"Wait, what?" Victor blinked.
"Yeah. His signal bounced a lot, but he's in a building just three blocks from here. Third floor. Probably using stolen data, but the device signature matches the one used to upload the video yesterday."
Victor stood up abruptly. "Then let's go."
Meanwhile, inside a dimly lit room cluttered with noodle cups, empty energy drink cans, and at least six different monitors displaying analytics, comments, and donation updates, the impersonator laughed to himself.
"Fifty-five thousand credits already... idiots will believe anything."
He slurped some noodles and leaned back in his chair, stretching—until all the monitors flashed red.
His eyes widened upon understanding the feedback he was getting. "No. No no no no no!"
He bolted upright and quickly yanked wires, pulling down external SSDs, and stuffing them into a backpack alongside some strange looking device. He grabbed a burner phone and his wallet. Just as he flung the door open to flee, he heard footsteps on the stairs.
He peeked around the corner and his face drained of color.
Coming up the stairs with fire in his eyes was none other than the face of the person he had impersonated.
"No... it can't be..." the impersonator breathed.
Victor locked eyes with him and noticed he was stepping out of the same floor techie mentioned.
The impersonator spun around, leapt across the hallway, and without hesitation jumped out the window of the third floor.
The impersonator hit the trash pile hard, sending banana peels and broken cans scattering.
He groaned while trying to get to his feet, but the sound of approaching footsteps made him panic. He looked up the street, spotted a hover taxi slowing at the corner, and made a run for it.
"TAXI! MOVE! DRIVE! NOW!" he yelled while throwing the door open and diving inside.
However, Victor wasn't far behind.
He had leapt out from the third-floor window too, but unlike the impersonator, he used his Wind Arts to cushion and propel himself forward.
The gust beneath his feet granted him more control and speed.
Just as the hover taxi began to rise into the air, the vehicle jerked violently. The driver blinked in confusion. "It's not moving. What the hell?"
From behind, Victor's fingers gripped the rear bumper. His eyes were cold and his expression unamused.
"What... What is this guy?!" the impersonator panicked.
With a snarl, he reached into his bag and pulled out a small, handheld zapper—a tool used for self-defense. Cranking it to max, he shoved his arm out the window and jammed it into Victor's shoulder.
A searing jolt of electricity tore through Victor's muscles, forcing his grip to loosen for a second.
Gritting his teeth in pain, he fell back.
"GO! GO! GO!" the impersonator screamed.
The driver slammed the accelerator again, and the vehicle lurched forward—only to immediately halt with a violent screech.
The impersonator turned around to spot a figure that was more than seven feet tall with bulging muscles and glowing red veins standing behind the vehicle.
He had grabbed the back of the vehicle and was holding it down like a parent stopping a child from rolling away in a stroller.
It was none other than Danny.
Danny lifted the hover taxi sideways and tilted it until the impersonator tumbled out like trash from an overturned bin. He hit the ground with a yelp.
Before he could run, Jake and Max pounced upon him and pinned him down.
Victor got up slowly while shaking off the stinging sensation in his arm.
"You okay?" Danny offered him a hand.
"Yeah," Victor grunted. "Just pissed."
The group looked around and noticed that a small crowd had started to gather. Some people took pictures while others murmured.
Not wanting more attention, Jake signaled toward an alleyway nearby.
Minutes later, they were in a secluded back lot with the impersonator seated on the ground with his back against a wall, bruised and visibly terrified.
His cheek was swollen from where Max had landed a punch, and his nose dripped blood.
Danny knew he couldn't be the one to do the heavy hitting or he'd bash the poor bastard's skull in.
"Okay, genius," Victor stepped towards him. "Start talking."
The impersonator sniffled dramatically, still trying to play the victim. "L-Look, I'm sorry, okay?! I just wanted to test out my tech! I made this facial holographic projector... it was just for testing! I didn't think it'd blow up !"
Victor blinked. "You impersonated me. Built an entire channel off my identity. Collected donations. You hijacked everything I worked for."
"I didn't expect people to believe I was you that easily," the guy whimpered. "Then when the money started coming in, I couldn't stop. It was too easy. I even put together authentic fake IDs to match the name… I'm sorry, man. Really."
Danny cracked his knuckles. "How about we see if this zapper works on you next?"
"N-no! Please! I'll die!" The impersonator pleaded.
"You don't get to squirm your way out just by crying. You will delete that channel. You will refund those donations. And then you're going to walk into a police station and turn yourself in," Victor stated with a cold tone.
The impersonator looked horrified.
"Or," Victor added, "I send this entire clip of what you just confessed to every news outlet, every investor, and every viewer who d to your fake ass."
Jake stepped forward with a phone in his hand. "Already recorded it. Live backed-up to the cloud."
"But... but I was gonna delete it!" the impersonator said quickly. "I swear, I didn't mean for it to go this far. Please, man, please don't send me to jail. I'll do everything! I'll delete the channel, refund everything—"
"And what? Walk away?" Victor snapped. "Like you didn't just commit multiple cybercrimes and fraud? Like you didn't just try to take food off the plate of my widowed pregnant mother?"
The impersonator fell to his knees. "I'll be your slave! I'll be your tech guy! Anything! Just... please don't send me away. I can help you grow. I'm really good at this stuff. I can help make your channel go viral all the time!"