GASHANK.  GASHANK.  GASHANK.

“Hmmm…they’re holding up fine under the weight.  Joints…seem fully functional.  Battery…93%…So about two hours…Ren, how’s it looking on your end?”

“It’s all smooth over here, little buddy.  Everything’s checking out…front camera’s on, too.  Which is good, cause I want to see how many people are freaking out right now.”

“….Pretty much everyone’s cleared the street.  They all just…kinda started running.”

Ren laughed to himself.  He was in the back of their garage’s truck, after Kin had just left in the prototype.  He got out in an alley, where there weren’t that many people around - once he got within view of the main street, people started panicking to get out of the way.

“Uh…that’s…not good, probably.”  Kin reported in.  “I think I saw someone calling 911, as they were getting out of the way.”

“Oh?  Well, I guess we better hurry up then, before the cops get here.  You don’t wanna get locked up for the second day in a row, do you?”

“…No, but…well, you think anyone’s really gonna be able to stop me?”

Ren thought for a second, and chuckled to himself - a more worn out, tired sort of laugh then before - before responding.  “Doubt it, kid.  Not in what you’re driving at the moment.  But we should probably avoid the unwanted attention for the moment, yeah?”

“…Yeah.  Okay.”  Kin responded, as Ren put the radio down and looked over the statistics.  All green.  Everything was running smoothly…well, apart from maybe the driver’s mindset, of course.

Ren leaned back as he let his thought wander for a minute.  He still couldn’t believe he let Kin talk him into this.  But yet, here he was.  Even after a full night to sleep on it, to try to think of ways to talk Kin out of it, he just couldn’t do it.  The sight of the prototype starting up last night kept jumping in his head. 

A test run.  That’s all it is, he kept telling himself.  Kin can get his business done, and we can find out just how capable our baby is.

“…ear me?  …Ren?  Are you there?”  The voice came back from the radio, breaking Ren out of his train of thought. 

He grabbed his receiver and said, “Yeah, I’m here.  What’s wrong, Kin?”

“…I’m at the location,”  The smaller voice crackled back.  “So…I’m gonna go in now.”

“Loca…oh.  Right.  You’re there.”  Ren put the radio down for a moment and sighed.  Well, guess I’ll give it one more try, he thought to himself.

Picking up the radio again, he took a deep breath and said, “Okay Kin - last chance before you go off the deep end completely with this.  The test is running great - better than we expected, right?”

“………”  Radio silence on the other end.

“Kin?  You listening to me?”  Ren called out again.

“….Yeah.”  Kin finally responded.  “Yeah it’s…it’s running perfectly.  Better than…well, then we were ever expecting.”

“I know, right?”  Ren nodded as he talked.  “The test has been perfect.  We’ve got amazing data on this, Kin…we could pretty much pack up right now and complete the other tests back in the garage, out of the public view…what d’ya say?”

“……….Ren.”  The voice crackled in.  “Is there anything else you need to say to me?  Otherwise, I’m gonna go in now.”

Ren stared at the radio for a second.  Well, this wasn’t working.  He laughed to himself - he knew that Kin was a lot more determined than the quiet persona he put on.  He knew that from working with him.  But even he had never seen him this dead-set on something…especially not something quite like this, for this dumb a reason.

“Kin…This is it.  Absolutely, positively end-of-the-line time right here.”  Ren finally said, leaning back in the chair.  “Are you really gonna do this, cause of one goddamn computer?”

“…………”  Radio silence again.  Ren stared at the radio, then glanced over at his instruments.  He could tell that it wasn’t moving.  Kin was at least thinking on it. 

Finally, after another few moments of tense silence, the radio crackled in the response.

“…Sorry, Ren.  I’m not gonna stop on this.”

Ren sighed, and brought the radio back to his lips.  “….No regrets?”

“None,” came the instant response.

Ren threw up his hands, then finally sat back up in his chair.  “Well, I guess that’s it then,” he said as he looked back towards the instruments.  “No going back now.  Let’s make shit take place.”

________

Today’s Word Count: 749

Total Bang! Word Count: 44,794

Total Days Worked: 58

Will began regaling Jack with the story of what he did after leaving the police office.  Returning to the school, running into a flustered Kin, then meeting Patty and accompanying her around town for her errands, all the events of the past twenty four hours were retold, with as much fanfare and glorification as Will could manage without Jack constantly threatening him with bodily harm.

By the time Will was done with his grand epic, he and Jack were just about finishing their lunch in the student center.  Jack put his drink down and looked up at Will, saying, “So, that’s it?  You met the girl and helped her around town?  What happened after that?”

“Well, after I had accompanied the fair maiden on her business throughout the day,” Will continued, “I made sure that she returned to her home completely unharmed, and accompanied her to her very doorstep.”

“You walked her home.”  Jack sighed.  “So then what?”

“Then…” Will shurgged.  “…the tale comes to an end.”

Jack looked up at him.  “….That’s it?”

“Of course.”  Will stared back at him.  “What more should there have been?”

Jack stared blankly at him for a bit, then shook his head.  “So, the hour-long story you just told me, which was apparently the short version of the events, could have been boiled down to, basically, ‘We went on a date, and nothing happened’.  Right?”

“Weeeeeell…” Will shook his head as he leaned back in his chair.  “If you really want to be unimaginative about it, then yes, I guess you could do that.  I much prefer my version, of course.”

“Dammit, man, I don’t caaaare.”  Jack put his head in his hands.  “Did I really need to sit through that?  I just wasted an hour of my life listening to your stories of ‘undying devotion’ and ‘helping the fair maiden’ and references to Gwen-somthing…”

“Guinevere, Jack.”  Will corrected him.

