Exile's Side Story, Niel's Epilogue (Patreon)

Exile was taking a 'long minute' to center himself and this was not a habit. The Dracaurian rarely found himself overtly frustrated, perhaps it was a result of his rather trying childhood, or just his ironclad nerves in general-- to say that he had patience would be an understatement. However, that patience was for the first time in a long time wearing thin.

This was the kind of frustration that made mechanics swear at machines and made beauties shout "I HATE MY HAIR" and here it was, picking away at Exile. He didn't like being frustrated, his patience was one of his best attributes and it was tested to a point that made him spiteful and even a little angry.

Maxiz had eluded him in a way that no other criminal had in the past, now a few months into this hunt, Exile was starting to fantasize about shoving his boot up the little thieving bastard's ass. Resources weren't an issue but time was and every day spent chasing this little puke was a day closer to him losing a EV Point.

EV points were an interesting concept that had rather profound implications on the behavior of Enforcers. Enforcers worked on a sort of hierarchy of levels and ranks. Exile maintained a rather high level within this system and had grown quite used to the benefits it entailed. Now with the threat of him going down in rank, it was hard for him not to find emotional stake in this current contract.

When the Enforcers were created in as a sort of supplementary form of Law and Order, the Solar System's Governing politicians quickly discovered that people given that level of freedom to operate at meant that bad behavior, or shall I say unsavory behavior flourished. What they found was that Enforcers would simply take the highest paying jobs whether or not the ethics of said job were inline with the founding principals of the Enforcers. They'd find Enforcers wallowing in unjust wealth, neglecting their duty to uphold a sense of order and peace.

Enforcers would take the high profile work, ignore the low profile work, and reap the benefits of having a form of diplomatic immunity anywhere they went. This was quickly quashed, EV Points, short for Effort of Virtue Points, were implemented to guarantee Enforcers would maintain a certain level of Ethics. This combined with their own promise of Ethics helped keep the Enforcers on the straight and narrow.

High paying, high profile contracts would warrant little to no EV points, but higher credit yields, low paying jobs that are reviewed by Peers would garner higher EV points. EV Points would help Enforcers rise through their ranks, gain more diplomatic immunities and freedoms as well as bolster their 'expense accounts'. The better of an Enforcer you were and the more you upheld a certain standard of Ethics regardless of the monetary reward,  the better life you'd live.

Expense accounts were crucial to keeping an Enforcer fed and housed and with a higher rank, the amount of expense Credits dished out went up. In short, if you did the right jobs and didn't care as much about the credit yield you'd get from the contract itself, you'd eventually be reimbursed with a steady flow of credits that would offset the creds you wouldn't be getting by exclusively taking higher paying contracts. 

It was a rather interesting concept and it seemed to work. High ranking enforcers lived comfortable lives while maintaining a sense order that the police or military couldn't maintain on their own. Many times, high ranking Enforcers like Exile would turn down massive credit paying jobs in order to take a lower paying job with more Ethical implications-- because having thousands of credits deposited into your account by the higher brass every week was infinitely better than getting huge bursts of cash every six to eight months from clients-- if they even paid at all. One of the risks of the job was that sometimes clients would skip with the promised end pay. 

The stability of a constant, reliable paycheck kept many Enforcers on the right path and the kicker to all of it was that if you did not maintain your EV points you'd lose your Enforcer status-- something that was notoriously hard to get back once it was stripped from you.

So naturally this irritated Exile that he was close to losing a point during this little goose chase. Maxiz was damn good at hiding, even with the knowledge that his shape had changed, Exile was having a very hard time staying on the man's tail.

Now here he was, in his quarters, trying to calm himself down after finding out the little rat had once again fled and this time to Luna. Slippery didn't begin to describe Maxiz and for the briefest of moments, Exile regretted his career choice.

Exile would find himself working  even harder to calm down, his legs firmly planted on the floor and his bottom on his bed, he sighed through his mouthpiece. Leaning back a little before turning and slowly descending into a laying position, the Dracaurian grumbled and removed his faceplate. 

Bringing up his portable com screen, a rather dated device as many people had moved onto to holo, wrist worn com units, the little self contained rectangle gave a vivid and clear picture while sporting an archiac touchscreen that he found charming. It was withered technology, he knew, but something about it made it lovable. When showing potential leads the old-school tablet like device, with the picture of his target on it, it seemed to stick with them more. They remembered the reptilian man with the antique and it helped him get follow up leads all the time.

Scrolling through the com screen until he found his mail icon, opened it, and promptly browsed the information at hand. Finding a 'Followup Notice of Reform', he promptly opened it and what he saw calmed his nerves a little.

Seductive, with an s-line to her feminine shape, a statuesque figure undulated about a dance floor and around a stripper pole. The creature moved with grace, ran her tongue along her smooth skin in an exoctic display of sexual taunting. The men that surrounded her in their seats were all distinctively human, but this creature was not. Her yellow flesh was blemish free, her eyes anything but human, but most remarkable about her-- at least to exile was her flowing brown hair.

That brown hair was an indicator-- this was Niel. However indicated by the notice on the message-- she now went by the name Narrow. Her reform was a success and rather striking to see. The change in her shape and the appeal that it gave seemed to alter her personality in a rather stunning way. According to the notice and the following report, she had showed what they call a 110 percent improvement in attitude following just a few alterations.

Despite having a choice to work a more subdued role, she had chosen whole heartedly to dance naked for a living and now it felt like her true calling. She now loved the lust filled eyes on her and almost all of her xenophobic hatred of humanity was bled away in countless nights of admiration and pleasure.

Niel had transformed from an etitled monstrosity that expected the world to accept her for simply existing to something that demanded attention by sheer virtue of her aesthetic appeal-- and with her boosted confidence came a sense of worth that made her look at sexuality to be a beautiful and natural thing. So natural that she dove headfirst into her new career.

Upon reading the report, Exile found himself cocking a smile. He found the concept of revenge odd and pointless, but understood what actual justice was. She had assaulted an Enforcer and she was paying her debt back in spades, but that wasn't what mattered. At first, Niel probably hated the idea of becoming something she loathed without good justification, but now she loved it, loved herself, and for Exile this was what his job was about.

He knew that he had help set the creature's life on a new path and this pleased him. His nerves settling, his eyes closed and he drifted to sleep.