[Edward POV]
Brimming with excitement, Vanessa jumped out of her seat and shouted viciously as the wrestlers fought with each other.
"FINISH HIM!" she bellowed.
She made my stomach hurt from all the laughing. Wearing thick-frame glasses and a cap, Vanessa hugged my hand constantly as we watched the show.
As the clock ticked past midnight, the small wrestling club still pulsed with energy. The ring, illuminated by spotlights, was centered directly on the stage while the two-story audience area remained dark.
We sat on the upper floor with a nice view of the ring. The tickets cost around 200 bucks, but Jason sponsored them.
The dim venue made it easy for us to hide our identities. Vanessa was told that the cap and the glasses were already enough to disguise us, but I actually used a transformation jutsu to change our facial features.
Vanessa was a girl with a lip ring and dark emo hair; she had blue streaks in her hair.
I, on the other hand, was a mean-looking tattooed man with a nose ring. People avoided us when they saw us on the street. Vanessa still saw me as myself, though, as I used my sharingan to allow her to see through my disguise.
So from her point of view, no one recognized us when we were in glasses and a hat.
We were surrounded by a raucous crowd, eager for the next exhibition match. It reminded me of the cage match scene in Spider-Man, with all the people yelling and jeering at the performance.
Local wrestlers, clad in vibrant costumes, entered the ring, each trying to outdo the other with their signature moves. There weren't many scripted events like in WWE, but the wrestlers could throw down a hell of a show.
"Ah, there isn't any audience participation for this one," Vanessa sighed in disappointment as the show was closing.
I looked at her with disbelief and said, "You want to wrestle?"
"No, I want to see you wrestle." She stuck her tongue out.
I smirked and said, "Makes sense. You always love it when we do the bed gymnastics together."
She blushed a bit and said, "Shut— Okay. There are no girls in the fight either. I've never watched a girl's wrestling match before."
"Me too," I said, agreeing with her easily. Our conversation was overheard by a red-haired, muscular woman in latex clothes who sat nearby.
"Hey, if you want to see girls fighting, there's another wrestling club in Hell's Kitchen that has a match tomorrow. You should stop by." She handed us a flyer, her face slightly reluctant to do so.
"Are you here to promote your match?" I asked her with a teasing smirk. The woman was startled and asked urgently, "How did you know?"
I turned the flyer toward her and said, "Your picture is on the flyer."
Vanessa laughed out loud, adding to the woman's embarrassment. She grabbed the flyers back from our hands and huffed away angrily, saying, "Don't come if you don't want to then!"
As she left, Vanessa and I turned to each other. She sighed, "We never even said we don't want to go."
"I remember the details on the flyer. We can go there tomorrow if we have time," I said casually.
We walked out of the building and talked while we were going to the car.
"If we have time to go, how about the party? Are you really not going?" Vanessa asked, hiding her frustrations.
"Do you want to go?" I sensed something more and wanted confirmation. "If you want to go, we can go."
Vanessa argued, "I don't want to go if you don't want to go." Her face was full of expectation.
"We can go. I want to go," I said, but my tone was slightly heavy.
"No, I don't want to force you. We don't have to go." She dismissed her own feelings, thinking she was being a bother. I gave her a weird look, and she remembered what we had talked about before.
"Oh, I need to be more forward with my feelings. Um, I want to go to the party. Ashley and Selena are going, so I want to go too," she said honestly.
I smiled in satisfaction and said, "Okay then. I'll finish up the film shoot early and meet you there."
Vanessa widened her eyes as she remembered I still had work to do. I wasn't rejecting the invitation wantonly. It would be pretty hard since the shooting would begin at night. The trick with the building would only work then.
"Wait—Um, you don't have to. I'll just go with my friends and have a girl's night." Vanessa held my arm and looked intently into my eyes. We stopped right in the middle of a dark alley.
Before I could answer, a hidden figure from the darkness came forth and growled, "Hey! Freako motherfucker! Give me your wallet!" The balding man wearing a worn-out beanie and a tattered jacket pointed his knife at both of us.
Startled, Vanessa immediately hid behind me. "Edward! We're being mugged!" she said, holding my shirt tightly.
"I can see that, Ness," I said with a grin. "It's like my dream is finally coming true," I added.
Both the mugger and Vanessa were confused by my words. The mugger got irritated and said, "Give me your wallet! Now!"
