Leon sighed slightly the moment the police chief turned his back. As he had predicted, Gabe reported the events of the previous day and Chief Irons called him to his office.
Not alone, of course. Beside him, sitting in an armchair, was the father of that drunken punk who was, at that moment, lying in the waiting room of the police station.
... what was his name again?
Anyway, his name is not important, but rather the man sitting in the armchair. The mayor's aide had a strictly professional expression while Irons, although he disguised it well, looked a little nervous, even anxious.
Leon kept his arms behind his back, his expression remained neutral even with the looks the chief sent his way.
There was no reason for him to be nervous, anxious, or afraid. He just did his job as a cop. There was evidence and witnesses. His opinion of his actions was not going to change.
"If it's not too much to ask, Mr. Irons, I'd like to get started right away. I have other matters to attend to." The advisor said, and Irons sat down in the armchair facing him, crossing his legs as he did so.
"Yes, right, of course. Well, just in advance, I would like to apologize for the manner in which your son was treated." Irons said, and the man in front of him remained inexpressive. It did not appear that he had believed that apology.
"...What bothers me most, Mr. Irons, is not my son's arrest. Your officer broke his nose. That... action of violence is something I don't usually tolerate." The man said, also crossing his legs and resting his head on his hand, his gaze occasionally alternating between the police chief and Leon, still standing beside them both.
Irons shook his head, a little uncomfortably.
"Y-yes... my sincere apologies, sir. He... he's new here in the department and he still... doesn't know how to control his emotions." Irons said, and the man in front of him was silent for a few moments, a short time that seemed to extend for much longer than just seconds.
The mayor's aide then sighed, and ran his hand a few times down his chin, apparently, thoughtfully.
"... I think mistakes were made on both sides. I can ignore-"
"I apologize, sir, but I didn't make any mistakes." Leon said, interrupting the aide, which made both Chief Irons look at him with an ugly and somewhat frightened expression, and the aide look at him with a slightly surprised and puzzled expression.
"... Excuse me?" He asked, signaling for Irons to be quiet as he saw that he was about to intervene.
"With all due respect, sir, your son was harassing the barmaids of the establishment, confronting the owner, and bothering the civilians present. When I confronted him, instead of cooperating peacefully, he attacked me. All I did was my duty as a police officer and that's all." He said, this time his eyes centered on the man, maintaining eye contact for as long as the aide faced him.
The man took another deep breath, his eyes leaving Leon's. Despite the little movement, the cop could tell that this had not greatly pleased the aide.
"Are you saying that your duty was to break my son's nose? Do you believe that is the solution?" He asked, and Leon shook his head.
"I am saying that my duty is to maintain order at any cost and I am allowed to use force if necessary. The moment your son attacked me, as a police officer, I just did my duty according to the law. What I believe is that nobody is above the law. Not you, not your son, and not even the mayor himself, sir." Leon said again, his firm words blending in with his professional tone.
At a glance, he could swear he saw Irons sweat a little. Not that it mattered, he could be scared all he wanted, it wasn't going to change anything.
And that was a free pass for someone with power to step on things.
"... As I was saying, I can ignore this incident. I... understand that you were doing your job. While I still didn't like seeing my son's nose broken, I... just don't want it to take on any bigger proportions. Neither of us will get any kind of benefit if that happens." He said, getting up from the armchair and straightening the suit he was wearing.
"Mr. Irons... we'll talk another time." He said only, and before leaving, he stared at Leon for a while with a neutral expression, but the rookie was not stupid, he could see the displeasure in the man's gaze.
Leon will never understand how that kind of person behaves. Why they act like that. It's not because he has a little money and an important job that the laws don't work for him. Is that so hard to understand?
The man turned and walked briskly out of the office.
As soon as he left, Irons took a few deep breaths and stood up dramatically. He didn't look the least bit happy.
"... Have you gone fucking crazy?!" Irons asked, almost in a shout. His irritated features stared at the officer as he moved a few steps closer. "Don't you know who he is?! Do you have any idea what he can do?!"
