the worry subsided. Whatever, she thought. If it's some sort of robber, they'd regret it.

Aoki knew she wasn't one to be trifled with, something she was complemented at quite a few times'. She took out her phone safely and realized there was a message from Ikor- FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO? She checked the time only to find herself late. Stupid paranoia.

She took a dash across the remaining few streets. She was almost never late. Not to school, not to invitations not to her friends, not to work. Yes work. She had a 20 years old brother to help.

When she was finally there, everyone else was, including Siran and Finna. They were sitting on a slightly larger table, seeing they had a few extra friends this time. 3 open files where laid on the table, each with a picture and far too much words below. They seemed to be stuck in unfamiliar tensed silence, all eyes occupied on Siran, no one even saw her coming in.

Siran spoke a second later, her eyes widening at whatever she was looking at. 'That one! I'm positive!'

Trek looked at her again after his eyes drifted to the folder she pointed at. 'Are you completely sure?'

'Hundred percent.' she paused, swallowing, 'I know that certain mask.'

Ikor grabbed the file in an instance, Eron curiously looked at it over his shoulders. Even Finna looked invested as she peeked at the words as well. At last, Riff seemed to finally notice her at the doorway.

'Aoki! You're here.' he beamed. She went for a seat.

'Sorry for being late.' she apologized. 'What did you guys find?'

Ikor showed a small quirked smile. 'Told you I could look it up. I narrowed the possibilities to those 3 and Siran just helped me pull him out.' He put the folder open on the table for everyone to see.

Name: Barur Gael Mendez.

DOB (Date of Birth): 5/9/1987.

Residence: Durango, Mexico.

Charges: 31.

Arrests: 3.

Outstanding Warrants: 6.

Aoki swallowed a large lump in her throat. 37 warrants, but only got arrested thrice. That didn't look good. Underneath, his basic info, was a table of his 'outstanding warrants' whatever that was exactly and and a longer one naming all his 31 other crimes. In the photo, it looked like the eyebrows where knitted together for life, glaring with deep almond eyes, his mask around his neck instead of his mouth. A scar stretched from the left side of his face into a horizontal line over to his temple. All in all, he looked like a bad guy straight out of a Mexican rouge movie, which he technically was.

'Yikes...', Eron voiced their thoughts.

'I told you he is worse than you think.' Siran spoke. 'He had been terrorizing my town for a few years and was only caught 2 years back. My family moved here afterwards.'

Trek reached a hand to her shoulder. Almost all of them already knew about Siran's previous encounter with a very similar person, which had led to Trek suspecting a way to find who he was.

'So, what are you gonna do now that you know who he is?'

They thought about that for a moment, realizing they hadn't really considered it. Despite that, they all seemed to come to a mutual agreement.

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The policemen basically kicked them out of the station, which is not what they hoped for when deciding to inform the authorities.

For starters, after an accidentally long conversation they had together, Riff and Finna had to leave, as their dad will be home any moment and he better not find his room empty. Finna had muttered as she left through the door, 'You'd be done for without me.'

Trek had to go home as well, and claimed he could get there on his own, since they probably needed Siran. The remining 4 had went to the very same station that found them the other day.

And as quickly as they came in, they were kicked out.

'The nerve of those guys.' Aoki muttered. They decided to leave and just head home. It was almost sundown, the number of people and cars significantly going down on the road. They'd try again later or maybe another day.

'I'm gonna go home now. See ya!' she crossed a road and disappeared down the block. The other two had also decided to go home, and she would rather do too.

However, once she had left the rest, the paranoid feeling returned, and she ended up getting home at 7:30, night already settled in. She used her keys and opened the apartment door.

She saw the TV's flashing lights and heard voices. There on the couch, her older brother was out cold, his head supported by the chair's arm. He left the TV on and snored to sleep, which wasn't a weird or new site. Aoki supposed he took another extra hour today as he often did.

The past 4 years, it had been just the two of them. Aoki wasn't that young, but she remembered little to even less about her parents. James often said they were usually absent, but he never mentioned where they went when she was 12. Aoki didn't mind it though. She was often confident the two of them could hold themselves quite well, they always have. Things have just gotten easier when James became a legal adult, and she managed to get a part-time job as well. They were in fact able to handle themselves pretty well.

She got a blanket and tucked him in, shutting down the flashing television lights (is he really seriously still into middle-eastern drama?) and went into the kitchen. She found about half of dinner all covered up on the table for her, but after such an anxious walk on the streets, she had very little appetite. She took a small bite and went to bed.

She flopped on the mattress, taking out her phone to see several notifications. It seems, she had put it on silent, which is why she missed a few messages from James and the group chat messages, earlier and now-

Wait a minute, now?

She clicked it only to find Riff and Trek had asked about how confronting the policemen went and Eron had asked to get a picture of Baru's file. Weird request, but Ikor took a clear neat picture of the file whole. Aoki couldn't help but click on it to see it up close. The man still looked like some random rouge in a movie, but something was off for some reason. She felt there was something missing here.

She shook her head. Fuck those gut feelings, so much for a single day. She put the phone aside and tried to go to sleep.

Tried.

My mother and auntie are OBBSESSED with middle-eastern drama shows.

This chapter has been on hiatus for so long but the beauty named @Giolena102872 had just encouraged me to got further and publish it early.

Now, this story has set off.