"Can you hold on for a second?" I said as I turned and grabbed Vanessa from behind me. "Here, wear this." I gave her a pearl necklace from my back pocket.
"No! Give that to me—" The mugger tried to snatch it, but I grabbed his wrist with my right hand without looking. The mugger was startled as he couldn't pry his hand away easily. He pulled with all his might, and I let it go, causing him to stagger a few steps backward.
"You fucker—"
He swung with the other hand, trying to stab my back.
"Calm down, will ya?" I turned and grabbed his hand, stopping the knife attack. I gripped his hand with heavy strength, causing him to groan and let go of the knife. I grabbed it midair. He retreated fearfully a few steps back.
"Hold on. Don't go just yet. We still haven't finished the game here," I said as I folded the knife in two and dropped it to the ground. It was a thick army knife, very durable, but it didn't pose a problem to me at all.
The mugger widened his eyes and ran away immediately while screaming for his life, "MONSTER!!"
"No—hold on! Come back! We still haven't acted out Batman's parents' death in the alley yet!" I raised my hand, trying to reach for him, but he was gone. I could chase after him easily, but that would leave Vanessa alone.
Vanessa raised an eyebrow, her lips slightly parting. "You want to be killed in the alley?!" She yelled at me with disbelief. "What are you going to do, give him a gun next?"
"Well, a toy gun. Not a real gun," I said as I grabbed the gun from my back. "Why? Are you scared?" I smirked.
"I'm not scared! But I'm really pissed off right now!" Vanessa said much to my confusion. A police car suddenly stopped right next to us.
"FREEZE! Drop the gun!" A police detective got off and aimed her gun at me. I turned and smiled as I saw who she was, turning off my transformation technique at the same time.
"Hey, Rosa," I greeted her casually.
"Edward?" Rosa scrutinized my appearance, falling into disbelief. I pointed to the alley and said, "If you want to find the mugger, he ran away in this direction."
"You were mugged?!" Rosa lowered her gun and put it back in her holster. "What are you doing walking around out here without any security? This is not a safe place for a minor." She nagged as she went to check out the alley. But she didn't go far and returned to us.
"Oh, we went to a wrestling show," I replied casually. Rosa grunted and grabbed the gun from my hand. "You're not old enough to carry a gun!"
"Jeez. It's only a toy gun." I snarked.
"Toy?" Rosa pressed the trigger, and water came out. Vanessa finally reacted and said to Rosa, "Ma'am, are you here on patrol? Because I'd like to report something."
"Y–Yeah, I can take your report. You're going to head down to the station to give your testimony. Maybe help with the police sketch," Rosa said, calming herself down.
"No. I'd like to put this guy in jail for the night. He wanted to play with the mugger! He wants to roleplay with them!"
Rosa was startled, and she turned to me angrily. "You want to do what?!"
I looked at Vanessa with disbelief and said, "So are we tattling now?"
"I don't care! You have some problems!" she said angrily. Jake Peralta ran to where we were, slightly panting. "I lost him. Did you find him?" He asked with exasperation.
Rosa turned to Jake and said, "I've already cuffed him and thrown him to the back of the car." She pointed at their police car a few meters away. There was a culprit inside the car, waiting anxiously.
Jake said with annoyance, "What– when?"
"20 minutes ago." Rosa said with a smirk.
"So you let me run around for 20 minutes?!" Jake whined with disbelief. Suddenly, Jake saw me and a huge grin broke out in his face. "Oh my god! Edward Newgate!"
"Jake." I greeted him casually. Rosa grabbed my arm and said to Jake, "Call another patrol car. We need to bring him to jail too."
"What? On what crimes?" Jake was startled.
"Being stupid!" Vanessa crossed her arms together and complained.
…
So I was brought to the police station. Well, I went there in my car, willingly. I still had to file the police report since Rosa was there. They brought the folded knife with them as evidence.
"I told you, this is not necessary. It's a mugger, not an international terrorist. You don't need to mobilize the military to New York."
General Beckman, the CIA director I saved before, called my phone after she had information that I was brought into the police station.
She wanted to repay what I did before and even threatened the police captain to find and 'solve' the culprit—the latter part was rejected by Captain Holt.
"Okay. It's done. You guys can go back home now. STRAIGHT back home!" Rosa said, stressing out the last sentence.
"Why are you on the night shift anyway? Shouldn't Detective Lohank be the one to work on the case?" I asked Rosa with a cheerful smile, which annoyed her again.
