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"Oh, come on." I look at my notebook as the battery dies. "Did I really forget to charge you?"

I start pacing around my table, looking for my charger, with anxious breathing and erratic movements.

"Detective." A voice calls for me, but I click my tongue and resume looking for the damn charger. "We have a situation."

"Okay, just let me find my charger," I say this without looking at her, but as I resume my search, Dalia's hand holds my wrist with an unexpected strength for someone with her lean physique.

I can feel how her palms are sweaty, and when my eyes travel to her face, I can see how nervous she is. My eyes widen before I take a deep breath to compose myself. As she loses her grip on my wrist, I can see the mark her grip left on my wrist.

"What happened?" I take a step closer to her and change my tone to a calmer and gentler one.

Dalia looks at the ground and hugs herself, avoiding my eyes at all costs. "It's... something happened in the hotel; Colette and Yui are wounded."

"What?" I hold my voice not to scream in my surprise; my eyes are already starting to feel heavy just hearing about the problem. "I'll notify the other officers, and then w-"

"NO." Dalia takes a step closer to me, blocking my way to the door. "I mean, we don't need it; the agency will cover for the backup."

Her tone is not one I'm liking right now; she is nervous, and I know that she's not telling me the whole story, but from the look on her face, she's scared of something. Fucking hell, I hate where this is going to get me, but I can't ignore her pleas.

I rub the bridge of my nose before looking at her with a more serious expression. "Okay, I'll trust you and your agency on this one." I cross my arms as I watch her lips turn into a relieved smile. "But if things go south, I'm gone, and I'll report the issue to the mayor."

She vigorously nods her head before taking my hand and hugging it near her chest. "I would never let anything bad happen to you, Detective." Her tone becomes so soft that it almost brings a blush to my face. "That's a promise."

After a few seconds of silence, she quickly lets go of my hand as she understands how her words can be interpreted, but she doesn't take them back either. "You should probably grab your things; I'll be waiting in the car."

Without even looking at me, she leaves my office. A hint of a blush on her tan cheeks makes a small, instinctive grin take over my lips. Pushing the thoughts away, I run to the armory to equip myself before leaving.

Arriving at the armory, I grab my key card and swipe it at the card reader on the wall. The heavy metal door produces a painful sound before opening.

Walking inside, I go over to the equipment table and grab a form to put the information about the equipment I'll get. This will be a pain to explain later, but with luck, no one will ask a thing.

I grab one of the bulletproof vests on the big counter on the edge of the room before walking to my locker and grabbing my trustworthy Bereta M9 and an extra mag. While grabbing the mags, a single cartridge falls to the ground and rolls beneath the counter. I crouch and grab it before noticing a flashbang taped to the bottom of the counter.

Okay, that's strange, but without too much time to think about it, I grab the item and safely store it deeply inside my hoodie pocket.

I should have everything I need by now; I just hope it's enough.

Leaving the station, the drive to the hotel is quiet; Dalia's feet hit the floor of the car almost rhythmically. I know that feeling very well; she's anxious.

Without thinking, I put my right hand on top of her knee, her bouncing legs suddenly coming to a halt as she looks at me, my eyes focused on the road. I just want to make sure she's okay. After all, if it were two officers wounded, I would assume the dumbest shit had happened, as it has already happened a lot of times before.

But two special agents from the big city—no, I'm pretty sure that what we are about to face is going to be harsh, and I need Dalia's head in the right place, focused.

Time: 11:30

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The front part of the Wayhaven Hotel.

Stopping the car at the entrance of the six-story hotel, I equip myself with the stuff I got from the armory, adjusting the bulletproof vest on top of my hoodie, and grabbing the standard medical kit beneath the passenger seat. Checking it to see if it's empty, I confirm that it is full, which is good.

Dalia and I step out of the car, and immediately we see purple smoke leaving the entrance door of the building. Not many steps away from it, my eyes focus on the two agents sitting on the ground, their backs resting on a pillar.

