Officer Duremas's Story

2300 hours, Colcord Dock yards

Rick leaned against a police cruiser with a Styrofoam cup in his hand, his other hand tucked into his pocket as he stared listlessly at the scene in front of him.

An entire shipping container, filled with a bunch of goods to be shipped off to some warehouse, was cordoned off and surrounded by local police and customs officers. Apparently, mixed in among these harmless goods to be sold, customs had discovered several dozen firearms, and illegal drugs.

Trafficking was kind of his department in the NPA, and as such he'd been dispatched to the scene.

"Do we have any serial numbers on the weapons?" Rick asked in monotone to the officer that walked up the cruiser. He glanced at the name on the cop's uniform, Duremas.

"Filed off." Duremas said as he handed Rick a manila folder.

"Of course they are." Rick sighed, draining the coffee and tossing the cup away as he took the folder. Photographs of the seized contraband. The drugs aside, the weapons were nothing too over the top. A few military assault rifles, some SMG's and a lot of pistols. It looked like your standard arms smuggling...nothing like what he'd been expecting to be coming in from Volaria eventually.

"Any hits on finger prints?" Rick asked.

"Nothing from the database." Was his reply.

"Shipping manifest?" Rick sighed, flipping through the photos some more.

"Container was never on it, must've been snuck on."

"Origin?"

"Ship was from Solinus." Duremas regarded the Fed with a quiet skepticism. He'd never seen any Agent that was wound tighter than a two dollar watch.

Rick yawned. "Well, I assume you lot know the routine. Make sure I have the report on my desk tomorrow morning and I'll see what I can dig up. I doubt I'll find anything you guys haven't by now."

"Yes sir." Again Duremas was shocked. Fed's usually threw their weight around like it was part of the job, but this one seemed...just plain lazy. He wondered if he cared at all. "We'll uh, we'll keep in touch."

"Great." Rick said as he started to walk away. "I'm gonna look around a bit before heading off, make sure to do a search on all the containers that came off the ship. And get me an interview with the ship's captain as well as a full list of the crew."

Duremas nodded and watched as the NPA agent just walked off. Did he consider himself above all this? Or did he just trust the local officers that much? He wondered.

"Hey You-Get away from there!"

Rick stopped and turned his head when he heard Officer Duremas shouting. He spotted the young lady, obviously disregarding the police officers as she headed right towards the seized crate. Almost immediately Rick's warning bells were going off, and when he glanced at the surrounding officers, he noticed they were picking up on the same things.

Usually someone only had one of two reasons for showing the kind of confidence that this girl possessed. They were either really stupid, or knew they had the right to be.

Rick saw that many of the officers were already reaching for their weapons. He recalled what he had read about Asteria's local law enforcement. It seemed that even your basic beat cop had to pass some pretty intense training regiment to make it onto Asteria's Police Department. He also recalled that many of the locals agreed that Colcord's local division, Precinct 7 as they called it, was notably adept at handling many out of the ordinary situations.

Duremas stepped into the girl's path, his hand hidden behind his waist as he blocked her from reaching the crate.

"This area is under criminal investigation. Please remove yourself before I'm forced to place you under arrest."

Rick arched a brow. He really was quite surprised at the dedication these local cops showed, and they weren't nearly as unreasonable as Wing's.

Beneath her bangs, the young girl glared at Duremas, her hands curling into fists. She lifted her chin and blew air out of her nose, unimpressed. She leaned over to look behind the officer, eyes scanning the container. Her lids narrowed until her eyes were but glimmering slits. The fingers to her right hand crackled as they antsed on her leg.

It was then that she pivoted to her left and did her best to just walk past the officer, like he was a brick wall.

Rick watched, his interest held by this girl who showed no care at all.

What did she have to do with the container? He wondered.

Duremas was less interested, while the look she'd given him had put him off slightly, he still had a duty to perform. As she tried to walk around him, the hand he'd hidden behind his waist swung around and low. Rick made out the crackle of a taser being charged. Duremas tried to grab onto her wrist and twist her arm up as he attempted to drive the electrified tips into the skin that would be exposed.

The girl made a struggle, though it wasn't as desperate as one would have expected in such a situation. Her arm was twisted upward easily, and she was definitely shocked. But... she didn't go down. Her knees were bent and her teeth visibly grit. It wasn't as though she wasn't in pain- she very obviously was. But despite being a small girl who should have hit the ground the moment the electricity hit her, she managed it.

She didn't even say a word. Not a whimper.

Rick's brow shot up.

Duremas was soon reinforced by another pair of officers who, with the combined effort of all three men, tried to wrestle the girl to the ground.

