The Horizon City police department was usually quiet in the early morning when hardly anyone was there, except for Chase. The only sound was the constant humming of his dormant state. In the darkness of the garage, the knight’s blue luminescent figure stood stationary on a steel charging stand that looked similar to the one from Zone Tower but smaller. A green battery sign glowed on the side of the station and in a few seconds the last bit of gray turned to green. Releasing a quiet beep sound, Chase’s body started to twitch as his mask lit up.

[Battery: 100%]

Chase unhooked himself from the stand and stretched, testing his movements and vision to make sure he was still functioning correctly. Smooth as always, hopefully it stayed that way. Strangely, he heard voices in the main branch of the police station outside the garage. He looked out a small window and barely saw any light. Rowan did usually come in before everyone else did, but the Guardian would always be wide awake before he came in. Notably, however, Chase did lose a lot of energy last night which is probably why it took longer for him to recharge. But who was Rowan talking to?

Entering the main branch of the police department, he saw Rowan talking to a white-hooded and masked man, who was standing visibly straight and hands folded behind his back. Behind them were two others, a man in a suit, and the same girl from last night at the facility, Alice. He narrowed his eyes and walked over.

They all looked over to Chase as he approached, Rowan looking unconcerned, the man in the suit looking impassively, Alice smiling seemingly brighter the closer he got, and the white-hooded man had a mask on and his body movement didn’t change so he couldn’t get a read on him. Rowan was the first to speak. “Well, here he is now,” he gestured to Chase, “Our esteemed Guardian!”

The white-hooded man seemed to scan Chase from top to bottom and let out a slight hum. “Hmm, you mean the City’s Guardian, yes?”

“That’s what I said,” Rowan said, with slight agitation on his tongue.

“I see. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Guardian Silverwing.” The white-hooded man offered an open hand to Chase. “I am Kingsmen.”

Chase looked at the hand silently and hesitantly shook it, “Hi. My name is Chase.”

He nodded. “And these are my companions,” Kingsmen gestured to the two behind him, “Kai, my personal assistant, and Alice, my daughter.”

Chase simply nodded, but Alice being this man’s daughter was a surprise.

“Now then,” Kingsmen started again, “let’s get back to business.”

“Yes, now that Chase is here, you can explain it all to him,” Rowan said.

“Explain what?” Chase said.

“My daughter here is training to become a Guardian, and she needs a mentor.”

“A mentor? You know that Highrise Academy is the school that trains future Guardians.”

“Highrise Academy, I’m afraid, only trains natural-born citizens of Eurona. Alice and I immigrated here from Altaria. However, I’m confident that you’re aware that there are other ways to become a Guardian. The Apprenticeship Program.” Kingsmen waited to see Chase’s response, but he restrained himself to stay silent. Kingsmen continued, “And so, she needs a mentor for her to be apprenticed.”

“Guardianship is different from some other normal jobs. You would need the approval of a high authority figure—”

“Does the Headmaster of Highrise Academy suffice?” Kingsmen cut in. “We have the seal of approval and all the other paperwork finished.”

Chase gritted his teeth as he watched Kai take out a letter with an H seal from a folder. Taking the letter, Chase opened it to see Headmaster Atticus Teller signed at the bottom and detailing exactly what Kingsmen had said. “Of course, he did,” Chase seethed under his breath.

“I believe this should cover everything, yes?” Kingsmen said.

“Uh, I’ve got one last question,” Rowan said. “Why do you need to do this Apprenticeship here? There are definitely other places.”

“This was directly recommended by Headmaster Teller. Horizon City is the most familiar place for Alice, since she’s been here the longest. As well as, Horizon is a very large city with a population of over 2 million people, which means Chase shouldn’t be the only Guardian here. In fact, according to Guardian Regulations, there should be at least 2 Guardians in this city to cover each sector and that’s on a low end. Thus, it seems that this city needs more Guardians anyways, especially when the only one can’t do a good job.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chase growled, with his body sparkling with agitation.

