No Face's Story

A woman was quick-stepping across the street, confused by the sight of flashing lights and the sound of sirens and gunfire off in the distance. Feeling a sort of bravado steel over her, she sneaked closer, her white hair in a disarray around her ears as she jogged into the thick of things, looking to Preston and the others before fixing her eyes on the building ahead.

Not realizing that the others may not recognize her for who she was, the woman asked, "What's going on?"

She certainly would have heard about it if she had her phone, or a pager.

The woman nodded, uncertain, for the moment, about how to proceed. A hostage situation. She knew she had a few people she could call. So, after a moment, the woman disappeared out of sight, behind barricades so she could make those calls.

It wouldn't be long before the sounds of sirens rent through the air, followed by the sounds of multiple engines roaring through the streets of Wing City.

She'd spent most of the day cleaning up her office, which had taken on more paperwork than she knew what to do with. She'd managed to file the majority of it away, cleaning off the expanse of her mahogany desk, dust a few things, and even light a stupid little scented candle that made the place smell less like nobody had been in it for a month.

Eventually, though, her attention fell to the window, with its view of the streets beyond. She folded her arm against the glass and rested her forehead against her arm.

Thinking about too much, really.

The woman startled, pushing back away from the window and turning on her heel to face the other. Upon spying Kianna, it occurred to her that her first question should be how she had gotten there without her knowing.

As it was, she simply furrowed her brow and crossed her arms over her chest, regarding Kianna with wary curiosity.

"No." she said. "No you're not. Do I know you from somewhere?"

It took a moment for the words to make sense, in her mind. A McGregor, someone related to the Aschen emperor. His wife? Sister? She'd been out of the loop for a little while.

"You're ascended." she noted, finally understanding. She didn't know what to say in lieu to that. 'Sorry for your loss'?

"Something tells me we're not here to talk about mutual experiences." she noted.

"Nothing's ever coincidence." Casey replied simply, walking over so she could lean against her desk. She regarded the woman with slightly narrowed eyes.

"What could one woman like me possibly do to help out an empire?"

"If it was so overwhelmingly obvious that you were attempting to help us in our efforts, then you wouldn't need the assistance of a single police chief to prove a point." Casey noted, leaning back and looking to the ceiling. She wasn't arguing, just stating a fact.

"My responsibility is to keep the Terran population safe." she said with finality. "I don't make bargains to keep the peace, and I will not, under any circumstance, compromise what integrity I've salvaged for this organization just to make sure I've got the bigger guns on my side."

Her expression was determined, if nothing else. "I digress, the Armistice is still intact. I'll uphold that to the best of my ability, but you needn't worry yourself with bothering to supply us with weapons. None of us will have it." she half smiled then.

"Most would be offended to have the help, honestly."

"I'm simply setting boundaries." Casey replied in a near-hiss, unfazed by Kianna's indignant response. "Because I've found, no matter the affiliation or moral standing, that if you don't do that from the beginning, then you set yourself up for being taken advantage of."

Her smile turned a bit ironic after that. "Is that why Mollem was unusually fond of me? I should have known that there was more to it than what I'd originally thought."

She regarded Kianna, frowning thoughtfully. "I already said I would uphold the law. In fact, it's a bit upsetting that you thought it was necessary to have to come and remind me of that fact, or did you not realize why I was kidnapped by the Taiyou?"

Because she hadn't renounced her affiliation with the Aschen, to begin with.

Am I?

Casey shook away the distilled thoughts of doubt as she considered Kianna's request. Of course she could do it, and she had been planning on a press conference regardless. Still, her pride made her hesitant to want to do it simply because this Aschen Ascended suggest she do so.

"Of course." she stated finally, rising and moving to look out the window again.

"It's funny how I wasn't even born here, but this place feels more like home than anywhere else I've been."

"We'll get it done." Casey said with finality. "I haven't worked as hard as I have to not be able to promise myself that much." She looked back to the woman in the arm chair.

"Was there anything else you needed?"

It wasn't long after that the infamous police chief came jogging up the steps to the police station, punching in the code that would unlock the door for her. She slipped inside, glancing around at the near-empty desks, and padded her way over to her office.

She needed a couple of things and she'd be on her way. It was only a matter of time before something would call her attention away from the family she was struggling to keep safe.

"Afternoon, Casey," Sonya leaned on the frame of the door of the chief's office with a raised eyebrow. The agent was clad in body armor, and a shotgun was holstered on her back - evidently she was on duty, just passing through as Casey was.

"Wasn't expecting to see you around again so soon. Alison's been keeping things running smoothly in your absence. Something up?"

"Work's never done," Casey replied, hesitating as she looked to Sonya. Her smile was something akin to fond, especially at hearing that Allison was doing as well as she was. Not like Casey was surprised or anything.

"You busy?" she asked shortly thereafter, stepping around Sonya and disappearing inside before waving her along.

"Something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh, y'know, just the usual. Interdimensional rift opened in the Plaza to god only knows where, just making sure nothing comes through and kills us all." Sonya rolled her eyes and smirked. "Another day in Wing City. I can spare a moment."

She followed Casey into the office, where neat stacks of organised paperwork were left from Alison's last visit. Everything was categorised and neat. "Everything okay back at home?"

