Mission_12: Cold Cases
HNT Officer Leo Lario paces awkwardly around the small space in front of the pantry's entrance, murmuring something under his breath as if reciting a prayer. Then he hears the sound of footsteps approaching his direction, and even though he did not raise his gaze to check, he could tell who the quick yet precise footsteps belonged to.
Just in time for his afternoon coffee...
With a deep breath and a few shakes of his shoulders, he straightens himself up and immediately performs a stiff salute.
"I-Inspector Lack-Two!" he calls out in an unstable squeak.
The said inspector stops in his tracks and looks up from his file to address the now pale and sweaty officer slightly trembling before him.
"Lario," he addresses him with a blink.
"What?"
Leo feels himself stiffen even more and he tries to swallow away his fear.
"I-I... I wanted to ask permission from you, Sir. I-If that's fine…"
"Permission," Lack-Two repeats, raising his brow.
"I'm not your immediate inspector, Officer."
At that, the young man blinks in confusion, slowly losing his stance.
"Immediate inspector… what… N-No!" He stiffens again.
"This isn't work-related, S-Sir... I…"
"Speak, Lario. You're wasting both our time."
"It's about Detective Whi-Two, Sir."
Lack-Two's brow rise even higher.
"Whi-Two?" he repeats, finally lowering his file as he crosses his arms and looks the boy down from head to toe.
"What about Detective Whi-Two?"
Leo shrinks before him slightly and swallows hard.
"...I want to ask her out on a date."
Lack-Two retains his expression, the indecipherable look seemingly frozen to his usually scowling face.
The young HNT officer swallows even harder.
He feared his ridiculous stunt may have broken the inspector.
"P-Please say something, Sir."
At that, Lack-Two finally blinks, and then sighs heavily.
"I'm her inspector, Lario, not her father," he announces, raising the file once again to resume his reading.
"I believe the more appropriate person to discuss personal matters involving Detective Whi-Two is Detective Whi-Two herself."
Leo blinks at him.
"Wait, so you're fine with it?"
"I'm not supposed to be involved with the Detective's personal life. UPD standard relations protocol."
The tension in Leo's muscles loosens up as he finally lets himself crack up a smile.
"Wow," he sighs in relief. Then he notices Lack-Two still watching him with an expectant look, most likely because he still stood there in between the inspector and his scheduled afternoon coffee.
"I-I'm sorry, inspector, it's just that... You always seem so protective of Rosa…"
"'Rosa'," Lack-Two repeats with slight disdain and judgement in his eyes.
Leo bites his lips in regret.
"I meant, Detective Whi-Two," he squeaks.
"You always seem so protective of the detective that I-"
"I am," Lack-Two cuts him off with a mumble, his eyes now focused back on the file.
"But not a lot of people can appreciate that, now, can they?"
Leo blinks at him.
"I believe we're done here?" Lack-Two snaps, looking up from his file again to look the officer down.
The lump in Leo's throat returns.
"O-Of course, Sir. T-Thank you for your time."
And with a snort, Lack-Two starts moving around Leo's still frozen figure.
"Good," Lack-Two snorts, moving around Leo's still frozen figure.
"And when you're finally done sweating over that hot brick you're standing on, you'd know where to find the detective."
-...-
"Knock, knock…"
Whi-Two looks up from the almost faded writings she was looking at so intently to acknowledge the slightly apologetic face that peered through the records room's entrance.
Then she gives a polite smile.
"HNT Officer Leo," she greets softly, putting the piece of paper down to give a more welcoming stance.
Then she slightly jolts.
"Oh, a-are you here to look for a file?" she asks, gesturing at the scattered folders, papers, and even boxes that surrounded her small table. Whi-Two pushes herself and her chair away from her desk, hitting the side of the shelf behind her squarely, making some of the boxes fall and scatter themselves on the floor along with her initial mess.
The young detective winces and groans. Leo watches on with concern.
"God, I'm sorry this place is a mess," she sighs, standing up to start picking at the mess.
"I had to move stuff around to give space for a small desk."
"Uh, n-no, it's okay!" Leo exclaims in polite refusal, nonetheless kneeling down in front of Whi-Two to give the young detective a hand.
"It's been ages since anyone ever needed a file from inventory. Most of us just rely on the digitized archives that we have in our database. They're all essentially the same information."
Whi-Two bites her lips into a polite yet forced smile.
He didn't have to tell her twice.
"Well, that explains why everything was in shambles when I first got in here," she sighs, trying to balance the tall stack of paper and folders cradled in her long wiry arms.
"And judging by the amount of dusting I had to do when I first got here, it had been a while since someone else exclaimed the same thing."
Leo chuckles good-naturedly to himself as he lifts up his own pile to set aside.
His expression looked wistful as he started scanning around the cramped room, watching the shelves filled with boxes and folders with slightly sad eyes.
"Yeah…" he sighs.
"Inventory work was never really a priority for Main. Normally, something only gets done when someone actually volunteers to get it done, and that in itself is already considered a miracle because no officer would dream of being assigned here."
Another frozen smile from Whi-Two.
I know, right.
"As a matter of fact, I think the only person who's ever worked here continuously and enthusiastically was Inspector Lai of CSI-U."
At that, Whi-Two freezes from lifting herself up while carrying another stack, making them fall all around her the second time. But instead of picking them up, she just watches them with sad, broken eyes.
Being assigned to a place where the person she's been trying to solve a case for and that which got her in trouble…
It was like a sick, practical joke.
Leo turns from organizing the files from his side to see Whi-Two just kneeling before the mess, eerily silent and motionless.
