The Zetta Sonic

New Bug

Alex doesn't have to wait long. Right after lunch, Nadira gathered her members in the meeting room. He's talking about their new villain. He doesn't have to be friendly or ask about Alex's condition. He has gone through a long debate with doctor Vanessa. Seeing Alex's latest condition that continues to improve, finally the doctor let Nadira give his mission.

[I don't want the jewel under my nose. Stop the criminal before he goes any further.] Nadira sounded unfriendly as usual. His eyebrows twitched and his lips instantly clenched tightly. Out of nowhere but Alex immediately got the impression that it was personal.

“You can invite there?” Alex broke the silence while playing his swivel chair. It felt like he had not been in the meeting room for a long time. The question spontaneously triggered the other three members to turn to him — doctors Vanessa, Tiger, and Emil. Even Jayden who also made long-distance calls squinted.

Nadira, whose image meets almost half of those screens, issued a short. [This villain keeps showing up without being stopped. I don't want him to make it in the Zetta Sonic area.]

As Nadira switches the conversation, Alex knows his conjecture is right. “You are familiar with the organizer of the exhibition.” A statement is not a question.

[Wait!] Jayden finally replied. He took the time to dig up a little data. [Organizer of this exhibition to the same school with—]

[Is that a problem for you?] Nadira interrupted Jayden and sighed again. [Stop the theft and put the boy in jail! There's just one troublemaking boy here!]

Alex pointed to himself and put on a sullen face. The boy. He had to get used to being called like that. Then, he realized something else. Nadira calls their criminals also as children. “You know who we're dealing with?”

Nadira did not answer. Instead, Jayden spoke. [A few minutes ago, we got a canned letter. Not handwriting, just print. Directed to the city hall. It's a kind of challenge for Zetta Sonic.]

A large screen shows a letter with a short notice.

　

　

Stop me if you can. I'm better than anything Zetta Sonic has ever faced.

　

　

“Good,” said Alex, “where did you guys know that he was ‘bocah’?”

[Sender.] Jayden is now showing footage from surveillance cameras.

There is a man wearing a grey hooded jacket, carrying a navy bag sling, and branded sports shoes. He swung a bicycle and stopped not far from the city hall gate. His figure looks like a young man. He took a small brown envelope from the bag. As if bewitched, the envelope darted rapidly through the air.

Surveillance cameras are now moving to surveillance cameras near the town hall. It is seen how the envelope entered unhindered. The envelope floated past the bars of the fence, slipped into the guard post while no one was there, then landed smoothly on the table.

After that, the image returned to the first surveillance camera. The camera shows how the figure turned to the camera. His face was not clearly visible because it was covered in a hood, as well as a black hat, and a mask. Another movement of his body. The figure waved at the surveillance camera. His left index finger pointed there and it was his right hand's thumb pointing down.

“He's left-handed,” Emil said.

Jayden nodded. [Really. Lefty and arrogant. You see that hat the kid was wearing? It was launched yesterday. So, I did some data checks at the airport, a list of hat buyers, and we got one name.]

Alex is now gawking. He knew the name and face of the photo that now covered their big screen. He had seen the boy's face at his own school. His younger classmate is almost always Willy's victim. “What? That's impossible! I mean, he usually..” Alex's words are stuck. He knows how Cody can't even survive Willy. It feels strange that he is now stealing — more than that, challenging Zetta Sonic and ICPA.

[Cody Kane's. He knows you and you seem to know him.]

“Yes. But, as far as I know Cody is weak. He's not the kind of person who would boast. Indeed he often brought games made by his father's company to school and Willy often borrowed it forcibly. He didn't say anything at the time. There was no protest, let alone self-defense. Then, now... That makes no sense!”

Doctor Vanessa muttered softly as she stroked her chin. “Often bring games in school and become a victim of bully. Could be the trigger.”

“What trigger?”

“Maybe you don't know this because you don't come in often, Alex. Cody just had a bad skiing accident. Reportedly, he went into a coma for a few days. After he started to recover, Cody went through some attitude changes. Not in a negative direction. Instead, Cody is more confident and active.”

[He even participated in the launch of the latest game in several countries in a row. The location is exactly the same as the country that just experienced the theft of the gem. He can hack even if not as good as Killer Bee, maybe the result of the upbringing of game programmers in his company. He had plenty of resources to fund his actions. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that Cody did it. This boy named himself Bug.] Jayden continued.

Tiger was laughing. “Hahaha... So, your school spawned villains and heroes at the same time?” Realizing that his words sounded too good, Tiger immediately added. “Bocah. Hero-ass boy I mean.”

Alex shook his head, still in disbelief. “So, Cody is having some kind of amnesia and is now an opponent for Zetta Sonic? That doesn't make any sense! His family had more money than the amount of stolen gems.”

[By the way, this news just came in.] Jayden showed me another video.

[Who said it was about money? I thought it was about something else.]

Alex knows more than anyone in the room. Self-evidence. If Alex is trying to get to know his father and is now trying to prove himself, Cody is similar. The boy was trying to get to know himself and is now trying to prove himself to everyone in the world.

The video came from a surveillance camera at his school. Alex recognizes the school gym room as well as Willy who is throwing a basketball into the ring. His jump should be perfect. However, somehow, Willy slipped on landing. The fall was quite violent, making him grimace in pain, forcing him to budge on the floor. Meanwhile, some of his friends ran outside to ask for help.

Alex clenched his hand. “If it is the case, then this case is also a personal case.”

Doctor Vanessa shook her head. He didn't like to see Alex's face change so quickly. “Alex..”

“J! Prepare my gear. I'll make that boy regret challenging Zetta Sonic!”