oops i wrote a second chapter
GCBC was used to taking the brunt of Lord Business' anger, but something this time was different. There was a new level of menace behind the threats, and they couldn't shake the feeling that something really bad was going to happen. Sure, the Special had gotten away with the Piece of Resistance, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. At least Ben didn't seem to be in any danger.
But Bad Cop knew for sure they were in danger when he found himself staring down the wrong end of a fully weaponized Kragle. He leaned away, and the clawed nozzle moved with him. "Sir," he said. "I don't know that this is necessary."
"Oh, don't worry," Business said, far too casually for comfort. "I won't test it on you." He turned away and snarled, "I'll do it on your parents."
Bad Cop felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him as his home, complete with his parents standing in the front yard, popped up from under the floor.
"Hiya, son," his dad greeted him cheerfully. "How's it goin' in the big city?"
Bad Cop took a hesitant step forward. "Mummy, Daddy… what are you doing here?"
Any response they might have made was cut short by Lord Business, who attempted to get them to pose as if for a picture. Bad Cop knew from experience it was a futile attempt – trying to take a photo with them was like herding cats, and he felt a stab of pain in his chest at the frustrating but fond memories. Business had little patience for anything, let alone a scatterbrained elderly couple, and called in the micromanagers after a few short moments. Bad Cop couldn't do anything but watch as his parents' feet were Kragled to the ground.
Business was suddenly beside him, tone almost jeering. "Does that upset you, Bad Cop? Surely, you feel bad for your parents. And you wanna help them, don't you?"
Bad Cop felt as if the walls were closing in on him, and Good Cop's panic at the back of his mind was seeping through him. He looked over at Ben, but his partner was just standing there as if in a daze.
"Go ahead," Lord Business sneered, snapping back Bad Cop's attention. "Finish the job."
Bad Cop fixed his gaze straight ahead, trying not to think or feel, and saluted. "Of course, sir."
But Good Cop wasn't having any of that, and they struggled with each other for control, spinning around and around. Good Cop's resolve was stronger, and he took the lead. "I can't do it," he said, looking up at Lord Business. "They're innocent!"
Business towered over him. "Just as I thought," he snarled. "Your Good Cop side is making you soft, Bad Cop."
Good Cop swallowed. Business had always considered him an unfortunate add-on to Bad Cop, never as the wholly individual person that he was. They were two sides of the same coin with their own unique patterns, but to Lord Business, Good Cop was just a weird sticker on Bad Cop's back. Often this meant Bad Cop had to bend over backwards defending his other half, but Good Cop had a feeling that this might be the end somehow.
"Robots!" Lord Business shouted. "Bring me the Fleece-Crested Scepter of Q-Teep and the Po-lish Remover of Na-eel."
The two relics were quickly presented, but Lord Business held up a hand and fixed his gaze on something beyond Good Cop. "Wait," he said. "Let's give Ben a little spotlight."
Good Cop jolted. He'd forgotten that Ben was even there. A pair of robots pinned his arms to his sides as he watched another robot hand the Scepter to Ben. Lord Business circled Ben ominously, giving some speech about what kind of cops he needed. Though it was impossible to see Ben's face through the visor, his body language was usually expressive enough, and he'd gone the kind of stiff that rabbits did when caught in the headlights.
"So I need you to do me a teensy little favor," Business said.
"Sir?" Ben asked, and Good Cop heard a tiny quaver in his voice.
"Oh, it's nothing major," Lord Business said in the kind of way that implied 'major' was exactly what it was going to be. "All I need you to do… is remove Good Cop from the picture."
Good Cop felt his blood freeze in veins, and Ben's head was tilted up at Business uncomprehendingly. "Sir, I… I'm not sure what you-" he began, then stopped. There was a short moment, then he looked over at where Good Cop was struggling not to hyperventilate, and he seemed to go a little weak at the knees. "No. No, I can't. He's my partner. He's my friend. I-"
"Oh, Ben, my dear boy," Business interrupted with a pitying sigh. "I'm afraid you don't have the whole picture here. It wasn't the Master Builders who caused your accident."
Oh. Oh no. They had always known that they couldn't hide the truth forever. Eventually, it would come out. Bad Cop was more pragmatic about it (what happens, happens), but Good Cop would sometimes lie awake at night with guilt tight in his throat and think of all the ways it could play out until Bad Cop yelled at him to just go the brick to sleep. But of all the ways Ben could find out, this was one of the worst. "Sir," Good Cop practically begged. "Please, don't!"
Business gave him a disdainful look. "You only brought this on yourself." He returned his attention to Ben and said, "It was caused by the very men you are now attempting to defend."
Ben sounded very far away as he looked at Good Cop and asked, "Is that… is that true? Did you guys crash me?"
Good Cop wished he could say no, but he couldn't even look at Ben.
His silence was an answer on its own. "But…" Ben said, his voice hoarse. "Why?"
Good Cop opened his mouth, ready to tell him everything, but Lord Business beat him to the punch. "Before you lost your memories, you were my number one. You were the best! They were jealous that you were such a great officer, they couldn't bear the thought of being second best. They tried to get rid of you, but as you can tell, they failed."
