Mission_3: Detailed Evidences
Whi-Two finds her superior leaning against one the facades of the park's gates, eyeing his watch impatiently. She stops for a moment, finds a nearby post, hides behind it, peers out, and shortly assesses for herself if it was safe for her to approach.
Slow tapping of the front part of the right foot, other hand tucked in his pocket, shoulders not as stiff as always… Adding the fact that he was wearing plain jeans, a white shirt doubled with an obviously old, blue jacket, he seemed like any other normal person waiting for his companion.
A companion who's arguably a tiny bit late…
Whi-Two gulps as she tremblingly shows herself, just in time for her superior to look her way.
She notes that he didn't look very pleased.
"You're late," he declares monotonously as she makes her way through the slightly busy street, to where he was. "I said 4:30, sharp. It's already a quarter to five."
Whi-Two shrinks for a moment before speaking.
"S-Sorry, Sir," she whispers. "I tried to come as early as possible, and I was already on my way when you suddenly sent me that message that I shouldn't wear my uniform… So, I had to go back."
Lack-Two raises an eyebrow at her.
"I thought that was self-explanatory considering the file explicitly says that this is Code 13…" He crosses his arms over his chest and gives out an annoyed sigh.
"You did read the file, right?"
Oh, you mean the one you slammed on my desk last night with no form of explanations whatsoever? She thinks to herself with disdain, inwardly scorning at him if she wasn't so afraid of getting another beating from him come their next combat training.
Being thrown to the floor three times is actually more than enough to last her through her whole career as a policeman.
In the end, an almost inaudible, "Yes, Sir…", was all she could muster as a reply.
She was half-expecting Lack-Two to reiterate himself by shouting again, but, surprisingly, he just nods it all away.
Probably trying to be as civil as possible, she thinks. But, of course.
Who'd want to be seen around in society barking around at somebody else? Now, Whi-Two's quite thankful that this is a fieldwork. She has the eyes of the public as her savior.
"Then I take it you're well-oriented of the case?" Lack-Two asks.
"More or less, Sir…" she replies.
Lack-Two takes another good look at her, and tries to take in the way she looks. He lets his deadpan eyes scan through her body from head to toe and then back again. Whi-Two feels a bit conscious, and felt the need to shrink her body a bit.
She suddenly felt so bare somehow. He just had that kind of gaze.
Lack-Two takes a deep breath.
"Armani Code," he mutters as he takes a moment to check his phone. He raises his eyebrows as he taps the screen along with his thumb.
"Nice choice."
The girl's eyes widen as she looks up at him.
"Sir?" she asks. Did he just smell me?
Lack-Two sends her a nonchalant gaze before returning it to his phone.
"Am I wrong?" he asks.
"U-Uhm…"
There was a beep from his phone. A tap. He reads through it for a moment. Then he sighs as he put it down.
And then he faces her.
"Might as well ask your questions now before we proceed." He tucks his phone back to his pocket. "Because the moment we step through those gates and make contact with the suspect, our mission begins."
Whi-Two shakes herself off of dreamland to acknowledge what Lack-Two had just said. She blinks for a few moments before speaking.
"A-Actually, I do have one, Sir…"
"Yes?"
Whi-Two gestures for him to give her a moment as she fishes out her phone and opens the notes she also took down last night as she read through the files.
"It says here that we are only to follow Joven Dailo up to their headquarters, and get as much information as we could… Is that it, Sir?"
Lack-Two nods, his eyes still on Whi-Two. "That is correct."
"Then… Is Joven Dailo really that dangerous to require the two of us to pursue him?"
Lack-Two blinks for a moment to understand what she meant. And it hits him quietly but quickly.
She was basically asking him the same thing he asked Superintendent Aldin yesterday. Which means he has to explain the concept to her the very same way Aldin did.
The young Inspector inwardly groans as he rolls his eyes in resentment. Whi-Two chose to treat it like she just imagined it.
"The number of officers in charge of this case is not for the purpose of subduing Dailo and arresting him—unfortunately, we can't do that just yet as we only have accusations and no solid evidence against said party. Instead, we need the two of us so as to not arouse suspicion from the setting…" He makes it a point to land his gaze to the park, and Whi-Two unconsciously follows.
Nimbasa Park was swarming with couples. Whi-Two immediately understands.
"W-Wait…" Her eyes widens as she makes it a point to throw her gaze back at her superior.
"You mean…?"
"When in Rome," Lack-Two shrugs. He puts away his phone, straightens his jacket, and draws one long, deep breath. Then he holds out his hand for her—it wasn't as lavish as to draw enough attention, but he gestures for her so eloquently he made it seem like he's done this before, and far too many times.
She wouldn't be so surprised if that was true.
"Is that all you want to ask?"
Whi-Two just eyes his hand for a minute, remembering that it was exactly the same hand that caused her Hell's worth of body pain last night. Also the same hand that will sign her Letter of Termination if she doesn't pull herself together.
It's just holding hands, she tries to bravely convince herself. You've done far worse with him back at that Strip Club. You can do this, girl. Just be brave, and take his hand, and…
"Oh for the love of…" Lack-Two's hand shoots forward, grabs her hand and pulls her a little harshly to his side. But even with what little force he exerted, she still managed to stumble forward and almost fall if it weren't for the firmness of his hold.
"Careful," the boy lowly growls, almost in annoyance. "If you fall now, I'm just going to walk away and pretend I didn't see you. Pull yourself together, Detective."
Whi-Two nods, softly whimpering.
Why me?