"I said it before, and I'll say it again, I just did my job, sir." Leon said, not at all bothered by the boss's anger, much less the threatening finger he pointed in his direction.
"You son of a... you think that just because you have a few good grades you can do whatever you want?! That just because you wear a badge that you shouldn't obey rules and orders?!" Irons asked, and Leon sighed lightly.
"Quite the opposite, sir. I believe that officers are among those who are most required to follow the laws, so there is no abuse of authority of any kind." Leon replied, straightening his posture, slightly uncomfortable. Why was he having this conversation with the police chief? He, more than any other officer there, should have known about all that.
"Especially people with high power must obey the laws, because money is a powerful drug. I honestly don't understand this criticism of my actions. I believe it's not my fault if the aide's image is stained, but his son's." Leon said, perhaps letting some of his emotions take over his words, but not failing to tell the truth.
Irons looked as if he would start steaming at any moment. His expression looked more and more angry with each passing second.
"And I believe you're talking a lot of shit, rookie!" Irons replied, and Leon bit his tongue again, holding back an answer that would probably leave him in a pretty bad position.
Irons took a few deep breaths, looking thoughtful for a few moments. Then he leaned back in the armchair and placed one of his hands on the side of his forehead.
"... Get out of here, rookie! I'll decide what to do with you later. Before that I'm going to have to sort out your shit with the advisor." Irons said, and after a brief nod, Leon walked to the office door.
In his father's years of service, he could not remember any time that the old man had been removed from office for any length of time, however, he did remember a commotion over the apprehension of the son of someone very wealthy and important in the city.
Apparently, the son of the owner of a car company was caught with a large amount of drugs in his car. The case made a big impact at the time and the company lost a lot.
But somehow the police station also lost, and they were in a crisis for some time.
He will never understand how the police can be guilty of something like this, or how the police officers suffer consequences just for doing their job.
It didn't make any sense.
Shaking his head and feeling somewhat irritated, he walks down the police station corridor towards the reception desk. He still had a few things to do that day before going home. Since Kevin was on leave because of Rita's disappearance, he would not go out on patrol until he found a new partner.
Or, at least, that's what Irons said.
He scratched the back of his neck and sighed again. Things were pretty complicated over there.
He went down the reception desk and walked towards the office, and in a few moments he was already sitting at his desk, with his back to the door that led to the reception room.
That week, his shifts were a little different. One day it would be night, another day it would be day, and so on.
A hand rested on his shoulder, and Leon smiled lightly at Elliot, nodding to the man shortly after and watching him sit down at his desk next to him.
"Hey, Leon. Heard you got a beating from the boss." He said, arranging some papers on his desk and occasionally glancing toward the blond man.
"It wasn't exactly a scolding, it was more like... a compliment for my accomplishments?" Leon replied, and Ellior arched an eyebrow, slightly amused.
"Uh-huh, I see, so the mayor's own aide came here personally to congratulate you for breaking his son's nose and taking him to the police station?" Elliot asked, a neutral tone, but with a slight undertone of amusement deep inside. "Come on, rookie, news travels fast. And Herik is known for drinking and messing around, but since he's the son of an important figure, it never comes to anything."
Leon tapped the pen in his hand against his finger a few times, grimacing slightly.
"Hey, you did good. All the officers here know the law, they know they should arrest that spoiled brat. But, well, you know, chief's orders." Elliot said, and Leon shook his head.
"... Why would he give orders like that? It doesn't make sense. The image of the police from the civilians' point of view sucks." Leon said, and Elliot looked around a few times.
Most of the officers in there were too preoccupied and focused on their duties than listening to the two of them talk, so it was fine.
"Well, better lower your voice a little when you go to talk about the chief, you know, too many here... well, it might end up being bad for you, you know?" Elliot said, and Leon, though a little confused as to why, just nodded in response. "You're not wrong, though. Many people are unhappy with the chief's orders, but... according to the chief, there are situations where the right thing causes far more bad consequences than good."
Really? That's what the chief was saying? No one would believe that shit.
