Jessica stood as still as possible, trying desperately to ignore the various flashing lights as Thomas’ boss, Captain Mire, gave a statement regarding the decommissioned weapon case. It was a bland affair, and Jessica was likely a few minutes from falling over. Her legs ached from standing for the past 30 minutes, several places in her uniform were riding up her and becoming far more uncomfortable than she realized was possible.
“Thankfully, with the hard and invaluable work of the men and women of the Department of Bound Services, hand in hand with the Law Enforcement Department, all citizens involved with this failure of duty have been apprehended and will be punished to the full extent of the law.” Captain Mira ended her speech, and began to take questions. Normally, what she did would earn a medal, unfortunately the Director did not agree.
Jessica sighed, remembering the moment the decision had been made. It ticked her off. Despite making the arrest, the Director argued that the discrepancy was discovered by the IT team going over the documents and thus they deserved the recognition. Despite this being bullshit, that no discrepancy was in the reports, just an odd pattern of behavior and a confession, or that the IT team did not in fact catch that, the Director shook the IT team’s hands in front of the camera, and let the captain make her speech. The reason? She had added in the report that it was her Entity that reviewed the documents and alerted her to the behavior. It was decided that it was better to spew bullshit than admit that an Entity had assisted in the investigation. It pissed her off.
She sighed as the captain explained the few details she could speak about PDC South and its operation. Then the reporters seemed to notice her and asked her a question directly.
“Excuse me, Agent Adams!” A smaller woman asked, Jessica vaguely recognized her as a popular reporter but Jessica wasn’t a big news person. “Amy Cortilla Channel 1 News, You were the agent that arrested Maria Candella. Why was a probational agent asked to make such an important arrest?”
Jessica looked at the Captain, and she looked back at Jessica and nodded. She had been briefed on the question should it come up. Jessica approached the stand with the microphones pointed at her face. She tried to speak, but the cameras seemed to steal the moisture in her mouth. After a moment of finding her voice she spoke in a voice much weaker than she wished.
“I was the one to put the final piece together. After the IT department found the pattern and Identified Ms Candella, I was the one who convinced the judge to write the warrants to her apartment then her arrest.” Jessica explained, about to step away but the follow up question was asked.
“How did you manage that?” The reporter leaned forward and the focus of everyone’s eyes seemed to drill into her in an effort to light her on fire by the heat of their stares.
Jessica cleared her throat, “The issue was coming up with an articulable explanation for the odd behavior beyond the given explanation. I came up with the working theory and-” Jessica took a deep breath, “I executed a proof of concept before coming forward with my theory.”
Before the reporter could pry further the captain stepped in, “I’m afraid that further questions risk prying into the details of an active investigation. Once the trial commences our records will become public for everyone to review. Does someone have another question?”
The Captain lightly pushed Jessica back to her spot on the stage, next to Thomas who looked very amused, but also a bit proud. Jessica was thankful to take her position once more. Thomas whispered just loud enough to be heard by Jessica, “Nice job, for your first time,”
“I thought I was going to faint,” Jessica chuckled, Thomas nodded, “You looked like it,”
“Fuck you,” Jessica muttered, trying to keep a straight face.
Another 30 minutes of questions, and the press conference was over. It was about 2pm so Thomas took her to lunch. They would continue patrol afterwards so they took the department car. Jessica ate her salad and Thomas his burger, enjoying the relative peace of the little diner they found themselves in on the edge of West End. Jessica was mostly staring out the window, when Thomas decided to start talking.
“So… How are you liking the job, now that you’ve got a good taste of it?” He asked, clearly fishing for something.
“It’s fine, a good job considering I was more or less forced into it. My mentor sucks though. I’m thinking of requesting a new one.” Jessica answered with a smile. Thomas laughed.
“Seriously though.” Thomas pressed, “I heard about what happened with that Candella. It’s a big deal.”
Jessica shrugged, “If it’ll make you feel better I already have a therapist who’s,” She took a sip of juice, “irritatingly effective. I’ll be fine.”
Thomas nodded, and thankfully moved on, “I’m holding you to that,” King promised.
