Jessica sipped her coffee, going over the paperwork King pointed her to. He spent last night convincing her that this was something. Jessica couldn’t quite see it if she was honest. That being said, the more she saw the more she could kind of see it. The only question is what exactly it meant.

Thomas sat down next to her, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. “This had better be good.” He had a large cup of liquid energy as well, the smell permeating the air around them.

Jessica leaned back, “I’m not sure if it’s good, but it’s something which is more than what we got this evening… last night?” She checked the clock, 5am Sunday. “Last night.”

“Please get on with it so I can tell you whether to fuck off or not.” Thomas muttered, it seemed he relied on a good night’s sleep to keep positive. Good to know.

“I want to preface this, King’s the one who found the inconsistency,” Jessica noted. “He wanted to help so I memorized all the records for him to go over.”

Thomas just looked at her uncomprehendingly. Jessica moved on, “He noticed something,”

She pointed to her plug, and Thomas plugged into the computer. Sharing her screen she brought up logs for the gun decommission registry.

“These records show when a weapon is turned in at the desk, and when the weapon is racked. See here, 11/20 a few years back. Turned in at 6:01, racked at 6:05. Here again, 11/25 same year. Turned in 6:12, racked 6:17. Again, 11/26, turned in 6:09 racked 6:13”

Thomas looked on silently, waiting for her to get to the point.

“Look at 11/30. Turned in at 6:02, racked 6:30” Jessica highlighted the times. Thomas frowned, checking the comments.

“He went to the bathroom,” Thomas said.

Jessica nodded, “Right, and normally that’s fine, except that it happened 3 months ago. 8/04 turned in 6:00, racked 6:28. Again in January, turned in 5:50, racked 6:22. Then the next year, February, Turned in 6:10, racked 6:36”

Thomas shrugged, “So people need to use the bathroom occasionally.”

“Yeah, granted, but it’s the same guy every time. Desk Supervisor Maria Candella. Girl I guess, but it still stands. Go through the records and this only ever happens when she’s receiving the weapons. AND, and before she was higher 22 years ago, these time gaps never happened.” Jessica explained.

Thomas sighed, “So the lady has a weak bladder?” Despite the skepticism, Thomas sat up a bit straighter. “The guns still make it to the rack. Then their presence is confirmed when they are disassembled.”

Jessica sighed, this was the part where a bit of a stretch was needed, “Yeah, well. I was stumped there for a bit, then I took a closer look at my dart gun this morning.”

Thomas turned to look at her, “How long have you been here?”

“Um…” Jessica didn’t want to answer, Thomas sighed, “You’re filling out the OT form”

Jessica moved on, “Well, I disassembled it and-”

“Jesus Jessica you can’t just do that!” Thomas explained, Jessica replied by placing the reassembled weapon on the desk, perfectly functional.

“What I found was a chip like the one in our wrists, but simpler. It is very easy to pry out of its casing. Now this was my idea, not King’s.”

She went to her grocery bag, which once held her breakfast, and pulled out a square of material. Inside was an impression of her weapon. “Look,”

Thomas frowned and looked at her in a bit of shock. “How the fuck did you get this?”

Jessica smiled, “My neighbor. She bought reusable, reshapable molds. Heat an oven to 550, put this baby in and you can make a mold of anything you want.”

“Holy shit.” Thomas muttered, “But… how long does that take?”

“An hour minimum, but I could get access to the identification chip in 5 minutes, I can’t imagine carving a serial number takes more than ten.” Jessica answered, “So make the replicas at home, sneak them in, receive a gun, take 25ish minutes to make the replica match the real one and rack it.”

Thomas shook his head, “It’s definitely a theory, but once it reaches disassembly someone would notice.”

Jessica nodded, “Sure, but would they report it?”

Thomas opened his mouth to enter, but frowned. Jessica continued. “I spent a good bit of time thinking about it, and I don’t believe they would.”

Thomas slowly nodded, “I think you’re right, but explain it. We need this articulated for any sort of warrant.”

Jessica nodded, “The warden is terrified of a riot. You heard how worried he was that our questioning would lead to one. The detainees themselves wouldn’t bother to report it, especially since it would just be one less gun to deal with. They’re not the type to snitch either.”

“Snitches get stitches.” Thomas agreed. Then he shook his head, checking the records, he found the main issue with her theory. “Ok, but if everything you said is true, the dart gun at the school doesn’t have this time gap, nor did Ms. Candella receive the weapon.”

Jessica nodded, and got to the biggest stretch of the theory. “Sure, but the dart gun’s rack was in the truck that had the accident.”

