Chapter 05 - Achilles Franco

Hopes were dimming when they hit the third house and still haven't found the right Franco clan, it was already eleven am so they decided to give in to Camden's and Jason's endless ramblings of being hungry and stopped at a fastfood to grab a quick lunch. 

It had already stopped raining and the sun was shining was again, so Camden wasn't such a dramatic brat anymore. 

The bell chimed as they walked in, and the delicious smell of fried chicken made Camden's hunger almost get the best for him. The place was surprisingly warm, though still cool enough to not make them sweat, just the right temperature for Camden. The nearby customers glanced at their direction when they walked in before turning away and continued their businesses.

"Hello sir, table for six please?" Natasha told the server who approached them and he gestured for them to follow him. 

"What do you guys want? I'll order," Camden said and brought a small notepad out. They told him their orders and he went and queued with the other people to the counter, there are only two other people in front of him so it shouldn't be that long.

"There are only three other families in the main city right?" Natasha asked and brought out a mirror to inspect her face, she wasn't able to fix herself earlier before they headed out, and she's afraid that the reason why the Francos that they have visited were afraid of them weren't because they were police officers hunting for a suspect but because she looked like a lion with her hair undone.

"Well, unless I suddenly lost my ability to count, yes," Jason replied and lifted his elbows and placed them on the table, placing his chin on his palms.

"We could finish checking them all out today, and if we still haven't found the right one, we'll hit the other eight families tomorrow," Knoxx said while fiddling with the leaves of the fake plant on top of their table which was originally at the middle and was now in front of him,

"It's been so long since I've been on a mission, I'm so shaky," Emman said, raising his hands for the others to see that he was in fact, shaking lightly.

"I still don't know how you managed to graduate from the academy," Jason said in a teasing tone. Emman just scowled at him, he didn't know how he managed to befriend Jason whilst they were in the academy at all, but it was lucky that did and was now used to Jason's antics, or else he would've slapped the bitch with his shaky hands right now.

"I think you're forgetting that you won't even graduate if not for me, Alcantara," Emman sneered.

"Touchè," Jason shrugged and looked away.

"What do you mean?" Arielle asked curiously.

"We're classmates," Natasha was the one who answered while tying her hair into a half-ponytail. "And every class has that idiot who befriends the nerd to get answers, except, Jason befriends Emman genuinely. They kinda helped each other out to graduate actually, Jason helped Emman with the activities needing physical attributes, while Emman helped Jason with everything academically related," she narrated.

"It's a give and take relationship, it's healthy," Jason said.

"Wait, how'd you know that Alcantara befriended Yllana genuinely?" Knoxx asked Natasha.

"I don't even know how I'm so sure, but I guess you can just see it for yourself, they still stick together like hot glue, even after two years since graduation," Natasha answered and put her mirror back into her bag when she was satisfied with how she looked.

"If hot glue is what we will be related to, then I would like to be the hot one in that set-up," Jason said, raising a hand.

"Yeah, I can see why he needed help in academics," Knoxx told Emman and they all laughed, all of them except Jason of course, unless he's actually a masochist and was silently enjoying being laughed at.

"Hey, what are you all laughing about?" Camden asked and sat on a vacant chair beside Arielle's and placed a small tower with the number 30 on it's flag in the middle of their table.

"Nothing that concerns you, that, I can assure you Reyes," Jason smiled.

"Whatever, Alcantara," Camden retorted and got his phone and the receipt out so that he can invoice everyone for the amounts they need to pay. There's no way he's gonna treat them all for lunch, he got a car he was still paying for and payday seems so far away.

"You're insufferable Camden," Arielle said exsperatedly when she got the notification.

"I'm not rich Arielle, deal with it," Camden replied and pocketed his phone.

"For a fastfood restaurant this place is pretty slow," Jason said.

"I literally just ordered," Camden told him. "It's fastfood, not instant food," he added.

"Really? Wow, I did not know that at all," Jason retorted.

"Oh god, I already have to deal with Knoxx, why have you given me a second one?" Camden asked, looking up at the ceiling while his friends sniggered. He looked at Arielle, just because her sniggers were the loudest. "You gotta deal with them too, what's so funny?" He added.

"It's just that, I'm not as dramatic as you," Arielle replied, earning more laughs from their friends and a 'drama king!' from Natasha.

"Excuse me, your orders," a server appeared along with another with trays laden with food. Everyone stayed quiet while the servers placed their respective orders on the table. "Enjoy," the server said before turning to leave.

"Thank you!" Emman called behind them cheerfully and held his utensils.

Camden was sniffing the delicious aroma of his spaghetti contentedly and was about to take a bite when someone cleared his throat behind him, he turned around and saw a guy, probably a college student judging from his varsity jacket which has the logo of a local university.

"Hi, can we help you?" Camden asked, bringing his fork down back on his plate.

