AN: Hey there, the author here.

So first of all, thank you so much to all those who reviewed, favourited and followed this story.
I really appreciate your support and hope you'll all enjoy this just as much if not more than the previous one.
I honestly thought for a short time that Homestuck was a dying fandom, and I was just a latecomer.
But I guess it is as the old song goes: "You can't fight the Homestuck. And From now on it will go on and on and on."

Secondly, This chapter will probably be most setup for Terezi and the world around her. We'll probably first be introduced to the rest of our main characters in next chapter.

Chapter 2: The war hero

When Terezi woke up the next morning, she found herself lying face first in the couch of her apartment still fully dressed, clutching one of her many scalemate plushies, and suffering from a terrible headache. The last part was a bit weird she thought, as she hadn't done anything that out of the usual yesterday.
After the group's little celebration-party had been running for roughly one and a half hour, Terezi had said goodbye to the rest of the gang and headed homeward eager to start reading through the case-file. She had decided to simply run all the way home as her apartment wasn't that far away, which meant it would be ridiculous and a waste to stand around and wait for a taxi.
However, she had barely gotten halfway down Tumberdale-street, before someone had grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the alley. He had then placed a knife to her throat, and told her to hand over her wallet and fetch-modus or he'd kill her.
The poor fellow hadn't stood a chance. Terezi had used his focus and close proximity to her, to distract him from her cane. She had then calmly turned the cane in her fingers and placed the head of it hovering just above the inside of the guy's left knee, before she with the combination of a pull with the cane and a push knocked him over.
The struggle had been short and mostly one sided. And before the robber had time to realise what was going on, he was on the ground and Terezi had clubbed him over the head with her cane, knocking him out cold. She had then dragged him out of the alley, cuffed him to a nearby street-lamp and left a note to when the district-assigned preservanitor would pass by. The struggle had however, completely ruined her umbrella, so she had left it behind at a dustbin and hurried along.
She had gotten inside her apartment a couple of minutes later, dripping from head to toe with cold, cold water. She had taken off her jacket and thrown it over a radiator, before she had kicked off her shoes and headed inside the 32 square meters she called her home.
She had then thrown the case file on the coffee table, opened a window to let the foul air out of the room, and gone into the nutrition-block to get something hot to drink before she came back and began reading through the case-file and take notes.
She couldn't exactly remember what had happened afterwards, but her best guess was that she had passed from exhaustion while reading through the file, and simply hadn't gotten up again afterwards.
She got up groggily, coughed and staggered out into the nutrition-block for something to eat before she would put on a new set of cloths and head back to the office for the interrogation.
Her nutrition-block was, like most of her apartment, a gigantic mess. The dustbin was filled with old packaging from various kinds of fast food, most of her cutlery and plates had taken up permanent residence in the sink, and some places in the refrigerator had been declared contaminated area by Terezi long ago.
Terezi knew her home wasn't living up to most sanitary standards, but she was spending so little time in the apartment it hardly really mattered to her. She had better bigger concerns than her apartment collecting a bit of dust, and those people who said the quality of a person's life could be determined by the state of their living quarters could go pack themselves a nice bundle of-
'CRASH!'
Terezi nearly jumped through the roof as the sudden noise of china breaking cut through the low sound of cars and people passing by down on the streets below. She looked down and could make out the vague outline of a broken cup on the floor, but she could hardly sense it.
The sudden realisation hit her, and she turned around to look at the rest of the nutrition-block. She could hardly make out any of the furniture, the scenery outside the window was little more than colourful dots, the details next to none existent.
She hadn't realised any of this in the sleepy state of mind she had been in, as she had been navigating purely by memory, but now it was clear to her. Something was impairing her sense of smell. She was blind.
Staggering slowly out of the nutrition-block and into her social-block, she made her way towards the makeshift office she had made of her respite-block. Her phone was in there, if she could just get hold of it she might be able to get help form someone, anyone.
She let out a yelp of surprise as she tripped over a couple of scalemates on the floor, sending her tumbling into the large pile she had made of said plushies. Okay, walking was definitely out of the question.
She began wriggling and crawling forward, almost like a wriggler, and finally made her way out of the large pile. However, she kept all four limbs on the ground. Probably the best way not to fall over again, she thought mere seconds before she crawled head first into a nearby chair.