"Oh god," We both rush to their side. "What happened?" Dalia's voice almost breaks as she looks at Yui. The person is a lot more pale now than I remember; their eyes are tightly closed, and low groans escape their mouths.

Colette wipes the blood from her face and looks at Dalia with an angry look. "Scrappers, they took over the hotel's upper floors. We don't know how many, but by the smell, they seem to be a small group, all armed."

I walk to Colette's side and kneel down to look into her eyes; instantly, the woman's rage becomes a mix of hate and disgust.

Without reacting to her face I look at Yui; they are not in good shape, but I can't see any bullet or stab wounds, so why are they so pale?

"Can you walk?" My eyes meet Colette's, the harsh expression on my face seemingly surprising the woman, who nods in response. "Get them to my car and call your agency; we will need backup."

Colette gets up from the ground, and before grabbing Yui, she looks at me with an expressionless face. "They have a girl with them."

Those words echo in my brain; my hands tremble. It's just like years ago: if we wait too long, we might be unable to save anyone. The clock's ticking, time's passing, and chance's slipping.

Why did I become an officer? Why did I choose to fight for justice when the world was never just with me? Why? Why? Why?

Air goes in through my nose and goes out through my mouth. Control your breathing and get a hold, just like the therapist said.

My hands don't tremble anymore. I look at Dalia and then at the hotel entrance before grabbing hold of the pistol and feeling the familiar coldness of the metal in the palm of my hands. I'm in control.

"Are you sure about this?" Dalia's gentle voice reaches my ears.

I nod my head. "To serve and protect, or whatever bullshit, right?"

A small smile grows on her lips as Colette returns from the car, stopping at my side. "We have five minutes before backup arrives, so let's make this quick."

Already knowing our answer, the leader strides towards the entrance, with Dalia and I both behind her.

The purple smoke is already gone as we enter the lobby; only the smell remains—the smell of death and rottenness.

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I do my best not to throw up, managing to barely hold it.

Approaching the stairs at our left with slow and calculated steps, my eyes travel to a figure lying on the floor. The neck twisted backward, the blood escaping the person's mouth, creating a pool that seems to hug the body.

A rifle dirtied with blood on its shoulder and an empty canister on its side, probably the source of the smoke we saw.

Grabbing the rifle, I start inspecting it—an old, loaded bolt-action hunting rifle. Searching the body, I find three bullets that I quickly store in my pockets before taking a step away from the body.

Colette's eyes are tightly closed, her face upwards, and her nose twitching as she seems to be smelling something.

Opening her eyes and looking at Dalia, she holds up five fingers. "Second and sixth floors; the girl seems to be on the latter."

Dalia turns her head toward me. "Stay behind us, okay?"

"Roger."

A small, almost proud smile appears on her lips, and as quick as it comes, it goes.

We climb one step at a time, my rifle trained on the open top parts of the stairs, searching for any movements upstairs as Dalia stands by my side and Colette seems to be focused on the smells.

What is she? A sniffing dog? A K9 unit? If the situation were better, I would be laughing my ass off.

Our ascent stops as we reach a metal sign, indicating that we've reached the second floor. Colette raises her hand to stop us. "Two targets, both hiding in that room."

She points at room 215, and I stop to think about how to proceed. "Me and Dalia will break in and take care of them; you stay here."

"No," Looking her in the eyes, I firm up my feet on the ground as I take a step closer to her, putting the rifle to rest on my shoulder. "I'm going too."

"And what do you think you can do, huh?" She takes a step closer to me, looking down at me. "You're weak."

Dalia steps between us and protectively stands in front of me. "Colette, please stop."

"Normally I would punch your face to prove you wrong, but..." I walk past both of them while grabbing a certain item from my hoodie, and Colette's eyes travel from my hands to the item I'm holding. "Now, on three."

Pulling the pin of the flashbang, I use my head to signal Dalia to open the door. I hold my hand and start counting in a whisper.

"One,"..."Two,"..."THREE."

The door is open, and I throw the bang inside before closing the door tight.

