Chapter 9: A Date to Forget

Saturday 12th November Age 797

Dean was up and ready pretty early, for a Saturday. He was nervous about a couple of things. First of all, he was about to go on his first date since before becoming a police officer. It had been so long and even though he had managed to show some confidence the first time he spoke to Courtney at Alpha HQ that was because it was part of his job. In a situation where it was the two of them, in a casual setting, outside of business; yeah, that was going to be tougher.

The other thing that was going to contribute to that tough, awkward feeling; it was technically part of the investigation. He was going to be doing something that he himself couldn't be proud of, but it felt essential if he wanted to make some progress in this case. He needed to find out a bit more about Daniel Garrett, the man who seemed to have completely disappeared, but was certainly important to this case, in a small way, at least.

He and Courtney had agreed to meet a little before lunchtime, around noon, and Dean was glad they had chosen an earlier time in the day, as opposed to doing something later. This meant he wouldn't be sitting around all day waiting for something and he could actually get his plan moving right away. They had agreed to meet at a restaurant opposite East City Memorial Park, somewhere that Dean found out was reasonably priced but still very nice, and within a good distance from his hotel, and Alpha Industries.

Dean offered to pick Courtney up from her place, but she opted to make her own way there. Dean had arrived before her and entered the restaurant first. He managed to score a good table by the window, so he would see when she was arriving, although he was distracted by his notebook. He was reading over everything he had written down over the past few days and still trying to find some sort of link that would make things clearer.

He had heard all about the mall attack in Satan City but there was no information about it, other than the fact that people were fighting, and the Secret Service showed up. He had no way to figure out who had been involved in the fights, but he assumed that Noca and his friends had some involvement. He regretted leaving things in such a negative way with Noca but hoped that if he could figure out some more information that would link Alpha to these attacks that he could prove he was good at his job. He needed the young man to understand and trust him.

Dean was so focussed and deep in thought that he completely missed when Courtney had walked in and noticed him sitting alone. She came to the table and knocked on it lightly.

"Hello there, Officer," She said, in a timid and innocent way. Dean quickly looked up and saw her beaming down at him. Her hair down and over her shoulders, she was wearing a bright red coat, with a black scarf, making sure to keep wrapped up warm as the weather grew colder. Dean stood up.

"Hey, good morning, I mean, good afternoon," He said, shaking his head. He closed his notepad and put it away, eyes focussed on Courtney. She chuckled as she took off her coat and put it on the back of the chair. Under the coat she was wearing a black checkered dress that stopped a few inches above the knee, with some dark tights, and some black heeled boots.

"How's your investigation going?" She asked, taking a seat. Dean seemed distracted for a moment but quickly brought the case back to mind.

"Oh, yeah, um, I'm not supposed to discuss anything with civilians," He said, laughing nervously. "Sorry."

"No, don't apologise. My fault. Of course, you don't want to be talking about work when you're out for lunch," She replied, sharing the awkward laughter as she picked up a menu and a waiter walked by.

"Good afternoon, may I get you some drinks?" He asked.

"Water for me, please, and for you?" Dean said, motioning to Courtney.

"I'll have a hazelnut latté, please," She said, politely. The waiter nodded, writing down their orders and walked off to get their drinks. "I love the place you chose, they do some nice food here," Courtney said, looking around, and leaning forward a little bit in her seat.

"You've been her before?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I came here with my mom and dad for my birthday a month ago," Courtney explained, smiling fondly. Dean nodded along.

"That sounds nice. Honestly, I'm not familiar with the city and I asked someone at my hotel to recommend a place," He said.

"Well, be sure to let them know they made a good choice," Courtney said, laughing softly again. Dean scoffed and smirked.

"I will, I will," He said, glancing at the menu. "So, what's good here? What would you recommend?"

"Ooh, you have got to try their meatball lasagne, it is to die for," Courtney said, enthusiastically.

"Sounds like a five-star recommendation," He mentioned, looking down the menu. He was starting to think about the investigation again, and how he still needed to get that extra information about Alpha and Daniel Garrett, but he knew he couldn't jump into that. "So, how did you come to work at Alpha?" He asked, realising that she might interpret that as a question linking to the investigation. "That's nothing to do with the investigation, by the way. I'm just curious," He clarified, his nerves coming through.

"Don't worry, it's fine. It's actually just a job to get me by for the moment, I actually have a degree in music production and I just haven't found the right job yet," She explained.

"Music, huh?" He said with a questioning tone. He nodded. "What kind of music do you most enjoy?" He followed up, and Courtney went on to talk about the kind of music she listened to and what she did when studying her degree. She spoke about how she still does some music production in her free time and works with friends on their music. Dean was genuinely interested when talking to her, she certainly seemed passionate about it, and he was please to see her look happy while talking.

