Hey guys!

A little author's note from me!

Like I promised, my stories are continuing!

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm back and I have the next 7 chapters already finished and waiting to be uploaded!

Feel free to contact me if you have any feedback or if you simply want to chat about the fic\show. I reply to everyone (And I'm really nice & bubbly!)

Buckle up, this new "storyline" is divided into two chapters - 9 and 10. It was too long to post all at once.

Enjoy the cliffhanger (I know, I'm evil!) :P


CHAPTER 9: DON'T YOU EVER FORGET THAT I GET IT

One thing came out of Richard's birthday – the truth. Whether this was a good or a bad thing depended solely on whom it concerned.

To Richard there was nothing more horrifying than Valerie knowing the truth. Not because he was ashamed of it, even though he couldn't exactly deny the fact that he was, indeed, ashamed. But it was rather the fact that he had never shared this piece of information with Valerie, that bugged him the most. And he knew for a fact that she would feel left down by him.

To John the truth was nothing but a burden. He had previously explained to Valerie why he was so damn bad at keeping secrets, and yet, he found out he had never felt the urge to share this one, with anyone. One Good Boy Point for John, please!

To Sandra it had been just a matter of time before the reason why John and Richard "hated" each other came out. Truthfully, she was a bit relieved that it had only been Valerie to learn about it. If there was one person Sandra trusted, it was Valerie…occasionally.

To Valerie, it was a game changer. She had always seen Richard in a certain way and after learning the truth about his moment of weakness, she couldn't help but feel like he never considered her important enough for him to tell her all about this. Then again, she could once again be overthinking it and assuming the worst.

The day after the party Valerie was off. She spent hours in bed, thinking and analyzing Richard's recent behavior. There hadn't been any sign of him being any different with her recently, other than the banter they had, but that was quite normal. With a loud sigh Valerie finally rolled out of bed and decided to do something productive. She put on a robe and walked in the kitchen, preparing herself a very high calorie lunch. Why the Hell not? - she figured. One of the advantages of being a Chrome was that she could neither lose nor put on weight, no matter what she did. And being very eager to act like a normal human being, that day Valerie decided to drown her sorrow in chocolate, like any other woman would.

Hours later, she was still in bed, surrounded by Lady Godiva boxes and various other little packs of candy. She had gone through her candy savings at home, but not through all the reasons why Richard had never told her the truth. In a moment of insanity, she shot him a quick text.

Hey, want to grab a coffee? – Val

After what seemed like an appropriate time to wait for a text reply, which for Valerie was equal to, but not more than, one hour, she picked up the phone and called him. His phone was off, yet the text had been delivered earlier. So, he must have seen the text and then switched his phone off. Ouch.

Plan B, Valerie called Sandra.

"Hey, just calling to check in on Richard. How is he holding up today?" Valerie ambushed her boss before she could even get a Hello back.

Sandra received that call at a very inappropriate time. She had to excuse herself from a meeting with someone, so she could go out in the hallway and talk to Valerie.

"Ok, hello to you too." Sandra let out a small sigh, knowing that this call was not bound to end up nicely. "Valerie…" She trailed off, trying really hard to sound calm. "Richard is not here."

"WHAT!? What do you mean? He didn't check in this morning?" Panic, this was a new feeling for the otherwise calm and collected Valerie.

"No, he didn't. But that's only because I asked him not to." Sandra found out that the palm of her hand was sweating profoundly as she was clutching on to her phone. Was she nervous?

"Oh…" Valerie was now confused. "Day off for him as well?"

"Do not freak out on me…" This was Sandra's usual line whenever she was about to break some bad news to Valerie. "Richard was stripped from his duty after the incident last night."

"YOU FIRED RICHARD!?" Valerie totally freaked out on her boss.

"Hey, calm down. I'm just following standard protocol here. I have to!" Weak excuse, Valerie wasn't happy to hear it.

"Are you crazy? He just went through something traumatizing and you fired him?" As soon as she pronounced traumatizing, she kind of got an idea of what was going on.

"I did not fire Richard!" Sandra snapped back before confirming Valerie's new suspicion. "Exactly, traumatizing experience equals inability to focus at work and to take rational decisions. He is more than welcome back to the force after he completes his psych evaluation period. For now, he is deemed unsuitable to be wearing a uniform, not to mention carrying a gun."

"Psych evaluation? Oh, come on. You know how much he hates those. Didn't you put us through enough of it after San Francisco? No, come on…seriously! Not cool!" In her mind, Valerie was defending her friend. But in reality, her whining was doing more damage than good. "Psych evaluation is for extreme situations, say a mission failed, a mental block, a suicide attempt…"

"Exactly!" Sandra cut Valerie off as she was pronouncing the last two words.

It got Valerie thinking. Richard was, indeed, found in a very questionable mental state, on the edge of a rooftop.

All Valerie could do was breathe in sharply and then gulp.

When Sandra realized the message had finally gotten through to Valerie, she continued speaking. "You know it all depends on him now. This could take a few weeks, months…even years. But I'm not giving Richard his job back before I know he is ready. I vowed to never put one of my agents at risk again…or have you forgotten that?"

Valerie got a flashback from a very specific mission that was once held in San Francisco. She remained silent once again. It was slowly sinking in – Sandra was protecting Richard.

"Fine." Valerie admitted defeat while pouring herself a glass of bourbon. She needed something stronger than a chocolate high, in order to accept the fact that her colleague was in need of help. "But I'm coming to his sessions!" Her attempt to state it as a fact, failed.

Sandra laughed. "No, Val. This is something he needs to do in private, with a therapist. It is a very delicate matter."

"It is not negotiable! I'm coming!" She pushed it further.

"Ehm…" Sandra chose her words carefully. "What makes you think that he would want you there? You know, especially since he never even shared this info with you?"

Valerie gulped again. It was true, Richard clearly didn't want her meddling with his private life.

"Ugh!" She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes there's no arguing with you…"

"There is never space for arguing with the Captain." Sandra stated jokingly and it did make Valerie chuckle a bit.

"Can I at least come to work tonight? I know it was supposed to be my day off, but lying in bed is making me even more anxious. I need to put my mind at work, I need to do something to distract me from thinking about…this." Valerie pleaded.

"Alright. We could use a helping hand with a decryption of a message. Check in at 8 tonight." With those words Sandra excused herself and went back to work, leaving Valerie to get ready for her shift.

After a long hot shower, Valerie didn't feel any more relaxed. She had tried to call and text Richard again, but his phone was still off. Instead of making theories on why that might be so, she decided to go to work early. All she could do was believe that he wasn't going to do something to harm himself.

"Detective Stahl." She received a short and cold greeting from John, as soon as she walked to the common space.

"Detective Kennex." With a nod, she greeted back and walked away.

One of the elder detectives briefed her for this new case they had. She was presented with a digitally encrypted message, containing numbers and colors. At first sight, it seemed super easy to decrypt, but she later found out that it was not the case.

Two hours later she was still stuck staring at the thing. She had to run several researches about this type of coding and, despite the fact that she was amazingly good at decryption, she could not figure it out. At all!

Something caught her attention – one of the other detectives walked over to Richard's desk and sat down, placing some files on top and clearly intending to use this as his work space.

"Uh, that's Richard's desk." Valerie stated, motioning for the other man to leave.

"I know, but he's on leave, so…" The man mumbled. So, the word was out that Richard was not an active detective at the moment. Valerie wondered what possible fake reason Sandra must have given to everyone.

"And he's coming back, so…" She motioned once again, this time a little more insisting.

The man gave her a confused look before he moved away from the desk. It was not like Valerie to come off so defensive. Then again, lately she had let a couple of slip ups that pointed to behavioral issues.

"Anything?" The elder detective came up to her a few minutes later, hoping to get results.

"No, nothing." She shrugged. "This is bugging me. I feel like the answer is obvious, I just can't figure it out."

"I have to admit, this is one of the easy encryptions. You have done way better than that before." The man shot a glance at the file before he looked up at Valerie. "Are you okay? You seem a bit…spaced out."

"Yeah, I'm fine." She was totally not fine. Every time she tried to look at the file, she really did space out and saw flashbacks of the rooftop.

Coming to the realization that she was not in the right mindset to work, she reported to Sandra's office.

"I'm sorry. I know I asked to come in, but I realize I shouldn't have. I'm a liability to the team tonight. Everyone is working so hard on this encryption and I just can't focus at all." She hated admitting defeat, but it didn't bother her to do so when other people's lives or work assignments were at stakes.

"I appreciate you coming to me with this." Sandra smiled, pushing a chair closer to her and motioning to Valerie to sit down.

Sandra looked at the screen in front of her and made a few shifts in the night schedule. The encryption task was now given to two other detectives and Valerie was put on file duty, which basically meant she had nothing to do because no new files had come in and she had nothing to sort out.

"Thanks…and sorry, again." Valerie nearly sunk into the chair from embarrassment. She prided herself on being an amazing detective and she loved her job, but there was no guarantee that she would always be able to figure things out if her mind was not a 100 percent into it.

"I need you to understand something." Sandra rejected a call that came in at that same moment as she started speaking. Clearly this was serious. "As long as you come to me with the truth, I'm always going to put you first…I'll always help you out. I'm always there for you, Valerie. Forever!"

A single tear fell down from Valerie's right eye. Those exact words had been said to her, by Sandra, in a very emotional time in Valerie's life, years ago. She appreciated the throwback.

"Thank you." She nodded, but something was still bothering her. "But…what about Richard? Are you going to help him?"

"As much as I'd like to, I can't. He has to do this on his own." Sandra made something pop up on the screen.

"Wow, she is one of the best therapists in the country." Valerie read the file of a woman with 30 years of experience in the field of psychology, specifically working with FBI agents, secret services and other specialists.

"You almost sounded jealous." Sandra laughed.

"Well, I am. I don't like therapy, but this woman sounds like she knows everything about everything. Am I jealous Richard gets to talk to her? Yes. I'm also jealous she has this insane knowledge…wow, I wish I had all that experience!"

This was no news to Sandra. Valerie had always been attracted to books and any source of information about the human behavior.

"Listen. If you stay here, you'll only be distracted by the same names and faces. You won't focus on anything if you keep thinking that Richard is not here. How about I relocate you for a little bit, huh? You'll get to meet new people, work on different cases, get more experience. Maybe that can help you shake it off." With those words, Sandra researched a precinct that was not too far from their city. "Three-hour plane ride. Nice weather, beach…" It all sounded appealing. "I know the man who runs this place. I can put in a good word for you."

After careful consideration, Valerie decided that this was the best thing she could do for herself. A change of scenery, a new daily routine to get used to… Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"Yeah, that would be nice. But I don't want to be away for more than a week…or two." She murmured while she checked out some info on this venue.

Sandra sent an e-mail, requesting temporary placement of a female detective who was in search of an exchange opportunity. After about two minutes she got an automated reply, asking for the detective's file so they can run a background check and set her up for accommodation and health insurance at the new precinct.

Valerie shifted uncomfortably. She had two files – one was the real deal, where CHROME stood out in bold red letters. That was classified. The other one was the public one, with all of her achievements, study and expertise. She checked out what Sandra was typing in reply to that e-mail and something felt…off.

"That won't be necessary. All you need to know is that she is one of the best in the country, very smart and an outstanding behavioral data analyst. Her name is Valerie Stahl. I will set up her files and accommodation. Just get her a uniform. She is flying in tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks,

Sandra"

It all sounded a bit too…direct. It was definitely not the formal tone that Sandra used in e-mails.

"I told you, I know the guy who runs this place." Sandra sensed Valerie's confusion instantly.

Arrangements were made and Valerie was supposed to fly out on the following day. She continued her shift that night, sorting out a few old files and closing cases that had already been solved. Early in the morning she got to go home. First thing she did was to take a shower and right after that she went to bed.

Waking up at noon, she quickly packed a few basic things in her suitcase. After a light brunch with a fruit bowl at home, she headed to the airport. She tried getting in touch with Richard one more time, but with no result. Wherever he was, he clearly didn't want to be found. Sandra had already reassured Valerie that she was aware of his whereabouts and that he was safe and all he needed was some time to process his thoughts, but somehow Valerie needed a confirmation straight from Richard's mouth. That did not happen.

The flight was nice, she was given some snacks and as soon as one of the flight attendants walked by her, there was an uncomfortable shift in the air.

"Can I help you?" Valerie tried to grab the attention of this girl who was staring at her in the most obvious way.

"Oh. No. Sorry." The flight attendant blushed and looked away, ashamed. "It's just that…I feel like I know you."

Valerie checked the girl out – perfect skin, gentle smile, amazing body proportions, healthy hair.

"You don't." She sighed, coming off a bit stand off-ish.

"Sorry…" The girl disappeared and never bothered Valerie again for the remaining duration of the flight.

It was obvious, the girl was a chrome. Valerie could always tell if someone was chrome or human, but it was very uncommon for someone to be drawn to Valerie like that. She shook it off, thinking maybe she had a familiar face.

Arriving at the airport in this new city, Valerie had to meet with the male detective who she was exchanging places with. They texted and he was waiting to board the same plane that she came in on, which apparently was going straight back to where it departed from. Hence, he had about an hour ground time before he had to board.

They had made arrangements to meet at one of the restaurants on the second floor of the airport and she got there first.

"Detective Stahl?" Valerie heard in the distance, somewhere behind her. She turned around and saw a man in his 30's, wearing black sunglasses, leaning over a table. The middle-aged woman who was sitting at the table on her own seemed more than alarmed by the way he had approached her.

"Here!" Valerie called out for him before the other woman would freak out about the fact that a very Matrix-looking man was calling her detective.

"Wow…" He didn't hide his surprise when he walked over to Valerie. "I would have never guessed it was you."

"Why?" She asked politely.

"Well, with all the experience you've had…I guess I figured you were more…mature?" He didn't want to say old, but that was exactly what he meant.

"Trust me, I'm way too mature for my age. Sometimes." She laughed and extended her hand to introduce herself officially, saying her title, her full name and the precinct where she came from.

"Yeah, hi. I'm Kyle." He said shortly, not meaning to make this too formal.

"Are you excited about the exchange?" She smiled at him after telling the waitress what she was going to eat.

"Honestly? No." He laughed. "I mean, yeah I guess it would be nice, but I didn't have much of a choice. My boss just called me last night and told me to pack my stuff. Guess I have to be glad it's just because of a temporary placement and not me being fired."

"Ouch. I'm sorry. I feel like this is kind of my fault. My transfer was a last-moment decision too. I decided it late last night with my boss." Valerie felt the need to excuse herself for this mess.

"Nah, it's not on you. My boss is a dick. He doesn't care about anyone or anything. I guess it was too good to be true. I mean, next week I had to have a few days off and I was taking my girlfriend to this sports event that she really wanted to go to. I got us tickets and all…" Kyle trailed off and shrugged.

"Listen, I don't want to sound weird, but what if I take her to the event? I mean, I will pay you for the ticket! I love sports and I would love to go. This way she is going to have company and I'm going to meet someone new." Valerie came off as very nice and genuine to Kyle. He already liked her.

"Why not?" He smiled. The waitress brought his food first, but, as a sign of respect, he wouldn't even look at it until Valerie's food would be served as well. He came off as a nice guy, Valerie already liked him too. "Her name is Josie. You'll meet her in the morning."

"Wait, why? Am I staying at your house?" Valerie couldn't figure out what his words meant.

"No. It surprises me, but I guess the boss actually went all out and got you a really nice townhouse to stay in. Usually he gives really crappy and cheap accommodations to the new recruits." Kyle was clearly starving, because as soon as Valerie's food came in, he picked up his fork.

"I really don't care where I stay. It's only temporary." She took a bite off her food as soon as the waitress put it down. "Wow, this is so good!" She stated, licking her lips.

"Welcome to our region. We pride ourselves with the amazing food we have. Prepare to gain a few pounds during your stay!" He tried to joke, but it only reminded her that she was not normal, she could not gain weight, ever.

"So, what did you mean that I will meet her in the morning?" She asked once again.

