[h2][b][center]Ace[/center][/b][/h2]

[b]Global Police Paris Headquarters ~ Several Weeks Ago[/b]

The sun's brightness increased as morning dragged onward. It was just before 8 AM, and a squad car unit pulled into the lot of the Headquarters. A man got out of the car once the engine was killed. His silvery white hair blew in the chilly morning breeze as he slammed the door shut and locked it. He walked toward the entrance, nothing in hand except his morning coffee. It was the start of his shift, he'd need to go clock himself in but after that he'd officially be on duty for the day. The man was one of the officers, promoted not too long ago to Special Operations. Global Police Special Operations, or GPSO, were the elite officers of the Global Police. To qualify one needed a minimum of five years on the job, plus an impressive arrest record if they really wanted to get someone's attention. GPSO were the units issued the Arms Changers and Pursuit Arms equipment.

As Ace DeLeon walked through the door, his arrival turned the heads of a few from the lower ranks. GSPO Officers tended to turn heads wherever they went, mostly due to their more advanced gear making them stand out much more than the lower ranked beat cops. But Ace was silent, choosing not to bask in the attention so that it would remain brief. After a moment the precinct continued with business as usual, the novelty of seeing one of the GPSO up close had apparently worn off. And so Ace made his way to the Special Operations division, but as he did so someone else was making their way out of the headquarters. Whoever they were, they were not part of the Global Police... and yet they seemed to turn a few heads just as Ace had done a second earlier. He had to have been around Ace's age, perhaps a couple years younger. He dressed nicely, with a fashionable red scarf and fedora hat to tie it all together. The two brushed by each other, shoulders bumping unintentionally, "Excuse me." Ace said, somewhat bluntly but also politely.

"So sorry about that." the guy replied, then removing his hat to take a quick bow, "Adieu!" and with that, he was out the door and gone. Ace didn't pay it much mind, but he couldn't help but stare a moment until the stranger was out of sight. Just who was he, anyway? He clearly didn't seem to belong in a place like this so what business did he have here? Oh well, he was gone now so worrying about it was pointless.

[b]Outside the Lupin Estate ~ Present[/b]

The squad car's siren blared as the vehicle screeched to a halt. Ace quickly jumped out of the car and - following standard procedure - announced his presence, "Surrender yourself, Noel Lupin!" he shouted, having gotten a megaphone out of the car, "You're under arrest!" then he tossed it back into the car and approached the front gate with caution. Normally he would have to call for backup, but unfortunately that wasn't possible at the moment. Ever since those black anomalies started showing up, the Global Police had been spreading the manpower pretty thin to try and keep the attacks in check, and that included Special Operations. That was actually the main reason why Ace was the only one currently assigned to the Lupin Case, everyone else was tied up dealing with black anomalies.

As he neared, Ace started to suspect that his target was no longer here. Reports placed him arriving home just a few short minutes ago, so Ace had no idea how there could be no sign of him anymore. He sighed, making a frustrated clicking sound with his tongue, "Damn it! How could I have missed him? He was supposed to be right here!" still, it didn't hurt to look around, and that was what Ace did. After a few moments, he stumbled across something. It looked like some crumpled up... letter? Well, it was address to his target so Ace wasted no time and unfurled it so he could read.

"Is he planning to flee the country?" Ace wondered, thinking that was what the reference to Constantinople meant. But there was more to the letter that didn't add up, "What's this about Keyblades? There's more of them? Is he forming a whole gang of Thieves, now? And what's this about a War Council?" that sounded almost like some kind of revolutionary manifesto, and that just made this whole mess make even less sense. War? Violence like that was never Arsene Lupin's style during his day, so it stood to reason his family line followed a similar self-imposed code of conduct. And yet... a War Council? Unfortunately Ace didn't get any further time to mull it over. A group of those black anomalies emerged from the ground. Something about their pitch blackness and beady yellow eyes just made Ace want to wipe them all out, "Well, these things were officially put in the "Neutralize on Sight" category, so I guess I'd better deal with these now before someone gets hurt!" he reached up his left hand, the gauntlet it wore emitted a digital flash that Ace reached into with his right hand. From that flash he pulled out the Hyperion and opened fire immediately, destroying a couple of the anomalies. He didn't keep the weapon's form for long though, he had to quickly unfold it into sword mode just as the rest of the anomalies made to lung at him.

"Begone!" shouted Ace in a gruff voice as he hacked at the attacking creatures. A few more vanished, but something new made its presence known. They were black, floated about and seemed to be partially made of water. One of them spun around and seemed to fling a strong splash of water that nearly knocked Ace off his balance, "What the?" they seemed similar to the pitch black ones, but clearly seemed stronger and more dangerous. Suddenly they each formed a protective bubble of water around them, "Trying to hide behind defenses, are you? Let's see how it handles this!" he folded the Hyperion back into its gun mode and then loaded the chamber with Firaga Bullets so that the next few shots would be elementally charged with powerful explosive flame. He fired and the explosive shots seemed to bust through their water shields, allowing him to quickly run up and finish them off with a few quick strokes of the Hyperion in sword mode. No more seemed to be appearing, "Well, that takes care of that. Now... to figure out where Lupin's trail begins." he stopped, however, when he heard what sounded like applause.

Ace looked up to see a person, shrouded in a black coat with a hood that seemed to hide their face. The coat made it virtually impossible to tell if the stranger was male or female. This had suspicious written all over it, and Ace was quick to fold the Hyperion back into gun mode and level it at the stranger, "Who are you? Identify yourself!"