Officers Vantas and Harley silently drive to the suspected factory next to the toy store. The sun is close to setting in a couple of hours, and the animals are going to sleep; while the nocturnal ones are starting to awake. The factory is clearly abandoned with cob webs, broken windows, and ivy vines covering the building. Karkat quickly gets out of the cop car with Jade running close behind him. "Wait Karkat!" she says, "What's the plan?"
Karkat stops and looks at her a little annoyed blowing some cigarette smoke, "Plan? What are you talking about?"
Jade gets furious, "You told me you had a fucking plan!" she shrieks slightly straining her voice.
Officer Vantas puts his fingers to his lips, "Shut the fuck up! I do have a plan," he whispers, "It's me busting in there and arresting every fucking person in there," Karkat reveals his gun, "with this." The officer started to walk closer to the factory throwing down his cigarette without grabbing a new one. Jade groans to herself, but follows the idiotic officer.
"I can't believe we're doing this," she whines. "At least let me call for back up."
Karkat quickly whips his head around and glares at her, "No! Not until I have all of these fuckers in handcuffs. Now shut up and let me fucking work."
Karkat raises his guns and starts to open the door, Jade tries to grab his arm and stop him, but it was too late. The troll officer burst the door open and raises his gun, "Freeze!" he yells.
Inside the abandon factory is a small group of trolls and humans playing cards in sweaty work clothes, looking at the two officers surprises them, but they automatically raise their hands. Karkat looks around and sees nothing, but the small group. "Where are the drugs?" he questions nervously.
One member from the group gets a surprised look on his face, "Oh you're here for the drugs Officer?" The speaker is a maroon blooded troll who has one too many scars across his face giving him harsh skin.
Karkat looks around in front of him once more and gives a stuttered, "Yes?" Noises started behind him, but Officer Vantas ignored them due to how tense he is.
Everyone in the small group of card players gets a wide smile on their face, the one who was previously speaking responds, "Sorry, but we're not open for business for the likes of you." The small group quickly reaches into their coats and pulls out their guns.
Officer Vantas is taken aback and quickly turns to where Jade is to ask her to call for back up, but he finds her struggling to be freed by a huge brute of a human who is holding her arms behind her. "Nice of you to finally notice me, Karkat," she struggles to say sarcastically. The human squeezes her arms so tight she cries out in pain.
"Fuck," is all Karkat can say as a response.
"Filzar," the maroon trolls calls, "Take care of theses good, honest officers for us, will ya'?" A light blue troll that looks bigger and stronger than the Chief of Police in Skaia walks over to Officer Vantas and pushes the stunned officer to the ground. Filzar smashes Karkat's face with his foot.
The apparent leader of the group, the maroon troll walks up to Vantas and bends over slightly, "Sorry that we couldn't do business with ya', but the drugs are in the back and we aren't interested in selling right now." The troll turns to the rest of the group, "Someone needs to contact SJ about this. We might need to relocate."
Karkat squirms under Filzar foot, "Who's SJ?"
The entire criminal group laughs, "Wouldn't you like to know?" solely answers the maroon. Filzar smashes Karkat's face a little more, and Karkat coughs out a little bit of his mutant blood.
Filzar is slightly taken aback, "Oi boss! We got a half-blood here!"
The maroon blood walks back slowly, "I didn't realize that the force recruited such . . . trash."
Karkat grumbles with a little bit of strength, "I'm no fucking half-blood." Karkat groans louder trying to fight Filzar's foot, but failing, "I'm pure fucking troll!"
The maroon troll laughs lightly, "Sure you are, ya freak." He turns to the human and troll that are holding the officers, "Take them into a room and tie them up until SJ gives us further instructions." The thugs nod and they take the officers away.
Soon enough, Karkat and Jade are tied to chairs back to back. With only Filzar remaining to finish up Jade's knots, he finishes and starts to leave.
"Wait!" Jade bursts, "Don't we get a last request or something?"
Filzar booms a laugh, "I'm not giving you a knife or anything bitch."
Jade shakes her head no, "No no no, not at all. I was wondering if I could have a smoke?"
"You smoke?" asks the troll.
"You smoke?" asks a really surprised Karkat.
