Chapter 13: The Tragedy of Charr Coal Part 2

"No! No! NOOOOO!" Charr cried out in agony as his flesh peeled away. His muscles turned pitch black and hardened to the point of being unbreakable. His joints cracked with every step he took towards his scroll. "G-GOTTA CLL! GOTTA CLL FR HLLP!" He grunted as he desperately tried to dial the numbers. But his fingers turned into pointed tips that broke holes through the scroll. "NOOOO!"

The stress only added to his problems, causing spikes to protrude from his back. Terrified, Charr desperately stumbled out the door, tripped down the stairs, and made his way onto the street. Despite his cries for help, the citizens ran in fear. Just then, a patrolling police cruiser arrived and two officers stepped out.

"Wha…what is that thing?!"

"HLLP MII!" Charr tried to call out, only to be horrified upon realizing that the police couldn't understand him.

"Well, whatever it is, you know Rojos new policy on freaks," the other officer called out as he brought out his weapon. "Eliminate with extreme prejudice."

Charr could only cry out in rage and betrayal as he found himself riddled with bullets, even as he registered that they weren't doing any permanent damage to him. Reacting on impulse, Charr stretched out his arm to block the bullets but instead his arm stretched so far that it slammed both officers into the door of their car. While one officer picked his gun back up, his partner grabbed the radio.

"We need immediate backup on Cocoa Avenue!" He requested. "Some kind of… coal-faced monster is attacking!"

At that very moment, Krasnaya picked up the police signal as she drove down the streets. By the time she arrived at the scene, 'Coalface' had already taken down ten police officers and now seemed to be in a berserker state, screaming in rage as he continued to tear up the street. The vigilante jumped out of her vehicle and cautiously approached what she assumed was a rogue doppelganger.

"Easy, buddy: let's not make this any harder than it has to be," Krasnaya declared, hoping to calm down the creature before her.

Unfortunately, Charr was too frightened at the prospect of the police catching up to them to even consider standing down, as evident by his declaration of "GTT AWAA FRRM MII!" before slamming Krasnaya against a nearby wall as he made his escape.

Krasnaya drew her hammer and converted it into its pistol form to fire a tracking device into Coalface just in time. With that out of the way, she hastily got back in her warthog and drove off before any more police arrived. At the same time, back at the police station, Detective Cash had been called into Chief Rojos' office.

"You wanted to see me, boss?" Ayisha called out as she entered Rojo's office.

"Yes, I did," Rojos declared. "As you know, we'll be having a press conference later on in the day."

"I know: something that I should know about it?"

"Yeah, just thought you should know that I'm telling the press that Charr had nothing to do with Trickster's takedown."

"You want to WHAT!?"

"You heard me: Charr Coal is off the force, so you'll be getting all the credit for Trickster's capture."

"Even ignoring how that's unfair to Charr, he'd be the first to tell you that we wouldn't even be alive if not for Krasnaya," Ayisha growled out, "And before you mention how you won't associate us with a vigilante, I feel I should point out that all you'd have to do was mention that we had assistance, and the only reason that you aren't doing so is that you can't let go of your pride for even one afternoon."

Rojos snarled in response. "You even think of mentioning the Red Woman at the press conference, and you'll be reduced to a desk job until Jane's return."

"Don't worry: I'm not even going to show up at the conference," Ayisha snarled out. "And if you try to force the issue and/or think of slandering my name like you did to Charr, I'll be sure that everyone knows exactly why Charr was forced to give up his badge."

"Understood," Rojos nervously called out, once more realizing that she admittedly could have handled things better the other night.

Nevertheless, she addressed the press once it arrived. "First of all, I'd like to extend my congratulations to one Jane Maroon for her progress in earning the role of Commissioner. I believe I speak for everyone in the precinct when I say that she's more than earned the right to that position." Rojos declared with a smile, the officers that were beside him nodding in agreement…all while a black figure that was watching all of this found themselves reluctantly agreeing with her statement.

"Second of all, I would like to personally congratulate Detective Ayisha Cash for her recent arrest of Mercury Black, aka the Trickster! Uh, unfortunately, Detective Cash couldn't be here today…" Rojos tugged at her necktie; she was still processing what Cash had said to her earlier that night. "Most likely because she's already back out on the streets searching for any other criminals along with the rest of our police force! All thanks to my new zero tolerance policy against all costumed freaks!"

"Does that include the Crimson Crusader?" One reporter called out. When Chief Rojos arched an eyebrow in confusion, the reporter corrected himself. "Uh, I mean, the Red Woman?"

