The situation didn't hit him full-force until he physically entered the interrogation room. His Bad side had really done a number on the place – Danny's chair was the only piece of furniture that was still upright. Good Cop's eyes snagged on Danny's stump of an arm, and the resulting spike of distress drove all other thoughts from his mind. He almost forgot to close and lock the door behind him.

He was surprised at how much Danny's strained face managed to light up when he entered. "Goodie, buddy," the man spoke. He sounded so relieved, but there was no denying the ragged edge to his voice. "I didn't think you'd be up so late."

Good Cop's chest was almost too tight to breathe. "Yeah…" His guilty eyes strayed downwards. If he'd calmed his Bad side down sooner, or if he'd just had the courage to swap in as soon as his other side had really lost all control over his actions, maybe Danny wouldn't be in so much pain.

He noticed Danny's hand on the floor, lying exactly where Bad Cop had dropped it. The sight of it broke through some of the tension inside his body, and he quickly dashed forward to snatch it off the ground. He held it up to Danny, trying to figure out how to proceed without having to look at the horrible, empty space where he knew the hand was supposed to go.

"Let me," Danny offered, his usually boisterous voice gone soft.

Good Cop hesitantly passed the hand over to its rightful owner. He squeezed his eyes shut to avoid watching Danny put it back in the slot, and he twitched a little as he heard it snap back into place. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Danny twisting his wrist back and forth, checking to make sure that everything was back to working order.

Danny sighed, most of the stress in his posture dissolving. "Man, that feels a lot better. Bad Cop can really do a number on people, am I right? For a moment there, I thought the guy was gonna off me."

A nervous, apologetic grimace forced its way onto Good Cop's face. "Yeah. He gets like that sometimes."

Danny's smile was finally back, making Good Cop's mind resonate with familiarity. Danny must have smiled quite a lot when they were friends. "I knew Baddie was ruthless, but I had no clue the guy was so high-strung. How do you put up with a partner like that?"

Good Cop found himself mimicking his friend's grin, and he gave a shrug. "Compromises."

Ha ha. Funny.

"So, uh…" Danny sunk back in his chair a little, obviously nervous. "I really wanna have a chat with you, you know? But I don't wanna havta deal with the cameras."

Good Cop took a moment to think, trying to understand the situation from his friend's point of view. Danny likely saw him as a potential ally for that criminal organization, but he wanted to keep that plan a secret from Lord Business, and for good reason. Once Danny was brought to a safe, unmonitored place, he would probably try to recruit Good Cop. Who better to have as an ally than the chief of police?

That doesn't make a lick of sense, and you know it.

True, things didn't quite fit together once Bad Cop entered the equation, but there was really no better explanation. Danny clearly wasn't trying to escape – there were over two-hundred floors of robots between here and the exit, so any escape attempts would be pointless. Plus, he was quite literally in the middle of enemy territory, so performing any illegal actions would be equally as stupid. Danny was a joker, but he wasn't an idiot.

So, what, you're going to pull him out of the interrogation room and take him somewhere without cameras?

That looked like the smart course of action, yes. How else were they going to hear what Danny wanted to say?

'Smart'? This isn't 'smart'. You're insane.

Huh. He'd been so sure that his Bad side was through with those kinds of petty insults.

I…you…I'm not doing this to insult you, I'm trying to stop you from being a moron!

"You okay, man?" Danny spoke up.

Good Cop realized that he'd been staring off into the distance for quite some time. He shook the blank look off of his face. "Sorry. I was thinking of somewhere to take you."

Danny's expression visibly relaxed. "That's great! You got a place in mind?"

Good Cop, noticing that one of Danny's arms was still restrained, began fiddling with the appropriate handcuff. "Yes, actually, I do. It's not that far away, either."


"You have a weird definition of 'far away'," Danny wheezed as he descended the last steps of the flight. "How do you deal with it, going up and down these stairs all the time?"

Good Cop checked over his shoulder to make sure his friend was still following and continued down the hallway. "You get used to it. Plus, the elevator stops at the 200th floor, which isn't too far from here." Even so, he was immensely grateful for all the training his Bad side had done over the years. Though the martial arts and gunmanship didn't carry over, the strength and fitness certainly did.

