Chapter 10: All Fired Up

Sunday 13th November Age 797

Dean was lying awake in his hotel bed, staring up at the ceiling, almost as if he was waiting for something to happen. He understood that he was bound to be in a lot of trouble, he just didn't know how much. It was the most anxious he had ever been, but he had brought it all on himself.

His phone started to ring at around 8:30am. Dean took a moment, took a deep breath, let out a heavy sigh, and reached over to his phone. He answered, brought it to his ear, and prepared himself.

"Hello, sir," Dean said, calmly, as if he had readied himself for what was to come.

"Hi, Aman. Judging by how calm you sound; I gather you know what this is about?" Captain Rodriguez questioned.

"Yes, sir," Dean replied, keeping his answers short and to the point.

"What do you have to say for yourself? You've lied to me, you've followed an investigation yourself, and you've trespassed on Alpha territory, after you had already interrogated their COO without me knowing. Explain this," The Captain requested. Dean wasn't sure what to say, how much he should reveal, and if he should even give up all the information. He knew that only one bit of information was shared by all.

"I was following on a small lead, and maybe I let my own thoughts get the better of me, but I still think there's some suspicion around them," Dean explained, holding back almost everything he had on the case. He heard the Captain sigh on the other end.

"So, you're admitting it?" The Captain questioned.

"Yes, sir," Dean replied. He went back to the short and sweet answers, although nothing was sweet about this situation. Dean just had nothing else to say. "I can only say I'm sorry that I didn't discover any new information. I'm not sorry I did it."

"If you had come to me, or had gone to the Secret Service, they would have helped. Why didn't you do that?" The Captain asked. Dean could have told him the truth, that for some reason he didn't trust this Secret Service that seemingly came out of nowhere, or he could go with the reasoning he told himself, that he was trying to take the initiative in the hopes that he would prove his worth.

"I don't have any information that they don't already have. They know the number plate of the vehicle seen leaving the King's Systems lab and they could have fallen upon the information that the car was linked to Alpha Industries and an Alpha employee, so, I don't know, I just followed my gut," Dean explained, beginning to get a little bit exasperated. The Captain could hear it.

"Well, look, you're not a bad guy, but you've made some bad choices here, I have no choice," The Captain said, leaving it there a moment, but Dean had nothing else to come back with. "I'm going to have to suspend you for some time."

"That's understandable, I know I shouldn't have gone about things this way, I made a mistake," Dean replied, feeling rather disappointed in himself.

"I'm glad you realise, and I hope that things can get sorted soon. I want you to report here as soon as you can, so we can discuss things in person," The Captain ordered.

"Yes, sir," Dean replied. The Captain hung up the call right after that, leaving it there. Dean put the phone down on his bedside table and continued to sit in silence, staring into space. He was unsure of what to do with himself.

He could at least find some solace in the fact that he wasn't fired outright, he was just suspended. Sure, he didn't know how long that would last, or how it would impact his career as a police officer in general, but it was the little positive he could grip on to.

Dean knew he would be checking out of that hotel later on, there was no sense in hanging around for no reason, he may as well head back to his apartment in West City, and then head in to see his Captain in the morning. He had just got out of the shower when his phone was ringing again, he rushed over to it, confused as to who else could be ringing. A part of him thought it would be someone involved with the Secret Service trying to track him down. Fortunately, it wasn't them, but it wasn't someone Dean was excited about talking to. He knew it was bound to be a tough conversation.

"Hi, Courtney," Dean greeted, answering the phone. He tried not to sound happy, or annoyed, or surprised, and just kept things neutral. She wasn't pleased either way.

"What the fuck, Dean? Like, what the fuck? I just got a phone-call from my boss saying that they found you with my employee pass, I check my bag and it was gone, and they fired me. What did you do?" She blurted it all out, frantically, clearly, she wasn't in a good place. "You did this!"

