“Where. Is. Leviathan.” The Human COP held Lusac against the wall, her eyes murderous.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lus lied. Luckily, she’d knocked the breath from him, so he had an excuse to gasp.
“I know you have him. You must. Why else would you have been in the Demonology section and then the warehouse? But I’m taking him for myself,” she demanded.
“You’re crazy, Officer. I don’t know a thing about Demonology,” Lus continued to plead.
She tilted her head to the side. “You don’t remember me, do you, Chef.”
With that the pieces clicked together. She was the girl he bumped into back at the Erengil Library when he was looking for cookbooks. But he hadn’t even known about Leviathan then. How could she have connected it to him?
“You got away back at the warehouse, but you won’t be so lucky this time,” she growled.
Lusac blinked in surprise. He definitely didn’t remember any COPS at the scene, but there had been enough chaos during their escape that he might have just missed them. However, if they knew he had Leviathan, that was really bad news for him.
The other officer walked past, guiding the cuffed robber, and the woman dropped her arm, letting Lus relax from the wall he’d pressed into. “You okay, Varyna? What’s taking so long? Officer Hlxt wants to wrap this up and get this woman processed.”
“Fine. Just making sure I get all the details from the altercation,” she responded with fake innocence.
Lus was once again confused. If she knew he had Leviathan, why wouldn’t she tell the others? Unless… when she meant “mine,” she meant it quite literally.
“Why don’t we get back to the whole statement thing,” Lusac suggested with a smile.
“Not a chance.” She threw her arm against him harder than the first time, slamming him back against the wall. “Where’s the Demon, Runner? Give him to me, and I’ll let you go even.”
So this woman was crazy and corrupt. Lus didn’t hold much love for the COPS–what sane Runner would–but he was not about to hand over a Demon to some corrupt official who wanted to do Watcher knows what with it. Leviathan was safest in his hands where he could be contained, and Lusac cared just enough about the galaxy that he wasn’t going to let some random woman set him free for her own vile purposes.
“I don’t have the Demon. I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Lusac continued with his original story.
“I’m not going to play this game with you. Leviathan was at the warehouse, and it was one of the two things missing. You were in the library in the Demonology section. You’ve been found out. Now give me the USB.” The woman’s eyes burned with a dangerous anger that attracted Lus as much as it terrified him.
“I wasn’t even at the warehouse,” Lus flat out lied. No point in giving her anything to go on.
“You blasted liar,” she said. She leaned in closer, cutting off the last of Lus’s air. “Give me what I want. You don’t know who you’re messing with.”
“Officer Varyna Rhine? An insane member of the COPS?” he suggested with the last of his breath.
She gave him a look that would have killed him on the spot if it could have.
The sound of footsteps approaching caused her to once again release Lus as the lead officer stopped at the top of the alley.
“Rhine? What are you doing? We need to process this and move on,” he said.
“It’s taking just a little longer than expected. Why don’t you and Opun go ahead to the precinct. I’ll be there as soon as I finish with this witness,” she promised, using that same false innocence.
The Kremel grumbled under his breath as he waved a dismissive hand and walked away. A few seconds later, a crawler ran past with the COPS logo pasted all over the sides.
“Now that we’re free of interruptions, where were we?” she asked with a deadly tone.
“You were interrogating me about a crime I didn’t commit and ignoring your orders to get my statement,” he supplied with his best suave smile.
Varyna shook her head slowly while laughing. “I tried to give you a way out. All you had to do was hand over a blasted USB, and then I would have let you go back to your life of crime.” She grabbed his wrist, jerking his hand towards a scanner in her other hand. “But since you want to do this the hard way, I’m going to take you in. I witnessed you at the scene of a crime myself. I’m sure you have plenty of other warrants out if I just–”
She stopped speaking and her jaw fell open in surprise. Lus risked a glance at the holoscreen of the scanner and chuckled. He’d completely forgotten about that prank Vlqtrn and Dasht played on him a year and a half ago the first time he went out drinking with any of the crewmates.
All Runners had their id chips rekeyed to be someone else, but typically it was an identity that could pass for the person in a pinch. The guys thought it would be funny to give Lusac something absolutely ridiculous like elderly Kremel woman.