Rick decided to take a close look, and as one of the officers pulled a pair of cuffs off his belt, he walked over to the mass of bodies.

It took a bit of effort. The girl managed to lift a foot and kick one right in the gut before the other got her down. Her stockings ripped on the ground as she landed on her knees, even then still trying to fight. The electrical weapon had done a number to her, despite her struggle. Her muscles contracted painfully, some delayed, pulling a grunt from her. But she had eyes only for the container. She tried to pull against the officers with a mass of strength, one foot landing on the ground.

The cuffs were put on tight with a click. And Duremas stepped back with a huff, letting the other officers restrain her. One of them put his knee, with all of his weight, on the base of her neck. While the other tried to get himself onto her legs.

Her view of the container would be blocked when Rick stepped directly in front of her face.

He bent at the knees and squatted in front of her, his arms on his knees as he inspected her curiously.

"This one's gotta be nuts." Duremas remarked, as he straightened his appearance before moving to secure her weapons.

Rick said nothing in response as he lowered his head to get a better look at her face, trying to force eye contact.

The girl's electric blue eyes locked right onto Rick's stubbornly, trying to move her body though it was as pinned as it was going to get. Her face scrunched in a snarl. "Wake up," she said, her voice slightly high, but raspy. "Wake up!" she hollered, jerking her body to the side.

Rick's brow furrowed as she continued to fight. Wake up? He was awake, surely everyone else was...

"See!" Duremas sighed. "Just a nut, probably had too much to drink or something."

Rick wondered about that...he had yet to meet many people who could endure the effects of a taser, never mind while already intoxicated.

He took hold of her chin and tilted her head up slightly to get a better look at her pupils. They weren't dialated, nor were they contracted. He didn't suspect drugs. He let her go, and held his fingers in front of her face for a moment.

And then he snapped his fingers.

The girl and her weapons dissolved as soon as Rick snapped. She became complete nothingness, little particles of light that pulled apart and then faded, leaving the handcuffs to clatter onto the ground.

And at that same moment, three people in the city jolted awake, glanced around fearfully, and eased back into bed tentatively.

Rick rose to his feet, as did the baffled officers. One of them picked up the fallen handcuffs and gawked.

"Fuckin supes, always creep the fuck out of me." Duremas spat as he hastily lit up a cigarette as he turned to look at Rick. "What do you suppose all that was about?"

Rick glanced at Duremas, and then turned to stare at the crate. "I don't know. But I've got a feeling something is coming."

The night air had a chill in it as Rick walked out of Precinct 7. He'd spent the whole day watching Officer Duremas, whom he'd had assigned to be his local liaison officer, conduct interviews. They had questioned every single crew member of the ship that the intercepted arms crate had arrived on. There was little to no leads there, the crew all had a spotless record.

Rick sighed heavily. Finding the origin of the crate was going to be near impossible. If only customs hadn't secured it like they did....

Still, it wasn't like he had nothing. As he walked down the sidewalk towards the parking garage, Rick found himself picturing the face of the young woman that had appeared that night. He knew that if he could find her....he could somehow figure out where to go next with this case.

Not that he had to walk very far. The white-haired girl appeared right into the garage, standing at the end with her eyes on him. She was dressed the same as before, arms crossed, lids narrowed. She lifted her chin and then tilted her head. Like before, she didn't say anything at all, but she tapped her foot and made it a statement to be seem impatient.

Rick walked over to the girl slowly, his hand on his hip. While he didn't view her as a threat, he couldn't ignore that fact she'd just held him at sword point. He stepped in front of her, bending at the knees.

It was the second time that they'd been in this position.

He glanced at her wounds, the cut in her hand was harmless, but it was the laceration at the back of her ankle that worried him the most. A ruptured achilles tendon was a painful injury, and one with a long recovery time. While non-surgical treatment options existed, she'd definitely need to go to a hospital.

He then locked eyes with her, and wore the same expression as when she'd threatened his safety. "You should tell me what you know."

He heard the soft jostle of equipment on someone who was running. Within seconds Duremas arrived, along with several other officers wearing tactical gear. Rick rose a hand at them, making several quick gestures, before turning back to Rinika. The officers then spread out, making sure the garage was secure.

The girl silenced, a distinct contrast to how chatty she was earlier. She glared at Rick, reaching one hand down to clasp over her sliced tendon. That boy's aim was good. She didn't have a chance with that speed right now. Her perception was lacking.

But she didn't give up- nor did she disappear like the man did. She tried not to let the detective know that she was having a hard time with that in particular. She just grit her teeth and beat the ground with her fist.

Captured. Shit.