The young HNT officer immediately flails.
"A-Ah, I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to…"
But Whi-Two cuts him off with a slight rise of her hand. Then she returns to picking at the files again.
"It's okay," she sighs with a rueful smile.
"I guess in a way, it's kind of nice to know that I'm somehow honoring the late inspector by keeping all of this going even after she's gone."
Whi-Two sighs solemnly.
"Right now, I feel like this is the only thing I can do for her."
Leo watches her with a look of concern.
It had been almost a month since the division closed off Lai's case with what seemed like auspicious momentum-something expected from a division such as Main-and for the most part, everyone seemed to have accepted it. But even Leo knew that the momentum was at the very least amiss, especially considering that it involved the death of an inspector, and that inspector being Lailani of all people.
She was well-known, and for most officers, well-loved, and for her death to be so handled so fastidiously yet with very little sensitivity, it felt like even their grief as friends and colleagues had to be handled fastidiously and with very little sensitivity.
And if he, someone who has known the late inspector only professionally, feels this way, imagine how someone like Detective Whi-Two who has actually worked and interacted with her would feel.
Leo felt like a jerk.
"Detective, I…"
The officer was cut off by the sight of Whi-Two trembling trying to keep another shelf from shaking off more boxes filled with records. He freezes a bit, but when he notices that a heavy-looking box perched on top of said shelf was beginning to topple over and was about to hit the detective squarely, his reflexes got the better of him and he immediately pounces for Whi-Two to push her away.
The two watch as another set of files fall over.
Whi-Two groans at the sight of more work cut out for her, but she nonetheless flashes a shy but grateful smile at the HNT officer who was still holding her close with both arms.
"T-Thank you, Officer Leo," she whispers. And only then did Leo notice how he was in a rather compromising position of being just a few inches away from Whi-Two's face.
The girl looks at him with curious eyes, obviously unaware of the effect of their proximity to the young officer. Leo lights up bright red.
"L-Let me help you with this, Detective!"
And without waiting for a response from the detective, he immediately lets go and starts picking through the scattered files, frantically collating them into more stacks.
Whi-Two watches him in shock and slight bewilderment.
"Er…" she hums, warily kneeling next to him to start picking stuff up herself.
"You really don't have to do this, Officer," she mumbles. To which Leo responds with a nervous laugh.
"N-Not a trouble at all, Detective!" And with that, he quickly crawls his way to the other side of the small room, visibly trembling.
Whi-Two watches him with a concerned look before sighing and continuing with the rest of the scattered files on the floor.
"I hope you don't take this as me being ungrateful, Officer, but you really shouldn't be here picking through those files unless you've been given clearance by a superior. We both might get in trouble."
Leo raises his head at her, and glows again.
"O-Of course," he stammers, handing the collated files back to Whi-Two.
"Sorry…"
Whi-Two gives him a kind smile.
"That's okay, Officer, you were only trying to help." She pushes herself up and places the small pile onto her desk.
"So, what did you say you were here for again?"
At that, Leo freezes.
Whi-Two continues on, looks up at him, no hint of suspicion in her face.
"You said you didn't come here to retrieve a file," she points out gently. "And that's the only reason I could think for another officer to come here, so I'm curious what your reason is."
She looks up to him once more, a hint of hope in her voice as she asks:
"Were you here to deliver a message, perhaps?"
"A-Ah! Yes!" Leo suddenly exclaims, suddenly coming back to his initial stance from just a few moments ago. His face glowed in an almost fiery hue and was wet with perspiration that it made Whi-Two worry that he was sick somehow.
But she still took no heed, and continued to watch on.
"Y-Yes, I came here for a reason…" Leo continues. "Of course. Uhm... Y-You see... I was actually wondering if…" His voice squeaks, making him even redder.
"Ah… Oh God, hold on…"
Whi-Two slightly tips her head to the side, a look of confusion in her eyes.
"I-I should start from the top," Leo mumbles with a nervous giggle. He fishes out a handkerchief and starts wiping his forehead vigorously. Then he takes a deep breath.
"Y-Y'see, Inspector Lack-Two told me I can find you here..."
To his surprise, Whi-Two suddenly frowns at the name.
"Inspector Lack-Two sent you here?" she interrupts him in a flat voice.
Leo only continues to flail.
"Ah n-no...! He just... uh…" Then he trails off, finally noticing the look in the girl's face. It changed so quickly and drastically from her usual gentle and polite expression that it shakes him off a bit from his constant flailing.
"I-Is everything alright, detective?" he asks softly. Carefully.
Whi-Two's shoulders slightly jolt at the question, snapping her out of her short trance. And all too instantly and yet so fluidly, her expression morphs back to her usual small smile.
"Oh, uh…"
She shakes her head good-naturedly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make that face. It's just…"
It was Leo's turn to adopt the somber look in his face.
"You and the Inspector are not on good terms, huh?"
Whi-Two's gives the young HNT officer a look.
Leo glows again as he rubs the back of his head sheepishly.
"A-Ah, well... It's something I have been noticing a bit lately. N-Not that I've been spying on you or anything! It's just that my HNT training really sharpened my senses with these things, haha…"
He trails off to see if the girl showed any signs of being mortified at the thought of him, someone whose work barely had any connection with hers, watching her. But Whi-Two showed no signs of chagrin, or any similar emotion. She just looked at him half-expectantly.
Like she was curious herself of how it all looked like to a bystander such as him.
"I mean, since I've known you here, you seem to always be under the watchful eye of the inspector. So it came as quite a surprise when you were assigned here all of a sudden, and what's even more surprising is that since you've been assigned here, the inspector wouldn't even come near you. Like, all of a sudden, he doesn't know you."