"Courtney, I… yes, ok, I did it," Dean admitted right away. He sat down on his bed and sighed. "I was following the case and I just did what I felt was necessary."

"You used me!" She yelled, "I thought you were decent, unlike other guys, you seemed nice and genuine, but you used me just like everyone else!" She continued, getting more frustrated. "They told me you weren't even supposed to be on the case, and you did everything by yourself, is that true?" She asked.

"Look, I can explain it all to you, I can, but can we meet, please?" He suggested.

"Why do you think I want to see you again? You just got me fired!" She responded, snapping back at him.

"I know, and if I can do anything to change that, I will, but please, give me this chance. Can we meet?" He pleaded. She fell silent. "Courtney, I am sorry."

"Meet me at East City Memorial Park, the Fairview entrance," She said, seemingly calm, "In two hours. I won't wait around." She hung up the call immediately after. Dean let his arm fall down by his side and sighed again.

For the moment, returning to West City was pushed to the back of his mind. Courtney deserved to know why Dean just disrupted her life in such a damaging way.

Over in Satan City, at the little headquarters the Secret Service had set up for themselves, now located inside the park because of the attack that had happened there, Captain Cas Babka was going through some files on his computer, trying to get familiar with Noca and Holline after seeing them slip through his fingers just the previous day. He was scouring their personal files to find something to use against them, but there wasn't much. They had both competed in the World Tournament twice, but before the first one, there wasn't much about either of them.

Noca was apparently a relative of the Brief family, and worked for Capsule Corp., and was also an Orange Star High School drop-out, while Holline was still attending the school and lived in the city. There was nothing against them that said he could go to their residence and arrest them. It annoyed him.

Then he received a phone-call, from one of his own superiors. Jack Colby appeared on one of the screens and he appeared to be staring right at Babka but was still wearing his sunglasses.

"Jack, you look as good as ever," Babka joked, taking a sip from his coffee. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"From what I hear, you are not making any progress with this case, and we have received a message from one of the West City P.D. precincts, delivering some shred of information," Jack Colby explained. Babka groaned, put his mug down, folded his arms and glared at the screen.

"Give me what you got then," He said. Colby smirked.

"Turns out one of their own Officers took it upon himself to follow the investigation, has kept information from us, and got himself caught breaking into Alpha Industries last night, he has since been suspended," Colby explained.

"Why did he break into Alpha, we followed any leads we had regarding them and they were able to prove their innocence?" Babka questioned.

"Apparently, he seems to believe he has more evidence, and maybe we can put it to good use. I want you to bring him in," Colby ordered. Babka scoffed.

"Ok, sure. I'll get my best men right on it," Babka said, giving a weak salute and ending the call. He immediately contacted someone else. "Rushan, you're needed."

In East City, outside a hotel, sitting in a car, Rushan Kalari was eating sandwich when his communicator went off.

"Oh, hey, sir. What's up?" He asked, casually.

"What's up? Really? That's how you talk to your Captain?" Babka questioned. Rushan seemed to panic, dropping his sandwich.

"Ah shit, I mean, no, sir, sorry," He said, frantically, laughing nervously. "I was just having lunch."

"Well, stop having lunch, we need you to bring in that cop you're trailing," Babka ordered.

"Sir?" Rushan questioned. "Bring him in?"

"That is what I said," Babka replied.

"Of course, I'll uh… ask him?" He said, questioning it further.

"You can do that, if he refuses then arrest him," Babka said, ending that call right away. Rushan sat there in silence and wondered what his next move should be. He looked up at the hotel to see that the cop in question, Dean Aman, was leaving and heading to his hire-car. He got in and immediately drove off. Rushan began to trail him.

Dean eventually pulled up at the Fairview entrance to the Memorial park. He parked the car and exited. Rushan parked across the road and got out, ready to approach the other man, but he stopped upon seeing Dean approaching a blonde woman sitting at a bench. Rushan got back in his car and observed.

"Hey," Dean greeted, sitting down beside her.

