Shelly Reed's Story

It was some time later while Kraggen was working over putting together the case file that an officer poked his head in on them.

"Sir, the Deputy Director of the NPA is here," the officer explained. "She wants to speak to you."

It didn't take a genius to figure out that it likely meant that the WCPD had a case that the NPA had taken an interest in. The question only remained which one. Whatever it was, it was a prominent case if the NPA had sent their Deputy Directory to oversee it.

Meanwhile out in the other room, Shelly Reed was waiting to speak with Kraggen, whom she had specifically asked to speak with directly. Josh and Bray's shared link to O'Leary left Bray as the NPA's best next lead into their investigation regarding Shanthi's disappearance. Given the involvement of a foreign diplomat, that put this case well above the heads of the local law enforcement but she didn't much imagine the department would care to have their case swiped from them; they never did. Best that she explain the situation to Kraggen directly.

"Shit." The bearish man cursed, barking at the officer further. "Keep an eye on Braydon here."

Leaning closer, he murmured more quietly. "He doesn't leave this room without me knowing about it. See to it."

With a sigh, Kraggen made his way over to the room, a deep scowl etched on his face as he closed the door quietly behind him. "Been too long Shelly to come sneaking up on me like this. What'dya want?"

"Good to see you too," Shelly remarked at his scowl. "I'm here because you have my suspect," she explained. "James Braydon."

That the NPA had responded so quickly even before Braydon had been processed likely meant that someone within Kraggen's own department had tipped the NPA off - a no doubt irritating prospect for the Chief.

"He's part of an ongoing NPA investigation."

"Well, shit again."

Rubbing his face, he glared at the closed blinds concealing them from the main room, turning to face Shelly directly. The irritation that showed on his face was partly having his case tipped to the NPA already, and more with having his first act at cleaning up the department to begin with already being taken out of his hands.

"And you couldn't have told me this before? We had to deal with Tech Con to get him, dammit."

With a heavy sigh, the Chief seemed to deflate slightly, and more softly he continued. "Smelled something more than just breaking cover, though. Something bigger going on? Cause I really don't want to just let this one go."

"We didn't know he was here, until you guys picked him up," Shelly admitted. "We didn't even know he was still alive, but him turning up now is too much of a coincidence. You know that Volarian diplomat that went missing?" Shelly asked.

The NPA had been swift in assuming control of that particular case, given the involvement of a foreign diplomat.

"Our only lead up and vanished a few weeks ago, but your guy here was under cover investigating the same man our suspect was working with. This guy is our best shot right now of finding that girl."

"I see." Rubbing at the bridge of his nose again, Thad sat against a deck and looked to Shelly. "Ten years, he's been sitting in a file box in my new office. Kinda hard to just let an oversight from my predecessor go. But, it's you."

"Anything I should know? Really hate just turning him over to you, particularly..." The man gestured out the curtains. "With the Volary connection? I already had to deal with Tech Con today, and I want a warning if someone else is going to come through that door."

"I have a warrant on the way over to mind trawl him," Shelly explained. "We just want this girl found before this becomes an international incident. Get me an observation room, and you can question him all you want. Once I have what I need we'll get out of your hair and he's all yours."

"Alright. Sounds fair enough." Glancing at the papers in his other hand, he extended them to Shelly. "Then you get to fill out the rest of this while you wait, and I get this show on the road."

The smug smile on his face was broken only by the closing of his lone eye. Whether it was a wink or a blink?

He's let her guess as he headed towards the door.

The main lobby of the station slowly opened up, and a single Asian looking female was slowly walking into the lobby itself. She had on a dark colored jacket, white collared shirt and dark colored slacks, and her dark hair stopped just below her shoulders.

Standing in the middle of the lobby, the woman briefly looked around, before she approached the Desk Sergeant.

"I'm here to speak with the Chief, and the investigator in charge of the Brayden James case." The woman said calmly. "It is an urgent matter."

Shelly watched quietly from the observation room adjacent to where Bray was being questioned. She pursed her lips against Bray's flood of thoughts. Eastern Solinus was a huge place, they would need Bray to narrow things down. The news that he would try to get off planet was potentially key though.

She pulled her phone from her pocket and put it to her ear.

"Get a bulletin out on O'Leary," she spoke into the phone. "We have reason to think he might try to leave Terra. Make sure it gets out to every space port."

There had been something about Corey's body that had crossed Bray's mind, but his thoughts had shifted too swiftly for her to get more than an impression that the man was dead - possibly at O'Leary's place.

She didn't know who this Vulpes was that they were talking about, but she intended to find out. For now though she was relegated to sifting through his thoughts on whatever line of questioning Thaddeus and Keiko instigated. Unfortunately trying to access Keiko's own thoughts directly would be highly illegal and likely grounds for an international disaster.

"I'm fairly certain Brayden's answered the question on knowing the contingencies, Detective Yukiyama." The chief finally spoke up, his tone firm and unrelenting. "If this O'Leary changes his plans often, the information he has for you is likely badly outdated. You know as well as I do that criminals don't leave critical information in the hands of the people that betray them."

