Nine-to-Five 018 (Patreon)

Career Opportunities III

~~~

“You’re treading on thin ice, Director! Do you think I don’t realize what you and Slate are up to?!”

The words were accompanied by the sound of a fist slamming against a desk. Not her desk, of course. That would require Commissioner Donovan to be in the same room as her. They were having a video call, which was just as well. Donovan would be getting spit all over her desk and her face if they were in the same room, and she’d have punched him in the face for it already.

It wasn’t as if anything serious would happen to her for doing so. CHEM Regional Director trumped Port Stanley Commissioner. However, she’d still need to go to a bunch of seminaries on professionalism to make up for it. That was just time Sadie Williams didn’t have.

Another advantage of this being a video call was that she could discreetly turn down the volume whenever she was getting too angry. She could lip-read anyway. That ensured she got the important bits. It was better this way. If they were both too angry to talk, nothing would get done.

When Donovan was done ranting, Sadie replied with a calm (some would say smug): “I am not sure I have any idea what you mean.”

That set him off again. Face red and mustache bristling, Donovan went into another rant.

He was completely right, of course. She was using Slate to get around a lot of pesky legislation. By sending him into the city to locate the vigilante, they had the perfect excuse to investigate what had happened to the missing members of the Rough Diamonds. Anyone with a brain could tell that was what she was doing.

It didn’t matter.

She and Slate were acting firmly within the confines of the law. Donovan could complain all he wanted. There was nothing he could do about Slate flying around the city. He would just have to put up with it like she had put up with him denying her men any role in the investigation for a year.

“-I know it is within your right to investigate the vigilante!” He said, the words causing her ears to perk up. “However, surely there is someone more capable and less conspicuous?”

Oh, so now he was saying that? After she had spent ages arguing many of her men were more than capable of covert work?

“There is no one who can compare with Slate’s tracking capabilities,” she replied, making sure to put just the right amount of gravitas in her voice.

“Slate’s vaunted capabilities have seen no results in days!” Donovan rebutted. She could tell he wanted to slam his fist against his desk again but refrained from doing so. It stayed hovering three inches away from the wooden surface, vibrating with pent-up energy. “Disk and Osseous would both be better alternatives for an urban environment!”

Director Williams’s eyebrows went up. Disk, she expected him to bring up. He was by far the most personable of the heroes stationed in the Port Stanley Metropolitan area. However, that Commissioner Donovan felt desperate enough to bring up Osseous highlighted how much Slate’s presence bothered him.

What a pity that she would have to deny him.

“Osseous is not legally an adult yet.” Might as well begin there. She would not throw the relatively inexperienced Exceed at an operation like this one. They were prepping Osseous for eventual membership in The Supreme, but he was not there yet. “And Disk must remain stationed here.”

For a moment, she was certain Donovan was going to explode in anger.

He laughed instead. It wasn’t raucous laughter but rather a soft, almost defeated chuckle, reminiscent of a deflating of a balloon.

“So that’s how it is,” he said with a slow shake of his head. “You have an actual supervillain sighting in the area-”

“Supervillain sighting?” Her brow wrinkled in confusion before it dawned on her what he was talking about. “Gorman? Jack Gorman? That’s who you think I should be worried about?”

Jack Gorman, otherwise known as Jack Frost. He was what some would call a supervillain, though the label, much like his villain name, was far too big for him. It would be more accurate to say he was a two-bit thug with ice powers. He lacked both brains and ambition. The only time he had been more than a minor threat was when he had teamed up with the well-known supervillain, Behemoth. Behemoth was an actual threat whose mere presence required direct intervention from Alpha Defender and immediate removal from any populated area.

Without him, Jack Gorman barely merited a mention.

“That would be more in line with your jurisdiction,” Donovan replied. “The police handles regular criminals and keep peace in the city. Your Exceeds handle Exceeds. It’s bad enough you have that prison in this very state-”

“Crusher Creek is the only prison for Exceeds in the United States. There is no other-”

“Spare me the phony lines you give the press!” This time Donovan did bang his fist against the table. He leaned in closer to the webcam to better glare at her. He was quite good at it. If Sadie weren’t someone who routinely dealt with superpowered individuals, she might have felt intimidated. “I know damn well there’s an Exceed prison somewhere in the state! Just as I know you are using Slate to provoke me when you should be doing your damn job!”

“I do not make my choices for the purposes of infuriating you.”

It wasn’t even a lie. Angering Donovan was not the end, just the means. He’d go to the Governor, who would come to her, and then she’d have the leverage to negotiate. Donovan could promise many things, but in the end, it was the Governor held the final say in things.

“First contact with Exceeds is important,” she continued, raising an eyebrow. “Or do you want another Toad Incident?”

That got Donovan’s mustache wiggling left and right. Even for Exceedings, that one had been something. It had been a miracle no one had been hurt by the literal rain of toads that fell over the city that day.

“Didn’t think so,” Saddie said, taking Donovan’s silence as a concession. “Slate will be out of the city when he has made contact with the vigilante. That’s his first priority.”

“That’s a filthy lie!” He jabbed his finger at her. “Know that I will contact the Governor for this.”

“Go ahead,” she dared him, snorting. “You have no case, Commissioner. Slate has not inferred with your operations, nor has he stopped any crimes. He hasn’t even rescued a kitten from a tree!”

“He’s a target!” Donovan shouted. “Your agent is a giant target flying over my city for any would-be super-criminal looking to make a name for himself! You know the Rough Diamonds were suspected of having been involved with Exceed trafficking! Putting Slate here just works as a giant lure for the criminally stupid! You’re making my job harder and putting the people I’m sworn to protect at risk!”

One last bang on his desk shut down the call, leaving Director Williams alone in her office.

Well.

Damn.

She hadn’t expected him to actually make any good points.

Director Williams turned away from her computer and faced the window. Port Stanley could be seen on the horizon.

The taste of victory was suddenly bitter.