“Right, what I said.”  Jack continued on.  “…I listen to all that, and the point of it was…what, exactly?  You had a nice evening with a girl?  Come on, man.  If nothing was going to happen at the end, couldn’t you have just summed it up in a few words?”

Will shrugged.  “And what, exactly, would have been a suitable conclusion to the story that would have qualified it for my excellent wordsmithing?”

“Well…uh…”  Jack thought for a sec.  “Maybe if you got her to go on another date, or…if she kissed you….or…uh…”

“Yeeees?”  Will leaned in.  “What, exactly did you want to hear me tell you at the end of the story, Jack?”

“…Dammit, it’s really weird talking with you about this…screw it, I’m done talking about this.”  Jack finished his drink and started cleaning up.  “I’m just gonna pretend that you spent an hour in total silence while I ate.  Wait…actually, that kind of creeps me out more…dammit, Will, you are the only guy I know who can piss me off on so many different levels.”

“I guess you are most welcome for that, then!”  Will laughed as he gathered his trash as well.  “Just know that I am always here for you when you need someone to put you into a slow-burning rage, Jack!”

“Yeah, yeah.”  Jack threw out his trash and started walking out, as Will laughed to himself again and did the same.  The two were walking out as another thought popped into Jack’s head.  He turned and asked Will, “Oh yeah…at the start, you mentioned running into Kin, right?  What did you say was wrong with him?”

“Oh, yes, Kin!”  Will nodded.  “Yes, he was quite a bit flustered when I ran into him.  He mentioned something about picking something up in the harbor district…he was very excited about whatever it was.  Why?”

“Uh…”  Jack paused for a bit.  He remembered seeing Kin in the police car yesterday.  After he had gotten released by the police this morning, he asked his uncle about it, but all he said was that the kid had a run-in with asshole-of-the-year Barry McGowen and was released last night.

“Nothing, nothing.”  Jack looked back at Will and shook his head.  “Just worried about the little guy.  Hope he’s doing okay.”

________

Today’s Word Count: 698

Total Bang! Word Count: 44,045

Total Days Worked: 57

“Yaaaawn…well, looks like campus is back to normal.”  Jack sleepily muttered to himself as he walked around the university buildings.  Classes were still cancelled, though it was hard to tell by the activity level on campus.  Most students were still milling about, meeting up with friends or getting together for group projects. 

Jack had just gotten out of Police HQ - Preston let him go once he was done dealing with Beta - so he figured he might as well head to the school and see what was going on there.  Also…he wanted to see if he could find Kin.  Preston told him that he had gotten released last night, so Jack wanted to find out if he was okay - little guy like that didn’t deserve a spot on McGowen’s shit list, no matter what he did.

He looked around campus for a bit, but wasn’t having any luck - guess Kin didn’t need to show up on campus today.  Or maybe he had other plans.  No matter - Jack had a feeling that he’d see him sooner or later.  He figured he could give up looking for him - he had just decided to go grab some lunch before heading back home…

“Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccck!”

…when the piercing scream came for around the corner.  Jack sighed to himself and turned to see the perpetually beaming face of Will Euston, strolling up to greet him.  He glared at him for a bit before shaking his head, muttering, “Can’t you cool down with the excitement once in a while?  I can’t keep up with that all the time, man.”

“Oh, I’m sooooooooo very sorry, Jack!”  Will laughed as he walked up to Jack.  “I will admit, I am surprised that we’re not going through our usual routine, but upon closer inspection, you don’t seem to be quite up to the task today!”

“Hmmm?  Oh…yeah.”  Jack had forgotten about the bandages on his face and arms - he had plenty more on his back and chest, covering up some cuts and bruises from his fight with Beta.  Not that it was an unusual occurrence for Jack to come to campus wrapped up like a mummy, what with all the gangs that were gunning for him.  “Yeah, I was in a bit of a fight last night.  Spent the night at the Police HQ.”

“Ah, that would explain your appearance today, then.”  Will nodded as he looked over Jack’s multiple bandages.  “Well, I guess not all of us could have had perfect nights yesterday, but I am still sad to hear that you got the short end of the stick in that regard!  Don’t you worry - I am sure that tonight will turn out better for you!”

“Yeah…thanks.”  Jack nodded back as he turned and headed to the student center, with Will closely following.  “Hmm…wait, what was that about a perfect night?  What did you do last night?”

“Oh, my evening was absolutely impeccable!”  Will practically started dancing down the street as he recalled the evening.  “It was the dance of fate and love, my beautiful partner and I carving our way through the city , with no one able to stand in our way!  Truly, it was…”

“Okay, okay.”  Jack tried to settle Will a bit.  “Cool it - people are watching, dammit.  And please, if you’re going to tell me, would use a human language?  Could you do that for me?”

Will stopped dancing, turning around and walking backwards as he talked to Jack.  “Oh, very well, if you insist.  Though I really wish you would hear the elongated version one day - I’m particularly proud of stanzas twelve through fourteen - but I suppose we’ll have to go with the abbreviated version for now.”

________

Today’s Word Count: 624

Total Bang! Word Count: 43,347

Total Days Worked: 56

Dempster opened the door and walked in, followed quickly by Sheridan.  The giant had the pencil in his hand, writing out a few things on the notepad that he had been left with.  He looked up to the detectives as the walked in, then finished jotting down his last note before putting the pencil down.

“Well, Mr. Sokol, it’s looks like your…phone call…is over.”  Sheridan sat down as he spoke.  “So, then, I suppose we can get down to the business at hand.  Now then…where did we leave off?”

The giant picked up the notepad and flipped back a few pages.  he then picked up the notepad and showed it to Sheridan.

