The Four Elite

It wasn't long before another young woman walked through the doors. This was a tall, orange, athletic jackal in what looked to be a dark orange, tribal dress. 
Odd appearance for someone working with a police officer, but there are plenty of odd faces on Mobius. 
"Hello officer, my name is Dust. I'm here for the job?" She holds both of her hands together in front of her. 

She takes note of Screech - seems she's also here for the job...?

Cortana had just set everything up for her new career, despite not actually having a place to stay yet, and has just kind of been doing motels, for the time being, she at least had that!

Surprisingly enough, she had already gotten a request from her profile, it was likely just an automatic repost, but she'll take it!

__________________________________________

Walking in with a deep blue coat is a blue fox. Probably looked more like a merc than the rest of the arrivals so far.

"Greetings, I am Cortana." "I too am here for the job."

Ukiyo had hitched a taxi from the outskirts from the outside of town and he had been fidgeting all morning. Today was the first time he had ever considered working for the police on something but he thought that it would help him out. He set down his breifcase and opened it, scrounging around until he found a small slip of paper giving him the address to the station.

"Not too far from here then, come on ukiyo, you can do this!" He lumbered over to the police station and stumbled in awkwardly, adjusting his tie and approaching with an aura of anxiety that could be felt by everyone in the room. He shook himself in an effort to psyche himself up and extended his hand to the head officer "H-Hello! Ukiyo Hanamura at your service! Sir!" He couldn't help but feel like he butchered his first impressions.

It was surprisingly windy today, not that the hedgehog minded, as his quills were often much more likely to withstand high winds compared to his furred peers. His long coat flapped as an especially strong gust blew right through him. Raito, knowing Caen hadn't seen much acting work in some time, decided to hand him a case that would at least involve some work from the hedgehog. He was thankful for this, considering he had been sat at home for far too long. It was... boring. It was strange. He hadn't been bored since he was a child.

Station Square Police Department... This was a building he knew all too well. Especially in his early crime-fighting days. Nowadays, they're far more lenient on his behaviour, considering more often than not, he brought in results. Besides, Caen always tried to present himself as an amicable and kind-hearted person when he could, so more often than not, he would be kept in a cell for a night almost out of a obligation for the police to do something. However, as he had been affiliated with G.U.N. for several years now, no matter how loose his affiliation was, the local police seemed to back off.

This affiliation, as Raito had suggested, was the reason he was inside the building, his sturdy boots thudding against the tile floors, echoing throughout the large room. "Good morning, sir," Caen spoke, after politely waiting for everyone else to introduce themselves. "Caen Flare, at your service. I have been sent by Raito Bolt, commander of G.U.N. division 5A, apparently you were after mercenaries?"

The police chief was glad that everyone was here now.

“Nice to meet every one of you. Now, if you’ll please follow me…” The chief opened a door that led into a briefing room, holding the door for everyone. Screech walked inside and sat down at a chair, though the room was human sized, so her head barley fit over the top of the table in front of her.

Once everyone was inside, the chief pulled down a screen and turned on a projector.

“So the reason we have called all of you here, is we’ve been having a series of mysterious crimes happening the last few days.” The projector started showing camera footage of an electronics factory. The workers were going about their business, when they all suddenly stopped what they were doing and walked out of the factory. Then various parts were quickly floating up and out the door one by one. Then out of thin air, a laser carved the shape of a rose into one of the walls. The workers then rushed back inside moments later, very confused as to what had happened.

“Things such as what happened in this camera footage have been taking place at random locations around Station Square. We’d like you to search around and investigate these mysteries.”

As the room became filled, Dust was fairly curious why so many people were needed for the job.
Of course, why the police couldn't handle it themselves was also a mystery, but she truly didn't mind as long as she could help. She just found the number to be a bit overkill is all.
Maybe this was very serious indeed? But just... calling in effectively random strangers seemed like a bad move-
Whatever.

Everyone in the room seemed nice. She even noticed Ukiyo, who seemed very anxious, and she smiled and waved - a little bit of kindness to help him relax.

After the room was filled and the chief seemed ready to move along, they all enter the backroom. Dust likely handled sitting in the chairs a fair bit better given she was a little taller than your average Mobian. Still looked like a toddler in the seat, but at least she could easily see over the table. She leans her head on her hand with her elbow on the table as they watch the video projector play.
When it seemed to be over, Dust spoke up.
"It certainly seems simple enough, do you know where all the locations are so we can start looking? Maybe any extra details or theories you might have?" She asks, raring to go but knowing there might be more they needed to know - maybe even opening the discussion up to everyone.

