Consequences to Being a White Knight

Chapter One

In a small, magicless neighborhood deep within the heart of Seattle known as Hyperion Heights, Detective Rogers stepped out of his car to look for Victoria Belfrey, the corrupted CEO of Belfrey Developments using her phone's GPS coordinates in order to track her movements and carefully entered an old abandoned building with hope she would at last lead him to Eloise Gardener, a missing, seemingly innocent girl whose disappearance he blamed on himself even though as far as his cursed memories allowed him to know, Victoria had abducted her years ago.

He cautiously pulled his service weapon from its holster Rogers wore on his left hip in case it would become necessary to defend himself from whatever dangers might be awaiting him inside, then he climbed down a rickety metal stairwell to make his way into the building's basement and it wasn't long before he found the cruel woman a few feet ahead walking towards him from a storage room behind her.

Victoria was immediately startled by the younger detective's sudden appearance when he forcefully shouted, "Hey! Where is she?Tell me… where is Eloise Gardener?"

She obstinately shook her head as she attempted to lie to Rogers despite knowing she had finally been caught due to his never ending persistence to find the woman he had no idea was the true villain among them by stating, "Why, I have no idea whatyou're talking about.And you need a warrantto enter my property."

"I'll have your badge for this," she added when she pulled out her phone to make a call until Rogers swiftly knocked it from her hand causing it to clatter against the floor once it hit.

"Now… you're not walking out of hereuntil I find her," he responded coldly, keeping his gun trained on her while he reached to his belt to pull his cuffs using his prosthetic hand in order to do so and then held them out towards her indicating for her to raise her hands. "Your wrist."

Once she obeyed his demand, she looked into his eyes with concern as Rogers worked with difficulty to place one cuff around her wrist, the other around a metal structure nearby to detain her until he finally managed to lock the cuffs in place so she wouldn't be able to escape while he searched the storage room.

Once he finished, the detective raised his gun once more, as well as his flashlight to search his further surroundings for dangers while he made his way towards the doors and finally forced them open. However, upon shining the light inside and seeing the missing girl in front of him, Rogers immediately put his gun away and slowly, cautiously stepped towards Eloise so he could free her.

Upon him entering, Eloise pretended to be frightened of the detective since she wasn't really in danger, keeping her back to him and beneath the blanket she wore wrapped around her shoulders as she fearfully pleaded, "Don't hurt me."

Rogers slowly stepped inside the small space so he could move in closer to her while he answered her assuredly, "I won't. I won't. I won't. Don't worry. Uh… my name is Detective Rogers. I'm… I'm here to help."

"I've been looking for you for… for a long, long time, Eloise," he whispered gently once he knelt down behind her in hope to show her he meant her no harm and at last the missing girl pulled the blanket down from off her head once she felt she could trust him as Eloise turned her head around to see her rescuer.

"You have?" she questioned him worryingly as she looked into his eyes and then took his good hand he reached out for her to take hold off so he could help her stand.

Rogers smiled at her upon feeling a deep sense of relief as he continued, "Yeah. Yeah, I have. Come on."

Once Eloise was on her feet, he pulled her against him and wrapped his arm around her to help her walk as they made their way out of the storage room together, then when she gasped out of the false fear she continued to show Rogers to maintain his sympathy upon seeing her supposed abductor, he glared again at Victoria before them while he spoke once more with tenderness in his voice saying, "Don't worry. She can't hurt you anymore, I promise."

"Thank you for saving me," the not so innocent girl replied in fake sincerity, as she turned her head to look over at the detective's prisoner and grinned at Victoria cruelly while Rogers kept his focus before them when they walked past her.

When Rogers' memory ended, it wasn't too much longer before he was finally pulled from his thoughts by one of the doctors at the hospital as the woman stepped over to him and gently laid her hand down on his shoulder in order to alert him, causing him to jump upon her doing so, then she quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, detective. I just came out here to let you know that we've finished examining the young woman you brought in in need of our help."

He immediately stood up and faced the doctor while he asked, "And how is she? Is she going to be okay?"

The doctor smiled as she nodded and responded, "She's going to be just fine. She's shaken… understandably so. She's malnourished and a little dehydrated, but it's nothing that some food and water can't fix. I would like to keep her here overnight for precaution… just to keep watch over her vital signs in order to make sure there are no hidden surprises. But she's wanting to go home, so we'll release her once we finish checking her over. I can also recommend to you a doctor… a uh… therapist she can go to see to help her cope with the trauma she suffered while being held captive if she would like to speak with one. That way you can talk to her about doing so in a few minutes when you go in to see her. She's been asking to see you too."

"Thank you, doctor," the detective answered her sincerely and smiled, then watched the woman nod before she turned to walk away again.

Once she was gone, Rogers finally pulled out his cell phone upon feeling it vibrate in his pants back pocket and saw that his partner had left him yet another message to find out where he was. It was the sixth message Weaver had sent him since their last confrontation earlier that afternoon, a confrontation that was hardly supportive, or civil on either side.

"I thought I warned you it would be bad for you if you ignored my calls and messages for any reason, Detective?" his senior partner questioned Rogers sternly, as he slowly approached the younger man upon walking into the hospital wing after he observed him long enough to watch his expressions while the doctor had spoken to him, then to see him take out his phone and put it away again without sending a message in reply.

Rogers looked at him darkly while he replied, "And I thought we were past you following me and watching my every move like I'm some kind of criminal. As far as I'm concerned, you are the only one of us here doing things that aren't quite on the up and up. I found Eloise Gardener. Without anyone's help other than Henry's. He was the only one who cared enough to try to help me. You all believed she was lost forever, so you didn't even lift a finger! Even had a young girl lie to me and deceive me with a fake page from her notebook you created at Victoria's behest. Or perhaps just your own. Who really knows? Well surprise… Eloise wasn't lost. I found her despite your lies."