"This isn't my office." Casey muttered under her breath, glancing around at the papers that were organized around the room. After a moment of distractedly looking around, she looked back to Sonya.

"Oh! You know, the usual. Family drama. Can't really get any rest even though I'm finally home."

She narrowed her eyes in thought.

"I was thinking of running for president."

"Alison's been busy," Sonya remarked with a smirk, "She had an organising whirlwind a while ago. You've seen her office, it's practically a filing cabinet."

Then Casey's last sentence clicked. "Come again, president? That was a joke, right? I'm gonna go with a joke, because of all the political drama around you." Sonya couldn't quite picture Casey as President, but then, maybe politics could use someone a bit more personable. "Don't you dare go off into politics. You're a victim of foreign nations often enough just being the bloody chief of police, you don't need the extra attention."

She shook her head, "Alison never shuts up about politics being a shitshow whenever it comes up, from experience. And I'm inclined to agree with her."

"Of course I was kidding." Casey made a face that was borderlined comical. "Yet, I get so much political attention it would only make sense if I actually lent some credence to my title." She sat in her desk chair, pushing it into a single, lazy spin before coming to a stop to regard through slightly narrowed eyes.

"But since we're on the subject," she said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "I was approached by an Ascended Aschen earlier. She had a pretty interesting request."

She waited for that to sink in.

"Of course you were," Sonya laughed, "There was a time when I would have been surprised by a statement like that, Casey, but you know I'm just starting to accept it nowadays. Rolling with the punches, and all. Go on then, hit me with it. What did this 'ascended' Aschen have to ask?"

Leaning back on the wall, she held up a finger, "And just what does 'ascended' mean? I'm not familiar with that particular brand of Aschen. Sounds like they're even more arrogant than normal, if it were possible."

"They die, but they don't die permanently. It's their version of an angel, I think." Casey replied. "But that's beside the point. What I'm more interested in sharing is this woman's...request."

She pursed her lips, eyes widening briefly before she released the pressure with a 'pop'.

"She asked me to encourage Terran citizens to refrain from attacking the Aschen." she put forth plainly.

"To play nice, basically."

Sonya raised an eyebrow, "Can't say I can picture them ever being angelic..." she murmured, before shrugging. "Well, bastards they might be, but fair's fair. We aren't at war or anything, unlike with the space-japs, so I would've thought that not going after them would be obvious. Just what did she mean by 'encourage'?"

"Press conference." Casey replied. "Or something similar. I think, long story short, she's trying to put me in a position where I'm...basically...stating that the Wing City Police Department is going to work alongside the Aschen to fight the Taiyou."

She frowned.

"I don't like being affiliated with either, honestly."

Shaking her head, Sonya grimaced. "So don't. She wants you to encourage people not to attack the Aschen? Do that, and don't budge an inch further than you have to. The peace with the Aschen stays, and we don't have to align ourselves with them and draw the Taiyou down on our department again. We aren't soldiers, and their war isn't ours."

The blonde agent stepped across the room with an exasperated sigh, leaning onto the window sil. "Let's take the back seat on this one, Casey. We're a fucking police department, not an army. If the war comes to us, then we've no choice but to fight it, but let's do our best to keep it off our doorstep."

Her lips pursed again, and she lowered her head into her hands. "She alluded to helping me, when I was ... Hatchet's prisoner."

An involuntary shudder travelled down her spine. "And I think there was something implied about 'I scratched your back, so its time for you to scratch mine'. I'm a little concerned that there will be repercussions if I don't say what she wanted me to stay."

Her expression was grim as she lifted her head to look at Sonya.

"Screwed either way."

Sonya was silent for a few moments as she stared off out the window, frowning in thought. "Alright," she finally said, "Well, if you've got to say it, pick your words carefully. Try and say something that isn't going to make us a target. Have the reference to the Aschen, reminding people we're at peace with them, but keep the rest more distanced. Say we're supporting the TNG in the war, not the Aschen. That keeps us off the damn Coalition's bad side at the very least."

She sighed, leaning back and straightening. "Rock and a hard place, eh? I'll admit, the Aschen might be bastards, but I'll take them over the Taiyou any day. At least the Aschen have never set up fucking death camps in our city before. Far as I'm concerned those genocidal bastards can eat shit and die." Sonya coughed, "In the least racist way possible."

She had to smile.

"I'll figure out something." she told her, putting her hands behind her neck and leaning back in her chair. "God knows I'm going to fuck up something fierce and have some raging universal power come down on my head. I've made a habit of that lately."

She glanced to Sonya. "You know, when I took this job, this was the very last thing I expected to deal with on a frequent basis. If I had my way, I'd be working undercover with the damned Casey mob."

Sonya shrugged her shoulders, "The higher up you get, the closer you are to the shit from the people who think themselves above us all." she remarked, "If you want my opinion, sod the underlying implications. We're the police, we enforce the law. We don't do more than that, 'cause it isn't our place or our job. We don't make the laws, we don't fight wars..."

Sonya waved a hand, "Tell the people no killing the Aschen, tell them that the law still holds even with all this shit going on. Most of the Aschen have fled the city, anyway. I wouldn't declare anything more drastic than that, if I were you."