[One-Shot]
"I’ve gotten the criticism that I’m some ruthless cop who has “inappropriate” ways of handling a case… I’m only doing what is necessary to keep these streets clean, as pussyfooting around and trying to go after these scumfucks with a gentle approach is the reason why these pricks have free reign in our city already. So what if I manhandle a few scumbags pushing poison? Or break a rapist rib cage into several pieces? I’m sending a message that we don’t take kindly to that kinda filth around here … They can call me a disgrace to the badge all they want, I’m the one out here making life safer for honest people at the end of the day.
- Lieutenant Kescov Deran
"So if I go into your computer over there I’m not gonna find a thousand counts of privacy invasion, right?’
March 20th YC 124
Halle V - Kosbeg City - Residiential district, Apartment of Teran Juno
“Teran.”
“Oh Shi-”
< Teran’s door getting kicked in by Kescov as he attempts to shut it >
< Kescov walking in >
“Nice place you got here.”
“H-Hey! I have rights, you know?! You can’t just barge in here without a warrant!”
“Don’t worry, I do.”
< Kescov starting to yank book after book off a bookcase >
< Teran scrambling behind him picking the books off the ground >
“What the ■■■■ are you doing?!”
“Legally searching your apartment.”
“LEGALLY?! F-For what?! Why me?!”
“Why? Well, you’re just one of the usual suspects is all…”
“Usual sus- Who’s Whoa Whoa! You got me mixed up Lieutenant Sir! I ain’t caught up in anything anymore! You can ask my probation officer if-”
< Kescov kicking in the bathroom door and poking his head in >
“-CAN YOU STOP KICKING MY ■■■■■■■ DOORS IN?!”
“You need to clean your damn shower.”
“My shower is none of your business!”
< Kescov flicking the bathroom light switch on and off before leaving >
“Look, you HAVE to be in violation right now! Criminal past or not, I am a Federal citizen and I am entitled to rights that prevents such flagrant attacks on my privacy!”
“Yeah, you’re one to talk.”
< Kescov flicking the light switch on and off as he enters the living room >
“Are you trying to jack my power bill up now?! Do you have ANY idea how expensive that is this time of year?!”
< Kescov picking a bust off a table and examining it >
“Show me what I’m looking for and I won’t have to be doing all this…”
“Show you what?!”
< Kescov dropping the bust to the floor, breaking it as he moves on >
“Oh come on! that was a gift!”
< Teran getting down to clean the mess up >
“I know you got a trigger somewhere… Ah! That must be it…”
“H-Hey wait!”
< Kescov walking over and flipping a peculiar light switch >
< a Slab of the wall moving out of place in response >
“Ah ■■■■…”
“Ahah! There we are! There’s your little workshop!”
< Kescov rushing into the workshop area >
“Got drones and parts all over this place Teran! Still up to your old hobbies, huh?”
“L-Look! This is a huge misunderstanding! Alright?! Officer please… I swear to you I’m not falling back into my old habits!”
“Yeah? Then what is all of this Teran?”
“It’s my… My side business! T-The burger flipping job ain’t cutting it and frankly the management there is a bit unfair. I-I had to resort to using my talents fixing other people’s drones! These are client’s you see…”
< Kescov picking a drone up >
“Your clients handing you heavily modified Cerodon janitorial drones to fix? This model is meant for cleaning cumstains like you off the floor, and yet it’s fitted with propellers and a damn camera. In fact, ALL of these drones have cameras on them! You sure you’re not indulging in your old habits?! You’re not even supposed to be having kind of equipment in this city!”
“M-M-My clients are in the holo-reel industry! These are drones meant for recording scenes in their work! They all have permits for this equipment! I swear!”
“Your clients are using illegally modified drones?”
“Well… T-Times are tough for us all you see…”
"So if I go into your computer over there I’m not gonna find a thousand counts of privacy invasion, right?’
“What?! No! NoNoNoNo! I-I-I swear to you!”
“Assuming you even are telling me the truth, why was this ‘side business’ of yours never disclosed with your probation officer?”
“W-Well…”
“-And would the income from this be listed on your tax audit? Or do we need to add tax evasion to the list?!”