Jake immediately interjected, whispering, "Don't bring up Lohank's name around her. She's pissed enough."
"Aww. I think she looks gorgeous when she gets pissed," I said coyly. "What did you say?" Rosa almost lunged at me, but Jake held her back and screamed, "Run away, Edward! Run!!!"
I guess my luck was pretty bad tonight. Every girl I was talking to got pissed. I just walked out of there after grabbing my girlfriend.
"Should we call it a night and go home?" I asked.
"Yeah. We definitely should. You know, I'd entertain your games like the Spider-Man one. But you need to find the line!" she scolded me.
"Sorry about that," I said sincerely.
"Why did you even do that? And you're not even Bruce Wayne in this scenario!" Vanessa asked, shooting a murderous look.
I shrugged and said, "I guess I just want the excitement."
"You were just on SNL. Literally, just hours ago. Is that not exciting enough?" Vanessa said with frustration. Then her voice shook slightly as she came to a realization, "Is spending time with me also not exciting for you?"
"Wait—Ness. That's really not it," I said, holding her arm and trying to comfort her. "I just like to mess around, that's all." She turned her back on me and walked away angrily.
We had a silent car ride home, and she went straight to bed after we got into the house.
After she changed into her pajamas, she went to the kitchen to grab a drink when I stopped her.
"Alright. Since you're definitely going to be mad the whole night, allow me to say this one thing."
"What?" She was sulky.
"In the scenario, the Waynes are married, have a small son, and live a happy life as billionaires. I'm going to punch the guy before he shoots the gun so that they may continue living happily. That is what I planned to do."
Vanessa's cold demeanor melted a bit, and she became slightly bashful. "What– Is that really it? Or are you just saying that so I will sleep with you tonight?"
"I'm dead serious."
Without me saying much, Vanessa connected the metaphorical dots inside her mind, and a small tug appeared on her lip.
She cleared her throat and pretended to still be angry. "Well—at least talk with me before you do this sort of stuff. I don't want to be a party popper, but I'd still like to be prepared."
I laughed and said, "Sorry about that. So, you're not mad at me anymore?" I leaned in close and touched her cheek affectionately.
Vanessa breathed heavily before she said, "You know I cannot be mad at you for long."
As we leaned in for a kiss, suddenly my senses alerted me. I immediately pulled Vanessa, hiding her behind me and turned my head to the glass window.
"Ness, slowly retreat and hide," I said to her, my eyes glowing red as I gazed at the balcony.
"Ed—what is happening? You're scaring me," Vanessa said fearfully, peeking at where I was looking. She widened her eyes when she saw a man standing there.
A white-haired man wearing an old-fashioned white suit. His eyes glowed red, just like mine.
"Wait… Is it—" I widened my eyes in shock as I sensed the familiar feeling. "The raven?"
Vanessa shivered, thinking that it was his nickname. No, it was the actual bird. It was the raven who sent me the messages before.
He entered the house through the windows and smiled at me. "Sorry for the sudden drop-in. I am hired to deliver the news to you."
"Really? You can't send me a message on my phone? You need to drop by on my balcony, ruining the chances of me getting laid tonight?"
The man replied, "What's a phone? Anyway, I'm not going to stay here long."
"Edward, who is this?" Vanessa asked, still hiding.
"A friend," I said comfortingly. She finally stopped hiding behind me and stood at my side.
"Eve told me to tell you this. Your session has been canceled. In fact, it has been canceled until next year," the man said.
I realized the trip he was referring to was about the afterlife session, where I rolled my gachas.
"Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"How should I know? I'm only here to send a message. Oh, but she was talking about the Mayans. I only overheard that, and something about the reset," he said before he turned back to walk to the balcony.
"Hey," I called him. He turned around and asked, "What?"
"Use the elevator. That's what humans do," I said with a smirk.
"Oh. Right."
Before he left, I asked him, "Hey, what should I call you?"
"I have no name. The Raven will be fine," he replied casually.
Vanessa was annoyed and said, "You know, you're friends with a lot of weird people."
"I won't deny that," I laughed, patting her head. "Sorry that I scared you for nothing."
Vanessa pursed her lips before saying, "Hey, shouldn't you give the security downstairs a heads-up? They will take down your friend."
"Let them. They have been quite complacent recently. It will be a good lesson for them all," I said before I wrapped my hand around Vanessa's waist and said, "Now, where are we?"