Ignoring him, Jessica watched Thomas as he bit into his burger. His orange hair and pale freckled face was certainly a unique one. “How’d your family get into the city? Cause you are clearly not a local.” She asked.
Thomas snorted at that, “I mean, I was born within these walls. I’m absolutely a local, but yeah. My family came from what used to be the Kingdom of Jeffery. The wacko that decided to kill the workers of that nuke power plant back right before the Wars. First one that did that, my grandma told me the story her mom told her, that the guy wanted to save the planet by destroying nuclear power. Moron. My family fled a bit after that, before the whole thing melted down. We came here and that’s just it. My great grandfather had good agricultural skills, so… yeah.” Thomas smiled with a thousand yard stare. “I met him once, he was dying and I was three. I don’t remember much, just a red-bearded smile.”
Thomas’ thousand yard stare was paired with a happy smile that seemed to be trying to mimic the one in his memory. Jessica knew many such plants melted down from her history class. Most of what used to be North America was uninhabitable because of the fallout. Thankfully, very little of it went as far south as the Grand City, though rumors of some mutated monstrosities are whispered here and there. Thomas, returning to reality, smiled and asked, “What about you? Adams is just as rare around here.”
Jessica shrugged, “While not as poetic as yours, my father is the Adams, my mother’s maiden name is Quincera. That being said, I’ve never met my grandparents, on either side. I’ll need to ask my dad about that but… It’s probably because of this.” Flicking her armband she smiled, “Which means I probably wouldn’t want to meet them regardless.”
“So how’d your dad’s family make it?” Thomas queried, drinking from his carbonated syrup. Jessica shuddered a bit, she hated soda. Couldn’t stand the cloying stickiness of it in her throat. She sipped her juice to banish the thought.
“I’m not sure. My dad doesn’t really talk about his family. I do know that they came down from the Florida Man’s Free Republic, my dad always joked that mom would have done really well there.” Jessica chuckled, then stopped as her mother seemed to stab her in the chest from beyond. She noticed a moment later that her eyes had gotten blurry and she wiped her eyes.
“Did you go to her funeral?” Thomas asked in a solemn tone.
Jessica shook her head, “Happened while I was waiting for my trial. I don’t know where her ashes are. I don’t think I want to know.”
Thomas slowly nodded, “I’d wait to make that decision. Closure does a lot of good.” Thomas’ fingers seem to rub together, twisting around something that wasn’t there.
“I’m guessing there’s a story there?” Jessica guessed. It seemed obvious.
Thomas nodded, “I’m past that now, mostly. But that’s not a conversation for work. You done?”
Jessica looked at her plate, seeing her salad was pretty much gone she collected one last bite and nodded. The duo stood and Thomas set the tip. Jessica stretched, readying herself for patrol. She did a quick scan of the little corner diner. It was pretty full, the tail-end of lunch rush she guessed. There were a few couples, some loners, the bar seats were filled with a menagerie of citizens. Jessica turned towards the door when a flash caught her eye.
She turned back and frowned. Silently, she asked her Entity about it, “King, what did I just see? Why am I seriously bothered by it?”
Scanning the series of booths and barstools, she noted a lot of casual clothes and a few suits. One couple was kissing in their booth, two ladies in another laughing to themselves. A small family with an infant in a highchair in the corner booth looked pretty happy. King responded. “The ladies, something on her wrist caught the sunlight.”
Jessica looked at the women. They were wearing long sleeves and jeans, in late April… Jessica frowned. Thomas poked her and she turned back to him. It was clear on his face that he was curious, and that he had been trying to get her attention for the last few minutes. Jessica sighed, looking at the doors. On either side of the doors were scanners, it was an anti-theft tool should a customer forget to pay at the counter. Jessica raised a finger, one of the best parts of Jessica’s uniform was that it made her instantly recognizable as a member of law enforcement.
Walking towards the women, it was obvious when one of them saw her. The smile dropped and a whispered warning was given, judging by how the second woman stiffened in her seat. Jessica slapped on a smile, and walked right up to the table.
“Hello ladies. Enjoying lunch?” She asked. The two women looked very uncomfortable, which solidified her suspicions. So Jessica cut to the chase. “Look, I’m not looking for paperwork, so I recommend you roll up your sleeves and we can all move on with our days.”