And that same image was on Varyna’s screen since Lus never bothered to get the id fixed. She stared up at him with another layer of rage.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said, tightening her grip on his wrist.
Lusac shrugged. “A case of swapped identities. That does happen, you know.”
A smile grew on her face. “Tampering with id chips is illegal across the whole galaxy, you know. I can still arrest you for this.”
The blood drained from Lusac’s face. He hadn’t considered that part. She refused to let go of his wrist while she pulled the cuffs from her belt, and his 5 [Strength] was not enough to break away despite his feeble attempts.
Varyna held the first of the metal circles to Lus’s trapped wrist, but to both their surprise, it refused to open.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Blast it all,” she said, wildly waving the device around. Still, it did not open.
“It would appear you actually can’t arrest me.” Lus allowed a small smirk to form.
That did nothing to help her growing frustration, but even as she cursed the device and did everything in her power to activate it, the cuffs refused to cooperate.
“I think I’ll be going now. Unless you really did want to get that statement from me, which I would be happy to provide.” Lusac pulled his wrist back without any resistance.
“And of course Hlxt is already gone so there’s no one to authorize the arrest,” she muttered to herself. Varyna replaced the cuffs at her belt and spun to face Lus, returning to that deadly anger.
“Look here Adventurer-Chef-Idiot,” she said, jabbing a finger into his chest.
“Excuse me?” he replied, both offended and complimented at the name.
Varyna ignored him, continuing with her rant. “I don’t know who you are yet, but I promise you, I will find out. And I will find out soon. Once I do, you’re going to beg the Holy Core itself that you were never born unless you hand that Demon over. Got it?”
Lus looked down at the finger stabbing into his sternum and then back to the face of rage.
“Got it. Don’t let you know who I am.” He nodded fiercely.
She snarled. “Joke all you want now, but that USB is mine. Whatever it takes.” Varyna shoved her finger into him one last time for good measure before walking away, leaving him alone in the alleyway.
Lusac watched her go as he rubbed his chest, trying to wrap his head around the corrupt officer who was out for his blood. He returned to the shop where the Kremel cashier greeted him with a bright smile despite the nervousness on her face.
“Hey. Sorry about that. And, um, thanks for helping out,” she said.
“Anytime,” he replied with a smile, using all of that 6 [Charm]. “I understand if you have to close up shop or whatever, but I think my team would like to come check this place out and buy our stuff here if that’s possible.”
She nodded. “Of course. I’m sure I can work in an extra discount for saving the store and all that.”
“I won’t say no to that,” he chuckled against his own nerves from his run in with Varyna. “But it might not be me who comes back. For sure you can plan on two Kremel: Wsr and Nippy. They’ll be doing the purchasing.”
The cashier nodded again. “Alright. We’re open until sundown so make sure they’re here before then. I’ll get the gear together.”
“Thank you again,” Lusac said as he stepped over to the door.
Walking quickly, he made his way back to where he first separated from Wsr. It’d definitely been longer than the half an hour by now, and she was not going to be happy to hear about the interference from the COPS, but hopefully the great deal he found would make up for it. After all, he didn’t have to share everything that happened with Varyna since he couldn’t admit to anyone that he’d brought a Demon aboard the Argo and released it into the interbox.
Wsr was waiting just where he expected, and she looked mighty pleased with herself.
“About time, Lus. Did you get a little lost?” She grinned. “Or were you just busy trying to get your valer back.”
“Ha. Ha. You’re funny,” Lusac replied, though he still double checked he had his funds in his pocket. He tried not to let Wsr see the relief upon finding the valer intact. “But I actually did find a store that has everything and at a great price.”
“So did I,” Wsr said. “Everything for only 23,000 cryptin.”
Lusac smiled. “Mine offered it for only 19,000.”
Wsr shook her head. “I doubt that.”
“It’s true!”
“What store was it?”
“Uh, well, erm,” Lusac stuttered as he attempted to recall the name. With all the signs he’d passed, he couldn’t keep everything straight. “I guess I don’t remember, but–”
“You don’t remember? How useful is this incredible deal going to be if we don’t know how to find it?” Wsr asked, a hint of exasperation in her voice.