"She's one of the detectives. If you ever get paired with her, you should know that you can trust her. She's an amazing person and a great detective." He could have gone on and on about Josie, but he stopped talking when he noticed Valerie's jaw was almost hanging in surprise.

"You date within the precinct!?" Her tone went up a few notches, implying that this was unacceptable.

"Yes. A lot of us do. Why?" He seemed completely unbothered by what he was saying.

"My God! Our Captain has the strictest policy about dating colleagues, even cross-section. It's a big NO for everyone, no exceptions…" Without knowing it, she might have sounded a little…upset about it.

"Oh, someone doesn't like this rule…" He laughed. Being a detective, a really good one at that, he instantly figured out that Valerie must have had a love interest at her work place.

"I don't like any rule." Smart way to get out of it, Valerie.

"Great. You'll love your new work place then. Our new Captain has zero interest in leading his team. We basically do what we want, we work when we want to and there are absolutely no consequences for anyone if he or she screws up. The dude doesn't care about anything." Kyle rolled his eyes.

"Great. Can't wait." Her response lacked any enthusiasm. "I can't believe you guys can date within the precinct…"

"Oh, it's been like this since we had our previous Captain. He used to say that he doesn't believe in love and that if we want to waste our time with someone, we are free to do so, but then at the end we would end up sad and alone. Yeah, he was kind of weird as well." Kyle was the first one to finish his meal as they spoke. He was keeping an eye out on the boarding announcements and his flight was due to board in half an hour.

"What a bitter old man!" Valerie cringed. If she had to be honest, she used to have the same mentality – why waste time with someone when you'll end up sad and alone in the end anyway. But that was strictly because of her being a chrome. Deep down inside, she hated to admit this, but she was a little bit romantic after all.

"Anything I need to know about your precinct?" He was curious.

"We are very technological. I know you guys are old school, which is fine. But you better be prepared to do everything on a screen. We don't use pen and paper anymore." Saying the last few words, she blushed a little bit. "Well, some still do, I guess…" She giggled.

"A special someone?" Kyle figured out that Valerie was cool enough, so he could maybe tease her a little bit.

"No. There isn't anyone special in my life." She said through gritted teeth. No matter how much she denied it, he was going to get to the bottom of this. "Anyway. I was saying, every human detective is partnered with an MX. It might be weird at the beginning, but you'll get used to it. You can program your partner to give you updates on anything you want. It's fun, it's like watching a game or listening to the radio at work. Then there's Sandra, the Captain…"

"Sandra?" Kyle questioned. "Where have I heard this name before…" He muttered to himself, sounding quite sarcastic.

"It's a common name." Valerie shrugged it off. "She is very strict, but she is not a bad person. She always helps her people. You'll love her. Then there is Rudy, our brain. He is quirky and so incredibly smart."

"Who is the best detective?" Kyle sipped on the coffee that he had asked for after his meal.

"Uhm…" Technically, it was Valerie herself. But it would be so self-centered of her to point that out. Plus, she never thought she deserved that title anyway. She blamed her excellent work results on being a perfect chrome. So, she went with who she really believed to be the best. "It's a draw between detective Paul and detective Kennex. Both are outstanding, amazing, smart, with an endless list of achievements."

"Cool, can't wait to meet them." He said genuinely.

"Yeah, you might want to cool your enthusiasm off a bit or you might be disappointed. Detective Paul is currently out of duty and detective Kennex is…well, not exactly keen on making friends." In her mind, this was the nicest way she could possibly put it.

Kyle heard his flight boarding being announced on the loudspeaker and he stood up, handing the waitress money for the bill.

"Oh, no. I pay my own bills." Valerie handed some money to the girl as well. "Sorry, it's something I strongly believe in." She whispered to Kyle before he could think that she was rude to not accept his treat to lunch.

"Independent. Smart. Not afraid to speak her mind…" He pointed out, after knowing her for less than an hour. "I am surprised the best detective in your precinct is not you."

If only you knew! – Valerie thought to herself as she offered a humble smile.

"Alright, have a safe flight and here's my number. If you need anything, just text me or call me." She put her number on his phone.

"Thanks. My advice for you…just, don't let the mess get to you. At the end of the day, no matter what is going on in the precinct, remember that you are a detective and crime is not going to wait for us to sort out our personal problems. Put your cases first. You can trust Josie in the precinct, also Tony and Will, if you meet them. Go to them if you need help. Never go to the Captain, he won't ever help. Good luck." He said in turn.

As she watched him walk away and get lost in the crowd of people, she couldn't help but feel like he was being sent off to a vacation in a tropical paradise, while she was about to walk right into the burning flames of Hell.

Half an hour later she was in the city. It was quite the opposite of Hell – it was sunny and bright, people smiled at her as she walked by and the one time she asked directions to where her building was, one of the locals started chatting her up and also explained the best places to go have breakfast in the morning. It all seemed so…perfect.

Yet, Valerie was in for a rude awakening. She had always known that things that look perfect on the outside were actually quite fragile and messed up on the inside…judging by her own experience, being a Chrome. However, this time she was going to experience it second hand, in a very visual way.

As soon as she walked in the building where she was supposed to stay at, she knew that is was quite an exclusive place. She had a doorman, an iron door outside and a private garage. The place was surrounded by surveillance cameras and while she was getting out of the elevator, she was greeted by an A-list celebrity who, apparently, was going to be her new neighbor. Wow, this was not exactly the type of luxury that detectives were used to.

It took her about an hour to figure everything out. First thing she did was to take a shower. After that, she unpacked and neatly put all her belongings in the massive walk-in closet. It looked empty when she was done, since she only had very few things. Then she checked out all the kitchen appliances and made a list of the things she needed to buy before she walked out of the apartment. Conveniently, there was a mall within walking distance from her home. She knew about it, because that is where the local guy had suggested that she'd go have breakfast the next day. Was it written on her forehead that she loved pastry? Somehow people always figured out that she had a sweet tooth.

The trip to the Mall was successful. First stop, new bed sheets. Then, the bathroom basics. Next, a few things for the kitchen and, of course, the most important thing – a scented candle for the bedroom.

Feeling like an independent grown up, which she actually has been from an early age, she decided to treat herself to a nice and relaxing cup of hot chocolate and some pastry at that place the guy had told her about. Why wait for the next morning?

She walked out on the terrace of the second floor of the mall and the huge sign with the name of the place just popped out.

"Welcome to the Jungle!" The cashier nearly screamed, as he popped out of nowhere and startled her.

"Oh, wow! This place is so cool!" She shared her thoughts out loud and it made the guy smile.

"I'm Sam. What would you like to order?" He pointed to the huge wall behind him, where all the menu had been written in cursive. Every detail about this place was so lively, so colorful, so fun.

"I'll have…the Princess of the Jungle fruit bowl…and a blueberry muffin with a medium mocha latte and one of these cookies, vanilla, please." For a first-time customer, Sam appreciated her enthusiasm and curiosity to try out so many things from the menu.

"A'ight. Go take a seat and I will be with you in a minute." His behavior reminded her of one of those Jungle cartoons and the fact that he was dressed like a crossover of a monkey and Tarzan was just a plus to the whole experience.

As soon as she sat down, she took a photo and sent it to Sandra, who called her immediately.

"Valerie, how is it out there?" She asked immediately.

"It's actually great! I'm loving the weather; the people are so nice and my apartment is ridiculously awesome. I just bought a few things for the house and I'm sitting here at this insane pastry place, waiting for my treats to arrive. Oh, here they are. Thanks, Sam!" She whispered to the guy who brought her a huge tray of everything she wanted, plus a complimentary palm-tree shaped chocolate biscuit. "The flight was alright. Everything is just fine, so far. I met Kyle at the airport, he seemed super nice and smart. We gave each other some info on our new working place and then he went to board the plane. That's pretty much it."

Then suddenly Valerie realized something – ever since she had woken up in her own house earlier that day, she hadn't thought about Richard even for a second. That could mean two things. One, she was the worst friend ever - selfish and careless when it came to others. Or two, Sandra was amazing at figuring out how to heal Valerie's pain, in the most effective way, stripping her completely off the burden of her negative thoughts while giving her new and exciting things to focus her thoughts into.

"Yeah, Kyle texted me from the airport. I sent John and Max to meet him when he lands and to get him to his apartment. I'm afraid we couldn't afford the same luxury that you were given, but still, his crash-pad is nice and cozy and quite close to the precinct. It's by the Flower Gardens, actually." Sandra knew how much Valerie and a bunch of other detectives loved going to the Flower Gardens during their lunch break. The precinct owned a few apartments there, given to agents who come from other cities and need a place to stay at, such as Kyle.

"Oh, the Flower Gardens!" Valerie said dreamily, but there was something else she wanted to talk about.

Once again, Sandra knew exactly what was on Valerie's mind. "He's safe. He will be okay. His first session is tomorrow morning and you were right, he was quite unhappy about having to go through this process…"

"I know Richard. He hates John and he hates therapy. That's pretty much all about him." Valerie laughed.

"Speaking of John, I don't suppose you took the time to let him know you were leaving…" Sandra trailed off.

"No, I didn't. I needed to leave with no regrets and, well, telling people about my plan was only going to hold me back and give me yet another thing to try to block out of my thoughts." Sandra could hear Valerie say all that with her mouth full. She knew better than to bother Valerie when she was having her sweets.

"True, but he has been asking for you. At the very least, you owe him an explanation." It was not typical of Sandra to speak like this. Usually her mindset was: our colleagues must know what is connected to work and we are not obliged to give any explanation on any personal matter, to anyone, ever. However, she had recently been encouraging Valerie to talk to John about personal matters and it did not go unnoticed.

"I will call him right away. Gotta go now. My coffee is getting cold. Talk to you in the morning. And once again, thanks." Valerie said politely before she hung up.

Valerie relaxed for the next half an hour, watching the sunset from the terrace, as she did the most human thing there was to do – a photoshoot of all her sweets, with the jungle-themed background and the sunset. She liked photographing pastry, even though she would never admit it to anyone.

Hey, didn't see you at work today. I'm at the airport now to get some new detective. Coffee after? – John

She smiled, reading his text. Did he ask her out for coffee? His timing sucked.

Valerie sent him one of the photos she just took of all the things she had ordered, with some text attached.

Too little too late, detective ;) – Val

Not even a minute later, John was calling her.

"That guy I'm waiting for…he's from this place you're tagged at. What's going on?" Kenned shot his question as soon as Valerie picked up.

"How did you…" And then it struck her – she had her location sharing on, so when she texted John, he saw where she was at. "Okay, I'm exchanging with Kyle. I just arrived at his city and Sandra informed me you're meeting him at the airport, along with Max. Hey, don't hurt my MX, please! Why aren't you with Dorian?"

"Great! I already hate that prick Kyle!" John said unenthusiastically. "Dorian is with Rudy. There was an issue that they needed to fix, so Sandra gave me your Max to partner with for the day."

"No! Kyle is really nice. Give him a chance. Please, John, don't be rude to him. He was very nice and helpful to me." Valerie pleaded.

"He's also going to be here. And you're not…" Kennex had to bite his tongue as soon as he said those words. How lame was that outburst?

"Don't be a child. This is temporary and I'm actually quite happy to be here. My apartment is so cool and the people in the city seem nice. It helps me get my mind off…things." There was no doubt Kennex understood exactly what she meant. He didn't know the lengths of it, but he knew that Richard was important to Valerie, so he imagined how hard it must have been for her to witness the rooftop scene a few days earlier.

"Well, enjoy it." He bit back.

"John! I came here to get away from the drama. Please, don't call me again if you're going to act so immature.

"Sorry. I'm bitter because I…you know, I had something for you, Valerie…" John stood in front of the Arrivals gate at the airport, shuffling something in his pockets before he took a small piece of purple paper out.

"I knew it!" Kyle smirked as soon as he approached John and saw the piece of paper in his hand, hearing him say Valerie's name over the phone. This must be the special someone who still used pen and paper, the one Valerie didn't want to talk about.

"I'll text you my new address and you can deliver this thing to me here, okay?" She suggested.

"Mind your own business, dude!" John turned around and snapped at the man who was clearly eavesdropping. He put the paper back in his pocket and made his usual grumpy face. "I'm waiting for someone."

"It's him, that's Kyle!" Valerie said over the phone, having overheard his voice.

"Oh, great. Now I like him even less than before." John murmured on the phone. "Talk to you later, Val." He hung up on her and she hoped he wouldn't be too nasty with Kyle.

John turned around, only to find a good-looking young man smiling at him.

"Hi, I'm Kyle. It's nice to meet the great Detective Kennex." He said politely.

"Urgh, so you're the prick, I mean, the reason why we got Detective Stahl taken away from us?" John rolled his eyes and ignored Kyle's hand as it hung in the air for a salute. Instead, he turned around and started walking to a direction where, Kyle assumed, his car was parked.

After a few seconds Kyle's words sunk in.

"Wait. She told you about me?" Kennex stopped in place and, this time, as he turned around he found Kyle standing there, smirking at him.

"Not much, other than the fact that you're a fine piece of man." Kyle's words were more than obviously sarcastic.

"Ha-ha." John said with a blank stare on his face. "Enjoy your time here!" He added, clearly intending to make it feel like Hell for Kyle.

"Oh, yeah…that's what she said." Kyle bit back. He was a really nice guy, usually. However, he never let anyone walk all over him and that personality trait kind of reminded John of Richard.

"The LA Lakers just won the game with a big advantage." Max randomly blurted out as the guys sat in the car.

"Oh, who's that?" Kyle pointed over to Max.

"That is Max, Valerie's MX partner. I'm not authorized to punch him out, so neither are you." John put on his belt and started off the engine.

"Why would anyone want to punch out a robot?" Kyle said in confusion.

God, he really is new around here! – John thought to himself.

For the rest of the commute to the Precinct, John kept it quiet.

"Fresh meat coming through!" John said loudly as they walked through the common area of the Precinct.

Kyle found about 30 sets of eyes glued to him instantly and it was a bit intimidating for a second. The moment he released the breath that he had sucked in, was when he realized that not everyone was as stuck up as John. People came up to Kyle, presenting themselves and welcoming him to his new work place. He soon found himself being dragged into the coffee and relax area where a few detectives poured him a drink and gave him a few of those amazing chocolate-dipped biscuits that Sandra always ordered for her agents.

"So, who is the best detective around here?" Kyle was always curious to know who he's going against. He was considered the best at his precinct back home, so it was only natural to want to meet his competition. The more people he asked, the more accurate answers he would get.

"Stahl." One of the guys in uniform replied instantly.

"Nah, man. She's good, but Paul's been here for longer." Another one contradicted.

"I hate to say this, but Kennex is pretty damn good, too. You know, apart from the Ambush incident…" He rolled his eyes, realizing that his statement didn't make much sense to the newbie.

"I'm gonna back my man up on this one." Another guy looked up at the first one who spoke. "I think it's Stahl. She's always focused, always on point with her deductions, always a good SWAT team leader. She has never failed a mission."

"Yeah, I believe it's Stahl as well." One of the elder detectives confirmed. "Speaking of her, where is she today?"

"I'm her replacement here. We've exchanged for…some time." Kyle realized he had no idea exactly how long he was going to work with those people for.

"Crap, are you serious?" The guy who had pinned Richard as the best detective, spoke up again. "No! We just got assigned this weird case and she's probably the only person who could crack all the details quickly."

"So, am I on the case now?" Kyle asked and received an affirmative nod from a few of the guys. If he was Valerie's substitute, it meant that he was going to work her cases while she was away. "Well, then what are we waiting for? Can someone brief me with what you guys already know?"

His willingness to be immerged into this new work place earned him some major respect points from everyone, except for John, who walked away grumpily and minded his own business for the next few hours.

