“Jaid and Detective Tusmon.” Drim was surprised to find those two guests when he entered a conference room at their headquarters building. Deborah had called him over with urgency, saying there were special clients who were demanding his immediate attention.
The boy, who was still in bed at the time, had hurried to get dressed and make himself presentable. But now that he knew that it was just old… friends? He let out an exasperated yawn and dropped his guard a bit. After sitting down, he jested, “Should I hold out my hands so you can put cuffs around them?”
Tusmon smiled in return, but his words were far from light-hearted. “You have no idea how much I wish that were the case. But unfortunately, we’re here on other business. First, though, this.” The detective slid a pleasantly-wrapped box across the table.
“From my assistant, Chiulu. They’re desserts from a place in the Central Peace Headquarters, so they shouldn’t be like anything you can get around here. She’s currently out in the car just outside the front gate, too afraid to come in. How did she put it? She didn’t want to ‘cause a major accident and stir the Fiend’s nest that would lead to an all out war between the Fiends For Hire and the Central Peace.’ I can’t say I disagree with her choice.”
“The Bumbling Bureaucrat, right?” Tusmon looked a little annoyed that Drim guessed correctly, knowing so much about his personal dealings—rather hypocritical. But the boy ignored it and casually took a dessert, having not yet eaten anything that day. He then picked up the box and angled it suggestively in Jaid’s direction, whose gaze hadn’t left the box since he lifted the lid. She eagerly took one herself.
“So what can I help you two with today?” Drim asked after a few bites to help get their discussions under way. “If you’re not here to arrest me, then please tell me you’re not after one of my employees or a resident. You’ll have to know that I’ll refuse.”
“No, nothing like that,” Jaid spoke up for the first time. “We were actually hoping that we could talk to Phon.”
“Oh, I see,” the boy was almost a little disappointed, and then he scratched his head. “She’s… well… I honestly don’t know where she is or when she’ll be back. I know you could just call her since there’s no way both of you don’t have her number, but then I guess it’s something you don’t want to discuss over the phone, or you wouldn’t have made the trip all the way out here.”
“Hmph,” Tusmon grunted at his deduction. “You may have ways of keeping your phones from being tapped, but we don’t have the same luxury. While this is an official inquiry of the Central Peace, they remain divided. There are still parties better off not knowing the fine details until it’s too late to change them.”
“Well, I don’t want to get in the way of an, uh, official inquiry,” the boy couldn’t help but play coy. “I can ask Phon to return as quickly as possible. She’d certainly come running at my request, though it may still take a few hours depending on where she’s at in the world. You’d be welcome to stay here, take a walk, visit the cafeteria. Jaid could chat up old friends if she wanted…”
Both guests clearly became perturbed by his overbearing hospitality, so Drim suggested instead, “Or I can help you if it’s at all in my power. Certainly anything you want to ask of Phon you can ask of me as well. It will make its way to me anyways. She’d tell me even if I didn’t know about it or ask. So feel free to let me know your inquiry. I’d be happy to help in any way we can.”
“Creti Sloemin,” Jaid spoke abruptly once again. “We need to know where she is.”
“Now hang on a second,” Tusmon waved down his companion. “I know where Creti is, or I believe that I’ve narrowed it down. I’m 99% sure. But if she’s where I think she is, then it’s not the kind of place we’d want to send troops without 100% certainty.”
“Yes, I understand completely,” Drim nodded in agreement. “And yes, I know where Creti is located. Needless to say, we’ve been keeping an eye on her. You’re right to be hesitant. And it’s a rather big place, so I can help you narrow it down. I can give you the exact coordinates of their hideout and satellite images.”
“Damn it,” Tusmon slammed his fist down on the arm of the couch in frustration. “So she really is there. We’ve made this trip for nothing. Well, I guess all my doubts have been alleviated. So what do you want for those details, Drazah?”
“Wait just a second,” Jaid interrupted. “Where exactly is she?”
“Pimitrad,” Drim elaborated. “Specifically an underground bunker just on the outskirts of the epicenter. The area is still rife with radiation. Humans wouldn’t last a few minutes. A Lesser may be able to make it a half-hour. So it’s the perfect place for Fiends to hide out who don’t want to be disturbed. The country was actually on the shortlist for our own headquarters, but it seemed ill conducive to running an open and friendly business where the clients are free to visit.”
“That radiated zjikhole?!” Jaid was surprised at first but then leaned back in her seat and calmed down. “I see. That complicates things but…” her mind drifted away, clearly planning and making changes to the operation ahead.
“And for my cooperation,” Drim got back to the matter at hand. “I’d just like a few things clarified. So you can’t arrest me or go after the Fiends For Hire. I’ve suspected for some time that we have some sort of governmental immunity that prevents law enforcement from acting against us. Even you, who is head of the Fiend Crimes Division, haven’t put us in your sights for quite some time.”
“This is likely because of other plans that they have in the works, ones that neither of you are privy to, or they wouldn’t have let you come here. We are known for extracting information from CP agents at this point. Well, Ahvra is, anyways. That means you’ve had to shift focus.”
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“So you’ve targeted the next best thing. Above has certainly been making a name for themselves, especially since that political assassination. And I can say definitively that they’ve carved out a noticeable chunk of our market share. Not enough to hamper our operations, but it’s plausible that they could grow into a formidable competitor with time and increased recruitment.”
“Better to arrest them early then, yeah? Letting them gain more notoriety before you take them down would be better for your career, but you’re not that kind of officer, Tusmon. You’d rather not let them grow too much or then you’d have a second Fiends For Hire on your hands. Am I close?”