Leo gives her a long look before smiling sadly.
"I always thought you guys seemed so close…"
Whi-Two smiles back, impishly, before returning her attention to her desk.
"I'm sorry, but I don't really want to talk about it."
Leo blushes a bit as he looks down.
"O-Of course…"
The young detective takes a deep breath before returning to Leo again, now with her usual smile back on her face.
"Anyway, I cut you off. What did you say you were here for again?"
And once again, Leo glows. And once again, Whi-Two does not notice, or chooses not to consider it.
"Y-Yes! Of course. I am here for a reason. And that reason is…" He takes a deep breath before looking Whi-Two directly in the eye.
"D-Detective Whi-Two..."
Whi-Two watches on.
"Rosa," the young officer presses, now looking her in the eye, making Whi-Two raise her brow again at him. Uneasily.
She begins to feel around for her purse discreetly.
"W-Will you... go out... o-on a…"
Three knocks drone out Leo's last words. The two turn to the source of the noise and find a familiar set of brown hair by the doorframe.
Inspector Lack-Two raises a brow at the two young officers.
Leo was the first to react, automatically forcing himself into a frozen salute.
"Inspector!" he almost cries.
Whi-Two only rolls her eyes and turns her back to return to her desk.
Lack-Two watches her walk away from the corner of his eyes.
He sighs.
Then he faces Leo who was standing way too close to the stack of files facing up, with a stern look.
"I'm sorry, HNT Officer Lario, I didn't know you also volunteered to work in inventory. I don't think I've seen your name included in the list of authorized personnel."
"N-No," Leo answers in a soft voice, visibly confused.
"I was just… Y-You told me that…"
But Lack-Two only gives him a deadpan look.
"Officer, you've been working in this station for as long as I can remember. You should know by now that I don't really care for reasons." Then he steps to his side to give way through the door frame.
"Ignoring the fact that you are here against UPD rules, I'm afraid I still have to ask you to leave. It's almost seven. Night shift people are beginning to come in. You know the rules."
Leo's eyes fill with realization.
"Of course, Sir."
He glumly walks out, but slows down to whisper to the inspector.
"Inspector, I…"
"Oh, I heard everything, Officer," Lack-Two whispers back, giving him a look of slight pity.
"You may thank me later."
Leo groans but nonetheless nods in agreement. Lack-Two watches as he marches away, devastated.
Then he hears a rustle, and finds Whi-Two quietly collecting scattered papers on the floor, her lips pressed in a thin line.
Lack-Two sighs, looking down before looking away.
"The rules apply to you too, you know."
-...-
Whi-Two hastily exits through the station's backdoor towards its small parking lot in hope of avoiding the other officers, as she's been doing since she was first assigned to inventory about two weeks ago. What happened with Leo earlier on was literally the very thing she was afraid of hearing from the other officers.
It was already hard to deal with this new dynamic she's had to deal with during work; the last thing she needed was people asking her about it.
As if she knew how to answer them.
Thankfully, being isolated in the records room for the whole of the day has given her the advantage of doing just that. It was only during the end of her shift did it become a problem for her.
It was a good thing barely anyone goes through the backdoor.
Whi-Two draws a deep sigh to herself before looking around, and after making sure she was nowhere near anybody's earshot, she lets out a loud, distinctive groan.
It was almost unfair, she thinks to herself. All she ever wanted was to do right by her late inspector, and though some actions that sprang from that motivation may be questionable, she knew right in her heart that she didn't do anything wrong.
Yet somehow, with the way everything turned out, she couldn't help but feel like she was the worst person on Earth.
Detective, I am incredibly disappointed in you.
Whi-Two could taste the bitterness of his words in her mouth.
"Silver-lining," she mutters to herself after letting go a long, heavy sigh, finally gathering the energy to work up a small smile.
"This day can simply not get any worse."
And before she could let out the last word, lightning suddenly strikes, and thunder begins to rumble. She feels a tiny drop of rain fall onto her nose, making her back down a bit, watching as more droplets fall to the ground.
Suddenly, the slowly forming smile drops.
"Great," she spits out, looking down to fish through her bag for her umbrella, calmly at first, but gradually turns into a frantic as she slowly realizes that she couldn't feel it anywhere in her already almost empty purse.
"And it just got better," she mutters with disdain, running her palm against her face in frustration.
She then again tries to step slightly forward from the shaded area of the lot and sticks out her hand, assessing the density of the rainfall, considering if she could still reach the station without looking like she was drowned against her will prior to that.
The rain was still light, but even she could tell that it won't stay that way for so long.
Nothing light ever lasts that long, after all-something she's learned and kept on learning her entire policeman career.
Whi-Two pulls back her now soaking arm half-heartedly, sighing heavily.
"Detective?"
The young detective suddenly freezes at the sound of the familiar, monotonous voice calling for her, followed by the sound of the station's backdoor slowly closing. She anticipates the sound of the door's click, making her wince upon hearing it.
Suddenly, her day is now just perfect.
Lack-Two eyes her down with a raised brow as she slowly turns to acknowledge him. Their eyes meet momentarily before Lack-Two breaks it off by moving his gaze around, from Whi-Two's almost overturned purse to the slightly damp right arm sleeve of her jacket, and finally ending its journey on the dark clouds that loomed over the path to the nearest train station.
Then he gives her a few blinks before finally speaking.
"I take it there's trouble getting home, Detective?"