The look on their faces was a bit satisfying. Thomas walked up behind her, “Really? Dine and dash?”
The lady on the right booth went red, “How dare you! We would never-”
Jessica leveled a look at the woman which shut her up. Jessica reached over to the lady on her left and pulled up her sleeve, revealing aluminum wrapped around her wrist. A common way to block their chip’s signals to avoid the scanners at the doors. Jessica gave a look to the indignant woman, who sighed and pulled out a crumpled sheet of aluminum from her own sleeve.
Collecting the aluminum she sent a quick look to Thomas, a silent question of whether to arrest the girls. Thomas chuckled, pointing to their table, which showed several half-eaten plates of food. A rather expensive order. Yeah, just being forced to pay for this was enough of a punishment. Jessica turned without words, but she heard Thomas stage whisper, “Word of advice, you’re not cut out for the criminal lifestyle.”
Meeting him at the car, Thomas nodded in acknowledgement to Jessica, “I’m really starting to see why they put you on an accelerated schedule. Nice catch, and good judgment. I would have supported their arrest if you went there but it really isn’t worth the paperwork.”
“I figured, I think the public embarrassment was plenty. Besides, I want to complete our patrol today.” She opened the passenger side door, but Thomas stopped her.
“Did you get taught how to drive manually?” He asked. Jessica shook her head. Smiling, he asked, “Wanna learn?”
Jessica’s death grip on the steering wheel was beginning to hurt. Her knuckles were white as she slowed to a stuttering stop at the next intersection. It sounded so easy when Thomas explained it. The controls were very simple. Turn the wheel to steer, the car will go the registered speed limit automatically, push the right pedal to stop. Left pedal was to accelerate and she was not to touch it. She would let the car speed up at a safe rate, go down the road, stop at intersections and turn when Thomas said so.
“Calm down,” King assured her, “You’re doing fine, and your stress is very uncomfortable.”
Asshole. Jessica took a deep breath and took the turn Thomas pointed out, a slow right turn. She couldn’t pay attention to anything else because she was worried of something flying in front of the car. The automatic braking system was disabled due to the potential need to bump into fleeing vehicles. So if a car pulled in front of her it was on Jessica to stop with no safety net. Thankfully, they were approaching the end of their agreed upon distance. Taking a deep breath, Jessica slowed to a stop, and pushed the PARK button.
“That was awful.” Jessica managed between the calming breaths she was taking. Thomas just laughed, “Yeah, I remember my first time driving. My partner couldn’t stop laughing at me. Such a pain in the ass. You did well though.”
Jessica nodded and undid the seatbelt. She got out without a word and walked around the car. Thomas patted her shoulder as they passed each other. “Seriously, good job. We’ll get you driving properly soon enough.”
“Never again,” Jessica replied. It was a blatant lie, she would need to learn just in case. High speed chases were common enough that agents should know how to drive with some competency. Jessica sighed. Another thing to dread.
Thomas just laughed. He waited a moment for Jessica to strap in and they continued their patrol. “What’s your partner like?” She asked, Thomas hadn’t actually mentioned him before. She knew he had to have had one before he became a TA, so Jessica was curious now that he mentioned it.
Thomas smiled, “Insane, completely and utterly insane. She was a good agent though.”
Jessica nodded, “Ok, I really want details now.”
Thomas laughed, and shook his head, “Well, instead of just talking about it, why don’t I tell you about the time she talked a jumper down by insulting him.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh yeah,” Thomas confirmed.
I had been on the job for 8 months. Recently finished his probation and still getting used to his partner’s pitch black humor. She was driving, a terrifying affair in and of itself, and they got a 403J nearby, suicidal citizen, preparing to jump. She blasted through traffic and began discussing strategy. She was Bound with an ability to restrain an object in space. It was useful here, but it had a short range and did not affect momentum. It would be just as bad for her to catch a falling man as it would be for him to hit the pavement.
When they arrived on scene, a catch pad had been set up already. A perimeter had been set up and the enforcer waved them through after they parked. Thomas had approached the captain, “What’s the situation?”
