[Sarah]

”The pleasure’s mine,” he assured you and his smile warped into a smirk as he dropped your hand. You fought to keep your breathing normal as your heart fluttered. He could tell. You realized humans might be dangerous.

You had admittedly little experience with them. There were a few planets across reality that held large populations of humans, but you’d always been elsewhere or too busy to learn about them. These humans were unfamiliar with sentient creatures outside their own species, but they were learning and adapting and doing it damn fast. Your identity would remain the utmost secret, but no one had been overly perturbed at the revelation. They hadn’t yet seen you at work.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

xxxC O R B I N
─────────────────── [ #D4C4BA Genius Analyst ] ─

“I’ve got it!” Corbin’s exclamation broke you from your thoughts. He had turned to you for lack of anyone else in the room to celebrate and his eyes shined excitedly. You grinned back at him because you could not be cruel even if your mood would allow for it.

“What have you got?” you asked. The work he’d put up across a few different boards still made no sense to you, but clearly there was a revelation.

“I know who the mole is,” he said proudly. Your smile dropped and you got up from the chair so suddenly it clattered backwards. Corbin’s body language changed with yours from excitement to confusion and hopefully apprehension. You didn’t have to shush him at least.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

“Who?” you hissed as you walked around the table to get closer to him. His knowledge was dangerous, and you would not be the reason Darius’ brother was killed.

“Look,” he pointed to the mess as if you could understand it. “Its Nico, the cop from the other district,” you relaxed instantly at the news as Nico was no where near the building and Corbin continued gesturing to his work. “He set up the bus crash, he tipped off Rush we were coming, he’s the dirty cop,” he said.

“How do we get Rush and Nico? How do we even connect them?” you asked. The papers on the board were a mass of reports and photos. The scribbling underneath was utterly unintelligible, and you wondered if Corbin could even read it.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

xxxM E G A N
─────────────────── [ #5E327E Behavior Specialist ] ─

“Its all here,” Corbin said, gesturing again to the board he set up. “The gang killing. Nico was already being investigated. He needed Rush to clean up shop before IA could get any more information,” he said.

“Woah. What’s going on in here?” Megan asked, walking into the room. She looked like she comprehended Corbin’s mess about as well as you did.

“Corbin found the dirty cop,” you said as Corbin beamed next to you.

“Oh yeah?” she asked inspecting the board closely. Her hands rested in her back pockets as she leaned in to better read the strange time-line Corbin had set up. You noticed he averted his staring the same time you did. “This is good work,” she complimented, stepping away.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

“Is it enough for a court case?” you asked.

“If we can get Rush and Nico in here alive, yes,” Megan said. She looked you over and you knew exactly what she was thinking. It seemed whatever look you gave her in return was enough for her not to voice her thoughts.

Everything was beginning to blur around Darius, but you couldn’t… You were done making assumptions and you were done hoping. Your heart hurt enough as it was, and you were barely friends with Darius. You would already be ruined if he left. It didn’t matter that the rest of the team had finally begun to push you two together. If anything, it was more reason for you to shut down the attempts before they started in earnest.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

“I’ll go after Rush,” Cooper said from behind you. “If Corbin doesn’t mind taking some time to send me in the right direction,” he added. Corbin perked up immediately and started talking with Cooper about things that were easy to tune out.

“Darius will want to pick up the cop himself, won’t he?” you asked Megan quietly. She raised a judging eyebrow and pursed her lips. You rubbed your hand over your face and shook your head. You almost told her she didn’t have to worry about you leaving, but that wasn’t true. Someday your past would catch up to you and you would leave to save the people you were trying to protect.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

“Its fine Megan. I can still work with him, and I have no intention of doing less than my very best,” you said instead.

“I know. I just think you should consider there’s more to life than work,” she said. She was right. You knew what you were doing wasn’t living. You lived and breathed the office. The only time you were away was to play body shield against villains of the state. On rare occasions you’d be invited out to a dinner party or housewarming or retirement, but it was too rare to count as life. Maybe you didn’t think you deserved to have a life.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

That was a whole other beast – one you weren’t about to share with Megan. Even Kai didn’t know how much you’d royally fucked up your past. No one knew you were serving penance for a people that neither cared nor forgave. You stood before your thoughts could consume you.

Darius walked in at the same time you were about to go in search of him. “Hey,” he said, nodding to both you and Megan. “Nico’s going to be here soon, I had some uniforms go pick him up,” he said.

“And they were able to?” Megan asked. It seemed you had both been expecting a fight from him.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

“Yeah, he had no idea we were on to him,” Darius said.

“Is he going to talk?” you asked. If you were in the same situation you wouldn’t say a word. That being said you wouldn’t be in the same situation to begin with. Darius shrugged and sat down at one of the chairs. “I could make him talk,” you suggested.

Darius scoffed a laugh. “I’d like to see you do that,” he said.

You leaned forward, towards him, and your eyebrows raised. “Would you?”

“No. We have to make a case, and I can’t do that if he claims his confession was beaten out of him,” Darius sighed and leaned back in his chair.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

“I wouldn’t have to hurt him,” you said, “I wouldn’t even have to touch him.” They didn’t know all of your tricks yet. Mostly because you didn’t want them to fear you more than they sometimes did. You’d saved their hides enough times that they trusted your ability to become a shield, but they had no idea how far your powers went when it came to the human mind and body.

“Fine,” Darius agreed. “You’ll come into interrogation with me,” he said. He stood and walked towards you and you saw Megan and Corbin find other things to do. He loomed over you and you looked at him in confusion.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. He looked serious enough you could almost believe him. You nodded and he backed off. You followed him out of the conference room and towards interrogation. What had he heard? Who had he heard it from? Anyone on the team was liable to tell him. Some were more liable than others, but you had also made a few public emotional scenes…

To what extent could you take this? Nowhere. You remembered you were done making assumptions and hoping. He would do what he would do, and you would live and move on. To what extent was Darius willing to go?

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

The interrogation room was in a strange part of the bullpen. The walls were floor to ceiling windows. In total there were three rooms centered around a tech room with visual and audio into each interrogation. Darius opened the door to room one and shut it soundly behind him as he followed you in. Nico hadn’t arrived yet and as you sat you looked to Darius.

“I’m not making assumptions,” Darius said. He sat across from you. You had wondered if this empty room would be the one he finally cornered you in. The fact that this has come so soon was a blessing and a curse. “I’ve been told I should tell you how I feel,” he continued.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[Sarah]

You nodded so he knew you were listening but remained silent. “I like you. You’re intense and kind and smart. And I never realized how attached I was to you until you started ignoring me,” he said. His voice was even and calm. For some reason you were surprised he sounded normal. You swallowed nervously and your eyes trained on your fidgeting hands.

Luckily before either of you had the courage to say something else the door opened. Darius stood and joined you on the other side of the table as Doron sat Nico down and locked his cuffs. “My lawyer here yet?” he asked dryly.

[ 3BPs awarded ]