Rain check
Since their coffee date had more or less ended in a heated argument and much awkwardness, Charles didn. It was Saturday morning and Charles was drinking his first cup of coffee whilst reading the newspaper. A horrendous picture made him splash his coffee all over the newspaper. The guy, the one who was released Quite dead..
Charles swallowed hard. That was one of the images he had seen in Erik's mind! Amongst various others… He quickly read the article. He was found late yesterday evening—but still in time for the midnight deadline it seemed—the man was known for several alleged murders yet had been released due to lack of solid evidence, all true so far… It was deemed to be some sort of revenge by a family member or perhaps one of his criminal 'friends.' The police wasn't too keen on finding out who did him in, the paper claimed, as they had quite enough on their plate. One Erik Leonard had stated that liquidations in criminal circles wasn't a police priority. The newspaper article concluded with a discussion on the validity of that argument: justice for all vs. who cares what happens to criminals anyway?
As he took a closer look at the picture, he realized he was shaking. Surely he couldn't really think that Erik? The man was a cop! Perhaps a slightly violent, or frustrated one, but really? Charles tried to keep the nagging voice silent: the one that said that Erik had definitely considered impaling the man. Everyone had murderous thoughts sometimes, that didn't mean they were going to act on them! Even he himself had relished the thought of… And yet, Charles had trouble shaking the eerie feeling that had come over him. Erik seemed to feel pretty intensely about things, despite his cool exterior and mocking indifferent voice…
Erik felt good. Really good. As always, when he had taken justice in to his own, bare, hands. His fellow officers had not noticed the pattern in his behavior: he would whistle cheerful songs whenever a criminal had been taken care of. Or whenever a mutant had escaped their cells. The latter was all the more reason, of course, to fear mutants and ascribe supernatural powers to them. Perhaps they could walk through walls!
One little thing made Erik a little unsatisfied. The interesting assistant DA hadn't called. He thought they had hit it off, despite a minor disagreement, but he liked things heated anyway… He was a little disappointed at Charles. Perhaps he wasn't such worth his time after all. If one little argument scared him away, then… well, other things might be even harder to swallow. Still, he wasn't one to give up so easily. On Tuesday, he would probably find him in courthouse when he had to testify again. This time in the case of a kidnapper who asked for diamonds as ransom, which naturally no-one could provide, only to slice the kids open and leave them to rot. Erik knew what would happen to him if he were to go scot-free…
Charles' own case had finished early and he decided to see what would happen to the kidnapper. Diamond Danny— a name given by the media, which sounded more like a glamorous poker player than a gruesome murderer—was sitting with a grin on his face listening to the jury's verdict. He got the death sentence but didn't seem fazed in the slightest. Instead he was proud that he had taken out all these mutant kids: he deserved a medal in his own opinion and loudly screamed that he should have one. Charles stiffened, he didn't know the case was about young mutants. As later turned out, it wasn't, but to hear the man demand a medal was disheartening to say the least. Even more disheartening were the many voices Charles could hear around him; the ones that said that actually killing mutant kids did warrant a medal. He hoped that Erik's voice, who was seated in the front, wasn't one of them, but he didn't want to check. He didn't have the heart to crush that hope just yet.
Erik had spotted him. That wasn't really meant to happen… Charles couldn't leave now; he had to wait and see what Erik would say. "Looks like this jury does know what they are here for!" Erik greeted him cheerfully. Charles could only agree with that. He briefly wondered if he should mention the impaled man, but thought the better of it. "You could look a little happier, you know… justice has been done and all that. And in the way you favor…"
"You're right, I am glad that he will get what he deserves… What a horrible man he is! To do that to children.."
"The world is a horrible place. Still… we should celebrate his incarceration and incineration. Same coffee shop?" Erik asked.
"How can you be so cavalier about all this?" Charles blurted out.
"How can you not? Surely you have seen a thing or two by now, with your job…? I thought you'd have thicker skin…"
Charles didn't say that the voices calling for the death of young mutants was what had upset him the most. The fact that he always had to be so guarded in his responses and interactions was really getting to him. If he'd hook up with this Erik, it would only be a matter of time before the fierce anti-mutant sentiments would, yet again, kill whatever connection was present….