"Especially the Red Woman!" Rojos declared, earnestly. "The citizens of New Rushland will never have to be afraid of costumed maniacs like her ever again!"

Across the street, the black figure clawed at the bricks as he watched the police chief retreat back into the station. Transforming into a liquid state, he stealthily snaked his way past the crowd and climbed up the building. Inside, Chief Rojos made her way to her desk to finish some paperwork.

"Hmm… 'zero tolerance against freaks?'" She pondered to herself. "'For freaks?' Hmm… 'on freaks?'"

Suddenly, something dripped onto Rojos' desk, prompting her to look up. A flood of black ooze cracked the ceiling open and crushed her desk. The puddle shaped itself into Coalface who immediately gripped Rojos by the neck and hoisted her into the police chief was frozen in fear as Coalface growled and snarled in her face, raising his hand in preparation to strike.

But before Coalface could spill her blood, Krasnaya burst through the window and sliced his hand off with her sickle. The mysterious villain roared in pain and retreated through the window up to the roof, with Krasnaya close behind. The commotion alerted two other officers, who stormed into the office.

"Chief Rojos!" One officer called out. "What happened?"

"C-Coalface attacked me!" Rojos spluttered. "A-a-and the Red Woman-!"

The other officer gawked in surprise. "The Red Woman's working with Coalface?"

"No. I-I mean yes! I mean-!" Rojos gripped the sides of her head in frustration. "Grr, it doesn't matter! Just get after them!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Both officers nodded and ran off to rally the others.

"With zero tolerance!" Rojos added.

Meanwhile, Krasnaya and Coalface continued their battle on the rooftops. The shapeshifter's hands transformed into solid blocks which he used as melee weapons against the Crimson Crusader. Despite being knocked back by the first swing, Krasnaya drew her own hammer and sickle and dodged numerous other strikes. Azure arrived and drew her knife to stab into the monster's shoulder. In response, Coalface plucked the tiny faunus sidekick off of his shoulder and began spreading his flesh towards her mouth. Luckily, Krasnaya fired the grappling feature of her sickle at Coalface's arm, forcing him to drop Azure.

"I don't want to hurt you," Kransaya called out even as the spot where her sickle had sliced open on Coalface's arm began to heal, "but I will if you insist on fighting like this."

"SHTAAAHP!" Coalface roared, clenching the side of his head. "LVV MII LLUUNN!"

Suddenly, the NRPD stormed onto the roof, led by Detective Cash. "Hold it right there!" She barked, drawing her pistol. "You're both under arrest!"

"KSSH!" Coalface almost looked like he was crying. "EESH MII! EESH MII!"

"W-what's it saying?" Cash asked no one in particular.

"Who cares!" One officer, who was more spooked by Coalface's appearance, opened fire on the monster.

Coalface stumbled backwards from the barrage of bullets until he tripped over the edge of the roof. Krasnaya reached out to try and catch him, but his malleable form slipped through her fingers as he fell. Thankfully, Coalface shifted his arms into wings and glided off into the night. Krasnaya hastily retreated from the police and drove off in her warthog. Suddenly, Azure cried out in pain as one of the policemen's bullet's scratched her arm.

Cash angrily punched the officer out. "What the hell is the matter with you?!"

"I'm following orders-" The officer tried to respond, only to earn another punch.

"You just shot at a kid, fuckwit!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Krasnaya grabbed Azure and grappled over to another roof before dropping down into her warthog and driving back to the cave. As she drove, she unclipped her sickle from her belt, studying the glob of black gunk it had collected from slicing into Coalface.

One hour later, the shapeshifter in question had returned to his apartment to lick his wounds. Once he slid under the door, he managed to pull himself back together through sheer willpower. He still looked like a monster that even doppelgangers would fear, but at least he wasn't a cloud of dust anymore. But if he was ever going to survive, he needed to return to his original form.

Remembering what Pitch had told him about doppelganger physiology, Coalface grabbed a picture of his human self with his ex-husband off the wall and made his way into the bathroom. Placing the photo on the sink, he studied his former appearance for five full minutes before looking at his reflection in the mirror. Concentrating, his body began to morph and shift until he looked less like a jagged lump of black rock and more like a smooth mannequin. A small smile spread over his face; he was making progress. Focusing more into detail, he proceeded to shift his flesh until he finally achieved his original human appearance.