You had mentioned a man named Beta.

“Oh, yes, that’s right.”  Sheridan nodded.  “As I mentioned, we received a report referring to a man similar in appearance to you, called Beta.  Now, seeing as you asked to make a phone call after you heard this name, I take it that you know something about this Beta?”

The giant nodded as he picked up the notepad and flipped through a couple pages before showing it to the detectives. 

How much do you know?

“Know…?”  Sheridan scratched his head.  “Well, that’s what we’re asking you, Mr. Sokol.  How much you know ab…”  He was cut off, as the giant shook his hand, flipped over another page, then presented it him.

Not about that.  About me.

Ah, Sheridan thought to himself.  Well, no going back now.  He glanced over at Dempster, who nodded back to him.  Sheridan took a deep breath, then said, “We know that you are Beta.  That’s your code name, or whatever.  And we know that you know much more about this case than you’bve told us previously.”

Sokol…no, Beta…stared at Sheridan for a bit, then nodded.  He flipped to a fresh page on the notepad, and then wrote out another note.

What else do you know?

“Well, to be quite honest, we don’t know much.”  Sheridan looked up at him.  “All we know is who you are, and that you know what we need to know.  So I’m asking you one more time, Mr. Beta - what do you know about the multiple murders that have happened over the last few weeks?”

Beta stared down at Sheridan for a bit, then picked up the pad an flipped back a page or so, laying it down in front of Sheridan.

I was sent here by my organization to investigate the murder cases.

“What organization?”  Dempster chipped in.  “Are you working for the government? Is that who you needed to get in touch with?”  Beta shook his head at Dempster, then wrote a note and showed it to him.

No.  My organization has no connection to any government here.  I contacted my master about this situation, and he advised me on what to do.

“Your…master?”  Sheridan scratched his head, then asked Beta, “So, what did he say then?”  Beta flipped back again on the pad and showed him the words.

He said I can talk to you.

“Talk to us about what?”  Sheridan looked back up at him.  Beta thought for a but, then quickly scribbled a new note.

The situation.

“What does that mean?”  Dempster walked over and stood next to the table as he leaned in towards Beta.  “What, exactly, did he tell you to do?”

Beta thought to himself for a moment, then looked away and scratched his head.  Sheridan glanced over at Dempster, who returned the look.  They were both thinking the same thing - he looked aggravated, or…embarrassed, kind of.  Odd.  After a moment, Beta sighed and picked up the notepad, scratching out a new message, which he then showed to the detectives.

It sounds interesting!  Go ahead and tell them whatever you feel like, then!  I’m sure that you’ll know what to say, Beta!  Myahahaha!

Sheridan and Dempster stared at the page for a bit, then glanced back at each other.  They turned back to the giant, who sighed, then picked up the notpad and scribbled out a quick message.

My master is a rather…unusual person.

“…I gathered that.”  Sheridan said as he leaned back in his chair.  “But, at the least, I’m guessing that you won’t mind telling us what you know, then?”  Beta started to nod, then thought to himself for a bit.  He then grabbed the notepad and wrote out another message.

Can I make one request, before I tell you?

“Huh?”  Dempster looked up at Beta.  “What do you want now?”  The scritch scritch noise of the pencil filled the room again as Beta wrote out another note.

I don’t want to discuss this here.  Can we discuss this outside?

Sheridan looked up at Beta, who gestured towards the glass wall.  The one-way mirror.  “Oh…er, I see.  Well, I guess we can go outside, but…” he glanced over at Dempster, who shrugged, letting Sheridan decide.  He sighed to himself, then nodded.  “Yeah, we can go out.  Well, where would you prefer, then?”

Beta smiled, then grabbed the notepad and wrote out another message before passing the pad back to Sheridan.

Do you know any good cafes around here?  I could really use some coffee right now.  It’ll probably be a long day.

________

Today’s Word Count: 873

Total Bang! Word Count: 42,723

Total Days Worked: 55

Hey everyone - remember to take a look over at my other tumblr for updates on Bang! and upcoming projects!  I just posted a set of ideas that I’m considering for my next project - go through them and tell me what you like!

___________

“….He wanted a phone call?”

Preston stared at Sheridan, who just shrugged.  The detectives had come out of questioning a few minutes ago, after agreeing to let Sokol take a 30 minute break to make his phone call.  Sheridan was sitting at the table in the break room, while Dempster was laying down on the couch when the Chief came in and wondered why they weren’t still interrogating.

“That’s what I said.” Sheridan leaned back on the chair, reaching for his coffee.  “The guy said he was offered his one phone call last night, but didn’t see a need to take it.  Apparently our grilling him on the murders was a good enough reason.”

Preston shook his head.  “So…where is he now?”

“Still in the questioning room.”  Sheridan said as he took a sip.  He continued, “I let him make the call on his cell phone, but I left a couple guards to make sure he didn’t try to bolt.”

“Heh…” Dempster laughed to himself on the couch.  “Course, if he wanted to bolt, it’d probably take more than a couple guards to hold him back.”

Preston sighed.  “Alright, alright…so?  How’d it go?”

Sheridan put his cup down got out of the chair and stretched his arms.  “Well, to be honest, I’m not sure.  Guy was pretty calm, through the whole thing…once we started bringing up the murders, he got defensive, started asking for his lawyer, but he didn’t really look worried or anything.”

“Not till we mentioned that name you told us, anyway.”  Dempster mentioned as he dragged himself off the couch.  “Then all of a sudden he wanted to make a phone call.”

“Yeah…”  Sheridan nodded, then looked back at the chief.  “That name is important, right?  You said it had something to do with the super-secret secret thing that Sokol is hiding.”

