Brinus was on a treadmill with a breathing mask on his face. He was shirtless and glistened in a layer of sweat. In a Navy uniform, the doctor looked at his heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels.
The medical room had a treadmill, a weight rack with weights up to 200 pounds, a blood draw station, a medical cabinet with various supplies, and a medical exam table.
Brinus jumped off of the treadmill and went into tripod position breathless.
“Your run times are poor but passable. How much do you smoke?”
“Four packs a day?”
The doctor wrote on her clipboard, “Grab the biggest weight you can from the rack and hold it over your head for thirty seconds.”
Brinus grabbed the 70-pound and did what she said. He was initially confident, but as the seconds rolled by, they seemed to become longer as his anticipation for completion drew nearer. His bodily fatigue was getting the best of him, yet he held the 70-pound weight above his head with determination. Ultimately, he succeeded.
“No sweat.” He said unironically.
The Doctor made a note on her clipboard and knew better.
The doctor took a blood sample and sent him on his way.
----------------------------------------
Brinus was back in the group home the next day. He was in the hallway working on the cameras. There was a glitch in the recording system, so he needed to figure out what it was. Ted was info dumping as usual about Commodo Dragons from Earth.
Ted finally sighed once he felt Brinus had been ignoring him, “You seem kind of tired. What’s wrong?”
“I took the Navy physical exam. It was tough.” Brinus took a magnetic screwdriver and took apart the camera. The screws were too small to use a normal screwdriver.
“You really are joining the Navy?”
Brinus Nodded. “Do you mind helping me with this?”
He handed Ted the camera as he climbed down the ladder.
Ted looked at the camera pieces. After Brinus pointed at a cracked lens. “See that? The lens is cracked. I need to replicate a new lens.”
“I don’t see it.”
“It takes a trained eye to see it but it’s big enough to distort the image.”
“What was the physical exam like? I heard it was tough.”
Brinus and Ted headed the replimat with the camera parts. “It was made worse by my heavy smoking. I almost failed the cardio portion. I really should cut back.”
“How did you pass?”
“I used a deep breathing technique from the syndicate. My run times were so poor they were at the minimum acceptable limit for recruitment.”
Ted laughed. “Did you know the Alfa Tara Wolf has a lung capacity below its body weight?”
Brinus smiled. He knew Ted was trying to cheer him up. “Thanks, bruh.”
----------------------------------------
Harper had called a friend after being released from the hospital. He had a cigarette in his mouth was wearing a fishnet shirt with nothing underneath, and had a pair of short blue jean shorts with a metal chain, and skateboard shoes. A friend picked him up and handed him a mini bottle of tequila. Harper got into the car with the kids.
“Let’s go partyin’!”
Harper took a drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke out.
“Is Brinus joining us?” asked one of the kids.
“Not tonight.”
They all laughed and then one of them said, “Shame. I like him when he’s drunk.”
They went clubbing unaware of the shadowy figures following them.
One of the Two young men began texting Samathana. Harper is partying again. It looks like he snorted a line of energy powder.
Samantha: record him Tom and then write the report. Remember don’t drink anything. You’re on duty.
Tom: Yes ma’am.
Tom began to secretly record Harper.
Samantha watched the livestream of Harper partying. She passed the live feed to Colletta.
Brinus was on his game with the boys when Harper came bursting into the door. One of the rules for their open relationship was that Harper would sleep after coming home from the clubs. Brinus paused his game but forgot to turn off his mic.
“What the fuck Harper?”
“I need some love.”
“Go to bed hon. We make love in the morning.”
Harper went to Brinus and began kissing him. However, Brinus swept his right foot under Harper’s left foot and threw him over his knee making him land safely on his back. “Go to bed Harper,” Brinus said calmly as he forced him up and frog-marched him to the bedroom.
Harper began banging on the door. Brinus figured he must have snorted energy powder again. He was always full of energy after snorting it.
“Computer! Play Angel of Death by Gabriel at full volume!”
“Are you sure? It is after midnight and in Harper’s state there is a high likelihood the police will arrest you both.”
“What is the chance they will accept a bribe?”
“It depends on the mood of the responding officers and their personalities. I would not recommend it. The police have been very busy tonight and they likely would be in a bad mood.”
Harper continued banging on the bedroom door and screaming.
“We have to do something. If he continues the cops are gonna be called anyway.”