"Yeah," Jade convinces, "I'm addicted and shit. Just let me have one last one." Filzar shrugs his head but pulls out a cigarette and shoves it into Jade's mouth. He starts to leave before Jade speaks out again with the smoke in her mouth, "Aren't you going to light it?"
Filzar grumbles but pulls out his lighter, "I don't know how I should feel about my community officers having a smoking problem."
"Yeah, yeah," Jade tries to say with a cigarette in her mouth. Filzar leaves the two officers alone after lighting the cigarette.
Karkat lowers his head depressed, "I'm sorry Jade, this is my entire fucking fault. We should have called for backup or told Sollux where we were going. And now, we're probably going to die." He waited for Jade to have a response of some sort because usually at this time she would interject some annoying response, but now she was surprisingly quite. "Uh Jade? I'm trying to fucking apologize to you for once. Mind giving me some fucking feedback?"
"Shut up Karkat," Jade mumbles, "I'm trying to do something here." Karkat turned his head around, and from the very corner of his eye he sees Jade with her head lowered very far and a distinct smell of smoke in the air.
"Are you trying to burn through the ropes?" He questions startled. Jade response with what Karkat can only assume is a yes. "Well that explains the smoking. I should have known that you were lying."
Jade risks the cigarette to correct Karkat on what he said, "Actually I do smoke."
Karkat moves his head so fast and awkward he looked like he had a seizure, "Wait what?"
"There!" Jade exclaims dropping the cigarette from her mouth. "The fire has caught on enough on the rope to last without the cigarette." She breathes out a little, "Now all we have left to do is wait."
"Do you seriously smoke?" Karkat whispers embarrassed.
Jade sighs, "Yes Karkat, I do indeed smoke."
"Since when?"
"Well I started during the academy. It was allowed, and I was just so stressed . . . It doesn't really matter," Officer Harley explains embarrassed herself.
"But-but," Karkat stutters, "How come I've never seen you smoke? And I find it very fucking hypocritical that you're always lecturing me on smoking!"
Jade rolls her eyes, "I'm not as horribly addicted and I don't smoke as much as you. And what did you think I did on all of those breaks?" Karkat stared at his lap slightly embarrassed. "You know what Karkat; I do not want to know."
Karkat mutters under his breath, "Not my fault I don't understand human females. Weird fucking bodies and shit."
A minute passes, but the small fire is burning slowly. Jade breaks the silence, "I think now is the time to get to know each other, Karkat." The troll officer groans a response. "Hey! You're tied up with me, so you might as well be sociable."
Karkat grumbles but gives up, "Fine." The tired troll takes a deep breath. "I was born and raised in one of the care houses like other commonly abandoned trolls."
"Didn't you have a lusus? Now a day half-bloods have-"
"I'm not a fucking half-blood!" Karkat interrupts. "I don't know why I have red blood, but I know that I am pure troll." He lowers his voice, "If you must know my lusus died when I was young because of other trolls and the care houses took me in against my will. . . I suppose it was the best thing for me." Karkat sighed and raised his head to look up at the high ceiling and reminisces, "When I was eight sweeps old I got out of the shit hole as fast as possible. Then I signed up on the force to prove that I could actually do something with my life. Prove to others that I was better than anyone even with mutant red blood." Karkat lowers his head a little and twists it to look toward Jade, "What about you?"
Jade blinked a little tired, "My grandfather completely raised me on his own. My mother died at child birth and my father had a hunting accident shortly after. I never got to know them. My grandfather was a really nice man, but" Jade gulps a little sad herself, "He was just so worried about keeping me safe after what happened to my parents, he didn't want anything to happen to me. Kept me on a tight leash you could say." Jade gives a short strained laugh, "I guess you can say me joining the force was a way for me to rebel."
Karakt scoffs, "Some rebellion. Most parents would be proud to have a great officer as an offspring."
Jade slyly looks over towards Karkat, "You think I'm a great officer?"
"Yeah yeah whatever," he grumbles. Jade smirks.
"See, I knew we could get along if we tried for once."
The human officer then notices the rope again, "Hey it's burned through!" One part of the rope burns through letting the other strands fall apart. Jade easily get out of the ropes, "Good thing these thugs are such idiots when it comes to rope tying!" Jade then helps Karkat out of his ropes.