Weaver hid the worry he felt for his partner and over what Gothel's plans might be now that she was freed at last underneath a mask showing nothing but contempt as he continued to stare at Rogers while he responded, "Whatever you might think, you're wrong. It's like I told you before… I was trying to protect you. You have no idea who that woman in there really is and you wouldn't understand."

"Then how about you tell me the straight up truth for once!" the younger detective retorted angrily, then allowed Weaver to grab his arm so he could pull him away from any onlookers around within the waiting room so they could talk a little more privately before he continued, as he spoke more quietly despite his cross tone. "Without the riddles… or you telling me everything you've done to hinder my investigation so I could find Eloise, was for my own good. Because if you had just helped me a little, we could have found her together. Or is it that you really are in this with Victoria? Just tell me the truth. Please."

"I can't," his partner despondently answered him, then looked towards the room where he could then see the villainess looking out at him through one of its windows. "There's much more going on with her than either of us know. You won't believe me, but I assure you she isn't as innocent as she appears to be. I am only trying to protect you."

Rogers scoffed as he turned away from him and finally saw Eloise again through the window as well, allowing him to soften his countenance when she smiled and waved at him, then the younger detective spoke to Weaver again with his back still turned saying honestly, "I wish I could believe you, Weaver. I want to. But you're not helping me to understand whatever it is you're so afraid of me finding out. How am I supposed to trust you? How can you expect me to trust you if all you can do is deceive me with cruel tricks like you had Tilly help you pull off tonight? You have no idea how much I hated myself for failing Eloise when you made me believe she was dead."

He finally turned around to face the senior detective again and added, "Or does that even matter to you? If you'll excuse me… I have to go talk with Eloise now. To make sure she's alright. Once the doctors are finished checking her over, I'll be bringing her to one of our transitional homes. Seeing as it's already late, I may be in a bit late to work in the morning. I'll see you tomorrow."

When it was clear his partner was no longer willing to listen to him, Weaver finally turned away again himself and then walked out of the hospital. It didn't surprise him much when Tilly stepped out from behind an ambulance parked near the emergency wing entrance, wearing the hood of her coat up over her head to avoid really being seen by anyone else nearby, and she looked at him with worry for the man she had no idea was truly her father written all over her face.

"How is he?" she nervously asked him. "Did you explain to him how that woman's not to be trusted? There's something not right about her. I don't know her and I've never even spoken with her, yet the look in her eyes… She looked right at me earlier when the paramedics were caring for her in the ambulance outside of the building Rogers found her in. Most people don't really see me, but somehow… somehow she did and I felt cold looking at her. It was terrible."

"I understand what you mean," the detective replied and then let out a quiet sigh in frustration before he continued. "I sensed it too. I did try to warn my partner how dangerous that woman is, Tilly. Only he doesn't believe me. Not that I blame him. It was wrong of me to deceive him and to use you to help me do it, even it was only meant to try to protect him. He has every reason not to trust me and unfortunately, I don't even have all the answers for him that will help him to understand why I tried to keep him from finding that woman. She is dangerous and she hasn't even begun whatever it is she has in store for those of us here in this neighborhood now that she has been freed."

Weaver looked at the young woman again and then said, "I am sorry for pulling you into my deception on Detective Rogers. I never meant for him to come to distrust you too. I know how much you're worried about him because you've come to care about him."

She looked at him sadly as she responded, "You used me to hurt him and now he's disappointed in me. I don't like being used. I should have seen it. Rogers thought I was better than what I am. He trusted me to help him find answers when he asked me for my help and I let him down. What do I do now?"

"You need to do whatever you have to do to prove to him you are the girl he believed you to be, Tilly," he resolutely answered her in hope of convincing her all isn't lost. "He needs you to be there for him. I'll try to gain back his trust, but that's going to be a bit more difficult. There's much distrust between us I'm afraid and it goes back a lot further than you know. But… I have a feeling he isn't as disappointed in you as he believes he is right now. He's angry and he's hurt by our deception, yet something tells me he understands why you did what you did and that he cares about you more than you believe."

"Can you tell me Rogers won't end up getting hurt worse than just getting disappointed by those trying to look out for him?" Tilly then asked him again with fear in her eyes, unable to understand the strong need she had to try to help protect a man she didn't think she really knew all that well, or the fear she felt for his safety. "So long as that… Eloise Gardener is now free and able to dig her claws into him?"

Weaver looked away from her to stare back towards the hospital again and then with the truth, he replied, "I wish I could, but unfortunately… Unfortunately, I cannot. She has a hold over him because of his obsession he had to find her and the blame he placed on his own shoulders for her having gone missing. Only… there's also more to it than just that. And I can't explain it. But he isn't the only one who will pay for trying to save a woman unworthy of having Detective Rogers as her own white knight."

He turned his head to look at her again upon mentioning two words he knew had a deep meaning to her, as she too kept her eyes before them, but he was disappointed to see they didn't really phase her. Except that they did have an impact on her, only she didn't show it. Mostly because she didn't understand why.

Instead, Tilly turned to the senior detective again and then she stated, "I'm going to go now. It's been a long day. I'm tired. I appreciate your honesty just now. Neither one of us is good with honesty, but hopefully from here on out we can do better. Good night, Detective Weaver."

Before he could say anything more, she ran off to return to her shipping crate… the only place she currently had to call home. Upon her doing so, Weaver also turned to leave so he too could go home to try to get some sleep before returning to work in the morning and confronting Victoria Belfrey about her role in Eloise's abduction.