“I can decrease the air pressure in the room until he passes out and then restore it? It will keep him unconscious for about three hours.”
“Do it! Command code Helios 4546.”
Harper was too drunk to fight back as Brinus locked him in the bedroom. The air pressure in the room was lowered just enough to cause unconsciousness within a few minutes. The AI rose it just enough to prevent Harper from dying but not enough for him to wake up.
Brinus returned to his mic, which to his horror, was still open.
“Hey, guys. I’m back.”
“Bro! your boyfriend has a problem.”
Brinus laughed out of embarrassment more than anything. “You know you’re right. He just got out of the hospital too.”
Everyone except Brinus laughed. He just wanted off the game. Because of the air pressure change and Harper’s disruption, he knew the police would arrive in ten minutes.
“Hey guys I gotta go and get ready fer the cops.”
“I guess see ya tomorrow,” said the guild leader.
The guild leader knew why Brinus was leaving and no one questioned it.
Brinus left the game lobby and began disposing of the ashtrays. He also hid the cigarettes and sprayed air freshener. Just at the 9-and-a-half-minute mark, the doorbell rang.
Brinus opened his doorbell camera app and it was two cops.
They rang the doorbell again. “I’m Officer Tag, my partner is Officer Big Daddy. Open the door or we’re coming in. This is your only warning!”
Brinus clicked the intercom. “Get lost. You don’t have a search warrant and there are no exigent circumstances.” Brinus lied but thought he could scare away the cops.
Officer Big Daddy pulled out his shock stick and hit the doorknob until it broke off. He then removed it and they both kicked the door open.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Brinus stood in the kitchen with his arms crossed. He was shirtless and barefoot but had a pair of gym shorts on. “Really? I’m sendin’ the department the bill to fix my door.”
Officer Tag rolled his eyes and stepped forward. “You can submit a request to the Admin department. We need to check on your boyfriend.”
Officer Big Daddy went into Brinus’s room which left Officer Tag alone with Brinus. “I need to see you’re ID.” Brinus presented his wrist and he scanned it. “I see you have syndicate tattoos. Where are your parents? I need to speak with them.”
“Me and my boyfriend are both emancipated minors.”
“Do you have a guardian I can speak to? Or a case worker?”
Brinus snickered and then stated sarcastically, “I ain’t disturbin’ ‘em at three in the mornin’ over this.” The truth was he didn’t want to deal with Long Ho’s bullshit.
Officer Big Daddy came out of the room. “It looks like the roommate is passed out drunk but unharmed.”
Officer Tangent pulled out his TriQuarter tablet. “What substances did Harper consume?”
“I am going to invoke my right to silence under the constitution.”
“I can get EMS to take him to the hospital and have him charged for minor consumption and use of an intoxicating substance resulting in a domestic disturbance if you would prefer?”
Brinus growled and crossed his arms. “He had alcohol and energy powder. I don’t know how much because I took the day off work and just played games all day.”
“What do you do for work?”
“I’m a licensed burglar fer the Orin syndicate.”
The cop made some notes on his TriQuarter.
“Do you have anyone who can verify this?”
Brinus went into his Bed and came out with his burglar license, police security license, military ID, and bar license.
The cop shook his head and made a note on his tablet. “If you have a police security license then you’re basically one of us. Why didn’t you tell us before? I will repair your door free of charge before I leave.”
Brinus rolled his eyes as the cop called a code 44 over the radio and needed a maintenance guy to come out promptly. Immediately the atmosphere changed.
The cops left after Brinus’s door was fixed.
----------------------------------------
The Magi council watched the entire scene unfold. They watched the events happen from Harper’s Partying until the cops showed up at Brinus’s apartment. Brinus was then given special treatment because of his law enforcement status. Colletta created a highlight reel of the entire evening, cutting the irrelevant banter and actions aside.
The Grandmaster of the Magi held up his hands and she pressed pause. “Something wrong?” asked Colleta.
“Everything! Everything is wrong with this! How are going to get rid of Harper?”
One of the council members raised her hand. “What if we poison Harper’s cigarettes so when he smokes one he dies of nicotine poisoning?”
“Does everyone agree?”
Everyone raised their hands.
“Motioned passed. Give the job to Samantha… Colleta. Council dismissed.”
Twenty minutes later Colleta called Samantha to her office. She knocked, on her door.
“Ahhh! Samantha, come in! Would you like a drink? How about something to eat?” There was something overly pleasant about her voice; it was as if she was too polite.