“Well, the name itself isn’t that important.”  Preston shrugged.  “It’s just that knowing that name means you probably know more about…that stuff.  So I figured that knowing the name would be enough to get him to consider talking a little more.”

“Hmmm…”  Sheridan picked up his coffee cup off the table and took another sip.  “So, what’s the name mean?  I mean, if it’s not that important.”

Preston thought to himself for a second, and then shrugged.  “I guess that wouldn’t reveal too much…okay, yeah.  Beta.  It’s a code name, obviously.  Specifically…well, it’s his code name.  And it’s the name most people know him by.  I don’t know where ‘Nikolai Sokol’ came from, but I kinda doubt it’s his real name, in any case.”

Dempster yawned as he walked over to pour himself another cup of coffee.  “His code name?  What, for like some secret organization or something?  You did say he had nothing to do with the government, so…”

“Ah, ah…I’m not saying anything more than that.”  Preston shook his head.  “That’ll be enough for now.  If you end up finding out, you can ask me all about it later.  Him too, probably.  But for now, I’m staying silent on that part.”

Sheridan sighed as he finished his drink, then looked up at the clock.  It was almost time to go back to the room for more questioning.  He motioned towards Dempster and headed towards the door, saying to Preston, “Well, let see if Sokol, or Beta, or whatever his name is can help us solve this case.”

“Right.”  Preston nodded as he turned to leave.  “Go see how his phone call went.  Maybe he’ll be in a more talkative mood.”

Sheridan nodded back as he and Dempster walked back towards interrogation.  Dempster rubbed his eyes as he walked, prompting Sheridan to look over and ask, “You gonna be able to stay awake in there, Jay?”

“Huh?”  Dempster glanced over.  “Oh, yeah, I’ll be fine.   It just occurred to me, in the break room…That guy wanted a phone call, right?”

“Yeah.”  Sheridan shrugged.  “Why?”

“Well, it’s just…” Dempster shook his head.  “…He’s mute, right?”

Sheridan was quiet for a bit as they walked.  Then, after a few seconds had passed, he said back, “…he is mute, isn’t he.”

Dempster nodded, then said, “So…how does he…”

“Let’s not find out.”  Sheridan cut him off.  “Either he’s very good at faking the disability, or there’s a such a confusing process involved that it is too early in the morning for me to try and understand it.”

The detectives walked in silence the rest of the way.

________

Today’s Word Count: 740

Total Bang! Word Count: 41,850

Total Days Worked: 54

After talking over the strategy with Preston for a bit, Sheridan and Dempster walked in to the investigation room.  Sheridan nodded at the giant and introduced himself, saying, “Good morning.  I’m Detective Sheridan, and this is my partner, Detective Orton.  Sorry for the early wake up call, but we know that you’re going to be released soon, and we had a few questions that we needed to ask you.  Is that fine?”

He stared at Sheridan for a bit, looking a bit confused, before nodding his head.  Sheridan looked over at Dempster quickly, who handed him a folder he had gotten from Preston earlier.  Sheridan thumbed through it quickly, looking over what the interrogation from last night had gotten.  Mostly nothing, just  personal information and going over the fight last night.

After a few moments, Sheridan asked, “Your name is Nicholai Sokol, right?”  Another curt nod from the giant.  Okay, good.  Time to go for a couple more quick softies, then go on to the important stuff, Sheirdan thought.  “Could you tell me more about the fight last night?  What happened, exactly?”

Sokol stared at him for a bit, then scratched his head.  He stayed quiet for a moment, then gestured to his his neck, shaking his head.  Oh, right, Sheridan thought to himself.  The guy’s mute.  Sheridan looked over at Dempster and asked, “Jay, can you lend us your notepad quickly?”  Dempster nodded and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small notepad and a pencil, then handed them to Sokol.

The giant nodded at Dempster, then flipped to a clean page and started writing.  After a bit, he passed the notepad to Sheridan, who took it and read what was written down.

I was attacked.  I defended myself.

Short and simple.  Obviously, since Sokol probably answered the same questions last night.  Sheridan went on with his softball questions, asking about his job and where he was staying.  Sokol either nodded or wrote something down on the page.  Okay, Sheridan thought after a bit.  Let’s get down to business.  “Mr. Sokol,” he said, as the giant stared at the page.  “Are you aware of the multiple murders that have happened in the last month?” 

Sokol looked up and glared at Sheridan for a bit, the pencil not moving on the page.  A few moments passed in silence, then Sokol looked back down, scribbled quickly, and pushed the page towards Sheridan.

Is this important?

“Yes, Mr. Sokol.  I’m afraid it’s very important.”  Sheridan stared back at the giant.  “How much do you know about what’s going on in the city?”  Scritch, scritch, scritch.  Sokol’s pencil moved quickly, and he passed his new message to Sheridan.

I do not want to answer that.

“Why don’t you want to say anything, Nikolai?”  Dempster leaned in, backing up Sheridan.  “Is there a problem?  We’re not implying anything here - we just want to know if you know anything.  If you’ve…y’know, heard something about what’s going on with…”  Dempster stopped himself as Sokol started writing quickly.

Why am I being asked?  Why do you think I know anything?

“To be quite honest, Mr. Sokol,” Sheridan leaned in towards Sokol, “We’ve got reports spotting a person matching your…ah, build, hanging around the investigation scenes of the last few crimes.  A few weeks ago, you were seen by the second crime scene, a couple days after the murder.  Last week, you were at the third crime scene twice, the day after the attack and again two days later.”

“You were also seen at the both of the most recent crime scenes two days ago.”  Dempster added.  “I personally saw you at the fourth murder scene, and you were spotted by an eyewitness hanging around the most recent murder, within minutes of the crime happening.  It seems like you knew a bit about the case, since you seemed to have some interest in the crime scenes.”