"You're sure this place doesn't have any cameras?" Danny asked. "And it's not mic'ed?"

"Nope! No cameras, no microphones, no surveillance at all," Good Cop replied cheerfully. He came to a stop in front of a very particular black door, waiting for Danny to catch up. "It's one of the perks of being the guy in charge."

Good Cop stepped into his office and held the door open so his friend could enter behind him. Danny paused at the doorway, leaning against the frame as breath blew in and out of him. Losing a hand and reattaching it must have taken a lot out of him. That, and he probably hadn't eaten anything all day.

I was trying to soften him up, make the interrogation go easier.

Regardless, Good Cop plucked the walky-talky off his hip and held it near his head. "Good Cop requesting a delivery inside Octan Tower," he spoke, automatically switching to a more professional tone of voice.

After a moment, he heard the reply. "Yes, chief?" came the buzz of a robot. This was no surprise at all, as robots handled almost all of the menial labor jobs in Octan Tower these days.

"Can you deliver a pizza to my office?" he requested. "Actually, make it two. The usual, please."

"On it, chief," was the robot's response.

As Good Cop put the radio away, he heard Danny snickering from his position in the doorway. "'Chief'? Man, it's just so weird to see you living up to your last name."

Good Cop gave a shrug. "It runs in the family, I suppose." He gave a soft giggle at his little joke.

Ugh. You two make me sick to our shared stomach.

"But really, though," Danny continued. He abandoned the support of the doorframe and stepped fully into the room. "You, a police officer? With your geeky glasses, constant smile…man, you're the most lighthearted guy I know. Even your parents look serious compared to you. How you got to be police chief under someone like Lord Business is way beyond me."

Good Cop thought of mentioning his job interview with Business and the robot wreckage that ensued, but bringing it up felt so…wrong, somehow. Though his memories of the past were fuzzy, he was fairly certain that he had never mentioned Bad Cop to anyone at school. The pair of them had led very separate lives at that point, and it was usually easier to pretend they were two independent people rather than try to explain their situation.

"I suppose I was just destined to be here," he said finally. "My parents told me about the job posting only a few days before I was deported. After that, everything just kind of fell into place."

A look of worry suddenly flashed across Danny's face. "Business deported you out of the countryside?"

"Well, yes," Good Cop nervously replied. "How else would I get the clearance to move into the city?"

Danny staggered forward, still a little weakened from his recent ordeal, and stuck a hand to the cop's shoulder. "So, Business told you to move away from your parents, and you did what he said?"

Good Cop hesitated, discomfort welling up inside of him. Whatever was making Danny so concerned, it had to be very serious. "Of course. You don't expect me to live in their basement my entire life, do you?"

Danny's worry didn't seem to weaken at this answer. In fact, it appeared to get even worse, nearing a flat-out panic. "But you still remember me, right? And all the stuff we did together? Your boss didn't take that away, did he?"

Good Cop's chest seized up again. Danny wanted so badly to trust him, even when he had every reason not to. It made the cop's throat go tight, but he knew what he had to say. "Of course I remember everything! Why wouldn't I?" It hurt a little to lie, but there was some comfort in knowing it was the right thing to do.

Danny blew out a sigh and stepped back a little. His concern was gone, replaced by some shaky variation of relief. "Okay. Okay, that's good," he mumbled. "Sorry for scaring you like that, man. I had to make sure, you know?"

"I get it," Good Cop said, making his voice as warm and comforting as possible. It pained him to see Danny like this – shaken, wounded, and clearly supporting more worries than he was capable of bearing. For once, Good Cop was in a position to fix that, he would hold nothing back. He continued talking, pulling hazy bits from his memories as he went. "I don't know why you broke contact with me after we graduated. I don't know how you got involved with the people Bad Cop is hunting. But, we were – still are, best friends. Business can't do a thing to change that."

I can't believe you'd say something so sappy. This is pointless.

But it wasn't pointless. As Good Cop spoke, Danny's posture almost imperceptibly straightened. The last bits of guardedness in his expression faded, and a smile chased out all of his previous worries. This happiness was all Good Cop's doing. And, just as importantly, this was a sign that he finally had Danny's complete and total trust.