There was an awkward intermingling of their fingers as Lack-Two gives his final reminders—to which Whi-Two only half-listened as she was too busy trying to find a comfortable and less awkward spot for her fingers between Lack-Two's long and rough-skinned ones. The latter didn't seem to mind, let alone notice the way her hands were sweating, and just continued speaking.
Whi-Two dreaded for how long she was to endure this, but she realized that it was not for long as they start walking.
For it was only then that Lack-Two made an effort to arrange the way his fingers enclosed hers, and Whi-Two could feel her hand ease up as he cradled it very well, like holding hands was something he does on a daily basis.
Like his hands were made for such purposes and nothing else.
Whi-Two just stares up at Lack-Two as she tries her best to keep up with him, letting him guide her through the beige-colored pavement road on their way to the center of the park.
She couldn't believe that the hand she was holding now is the same hand that pinned her down and threw her around just yesterday.
The two walk in silence for a few minutes, Whi-Two purposefully walking a few paces behind him, her eyes focused on anything else but his direction. Lack-Two throws her a short glance, sighs in exasperation, and pulls her a bit roughly to his side. Again, the girl stumbles towards him.
"S-Sorry, Sir," she mumbles, adjusting her pace again to try and keep up with his—something that wasn't much of a chore given they both have long legs. Lack-Two again throws her another glance, thinks for a moment, and then sighs.
"You seem perplexed."
Whi-Two looks up at him in surprise, thrown off by his almost concerned tone.
"Uhm… Well…"
Again, Lack-Two gives her a look—a sidelong glance that didn't last as long Whi-Two would have hoped for to say this was common conversation. Still, it didn't fail to make her feel suspicious.
"Pacing too fast for you, Detective?"
Whi-Two saw a glimmer of hope.
"Y-Yes, actually…"
"...Well, get used to it."
...And the glimmer of hope immediately died.
The commanding officer sighs.
"In case you're not informed, being in the main division means you're a large number of steps closer to everything that has made Unova what it is right now. Call it a more direct contact to what they tell the kids to call 'villains', if you must. Drug dealers... Syndicates… Terrorists… Urban legends... You name it, we have encountered and will encounter it." He pauses for a moment to check his phone, and then continues.
"And since the country is in a period of restoration after those two years of living in chaos, missions are opened here and there. Neophytes like you have no choice but to hit the ground running."
Whi-Two gives him a look.
"Thank you, Sir," she says monotonously, and then, even after thinking against it, adds:
"But I already know that."
"Good," Lack-Two returns, pulling her again harshly. This time, Whi-Two was able to control her balance.
"Now, please start acting like you do."
Whi-Two exhales in exasperation, scorning at him when she was sure that he wasn't looking at her. Then she opens her mouth again.
She knows she's going downhill from now by having him as her officer and mentor, might as well go down fighting.
"With all due respect, Sir," she begins again, ignoring the evident rolling of the high-ranker's eyes. "I understand that hitting the ground running is essential to a job as crucial as ours, but, at least for this case, it would be a lot easier for the both of us if you could tell me a tiny bit more about this mission…"
Aside from just throwing files at me through email…
Lack-Two gives her a stern look, albeit bordering on exhaustion rather than exasperation. It was only then that Whi-Two notes the faint, dark circles underneath his eyes.
"I already asked you to ask me questions before we began…"
Whi-Two sneers at him. I don't think asking you what the heck is happening is good practice.
Lack-Two could only sigh.
They reach an almost empty bench at the middle part of the park. He gestures for it with an unimpressive stance. Still Whi-Two takes it as a friendly gesture.
"If you must know," he begins, lowering himself a good inches away from her. "We're undercover as potential customers for Dailo. I made contact with him through phone this morning. We'll be meeting with him in…" He looks at his watch.
"...Just a few minutes."
"We're meeting up with him?!" Whi-Two cries, much to Lack-Two's chagrin. "How come I didn't know that?!"
The look in her superior's reddish-brown eyes made her shrink in immediate fear.
"...S-Sir…"
"Because I take it that you don't need to know that," he replies, his voice rising though still stable and civil. "Look, Whi-Two, if you want to survive in my unit, you need to learn to adapt and go with the flow, and that includes moving efficiently despite being provided insufficient information. Not everything in this line of work will be handed to you on a silver platter. You need to learn how to make do with what you have, or find the answers yourself."
He takes a sharp intake of breath.
"But I'm pretty sure you already know that…" He gives her a look of disdain, much to Whi-Two's frustration.
"...'Reliable Rookie'."
Whi-Two was about to fight back when Lack-Two's finger suddenly flies to her lips, keeping them shut. Then, before she could react, the inspector nears his face to her, closing whatever space he left that Whi-Two had greatly appreciated.
"Hush," he whispers, almost tenderly. It made the girl want to literally hit the ground running.
What on earth…?
Lack-Two smiles, the same playful smile that he wore when they first met—the same one that keeps sending chills down her spine whenever she sees it.
What. On. Earth…?!
"...If you keep on making this lips too much, I might lock them shut with mine…"
Whi-Two's scared eyes shifted frantically from side the side.
"Inspector…?" she says in a muffled voice.
Instead of answering, Lack-Two proceeds to nearing his face to hers. Whi-Two was about to scream when he narrowly misses her face and proceeds instead to nearing his lips to her ears.
"He's here," he whispers. "Don't look."
Not knowing what else to say or do, she just nods.
Lack-Two slowly moves his face to her line of sight.