Sokol looked over at Dempster for a bit, then back at Sheridan.  After another short silence, the scritch scritch sound of pencil on paper filled the room, and he passed the pad to Sheirdan.

Are you accusing me?

“No, Mr. Sokol.”  Sheridan waved his hand in the air.  “We’re not calling you a murderer.  but we have reason to believe that you might know something about this case.  And if you do, we need you to tell us anything that might be of use to the investigation.”

Scritch scritch scritch.  Sokol wasted no time in handing Sheridan his answer.

I would like to talk to my lawyer.

“C’mon, Nick.  We know that you know something.”  Dempster walked across the room, just behind Sokol.  “This shouldn’t be any trouble.  Just tell us…” Dempster was cut off this time by Sokol, who picked up the notepad, showed it to Dempster, and started pointed back at the request for a lawyer.

No point in pretending now, then.  Sheridan thought to himself, as he took a deep breath, and recalled what Preston had told him to say.  “Mr. Sokol, we also have another report regarding this case.  This report was rather unusual.  It mentioned someone similar to you in stature, but it didn’t mention your name.  It mentioned someone named Beta.”

Sokol turned back towards Sheridan, and stared straight at him.  The room was silent again, this time for about a minute.  Finally, Sokol put the notepad back on the table, and quickly scribbled out a new message, showing it to Sheridan.

I need to make a phone call.

________

Today’s Word Count: 915

Total Bang! Word Count: 41,110

Total Days Worked: 53

It didn’t take the detectives too long to get to the questioning rooms, where they were met by Preston.  Sheridan chuckled to himself, and said, “Didn’t you stay here late yesterday, Chief?  What are you doing here this early?”

Preston glared at him and said, “Had do deal with all the fallout of that fight out on Kent, when, wouldn’t you know it, another lovely gang fight breaks out in Remland.  I don’t know what the hell they were fighting about out there, but I ended up having to deal with that situation as well.  I finally just decided to stay the night - got a couple hours rest on the couch in my office.”

Sheridan glanced over at Dempster, and thought to himself, quickly, So he stayed in the office overnight to work extra late, and still got more sleep than Jay did, huh…

“Anyway,” Preston waved his hand, motioning to the detectives to follow him, “Let’s get this over with.  Lemme show you who we’ve got, then…well, then we’ll see.”

The three walked over to one of the rooms - one that had a one-way mirror in it.  Preston led the two into the viewing room, and said to Dempster, “So?  is this your guys, Jay?”

Dempster leaned in, wiping his eyes as he tried to fight off the drowsiness long enough to get a look.  The guy in the room….yeah, he was really frigging tall, that’s a good start…face looked similar…hair was the same…no doubt.  He looked back at the others and nodded, saying, “That’s him, all right.  This is our giant.”

Preston sighed to himself.  Sheridan nodded at Dempster and said, “Okay, then, so I can go in now, right, Chief?”  He looked over at Preston, but…he was thinking hard on something.  After a few seconds of silence, Sheridan called out to him again, “Hey, Chief?  You there, Bob?”

“Yeah, I’m just….damn, this is…”  Preston scratched his head, then looked over at Sheridan and Dempster for a second.  “Listen, boys…I need to talk to you about this, before I can let you in there.  It’s…really important.”

Sheridan and Dempster exchanged puzzled glances quickly.  “What’s this about, Preston?”, Sheridan piped up.  “What’s the problem with going in there and finding out if he goes anywhere?”

“Well, it’s just…”  Preston sighed to himself, then continued.  “This guy…I know who he is.  And he’s…kind of a secret.  He’s…augh, this is hard.”

Another confused glance between the detectives.  Dempster jumped in this time, saying, “What, like, he’s got something to do with the government?  Feds gonna be upset if we have him?”

Preston shook his head.  “No…well, yes and no.  He’s not related to the feds, but they probably know about him, and they’ll probably be more than a little upset if they know we’ve got him.  He’s…okay, here’s the thing.  Are you ready for this?”

Sheridan and Dempster hesitated for a bit…Preston was really worried about something…but they both ended up nodding in agreement.  Preston looked at the ground for a sec, searching for the best way to put it, then looked back up at them.  “The thing is…this guy’s secret is, well, pretty damn big.  And in order for you guys to ask him about the case, then it’s more than likely that he’ll have to tell you.  And if he let’s you know, then you pretty much can’t tell anyone.  Strictest secrecy.  Understand that far?”

Sheridan glanced back at Dempster - the weirdness of what Preston was saying seemed to be pulling him out of drowsiness - before looking back at Preston and saying, “What are you saying, Bob?  If it’s just us learning some big secret, then we can handle it.  Just what are you getting at with this?”

Preston looked back at him.  “What I’m getting at, Rog, is I’m giving you a choice here.  You can let me talk to this guy - I already know what his deal is, so I can get what we need out of him - but I’ll need to take you two off the case, if that happens.  I don’t want to do that, but I’ll have to.  Or, you can go in there, find out his secret, and move on with the case, but afterwords, like I said, big important secret, and you can’t tell anyone.”

“So then, boys…”  Preston glanced over at the giant sitting there, then back to the detectives, “What’s it gonna be?”

Both of the detectives were quiet for a bit.  This is just too weird, Dempster thought to himself.  Never seen the Chief be like this.

“Just one question, Bob.”  Sheridan finally broke the silence.  “Since you know this guy, then you’ll probably be able to answer - Does he know something?  Regardless of who goes in there, if we question him, will he help break this case?”