"No, n-no trouble at all here, Inspector," Whi-Two was quick to respond, turning around to escape her superior's gaze, avoiding having to see his reaction to how unstable and squeaky her voice was as she addressed him. She winces again, dreading whatever will come out of her inspector's mouth next.
But all that came out of Lack-Two was a soft sigh.
"You know, I wouldn't mind dropping you off at your apartment," he voices out nonchalantly as he fishes out his keys and walks to his car.
"That's not necessary at all, Inspector Lack-Two," Whi-Two was quick to refuse.
"It's cute that you still think that my very seldom offers are unnecessary, Detective Whi-Two."
At that, Whi-Two finally allows herself to turn back to him with a smile formed by a mix of impishness and slight annoyance.
"Thank you, Sir," she says, deliberately slowing down her words in hope to deliver her exasperation.
"But it really is not necessary. The station is just a few miles away. I think I can make it there by foot before the—"
WHOOSH!
The two UPD officers immediately turn their heads into the street, watching it get easily drenched as the heavy rainfall drops from the still darkening sky.
Whi-Two looked aghast, but only for a moment. Almost methodically, she slowly closes her mouth and carefully turns to where Lack-Two was standing, still watching her.
They both share another look before Lack-Two breaks the silence by clicking open the car's passenger seat and leaving it open as he walks to the other side.
-...-
The two sped along the barely visible and wet streets of Nimbasa in silence. Whi-Two had prayed for barely any traffic so the ride could just be over with-being trapped in a large station with her inspector has already made her feel suffocated, what more now that she's somehow trapped in an even smaller and now moving metal trap.
She could feel herself trying to withhold her own breath, hoping the ride would be over before she turns purple and passes out. And she was about to succeed until she remembered the numbers of checkpoints they had to pass through before getting even near her street.
By the second checkpoint, she had no choice but to release her breath, which came out a little louder than she'd expected, making her catch her inspector's attention.
He moves his eyes from the officers checking his badge to the girl beside him who immediately straightens herself and closes her mouth.
Lack-Two raises a brow at her.
"So are you finally going to talk to me?" he asks nonchalantly, averting his gaze back to the road as he restarts his engine.
"Or are you going to keep on pretending that I don't exist?"
At that, Whi-Two grimaces.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" she lies.
To which Lack-Two sighs.
"Don't act like I don't notice how you've been acting, Whi-Two. I'm not dense, and frankly? You're not really that subtle-something I thought by now you've realized."
Whi-Two decides to not reply. Lack-Two could only sigh again before continuing on.
"It's not in my business to apologize for anything I've said in the past. I have my reasons to say what I've said. But if apologizing is what's going to make you finally talk to me then…"
Whi-Two's phone suddenly rings, and before Whi-Two could send it straight to voicemail, Lack-Two catches a glimpse of the caller ID:
"H. Richards"
Lack-Two immediately returns his eyes on the road, his mood suddenly different. He clicks his tongue as he aggressively pulls on his gear shift.
"...Nevermind."
Whi-Two bites her lips as she feels her inspector slowly raising up the walls she had already raised herself. While she had already prepared herself from the beginning for the fact that her decisions will greatly impact her and Lack-Two's relationship incredibly, there was still something about the way that he would fall silent whenever the topic was raised that somehow eats her up inside.
But she knew better than to let her own emotions get in the way of her chosen duty as a police officer, and as a friend. She made a promise to herself that she'll bring justice to her recently passed inspector, and she will push through with all of it, as she had been trained to do so.
And there was nothing her other inspector could do about it.
Or, at least, there shouldn't be.
They were stopped by another checkpoint, and Whi-Two takes the opportunity to check her phone to see the voicemail left by Hugh. It was almost ten minutes long, and Whi-Two seemed satisfied.
Ever since the fallout among the three of them, she and Hugh have decided to be a bit more careful with their daily interactions. Hugh claims that he can take Lack-Two's sharp tongue anytime of the day, as he had basically lived with it for the good of their stay at the Academy. And yes, he knows Whi-Two can too, but unlike him, Lack-Two holds her career on the line, and though she was fighting the good fight, it still wasn't worth jeopardizing what she's worked hard for.
So they decided to bring their interactions to a minimum. No face to face conversations, at least during office hours, not even phone calls, as she's learned from going through the archives that all calls and messages are logged.
Instead, they devised a system system such that they'd leave all the intel they've gathered as voicemail for the other to inspect. That way, no one else can overhear them. Not Lack-Two, not anyone from UPD.
The thought that Lai's death could have been an inside job of some sorts still floated through her mind, and with that, she knew she couldn't trust anyone else other than Hugh.
Whi-Two feels herself jerk forward as Lack-Two's car suddenly comes to a screeching stop. She clutches onto her purse as she is thrown back in the same equal force, readying her look of disapproval to give to her suddenly recklessly-driving inspector. But the undecipherable look in Lack-Two's eyes as he stared motionlessly forward threw her off-guard.
She half-expected him to say something. Anything. But Lack-Two only blinks for a few seconds, before he finally heaves a soft sigh, leans over to where Whi-Two sat, making the girl wince a bit, and wordlessly unlocks and opens the passenger's door.
Then, without so much as eye contact, he gently straightens himself and returns his hands on the wheel.
Whi-Two watches him for a bit before carefully reaching for the door and stepping out of the car. She considered just walking away without saying a word, but something inside her ached enough to stop her in her tracks. Then, after convincing herself that this was at least the polite thing to do, she plasters a smile on her face and turns to him.
"Lack-Two, I…"
"...Don't."
Lack-Two lets out another sigh, his eyes still locked forward.
"We still don't know where all this will go to, so I advise you to not thank me, or anyone for that matter, just yet."
