Act One
Accretion Disk
Inspector Rose ascended the gangplank of the airship Justice, handcuffed prisoner in tow. The plainclothes officer wore a trench coat and jeans, her VCPD T-shirt not doing her any favors in remaining undercover. The sunken-cheeked youth she was escorting had maintained an expression of rebellious spite on the drive to the dock, but once he saw the ground begin to shift away as the prison lifted off he deflated. Ruby couldn't tell if he was green from fear or motion sickness, but either way it would be a benefit in the interrogation. He was the latest in a series of arrests of low-profile gang members in lower Vale. She caught him at a burglary with a few other teens, who had managed to get away. Ruby wasn't worried, though. Kids like him always sold out their friends if it meant a commuted sentence. Handing him off to a constable, Ruby looked to her coat pockets for the Dust crystals she had recovered from the scene. Nothing especially valuable, though something about them seemed...off. They were cloudy and dark, not vibrant and warm like they should have been. It was possible that they were just dirty, though. At least, that's what Ruby told herself at the time.
Having sent them down to the lab for testing, Ruby decided to head up to Justice's observation deck. She always liked to stare down at the city below from the ship and be happy knowing that she had kept it safe. Justice was the Vale City Police Headquarters. The size of an aircraft carrier with enough firepower to level ten city blocks, it was one of the few places where Ruby knew she could be ready for any contingency.
A few hours later, after letting the thug sweat in the cells, Ruby finally had him brought up for questioning.
"Hello, I'm Inspector Rose. Let's start things off simple, shall we? What's your name?"
"I know my rights, and I don't have to tell you anything," he replied smugly. "I haven't even gotten my phone call yet, don't you guys have to give me a phone call?"
"I'm afraid that's not how it don't get a phone call unless we want you to have one, and while it's true that you're not required to say anything at all, it would be a shame if you were convicted of burglary when, if you had only told us about your friends, you would have only been an accomplice." She smiled sweetly, hoping that her point had managed to penetrate the thick shell of hair gel coating his head.
"Okay, so my name. I can do that. I still wanna call a lawyer, but I guess this can't hurt. I'm Rob. Rob Hood."
"Alright, Rob, let's talk about some other names. The names of your friends at that nice curator's house, for instance."
A few minutes later and Rob was walking off the gangplank with a grin on his face to mirror that of the cops who now had a full list of suspects for the robbery.
"Oh, and by the way, Rose," said one of her coworkers, "The lab said that they've finished testing that Dust you gave 'em."
And so, Ruby set off to the lab to meet with the one enthusiastic forensic technician and five twentysomethings who had watched too many police procedurals.
"Hey, Ruby!" the forty-year-old doctor exclaimed. "I checked out the Dust you gave me, and while there's no chemical difference from regular Burn, it's more efficient. You get more energy for less dust! I don't know where your found this stuff, but it's revolutionary!"
"Thanks, Jake," she replied somewhat less energetically. "I think I'll take it back for now."
"Oh, well, okay, but you should really look into getting some more, or at least figuring out where it comes from."
Ruby was yawning and about to collapse where she stood, so she retired to her bed in the barracks. Ordinarily, she would have gone to her apartment in Vale, but something seemed to be sapping her strength. So, she trudged off to be and slept like a log.
So this is Chapter One. What did you think? Please leave a review, constructive if you can manage it. I'm perfectly open to suggestions, up to and including the suggestion that I find a new hobby. I sincerely hope you don't feel like we both wasted our time on this.