"I'm going to initiate contact with the target. You stand your ground until I give a signal. We will begin pursuit in a short while."
Then, Lack-Two once again smiles.
"Are we clear, Detective?"
The girl, still with nothing to say, just nods.
"Good," he says in his silvery voice. Then he gives a wink.
"Don't mess this up."
-...-
The man in the gray hat looks around suspiciously before allowing himself to gain eye contact with the young man in the blue jacket. He gives him a good look, from the way he walked to the way he smiled all enthusiastically at him as he almost skipped to where he was.
Doesn't seem like the suspicious type, albeit he can tell his enthusiastic stance may cause him problems.
The last thing he'd need is a chatty brat spraying more than he's paying.
He checks his phone one last time before straightening himself from the tree he was leaning on to. The boy greets him with a wave.
"You're Dailo?" the boy asks, his voice a little too loud for anyone to even appreciate. Joven Dailo had to wince a bit before responding.
"That depends," he replies. "Who's asking?"
The boy gives him a look of confusion, but immediately puts two and two together, and shows him his phone, which contained the thread of their exchange of emails. Joven glances through it before nodding.
"Are you Nate?" he asks for good measure, looking from side to side to make sure no one's overhearing them.
"Yup," the boy replies in an almost irritating, chirpy voice. He reaches his hand out to him, which the latter ignores.
"Nate Alart. Pleased to finally see you in person." He gives Joven a quick glance from head-to-toe. "You are as shady as they say you are."
"Yeah, yeah…" The older man looks beyond him for a moment, to the almost empty bench in the middle of the part, where a fairly tall brunette sat, looking around, a dazed look in her eyes.
"That your lady?"
Nate raises his brows and follows the older's gaze.
"Oh. Yeah, that's Rosa." He returns his gaze to him. "Pretty cute, huh?"
Joven just looks at him. Then he shakes his head.
"You two seem to be in a heated argument just a few moments ago," he points out, to which Nate responds with an exasperated sigh.
"Aw, tell me about it!" he stressed, rolling his eyes. "She's been like that ever since I told her about this offer I got studying overseas. You'd think your long-term girlfriend would at least be happy for you, but noooooo. She has to inevitably think I'm off to Kalos to go find someone new. As if I'm gonna go through all that process and trouble dealing with snooty people from the Embassy just to pick up girls. Honestly…"
Joven gives him a deadpan look.
"...I didn't ask an essay-type question, son."
Nate just smiles sheepishly.
"You have the money?"
The boy reaches for his jacket's pocket, and pulls out a thick stick of rolled-up bills. Jevon takes it, examines it for a bit, and then nods. He then gives another round of glances around their immediate vicinity. Then he returns to Nate while reaching for his shoes. Nate watches as the guy takes off one shoe, pulls on its outer sole until the shoe is pried open, and pulls out a small bag filled with pinkish-colored powder.
He hands it to him. The boy looks at it with slight disgust.
"...This is supposed to be mixed with her drink…?"
Jevon looks at him again with a deadpan expression.
"Yeah, that's right. Make sure you don't overdose, or you will lose her regardless of whether you study overseas or not. Be careful."
"...But it came from your feet!"
Jevon's eyes narrowed. "Son, I don't have time to joke around with you."
Nate sighs as he takes the bag from the older's hand. He gives it a long look before returning to Jevon, who was putting his shoe back together and back to his feet.
"...And if this doesn't work?"
To his surprise, Jevon laughs.
"Have you seen the news lately? It's like love erotic paradise out there! Couples found sprawled naked in allies… Rapid decline in domestic abuse… Divorcees coming back together days—even minutes—after they broke up… We provide results."
Nate's brows converge, but he smiles nonetheless.
"Always thought it was because it was February…"
Jevon snorts. "Get your head out of your ass, son."
Nate just shrugs, stuffing the drug deep in his pocket. Jevon does the same with the money.
"...Now, I don't want you forgetting about the rest of the deal, son."
"Yeah, yeah," the younger cuts him. "No telling on you or else I'll be in big trouble yadah yadah... Hey." The corner of his lips turn up even more, letting his teeth show.
"You'd do anything for love, huh?"
Jevon just looks at him. Then he turns on his heel and starts walking away.
"This conversation never happened. I don't exist."
Nate just nods. He watched Jevon disappear into the crowd of couples walking around. Then he turns to where his 'girlfriend' was, now already directing her attention to where he was standing. The two lock eyes for a short moment before Nate moves his eyes to the direction where Jevon went.
Then he gives her a nod.
Begin pursuit.
-...-
The two officers follow Dailo all the way to the outskirts of the city, to a place where Whi-Two was no longer familiar with. She still nonetheless vigilantly follows her superior's movements—stopping when he does, and moving as he does.
Lack-Two would only throw her one or two short glances every now and then to make sure she was keeping up, but all the while, his eyes were glued to their target's back.
Dailo was leading them farther and farther from the park and into a place unknown, and the less people surround them as they go, the more he feels the need for more backup. While he was certain that he didn't throw away anything that can yield suspicion, he acknowledges that Dailo was not someone he knew well.
They could be treading treacherous grounds, and one can never be too careful around men like him.
Lack-Two was gesturing for Whi-Two to be more vigilant when he notices Dailo suddenly turns to their direction. Reacting quickly, Lack-Two pulls Whi-Two brusquely next to him towards an alleyway just to his left.
The two are engulfed in silence, Lack-Two listening for every form of noise he could detect: the sound of Whi-Two's soft breathing as she stands quietly next to him, distant footsteps, and low murmurings. He makes out the sound of an almost inaudible conversation, and has Whi-Two pay close attention as well. They both try their hardest to listen to what they could until there was nothing more to be heard.
