Chapter 13: Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.

There’s very few things in this world that I hate more than wearing full trousers and a shirt that’s an exact fit for me. Living in a man’s world is simply disgusting for a girl like me who just likes to look pretty! It’s been Code Red here in Crater City for a week and half now. Of course, with all the eyes on the agents, and no excuse of being in civvies, we’ve all been forced to wear full uniform. Gross!

“Elise Beiker, reporting.” I said, looking at the Lieutenant. “What was the rush for?”

“Your brother has requested backup. We’re taking the suspected deity into custody today.”

“Han is requesting backup? It must be serious, huh?”

“Take your troops and be at the scene, Major.”

“Yes sir. You can count on it.”

I’m Elise Beiker, a Division Nine Major at PRECIPICE. And, yes. I’m Liahan’s sister… kinda. It’s complicated, okay! We’re not blood related, and my birth records were all faked anyway.

My real name is Yang Aili. My father is a bit of an infamous man among certain circles. In her attempt to keep me away from this chaotic world, my mother had decided to raise me by herself. However all those hopes of hers were shattered with her dying, and me being left at an orphanage — before he picked me back up, with another kid behind him. It was the look in the other kid’s eyes that had surprised me at that time. He seemed to be the same as me in age, yet I could feel a kind of maturity in his eyes that I had only seen in adults. Of course, it wouldn’t take much longer for me to end up with the same dead fish-like stare in my eyes.

Unlike Liahan, I have no respect in my heart for that man. He’s a deadbeat, hedonistic, disgrace for someone that used to be a priest. Always looking at others with a casual condescension, that sinful freak might as well seat himself in place of the Buddha at some shrine!!

Despite being his flesh and blood, I don’t know much about him. Only that he used to be a priest who was then excommunicated for murder. He was recruited by Precipice and quickly became the Captain of the Assasination Squad, due to his adept skill at killing. However, he had interest in Corroded, and asked to be transferred to R&D — where he yet again broke a taboo, he tried to experiment with deities. And, as a result, he was banished from Precipice. Well technically, they’d issued a Kill on Sight order on him. But that didn’t end too well, and after the death of over 200 agents at the hand of their own colleague, they called the KOS off. He’s just been roaming here and there since, pulling the strings from the shadows. Nobody ever knows what he’s up to. But it’s almost never any good.

I got out of my patrol car, about 4 blocks away from the apartment complex where William Korspole resides. Qersh Franyl, my work partner, contacted the other cars behind us via radio to follow suit. We couldn’t risk alarming the immediate vicinity.

Once I’d ensured that the entire area had been sufficiently vacated and closed off for outsiders, I stationed two agents for every block. Putting Franyl on standby, I then approached the location by myself, and found Liahan standing outside, shuffling through the pages of what I assumed to be William’s journal.

“Find anything?” I asked, as I walked up to him.

“I guess… Nothing too important though...” He said, still lost in thought. When he looked up at me, his eyes glanced at me wearing the full uniform, and he laughed, “Since when do you care about uniform?”

“Blow me.”

“No, no, you look good. You should follow dress code more often”

“Blow me,” I said, with a chuckle. I dug through the back pocket of my trousers as I pulled out two cigs. Handing one over to Liahan, I lit mine, and asked, “What’s the hold up?”

“Will’s missing,” he said, taking the lighter from me.

“Missing?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep… Probably in some other dimension within the AA realm. We underestimated the enemy. Big time.”

“Well, shit. What do we do now?” I asked.

“Wait, —that’s all we can do.”

“Wow this sucks ass”

“I just wanna go home and sleep. This city could go to hell for all I care. Ughh”

I knew how he felt. It was honestly the same for me.

As we continued our idle talk accompanied by the exhales of smokes interspersed between our dialogue, I felt a sudden change in the atmosphere. I’m sure Liahan felt it too, given that he immediately threw his cigarette onto the ground, stubbing it out with his foot. I did the same, as I followed him — rushing inside the apartment. We broke down the door of the flat to find William lying on his bed unconscious. Around him were the carcasses of four of our agents, probably tasked with guarding the room.

“Motherfucker, we missed him!” Liahan exclaimed, kicking the wall in his frustration. “He got away again!”