However, she cupped my mouth before I could kiss her and said, "Don't pretend you're still in the mood. I'm sure that your mind is filled with questions that you need answers to. Go and do your research; I'll be fine."
I was silent for a while before I kissed her and said, "This is why I love you." I let her go and went to my computer.
"Seriously, that guy. At least act like you're a little distressed about it," Vanessa smirked before leaving to go to bed.
There was only one thing I found that made sense: the Mayan Calendar.
The Mayan Long Count calendar cycle ended on December 21, 2012. Some people misinterpreted this to mean the end of the world. Some predicted that we'd be wiped out by a natural disaster like a giant tidal wave, an Earth-wide earthquake, or a tremendous volcanic eruption.
Basically, apocalypse-level stuff.
The internet theory, which would've been obscure, was amplified when it was mixed with another theory.
The theory of galactic alignment.
One of the central claims surrounding 2012 was the idea of a rare galactic alignment between the Earth, the sun, and the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Proponents of doomsday theories argued that this alignment would trigger cataclysmic events.
Of course, it was all poppycock.
I remembered when the time passed that the Mayans' calendar would signify a reset of the count, not the ending of the world. But like everything the internet does, they took something out of nothing and made a big deal about it.
The belief that the world would end was spreading like wildfire. The movie '2012,' which was released in 2009, was taken to be a prophetic movie, and there was mass hysteria going on.
Some people started to empty out their bank accounts and went traveling. A lot of them quit their jobs, and some even punched their shitty boss, wanting to strike that out of their to-do list.
"Is this it? Why is the Afterlife shut down because of this?" I muttered with an incomprehensible expression.
"Or because the mass hysteria turned the entire thing into a belief? The sessions are on days related to life or death. So they had to shut it down because everyone is thinking of dying?"
While I was researching, something else was happening on the ground floor of the building.
…
[General POV]
*Ding*
As the lift opened, Raven found a group of people in the lobby wearing black suits and carrying firearms.
"Oh. Hi." He smiled cheerfully and just waltzed by them.
"Stop right there!" Mickey, the head of security, stopped him by holding his shoulder. "Who are you?" he asked sternly.
"I'm Raven," he replied with a childish smile. "I'm a friend of Edward."
"What— I've never heard of the Raven before. You… Did you just come down from the penthouse?"
"Yes. I met with Edward there. He got pretty scared when he saw me. His girlfriend started to hide behind him," Raven said casually.
"What—" Mickey's heart sank. His mind was full of horrors. "Can you let me go now? I have to leave and tell my employer that I have already sent out the message."
With every word that came out of his mouth, Mickey's mind crumbled. He immediately grabbed his gun and pointed it at Raven's head.
Raven smiled and said, "You cannot kill me with this."
The lack of nervousness made Mickey think he was right.
"We'll find out. Put your hands behind your back," Mickey said before he signaled the other guys to come and handcuff the mystery man.
But before he could do so, Raven made a roundhouse kick and struck him in the head. Mickey fell down, and everyone aimed their guns at him. Raven said, "Sorry. But I have to go now. I cannot be late again."
Woo-Jin stayed hidden on the side, evaluating the others as they fought against the man. Within 20 seconds, all 15 of them were knocked down. And they were in peak human form.
Raven dusted off his suit, a splash of blood on his sleeve. He whined, "I love this suit! Now it's all ruined."
Raven left, and what happened inside the building was witnessed by a person monitoring Edward's bodyguards.
"Interesting. All of them are knocked out? Isn't this a chance for us?" he muttered with excitement when suddenly a knife flew by and hit him in the middle of his eyebrows. His eyes went blank, and he flopped his head down onto the table.
Woo-Jin muttered, "At the very least, I shouldn't let the news out."
The entire security team woke up an hour later and realized that their employer wasn't in any danger at all.
They were supposed to feel relieved, but their pride was hurt. They couldn't comprehend being taken down by a man who looked like he was in his early 20s.
In less than a few hours, Edward's number of securities tripled. 45 muscular men fully equipped with armors and advanced weaponry patrolled the area. It made every force that was eyeing Edward become restless.
"Did someone figure out our plans?" Anslo Garrick asked his team before he said, "Or did someone in here leaked it?"
He narrowed his eyes dangerously as he looked at his subordinates. A few of them would lose their lives tonight.
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