It Could Be Worse (2nd Season)
Episode 16:
Bide Your Time
By Sulia Serafine
[A Protector of the Small fanfic set in an alternate universe; all credit goes to Tamora Pierce. I'm broke, so you can't sue me. Any other copyrighted things that don't belong to me in here in fact belong to other very businesslike people. Could you believe that? I guess that's why I'm broke.
BAD LANGUAGE (I. E. cursing, swearing…)! E-mail me at silverwlng@aol.com okay? And you know the drill: titles or subjects of emails are fanfiction.net, s.serafine, or icbw.
NEW! For those of you I left in the dark (so sorry, by the way), I have a new series: The Gift. It's the sequel to ICBW, but I'm running it parallel to its mother series so you, the wonderful reader, can get little tidbits of foreshadowing and the like. It only makes sense after you read episode 9 of season 2, so that's why I waited. For every three episodes of ICBW, an episode of The Gift will come out, so have fun reading! EPISODE 3 IS NOW POSTED!
I'm still accepting people into the mailing list. That means you'll be told when the next episode is posted, as well as other tidbits of information about the series whenever I put them online. ALSO: Every now and then, as a pledge, I'll send everyone bonus material, such as drawings of ICBW characters and little random facts about ICBW.
~~
Another day came and went in the grand city of Tusaine. The sky was clear and the warm sun delighted the citizens with its yellow warmth. The complacent communities of this diverse place bustled about their usual duties and chores. The adults went to work while the children made snow angels in front of their homes.
Somewhere in the midst of all this halcyon serenity, three upstanding officers of the Dominion Jewel Protection Force found themselves bored to tears within their Chief's office.
"Why are we even here? It's like all the criminals went into hibernation," Neal remarked.
"No. If they had, that winter holiday mess wouldn't have occurred," Keladry replied dryly. The other two men nodded in agreement. After the short exchange, they entered a period of dull quiet.
Two minutes later, all three officers yawned simultaneously.
"Wake up! It's time to work!" a voice boomed behind them.
Cleon jumped up from his seat, while his two comrades remained comfortably reclined and nonplussed. The large healthy form of Raoul Malorie shook with laughter as he preceded his good friend, Chief Flyndon Whiteford, into the office. The two men took their seats behind Flyn's desk. Both smiled at the lack of energy displayed by the seated officers.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack," Cleon gasped as he sat down again.
Neal snickered and rolled his head back against the back of the chair. "I'll say. You jumped a whole foot in the air."
Keladry stretched her arms beside her. "That doesn't matter now. Tell us what you wanted us here for, Sir."
Flyn cleared his throat. Keladry winced when she realized she had forgotten the 'Sir' rule. It had been a long time since Flyn had finally approved of Keladry enough that he allowed her the privilege. It was usually given to those who pleased him. She liked pleasing her superiors.
"A few more of my officers have been borrowed by other cities and projects. You would have been ordered to go, too, if I hadn't begged the Federation Council to let you stay. This being so, you have two choices as to your next assignments and duties."
All three were fully awake now. They stared at Raoul and Flyn in anticipation of wild thieves and despicable terrorists.
"Yes?" Neal prompted.
"You may either join the Homicide Division or—"
Raoul cut in. "Help bring down a car theft circuit. I'd suggest the latter if you didn't receive high grades in Academy science or take the extra Homicide classes at the Academy."
"What does science have to do with it?"
"Forensics," Flyn clarified.
Cleon winced. "My grades were barely passing. I think we should go for the car theft."
"Good! Now get out of here. I have a chess game to win," Raoul grinned mischievously. He rubbed his large hands together and emitted a low chuckle of confidence.
"Win? What do you mean, 'win'? You're going to lose," Flyn retorted. He glared at the Marshall and reached into his desk drawer.
The three officers stared at their superiors with wide unblinking eyes. Raoul cleared his throat and tapped Flyn's shoulder. The DJPF Chief muttered an "oops" before making his expression severe.
"Dismissed!" Flyn yelled loudly to make a glass on a desk outside the office vibrate on its coaster. Cleon, Neal, and Keladry all bolted up from their seats and filed out of the office as quickly as possible while the two men laughed and set up their holographic chessboard.
They stood outside of their chief's office for a few minutes, gazing back with uncertainty and confusion. Keladry scratched her head. "Well. That was short."
