Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 55: Missing Child

Stanley got curious about what the mission was.

"Here’s the mission," the man handed over a piece of paper to Stanley and Freddy and had them look at it.

"It’s a simple search-and-find mission that you should be able to do," the man said. "If at any point you find it complicated or dangerous, come back so we can hand over the mission to someone else."

The two nodded and read what the mission was.

It was about a child that had gone missing sometime this morning. Aside from that, the only other information was the house number from where she had gone missing.

"So, I guess we’ll have to go talk to her family first huh?" Freddy asked.

"Yes," Stanley replied. "Look, they’re from the first quadrant too. Must be some rich folks."

"5th row, that’s below where we went last time," Freddy noted.

The two left the center area of the town and made their way up the main road until they arrived next to the 5th row and walked in.

"This is the house?" Freddy asked.

"I believe so," Stanley said and knocked on the door.

"Bella?" someone shouted from inside the house while Stanley and Freddy heavy footsteps rushed to the door. The door quickly opened as a woman arrived outside with a look that had changed from relief to disappointment in just a single moment

"Is it Jenny?" a man came rushing too, only to see them and feel dejected.

"Good morning, sir, madam," Stanley spoke. "I hear you made a report about a missing kid. We’re here to help you."

"You two?" the man asked. "Aren’t you still kids?"

"Don’t worry, sir. We’ve been trained to deal with most things," Freddy said. "Once we gather some information from you, we will swiftly go and search for your child. It should be a simple task that won’t need older experienced Defenders, we think."

"How dare they—"

The mother was about to say something, but the man quickly grabbed her and stopped her from saying anything.

"They’re here to help us. Don’t say anything out of anger," the man said. The woman could only tear up and look aside.

"May we ask some questions, sir?" Stanley asked.

"Sure, please," the man said.

"First of all, give us all the information you can give about this missing child of yours," Stanley said. "Can you tell us how old this child is and when they went missing?"

"Bella, our daughter, went missing sometime in the morning," the man said. "We don’t know when exactly it was. We thought she was oversleeping at first, but later realized that she wasn’t in the room at all."

"It was about 2 hours ago. We searched around the area, but couldn’t find her at all, which was why we requested help from the Defenders," the father explained.

"How old is your child?" Freddy asked. "And if possible, what would she be wearing?"

"She’s 14. As for what she was wearing, I’m not sure," the man said.

"Blue pajamas," the mother said from behind. "She was wearing that when she went to sleep, and I didn’t see it in her room this morning. She must still be wearing that."

They asked for a few more of her physical description as well as any identifying features such as moles or scars.

"Please, our child must have been kidnapped. You must help us," the father said.

The two of them consoled the father that they would find her and decided to do a bit more research before they left.

"May we search your house for some clues?" Stanley asked.

"Sure, please come inside." The father let them in.

Stanley and Freddy started looking around the houses, while swiftly making their way to the girl’s room.

One thing they had been taught in their training was to assume that their clients were assuming as well when giving facts.

Was the girl wearing blue pajamas? The mother had given it almost as a fact, but the truth was it was more of an assumption on her end.

Did the girl disappear this morning? That was what they had assumed. The fact could be that she had been missing since last night.

Or even in the most extreme sense, had the girl been kidnapped? They had assumed that she had likely been taken away when the fact could be that she had run away.

In that case, Stanley and Freddy had to see if it was possible that the parents were abusive to the point that the girl had run away.

’Still, it’s possible it was a kidnapping. From what they said, the girl hadn’t been in an argument with them or had any reason to run away,’ Stanley thought. ’Kidnappers target rich people most of the time anyway. In that case, we should be on the lookout for ransom.’

To find out more, Stanley and Freddy had to check her room.

After entering the room, they saw that there wasn’t much in the room aside from an unmade bed, a small closet, and a desk and chair in the corner that was filled with wooden toys and cloth dolls.

’The window is large enough for an adult to fit, but I see no sign of struggle. Although, she could have been sleeping when they came in,’ he thought.

"Have you cleaned this room?" Stanley asked.

"No, we haven’t come back after checking it the first time. We’ve been searching for our daughter after all," the man said.

"Hmm," Stanley looked around for any sign of footsteps that would’ve brought in some dirt. ’The kidnapper could have had powers that helped him.’

He looked at the window that led to the backyard. "Did you open the window?" he asked the parents.

The parents quickly shook their heads. "It was open the entire time," they said.

"Does your daughter sleep with the window open?" Freddy asked.

"No," the father said. "C-could it be that the kidnapper came through the window?"

"Can’t say right now," Stanley said. "Let’s go check the backyard for now."

Freddy nodded and the two quickly left the room to go check the backyard.