Everyone gets shit.

even Mary(2) gets shit.

TLDR bottom

"An do ya know who we found showin' his beautiful face on those CCTV tapes, Officah Ryan? Go on, guess."

Mary shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. She knew, but made the denial anyways. Blackwell was venting on her, and the worst thing she could do right now was get smart with him. The Texan cop had chosen a black felt hat today, and wore tassels on his boots. Despite his gaudy outfit, he looked appropriately intimidating when angry. And he was certainly angry. It was day three for him. Four days until he was forced off the case to catch America's biggest crime lord. Mary knew he wanted to succeed… and she also knew why he was suspicious of her...

"Yer little nephew-what-cha-ma-call it. Erryon'es saying it's yer boyfrien's adopted kid - who is also Geese Howard's son. We didn't get a clear shot of anyone 'sides him, and ya know who'se pawprints we found all ova the crime scene?"

"..."

Blackwell glared at her from beneath the brim of his hat. He slammed his palms on his wooden tabletop, and the antique creaked. There was a moment of silence as the dust settled. Mary chewed her lip and stared into her lap.

"Officah Ryan… you've been protectin' the little bastard, haven'tcha?"

Mary made no motion to confirm or deny the statement. There was no need to. The evidence spoke for itself. Yesterday morning, the team had discovered the general area where Kain's headquarters were supposed to be. Mary had secretly transmitted this information to Terry - and told the tracking team she would inform the Sheriff - but refrained from doing so. She hoped Terry would be able to extract Rock from the situation in those couple of hours, and her delay would go unnoticed.

Unfortunately for her, it was during those couple of hours that Kain and Rock had decided to trot their way down to SouthTown Central in the middle of the day, and blow the entire penthouse floor off of one of the city's prized skyscrapers. The resulting blast resulted in nearly thirty casualties - most of them were the associates and employees of the famous and well respected 'Hein Group Corporate Law' firm.

The event was a double edged sword, and Mary herself came under the closest scrutiny.

Of course, no police department liked it when terrorist attacks were conducted under their watch. The whole department was on its toes. The rats, especially. Clearly this was being pinned on them, and they were scurrying about, trying to dig up any information they could on the attackers. Mary could tell who was on Geese's payroll just by looking at the amount of sweat on somebody's brow.

There were also protests in the streets outside Central's police precinct. Something that Mary found entirely unhelpful. This was an active investigation. Did the populous thing they weren't doing their upmost to bring these criminals to justice?! Of course they were…

Well… except for her.

A pang of guilt scurried through her. Perhaps… Perhaps if she had given the information to the Sheriff earlier, the police force would have moved out and swept the area. They could have found Kain's hideout and arrested all of them, thereby preventing the deaths of thirty innocent people?

Everyone knows Rock is involved already… why did I even bother… urg...Terry I hope this was worth it…

Blackwell continued to rave.

"Thirteh bodies on mah watch… and that's only what we managed tah find. This is an entire vigil'nte group marchin' 'round mah city, killin' willy nilly. They went straight up that building via elevator - shot da place up - and blew it to smithereens for good measure. Shameful!"

"..."

"The only damn good thing to come outta dis, is my warrant's gonna go through. That shifty eyed lawyer got caught in the blast. Damn… I cussed him out the last time I spoke to him… Officah Ryan!"

Mary flinched straight in her chair. Blackwell glared at her.

"Yer on probation. I don't want ya anywhere near this Kain Heinlein debacle, or yer precious little nephew, and I don't want you screwing up any more of my operations. Yer not tah step foot near this building 'till I leave. I don't work with men without conviction, 'cause men without conviction get their friends killed."

Mary blinked. She had been reprimanded before, yes - but never put on probation. SouthTown PD knew she was one of their best officers. They knew they couldn't afford to put her on probation. This was her pride and joy! This was her work, her very life's purpose…

She opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off abruptly. Blackwell was having none of her.

"Yer a liability, Mary. Get yer shit, and get out."

I mean what she did was totally illegal ngl.

Also Hein got nuked. Him and his entire office staff.

Now Goose in hot water.

1) Heinlein just hit the second arm the supports HCon. First attack temporarily froze the Operations/Cash flow. This recent attack took down the legal dept. Rock per usual is the scapegoat and gets caught on every camera. the entire police dept knows his name. So does Geese - but Geese got the info super early because some dirty cops saw Rock on a tape in like chater 15 or something. (Rock being on tape is why Yag's in jail rn)

2) Thing is, Hein (legal Arm) is currently working on dismissing the search warrant against Geese Howard. Now he's dead and can't got to court. (lmao I'm pretty sure you can't contest a search warrant but whatever. Also I do know if you miss a court date, it's a pain in the butt to get it rescheduled. I don't know if legal cases just go through if the defendant just fails to show, but I do know civil cases sometimes go that way. I fyou don't show tough luck. Also fk research.)

3) Geese is in hot water, because there is a ton of shit in Geese Tower, and the place is also his castle/pride and joy. He doesn't want to flee his own city. Might end up calling 4th Elder to fix this nonsense.

4) Mary got fired :( Guess she's gonna go Private detective. Unfortunately she no longer has the resources of PD. Terry knows where Kain's base of operations is tho. PD only knows general location.