"YASH!" He cheered, realizing that something was still wrong. Thinking inward, he tried to form vocal chords in his throat. "Mmmmyyyyyy… voooyyyyssss… voyyysss… v-v-v-voice…"

Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Coal? Coal, are you there? It's me, Ayisha. Why haven't you answered your scroll? Open the door!"

"Just… a… second…" Charr called out. At last, he opened the door, seemingly in good health.

"Are you okay? You sound awful."

"Uh, my throat's a little raw. Y'know, from all the screaming yesterday." Charr explained. "What's up?"

"I was worried about you." Ayisha explained. "That Coalface monster was first spotted in your area and then it attacked Rojos in her office-"

"So what do I care?!" Charr interrupted, angrily. "Rojos fired me! Her freaks are her problem now!"

"Take it easy, Coal, I was just making sure you were okay," Ayisha remarked while placing her hand on his shoulder…only to blink upon discovering that some black dust was left behind on her hand. "Whoa…"

"Uh, forgot to do laundry recently," Charr called out by means of trying to explain what happened before sighing. "Look, Cash, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but right now, I need a break…from everything."

Ayisha just sighed. "Okay then. Call me when you're feeling better: I'm hoping for you to actually introduce me to Svetlana like you promised."

"I'd like that too," Charr said with a smile before closing the door and dropping his transformation, letting out a sigh as he heard Ayisha walk away on the other side before clenching his fist and turning his eyes towards where he assured Rojos would be at the moment. "But first, there's something I need to take care of."

Back at the cave, Krasnaya took the sample she'd collected from the fight and placed it under a microscope to study. Using her Huntress Eyes to enhance her view, she came upon a surprising discovery.

"Are you two alright?" Mikhail gasped as he rushed downstairs. "I heard about what happened on the news. Something about a 'coal-faced doppelganger.'"

"Coalface." Azure pursed her lips, uncomfortably, as Mikhail bandaged her arm. "Is it racist to call a doppelganger that? It feels racist to call a doppelganger that."

"He's not a doppelganger." Krasnaya remarked, looking up from the microscope. "He must have some kind of unstable semblance."

"How can you tell?" Mikhail asked.

"Because doppelgangers don't have auras." Krasnaya explained.

"Wait, what?" Azure called out before taking a look at the microscope to show that, sure enough, the cells under the lens were glowing in the same way that she saw with her aura in the mirror. "Whoa, that is weird."

"Yeah, like I said, I'm going off the assumption that we're either dealing with an unstable semblance or someone who was mutated recently…or both," Krasnaya declared with a nod, not quite noticing how the sample on the microscope was starting to move on its own. "Either way, we'll need to figure out exactly what makes this 'Coalface' tick if we want to subdue him."

As she turned back to look at the microscope, however, Krasnaya was surprised to see that it was gone, before giving a sigh. "Put the sample back, Azure."

"What are you talking about? I never took it."

"Odd: samples don't just get up and walk away…or at least not without leaving a trail," Krasnaya declared before using her Huntress' Eyes to look for the sample…only to gasp at what she saw. "Mikhail, look out!"

"Huh?" …and that was all that Mikhail had time to say before the sample suddenly burst out from behind the nearby computer screen and grabbed onto his throat. Acting quickly, Svetlana grabbed a vial of ice dust and injected it into the sample. It froze over and shattered, freeing Mikhail.

"Mikhail, are you okay?"

"I am now," Mikhail declared as he rubbed the tender flesh around his neck even as he gazed at the smoldering pile of ashes. "Nasty dust…" He muttered.

"Dust…?" Krasnaya rubbed her chin in thought as she processed her husband's choice of words. She thought about how Trickster had used a dust weapon based on doppelganger physiology and how it affected everything it touched. Then she remembered that Detective Coal had accidentally inhaled the fumes of the dust after she vaporized it. Her eyes widened in horror as the realization set in. "Good gods… how could I have been so blind?"

"Dear?" Mikhail arched an eyebrow.

"Coalface was first spotted outside of Charr's apartment complex. And Chief Rojos was attacked by Coalface after she fired Charr from the police force. Charr Coal… is Coalface!"

Without hesitation, Krasnaya donned her cowl once again and rushed towards the warthog to search for her friend.

Meanwhile, Chief Rojos had retired to her apartment for the night after the trying day she'd had. Although she was worried about Coalface making another attempt on her life, she was confident that all her hard work would pay off once Commissioner Maroon returned tomorrow. She was just about to head to bed when there was a knock at her door. "Who is it?"

"It's just me, Rojos."

