Of law and crime

Chapter 1

A pirate and her laywer

Regina Pyrope was mad. She was in her 2nd year in college, studying law… or, she should have been studying law.

Instead she found herself parking her red Porsche outside the junior detention center, walking inside as fast as her heeled boots could take her, finding the officer in charge in the back.

"Hi there Pyrope, I was wondering when I would see you."

"Where is she?"

"Cell B, follow the sounds of sea chanteys, you won't miss it, I'll buzz you in."

The door opened and Regina followed the way to familiar hall down to Cell B, seeing a few teens sitting together singing… well, trying to. The ringleader of the group, a girl with long black hair and a stupid grin on her face looked up as she realized they had company.

"HEY, REDGLARE, YOU CAME."

The girl rose and walked over to the bars, smiling her usual grin. "MINDFANG I AM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU, what the hell did you do THIS TIME?"

Regina… or Redglare as she was called by almost everyone at the college, scowled hard at Mindfang from behind her red glasses.

"You seriously need to relax Redglare, it wasn't that big of a deal, just tell me what I need to do to get off the hook."

"Mindfang I am not a fucking miracle worker."

"You study law don't you?"

Redglare groaned, raising her hands to her face, burying herself in her own hands as she counted slowly to ten. She took a deep breath, looking over at Mindfang, closing her hands in front of her as almost in prayer.

"All right… I am going to regret asking this, but what are the charges?"

Mindfang looked both proud and embarrassed at the same time. "Ok so… if I told you there was this sweet old timey ship that was just begging for a pirate crew? And that I might have had a bottle of beer… or two… ten tops."

Redglare groaned, her fingers clutching the bridge of her nose. "You stole a ship… Did you actually get it somewhere or was it still in its spot in the harbor when you got caught?"

Mindfang looked almost pleased with herself as she answered the question.

"Hey. I'm not studying maritime engineering for nothing! I even got a crew...most of which are probably having a huge hangover, but still..."

Redglare sighed. "Shit, ok... so you stole a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol... did you BREAK anything?"

Redglare closed her eyes, praying to herself that the answer wouldn't be yes.

"A few teeth… and some of my crewmates… but other than that no, I don't break stuff, that's so booooooooring. And I had the fucking decency to park the ship properly and throw up in a random thrash can, so it should be just as pirate-worthy as before."

Redglare sighed. "OK first of, it's not a Pirate ship Mindfang. This is not colonial America and if it was, you'd already be hanging from a noose by now. Second of all, thank god that the ship wasn't damaged. Ok so… not the worst you have done… now as for punishment… has the owner asked for any money for property damage?"

Mindfang shrugged. "Not that I know of."

"Ok… I'll go talk to the guard."

"Sweet, I'll be out of here in no time."

Redglare sighed again, walking back to the guard in charge. There she sat down in the chair opposed to him and took a moment to polish her glasses.

"All right… I talked to her… I know the case from her standpoint… what is she facing?"

The man sighed. "Well given her… family ties we're not going to send her to juvie for something as little as this… Community service… 8 hours every day for 8 weeks."

Redglare chuckled. "All the 8ths… she'll be pleased with that… and her bail?"

"Payed for about 5 minutes ago."

Redglare looked up in shock. "You mean to tell me?"

"We called her mother, yes… we have found that that's the most efficient way of getting Serket out from here as fast as possible before she starts getting bored and making noise for the hell of it. We told her mother that she had a visitor… I think she knew it was you, so she asked to tell you to please drive her daughter home."

"I was planning to do that anyways… ok, come with me and let her loose then, and I'll tell her the news."

Redglare and the Officer walked back to the cell, Mindfang smiling at them as they turned the corner. "You are lucky Mindfang, only 8 weeks of community service, you are lucky you didn't get charged with a prison sentence."

Mindfang grinned, walking outside as the door opened. "And apparently no bail either, unless it was so small you could pay it with your poor student salary."

"I wasn't the one paying the bail… Your mother knows."

Mindfang shrugged. "Ma's probably laughing herself silly at this."

"Well there is a good thing your mom's not mad cause I sure as hell am. You do something this stupid again Mindfang I will find you and I will fucking hang you myself for the grief you will put me through."

Mindfang's cheeky grin disappeared for a second before walking out of the now open cell door, hugging Redglare.

"I'm sorry you got worried over me… I promise I will try to not be a stupid drunk again in the near future."

"Liar" Redglare muttered, appreciating the hug none the less. She released herself from the hug, leading Mindfang out to her car, the two sitting down.

Redglare looked over at Mindfang pointedly, the black haired woman rolling her eyes before fastening her seatbelt.

Redglare kept her gaze at Mindfang.

"What?"

"Just… remembering how pleasant my life was before I met you. When life was good, and I could study law without worry about stuff like good or wrong… when live was black and white instead of a strange shape of grey."

Mindfang grinned. "When you weren't dating the girl next in line as head of a mafia family?"

Redglare groaned, starting her car.

It was true. She had met Mindfang in their first year of college. Up until that memorable day in October she had kept to herself, not made any friends or pursued any relationships. But one strange day in the library, she made the insane choice of sitting down next to a girl with olive skin, long thick curly black hair and her nose down in a marine textbook looking up sharks. They started talking, she didn't even remember about what, and soon she had made a friend.

