Chapter 2: Another Meeting

Kanan woke up to his alarm reminding him that he had work. He turned it off and groaned slightly, before rolling out of bed and got ready for the day. He had patrol today from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. then he had to stay in the station for on call until 7 in the evening. This was going to be a long day.

He walked down the street to the station and saw there were three people in the room currently. Zeb, and two new people, Kanan figured were Hera and Chopper. Hera like described seemed to be in her mid-thirties and in a relatively good mood. She had long brown hair tied back into two pig tails and shining green eyes, in short, Kanan found her very attractive.

Chopper on the other hand seemed to be angry, and like described seemed to be under five foot, and had ginger hair, and seemed to be even older than Zeb. "What are you looking at? Who are you anyway?"

"Um, I'm Kanan Jarrus." Kanan said.

"Ah, the new guy," Hera said. "Hey Zeb, you think this one can catch Phantom?"

"Nah, no one can catch him." Zeb said.

"Phantom?" Kanan asked.

"You may have seem him yesterday while you scouting out the town." Zeb said. "Monday is usually a pickpocket day."

"Wait, is Phantom the kid that pickpockets apparently everyone?" Kanan asked.

"Yep. No one knows his name so he is just called Phantom." Hera said.

"He's nothing but trouble." Chopper said.

"How old is he?" Kanan asked.

"We figure about fourteen or fifteen." Zeb said. "We don't really know."

Kanan was silent, the kid seemed to be a little small for a near fifteen year old, "Don't really know?"

"Well, you see, we haven't ever been able to bring him in for questioning. We don't know where he lives or who his parents are."

Across the town Ezra woke up from a nightmare. He dreamt about his parents again, and how they were murdered in front of him. He grabbed some of the food he got last night and started to eat it for breakfast.

Ezra knew he was going to be in trouble. It was only September and it was already growing colder, and with only his refrigerator box for protection. The box was a good size for him, it being a rather large refrigerator box, and him being only about five foot four and weighed probably only 90 pounds. In short, he was a short underweight near 15 year old. But hey, he was barely scrapping by.

He knew that if he couldn't find better shelter he may not survive the winter, he was actually surprised that he was still alive with all the times he's been sick and had not medicine or anything that would help heal him.

"What to do today?" Ezra asked himself as he gathered his left over money, counting out a little over four dollars, he frowned, that wouldn't be nearly enough for any warm clothes. Ezra was only wearing a pair of jeans and an old T-shirt. He has been wearing these for the past 3 or 4 months, not having anything else. Well, he would just have to hit someone up tomorrow for some more.

He deiced he would walk around town, to see if he could figure out a way that he could actually earn money instead of stealing, Ezra liked to steal the least bit possible. He made his way out of the box, out of the alleyway and onto the streets.

Meanwhile Kanan was patrolling the streets in one of the patrol cars, while Hera took the other, she liked calling it the Ghost, he didn't know why though. Hera would also be the one on call with him afterwards, he may just ask her out then, she was rather good looking after all.

The streets were quite, Kanan could see why they only ever had two people on patrol if the streets were always like this. Driving his designated route Kanan grew board quickly, almost wishing something would happen.

That's when he noticed something it was a street performer, a guitarist by the looks, but that's not what made him stop. What made him stop was the person watching him, it was Phantom. Kanan turned on the sirens and pulled over, and got out of the car.

"Is there a problem officer?" the street performer asked.

"Kid." Kanan said, ignoring the performer.

"What?" Phantom asked, obviously annoyed. "Is it against the law to be listening to a performer? If so there are about twelve other people you need to track down as well."

"No," Kanan said he was going to continue but Phantom cut him off.

"Then is it illegal to perform on the street?" Phantom asked.

Kanan was liking the kid less and less by the second, he was far too cheeky. "No but,"

"Then why did you stop? No one is doing anything wrong." Phantom said.

"Not now but yesterday," Kanan started.