Meanwhile, Valerie had finished her sweet treats and had returned to her temporary home. She had to admit it, she quite enjoyed decorating everything and creating a quiet corner for herself to relax and do some overnight work at. The candle was the first thing she put there, followed by a cute little throw blanket, a new table cloth and, on top of the table, a purple note that she took out of her pocket. She had noticed it there when she landed at the airport a few hours ago and she reached for her ID card which was, naturally, tucked in the back pocket of her jeans. After careful examination, she decided that John must have placed it there when he gave her a hug before they all left Richard's birthday. Those were the jeans she wore and, thank God, she hadn't washed them yet. Also, during that two-second hug, she had, indeed, noticed John's hands slipping unusually low down her back. At the time being, she had other things on her mind, so she never really thought much of that, but she now realized he must have slipped her that note in that very moment.

She hadn't read it yet.

She didn't want to.

After a relaxing bubble bath, she dove in the softness of her new sofa, surrounded by fluffy pillows, inhaling the scent of the candle.

Perfect! – She thought to herself.

She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so…free. Completely stripped off stress and the mundane tasks that haunted her at the Precinct. Not to imply that her job was boring and repetitive! If anything, it was quite the opposite. But this new lifestyle she was experiencing that evening…oh, this was the life…

Or so she thought for the first 25 minutes. And then she got bored.

She called for food delivery, even though she wasn't exactly hungry. Yet, she had to do something to pass some time before it was a reasonable time to go to sleep, which for her was somewhere between 1 and 3 o'clock at night, usually.

Right after she finished her late dinner, boredom struck again. Taking another shower was an option, but that didn't sound like a fun activity.

Going out for a drink on her own would be lame.

Reading something would only make her sleepy.

Consuming more food was out of question.

Subconsciously she grabbed her phone and sent out a quick text, shortly stating: Hey.

Hey there. – It was all she got as a reply, a minute later.

Do you hate me? – V

Deep down she knew that she wasn't going to fall asleep before she figured out where she stood with John.

Couldn't hate you if I tried! – J

Great, he was either sincere or sarcastic.

John, I needed this… - V

I know. I just hope you come back soon. – J

Honestly, this place is so cool. I might be tempted to stay a little longer than planned. – V

Oh… - J

Valerie rolled her eyes at his transparency. She attempted to take a few photos to send him, but neither photo made this place any justice. It had to be seen as a whole. Therefore, she video-called him.

"Hey, grumpy. Cheer up a little. Check this out…" She giggled as she turned the camera around, showing him the living room.

"Wow, that place is huge!" He gasped. "And very…very, very clean!"

"My house back home is clean, too. I'd be offended if it was the case that you knew where I live." She laughed.

"Hmm. I actually don't know where you live. A woman of mystery, that is what you are, Detective Stahl!" He said playfully.

"Ah!" She checked the clock on the wall. "It's Val, after midnight."

Indeed, it had just struck midnight. Perfect timing.

"Right." He had not forgotten the day she first said those words to him.

"Have you heard from him?" She couldn't hold it anymore. No matter how distracted she had been all night long, she couldn't just disregard the fact that Richard had disappeared and no one, except for Sandra, knew anything about him.

"We're not friends. We don't text. We barely even speak at work." He replied with a wince.

"I know. I just…" It was a lost cause. Explaining to John why she cared about Richard was nearly mission impossible, so she just dropped it. Instead, she walked over to the bedroom, in search of her tablet.

"Oh, so that's the bedroom, huh?" He said curiously.

"Yeah. It's huge!" Valerie moved the phone in 360 so he could have a better look.

"I can see that. Huge bed, also…" He smirked.

"John, stop it." The camera briefly stopped to show her face and he could tell that she was blushing.

"So, what's the plan?" He genuinely wanted to know. "Kyle came over, took your place and, might I add, he integrated himself quite well with everyone…"

"Everyone?" She raised an eyebrow, making sure he could see that.

"You already know I hate him!" He admitted.

"Don't be a child, John. He's nice. Give him a chance. You might even become friends." She suggested while putting a few more things on the little shelf near her bed.

"Why? He's going to leave soon anyway!" His words made her think for a moment.

Did John have some sort of a phobia of making friends? What could his reasons be? Valerie knew very few details about his personal life and she had just learned that he had once been close friends with his now sworn enemy – Richard. Something was up with the way he just disregarded friendship, with such ease. That was, however, a very personal matter that Valerie knew she had no right to question.

"So, my plan…" She started replying to his previous question. "Probably watching a movie, just chilling, going to sleep. Then I have to be at the new precinct tomorrow at 9."

"Netflix and chill?" He asked casually. "Wouldn't blame you. That huge bed of yours looks very inviting."

"John!" She scoffed. Sometimes she liked his advances, but sometimes they were a little too much. Especially lately, with all the…feels she had. "It's nice to know that you think I'm the kind of person who changes city and sleeps with someone I just met, a few hours after I came here. Thanks. Really boosts my ego as a female." Sarcasm usually got her out of awkward situations.

"That's not…" He stuttered and then decided to drop it.

"So, I'm meeting my new colleagues in the morning. Kyle warned me that the boss is kind of weird." She sounded a little more enthusiastic about the house, than the job.

"How so?" He grabbed a protein bar to chew on and sat back in a chair. Valerie could tell that he was in the downstairs lounge, the one where they once drank Bourbon at and watched the game together. Nobody really went there, so it was a nice get-away for those times when one needed to be on their own, to gather their thoughts.

"He said the guy doesn't care about anything. People do what they want to. Like…there is no authority figure for them." She sat on the bed and pulled the covers over her feet. "Also, how weird is it that he allows people dating at work!?"

"Seriously? As far as I know, no precinct allows that." It was a common thing, as Sandra always said: people who fight together, don't sleep together.

"Well, Kyle is dating one of his colleagues. I'm meeting her tomorrow. We're going to some sports event this weekend." There it was again, the enthusiasm.

"Can I just point out that you sound quite happy to be there…" He pursed his lips. "Don't enjoy it too much."

"Don't worry. My home is where you guys are. I just needed a change of scenery. I can't focus on anything until Richard is back." She got interrupted by Sandra's voice.

"Detective Kennex, I need to talk to you before you leave tonight." Sandra had somehow found him downstairs and she walked in the lounge just for a second.

"Sorry. That was the Captain. She needs to talk to me. I doubt I was this mean to Kyle…" He had to rewind his recent memories, wondering if the new guy had already complained.

"Sandra wouldn't waste time on petty things like that. Not right now. Trust me." She yawned, suddenly overwhelmed by tiredness. "Go! I'm skipping the movie and going to sleep right away."

"Goodnight, Val." He waved at the camera.

"Goodnight, John." She waved back.

As soon as the call was cut, John picked up the glass that had been sitting on the table in front of him since a minute before Valerie had called him. Taking a sip of the liquid, he cringed, coming to a conclusion that he quickly wrote down on a piece of purple paper.

Bourbon doesn't taste as good without you.

Some day he might give the paper to Valerie. Or not.

The next day came quickly. Kyle had been briefed late in the evening and then he was taken to his crash pad for the night. Valerie, in turn, had the luxury of relaxing and taking her time before having to report to the new precinct in the morning.

A few minutes before 9 am, both Valerie and Kyle were at the front door of their new work places.

Kyle was once again welcomed warmly by his new colleagues and, judging by her fabulous day of relaxing and sweets just hours ago, Valerie was half-expecting a warm welcome as well.

"Hello. I'm-" She started to present herself to the first policeman she saw as she stepped in, but was blatantly ignored.

"Hi…" She waved at one of the female officers, but it didn't get her any more recognition.

"Uh…" She bit her bottom lip, looking around to check where she should head next.

The common area didn't look half as busy as her old precinct was on a daily basis. There was a crooked sign for a rest-room hanging on the wall and another few signs for the offices of the lieutenants and the Captain. She figured her best move was to go to the boss himself.

"Good morning, I'm Detective Stahl from-…" She was once again cut off, this time by the Captain.

A middle-aged man, sitting in a brown leather chair, kept his eyes on several pieces of paper on the desk in front of him, as he spoke without taking even just a glimpse of Valerie.

"I know who you are. Your locker is downstairs." He said shortly.

"Okay…" Valerie had to blink a few times in order to prevent herself from rolling her eyes at him. Not that he would even notice.

Silence. It was so uncomfortable.

"Who is my partner?" She was smart with this. He wasn't going to sit there and chat with her, so she figured the only question she needed to ask was who she was going to be working with and then hope and pray that this person would be nothing like anyone she had already met at that place.

"Whoever. It doesn't matter. Choose someone." The man replied.

Valerie didn't even know his name, but she already hated him. This was far from what she had expected, but she also knew that she had made the choice to be there and she had to stick with it.

"Well, this was a great talk." She said sarcastically, finally grabbing his attention.

The man looked up, just to see what the girl looked like, but somehow his eyes remained glued to her face. It kind of bothered her, but she wasn't new to people staring at her awkwardly.

"Okay. Bye." She waved, feeling like a dumb ass. When no further words, not even a scoff, came out of this man's mouth, she simply left his office, leaving the door open. Yes, she wanted to make him stand up, walk to the door and close it himself. This was payback for him making her be her own welcoming committee, basically.

She walked back to the common area and looked around. Nobody approached her. An incoming text caught her attention.

Hey, you hanging in there? – Kyle

Perfect timing. He must have known how much it would suck for her to be there, so he texted her immediately after she started her first shift.

This place is Hell! Listen, where can I find Josie? – Val

Haha, I figured you'd hate it. I didn't want to warn you in advance, in case you changed your mind and fled the city. It's easy to find Josie, just look for the only female that is actually working. – Kyle

Valerie scanned the room. There was a group of females in the corner, seemingly gossiping. Other three women were sitting behind work desks with a bored expression on their faces. And finally, there she was – a gorgeous, tall girl, about Kyle's age. She was typing something on a computer while reviewing a couple of files and simultaneously finishing up her coffee and breakfast.

"Hey Josie." She said with a smile as she approached the girl who, undoubtedly, was Kyle's girlfriend.

"Hi, you must be Valerie! Welcome…" Josie smiled back. She sounded nice and she already knew that Valerie was coming over.

"Yes. Kyle told me about you." Valerie spoke and there was this air of positivity around her that Josie felt drawn to immediately. "Oh, you don't have to sugarcoat it. I already figured out this place is weird." She added with a laugh, in response to Josie's half-spoken welcome.

"Weird is an understatement." Josie let out a giggle. "So, who is your partner? Do you have any questions?"

"You are my partner." Valerie stated, as if it was set in stone. So far Josie was the only one who has bothered to talk to her, plus, the Captain told her to choose a partner and, well, she chose one. "Yes! I have one question."

"What is it?" Josie asked as she nibbled on the last bit of her chocolate muffin.

"Where did you get that from?" Valerie pointed to the muffin. It was, without a doubt, the most urgent thing she wanted to figure out.

"Oh, you like pastry too? That is so refreshing! All the other girls around here are so obsessed with losing weight and eating low calorie meals, I honestly feel guilty to eat sweets around them. That is probably because they give me the looks and they already hate me anyway, so…yeah." Josie shrugged. "Anyway. I got it from Jungle. It's a local pastry and coffee place. Wanna go tomorrow before work?"

"Oh, I totally understand what it feels like, having to deal with jealous bitches who hate you. Trust me, story of my life!" Valerie laughed, without sounding like she was being conceited about her words. "I went to Jungle last night when I arrived in the city. It was amazing, I would definitely love to go back. Tomorrow at 7?"

"No, 7 is way too early. We can go there at 9." Josie suggested.

"But, my shift starts at 9." Valerie was used to waking up early, or staying up all night, working on a case.

"Yeah, mine too." Josie saw confusion on Valerie's face as she said so. "Right, you're new around here. Basically, we have no rules, no hours, nothing. That is probably why nobody cares about their job and the crime in this city has risen by 120% for the past few years. So, we can go have breakfast and then roll up to the Precinct whenever we want to. Nobody keeps track. I do most of my work outside anyway. I like to sit under the sun while I prep."

"This place sounds horrible. No offence. But it's just weird to me. I come from a place with a clear set of rules. I mean, yes, everyone complains about stuff sometimes, but I would hate it if we worked in an environment where nobody cared about anything. I mean, I'm a hard-worker. I like my job. I don't want to look back at my stay here and think of it as a waste of time. Isn't there anything I can do so I can maybe get assigned a case of my own? I really want to work." Valerie cringed. Having no rules sounded horrible. Having nothing to do sounded even worse.

Josie took her time to listen to what Valerie had to say. Everything about Valerie seemed legit, her words sounded genuine and her will to work didn't sound far-fetched.

Once again, Kyle struck with a perfectly-timed text, this time sent to his girlfriend.

You can trust her. Love you. – Kyle

Josie checked her phone for a second and she smiled. Kyle had promised to go to the new Precinct and to figure out if this Detective Stahl girl was trustworthy and there it was, proof that she was a good detective.

"Umm…" Josie stuttered. Even after Kyle's proof, she somehow felt like it was too early to tell. However, she trusted her boyfriend and she finally decided to open up. But for this, she needed them to be in a safe place with no prying ears around them. "How about we go to Jungle right now? I can prep you for this new case that came up…"

Valerie found it a bit weird that Josie insisted on talking to her in private, but there was nothing bad that could come out of it, so she went along with that plan.

The girls drove to the Mall, the same place that Valerie had been at the day before. Apparently, it was half-way between Valerie's house and the Precinct. How convenient!

Josie seemed fidgety and nervous. She ordered herself another coffee and the palms of her hands were sweaty.

"Alright, will you drop the act and talk to me now? Nobody is listening. You're safe to speak now." Valerie wasn't dumb. She let Josie know that she knew something was going on.

"Wow, you figured it out?" Josie looked down.

"I'm a behavioral data analyst. And a detective. And a woman. I know when strange things are happening in front of my eyes." Valerie laughed, not wanting to make Josie feel uncomfortable. "Your face has been blank and white as a canvas since you read that text on your phone. You extracted me from the work environment and you used the newly-acquired information about my love for pastry to lurk me into this place. I can only assume you'd like to tell me something that you don't want anyone else knowing."

"Damn, you're good!" Josie picked up her cup of coffee and sipped on it. "Well, I like you. Kyle likes you. That's already 50% approval in your favor…" It seemed like Josie was giving herself a pep-talk before breaking the news to Valerie.

"Girl, spit it out already!" Valerie giggled again. She found it endearing how Josie was in lack of courage to speak.

"Kyle and I were drawn to each other, we connected based on our mutual wish to help people. And then we clicked with two other people-" Josie started and Valerie already had an idea where this was going.

"Tony and Will?" Valerie suggested.

"Yeah. I see Kyle told you about them." Josie was now tossing a ball of napkins between her left and right hand.

"Only that I can trust the three of you." Valerie admitted before extracting the ball from Josie's hands. "Hey, look at me. Relax. Breathe. I'm not an enemy here. Just calm down and talk to me. What's so scary about the four of you?"

"We're not scary. The scary thing is that our city suffers in the hands of drug-dealers, con artists and cops who don't care about their jobs. Like I mentioned, I do most of my work outside of the Precinct. And…so do the guys…" Josie gulped and Valerie still didn't find a reason why this was such a huge deal.

"Oh, cool. So, you're like…some sort of a vigilante group?" Enthusiasm oozed from Valerie's tone and it surprised Josie.

"I guess…" Josie was now halfway done with her coffee.

"Slow it down. I don't need my partner high on caffeine on day one." Valerie kept on being extremely sweet and nice about everything she said. "What else can you surprise me with?"

"Nothing. That's all. The four of us figured out that if we can't help the city by being just cops, we might as well find an alternative. And uh, Kyle…before he left, he read your profile and he told me that you're one of the top Detectives around and uh…he texted me earlier, confirming that you can be trusted, so uh…we…we kind of had this idea that is, uh…" Josie bit on her bottom lip.

"I would be honored to be part of your crew!" Valerie auto-invited herself and then she accepted her own auto-invite. It was what Josie was bound to say anyway, it was just taking her way too long.

"Really? I mean, we don't have any immunity and most of what we do is not exactly legal. And well, we were kind of worried you might not agree with our…ways…" So, there it was, the thing that worried Josie. What if Valerie hadn't been so Pro-Vigilante and more legal-oriented?