It was Whi-Two who first leans forward and tries to check for their surroundings but Lack-Two stops her immediately. He makes a gesture with his fingers to her, to which Whi-Two nods, and then leans back again.
Though almost too faint for to almost miss, there was a sound of a door creaking, and as subtly as it came out of the blue did it disappear, followed by a very soft thud.
They stood there in silence for a good minute or two before Lack-Two finally speaks.
"Looks like he's gone," he whispers, almost to himself. Whi-Two watches as her Inspector raises his left arm and starts speaking to his watch.
"Information log: Coordinates 6-56-32." He eyes around for a few moments before he nears his lips to the device.
"Arguably the middle of nowhere…"
Lack-Two drops his wrist and tries to listen for more sounds for another minute or two. Then he takes a deep breath and signals Whi-Two to follow him as vigilantly as she had.
Whi-Two nods.
They were going in.
-...-
The door creaks open, making the two officers wince; one with annoyance, and the other with fear. Lack-Two was the first to recover, and scouts the whole vicinity with his eyes as he takes his first step inside, followed shortly by Whi-Two.
It was pitch black no matter where they look, which Whi-Two finds it odd considering it was still mid-afternoon when they began pursuit.
"They cover the windows with paint to keep any form of light in," Lack-Two whispers, reading her mind. "It's to keep whatever it is they're hiding hidden from anyone, including them." He lets out a soft snort.
"Can't be too careful, now, can we?"
He suddenly stops in his tracks, letting Whi-Two walk into his back. She lets out a yelp, to which her superior suppresses with a warning squeeze to her hand. It was still dark, and Whi-Two still barely saw a thing, but she can tell from the way his body moved that he was giving her another deadly glare.
Never in her life had she appreciated darkness the way she did now.
"Phones," Lack-Two again whispers. Whi-Two was still staring into his direction when a blinding white light flashed before her eyes, making her lose her balance. She was about to fall back when Lack-Two, who still held her hand, pulled her back to her feet a little too brusquely. Whi-Two is overpowered by his force, and ends up falling forward. Fortunately, Lack-Two's build was able to stop her fall.
Relieved, she looks up, and finds her superior's exasperated face, made even more frightening by the illumination of his phone's flashlight.
Again, the young detective had to suppress a scream.
The inspector sighs in disappointment.
"Are you generally this pathetic, or is this just an off-day for you?" he whispers with a sneer, to which Whi-Two replies with a huff.
"I said 'phones'. Now."
With dread, Whi-Two fishes for her own phone from her purse and turns on her flashlight to his face, temporarily blinding him. Lack-Two only shot back with a glare.
"Petty," he said under his breath, letting go of her other hand to take the one holding the phone. Then he redirects its light to the direction he was facing, the direction where Whi-Two was supposed to have fallen had he not pulled her back, and what greets the girl was a whole stack of firearms and explosives.
Another scream was suppressed.
"You know, if this is how you're going to thank me from saving both our assess, I'm just gonna let you fall the next time you're doomed to cause an apocalypse."
Whi-Two just huffed, but said nothing.
She realizes that whether she says anything or not will only cause him a temper tantrum, so why bother wasting words?
The girl shakes her head as she watches her superior step towards the explosives.
Why me?
Lack-Two lets his light scan through the box of explosives, an indecipherable look in his face. He turns off his light for a moment, letting Whi-Two's be their only source of illumination. She immediately directs it to her superior, afraid that something might have happened, and Lack-Two responds by turning his light on once again, this time towards her.
Whi-Two was about to complain but Lack-Two's voice stops her.
"Heads up, Detective," he whispers. Whi-Two blinks.
"They were expecting us to be here…"
-...-
Whi-Two watches as her superior went around and started taking pictures of whatever he could, a look of shock and doubt painted across her small face.
"Expecting us…?" she mumbles, her whole body frozen save for her eyes which she used to follow the other.
"You mean they know that we're here…?"
"Knowing and expecting are two exactly different things, Detective," was Lack-Two's response, aiming his camera at a certain corner. Whi-Two hears a click, and a quick flash of light temporarily revealed boxes and boxes of powdery substances, all laced with what Whi-Two believes to be gasoline, the way the strong pungent aroma filled her nose the more she stayed where she was.
"Knowing is being sure of who will be arriving and when." More clicks followed by sudden flashes of light. It made Whi-Two nauseous.
"Expecting is being sure that someone will arrive, but leaving the idea of who or when abstract…" He aims his camera to Whi-Two—along with the explosives that stood before her—and lets another flash escape.
This time, Whi-Two does not react.
"Simply put, they know that we'll arrive, but they don't know when we'll arrive or who we are."
Lack-Two does not speak after that, and for a good minute or two, the only sound they could hear was the flash from the inspector's camera. Again, all Whi-Two could do was follow him with her gaze, trying but failing to come up with a way to help him out.
Not that Lack-Two seemed to need it.
Whi-Two couldn't help but feel useless.
Suddenly, there was a sound of door creaking, and both officers turned their heads briskly to the direction of its source. Quickly, Lack-Two turns off his light and Whi-Two quickly follows. Then they quickly scoot over towards a stack of sealed boxes and crouched behind them, away from possible encounter.
"You sure about that?" a voice asks. Footsteps.
