The Hydra with Many Faces

Not even Aidan Bones

In Japanese folklore, yokai are the spirits, demons, and monsters that haunt our world, taking the form of plants, animals, objects, humans, or natural phenomena. These yokai usually possess spiritual or supernatural abilities. Kitsune is a yokai taking the form of a fox, though it is also known to shapeshift into a human. It prefers to reside in abandoned homes, is extremely intelligent, omnivorous, and fond of deep fried tofu. Though some kitsune offer wisdom and protection to humans, more often they prefer mischief, possession, and evil. A favorite target being greedy merchants. The kitsune would use illusions to steal and publicly humiliate their victim. Kitsunetsuki means the state of being possessed by a fox. The fox may possess and enter their victim beneath their fingernails, sometimes the victim's face and expressions are said to change, resembling that of a fox. Exorcism by a priest is preferable, but if none are available, the victim may be beaten or burned in order to drive the kitsune out. Though in the end, yokai may be a product of the imagination, there once lived an evil that, like the yokai, came in many shapes and forms. A monster that haunted Aster City and was very real. This is the Hydra with Many Faces.

June 2nd, 7PM, one hour before their dinner date with the monster at the Fieryhouse Restaurant, investigators load three hundred million dollars into the back seat of a white Corolla at Jones' Candy Company headquarters. The cash is divided into one hundred and sixty million dollars and one hundred and forty million dollars which filled two white Boston style bags. Two Jones' Candy Company general managers, both over forty-five years old, and dressed in white blazers and white pants as requested in the extortion letter, get into the Corolla and leave Jones' Candy Company headquarters. The two Jones' Candy Company managers parked the Corolla loaded with cash in the parking lot at 7:57PM. One of the Jones' Candy Company managers remains in the Corolla while the other enters the Fieryhouse Restaurant, his suit is equipped with a hidden microphone for the rest of the police operation to monitor. The Jones' Candy Company manager sits down in the left side of the restaurant at the window as instructed by the monster. Fieryhouse Restaurant, a barbecue restaurant, is located about two kilometers from the warehouse used to hold Toffee Jones. Setting the scene around the restaurant are transportation companies, the Darkwood rail line, warehouses, a nine-story apartment building, auto parts stores, supermarkets, and heavy traffic. Along the main street, side streets, and various other points, an elite team of thirty undercover officers from Darkwood's special crime squad take up a tactical position. In the parking lot of the restaurant, a pair of investigators in plain clothes are posed as husband and wife sitting in their car. Several investigators had even brought children and family members as cover, and occupied the tables inside the restaurant, equipped with hidden radios. All options were considered by investigation headquarters and no chances were being taken. Coiled like a snake and ready to strike, the operation had yet another trick up their sleeve. The white Corolla now sitting in the parking lot of Fieryhouse Restaurant was modified with a kill switch located in the trunk designed for use by an investigator hidden within. Step one of the plan, when the criminals steal the money vehicle, undercover investigators parked on the street would confront the criminal forcing them into turning onto a side street approximately five hundred meters away from the restaurant where the kill switch flipped by the investigator in the trunk would bring the vehicle to a stop. However, one limitation to the setup of this vehicle's braking system is that it uses exhaust from the engine to operate, therefore the kill switch could not be flipped while the vehicle was in motion or it would crash without the use of its brakes. This meant that communication, cooperation, and timing was essential to pulling off this trap. The trunk was also modified to allow the armed investigator to open it from within in the event the vehicle escaped police pursuit and he was the last resort in stopping the criminals. Step two of the plan, on the designated side street, lying in wait and manned by an undercover officer was an identical white Corolla with the same license plate as the one filled with the cash. Unknown to any member of the criminal gang observing the scene, the officer would take the original Corolla's place back on the main road driving away from Fieryhouse Restaurant, arrested and interrogated the captured criminal would hopefully provide his intended destination which would be radioed to the officer driving the replacement Corolla allowing police to follow it to the criminals meeting spot where they could arrest the