A warped electrical tone, almost like a whistle, sounded from the doorway. Good Cop's head snapped to the source, but his surprise died the moment he saw the robot. The delivery bot held its flat, square-shaped pizza box tiles up a little higher. "Delivery for Good Cop?"


The next hour or so of conversation wasn't particularly productive. As they ate, they made small talk, discussing how the local sports team was doing and which television shows were airing. Danny adamantly opposed any of the shows Octan funded, claiming that they were nothing but pure propaganda for President Business's empire.

"That can't all be true," Good Cop quietly interrupted. "What about the comedy shows, like Everybody Loves Blocky? How could there be propaganda in that?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Danny replied. "It takes a bit of reading in between the lines to see it sometimes. You see the episode with the maple syrup and the track star? Should've come out a few weeks ago."

Good Cop shook his head and gave another nibble on the pizza tile in his hands. It was a little awkward to eat while standing, but Danny definitely needed the chair more than he did. "Since I started this job, I haven't had much time for television." Or had any time for it at all, really. "The job keeps me pretty busy."

"Really?" Danny set his own pizza tile down on the desk and leaned forward in his chair. "What about the radio? You listen to that at all?"

Good Cop shook his head again. Unfortunately, he couldn't allow himself to get distracted on his patrols, and the radio music as of late was turning out to be a bit of a problem in that regard.

"That's good. Keep doing that," Danny told him. "Business's songs are catchy, but they're trash. They all sound the same. It'd break my heart to see you get caught up in their hype. It's got no soul, you know?"

After that, their conversation turned to Good Cop's work. Danny seemed legitimately pleased to learn that Good Cop had no part in managing the robotic Super-Secret Police. Instead, the cop talked about coordinating his human officers to shut down more out-in-the-open threats, such as bank robberies and that sea serpent from yesterday.

"So, you two do completely different jobs, but you still share an office?" Danny said, glancing around the room. "Must be rough."

Good Cop had to admit, sharing that office was a little more difficult than he'd expected it to be. Bad Cop had reserved their entire corkboard for a map of the city, filling it with notes and sketches related to the recently-solved Slider case. This had forced Good Cop to put his own things up on the adjacent wall space. His hangings mostly amounted to traffic maps of various Lego worlds and the occasional drawing a child handed to him when they saw him on patrol.

In other words, things that don't matter nearly as much as tracking down a dangerous criminal.

The end result was a bizarre collection of art and hastily-scribbled traffic patterns swarming around Bad Cop's focused, determined search plans. The overall effect was less than elegant, but Good Cop thought it made an interesting statement about how the nature of their partnership.

"It's a little annoying sometimes," Good Cop admitted. The hardest part was sharing a desk – half a desk wasn't quite large enough for either one of them. They'd avoided any major territory disputes up until now, but the disorganized pile of traffic ticket receipts on Good Cop's side was now large enough to threaten spilling into his Bad side's far more organized half.

Danny, after drinking in the silence for a while, opened his mouth again. "Okay, we gotta get rid of the elephant in the room. Are you and Baddie related somehow?"

Uh.

Luckily, the question was so unexpected that Good Cop didn't fully register it at first. Instead of completely descending into shock or panic, he had a split second to clamp down on those responses and shut them down before they could start. Related? Of course they were related. They had the same…

But Danny clearly didn't know that.

You never did tell him about me.

"I thought it was obvious," Good Cop remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Most of my buddies thought it was," Danny replied. "What with the shared last name. It's Irish, right?"

Good Cop nodded. "Yes, 'Cop' is Irish."

So, Danny had no clue that his best friend shared a body with his worst enemy. And, if Danny didn't know, there was a very good chance that none of his buddies knew, either.

"I couldn't be sure about it, though, 'cause your parents never talked about him," Danny continued. "So, how're you guys related, then?"

Good Cop took another nibble on his pizza. If that criminal organization really believed the two of them were separate entities, this opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Espionage, subterfuge, maybe even-

We need to concentrate at the situation at hand. Slider doesn't know our…situation, and we should plan to keep it that way.

Good Cop supposed that, at this point, it was better to maintain the charade rather than work out ways to utilize it. He had plenty of time plan things later. "We're cousins," he said to Danny casually. "Second cousins, I think? The family doesn't like to talk about him."