Over the months the friendship blossomed into something more, and by December the two became a couple. Around the end of February she noticed Mindfang getting sad and dejected, wondering if she had done something wrong… and Mindfang in return told her that she loved her, but didn't think Redglare would love her the moment she really got to know her.

Redglare told her this was rubbish, and that Mindfang could do anything she tried, Redglare would never turn on her. Mindfang then spoke up, telling Redglare something she barely could believe.

"I'm from a mob family… and after my ma retires I will be the next in line… and I have no intention of trying to escape from the life."

Redglare just looked at her in shock, and then gaped… she then started pacing on the spot muttering to herself.

After about 5 minutes she turned around to look at Mindfang. "We have been dating for almost 2 months… more if we are thinking about how long we have been friends. We have talked about everything, from life on sea, law, childhood and fucking dragons… and you didn't think to tell me that you were from a crime syndicate?"

"It's not really a secret" Mindfang said with a shrug. "Everybody with ties to the law enforcement and most of the bad neighborhoods in the area knows we're in charge."

Mindfang looked down dejected into the ground. "You wanna break up now or?"

"I want to meet them."

Mindfang looked up. "Come again?"

"I want to meet your family."

"… Are you insane?"

"Probably, but I don't care."

"OK… if that is what you want."

…

Redglare let her memories lie as she kept her eyes on the road, stopping at a red light. "You know, you never told me how my first meeting with your mom ended after I left."

Mindfang laughed. "Let's just say you earned a few cookie points as far as Ma is concerned."

"Gained? I stared at her, with no glasses on, told her I was your law student girlfriend and that no matter what else happened I was not going to back out of the relationship, nor was I giving the Serket family any help in any kind of law related incidents and if she had a problem with it she could kiss my ass."

Mindfang laughed. "Yeah and then you kissed me, said you'd see me in the morning and stormed off."

"Seriously though, how did she take it? I don't think I have seen her since then."

Mindfang chuckled. "She can respect a strong woman, even if her career is fucked up. It would've been worse if you had been a wimp."

"Oh yeah, sure, MY career is the one that is fucked up."

The light turned to green, Redglare taking a right turn.

"In all seriousness though, a pirate ship? You are the daughter of a mob boss, had you decided to take a car and play Al Capone in the streets, that I would have understood, but a SHIP?"

"Hey pirates are cool and you know it."

"And sentenced to death by hanging, as I have already told you. They could stay alive for days you know, hanging and choking, while birds sat down on them eating them alive."

"If they got caught, yes."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you just get caught?"

"Friendly reminder that they didn't have security cameras at the time, also known as the number one reason I've been busted."

Redglare stopped her car, turning off the ignition, before sighing, starting to bang her head slowly against the wheel, the car making a bunch of sad honking noises.

At the house where Redglare had parked, a door opened and a woman stepped outside, walking down to the car. Redglare stopped banging her head on the wheel, looking up at the woman.

Reaching up to Mindfang's bust, the woman had the same skin and hair, but bigger boobs and a myriad of strange scars across her skin. She wore a black leather vest showing a lot of cleavage, scars as well as a spider web tattoo and a pair of skin tight jeans.

Redglare sighed. "Hi Mrs. Serket I brought your insufferable asshole of a daughter home from the detention center... again... while I could have stayed home studying for my midterms like SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE."

"Don't worry your lawful little head 'bout it kid, I'll make sure she gets through. Wouldn't want the future boss to be uneducated."

"DO NOT NEED TO HEAR THIS."

Mindfang laughed. "Relax, she's just janking your chain cause you keep calling her Mrs. Serket, makes her feel old. I told you to call her Marquise, she prefers that."

Marquise chuckled. "Well, it's not exactly a secret that we run this part of town. Still, I like your backbone, girl. Out of all the possible law students she could've gone with, I'm glad it turned out to be one like you."

T"hank you Mrs. Marquise... but please try to make your daughter lighten up on the drinking... and skippering... unless the thought of her going to Juvie is a career requirement or something."

Mindfang leaned over, kissing Redglare before jumping out of the car.

"Relax kid, she's in good hands… thank you for driving her home though."

Redglare gave a small nod, before turning to Mindfang.

"I'll see you at school."

"Yeah of course."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Redglare smiled, before starting her car, driving down the lane and out of sight.

"Cute kid… even if she's a law enforcer."

Mindfang chuckled, but was caught out of her reverie by a small voice called out her name.

"Auntie Mindfang, Auntie Mindfang."

Mindfang smiled as she saw the young body of a 6 year old girl, leaning down to catch her as she came running towards her, lifting her up into her arms.

"Hi there Vriska, how's my favorite niece doing?"

"Great, we learned about spiders in nature class today and in recess I won in all the games we played, and I stole Edrian's lunch money cause he's a stupid fart face."

Mindfang laughed. "That's my girl, keep it up."

"Auntie Mindfang, mommy said you were a pirate today, but Aranea says that pirates aren't real."

"Well you can tell your sister that pirates are too real and awesome and that for a whole hour today I was a feared pirate captain with a good crew and the coolest ship."

"Wow auntie you are so cool."

Mindfang grinned. "You will be just as cool as me one day… now, shouldn't you be in bed?"

Vriska yawned. "But I'm not yaaaaaaaawn tired at all."

"Come now Vriska, even strong cool pirates like us need sleep… now come on, I'll read you a bed time story."

Mindfang walked up the walkway to her house, her mother in tow, up to the Serket household, home of the Spider family.