"Explain yourself then," Courtney requested. Dean sighed.

"I have strong reasons to believe that Alpha Industries is involved in the attacks on Satan City, and the one on Soniso bank in West City," Dean started, "It's just a matter of me linking all the evidence and filling in some gaps."

"That's why you came and asked Mr. Kusanagi some questions that day?" Courtney asked, she looked over at Dean. He nodded.

"He dismissed everything we said, saying that I didn't have anything to actually charge him with, just a bunch of loose leads," Dean explained. He took out his notepad and handed it to her. She hesitated. "Go on, read them, I was suspended anyway, and none of this is on record."

She took the notepad and read through it. She seemed to pause on something, staring at it for a short period of time before flicking over to the next page.

"Is this why you involved me, and risked my livelihood? Because you think Alpha are criminals?" She asked.

"No, not at all, I didn't think you'd be at risk, I didn't think at all," Dean said, looking up at her. She handed him the notepad and looked away.

"If you needed someone to look at some specific files, why didn't you ask me instead of going about it by yourself?" She asked.

"I didn't know that if they caught me, they would fire you. Couldn't you dispute it and say that I stole from you?" He asked. She scoffed.

"I gave you my phone number the first time we met," Courtney said, shaking her head. "They told me they had it on tape, and I was lucky to just be fired."

"I'm sorry," Dean said, staring at his feet. Courtney stood up.

"Well, it's too late for that now," She said, turning away and walking a few steps. Dean stood up but didn't say anything else or follow after her. She stopped on her own and turned back to face him. "Daniel Garrett, I don't know who he is, but I once saw my boss with a document. She goes by Karen Marshall, but the document she had listed her name as Garrett. Maybe that's a lead for you," She said, before turning away and walking off, saying nothing more.

Dean couldn't find anything else to say and knew that she was right. He could have just asked her when they were on that date and maybe things would have been simpler.

He returned to his car, but before entering he looked over to a phonebooth and approached it. Rushan Kalari continued to watch him. Dean started to look through the directory inside the phonebooth, it was obviously modern and computerised, and he found that he could still use his badge number to access further records. Dean typed in for Daniel Garrett and it came up with the same details that had been given to him at Alpha Industries, he then went on to type in Karen Garrett but received those same details. Then he tried Karen Marshall, and something new came up. He quickly wrote down the address and exited the phonebooth. He got in his car and drove off.

Rushan continued to follow him.

Dean soon found himself driving through a residential area outside of the city centre. He was looking around for a specific address and ended up pulling up on a nice-looking house, with two cars in the driveway. Dean parked up and stepped out of his car, but his attention was gripped by another car pulling up right behind his.

"Dean Aman!" Rushan called out as he stepped out of the car. Dean froze and reached towards his gun but did it subtly, he was just getting himself ready. Rushan noticed. "You don't need your weapon. I am Rushan Kalari of the Kind's Secret Service, and I've been requested to bring you to my Captain," He said, shrugging his shoulders. Dean's brow furrowed and he looked to the house.

"I need to speak to this person first, I need to fill in this gap and I think this case can make more sense, please," Dean pleaded with Rushan as he slowly approached.

"Look, you can hand over all this information to me and I'll present it to my Captain, but I can't allow you to do this yourself," Rushan explained, getting closer.

"There has been a total of four attacks, and lots of people have died, either you let me do this, or you help me," Dean said. Rushan stopped and it was his turn to display a furrowed brow.

"Ok, you know what, if you come with me without any fuss, I will help you speak to this person," Rushan suggested. Dean was shocked at his willingness to help.

"That was easy," Dean said, "Of course, I will definitely come without any fuss."

"Well, I don't see you as a threat, and you haven't hurt anyone as far as I can tell. You seem genuine," Rushan said as he stepped up alongside Dean as they walked up the pathway to the house.

"How long have you been following me?" Dean asked.

"Oh, just a few days. Who are we meeting anyway?" Rushan asked.