“Faust?” I asked.

“Yeah… And, four of our boys are dead… Ugh. What’s the time, Elle?”

I checked my watch. “5:02 a.m.” Turning around, I told him, “I’ll head outside and send in some rookies to clean the room up.”

“Thanks…” I heard him say, as I made my way out of the room, down the stairs, and outside.

I walked out into the empty street, to the other side of the police line, which yes — we use police lines to block areas off. It’s far easier to explain than us being some secret supernatural militia agency.

“Hey Fran, send in a clean-up unit. We’ve got four agents dead.”

“Is everything okay?” Franyl asked.

“Can’t say anything right now. It’s all up to Liahan,” I replied.

“Your brother better get a promotion soon, with the amount of work they’re making him do”

“He’s been turning down the promotion for months now, because he likes being on the front lines.”

“Wow… He’s really dumb, huh?”

“Hey! Only I get to call him dumb.”

“Kidding, of course. Lieutenant Beiker is one of the smartest people in our org.”

“He’s also your superior in rank. Don’t forget that you owe him some respect.”

“Geeze, you’re really touchy whenever it’s about him, y’know?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I said, with a smile, “He’s the only family I got.”

The only family I care about.

“You look cute when you smile. You should do it more often.”

“Suck my dick,” I said, walking away.

“Alright, I’m sorry! Come on!” he said, in a tone that was half playful, and half genuinely flustered.

“Whatever. I’ll be back in a bit. You’re in charge while I’m gone.”

“Aye, ma’am,” his voice faded away into the air, as I turned the corner, into the Metropolitan Square, now quiet in the earliest hours of the day.

It’s so yuck whenever men try to flirt with me. This is why I prefer having women as my work partners. If only all men were decent enough like Han… Well, I mean, he has his vices too–

My thoughts were interrupted as I bumped into someone.

“Ugh what the fuck? Watch where you’re going dumbshit. How do you bump into someone in an empty fuckin road— And he’s gone,” I said. By the time I’d regained my balance and turned around to look at the person who’d been rude enough to not only collide with me, but also interrupt my thoughts, he had made a run for it. I could see his diminishing silhouette in the distance.

“Not even an apology. Asshole.”

Fast runner, huh.. And freakishly tall too. And, the way he was built… He almost resembled… No, that can’t be, I told myself, as I continued walking. There’s no way…

It wasn’t until another few minutes later that my glance fell on a crumpled piece of paper sticking out of my left trouser pocket. I picked it in my hand. It was a note that read:

“I wanted to have a chat, but I have somewhere to be. Pardon my lack of courtesy.

Also fix your language, young lady. That’s no way to speak to anyone.

PS: Your uniform suits you. You should wear it more often.

Convey my love to Xiaolei.

Merry Christmas in advance,

Dad.”

“SON OF A BITCH—!” I yelled. I turned back around in an instant, but of course he was long gone by then, to only God knows where.

I hate him so fucking much. That is also NOT how you’re supposed to do a post-script! I crumpled the note and shoved it back inside the pocket.

Him being in town right now probably wasn’t a good sign, but I couldn’t care about that all too much right now. I’ll tell Liahan about this later… I continued walking absent mindedly for another few minutes.

Looking back up at my surroundings, I realised I was near Aly’s place. Maybe I should go say hi to her. I could borrow her couch for a couple hours, take a nap perhaps. We aren’t that close, but I’m sure she’d be empathetic enough for a fellow overworked agent of this dogshit organisation.

I knocked on the door to her apartment. Rang the doorbell. No answer… Weird.

I tried to read her Vitalis presence, to see if she was perhaps sleeping soundly.

…She’s not here! Weird. It’s half past five in the morning, and Division Four Privates don’t have any work assigned to them right now… Where could she be at this hour?

Whatever… I decided to head back over to the Division 3 facility. They were still holding that reporter guy in custody. I needed to take a statement from him before we could release him. Might as well get it done now that I have nothing better to do.

This entire situation is annoying. Combat agents are being made to do paperwork. What a joke.

—

“Alright you’re good to go now. Don’t forget the terms of our NDA,” I waved him off, dismissively.