"Oh, is the big bad cop angry that he was out smarted by a fourteen year old?" Phantom mocked.

So the kid was fourteen. "Kid just hand over the money to return to the man."

"I can't." Phantom said. "I don't have it." He smirked, "Now I really must be going." He turned into a nearby alley and got away.

"Damn," Kanan said.

"Don't bother trying to chase Phantom." the perform said.

"Where you two talking?" Kanan asked.

"Briefly," the performer asked. "Until you showed up."

"What about?" Kanan asked, hoping to figure out more about this Phantom.

"How to get money by performing." the performer explained. "May I continue?"

Kanan sighed, "Go ahead." And he walked back to the car.

He didn't see Phantom for the rest of the day.

"Well that was annoying." Ezra muttered to himself as he walked down the street, after getting several blocks away from the nosy officer. He thought back to what the performer had said.

*Flash back*

"So, how can I get money like you?" Ezra asked.

The guitarist was still playing but he turned to answer his question. "Find something you are good at, and then do it out here. Have something for them to put money in while you do it."

"It's that simple?" Ezra asked, but the guitarist was cut off as the cop car pulled in front of them.

*End of Flash Back*

Ezra sat on a park bench, trying to think of what he could do, then a man walked by with a boom box on his shoulder playing a song he recognized from other people playing it as well.

"Just try your best. Try everything you can, and don't you worry what they tell themselves when you're away." The boom box played, and Ezra started muttering it under his breath.

"It just takes some time. Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything will be just fine. Everything, everything will be alright." Ezra sang, but lost the music so he stopped.

Ezra gave a sad smile, he had always enjoyed music. His parents were about to put him into music classes before…before the Imperials.

The Imperials were the local mob, they mostly messed with smaller or self owned businesses, but the cops did nothing about them. Just like they did nothing when his parents were murdered by them.

Ezra's parents would quite often put articles in the newspapers, or manage to override a radio station to speak out against them. One day the Imperials decided to silence them, prenatally. They had come to the house, his parents hid him under the bed, but he could still see their bodies fall to the ground after a gunshot each. It took over four hours for the cops to show up, because no one likes dealing with the Imperials, and even then they just carted the bodies away. No one even bothered to talk to Ezra, to reassure him that things will be okay.

That was the main reason Ezra hated the cops. They never helped him, back then or now. Yeah he knew that they weren't too happy with stealing, but if they only bothered to learn why he did it they might be more lineate or do something to help. But did they? No. Did they ever do anything in this town? No. He sighed, and headed back to his box.

It was just as boring being on call at the station as it was in the patrol car, well at least he had someone to talk to here.

"So anything interesting happen on your first day?" Hera asked.

"I had another run in with Phantom." Kanan said.

"Wow, two days in a row." Hera said. "Even in this small town it's hard to find him two days in a row. But after all, that's why he's called Phantom."

"It was around half past ten when I saw him," Kanan started. "Shouldn't the kid be in school?"

"Nah, Phantom doesn't go to school." Hera explained. "We don't know if it is because his parents can't afford it, or if he skips a lot, but yeah, if we do see him it's mostly during school hours. You know less crowded streets equal a better get-away for him."

There was a silence, well it was now or never. "So, uh, Hera."

"Yes?" Hera asked.

"What time do you work tomorrow?" Kanan asked.

"Same as today." Hera said.

"Wow, me too. Well would you be interested in going to get something to eat afterwards?" Kanan asked.

"Did you just ask me out on a date?" Hera asked.

"That was my intention." Kanan said.

"That would be nice, Kanan." Hera said.

"That's a yes?" Kanan asked hopefully.

"Yes." Hera nodded.

"Yes!" Kanan exclaimed happily.

"No," Ezra muttered in despair as he saw who was in front of his alley.

Sorry it took a while. Busy Busy Busy. but here we are. Note updates may be coming slower with daily play practice starting March 2nd