Cortana was also a little intrigued why the police would call so many people, but at least they were intriguing individuals.
She'd have to get to know each of them if only to work together effectively.

When it came time to watch the recording, Cortana opted to stand on the chair, as peering over the table wasn't exactly entertaining to her.
More importantly, the footage itself was quite concerning, it almost looked like the work of a specter!

"Indeed, any information you may have about our targets would be appreciated."

The briefing room was quite large, a desk stood at the front with a projector hanging from the ceiling cascading down what appeared to be CCTV footage from a nearby electrical factory. Not that Ukiyo could really focus on that right now, as the room had an awful draft of cold billowing through it that aggravated his amphibious skin… What he would do for a calm bath right about now.

Once he shook himself back together, he looked back at the screen and stared at the screen terrified “M-mind control?!” He thought to himself. He had done work before, but it was always something small like someone getting a purse stolen or breaking up a fight late at night, he had never thought he had to come face to face with what came across as a supervillain. He shakily took his seat and rested his hand on his head. He spotted the jackal smile and wave at him; it was a small gesture of course but it was enough to make him take a more engaging posture and return the small gesture with a nod of acknowledgement and the best smile he could muster through his nerves.

Speaking of the jackal, everyone in the room seemed otherworldly; There was an orca who could barely see over the chair, their head peeking out above it slightly, infact considering the 3 fins on her head it must have looked like something out of jaws. There was the jackal who had gestured to him, she looked cute, her musculature clearly defined like an MMA fighter, but he couldn’t explain the sand staining bits and pieces of her body, the beach was miles from here, surely, she couldn’t have gone from the beach to police station on such a short schedule right? There was another mobian who seemed like a loon, standing on top of their chair like they understood what it was for but simply didn’t care to use it properly, the kind of behaviour you could equate to a mastermind- Then he realised they were just short and thus he took a deep sigh of relief. The mobian who caught his eye the most was the red hedgehog, coat trailing behind him, he was like someone lost out of place and time, like once he was done here, he was gonna charge to deal with some issue in 30XX.

What was most important was that he seemed like the kind of person who’s experienced with this kind of job. “Hey, uh, H-have you guys done this before?” He croaked, asking both the jackal and the red hedgehog. He figured he should return the kind gesture a bit more and make conversation, whether he succeeded remained to be seen.

Caen nodded politely, following the group into the room, before sitting himself down in one of the seats. Even at a relatively tall height for mobians, at about 5 feet tall, the chair seemed slightly too big. That wasn't helped by his somewhat slender frame. He crossed one leg over the other and sat back, listening to the beginning of the briefing. 

He leaned forwards, watching the video intently, his eyes scanning every part of the video. Mind control was certainly the first thing that came to mind, when he saw how the workers just dropped everything in an instant. What was also interesting was the small laser etching that slowly appeared in the concrete. 

"...Well, the workers seem genuine in their confusion, so we can rule out them working alongside this mystery group... Or... Is it one person? Each piece is only leaving one by one, suggesting this person is camoflauged, and alone. Perhaps they are a chameleon? I know chameleons generally have an inate ability to camoflauge themselves..." Caen wondered aloud, scratching his chin. 

The amphibian, who had spoken to Caen, was met with a brief moment of silence from the hedgehog. As he sat, they might have noticed the glint of some metal at his waist. If he was to look closer, he would see that Caen was, in fact, carrying two scabbards at his sides, presumably with bladed weapons in tow. 

Caen snapped back to reality, as he realised the question was aimed towards him "Hmm? Oh, sorry! Y-yes, I've done this a few times, I suppose. I'm guessing this is your first time?" He extended a hand for them, "Caen Flare, it's nice to meet you."

Screech was excited to get going, standing up in the chair now and resting her hands on the table. She didn’t have any questions that were already asked, so she stayed quiet for the time being.

“There isn’t much we have to go off of. None of the security camera footage we’ve received had infrared scanners, so we don’t know if it’s some kind of cloaking tech, or as you said Mr. Caen, possibly a Mobian with camouflage abilities. We interviewed some of the workers at the factory, and they said they were conscious the whole time, but they couldn’t move on their own. Almost as if they were a puppet and someone else was controlling the strings.” 

The police chief set a collection of about four to six case files on a desk in front of him as another officer turned the lights back on. “These are the files on all the related crimes. I’ll leave the rest to you.” The chief motioned to the other officer and he left the room before coming back with a box filled with five radios. “Here, take these, and if we hear anything new, we’ll call you and let you know. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to get back to work.” The police chief and the officer then left the room.