'Isn't that right, Mr. Brayden? Any information you might hold is as good as worthless, after two months out of the loop of a man known for his paranoia regarding his own plans, correct?"

Keiko nodded rather innocuously, and then she stood up. "I think I have everything." She said, folding the paper into it's envelope, inclining her head to Brayden, and Thaddeus.

She then moved towards the door, and with two knock, the officer opened it to allow her to leave, it was then she stopped and turned to the officer outside the door. "I'd like to speak with the NPA Agent that's here." She said calmly, and the Officer scowled but reluctantly lead her to the door of the observation room, opening it to allow Keiko to enter.

Her eyes fell on Shelly.

"May I have a word with you?"

"Now isn't the best time," Shelly replied.

Skimming Bray's thoughts while also holding a discussion wasn't liable to work well in her favor. Keiko would only prove a distraction from the questioning at hand.

"What did you need?" she asked.

Waiting until Keiko had left, Thaddeus turned to view Bray directly, his eye hardening. "So, onto business."

"Records show that you were sent undercover in Solinus, but I find you here. Do you deny that you broke your cover and attempted to use your status to leave the Wing City Police Department?"

Unpleasant business, interrogating a police officer, but it had to be done, and done publicly. Bray just happened to be the unfortunate first one that the new Chief had uncovered to purge from the department.

Bray sighed. "That wasn't my intent. I didn't break my cover. They don't know that I'm a Wing City cop. They never found out so technically I never broke my cover." He told the Chief. I didn't break my cover. No one found out. I can get myself out of this mess and be with Lena and Devon. Then all I have to make sure is that O'Leary doesn't find out what Lena and I did, and that Devon is my son, not his. That was the main thing.

"So yes, I deny it. I never used any status to try and leave the force. I just stopped handing in my reports. I was still there undercover, technically. It was only two months ago that I wanted out of O'Leary's Trafficking and came here instead, bringing Lena and Devon with me. I just wanted out of that. I wanted to be with my family. I hadn't heard anything from the WCPD in seven years. I didn't think they cared otherwise they would have been in contact with us sooner." He told Thaddeus.

"Can't we just ignore this? I haven't done anything wrong, technically. I'm not causing any trouble. I'm just with my family setting up somewhere new. I have no intent on causing any trouble at all." Well, I haven't caused trouble here since I've gotten back. Now all I have to do is make sure that he doesn't find out what really happened to Corey or find his body. But O'Leary can go down for that crime too. He'll be going down for a lot, anyway, once he's caught.

Keiko turned to Shelly, and she inclined her head slightly. "If anything noteworthy comes from this investigation, notify me immediately. The bastard's lying to my face but with dudley-do-right in there, my options are limited.

"Normally in his situation, if it were us, we'd escalate to more... advanced interrogation methods. I personally find that the subjects respond well to prolonged physical and mental anguish. But I have neither the tools, nor the time." She said, clasping her files.

"In the spirit of diplomatic cooperation, I'll be in touch. Thank you for seeing me." Keiko said calmly, before she turned to leave, visibly frustrated.

That lone eye zeroed on Bray's, narrowing slightly. "When you were assigned undercover, you didn't have a family, Brayden, so using that as an excuse just caught you in a lie."

"As an undercover agent of this department, you were expected to continuing to turn in reports by whatever means necessary until the assignment was called ended. I apologize that my predecessor forgot you, but by simply abandoning your post without informing us, you deserted your duty. And, given that you did so in secrecy, means you hadn't intended on checking back in at the office." Coldly stated and dryly spoken, the bearish man drilled in on James, his scowl deepening.

"As well, we still haven't found a trace of your partner assigned with you."

Leaning closer, Thaddeus glared down on the smaller man. "Where is he?"

Bray frowned. "I got my family while undercover. If it wasn't for them I'd still be there probably." Though I didn't have a family when I stopped sending reports. "It was them that made me want to get out. I hadn't heard from Wing City in years. What could I have done. Come back after being missing for seven years and just go 'oh hey, I am still here and now I want out?' Highly unlikely." He told the Chief. "I did what I thought was best because no one seemed to be looking for me. I wasn't betraying the force. I wasn't off joining other forces and giving the information I knew away. I was never going to say anything about what I knew."

And then Thaddeus brought up his partner and Bray's expression changed to a darker one for a second before he set his jaw, his frown deepening.

"Corey's dead. He died seven years ago. His cover was blown. O'Leary had him beaten and killed. I wasn't suspected. I managed to keep my cover, barely." It had taken me killing Corey and then cutting all contact with the WCPD just to ensure that my ass was safe and that O'Leary trusted me. I killed my best friend, brother and partner. There was some kind of sorrow somewhere deep in Bray for what he'd done, but he'd long ago learned to shut down his emotions and not show that he cared. You couldn't care when working for O'Leary.

