In the far reaches of the city, the chaos had died down a bit. Rick and Jim lost track of the blob they were assigned to capture and weren’t sure what to do. Without a vehicle and their GPS to guide the way, they were stuck having to travel on foot.

Rick stared at his phone, unsure if he should call the Chief and ask for a ride. Either they risk reporting the failure of their latest endeavor or hide the information to themselves. Jim kicked a couple of rocks and had his hands in his pockets, grumbling under his breath.

“Could’ve gotten a promotion too...” Jim muttered.

“Is that what you’re concerned about?” Rick questioned.

“I never said that.” Jim snapped. He then sighed. “Man, this sucks so much.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Rick put his phone away after thinking about it and stopped walking. “So, what do we do now?”

Jim also stopped to ponder about it, as well as the situation at hand. “Well, we can’t go back as failures, but we also don’t have any traces of finding this blue creature...”

As they ran out of options to consider, car sirens blared in the distance. Rick and Jim spotted another police car driving over as it parked near them. The car doors opened, and James popped out and tipped his hat, greeting the two.

“Hey guys, needed a lift?” He offered.

“James, thank goodness you’re here.” Rick chirped.

“Hold on, where were you?” Jim squinted his eyes and asked.

“I was back at HQ,” James replied. “Man, that chief sure gave me a hard time.”

“Well, that’s what you get for lying and withholding information from him.” Jim pointed out. “You could get fired at this rate.”

James dropped his mouth open. “Coming from the cop that just lazes around? Where were you when we searched for the blue blob the first time?”

“I’ve been—”

“Guys, will you stop fighting?” Rick thundered.

The two turned; their mouths were agape. They lowered their heads and sighed.

“You’re right, sorry.” They both muttered.

“Why don’t we go back to the headquarters?” James questioned.

.-.-.-.

The three drove off in silence. Later on, the trio went back to conversing about their current mission at hand.

“I got an idea, I’ve been researching, and I know someone who can help us out,” Jim said.

James raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit skeptical by the remark. “So, that’s what you were doing while—?”

“Yeah, but it’ll take time to get them to cooperate, as they’re a fickle—”

“Hold up. I don’t like the sound of that. He’s not someone from the dark alleys, is he?”

“No, I’m not going for desperate measures like that. And don’t worry, once we get this guy on our side, we’ll win the day.”

“Who is he anyway?”

“Someone I know, we go back...”

“I meant his name.” James corrected him.

Jim waved his finger and clicked his tongue, much to James’ annoyance. “It’s a secret, my ‘friend’ doesn’t like for his identity to be revealed like that.”

“You’ll at least tell the superiorities, right?” Rick inquired, leaning from the backseat. “I don’t want you to get into trouble like James beforehand.”

“Yeah, he’s got the point,” James added.

Jim sighed and stared at the window. “Alright, I’ll do it for you.” He muttered.

“Did I catch that?” James teased without losing his focus on the road. “You know he’s married, right?”

“I don’t want to hear that coming from you, and yes, I’m aware!”

Rick chuckled, happy to see his partners getting along fine again after a rough day of work. His smile faded for a short while. “Are you certain you know what you’re doing?”

“Of course.” Jim chirped. “You two keep an eye out for when that happens. In the meantime, I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

I don’t like where this is going, but I hope things turn out okay. Rick thought, slumping in his seat.

As one of the youngest and newest recruits in the police force, he wanted to do whatever he could to prove himself, especially to his partners in crime. Sure, they go overboard at points, and their ideas aren’t always the best, but Jim and James had more experience under their belt. Rick wished he could contribute to more cases, but was fine with going along with what they said for now. Anything to protect those he cares for and deliver justice.