“Partly, but no,” the detective insisted. “You seem to misunderstand a key facet of who I am as a person, Drazah. This has nothing to do with the Fiend group Above, their notoriety, or my own personal career. Sloemin needs to be stopped, plain and simple. If you’ve actually been watching her, then you’d know that. Or you’ve just been turning a blind eye and are willfully ignorant.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard about what she’s done to people: the manipulations, the subtle control, the demands. But I doubt you know the extent of the fallout, the long lasting damage left in her wake. No, you wouldn’t be aware because even she doesn’t know. That’s because I’ve been there cleaning up her messes, and the CP has been intentionally covering it up to prevent widespread panic amongst the public.”
“Tell me, have you heard about the parade incident?”
“Uhh, yes, I have,” Drim thought back. “Above saved a town from raiders, but Creti was dissatisfied with the reward they were offered, so she used her Curse to manipulate them into throwing a parade in their honor. Definitely an abuse, I’d agree, but—”
“But nothing!” Tusmon erupted with rage. “The parade was the headline. Media outlets made it out to seem like it was no big deal, almost whimsical. That was just the cover up.”
“That town no longer exists. The parade was so extravagant that it drove many of the inhabitants into financial ruin since the costs were straight out of their pockets. This led to countless fighting, riots, suicides. The local government office was burned down for letting such an atrocity occur. Jaid here would know, she was first on the ground to force them into a ceasefire. Many were arrested, the rest abandoned the town and moved away.”
“Creti ruined their lives on a whim. Even those who lived or got away mostly unscorched still had to completely uproot and scramble. That girl doesn’t understand the power she holds. And with how she’s been acting, she’s well on her way to become a second Eleen Drazah. Most have still yet to accept that woman’s manipulation power, but it was eerily similar to Creti’s, wouldn’t you agree?”
“You yourself killed your mother to put an end to her reign, so I’d hope you of all people would understand. It was just a town this time, but next time it will be a city or a country. The girl can destroy the world for fun or if she feels slighted. And I for one don’t want to dance around on tip-toes, hoping we don’t piss off the unbenevolent god who sees herself as above humans. Have I answered your question?”
“Yes…” Drim was quiet, his hands clasped together, eyes down, refusing to make contact, like he’d just received a scolding from his parents. The reality Tusmon spouted was a gutpunch, and he couldn’t disagree. “I’ll give you all the information you need. And we can lend you our gear that neutralizes Creti’s curse.”
“No need,” Tusmon stood up. “We have our own tech. Let’s depart, Captain Luciri. We got what we came for.”
“Wait,” the girl was stern. “Now I have a question of my own. I was watching you that entire time, as Tusmon told you about the incident. You knew, didn’t you? All of it, everything he said. You’ve known this whole time, everything Creti’s done, every little detail and atrocity.”
“Now I’ve had my own suspicions that you have some other way to track Fiends. Not just Phon, not just your own intel. I can’t say how, but you know way too much. So my question is why haven’t you done anything?”
“There’s absolutely no way Creti’s actions have slipped your notice. And if it was one of your group, you would have taken action long ago. Because that’s what the Fiends For Hire is all about, isn’t it? It’s just a front to control Fiends. You may mask it as giving them a safe place to thrive, but this is essentially their prison.”
“Hell, you even went so far as detaining Kaizu and forcing her to join. In your ideal world, every Fiend would be registered, monitored, and controlled. Don’t tell me I’m wrong. I’ve come to realize that you hate Fiends even more than I do. Like the detective, you actually fear them, what they’re capable of.”
“So you’d do anything in your power to stop a Fiend from running rampant and destroying the world. Then answer, why does Creti get a free pass?”
Drim could feel the hollowness in his words as they left his lips. “I feel that it’s not my place to get in the way of her business. She should be allowed to operate a Fiend group how she sees fit, just like we do. If the government—”
“What a load of zjik!” Jaid leapt from her seat and across the table in the middle of the room. She grabbed Drim by the collar and pulled him from his seat, getting her face inches from his. “You know what has to be done. You’re just too scared to do it yourself!”
“You pretend to be the timid, quiet one of the group, but we all know you’re the mastermind pulling the strings. Yet when it comes time to do what’s necessary, you just can’t commit. Instead, you force your sister to be the bad guy, doing all the zjik you don’t want to do. The reason you haven’t done anything about Creti is because you can’t accept the outcome. I bet you still think that you can save her. No, you’ve probably given up on that and just can’t cope with what comes next. Look me in the eyes and tell me I’m wrong.”
Drim didn’t move, couldn’t move, gritting his teeth in anguish because she was right. Jaid dropped the boy and turned to leave the room, but not without a few more stabbing words. “And because you did nothing, now we have to take action. We don’t have the same power that you do, but we’ll still get the job done. Just now soldiers will die when we send them into that irradiated hell. But don’t worry, your conscience can stay clean. Farewell, Drim. Thank you for your cooperation.”
After she stormed out of the room, Tusmon turned to join her. But Drim stopped him with one last question, clear distress in his words. “Once you arrest Above, what will they do with them?”
Tusmon let out a sigh, reluctant to answer, but he owed his benefactor that much. “Like I said, this is about Sloemin, not really all of Above. She’s the only target for this mission, but the others have DoA warrants. We’ll try to arrest them, and if we do, protocol will be followed. If they attack, we will fight back without restraint. And if they escape, we won’t pursue unless we have the immediate means to do so.”
“But for Creti Sloemin… they plan to make an example out of her.”