Meanwhile, up in the attic, the hostage and one of the remaining gunmen are being held up in the small room. The gunman looked out the window and was petrified of the noise that was happening downstairs.

“Are they all dead?” The female captive asked the gunman.

“Be quiet,” the gunman ordered abruptly as he was shot in the chest twice by a semi-automatic machine gun. The same semi-automatic machine gun that was being held by the SWAT Leader Hideo Inaba. Hideo and his machine gun at the female captive wearing a red hooded cloak.

She didn’t bother turning around as she greeted him, “Hideo Inaba, I am surprised you came up here all by yourself. I do hope it wasn’t that difficult for you.”

“As a matter of fact, Memento Dark and his magical friends did all my work for me,” Hideo corrected.

“Those poor men you called your colleagues…” The woman reminisced.

“Actually, Memento Dark knocked them out with some gas. They never even made it to the third floor.”

“Memento Dark?” The woman asked with a confident chuckle. “It seems to me that boy is becoming too much for everyone to handle nowadays. I might need his assistance down the road myself.”

“Like you’re going to make it out of here alive,” Hideo threatened.

“Collie, she was your sister, wasn’t she? I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that she didn’t tell you the complete truth about herself. You see, we all keep secrets. Even you. Whatever the Angel of Death promised you, Hideo, it’s not worth it…”

“Shut your mouth!” Hideo demanded. “I am ending this once and for all!”

“Hideo, you made it up here,” another female voice chimed in as Hideo turned around to see Suiyōbi alongside Andrea, who was speaking to him. “You took that shortcut I mentioned after all--”

“Go away,” Hideo turned his attention to the red-hooded woman.

“You are a good man, Hideo. One of the best in our entire force. You want to throw all of that away?” Suiyōbi consoles.

“On the day… She left the house that morning… I found a pregnancy test. It came back positive. Before she left, she wanted to sit down and talk with me… About everything…” Hideo reminisced, still holding his gun to the woman’s head. Crazy enough, the woman stood very still being unfazed by the situation. It was like she knew this day was coming, longer than anyone would expect.

“Go on,” Andrea abated as the two detectives stood their ground.

“I knew she wanted to talk about the baby… She never came home that night… Or the night after… I thought she was going to terminate the pregnancy or… She got into an accident…” Hideo explained as he was choking up. “She always called me at 9 o’clock, and I knew something was wrong because she never called me!”

“Hideo, I did not kill your sister. Those wolf girls were the ones responsible,” the mysterious woman calmly stated.

“Shut up! You let her die!” Hideo accused.

“So that is why you are here. With Shayna dead, you can start a new life? I can help you, yet you listen to old fossils of the past. Instructing you to carry out a suicidal mission. You knew your men and including yourself wouldn’t make it up here alive. It was pure Providence that three others decided to take it upon themselves to save you. It wasn’t for them, you would be dead,” the mysterious woman calmly explained.

“Whoever said about there being three?” Andrea widely contradicted as the female captive scoffed at her attempt.

“You, Detective Kobayashi… And of course, Memento Dark,” the mysterious woman calmly corrected.

“That’s just a fairytale,” Hideo debunked.

“As a matter of fact, he is actually real. And I won’t be surprised if he is ready to strike you down right about now,” the mysterious woman predicted.

“Look, take it easy,” Andrea slowly approached Hideo. “Revenge isn’t the answer. My friend lost two brothers and her father during that time as well. She could’ve easily ended up like you. But instead, she used that anger and rage and sadness by making herself productive.”

Swiftly, Hideo pointed the gun at Andrea, “you have some fucking nerve talking about loss. You haven’t lost anything. You are nothing more than a spoilt brat who has gotten everything in life. I’ve seen female rape victims being impregnated by the hands of these ‘monsters,’ while you and your little fuck buddies read about it in the paper or retweet it on your timelines. Dozens of broken bodies laid out on the streets.”

This made Suiyōbi uneasy as Hideo continued, “There were days we used to round up ‘demons’ as we called them like you, Detective. We lined them all up in the middle of the road and gunned them all down. You never did have to look at an innocent one and shoot them right between the eyes, only to tell them it’s our job. At times, we made them face the wall so we wouldn’t have to look at their soulful eyes. Some of us wore headphones and played our favorite music as well as we could so he wouldn’t hear the screams. All because of some random asshole wanted to play God one day, every ‘demon’ became a suspect.”

Andrea nodded, “you have taken so many lives over the years, Hideo. The clear majority of them were innocent. But what about that day you were willing to go to my father’s office and wanted to repent everything that you’ve done?”