Kai was on guard immediately, feet spread wide and fists raised. Alice backed away with an uneasy look to her father, along with Rowan, but Kingsmen was unfazed completely. “If it wasn’t clear before, what I mean is that one Guardian cannot possibly do a good job handling such a huge city.”

Chase coughed, fixing himself back into formality and getting his sparkling under control. “Right, sorry.”

“Either way, is that all? I have a meeting I need to get to very soon and I’d like for everything to be taken care of,” Kingsmen said.

“Uh, yeah. Alice can start today with Chase,” Rowan said.

“Sir? Are you sure about this?” Chase said.

“That depends on you. Although, everything seems to already be processed so not much else to do.”

“But I can’t be a mentor.”

“Sure you can. All you gotta do is show her what you do every day.”

Chase wasn’t sure what he did every day was always Guardian-worthy. Rowan, taking notice of Chase's usual concerned silence, sighed, “look, if you’re that worried then I’m pretty sure you can just say no. I mean they can’t really do much without your consent. But if you ask me, they’re right about this city being too big for you. I honestly don’t know why they haven’t sent anymore Guardians already, but either way, you could really use the help.”

Chase still wasn’t sure about doing this. He agreed that it would be best for the city overall, added to the fact that he wasn't the best Guardian, but that was also the problem. He wasn’t nearly qualified enough to mentor someone, in fact, he probably needed a mentor. But maybe he could try to make it work somehow. “Is it okay if I ask someone else to help me?”

Rowan raised an eyebrow, “If they’re willing, sure.”

Chase looked toward Calvin who had just walked into the branch. “Calvin! You’re with me today!”

Calvin looked up, confused, but he gave a thumbs up and walked into the locker room.

Chase sighed. He still wasn’t sure about all this. Something about Alice and Kingsmen just felt too suspicious, and too convenient. But honestly, they were the least of his worries, he still needed to deal with the Technician issue. At least he wouldn’t be alone for the most part, even if he would’ve liked to handle all this completely by himself.

“So! What’re we doing today?!” Alice’s voice popped through his thoughts as she stood gleefully behind him and in front of him. Chase looked around for Kingsmen and his assistant, but they were already gone with the glass doors swinging shut. “Oh yeah, dad already left.”

Chase looked at Alice and at her cheerful expression and almost jumpy posture. It was at that moment when he realized his mistake, he wasn’t going to mentor someone, he was going to mentor Alice. He sighed, this wasn’t worth fighting. “Remember last night when I investigated the facility.”

“Oh! Yeah, the lab.”

“I acquired more information, including who was responsible. There’s this dangerous criminal that we haven’t identified yet, but he’s being named the Technician. And I’m trying to find him before he attacks again.”

“Wow, first serious mission already. I honestly thought we were going to start off with a few patrols.”

“That would be the easiest option, but unfortunately, this is urgent. It’ll still be very dangerous, either way. I’ve already fought with the Technician and he was unlike anything I’ve ever faced.”

“Oh…Alright then!”

“You’re not worried?”

“I’ve been through rough spots before. Plus, if the Technician really is this dangerous then that just means we need to catch him even more.”

Chase stared at Alice, not sure to admire her for her optimistic behavior, or be worried about her naivety. “Right…” He looked around for Calvin and luckily he did come out in full uniform. He waved over for him.

“Hey, Chase! What’s up?” Calvin said.

“There were unexpected arrangements this morning. I’m mentoring her now.” He gestured to Alice.

“Alizia Azerasaki,” Alice greeted him with a hand shake and her signature smile. “But you can just call me Alice.”

“Heh, well, it’s nice to meet a pretty lady like yourself, Alice.” Calvin took the handshake with a similar smile. “The name's Calvin Cooper, but just Cal is fine.”

Alice giggled and Chase looked at the two of them with rolled eyes. “While you two get to know each other, I’m going to give Rowan an update.” And not wasting any more time, Chase walked over to the Chief of Police’s office.

Knocking on Rowan’s door, Chase heard him call out through the tinted windows. “Come in!” Chase walked in and closed the door shut behind him with a click. “Chase? Need something already?” Rowan had situated himself comfortably at his desk, sliding a few stacks of papers away with a slight look of disdain as Chase entered. .