The enforcer captain sighed, “The man is in a bad place, he’s garnering attention because of an ex-girlfriend. She cheated on him, but not before emptying his accounts. Used him like a bank account then left when he ran out of money. We’ve already picked her up for fraud but that doesn’t change the fact that this guy’s upset.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Thomas absorbed that trying to come up with a way to keep his attention while his partner got close, but she had beaten him to the punch. When he turned around, she was nowhere to be seen. Of course she had ignored the captain and gone inside immediately. Thomas thanked the captain and ran in after her. He rocketed up the stairs, 15 stories. Legs burning he comes up to a scene out of a comedy. His partner holding the man mid-punch as she laughed like a psychopath.
She had climbed the stairs and the following conversation was caught on her bodycam.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing? Are you insane?” Her voice catching the suicidal man’s attention.
“No! I’m perfectly fucking sane! I’m going to jump and then I won’t have to deal with this pain!”
“So you’re a pussy?” She asked,
“What?”
“You’re a pussy. You hit a road bump so you quit like a primadonna.” She explained.
“Fuck you, you don’t understand!”
“Make me!”
“She took everything I had, I just wanted to give her the best but she used me. I have nothing left! She left me for a broke bastard!” His voice was pained, and what happened next led to an IA investigation and a two month supplementary training in de-escalation tactics.
“Oh! So she came back.”
“What?”
“We’ll you’re a broke bastard now right?”
The silence was so thick it could be cut with a knife.
“You’re such a bitch!”
“Least I’m not broke because I let a whore walk all over me.” She argued back.
The man turned in the window and pointed a finger at her. “Say that again! Call her a whore again! I’ll fuck you up!”
“Your girlfriend is a whore.” The response was instant, and delivered with a flat tone that left the jumper stupified, before his face nearly exploded in rage and he stomped over, “Fuck you you stupid-”
Punch half cocked, Thomas’ partner activated her ability and the man froze just as Thomas entered the room. She was laughing at his exhausted face. “Hey Thomas! I got him.”
Jessica shook her head, “How’d she know that would work?”
Thomas shrugged, “She didn’t. She was a massive airhead who moved first, explained later. She had a really good ability that kept her employed but her file with IA was so thick it could be used as a booster seat.”
He shook his head, “Still… one of the best agent’s I’ve ever worked with. I– I liked her a lot.”
Jessica frowned, “That's a lot of past tense talk.” she noted.
Thomas nodded, “Yeah, she was killed in the line of duty. Her tendency to go rogue… it caught up to her in the end. I applied to be a TA a few months later, that was a few years back now. So… yeah.”
Jessica didn’t really know how to respond, so she went with old reliable. “I’m sorry.”
Thomas laughed, “Don’t be. This was before your time. She was one hell of a spit-fire and… she died on the job, that’s how she wanted to go so, I’m happy for her.”
Jessica nodded, and silence was allowed to lapse. It was a comfortable silence though, one where each person had their own thoughts to parse and the need for sound was pleasantly absent. Jessica just pondered Thomas’ story. The girl was insane, for sure, but effective. She wondered about her Entity, about how their last shared thoughts may have been since there was no time for them to ‘decouple’, as King put it, so her Entity was dead as well.
There was a record of different people getting abilities that were recorded in the past, though that was less common now with how many Bound were killed during the Wars. Jessica sighed, not seeing anything further to say or think on the subject. So her thoughts moved to her mother, and where she may be buried. Jessica would ask her father about it. Maybe visit her grave.
“And speaking about it with Dr. Lindsey” King reminded her, yeah. Her next appointment was tomorrow morning wasn’t it… Lovely. Ignoring that, Jessica finally straightened.
“So, you have any other stories?”
Thomas looked at her, almost surprised at the broken silence. Then a small smile appeared on his face, “Well, after a little under a decade of service with the woman, I think I have a few.”
Jessica sighed, back in her apartment after a long day. Jessica knew the crime stats of their patrol area, primarily petty crime and people being stupid. Maybe something major like a robbery once a month or so. Something like the disassembly issue is a once a year fiasco. Jessica was about to set the replicator for a nice soup, when there was a knock on the door. Jessica walked up to the door and after a beat, opened the door. An old woman sporting a big grin on her face looked back at her.