-...-
"Heya, kid! Hugh here. Anyway, before the point of this call… Don't know if you've heard, but my Boss will be flying in from overseas early to meet with my dad before the big evaluations week. So, yeah, goes without saying that I might not be able to help out with all this for a few days. And, take this from an officer looking out for another, but I think you should too. No one knows-not even me, to be honest-what's going to happen, so I think the best way to go about this is be careful. You're fighting the good fight, kid. Just don't lose your job while doing it..."
Whi-Two takes a short but heavy sigh as she speeds through Hugh's words of caution. Lately, all his messages involved the same thing: "be careful", "proceed with caution", "better to look out for your job"... Basically, the whole theme of what she's been hearing from her superiors, and, if she were being honest, that little voice inside her head. And Whi-Two thought she could do without the obvious warnings.
She knew what she's gotten herself into, and the risks that came along with it. She didn't need the reminder.
"Anyway, that being said, here's what I got so far…"
Whi-Two scours over her desk and grabs a pen and starts taking down notes, as fast yet as diligently as she could, considering she should be able to take everything down after only one round of listening. To make sure information isn't logged by the UPD, she and Hugh agreed to delete each voice message after one listening. They can never be too careful.
"I've been looking into the alleged gun smuggling happening within UPD Armory, and I've learned that, like the reports you all send to UNPol, and even publicized, the inventory reports for all UPD supplies are also digitized from written reports…"
Whi-Two freezes from writing down her notes, her gaze flying towards her phone, a confused yet alarmed look in her eyes.
Does that mean…?
"It's not in my best interest to surmise, but," Hugh's recorded voice continues. "If the pattern of events is accurate, we might be looking into some more issues on discrepancies in records. Not sure how free you are with the files there in the Records Room, but I think we'd benefit from double checking those inventory records from the past. Counting on ya'!"
And after the click that signaled the end of his message-the same click that should signal Whi-Two to delete the message immediately-Whi-Two was suddenly immersed in silence. Her hands were frozen while holding both the phone and her pen, and her eyes connoted realization, and a tad bit of alarm.
Immediately, she went for one of the shelves where old records were filed somewhat carelessly, and she frantically rummaged through the folders, fishing out random inventory records of different UPD equipment, ranging from simple things like reusable plastic utensils for the pantry, to things more important like official uniforms. She dug until she found a folder pertaining to a particular month of a particular year.
March 2015-The month and year she joined Main.
She sloppily sifted through the pages until she found a certain page that listed a set of combat training uniforms, sized small. "Det. Roselia Bilden, Codename: Whi-Two", it said in her printed handwriting, just under the field "Recipient".
The young detective scanned her eyes all the way down to the bottom of the document, where it said, quite clearly despite the slightly smudged ink: "Insp. Lailani Oudir", under the "Inventory Custodian" field.
Whi-Two looks through the following few pages, and finds almost all inventory reports signed by her late inspector as the custodian. No other names seemed to replace hers in any of them.
Feeling her throat constrict, she drops the folder to a nearby pile and then goes through the more organized shelves, ordered by year. She chooses a random one dated 2014, around a year before she even started living in Nimbasa, and leafed through the pages, and again, almost all the reports were signed off by Lai.
Whi-Two continued the cycle, going down a year every third file she fished out, all the way to 2012, when the lockdown was first eased into their region. And just as the previous files she's gone through, all reports were signed off by Lai.
The young Detective silently returns the last file back to its original place, her eyes horror-stricken. Her hands slowly return themselves to her person, one even tremblingly rising to her lips. Then, with a sudden sharp intake of breath, she immediately bolts to the door, grabs her phone along the way, and starts dialing for Hugh's phone.
"Hugh, it's me," Whi-Two almost pants, trying to rush herself to a more private location, where barely anyone can hear her.
"I know you said that we should lay low for the while, but I think I found something really crucial. Or, at least I think it is. To be honest, I haven't much solid evidence yet to support this claim, but I think Inspector Lailani might have something to do with the weapons smuggling in UPD. I don't know what kind of involvement she has yet, but according to the physical records in Inventory, she's been the one in charge of any release of UPD equipment. I've only checked the records for standard equipment like uniforms and the like, but I think this is worth building up on…"
A click from the other end of the line makes her stop. It is then followed by soft static, then the sound of what seemed like a breath, and soon, she hears a voice from the other end.
"I couldn't agree more, dear."
The UNPol superior officer ends the call and softly brings down Hugh's phone before slowly facing the now horrified looks coming from Hugh, Lack-Two, and Superintendent Aldin. He calmly looks at them one by one with a stern yet almost indecipherable gaze, and after a few rounds, he finally takes a short breath, and faces Aldin.
"I believe you have some explaining to do, Superintendent?"
-...-
"We interrupt this program for some breaking news!"
Click.
"This just in: chaos breaks out in the Unova Police Department's main headquarters as an alleged scandal involving said division headed by their very own Superintendent Aldin Richards is revealed."
Click.
"Sources say disgraced officer was apprehended by visiting delegates of the United Nations Police after a whistleblower, reportedly a detective from the same precinct discloses promising information that points to a possible foul play going on within the police department itself."
Click.
"More officers are being flown in by the United Nations Alliance to further investigate the case. Currently, Richards is under UNPol custody as the investigation plays out. If proven guilty, the now detained head of UPD will be facing at least fifteen felons and is looking at a possible lifetime convictment for these crimes."
Click.
"The Nimbasa Mayor spoke this morning to the press regarding the situation with still very minimal information regarding the issue, but assures the citizens that strict and swift justice will be served, and the matter will be handled professionally by UNPol."
