Agent's Dog System

17.Find the Path

"Something smells fishy," Maria had said. Billy, a bit nervous, replied, "It’s not me—I took a bath today." She covered his mouth with her hand and whispered for him to lower his voice. Luckily for them, the driver, Rino, had turned up the music loud. Maria whispered to him that she wasn’t referring to that; rather, she found it strange that those individuals had suddenly appeared at the orphanage door. Not even the police, busy as they were, took the time to investigate on behalf of an orphan. "I think there’s something suspicious going on," Maria said. "Good thing we got in the van—let’s see where they’re headed and what they plan to do with Aiden."

The car continued its journey. Meanwhile, Lidia checked that the phones were charged, which would allow them to call Marie if needed, but she decided against it and chose to go in person without Rino noticing—he was humming along to the songs he had put on.

Simultaneously, while they were heading toward the site of the train derailment, Marie received a call from Agent I-Five, who was at the scene of the crashed ship alongside a team of investigators examining the area with advanced technological devices. He informed her that they had found traces of a kind of black blood and planned to follow the trail it had left behind. He also expressed his condolences for the loss of Agent B-Twelve. Marie instructed them to proceed cautiously and to leave the area or contact a higher-ranking agent if they detected anything dangerous. The agent acknowledged her advice, and they ended the call.

Agent Ezequiel suggested that it would be better to go to the site where the plane had crashed to search for clues that might lead them to the culprits or reveal what had happened. He could analyze it with his special ability. However, Marie told him no—they needed to focus on tracking the contents that Nick—that is, Agent B-Twelve—had protected. "We don’t need to be so formal," Ezequiel retorted. "I know B-Twelve’s real name, and you know mine." "I know, Ezequiel, I know," she responded. "Let the investigation team—Agent I-Five—handle the area. Though they aren’t like your squadron of agents, neither are those from Team A."

"Ah yes, the agency!" Ezequiel exclaimed. In the special agency, there were five types of agent units with unique abilities. Unit A, responsible for the paranormal, handled hiding inexplicable phenomena like Bigfoot, Dracula, or the Loch Ness Monster to prevent public panic. They possessed magical abilities. Unit B, the fighters, mastered various martial arts and had superhuman abilities, such as Ezequiel’s red eyes. Unit C, the diplomats, used telepathy or persuasion to minimize international conflicts and control sensitive news, like that of the train or the ship, attributing such incidents to technical failures. Unit D, experts in technology, created innovative inventions and communicated almost intuitively with machines. Finally, Unit E specialized in extraterrestrials, though their abilities were largely unknown. The other units served as collaborators, spies, or investigators but rarely reached the level of these five main factions due to their lack of extraordinary skills.

Marie and Ezequiel arrived at the site where the train had derailed. As they stepped out of the car, they were met by Agent C Two, also known as Brea—a woman in her forties, though she would never admit it, with curly brown hair that fell to her back. She approached them with sarcasm: “Well, look who finally decided to show up.” “Ah, it’s you, Brea,” Ezequiel retorted. “To you, I’m Agent C Two,” she replied with a hint of annoyance. These two had history—they had been a couple before becoming agents, back in their rookie days. “What brings you here?” Marie asked. Brea explained that the boss had ordered her to inform the press or confirm that the incident was merely a mechanical failure, just like with the ship, sending one of her subordinates to cover that other case.

“Well, we don’t have time to waste,” Ezequiel said, cutting the conversation short, and prepared to inspect the area. But before he could take off his glasses to use his abilities, Lidia and Rino’s van arrived. The two agents stepped out of the vehicle and approached Marie, interrupting Ezequiel. Both tried to speak, but Marie stopped them and, referring to Lidia, asked, “Why are you here? Wasn’t I clear when I told you to return to base?”

The two agents, somewhat embarrassed, apologized at first, but Lidia insisted: “This couldn’t wait.” “But you could have called me on the phone,” Marie replied. “This couldn’t wait,” Lidia reiterated firmly.

Rino jumped in enthusiastically, and the argument continued until Brea used her psychic ability to calm them down. “Calm yourselves and let Lidia speak,” she said directly into their minds. This left the three of them astonished—it was the first time someone had entered their thoughts like that.

“I see, you used your psychic ability on us,” Marie remarked, impressed.

Once things had settled, Lidia explained that there might be a child who had been traveling on that train. She showed them the image on her tablet and said she wanted to know if the child was alive or dead. “Is this someone close to you?” Marie asked. “No, but I need to know if he was on that train,” Lidia responded desperately, feeling empathy for the boy’s plight.

Brea already knew something about the case because she had read Lidia’s mind, so she allowed her to continue explaining her point. “There’s only one way to find out,” Ezequiel said with a smile, joining the conversation. Immediately, he removed his glasses, just as he had done in the alley, revealing his red eyes and beginning to see what had happened in that place.

Maria and Billy got out of the van, having overheard the entire conversation among the agents. Ezequiel began visualizing the events as if they were a movie. He saw how the train had been struck from below by giant branches and mutant rabbits—seemingly harmless but deadly. He saw a dog; he thought it was the same dirty animal from the alley, but this one looked full of vitality and clean. Near it was a boy. Once again, he perceived a flash, similar to the one in the alley, which interrupted the vision. His sight managed to trace where they had gone.