Eventually they ordered their food and started eating, so the conversation turned to the food for a little bit, until they finished, and Courtney decided to make a trip to the bathroom. Dean used this as a moment to take the initiative and get back to thinking about the investigation. He looked over at Courtney's unattended handbag. A little bit of guilt seeped into his mind, but he knew he had to try this. He quickly reached over and rummaged through it, quickly locating what he was looking for. Her Alpha Industries employee pass. He pocketed it and returned her handbag to the same position.

Courtney returned shortly after, and she was blissfully unaware that anything had happened. She simply mentioned something about the last time she had been there with her family, a little story. Dean smiled along and laughed when he realised, he needed to.

Just as Courtney went to sit down there was a smashing sound heard inside the restaurant as one of the waiters had dropped some dishes. Dean and Courtney turned to look at a waiter who was looking at a TV. Dean noticed it was the news and saw smoke and fire as a camera tried to focus on a building. The text read 'TWO EXPLOSIONS IN SATAN CITY.' Dean stood up and walked over.

"Turn that up," he suggested to the waiter, who took a remote and raised the volume.

They listened as the reporter spoke about how someone caused an explosion on the building and then fired something at Satan City park. It was reported that at least thirty people were confirmed dead, with a similar number of people injured. The news continued to explain that some others attempted to fight and then the King's Secret Service showed up, but no one was apprehended or taken into custody.

Dean sighed and turned to Courtney.

"That's awful," She said, bringing her hand to her mouth. Dean nodded. They both looked to one another and realised the tone of their date had definitely changed with that news. It seemed like a premature end to the day.

"I'm probably going to need to make some calls, find out what's going on," Dean said, definitely a hint of disappointment in his voice. Courtney was very understanding. She knew the importance of his job and was well aware that he was doing some investigating involving the recent attacks, this only added to the workload. "Thank you for coming out with me though," He said.

"Oh, don't thank me, thank you for inviting me out, I almost didn't expect you to call," She said, giggling softly as she collected her things.

"A beautiful woman like you, as a single man, why wouldn't I call you?" He said, laughing awkwardly. He wasn't one to typically talk like that, but there was a small sense of confidence around the scenario that hadn't been there earlier.

They paid for their meal, splitting the bill, and then went their separate ways. Courtney had driven herself to the restaurant, so it made sense for her to drive herself home. Dean sat in his car for a little bit, writing down extra notes. There had been three attacks in Satan City at that point, each worse than the last. Something was drawing them to that city specifically. It was hard to determine why, at that point. It went beyond the King's Systems lab.

If he wasn't already trying to follow up on his own leads then maybe Dean would have gone to check out what was happening over there, or even check in with Noca to see what he knew, but Dean had to do the next part by himself. He reached inside his pocket and took out Courtney's employee pass.

He shouldn't have taken it. That was a criminal activity he pulled. This entire investigation was wrong, but he knew he had to try and do something. He looked at the picture of Courtney on the pass, she was smiling, fresh-faced, her hair neatly tied back. She looked professional and innocent. He hoped this didn't end with her getting into trouble, but quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind when he remembered that people were dying and if they were able to prove that Alpha were involved then they were a big step closer to stopping it.

Dean put his plan into motion later that evening. It wasn't extremely well thought out, he just planned to go to Alpha, use Courtney's card to get in, and then find a way to access the employee files to see if he could gather any extra information about Daniel Garrett, or perhaps find something else incriminating.

He parked his car close to the compound but decided to walk the rest of the way, wanting to seem like any innocent visitor. Speaking of which, he assumed that employees must have some sort of area specific to them in the visitor's centre, and he wondered if perhaps the employee files could be accessed from that point. It was perhaps worth a shot, but then if he was wrong, and was caught with someone else's card then he was going to be in hot water.

No, Dean needed to just chance it in the main building. He wasn't certain how employee cards would work inside and hoped that it was just a swipe system. He didn't need anyone checking his card and seeing a picture of a white skinned, blonde woman when he was a dark skinned, dark haired man. That wouldn't add up. He also needed to avoid bumping into anyone who had seen him before, at the off chance they recognise him.

He looked over towards the visitors centre as he got further into the compound but opted to continue towards the main building again. He knew that when he got in there, he would need to avoid the receptionist desk, especially as the place was a lot quieter than the other day, considering it was the evening on a weekend.

Upon entering the main building, Dean saw that it was practically empty, save the one security guard standing by the door, two people sitting at the reception desk. Lucky for him, none of those people had been there the last time Dean visited the Alpha HQ. This meant, that if he simply kept focussed on his goal and didn't draw any attention to himself, he could simply walk through as if he was another employee.

He walked to the left right away, heading towards a set of doors. He noticed a keypad that had space for a card and knew what had to be done. Dean took Courtney's employee pass out of his pocket and slid it through the pad on the door. There was a ding and the door opened. Dean walked on through, doing his best to keep his nerves in check and his mind focussed. As he passed through a hallway, he noticed a window that looked into some sort of robotics lab. There were a few scientists in there running some tests on some sort of robot and Dean had to admit it was intriguing, but he had to act as if it was a part of his normal day.