"... That's bullshit." Leon replied, shaking his head and turning his attention back to the documents on his desk. Elliot snorted, and a small smile broke out on his lips, a smile that disappeared in a matter of moments.
"So, how are the investigations going? Any news on Rita or any other missing persons?" He asked a few moments later, and from the huge sigh Elliot gave, one could already assume that they hadn't made much progress.
"Unfortunately, we didn't get anything. No footprints, no clues... whoever did this knew about the cameras in the area and managed to avoid them. We suspect that this person had had his eye on Rita for some time. There are things... I don't know, it's all weird... sometimes it feels like someone is manipulating everything from so close. Like they know us from the inside." Elliot said, resting his head on his hand and sighing once again.
Leon watched him for a few moments. He had the knowledge that up until the given moment, no apprehensions of individuals related to those disappearances had been made. Which was a bit odd, to say the least.
Surely, whoever was behind it was a team of professionals. Even the S.T.A.R.S had already participated in one of those investigations, but it simply seemed that the culprits didn't even exist.
The young cop just ran a hand through his hair, there wasn't much point in him thinking too much about it, there wasn't much he could do. Not to mention that he wasn't even part of the investigation team.
Still, a part of him really wanted to do something.
His eyes fell on the documents in front of him. A robbery case that ended badly for both the attacker and the victim.
A man had tried to rob another man in the northeast of the city, not far from the center. The victim had a gun and immediately drew it, which caused the robber to shoot. Although wounded, the victim also shot, both were hit.
The robber died, but the victim was still alive. And of course, unfortunately, due to that somewhat flawed system, the victim was now at risk of being charged and being arrested for carrying a gun without a license.
The man was 42 years old, worked as a mechanic and had been robbed a few other times. His record was clean, he had never committed any crime or suffered any kind of accusation. He was just another worker who got tired of standing by and letting the bad guys walk all over him and decided to do something since the police didn't seem to do much.
Leon sighed and squeezed lightly between his eyes. This was one of several situations that made him angry. In his view, this man should not be charged with anything and be treated like a hero. Maybe even receive a license to carry guns as a gift for having survived and stood up for himself.
It was very likely that this would not happen, but still, he would not stop trying to help.
Another document was from a fight that happened outside the city. That day, a man named Alex went to pick up his son from his ex's house as they would be spending the day together.
The woman had not told him that she had sent the child to her brother's house, even though she knew very well that that was the day Alex would be with the child.
Obviously, Alex was irritated, and the woman's current boyfriend did not seem to like this very much. They argued, but Alex seemed not to want to make it worse than it was and tried to leave. However, the man took a pocket knife and stabbed Alex in the chest on the excuse that he thought Alex was reaching for a gun in his waistband.
The point was that he was just reaching for his car keys, and he was not even armed and a good few steps away from the man.
He was in the hospital at the moment, stabilized. He would survive and be fine, while the woman's current boyfriend, and the woman herself, were being charged.
So many wrong points... the woman would suffer the punishment for not warning her ex-husband about her plans with the child, maybe even have the child taken out of her possession and given to the father, and the man would be charged with attempted murder.
Serves them right!
The young policeman put his arm on the table and sighed again. For some reason, he felt that a headache would be part of his daily life for a while.
At one point, again he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"I found you. Looks like you love getting attention, huh?" Claire's blue eyes stared animatedly into his, and Leon swallowed some saliva without even realizing it.
"I don't know about that. It just seems like trouble likes to follow me." He replied, somewhat surprised to see the woman there. Well, although at that point it shouldn't really be a surprise anymore.
"Are you saying I'm a problem too?" She asked, a small smile on her pink lips and an eyebrow arched in amusement.
Yes, trouble for my heart.
He shook his head at such thoughts.
"You are saying you've been following me?" He rebutted, and the smile on her lips widened a little.
"Touché. I just wanted to come say hi, I felt a little bad and seeing you working alone in this lonely room." She said, and only then did Leon realize that everyone there had already left the room.
His eyes immediately went to his watch. His shift had ended 13 minutes ago.
Boy, he didn't even see the time pass.