"Yeah," another, more familiar voice replies. "I made sure no one saw me come in. But if you don't trust me, then go right ahead. Go light up yet another good room-full of goods. You certainly don't seem to mind."
Both officers share a momentary look before Whi-Two takes out her phone and starts recording their conversation.
"Hey, you know I do mind," the first voice replies. "If it comes to that, this will be the fifth warehouse we'll be blowing up. I don't think that old geezer would appreciate losing more stocks than he's selling."
"And that's what I'm trying to say! Why do we just––Oh crap."
"What?"
"The door's open…" A sound of creaking. Whi-Two lets out a small, guilty yelp, making her fingers fly up to her lips to suppress what's left. Lack-Two looks at her with a warning glare.
Sounds of gun cocking, and loud footsteps.
"Someone's in here!" Several blinding white lights turn on at once, moving in different directions like searchlights. Whi-Two's hands shiver as she tries to turn off her phone, the act of saving the record and locking the gadget proving to be a lot harder when her brain's in shambles.
Reliable or not, she's still a rookie.
Why, me? She thought as she swallows another upcoming scream.
Why? Why? Why?!
She feels a hand envelope one of her trembling hands, and held it tightly.
Almost reassuringly.
"Being scared won't keep you alive, Detective," Lack-Two's voice came from the faint figure in front of her. Whi-Two looks to his direction, feeling her hand slowly being led forward. Soon she she could feel the material of her superior's jacket and, with the help of his hand, she was able to brush it away and feel for the holster in his belt which held a pistol.
Ironically, it made Whi-Two a little calmer.
"You want to know a fun fact?" she hears him whisper again, his voice surprisingly calm. Whi-Two, with nothing better to say or do, simply nods, even though she knew Lack-Two wouldn't be able to see it.
"I scored 9.3 in combat when I was still a trooper… My only non-perfect score."
Whi-Two looks at him, slightly irritated but mostly confused.
"You want to know why?"
The girl didn't have the slightest clue what he was saying but she knew that there might be no other way they're going to get out of there alive than to simply go with whatever her demented inspector was planning.
If ever he was planning something.
She feels Lack-Two turn his whole body towards her, just in time for one of the "searchlights" to illuminate his smiling face.
"I can't shoot a gun for my own good."
He again turns to the people searching around, knocking down boxes after boxes and shouting at each other. By the sound of voices, Whi-Two have surmised that some of the men from earlier on must've gone outside. She started counting in her head.
Three. There were three of them still inside.
Lack-Two nudged the girl and gestured for the ceiling, which the searchlights would momentarily hit every now and then as they moved about. There was a sprinkler.
Only one.
"We only have one shot in escaping this place unscathed with minimal encounters with those men," Lack-Two was saying, eyes still on that sprinkler.
"And for that, I'm going to rely on that 8.5 of yours."
The gun was already in Whi-Two's hand. She gives herself a few seconds to gaze at it before finally looking up once more.
The room was still dark except for the searchlights. It would be impossible for an ordinary policeman to be able to hit it with unstable lighting such as what she has at the moment.
But Whi-Two was no ordinary policeman, which she never fails to remind herself.
Slowly, she straightened both her arms and aimed up. She waited for the light to pass by again one last time to make sure of her target's location, and the moment the light did, Whi-Two did not hesitate and pulled the trigger.
There was an explosion, and soon, the whole place was dripping wet and the lights were gone.
"That shot came from behind the boxes!" one of the guys exclaimed, obviously calling for backup. Lack-Two acted quickly and ran out from where he was hiding. Using the man's voice as guide he was able to reach the door and knocked the man down with his bare hands. Then he opened the door as wide as he could, letting the light of the late afternoon in, giving Whi-Two the signal. The girl quickly ran from where she was hiding and reached out for Lack-Two's outstretched hand.
"Over there!"
"Get 'em!"
"Hurry!"
"Don't let them see your face," Lack-Two hissed, almost dragging the girl along the path they've treaded when they were following Dailo. "The last thing we need is for them to recognize two SUU officers…"
Whi-Two was adjusting her hood over head when she suddenly looked up to her superior's face in disbelief.
"Did they see your face?"
Instead of replying, Lack-Two pulls Whi-Two brusquely into some bushes and followed suit. They both landed into a clearing with a dead end, trying to catch their breaths.
But the chase was far from over.
"Search the area!"
"They couldn't have gone too far!"
Whi-Two followed the voices' directions with her head, and feels herself shrink in fear.
"Now what?" she mumbles, turning to Lack-Two, who was peeling off his jacket.
"Inspector, what're you…?"
"You wanna get out of here alive?" he asks, throwing the jacket to the side and walking towards her, a look of apparent hesitation in his eyes. Whi-Two had to step back in fear.
"Wait, what're you…"
Her voice trails off when he grabs both her shoulders and pin her to a wall. Then, with a deep, heavy breath, he gives her a rueful smile.
"I am so sorry."
And with that, he presses his lips against hers.
-...-
Joven Dailo hears muffled sounds as they passed by a cluster of shrubs. He halts for a moment, tries to come nearer, and when he was sure of what he was hearing, he gestures one of his fellow men to follow him. Together, they tiptoed towards where the noise was coming from, and after sharing meaningful looks to each other, the two of them charge into the clearing…
"Hands where I can see––oh."
A familiar set of wild brunet hair greeted him, the owner's face pressed against something.
Something slightly struggling...
It took said owner half a second to acknowledge Dailo's voice, and as he turned his head towards them, the two men could feel the horror in the boy's eyes.
He looked mortified.