There were some other employees and scientists that passed him by as he walked on through the hallway but none of them were paying him any attention. They had no reason to be suspicious. Dean assumed it was because everyone had their own jobs to get on with and no one wanted to delay themselves. It was interesting to see how everyone seemed really focussed, but no one could spot this stranger making his way through.

Soon enough, Dean happened upon a room that had a sign on the wall. The sign clearly read 'Employee Records' which was extremely helpful. Dean took the card out of his pocket again and swiped it. The pad dinged, with a little green light, and the door opened. Dean entered, closing it behind him immediately.

As the lights came on, he saw what he had got himself into. It wasn't a traditional records room with filing cabinets, in fact, it was just six computers, and a whole bunch of servers. This was more than just an ordinary records room, Dean assumed. He started to believe that maybe he would be able to access some more important files from their system. He sat down at a computer and it immediately asked for a sign in. Dean cursed and looked down at the card and then at the computer. There was a slot for the card. He scoffed and pushed the card in. The login and password automatically filled in and he was in their system.

Immediately he managed to locate the employee files and got straight to looking for Daniel Garrett. The same files that he had been able to look at before with Teki and Noca had appeared, displaying the exact same information. Nothing new. It was the exact same thing. Dean sighed and sat back in the chair. He pondered something and then typed in just the surname, Garrett. Again, it only led to those files. No one else by that name. Dean shook his head.

He continued searching for something on the system and noticed there was a way to access some other files. Something to do with an experiment under the name 'Delta.' Dean tried clicking on it and the computer immediately flagged up a message saying that he didn't have the clearance to access those files and it booted him out.

Meanwhile, in an office higher up in the building, Teki was sitting at his computer and noticed something flag up. He looked over it and noticed that someone was trying to access some sensitive information and had been looking up information about Daniel Garrett at the same time. The companies COO was intrigued. He opened up something that told him exactly who had been accessing said information or trying to anyway. It was Courtney Mason, a receptionist. He scoffed and opened up the security feed for the room of origin.

Teki saw who was sitting there, looking through their files, and it made him chuckle. He turned to his phone and pressed a button.

"Please alert security that we have an intruder in the records room of the ground floor. I want him brought to me," Teki said, releasing the button and sitting back in his chair. He smirked to himself and turned around to look out of the window.

Back in the records room, Dean realised he should get out of there. He didn't learn anything new and was probably about to get himself, and Courtney, in trouble. He grabbed her card and got up, moving out of the room. He looked both ways upon exiting and in one direction saw a couple of security guards, but they were just standing there talking to one another, and then down the other end, his way out.

He started to walk towards the exit, unaware that the two guards started to follow him. He reached the door at the end, swiped his card but it was denied that time. He tried it again. Denied. Dean was beginning to panic. That's when he felt an arm on his shoulder.

He turned around and was immediately met with a punch to the gut. He fell to the ground and tried to reach to take out his badge.

"Don't bother, officer. We know who you are," One of the guards said. Dean sighed and coughed. He was dragged to his feet and then guided out of the door towards that elevator behind the reception desk. He knew where they were taking him.

A very quick elevator ride, awkward and in silence, and the two security guards, and Dean, arrived at the office of Teki Kusanagi. The doors opened and Teki stood up from his chair behind the desk.

"Officer Dean Aman, welcome back to Alpha Industries. I only wish it were under better circumstances," Teki said, smirking. Dean was moved through the room and forced to sit down. "I wonder what made you think you could just saunter in here with an employee's card and start looking through our files. That's against the law, isn't it? Officer."

Dean had nothing to say. He was caught. He knew he had done wrong, and the look on his face amused Teki.

"After you came in here, with a civilian, and accused us of having involvement in terror attacks on Satan City and West City, I must admit, I had questions about your professionalism. Now you have proven yourself," Teki said, and he clapped his hands together. "I will be speaking to your superiors, and we'll get the situation sorted out. Now, if you wouldn't mind, hand over Courtney Mason's employee card and leave here."

Dean took the card out of his pocket and put it down on the desk. He stood up.

"We will find out what's going on here," Dean said, glaring at Teki.

"You? Or the West City P.D.? Because after this you won't be able to call yourself Officer," Teki replied, smirking wider. Dean sighed and walked off. He knew he had failed. It was going to be a tough night. Once Dean was descending in the elevator Teki sat down at his desk and looked at Courtney Mason's card. He scoffed and shook his head.

Dean didn't sleep at all that night. He was far too caught up with the trouble he had gotten himself into, and he had dragged Courtney along with him. He knew that there would be a phone call early the next day and that was going to be a difficult thing to go through. He had deceived his Captain, lied about the family emergency, and then tried to follow up on an investigation by himself. It wasn't going to be good.

Hey, yes, this chapter is technically a day late, but honestly I had a lot going on and just forgot to upload it. It's here now, and it's probably not the best chapter. I had bigger ideas for this when I originally wrote it and it didn't really translate well to the page, but either way, it's still a part of this story!

Review if you want, and I'll see you next week.