"I didn't even see the time go by." He said, arranging the documents in an envelope beside him and putting the envelope away in his drawer.
"You're the first officer I've seen who misses the time to leave of his own will." Claire said, crossing her arms.
Leon scratched the back of his head and shrugged with a small grimace. Claire laughed lightly, and the young cop blinked a few times, a little thoughtfully.
"Going home?" He asked, checking his car key and running his eyes across his desk, making sure he wasn't forgetting anything.
"Yes, but I won't be staying long. I think I'll spend the evening finishing up some work." She said, and Leon nodded, sighing slightly.
Well, he never did that kind of thing, but, there was a first time for everything in life, right?
Not to mention, she didn't complain once about his little flirt, and was thoughtful enough to check up on him even though they didn't know each other.
Probably the light was green, right?
Right?
"Too bad, there's a restaurant nearby that I'd like to check out, but I'm not really up for going alone." He said, and the woman arched an eyebrow.
"Are you asking me out, officer?" She asked in a playful tone, but from the way she smiled, straightened her posture and stepped forward, he would say she was interested... probably... maybe, he didn't want to get his hopes up too high, one never knows.
"It depends, you don't have a boyfriend, do you?" He asked.
"No, I don't." She replied.
"So yes, I'm asking you out." He said, and her smile widened. Claire looked at him strangely for a few moments, one eyebrow arched. She didn't look thoughtful, but it seemed like... she was trying to understand what he was thinking, maybe?
Why?
"I don't see why not." She said.
Hell Yeah!
"Unfortunately, I won't be available this week until Saturday." She said, and Leon nodded, controlling the smile that wanted to be born on his mouth.
"What a coincidence, so am I. Although I'm working on Sunday." He said.
"Do you have a pen?" She asked, and Leon turned around and picked up one of the pens he had on his desk.
Claire then took his forearm and wrote a number on his hand.
"That's my number. Call me when you have time." She said, winking at him before turning and walking out of there.
Leon watched the woman walk away for a few moments, until he turned his eyes to the number on his hand.
Well... that went better than he had imagined.
In his teens he was not very popular with the opposite sex. He would say it was the pimples, the braces, and the lack of care for his own appearance for a few years. Maybe that was what made him act so awkward around women.
He blinked a few times... he had a date.
Great!
He smiled slightly as he walked towards the parking lot. It reminded him a little of when his parents had told him how they had met.
It might sound cliché, but his mother was working in the hospital when his father arrived with a gunshot wound. He was just out of training and it was his first patrol.
He graduated young, as young as Leon.
Since then he and his mother kept in touch and it wasn't long before they were dating.
Back then, that sort of thing didn't take long to happen... but Leon knew that it was his father's jokes that did the trick.
It had to be...
He shook his head and focused on the road. Time was passing by rather quickly that day.
As soon as he got home, he closed the door and started to take off his clothes. But before he could even go into the bathroom, his phone rang.
He put the towel over his shoulder and walked to the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Leon, it's me." Leon was slightly surprised to hear Kevin's voice. He sounded strange, his voice was hoarse and he sounded somewhat tired.
"Kevin? Hey, how are you, man?" he asked. He didn't have much time to talk to Kevin.
He had tried to call the man the day he learned about Rita, but he hadn't answered.
"You know, I need your help with something." He said, and Leon shook his head slightly in confusion.
"Okay, what is it?" he asked.
"The investigation is a complete sham. Those idiots are worthless, blind, and manipulated like little dolls." Kevin said, and Leon blinked a few times, even more confused.
"What? What do you mean, dude? What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the investigation. Did you know that Irons won't make Rita's disappearance public?" What? "Did you know that he's going to hide about this event and call off the investigation with the excuse that there's nothing that can be done without clues?"
What the fuck...?
"... Are you sure about that? Look, Kevin, I know that-"
"I'm serious, rookie! Elliot told me! And even Marvin confirmed that shit! That motherfucker won't even involve the S.T.A.R.S in this, leaving them busy with a fucking cartel up north!" Leon blinked a few times...