"No!" Good Cop shouted, panic welling up in his throat. "That's not-"
Business snapped his fingers, and a robot clamped its hand over Good Cop's mouth. Even though it still gave him room to breathe, he felt like he was suffocating. And Lord Business was still talking, the lies falling out of his mouth one after the other, and Good Cop could see them worming their way into Ben like termites chewing away at the framework of his world.
"Of course, Ben," Business said, his tone sickly sweet. "There's no need to take just my word for it. Unfortunately for your so-called friend, we caught the whole thing on tape. Computer!"
The monitor on the wall flickered on. "Yes, sir?"
"Pull up surveillance footage gamma-five-oh-five, would you?"
"Right away, sir."
Ben's old spaceship appeared, suspended in space.
"Play," said Lord Business, the word ringing in Good Cop's ears like a funeral bell.
And the chase was on. Bad Cop had been doing the flying, so Good Cop couldn't recognize the visuals, but he could remember his other half's emotions. The thrill of the hunt, triumph at shooting down the ship. He winced at how carelessly they'd treated Ben's unconscious form, and was glad he couldn't see Ben's face from here. Just knowing what the scars left behind looked like was bad enough.
The video ended on Bad Cop reaching for his radio, right at a point where his hand was just above his weapon holster, and suddenly Good Cop felt sick. Ben had no way of knowing that. To him, it must look like Bad Cop had been going for his gun.
Lord Business leaned over to place a falsely comforting hand on Ben's shoulder. "I'm sorry I had to show this to you, but I think it's high time you learned the truth," he said, and Good Cop felt a swell of anger. Truth. Right. "Today isn't the first time they've betrayed my trust," he continued as he took the Scepter from Ben and dipped it in the Po-lish Remover. "And after all that's happened, you should be the one to deliver justice." To punctuate this, he put the Scepter back in Ben's hands.
There was a brief, breathless moment, and then something in Ben's posture changed. There always seemed to be something lackadaisical about him, even in his more sinister moments, but this was almost… predatory. At that moment, Ben was well and truly dangerous, as he never had been before. "Wow," he said, turning to face Good Cop like the calm before the storm. "How about that."
Good Cop shook his head desperately. He needed to tell Ben the truth, the real truth, before it was too late, before something irrevocable happened.
Ben approached him, almost languidly, and came to a stop a few feet away from where Good Cop was struggling against his captors. Good Cop nearly had a heart attack as Ben let out a sudden, harsh sound that took a few seconds to register as a laugh. "Dude, all this time… you were jealous? I thought you were just testing me in the beginning, tough love kinda stuff, you know? But really you were trying to trip me up this whole time!"
They had been trying to trip him up at the start – Good Cop couldn't deny that. But Ben had proved himself over and over again, and they'd become more invested in seeing what he could do than what he couldn't. With a new spurt of energy, he managed to yank his face away from the robot's hand. "Ben, it's not what you think-"
"Not what I think?" Ben said, going perfectly still. "I don't need to think anything, man, 'cause it sure looks like you were trying to kill me."
There wasn't anything Good Cop could say to that. They hadn't been trying to kill him exactly, but they wouldn't have been too torn up if they had. Good Cop couldn't deal with this anymore. It was too much. He shrunk away, practically pushing Bad Cop to the front.
It only took a few brief moments for Bad Cop to assess the situation. Ben, standing before them and holding a weapon of unknown ability, his faith and trust in the pair bleeding out faster than an arterial wound, obviously about to make a decision that would change everything. "You don't have to do this," Bad Cop said.
It was a futile attempt. Ben was already over the edge. He pointed the damp end of the Scepter at Bad Cop. "Oh," he said, icicles hanging on the words, "but I want to."
Everything blurred unexpectedly as Good Cop was forced back into position. All he could see was the end of the Scepter closing in on his face and, just beyond, Ben's tinted yellow visor reflecting the overhead lights. "Ben-" he gasped, and then there was pain, searing pain, like hot coals were being raked across his face, and then-
Bad Cop felt his body hit the floor. He could still feel Good Cop's pain and fear, but it was just an echo now, fading away. Then it was gone, and all that was left was a black void where his other half used to be. For the first time ever, he was really, actually alone. There was no more warm and comforting presence at the back of his mind, always ready to remind him of the good in the world. No one there to pat his hackles back down.
"Are you gonna be with me?" Business was shouting. "Or are you gonna be stuck having a tea party with your mom and dad?"
No one there to stop him from going too far.
Slowly, Bad Cop picked himself up off the floor and took the remote.
"Son?" his dad asked hesitantly.
Bad Cop felt hollowed out. Good was gone, probably forever. For a moment, Bad Cop wondered if Good Cop had been the lucky one, because he didn't have to deal with the aftermath. He didn't have to live with his whole existence suddenly shaved in half.
But Bad Cop was nothing if not practical. There really was only one option left.
"Sorry, Dad," he said. "But I have a job to do."