“No sir!”
< Kescov shoving the drone toward Teran >
“Then you better start explaining yourself, slimeball. Because as is, I got enough to work with to take you down to the precinct. And I even began to find what I’m really after…”
“W-W-What? What do you mean?!”
“Certainly you’ve watched the local news of late?”
“W-Well I don’t watch much news…”
“No, you much prefer watching your neighbors strip though their windows you creepy ■■■■. Don’t think I don’t see that bottle of lotion near your monitor there.”
“I-I cant work on drones with dry hands-”
“Shut the ■■■■ up slimeball. We’ve been having a chain of murders in this city for the past month now. We had zero leads on a possible suspect, no fingerprints, no footprints or DNA in general. Then we found out that these people weren’t even being killed by another human being… Drones were the ones carrying out the attacks. We’ve found camera footage showing crudely modified drones murdering their victims. Crudely modified drones similar to the ones I see right now in fact…”
“HeyHeyHey! No way! Alright?! Y-You got the wrong guy! I ain’t hurt nobody!”
“Then what’s all the drones for Teran? Right now you’re looking like the prime suspect…What are you really doing?”
“…”
“… < Sigh >”
< Kescov pulling handcuffs out >
< Teran putting the drone down on a table >
“Whoa! Slow down!”
“Either give me a good excuse or it’s you I’m taking with me…”
“I… I… I may have slipped into my old habits… I-I got needs Lieutenant! You understand… Stuff online don’t cut it for me. It ain’t the same…”
“You disgusting ■■■■.”
“I-I assure you I ain’t ever record anyone under the legal age, alright?”
“Don’t recall being suspicious of that specifically… Noted however.”
“Y-Yeah… L-Look I’m coming clean! J-Just so you understand I ain’t involved in whatever this is! M-M-My mama didn’t raise no murderer.”
“No, she raised a god damn creep. Alright then… I’m tempted to pretend I ain’t seen anything today… Assuming you can give me something to help with this case.”
“H-How could I be of assistance?”
“The drones we got on camera are civilian models of various different uses and functions. Modified however to have weaponry mounted to them… Natural drone weaponry, military-grade likely. How would someone get ahold of things like that?”
“W-Well…O-Obviously buying a whole military-grade droid is expensive and uh, less subtle … Cheaper and easier to buy parts of one and repurpose a more common civilian model to use…”
“Okay, but how do I get these parts? Look at these drones here. I see parts you couldn’t obtain from your local hobby shop…”
“There’s uh… A message board I frequent. Local to this world, people posting all over this planet of their builds and uh… helping enthusiasts like myself obtain hard to get parts for our projects. I-it’s where most of my parts come from…”
“What kind of parts we talking?”
“Well… A-Any kind if you can find a supplier… C-Come to think of it, I do recall maybe seeing a post about someone asking for some weapon systems… For home defence he claimed! I-I think the mods took the thread down but uh… I-I didn’t think much on it!”
“Do you know who this was?”
"Uhhh I think his handle was something like… BeignAcid12? NoNoNo BeignAccident21! T-Thats it!
“If the post got taken down, is there no way for him to make any transaction?”
“Well it’s just a message board, if the right person saw it they just had to contact them and do the trade on their own. Don’t think he was banned or thought much to look into it myself…”
“…Alright then. And you’re a regular on this forum, right?”
“Well… I did have to get a new account, but I am back to my original trust level!”
< Kescov cuffing Teran >
“Whoa! What?! Hold on!”
“Relax Teran, I’m just gonna put your useless hide to use… You’re gonna help us catch this bastard and maybe - JUST MAYBE - you can come out of this with a slap on the wrist and a final chance to get your life in order.”
“W-What would you have me do?”
“Simple. Pose as a seller for this BeignAsswipe fella and give us something to trace directly towards him… Just think about it Teran, you might get to be a hero at the very end of this… Now let’s go.”
< Kescov pushing Teran along >
“Look, for the record, I demand a lawyer from this point forward! Alright?! If I’m doing this I wanna make sure my rights are protected.”
“Shut the hell up and ■■■■■ to someone who cares.”