“Yeah but all the guns were recovered.” Thomas argued. Jessica nodded. That was the problem, but she had at least a plausible solution.

“Ok, here me out.” Jessica pleaded. Thomas nodded.

“So, a few months prior, the shortest period between time gaps happened, one with a dart gun, one with a hard projectile. A month apart. Both Ms Candella.” Jessica explained.

“If she’s selling weapons, then maybe a client figured out how she’s doing it. It’s an easy enough process. So they get guns for a mold of their own.” Her theory slowly took shape. Thomas’ eyes widened a bit.

“So they replicate a caseload. Set up a crash, swap out the contents of the case. And leave.”

Thomas shook his head, “No way, not enough time to swap out the chips. The weapons were scanned and enforcers were on the scene within minutes.”

Jessica nodded then sighed. What came next was a big accusation. “Yes, that’s true, but that only means something if the weapons they scanned were randomly selected.”

“They were,” Thomas argued, only for Jessica to shake her head. “No, the only weapons scanned came from the top row of each crate. They left that row, swapped out the rows beneath it.”

Now, Thomas looked worried. He quickly turned his attention to his computer. It took a while to verify, having to cross reference serial numbers with their rack records to confirm it. Once he had for each and every weapon he fell back in his chair and muttered, “The cameras at the intersection were undergoing maintenance. It was written off because nothing was missing. Fuck me.”

Jessica nodded, “So this isn’t some crackpot theory?”

Thomas shook his head, “No, I’m waking my captain.”

Thomas unplugged and walked off to make some calls. Jessica wanted to celebrate, but she couldn’t quite muster up the enthusiasm.

“I’m not surprised,” King answered, “That’s a lot of weapons unaccounted for, enough for quite the fighting force.”

Jessica nodded. Then went about filing some paperwork for what was likely going to be a shit storm, then at a thought, sent a message to the Deputy Director. She had a feeling this was going to put a lot of work on his desk.

Jessica felt very cool walking into the Intake Center that afternoon, Ted meeting her at the door with a team of enforcers. Thomas was leading his own force to PDC South to lock it down tight. There was a bit of an argument letting a probationary agent lead a task force for an arrest but considering Jessica had single-handedly figured out where the leak was, it was her collar. Jessica led the team towards the intake desk, where a woman in her mid 50’s sat on her computer.

“Maria Candella?” Jessica asked.

The woman looked up, and upon seeing the team of enforcers with hard projectile weapons behind Jessica, pointed at the Desk Supervisor, she flushed white. Swallowing nervously she managed a shaky, “I am she,”

Jessica nodded, “You are under arrest for Illegal Arms Dealing, Betrayal of Office, and Treason against the citizens of the Grand City.”

The woman just looked at Jessica, and slowly a dispassionate look fell over the woman. Jessica had a bad feeling about this. “Maria, whatever you think you’re going to accomp-”

The woman stood, a metal weapon in her hand. It was a hard projectile. Jessica shouted, “HOLD FIRE” and a barrel was in her face. For a good moment Jessica waited to die, then nothing happened. Her command had been heard. By everyone. Swatting the gun out of Maria’s hand, Jessica began shouting orders.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Do not resist! On the ground, arms wide, hands flat.” As she pulled the woman over the desk and dropped her down on the ground. “Do not resist!”

Pulling the hands behind Maria’s back she cuffed the woman, heart racing she bit back the tears. Fuck, Fuck that was close. Maria had no such compunctions. Sobbing as she begged them for mercy. Jessica stood her up. “Walk with me, do not struggle.”

Stuffing her into an enforcer transport after a thorough search for any other weapons, she took a step back. The door of the transport shut. JEssica took a very deep shuddering breath. That had been very close, too close, and she’s pretty sure she caught the enforcers up in her command. That was bad. If they complained then the Director was going to have her head. Her heart was beating out of her chest as the stress of nearly being shot in the face washing over her.

A firm hand slapped her on the back, it was an enforcer. The helmet was on, blocking Jessica’s view of their face. That being said, the voice that came out was clearly male.

“That was cool as fuck. I seriously thought we were going to have to shoot the bitch ya know? The other guys wanted me to say no hard feelings. We didn’t want to drop one of our own. So thanks for that.” With his piece said, the man walked back to his unit, who were all laughing with no evidence that they were disturbed by the engagement. Jessica sighed.

Yeah, nearly dying was pretty cool. Fuck. A few deep breaths, and her mind was calm once more. Having a hype man like King wasn’t hurting either. She walked over to Ted, ready to head to the PDC. Hopefully Thomas was having an easier time of it.