Preston looked at Sheridan for a bit, then glanced at the giant again.  “I’m not certain.  Can’t say for sure.  But…,” he turned his gaze back to Sheridan.  “I’d say that me most likely knows what, exactly, is going on with this case.  And I think he can help break it.”

Sheridan nodded.  “In that case, then I’m in.  Sorry, Bob, but this is my case - I’m seeing it through to the end.  Big government secret or no.”

Dempster just watched him for a second, then smiled and said to Preston, “I’m in too, Chief.  I want to finish this case.  And, to be perfectly honest, I’m really wondering what’s got you so worked up.”

Preston nodded, then gestured towards the door.  “Okay then, boys.  No going back now.  Get in there and find out what he knows.”

________

Today’s Word Count: 945

Total Bang! Word Count: 40,195

Total Days Worked: 52

“So, I take it you weren’t able to get any sleep last night, eh?”  Sheridan glanced over at his assistant as he spoke.  Dempster was laying down on the couch in the break room, while Sheridan was fighting with the coffee machine - fifth time he’s had to fix it, he muttered to himself - in an attempt to remedy him.

“Hour and a half,” came the muffled reply through the couch cushions.  Dempster poked his head up for a bit as he continued, “Couple next door decided to have a good long, loud argument and woke me up.  Cheating or something, I don’t know.  Tried to ignore em, but…”

“Yeah….frigging…” Sheridan listen as he continued to grapple with the coffee machine - okay it was working now, he thought to himself as he turned back to his partner.  “So, what?  Call someone on patrol on them?”

“No, someone else did…prolly the old bag downstairs…guys came after about an hour or so, but then they just yelled at him for a bit.”  Dempster sat up and glanced over at Sheridan, and watched the coffee percolate for a bit.  “They finally quieted down around…must have been three a.m.  So I’m laying back down, trying to get back to sleep.”

Sheridan got some cups out and started pouring the coffee as he listened.  “And by trying, I’m guessing….?”  He looked back at Dempster, who just shrugs and sighs.

“The guy up stairs gets lucky.  And she’s loud.  So I’m trying to sleep while they’re just going crazy up there.  I guess they were far enough out of the old lady’s range that she didn’t call on them, too, but by four a.m. I pretty much gave up.  My alarm going off kinda helped me with that decision.”  Dempster looked up again as Sheridan walked over with the cups.

“Yeah, I understand that,”  Sheridan said as he handed his partner a cup.  “What with Preston calling us in for six.  They tell you why when they called?”

Dempster took a sip before answering, “No…something about an interrogation this morning?  You know what’s up with that?”

“Yeah…went to the chief’s office and found out.  You heard about that big brawl out on Kent Street, right?  The one with Jack?”  Dempster nodded, and Sheridan went on.  “Well, apparently, one of the guys they arrested fit the description of the guy that you were looking for.  So Preston wanted us in to see if he’s related to the slasher case before he walked.”

Dempster put his cup down for a sec.  “Really?  The hell was a monster like that doing involved in some gang fight with Jack Warren?”

“Well, from what I heard, Jack actually attacked him, and he was defending himself.”  Sheridan said.  “What gets me is that, apparently, this guy came out looking batter then Jack right now.”

“Mmmm…”  Dempster said, before finishing off his coffee.  He was still looking a little out of it, Sheridan thought to himself.  “Well….guess we should go take a look…”

They got up and started walking towards the questioning rooms.  As they walked, Sheridan muttered to Dempster, “So….seeing any sleep-deprived hallucinations yet?”

“…I see purple polka-dotted elephants.  If I can’t sleep tonight, then tomorrow they may fly.”  Dempster muttered back to him. The two shared a good laugh as they kept walking.

________

Today’s Word Count: 554

Total Bang! Word Count: 39,250

Consecutive Days Worked: 1

Longest Streak of Days: 5

Total Days Worked: 51

“Wha…You did WHAT?!”

Preston banged on the table in front of him.  Sitting right across from him and looking uninterested was his nephew, Jack, who had just gotten back from treatment for his numerous cuts and bruises that he had gained during his little brawl on Kent Street.  This was common practice for Jack - lock himself in bloody combat with some gang or another, beat the hell out of them, spend the night in the hospital getting stitched up.

Today was a bit different.  Because usually, whatever state Jack was in, the guys that he beat the crap out of always looked worse.  This was not the case today.

Certainly, the members of the Red Scorpions who had been arrested were in no good state - a few broken bones here and there, some dislocations, though fortunately nothing more serious.  But they were barely more than an annoyance to Jack.  His opponent was that giant, Nikolai Sokol. 

And Sokol hadn’t even been scratched.

Jack was, at first, quiet - which, admittedly, was usually the case when he was dragged downtown.  Those cases were different, though - Jack got jumped by a bunch of thugs, didn’t say anything, and got off because of self-defense.  Today, Jack was clearly seen initiating combat with Sokol, which started the whole blow-up.  So, Jack couldn’t just get out as easily - he had to say something.

So he said something.  And Preston wished he hadn’t.

Preston slumped back into his chair.  He scratched his head, trying to think of where to go from here, before saying, “Just…what the hell were you thinking?”

Jack was staring at the wall - almost pretending Preston wasn’t there - and muttered out, “Well, I thought it was pretty obvious.  I was helping you pick up Beta and bring him here.  I said I would this morning.”

“You…!”  Preston could feel his blood boiling.  “You sparked a fifty person brawl in the middle of the North Side!  We arrested thirty people for being involved in the fight!  You didn’t think that would be a little bit of a problem?”

“Well,”  Jack shrugged, “I didn’t know that those jerks were gonna jump me.  they were just kinda…there.”