"And unexpected," Neal inserted.
Cleon sighed. "Some day, I'm going to be Chief!"
Neal and Keladry attempted to keep straight faces as they stared at their redheaded friend. Neal finally gave in and started guffawing. Keladry hid her smile ashamedly behind her raised hand while Cleon glared at the two of them. He pounded one of his fists into the palm of the other.
"I'm serious! I'm going to be Chief and I'll play chess instead of working, too! It's not fair. He complains about a shortage of officers and doesn't even do the work himself!"
"He's the Chief. That's mostly administrative these days," Kel replied. She had no idea why she was actually defending her boss, but it was all a matter of logic and reasoning to her anyway.
She and Neal walked ahead of him. After kicking the floor in agitation, he resolved to show them some day. Hiding his own smile, he jogged to catch up.
"Flyn doesn't do it all the time. Just every now and then. If I were Chief, I'd do it, too. Now let's forget about that and catch some scum on the counts of," Neal paused and lowered the pitch of his voice, "Grrrrrand Theft Auto!"
Keladry narrowed her eyes. "You sound like a sports announcer."
"You know you liked it," he teased and elbowed her in the side.
It hadn't been too long since her break up with Liam Irons, but to Neal, Keladry was improving all the time. During the first few days, she had been very unresponsive and aloof, but after her friends had goaded her into a few fun activities (such as watching football games in Lerant's apartment), she visibly relaxed and allowed herself to show emotion again.
Kel did as Alanna Trebond had suggested. She'd reported her relationship to Flyn and mentioned what the Presidential Advisor had told her about Liam's alleged death. The Chief had stoically taken it into consideration. She never heard anything about the subject after that, though every now and then, she would catch her boss staring pensively at mafia profiles on his computer database.
As they walked down the hall, Cleon grinned. "Guess who I got to talk with for two hours straight last night."
Neal rolled his eyes thoughtfully toward the ceiling. "I want to say the surgeon who performed your transsexual operation, but I see now that would be a joke made in bad taste."
"Ha. Ha." Cleon stuck out his tongue at him.
"Well, who was it?" Keladry asked politely.
"Kalasin! She actually stayed on the COMscreen with me for two hours talking about whatever came to mind! Isn't that great?" he gushed.
His two companions stared at him. They came to a stop in front of the offices where they would receive further information on their assignments. Keladry leaned closer to Neal and whispered, "I can't remember how many times he's supposed to blink if he's lying. Do you?"
"Haven't the foggiest," was Neal's reply.
Cleon's mouth dropped open. He immediately punched both friends in the shoulder while they playfully punched back. They entered the office and shut the sliding door behind them.
~~
He sat on a sidewalk bench, sipping his cocoa. Lines of men, women, and most importantly, children gathered in front of a kind old hot cocoa and cookie vendor, who had different colored stains on his once clean apron. He did not mind any of them, but focused intently upon the DJPF station across the busy wide street.
The worn red baseball cap covering his dark hair was loaned to him by a friend, as were the denim jacket and dark blue T-shirt on his body. The only items of clothing he had not borrowed to complete his disguised happened to be his jeans and underwear. Even the frayed socks had been given to him.
He adjusted the sunglasses perched on his nose. It served two purposes. One, the sun blinded many of the people outside during this particularly warm and but snow-covered morning. He was particularly surprised the vendor actually meant to stay outside all day. Two, the sunglasses were large enough to cover most of the upper half of his face.
"May I have a napkin?" spoke the young girl beside him on the bench. She was barely seven years old, and ringlets of golden curls peeked out from her wool cap. He lifted one of napkins set on his lap and handed it to her. The girl wrapped the napkin around the remains of her large chocolate chip cookie and placed it in her parka's pocket.
He looked at his watch, and then at the front entrance of the DJPF station again.
"How long do we hafta stay here?" the girl asked in a whisper.
That would almost be adorable under normal conditions. Almost. He leaned down toward her ear and whispered. "Just a little bit longer, then I'll return you to your mommy. Promise. Drink your cocoa."
The little golden haired girl nodded in resignation and drank from her own Styrofoam cup. With the distraction satisfied, he returned his piercing gaze back to his original target.