After several minutes of crawling, bumping into stuff and cursing, she finally got hold of the phone and began dialling up the number to Dave Strider's residence.
"Hello and yo." Came the chill voice of Dave from the other side of the line, "You've contacted the Strider home service for those who've simply gotten enough, phone counselling and pizzeria. How may I be of service?"
"Dave?" Terezi said, "I seriously need your help right now. Can you get to my apartment? Quickly!"
It was a testimony to how big of a friend Dave was, how much he trusted his friends and the urgency of Terezi's voice that he didn't ask any questions but simply said, "Sure thing, I'll be there in twenty minutes. See ya." Before he hung up again.
Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on her front door and a "Yo Tez, you there? It's Dave."
Terezi made a final tug at the sweater she had pulled out of her wardrobe, made her way toward the door while trying not to fall over something, and managed to fumbling get the door open.
"Heya Dave." she said with a smile. "Sorry to drag you over here like this. I was-"
"Tez," he said with concern evident in his voice as he took hold of both her shoulders. "are you alright?"
Terezi's wavered for just a second as she felt her breath catch in her throat.
"Of course," she lied through another sharp-teethed grin. Something that became all the harder by trying to supress a cough at the same time. "Why shouldn't I?"
Dave's head lowered, and even she could hardly smell anything, she was pretty sure he was trying to give her one of the captain's 'Officer, be honest' looks.
"Terezi…" he said, "…you look worse than one of my bro's awful comics, you're staring to my left while talking to me and you're wearing that sweater vest saying 'crush your enemies' Ethon gave you last twelfth perigee."
Terezi silently cursed. So that was what the candyfloss smelling blur on the sweater had been.
"So I ask once again, Tez. What's wrong."
Terezi said nothing for almost a minute, then sighed and sank to the floor in despair.
"I can't see." she said with a voice far too small for her usual self.
Dave looked at her puzzled.
"No offence Tez…" he said warily, "…but what have you been drinking? Isn't the 'can't see my own nose' thing like… your thing?"
She shook her head. "Not like this. Something is making my nose all funny. I can hardly tell the difference between you and the wall over there."
Dave gave a barely noticeable of understanding and stepped slowly forward. Carefully so as not to frightened her, he placed hand on her forehead.
"You're not burning." he muttered, "Any other problems?"
"My throat's sore, and I feel like something has gotten stuck inside it."
Dave nodded as she went down the various symptoms describing headaches, fatigue, and an inability to smell.
"Well…" he said. "…sounds to me like you got yourself a case of the colds."
"The colds?" Terezi asked confused, "What's that?"
Dave smacked himself over the head. "Right…" he muttered, "…troll diseases, different. Got to remember that one."
He sighed. "I'm no Rose, so I'm not going to run you through a doctorate. It's a pretty common and trivial disease among humans, and it's not going to kill you. Bet you got it from someone at the station, and the down pour last night probably didn't help. Most humans would hardly bother with it, but in your case I would recommend you stay in bed a couple of days. And call a doctor if it gets worse. I'm not entirely sure what it can do to trolls, it could be the next plague to your lot."
Terezi laughed. "Thanks for the prescription, doctor Strider. Now, what do I actually do?"
Dave said nothing.
"Wait…" Terezi said with a frown, "You was being ironic, right. Right?"
"Tez," Dave said with mock disappointment, "I thought I had taught you better than this. I seriously think you need take the week off. At least till you're up and running again."
Terezi frantically got up and shook her head despite how much it made it hurt. "Dave, no. I can't take the day off. Have you forgotten, I got my first real interrogation today? I can't be sick."
Dave shook his head. "Nuh-uh miss Pyrope. You're in no condition to do fieldwork right now. You get to bed while I call Jerz. I'm sure either he or Ethon can take over if I-"
"No!" Terezi practically yelled. "This is my case! I've been intrusted with it, and I am not going to hand it over just because of a disease you yourself has called trivial!"
Dave stepped backwards and raised his arms I surrender.
"Whoa…" he said, "What on Skiran was that all about?"
Terezi groaned. He didn't understand. And really, how could she expect him to? He wasn't the one who had been treated like a wriggler because of something she had no control over. Never getting any responsibility because of something completely ridiculous. This was her chance to prove them wrong, to show her capabilities, and if she stepped down because of something as stupid as a runny nose, it would all but confirm their prejudges. She could not, would not, back down.
"Look, Dave. I just really need to do this. You help to the station, I get it over with, and then I'll take the week of. Promise."
Dave sighed. "It's against my better judgement Tez, but okay. Now, let's get you some decent cloths to wear."
Terezi smiled as he went into her apartment. It was nice have to have friends you could rely on, even if you had to push them a little.
"Holy Jokester, woman!" Dave shouted from inside, "No wonder you're getting sick! This place is colder than a freezer on arctic!"
"Shut it!"

