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He continued to walk along the street until he stood in front of the familiar diner. He could already smell tea being brewed and greasy bacon being cooked. It whetted his appetite. He loved the food here and how cheap it was. He suggested meeting here so he could get a good meal before heading off to the east end.

He pushed open the eatery\'s front door, ringing a bell, informing the waitress of his presence. A familiar cat girl mutant turned her head towards Joe with a smile and greeted him.

Jenny: “Hello Joe. Your friend is already here at your usual table,” she said.

Joe: “Oh, Mikey is here already?”

Jenny: “No, it’s your other friend. The new guy,” she said, while pointing to Joe’s regular table.

Joe turned his head and sitting at a table was Dan, waving his hand at him. He nodded to Jenny and then walked over to the table and took a seat beside Dan.

Joe: “I see you\'re up and early.”

Dan: “Yup, I don\'t live too far from here. So, it was easy to get here”.

Joe: “Huh”, was all he said, before turning towards Jenny. “Hey, Jenny. Can we get two regulars?” he called out to her.

Jenny: “Sure thing, hun,” she said before calling out to the kitchen to prepare Joe’s order.

Dan: “Um, shouldn’t we wait for Mike before we order?”

Joe: “Why? I’m hungry now. If you\'re worried about upsetting Mike, don’t be. He won’t care if we start eating without him.”

Dan: “If you say so.”

Joe: “Also, when you came in, you didn’t say anything weird to Jenny, did you?”

Dan: “W-what? No, at least I don\'t think I did. I just asked for a table for three when I got here.”

Joe: “Just making sure you\'re not being an ass to Jenny just cause she’s a mutant.”

Dan: “I’ve been doing my best to unlearn all those stereotypes. I don’t make any assumptions about mutants after what you told me last time about them.”

Joe: “You shouldn’t make assumptions about any people. The crap you spouted to us a few weeks ago is something that\'s not that easily unlearned. But, I suppose you’ve been spending a lot of time with Mike, so he’s probably sorted you out a little. By the way, how’s training with Mike? I know I haven\'t been able to spend as much time training you as Mike.”

Joe hasn\'t spent too much time with Dan since he joined his unit. Mike had been keeping him away from Joe. Afraid that Dan would be admonished for every little thing, lowering his confidence and making him more likely to transfer out of the unit.

However, Joe wasn\'t going to do that. He had every intention of keeping his word and wouldn’t do anything to purposely make Dan leave. He made that promise with Mike believing Dan would eventually leave his unit on his own. He could tell right away that their personalities didn’t mesh well, and felt that Dan would eventually get sick of Joe and want to transfer to another unit on his own. So, he thought all he had to do was wait.

Dan: “Mike’s been great. He’s really helped me out and has been telling me about all the crazy cases you guys have done.”

Joe had suspected that Mike was telling Dan stories about their previous investigation and was romanticizing them. The comment Dan was making seemed to be a slight confirmation that it was.

Joe: “What has he been telling you exactly about those investigations?”

Dan: “He was telling me about the case with Romilly Osborn, the killer who was killing mutant women and dumping their bodies in alleyways. Mike said once they put you on that case, you managed to find and stop him before he could do another murder. How you managed to figure out who did it so quickly was impressive.“

The “Romilly Osborn Investigation” was one the earlier successful investigations Joe\'s unit had done. He was a serial murderer and radical religious zealot that had killed twelve people before Joe had figured out who it was and threw him behind bars.

“Of course it was Romilly Osborn. Mike loves telling that story.” Joe thought to himself.

Joe: “That was a long time ago, and it was not as impressive as Mike makes it out to be. Romilly was sloppy and it was easy to put it together at the time.”

Dan: “But you figured it out in less than a week. That still sounds really impressive.”

Joe: “It’s not always that easy. We don’t usually get cases like that. Being an investigator is more paperwork than anything else.”

Dan: “Oh boy, do I know. I’ve been helping Mike out with that. You guys are really behind.”

Joe looked away from Dan, feeling guilty.

Part of the reason there was so much paperwork was mostly his fault. He had been extremely focused on the Rob case lately and had fallen behind on his share of the paperwork, forcing the excess onto Mike. It was another reason he couldn’t exactly push back that hard on taking a new recruit, with both him and Mike needing the extra assistance in the office.

Joe: “Y-yeah. It’s good that you understand that. But, I\'m getting the sense he’s not told about all the work I\'ve done as an officer.”

Dan: “Probably not. Is there a specific story you wanted to talk about?”

Joe: “Yeah. Did he ever tell you about the work I did before I became an investigator?”

Dan: “No, not really.”

Joe: “Well, I was a street cop. Before I entered the force, I spent my whole life here in Graheel and always wanted to be a cop, even if I had to start from the lowest position.”