Caring got you killed. Corey got killed. And now Bray understood what caring for family meant. He loved Lena and Devon and didn't want to see anything happen to either of them. "I couldn't save Corey. All I could do was make sure that I didn't get caught up." Maybe I could have taken out O'Leary and his goons instead of shooting Corey dead. I was trained to defend and kill if need be. Maybe I could have done that option. But then if caught we both would have been tortured and killed. What I did was best for Corey. I saved him from being tortured to death. I made it quick and simple for him. His thoughts though betrayed him. Corey had begged not to be killed. He'd killed Corey just before the man had said his real name.

Shelly's phone rang just as the Taiyou agent left the room. Flipping it open she put it to her ear. Her demeanor lit up at the voice on the other end.

"You're sure it's him?" she asked. "Alright, I'll send a team over right away. Make sure no one else gets in to see him until they arrive."

Hanging up she redialed out, this time calling agent Zheng.

"I just got a call, they picked O'Leary up trying to leave Terra. They're holding him at the spaceport. Get the team over there and pick him up. Have him brought over to the station."

Closing the phone and pocketing it she turned her attention back to the interrogation. Bray was dirty, there was no doubt about that. It was just a matter of proving it now. Once Thaddeus was done questioning him, she would see about getting some people over to O'Leary's place to find Corey's remains.

With brakes that came to a screeching halt a beverage truck, with the HellHound brand soft drinks logo, parked just outside the front doors of the Wing City Police Department. The large vehicle just idling on the curb while the beer bellied driver stepped out with a clipboard in his right hand and a key hanging from a string on a belt spool. He walked over to the first fridge door and pulled on the key to unlock the door; letting the key go and it whipped back into it’s former place when the string reeled back into the spool. The door rose open and inside was a dolly and a few crates of soft drinks.

After some work the dolly and soft drinks were all ready to be wheeled into the building. The driver placed the clipboard on the top crate, pressed his foot against metal bar, and began pushing the dolly towards the front door. He went up the wheelchair ramp and passed a few police officers and gave them a friendly nod like he usually did.

A cop came and opened the door for the man, and with a quick exchange of pleasantries later the driver was inside with his delivery. He walked up to a large scanner and parked his dolly for a quick second.

“Sorry, Bill.” said a guard. “You know the drill.”
“Fine by me, Frankie.” the driver said. “Just doing your job. And you won’t see me arguing with the men and women in blue that keep this city safe.”

The guard smiled and stood up from his computer. “Alright Bill, just keep still.” The guard waved a scanner around Bill’s crates and nothing was detected to be out of the ordinary. He then passed the scanner over Bill and the guard got the same results. “Clean as always, Bill, Now just push the dolly and yourself past the magic scanner and you can sign in.”

Bill pushed the dolly through the machine and not one thing set any alarms off, not even bill himself set any alarms off. Bill and Frankie exchanged a smile once the whole thing was over with. Bill pulled out a can of the HellHound energy drink from a crate.

“Got word from the Management above my Management that Wing City police be given some new promotional drinks for free. Thanks for all the work you guys do for the city.” Bill said. He tossed the cold can to the guard.

“Thanks, Bill!” the guard said. He popped the top of the energy drink and took a few sips. The small sips became big gulps and then it seemed like the guard was chugging the drink down. As if something else was forcing the drink down his throat and wouldn’t let him come up for breath.

When the drink was gone after only quick minute the cop slammed the can on his computer desk. He sucked in the air as if he had been apart from it for too long. “Wow, never chugged a drink like that before. Not really sure why I did it either” he said between breaths. “It was good. One of the new promotional drinks?”
“Yeah, Legion of Lemonade.” Bill said. “Thought I’d give you the first can.” Bill pressed down on the handles and pushed the dolly up to the front desk where he gave the clipboard for the officer to sign. Bill told the officer about the first crate with the free promotional drinks and placed it on the desk. Bill signed the departments guest signup sheet and carried on to fill the department’s vending machines.

The free promotional drinks being picked up by cops passing and going by the front desk. And even more officers going to the front desk when they heard the free HellHound drinks were being given away at the front desk. Pretty soon the crate was empty before Bill himself was even finished stocking the vending machines.

Inside the idoling beverage truck, a group of armed men stood patiently waiting to begin the assault on the Wing City police department. The truck fitted to only carry that one fridge, while the rest of the truck was gutted to hide the men inside.

“When do we attack?” a man said.

“Soon.” Skylar said. “We just have to wait for the right moment. When every can that has Mammon’s poison in it has been taken.”

“How will we know when that happens?” another asked.

“I’ll know.” Mammon said. The demon lord leaning against the wall of the truck and smoking a cigarette. “The poison has a little bit of my blood in it. When they have in their body i’ll know.”
“So how is it the poison and your power isn’t detected by the scanners.” a terrorist asked.

“The Sigils I used to hide my little surprises for the Wing City Department are of an ancient and rare power. Hasn’t been used or even heard of for over a few thousand years now, so their technology won’t recognize it when it scans for it.” Mammon said. “Now lets get ready for the attack boys, Legion is in position.”