“I will take a tea and donuts.”
Colleta went to her replicator and ordered the food and drink. It appeared out of thin air and then she handed the ceramic plant and food to her. That was when Samantha knew something was wrong.
“How is your magic training,” she continued in her fake pilot voice.
Colleta’s behavior and mannerisms put her on edge. She set the food and drinks aside. Samantha never really cared for replicated food anyway.
“What do you want?” she asked, sitting at military attention.
Colletta had the dead eyes smile as she sat on her desk. “I want to check on you! How are you?”
“Fine.”
“Good. How is Agent Smith today?”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and frowned, “Fine.”
Colletta finally sat at her desk and pulled out a vial of clear liquid. “I want you to poison Harper. Soak his cigarettes in this fluid. We already planted the evidence on Long Ho. You can go now.”
“You bitch.”
Colletta stood and leaned over the desk. “Oh, don’t you dare go there! Leave before I give this assignment to someone else and then we actually have to kill Harper.”
----------------------------------------
Harper was at Brinus’s apartment. He was hung over from the previous night. Brinus was so angry at him that he was at the coffee shop on the first floor of the apartment preparing for a pentest. Samantha knocked on the door. Harper answered since he was hungover and didn’t think to check the doorbell camera.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Samantha flashed her magi badge and forced her way past him. “I see you have been busy.”
“You were there when Brinus was arrested a week ago.”
“I guess I forgot to modify your memory.” Samantha smiled a creepy smile. She didn't forget at all she just refused to follow that order.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“I want you to take this tranist pass and leave Brinus. I have been ordered to kill you in order to separate you and Brinus. I pulled some strings and there a good foster family is willing to adopt you in District 3. Take the pass pack your bags and report to the spaceport. There is a taxi waiting outside. Saul Redman will say you were killed in an hour. If you don’t leave you will be dead within 24 hours for real.”
Harper laughed and then shouted, “I love Brinus! I won’t leave him!”
Samantha laughed cynically. “You have no idea what power he is capable of. He needs good influences and to be in the military. With a proper charge of his energy, he could destroy a planet, melt an asteroid, or even destroy a star with enough energy and the proper training.”
“Are you saying if I love him I would board that shuttle and never contact him again?”
Samantha nodded.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“I am a Magi. I am honor-bound to tell the truth.”
“The police don’t have any honor.”
Samantha rolled her eyes and put the poison on the table. “I believe in Brinus and don’t want to hurt him. Take this pass. Nicotine poisoning is a terrible way to die.”
“I’ll pack my bags.”
“I’ll wait.”
Colletta watched Samantha from the AI camera. There was a reason the council chose her. Secretly she was glad her best officer didn’t kill Harper. If they really wanted to kill Harper, they could give the job to about a dozen other officers.
She watched Harper Pack his bags and leave with Samantha.
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A week later Harper was in a nightclub. He had a cigarette in his mouth. However, he didn’t drink much only a few shots of whisky. The club was loud with pyrotechnics and pulsating techno music. The disco ball shone white lights through the smoke.
Harper had tears roll down his face. He left the club after taking a fifth shot of whisky. He flicked his fully smoked cigarette butt down into the street and made his way to his new foster family.
He opened the door and his mother and father waited for him. “Did you go drinking tonight?”
“Yes?”
“Why?”
Harper shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I didn’t even enjoy it this time.”
The father said, “You have school at 8 am.”
“What’s school?” asked Harper, curious.
“Have you ever been to school before?” asked the mother with her eyes narrowed.
Harper shook his head.
“Do you know how to read and write?” the father inquired with his eyes narrowed and his hands on his hips.
“I can sign my name on a notepad and I can type on a keyboard. I also used to read at the library all the time.”
“But can you handwrite?”
Harper shook his head.
The two foster parents looked at each other and then at Harper with an “Oh shit” look on their faces. The mother spoke. “So… What grade level are you at?”
“Don’t know. Never been to school.
“In fourteen years you have never been to school?”
“No ma’am.”
The two foster parents went to the side. “We can’t have him go to school if he can’t handwrite at 16 and has just lived on the streets his whole life.”
“Yeah, I agree. He’s going to be absolutely feral.”
The mother and father turned to Harper. “How much have you had to drink tonight?”
“Five shots of whisky? Maybe six? Not sure.”
“Ever thought of Alateen?”