Danny snorted. "Yeah, I bet. The guy's one wrong word away from completely losing it."

Say that to my face, pal, and I'll show you exactly how much I could make you lose instead.

"He's easier to deal with once you get to know him," Good Cop said softly. "Sure, he's gruff sometimes. He likes picking fights, and he doesn't forgive people easily. But, underneath everything, he's still a person."

Danny scoffed, putting his feet up on Bad Cop's side of the desk. This knocked over one of the two piles of papers and sent the other one into complete disarray.

The disrespectful little-

Danny's voice cut in on Bad Cop's silent insult. "Sure, Bad Cop's a person. Big deal. He's a person who spent the last month doing nothing but chasing me. He's a person who took my hand off. He's a person who almost killed me. Sue me if I think the guy needs to go on some meds."

The cop waited for his Bad side to make some sort of angry remark at this. Oddly enough, there was silence.

Good Cop knew he needed to take advantage of this good fortune while he had it, so he used the silence to chose his words carefully before responding to Danny. "Bad Cop might do some bad things, but when it all comes down to it, he wants the same things as all of us. Recognition, safety, accomplishment…"

Danny hastily pulled his feet off the desk, sending some of the papers to the floor, and swiveled the chair to face his friend. Good Cop felt a flicker of nervousness at the downright annoyed look on the man's face. "Seriously, man, why are you standing up for that lunatic?"

"I'm not," the officer said quickly.

Perhaps he'd said it too quickly. Danny's expression quickly became unreadable behind his dark shades. With a dreadful plunging sensation, Good Cop realized that he'd just lost a portion of the trust he had spent the last hour or so working to build back up.

The nature of Good Cop's job meant that he was constantly surrounded by people – civilians, other officers, occasionally the arrested criminals – but he'd never had a chance to form friendships with any of them. His job left him too busy. Tonight, for once, was a chance to sit down and talk with someone like a friend. Nights were usually a time when Good Cop could do nothing but sit back and watch his Bad side make other people suffer, but now, Good Cop could work to make someone happy instead.

He couldn't stand to see Danny get cut off from him again. It would hurt both of them far too much.

"I'm not supporting him," Good Cop said carefully. "I'm just saying that it's possible to understand him. You can learn how he operates, and there are a lot of good reasons for doing so."

Danny crossed his arms. "Like what?" He raised an eyebrow above the top of his shades.

"Well…" He prayed that his Bad side would forgive him for what he was about to say.

Forgive you…?

"If you can learn what sets off his temper and why it makes him angry, you'll never get on his bad side," Good Cop began. "You can tell him everything he wants to hear. You can make him like you, make him desperate to be friends with you."

Good Cop let those ideas sink in for a moment. Danny, as expected, was speechless, his face completely blank with shock. The implications of the cop's words were huge, after all, even if they were entirely misdirection on Good Cop's part.

Once the officer deemed that his friend had been given enough time to absorb it all, he pressed on. "You can make him want to trust you, and when that happens, you can control him. You can delay him from, say, interrupting a secret meeting in the shabby area of town. You can give the people there the time to see him coming and the chance to escape."

You…!

Good Cop felt a heavy thud in the back of his head. His Bad side had just tried to seize control, and understandably. Good Cop's usual grip of dominance rendered such attempts useless, but the message was clear. His other side only resorted to those kinds of measures in extreme circumstances. In other words, his Bad side was absolutely furious at him.

In contrast, Danny's guardedness began to crack, and a hopeful smile shown through. "You mean… You stopped Baddie from capturing them?"

Good Cop leaned against the wall of his office, his heart a bit lighter now that Danny showed some signs of trust again. "Not directly, and not as well as I hoped, but yes."

Danny let out a humongous breath and slumped in the chair out of nothing less than pure, giddy relief. "Oh man. You have no idea how good it feels to know you're keeping them safe. Jane and Hip, they're my only real family anymore, you know?"

Oh, boo hoo. Take your sob story to someone who cares.

"What happened to them?" Good Cop asked innocently. "Your family, I mean. Did they get deported?"

Danny shook his head. "Nah. Even worse. They wanted me to go along with it all. Wanted me to let myself get deported, to leave them all behind and go live in Clown Town instead."