A few minutes later, five men and women exited the station, talking together in courteous tones that signaled their unfamiliarity with each other. One woman in particular with light brown hair and a baby blue and gray uniform caught his eye. She brought up the rear of the group that headed for the garage.
Suddenly, she directed her eyes in his direction. He immediately lowered his head. A microscopic trace of panic caused him to lean toward the little girl and take her empty cup from her. He wiped her mouth from the drink's residue on the corner of her lips. Then with trash in one hand, the man picked up the tiny girl and walked away.
"Keladry! Come on!" Cleon called. He returned to his introductory conversation with a Third Class officer whose name he had already forgotten.
She blinked. "Sorry."
When the group had disappeared into the multi-leveled garage, the man came back around the corner still holding the child.
"Now can I go?" the girl asked.
He set her down on the corner and looked through a crowd for a woman with graying brown hair and a ragged dress. When he spotted the woman, he pointed her out to the little girl. "Now you can, Sweetie. Run along."
The girl started to skip away, but she stopped. "Thank you for the cocoa, Mr. Li-um!"
Liam smiled at the childish mispronunciation. "You're welcome. Go to your mommy now. Tell her the cooperation is appreciated."
She frowned at the use of large words she couldn't dream of imitating with her own mouth, especially with her lack of schooling. She nodded anyway and continued to dance down the sidewalk toward her mother.
He let out a deep breath blew on his cold bare hands. His gloves were locked in his car, and he hand no cup of cocoa now to warn them.
"What I wouldn't do to be done with the lot of them," he muttered as he glanced discreet at the DJPF station garage. Two cars pulled out. He sneered and walked down the block to find his car so he could follow.
~~
Cleon sneezed. "Can we go inside yet?"
The group of men and women stood outside an abandoned warehouse. Neal growled. "We're working! Come on—deal with it."
"I agree with him, though. I feel like someone is watching me," Kel confessed. She shivered from the nervousness and not from the cold.
While they searched for an entrance, Cleon inched over to her. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"I believe you just did," she smiled wryly.
He laughed. "So, you're right. Well, let me ask."
"Go ahead."
He looked up at her. "Did you and Stone have a fight or something? Last time you passed each other in the hall, you just glared at him and he did the same. The karma was like… whoa," he said, trying to chuckle amiably. "So, what happened?"
Keladry frowned. "Nothing happened. Nothing more than normal."
The redhead rubbed his gloved hands over his arms. "And since fighting is normal for you two, that's what happened, right?"
After a few moments, she gave in. "Yeah."
"What was it this time? Did he say yet another misogynistic comment? Did he curse? Did he at all claim that the world as we know it is one tragedy waiting to happen… again?"
When she looked at it like that, Keladry realized that some of the things that sparked her arguments with Joren were actually a bit silly. She allowed herself a slight smile and bumped shoulders with her friend.
"Something like that. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. It's simply routine now," she sighed.
"Come on! Let's do some actual searching for clues here, people!" Neal commanded in a fake gruff voice. Cleon stuck out his tongue at the other man and resumed his private conversation with Keladry.
She started to pick up her pace as she and Cleon walked the perimeter of the warehouse. He caught up.
"Can I ask you something else?"
"You just did."
He pouted. "You know what I mean."
"I know. Go ahead."
Cleon tucked his hands under his armpits for more warmth. "He's not really your partner anymore. Why fight with him? Why not just snap at him and then ignore him like the rest of us?"
She didn't want to say it. Luckily for her, the usually hyperactive and goofy redhead understood without her answer. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
"If I were as good as you, I'd care about everybody, too—even if he's never been grateful for it." He shrugged. "I suppose the jerk needs someone to look out for him. Even if his heart is the same as his name."
"Thanks, Cleon. I see why Kalasin is absolutely wild about you now," she said in a dramatically content voice.
He nodded while wiggling his eyebrows. "Yup," he said in voice that reminded her of a cocky 'player'. "I've got me a honey!"
Keladry rolled her eyes. "Poor Kalasin."
"Don't be a player-hater!" he exclaimed.
"You? Yeah, right. I think you're talking about Neal, the one who actually gets dates," Kel smirked.
"Hey! Did someone call me?" Neal's voice echoed from around the warehouse corner.
~~
"…ignore him like the rest of us?
"Yes," Liam murmured, leaning closer toward the mini speaker set up in his car. "Why not?"
