Author's Note: I was going to quit but in the end I just couldn't leave Similarities Unfinished. After a long time, new chapter. As of now I'll try to work on both Similarities and Walkways of Redemptions.
"Alright boys…and girls." Altric added when Orlene raised her eyebrows in question during the meeting. "Usually we leave things like robberies and other low part crimes to Section B. However due to certain circumstances we're not exactly dealing with normal robbers here. Officer Shirasu, would you please clarify the situation."
"You want me to tell them what happened?" She asked.
"No dear, I want you to juggle 10 bottles of water while singing the Italian national anthem. Of course, if there's anyone who understands this situation it'll be you. Go on."
Orlene looked around, shrugged her shoulders and walked to the front of the room, feeling very…young, inexperienced and very Diclonius-ish. She waved her hand with a small nervous smile on her face as the men, perhaps slightly mockingly, smiled and waved back.
"So…ummm, my name's Orlene. Officer Shirasu I guess and…well you see it was about…"
"You're boring us Officer Shirasu!" Altric said from the back. "Put some more oomph in your story girl!"
Captain Altric was a nice man, but wow did he ever have a knack of making situations…unique.
"It's like this boys." She said, raising her hand. "After a certain someone whose name will not be mentioned, decided to bitch to me about me being a human killing monster, I joined Captain Altric in this high speed chase. Unbeknownst to us, one of them assailants was just like me, a Diclonius. I barely managed to keep the Captain from getting killed and now the crooks are on the lose."
"What no love for me?" Dio yelled.
"Alright, yeah Officer Venoheh gave us some much needed assistance." Orlene added, smiling and shaking her head in his direction. "It's like the Captain said, this sort of problem is usually dealt by other people I just…excuse me?" She stopped as Phil Illish began clapping his hands as if Orlene had given an amazing speech, this clapping was repeated by others until the entire room was a rousing display of applause. Even Erickson was joining in, and Orlene to say the least felt awkward.
"That's our girl! Helping out the Captain like that in such a situation!" Someone yelled up in the front. "Who says Diclonius can't be helpful!" Another one yelled. More cheering. "Three cheers for Orlene!"
"B-but…" Orlene stammered.
"Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!"
"T-thanks but…" Orlene mumbled, unable to speak coherently. "Won't you let me finish…?"
"Someone bring out the beer and let's celebrate this fine day!" Dio roared.
"Do that and your fired." Erickson ordered.
"Eh, party crasher." The man moaned mockingly.
Orlene just stood there and decided not to speak. "Alright guys…" the Captain said, raising his hand and letting the room go silent. "Our young and favorite Diclonius here, Officer Shirasu has obviously not finished and while I'm sure all of you want to go out and get drunk as hell…"
"Hear! Hear!"
"…We should give our friend here the respect she deserves. Please continue Officer Shirasu."
"Well since I am a Diclonius…"
"The best damn Diclonius ever!"
"Yeah thanks…" She added. "We thought it would be best to put someone like me on the job, since out of anyone here I know the most about them. Diclonius can be very dangerous, being one myself I know exactly about this. If anything because Captain Altric was nearly killed, that makes them felons for attempted murder."
"Here's the deal boys…" The Captain interrupted. "We are putting a hard profile alert on these guys and leading the case is none other than Officer Shirasu here. Anybody with any information should come directly to her and another thing. If on the road you get information about them or anybody that is a Diclonius, contact Officer Shirasu immediately. Officer Shirasu will discuss more important matters at tonight's meeting. All of you have a good day and keep up the good work."
Everyone gave a cheer, got up and left, many of them smacking Orlene roughly but friendly on the shoulder. At long last the only other people in the room were the Erickson and Orlene.
"That was weird." The girl said shaking her head.
"Nah, that's just what life is like here. I try to make things fun here, otherwise we'd all be miserable sons of guns and I'd still be walloping in my own sorry. Let's face it here, those men out there, those muscle bound idiots. Those dumb nutsacks, those stupid bastards…"
"I get it…" Orlene mumbled.
"Those boys…" And as he spoke, he reached for the wide brimmed hat and placed it upon his head, signaling just how important and deep it was for him. "…Are my greatest companions and friends that I have ever known in my entire life. Do you understand the kind of respect you just received, to have those rugged men clap for you? It wasn't because they decided to be nice, on the contrary, most new recruits get spit at. It's not because you're a Diclonius, although I might admit that might have taken a part in not trying to tick you off. You earned something today Orlene Shirasu…something very special.
It's good to have you on the force."
"It's…good to be on the force." She replied, hesitantly but with a smile on her face.
"Good. Now get your lazy self out of here and get to work! The heck you doing girl, you want me to fire you!"
"What-ok!" She stuttered, randomly saluting and bumbling out of the doors.
"Hello Dio." Orlene called out to the brown haired man sitting in his cruiser. He held a small cigarette in his mouth but unlike Officer Doorbit (who had been subsequently fired) Dio had the decency to put it out as the young Siplitet hopped into the car.
"Hey Orlene, ready for today's work?"
"Always…WHOA!"
No sooner had she said it before Dio slammed his foot into the gas pedal and sped off at an alarming rate. The windows were down and the wind pressed roughly against Orlene's face, her hair smacking all around. Her body slammed into the door as he swerved right, rushing down the streets at break neck speeds. "Officer Venoheh! Isn't this kind of dangerous?" She gasped as they sped down a hill, cars rushing past them in blurs of colors.
