The Devilish Assassin Meets The Angelic Detective

*** At XXX Crime Investigation Headquarters ***

After yesterday's incident, the Unit Head of Crime Investigation Bureau summoned Erick at his office. When Erick entered, he saw Major General Jason inside, talking to their Unit Head.

He gave them a salute before greeting them. The Unit Head signaled him to sit down.

"I know you are already aware of why I call you here." The Unit Head stated, looking at Erick.

"Yes sir. I think this is with regards to yesterday's incident, the reappearance of Catseye." Erick politely responded.

The Unit Head nodded to confirm it.

"I also requested the presence of Major General Jason because he was the former Team Captain of Special Task Force Eagle that was handling Catseye's case." He explained to them.

"Thank you for coming General Jason," he added.

"No need to mention it, Unit Chief," Gen. Jason smiled at him.

"Okay… I will be direct with the two of you. I want to hear your opinion about this Catseye's comeback. Do you think we made a mistake for thinking that she died two years ago?"

Erick and Jason exchanged meaningful glances with each other, giving each other the chance to speak first.

Erick had a bad feeling about this. Jason saw Elle during Marie's party, what if he would implicate Aliyah's name in this case?

"I don't think the culprit at Bienvenido's Murder Case is the same Catseye whom we were chasing before," Erick said with certainty in his voice.

"So Chief Lee… you are saying that a different person is using Catseye's alias for committing a crime? How about you General? What do you think?" The Unit Head asked them once again.

"I agree with Chief Lee. I think this Catseye is a different person." Jason simply stated.

The Unit Head rubbed his chin, thinking about something. After a while, he spoke up once again.

"Alright. Since the two of you have the same opinion regarding this matter, I think we don't need to reopen and investigate Catseye's case that we closed two years ago. Instead, we will conduct a new investigation for this case. Are you willing to be assigned in this case once again, Chief Lee?"

The Unit Chief was aware of some portions of the story between Erick and Catseye. In the report they submitted two years ago, it stated that Erick saved Catseye's life without knowing her identity. Then she stayed with Erick for her protection while hiding her identity.

It was also written in the report that Catseye felt indebted to Erick that's why she came to help them in rescuing his parents after being kidnapped by the Azumi Twins.

The Unit Head was thinking that because of that Chief Lee had suffered some emotional trauma after being deceived by Catseye. That's the reason why he was asking him right now if he still wanted to work with this new case.

Meanwhile, Erick was thinking of clearing Elle's name. He knew that Elle didn't do that brutal killing.

"Yes, sir. I want to take this case. I will catch the culprit who is trying to use Catseye's name while committing a brutal crime." Erick said with so much conviction in his voice.

The Unit Head was glad to hear that. He thought that Erick's team would be the right team to be assigned in this case.

"Good! It's already decided. You and your team will investigate this case too. Now you are handling two cases… Senator Mondragon's death threats and this one."

"Noted sir."

"Oh by the way… I heard that there was a reporter who looks like Catseye." The Unit Head suddenly mentioned Aliyah.

Erick was taken aback upon hearing that. He thought Aliyah would not be implicated anymore, but he was mistaken.

"Please do a background check on her just to make sure that she is not Catseye."

Erick didn't know what to feel about this but he had no choice but to do it.

"I understand, sir." He said in a low voice.

Jason just patted Erick's shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*** At Morning Star Media Network Office ***

Meanwhile, Elle's team was also talking to their line manager. He was commending the team for the big scope they covered yesterday.

"Congratulations! Our live broadcast yesterday was a big hit. We were the first network that got exclusive coverage, reporting the epic comeback of the infamous Assassin."

Everyone was happy to hear that except Elle. Still, she was able to conceal her negative emotions.

"This happened because Miss Aliyah got a good connection to someone from XXX Crime Investigation Bureau!" Josh proudly said.

Their line manager let out a soft chuckle. "Good job, Aliyah! This is expected from our famous international reporter coming from abroad! We are lucky to have both Sandy and you in this company." He was praising them.

That's right. Sandy and Aliyah were both reporters from abroad. Since Aliyah came back to city Z, their media company abroad referred them to Morning Star Media Network. They got the job here immediately.

Of course, Aliyah Ross was created to be Elle's new identity. They made a lot of preparations before coming back to city Z. Everything was possible with the help of Supremo.

Even if Erick's team would investigate her background, they would not know that she's Elle. Everything was arranged beforehand. Aliyah Ross had a job and a successful career abroad.

She also had friends and family which Catseye didn't have. Of course, Aliyah's parents were people of Supremo. Birth Certificate, Diploma, and other necessary doc.u.ments for proof of her identity- She had all that. 

That's how Supremo supported her, helping her bury her past identity as Elle and as Catseye. But someone was messing up their plan. Catseye suddenly appeared and Elle was so determined to catch the impostor.

"Sir, I have a request!" Elle directly said to their line manager.

"Tell me…"

Josh and Sandy looked at her silently. 

'Here we go again with Aliyah's new request. What is she thinking once again?'

"Let me cover this Catseye's case. I will follow this story and coordinate with the assigned investigators. I want to uncover the truth behind Catseye's identity. This will be another big scope for us."

Sandy: "..."

Josh: "..."

'She did it once again without consulting us. Are we really a team? This is dangerous, chasing after a vicious killer!' Sandy thought to herself.

"Hmm. I like the idea. You have my approval about this!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to XXX Crime Investigation Headquarters

After receiving the order from the Unit Head, Erick immediately gathered his team in his office, informing them about this new case.

"We will work together with Officer Kim's team regarding this new case," Erick said to them, referring to Catseye's case.

"Wow! We are back in chasing Catseye!" June blurted out.

"Is Elle really alive?" Rose whispered to April.

"I don't know," April whispered back.

Bryan just remained silent.

"Conduct a thorough background investigation about Aliyah Ross," Erick said with complicated emotions in his eyes.

Everyone was taken aback after hearing that. They were now thinking that if Catseye was alive then Aliyah might have been Elle.

Then the four of them exchanged glances with one another. Just a few days ago, they had already agreed on doing an investigation of Aliyah Ross's personal background behind Erick's back. Now, they didn't need to hide it from him whatever result they would be able to gather.

"Noted, Chief!"

They said in unison.

Speaking of the devil! Just a few moments after they had mentioned Aliyah Ross, Elle appeared in their office together with Josh and Sandy.

Everyone fell silent. Erick was also surprised to see her.

"Hi, Miss Ali!" It was June who greeted her with a sheepish smile on his face.

He somehow felt guilty since they were just talking about her, thinking that she might be the Catseye and the culprit in Bienvenido's Murder Case.

Elle smiled and nodded as a response greeting to him. They also greeted Sandy and Josh.

Erick's eyes softened when he looked at Elle.

"Why are you here?" Erick asked her, skipping formalities.

"Chief Lee… I heard you will be working on Catseye's case. Is that true?" Elle asked him instead of answering his question.

"Y-Yes…" Erick felt anxious. He was worried about whether she would be upset about it or not.

"I want to cooperate and work with your team. Will you allow us to cover this story about Catseye's case?" Elle didn't beat around the bush.

Everyone had no words to say. They didn't see this coming. Aliyah Ross who was suspected to be Elle came to their office saying she would cover this Catseye's case!