The reporter just nodded at me and hurried on his way. I glanced at my watch, 8:14 a.m. Must be skedaddling off to his 9-5. How I envy motherfuckers with normal jobs…

I got up from my seat, and the telephone on my desk rang — almost on cue. I picked it up, “Elise Beiker.”

“It’s me, Qersh. Lt. Beiker’s escorting Korspole to HQ now.”

“Fucking finally. Alright, mobilise our troops and tail them from a distance.”

“Roger that. Will you join us on the move, or…?”

“Whatever’s easier for me. Don’t worry about it.”

“Kay,” he said.

I hung up the line. Popping my back, I pressed on the coffee machine in the lobby outside, only to find that it was broken. Fuurrghh, just my luck today!

As I walked out through the glass doors, putting my shades on, a pleasant surprise in the form of Markus Pellin pulled up in his whip.

“Need a ride?” he said, rolling down the window.

“And a coffee,” I said, getting in the passenger seat.

“Mhm,” Mark said, as he began driving, “How ‘bout the cafe at 187 Roshlow Street?”

I turned to look at him in surprise, putting the sunglasses back into the breastpocket of my shirt. “Dude… fuck yes. That’s my go to. How’d you know?”

He chuckled, his eyes on the road as he drove, “That’s Liahan’s favourite too, so I just figured.”

“Huh, it is? I never knew,” I said.

“The two of you are more similar than you may realise,” he said.

“Guess we are,” I said with a shrug.

As we sped through the freeway, the traffic of rush hour was just beginning to build on the road in front of us, the radio in Markus’ car came on.

“—Sergeant Markus Pellin?”

“It’s me. And, I’ve got Beiker in my passenger seat, Captain.”

“Beiker…?” the voice of Captain Marl asked.

“The hot one,” Mark replied with a snicker.

I elbowed him, as I said, “What’s the matter Captain Marl?”

“Hm, oh nothing. I’m just manning Surveillance for a bit,” she replied.

“Huh, shouldn’t you be in a meeting with the brass… right about now?” I asked, sudden curiosity flashing in my head, as I looked at the time.

“Your advice would be best kept to yourself, Major.”

Bitch. “Right, Captain.”

“I just wanted to confirm your location, is all. Are the two of you coming to HQ now?”

“That’s the plan, Cap’n” Mark said, as the car came to a halt at a red light.

“Very well—” the transmission died.

I was about to say something to Markus, but I glanced something from the corner of my eye that made me save that thought.

“Thanks for the ride Mark. I’ll be getting off here,” I said as I jumped out of the car.

Markus’ face contorted in surprise as he asked, “Here? What about the coffee?”

“Oh that can fucking wait… Alright, see ya later!” I said, as I sprinted down the road, and then to the underside of the overbridge where I found Qersh Franyl and the rest of the troops on standby.

Franyl turned to me as he said, “Oh there you fucking are. I’ve been trying to reach you, but Surveillance just couldn’t get through to you. What the hell were you doing?”

“Huh? I just spoke with Marl. She said she’s manning surveillance right now.”

“Marl is…? Why?”

“How the fuck would I know?” I replied, before I said, “Well what are we doing here?”

Turning around, I could feel Liahan’s presence in the distance, along with something… strange.

Was that…

“It’s Korspole,” Franyl said, almost reading my thoughts. “Lt. Beiker is interrogating him about something at the other end of the bridge.”

“I see… I can sense some unease in his Vitalis presence. This isn’t like him. He’s gotten too involved this time,” I said.

Franyl knew it’d be best to not comment. All we could do was wait, and wait we did. We all stood on alert, awaiting whatever would happen next.

Never in a million years could I have anticipated what did happen next.

It was all of a sudden when we heard a gun fire in the distance.

“What the fuck?” Fran and I exclaimed out loud. Without wasting another second, I rushed towards Liahan’s location, as I yelled, “Fran call in the medics!”

Shit. Please be safe, Han…

> To be continued

Author's Note:
Yes I basically retconned Elise into being Liahan's sister. No this wasn't planned from the beginning. Yes a lot of their prior interactions might need to be changed. Shushhhhh. We don't talk about it.