"Dangerous? No this ain't dangerous…THIS is dangerous!" And he let go of the wheel, letting the cruiser shake back and forth, freaking Orlene out greatly. "O-Officer Venoheh! Th-the cruiser!"
He grabbed the wheel, but didn't stop it from breaking the sound barrier, the cruiser continued to race along the road. Then with a loud screech, halted at the parking lot of an old looking restaurant, likely home-owned and sitting in a chair an old man with a cigar.
"8 minutes 32 seconds Dio. You're last time was better." The old man yelled.
"Sorry Marcus had to slow it down a bit today, got company!" Dio roared.
"You mean you've driven faster before?" Orlene asked flabbergasted.
Dio got out of the car but Orlene stayed put until Dio beckoned her to come with a finger. The old man, in badly need of a shave was probably in mid 50s and used a cane to get a round. His balding white hair hung in patches around the sides and he also had a very thin moustache. "Who might be this pretty young lady?" He asked, squinting at Orlene who waved.
"Newest addition of the team." Dio exclaimed, patting Orlene on the shoulder.
"Hey girl, ever had a Maxo Burger before?"
"A what?"
"Ah yeah…poor thing." The old man said, shaking his head. "You poor creature, never had a Maxo Burger."
"Should I be worried?" Orlene asked.
"Worried!" The old man roared, looking around frantically. "Of course you should be worried! Nobody on Erickson's force has ever gone through life without having at least one Maxo Burger! That's like…rule 101 in your job isn't it?"
"I like to get a bite to eat here sometimes." Dio spoke walking up to the front door while Orlene followed closely behind. "It might be a bit dusty for your taste but the foods excellent."
As she entered it, she understood what Dio meant. The place was actually well furnished and clean but it was old styled and almost bar like. Most of the occupants were bulky large men sitting at booths as Dio took a seat in one himself. Orlene sat in the opposite side, looked around and absentmindedly brushed her uniform of the dust that had settled on it. Then the waitress came over as Orlene got ready to order before…
"Whoa!" She cried out. "You're a…"
A young girl, near Orlene's age had come over to take their orders. She was a Diclonius just like the young Siplitet sitting at the booth. It hadn't dawned on until now but as she thought about it, the old man hadn't said one word about her horns or so much as even glance at it. She understood and she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of happiness in her heart. Diclonius and humans, right in front of her eyes again living and working together. She quickly changed her words.
"You're our waitress today? How wonderful."
"Thank you she said, bringing out her vector."
Orlene starred.
"Shake it." She said.
"Eh, ok." She uttered, bringing out her own vector and shaking the girl's own. Dio held up his fist and her vector lightly pounded it. "That always feels so strange." Dio mumbled. "Thanks Becca, I'll order the usual."
"Alright, what about you?" She asked Orlene while the officer looked at the menu. She ordered some form of noodles with chicken. After the order was done, Orlene relaxed herself into the booth and Dio sipped almost melancholy on his soda.
When the food was came she was surprised to find that on her plate wasn't chicken and noodles. It was a huge hulking mass of meat on a bun with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and some sort of sauce dripping from the sides with a side order of fries. In other words, the exact opposite of what she ordered. "Excuse me, I think you got the order wrong." She called out to the Siplitet waitress who looked over her shoulder at her. "No, it's right."
She looked back down at it. "Ok Orlene, just because you traveled with Esperanda doesn't mean you've lost touch with reality. That is not what I ordered…" She thought before suddenly exclaiming. "Hey! That must be that..Maxy Hamburger or whatever! Dio did you change my order!"
He gave an unconvincing "no." as he sipped his soda and looked away. "Eh sorry Orlene but I just can't let you keep company if you don't try it. It's kind of like a tradition, just one bite."
She gazed at the sloppy mess.
"Eh…"
"Put it this way, that burger is just like a Diclonius."
"Now you're just insulting me." She chided. "No, no." he replied shaking his head. "Seriously just take a bite, you'll love it."
"Tsk, I don't know…it looks so…"
"Just one bite."
Biting back her retort she finally agreed. She didn't even bother picking it up with her hands, she didn't think she could hold it anyways. Instead she snaked two vectors over her shoulder, raised the sandwich into the air and gulped. It looked so…messy and unclean. Through act of sheer willpower she bit into it. Dio was right, it was absolutely delicious. It had a unique taste brought in by flavoring from the sauce. Despite the way it looked, the entire thing tasted like food heaven and Orlene, despite her protest in her mind, continued to eat. "It's…alright." She mumbled. "O-ok it's very good." She finally said again looking at Dio's bewildered expression. "Although I don't know how this is anything like us Diclonius unless you're telling me we make good sandwiches."
"No." Dio uttered. "It's a way of looking on the inside of things. Your kind has been picked on, tortured and threatened because of your looks and the feelings you get from others. Much like that burger, people only see the outside of the box and don't see the true goodness that's inside."
Orlene, after hearing those words had to fight…fight back the tears about to run down her face from the pure joy and emotion she was feeling right now. "Thanks." She managed to mutter. "Th-thanks very much."
Those hard working boys, disgruntled and burly with hearts of gold and souls of silver. She admired their work, their companionship but most of all, their respect for her.
A loud beep echoed as Dio picked up his radio and answered.
"Damn!" He yelled. "We got to get going, some maniac's threatened to bomb the Northeastern Grand structure from here. Orlene, call in the bomb squad and let's get going!"
"Yessir!" She said, racing out through the door while Dio brought out a cash wad from his pocket and placed it on the counter. "Keep the change!"