The federal agent pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Fantastic. This day has been fantastic"
McNab crossed his arms.
"I'm assuming that's bad."
The agent gave him a flat look.
"The fact that I didn't say 'good' should have answered that question."
Welters nodded.
"Fair."
Ryan looked between them.
"Who exactly is Victor Kane?"
The federal agents exchanged glances.
Finally she sighed.
"Officially?"
"Officially?" Ryan repeated.
"He's a shipping magnate, investor, philanthropist, and owner of half a dozen legitimate businesses."
McNab snorted.
"And unofficially?"
The agent's expression darkened.
"We've been trying to tie him to organized crime for years."
That got everyone's attention.
"How many years?" McNab asked.
"Eight."
Ryan blinked.
Eight years?
"You've never caught him?"
The agent laughed.
There wasn't any humor in it.
"Every witness disappears."
"That's suspicious."
"Every financial trail vanishes."
"Very suspicious."
"Every time we get close, somebody tips him off."
Welters frowned.
"So he's got people on the inside."
The agent didn't answer.
Which was answer enough.
Ryan looked toward the wreakage
He imagined Victor Kane was standing at the stern again.
Still watching.
Still smiling.
The guy was way too calm for somebody who has a federal agency on his back
Then again, if he'd been doing this for eight years...
Maybe he had a reason to be calm.
A blue screen suddenly appeared in Ryan's vision.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
MISSION GENERATED
First Villain Identified
Target: Victor Kane
Description:
As they say mother earth provides and you just caught the scent of a big fish , go hunting my friend , go find your whale or is it a shark
Objective:
Gather evidence linking Victor Kane to criminal activity.
Reward:
1000 Experience
200 sp points
Bonus Reward:
Haku full template
Failure:
None
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ryan almost tripped.
"Oh."
"What now?" Welters asked.
Ryan quickly shook his head.
"Nothing."
The system had given him a mission.
His first real mission.
And the reward looked incredible.
The problem was that Victor Kane wasn't exactly somebody a rookie police officer should be investigating.
The system apparently disagreed.
A second notification appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NOTICE
Host has attracted the attention of a Story-Level Character.
Future encounters likely.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ryan frowned.
Story-Level Character?
That sounded dangerous.
Before he could think about it further, another voice called out.
"Officer Walker."
Ryan turned.
The federal agent was looking directly at him.
"Yeah?"
"I'd like a word."
McNab immediately stepped closer.
"So would I."
Welters pointed at Ryan.
"I have several words."
"Most of them aren't suitable for the workplace."
The agent ignored him.
She held out a business card.
Ryan accepted it.
Special Agent Maria Hill.
Ryan nearly dropped it.
He knew exactly who that was.
Not from this world.
From the MCU.
One of Nick Fury's people.
Which meant this wasn't just a federal investigation.
This was S.H.I.E.L.D.
And if S.H.I.E.L.D. was involved...
Victor Kane was either far more dangerous than anyone realized.
And more importantly " what the hell did they do to my sparkles"
'Author - San!!!!!! is this how you choose to face me ....coward!!!!!'
Maria Hill studied him carefully.
"You've had an interesting first day, Officer Walker."
Ryan laughed nervously.
"Is it that obvious?"
"No rookie should be able to do half the things I heard you did today."
Ryan's smile froze.
McNab looked at him.
Welters looked at him.
Maria Hill looked at him.
For the first time all day, Ryan felt genuinely nervous.
Because criminals and the NYPD were one thing.
Explaining himself to S.H.I.E.L.D. was something else entirely.
And judging by Maria Hill's expression...
She wasn't buying the "lucky guess" excuse .
" How does someone on their first day find someone many clues all at once"
Maria Hill wasn't smiling.
That was a problem.
Nick Fury's second-in-command looking at you like you were an unsolved math problem was generally a bad sign.
Ryan decided honesty was probably the best policy.
Unfortunately, actual honesty would get him committed.
So he settled for the next best thing.
Pure unadulterated deceit.
"I've always been observant."
Maria stared at him.
Ryan stared back.
Maria continued staring.
Ryan began to sweat.
Finally she looked at McNab.
"Does he always answer questions like that?"
McNab didn't even hesitate.
"Unfortunately."
Welters nodded.
"That's actually one of his better answers."
Maria sighed.
Ryan got the feeling she dealt with enhanced people regularly.
Which was technically what he was.
She just didn't know it.
Yet.
"Fine," she said. "Let's try a different question."
Ryan immediately became nervous again.
"Okay."
"How did you know there were additional suspects?"
Ryan blinked.
"Uh..."
"Before anybody saw them."
"..."
"And before anyone found the van."
"..."
"And before anyone had evidence they existed."
Ryan considered his options.
There were none.
Lies it is then,
"Instinct?"
Maria's eyebrow twitched.
Welters immediately looked away.
McNab suddenly found the harbor very interesting.
Nobody was willing to defend that answer.
Maria opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
Then opened it again.
Finally she gave up.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"I don't actually want the answer anymore."
Ryan released a silent sigh of relief.
Then Maria pointed toward him.
"If I discover you're hiding something dangerous..."
The air suddenly became colder.
"...we'll have another conversation."
Ryan nodded immediately.
"Understood."
"Good."
Maria turned and walked toward one of the SUVs.
Several agents followed.
The scene was slowly transitioning from an active crime scene to a mountain of paperwork.
McNab watched the agents leave.
Then he slowly turned toward Ryan.
Ryan recognized that look.
It was the same look teachers gave before announcing a surprise test.
"Rookie."
"Yes?"
"We also need to talk."
Ryan sighed this was actually getting a little annoying.
Lies lies lies lies
'Lies is life!!! '
"Is this about the detonator?"
"The detonator."
"Or the pressure points?"
"The pressure points too."
"The coin?"
"The coin oh yes definitely the coin."
"The suspects?"
"The suspects, add it to the list."
Ryan nodded.
"That's fair."
Welters walked over.
He was carrying a coffee someone had handed him.
Ryan had no idea where he'd gotten it.
The man took a sip.
Then pointed at Ryan.
"Let's review today."
"Oh no."
"You arrived without attending the academy."
Ryan winced.
"You got arrested."
"Technically."
"You found evidence before trained detectives."
"Luck."
"You somehow knew where suspects were."
"Instinct."
"You disabled two armed suspects with your fingers."
"Pressure points."
"You disarmed a gunman with a coin."
"Very lucky."
"You crossed thirty feet before anyone could blink."
Ryan paused.
"...adrenaline?"
Welters looked at his coffee.
Then at Ryan.
Then back at his coffee.
"Detective."
"Yeah?"
"I think the rookie is lying to us."
McNab nodded.
"I also think that."
Ryan raised a finger.
"I'd like it noted that neither of you can prove anything."
The two men stared at him.
"He's got a point," McNab admitted.
"I hate that he has a point."
A blue screen suddenly appeared before Ryan.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
MISSION COMPLETED
First Day on the Job
Objective:
Survive your first day as an NYPD officer.
Status:
Completed
Rewards:
+500 Experience
+100 SP
+1 Random Skill Scroll
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ryan nearly smiled.
A random skill scroll.
That sounded useful.
A second screen appeared immediately.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
LEVEL UP
Level 1 → Level 2
Rewards:
+5 Attribute Points
+50 SP
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━