“Hello Marsha. Can I help you?” Jessica asked. Marsha giggled, “Oh no dear, but I wanted to invite you to dinner.”
“That’s a tempting offer but-” Jessica was stopped by a raised hand. Marsha put on a serious face, “Oh it’s not an offer, it’s a necessity. Young ladies can’t be spending every night alone and from that video I saw you don’t have many friends.”
Jessica blushed deeply. “Look, It’s very thoughtful of-”
Again Jessica was interrupted, “Nope! I won’t hear it. Young lady, you need to have a homemade meal with someone who you don’t work with and can share juicy gossip with. Now, I am not leaving your doorstep till you come down and have a bowl of my homemade ratatouille.”
Jessica sighed, and genuinely considered shutting the door in the woman’s face. Of course… She wasn’t wrong. It’s a bad sign if your only friend is the voice in your head.
“I resent that.” King chuckled good naturedly.
“I’ll warn you child, I have far more patience than you youngsters have attitude.” Marsha added, which helped.
“Fine, I’ll be down in 5 minutes. If not then you can come harass me some more ok?” Jessica offered. Marsha smiled victoriously and nodded. Without another word she shuffled down the hall to the stairs.
Spending a few minutes to change into a pair of jeans and a white blouse, Jessica quickly brushed her hair and locked her door. She was knocking on Marsha’s door with a minute to spare. Jessica took a respectful step back and the door opened quickly. Jessica blanked as someone who was decidedly not Marsha opened the door.
A young man, about Jessica’s age, opened the door. He was a bit younger than her, with a round face and deep chestnut hair, he was definitely related to Marsha, a grandchild. Which meant Jessica had been invited to a family dinner, which was absolutely not what Jessica agreed to. It seemed he hadn’t either since his eyes went wide at seeing Jessica. It was a little flattering if she was honest. She thought about fleeing but the grandson spoke first.
“Nana! A lady’s here.” He said. Marsha’s voice echoed from inside, “Oh yes, let her in. She’s a guest.” Stepping aside he waved her in. “I’m Fidel. My nana didn’t tell me we would be having a guest.”
Jessica’s smile only barely wavered, and she entered the apartment. She brushed up against his hand and blushed. Dammit Marsha! Jessica silently promised to get the old hag back for this. Speaking of, Marsha was in the kitchen, and Jessica was led by Fidel to the table.
“Oh good, you’ve come.” Marsha laughed, taking an orange ceramic dish from an actual oven. She wasn’t kidding about cooking for herself. Looking around it was clear she did well for herself. It was decorated with taste, matching floral furniture that seemed to pop against the white walls and curtains. With the light colored wood style floor it made for a very cozy space that put Jessica at ease.
That wasn’t even talking about the pictures. There was a lot of them, from pictures of people to art, of people, and a few frames that contained items like cloth or stone. Jessica also noticed a cross on the wall. It was interesting, and Jessica didn’t quite recognize it. There was one picture that seemed to capture Jessica’s eye. It wasn’t quite the center piece, that was taken up by a large picture of a handsome man touching a flame on his chest, no. What caught Jessica’s attention was a woman in blue, light cascading around her, being held up by what looked like a child holding a cloud that held the lady. It was a beautiful painting.
“I need to hire your interior designer,” Jessica complimented, “and from the smell, I suspect I need to hire you as a chef.”
Marsha laughed. “You couldn’t afford me, not with a government salary at least.”
Jessica laughed with her as Fidel sat down. The table was set and Marsha was still in the kitchen, leaving her and Fidel to awkwardly stare at each other. At the very least, Jessica took satisfaction in the uncomfortable look that was clear on his face. So Jessica started to talk.
“I suppose you didn’t know I was coming over until the last second?” She asked.
Fidel nodded, “Yeah, I mean…” He rubbed the back of his neck, “She’s, um, really trying to get me a girlfriend so, sorry about that.”