Good Cop could almost feel sympathetic. His own parents had been similarly enthusiastic about moving him out, excited to see him moving on and finding his own place in the world. People were not built to be tied down to their family, though, even if people like Danny sometimes wanted to remain attached.

"I'm sure they only wanted what was best for you," Good Cop murmured. "I mean, to them, you only had two choices: go to Clown Town or get arrested. I don't think they wanted to see you in the back of a police truck."

Danny's breath hitched in the middle of starting a response. After a moment, he half-heartedly swiveled his chair back to the desk and picked up his pizza. "No one should havta make a choice like that," he mumbled.

Good Cop couldn't help but frown. No, no one should be pressured to make that kind of decision. Something must have been wrong with the justice system if someone like Danny felt compelled to break the law and cut himself off from society for weeks on end.

Maybe Business could implement some sort of counseling service to help people get accustomed to moving away from all of their families and friends. Or, perhaps they could work out a plan to help people like Danny communicate with their families after they moved. Communication across the different Lego worlds was usually very restricted, but he was sure some exceptions could be made if it stopped cases like Danny's from popping up.

Those ideas could never work. You're being too soft on criminals that deserve to rot.

Really? Since when was being friendly a bad thing? Being friendly with Danny had gotten them infinitely farther than being threatening.

Even if you could find a way to make them work, they're never going to happen. We enforce the law. We don't make policy.

He supposed that he could make some suggestions to Business, but he doubted his boss would truly listen to them. Business was incredibly busy, and he probably didn't have time to consider the thoughts of someone who had no experience with politics.

"I just wish there was some way I could help," he sighed.

Danny suddenly froze in the middle of chewing a bite of pizza. He carefully swallowed, turned to face his friend, and and slipped a sly grin onto his face. "You know what? I'm pretty sure you can."

Good Cop, a bit taken aback, stood up off of the wall and narrowed his eyes in confusion. "How?" He was fairly sure his friend wasn't talking about anything Good Cop had thought about in his private conversation.

Danny snickered, obviously amused by Good Cop's cluelessness. "You've got more power than you know," he said. "All the human police officers answer to you. Sure, all the robots answer to Baddie, but like you were saying, you've got ways to control him. Lord Business can make all the laws he wants, but you're the only way he's got to enforce them."

Good Cop put a hand to his chin. "I never thought of it that way."

Danny continued, "You're in a position to change things, man. You're the linchpin to Business's empire. If you did the right kinds of things, you could bring this whole tower down."

The look of excitement on Danny's face was so infectious that Good Cop couldn't help but smile and straighten up a little. "You really think so?"

Danny stood up from his chair and rested a hand on Good Cop's shoulder. "Man, I know so. With your help, we could take Business down in three days. A week, tops."

It felt like a bulb lighting up in Good Cop's mind. Danny's group wasn't a criminal organization in a traditional sense – it was a resistance movement. This threw a lot of things into a new light – the missing deportees, the meeting in the alleyway, why Danny had wanted to recruit Good Cop in the first place…

A handful of half-formed thoughts and ideas in Good Cop's head suddenly collided and coalesced. The result was a plan, one that would help out both him and his Bad side. If it succeeded, it would help them both learn so much. On top of it all, his Bad side would also be able to capture some very tricky criminals.

Wait, what? Slow down, you're thinking too fast.

Unfortunately, he didn't exactly have the time to consult with his Bad side. If he wanted his plan to have the full effect, he needed to put it into motion while his friend was still excited.

"I'm in," he said. "Whatever resistance movement you're involved with, consider me a part of it."

Are you kidding me?

"Really?" Danny grinned. "Wow. I didn't think you'd be so-"

"Decisive?" Good Cop cut in. "No. Normally, I wouldn't be. But, I've been thinking about this for a long time. Since before I started working here, in fact." Not entirely a lie – the scheme he was currently enacting was a variation of the "Master Builder" plan he'd invented during that interview all those weeks ago.

Becoming a mole in the resistance movement? Really? That's the most senseless plan I've ever seen you come up with.

It was alright that his Bad side didn't understand the full reach of his plan yet. His other side really had no head for patience or subtlety.

