The FBI offered to handle the paperwork of the case, which Jason accepted considering how much damage was done to the National Conference Centre’s third floor. Unfortunately, Sergeant Khoo, the Shade who was thrown from the third floor by Arthur Bray, did not survive his injuries: A piece of wood from the food cart he crashed onto not only pierced through his right lung, but had also severed his aortic arch. According to Sierra-3-15, there was no way to save him. Thankfully, however, his partner and the READ medic who tended to her survived their injuries. Roderick learnt from Andrew that the medic had no idea he was wounded until Amirah and Weijin got to him.

It was the start of a new work week, and as preparations were made to honour the fallen officer, Roderick found himself stuck at the desk with the pontianak Nora and the ever-irritable Tom due to injury: The tanuki Umetani Aiko, was one of the paramedics who arrived on the scene after the SRE was over and, after getting slightly freaked out by the hook-wielding revenant Hats emerging from the carpark with a dismembered leg belonging to Arthur Bray, tended to Roderick, who found out that firing the Shikra revolver one-handed had caused a first-degree strain to his wrist.

It was a rainy morning, and as Nora and Tom made sure that Roderick only does light work until his strain heals (Nora was particularly fussy about it and Tom threatened to change the ‘t’ in ‘strain’ to a ‘p’ if Roderick tries to wayang), Xiaoye, who had a few bandages with one visible around her neck and right wrist, arrived for work, and the first thing she noticed was…

“What happened to the pelesit I brought back? What’s this Kamen Rider-looking thing?” Xiaoye asked as she pointed at the creature in the pelesit tank on the front desk.

“Oh, it moulted. I don’t know why, but now it looks less horrifying and more.. I don’t know, heroic?” Nora replied.

“When I brought it here, it was a grasshopper with a hornet’s abdomen and had spider mandibles larger than its face. Now it’s a grasshopper with rainbow wings, anime-sized eyes and the head and tusks of a rhinoceros beetle?”

“Well, after Nora made it her familiar, she started wondering if pelesits look horrifying because they’re always exposed to nasty energy, so we started playing motivational videos and happy songs next to the tank. One hour later, it went full Pokémon and became this,” Tom explained.

“What? That’s a new discovery!”

“Yeah, whatever. It still stinks when it emits that green gas,” the desk corporal complained before turning his eyes back to the computer screen.

“So, Roderick,” Xiaoye asked as she turned towards her partner, “How’s desk duty?”

“The way things are, I think it’s a lot safer patrolling the streets,” Roderick replied.

“Huh, I guess so. You talked to your pa?”

“Yeah… It was weird. I didn’t know what to talk about when I was in the hospital the day after we shot Arthur Bray… So I told him about the whole case.”

“How did it go?”

“Surprisingly, he asked how were your injuries. I told him you’ll heal within days. He just snorted and said that since you keep watching my back, I have a responsibility to do the same or he’ll kick my butt once he’s discharged. Still won’t refer to you by name, but he doesn’t pronounce the word ‘cambion’ with as much disgust as he did earlier.”

“Well, that’s a good start.”

“Actually, he did say something else,” Roderick admitted as he scratched his head.

“What did he say?”

“He got bored being in the hospital alone, so he got a friend to bring him his laptop and was doing some information digging about Arthur Bray. He saw the history, how Bray got demonized by the woke culture, and then he discovered something else we missed out. Did you know that Henry Sarathkumar was studying in the United States and was a third-year student at the same school that Bray was teaching at?”

“For real?”

“Yeah, and he was the leader of the woke mob that caused the expulsion of Bray from the school. Funny thing is, he wasn’t even a student of Bray’s. Also, it turns out that Mr Sarathkumar only recently changed his name to Henry. His birth name was Amresh, but he apparently pulled some legal strings to get it scrubbed. That’s why Amirah never found the link between him and Bray.”

“I missed something? Guess I spent too much time away from the keyboard,” Amirah said out loud as she approached the front desk.

“So Mr Sarathkumar isn’t as clean cut as we believe he is… Maybe he felt ashamed of what he did to Bray so he tried to erase that past. And it also explains why Bray wanted to publicly murder him. Still, his actions aren’t justifiable. A pity the only way to end things was to end his life,” Xiaoye mused.