Marsha’s scowl from the kitchen told her all Jessica needed to know about the veracity of that statement. Jessica scoffed, “Oh yes, because a Bound Agent is such good wife material. Sorry to crush your dreams but I’m not looking.” She sarcastically apologized. Fidel laughed.
“Thank God almighty” He replied, “I’m too busy for a girl and don’t have the money for it regardless.” Marsha huffed.
Jessica just chuckled, enjoying the woman’s irritation just a bit. “She told me that a young lady shouldn’t be in an apartment by herself every night. That I needed a place to gossip. I didn’t realize it was a honey’d web for her to play matchmaker.”
Fidel made a face, “I don’t think that’s right.”
“What do you mean?” Jessica asked,
“It’s not a honey'd web. It’s called a honey trap. Its an old world saying and it usually refers to the woman in question, not the man’s matchmaking grandmother.” Fidel explained.
Jessica scoffed, “So you’re a know-it-all then. Nice. I see why your nana is playing wingman.” Jessica retorted.
Marsha put the ceramic pot onto a circular piece of cloth and sat down, “If you are done with the verbal jousting. I just wanted to get to know my upstairs neighbor better.” Her excuses falling on deaf ears. “Furthermore, Jessica was on the news earlier today. I wanted to celebrate her first big case.”
Fidel sent her a questioning look, “Seriously?”
Jessica shrugged, “To be fair, it wasn’t much. More of a team effort.”
Marsha laughed, serving some delicious vegetables. It smelled divine. Jessica had looked up the recipe for ratatouille. It was simple enough, but the vegetables were not popular. Eggplant, squash, zucchini, it sounded exactly the kind of dish Jessica would love. She almost dug in immediately, but Marsha thwacked her hand with the serving spoon.
“Not before grace.” Marsha chided, Fidel gave an amused noise. Jessica shook her hand, mumbling about assault. The old lady huffed, “Try it.”
Sighing, Jessica waited until the three had been served. Then Marsha spread her arms out towards both Fidel and Jessica. Fidel grabbed his nana’s hand and reached for Jessica. Jessica froze, not really knowing what to do. Her family had not been religious, but a second look at the pictures hung from around the house made it clear that Marsha was.
“Come on girl, we’re not going to bite.” Marsha chuckled at her discomfort. Fidel piped up, “If you make us wait much long I might.”
Jessica tentatively took their hands and Marsha began.
The grace was short, and very explicitly old world, which made Jessica squirm. They were old world religious. She thought. Great. Jessica had nothing against them… and she knew central america had a massive following before the kingdoms which only grew as many Kings tried to pass themselves off as a messiah figure, but she hadn’t actually met any before.
“Oh honey, you have a metaphysical anomaly strapped to your soul, I don’t think you have room to be uncomfortable.” Marsha commented which made Jessica flush with embarrassment. It wasn’t her business to comment. Fidel sighed, “Before Nana scares you off, can I ask about that case. It's certainly something to celebrate. Especially since you can’t be older than me.”
Jessica shrugged, “I’m 18, joined the department at 17. Not much to say about it really.”
Fidel scoffed as he took a bite. Marsha had already dug in. Jessica took a bite as well, and the gourds seemed to melt in her mouth as flavor burst on her tongue, then the heat of the dish fresh from the oven burnt her tongue. “Holy shit that’s good.”
“Language! No young woman should be cursing. It’s unbecoming.” Marsha said disapprovingly. “But thank you. I worked hard on my skills over the years. Glad you're enjoying it. Now, what juicy details can you share?”
Jessica looked at the woman, then at Fidel who was subtly staring into her eyes. Sighing deeply, Jessica shook her head, “Sorry, can’t talk about it right now. It’s technically pending until it hits trial. Once it’s public record I’ll tell you all about it.”
Jessica noticed that Marsha was about to press so Jessica changed the subject. “So, how’re your children? I noticed they didn’t join us so…” Jessica trailed off at the pained look from Fidel. Marsha looked at her plate for a moment. Jessica, realizing she had ruined the mood, attempted to salvage it, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
Marsha waved her apology aside instantly, “Not at all, it’s a fine question. Just painful. My daughter is dead, she took too much melt, her husband decided that he was too busy playing cops and robbers with the enforcers to look after my grandson. He’s locked up in PDC East, and.” Marsha bit her tongue. Over the course of the explanation, Marsha had gotten more and more angry. “I’m sorry Fidel,” She whispered, but Fidel simply shook his head, “I forgive you. Can we please speak on something else?”