"If I were as good as you, I'd care about everyone, too—"
He turned off the speaker after that. His hand tightened around the steering wheel.
"Not everyone. You can't care about everyone because they'll make you choose a side sooner or later," he muttered bitterly. He dialed a number on his car phone. It rang twice before being picked up.
"Hello, Liam. What is it now?" Enishi asked.
"She nor any other significant target is currently investigating the winter holiday incident anymore. It's been passed on to the Feds. May I abandon my position?"
His employer laughed. "If you wanted to leave because you felt angry about having to eavesdrop on her conversations, you could have said so."
Liam didn't answer to that.
"You may leave. I'll see you again at nightfall. You're free to do whatever you want until then."
What could I possibly do with all my stupid spare time? Liam thought.
"You could just do anything. Get lost for a while. It will do you some good," Enishi spoke, as if reading his hit man's mind. The connection was terminated, and Liam hung up the phone.
"Get lost. Yeah, I have no problem with that," he said under his breath. He turned on his hover car and sped away from the abandoned warehouse. The officers inside never noticed he was there.
~~
A few days later, Keladry and her team had finally arrested the group of car thieves who had come together to sell automobile parts on the Black Markets. When she realized the man on the floor was starting to get up, she swiftly struck the back of his head with her energy glaive. The man collapsed again. He was out cold and would mostly like sport a nasty bump on his noggin when he awoke.
"These are beautiful cars. How could someone sell them for scrap? They're gorgeous; they're wonderful!" He ran his fingers across the hood of a cherry red sports convertible. "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful… Beautiful with a capital B!" he intoned.
"Somebody better drag him away from the car before he decides to steal it himself," a female Third Class officer called. The rest of the team laughed at Neal, who blushed bashfully and continued to stroke the fine convertible.
Keladry started to log details in her portable database so she could make the full report as soon as they were back at the station. Her fellow officers continued to cuff those suspects who were conscious and drag those who were not.
Third Class officers were sent to take the cars into custody so they could be identified and returned to their rightful owners. The suspects were photographed and jailed with a large bail posted on every one of them.
When they were done, Keladry dropped by Flyn's office to hand in her report personally. She normally would have sent it through the database network, but Keladry had a few questions for her Chief about future assignments. They were still at an officer shortage, which was not really hurting the city since less crimes occurred in the winter.
Maybe Neal was right. They did go into hibernation.
She knocked on the door since the secretary normally in front of the office was on a bathroom break. The door slid open for her entrance.
"I have the reports for you," she called as she walked in with the plastic sheets in hand.
"Let me have those," he said and leaned over his desk. He skimmed through them. "Do you have copies of these in the database?"
"I do," Keladry answered.
Flyn nodded. "Good." He placed the plastic sheets in the recycle bin. "I'll look at them later."
She flinched when she saw her work easily ignored. "Is something… wrong?"
The DJPF Chief leaned back in his chair. Forehead was creased with wrinkles, as if he were deep in thought. "Mindelan, I have another assignment for you. This time it's serious." He gestures behind her. "Take a seat."
Keladry did as she was told. She had no idea what he was going to have her do, but it sounded like a matter of life and death. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap, trying to work out the stress of anticipation.
"What's the assignment?"
Flyn turned the monitor of his computer around so she could see the screen. "Buri has informed me of a recent software program developed in the depths of the Feds' Central Intelligence. It is designed to translate all languages and decipher all codes."
She assumed the worst. "Security was compromised, wasn't it? Stolen?"
He nodded. "Buri's people are investigating it, and a few other city's are sending their best agents to start tracking it down." He paused. "Since the software was developed in our area, we shall head up the investigations."
"Are there any leads?"
"Yes. I'm debriefing the whole team when they've gathered. So keep your pager's volume on full blast so you don't miss the call."
Keladry nodded. She stood and saluted. One more question sprang to mind. "Flyndon, Sir?"
"What?"
"What's the software called?"
Flyndon swallowed. He coughed. "If I tell you, you cannot reveal this information to anyone else. National security is at stake."
She nodded wordlessly.
"The codename for the software is the Tkaa Project."
~~
For the rest of the day, Keladry had started to draw connections in her mind to and from all the major criminals in the T1 district and neighboring districts. Most prominent in her mind was the man who practically ruled the city, Enishi Yukishiro, but something didn't feel right about connecting the Tkaa Project to him.
