The thief's swing was strong enough to bring the lean-built commanding officer down with his back against the floor.
A surprised gasp escaped Callisto's breath as the criminal stormed off toward the escalator.
Just as the criminal reached the escalators, he had to stop himself right in front of it as he saw two more officers approaching the escalators from the first floor.
Their gaze immediately met his, but they still had no idea it was the criminal who the officers were looking at.
And then, the voice of the commanding officer echoed from behind the thief.
"Stop right there!"
Of course, the officers from the first floor was alerted by their commanding police's loud voice.
The commanding officer already got himself up on his feet, wincing from the stinging pain caused by the thief's punch.
"Don't you dare move from there," threatened the commanding officer as he ran straight for the criminal.
The criminal looked down once again at the two officers who were now standing in front of the escalators.
They already understood the situation as they climbed the escalators on both sides.
Forced to make a split second decision, the criminal turned away from the escalators and went around the commanding officer that was charging at him.
The thief pulled the same shoulder bag he was carrying earlier in the carnival out of the one he was currently holding just as the commanding officer was pulling out his taser gun.
Using the empty shoulder bag with one hand, the thief was able to stop the taser from hitting him directly, giving the thief an opportunity to get past the commanding officer.
The commanding officer was not about to let the criminal get away rather easily.
"Hold it, you bastard!"
On the chase, the commanding officer decided to finally pull out his pistol.
However, it was a decision that was way too late and dangerous as he realized they were about to run through an oblivious crowd of people visiting the mall.
Without waiting for the civilians to react, the thief collided with one person after another as he squeezed his way through toward another escalator on the other side of the mall's second floor, leaving surprised and angry reactions from the people in his wake.
"Get out of the way," the commanding officer demanded with urgency. "There's a thief on the run!"
Some civilians were quick to follow his command, while the others could not seem to register the urgency in his tone and remained where they stood, making them an obstacle the officer was forced to go through.
Callisto remained to where she was standing as the thief and commanding officer ran toward the midst of the crowd in the mall.
The two other officers that came up from the escalators quickly followed suit.
A sigh escaped Callisto's lips.
"The officers should be able to catch the thief on their own. But why..."
To an ordinary person, that way of thinking was far from wrong. But for Callisto, it felt as if she could have done more than just lead the officers to where the thief was.
She could not help but have this nagging feeling at the back of her mind to go after the thief herself.
Well, truthfully, Callisto could have done so. It would be a great opportunity to make use of her abilities, to actually use them to an extent.
But in the end, the young lady decided to trust with the officers and went down the escalator.
Right then, she realized that the trail of Adela's scent was leading toward the amphitheatre.
"Mama's still here? Why?"
* * *
At the amphitheatre, Adela decided to stay put for a moment.
That feeling as if something was telling her to not go earlier came to mind once again after witnessing the officers head toward the mall.
This time, Adela decided to follow that feeling.
The mother's gaze was fixed at the mall, wondering if the criminal was caught yet.
There was no way to tell from where she was standing. Everything around Adela seemed normal as if a police chase wasn't happening at all in the Riverbanks Center.
* * *
It's a chance. Regardless of the reason why Adela remained in the amphitheatre, Callisto knew it was a chance to see her mother even if from a far distance.
Without wasting a second, the young lady hurried out of the mall toward the amphitheatre.
Sure enough, after traversing the crowd, there Adela was. Standing in the crowded amphitheatre, looking at the direction of the other side of the mall, the mother was unaware that her daughter had already locked sights on her.
"Mama," Callisto muttered to herself as she focused on Adela's features and nothing else.
Callisto's heart was racing with desire, it was painful.
She wanted to run at her, to jump into her mother's embrace, to feel the warmth she had not felt since the day she had lost control of her body and was forced to lay in bed for a long time.
If only she could do so without the fear of being called a monster by Adela herself, Callisto would have been long gone from where she stood.
The silver-haired girl took off her white cat mask so she could wipe the tears that had been flowing down her white cheeks that had a tinge of pink in them.
And then, she looked back at Adela's direction with her mask off, only for her golden eyes to go wide as Callisto realized Adela was looking at her direction.
No, Adela was definitely looking at Callisto, no matter how much Callisto wanted to believe that wasn't the case.
"Callisto..."
She didn't just see Adela mouth her name, Callisto definitely heard her mother utter her name.
Callisto took a step back on instinct, she could feel her heart racing as if wanting to burst out of her chest and escape from a confrontation with her mother. She feared the next words that would come out of Adela's mouth after uttering her name.
Before she could decide on what to do...
"Ah! That guy just pushed me!"
"Watch it, damn!"
"Stop running!"
"Every entrance and exit are guarded with police officers! There is no escape for you!"
Callisto took notice of the same criminal the commanding officer was chasing not too long ago inside the mall, pushing through the crowd toward the direction of Adela.
Alerted by the disturbed voices of people nearby, Adela turned toward their direction and found a man in red shirt stumbling on the ground after colliding with a couple.
The man in red, as if he just saw a light of hope before him, an opportunity from Adela, pushes off the ground and charged at the woman.
Unable to react fast, the criminal was now right before Adela. Her eyes go wide as he watched the man in red shirt pull a knife out of his shoulder bag.
"Ah!"
Adela closed her eyes, thinking that the man was about to stab her on the spot. But then, the mother felt as if something big flew by that caused the wind to blow into her face, raising her arms to shield herself on instinct.
"..."
When Adela opened her eyes again, she found the man in red shirt on the ground next to a big stuffed toy.
She quickly turned the other way, toward Callisto.
Callisto was panting, but not really exhausted. There was a glint of relief in her golden eyes.
But it soon disappeared.
"M-Mama!"
Eyes going wide like her gasping mouth, Callisto started running toward her mother, worry and panic clear in her voice.
"Watch out!"
At Callisto's words, Adela turned around to find that the thief was already back on his feet, charging at her with knife in hand.