Click.
"Citizens of Nimbasa have now flooded the streets surrounding the UPD's headquarters, rioting in protest, going on head to head with uniformed UPD officers who are attempting to contain the situation. Reports of numerous injuries have been raised, rapidly increasing for both parties."
Click.
"Neither UNPol nor UPD agrees to comment on the issue, nor bring out the names of parties involved aside from Richards, but people from all over Nimbasa, along with the majority of cities all over Unova have expressed their indignation towards their respective UPD precincts, and demand all involved officers to be stripped of their badge and guns, claiming that a sense of security is no longer achieved."
Click.
"Still many questions remain unanswered as the story progresses, ladies and gentlemen, but I think I speak for all of us when I say: now that Unova's very own who have vowed to serve and protect now threaten the very existence of our safety, especially in this time of uncertainty…
... What will become of our country?"
Click.
Whi-Two stares at the blank screen of her television as she slowly lowers the remote, her eyes lifeless from having barely slept for the past twenty-four hours. Her mind was fogged from severe exhaustion, making it almost impossible for her to process anything she hears or sees, be it on the screen or around her apartment, yet somehow she could still remember bits and pieces from yesterday crisp and clear.
She remembered hurrying down the precinct's halls looking for Hugh. She remembered Lack-Two emerging from a room and suddenly pouncing at her. She remembered being pulled to an empty office, and being shaken slightly by the shoulders. She remembered the slight panic in her mentor's eyes as he mouths what seemed like pages and pages of instructions being thrown to her in haste.
But she doesn't remember the words. She doesn't remember the events that transpired afterwards. She doesn't remember how she got home. She doesn't remember how she changed her clothes. She doesn't remember how she fell to her bed.
All she knew was that when she returned to her senses, she was tucked under her blanket in her pyjamas, and she was crying. Her phone blared beside her, mostly calls from family and friends who feared that she might be one of the injured officers from the squabbles in the streets of the precinct, while some were from Hugh. From then until now she hasn't brought it in herself to return any of those calls, afraid that the fogginess of her mind will cause the absence of her words.
But she was more afraid that she might end up saying more than she should.
Whi-Two feels a hitch in her throat, and she begins to cry again. Almost at the same time, her phone rings again, and as she did with the past 42 calls, she lets it go straight to voicemail, and only half listens to it as she proceeds to dry her eyes out for the nth time that morning.
Her phone beeps, and what follows is a familiar voice she in her lifetime did not expect to hear at that very moment.
"Whi-Two it's me."
Said detective immediately postpones her crying and quickly sits up, staring at her phone disbelievingly.
Lack-Two's voice continues to flow through the device, his tone calm and collected. The tone Whi-Two had gotten so used to hear outside office hours that it somehow calmed her down a tad bit.
It felt like things went back to normal, even for a short while.
"Listen," he says, quite slowly. "I know this is probably the worst thing for anyone to ask you right now, but I need you to report to the office as soon as you can. I'd understand if you'd want to let the situation die down for a bit, but this is an important matter. Something that might actually absolve you from all of this. This may or may not entice you, depending on where you stand regarding what happened, but as your inspector and mentor, I like to believe this is the best way to go about this."
There was silence as she heard a soft breath coming from the other line.
"Frankly, this should've been done a long time ago, but that's poor judgement on my part, and for that I take full responsibility. Though, I find that there is no point in wallowing and regretting what's already happened. What's done is done, and the only way to go is forward."
Another pause.
"That goes for you too."
Whi-Two watches as her phone's screen dies down as Lack-Two ends the call, feeling a small pit in her stomach.
Somehow, hearing her superior's voice brought some new form of sadness in her, stemming from something she has been actively avoiding since this whole thing began.
Whi-Two had missed Lack-Two, even more so now than ever. Her mistrust for him made them distant, and his unsupportiveness for her cause made it worse, but she knew deep inside that if he wasn't in such extreme pressure from his position, he would've stuck by her side.
At least, that's what she likes to believe.
They were friends, after all... right?
Whi-Two looks at her phone again, and sighs before picking it up. She opens up her call history and hovers over Lack-Two's number, her thumb freezing over the "call back" button. She stays like that for a few seconds before she takes a deep breath, puts the phone down, and lies back in her bed.
If Lack-Two would prefer they talk in person, then what she wants to say will probably have to wait.
-...-
Whi-Two walks up to the entrance of Nimbasa station, and already, she feels her heart sink.
The riots that have lasted for days have finally died down, and all that's left were some broken debris and some paraphernalia floating around the wet streets surrounding the building. What was once filled with clamors of anger and resentment were now replaced by deafening silence. Normally, at this time, the sidewalks were filled with vendors and fellow police officers rushing to clock in in time for roll call, but now, it was just Whi-Two, all alone, eyeing the entrance down, watching as her watch counted the minutes she let fly by, contemplating on whether she was ready to face whatever was waiting for her inside.
It had been days since the news broke out, and a lot had happened since, most of which Whi-Two had barely any news of since she chose to hole herself up in her room, trying to recover. But she still knew it was never going to be the same. The atmosphere of the city showed her quite vividly.
She gulps, and finally takes a step in, and the first thing that greets her was Leo by his almost empty desk, save for a box sitting quietly by his chair. Whi-Two knew she had to go straight to Lack-Two, as she was instructed, but somehow, her legs led her to her fellow officer, perhaps to procrastinate the impending blow.
"HNT Officer Leo," she greets softly with a shy smile. The boy's eyes light up at the sound of her voice, immediately breaking from what seemed like a solemn reflection.