Thomas had much more luck, by the time Jessica arrived the prison was in full lockdown. All the staff had been called in again and were isolated in a separate wing from the detainees. The warden was in his office, looking very annoyed as Thomas silently sat in the corner. Ted came in behind her, and the warden’s face paled. Jessica looked over at Thomas, but he just waved at the warden.

“Your show rookie.” He said. Jessica forced a smile.

Jessica sent a copy of the new C.I.M.W.A. order to the warden. As the warden read it he slowly lost the fire in his eyes. He looked at Jessica, resigned to his fate. “Well?” His gruff voice sounded much softer than the last time they had spoken.

“You will answer me truthfully. Did you actively or through inaction fail to report suspicious weapon deliveries, including but not exclusive to weapons that were shown to be fake or non-functional during the disassembly process.” Jessica’s voice was hard as she spoke.

“Yes,” The warden’s voice sounded forced, but the admission came out all the same. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep violent criminals in line with a 4 to 1 difference? Morale had to come first or they would have-”

“Shut up!” Jessica ordered, “The moment there was an issue with the weapons you were receiving you should have reported it. IA will be conducting a full investigation and you are officially on unpaid administrative leave as per the order of Deputy Director Trevino. You are not going to be arrested, yet. You will cooperate with the investigation until we find out exactly how many weapons were leaked because of your negligence. Please understand that at minimum you will be fired and barred from further government employment. Count yourself lucky if that’s all that happens to you.” Jessica turned on her heels and left him to Ted. This was IA’s problem now.

Thomas followed her out, he looked really damn happy. “Congratulations rookie. Solved a case within your first month, and a big one at that. Your record is going to be glowing by the time this settles down.”

Jessica nodded, but it didn’t feel like a victory. “That’s over a hundred weapons, that's who knows where in the city. What are we going to do about that?”

Thomas’ smile faltered a bit. He took a deep breath, about to deliver some bad news. She knew what was coming, but that didn’t stop the words from getting under her skin. “Nothing. The case is being taken over by IA. Until they are used and found, there’s nothing further for us to do. We found the leak, it’s been plugged, we move on. The weapon chips have been disabled, if not we’ll find them easily but the chances of that are nil.”

Jessica nodded, “So we get to patrol the streets, knowing that people could be armed with department weapons?”

Thomas nodded, then slapped her on the back, “Weapons were always a risk. Trust me, celebrating wins is necessary to keep your sanity on the job. Let’s clock out. I’ll treat you to dinner and drinks.”

Jessica looked at the sky, “It’s only 4:30”

Thomas laughed, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere. I repeat, free food and drinks. Last chance.”

King whispered in Jessica’s ears as well. Pressed on both sides Jessica finally gave in. “Yeah, Ok. Let’s celebrate.

Somewhere in City Center

“So what?”

The boy in front of cell leader Diablo looked unimpressed as ever. Little shit. His father was twenty times the man this arrogant boy will ever be. Sadly, he was captured during the raid a few years back. Now, they were left with the leftovers. The remnant of the true king’s bloodline. Delta shook his head.

“So what? They know about the guns. They completely cut off future acquisitions and are looking for-”

The boy interrupted him with such casualness Delta stopped mid sentence. “How is that a problem? We have enough to make our own versions.”

“Lesser versions. Bare bones plastic replicas that barely function.” Delta argued. How could they possibly win with less than quality weapons? The boy just rolled his eyes.

“The chips are disabled, they cannot find them, right?” His calm voice, almost bored, boiled Delta’s blood.

“Yes, but-”

“And even if our weapons are prone to jamming, none of my plans involve drawn out shooting wars with police… right?”

“Yes,” Delta admitted, as if just because something isn’t planned for doesn’t mean it will never happen.

“Even if our agents need to go off script, even if some of the plan falls through and they get caught up in a fire fight, you read the debrief of that one girl. The newbie who, if I recall, was the reason you’re here in the first place, yes?” The boy stood from the cushioned seat. “That girl can end fights in a moment, no matter how good our weapons are, right?

Delta sighed, “Yes sir.”

The boy walked past him, making for the door. “Then we only need bare bones weapons, enough to function and be cheap to make, right?”

Delta clenched his fists, the logic was sound, “Yes sir.”

“So you are wasting my time then, right?”

Delta’s heart stopped. The world seemingly stopping, anything outside this moment losing all meaning as the words, calm and casual, crashed into Delta’s ears. “I didn’t mean-”

“Did I ask what you meant? I asked if you wasted my time.” The cool words were calm, revealing nothing. Delta slowly lowered himself. The temperature didn’t drop, but Delta began to shake nonetheless.