Hearing Andrea’s words made Hideo cry as she continued, “But just like in human history, you knew what you were doing was wrong. Sadly, many people in your position knew it was wrong but couldn’t do anything about it--”

“I DID EVERYTHING TO STAY ON THE RIGHTEOUS PATH!” Hideo exclaimed. “Even when… I didn’t deserve it… I was given a second chance… Yet, I had to pay the price. In the end, Collie had to pay it for me.”

“And you knew right then and there, the cycle will always continue. Regardless of…” Andrea concluded.

“This woman is the last of the originals. Those old men are pretty much dead. They are not going to live forever. The Red Arrow is finished. We can end this. You have to believe in me,” Hideo pleaded.

After hearing everything and processing everything, Andrea shook her head and came up with her own conclusion, “I’ve always said this every time I come full circle. And I understand, but I don’t have to like it.”

Hideo broke down in tears as Andrea laid out his only option, “everybody downstairs is barely alive. Considering the injuries… It’s over, Hideo. Let’s all get out of here together.”

Hideo contemplated as his eyes wandered around the room. Andrea gave them all the time in the world, standing there silently with a gun pointed at her face.

Finally, Hideo lowered his weapon slowly as he murmured, “no…”

“Come on, let’s go. Let’s go home together,” Andrea encouraged.

“I can’t go back,” Hideo spoke openly.

This frightens Andrea a little bit, “why the hell not, Hideo?”

As Hideo trounces machine gun to the floor, he resides some few words of advice, “my ex-fiancée used to tell me this all the time after a hard day of work: those who fight monsters should make damn sure they don’t become one.”

After reciting his final words, he pulled out a 9 mm Beretta and pointed at his head. As he was about to shoot himself and commit suicide, he was shot in the shoulder with an electric arrow, electrocuting him and paralyzing him. As he went down to the ground, he was thrashing in pain.

Suiyōbi quickly turned around to see Memento Dark was the one who shot his arrow at him.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Andrea goes over to the captive as Suiyōbi checks on Hideo.

“Miss, are you okay?” Andrea asks as the woman nodded.

“Of course, I am. I have not been harmed in any way. In fact, it is you who owe me an apology.”

Andrea was dumbfounded, “maybe you’re just in shock of being held hostage.”

“Because she wasn't held hostage, were you?” Memento Dark questioned as the mysterious woman nodded.

“A real student of the game you are, Memento Dark,” the woman said as she revealed herself pulling back her hood. She had long red hair with gray highlights and dark green eyes. She looked relatively young but carried herself with maturity and regality. “Those were my men who were protecting me from Hideo and his SWAT team members that he artfully conned.”

“Wait, you mean to tell me those men downstairs were…? Dammit!” Andrea pieced together.

“While you are both upstairs, I questioned one of your gunmen. It appears there has been a constant struggle with the Red Arrow for quite some time. Most of the elders and the ousted Killer Queen Shayna Hu for making deals with the Angel of Death,” Memento Dark explained.

“Yes, my sister was pronounced murdered in the city. I came here to find the person or persons responsible. My name is Amy Winston, Shayna’s half-sister.”

“Amy Winston, huh? Well, I guess I’ve heard more intimidating names for a leader of an assassination group,” Andrea criticized.

“Trust me, I am no killer. Nor I don’t want to be a monarch either. I can completely sympathize with Hideo. I wanted my own kind of paradise, like Collie. On my wedding day, they came to me. They were going to brutally assault me if it wasn’t for someone else who took my place. It didn’t matter… My fiancée was dead after I fled the Sahara.”

This intrigued Memento Dark, “this woman you said who had taken your place. What did she look like?”

Amy shrugged her shoulders, trying to remember, “she was human like me. With long black hair and brown eyes. I heard she was a part of the military… I didn’t know if she made it out alive or not.”

Oh no… Memento Dark thought.

“Mrs. Winston, regardless of your situation, you have to come with us,” Suiyōbi demanded.

“Yes. As of right now, I am turning myself into your custody,” Amy surrendered.

Wow, really? I thought this was going to be hard. Okey-dokey! Andrea thought.

“For safety measures, I have to make sure that you’re not carrying anything lethal,” Suiyōbi ordered.

Amy shook her head, “I never actually held a gun or a weapon in my entire life. If meat cleavers count, then I guess I would be in trouble.”

Andrea escorted Amy as Suiyōbi carried the wounded Hideo out of the attic.