"Officer Cash?" Rojos sleepily asked as she headed to the doorway, having recognized the voice, before giving a half-lidded glare once she had opened the door. "Do you realize what time it is?"

"Sorry about this, boss, but I recently got in contact with Charr Coal, and well, he told me something that could help us put an end to this Coalface business."

"Really? Well, while I'd prefer to save that sort of thing for after I had my morning coffee, but whatever," Rojos declared before letting her companion inside. "So, what did Charr want to tell me?"

"Oh, that's easy." And that was all the warning Rojos got before "Ayisha" morphed into Coalface and grabbed Rojos by the neck. "He, or rather I wanted to tell you 'I told you so.'"

Despite how uncomfortable her position was, Rojos' eyes widened as she recalled something that was said to her before this mess began. "You?!"

"I told you I'd be there to say that after you created a foe you couldn't intimidate," Charr Coal, aka Coalface, couldn't help but call out with a smug grin before knocking out his former boss.

Meanwhile the real Ayisha was in the area, hoping to convince her boss to let Charr Coal rejoin the force. She arrived at Rojos' apartment complex, spotting two officers standing guard in case Coalface returned. She instinctively reached into her coat for her badge, but stopped once she saw the confused looks on her coworkers' faces.

"Detective…?" One of them asked. "How… how did you get back outside?"

"What?" Suddenly, everything clicked into place; Coalface was a doppelganger who could change his appearance! She bolted past the officers, up the stairs, drew her weapon, and kicked down the door just in time to see Coalface absorb the police chief into his body and make a break for the window. "FREEZE!"

Coalface turned to sneer at the detective. "Stay away if you know what's good for you…old friend."

Despite the circumstances, Ayisha couldn't help but blink as Coalface made his escape with Rojos in tow. "Old friend?"

Meanwhile Krasnaya was driving through the streets, hoping to find some clue as to where Coalface might have gone.

"Honey, Aiyasha is on the line," Mikhail suddenly declared over Krasnaya's com systems. "Rest assured that she's wanting to speak to Svetlana, not Krasnaya."

Krasnaya blinked upon hearing this, but ultimately decided to see what Officer Cash wanted. "Put her through."

Once the call was established, Krasnaya could make out Aiysha nervously asking. "Is this Mrs. Kashtonovy?"

"Technically I go by Mrs. Crimsonoff-Kashtonovy," Svetlana's voice was heard, due to the owner having turned off the voice scrambler for the moment, "but please, call me Svetlana. Anyways, was something I could do for you, Detective?"

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you a few questions, but unfortunately my job currently is preventing me from doing it in person."

"It's fine. So, what did you want to know?"

"Well, you and Charr Coal are close, right?"

"Yeah, since middle school. In fact, we were supposed to meet up later today at the gym to shoot some hoops, but I haven't been able to reach him. Why? Has something happened?"

"He's just been going through a tough time." Ayisha remarked. "It's like he hasn't been himself lately." She then blinked as those last few words caused her mind to briefly flash back to what had happened recently.

Unfortunately, Trickster had one last trick up his sleeve. He pulled out the doppel-dust gun and aimed it directly at Charr's face. "Back off, cop." Trickster grinned, menacingly. "You have no idea what this stuff does to living people!"

Charr accidentally breathed in the doppel-dust's fumes, forcing him into a coughing fit. While Krasnaya chased after Trickster, Ayisha rushed to free her partner. But Coal shook his head and urged her to leave him between coughs. "I-I'm fine…! Go get them!"

"Take it easy, Coal, I was just making sure you were okay," Ayisha remarked while placing her hand on his shoulder…only to blink upon discovering that some black dust was left behind on her hand. "Whoa…"

Coalface turned to sneer at the detective. "Stay away if you know what's good for you…old friend."

Ayisha gasped as the flashbacks ended. "Because he's not himself."

"I'm sorry, Detective?"

"Uh, it's nothing, Svetlana. Listen, we'll talk more later, but right now, I have a job to do."

Kransnaya just nodded on the other end of the scroll as the connection was severed, turning the voice scrambler back on as she did so. "So do I, detective."

Little did Krasnaya know, Ayisha was likewise shedding a tear upon realizing that they'd have to fight their own friend. Pulling herself together, the detective remembered something Svetlana had said. "The gym. Crimsonoff said she was meeting Charr at the gym!"