When Terezi and Dave finally arrived at department 7, after half an hour of stumbling over object, Dave digging through her wardrobe and a desperate descend to the ground floor, they were greeted by the sound of mayhem. People were shouting at each other, grappling each other, and a couple of technical supporters were desperately trying to hold down an angry looking cerulean-blooded legislacerator with horns like antlers, sadly to no avail.
"What's going on?" Terezi asked.
Dave shrugged. "Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to play the annual rough-ball tournament inside the building, and three months too early."
Terezi dodged to the side as a chair came soaring through the air before it crashed into a nearby wall. A preservanitor fell over after being knocked senseless by a legislacerator.
"This is getting out of hand." Terezi said, "Where's the chief?"
Her question was answered at once, as the sharp voice of the troll in question nailed everyone to the spot.
"What in the name of the mother-grub do you pan-less concrete kissers think you're doing!" she roared.
The brawl immediately ceased as every last officer parted into two groups. They looked at their chief with faces a mixture of relief, concern, and unaltered fear.
The chief said nothing, her eyes hard as steel and ablaze with fury. The fins on her ears opened threateningly and her teeth bared in a supressed snarl. The challenge in air was clear and strong; who here was stupid enough to try and defy her?
Terezi shivered. It was easy to forget that the chief had grown up in Prospine when she was like this. Standing there on top of the staircase, she could easily be mistaken for one of the warrior empresses from ancient times, commanding and deadly. Ready to strike fear and terror into anyone who might oppose her. Terezi was glad those were only stories.
"Well then," the chief said, her voice cold as and sharp as the silver ornaments covering the tip of her horns, "I leave for a few seconds, and the next thing I know you're all fighting like a bunch of rapid barkbeasts. So I want to know; what the name of the laughing lunatic is going on, and who did this?"
Nobody spoke, too frightened by the chief's outburst to take responsibility.
Terezi snorted. Whatever idiot who had dared to start a fistfight in here ought to brave enough to take responsibility. However, when someone finally spoke up, it came to Terezi as a surprise that the voice didn't come from someone in the midst of the two groups, but rather from someone behind her.
"Um… I think, that would be… my fault, ma'am." A gentle voice said, and a civilian troll with a pair of gigantic horns and brown eyes stood up. He had broad shoulders, an athletic build, short hair, and the way he held himself and spoke of a disciplinary training, possibly military. However, he was also leaning heavily on a walking stick, perhaps he had been in some sort of accident.
The chief looked down at him sternly. "And you are?"
"T-Tavros Nitram, ma'am." he said, "One of my friends were arrested yesterday, and I'm uh… I'm waiting for his r-release. To take him home. Ma'am." he added, almost as an afterthought.
The chief nodded. "Very well then, mr. Nitram. How exactly is this your fault?"
Mr. Nitram scratched his chin, clearly not comfortable with being in centrum of everyone's attention. "W-well, I had been here for um… roughly half an hour when I decide to get some coffee." he pointed towards the automat over in the corner, "And then, when I was heading back towards my seat, this man over there came up to me, looked me in the eyes and told me to hand over my cup."
The cerulean legislacerator growled warningly. But a stern glance from the chief was enough to silence him.
"Please, carry on mr. Nitram."
"Uh, well I didn't really want to give it to him, so I said no. Then he called me a lot of things I didn't felt too comfortable with. Then someone told him to knock it off, and a bunch of other people began shouting. Everything began kind of escalating until someone punched that first guy, and then hell broke loose."
"Who was it?"
"Huh?"
"Who delivered the punch?"
"W-well… he-"
"It was me, ma'am." a voice which Terezi recognised as Ethon's yelled from the left group, "Because I don't like idiots calling other people filthy dirt-bloods."
The room broke into chaos anew as the cerulean legislacerator with a roar lunged forward at Ethon, who dodged and delivered a swift kick to the stomach of the legislacerator.
The legislacerator however, barely noticed but swirled around, caught Ethon by the throat and before anyone could react delivered a solid punch to Ethon's face.
There was a sickening 'crack' as Ethon's nose broke and he fell to the floor unconscious.
"Enough!" the chief roared. In mere seconds, she had gotten hold the cerulean and given him a slap across the face with force enough to send him tumbling onto the floor.
"Get out…" she hissed, "…before I do something I won't regret."
The cerulean said nothing, but hastily got to his feet and ran past Terezi and Dave, and out of the front door while clutching an obviously broken jar.
The chief paid no notice of the disappearing troll, as she turned to the rest of the crowd. The ferocious blaze in her eyes rekindled with promises of agony, her hands clenched into tight fits, her claws drawing thick pulses of tyrian blood.
"Someone get this fool to the infirmary." She said, nodding down towards the unconscious Ethon at her feet,
"And listen up, for you'll all do damn well to remember this. I don't care one second what your thoughts on the hemo-spectrum are, but when you're here you listen to me! and I will have no fighting om my watch! If I see any of you idiots fighting, you'll deal with me personally, and don't you dare to think you'll survive that. So I swear as true as my name is Silvinia Droughshail. Understood?!"
"Yes, ma'am!" the officers chorused before they all ran off in different directions, two of them dragging Ethon off towards the infirmary.
Seconds later Hatton arrived shaking his head.
"Damned be the blessed ones. Haven't seen her this mad since they dragged off old Scratch." He paused, "Actually, scratch that. She was way scarier back then."
He stepped over to mr. Nitram and took hold of his shoulder.
"Better you abscond now, lad. Less someone gets any nasty ideas."
Mr. Nitram sighed and Terezi heard him mutter, "He won't be happy with this… that's for sure." before he picked up a hat dropped on the floor, gave Hatton a final apology for the ruckus he had caused, and was out of the door.
The captain looked after the retreating form with a sight.
"Poor lad." he muttered, "He's just lucky it happened here. It ain't easy for people like him."
"Who?" Dave asked, "Those who are cripples?"
"Low-bloods?" Terezi added.
"Nah." The captain said as he scratched his chin, "I mean those who're afraid. Those who appears submissive and ready to take orders. They don't live well in this world."
He stood like that for a few seconds, probably contemplating some deeper meaning to the world, before he turned back facing his two subordinates with a renewed smile.
"Anyway. Tez, ya better follow me. I'll get ya down to the right interrogation-block, and you can have a go on the lad down there, right?"
"Thanks, sir." Terezi said. She took herself to the head. She was getting dizzy again. The colourful mess of scents in her head was getting more blurry by the second, and she staggered ever so slightly forward as it felt as if she was losing her balance.
"You alright lass?" Hatton asked with concern.
"Yes!" Terezi snapped as she whipped out her cane for support, and with determined strides made her way towards the interrogation-block. "Now, come on!"
The captain looked curiously at Dave, who merely shrugged and gave him a look of 'don't ask me' from behind his shades before he headed off to his own office.

