//------------------------------// // 47. Taking Down The Perpetrator // Story: A Dazzling New Life: High School Edition // by Joshua the Dragonslayer //------------------------------// Adagio and her friends ran after the weird stranger to make sure he didn't get away. Running outside and looking around, Adagio noticed the guy near a car, most likely his, and was putting his stuff away. "Hey!" Adagio yelled as she ran over to the guy who got startled and started to hurry. "You're not going anywhere!" Adagio stood behind the car with her arms crossed, not caring that she was in her swimsuit and was dripping wet. There was no way the guy could escape without running her over, and unless he wanted to be charged with either killing someone or attempting to kill someone, he would think better than to run Adagio over. "Uh, can I help you, young lady?" The guy looked at Adagio with a worried expression. Adagio watched as he messed with his arms and touched his camera as if it were his baby. Adagio glared at the guy. "Did you touch my sister?" She watched as he visibly flinched and started to look around, not making eye contact with her. He was caught and he was more than likely trying to come up with a lie to get himself out of trouble. "Now it wasn't my intention to touch her. I was underwater, and I couldn't see what I was touching. I was trying to touch the edge of the swimming pool, but I mistakenly touched your sister. I do apologize." Now Adagio had to admit, his lie was a good one. Perhaps if she were younger she would've believed him and let him off the hook. But she knew better, she could read his lie. Seeing his nervousness, how fast he ran when he was seemingly caught, and the camera around his neck. He was a pervert and Adagio knew it. Adagio put on a fake smile, she had to know what was on that camera before she could be for sure. "It's quite alright. She just got a little scared was all, nothing serious. It was a reasonable mistake, anyone would've done it." Adagio continued to smile but on the inside, she was about two seconds away from beating the guy until he passed out. 'Anyone who isn't a pervert who likes to touch underaged girls and takes pictures of them.' Adagio then looked at his camera with a gentle smile. "That's a nice camera you got there." Looking down at his camera the guy smiled. "Oh, yes. It's one of my prized possessions." The guy started talking about how the camera worked and how it got it while Adagio mindlessly nodded her head with a smile. From the corner of her eye, she noticed her friends watching while Aria slowly crept up, unnoticed to the guy who continued to endlessly blabber on about his camera that meant so much to him which Adagio could under as it more likely than not had pictures of girls in it. She had also noticed Arctic on the phone which she guessed with the police or with her parents, either one would've worked. Aria was about five feet away from them and Adagio knew this was the best chance they had. "Now Aria!" The guy who was pointing to a part of the camera turned and before he could react, Aria pounced at him, ripping the camera out of his grip, and started to run. "Hey! Give that back!" The guy started to run after her but Adagio tripped him with her foot before running after Aria. "You'll pay for that!" He watched as Adagio ran up to catch Aria as he slowly got up. Adagio ran back and met up with Aria and all her other friends who were looking over the camera. Looking through the photos Adagio's prediction was right, all the photos were nothing but girls both kids and adults in their swimsuits either tanning in the sun or swimming around the pool. "I knew it. I can't believe someone can be so disgusting." Looking through the pictures and camera in hand with a still somewhat shaken Sonata by his side Arctic sighed. "I already called the police, they should be here shortly. With this evidence and Sonata's claim along with some eyewitnesses, it'll further show that he's guilty." "Give back my camera you thief!" The man entered the room with a scowl on his face. Aria jumped up and got into a fighting position along with Adagio and the rest of the gang. Just then the sound of sirens could be heard as some police entered the building. "We got a call from here?" One of the policemen asked as he and three others walked in. The man started to look worried as sweat started to drip down his bald forehead while Arctic got up and took the camera over to the police officer. "That man right there." Arctic pointed over to the guy who looked as if he was going to pee his pants at any moment. Arctic then gave the camera over to the police officer who started to go through the camera seeing the same thing as Arctic and everyone else did. "He's been taking pictures of girls and even touched any underaged girl, we've got the evidence and eyewitnesses as proof." Sonata stepped forward shyly with a towel over her. "H-he touched me right here." Sonata pointed to the area where the man had touched her. As one police officer went over to talk to Sonata, another went over to the pool to hear from some other people. The officer finally finished going through the camera and looked over at his partner. "Cuff him." His partner went over and cuffed him despite the guy trying to shake him off, which was all for nothing. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney." Everyone watched as the police officer against the pervert and took him into the back of their car. "I'm going to call Mom and Dad to let them know what happened." Adagio walked away, took out her phone, and started to call Sunset. "Hello? Hey, Mom! Oh, yeah we're at the swimming pool. Um.. about that, something kinda happened..." It must've been at least five minutes and Sunset and Tom arrived at the swimming pool, a monstrous glare in Sunset's eyes as she walked into the entrance. "Over here, Mom!" Aria waved her hand getting Sunset's attention as her Mom walked over. The police had already heard from all the witnesses and heard what Sonata had to say. Along with the evidence from the camera, which they took as it had all the pictures, the guy was going to get some time. It didn't help that he had some past crime history doing things like this before. By the time Sunset and Tom had arrived, the police were just about to leave with the pervert still in the back of the car. Sunset bent down and hugged Sonata who hugged her back. "Oh, Sonata. You're okay, that guy will never touch you like that ever again." Sonata smiled and nodded at her Mom. She was no longer scared and she was happy to know that the man was going to pay for what he did to her and all the other girls there. Sunset turned her attention to Adagio, Aria, and Arctic and smiled. "Good job you two, distracting the guy and stealing his camera. And thank you too, Arctic, for calling the police and making sure everyone was okay." Arctic nodded his head. "I wish it never happened but I'm glad that Sonata and everyone is okay." "It's nothing you could've done to prevent it, you didn't know what that guy was going to do." Sunset and everyone watched as the police drove away with the pervert in the back. "The good thing is that he's going to be gone for a long time so he can't hurt anyone else." Sunset smiled, just like that justice had been served.