I was away this weekend with no internet. A lot of time to just write lol. Also thank you for all the reviews so far. They have all made me ridiculously happy :D
How did she let herself get dragged into this again? Oh that's right, she wasn't paying attention when Tsubaki asked earlier at the gym. Mental note; never space out when Tsubaki is talking to you. It could be very hazardous for your health. Maka wasn't against going out and having a drink to wind down. She could handle it. But this. This was a different story. The music was painfully loud, the beer was terribly expensive, and the waitresses all had tiny, cleavage bearing tops on and low riding pants that showed a tantalizing bit of skin. This was not Maka's type of bar.
She had met up with Soul around 8:45pm prior to heading to said 'bar'. She had explained the situation; she wasn't sure what she had agreed to. Soul had just chuckled at her, but now he too was wincing, sipping his beer.
"When can we leave?" Soul asked, leaning down to speak directly into her ear. He had been standing next to her the entire time. That only meant about half a beer, but it had taken a good fifteen minutes to drink that half a beer.
"After this beer?" She offered. She knew it was a good opportunity for Soul to mingle with the guys on the force but this environment could not be conducive to relationship building. She looked right to watch her partner and saw him take a large swig of his beer. He smirked at her when he noticed her looking.
"You said after the beer right? You never said I couldn't finish it now." He quipped, downing the rest of his beer and slamming the glass down on a table next to him. He eyed her. "Drink up." She looked at the remainder of her beer and slammed it back, all in one go. She slammed her glass down right next to his and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.
"Now we just have to sneak out without Tsubaki catching us." She whispered directly into his ear conspiratorially.
"Take evasive action." He replied, grabbing her hand. Together they managed to sneak, dodge, and roll their way out of the bar and into the crisp night air. Maka couldn't help but clutch her sides and laugh after they had made it about a block away. A safe distance. She looked up to see Soul with a large smile on his face.
"Thanks partner." She said, extending her hand. "Glad to know you have my back running from a tricky situation." Soul shook her hand gravely.
"I'll help you escape that anytime." Smiling, they bid each other good night and walked off in different directions.
Thanks to their early departure the night before had allowed Maka to get to bed early enough to wake up at 6am. She read the personnel files from the three victims and discovered a link. They all had contact with the group Arachnophobia prior to their death. This was a good lead. Arachnophobia billed themselves as a legitimate car garage, but for years they had been on the police radar for illegal activity. Drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, fraud, and kidnapping were just some of the charges that hadn't stuck to the group. If the Kishin gang was somehow connected to the Arachnophobia, things could get tricky. Maybe a member of Arachnophobia was the attacker and the Kishin members had just been collateral damage of gang relations.
All of this was running through her head as she rode the subway to the police station. It was packed at this time of the morning and Maka found herself standing, grabbing a handhold, squished between a middle age business man and two teenagers making out on their way to school. As the cars flew around corners, Maka felt the business man pushing against her more and more.
'If this is a molester, I'm gon-!" Maka's thoughts were cut off as the train rounded yet another sharp corner and she felt the telltale grope of a large male hand. It was a firm grasp, cupping her cheek and as much as she wanted to, Maka couldn't brush it off as an accident. He actually had the audacity to squeeze for the love of Death. Maka's bright red face matched the shade she was currently seeing. Quick as a whip, she reached down and grabbed the perpetrators wrist, twisting it as she brought it up and behind him.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She whispered fiercely in his ear.
"I-i-it w-w-was an a-accident!" Maka twisted his arm more. "I swear! I'm sorry!" The man pleaded. He couldn't see her face but he could probably sense the dangerous aura swirling off her.
"That was no fucking accident." Maka growled out. "You squeezed." She reached behind her for handcuffs before she remembered they were at the office, in her desk drawer. This was the last time she'd walk around without them.
"My name is Detective Maka Albarn. I will be taking you downtown and booking you. You do not just go around groping women because you feel like it!" She felt a dark satisfaction when she saw his face pale at the word 'detective'. "Do not make me force you." She ground out, her voice dark and threatening. The man was too scared for words at this point and simply nodded. The train lurched to a stop and Maka forced the man out of the car. They were two stops down from the police station, but if she remembered correctly, this is where Kid and Patty would be grabbing breakfast before their shift ended in a couple hours. Walking up the stairs to daylight, she flipped her phone out and dialed Kid.