"GRENAD-" A voice inside screams.

**BANG**

As the sound dies down, I open the door, and before I can enter the room, Dalia and Colette both rush before I have the chance.

Colette grabs one of the two men and brings his head to the ground so hard that I see the moment he passes out, the other one receives a slap from Dalia, making him stumble in my direction, and so I use the butt of my rifle on his head, effectively making him go to a deep and long dreamless sleep.

I grab a pair of handcuffs and quickly cuff them to a heater on the far side of the room. While doing so, I see a cardboard box on the floor.

"Come on, let's get moving," Colette calls out as she leaves the room, with Dalia following right behind.

But before leaving, I walk to the box and open it. There's not a bunch of stuff inside—only some spare clothes and hygiene items—but at the bottom of the box, I see something strange. Rolling the box to its side, the contents spill on the floor, and the thing that caught my attention comes into view: a diary.

Storing it inside my shirt to check later, I quickly leave the room and follow the agents.

The same repeats: we walk up the stairs and reach the last upper floor, but something feels off. Looking down the long hall, we are surprised to see a masked figure wearing a casual set of clothes standing near a knocked-down person on the floor. A second figure stands at the side of the masked person.

A young woman with sidecut blonde hair, a green troop military jacket with what seems to be a bulletproof vest, military pants, and boots.

The scar on her left cheek just makes her harsh expression worse for me, but not more than the fact that both of them are seemingly unarmed.

The masked person takes a step closer to our direction, even though the figure is still far from us. Dalia and Colette prepare themselves.

"I'm not gonna lie here; I was expecting a little more from your agency." By the tone of their voice and the laughs that accompany it, I'm assuming that it's a man behind the mask. "But I guess we can't expect much from little kids who like to play heroes."

The masked man's eyes fall on me, or at least that's what it seems from the movements of his head. "Oh, you're not like them. What's your name, kid?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I forgot?" I say it in a joking tone.

The man laughs, seemingly amused by my answer. "Oh, a jokester, I see. But now tell me and don't lie." The man mutters some words I can't hear and snaps his finger. "**What's your name**?"

Dalia looks at Colette with wide and scared eyes before looking at me. Colette seems to prepare herself to jump straight in the man's direction. I stay silent for a few seconds before opening my mouth. "I remembered; my name is Fuck Off."

Both the girls at my side stop their actions, eyes open in surprise, but who seems more surprised is the masked man, as he takes a step backward and almost falls.

"Wh- How?"

I tilt my head, not understanding what's happening, but I decide to push this button some more. "You look scared, buddy; you all right?"

Taking some steps forward, the masked man takes some back, almost like a dance. The girl at his side looks at the man and back at me with hateful eyes.

"Change of plans. We are out of here; at least we will have something to tell the boss."

I watch as the man draws in the air what seems to be a sigil of sorts before a door that wasn't there before appears out of thin air at the end of the hall.

The scarred woman grabs the person knocked on the ground and starts to pull them to the door.

"Oh, no, you're not escaping cowards." Colette starts to run down the hallway to reach her, but grabbing a knife from her back, the woman makes the motion to throw it.

I get in front of Colette and aim my rifle at the woman. The loud, echoing bang makes Colette stop in the middle of her run just behind me. The bullet hits the woman's shoulder and makes her lose her hold on the person she was holding before falling to the door and disappearing.

The knife that was meant to hit Colette hits me straight in the chest.

A sharp pain, the feeling that I broke something I shouldn't have, travels all around my body as I fall on my back, hitting my head on the floor hard from the sheer strength of the woman's throw. Without any air in my lungs, I take a deep breath to fill them up as darkness surrounds my vision. I'm about to pass out.

With all my will, I manage to look at the stairs we came from, Dalia kneeling by my side and shaking me as Colette stands there, looking at me with an expression I can't read.

I see JB and what seems to be a group of well-equipped personnel behind her, and so I let out one last sharp breath before letting the comforting void hug my mind, taking my consciousness away.

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