“Quoppi…” Varyna paused in the middle of the flooded street, eyeing the pandemonium around them. “We made a mess.”
A voice that definitely wasn’t Quoppi’s startled her from behind.
“You certainly did.”
Varyna whirled around to see Section Commander Wtrn.
The Kremel leaned up against The AquaDome building near the front entrance, smoking a fat cigar as he watched the chaos unfurl in the street. He was one of the only Section Commanders in the Crime Division with no system.
But he didn’t need one.
He was [Level 78] with a [Stat Total] of 360—one of the highest Varyna had ever seen, even among those with systems.
“Sir!” Varyna quickly saluted.
Section Commander Wtrn took another puff. Then he motioned to the wall of COPS hover cars lining the street. They stretched as far down the road as the (Human) eye could see and were stacked four cars tall. “Gonna be a long night.”
“Sorry, Sir!” Varyna winced as she noticed all the COPS splashing toward the club in between fleeing Nemarians. There were hundreds. There must have been at least half of the section’s squads present.
“Varyna!!” One of the COPS emerged from the crowd and stomped over to her. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her, examining her. “You’re not hurt are you?”
“I’m not hurt, Captain,” Varyna shrugged him off. “But it looks like you are.”
Faren’s right arm hung in a sling tied around his neck while various white bandages were plastered on his cheeks and chin. He stepped back and grinned. “They roughed me up a bit before throwing me out. I called backup, but they shut down the whole building as we were preparing to infiltrate.”
“So you called the entire Gemini Section 1?” Varyna took another look around. Dozens of cops were darting in and out of the building escorting the club-going Nemarians to safety. At least two squads were standing in groups off to the side receiving orders from their captains, and more still were circling the building.
“It’s protocol.” The Section Commander stepped forward, dropping the butt of his cigar into the water. “We don’t let good COPS die. And we don’t let a club full of innocent civilians get caught up in the crossfire.”
“Right, Sir,” Varyna straightened up again. “I will go join the rest of Squad 11 in cleaning this mess up!”
“Easy, Kiddo.” The Section Commander stopped her. Then he nodded to Faren. “Take her away.”
Faren blinked slowly and nodded. “Yes, Sir.”
The Commander nodded back before sauntering off into the chaos.
Varyna went pale. The way he had said ‘take her away’ sounded like he meant.. to arrest her. She stiffened as Captain Faren reached for his belt. No way. Was he really getting his cuffs out?
She swallowed and scrunched her eyes shut.
To think she, Varyna Rhine, who never even got so much as a tardy at COPS academy was now being arrested. Blast it! I don’t deserve this!!
“-Nemarian. Squad 11. Quoppi-Shaden, that’s right.”
She blinked her eyes open as Faren finished speaking into his box comm. Right. Faren keeps his box on his belt instead of his shoulder.
“Calm down, Varyna.” Faren flicked her forehead as he replaced his box unit. “We’ll need reports from you two and possibly an overnight quarantine if we suspect a chance of retaliation.” He motioned over his shoulder to The Whale being dragged away by four Kremels from Squad 3. He shouldn’t have been able to pick Varyna out in the crowd, but his eyes were locked on her, narrowed and full of rage.
She shivered. “Sounds good, Captain.”
Later that evening, Varyna found herself slouched in a hardback chair. She stared at her black COPS boots against the shiny white tile floor. There were gray boot prints littering the tile around the base of the chair from her constant shifting. She could hear the whirring of a cleaning golem making its way down the hall with a spinning mop.
“Honestly, white was a poor choice of color for this floor,” she muttered to herself. “That poor golem probably mops all day every day.”
She shifted her feet again, leaving another pair of gray prints and leaned back in the chair, turning her gaze to the ceiling. It was also made of white shiny tiles. The walls were white as well. She’d never noticed the stark color palette of headquarters before. Probably because of the dim lights casting a yellowish glow on everything.
She wiped the moisture beading on her forehead. Another reason she felt uncomfortable at headquarters. The humidifier was always running on high to accommodate the Nemarian majority.
When she thought she’d go crazy from the wet air, gray boot prints, and endless golem whirring, the door across the hall clicked open. Quoppi walked out, looking just as exhausted as Varyna. A female Nemarian followed him.
“You two have had a long day,” she remarked as Varyna pushed herself to her feet. “The good news is that I think we have everything we need from you.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Varyna breathed a sigh of relief. After everything at the club, they had been ushered to headquarters where they took turns sitting in a small room with that woman. She’d asked them tons of questions, some easier to answer than others. Why did they go into that room instead of backing down? Why did they engage in combat? Why did she shoot the crystal light? It seemed the woman wouldn’t be satisfied until she had gleaned Varyna’s entire thought trail behind every decision she made in that club. Poor Quoppi probably had it even worse.
“The bad news is-” the woman added as Varyna yawned and stretched her arms above her head. “-we’ve received some intel from our insiders, and your names are on the list.”
“The list?” Varyna asked. The list of people banned from fancy Nemarian clubs, perhaps?
Quoppi adjusted his glasses. “So we’ve been targeted by the underworld.”
“Wait, that list?!” Varyna’s eyes widened. There’s no way two ordinary COPS from Squad 11 could be placed on the underworld’s black list—the same list that was basically a death sentence. Nobody on that list lasted more than a month. Nobody.