“That’s….do you think anything through?  I…y’know what?  Enough.  I don’t care anymore.”  Preston got up and headed to the door.  “You’re spending the night here, Jack.  I’ll deal with you and…everything else in the morning.”

Jack sighed again, as Preston opened the door and called for an officer.  Once the guy got there, Preston ordered him to lead Jack back to his cell for the night, and the two walked off, as Preston turned around and headed back to his office.

The office was bustling as usual, with assistants running around and checking notes.  Preston rapped on one of the desks and said, “Anything?”

The woman at the desk  looked up at him and shook her head.  “Dempster and Sheridan are both done for the night.  At last report, Sheridan was still waiting on lab tests, and Dempster wasn’t couldn’t find the guy he was tailing.  Wanna call them in?”

Preston shook his head.  “No…that Sokol is spending the night.  Just make sure both of them are in early tomorrow - I need them to verify that he’s the guy they were trying to keep tabs on.”

“Yessir.”  She scribbled a quick note to herself, then looked up at the chief and said, “So…what’s the deal with that freakishly huge guy?”

“Ah…”  Preston thought to himself for a bit, then finally said, “…you probably don’t wanna know.  Just know that he’s a good lead and…well, depending on how tomorrow goes, I’ll let you know the rest.”

The woman glanced up at him, then returned to her work.  “If you say so.  Though the way you put it, I got a feeling that I’m not gonna enjoy finding out.”

“Probably not.  Anyway, thanks.”  He was about to walk off, but then stopped himself for a second, looking back to the assistant and saying, “Anything else happen while I was in questioning?  And what was that bit about McGowen and a kid?”

“Oh, that…”  She looked back up at him.  “Got in touch with Hynes - apparently the kid bumped into McGowen, and the asshole flew off the handle.  Was trying to arrest the kid on trespassing or something, but the kid bolted.  McGowen found him in the area of the fight as a bystander, and picked him up.  I let him go, but…”

Preston leaned in.  “But what?”

She tapped her fingers on the desk while she thought.  “Well…kid said that he had a couple packages confiscated when he was arrested, but we didn’t have any record of Hynes or McGowen dropping off anything like that.  The kid flew off the handle after that…I was gonna throw him out, or back in a cell, but Hynes went over to help - brought the kid outside to cool him off.”

“Hmm…”  Preston thought for a second.  “Well, what happened to the kid?”

“Apparently, Hynes cooled him down, cause he headed off.”  She shrugged.  “I guess we should be okay, but…as much as an asshole McGowen is, he wouldn’t do something as stupid as swipe a kid’s things for revenge, right?”

“On a good day, no…but I have it under good authority that he was not having a good day.”  Preston thought about Sheridan’s story of slugging McGowen - his favorite part of the day - as he stood back up straight and walked towards his desk.   “So I could absolutely believe that he would be that stupid.  Get in touch with that kid….I wanna add this to the list that I’ll be sending to internal affairs later on.”

“Yessir.”  She scribbled out another note - this one to get in touch with Hynes.  Find out who the kid was…and what Hynes told him.

“Kin…think about this for a second!  What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

Ren was doing his best, but…Kin wasn’t listening.  He had gotten Ren to drag himself down to the Double Arms garage, saying it was important business.  Ren was wondering where he’d been all day, since there was that big fight over by where Kin lived.  And what Kin told him was…similar to what he was saying now.

“…told you…I told you…I was arrested…and they held me there…and they took it…so I’m going to get it back…we’ll use it to get it back…”

Kin was, obviously, not in the sense-making mood right now, as his continued mutterings showed.  Ren was getting the gist of the situation, but…Kin got arrested?  What the hell?  And something got stolen?  But right now, those were little details - what Kin was doing in the garage was far more unsettling then whatever else was going on.

“Stop!  Kin, just…talk to me, here!”  Ren yelled at Kin, trying to grab his attention.  “I get you’re pissed, but this is just a little bit overboard, don’t you think!?  What the hell do you think you’re gonna do with it?  It’s not even tested yet, dammit!”

“…Ha…Hahaha…”  Kin suddenly started laughing to himself.  Apparently he was finally listening, but the end result was not quite was Ren was hoping for.  “Yeah…test.  That’s it.  It’s just a test run.  And I’ll just happen to go there on my test…and I’ll find it on my test…and I’ll get it back…I’ll get my deck back…”

“Whoa whoa WHOA!”  Ren started screaming again.  “Your deck?  What, someone stole your Portal, and for that you’re gonna…seriously!?  You’re using that as an excuse to use them as a fricking field test!?  Kin, listen to yourself for a…”

*PSSSHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO*

Ren’s word were cutoff by the engine starting up.  He looked up as the prototype that he and Kin had finished yesterday…the thing that they hadn’t even started field testing yet…was roaring to life.  Ren’s eyes tried to take in as much as he could…It was starting with no problems, like it had been…and it looked like it was stable enough, as it had in the simple shop tests…everything was looking good.

“…I can’t do it alone.”  Ren glanced down, as Kin stood up from the terminal and look back at Ren, saying,  “I…need someone to spot me…keep an eye on the system…make sure it holds together.  And…you’re the only one who can, Ren.”

“Yeah, but…”  Ren looked back up at the prototype quickly before looking back at Kin.  “…I mean, this is insane!  We could seriously get in trouble…if we’re not careful, we could lose everything!  This isn’t a little game, Kin!  I mean…”

“Ren.”  Kin stared straight at his partner.  “Please.”

“But….”  Ren trailed off.  He didn’t want to admit it, but…as he looked at the prototype…he could barely hold back his excitement.  This was what he’d been waiting for…but, no, this was still crazy…but Kin wanted this more than anything…but if they screwed up….

