A fresh fragrance wafted through the air.
The scene of a ransacked room didn't materialize; instead, the place was cleaner and tidier than before he had left.
"Patty?! What are you doing back here?"
Sephirot was somewhat surprised. It wasn't the weekend, so she should have still been at school or staying at her apartment.
On the sofa, Patty was holding a blonde girl dressed in a floral print skirt.
The girl had soft features, her cheeks dotted with light freckles that added a sense of pure fragility to her look.
Hearing the commotion of the door being kicked open, her shoulders instinctively hunched like a startled quail, and she shrunk back into Patty's embrace.
Patty patted the girl's back to soothe her while looking up with localized fury.
Once she realized it was Sephirot, her brow furrowed and she glared at him. "You have to kick the door down to enter your own home? And another thing, I called you so many times and every single one said you were out of the service area!"
"If you're only carrying a cell phone as a decoration, you might as well throw it away! I've been worried sick for nothing!"
"Ahem, I thought a thief had broken in," Sephirot said.
You couldn't really blame him for this.
On one hand, he spent most of his time on the move, and there was usually no signal on the highways.
On the other hand, he always tossed his phone into Silent Hill to prevent it from being damaged or lost during combat.
If it broke, he'd have to buy a new one, and he didn't want to waste money like that.
Before Patty could speak again, he looked at the blonde girl and asked, "Who is this?"
"Carrie, the friend I mentioned to you before."
Patty gave him a sharp look and huffed.
"Oh? The one you were supposed to go see a movie with?"
Sephirot nodded. Before they had gone to the orphanage, Patty had mentioned she was going to see Scary Movie with Carrie.
He placed the pizza down in front of them, looked at Carrie, and teased, "What happened? Don't tell me you met a ghost in the theater?"
Patty nodded. "Yeah, we did."
Before she finished, she seemed to remember something and shook her head repeatedly. "No, no, we didn't."
Sephirot sighed and leaned his head in his hand. What kind of riddle was this?
Beside her, Carrie rubbed the hem of her skirt, keeping her head down as she added in a small voice, "It... it was someone dressed as a ghost."
Patty clapped her hands. "Exactly! That's what I was trying to say!"
Sephirot realized something was wrong and asked, "And then?"
Patty sighed, her face full of exasperation.
"There was this brainless idiot who, just to pull a prank for attention, deliberately hid in the women's restroom and jumped out in a ghost costume to scare people."
"Carrie is already timid, and plus, with some of the things she went through in high school..."
"She was terrified and lost control of her emotions for a moment, and then that idiot just–"
At this point, Patty raised her hand and mimicked fireworks exploding.
"Bang!"
Sephirot froze as an image danced through his mind of a person being crushed and detonated on the spot by telekinesis. He looked at the shivering girl on the sofa.
With the way she looked, like a good girl who would feel guilty for half a day if she accidentally stepped on an ant, she was certainly quite deceptive.
Yet beneath that fragile exterior lay a terrifying power.
"And then?"
He continued his questioning; Patty wouldn't be waiting here unless there was something still unresolved.
"I was worried about what the police might do to her, so I paid to bail her out," Patty said. "But given the carnage at the scene and Carrie's special ability, I was afraid she'd be targeted by people with bad intentions. That's why I brought her back to the Agency."
"The most disgusting part is..."
"That idiot's family won't let it go. It was their kid who was hiding in the girls' restroom to peek and scare people, and I already paid them a settlement under the table."
"They took the money, but they're still greedy as hell and want even more!"
The more she spoke, the angrier she became. She snatched a black card from her bag and slammed it onto the table, declared grandly: "Handle them! I'll cover the compensation and the fee for your trouble!"
Sephirot rubbed the bridge of his nose.
This was a witch with telekinesis. Of all the people for those idiots to mess with, they had to go and scare her?
He looked at the pale, frightened face and recalled the girl's history.
From childhood, Carrie had been tormented by her religious mother.
That twisted upbringing, where a single disagreement led to beatings, verbal abuse, or being locked in a dark room, had molded her into someone with low self-esteem, timid, and desperate to please.