“Yup!” The female Nemarian grinned and gave them a thumbs up. “Honestly, no COPS have ever been on the list, so congratulations on being the first!”
“But we didn’t even do anything extreme!” Varyna protested. “I thought this ‘The Whale’ guy wasn’t even that much of a big shot!”
“Well, it was more of a mistake on Section 0’s part,” the woman explained. “We knew The AquaDome was one of the many Cnidarium fronts, but we didn’t realize the biggest Cnidarium storage in the galaxy was right below it.”
Varyna froze. They had been on top of mounds of Cnidarium the entire time? Ah, so naturally it would have been found when the COPS came rushing in, but was the underworld really going to pin all the blame on Quoppi and Varyna?
“You’d think they’d have better waterproofing for a facility under a water-filled club,” the Nemarian sighed. “Your little trick with the wall sent a bunch of water straight into the storage, and most of the Cnidarium was ruined.”
“It’s.. ruined? Not confiscated, but ruined?” Varyna raised her eyebrows.
The female Nemarian nodded. “They had to shut down and evacuate the entire street. The water supply may be contaminated with Cnidarium juice.”
So it really was their fault. Quoppi’s conspicuous ‘plan’ had done more damage than just a flooded street.
“What happens to us now?” Even Quoppi looked uncharacteristically nervous. He had probably already read too much about the fates of creatures on the black list.
“For tonight, I’ll escort you to some nice overnight holding cells. It’s the most secure place we have here at headquarters and transporting you is too dangerous,” the woman smiled. “Tomorrow we’ll decide what to do with you from there. This whole thing is just so unprecedented.”
Varyna frowned. The woman looked to be way too excited about her and her comrade’s impending doom. And they had to spend the night in a holding cell? Like some kind of criminals?!
That night, Faren came to visit his two underlings.
“This is all my fault as your Captain. I failed you,” he lamented as he slid a blanket and some snacks into both Varyna and Quoppi’s cells.
“It’s not your fault, Captain,” Quoppi replied. “Melting a hole in the glass was my idea.”
“No, Quoppi. You never should have been in that position in the first place.” Faren insisted.
“Not one of us knew what we were actually getting into!” Varyna barked from her cell. “This is Section 0’s fault. They should have handled their dirty work themselves!”
The Nemarian sitting at the desk nearby hardly jolted at her outburst. He sighed, not even glancing over. “Officer Rhine, I’d like to remind you again to please keep your voice down.”
“Or what? You gonna stick me in a cell? Oh wait! I’m already in one!” Varyna snapped back. “You could order my execution but that’s already been done too, so there’s nothing left for you, sorry.”
The desk attendant sighed again and continued the paperwork he was doing.
“Have they had any visitors?” Faren asked him.
“You’re the first,” he answered.
“Yeah, because nobody else is allowed.” Varina huffed. “Because our family members might secretly be trying to kill us, right?”
“Calm down, Kid,” Faren shook his head. “I’m sure this will all be sorted out by morning. We just want to keep you safe, alright?”
“Yeah I feel so safe,” Varyna muttered as she ripped open a package of dried Paral slices brought by Faren.
“I should have brought some earplugs for you, Quoppi.” Faren smirked as he turned to leave. “Try to get some sleep you guys.”
“Yes, Captain,” Quoppi and Varyna answered in time—Quoppi politely and Varyna through gritted teeth.
True to Faren’s word, things were sorted out by morning. But not in a way any of them hoped for.
“So you two will board the shuttle, and it will take you straight to a transport ship,” the Nemarian woman who had interviewed them was busy explaining the plan when Faren burst into the room.
“You’re sending them away?” He asked, out of breath. He must have run here the minute he heard the news.
“Yes. To the Lower Section,” the woman answered matter-of-factly. “Ideally, they’ll be back in a year or two, but you never know how long it will take to ensure they’re safe to return. This is the entire Nemarian underworld we’re talking about here.”
“Ha.” Faren ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the door frame. “Just like that, huh?”
The man seemed to be genuinely regretting everything that happened. Even though Quoppi-Shaden and Varyna Rhine weren’t the best COPS in his squad, he didn’t want to lose either of them. And he certainly didn’t want to see every ounce of their potential wasted out in the rural areas of the galaxy.
“Anyway, Varyna, you will be transferred to Lower Section Squad 3, and Quoppi, you will be going to Squad 5 in the same section.” The woman went on with her explanation, ignoring the man in the doorway.
Varyna snorted and muttered under her breath, “same section but an entire sector apart.”
“Actually, Squad 3 works on the lower end of Helios Sector, right near Squad 5’s area in Aura Sector,” Quoppi corrected her.
“Wonderful. We’ll only be one Check Station away from each other. Almost like being cubicle neighbors.” Varyna couldn’t contain her sarcasm.
“Hmm I don’t think that’s an accurate comparison,” Quoppi answered with a shrug. “It would be more like-”
“It was just a joke, Quoppi,” Varyna raised her hands in defeat. “I get it.”
She slumped back in her seat with a click of her tongue and turned back to the female Nemarian (who was beginning to seriously annoy her with her giddy smile).
“So. When do we leave?”
The woman’s smile deepened. “Right now, actually.”