“I know where to find it though,” he said. “Wait, no. I remember. It’s called Vwwtl’s, just off the main road.” Even if he had 0 [Common Sense], that 8 [Intelligence] was doing something at least.
Wsr gave a grudging nod. “Fine. Let’s get Nippy, and you can take us to it.”
“Well, uh, the thing is someone tried to rob it,” Lus began. “And then the COPS showed up. It’s not a big deal or anything, but one of them thought she recognized me from the warehouse mission all those weeks ago, so it might be better if I wasn’t in town anymore for a while.”
Wsr murmured some foul Kremel curses under her breath as she rubbed her forehead. She looked up at Lus with disappointed orange eyes. “How does this always happen to you, Lusac? You realize part of being a Runner is learning to be inconspicuous, right?”
“Come on, Wsr. Neither time was my fault. I can’t help that an old friend recognized me or that the one store I visited had a robbery attempt,” Lus defended himself.
“Nippy’s not going to be happy,” she warned him.
“I know. Let’s just get back to the shuttle and get this over with. You only have until sundown to get to the store,” Lusac said with a sigh.
Wsr led the way back to the landing pads, obviously on the lookout for any kind of trouble that might have followed Lus back from town, though he was quite sure he hadn’t been followed.
When they got back to the shuttle, the others were lounging about inside the shuttle. The air was dry enough that it didn’t make much sense for the Nemarians to go out unless they absolutely had to, but Nippy seemed extra eager to get into the city. His interest turned to frustration upon hearing Lus’s story, however.
“Again, Lusac? How? I genuinely mean this. How in Suns’ names did you manage to get the COPS on our trail as well?” the Kremel asked in an explosion of anger.
Lus sank back into his seat. “It wasn’t intentional, Nippy. I didn’t even know the COPS were at the warehouse.”
“No one did,” Wsr agreed.
“It’s fine. It’s fine,” Nippy held the bridge of his nose. “Wsr, Dasht, and I will go into Bevas to buy the supplies from the shop Wsr found. I don’t want to be seen around the same area the COPS were in.”
“You didn’t tell that cashier anything about us, right?” Wsr asked.
Lus slipped down further. “I might have mentioned yours and Nippy’s names so she knew to expect you guys if I couldn’t come back.”
Nippy’s eyes looked ready to pop out of his gray skin, but Wsr stepped in.
“That’s not a big deal. Why don’t we go there, if she is expecting us. It’s a better deal anyway.”
“Good going, Loser,” Zer-Dasht muttered from where he was putting together a mistter to keep him healthy out in the desert air.
“I am sorry this happened, Nippy,” Lus tried.
The Kremel waved a hand to cut the apology short. “Just stay here and keep out of trouble. Can you handle that, Lusac?”
“Yeah,” Lus muttered, crossing his arms. Did he have to treat Lusac like a misbehaving child for something that wasn’t even his fault?
Nippy sighed. “I understand that you didn’t do anything to draw this out but having the COPS after us too is the last thing we need right now, Lus. I’m worried about that, not you.”
“I get it, Nippy.” Lus continued to stare at the floor. He wanted a little time to mope about after everything that happened, and having Nippy continue to infantilize him was not helping anything.
“Let’s move out. Yonnex-Quniwel, keep watch,” Nippy ordered as the shopping party set out.
Quniwel moved to be sitting closer to Lusac. “What are the chances that one of the same COPS who was at the warehouse would end up out here at the same time as us?”
“I know,” Lusac agreed, softening up just a little as the Nemarian spoke. “We sure could have used that luck from the battle with the Corporates again.”
Quniwel shook his head as he laughed. “That kind of thing is once in a lifetime, Lusac.”
Lus smiled. If only the Nemarian knew the truth. But even Lus recognized that making the whole ship that lucky repeatedly might yield some unseemly consequences. If they got used to [Luck] like that, what would happen when the [Luck] ran out or, worse, they ended up in a situation that not even [Luck] could save them from.
“Well, I’m sure that this was another once in a lifetime thing. You’ll probably never hear from that officer again,” Quniwel comforted him.
Lus frowned at that. He was really hoping he wouldn’t be seeing Officer Rhine again any time soon, but even all the Beginner's Luck Soup in the galaxy didn’t seem like enough to keep that from happening.