Dan: “Then I take it you work your way up to being an investigator. Not satisfied just being a street cop. Wanted to make more of a difference?”

Joe: “What kind of ideas is Mike filling your head about me? It wasn\'t about satisfaction and I’m not as ambitious as you think. I’m not trying to change the world here. I only wanted to give back to my home and keep it safe. Me rising to the rank of an investigator was just a sign that I was doing my job well, even if I don\'t agree.”

Dan: “Wait, you don’t think you\'re doing your job well? Actually, I guess there is the paperwork…” he said knowing full well about Joe\'s lack of action on the paperwork problem in their unit.

Joe: “It’s not that. I’m talking about the operations that I messed up badly in. I\'m sure Mike’s been trying to paint a perfect picture of me. He’s told you of my successes, but nothing of my failures.”

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Dan: “I guess you might be right about that. I don’t think he’s really talked about the investigations that ended up going nowhere, but I would expect that. Sometimes there is just not enough information to go off. ”

Joe: “That’s an investigation, I\'m talking about sting operations. Where you try and catch perps in the act. Did he ever tell you about the drug bust I did while I was still a street cop?”

Dan shook his head.

Joe: “When I was a young greenhorn like you, one of the senior investigation units asked for my assistance. They wanted someone young to pretend to be a drug dealer. I was still relatively new in the force at the time and wasn\'t that well known yet. I was the perfect candidate.”

Dan: “I see. And… this didn’t go well. I take it.”

Joe: “No, and I didn\'t even want to do it at the time.”

Dan: “Why not?”

Joe: “I have a very different stance when it comes to drugs from my fellow officers, especially small time dealers. I grew up near people that were doing all kinds of stuff like that, some harmless, others, very self destructive. Those small-time dealers, many were just trying to get by, and the addicts became that way from circumstance. I just… I don\'t think it\'s right to punish those kinds of people. They need help and cops are not the solution in that situation. But, I know I\'m in the minority in that opinion amongst the force.”

Dan:” OK. I get what you\'re saying. So that’s why you weren\'t so keen on arresting Wren on drug charges back then. But going back to that sting operation, why didn’t you just refuse if you didn’t agree with it then.

Joe

: “They convinced me to do it. Was told it would lead to us taking out one of the bigger crime organizations. We could get enough information from the people we busted to lead into an indictment for one of the big crime leaders. However, I learned later that it was a lie. It was just some senior officers looking to make a quota for the year. They just told me all this to make me feel more comfortable about doing it.”

Dan: “Oh..that’s shitty.”

Joe let out a long sigh.

Joe: “I then pretended to be a drug dealer looking to offload a bunch of products for cheap. Then I got in contact with a desperate guy looking to make a buck. Jin Freyr was his name,” he paused a little and made an almost pained chuckle. “It’s almost laughable. I really did believe in that lie and thought this guy was working for some grand crime lord. If you saw this guy Dan, you wouldn’t think for a second he was working for any crime boss. He was obviously just dirt poor.”

Dan: “I see where this is going. You arrested him, only to find out later you were lied to. Those senior officers made you go against your own ethics. I guess that wasn\'t your proudest moment.”

Joe: “Dan, you should really learn to listen better. I said that this operation was a failure.”

Dan: “Wait, so that means you didn’t catch this guy.”

Joe: “No, Jin sensed something was off. Once that happened, I panicked. I pulled out my cuffs and tried to restrain him, but he slipped away. As he was running away, I pulled out my gun. With my cuffs still in hand, I attempted to shoot at his leg to stop his escape. And then…”

There was a long pause. Joe was having a hard time saying what happened next. It made Dan look uncomfortable and he wanted to say something, but couldn\'t. The intensity that Joe was displaying was intimidating, and Dan could only wait for him to speak again. Eventually Joe took a deep breath and continued on his story.

Joe: “I missed,” was all he said.

There was a brief pause as Dan processed what he just heard.

Dan: “You missed?” he said, surprised.

It was only yesterday that Dan had witnessed Joe’s marksmanship with his vectromancy magic. The idea that Joe could miss his target was unthinkable to people that knew him.

Joe: “Made a rookie mistake. I mixed up cuffs. The handcuffs I pulled out were jinsil cuffs, the ones made for restraining mages. So when I fired off my gun and tried to guide the bullet with magnetic magic, nothing happened. The jinsil cuffs I had in my hands disrupted my magic, allowing the bullet to be fired straight… right into the back of Jin\'s head.”

Dan was mouth wide with a look of absolute shock. He had no idea how to respond and just turned his head to the side, looking away with a slightly pained expression.