Screech hopped out of the chair and grabbed one of the radios. She then waited to see what everyone else thought they should do first.

As the chief wrapped up this little meeting of sorts and would leave them to discuss among themselves, she found herself disappointed by the lack of info. and a little disturbed by the possible possession. Once radios and files were put on the table, we got on the table after Screech to get a closer look at the files. She grabbed one herself and passed at least one file each to the others.
While doing this she looked to Ukiyo, who asked her and Caen about their experience.
"I'm pretty new to this stuff, I've lived in a desert all my life and never been to Station Square or worked with law enforcement before- but I mean, I've helped saved a family friend's island and protected some kid from an evil guy by the nearby beach, I just want to use my power to help people." She explains with passion and a smile.

Upon reaching for the radio, it's noticeable that it kinda just... disappeared into her hand.
Odd.
She certainly didn't seemed bothered - in fact, it was likely intentional. Was it hammer space? No... that usually requires "putting it away", she just kinda grabbed it and it disappeared.
Did... did she absorb it...?

"Two ideas. One, go to each of the places that have been reported and look for clues, and Two, maybe like... find a pattern between the places that are being hit so we can predict the next place. Any suggestions?" She says to the group while skimming through the file she picked up.

This became more interesting by the second, the salamander seemed very nervous and fidgety, and yet they didn't immediately drop out from taking a mission such as this.
The hedgehog seemed quite experienced, despite seeming young, which was only confirmed by his statement.
Lastly, the jackal was very interesting, it was hard to tell at first, but at the mention of desert, she was almost certain. This person was pretty much made entirely of sand! Remarkable! She'd have to see this in action.

But of course, the info, which was... Disturbing to say the least.

"Total body control, and either a form of invisibility or telekinesis, likely the latter... This is concerning."

Cortana took a radio, and pondered for a moment, before taking a blue chakram-shaped device off of her back, shrinking it, and then putting it on the radio.
After a couple moments, she takes it off and faces Dust, who proposed a couple plans.

"The latter would be faster, but likely to yield less informative results. I'd recommend the first plan, as it may lead to us finding more about the culprits."

“Oh!” The salamander was taken aback by the Caen’s offer of a handshake. But he simply cleared his throat and shook his hand “Ukiyo Hanamura. I guess I’m a vigilante but now it’s more amateur boxer and… merc…” He chuckled, before noticing the hedgehogs sheathed blades “Oh those swords look big… um… You do any fencing in your spare time?” Just as he asked this the officer at the front of the room started to wrap up the meeting.

“A puppet?” That word struck a train of thought within Ukiyo “If they really were under the control like puppets then there had to be some sort of string that if cut, would release them from their control.” As his pondered this more, dust finally got around to answering his question. As he turned to look at her, he could finally get a better look at her. Her voice was amazing, her build was amazing, her dress despite all the sand was amazing! He felt himself go slightly pink as the passion in her explanation started to wash over him in the kind of warmth he only felt from a nice bath. He was enamoured by her dedication, her seemingly exotic homeland, her ability to absorb radios!

Hang on a second, absorb radios?

He had to do a double take, but he wasn’t seeing things. Dust had tried to take a radio from the desk, but it had simply merged into her hand. He let out a noise of utter confusion and feel out of his chair, smacking his head on the floor. “Ow…” Wait another moment! She’s from the desert, she has sand all over her clothes and she just sucked up a radio through her hand. “H-hey…” He croaked as he helped himself up to his feet “This is gonna sound like a crazy person rambling but uh… Are you… made of… sand?” It sounded insane to him as it would to everyone else in the room, but if people are being puppeted for silicon it made sense that she would be made of sand.

Naturally as he asked this, he stumbled forwards, holding his head, picking up a case file from the front desk, hearing Dust’s question from earlier, he finally responded. “L-lets guess where he’ll be next… I have faith in the polices ability to gather evidence. Of course, we probably have skills that they don’t have for this sort of thing so…” He shrugged “I guess I’m easy on this one, but I’ll go with option two” He hated being on the fence.

Caen laughed as Ukiyo listed off his different occupations "vigilante? Hmm... I suppose I'm partly one of those, myself. I prefer 'adventurer', though. I also act, but that's more of a hobby, I suppose." He looked down at the sheathes at his sides, replying "hmm? Oh, no, these aren't for fencing. Much too sharp for that. I'm not a firm believer in guns, and these are the next best option, I suppose," Caen said, letting out another laugh, which was gentle and jovial, almost like he was laughing with Ukiyo, rather than at him. 

