CHAPTER 12
"Hello everyone, I am Victor Dans, co-founder of Dans Enterprises." The arrogant smile of the silver-haired Victor Dans, impeccably dressed in a tuxedo on the podium, was reflected in the cameras. "Yes, today, as a result of our years of work with one of our long-time Japanese partners, Mori Enterprises, we have taken a new step to pursue this collaboration more closely, more as one, and have made our partnership official. Here is the founder of Mori Enterprises..."
James was watching these moments on the old, darkened television set inside the concrete walls of the bunker. He felt a sharp pain in his throat as he barely swallowed the last spoonful of his cold meal. The face that appeared on the screen, Moriyama's cold and ambitious countenance, choked his bite. He coughed in shock and horror, trying to catch his breath. His eyes were wide with recognition; he knew the figure on the television: his old Sensei, Moriyama. Just like Kagemura, he was a ghost who should have remained in the dark, and now he was coming to the heart of Shade City, as the new partner of the city's biggest corporation, to completely take over the city.
"Damn it, Moriyama is alive too..." James's voice echoed in the damp air of the bunker. His fists clenched, his nails digging into his palms. "They have taken over the city, and they are taking over more. This new building is for Moriyama... Damn it! I need to get ready and go."
He took the last spoonful of his meal and pushed the plate aside. He quickly opened the hidden compartment in the wall. Inside, his blue, aerodynamic suit shimmered slightly in the light. He pulled the cleaned suit over himself. The cold, flexible fabric made him feel the tension in his muscles. He tightly buckled his belt, checked the fighting weapons in their holsters, and the throwing mechanisms integrated into his wrist. Finally, he placed the latest version of his newly developed grapple gun into the special holster on his belt.
He burst out of the bunker, jumped onto his motorcycle. The powerful machine roared to life with a single sound. James, with his motorcycle, was speeding down the road, heading toward the call of the city lights, toward the new building's opening party.
Plunging among the skyscrapers, he arrived near another building that offered the closest and best vantage point to the tower being inaugurated. He quickly dismounted and left the motorcycle in the shadows. He stood in front of the wall behind the building he would use for observation. He took the grapple gun from the holster on his belt. The gun's chrome plating gleamed in the night lights. He aimed at the most solid-looking, concrete and steel support point and pulled the trigger. Tss! The grapple shot out at bullet speed, wrapped around its target, and firmly secured itself. The grapple had the power to carry James up. He rapidly climbed the rope connected to the grapple and swiftly glided onto the building's roof. He was now at the highest point, facing the Mori Tower. He activated the scanner in his mask. The screen in the mask's eye piece instantly came to life, and the building's blueprint and the routes with people appeared in red and green lines. The building he was on was one of the city's most luxurious hotels, and the building directly across was the one hosting the Dans and Mori Enterprises building opening party, a dazzlingly bright target building that he began to scan.
The mask completed the scan, and the data from the scanner became clear: all the weak points in the building's armored outer shell, small air vents, window cleaning rails, and service elevator access panels, all glittered in James's digital vision. The location of Moriyama and Victor Dans, on the other hand, was marked by their warm thermal signatures in the VIP lounge on the 83rd floor.
James looked at the data in his hand for a moment. He chose the fastest and most dramatic way to reach his target directly from the top floor. He muttered to himself, "Time to test those gliding wings."
On the observation roof, ignoring the dizziness caused by the height, he stepped back a few paces. He inhaled the cold night air of Shade City into his lungs. With a determined movement, he ran toward the hotel's ledge and jumped into the void, into the hundreds of meters of dark abyss.
As he began to fall toward the ground at a dizzying speed, the wind around him turned into a sharp roar. While his body succumbed to gravity, James slid the small protective plate on his belt sideways and pressed the hidden button beneath the plate.
Vzzzt!
Suddenly, the mechanisms attached to his back and armpits engaged. Metal arms extended, and then high-tech, taut fabric gliding wings silently unfolded like an eagle's wings. The free fall ended, and James's body was balanced by the effect of the wind-filled wings. He was no longer falling; he was gliding toward his target, the Dans-Mori Enterprises building.
Amidst the hissing sound of the wind rushing past, an adrenaline-fueled smile appeared on James's face. "Hoo-hoo, yeah baby! It worked!" he shouted. "Wait for me, Moriyama."
As he glided through the air, his mask's scanning function remained active. While tracking Moriyama and Victor's location, he noticed movement in the 83rd-floor ballroom. The scanner showed Victor and Moriyama shaking hands and moving away from each other in different directions. Moriyama was moving away from the party crowd toward a more private area.
James immediately calculated how difficult it would be to catch Moriyama. If he pursued Moriyama now and failed to subdue him, there was a risk that Victor Dans might escape the building and leave the city in the resulting chaos. Victor would be easier to subdue and easier to interrogate. His plan became clear: He would capture and interrogate Victor because he would be easier to question. For now, at least, that was his plan.
He adjusted the angle of his wings. Using the wind's power, he subtly maneuvered his gliding route toward the VIP area where Victor Dans was located. Below, the luxury party guests in the glittering tower were raising their glasses, unaware that the VIP section would, in a few seconds, transform into James's ruthless interrogation room. James silently soared toward his target, like a predator.