"I'm not one to judge when it comes to breaking the law." Valerie said with a wink. Her public profile didn't have a single trace of what she was referring to. Valerie Stahl was squeaky clean on paper. But Josie wasn't naive. Every cop had a dirty secret.

"Great. Because we kind of need your help with something…" Josie had this area of discomfort around her when Valerie was around and it didn't seem to be driven by her perfect Chrome features.

"Please tell me you have a cool place, like in the movies. A high-tech secret dungeon for your secret operations. Right?" Valerie grinned. This was way better than anything she could experience in that new Precinct.

The girls finished their food and coffee and Josie drove them to a location 10 minutes away from where they were. It seemed like an old abandoned building, there was a football field in the back yard, but it didn't seem like it had been used in a while.

Josie led the way down a dimly lit hallway with no windows. Then there was a metal door with no lock, no handle, nothing. The girls stood there for about five seconds before it opened.

Valerie was impressed. Josie hadn't even touched the door. How did she manage to crack it open then? All Valerie managed to notice was that Josie had gotten quite close to the door and then she did nothing extraordinary.

"Respiratory rate and pattern-controlled access! Cool!" Valerie figured it out immediately.

"Yes, the door is connected to the breathing and DNA of us four. Nobody else can get in. Ever." Josie stated proudly.

Walking further in, they found themselves in the middle of a common area. It looked exactly like a scene out of a vigilante-centered movie. There was the high-tech corner with all the screens and gadgets, then there was a field for training, a wall with guns and weapons and, last but not least, a section of the wall with costumes hung up. That was what truly caught Valerie's attention.

"Oh…" She said dreamily, walking towards the costumes.

She would never admit it, but she was a sucker for a good disguise.

"Bullet-proof fiber. Very light, allows the skin to breathe and it doesn't keep sweat in. Form-fitting and, occasionally, flattering." Josie explained, rolling her eyes at her own last words. When she had first gotten her costume, she had been a little self-aware and thought that the fabric made her curves look unflattering. As time went by she learned to love her costume and it became like second skin to her.

"I'm impressed!" Valerie was in awe.

She walked closer to every costume, trying to figure out what it would look like when someone put it on. There were three male ones and then two female ones. Valerie figured the one with the green stripe on it was Josie's, since it would make the color of her eyes pop. But what about the other one, the black latex with black rhinestones on the side? Under the light, that hit it at just about the perfect angle in order to make the rhinestones shine, it looked like a kinkier version of a dress someone would wear to the Grammy awards. It was as if someone had rolled in metallic black paint, after which they had been body-painted and accessorized with crystals. It was like…something that Valerie felt drawn to. For a second she closed her eyes, imagining herself wearing that costume and, as soon as that mental image popped up, she liked what she saw. Kinky was an understatement, though. The way it was sewn, the little fabric it had on, was meant for someone with perfect proportions and what was more perfect than a Chrome? Well, well…did Valerie just smile in appreciation of the fact that she was a Chrome?

"Valerie?" Josie snapped her fingers in front of Valerie's face, since her previous two attempts to bring her back into reality by calling out her name had failed.

"Huh? Yes?" She said lamely.

"You're drooling." Josie laughed.

"This is…amazing!" Valerie said, still in awe. "Whose is that? I thought you were the only girl in the team."

"It's yours." Josie removed the costume from the mannequin and handed it to Valerie. "Come on, go try it on."

No further encouragement was needed. Valerie almost sprinted towards a room that Josie had pointed at.

Getting into that costume was a…challenge. But once inside, it felt like home.

"Oh, good Lord! Girl, you're hot!" Josie gulped when she saw Valerie walk out. It all fit just perfectly.

"Good. It was worth the struggle of putting it on. Uhhh, that thing was harder to put on than a latex suit. Okay, I admit I didn't have any oil and baby powder, maybe that's why." Valerie twirled around, feeling like a happy kid.

"Huh? Oil and baby powder?" Josie seemed confused.

"Ah, innocent you…" Valerie smirked. Josie had no idea what the process of getting into a latex piece of clothing was. How cute. However, she wasn't going to spill the beans and reveal the dark, kinky side of herself. Not just yet.

"Hot damn!" A male voice came up from behind them.

"Guys, behave!" Josie rolled her eyes. "Valerie, meet Tony and Will."

The guys introduced themselves, telling Valerie all the specifics of what they do in the team. For the next couple of hours, the four of them just hung out, made sure Valerie knew everything about their cases, the way they get things done and then they prepped her for the case they were working on as of recently.

"So, okay…Drug dealing. The car. The substance. The intolerance. The victims. Yup, I got it." Valerie nodded, summarizing it all in a few words.

Basically, they were dealing with this new gang of drug dealers who were spreading a batch of a highly addictive drug in random places of the city – they used it when mixing coffee for the people at coffee shops, it was sprinkled on top of food in restaurants. The goal, they figured, was to get people to start using it without knowing about it, then they would offer it to the market and the need for the substance would cloud the people's better judgement. They couldn't just stop using it, that was why it was so addictive.

The problem? Well, using it so randomly, it also would affect kids, elder people…hence, people who wouldn't be purchasing it later on. And, to top it all, Will had found out that there was a high level of intolerance amongst the citizens. He was a doctor, he now worked part time at a hospital, devoting every other minute of his day to the vigilante group, trying to help people out. Truthfully, he would have quit his job as a doctor, but he needed his access to the laboratories and, occasionally, he would grab a bottle of pills from work and put them to good use in order to help someone out. Not to mention, he basically had equipped a whole surgery room for them in their secret work space, using mainly things that he had grabbed from the hospital. In his mind that did not count as stealing, but he thought of himself rather as a modern-day Robyn Hood – taking from the hospital and helping people who needed it, but couldn't go seek medical help, mainly because they were doing illegal operations and they wanted to stay anonymous. A.k.a Kyle, Josie, Tony and even Will himself. He couldn't even count the many times he had to give someone stitches or heal some weird symptom.

By the time they felt confident that Valerie was ready to work with them, it was already dark outside.

"Pizza?" Valerie offered. "My treat."

"You don't need to…" Josie tried to argue.

"No, please, I insist! It's the least I could do to thank you guys for being so…different from everyone else I've met today." She didn't want to say it out loud, but in other words, she had only met stuck up policemen that morning. So, this shift of energy was quite pleasant for her.

"Okay then. But one thing – we don't get delivery here. Obviously. Also, we avoid getting spotted outside together, as a group. People might get suspicious. The police station already has keeps an eye on our little organization." Tony, the tech guy, said.

"Wait, what? The police is after you?" Valerie laughed out loud. "With both Kyle and Josie being detectives? Wow, the irony of life!"

'Shh! Don't point out how dysfunctional we really are!" Josie scolded her jokingly.

"Then come over to my house. I'm near the Mall, I guess the area is called The Core, something like that. There was a sign at the gate." Valerie pulled out her phone, trying to find the place on the map.

"Wow, The Core! You live in the gated community? It's where the core of the city lives – politicians, artists, singers, diplomats. How did you even score that apartment? It is a restricted area, the whole 5 kilometers from that place is a gated community. We could never get into that." Will pointed out.

"Speak for yourself." Josie smirked. "I may or may not have managed to break into that community last year, with Kyle. It's an insanely beautiful place. It almost doesn't even look like the rest of the city."

"You know, for being the face of the law, you certainly are doing a crappy job, Josie!" Will replied, shaking his head.

"Oh, I guess that, coming from the mouth of a respectful and loyal doctor like yourself, this shall be taken as an insult?" Josie threw a little dig at him.

Through it all, Valerie knew that it was just sarcasm. There was this unspoken rule of liberty with these people – they spoke and acted so openly with one another. It was different from what Valerie was used to back home where people had to be polite to one another and avoid drama at all costs. Sometimes little sarcastic dabs, used with proper timing, could defuse some tension that might have otherwise exploded later on when nobody expected it. Valerie liked this new working dynamic.

"I was given some sort of a code to gain access. It's on a digital carrier. Here, make copies. This way you can come over and visit me whenever you want. And, you know, I wouldn't mind a few occasional lifts from home to work since I don't have a car." Valerie smiled innocently.

"Do you seriously trust us enough to give us full access to your house?" Tony's jaw dropped when Valerie just handed him the gadget that could open every single door, from the front gate up to her bedroom.

"Yeah. Kyle said I could. So, I believe him." Valerie checked her phone. She had a few texts from colleagues and a missed call from Sandra. "Plus, I can take care of myself. I'm not scared that you might want to turn on me and come after me. I'm a big girl." She added with a smirk as she started walking towards the exit door.

"Ehm, it's not Comic Con just yet…" Josie pointed towards Valerie's body.

"Ops, I forgot I was still wearing this. It's so comfortable, you know, once you've battled with sliding into it and zipping it up." She laughed and walked over to the other room to get changed back into her normal clothes. She hadn't even had the chance to ask for her new police uniform and she wasn't too upset about it, as something was telling her that she was going to be spending very little time at the Precinct.

Tony quickly analyzed the code and saved a digital copy of it on a hard disk. He would get to multiplying it and making more copies of it the next day. For now, their number one priority was pizza.

On the way to The Core, Valerie was engaged in the conversation, but she was looking out the window the whole entire car ride. She was either weird or just very curious about her surroundings. Or both.

"Welcome to our new safe place." Valerie said softly as she opened the door of her apartment. "Since you said you avoid being seen together in public, how about we use the privacy of my home for our gatherings as normal people? I mean, not as vigilantes. No offence if that sounded wrong…"

"None taken. I'd rather be a vigilante than a useless cop anyway." Josie walked in and it was obvious she really liked the apartment. "Wow, how did you score that?"

"I have no idea. I thought I was getting the normal crash pad, you know? One-bedroom apartment, shared bathroom and no kitchen. So, I was quite surprised when the driver left me here yesterday. I'm not complaining, though." Valerie was more girly than what she would like to admit. At her new place, she loved the faint cream colors of the walls, the sophistication of the chandelier, the marble bathroom floor and, most of all, the terrace.

"The Captain is in charge of people's living arrangements. It's weird that he placed you here. He hates everyone in the Precinct. Something doesn't add up." Josie kept pushing it.

"I honestly have no idea. I can go ask him tomorrow…" Valerie opened the window in the living room and a fresh breeze came in. "Now, pizza!"

Josie pointed out a really good restaurant and they placed an order on the website. After 20 minutes, their delivery came to the front door, escorted by two armed security men from the building complex. This was not exactly something new to Valerie, so she wasn't as taken aback by it, as the other three people were. Nobody spoke up about it, though.

They spent the next couple of hours strategizing and putting pieces of the puzzle together, but no matter how much work they had done, it always felt like they were right back to square one.

Night fell and Valerie's new friends went to their homes, leaving her in a state that she had been in so many times before – alone. However, this time, it somehow bothered her. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't know anyone in this new city, or maybe it was the fact that she missed the people she knew back in her old city.

Just as she was dozing off to sleep, her phone started ringing. Along with changing her daily routine, her job basically, and her living arrangements, she had also changed her ringtone from a boring default one to a song that she liked. It hadn't even dawned on her yet, but she was a whole different Valerie now.

"Yea?" She picked up without checking the caller ID.

"Hey there. Did I wake you up? Sorry." It was Sandra, clearly. Who else would be calling her? Certainly not Richard.

"It's fine. What's up?" Valerie sat up in her bed, knowing that if she was laying down she would most definitely doze off in the middle of the conversation.

"Nothing much. Same old. I was actually calling to see what's up with you out there. You were supposed to call me…" Sandra tried hard not to sound like a clingy friend as she spoke. The truth was that she had been a little worried about Valerie, the girl never called to say what was going on and how her first day at the new job went.

"Yeah, sorry. I've been extremely busy since I got here. Didn't mean to ignore you." In her right hand she held her tablet, checking out a map of criminal activities across the city. Josie and Tony had sketched it for her earlier.

"Ah. Lots of cases at the new precinct?" Sandra raised an eyebrow.

"I'm working on one case primarily, but it is quite complicated." Technically, Valerie was telling the truth. The fact that she didn't mention it being a vigilante-kind-of-case was a pure technicality.

"I see. Well, I have faith that you will bring this case to an end." As she spoke, Sandra was getting ready to leave her house for her late night walk around the park. It wasn't a very safe activity, but she loved walking around when nobody was there. It gave her time to relax and analyze the things that were going on in her life.

"Yea…" Valerie said shortly.

"You sound…different." Sandra locked her apartment and then Valerie heard the keys click on the bottom of the bag.

"I'm a straight-shooter, Sandra. I'm different because I haven't heard from Richard and I have no idea how he is and no matter how much you clearly know that I care about him, you're still calling me to make small talk and not giving me any update on him. I don't like that." Back in her old Precinct Valerie would have, maybe, tried to use words that were a bit more…gentle to the ear. But her new self was a bit more of a kick-ass one.

"I can't tell you anything…" Sandra started off, but it aggravated Valerie.

"Yes, you can! You just choose not to!" She interrupted her authority figure. After just a second she realized something. "Or you can't tell me because he doesn't want you to tell me…"

"Mmm…" Sandra half-confirmed Valerie's theory, which hurt like Hell to hear.

"Wow…" Valerie gulped. "He hates me!"

"He doesn't hate you. He's just a very proud man and sometimes he deals with certain situations in very questionable ways. But that is who he is. I know it and you know it too. We can't judge him. He just needs his space right now."

Clearly Sandra had seen Richard recently. Also, clearly, he didn't want Valerie to get in touch with him.

"Is he okay?" Valerie asked silently. "Come on, please. I'm not asking for any details. I just want to know if he is okay…please…please Sandra, tell me at least this much!"

Her plea, complimented with a few teardrops, melted Sandra's heart. She had vowed not to speak with Valerie about Richard, but she could not let Valerie worry this much, without having any news from Richard at all. She could, also, not confirm that he was okay.

"He is going to be okay." She said, emphasizing on the future connotation of that statement.

Valerie sighed. There was nothing else she could possibly do. "I just hope he gets back to me soon. I've sent him numerous messages and he disregarded them all."

"He reads them, dear." The softness in Sandra's voice made Valerie feel so much better when she heard those words. "I have to go now. Stay safe and keep in touch."

"Okay, bye." Valerie softened up a little bit too. She put the phone down and went back to sleep.

In the morning, she woke up with a clear mind. Richard was, at least, reading her messages. She knew it would take some time, but he would reply, eventually. That helped her focus on the mission she had with her new crew.

As per their new tradition, everyone met at Jungle Café for a morning round of coffee and sweets. They spoke about the case and strategized some more.

"Tony, did you manage to get a detailed list of the victims?" Valerie asked.

"Yeah, there it is." He handed her a tablet with names and data.

"Okay, female, 23, college student…" Valerie started reading out loud. "Male, 41, lawyer…" After a few more profiles she realized something. "There is no connection between them. Like, it seems so random."

"We guess that it is supposed to be random. This way nobody can predict and prevent the next victim." Josie shrugged.

"Plus, we can't exactly come up with an antidote. And not all of the victims of that drug took it on purpose. A lot of them had been poisoned, also in a very random way." Will added.

"But there has to be a connection…" Valerie went through the list again, this time reading all the info, not just the basic first two lines.

After a minute of skimming through the pages more intently, a word started to pop up.

"Chrome…chrome…chrome…" Valerie mumbled to herself.

"Wait, I thought Chromes don't do drugs…" Josie said in confusion.

"Generally, they don't. But that doesn't mean they don't experiment. Or, in this case, they are not immune to someone drugging them without their consent." Valerie stated as a matter-of-factly.

"I guess so…" Will was not too convinced. That was a good thing. He was the doctor and it meant that he didn't have much knowledge about Chromes. Good!

"I know so!" Valerie stated firmly. Nobody suspected a thing.

"So, why would they target Chromes?" Josie raised an eyebrow.

"The weird thing is that Chromes don't have addiction issues with drugs, meaning that there are no significant negative consequences for them, apart from maybe a momentarily light headache and stomach pain…but that is as far as it goes." Valerie pointed out.