“Yeah, Roderick told us about it. You went full Mortal Kombat on that polong,” Tom said.

“C’mon, it’s not the first time I broke someone’s heart…” Xiaoye protested, but Nora grabbed an orange from her bag, pretended to impale Tom’s chest with Tom doing an exaggerated death dance by wiggling his arms and looking possessed, then pulled her hand out clutching the orange while saying in a deep, almost masculine voice: “Xiaoye wins. Fatality.”

“Actually, it was more like a Brutality,” Roderick began when Chen Weijin suddenly slide out of nowhere, stopping right beside Xiaoye.

“Ah, Miss Di, I see you’ve got some new battle scars. Oh, I do so love a woman who more than willing to get into a scrap…” Weijin began while Ajibade and Lucas, who had just arrived, saw what was going on and face-palmed at the same time.

“For Pete’s sake, Weijin, learn to take no for an answer,” Ajibade said.

“The way you flirt and your choice of words makes the Pick-Up Line Slayer sound like a normal person looking for a date,” Lucas added, comparing Weijin to a notoriously charismatic and good-looking serial killer who murdered ten women in Singapore and Malaysia during the year 2062, and whom Lucas personally arrested.

“Hey, don’t compare me to that psychopath you and Ajibade beat up at the Causeway. And Xiaoye, don’t you feel like you’re missing something in your life? Would you like to fill that gap up?” Weijin continued.

“Oh, I would love to. In fact, I have a date planned out,” Xiaoye suddenly said, shocking everyone.

“Wait, after five years of behaving like an Asian Charles Manson, Weijin actually scored Xiaoye?” Tom asked out loud, his glasses slipping down his nose.

“Tidak mungkin, kalah ini?” Nora uttered.

Everyone’s jaws had dropped, and even Lucas, who can’t feel or show emotions, actually had his eyes widening slightly, the first time Roderick ever saw surprise on the Nobody’s face.

“Oh, you- Wait, for real? An actual date with me?” Weijin asked, clearly caught off guard.

“Yes, an actual date, but not with you, you roaster. Remember that tanuki paramedic?” Xiaoye replied before answering her phone which had begun to ring, “Ah, what impeccable timing. Hello? Ah, yes, Aiko, I remember. Sure, we’re still on tonight… No problem, meet you after work. Remember, it’s my friends’ diner, so make sure you spread the word to your colleagues, help their business. Sure, cheerios.”

Now it was Weijin whose jaw was dropping, while everyone else quickly worked out what was going on and started laughing.

“I thought you were straight,” Weijin asked Xiaoye.

“Mate, I sleep on both sides of the bed,” Xiaoye replied with a wink as she headed into the locker room.

“Wait, what? I didn’t know that,” Weijin exclaimed.

“How do you not know? She didn’t even hide in the closet,” Tom retorted as he wiped a tear away, having laughed too hard.

“Wait, you know?”

“She told me, Tom and everyone else when we first met,” Lucas replied, a small smile actually creeping up on his normally blank face.

“And you all too?”

“I suspected. So, not surprised,” said Ajibade with a shrug.

“I kind of figured it out when I notice she would sometimes check out both men and women when we were on patrol,” Roderick added.

“Same,” Amirah admitted.

“In other words, you’re the only person in the entire police force not to know that her alphabet’s ‘B’, you daft cunt,” Tom said to Weijin, who looked like he was about to cry.

“Don’t worry, Mister Exorcist, she sleeps on both sides of the bed, remember? You might still have a chance,” Ajibade teased as he and Lucas both patted Weijin on the back while guiding him to the men’s locker room.

“Dia akan mati sebagai dara,” Amirah said in Malay.

“You said it, sister,” Nora replied.

“Time to toss his ass into the red light district, I say,” Tom added before returning to his work.

“Tom, aren’t you a virgin too?” Roderick asked.

“Buddy, I have more hits on my Finder-Partner account than that moron, and I’m a fat slob to boot. Tells you a lot about our charisma levels. Besides, how’s your dating life?”

“Yup, point taken.”