Joe: “So, learn from me. Don’t take your handcuffs out until your suspect is properly restrained first,” he said with a look of melancholy. “You know, that was the first time I killed someone. They tell you to be prepared to kill when you become a cop, and that it will get easier with time, but I don\'t want that to get easier.

Dan: “Ahh.” he mumbled, unsure what to say.

Joe: “Worst part, I got promoted for that and nothing was done to me or anybody involved in that operation. The operation was a failure and they promoted me, killed a man and got rewarded for it. This world is so fucked up,” he said as he shook his head. “Don’t let anybody ever tell you something like that is ok. Don’t become fine about snuffing out a life. Don’t be fine about ending a person.”

After Joe\'s passionate speech, Dan was left unable to say anything. The two of them sat beside each other in an awkward silence, slowly causing Dan’s face to twist into visible discomfort. Another few minutes until Jenny came with their plates of food.

Jenny: “Here\'s you order…what’s with the sour mood?” she said while placing plates of food in front of them.

Joe: “It\'s nothing. Thanks for the food, Jenny.”

Jenny: “If you say so.” she said before taking her leave while wagging her cat tail.

Joe started to dig into his food while Dan just stared at his plate.

Joe: “Better eat up. If that little story bothered you so much that you can’t eat, you’re not going to last very long as an officer. You\'re going to hear a lot worse shit than that.”

Dan: “Oh…Ok”

He said as he slowly started to eat as well.

Another few minutes went by until the store bell above the restaurant front door rang out and a familiar person entered.

Mike: “Sorry I\'m a little late,” he said as he approached.

Joe: “You\'re not late. Me and Dan just got here a little early,” he said while sipping on his tea.

Mike took a seat at the table. Jenny came by with a plate of warm food already prepared for Mike and placed in front of him.

Mike: “Thanks, Jenny.”

Jenny: “No problem hun,” she said before she walked away again.

Mike took a quick sip of tea before he then turned to Dan.

Mike: “You didn’t say anything weird to Jenny?”

Dan: “Y-you too?” he said, dismayed slightly by Mike’s comment.

Joe: “No, we already went through this. He said he didn’t do anything and Jenny would have said something if he did.”

Mike: “Hmm, OK then.” he said followed by him taking a bite of his toast.

Joe: “By the way, did you find any useful information about where this Mark person may have lived.”

Joe had asked Mike to look through the residential registry of the people that lived on Vaal street after they finished their shooting practice yesterday. He was hoping someone with the name Mark might appear on the registry and they could just check out those homes first.

Mike: “No. Didn’t have enough time and we don’t know this kid\'s surname and the registry goes by that. Not to mention if this Mark guy was renting an apartment or something, he wouldn’t show up in the registry. So, I couldn\'t find what home he may have lived in, but I did narrow down which section of the street we should start searching first. It\'s the most eastern part of Vaal street.”

Joe: “What are you basing this on?”

Mike: “The east end was pretty impoverished back in the day, and Jack made it sound like this Mark kid wasn\'t too well off. So, I figured we start at the most eastern part of Vaal street and work our way westward. Remember, it used to be that the farther you traveled east, the more it became a slum.”

Joe: “Hmm, that makes sense.”

Dan: “Um, you guys said the east end used to be a slum, right?”

Joe: “That’s right.”

Dan: “Is it still like that?”

Mike: “Not really anymore. The east end got fixed up real good for a while now. Used to be packed full of homeless then, but not now.”

Dan: “Oh, Ok. So, how did the city go about fixing it up?”

Joe: “It wasn\'t the city. It was the Nighthounds.”

Dan: “Huh? Why’s a crime syndicate fixing up slums?”

Mike: “It’s not done out of charity. That gang values loyalty above all else, even if they have to buy it. Them fixing up the slum was a way for them to get loyalty out of the local populace in the east.”

Dan: “How does fixing up the slum buy loyalty? Is it just out of gratitude?”

Joe: “They buy up land and build housing units and charge nearly nothing on rent. Those units are also pretty decent to live in, I hear.”

Mike: “Yup. It’s the carrot on a stick method. They provide them with nice living conditions and people are less likely to rat out the Nighthounds. Then there’s the fact that they\'re landlords and can evict the people living on their property. Whether it’s out of gratitude or fear of losing their home, the Nighthounds have a massive amount of control over the people living in the east end.”

Joe: “That’s why when we go to the east end, assume everyone is a snitch working for the Nighthounds, and don’t give out any information that could be used to identify you as a cop. People there have every reason to rat us out to the Nighthounds.”

Dan nodded his head in confirmation of what Joe just said.

Joe: “Anyways, let’s eat up and then head out to Vaal street.” he said before continuing on with his meal.