"Something doesn't add up…" Tony threw in his two cents.

"I'm guessing whoever came up with this drug, produced it specifically to harm Chromes. So, he must have knowledge about them. This is not a random villain. This is someone highly intelligent and with lots of money and authority. This narrows down our search for the culprit." Valerie took a bite of her muffin, hoping that getting more sugar into her system would help her think better and act quicker.

"So, it can't be that local gang of thugs that we spoke about last night…" Josie trailed off, scratching their name off the list of possible suspects.

"No. This is bigger, much bigger than what we imagined." Valerie sighed, knowing that it took a special kind of power in order to start crossing out Chromes, who were believed to be stronger and better than humans.

"But, why?" Will butted in. "Why would someone want to harm Chromes? I've met a few and they were so nice and sweet. One of them works as social aid specialist for elderly people. She gets paid minimum wage and she spends her days walking around the city, delivering groceries to old people. Like, come on guys…that is so sweet!"

Those words made Valerie smile. The common belief was that Chromes were bigheaded, selfish and egoistic, just because they were prettier or taller or stronger than the average human. And that was one of the many reasons why she never wanted anyone to find out that she was one, too.

"Have you guys ever had a problem with Chromes in this city? What if there was an organization of Chromes who…I don't know, broke the law, or did someone wrong…or went against a common belief? I don't know. Ugh, this makes no sense." Valerie thought out loud, which only served to make her even more confused.

"Guys….uh, guys!" Tony waved his hands frantically. "Two more casualties from this night. Both Chromes." He turned his tablet around, so his friends could read the news.

"Damn. Not even connected between them. Different parts of the city, different jobs…" Josie commented.

"To answer your question, Valerie – no, we've never had problems with Chromes. We don't even know exactly who is Chrome and who is human. We've always lived in perfect peace in this city and nobody cares who-or-what you are, as long as you are nice." Will turned to her for a moment.

"Aww." Valerie said dreamily. "What a wonderful city to live in." She added, making no sense to the others, but it meant the world to her to find out that there was a place where people did not discriminate others. It almost felt too good to be true.

"Guys, I have an idea and you're not going to like it…" Valerie suggested, earning herself stares from three pairs of eyes, none of which was looking at her with particular approval.

"We need to go back to the lair and then I'm going to need to work on this on my own. No distractions. I need your equipment and tech, but I need to focus and do this on my own. Any objections?" She added.

The two guys looked at Josie, who, in turn, shrugged and gave in. "Yeah, okay. Everyone has their own ways. I guess yours is a little…asocial. But yeah. We'll give you some space."

"I can be a little weird sometimes. Nothing personal. I just…this case…it…uh, I just want to do this next step on my own." Valerie failed at explaining her reasons. Luckily for her, no explanation was needed. She felt like she belonged with these guys – no regrets, no secrets, no excuses. A clean slate. Well, maybe just one tiny little huge kind of a secret.

After hours on her own in the lair, Valerie was ready to be a team player again. She gathered everyone around the table and showed them what she had come up with, as a conclusion. It wasn't much, but it was definitely more than what they had all managed to come up with for the past two weeks.

"So, in fewer words, some psycho is targeting all the chromes in our city, giving them a drug that is lethal only to them and not to normal people?" Josie raised an eyebrow, trying to sum it up.

"This is what all the evidence points to. Remember when I came in, you guys told me you have a problem with illegal drugs. Well, I think it goes a bit deeper. I don't think monetary profit is the endgame. I think it's the death of all Chromes. I just can't figure out the motive." Valerie explained.

"Again, why would someone want to kill Chromes?" Will rolled his eyes and Valerie had a moment of clarity.

"You are a genius!" She stood up and gave him a spontaneous hug. This was very unlikely behavior for Detective Stahl, but this new version of Valerie, the Rogue Agent, seemed to be a lot more open to new friends and emotional displays of affection.

"We have been looking at it the wrong way. We scanned the city for any trace of drug-related gangs and problems, but now that we have narrowed it down, we need to scan again. This time we need to look for anti-Chrome remarks, riots, articles, anything really. It is clear that whoever had the money to produce this drug, has it out for the whole Chrome population. And trust me, this is no joke. This is war!" Valerie felt like she was blossoming. At that moment, if she closed her eyes, she could have convinced herself that she was a beautiful flower who was blossoming under the new sun.

"I like your thinking." Josie nodded in approval.

For the next couple of days the team did everything they could, in order to find shady Chrome business, or shady human business that had anything to do with Chromes. They found none. Frustration was an understatement.

Meanwhile, for the past few days, Sandra had been working non-stop. She had assigned a SWAT team for a mission that she would have preferred Valerie to lead, but unfortunately things hadn't gone as planned. With Valerie away for who-knows-how-long, also with Richard being out of service for who-knows-how-long as well, Sandra found it difficult to trust someone else enough to put such a huge mission in their hands. She had been adamant about giving it to John, thinking that he might be a little off-track since she gave the detective praise award to Richard and not him. However, in the end she gave in and let John lead. To her surprise, he wasn't even acting bigheaded about it. He had taken up the case with dignity, but not pride. She saw him stay after hours, making further research and, even, going downstairs to the costume closet, handpicking all the things that his SWAT team would wear and making sure that every inch was covered, bullet-proof and ready to go. In fewer words, Sandra was pleasantly surprised by how professional John acted ever since Richard was taken off duty and Valerie got sent away. No tantrums, no weird remarks. John was holding the front like a real man.

Then, of course, after work Sandra would always go to see Richard. Some days he would pretend like he wasn't home and yet she would wait outside his door, ringing the bell a few more times before going home with a frown. Other days, he would gladly let her in and, no questions asked, he would pour two glasses of wine and they would sit in his living room for hours, uttering no words other than Cheers. Sandra never pushed him, she knew him a little bit too well. In ways, he was quite like Valerie – both filled with pride, never letting anyone see the pain they hide inside, never admitting failure, never really being able to cope with failure, in fact. So, Sandra waited for a few days…a week…and then slowly things started to get back into place.

"I can come in tomorrow, if you want." Richard said after a week of silence. He was supposed to undergo psych evaluations, but only after having completed a certain amount of therapy sessions, which he hadn't even started yet.

"Of course. I'll set up the meeting." Sandra smiled at him. This was good. This was progress.

Her happiness was short-lived, though. Another half an hour of silence followed before he spoke again.

"Is Val ok?" He asked.

"Yes. She's stationed in another city for a while. She'll be back." Sandra reached out for the wine bottle and just when she was about to pour more into Richard's glass, he waved his hand in order to stop her. Good. He was already showing some self-control.

"I know." He confessed. "She messages me every day."

"I know." Sandra mimicked his way of speaking. "She asks me about you all the time. She's worried." And then she realized something. "Wait. Every day? Like, every day?"

Richard nodded. Valerie had been texting him every single night, often even late at night. It was like a ritual for her – she wouldn't go to bed before sending a long text to Richard and basically begging him to reply.

"She only texted me once and it was a photo of a ridiculous amount of sweets. And we spoke twice, but that is only because I called her." Sandra didn't mean to sound needy or jealous.

Richard laughed. It wasn't a forced laugh. It was genuine.

"Sucks to be the second favorite, huh?" He smirked at her. If his weird humor was coming back, then so was the old Richard. It was about time.

After that day, Richard showed up punctual to every therapy meeting that Sandra signed him up for. No questions, no objections. He was there and, despite dreading this whole process, he was moving forward as fast as he could.

It took a few more days for him to start speaking out in therapy. He did, however, hold a lot back. Each time his therapist asked him something personal, he deflected, explaining everything else but that. He spoke about his ex-wife whom he presumed was dead, but then she maybe wasn't. However, to the question about his reaction when he learned that she was possibly alive, he had no answer.

Both Sandra and the therapist were convinced that, unless he confessed his underlining issues, he wasn't getting his badge back. Richard knew that too, but it didn't stop him from holding back anyway.

It was a Wednesday, a gloomy day in the city that Valerie was calling Home for a while. She woke up to clouds covering the sky, thunders on the horizon and heavy rain waiting to pour all over the city. But that wasn't going to stop her from doing her best detective work at the lair.

She met with her friends, happy to find out that both her and Will had bought breakfast for everyone, which meant double the amount of coffee and double the sweets per person. Awesome!

Unfortunately for her, Sandra had e-mailed her a document that she needed signed and sent back to her from Valerie's new Captain, whose name she realized she didn't even know yet. She doubted she could even identify him if she saw him walking down the street. Their interaction had been short, sour and unsatisfying. The moment she met him was also the last time she ever saw him or stepped foot in the police station. Well, she had to go back there now.

"Ugh, guys…I hate to say this, but I have to go to the Precinct for some documentation. I'll see you here for lunch, okay?" She stood up and picked up some empty coffee cups and muffin paper to throw away on her way out.

"Wait!" Josie followed her. "I have to show my face around there, too."

"So, what is that…Girls vs. Boys? Now that us guys are no longer the majority…" Tony whined, reminding Valerie a bit of Rudy. They were both naive and a little weird when they spoke.

Will laughed it off, distracting Tony with some new gadget that he had just bought.

Walking into the Precinct, the girls split up. Josie had a few things to get from her locker and Valerie went straight to the Captain's office. She didn't even bother knocking on the door, she just barged in, catching the Captain in a bad moment, supposedly. The look of terror in his eyes when he saw her, oh, it was priceless.

"Hello to you, too, Captain." She greeted after waiting for a few seconds for him to stop staring at her.

The man remained completely silent.

"Okay, let's make this quick. I need you to sign my papers and then you'll never see me again." She bargained and her words made him speak up.

"Huh. Hope so." He muttered quietly.

What was up with all the hate she had received from him? She had been nothing but nice…for the most part.

Valerie put her tablet down in front of him, waiting for the signature. As he traced his index finger on the screen, she noticed something: he left a trail of sweat on the screen. Was he nervous?

As soon as she got the signature, she turned around and made a few steps towards the door.

"Wait!" He said, almost desperately. "We got off on the wrong foot." It was so obvious that he was forcing that smug smile on his face. Valerie knew a man with an agenda when she saw one.

He stood up and opened a cabinet, revealing a carefully cured selection of the finest alcohol. Valerie knew a thing or two about that stuff and most of those bottles were worth about a thousand dollars. There was no way a Captain could make this much money. Sandra was quite well off, but she would never spend money on alcohol or any other luxury item. So, for him to be a Captain in a precinct where literally nobody does their job and crime rules over the city, it was safe to say that there was no chance he could afford all that. Or any of that.

"Perhaps we should have a drink…get to know each other." He said lamely, pulling out two champagne glasses and reaching out for an unopened bottle.

The sudden change of heart, the alcohol during working hours…Valerie found it quite odd.

"No, thank you. I have more pressing issues to get back to." She walked all the way to the door and before she slammed it in his face, she added. "Plus, you're most definitely not my drinking pal type!"

She brushed it off and texted Josie to see where she was at in that moment.

The Captain, however, was left bitter. He gritted his teeth and grabbed his phone, dialing a number that, according to his phone records, he had dialed 74 times for the last month.

"She was just here…" He said angrily. "No, of course I didn't say anything. I'm not an idiot!" He listened to what the person on the other side of the call had to say, which was not all too flattering, before he kept on adding a few words here and there. "I tried. I offered her a drink, but she refused." He heard yelling once again. "Would you shut up, please!? May I remind you who is in charge here? I just told you, I tried. But this one is smart, she's not like the rest of them. She is trouble. We need to act quickly. Next time I'll get her."

The phone call was short, but intense. Valerie would have profited if she had eavesdropped after she left the office, but instead, she learned that Josie was in the locker room, so that was where she headed off to.

"Wow, that uniform is kind of cool." Valerie checked Josie out from head to toe as she walked in the girls' changing room.

"It's basically brand new. Our old boss got all of us some nice upgrades and uniforms with more protection, right before he…" Josie trailed off and her eyes shot down to the floor.

"Oh my God. Was he killed?" Valerie put a hand on Josie's shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"No." That was hardly any answer. "It's a long story. What you need to know is that he is a good man and he was an amazing Captain. He was the perfect equilibrium of strict, motivational, inspiring and protective. Also, so very weird."

"Sounds exactly like someone I know." Valerie smiled, thinking of her own Captain – Sandra.

"Yeah? Who knows, they might have something in common." Josie was visibly shaken just by the thought of her old boss, so Valerie didn't put much thought into those words when she heard them. Instead, she tried to cheer her friend up. She needed her head to be back in the game. No distractions were allowed.

"Let's go. I saw a cute shop on the way here. I really need to buy some clothes. I've literally been wearing the same jeans and three shirts for a week now." She smiled. Valerie had noticed that Josie had a very cool-chick kind of style and she was inspired to tweak her own appearance as well.

"You definitely need new clothes. No offence, but your clothes are conservative as Hell!" Josie laughed.

"Shut up." Valerie nudged the girl and watched her crack open the locker right next to hers. "Oh, hey. Whose locker are we breaking into?"

"Yours, silly." On top of a pile of documents and a police-registered gun, there was a brand new uniform.

"I never got a locker." Valerie shook her head.

"Yeah, you did. I asked for your locker to be assigned next to mine. You just never came by to check it out. Actually, have you even stepped foot here since your first day?" Josie questioned while handing the uniform to Valerie.

"Oh, how cute! You already knew that we were going to be friends." Weirdly, Valerie's voice sounded a bit more high-pitched. Maybe this was part of who the new Valerie was becoming.

"Pfff, please!" Josie dramatized in a jokingly manner. "I wanted your locker to be right next to mine, so I can have the best view when you piss someone off and they jump your pretty face!" She smirked and it made both girls laugh hysterically.

They walked back upstairs to the common room, making their way to the exit, when the Captain stopped them.

"Wait!" He said with the same desperation as before. "I never introduced myself properly." He extended his hand out to Valerie and he said nothing more.

She let his hand dangle awkwardly between them as she assessed the situation. There was something so disturbing about the way he behaved around her. As she thought to herself, she laid eyes on the palm of his hand. It was sweaty, again, but this time something was different. It was white, as if he had rubbed chalk on his palm. Valerie took advantage of that heightened sight that Chromes had, and she noticed powder dust flakes falling down. And in that moment, everything became clear.

She remained calm and collected, without letting neither the Captain, nor Josie, know that she had basically solved the case that the whole city was afraid of.

"And you're still not introducing yourself properly." Valerie had the upper hand. Even if her deduction was true, she was still smarter and stronger than him. "Plus, I have no interest in knowing who you are. Now if you will excuse us, we have work to do." She waved goodbye, without touching his hand. This time, however, she didn't vow to never see him again. Oh, quite the opposite. "I'm sure we'll see each other again."

With those words, spoken as a half-threat towards him, she walked out of the Precinct, dragging Josie with her.

"Are you crazy? You can't talk to the Captain like this! Yeah, he's a dick, but he is still our boss. Some of us actually hope to stay on the job and then maybe one day a good Captain will come over and get the city back to what it used to be. That won't happen if we get a disciplinary hearing." Josie vented frantically.

"He's our boss? Yeah, I guess so. He's also a dick, yes." Valerie appeared to be way too calm. "He's also the man killing innocent Chromes in your city." She stated, leaving absolutely no place for any doubt.

On the way to the lair, Valerie explained how she came to that conclusion. The look of terror in his eyes when he saw her, the sudden drink offer, the way he thought she was stupid enough to shake his drug-covered hand. It all could possibly blow up her Chrome cover, so she blamed it on him trying to simply poison her, instead of making her his next drug victim.

"Amateur!" Valerie ended off her rant.

"He is powerful, though!" Josie shook her head, suddenly terrified by Valerie's theory.

"He has no idea who he's messing with. Mark my words, I will be the end of this man and his psycho killing spree!" Valerie smiled softly.

"Alright." Josie shrugged, not really understanding where this sudden drive was coming from. "Just don't turn into a psycho killer yourself. Oh, one thing I never mentioned…you see, we don't kill. We bring justice. We play the big game, targeting the big players, so that when we finally solve a case, we can anonymously turn it in to the FBI, since our local Police isn't doing anything."