Harper nodded. Alateen was a program from Earth for problem drinkers who were teenagers.
The father put his hand on Harper’s shoulder and smiled warmly. “I will make a deal with you. If you agree to twice-weekly Alateen meetings. learn to write with pen and paper, learn spelling, and read at grade level l won’t make you go to school. What do you say? Also, you must agree to join the navy at 18”
“Sure. Why not? I don’t like drinking anyway.”
“Go to bed, sleep it off, and then tomorrow we will start your homeschooling.”
Harper went to bed and fell into a deep sleep.
----------------------------------------
After a week of constant partying Brinus was so drunk and high, that he walked into a firework and stole some fireworks. Brinus walked into his apartment lobby and set off a bottle rocket at a group of people, laughing manically. They scattered like bugs when a rock was lifted. The bottle rocket exploded in a shower of sparks, setting the couch on fire.
He laughed manically as he shot massive bottle rockets at other groups of people. At this moment Brinus wanted to burn the world. The syndicate killed Harper and he had it with Long Ho’s bullshit. A week of constant alcohol and energy powder consumption clouded his brain. The curtains caught fire and he shot rockets at the couches and windows. The police officer’s sirens blared as six cop cars showed up.
six fire trucks came two minutes behind the six cop cars. a minute later a SWAT team of six arrived. The police came running into the lobby to see Brinus in the middle of the roaring flames. He laughed at the chaos he caused. They shot Brinus in the chest multiple times after he fired bottled rockets at the cops. However, he was unaffected by the blaster shots. The fire by now had spread to two of the apartments so the cops pumped tear gas into the lobby and Brinus came out of the lobby coughing and gagging.
The police tasered him and put him in handcuffs.
Brinus was driven into jail. They pulled him out of the car. He yelled at the cop. “I need a cigarette! Get me a cigarette now!”
“You’ll get one once you’re booked into jail. You’re going into the adult jail.”
The cops took Brinus and swiped his police security license on the security door. They took him to the booking room.
“Name?” asked the desk sergeant.
“Fuck you!”
“Name?”
“Go fuck yourself!”
The cop hit Brinus in the stomach with a shock stick.
“Name?” asked the desk sergeant again.
“Brinus Helios.”
“Step into the body scanner.”
Brinus stepped through and they found his pistol and two switchblades. The booking sergeant looked at the cop. “Seriously?! You bring an armed criminal into the jail?!”
Two prison guards come up to Brinus and remove his leather jacket.
The sergeant went into the officer’s face and yelled, “I am going to write you up for this! You’re dismissed!”
The cop left.
“Take off your shoes and socks and get your fingerprints.”
“I need a cigarette!”
“You will get a smoke once you’re done with the booking process now comply or else,” growled the sergeant.
After Booking Brinus in he called Medusa. Instead, his secretary answered.
“Medusa doesn’t want to talk to you. She will give you money for your commissary but you will not receive money for bail nor will you get syndicate representation. Don’t ever call this number again.”
The call terminated. Those fuckers betrayed me!
Brinus was taken to his jail cell by a guard.
“You’re cigarettes.” The guard handed him four packs, and a cheap lighter, and then left.
That was that. The next 5-20 years would be spent in prison.
Meanwhile back at Magi Headquarters:
Colleta was in handcuffs as four police patted her down. Her boss stood at the door. "You know why we're doing this. Your actions caused the deaths of four magi personnel and two million credits worth of damage. You know the proper procedure for a magic test. You broke every rule."
"I will be killed in prison."
"Boo hoo. You ran an illegal magic test. Briggs was kicked off the force yesterday. Samantha is being given desk duty and put on lifetime probation."
One of the cops began frisking her as another began speaking, "You are under arrest for abuse of public office, felony kidnapping a minor under the age of 18, assault with a nonlethal weapon, abuse of local law enforcement, and destruction of civic property in value of excess of one million credits. Anything you say will be taken down in writing and used in evidence against you. It may harm your defense if you do not mention -- when questioned -- something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say will be taken down in writing and used in evidence against you. Do you understand?"
"I did it for the greater good!"
Colleta was taken out of the building and put into the back of a car where Briggs was in handcuffs as well.
"It looks like we are both going to jail," observed Briggs.
"Yep," said Colleta, "I just wanted to say it was an honor to serve with you."
"I wish I could say the same," sneered Brigs leaning into the seat.