Good Cop continued in his conversation with Danny. "Lord Business needs to be stopped. This seems like the best way to do it. You guys already have a plan to take him down, right?"

At this, Danny backed away a little and glanced insecurely off to the side. "Nah, not what you'd expect. I mean, we got the resources, but not much in the way of leadership, y'know?"

So, the resistance movement did have some members in powerful places, but the overall group was either too disorganized or too spread out to make much use of it. Good to know. "That's alright," Good Cop assured. "We have time to figure something out. How many people are a part of it, again?"

Danny shrugged. "Not many. A couple hundred spread across the different worlds. Most of them are too busy dealing stuff from their home worlds to bother helping us out in Bricksburg. But, I'm thinking that cases like yours are more common that we thought. If we work carefully, we can get thousands on our side in just a few months."

Good Cop, suddenly curious and a tad nervous, gave a small frown. "'Cases like mine'?"

Danny waved a hand at him dismissively. "Don't worry about it. The guys'll get you up to speed when I take you to one of the meetings. There's a gathering for all the Bricksburg agents in a couple days, actually. You think you can break me out before then?"

This was definitely not part of the plan. Good Cop wasn't sure if his boss would even let him attend any of those resistance-movement meetings, but breaking someone out of jail was completely out of the question. Luckily, Good Cop was able to convert some of his nervousness into a sorrowful grimace. "Actually, I don't think I could break you out of here."

Congratulations. That's the smartest choice you've made all day.

Night?

Whatever.

Danny's hopeful expression slipped a little bit. "You can't get me out of this madhouse?"

Good Cop struggled to find the right words. The ideas came along easily enough, but he couldn't figure out how to say them without disappointing his best friend. "Bad Cop is going to watch you like a hawk. I stayed up for hours waiting for a chance to talk to you, and even then, it's only because he took your hand off and he still couldn't break you. I can pull his strings sometimes, but he doesn't trust me totally yet."

As Good Cop talked, Danny seemed to settle down a little. He spoke up, "Man, I get it. I'm on thin ice with him, and since you cut in on his interrogation time, you're on thin ice too."

Good Cop nodded. "I wish I could help you, but-"

"Man, you're helping enough already. 'Sides, once we take this place down, I'll be free anyways."

The cop's eyes strayed to the floor. "I guess."

The conversation lulled for a second, and Good Cop worked to radiate a sense of disappointment. It wasn't difficult, seeing as the entire situation was more than a bit tragic. What had driven someone like Danny to get involved with a resistance movement? Treason was one of the highest crimes in the empire. Even though capital punishment was outlawed, Danny was still looking at a life sentence in the most secure prison in the universe. Danny, in all his fun-loving nature, would only suffer in that kind of environment.

A few wayward ideas sparked in his mind. Maybe they could get a prisoner rehabilitation program going, one that would help show people like Danny the error of their ways so the police could eventually release them back into the world.

Deportation counseling? Prisoner rehabilitation? Are you seriously trying to make my job obsolete?

Actually, those kinds of programs would probably make more work for a police chief in the long run, monitoring potential subjects for the programs and all that.

Not the kind of job I was built for.

"Hey, cheer up, man," Danny spoke up, breaking through the silent conversation. "I'm stuck here, but that doesn't mean you can't go to the meeting in my place. It might get a bit tricky, though."

Good Cop raised an eyebrow at him. "Tricky?"

"Yeah," Danny replied. "We don't have a location set up yet. At least, we didn't have one before Bad Cop snagged me. Hip should've found a place tonight, but I have no clue where it is."

"Oh." Good Cop began chewing his lower lip, trying to puzzle out a solution to this problem. "And none of your buddies trust me enough to tell me where it is…"

"Actually, there's a way around that," Danny said. "We use it when we talk to members from the other worlds. I mean, there's hundreds of us, you can't expect us to recognize everyone. So, we've got a little password thing we do."

Good Cop almost fell over in shock. He'd expected it to take days before he could get Danny to trust him with that kind of information. A password that could get anyone from within the resistance movement to trust him was an incredibly useful tool.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Danny wasn't moving. He was smiling, yes, but clearly frozen in place. Good Cop gave a concerned, "What's wrong?"