"Don't worry. I'm a very pacific person." Valerie sighed. It was true, at least for the last few years. Her past, however, might not exactly be able to go under the pacific label.

Back at the lair, with the new information Valerie had to add, the four of them were able to get more clarity about the case. Tony unveiled some shocking new information.

"Wow…" Valerie said in shock while reading the Captain's file, the real one, the one that all of his past life details were highlighted.

"Wait…" Will seemed confused. "Again, why would he want to kill Chromes if he is, quite literally, obsessed with them?"

"Did you read the passage about his child?" Valerie pointed out the very last part of the file.

"No." Will skimmed through the lines and gasped. "Oh, I get it now."

"So, he was desperate to have a Chrome child. He turned his own kid into a human test sample and then he got upset when, naturally, meds didn't work?" Tony was also a bit confused.

"I thought anyone could become a Chrome with those, what are they…injections and pills and stuff." Josie had never had interest in changing herself, so she didn't follow anyone else's changing process either. She knew Chromes were a thing, she just didn't know how they had become Chromes.

"It's a very complicated process. There are a lot of tests to be done first. If the person is deemed convertible, and this is the exact term the doctors use, they start a series of procedures, which include lots of needles, syrups, pills, mental and physical training and about a thousand more things. And no, not everyone can be turned into a Chrome. Even the convertible ones run a huge risk and, statistically, one in ten dies during the process. Or after the conversion. Again, it is a very complex thing." Valerie spoke up, having all eyes on her.

"Wow, you're like the Encyclopedia of Chromes!" Will was impressed.

To Valerie that did not sound like a compliment. She was, much like Josie, against conversion.

"So, we know that his child died during the process and that is what, I suppose, fueled his rage against other Chromes. He must be so upset by the fact that other families had a successful conversion and this must have triggered his defense mechanism – in order to feel less pain about his own loss, he is inflicting the same pain on other people." Valerie was a criminal data analyst. She was specifically good at criminal behavior analysis and crime patterns.

"Psychological projection." Will used the actual medical term to sum it all up.

"Exactly." Valerie nodded. "Why are you staring at me?" She turned to Josie who had been checking Valerie's face out for a minute now.

"I just think you'd look banging hot with some contour, highlight, dark lipstick, curly hair, statement earrings, smoky eye…" Josie kept on enlisting.

"Basically, if I look nothing like me. Right?" Valerie laughed. It was a relief to hear that someone thought she would look good if she changed up some of her appearance. Usually people commented on how amazing she looked the way she naturally was.

"No…well, yeah." Josie bit her bottom lip. "Oh, come on. I'm bored with all this talk about bad guys and drugs. Girls gotta have fun, right? So, are you up for a sexy makeover?"

"If you make me look ridiculous I'm going to scratch your pretty face out!" Valerie laughed and sat down on a chair that Josie was already pushing towards the corner of the room where her little vanity corner was at. Nobody said that there can't be beauty and brains at the same time.

"I guess that while you girls have your fun, Tony and I will continue our research" Will said, pretending to be annoyed.

"Aww, don't be so pouty. We did our share for the case." Josie stuck her tongue at Will and it made him shake his head and sigh.

Everyone got busy in their own ways and the girls were still big part of the conversation and the thinking process as it went on.

Half an hour later Valerie was an updated version of her already hot self.

"Wow…" She gasped when Josie finally made the reveal and let Valerie check herself out in the mirror. "I look..so incredibly stuck up." She laughed. Somehow she connected looking hot to being stuck up. "I hope I can still be my humble self and still look like that." She started off, but got interrupted when her phone buzzed with an incoming message. "Sorry guys, will be right back."

She excused herself and walked to the adjacent room, reading the text on the way there.

Hey. What's up? Are you busy kicking ass? – John

She smiled, already typing her response.

I'm busy choosing the most satisfying way to kick a bad guy's ass, you are correct. Everything is fine. I really like being here. How are you doing? – Val

Oh, yeah? Maybe I can get a front-row seat? – John

What do you mean? – Val

Valerie had no idea what John was getting at, but instead of getting a text reply from him, she received a video call.

"Your GPS tracking is turned off, so I couldn't finish my surprise mission. Mind giving me some directions?" John held his camera close to his face.

"What are you talking about?" Valerie raised an eyebrow. "What is that noise?"

"Attention passengers on flight-…" Valerie heard a voice in the distance.

"John…where are you?" She sighed.

He finally held his phone away from his face, revealing several indication signs behind his back and a huge sign with the name of Valerie's current city airport.

"Oh, God!" She laughed. "You are insane."

"And you, Detective Stahl, look insanely good today!" He commented, noticing all the make-up she had put on.

"Yo, Val, we might have just found his operational lair!" Tony practically screamed from the other room, not knowing that Valerie was on a call.

"Sorry, I have to go now." Valerie smiled softly.

"Text me your address, maybe?" John reminded her. It sounded like she was busy enough to forget to do it and he was literally stuck waiting at the airport without any idea where to go. "Plus, when you moved there you said you were going to give me your new address, so I can deliver your note. Here I am, delivering!" He smirked.

"Not exactly what I meant, John!" Valerie laughed. He had a way of twisting her words as he pleased. "Ah, yeah…that won't work." She sighed when he asked for her address. Valerie knew that there was no way John would be able to enter the building complex. "I'll text you a place to meet me at. Text me when you're there and I'll come over in 10 minutes, okay? See you later."

"I should have thought of that earlier. I already know I can find you at Jungle Café!" John stated with a smirk, only to find out that Valerie had already cut the call off. A second later he received her text with the address of Jumbo Café and it made him chuckle.

While John was making his way to the city center, Valerie and her crew came up with a more structured plan of action. They were going to take their time, thread slowly and carefully, gather all the information they needed in order to turn this man over to the FBI at the end. If they rushed, they would risk failing the mission and letting him walk away free and unscratched. Their main priority was no longer finding out the identity of the culprit. They now had to figure out a way to get their hands on an antidote, before any more innocent lives would be sacrificed for this ridiculous revenge against the universe mission.

"This plan is perfect, but we are missing one key component." Josie looked at each one of her friends. "Another player. We need a new face, someone the Captain is not familiar with. That could have been Valerie, she is a strong player, but he already knows she is a police officer."

"Detective!" Valerie had that thing where she felt the need to correct people each and every single time they got her work title wrong. It bothered her so much that she couldn't just stay quiet about it.

"I have the perfect man for the job. Trust me. He is amazing at what he does and he is specifically trained for undercover missions." Valerie said with certainty. At that moment, her phone buzzed with a text from John, saying he was in a taxi, on his way to Jungle Café. "I have to go now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What about dinner? Didn't we plan on going to that new Mexican restaurant?" Josie questioned. It had been Valerie herself who had suggested it.

"Yes, but something came up. It has been a long day. I need to take it easy tonight and sleep as much as I can." For some odd reason, Valerie didn't want to mix her old friends with the new ones. Maybe because she felt like she was two different people with both and she didn't want her new self to be compromised or considered fake.

It took her ten minutes to get to Jungle Café and John wasn't there yet. She grabbed an ice tea and some sweet treats and waited for about five more minutes. As she waited, she got lost in her thoughts, her mind suddenly overloading with questions. Why was Sandra so short with her when it came to Richard? Was she hiding something big? Was he okay? Why wasn't he replying to her?

"Detective Stahl!" A pleasant male voice greeted her, approaching her from behind.

It took her half a second to stand up and take a defense position.

"Whoah, I'm not going to hurt you." John raised an eyebrow. Why was she so jumpy?

"Sorry. I'm just not used to running into people." Valerie smiled awkwardly, happy that she hadn't punched him as a reflex.

"You're also not used to meeting men at questionable hours, I see?" He smirked. It wouldn't be John if he didn't pull her strings and annoy her from the first moment he spoke.

The conversation went pretty smoothly afterwards. That was, of course, because Valerie avoided the main two things she had in mind. It didn't take John long to catch up on it.

"If I knew something, I would have told you by now." He took her off-guard as he interrupted a mini speech she gave him on the importance of living by the seaside. She hadn't even stepped foot at the beach yet, but she felt a different air surrounding her and it felt so good.

She nodded in reply. Another road with no end. Why was it so hard to get a hold of Richard?

There was one more thing she needed to ask John. He picked up on that, too. She had been overly observant whenever his hand moved towards his suitcase or his pocket. It was almost as if she was expecting him to give her something.

"It's not Christmas yet." He smirked again. It was cute that she was impatient, but he wanted to make her wait for that purple note that he claimed was the sole reason for his trip.

Valerie played it cool. The last thing she ever wanted to come across as was desperate. Well, desperate or bratty. She hated both of those qualities.

"So, how long are you staying here for?" She asked casually.

"I have to leave tomorrow night. I only have tomorrow off work. I took the plane right after my shift ended today. Perfect timing actually. I arrived at the airport 10 minutes before take-off." He looked at his carry-on luggage, happy he hadn't chosen to bring a big suitcase, as he wouldn't have been able to check it in.

Valerie smiled uncomfortably. Tony had informed her that they might have a location on their enemy, so clearly, she had to go to the lair and work her ass off the next day. And since she refused to mix old friends and new ones, she was now in the middle of a crossroad. Should she ditch the vigilantes in their time of crisis? Or should she ditch John, after he traveled so many miles to come see her on his only day off?

"Is there a problem? I mean, I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries by inviting myself over. I can stay in my hotel…hang out on my own, if you're busy." He took the final sip of his own ice tea and hoped that she would not approve of his plan.

"No, no. It's okay. I mean, I do have some work to do, but I guess I can try doing that on my phone…unless you'll be bothered by my constant messaging back and forth with my colleagues?" She came across sincere, but he could tell that she had something extremely important to do.

"Not at all. Go ahead." He smiled.

"Cool. I still haven't had the chance to see this city myself. All I know is my house, Jumbo and my work place. I haven't even seen the city center yet." Valerie finished her drink as well. She could tell John was tired as he tried to suppress a yawn. Sandra had mentioned how proud she was of him for completing the mission that she had let him lead. He must have been exhausted by the end of the day.

"Uhm, but…isn't the precinct right in the city center?" John raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, yeah. I meant that I never got the chance to go out and have fun. It's always been work, precinct, offices, the captain, the uniforms, the changing rooms…you know." She sounded like a five year old who was trying to cover something up by throwing random words into the conversation.

He disregarded her awkwardness. It wasn't the first time she stuttered. What he wasn't aware of was that she only ever stuttered in his presence.

"I'm so tired, but I'd love to go explore the city and have drinks in every bar." He laughed while picking his wallet up from his small suitcase.

"I'm tired as well. We've been working so hard lately. I barely get any sleep. But yeah, I do fancy me a few drinks." She ended off with a fake British accent. Valerie, when in a good mood, could be such a goof.

"Good Lord, you sounded just like Rudy!" John shook his head while laughing. He had a soft spot for Rudy, although he would probably never admit it.

"Compromise. How about we go home and we drink there? I know this really nice 24/7 shop near my house. We can get some food and drinks and just chill at my place? There is no way you're going to a hotel when I have this huge apartment to share!" She said innocently.

"Chill at your place?" He couldn't help but repeat her words in a little cheekier voice.

"Shut up." Her hand slapped his shoulder jokingly, but when he winced in pain, she realized he had been hurt. "Oh, sorry. Are you hurt?" She pouted and something about the evening lights hitting up her face from all the right angles as her lips formed the pout, made him stop and stare at her for a moment. "Hello?"

"Yeah." He snapped out of it, trying not to blush. "I'm fine. Dislocated shoulder. No big deal. I got some medications for it. And don't worry, I asked Rudy to give me the nice painkillers, you know, the ones that wear off in a few hours, so I can drink tonight."

"Wow, a man who plans the future." Valerie said sarcastically. It was barely a huge achievement of his.

The two of them went to the shop that Valerie had mentioned earlier, and ended up buying food and drinks that would last them a week.

"Are you trying to get me in trouble?" John raised an eyebrow as, on their way back from the shop, Valerie gave indications to the taxi driver to go to the gated community.

"Oh, wait until I get you drunk, Detective." She laughed, inserting the chip-card and opening the gates to Heaven.

"Fancy!" John's jaw dropped as the taxi drove further in. "Are you sure we are supposed to be here?"

"John, would you relax?" Valerie gave him a stern look. "It's where I live."

They arrived at the building and he was still in doubt. He had seen her apartment briefly on the video call and he already knew that it was a very nice place, but the whole living complex was insane. It was only when she opened the door to the apartment when he actually believed her.

"God, Stahl! How did you score this?" He walked towards the open kitchen area and left all the bags on the table.

"I was a very good girl, I guess." She laughed, imagining all the reasons why she never deserved to get this nice of a home.

"Everything okay?" He felt her mood shifting as she read a message on her phone.

"Uh…yeah." No, everything was not okay. She had a huge paragraph to read and reply to, immediately. "Listen, it's been a long day at work. How about you fix us some drinks and get the snacks out of the bags while I take a shower?"

"Sure. I can only imagine how badly you need a shower after wearing that new uniform. Kyle said the precinct had cut down the uniform budget, so I can imagine you new clothes were itchy and uncomfortable." Those words made Valerie wonder if John had actually had a civilized conversation with Kyle. Also, she was thankful she had a brand new uniform left from the previous Captain, because if this one was to be in charge, she'd be running around the city naked, with a gun in her hands and drug powder under her nose. Not that she ever used her police uniform anyway. She was quite happy with the vigilante one.

"Yeah, I guess we could say that my new work uniform is quite…different…" She grinned. If only he knew what she actually got to wear with the Vigilantes.

With those words, she excused herself and hurried towards the bathroom. It took her about five minutes to read everything before she sent an audio message to the group.

"Hey guys. Alright, so we have a possible location and a name of an accomplice." Valerie started whispering on the phone. "That's not bad. So, all we need right now is an outsider to come do the rest for us. I've got this. Like I said, I have the perfect guy for the job. I just need a little time to prep him for it. Oh, one more thing – I can't come to the lair tomorrow. I'll keep in touch via text. Have some Chilaquiles for me tonight!" She ended off, half-wishing she was at the Mexican restaurant with them. Valerie loved spicy food.

After sending that audio, she could finally focus on taking a shower and relaxing under the hot water. Then she put on something comfortable and joined John in the kitchen.

"There you are." He smiled, handing her a drink that he had mixed himself.

At first Valerie was skeptical about his bartending skills, but the drink looked legit and he also went out of his way, adding freshly cut pieces of fruit on the edge of the glass.

"Here's to…" John figured it was toast time, but he had no idea what to say next.

"To crime. May it continue being so easy to solve." She giggled and raised her glass. "And to you, for completing that mission successfully."

"You basically just said that crime is easy, so you undermined my accomplishment…but I'll drink to that anyway." He laughed, clinking his glass against hers.

"Oh, you know what I meant." With an innocent eye roll, Valerie took her first sip. "Wow, Kennex! This is actually good."

"Why, are you saying you doubted me?" He pursed his lips.

"Coffee with cinnamon is all I have to say…" She smirked, taking another long sip of her drink.

"Touché." He kept smiling as he, also, appreciated his drink. "I guess I'm a hidden talent when it comes to alcohol."

The fun was short-lived. Valerie's phone buzzed a few times and he could tell that she felt uncomfortable.

"Take it." He motioned towards the phone.

"Sorry…" She mumbled as she quickly disappeared from the kitchen.

"Guys, I can't talk!" She wasn't sure why, but she was doing her best to keep everything from John.

"Sorry, we figured you'd want to know this." Josie's voice sounded shaky. "Check out the file I'm sending you right now…"

"Three new victims in one day!?" Valerie exclaimed in shock. The previous couple of days had been quite uneventful. "Why, what is causing this?"

"Kind of…us, you know." Will butted in.

"How are we responsible for three deaths? Guys, what is going on?" Valerie could feel her blood boiling.