"AH!" he screams, immediately wrapping the girl––at least Dailo assumed it was a girl––in a protective embrace.
"AH!" the two men scream back, dropping their hostile stances out of shock.
"AW, DUDE! NOT COOL!" the boy, which Dailo now remembers to be named 'Nate', suddenly cries at them, his face now an unapproving scowl.
"Nobody appreciates a peeping Tom and Jerry, you dicks!" He holds the girl even tighter as he screams a little louder.
"Get out!"
It was Joven's companion who was first to recover.
"Hey, you've got the gall to ask us to go out! Who gave you the––"
"Let's go."
The comrade looks at the Joven with disbelief.
"You're kidding…"
Joven and Nate lock eyes for a moment, making the former nudge at his partner even harder.
"I mean it, Roj, let's go!"
"What?! Why?!"
"He's a client," he hisses, grabbing his shoulder, pulling him to the other direction. "This won't look good for future sales. Let's go."
The companion gives Nate one last look before he lowers his gun and follows Dailo, who was already on his way out of that clearing.
In just half a minute, the two men were gone.
Lack-Two listens as the voices and the footsteps fade into the early evening, leaving him and his mentee alone once and for all. He takes the chance to take a long, deep breath, slowly freeing Whi-Two from his grasp. But he doesn't move away, leaving the girl trapped when he leaned forward against the wall in relief.
"Well, that was interesting…" he mumbles, taking more deep breaths. "Hopefully, all the evidences we've gotten are worth that much trouble…"
He opens his eyes when he feels his watch vibrate. Straightening himself up, he lifts his arm near to his face and listens.
"Alright… We'll report in what we've seen as soon as we can... Of course… Until then."
He drops his arm with a sigh.
"Look alive, Detective," his voice slowly coming back into a calm, though his shoulders still rise and fall with every breath. "We're required to report all of these by today…"
He was still looking around when he realized that Whi-Two did not respond.
"Are we clear, Detective?"
Still no response.
Confused, he looked down and found that Whi-Two has already slid down and was sitting on the grass by his feet. She was breathing oddly calmly and her whole body was still.
Almost frozen.
Lack-Two lowers himself to have a look of her face, which she's hidden underneath underneath her hoodie. The inspector reaches forward and takes off the hood, and was almost taken aback at the image of still, blank eyes filled with tears.
"...Detective?"
-...-
"Here."
Lack-Two places the can of iced coffee in the space between him and a quietly sobbing Whi-Two. He takes one short glance her way, and found that she hasn't changed stance since he's left to get her a drink.
He rolls his eyes as he lowers himself at the other end of the bench.
Whi-Two's been at it for almost an hour, letting soft whimpers escape her lips, not letting Lack-Two go anywhere beyond the other end of the park bench, reacting violently whenever he tries.
The boy sighs.
"Come on, I did say I was sorry…" he reasons out in irritation, looking glumly at another direction. "I even bought you a drink. Stop being mad at me already."
"I never asked for a drink, you jerk!" she suddenly cries, earning them a few suspicious glares from the people still walking around the park. Lack-Two had to shrink back a little and lessen his presence.
The last thing he needed was people recognizing them.
"Do you want me to say 'sorry' again?" he asks, leaning forward to take the coffee back to his side, quick enough for Whi-Two not to notice.
But still, Whi-Two turns to him and screams again:
"I don't need your apology!"
"Then what do you want from me?!"
The girl huffed, tears still in her eyes as she looked down again, wincing as she tries to stop the tears from flowing.
"I doubt you even know what you're saying sorry about…" she mumbles.
"To be quite honest, I really don't," he agrees, opening the can and taking a long swig.
"See what I mean?!"
Then, she started crying again.
"I can't believe you did that… And without my permission, too!"
Lack-Two exhaled loudly as he crushed the empty can and threw it away.
"They would've caught us if I didn't do that," he reasons out calmly, perhaps for the umpteenth time.
"Still!" she cries back. "You could've told me first!"
"What're you getting so worked up about?" Lack-Two asks, leaning back, eyes almost strained from rolling them too much over the past hour.
"It was just a kiss…"
"It wasn't just a kiss, god damn you!" she almost screeches, narrowly hitting him with her purse. Lack-Two almost fought back out of reflex, but was immediately stopped by the watchful eye of one of the park cleaners. Begrudgingly, he takes another deep breath as he backs away, letting his eyes land on her, and feeling a sudden flip in his stomach..
She was watching him with tear-filled eyes.
Was this really the same girl he was able to beat into a pulp just yesterday without hearing as much as a whimper?
Lack-Two inwardly rolls his eyes in disbelief.
"Why not?" he tries again, this time letting his voice sound as calm and as gentle as he could. It catches the girl off guard, and she finds herself telling him without reservations.
"That was…" she finds herself mumbling.
"My first kiss."
Whi-Two immediately returns to her senses, looks away and covers her face in embarrassment , feeling scared all of a sudden.
Lack-Two was judging her, she could tell. He was already inwardly laughing at her, no doubt about it.
It was petty. It was truly petty, and definitely not worth this inspector's time.
Now, Whi-Two just wished she didn't say anything.
But still, the girl braves raising her gaze to see how her mentor reacted, still slightly hoping for the best, and was slightly taken aback by what she sees.
Lack-Two's lips were pressed in a thin line. His eyes softened as he watches her, and Whi-Two could swear she was suddenly looking right through her soul.
She couldn't help but feel at ease somehow.
"That's it?" Lack-Two suddenly spoke. Whi-Two's bag came flying to his face, but his reflexes acted immediately, and caught it in midair.