The S.T.A.R.S. were going to run an operation up north in search of cartel members. Apparently they had managed to find some important ones and knew about the movement of such members. The mission was to infiltrate the place and capture them. Preferably alive for interrogation, but if necessary it would be okay to kill them.
But he didn't know that it was just for the sake of concealing a disappearance. This was a very important operation.
... Unless the reason behind such disappearances was as important as a cartel. Perhaps even more important to the point of destabilizing the entire city. For that was exactly the effect that the destruction of that cartel would have.
"Because I was close to Rita, he removed me from duty for two weeks. Two weeks! Fuck him, I have other plans and I will need help. I know your potential, I can trust you." Kevin said, and Leon scratched his head somewhat hard.
Geez...
"...What do you want me to do?" He asked after a while, and for a few moments, Kevin remained silent.
"I am absolutely certain that whoever kidnapped Rita is watching me now. And whoever it is, it's connected to that piece of shit Irons! Sunday, meet me downtown at 9:00 a.m." Kevin said, and hung up the phone.
Leon leaned on the table for a moment. This was too much information to digest in such a short time.
He clicked his tongue ... whatever Kevin is planning, it better be worth it.
Irons closed the door to his office and locked it. He then walked down the hall and headed for his private elevator, taking him underground.
Once there, he walked down the dimly lit corridor to a small control room near the parking lot.
He picked up the phone and typed in a number, waiting for a few moments, until a voice made itself present on the other end.
"Yes?" The female voice on the other end caused the man to shiver. It was somewhat curious how a voice like that could cause so many sensations.
It was no wonder he was crazy for that woman.
"It's Irons. I have a new job." He said, sitting down in his chair and placing an envelope on the table.
"So quickly? It's not like you. I haven't taken care of the current job yet. And you know I don't do two jobs at once." The woman said, and Irons took a drag from his cigar, not responding for a few moments.
"Relax, it's just a small addition. Killing two birds with one stone." He said, taking another drag from his cigar. "I'll send you more information, but the target's name now is Leon Kennedy. He is Kevin's partner, so things won't be so complicated."
The woman was silent for some time, until he heard something akin to a sigh.
"So, you want me to capture him too? You know you'll have to pay double." The woman said.
"No, I don't want you to capture him yet, I just want you to keep an eye on him. He's a somewhat... willful dog, and he has a lot of potential. The only problem is that he has decided to bite his owner and is getting away from his collar. There's still a chance that won't happen, but if he's no use to me... well, for that, I want you to keep an eye on him." Irons said, leaving the cigar in the ashtray beside him. "And relax, I'll raise your pay."
"... Okay, if that's what you want." The woman said, and the man smiled slightly.
"That's great that we settled that. The question of one other matter, when will you accept my invitation?" He asked, leaning his arms on the table.
The woman on the other side laughed, perhaps a little too loudly, in clear manner of scorn, but something Irons simply ignored. Or didn't even notice.
"Ah, Irons, we must all recognize our limits. Even you." The woman said.
"Come on, Wong, a drink never killed anyone." He said, insisting, and the woman just snorted.
"In this line of work, that's one of the things that happens the most. So long, Irons. Don't call me if it's not work-related." The woman said, and in moments, the phone hung up.
Irons shook his head and put the phone down hard. No matter how much he insisted, she never seemed to reciprocate.
Maybe that's why he was so obsessed with her. The fact that she was in a place he couldn't reach was just... exciting.
He sighed and his eyes fell on Leon's chart.
A great dog, in fact, it would really be a shame...
Hello my dear readers! I apologize for the delay and the little disappearance. Work, college, work, gym, college and so on, this kind of left me with a creativity block and to finish, I got sick.
Pneumonia... that's right, I'm broken, the meds get me down more than the disease itself.
Anyway, the chapter was a little shorter. It is very likely that my chapters from now on will be in the 3/4,000 word range. Considering that my average is 6/8 thousand words, it's basically a regression of half.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter, again, I apologize for the delay. I don't know when I will post again, I can't promise anything, but, I will try to be quick.
Thanks for the understanding!