At the same time, Krasnaya had come to the same conclusion and hurried towards the gymnasium in question. She parked her warthog outside the main entrance where the doors had been broken down, and hurried inside. Seconds later, Detective Cash arrived and followed close behind. The Crimson Crusader used her Huntress Eyes to follow the near-invisible trail of black dust lingering in the air Coalface had left in his wake. At last, she found him and the captive Chief Rojos on the basketball court.

"Come on in, Krasnaya," Coalface declared. "It's time we said farewell to Chief Rojos!"

"Let her go."

"Now why would I do that?" Coalface couldn't help but ask. "After all, to Rojos here, we're both on the wrong side of the law."

"It doesn't matter what she thinks," Krasnaya declared, unaware that Ayisha was listening from the doorway. "It's the code you live by that matters, and I'd rather not see you cross a line that you can't uncross."

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but I've already crossed all sorts of lines recently," Coalface growled out. "One more couldn't hurt, right?"

"Charr Coal, don't!"

Coalface merely blinked as Ayisha revealed herself before morphing into the likeness of his old self. "It's not cool to reveal secret identities, Cash." In an eyeblink, Charr morphed into the appearance of his former partner. "Not that it really matters." In another instant, he looked like Svetlana. "When I can be anyone I choose." Again changing shape, he looked like the Crimson Crusader. "Which is a comfort. Since I no longer know what I am." He pulled off the "cowl," revealing the face of the Trickster. "Except a freak! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! You wanna know what separates the freaks from the normals? Just one bad day!"

"That's not entirely accurate," Krasnaya called out. "Yeah, a bad day can have lasting consequences on a person, but that's only part of the equation. The truth of the matter is that Trickster is rotten to the core by choice: a choice that's still yours to make, Officer Coal."

"Turn yourself in, Charr: don't make this harder on yourself," Ayisha declared, finding herself agreeing with everything that Krasnaya was saying.

"You don't get it, do you?" Coalface growled out. "Trickster didn't just mess with my body: he messed with my mind. I'm a freak inside and out…and Chief Rojos has made it very clear how little she tolerates anything that isn't normal!"

"Charr, no!" Ayisha called out as Coalface prepared to execute Rojos, barely registering that Krasnaya had raced forward at the same time she had.

Acting fast, Krasnaya intercepted Coalface's strike before using some ice dust to get the shapeshifter to retreat.

As Krasnaya gave chase, Ayisha worked to get Rojos down, though she couldn't help but give her boss a teasing grin. "I'm guessing he told you 'I told you so.'"

Rojos just huffed. "And I'm guessing this means that you can cross off having a shapeshifter for a friend off your bucket list."

Ayisha merely blinked upon hearing this, only now remembering how she had said something like that back when they were dealing with Night Terror. "Huh, I hadn't even realized that yet."

Rojos couldn't help but groan in exasperation here. "Never mind that. I'm fine for now. Just go after them."

Ayisha simply rolled her eyes before nodding and giving chase.

Krasnaya converted her weapons into their firearm combination and loaded it with a round of ice dust. Her hope was that if she could freeze him in place, she'd be able to reason with him. But Coalface proved to be much more skilled with his new powers, easily shifting around each and every shot until he sliced her weapon in two and pinned her against a wall with one arm while the other formed a spike.

"Charr, stop!"

Coalface turned around. "Stay out of this, Cash. This is between me and her."

"Charr Coal, please: there's no blood on your hands yet," Aiysha called out. "Don't do something that you'll regret later on."

Coalface angrily threw Krasnaya across the room, knocking her unconscious, then he moved towards Ayisha. With every step, he reverted back to his human form until he was standing right in front of his former partner. "You… defending the Red Woman? I never thought I'd see the day…" A single tear leaked out from Charr's eye. "... what's become of us, Cash…?"

With that, Charr Coal shifted back into Coalface before crumbling into a pile of black dust that blew away in the wind.

"Charr!" Ayisha called out before her eyes wandered towards Krasnaya, who had passed out after the beating she had taken trying to protect her and Rojos despite the target she had on her back.

"Heh, no wonder Charr is such a fan of you," Ayisha called out with a slight smile, before sighing. She reached for a pair of handcuffs on her belt, still talking to Krasnaya as she fastened them around Trickster's wrists. "Still, Rojos isn't wrong in that you're breaking the law with your vigilante status. I'll let you go for now as a favor for helping my partner, but the next time we meet, the mask is coming off."