“Please, It was not my intention. I had worries and my men had worries.” Delta pleaded. The stories alone enough to drive the previously judgemental leader to his knees.

The boy sighed, “You’ve served my father well,” A pregnant pause lingered in the room.

Delta let out a shaking breath, “Thank you my lord.”

“Yes, meet with the medics for a prosthetic.”

“What?”

The boy flexed his mind, and Delta began to scream. His left arm there and healthy one moment, the next simply gone, leaving a bloody stump spraying red and a screaming Delta on the floor. The boy closed the door to his impromptu throne room, calling the medics and cleaning staff. He added a bonus to the cleaner’s paycheck this week. His father taught him the value of taking care of one’s people. He nodded to the approaching medic, who passed with little more than a passing phrase that brought a satisfied smile to the boy’s face.

“Hail the Nameless King,”

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Jessica changed up the room tonight. A larger door for King to enter in, and a large, circular, fluffy mattress on the floor. King was resting on it, very comfortable. Jessica was on her bed, reading a book she “memorized” and was actually reading. She looked over to King, who was resting, eyes closed, enjoying his new bed.

She was wrestling with how to thank him, wondering what exactly she could give this massive dragon. He seemed content with the bed for now but it wasn’t real. Maybe she could memorize books for him to read? She sighed, going back to the mediocre romance novel in front of her. A classic girl comes to old home town and meets the old flame schlock every romance novel does. The twist here is that both are secretly renowned poets and they are both embarrassed about it. She tosses the book away and goes back to watching King.

He was content, and Jessica was glad for it. He had given her the case on a golden platter, and their connection meant she knew that he wanted nothing for it. Expected nothing. He was so surprised by the big mattress Jessica had to invite him in. Ridiculous beast. Not that it was all that ridiculous. Jessica had been keeping King at arms length since awakening. Jessica had been taught about Entities her entire life, by her teachers, therapists, government officials she met with. Everything online spoke of how much damage they wrought upon humanity, how the kings dominated humanity in cruel and awful ways.

Entities are monsters, inhuman and not to be trusted, period.

The problem was that Jessica did trust King. She was trusting him more and more. A life of being told one thing and experiencing another was… confusing. Jessica dealt with this by keeping the situation, and King, away from the forefront of her mind. It wasn’t working now though. The whole situation was eating at her, and King could probably tell. He at least had the decency not to speak on the matter, but maybe she needed to hear his thoughts. Fuck it.

“King?” Jessica spoke up, getting King’s attention.

“Hmm?” The low sonorous rumble both unsettled her and put her at ease.

“I want to pay you back for your help, any thoughts?” Jessica queried.

King didn’t react for a good while, but Jessica could feel him thinking about it. The connection was weird, it was this gut feeling of sorts, a feeling that King clearly experienced as well. It was unsettling at points, especially when more inhuman, predatory thoughts crossed the connection. Jessica had nearly dropped her dinner when King had confirmed his findings. Then there was the warm feelings she felt whenever he thought about her. It was a bit bizarre.

“Perhaps if you offer your soul for me to devour?” King offered, Jessica just returned a blank look, much to King’s amusement. “Well, I don’t want anything per se, but I wouldn’t be opposed to the occasional hug.”

The memory of Jessica’s awakening flashed in both of their minds. Yeah, Jessica thought, that had been nice hadn’t it. Jessica frowned, that was a vulnerable moment for her, and the thought of going back to that moment right now was unpleasant. That being said…

Getting up from bed, she walked over from her bed, to King’s. She crawled over the mattress and after a moment’s hesitation sat down, back leaning against King’s side… neck? There wasn’t much of a distinction. Her back pressed against the scaled flank of King, yeah that felt right. She resummoned her book and resumed reading. It wasn’t a hug, but King seemed to appreciate the contact, and if she was honest, Jessica appreciated it as well.

A movement caused Jessica to stiffen, a massive claw entered her vision. It moved across her vision, gray and gold scales flexing as razor sharp talons passed only a few inches above her flesh. She knew she couldn’t truly be harmed here, but the sight was a bit frightening. The claws passed by, and a leg, arm, foreleg? Was lightly rested on her legs. It adjusted itself, or rather, King adjusted his arm, pressing Jessica just a little bit more against his side. He was hugging her. As Jessica’s heart calmed down, she relaxed. The feeling wasn’t bad, but being reminded of King’s size like that was… something for sure.

“Warn a girl next time,” She snarked.

“Where’s the fun in that?” King snarked right back.

Jessica chuckled, leaning back, book floating in front of her face as she read. Losing herself in the trashy novel and the comfort King was giving her, she didn’t even notice when she fell asleep.