"Ros-I mean, Detective Whi-Two!" he greets back. Then his face slightly drops.
"What are you doing here?"
At that, Whi-Two freezes in her tracks, and looks down with a look of agony in her face. Leo was quick to panic.
"N-No! That's not what I meant, Detective! I..." He lowers his hands as he sheepishly rubs his head.
"I just thought you'd take the whole week off. I mean, after all that's happened, I would've..."
Whi-Two looks up in time to watch the light slowly dim away from her colleague's eyes. Then her eyes float towards the box again. Leo follows her.
"Oh, uh..."
Whi-Two looks back at him again. Leo tries to shake the tension away with a smile. A rather unconvincing one. He sees Whi-Two unconvinced, and without so much as a fight, he puts on the same expression as hers.
Slowly, he turns around, and continues where he left off with his task, opening one of his desk drawers and emptying out its contents into his box.
The young detective watches him sadly for a bit before finally letting herself journey her eyes across what she now realized was an almost empty room, devoid of theall the lively chatter of early Monday mornings that she had gotten so used to that the absence of it deafened her more. Most desks mirrored Leo's, while some were completely empty, with no sign of residence at all.
Whi-Two could only list in her head the names of the officers she knew occupied those now empty seats.
"What happened here, Leo..." she asks. Softly.
A part of her didn't want the question heard, and then answered.
Leo responds with a rueful smile.
"It hasn't been an easy couple of days, Detective," he begins, forcing one of his notebooks into the box.
"After the whole debacle with Superintendent, plus the riots that broke out there by the roads, a lot of Nimbasa officers started filing for immediate resignation. Some didn't even wait for the paperworks to finish. They just collected their things and went."
He crouches down, and opens another drawer, emptying it as well of its contents. Carefully, he balances the items into a pile on top of his box.
Whi-Two watches him sadly.
"Then there's us: the officers who actually chose to stay."
Leo pauses from what he was doing to face the detective again. Whi-Two looks at him back.
"The higher-ups were actually pretty adamant about us resigning like the others, but for some of us, this is our dream, you know? I don't know if I speak for everyone else, but... I can't really see myself as anything other than a police officer. So I told them I wanted to stay. And they gave me a different offer."
He turns to his satchel sitting next to his bag and fishes out a document. He then shows it to her.
Certificate of Transfer, the document header read.
"Transferred…?" Whi-two mouths softly in disbelief. She looks up back to Leo with a concerned look.
The latter only smiles ruefully.
"Yeah," he shrugs, pulling the paper back to his person.
"I actually just finished all the paperwork this morning. And not a moment too soon, huh?"
He looks back at Whi-Two and finally notes the expression of distress in her already weary-looking eyes.
It broke his heart.
"H-Hey, don't worry about it! I'm actually getting transferred back to Black City, where I spent my trooper years. So you know? it won't really be a new, foreign place. My old Captain's still there so…" His shoulders fall a bit as he looks away.
"Plus, it's much closer to home."
"Leo, I'm so sorry…"
The HNT officer returns her gaze back to her and feels his cheeks burn a bit.
It was the first time he's called her by his name.
"Oh, uh… N-No need to apologise, Detective! Like I said, it's all going to be okay… And well, since there's a huge chance that we won't be working in the same precinct anymore, maybe you'd be interested in having coffee with me sometimes?"
"This isn't how it's all supposed to go," Whi-Two suddenly mumbles, her voice breaking. She raises both her arms and wraps them around herself. Leo was distraught.
"A-Ah! Detective!"
He thinks for a moment, and after giving it much, much consideration, he takes a step forward and raises his arms to hover over Whi-Two's now frail and shivering body. But before he could touch her, he hears the familiar sound of someone clearing his throat.
Leo immediately freezes and takes multiple steps back, his eyes now locked with someone standing a few steps away from the two of them.
Whi-Two notices the scared expression in Leo's eyes and turns to where he was looking.
Lack-Two was standing by his office door, his gaze slowly landing to meet hers.
"Detective," he nods slightly in agreement.
Whi-Two does not react.
Lack-Two sighs, looking away a bit before returning to her once more, this time with a more stoic look in his face.
"In my office, please?"
He then turns mechanically to his door and enters, leaving the door open waiting for his equally stoic detective.
-...-
Whi-Two eyes the document in her hands with a pained expression.
Certificate of Transfer, the document header read.
Lack-Two, who stood on the other side of his desk, across Whi-Two, focused his gaze on the document as well, having nowhere else to look, was the first to speak.
"Seeing as you've talked to Officer Lario out in the bullpen, I take it you know what this certificate means?"
Whi-Two does not respond. Lack-Two sighs.
"I've taken the liberty of contacting Colonel Rikhards in Aspertia and he says that he is more than willing to take you back to their station. And this might not be my news to tell, but, he mentioned that there might be a good position waiting for you there. Turns out, one of the inspectors in your old precinct retired early, and they're looking for a qualified replacement. The Colonel is already drafting a recommendation letter in your favor. And once he's done with that, you'll have two high-ranking officers backing you up."
Whi-Two looks up disbelievingly at him, just in time to watch him fish out an envelope from his drawer and hands it out to her.
"You didn't hear any of this from me, but... Congratulations, Detective Rosa Bilden."
The young detective does not speak. She does not even move. She just stared at the envelope like it was on fire, and that only she could feel the heart emanating from it.
Lack-Two waits for a few seconds before lowering the enveloper to his desk.
"That's fine. I can send this to Rikhards through mail."
It was only then that Whi-Two spoke.
"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice breaking again.
Lack-Two sighed as he looked away.