After what seemed like hours in his head, Ren finally looked back at the prototype one more time….then back at Kin.  “I’m out of my mind for saying this, but…Tell me more.  Tell me everything that’s happened…and exactly what you’re planning.  I’ll help you, partner.  You can count on it.”

________

Today’s Word Count: 1,532

Total Bang! Word Count: 38,696

Total Chapter 2 Word Count: 20,175

Consecutive Days Worked: 1

Longest Streak of Days: 5

Total Days Worked: 50

“Ah…what a wondrous day!  Oh, if I could, I would turn back time just to relive this lovely day!”

As only he could, Will Jansen jumped and danced his way down the street, the epic odes to the moon and the stars and that rather impressive looking streetlight across the street flowing from his mouth, almost endlessly, as he made his way down the darkened streets.

Patty, following just behind him, found herself marveling at Will’s bottomless energy.  even she agreed that the day was quite lovely - after appointing himself her chaperone for the day, Will had steadfastly followed Patty as she took care of her few errands.  Mailing letters, studying at the library, checking out the local thrift stores…Will was the courteous follower, helping whenever she needed, with his usual energy and cheer.

Granted, being around his usual energy and cheer for a full day was quite a different experience…but quite an entertaining one.  As the errands list drew shorter and Patty mentioned being nearly finished, Will had the look of a small puppy after learning that its walk was nearly over - a mix of sadness and resignation that got Patty, more than once, “remembering” another task that she needed to accomplish before the day was over.

And so it went, until the sun had found its way out of the sky and Patty and will agreed that they would have to call it a day.  And so they walked home, Patty giggling happily at Will’s enthusiastic verse, Will smiling brilliantly at how well the day had gone.

The two had made their way across town, and were approaching their final destination for the day - the airport district, Remland, where both Will and Patty lived, just a few blocks from each other.

Cheshire, it could be said, was a rather bustling city, and a more or less prosperous one at that.  But for every district like the Great Hills, or the Waterfront, where the city was vibrant and prosperous, there would be another in the city that was…well, not so.  That was Remland - between the noisy airport and the lack of any real industry, the district had slowly turned into the slums of Cheshire - “Copland”, as they called it, because the police probably spent 80 percent of their time there.

For students who couldn’t get into the dorms, it was ideal to get an apartment in the North Side, close to the University.  For those that couldn’t afford it?  Remland’s cheap apartments were pretty much the only other choice.

“Haha…well, sadly, I guess it’s time to wind things down…”Will wrapped up his dancing and made sure he was close enough to Patty as they walked back to her apartments through Remland’s darkened streets.  “Though I do wish we could keep going about our merry way, I’m sure that sleep must be beckoning, right, Patty?”

“H-huh?”  Patty looked over at him.  True, she pwas drowsy, but she doubted anyone wouldn’t be, walking around with Will all day.  Well, except Jack of course.  She giggled again, and then quietly said, “Yeah…I think it’s time to turn in.”

“Of course it is!”  Will shouted triumphantly.  “Having such a lovely lady as you looking so tired…I won’t stand for it!  So please, my dear, make sure that you rest to your fullest!  The weekend begins tomorrow, and you will need to be a top form to truly appreciate it!”

“Huhu…okay, Will,”  Patty nodded to him.  “I’ll make sure to get some rest.”

“Mhmm.”  Will nodded back at her, then turned to look around the street before pointing at a nearby building, saying, “Ah, that one, yes?  That’s your home sweet home, right?”

Patty glanced over at the apartment building, sighing quietly, before she nodded her head.  “Yeah…that’s…well, it’s home.”  She muttered, half to herself, as they crossed the street and walked up the steps.

“Well, then…” Will spun around and turned to her on the top step, “I suppose that this is good-bye for the evening.  And I would like to say, Patty, that I truly enjoyed this night, and I hope that you did as well.”

“Ah…yes.”  Patty smiled up at him.  “I really did, Will.  And…well…thank you.”

“No need, Patty.”  Will put on his beaming smile again.  “Well, then,”  he said as he leaped down the steps, “I suppose that this is good night.”

“Yeah…It is.”  Patty looked at his smile for a moment…and with an almost painful expression on her face, quietly muttered, “Good night…” as she opened the door and walked in the building.

………

Will waited for the door to close before he moved to leave…or rather, moved to look like he was leaving.  He took a few steps away from the door, then glanced over his shoulder.  Patty wasn’t in the doorway anymore - he was sure she went upstairs.

Then…

Will glanced around.  The street was as empty as ever, but that’s what he was hoping for.  He didn’t want anyone watching him…after all, in Remland, you tend to get jumpy when you see someone alone, hanging around buildings, looking for…something.

And out of the corner of his eye, Will quickly found his something.

Will quietly, and as stealthily as her could, walked over to a small trash heap towards the back corner of the building.  It was well hidden, in the darkness of the nighttime streets.  But as he examined the trash, he found what he was looking for.

He reached into the trash, tugged for a bit, and then managed to pull out the cloak.  A large, jet black cloak.  One that covered the whole body.

One that Will was sure he had seen a few nights ago.  On a person who, despite only a quick glance, he was sure he recognized.

Will stayed quiet for a minute, then returned the cloak to the trash, trying to make it look like he had never disturbed the trash heap.  He then - again, quietly and stealthily - slipped back on to the streets, walking normally once he could tell that no one had seen him.

As he walked, he glanced back at the building, and said to himself, “Well, well, well…I guess I’m going to need to do something…Hmmm, what should I do from here….”

________

Today’s Word Count: 1,045

Total Bang! Word Count: 37,164

Consecutive Days Worked: 1

Longest Streak of Days: 5

Total Days Worked: 49