23 Diffusing the situation

After leaving the high school girl safe in the changing room, Alex tied up the gunmen to a pillar and headed towards the hostages. " One down and nineteen to go. " Alex quickly knocked out the 7 gunmen who were guarding the hostages before they could even blink their eyes and notify the others. He was not going to show off this time, making it quick. The hostages could not believe what they were seeing a dark red streak zooming around and the gunmen getting knocked out. Soon, the dark red streak stopped in front of them, revealing a man in a dark red suit with red lightning stripes.

Alex looked around at the group of hostages, hoping to find a security guard or a mall staff. His hopeful thinking was realized, he found 2 security guards and the mall manager. He untied them quickly and said, " Hi, I'm Phantom. I am going to help you guys to get out of this situation. So, I need you to calm the others. I will keep you guys safe and provide a safe path to the North entrance." The security guards and the mall manager listened to Alex's words and couldn't ask him any questions as he untied the other hostages and went off. They still couldn't comprehend what had just happened and still followed Alex's instructions, choosing to believe the man in dark red.

Alex first went to the North entrance, tying up and gagging the gunmen who were guarding there. He then acted as a bodyguard for the group of the hostages and ensured their safety out of the mall.

Alex: " This is taking too long, they are moving too slow to the North entrance. I need to speed this up before the other gunmen realize their hostages are gone. Guess that I need to carry them out myself." Alex appeared in front of the group of the hostages and explained that he will be taking them out of the mall himself as it is faster and safer. He first carried the elderlies out, followed by the children, the ladies, and the men and then went to pent out some of his stress on the other gunmen.

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Meanwhile, the chief of police outside the mall asked the negotiator, " Did they respond to our calls? I hope that the hostages are safe. " The negotiator replied, " No, sir. " Their discussion was disturbed by the walkie talkie that was carried by the chief police. The policeman reported to him from the radio, " Sir, the hostages are spotted to be at North outside the mall. " The chief police did not believe what he heard from the walkie talkie and asked, " Can you repeat that? " The policeman from the radio repeated, " The hostages are spotted to be at North outside the mall, sir. They are unharmed and all 100 of them are accounted for. " The chief police commanded, " Sent in the SWAT team. Neutralise the gunmen. GO ... GO."

The SWAT team was sent in and after 20 minutes, they came out with the hostages. The leader of the SWAT team, Bill went and reported to the chief policeman, Jake.

Jake: " Congrats, Bill. No casualties and all the gunmen were captured. "

Bill: " Sir, there's a problem. "

Jake: " What's it? "

Bill: " All the gunmen were already tied up together when we entered. And there was a written note found with the gunmen."

Jake: " WHAT? You are tricking me, right? 'Taking for a while to digest the information' What was written in the note?"

Bill: " Here, sir." He took it from one of his teammates. The note was clearly written and had a smidge of cream on it, seemed to be from strawberry shortcake. He spoke out what the note said, "It is written here, 'You're welcomed. From Phantom.' Also, the hostages claimed that a man in a dark red suit came and saved them. I assume that he would be Phantom, sir. "

Jake dismissed Bill and wondered who was Phantom and how is he going to report this incident to the higher-ups.