~~~

Kirk was a Squire.

His contract to Regum said security guard. When the people asked, he said security guard. When he filed his taxes, he jotted down security guard. However, that was a lie. He knew it was a lie. His wife knew it was a lie, and his closest friends all knew it was a lie.

They were Squires.

He hadn’t always been one, and to be honest, the name had felt a bit silly at first. Like he was a kid playing pretend. Had it not been Gerald who made the offer, he probably wouldn’t have accepted it. However, Gerald was a man of his word, a rarity in just about any age. If he said the job was good, then it was good.

"What do you really want to do with your life?" Gerald had asked them back then. They had been eating at a Joey's. "Go from job to job, not knowing if this is the one that ends with a bullet through the head? That’s how you lot want to go? Or maybe, you take a chance on something solid. This is a good thing I'm offering you here. I'm not talking about the healthcare and stable salary. Fuck those things. This is a chance to stop! To breathe! Fuck, settle down and start a family!"

It had been hard to argue with that. Gerald hadn't been selling them a job. He'd been selling them a future. A real one.

And he'd delivered.

Nowadays, there were days when his biggest concerns were remembering to take out the trash and making sure he had taken all his pills. He was married now, with a baby girl on the way. His wife was the best in the whole world, and if his daughter inherited even half her genes, then he had nothing to worry about.

Except for the teenage years when boys were going to start prowling about her, but he could handle that.

He had guns.

Lots of guns.

He had one on him right now.

Kirk watched Nathaniel Robards through his spotting scope. It was Regum-made, which meant it was the best it could be. Though he was a little over a mile away from the Exceed, he’d probably be able to make out the hairs on his nose if the Exceed stood at just the right angle.

Robards was an Exceed of unknown powers. Protocol dictated no one was allowed to get within a mile of him. Surveillance had to be carried out from a safe distance by an operative wearing Regum’s latest stealth suit. This technological marvel made its wearer invisible to the naked eye.

That was what Kirk would be doing if Slate weren't flying all around the city as of late.

They had no idea what sort of scanners the Exceed had on that metal box he called a suit. While Slate seemed to keep himself to the area surrounding the docks (and wasn't that interesting), there was no telling what could happen if the Exceed managed to detect one of their stealth suits.

Thus, their protocols needed to be altered.

One operative was dispatched to enact surveillance over Robards at a 100-yard range. Since they were dealing with an Exceed, that was far riskier than it sounded. Kirk's job wasn't only to watch Robards but also to make sure the other operative hadn't been compromised by the Exceed's powers.

"Honey, are you still buying groceries?" He asked softly into his intercom. Although he understood the logic behind using code, he wished it weren't all so domestic.

"Oh, you know me. Always at the supermarket," came the reply. Unlike him, Luke had no problem with the code theme.

"Any new ice cream flavor?"

"Nothing." This time some frustration sept into Luke's voice. A rarity. "Just vanilla. Always vanilla."

Kirk sighed.

"Pity. I'll call you later."

"Not if I call you first!"

Watching Robards had to be the most tedious thing Kirk had done in a while. That meant a lot considering he did act the part of a security guard for a good chunk of his time.

Robards got up early in the morning and went to work. He had a job in the finance field with a big office and all that. When he was done for the day, Robards would occasionally stop by a shop near his apartment building to buy groceries. That was one of the few times he'd do anything other than directly head home. Robards was a widower with two kids and three cousins, but you wouldn't know it from watching him. He didn't visit anyone, and no one visited him. The lights in his apartment went out by ten.

It was something Kirk was having a hard time wrapping his head around. Not that Robards could walk among regular people without trouble. That was just part and parcel of Exceeds existing. Kirk had long since gotten used to that sort of thing.

This was something more. Kirk had met all sorts of people throughout his life. Mostly bad ones. However, they were all just people in the end. They had hobbies, families, and so on. Kirk had seen a Chinese warlord play soccer with his daughter once. It was so damn domestic no one would be able to tell the man had ten people executed that morning.

Everyone had something in their lives that made them normal.

Robards wasn't like that.

Robard's life was just… empty.

Kirk took in a deep breath and began moving to a new position.

No matter.

Robards would slip up eventually.

Everyone did.

~~~