Danny spoke, but he kept his teeth clenched in their smile as he did so. "Part of the password. When you think you see someone from the resistance, you look at them and freeze. Then, they ask if something froze you like that, which is when you say, 'My body is frozen, but my mind is always free'."

It seemed a little quirky for a standard password exchange, but not overly so. "My body is frozen, but my mind is always free," he repeated, shrugging it off a little. "Okay. I can remember that. Is there-"

He was cut off by a startling ring from his walky-talky. For a moment, he panicked. Who would want to call him at this hour of the night?

It's probably a report from one of my robots.

He couldn't answer it, then, without blowing his cover wide open. His hand dove for the radio, and he fiddled with it for a few seconds before he was sure it was turned off. His breath coming more quickly than usual, he gave his friend a nervous glance. "I think that was Bad Cop," he quickly lied.

Danny frowned. "Is he coming up here? How long do we got?"

Good Cop was immensely thankful that a nervous panic was the exact appropriate response for this situation. "I don't know. A few minutes?"

"Okay. We got this." Danny held out a hand. "Gimme your pizza. You go out there and stall him for a few minutes, and I'll hide the food so he doesn't think you got sympathetic and fed me."

Another thud from the back of his head almost made Good Cop jump out of his skin. The attempt to seize control didn't worry him too much, but it still left him baffled. What would bring it about at this point in the conversation? It made no sense.

It's the only way I have to make you listen to me.

What, trying to seize control? Those kinds of actions shouldn't be made lightly.

Maybe if you listened to me every once and a while, I wouldn't have to resort to this.

Good Cop couldn't listen to his Bad side, talk with Danny, and maintain the charade all at the same time. The two of them would talk in the hallway outside of the office.

The response to this was another heavy thud, which Good Cop did his best to ignore. After a second of forcing himself to calm down, he decided to go along with Danny's plan and passed his pizza over. "That's…a very good idea, actually. Thanks."

Danny grabbed the food, lazily shaking his head. "Not as good as some of yours, man. Remember the senior prank, what you did with the gym? Classic!"

Good Cop just smiled and giggled softly, backing towards the door. He had no idea what his friend was talking about, though some corner of his mind had the vague impression that it had something to do with parakeets. Clearing his throat, he said, "I'll try to talk with you again as soon as I can."

Danny plopped down into the chair. "No rush, man. Just keep working away at Bad Cop. Maybe you can even put in a good word for me?"

Good Cop turned towards the door, finding the doorknob before glancing over his shoulder. "I'll try!"

He left without so much as another word. He even put some distance between himself and the office, getting far enough away so Danny wouldn't pick up on any part of the heated conversation Good Cop knew was inevitable. When he reached the outside of the stairwell, another thud from his Bad side made him believe that this was a good enough place to stop and talk.

"Is something wrong?" he whispered.

Oh, like you even need to ask.

Alright, so there was definitely something wrong. His Bad side was still furious at him. "Everything I said about controlling you was a lie. You know that, right?"

But you do control me.

"Not like that!" He sighed. "I don't want to manipulate you into doing what I want. That's not the kind of partnership I want to have with you. I want the two of us to be equals."

So long as you're the dominant personality, that's never going to happen.

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall. "I can still try."

This seemed to silence his other side for a few seconds. Unfortunately, a few seconds wasn't very long.

That's not the only reason I'm angry at you.

Good Cop opened his eyes once more. "Okay, then. Tell me: why else are you mad at me?" It probably had something to do with his Bad side's vehement disapproval of his plan to become a mole inside the resistance.

Bingo. Give the man a prize.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked innocently.

Everything. It's pointless, it's risky, and there's no way Business would let you do it.

Really? Being a mole looked like it was working out beautifully so far. After a few more sessions with Danny and some of his buddies, they would have enough information to take the entire movement down from the inside. Then, they could put some infrastructure in place to prevent a similar movement from rising up in the future.

Business would never let you be so soft on the enemy.

On the contrary, Good Cop was very sure that Business would heartily approve of the entire thing. The man knew how important it was to be friendly and adaptive to the needs of the citizens.

That doesn't stop the entire operation from being extremely dangerous.

"My officers do sting operations all the time," he countered.

But nothing as huge as this. We're the police chief, and you want us to dive defenseless into the enemy's hands.