"What I meant was," he begins, pulling the bag away from Whi-Two. "Is that it? Nothing else? Just me stealing your first kiss?"
The girl looks at him with rage, but realizes that it was futile to start a fight when she knew she barely has any energy anymore. Instead, she just nods.
Lack-Two sighs.
"Okay," he says, slinging the purse to his shoulder and standing up. He then gestures for her to do the same. Whi-Two, however, due to shock and suspicion, retains her position, her eyes focused on him.
"Now, what're you…"
"Choose a restaurant you like," he says.
Whi-Two watches him with uncertainty.
"…Why?"
To her surprise, he turns to her with a smile.
"Nothing irks me with myself more than knowing that I stole a fair lady's first kiss."
Then his smile drops as he started charting his way out in his mind.
"I'm giving you permission to ruin me financially. Now, get up before I change my mind."
-...-
Lack-Two watches as Whi-Two wolfs down her third glass of strawberry parfait, silently wondering if he had made the right offer. When the girl mentioned the small parfait place nearby, he actually thought it was a safe choice that will yield the least suspicion. Plus, it was designed such that no customers would be able to overhear each other-a perfect place to discuss detailed evidences. But now that they were there…
Forget the possible financial hole this will leave his life-that's the least of his worries. Lack-Two was more afraid that they might come back to the station with Whi-Two twice her size.
So much for keeping his mentee in tip-top shape...
Groaning, he quietly returns to his order, and tries to take his first spoonful.
Green Tea Parfait-who knew such a thing existed in the realms in which he lives in. It feels like an abomination.
He tries to hold it in, succeeds (but only after a few minutes of forcing himself to), and then stares disdainfully at the cup. The waitress said that this was supposedly the least sugary mess in the menu, but it was still enough to give him a headache. How Whi-Two can last through three glasses of that unholy amount of sugar, cream, and chocolate on her side was beyond him.
Whi-Two finishes her third glass, and on her last spoonful, she stops a waitress and addresses her kindly, ordering yet another glass. Lack-Two raises his brow at how the waitress didn't seem to be surprised at all, and simply heads for the kitchen. Whi-Two returns to her glass with a smile on her face, which immediately disappears when she catches her inspector gawking at her.
"What?" she mumbles darkly. Lack-Two tries to innocently scoop another spoonful of his order, subtly shaking his head, but Whi-Two nonetheless glows in embarrassment.
"I eat when I'm upset, okay?" she reasons defensively. Lack-Two still retains his eye contact with his dessert, only responding with a nod.
"But, I'm not saying anything…" he mutters.
The third-grade detective grasps onto her spoon with rage and frustration. Then she takes a sharp intake of breath, and lets the utensil go, leaving indentations and a stinging sensation on her palm.
"With all due respect, Inspector," she begins, speaking so slowly, it was enough to make Lack-Two lift his gaze back to her.
"Are you always such a jerk?"
To her surprise, Lack-Two lets out a brief chuckle. Though this was still affecting her annoyance meter, she had to admit that his peculiar reaction gave her a feeling of some sort of relief.
She really thought he was going to jump on her and drag her out by the hair.
"Only when I find it necessary," he replies, finally giving up on his god-forsaken, green-colored dessert. He lets his spoon down on the tray and pushes everything to the side, making room for him to fold his arms forward.
"I'm actually very respectful of people, Detective… Unless duty calls for me to be rude."
"...And duty calls for you to be rude everyday?"
"Not everyday," he points out. "Sundays and Thursdays are my days off. And I'm betting those will be your new favorite days from now on."
Whi-Two was not amused, and retains her slightly annoyed glare directed at him. Lack-Two ignores it, deciding that he had already wasted enough time. He takes the moment when the waitress comes back and hands Whi-Two her order to fish out his phone and starts scrolling through the images he's caught.
Frankly, how the girl reacted towards him mattered very little to the young inspector, but he'd be lying if he claimed that that poisonous glare she kept throwing towards him was not detrimental to his state of mind, albeit just a little bit.
He scrolls past the pictures of craters filled with dangerous drugs and boxes brimming with explosives, trying to weave together a full and detailed report in his head which he intends to write as soon as they get back. Whi-Two returns to him after taking three spoonfuls of cream to relieve her anger a bit, and notices how his demeanor shifted from rude to focused.
It was only then that she remembered that they were still on a mission. Together.
Whi-Two had to take another spoonful to suppress her scream of annoyance.
"So what now?" she asks putting down her spoon and leaning a bit forward to see the images he was sliding to and fro.
"Are we going back there and start arresting them?"
Lack-Two lifts his gaze from deep thought momentarily to look at her.
"I suppose that would be a the mandatory course of action," he half mumbles, half hums.
"...If this was a sting operation."
Whi-Two raises her gaze at him, and the latter avoids it by dropping his to his phone.
"So, this wasn't a sting operation?" she asks in disbelief. "Then what on earth was all of that for?"
Lack-Two lets out a sigh.
"You're not very fond of reading case files thoroughly, are you, Detective?"
Whi-Two revives her glare.
"Judging by how careful they were with their anonymity, enough for them to consider burning their own goods if it means burning evidences, it seems that Dailo and his team are involved in something that is much, much bigger than just illegal drug operations. So massive that they can't afford displeasing them for any reason." He looks back at her.
"Do you think you and I could simply just waltz in there declaring arrest-you know, if that warehouse is still standing as we speak?"
Whi-Two swallows hard.