“Bradley, you wanted to see me?” Jason asked as he entered AC Bradley’s office, only to find that Farhan was present as well.

“Yes, Jason, please, take a seat,” Bradley said as he gestured to the empty seat beside Farhan, who looked just as curious about what is going on as Jason.

“You said this thing you wanted to talk to us about is highly sensitive, sir?” Farhan asked.

“I’m afraid so. It concerns Internal Affairs, and the reputation of the entire police of Singapore. Take a look at these documents.”

Bradley handed an envelope, the same one he had gotten from Commissioner Siddique, to the two investigators, who opened it and found themselves staring at pictures of young elven women, all dead with signs of restraints and battery all over their bodies, each one found in forested areas or at secluded regions along the coastline. The more pictures they saw, the more horrified they were.

“What the hell is all this… This disgusting pictures?” Jason asked as he dropped the pictures and accompanying reports, his hands shivering with utter rage and disgust at what had been done to the victims, with even Farhan letting out a soft but furious growl.

“We’re dealing with a human trafficking conspiracy, gentlemen. Modern day sex slavery. And unfortunately, IA just found something extremely incriminating. Look at the image Farhan is holding,” Bradley replied as he pointed at a large picture in Farhan’s hands.

“A piece of paper?” Farhan asked.

“Yeah, and it’s- Oh, shit…” Jason muttered as he recognized the words printed on the piece of paper.

“Ma-something Law En-? Magic Law Enforcement? Isn’t that David Kang’s department?”

“I have my own grudges against David Kang, but I find it hard to believe that he would sink to such a level. I, for one, know of his hatred against criminals who commit sexual offences. IA believe the same thing too, so they want a careful investigation. According to the initial investigator in charge, based on the way the paper was found, which by the way had a partial list of what looked like either addresses or code written in numbers, the victim knew that she was going to die, but she made sure to grab something incriminating. It was found ripped up, rolled into a ball and hidden in her panties by the state coroner, who quickly deduced what the muddled words meant and passed it to Internal Affairs upon realizing that he can’t trust the other departments with the evidence,” Bradley explained.

“And IA wants us to investigate the MLE?” Jason asked.

“They didn’t, until the most recent bodies were found with ritual carvings on their backs. And unlike the previous victims, they were killed via magical means, and with MLE now under heavy suspicion by IA, the only other department capable of investigating magic-related murders is ours.”

“Fuck that. Isn’t this evidence enough? Get IA to contact Special Crimes and Vice, then all four of our departments can march into MLE and put every officer there under investigation,” Farhan said.

“Let’s not alert the snake hiding in the tall grass for now. Keep your investigations private. Once we have enough evidence, then we strike. What if the department is innocent and it’s only one officer who was involved? What if it’s all happening under David Kang’s nose and he doesn’t know because he’s too busy planning his political agenda and stroking his own ego? We must have undeniable evidence.”

“So you want us both to investigate the case behind everyone’s backs?” Jason asked.

“Yes. I know I’m putting you both in a tough position, but until the time is right, the only ones who know about this are the three of us. Not even the rest of Grey Team. Is that understood?”

Jason and Farhan looked at each other uncomfortably. Jason was new to the department and he was still working on gaining the full trust of his fellow officers. Farhan, on the other hand, was a veteran who had built up a significant trust with the same officers. Both knew that if the rest of Grey Team finds out about this, there was a chance that they will feel untrusted by Jason or betrayed by Farhan, and it would no doubt affect the team’s unity. However, at the same time, they knew how serious the case they had been handed custody of was. After pondering for a few minutes, both men came to the same conclusion.

“With all due respect, sir, we’ll keep it quiet, but if we feel it is time the rest of Grey Team knows about this, we will tell them about it, even if it costs us,” Jason said to Bradley, with Farhan nodding.

“Then I trust you both to do the right thing. Be careful in your investigations, however: I heard that an officer from Internal Affairs who was investigating this case had a fatal car accident two weeks ago. At least that was what someone wants it to look like. A police mechanic dropped hints that the deceased officer’s car was sabotaged,” Bradley warned, to which the two investigators nodded before leaving his office with a new and dangerous task at hand…