As the case files and radios were handed out, and Ukiyo tripped and stammered in a fairly dorky manner at Dust's abilities, Caen simply outstretched a hand from where he was seated, and a fiery arm sprung forth, grabbing both items in its large grip, and pulling them into Caen's open hand. Without even acknowledging this display of power, almost as if it was mundane to him, he flicked open the case file, reading it through. "I think visiting at least one or two of the locations hit would be worth it. There's always the chance that there are crucial clues that were missed. As for predicting the next location, that would be excellent. While stealth is not my forté, I'm fairly fast on my feet."

He rubbed his chin for a few more moments, absent-mindedly reaching into a pocket and, after the brief sound of a crinkling packet, retrieved a blue bonbon, placing it into his mouth and chewing.
If somebody was to question this, he would look up quickly and reply "Hmm? Oh, sorry, would you like one?"

Screech watched Caen's fire hand grab the file and radio, then return back. She walked over and said,

"Wow Mr. Caen! You have fire powers? That's really cool! I have another friend with fire powers. She's pretty cool too. And that's okay, I already had a snack on the way here."

Screech then turned back to the rest of the team.

"I think Caen's idea is the best one. We should go to one or two of the places that were hit and see if there are any leftover clues. Maybe the two newest places? Since those would probably have the newest clues." Screech then waited for the others' responses to the plan.

As Dust watched the discussion continue, she notices the enamored looks she got from Ukiyo. She was amused, though it eventually grew uncomfortable as he made it a bigger and bigger deal, first by freaking out and falling out of his chair, and finally asking a very personal question to her.
She tried to keep up the charisma, hoping it wouldn't falter, but she couldn't help but suddenly feel very self-conscious...
"Uh... y- yeah...? I hope that won't be a problem." She said with a sad little smile, before looking away, closing her eyes, and suddenly perking back up. Screech and Caen seemed to have come to a decision.
"Yeah, great idea! The more we learn about these guys, gals, or whoever, the better."

It was then Caen offered the candy, she shook her head. "I kinda can't eat anything, so no. But thank you anyway!"

As everyone socialized with each other, Cortana couldn't help but feel like she was missing something.
Maybe it was because she was so much smaller compared to the rest?
Whatever, she came here for a mission, not friends.

That being said, it seems they have come to a decision. 

"I suppose we've decided then! Visit a couple of locations and then figure out their next target."

Cortana then looks to Caen, not really caring about snacks.
"Then this should prove quite well-suited for me, stealth and espionage is my expertise."

Oh yeah, she grabbed a file too, forgot to say that.

“Oh, an anti-gun adventurer huh? Ha ha, that’s certainly a title you’ve got there!” He chuckled and rubbed the back of head, his shoulders clearly loosening up. “So, you’re an actual medieval swordsman then? That’s cool as hell!” At this point he was able to let out a laugh to match caen’s joviality but… Halfway though, his eyes locked on a fiery arm slowly extending across his field of view towards the front desks. His eyes slowly widened as his pupils dilated, shifting slowly towards caen who didn’t even seem fazed by the fact his hand was on fire. Ukiyo could only let out a light squeak as his shoulders seized up right again.

He was only able to snap back into reality because of screech… well… screeching. “Yeah… Fire powers… of course, I guess everyone here has something special about them. I wonder if I’m out of my depth here…” Although, screech wasn’t wrong. Going to the most recent area’s would be the best for find clues, they’d be fresher and the culprit may still be hanging around those areas.

“uh…”

It was dust, Ukiyo took one look at her and despite her attempts to keep composed, he could tell he had asked her a very probing question.

"y - yeah...? I hope that won't be a problem."

“I hope that won’t be a problem” He started to feel self-concious, grabbing his arms and looking down. “I-I didn’t mean to…” He shook his head and stood up straight “I’ll be heading ahead to the last place the crook was, I-I’ll see you guys there!” He grabbed the radio and files, stashed them in his briefcase and left the building, feeling positively ashamed of himself “Good job Ukiyo, you ruined the mood, just shut your mouth for once you damn loser.”

"M-medieval swordsman?" Caen sputtered out, clearly put off by the former word. "N-not medieval, no, I'm certainly not old-fashioned. O-or at least, not that old-fashioned." He tried to keep himself somewhat joyful, however, so didn't let the comment shake him that much. 

Screech reacting to his powers, however, did a whole lot more to shake him. "W-well, I suppose it's pretty cool, yes... I d-don't really think about it, in all honesty, I've been able to use them m-most of my life." He swallowed hard as Dust seemed to be rather upset at Ukiyo's bluntness in asking about their... construction, he supposed? This unhappiness was followed by Ukiyo's swift exit from the room. Caen knew the look on the salamander's face all too well. 