"Kid, are you getting breakfast? Good. Wait for me. One minute." She shut the phone without so much as a 'goodbye' and marched the man forward, his hand still backwards and up by his shoulder. He was still clutching his briefcase in his other hand.
"Yo." Kid said as she excited the subway exit. He was in a perfectly symmetrical uniform and perfectly symmetrical hat. Maka knew the hat hid the man's unsymmetrical hair. His partner Patty stood next to him, shorter than him and in an asymmetrical uniform. Her short blonde hair, the same shade as her sister Liz, was out on display as Maka saw her hat on the dashboard of their car. Kid had been the only partner of Maka's that left of his own volition. His OCD about symmetry had run rampant and for some reason Patty was the only one who could keep it under control. Probably because in his tantrums, Patty scared the living daylights out of him. He and Maka had remained friends after their break.
"What did he do?" Patty asked. Kid noticed the look on Maka's face and brought his handcuffs out from behind him.
"Groped me. On the subway." Patty's good natured smile was replaced with one eerily similar to the maniacal grin Maka had seen on Dr. Stein.
"You like assaulting women?" She asked, cocking her head to the side and staring at him. The man thought Maka had been his biggest worry, but now he realized she was handing him off to the devil. Kid's eyes narrowed as he grabbed the man's other arm to handcuff him.
"Ahhh what beautiful symmetry!" He exclaimed as the handcuffs were snapped into place.
"Kid." barked Patty.
"Sorry," he replied. "Groping women is a form of sexual assault." He told the man. Leading him to the waiting police cruiser, Kid read the groper his rights.
"Are you gonna be alright Maka?" Patty asked, concern in her eyes now that she was no longer out for blood. "I can rough him up a bit at booking." Maka smiled a little at that.
"I'm alright Patty. Don't worry. I'm just going to walk to the station from here. To cool down you know?" Patty nodded.
"Kid and I will take care of this!" The woman slid into the passenger seat and Maka heard her growl to the man to shut up as he was trying to worm his way out of his predicament. Maka shook her head and started off down the street to the police station.
She hadn't calmed down at all and the entire way, she raged silently at the injustice in the world. All men were dirty low-life pigs who were only interested in getting their dick wet or getting more money. She hadn't met a man in all her life that wasn't a complete waste of space or air. She conveniently forgot about Chief Sid who always looked out for her and accommodated her partner troubles; Kid Death who was always there to look after her or listen to her if she was in trouble; Kilik who had never abandoned Liz and always did his job; or Soul who as of yet, hadn't been distracted or let her down.
She mainly focused on her father. The man she blamed for pushing her mama away, the man she blamed for having to grow up too soon. She heard all his proclamations. He loved her and mama the most. She didn't understand how he could say that to her face then turn around as say it to his woman of the week. She had long ago stopped believing anything that came out of that man's mouth.
By now, Maka had reached the station. Kid and Patty had arrived before her by virtue of a car and the word of her incident had spread through the building. She heard the whispers as she entered the building, and as she scanned her way through security checks. By the time she reached the Major Case common room she was absolutely livid.
"HEARD YOU FINALLY GOT SOME ACTION!" Black-Star yelled as Maka burst through the doors. "TOOK YOU LO-!" He never finished his sentence as Maka brought her trusty dictionary down on his head. Like her father, he was out cold before he hit the ground. The room had gone silent when she walked in, and now thanks to Black-Star, everyone was looking at her.
"What?" She spat out. No one moved. Then Kilik walked over to her. Gingerly, as though he was afraid she would bite it off; he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You know, if you want to talk about it, or need a sparring partner, I'll be there for you," he offered. Maka looked up into his eyes and knew that he was being serious and true. She was still too angry to accept it.
"Yea whatever," she said, shrugging his hand off. He seemed relieved, as he knew it could've gone much worse. "Get back to fucking work!" Maka screamed at the rest of the crew in the room. Stomping over to her desk, she violently yanked open the lowest drawer on her desk and grabbed a pair of handcuffs. Never. Again.
"Hey." Maka looked up into the deep red eyes of Soul 'Eater' Evans. In his hands, he held copies of the personnel files he had read.
"What do you want?" Maka snapped. She still wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone of the male variety.
"I noticed that all of the victims were alone when they were attacked. One of them, Al Capone had just left a few of his friends when he was jumped. I thought we should go talk to them." Soul explained carefully. Maka blinked. He wanted to get back to work. Good. That's what she needed in a partner. No bullshit.
"Good idea. Let's go."