"They figured that we are on to them. They probably even know that we have a location already. I guess this is their way of retaliation against our operation." Tony explained as he munched on his food. "Also, those Chilaquiles are damn spicy!" He added before he took a huge gulp of water, to ease down the burning feeling down his throat.

"Guys, there were never supposed to be any casualties!" The team could clearly hear the shock and desperation in Valerie's voice.

"Relax, detective. It's not your first time dealing with casualties." Josie couldn't help but sound a bit thrown off by Valerie's reaction.

"It is the very first time I have casualties while being rogue, Miss Josie!" Valerie bit back. She had a thing where she would blame herself for a very long time if anything happened under her watch, at work or otherwise.

"Well, you were familiar with the risks you were going to take if you joined us and yet you did it anyway. So, I'm sorry, but don't make it sound like it wasn't something you signed up for." Josie had a short fuse and Will knew it.

"Girls, let's try to work it out as adults. Okay?" Will said calmly. "First of all, Valerie…we can't give you any more time to prep your agent. We need him, now."

"Now?" Valerie nearly shouted. She only replied to Will, because she knew that everything would go downhill if she and Josie continued their childish catfight. "I can't…He doesn't know anything about the mission. He has no idea you guys exist. I can't just give you an agent right here, right now."

"We understand, but isn't there anything you can do about it?" Tony sighed. "None of us can infiltrate the organization which is causing all this. Our covers are blown. Yours included. Everybody knows that there is a hot new cop in town. You'd be dead meat the moment you walk into the dungeon of criminal souls."

"The dungeon of criminal souls?" Josie repeated Tony's words, laughing hysterically. Tony was such a nerd sometimes.

"Valerie, is everything okay?" John knocked on the door of the room that Valerie had locked herself in during the phone call.

She sighed. Great. Maybe she shouldn't have shouted.

"Oh, great. Your agent is already with you? Perfect. Prep him and we need him Monday morning. See you." Josie cheered up as she heard that Valerie was already talking to someone. Or so she figured.

Before Valerie could speak, she realized that the call was cut.

"Ugh, damn it!" Valerie muttered to herself as she walked out of the room.

"I know a pissed off Valerie Stahl when I see one…" John took a step back when he saw her with gritted teeth.

"Sorry, it's not you. It's just…work." She tried her best to play calm, at least until she could get a few more drinks into her system and then being calm would come automatically.

John wasn't gullible, but he also wasn't stupid. If there was something on Valerie's mind, she would either choose to share it or ignore it and judging by her awkward behavior when her phone buzzed, he could easily tell it was the latter.

Instead of being nosy, he took a big gulp of his drink…and then another one…and another one. When their glasses went dry, he re-filled them with the same mix he had prepared earlier. He had to admit it to himself – those drinks were quite densely infused with alcohol and not nearly enough mixed with juice. Well, Valerie seemed to enjoy them…maybe a little bit too much.

Not even fifteen minutes into their little drinking haze, and the whole bottle was gone.

"Here, open this one." Valerie said with a cheeky smile. She wasn't nowhere near drunk, but she had to play the part, seeing how tipsy John was becoming.

"No, no, no." He shook his head and put the bottle away from Valerie's hands. "A little too late to mix alcohols now. I think we've had enough."

"Oh, come on. It is never enough." Valerie had an adventurous side to her, a very deep and secretive side to her. John would say it was a mysterious side. Valerie would prefer to call it a dark side. It was no place she would like to go back to, not even in her memories.

"I'm serious. That's it. No more!" John said sternly.

Looking at her he could tell that she was using alcohol as an outlet to whatever it was that was bothering her or that she didn't want to share with him. He would be crazy if he let her get smashed and then have her feel sick all day after that. Even he was grown up enough to understand that alcohol, no matter how tempting, was not the answer to any problem one might have.

"Ugh, fine." She stood up and disappeared for a couple of minutes.

"Get up. We're going dancing!" Her cheerful voice filled the room as she returned.

"Woah…Stahl!" John's jaw dropped.

For the few minutes she was in her bedroom, she had managed to put on a tight little dress, a pair of heels, her hair was up in a messy pony tail and she had splashed some darker eye shadow on, along with some rosy blush on her cheeks and a red lipstick on her lips.

John had never been vocal about her beauty. Yes, it was blatantly obvious that she was a very attractive female and yes, there had been numerous times when John couldn't keep his eyes off of her. If it had been any other female in the world, John would have had some cheeky and borderline nasty comment to send her way, but not to Valerie. Never to Valerie. There was some sort of a respect that he had for her, both as a colleague and as a woman, that prevented him from being the usual pervert that he was with other women.

However, given the surroundings and the alcohol intake at that very moment, the silent gasp just rolled off his tongue.

"Hope you packed a nicer shirt…" She pointed towards the shirt that he was wearing. It wasn't horrible, but he had been traveling in it for hours and it was time to get fresh and get out.

"Am I not good enough for you now?" John smirked, glad that he had, indeed, remembered to pack a few clothing options.

They got ready quickly and took a cab. Valerie had no idea where to go get a drink, which made John a bit suspicious. Back home Valerie knew all the cool bars in the area and she was usually the first one to say YES to having drinks with colleagues after work. What changed? Did she have no friends at the new precinct?

They randomly stumbled upon a bar that the taxi driver had rated as "yeah, it'll do the job…I guess" before dropping them off and getting his tip.

"Hmm…" Valerie questioned her choice of clothes and make-up as they walked in.

"Yeah, that place is kind of trash, even for our standards." John couldn't help but laugh.

Instinctively, Valerie started tugging on her mini dress and licking off all excess red lipstick from her lips. The last thing she wanted was to be considered John's paid date. Then again, everyone seemed beyond trashed and generally just not interested in them at all.

They grabbed a cocktail from the bar and soon found out how sour and just wrong it tasted. Valerie sighed and looked around, determined to make this a fun night.

"Pool?" John suggested, grabbing a couple of pool cues. "Unless you are disgusted by how sticky these things are. Eww." He handed her one of the cues and rubbed his free hand against his jeans to clean it up.

"I'm good." She winked at him. "Down and dirty is my style."

"Oh, wow…is it?" She had a way of making him speechless. Sometimes her one-liners were just gold. "Well, you better prepare yourself, because you are going down!" He grinned for a second.

"I'm not even drunk yet!" She winked at him and it took him a couple of seconds to understand the sexual innuendo.

"I meant in pool! You're going down, as in: I'm winning the game…" He tried explaining his original statement, but she liked her version of it much better.

"Aha…" With a shrug of her shoulders she leaned against a nearby pool table, with every intention to break.

"You are the cheekiest person I've ever met, Detective Stahl!" He shook his head. It felt good to see a different light of this perfect prim and proper detective.

"It's Val…" She made her shot, breaking the triangle apart and pocketing one solid color ball before she turned to face him and she continued her statement. "…after midnight."

To be fair, John did play really badly that night. He kept on being distracted by her beauty, so pool was the last thing on his mind. Also, he had one question to the Universe – did she really, like reaaally, have to lean against that goddamn pool table with that goddamn short dress and that goddamn fine figure of hers? Like, really!?

Almost an hour later, their cocktails were long gone and Valerie was now rubbing her victory in John's face.

"Guess I just got lucky." She said innocently.

"Let's get out of here. I feel like if those four assholes at the bar keep staring at you any longer, I might have to call the cops to break us up." John was bitter. He wasn't jealous. He just hated the fact that any other man was getting the same view, the view of a perfectly put together girl who could kick ass at pool.

"Oh, I remember Josie once told me about some disco bar in the city center. Let's go dancing!" Valerie gathered her belongings back into her little bag and started walking towards the door.

"You really don't go out much here, do you?" With one last threatening look towards the group of curious men who had been eyeing Valerie, John exited the bar as well.

"No." The calm way she said it in made him realize that she didn't even care about being a party girl. "I mean, I hang out with my crew, but not exactly at bars. We are…how to say this, uh…low key, I guess." She smirked, subtly pointing out the fact that her current business was a little under the legal surface.

"Crew?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Colleagues. You know what I mean. Those few ones you click with." Valerie shrugged it off and hailed a taxi that later got them to the night bar.

"Wow, from a poorly lit dump, to a full on fancy night club. That's a change!" John almost bit his tongue as they walked towards security, hoping he would be deemed fancy enough to get in, with his black pants and button up shirt.

"Well, at least here I wouldn't be considered an escort." She laughed, walking in without a problem. The bouncer only stopped John for a routine check. Sometimes Valerie had it easy for her.

"Nope. Everyone here is dressed so damn well…" He looked around as they made their way to the bar.

"A little too well." Valerie checked the surroundings. "Oh crap. John!" She pointed towards an area of the club where swings were hanging from the ceiling.

"You have got to be kidding me!" John rolled his eyes. "That's so-…"

"Cool!" Valerie's eyes almost popped out.

"I was going to say disgusting…but yeah…" He said lamely.

"Why? Oh, come on." She walked towards the swings and read the text on a banner nearby.

"No inhibitions. No regrets."

"What does that even mean?" John raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? Like…seriously!? In 2048 it is now the girl who has to explain to the guy what no inhibitions means. Seriously?" Valerie started laughing. This was the one time she had actually decided to go out and have fun and nothing was going to hold her back. No inhibitions sounded just right to her.

"So, is that some sort of a strip club? A fun-house? What is this place?" John looked around, noticing a bunch of hot young girls dancing around and showing a little bit too much skin.

"I don't know. I'm just figuring it out myself." There was a spark in Valerie's eyes. John was sure that beyond that thick layer of prim and proper, there was a whole new Valerie to discover. The question being: was he going to be the one to discover that Valerie?

"Earth to John. Hello?" Valerie snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. Apparently he had zoned out for a few seconds.

"Sorry." He shook off those weird thoughts of his and gave her all of his attention.

"Check this out. This thing says Level 3. We only did one pair of stairs to get here. There must be more." Valerie barely finished her words and she was already in search of a staircase.

Arriving at the end of the hall, she pushed back a curtain and instead of a window, there was an elevator. It took her two seconds to figure out that the flyer she had found seconds ago was actually the digital key to opening the elevator door.

As they stepped out of the elevator on the third level, they got scanned and asked for proof of invite. Valerie held up the flyer and smiled.

"Well, I guess someone must have lost this invite and I found it on the table. This area looks quite restricted." She shrugged casually, as if what they were doing was no big deal.

"Do you really want to get into this?" John was skeptical. Sometimes Valerie was beyond adventurous.

"It's not too often that you are randomly given the chance to do something and have no regrets about it. Aren't you at least a little bit curious?" The spark in her eyes was still there as she spoke.

But there was something about the way she said those words. Her desire to have no regrets confined with obsession. John decided to keep quiet for the time being, but to keep an eye on her the rest of the night.

"Woah!" Valerie didn't even wait for him when she walked down the hall and opened a door.

Burlesque music filled the air, combined with the thick smoke of cigarettes and a heavy smell of alcohol.

Valerie walked further in and John felt like her babysitter as he followed her, making sure she was alright.

Her eyes got glued to the girls on the stage. The costumes, the glitter, the hair...every little detail was so perfect in such a human way. This was something she had never been able to experience. From her first memory of herself as a child, perfection was all that Valerie had known and it was a default. No matter what she did, she was perfect anyway. Normal people longed for that. Valerie, on the other hand, despised herself for it.

"Earth to Stahl…" John mimicked the way she had tried to get his attention a few minutes ago. It just took Valerie a little longer to shake off her thoughts. "Uh, is everything okay?"

"Everything is…perfect!" She said in awe, taking a few more steps towards the stage.

A man with a microphone, the presenter for the show, approached her and immediately noticed her beauty.

"Do we have a brave new entry for our Miss No Inhibitions contest?" He practically yelled in her ear.

"What? Me? Pfff, no way." By default, Valerie was also known to be the smart and responsible one. No matter how attracted she might be to something, she wouldn't act on it unless it was the right thing to do. And dancing half naked on a stage, for a number of unknown men to enjoy, plus a colleague of hers…well, it didn't sound like the right thing to do at that moment.

She walked past the presenter and found the bar in the corner of the room. John got them drinks and they sat on a little sofa directly facing the stage.

Something about the way Valerie eyed those girls made John uncomfortable. In her eyes he did not find desire, adoration or curiosity. He found envy, if he was able to read her right.

About five minutes passed and the entertainment girls walked off the stage. The presenter announced the contest and a bunch of random girls from the public.

Through all of it, John and Valerie barely said a word to each other since they walked into that room.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this!" He smirked. If Valerie had no inhibitions, neither would he. Any man would be glad to check out scantily clad girls on a stage that was right above his head. Best angle to sneak a peek.

"…And then we have Clancy from Berkshire. She is a nurse and likes puppies. Come on, Clancy, cure our hearts…" The presenter interrupted John's statement.

"And by the looks of it, Clancy is our last contestant…" Once again, the presenter got awkwardly close to Valerie and he spoke over her shoulder. "Unless this beautiful lady wants to join in on the fun…"

People started clapping their hands, encouraging Valerie to stand up and participate. Valerie, however, sat still and seemed unfazed by it.

"What?" She saw John smirking.

"Why are you acting like a douche?" She continued. "You don't think I can do this?"

"Oh, I know you can do this." John replied calmly. As he leaned towards her, she felt his breath tickling her ear as he added. "I also know you don't have the guts to do it."

She pulled back and gave him a stern look. He should have known better than to doubt her. Even though, he was actually challenging her. He knew exactly how to get Valerie's blood boiling.

"Huh!" She hissed, half offended and half determined.

With one swift motion she finished her drink. After carefully placing the glass on the table, she stood up gracefully and pat the presenter's shoulder, just as he was about to give the contest the official start.

"Oh, my oh my." The presenter was a weirdo. The typical womanizer who was getting paid to hype up a crowd of lame guys with hungry eyes. "Welcome to the team. How may I present you to everyone?"

"I may present myself, thanks." She grabbed the microphone and licked her lips. For every other contestant he had stated a name, a city and a job title, followed by a random stupid thought like: I want to save the world by smiling. Valerie was different.

"I'm Jade. I'm a part time hit woman and a full time heartbreaker. I like to inflict excruciating pain to my victims, hiding all criminal evidence deeply so that it would never resurface. I do have inhibitions…" She smirked. "They are all locked in an illegal secret government underground dungeon on another continent. In my free time I like to swim with the sharks and I collect forensic evidence against serial killers." Valerie said it all in serious tone and with an innocent smile, making people gasp at her words.

"Okay, that is certainly the most unique contestant we've ever had…" The presenter was at loss for words, so he just gave Valerie a tiny push towards the stage.

All five contestants lined up on the stage and heard the rules. In fewer words, the girls were supposed to go backstage, dress up and come out to dance for the crowd.

After five minutes of preparation, Valerie was first up. She had put a wig on and she looked nothing like herself. So much so that it took John a whole minute to recognize her. The dim lightning and the white cigarette smoke filling the air definitely made it hard to see clearly. Or was it the fact that he was completely mesmerized by her?

"You go, girl! You're killin' the game!" Some random guy yelled out as Valerie started to move. It was barely visible, but her body swayed to the music so gracefully.

When he heard the word "killing", John realized that it was his colleague on that podium. After all, she had marketed herself as a killer of all sorts.

"Holy crap!" John gulped, feeling guilty for having checked every inch of uncovered flesh that this girl was showing. And it was a lot.

Valerie had started her little tease facing sideways. As the music picked up its pace, she added more movement and more passion to her gestures.

As she started to turn slowly towards the side of the room where John was sitting, she also decided that the little black glittery headband with veil flowing all the way down to her shoulders, had to go as well. She aimed, still facing sideways, and she threw the thing carefully at him. A moment later she was looking directly at John, this time it was her turn to smirk.

John made a mental note to himself to never ever test out Valerie's sanity limits, ever again!

Also, damn it, did she really have to choose that two-piece costume? Damn!

"Dude, is that your girlfriend?" The guy from the table right behind John's sofa, randomly started a conversation.

"Uh…yea…" John shrugged. He didn't mean to lie. He was just not sure what the question was, where he was at and what the heck was happening.

