Chapter Three: CRIME AND CORRUPTION
1260 Words
"This had better be good." Nico, now Alexandro Vega, thought as he walked down the halls. His parents changed his name after the whole Lucy m******e to protect him from the press and mafia. It became an embraced development when he joined the police force.
Now, after 4 years of walking through these halls, he was sick of the smell of sweat, smoke, competition, and corruption.
It was there in mould on the walls, and in the damp uniforms they wore. It annoyed Alexandro because everyone else pretended everything was alright. Posters about integrity and the police being friends of civilians hung above men who shook hands with criminals. A donation plaque given as a bribe to conceal a crime sat on a wall, thanking the police for their good work.
Nico stood head and shoulders above everyone as they gathered in the common room for a 'quick announcement'. His cold blue eyes were fixed on the administrator, his arms folded, his muscles flexing. He ground his teeth as his perfectly angled face flexed under his smooth skin. Jessica Reines, his partner, stood half a step behind Alexandro's right shoulder, her posture straight, hands loose by her sides.
The administrator went on about cutting costs, restrategizing, and directing energies towards the 'collective good'. The administrator said "community trust" twice, as if repeating it made it real. His pot belly pushed against his belt.
Alexandro refused to accept the idea that the administrator was now openly playing against the force.
They never did it openly. They did it with paperwork. With reassignment. With "budget constraints." With concealed conversations among the who-who.
Alexandro watched the man's mouth and saw it twitch. His eyes darted from left to right. A cop who knew how to catch liars should be a good liar himself, but not this one. Not the administrator. He was a bad cop.
"….for this reason, we are withdrawing all officers from the units around 200th street."
Nico turned sharply. This had to be a charade. 200th Street was the closest turn to Blackthrone mansion. Withdrawing the units meant giving up on pinning down Dominick Blackthrone. It meant letting The Slayer off the noose. It meant letting Lucy down. No.
His arms unfolded. His boots had shifted forward. He felt himself moving before he had decided to. Heat rushed into his chest, into his throat, into his hands. He was already stepping toward the administrator's podium.
Jessica's hand caught his forearm.
Jessica, his colleague, stops him. He looks at her incredulously.
"Alexandro, no." She mouths.
She shakes her head with a stern look. One that tells him it is a losing battle. That the strings were being pulled far above them, in places where badges had no power.
He had stopped only because Jessica had stopped him. Not because he agreed. His body tensed, and he struggled to hold back.
They were so close. He knew it. So close to unfolding all of Blackthrone's lies and catching The Slayer. So close to ripping the mask off the whole empire and finally watching it bleed in the light.
They were so close to getting revenge for all the victims of their cartel, including the favourite person in the world, Lucy.
He could still remember her little, kind face and fiery attitude. She had laughed at his stupid jokes. The blood, the screams, the shadows that swallowed him when he saw his best friend carried away. These memories overwhelmed him.
His fingers closed around the necklace he now wore beneath the fabric. The chain was a reminder of his punishment for his cowardice and his promise to find Lucy by all means. It had never left him. Not on duty. Not in his sleep.
"Alexandro?" Jessica's voice was low, meant only for him. "Are you okay? Hey, Alexandro?"
He jolted back from the nightmarish memory.
"Yeah." His mouth was dry. He had forced the words out. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Apart from the fact that it was difficult to remember his code name was Alexandro at times, he also found himself lost in what started him on this path in the first place. Revenge. Power. Penance.
He had carried an unshakable guilt for fifteen years. A guilt that made him quit all his dreams and plans for aeronautics and go full throttle into the police force. He had been built for skies once, but now he lived in filth and fluorescent lighting, chasing monsters because he had been one cowardly boy. And now that he was this close, after dedicating all this time to finding Lucy, alive or dead, this administrator, whose pot belly was filled with the bribes, told them to call off the one operation that would pin down The Slayer once and for all. The ruthless Slayer who killed everyone who dared to cross Blackthrone. The ruthless Slayer who hurt Lucy. He remembered that night, Dominic Blackthrone had called the name "The Slayer". He didn't know what, but he knew that the criminal had something to do with the traumatic events that took place that night, and the years following always proved him right. When he got his hands on him….hmm.
"Alexandro. It's okay," Jessica held his tight fist. He looked down at her 5'9 frame, then relaxed.
What would Lucy be like right now? Would she be this kind, calm? Would she understand him? Forgive him? Would she even be alive?
His thoughts were interrupted by the administrator's shrill voice.
"Now to assignments. Alexandro Vega and Jessica Reines."
The administrator had read it, as if he were enjoying the corrupt game.
Alexandro's head had lifted.
"Your unit is hereby reassigned to patrol duty on 49th Street." The administrator's smile widened, and his eyes gleamed with mischief. "You and your partner are to maintain the decorum there, monitor streets, alienate every form of teenage miscreancy."
Anger flashed in Nico's eyes.
"Huh?" he had barked. He had stepped forward, boots hitting the floor hard enough to echo. "49th Street is on the other side of town. Are you demoting us?"
The room stayed silent.
It was a thick and cowardly silence. Nobody had met his eyes for long. They stared at the floor, the walls, their own hands, anywhere except him.
"We are special ops for crying out loud." His voice had risen, controlled but sharp enough to cut. "We are not here to watch a couple of random teenagers who do some petty stealing. We are here for the big fish."
He looks around, incredulous at the silence. It was as though everyone was in on it.
"What's going on here?" he demanded, scanning the room. "How can we just sit here and let this happen? You…”
Jessica looked towards the administrator's office door, then the cameras. This was not the time for rash action.
"You are standing here like this is normal." He pointed, not at anyone specific, at all of them. "Like we are not letting Blackthrone off the hook."
The administrator, impatient with Nico's bawling, interrupted.
"—Vega. This is command from high up. Now, one more word and you'll be susp—"
"—to hell with this place." His eyes had gone ice-cold, his face smooth again, anger turning clean. "I'm out."
He had turned on his heel.
"Come back here Vega!"
But Alexandro was already out the door. His partner, Jessica, scurried right on his heels. He clenched the necklace that hung on his neck and muttered words only he could hear.
"I will find you, Lucy. Dead or alive, I will."
- Writer