"Don't make this harder than it needs to be, Detective Rosa."
Whi-Two stares at him disbelievingly.
"What the hell?! Why are you calling me that?!"
"Is 'Rosa' not your name?"
The girl shakes her head vigorously.
"This is stupid... This is nonsense!" she almost screamed.
"Why are you acting this way?!"
Lack-Two does not respond.
"I came here to be reprimanded! Like for God's sake, Lack-Two, scream at me, hit me, suspend me if you have to! But don't…" She trails off, gesturing at the document in her hand.
"Don't do this…"
She sniffs, and tries to bring up a smile, though broken and weak.
"I'll help make things better okay? Now that it's all out there, we can work together! I mean, we can help UNPol! I've already started with the investigations, and with your skills, we'll progress even better! I mean it's us!"
She takes a step forward and reaches for his hand, which was pressed firmly on his desk.
"We work so well together."
She tries to look into his eyes and see if she was reaching him in any way. But the blank look in his eyes remained, his eyes not even allowing to meet her gaze. She nudges on him a bit more, and with that, Lack-Two finally speaks.
"Inspector Lailani Oudir of the CSI-U was a highly-suspected person under investigation since the possibility of an inside job was first insinuated within internal command."
Whi-Two tremblingly pulls her hand back.
"...What?"
"She was placed under strict yet concealed surveillance by the UPD administration to either prove or disprove this speculation."
"Inspector…"
"Due to the confidentiality and sensitivity of this mission, the administration assigned one of their highest ranking undercover officers to stay within close range to the suspect and disclose any intel to the board."
"No…"
"Which is why it was considered of great luck that the undercover officer was already a close colleague and is fully acquainted with the officer in question."
"Lack-Two, no…"
"His mission was to remain by the suspect's side until sufficient intel confirms or denies the provided speculation."
"No! Lack-Two, stop!"
"The evening before the suspect was slain, she approaches the undercover officer and initiates a confession, though not in full."
"Please, Lack-Two! I need you to stop!"
"Then the evening after that confession, the suspect was slain by an unknown gunman, highly-suspected to be a member of the vigilante group to which suspect was an informant."
"You…"
"However, strong evidence provided by the UPD in inclusion to the UNPol's Special Services' separate investigations all point to one conclusion."
"Don't…"
"The late Inspector Lailani Oudir is pronounced guilty for multiple charges not limited to: being an accessory to multiple hate crimes committed all throughout the country, misuse and illegal distribution of government-owned armory, and falsification of numerous official documents."
The room falls silent save for the sounds of Lack-Two's heavy footsteps as he approaches the now shivering girl. He attempts to reach for the top of her head, but immediately refrains, and pulls his hand back.
He then sighs as he takes a few steps back to give Whi-Two-and possibly, himself-some space.
Then, against his better judgement, he speaks again.
"If you truly want to honor the death of your late inspector, Detective, then I suggest you start by staying away from the officer who have essentially led her to her own demise."
He turns and looks back at his desk, where his letter meant for Colonel Rikhards lay quietly. He watched it as if it was on fire, but that only he can feel the flames engulfing him. It burned him, but at the same time, he felt cold, as if every organ in his body had frozen over and disintegrated, and he was left as nothing but a hollowed out shell.
"It's too late for me, Whi-Two, but not yet for you. You can still turn things around. And honestly?"
He leans over and picks the envelope up.
"It would put my mind at ease if you did."
He gives her one last look as she stands in the middle of his office, frozen, her hands clutched on the document he had handed to her. He knows what he did, and he promised himself he would be brave enough to see the outcome of what he has done. The girl has gone through so much in all the times they were together, and he knew a big part of what pain she's bearing is his doing.
And hopefully, this would be the last of it.
He reaches out his free hand to touch her shoulder, and to his surprise, she does not react. She lets him stay there, and he did, for as long as he could let himself.
It was all he could do.
"Farewell, Detective. It's been an honor and a privilege having worked with you."
-Mission_12 Status: Cancelled-
"Given the confidentiality and sensitivity of most documents stored in Inventory, it is discouraged by UPD management that any officer, regardless of position, can access the records room of any precinct, unless they have procured approvals from their direct supervisor." -Excerpt from UPD Trooper's Manual, Chapter 10: Closing Cases
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Like this story so far? Would appreciate you buying me ( /magnipisika16) coffee 3 Or you could just follow me there ;D Will be uploading some exclusive stuff like sneak peaks and even deleted scenes! See you!
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So guess who has two thumbs and was foolish enough to think working from home will give her more time to write?
This bitch ~
I'll take this as a win though, this is one of the fastest rates that I've released a chapter since when I started this story (except for the first few chapters which I posted regularly because I was a naive student with a lot of free time she never considered using). It was quite easy this time, actually, because as I've told my readers time and time again, my specialty is tragedy~ (Kidding.)
Can't believe this has been three years in the making and we're only halfway done hahaha. Still very happy that people are still reading this despite the BW2 arc ending (quite disappointingly, if I might add). I just want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your support, because this thing is seriously done out of love for my readers and of course, the art of writing itself. It has been a wonderful journey, and I'm just glad it's not yet over ^_^ Hope you stay until the end~
And now for the question of the chapter: "Will Whi-Two ever meet Lack-Two's family?"
As a matter of fact, yes! I planned this story to actually have that happen, although I have a feeling that it won't be as what many of you will expect TwT I'm still planning stuff though! So we'll see hehe.
Hope you're all safe and taking things easy. I know things haven't been easy for all of us nowadays. Here's to hoping for the best for all of us.
Love ya'll 3