Marsha nodded, but the air at the table seemed about five degrees colder. Jessica ate the still delicious food quietly, the silence stretching and becoming uncomfortable. Finally Fidel cracked and spoke up, “So, what’s your Entity like?”
Jessica pursed her lips at the topic, and Fidel winced.
“Damn, he’s almost as bad as you are.” King chuckled.
Jessica laughed, and waved away the questioning looks sent her way. “He’s imperious, arrogant, and thinks he’s the funniest guy in the city. But he’s also pretty smart and kind. I kinda think of him as a sort of pitbull, all scary looking but if he likes you he’s a big softy.”
Fidel smiled and nodded. “Well, at least he’s nice.” He chuckled.
Jessica nodded. Considering the available information she wasn’t surprised. Jessica continued, “I’m sure most are nice enough. Just… well, they definitely aren’t human. So it makes sense that they don’t put much weight in human morality or anything like that.”
Marsha nodded, “Something to keep in mind I suppose.”
Fidel sighed, “Nana, please take over the conversation before I half to kill myself out of shame.”
Marsha glared at him, and he just returned a pleading look. Marsha shook her head, “Pay no mind to my little one. He was born with his foot in his mouth.”
Jessica laughed as Fidel rolled his eyes. Marsha continued, “I am surprised though, you awakened only a few months ago.”
Jessica shook her head, “It’s a bit worse than that. Most of that time was spent in prison as the CA delayed my trial. I’ve been placed on an accelerated schedule. It has been a lot.”
Fidel took a bite, unable to repress a happy sound, and asked, “How accelerated are we talking?”
Jessica shrugged. “I was trained in a week and my time in probation was cut in half. I have another two months or so before I’m a full agent so that I can graduate with the class before me.”
Fidel just stared, open mouthed. “That seems…”
“Fast?” Jessica guessed.
“Negligent.” Fidel answered. “No offense, you seem like a nice lady but,” He shook his head, “You’re on the street with the ability to ruin lives, and you have a week of training?”
Jessica shrugged, she didn’t disagree. “The Director has it out for me. I think she sees me as a threat.”
Fidel shook his head, “Again, no offense meant but I’m having my guys look into this. That’s insane.”
“Your guys?” Jessica asked. Marsha spoke up, “My grandson works with a transparency advocacy agency. They work to audit the Council and keep them in check. I’m very proud. He’s worked very hard for his position.”
Jessica looked at Fidel in surprise, “What agency?”
Fidel squirmed in his seat a bit. “I work with HM Transparency. I’m an Auditor”
Jessica frowned, her mind trying to place the name, then she knew why he was so uncomfortable. “Wait, you mean the one with the stupid name? What is it? Halt Meekness?”
“Halting Meekness Transparency, Yeah, the founder wanted a flowery name about not bowing down to power without oversight. I’ve heard the jokes. We all just call it HMT since the founder died.” Fidel admitted. Looking resigned to whatever jokes Jessica would make, then sat up a bit straighter, “That being said, we do good work. The council are still humans, they need oversight.”
Jessica nodded, deciding to show the guy some slack. “Yeah, I remember you guys now. Didn’t you expose the pending statute that would take Bound children away from parents?”
Fidel smiled with pride, “Yeah, it was proposed by a senior Bond Department analyst, but after the statute was leaked it was dropped immediately. But that was before I joined, still very proud of that.”
Jessica smiled and scooped out a second plate. It really was delicious. Then Jessica had an idea to fill out the rest of the evening, “Marsha, please tell me you’ve got stories of little Fidel as a kid. I really want to hear them.”
Catching on to the interest in her grandson, Marsha chuckled. “Oh where to start?”
Fidel sighed in resignation to his upcoming humiliation and they all settled in as Marsha set the scene of the first of many stories. By the time Jessica returned to her apartment, she felt as if the stress of the last few weeks had been washed away by good food and better company.