"Dude. You're lucky you get to tap that ass every day. Damn, she is hot!" The same nosy guy stated.

"Ok, shut up now." John didn't even turn around to face the man as she spoke back. His eyes were glued on Valerie.

Being the tease that she was, she walked over to the edge of the stage, now standing just inches above John. The music slowed down once again and so did her motions. John was already seeing things in painfully slow motion anyways, but this was about to be the end of him. Valerie was going to be the end of him. And he didn't mind.

"Hey there." She winked at him and she could clearly hear him scoff. The music volume was down at that moment.

"Damn it, Stahl!" He murmured, more to himself rather than to her. But she heard him anyway.

Painfully slowly, she kneed down and smiled at him. Her left hand extended towards him, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him towards her.

"It's Val…after midnight." This time it was her hot breath tickling his ear. John's game played him a bad joke. Once again, he reminded himself to never test Valerie again.

Suddenly, in her mind, Valerie was somewhere else. She was someone else. John was not John anymore. It was as if she flipped a switch and lost any touch with the reality. He could see the emptiness in her eyes and it scared him.

As he tried to pull away from her grasp, he noticed how she tightened her grip on his collar, almost as if she didn't want to let go. And not in a seductive way.

"Say my name…" Her gaze pierced right through him.

"Stop it. Come on. What is this?" This was way past some sick kind of a pleasure.

"I said. Say. My. Name!" She repeated, a lot more sternly this time.

"Valerie, stop!" He finally managed to untie her fingers from his collar and he noticed that one of her fingers was bleeding. She had been clutching so tight that his shirt button had opened a tiny wound on side of her finger nail.

"That's not my name." She said in a tone just above a whisper.

"Come on, Val. It's not funny." His desperate plea met her disapproval.

"That's not the name you were whispering that night…" She said barely audibly.

Since John was unable to assess the situation as a friend, he stopped and analyzed her behavior. Weird how he was doing the one thing that Valerie was so damn good at – profiling.

A name, a night, a man who was whispering stuff to a woman. These were the facts he had. Maybe these were things that Valerie had once had to deal with?

He knew he had to tread lightly. Underneath her bad ass exterior, Valerie was fragile and he had known that all along. But it was her pride that kept her from showing him another side of her, maybe the side that she was showing now, after multiple cocktails.

He gulped, hating the fact that he had to cut his source of entertainment short.

"Stop." He said softly. "I think we should go…"

The rejection triggered her even more. She sat on the edge of the stage and let her hand slip from her knee up to her inner thigh.

"That's not what you were saying that night..." With each thing she said, she was trailing off, which was very atypical for Valerie. She hated when people did not finish their sentences. Something really messed up was happening to her.

It was when her hand rested on John's shoulder when he decided he has had enough.

"No. Stop. I'm not joking. Let go of me!" He hissed at her, pushing her hand away.

"That's what she told you…but you wouldn't listen…" John was freaking out. She? Who was she? Was Valerie that she?

"Do you remember her last words? Come on. Tell me. I want those to be your last words, too." Her hand reached to an imaginary pocket in the imaginary pants that she was not even wearing at that moment.

"Intrusive memory. That's it! She's out of reach with the reality and she is simply re-living a past trauma. She has no control over the situation. Hell, she probably doesn't even know she is doing this right now. Think, John. How can you handle this situation without humiliating or startling her? Maybe if I invent a reason why we should leave quickly, or-…" He thought to himself, but that didn't last long.

While he was deep in thought, Valerie had hopped off the stage and was now sitting painfully close to John, with her hand on his knee, mimicking the same upwards motion that she had done along her own leg just a minute ago.

It was both pleasure and pain, having her hand move ever so softly up his leg. But he was smart enough to know that she had to be stopped and brought back to reality.

"You don't want to do this." He cleared his throat when her hand stopped at the belt of his pants.

"But you want me to." She smiled devilishly.

"Holy Jesus Christ, this is not what I asked for in my Christmas wish list. Damn it" He once again thought to himself.

"Aren't you going to put your hands around my neck again, Mr. Powell?" This time she sounded innocent and he almost believed that she was playing nice.

The next thing he felt was Valerie jumping on him and putting her hands around his neck. Talk about a plot twist.

"Nope. That's it. We're getting out of here!" He stood up, almost causing her to fall to the floor. He was having slightly less fun now that he felt her hands tightening around his neck.

The audience cheered them up, thinking this was part of her self-proclaimed killer act. But he knew better. He had seen sick and twisted out-of-the-reality meltdown episodes from other people in the past. It kind of goes with the line of work he was doing.

After she refused to leave, he picked her up bridal style and carried her out of there as fast as he could. Once again, he was being applauded by people who had no idea what was really going on. He made a quick stop backstage, grabbing her dress and a blanket which he covered her with before they left the club.

On their way out Valerie kept mumbling inaudible things about a "she" and a "you" and "that night". She was experiencing severe emotional distress and he had no intention of inflicting physical pain to her. However, once they were out on the street, he gave her a really nice shake and her mumbling slowed down.

He hailed a taxi and brought her back to her apartment. By the time they walked in, Valerie was completely calm, but irresponsive. She was awake, but she barely looked human.

"Here, you should go to bed. Drink some water. Relax a little bit and everything will be fine tomorrow." He tried to reassure her, but he was in need of the same reassurance himself. He had never seen Valerie like this. He had experienced some weird behavior from her, but never up to the point where she was out of her right mind and trying to strangle him.

Luckily for him, she dozed off before he could even open the bottle of water. All this stress must have worn her out.

After pacing nervously around her room for a quarter of an hour, he realized he had no idea where to sleep. There was no second pair of sheets laying around and the guest room was not ready for a guest. That meant: couch or Valerie's bed. And since John valued his life, he chose the couch in the living room.

It took him a while before he could feel the lack of energy in his body. He had to do something to help Valerie, but he knew little-to-nothing about her personal life. All he knew was that Sandra seemed close to Valerie, so he came up with a plan.

"Hey Sandra. Just a random question. Is there someone from our team that is not suffering from PTSD? We all know Richard and I are guilty of being under its influence, but maybe others…like Valerie for example, maybe she doesn't have it. Or someone else. Rudy? – John"

Reading his text after he had already sent it was a mistake. He realized how lame that sounded.

"What is wrong with Valerie!? – Sandra"

He didn't expect an immediate reply at 3 o'clock at night.

"She's fine. I was just wondering. – John"

"You are as transparent as a squeaky clean glass door. SPEAK! – Sandra"

"I said - she's fine! Man, one can't even ask a simple question without you making a totally random assumption! – John"

"Not when one does so at 3 o'clock at night. Now spill the beans. I swear, if something happens to Valerie because you were holding back, I will snap your neck with my own hands! – Sandra"

John was taken aback. Sandra sounded pissed.

"What's up with everyone wanting to hurt my neck tonight? – John"

"WHAT. HAPPENED. TO. VALERIE? – Sandra"

"Who is Mr. Powell? – John"

There was a moment of silence after he sent that text, after which his phone buzzed.

"John, listen to me really carefully. I need to know exactly what happened with her. Whatever it was, no matter how weird it might be, I'm begging you - don't withhold information from me. This is a question of life or death for her. Please John, talk to me!" Sandra sounded like she was having a panic attack. Well, John realized he was right about at least one thing – Sandra cared about Valerie. A lot.

Omitting the sexual connotations to their night out, he told Sandra how Valerie had been dancing and how she flipped a switch and tried to suffocate him.

"Was she naked?" Sandra asked in serious tone. After he failed to give her a reply, simply because he never mentioned the exact kind of dance that Valerie was performing, Sandra pushed it again. "John, I don't care what twisted sexual fantasies you two have. This is between the two of you. And no, I also don't care about my own rule against dating within the precinct. Now grow some balls and tell me. Was Valerie naked?"

"Uh, no. But she wasn't fully clothed either…" He trailed off.

"Did she reach for a pocket?" Sandra seemed to know more about the situation than what John even remembered about it.

"Uh, yes. Although, she didn't have one." He said lamely. "Should I…like, give my two weeks' notice? Because if one of us has to go, please don't let it be Valerie."

"I see chivalry is not dead." Sandra said sarcastically. "Did she hurt you?" It seemed like nothing else but the details of that night was on Sandra's mind.

"No. I tackled her. I'm fine and so is she. She's sound asleep in her bed right now." He stood up from the sofa, walking to the door of Valerie's room.

"Oh yeah? Are you sure she isn't mumbling and twitching-…" Sandra spoke, but he continued her words.

"And sweating profusely? Check, check and check." He sighed. Watching her like this was killing him. She was right about it after all – Valerie was a killer, a merciless heartbreaker. And a goddamn freaking tease!

"Did you see her eyes?" Sandra tried to keep her calm, but she knew what all of that meant.

"Yes. She was right in my face when she jumped me." John nodded, in addition to his words.

"Oh shit…" Sandra whispered to herself, knowing how upset Valerie would be. "John, listen to me. You can't question any of it. I know what you saw was weird and seems unreal, but you can't tell Valerie that you know."

"Know what? Sandra, you're blowing this way out of proportions. This is a typical recurrence of PTSD. I've seen a few. She will be fine. She just relived a painful memory." His words made Sandra pause.

"Uhm, can you explain what you saw in her eyes?" She fished for more information.

"Rage. Fake seduction. Power. Evil. Determination to have me dead. Basically, anything but regret." He heard Sandra sigh as he explained what he saw.

She was relieved. He hadn't seen the one thing that she knew Valerie didn't want to be seen in her eyes.

"Did she say anything else about that person you mentioned earlier?" Sandra could be heard opening a bottle and taking a glass out of a cupboard.

John knew her well enough to know that he had ruined her sleep and that she was now going to drink a few shots in order to be able to close her eyes again. It was also not fair of him to have bothered her when he knew for a fact that the next day would be a very stressful and busy one for her at the precinct, with a new mission planting its routes and a large SWAT team involved. Sandra had to be on top of her game.

"No. But she sure seemed obsessed with the idea of killing him. And yeah, there's also the fact that she thought I was him. No big deal…" John was in dire need of another drink, but he knew he had already had too much alcohol and that he had to sober up quickly so he can help Valerie out in the morning. He figured she would wake up devastated, hungover and with about a million regrets.

"John, listen to me. If you care about her, please…I'm begging you, please let her sleep. Don't touch her. Don't go near her. Tomorrow, don't mention anything to her. Let it go. Don't ever question her. She is the girl that you have worked with on a daily basis until now. She is not the person you saw last night." Sandra was desperate to keep Valerie's secrets, but if Valerie was being sloppy, it was hard for anyone to protect her.

"Of course. I don't care about the details. I just want to make sure she is alright. I've never seen her like that. And please don't fire her. Please! We weren't doing anything. It was all harmless fun that went too far." Once again John felt the need to protect Valerie's position at the precinct. Sandra was known for having relocated permanently multiple agents who started dating at work.

"John, relax. Breathe. As long as Valerie is fine, nobody gets fired. Just keep your mouth shut and pretend like nothing happened. And trust me, you would hate having to deal with me if you do otherwise. Got it?" Sandra took a gulp of pure whiskey and winced as she hissed the last few words. "One more thing. I am forever going to be grateful for this call and I respect the fact that you knew that the best thing to do right now was to call me and tell me the truth, even if it seems like you're snitching on Valerie."

"Got it. I'm not an idiot, you don't have to repeat it five times." He was now at the point of getting upset with his captain and he knew he had to finish the conversation and go to sleep. "Uh, you're welcome…I guess." He found it weird that Sandra thanked him. "Gotta go. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Goodnight John." Sandra said a little more softly this time, before she hung up.

John stood by the door for a couple more minutes, watching Valerie suffer in her sleep. He had promised Sandra not to do anything and, no matter how hard that was proving to be, he turned around and walked away.

Surprisingly, he found it very easy to drift off to sleep. He was exhausted and since he could literally do nothing else, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

Valerie continued to struggle in her sleep for about half an hour more, after which she woke up. No wonder she had been feeling a bit chilly, she was still wearing the two-piece Burlesque costume from the club. Still very much out of the reality, she grabbed some fresh clothes from the wardrobe and changed quickly before she laid in bed once again. She yawned, followed by half an hour of deep relaxing sleep. After that, she woke up and was unable to fall asleep again. That was when an idea struck her.

She tiptoed to the living room, finding John on the sofa.

"John? Hey, John?" She whispered, trying to find out if he was going to wake up.

He didn't react, not even when Valerie nudged his shoulder and waved her hand in front of his face After all the alcohol that night, it was safe to say that he was knocked out.

She called for a taxi and went to the secret lair with the idea of working on the case on her own, surrounded by darkness, peace and quiet. However…

"Drop your weapon and surrender!" Josie yelled as soon as Valerie walked in.

Josie, Will and Tony were all holding a gun at Valerie as she stood by the door.

"Seriously guys?" Valerie laughed, appearing to be in a good mood.

Weirdly, Valerie had no recollection of last night. It was as if nothing had happened. Every detail after she drank the cocktail that John had mixed back at her place, was completely erased from her memory and she was back to being the Valerie that everyone knew. There was a slight recollection of the first bar they went to, but all she could remember from that place was the awful taste of the drinks they had. Then it was all pitch black in her mind.

"Whoops, sorry." Josie blushed as they all put their guns down. "The intruder alarm went off."

"And did the surveillance camera get bugged at the same time?" Valerie kept on laughing as she walked over to a table, full of electronic gadgets, flat screens and images.

"We didn't think you'd come, so we didn't even check the screen to see who was entering. You know, we're not used to having guests around here." Tony shrugged and sat beside Valerie.

"Also, you look like crap." Josie added nonchalantly. She was known to always tell the truth.

"Uh, yeah. What did you drink?" Will, being the doctor, butted in nosily.

Valerie looked like she hadn't slept, but not because her eyes were puffed or for any other physical feature. In fact, physically, she was the same exact image of perfection as usual. It was more the fact that her hair was all messy, she still had a hint of last night's red lipstick on her lips, black mascara smudged around the corners of her eyes, and she also looked like she had been in a huge struggle while putting her clothes on, seeing how her shirt was on backwards and her pants were only half way zipped.

"Tequila." She said jokingly, without even remembering that she actually did drink that. "That's why I'm evil." Valerie didn't have any problem with alcohol, but tequila, specifically, was a trigger for her and in her life she made it a point to stay as far away from that drink as possible.

"Oh, because you dedicate your life to petting kittens when you don't drink tequila?" Josie laughed. Her humor was something else.

Valerie did not take any offence in it all. On the contrary, she actually appreciated the fact that she finally found people who were not afraid to bust her balls on a daily basis. She was sick of being treated like she was better than everyone else, all through her entire life.

"Guys, can we try to act serious now and maybe get some work done?" Valerie stuck her tongue at Josie and grabbed a tablet from the table.

For a little over an hour the four of them updated each other with every piece of information they had acquired on their own. Then they proceeded with the careful construction of, yet again, a new plan.

"So, is this going to work?" Valerie expressed a tiny bit of doubt after they were done with the plan.

"If you get your guy prepped and ready by Monday, yes." Josie replied calmly.

"Guys, I never promised you that. I only said that I might be able to get us a guy." Valerie felt so uncomfortable.

"You said you had the perfect guy for the job. With those exact words." Tony, being the nerd who always remembered details, spoke back to her.

"Yeah. You're right." With a shrug, Valerie excused herself for a moment.

She walked to the corner of the hall and she took a deep breath. What she was about to do was going to either help them tremendously and stop the killing spree in that city, or her plan could fail miserably and cause the death of the agent that she was going to serve them on a silver platter. Also, she had to explain to that agent how she moved to another city, moved in a millionaire's house and became a vigilante, all overnight. And, most importantly, she had to reveal herself in that tiny latex suit in front of someone who had always seen her prim and properly dressed at work. But most importantly, he could die. That was what worried Valerie the most.

She exhaled the breath that she had been holding for as long as her thoughts were wandering in her head.

There it was – the moment that could make or break the man that she was about to contact.