Ayisha reached towards the mask as those words flashed through her head before her hand stopped at the last second. This whole thing had started because she hadn't stood by her partner in regards to his faith in the Crimson Crusader, and it just didn't feel right to not honor that faith after Krasnaya had gone above and beyond to prove why her friend had believed in her…which is why she ultimately retracted her hand and waited in a corner of the room for her hero to wake up.

Some time later, Kransaya got back up with a groan…only to gasp upon seeing Ayisha Cash in a corner of the room, reaching for her face out of fear for her identity. Her panic quickly became confusion, however, upon realizing that she still had her mask on. "Wha…?"

"I made a promise the last time we saw one another," Ayisha recalled as she took note of Krasnaya regaining consciousness, "but I decided against it: didn't even peek."

"No cuffs, no backup…I'm not sure I understand."

"This whole time, I've been wondering why my former partner looked up to you," Officer Cash declared, "when all this time the answer was right there in front of me: you aren't actually a criminal: you just have a different way of pursuing justice then we do…and at the end of the day, just because something is different doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing."

"You could lose your job for saying something like that."

"Ask me if I care. Spoiler alert: I don't."

Krasnaya just nodded before placing a communicator in Ayisha's hands. "If you ever need me, you'll know how to find me."

Ayisha just took it with a smile. "Yes, yes I will." She then turned towards where Rojos had been left. "You'd better go before my boss decides that she won't tolerate being saved by a vigilante or something like."

As she turned back, however, she found that Krasnaya had already left, much to her amusement. "Now you're just showing off."

"What do you mean that you let her get away again?!" Rojos roared out sometime later.

"I mean that she up and vanished after I took my eyes off of her," Aiysha remarked, having recently given her boss an edited version of her encounter with Krasnaya and Coalface. "Say what you will about the Crimson Crusader, but she is very good at what she does…and before you start threatening me like you did to Charr the other night, you should know that I put in a call to Jane on my way back from the locker room."

Rojos paled upon hearing this. "You…you told Jane what happened?"

"She was going to find out sooner or later: might as well get it out of the way rather than draw it out." Officer Cash said with a shrug. "Either way, Jane made it very clear that I won't be losing my job over this…and that she had some choice words for you when you get back to the office."

Rojos just groaned in response.

"I thought I made it clear when I left that I didn't want you to do anything stupid while I was gone," Jane said over the phone sometime later. "Ignoring my feelings on how you've authorized the use of live rounds on children in the form of Azure and Magenta, I believe that antagonizing someone after they had been subjected to psychological torture qualifies as such."

"I get it, I messed up: Officer Cash already made a point to rub that in for me," Rojos growled out.

"Which is precisely why I've all but ordered her to take a day off: obviously she's had to take on more than her fair share of stress in recent days," Jane declared with a flat look. "First defying orders while dealing with Emerald and now aggravating an officer into forcing them into a life of crime: that's two strikes, Alexandra. One more, and you will be the one hand in their badge. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good to know."

Alex just snarled as she hung up her scroll, her thoughts already clouded with plans to make up for this mess and remove Krasnaya from the equation.

Meanwhile, Ayisha was spending some of her off time in a small coffee shop, a mutual friend of her old partner sitting across from her at the booth she had procured.

"When Charr suggested that we have coffee together, I never imagined that it'd be without him," Svetlana lamented.

"It's not your fault what happened to him," Ayisha declared as she gently took Svetlana's hand. "I didn't see it at first, but the way that the police had been handling themselves lately was starting to stress Charr out. In fact, if it wasn't Trickster, then it would have simply been some other criminal that pushed him over the edge, i.e. I get the feeling that his breakdown was something that was inevitable the minute that all of his colleagues in the force, including myself, stopped showing him the support he needed. All we can do for now is keep an eye out for him."

"Right, and see if we can help him when we finally do catch up to him." Svetlana took a sip of her coffee before speaking again. "I suppose the NRPD will give you a new partner now."

"I hope not. I think…" Ayisha looked down at the communicator in her lap. "I think I already have a new partner."

Svetlana smiled, softly. "I'm sure whoever you have in mind, Charr would approve."

Suddenly, Ayisha gasped as she glanced out the window, prompting Svetlana to do the same. Charr Coal stood on the opposite side of the street in his human form, watching his two best friends getting along just fine without him. He nodded at them both and quickly disappeared into the crowd. Svetlana and Ayisha bolted outside, trying to find him, but he was nowhere to be seen among the hundreds of other civilians. It was then that the two women came to a dreadful and disturbing realization.

"He could be anywhere…" Ayisha whispered.

"... he could be anyone." Svetlana added.

To Be Continued!