“I wanted to give you my report from the Zone laboratory outside the city.”

“Oh, right. Well, what did you find?”

“Not much else than the other investigators did, but I did find who was responsible.”

Rowan raised an eyebrow and leaned forward from his desk. “You did? Who?”

“I couldn’t identify them and they aren’t in any of our databases. But I did encounter them attacking another Zone facility, a factory in the Industrial District. I have a video of our battle.”

Rowan went over to his computer, which beeped from the received video. “Hmm, this…is…concerning.”

“It is and I’m not sure how to go about this.”

“Well, our forces are kind of stretched thin and we don’t know much about this guy.”

“I went to Marcus to see what he knew and he didn’t know much either. Our plan was to find him again and get more intel to figure out a way to detain him.”

“Then, I guess we’ll go with that then. I’ll have everyone be on the lookout…but I’ll let you have this one.”

“Are you sure, sir?”

“You’re the one who found this information, so you should be the one to follow through with it. Plus, it’ll be good experience for the girl.”

“Sir, this may be too dangerous of an experience.”

“We’re always in danger while on the job.” Rowan said simply, then he rubbed his chin. “But I suppose it may be much for a first-timer, and I don’t think Kingsmen would appreciate his daughter getting injured or worse, even with the risks. How about you just make sure she stays out of the fighting for now?”

“Understood. But where should I look to find the Technician?”

“That’s up to you, Chase. This is your case now, which means you need to figure that out.”

“I’m not sure if I can do this,” Chase said.

“Chase, I’m sure you’ve handled worse. In fact, I’ve literally seen you take down armored vehicles and single handedly shut down gang fights. I’m sure you can handle this,” Rowan said. “Plus, you aren’t alone on this.” He gestured outside the office through the window where Calvin and Alice were talking.

“Right, I’m sorry for doubting myself.”

“Don’t apologize, Chase. I’ve had my own self doubts before, but what’s important is that you don’t let them block you from putting your all into the job.”

“Thank you, sir.” Chase straightened and gave a salute. Rowan watched Chase walk out of the room silently with a visible smile through his mustache, but it became a frown as he glanced at Alice before the door closed.

Chase walked out back to meet up with Calvin and Alice, who were still chatting. “That’s cool. Have you ever beaten your dad at chess before?” Calvin said.

“Once but I’m pretty sure he was just going easy on me,” Alice was sitting on a desk, swinging her feet back and forth. “But I have gotten better–Oh hey, Chase!”

“Are you done chatting?” Chase said.

“We’re waiting on you, dude.” Calvin said.

“Good. We’ve got work to do.”

“So, uh, mind filling me in on what’s going on?” Calvin said.

“Rowan asked me to do an investigation on recent Zone facility attacks, and I found our assailant. We don’t have much information about them, but we know that they are extremely dangerous with some sort of ability over machinery and weapons. We’re naming them the Technician for now. I have Marcus working on finding more info on them, but I need to find the Technician and at least slow him down from attacking and hopefully figure out a solution as well.” Chase finished speaking and looked at the two, who stared blankly at him.

“I have several questions,” Calvin said before Alice cut in.

“Yeah, like who’s Marcus? And why did you name the attacker the Technician? Actually, that’s a pretty cool name, did you come up with that? Oh! And what kind of power do they have over weapons? And where are you even going to find them?” She said enthusiastically.

“Uh, yeah, that,” Calvin nodded to Alice.

“I’ll answer those while we’re on the move. But, unfortunately, I don’t know where to look for the Technician. I’d assume he’d attack another facility, but without knowing his motives, patterns, and with the large scale of the city, there isn’t much room for accuracy.”

“Do you have a record of the previous places the Technician attacked?” Alice said. “I might know someone who could help pinpoint where he might attack next.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, c’mon I’ll take you to him!”

Chase was hesitant and looked to Calvin, who just shrugged and followed her. He sighed. “We’ll borrow a car.”