 'Oh, Chaos. Poor sod looked down-right smitten with her, or... Perhaps he just hasn't had much interaction with women... Annnnnnd now he's run off.. I hope Dust isn't that upset about it. While his execution might've been... Uncomfortable, his heart was in the right place.' Caen thought, before letting out an audible sigh. He stood up quickly, announcing "I'll go after him. See you all there."

As Caen turned, the way his coat seemed to trail around behind him gave the hedgehog a somewhat dramatic air to him, despite the fact that he certainly wasn't trying to be dramatic. 

Caen walked at a brisk pace through the city streets, scanning his eyes around to see if the amphibian had disappeared into the crowds. "You poor sod..." Caen repeated to himself.

Screech watched Ukiyo and Caen leave the station. 'Well... That was... Um... Awkward.' She thought before turning to Dust and Cortana.

"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Screech. Should we follow them, or go to a different location that the criminals hit?"

This wasn't going well already, but with more important things to focus on she made the decision to not let it get to her more than it already had.
Finally regaining composure, she made a decision.

"Different location, most definitely. By splitting up we cover more ground in shorter time and gain more info." She says, looking to the other two women in the room. "Nice to meet you, Screech. If you didn't catch earlier, my name is Dust." She figured they already introduced themselves, but apparently not. No harm in saying it again, I guess.

Cortana did feel bad for the salamander, his attraction wasn't incredibly subtle. But it was probably best to leave him alone.


"Indeed, the quicker we complete our respective tasks, the better."

Then the other women started introducing themselves, made sense to her, as earlier was more of a roll call than anything.

"My name is Cortana, I look forward to working with you both."

The orca's outfit particularly resonated with her, now that she could actually take a better look at it. The deep blue, the white accents were in such a position that it looked extra sleek.
It took a bit of willpower to not be obvious in checking her out.

Ukiyo had stormed off to a nearby building, his face contorted in self-aimed anger. He leaned up against an alley wall and let out a deep, growling sigh. “Why am I like this… Why can’t think anything through…” The amphibian gritted his teeth and raised up his briefcase in anger but voted against slamming it, rather he simply placed it in his lap and looked inside, gazing at the belt within.


It had been about 3 months since he had discovered the belt outside his apartment, he didn’t catch the person who had given it to him but according to the note nearby it was “An invested party”. He didn’t know how he had gotten someone’s attention, he was just a clerk at his dad’s independent bank. Dad… He started to slump into his seat and lay his head against the leather coating of his briefcase and sighed.

“I told you this would happen if you ran off son.” The fatherly voice in his head spoke “How could you get into heroics if you can’t even make someone’s coffee or work a printer properly. Do you have any idea how foolish and stupid this all is? You’re not a superhero, you’re a rebellious kid.”

Ukiyo sat back up and looked at the sky above him, it looked quite gloomy, the dim sunlight fighting its way through the metal staircase above him all to hit against his smooth head and the slowly deteriorating sofa he subconsciously avoided. Grabbing the belt softly, he gazed at it and slowly put it on. It was bulky but lightweight, almost like a plastic toy, but it also felt solid and strong. He took a deep breath and relaxed backwards. A picture was poking up from one of the top pockets inside the briefcase, it was of him and his aunt; The closest thing to a family member he could describe. She was as busy as his dad but with none of the coldness that would normally come with her return. Instead, it felt more like a mini-Christmas.

He put the photo in his shirt pocket and closed up the briefcase, placing it against the wall, he started to jog in place, just for a moment “I might be a fool, but… I’m not gonna let other people get in danger. No one weeps for fools.” He picked up his briefcase and finally decided he would look at the case file he was given by the police. He had a bit more time to look it over.

Caen rushed through the streets, his billowing coat brushing against passers-by as he looked for Ukiyo. Alas, it was the middle of the day, and the streets were busy. He lost him. Sure, Caen could sprout wings and look upon the crowd from a birds-eye view, but that would attract far too much attention, especially when that attention was rather... unwarranted. 

He sighed "best to leave it to himself. I'm sure he'll be fine," he muttered, before taking the radio from his belt, pushing the button down and speaking:
"KRRT I'm going to check the first place hit. That would surely hold the fewest clues for now, so one or two of us there would probably be fine. Over. KRRT"


"And where would this place be... hmm..." Caen spoke, as he went to immediately looking up the address on his phone. "Warehouses are always rather out-of-the-way. The one time I actually would prefer to drive, and I left my car at home."