This personality made her a target for bullying by her peers at school.
Long-term suppression and pain had triggered the ability in her bloodline: telekinesis.
Then, at her high school prom, the date she had shared a fleeting moment of connection with was killed in a freak accident caused by a classmate's prank.
The heart that had begun to beat again for him was extinguished by a bucket of pre-prepared pig blood.
Consumed by rage, Carrie's telekinesis exploded, tearing apart everyone who had ever mocked her.
Telekinesis...
Sephirot sighed inwardly.
This was a bug-level ability, and she seemed to use it without any side effects.
It functioned primarily on how much anger was in her heart; the more rage, the more destruction. It was purely idealistic.
Sometimes he really didn't understand what the people here grew up eating.
Every other person had telekinesis with no drawbacks, or could become immortal just by getting cursed...
However...
If he could clean up this mess properly, maybe he could recruit Carrie to work for him?
Why go to school with a power like that? Don't let school ruin your future.
It was just that cowardly personality of hers; he'd have to put some effort into disciplining and training her later on.
Sephirot gave Carrie a small smile, discreetly tucked the black card into his pocket, and said gently:
"Leave it to me."
The next morning, at the Los Santos Police Department.
The morning news was playing on the screens above the lobby.
"...The dense fog in Maine dissipated the day before yesterday..."
"This lockdown was a large-scale live-fire biochemical military exercise."
"During the exercise, a recruit's operational error resulted in some damage to civilian property. The military has expressed regret and will initiate the corresponding compensation procedures..."
Sephirot lowered his head, suppressing a smirk.
A biochemical exercise? They sure can spin a story...
"How could I possibly kill my own lover?! We were getting married next month..."
An intense argument erupted from an interrogation room, catching Sephirot's attention.
The blinds of the interrogation room weren't fully closed. Through the gap, Sephirot could see a man handcuffed to the table, his eyes bloodshot.
"Sephirot? You're a rare sight."
A cup of steaming coffee was handed to him.
The newcomer was a white detective with an M-shaped receding hairline.
John McClane, a seasoned veteran of the Los Santos PD.
Most of the scum Sephirot dealt with on the streets ended up being tossed to him, so the two of them were on fairly good terms.
McClane handed Sephirot a coffee and gestured toward the interrogation room with a tilt of his head.
"This guy's wife died at home. No third party's fingerprints were found at the scene." He took a sip of black coffee and clicked his tongue. "How about it? Interested in taking the case?"
Sephirot took the coffee, noted the man's puffy eye bags and dark circles, and teased:
"I'm more concerned about your health than the case."
"At your age, go to the High Heel Club a few less times. Careful your body doesn't give out on you."
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — CROSSOVER GUIDE
Some references in this chapter come from source universes that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The notes below provide the context needed to understand them without leaving the page.
SOURCE UNIVERSES
Carrie — A 1974 horror novel by Stephen King, adapted into a classic 1976 film directed by Brian De Palma. It follows Carrie White, a shy, deeply repressed teenager raised by a violently religious mother who has isolated and abused her since childhood. Carrie possesses telekinesis, which erupts uncontrollably when she is pushed past her breaking point. The novel's climax takes place at the high school prom, where a cruel prank involving a bucket of pig blood triggers a catastrophic telekinetic rampage. The story in this chapter mirrors that background almost exactly: the religious mother, the bullying, the prom tragedy, and the resulting carnage.
Die Hard — A 1988 action film and long-running franchise. John McClane is its iconic protagonist: a wisecracking, hard-luck NYPD detective (later LAPD) who repeatedly finds himself thrust into impossible situations. In this fanfic, he serves as a veteran detective with the Los Santos Police Department.
CHARACTERS
Carrie White — The protagonist of Stephen King's Carrie. A quiet, deeply traumatized girl with latent telekinetic power. She has been integrated into the Los Santos setting as a civilian Sephirot is now considering recruiting.
John McClane — The protagonist of the Die Hard franchise. Adapted here as a gruff but reliable LAPD-equivalent detective in Los Santos, already familiar with Sephirot through their overlapping work on the streets.