"And even if you say that we'd call for backup, I doubt we'll be as ready to subdue them as they are ready to eradicate us. Skills and numbers are almost futile when you're up against something you barely know anything about but knows a lot about you…"
He pauses for a moment as he slides rapidly across his gallery of evidences, all the way to where the images began, taking another good look of the warehouse's overall interior.
"But that's where we come in," he continues, zooming into different sections of the dark, almost pitch-black, room. "Intelligence gathering-one of the SUU's core competencies. There is this collective assumption of the UPD that everything that is happening in this country are all connected to one another by hidden strings that we have yet to uncover, and so we try to collect as much information as we possibly can through any means possible, and try to paint a giant picture."
Whi-Two finally drops her gaze towards the phone and finally follows the movement of Lack-Two's finger as it hovered around the small screen.
"The SUU barely performs arrest-we are most of the time considered support, but a really crucial one at that. Without us, UPD will have no choice but to go around blindly and succumb to mediocre ways of tracking down criminals. And with the kind of situation our country is in right now, I don't think our department will survive with anything as less as 'mediocre'."
Lack-Two suddenly stops sliding through the images, grabs his phone, twists it so the right side up was facing Whi-Two's direction, then he slides it towards her. Whi-Two was too beats off, but she catches it before it would've dropped. She then takes a good look at the image it was displaying.
A picture of her looking slightly dumbfounded-the one he took that almost caused her to fall into her and her superior's doom. It was dark except for her body which the flash had focused in, but she can make some things from the background.
"Our job now is to compile all of these evidences and combine them with what we've heard and sew them into one major comprehensive report and submit it to the board. Then it's up to the board how they'll go about with the information we have."
At that, Whi-Two looks at him in bewilderment.
"Won't that take too long, Sir?"
Lack-Two shrugs.
"You can't rush above-average."
Whi-Two looks down at the phone once more.
"...But you need swift justice," she softly mutters, sliding towards another image.
Lack-Two suppresses a chuckle.
"Have some faith in the department you work for, Detective. It'll help you in the long run."
Whi-Two returns her gaze back to him.
Not when the department has people like you.
"Anyway…" Lack-Two clears his throat as he leans forward and takes the phone back. "We need to get back soon if we are to finish writing this report tonight." Then he adds almost inaudibly: "Although, I'm already having qualms that we could do that given the holes still left with us."
Whi-Two was taking another spoonful of ice cream when she hears him.
"Like what?" she asks.
Her superior gives her a look before sighing.
"Like how the hell could a number of men fit in that rather small warehouse. They can't possibly have entered in any way since the whole place is basically locked down from the roof to the ground, and we were blocking its only entrance."
"There were exactly seven of them," Whi-Two mumbles, taking another spoonful of ice cream. "And the warehouse wasn't small-the boxes were just placed in such a way that it would look like there's only one room, but…" She reaches out for the phone, which the other did not hesitate in handing over.
"Look," she points out, displaying the picture of herself with the boxes of explosives as background.
"These boxes were placed immediately next to the wall, and their shadows caused by your camera's flash looks like this." She zooms in, showing how the shadow casted upward. It was faint, but it was evident.
"Now compare that to how the other shadows looked like…" She scrolled through everything quickly and then flashed one with the craters of drugs. Lack-Two looked at them intently, and noticed that the shadows, indeed, seemed shorter compared to the ratio from the box of explosives from a while ago. Which could only mean one thing:
There was still a cavity between the boxes and the wall behind them-its size big enough to at least fit human beings.
Whi-Two's mentor raises a brow in acknowledgement. He admits that it might have taken him more than an evening to figure out. And yet this girl…
"So, you're telling me that there could have been a bigger portion of the warehouse that we were not able to scour, is that it?"
"Not that it matters," Whi-Two tells him, her eyes still trapped to the phone's screen, still scrolling through the images.
"I think we've gotten enough to write a completely detailed report. At least, to explain everything that's happened for today, if that's really what we're trying to do."
The inspector couldn't keep a smirk from forming on his face.
"Oh?" he asks, leaning forward with a knowing smile. "You think you can do it?"
Whi-Two returns a deadpanned look at him.
"You don't have to coax me into doing this report all by myself," she drawls with a resigned sigh, typing something on her superior's phone, sending all images to hers.
"I was planning on doing it on my own anyway, if it means I can stay away from you a lot more." Then she jolts, and her palm immediately flies to her lips as she looks at him, horrified.
To which Lack-Two only laughs at.
"Normally, I don't tolerate insubordination, but because you think I've caused you this much trouble and you're basically doing me a favor, I'll let this particular one slide…"
Still, the girl watches him carefully.
"But who would've thought..." he continues, gesturing at the waitress from a while ago for the bill.
"...That behind all this erratic and jumpy behavior of yours lies some remarkable skills in detecting…" He chuckles as the girl hands him back his phone, a look of disdain still on her eyes.
"Not bad. I might grow to like you, Detective."
Whi-Two rolls her eyes in disgust, going back to her dessert.
"Can't say the same for you, Inspector."
"...We'll work on that."
-Mission_3 Status: Accomplished-
"The hierarchical structure of officers in UPD is as follows: the whole department is headed by the Department Superintendent, who also heads the Nimbasa Division. Under him are the Colonels heading their respective departments, and under them are the inspectors, who heads their respective units (Units will be further discussed in the next chapters). Under the inspectors are the officers of various ranks, each assigned to their respective units." - Excerpt from the UPD Trooper's Manual, Chapter 1: Hierarchy.