"I was, uh, listening to you guys, and is there any chance that you might be the magical police?" The student asked, zipping and unzipping his jacket.

"We are," Knoxx said.

"Dark yozas aren't allowed in the city right?" He asked again.

"Yeah, why?" Arielle asked, thinking that this student was a yoza too but he doesn't emit any magical energy, he seems, human. But how can he know about yozas if he's just human? 

"There's one at the counter right now, the one wearing a red sweatshirt," he replied, discreetly gesturing towards the counter where three people were now standing in line to order, a middle-aged lady, a guy in a red sweatshirt, and another college student with a jacket identical to the one the student in front of them was wearing.

"Now, how would you know that?" Jason asked, narrowing his eyes at the guy.

"I'm Achilles Franco, I can see cores," 'Achilles' said, showing them his id, proving that he was in fact, Achilles Franco. Knoxx scrambled out of his seat and half-jogged towards the man at the line, all the others followed suit.

"Come on! I just got my spaghetti!" Camden complained, groaning, he took one bite and followed the others as they attempted to question the guy in red. However, as Knoxx tried to talk to the guy, said guy took one look at the logo on Knoxx' jacket and everyone elses and disappeared in front of them all.

"A spatial jumper," Camden muttered and immediately went out of the restaurant, spatial jumpers can only jump up to 20 meters away at most, and when they jump, it usually takes around five minutes to cool down before they could jump again. He saw the man already running across the street and ran after him, putting on an extra spurt of speed, courtesy of his power. Knoxx and Natasha, who were both charm users, flew past him on flying chunks of dirt. 

"Don't let him get into the alleyways!" Camden shouted after them, it will be real hard if the guy enters alleyways because he can lure them all in and just jump right after, damn it, the guy's Maho is a real pain in the ass.

The guy's running on the sidewalk right now, lucky for them, there still aren't that many people since it just rained and it was still pretty wet, it wasn't hard to spot him, thanks for his blazing red shirt too.

Knoxx used one of his charm rings and controlled the trees beside the sidewalk, looks like Natasha alone was using her nature charm, creating flying chunks of dirt for the both of them to use, since a charm user can only use one charm at a time.

The roots of the trees came out of the ground and tried to tie around the guy's legs, but he just jumps at them, they cannot make him jump again, especially because they're starting to go near towards the shady part of the city, it would be hard to catch him there. Knoxx let go of the nature charm and used another, an air charm this time, controlling the wind to push the guy back to matter how fast he ran. It was successful and the guy slowed down, Natasha didn't waste a chance, she used brought both Knoxx and her down and swapped her nature charm to a restriction charm, so that the guy can't use his spatial jumping attribute to escape. Camden then cuffed him up once he got close.

"Why are you doing this!? What did I do wrong?" The guy thrashed around, fighting against Camden's grip.

"You made me leave my spaghetti," Camden growled in his ear. "And we heard a rumor that you're dark-cored," he added.

"Dark-cored? What the hell are you talking about? I've lived in this city my whole life, how can I be dark-cored?" The guy exclaimed.

"Well then, why did you run?" Camden asked.

"Because y'all were chasing me!" 

"You aren't fooling anyone dude, we'll let you explain at the station," Knoxx said when he and Natasha got close to them.

"Let me see a warrant then, I wouldn't come with you without a warrant," the guy said firmly.

"We can definitely arrest you without a warrant if we have a probable reason," Natasha said.

"And what reason is that? Ordering food?" The guy asked exasperatedly.

"We received a tip that you might be a dark yoza, you can explain in the station, for now, let's go," Knoxx said and pulled the guy back.

-

Meanwhile, Emman, whose attribute has something to do with illusion and tampering with people's memories, is setting up a spell to make everything that the mundanes have seen seem like normal things, like the guy running out of the restaurant instead of him disappearing into thin air, and roots being there already instead of tearing themselves out of the ground, and Knoxx and Natasha riding motorcycles instead of flying chunks of dirt. It was hard work, and it took up so much Maho, and by the time Emman was done, his knees were more wobbly than usual and he felt like he just ran a marathon.

Knoxx and the others appeared with the guy in cuffs and Jason clapped in delight.

"I'll drive!" He said and went over to their van and rode in the driver's seat, Arielle helped Emman walk towards the van and helped him get settled in before getting in herself. 

Camden and Knoxx sat with the guy that they caught a few minutes ago, exchanging wary looks, thinking about the charges they would receive if this guy turns out to be light Yoza, they will be doomed. The guy was threatening to sue them all too, so Knoxx used a silencing charm on him.

"What would you guys do if the tip turns out to be a prank?" Arielle asked while they were travelling.

"Well, Mr. Red Sweatshirt here already has plans of suing our asses so we'll start from there I guess," Natasha shrugged. "But come on, that guy's a Franco right? He might be from the main clan that we're looking for," she added.

The others just shrugged and nodded, and nobody noticed how the guy's bracelet was blinking red light.

-

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