It wouldn't have to be dangerous, though, if they used the information Danny had given them.

That's assuming that everything Slider told us was true.

Good Cop would bet his life that Danny had given them mostly accurate information. First of all, they had been best friends in high school, if those kinds of things ever amounted to anything. Second of all, Danny really had no reason to lie. By all appearances, Good Cop had let himself be successfully manipulated into joining the resistance. A willing accomplice was infinitely more useful than a stubborn hostage, as his hoped his Bad side was coming to understand.

You trust Slider too much.

Good Cop gave a pause. "Is that what this is really all about?"

Most of it, yes.

He took a deep breath. It was all starting to come into proper focus now. "You hate Danny."

I hate all criminals.

"But you hate Danny more than you'd normally hate most criminals," he pointed out.

So?

He hesitated a little, wondering how his Bad side would react, before deciding that the words needed to be said. "You hate Danny because I'm friends with him."

A second of tense silence told Good Cop all he needed to know.

That…that has nothing to do with it! So what if you charmed that filthy criminal with your smile and your annoying sense of humor? I threatened him! I scared him! I made him desperate to find someone who would protect him! So what if he picked you?

Good Cop grimaced. He'd known that his other side was resentful, but perhaps he hadn't realized exactly how deep that resentment ran. Good Cop must have opened up some very old wounds.

Besides, it's not like you're the only one that can charm people into trusting them. What about Slider? You trusted him enough to leave him alone in our office!

Alone in an office that was hundreds of feet away from any source of help or safety. Sure, Danny liked to think big sometimes, and he was occasionally a little too cocky for his own good, but he would never be stupid enough to try anything all the way up here.

A tremendous crash made Good Cop's entire body freeze still. It obviously came from the direction of his office, but that wasn't the most worrying part. It was clearly too loud to be from any tipped filing cabinet. A few robots in the hall stopped in their work, glancing towards the source of the noise.

See, what did I tell you?

He raced back down the hallway, his motions fueled by pure anxiety. Gosh, he hoped his friend wasn't trying to do something stupid. The robots pressed themselves against the wall as he passed, and he made it to his door faster than he would normally think possible.

"Danny?" he panted, putting a hand to the doorknob. "What are you doing in there?"

He stepped through the doorway, or to be more accurate, he attempted to step through. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that the entire floor was gone until it was too late. He gave a startled yelp and plummeted down to the story below, flailing in midair. He landed on his back, and the impact made his headache give a dangerous, sickening throb.

"Goodie?" came a muffled voice as he tried to sit up.

He blinked, not exactly sure if what he was seeing was a result of hitting his head again. He was obviously in some sort of meeting room, but there were several things wrong with it. The table in the center was gone, and the black chairs had all been thrown against the wall. The entire ceiling was also gone, but Good Cop had already been thoroughly acquainted with that fact.

In the space where the table was supposed to be was what looked like a half-built tank. After a moment of observation, Good Cop realized that it was built out of the floor he had just fallen through. Sturdy white bricks and tiles made up the armored white outside. He thought he could see bits of the black table in the half-formed chassis. The barrel of the tank was probably some gray piping that had originally snaked through the floor.

Danny quickly poked his head out through the hole at the top. His previous state of jovial relaxation was completely gone. Instead, his face was etched with panic. "Goodie, uh…"

Good Cop stood up carefully, never once taking his eyes off the tank. It didn't appear to be operational just yet, and it was missing both sets of treads. However, the creation was easily three times as tall as a man. There was no way a normal person would be capable of putting such a large and complicated vehicle together in such a short time. Good Cop's shoulders felt heavy with dread.

"Danny… You're a Master Builder?"


This double-long chapter took twice as much time as usual. That should be fair, right?

This chapter was originally supposed to be much, much shorter. However, I couldn't resist the urge to develop on the relationship between Good Cop and Danny Slider. Then there's the relationship between Bad Cop and Slider, not to mention some back-and-forth between the two cops…and some worldbuilding…yeah. There really wasn't a good place to break it up.

But, hey, the lighthearted dialogue of this chapter hopefully serves to balance out some of the gritty drama from the last one. Plus, you gotta love the dramatic irony. Sorry about the cliffhanger, though.