"This is the residence of a Karen Marshall, reception manager at Alpha Industries, she has a link to this missing person, Daniel Garrett," Dean explained.

"You mean the person who had the car?" Rushan asked.

"You had that information?" Dean asked.

"Oh yeah, we had someone go into Alpha recently, apparently they were clean," Rushan suggested. Dean scoffed. "Well, we didn't have all the information, did we?" Rushan said, clearly aiming a dig at Dean. The cop didn't dignify it with a response and pressed the doorbell.

Karen came to the door. She wasn't happy to see Dean.

"Oh no, I have been told not to speak to any police, especially you," She said, attempting to close her door but Rushan stopped it.

"Fortunately, I'm here, and I'm a part of the King's Secret Service, and having been ordered to follow up every lead on this case, you either speak to me, or we can assume you are obstructing the law," Rushan said, clearly used to those kinds of interactions, or it was at least rehearsed. Karen was speechless. "May we come in."

"I… no, you can ask me anything here at the door," She said, standing her ground.

"Wherever's comfortable for you, ma'am," Rushan said, nodding to her. He then motioned to Dean. "I'm going to hand off to my new assistant."

Dean nodded to Rushan and stepped up. He cleared his throat and opened his notebook.

"Ms Marshall, what can you tell me about Daniel Garrett and your connection to him?" Dean asked. Karen seemed to have a clear reaction to that name. Rushan folded his arms and watched on. "I have learned, from a source, that you two have a link. Could you just tell me where to find him? I visited his residence as listed in the Alpha systems and no one had been there for a while."

"I… I haven't seen Daniel in a while," She said, getting agitated.

"But you're familiar enough to call him by his first name?" Dean questioned. Rushan unfolded his arms and put them behind his back.

"Could I just ask, what's with the two cars in the driveway? Do you have a husband or family member here with you?" Rushan asked. Karen was clearly getting flustered.

"No, I own two cars," She said, bluntly.

"Ms Marshall, were you and Daniel Garrett either in a relationship or related in anyway?" Dean asked.

"Where are you getting that information?" She asked, getting very nervous. "They told me I was protected." She was getting upset and clearly very on edge. She rushed inside her house, attempting to slam the door, but Rushan stopped it again. "Danny, help!" She yelled, running inside.

From out of nowhere, a man jumped in front of the two men as they attempted to enter, and his body seemed to glow for a moment.

"I warn you; I am SUI trained!" Daniel Garrett yelled at the two of them. Both Dean and Rushan didn't understand what that meant, and they had drawn their weapons, but held them up, showing they weren't about to shoot for no reason.

"We don't know what that means, sir. Please, calm down, and talk to us," Dean suggested.

"They said we would be safe, and no one would come after us. We only did what we were ordered to! They took our daughter!" Daniel yelled.

"Who did?" Rushan asked. Daniel shook his head and looked to his wife. She was cowering away and crying but nodded to him.

"I'm sorry, but it ends here!" Daniel said, his body began to glow some more and both Dean and Rushan knew to back up and move away. They started to rush back towards the door and suddenly there was an explosive wave that emanated from Daniel's body, but something seemed to go wrong, and he was in a lot of pain as his body began to burn. The wave still shattered glass and wood, and Karen was caught in the attack. There was an explosion, and the house was very quickly destroyed. Dean and Rushan managed to jump to a safe enough distance as debris fell around them.

"What the hell was that?" Rushan asked, standing up and helping Dean to his feet.

"I have no idea, but he blew himself up," Dean said, writing down something in his notepad again. Rushan turned to him, he was little shaken by it.

"And you're saying they were both Alpha employees?" Rushan asked. Dean looked up at him and nodded, before returning back to his notepad. "Well, we have a lot to report back to my captain then."

Brand new chapter, still following on with the character of Dean Aman, but I promise we'll get back to Noca and the main characters. Leave a review if you feel like it and I'll see you next week.