She wondered if it was because Liam still bothered her thoughts. If it was, then she obviously had a long way to go before her thoughts and analyses could be trusted. Keladry rode straight home on her motorcycle. Her mind was so distracted by the new problem at hand that a woman in her car honked at her after the traffic signal had turned green.
"Sorry!" Keladry called over her shoulder. The woman didn't act too furious. After all, Keladry was still in uniform; picking a fight with a DJPF officer was pure foolishness.
Before she reached her apartment complex, Keladry pulled into a mall's parking lot. She got off her bike and sat beneath a row of trees planted to make the city environment more pleasing to the eye. She played with the blades of grass and blew fallen leaves across the street.
Without turning, she spoke. "You can come out, Liam. I know you're there."
Her ex-boyfriend stepped out from behind the tree, dressed in a black suit and gray patterned tie. He placed his hands in his pockets and regarded her calmly. "Hello, Kel. I hope you've been doing well."
"As well as someone in my position can be," she replied just as smoothly. She refused to look at him, but continued to let her fingers caress the grass. "I have one question for you. And if you ever liked me at all, you're going to tell me the truth."
Liam considered the proposition. "All right."
Keladry tilted her face up toward him. "Are you and the rest of you guys at all connected to the incident that happened during winter holiday or the code breaker software?"
"You're not supposed to mention the code break software. Your boss made you promise," he warned, keeping an impassive face.
She shook her head. "I'm not even going to ask how you knew what he said. And I wouldn't have asked unless I knew you were already aware of the software's existence."
"You're right about that. We've known for days. It's our territory."
Keladry stood up. She gazed into his eyes. "So? Are you connected to what happened?"
He looked down at the grass. "The criminals, or terrorists if you must be specific, who are responsible for the threat of the winter holiday, the burning of the Academy, and the Tkaa Project are all working together. But no, neither I nor my associates are involved with them."
"I see now. Just like it said in that threat. They are the interlopers trying to take your turf away from you, the old power in Tusaine." A new light was shining down on him. Keladry could feel volumes expanding in her mind as everything started to make sense.
"We may be old, but we are wiser than they'll ever be," he replied. "It is because of the experience and the continuing growth of creativity that we are still thriving. These interlopers, as you say, are viruses. They shall infect and terrorize, but we will cure Tusaine of them on our own time."
Keladry nodded. "I have another question."
"You're pressing your luck, dearest," he said with a note of sarcasm.
She went on anyway. "Did you die? Like Alanna Trebond said?"
He closed his eyes. Keladry saw his eyelids move, as if he was replaying a scene in his mind and he could view it all like he would a dream. Time passed. Liam gazed at her again. His eyes were darker than before. "I did."
"Then how can you be here?" she whispered, her voice shaking.
Liam took a step back. "Maybe you ought to ask your partner the same question. I'm not the only one who cheated the Grim Reaper. He got away with it for free. I'm still paying off the debts."
"I don't understand."
Liam glanced around them for witnesses. When he was sure they were completely alone, he stepped closer to her and brushed her lips with a gentle kiss. "All you need to know is that we call ourselves gods…not because we're conceited, but because it lessens the pain of the truth."
Minutes after he left, Keladry touched her lips. "The truth… When will I know the truth?"
~~
Author:
Okay. So. Sunday: one full episode. Monday: one full episode. Anyone want to guess the chances that I'll be able to spit out another episode tomorrow?!
All I know is…
SCHOOL STARTS WEDNESDAY AND I MUST NOT STOP WRITING LEST I NEVER GET ANOTHER SPARE MOMENT EVER AGAIN!!!
*hyperventilates* Okay. I'm okay. I'm OKAY.
*shudders* Well, please tell me what you think! Review are very welcome and so are emails!
*continues to hyperventilate* I'm not ready to go!!! The more high school, the closer I am to college! The more college, the closer I am to getting a job and paying taxes! I don't want to grow up! I'm a Toys R' Us kid! *stops when she realizes she's singing the commercial theme song* WAH! I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP, PERIOD! HHHHEEELLLPPP!
Junior year is inevitably going to suck.
Besides the fact that I can finally drive.
The rest of it is going to suck.
Yours truly (until my hands are cut off so I can't type anymore),
Sulia Serafine