Terezi had gotten quite a head start, so when the captain caught up to her she was already looking through the one-way mirror into the opposing interrogation-block as well as she could.
The interrogation-blocks were by no means comfortable. All of them were equipped with nothing but the bare necessities. A bench for sleeping, a bathroom and a pair of chairs placed opposite of each other by a lone table in the centre of the room. It was also common practice to make sure the rooms were always brightly lid so as to prevent people from sleeping properly.
The boy however, appeared to be unfazed by the block. He was simply sitting by the table, leaning over a game of solitaire he was losing.
"So," Hatton said as he asserted the boy sitting on the other side of the room with a critical eye, "what've we got on this one?"
"Not much." Terezi said, thinking back to what she had read in the casefile the previous evening, "Caught trying to buy ammunition with a large quantity of marked boon-dollars we knew to be in the possession of the Midnight crew. Claims he was handed the money by an unknown person and says he has no knowledge of where the money came from. Has so far been uncooperative and has assaulted several officers in claimed self-defence. We've tried confiscating the knife, but we can't find it."
Hatton scrunched his upper lip in a thoughtful manner, his broom like moustache wrinkling.
"Well," he said as he pulled out his precious pipe, "I can tell ya one thing. The lad's a liar that's for sure."
Terezi looked at him quizzically. "How so, sir?"
"It's the way he's sitting." Hatton explained while lighting the pipe, "His shoulders raised in that tense manner, the scowl on his face, his fingers tapping like that. He's impatient, not nervous. He's hiding something and he knows we ain't getting it out of him." He shrugged with a smile. "Can't really explain it any better. It's those kind of instincts ya get with time, not learning. Once ya get enough experience you'll be able to see these patterns too. Or well, not see in your case. Smell, maybe?"
Terezi said nothing. She felt as if her head was weighing her down while something was pressing against her skull from the inside out.
Hatton looked worriedly at her.
"Look lass, If ya not feelin up for it I'm sure that-"
'SLAM!' Terezi shut the door with a loud bang, which made the boy sitting at the table jump up and drop the cards everywhere, and made with long strides her way to the table.
"Well then, mr. Noir." she said through gritted teeth as she slammed the case-file onto the table, "I believe you and I have a lot to discuss."

AN: So, I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of this story. And if you did, please remember to favourite.

If you have any thoughts, ideas or points to add, please leave them in the reviews.

On another note, I was fiddling with the idea of making a Tumblr for this story where I can place various drawings and plot ideas as they come along. That way other people could be able to come with their own ideas and thoughts. I would like to hear how that sounds for an idea.
Who knows, maybe this can turn into a whole new AU. It's already diverting quite a lot from the original Stabdad AU.

Until next time.