remaining members of the group. Investigators joked that they were living in a film, however, they remained serious overall as careful preparation of the operation was crucial to ensuring the safety of investigators along with the capture of the criminals. Leader One and Leader Two, also referred to as L One and L Two, were command posts set up to monitor the operation. L One was located at the Darkwoods police headquarters, L Two was an undercover van located in the area of Fieryhouse Restaurant. In L Two, the detective was tasked with tracking the movements of the investigators and relaying the information back to L One. Using a large map of the site spread out in the van, the detective set up pieces, visualizing the trap, as he stayed in radio contact with command at L One. Also being tracked were the license plates of vehicles that passed by the restaurant for further investigation should the criminals be in the area watching. At 8 o'clock PM, L One called for radio silence except from the money car parked at Fieryhouse Restaurant and the Jones' Candy Company manager within. Investigators sit and wait as they listen for their next move. The monster instructed that they would call the perfumery at 8:30PM, however, at 8:45PM a young man in his twenties with a scratch on his face walks into the restaurant Fieryhouse Restaurant and up to the sea of the Jones' Candy Company manager. In front of the Jones' Candy Company manager, the man sets a small note reading, 'Are you Nestle?' The Jones' Candy Company manager answers, "Yes", still without word, the man hands over another slip of paper reading 'Give me the key.' The Jones' Candy Company manager slides the man the key who swiftly picks it up and exits the restaurant. Investigators watch the man approach the Corolla in the parking lot and force the driver out. The engine roars to life and the Corolla filled with three hundred million dollars speeds off north. The detective in L Two moving pieces on his map, relayed investigators movements to L One as the pursuit began. The plan to coerce the criminal in the money car into turning left onto the side street with the identical Corolla waiting was underway. Timing and communication with the investigator in the trunk were key to making a smooth trade-off between the Corolla filled with cash and the replacement Corolla that was tasked with completing the drive to the criminal's meeting location, however, radio contact with the investigator in the trunk was lost and he was forced to rely on the timing they had planned for. Hitting the kill switch luckily as the driver slowed the vehicle for an upcoming red light. The car came to a halt in the middle of the main road just short of the side street at 8:48PM. Investigators approached the vehicle with weapons drawn, joining the investigator who had by now exited the trunk. The driver put his hands up, terrified and shaking. He exclaimed, "They took my girlfriend, please help her." Confusion set in as investigators took the seemingly innocent man into custody, battered and frightened, he was questioned further on his way to the station. 3.2 kilometers from the Fieryhouse Restaurant, along a well-paved dike road maintained by the Ministry of Construction, running parallel to a riverbed park, occupied by tennis courts, baseball fields, soccer fields, and a playground, and located behind the Darkwood water treatment plant at 8:15PM, thirty minutes before his arrest, the twenty-two year old man who will soon steal the Corolla and his eighteen year old girlfriend are listening to music on the car's FM radio and enjoying the romantic evening in his white Toyota. Four to five centimeters of the man's window was open for fresh air, and from the dark, a rifle barrel was stuck through it and pressed into his shoulder. The man turned to see three figures outside his car, one appeared unarmed, one had a rifle, and one had a fruit knife. The man pushed the car door open and jumped out attempting to fight back. He was a former self-defense force member and was confident in his ability to defend himself and his date, however, the man was struck by the criminals and scratched. He was then pushed back into his car by the unarmed criminal, the knife-wielding criminal opened the woman's door and pointed his weapon to her neck. "I'll take care of the woman," he said. The criminal then took her to another car stopped on the dike road about twenty meters behind. The unarmed and rifle-wielding criminals who attacked the man, join him in his Toyota, one directs him where to go with a low voice. "Drive where we say. Go south on the dike road and turn right and get onto the bridge. Turn left off the bridge." They arrive near the restaurant where the man is instructed on what to do and reminded of his girlfriend's well-being before he is set loose on Fieryhouse Restaurant. Taking up the driver's seat of the Toyota, the criminals drive away in the man's car.