*never mind what I said in the previous post. I have a sample for my upcoming story here now and I'll get to publishing it tomorrow.
Chapter 1 – I Would Do Anything For Love
Recalling events
that led her to this place, Harley walks through a gang hideout that’s covered
in blood, bodies, and bullet casings. There’s a single officer down at the back
of the hideout who she kneels to touch, but once she does, it comes to life and
whacks her across the head. This is where her life took a turn for the worst, a
memory that’s painful to remember. She collects herself and drags two body bags
to an open coffin that she puts them in. The bodies spring up as she closes the
coffin. With great satisfaction, she smiles at it and looks up at the night sky
which switches to afternoon as she stops daydreaming.
A woman with her
husband next to her say, “Thank you for being here and paying for the funeral
for my boy. He always wanted to be a police officer. He said that’s what he
wanted to be when he grows up.”
The woman is then
brought to tears, but quickly comforted by her husband.
“It’s no problem.
Just give us a call if you need anything and we’ll be happy to help.”
The boy whose
funeral it is died trying to play police officer when someone was getting
robbed. Unfortunately, the robber didn’t care much for kids and killed him so
when the robber was later killed, no one cared that she was killed as well even
though nobody knows or cares if the officers tried to take her alive.
Harley usually
holds special occasions for people whose lives have been directly impacted by
crime such as this one. She’s famous for being one of the few female police
chiefs, not only in the country, but in the world. Over her career, she’s taken
down many criminals, shown mercy when no one else would, and was charitable
when there was not much to give. She’s done all this, not just to be a role
model or to rise through the ranks, but to protect her beloved lover Alex, the
only one who has kept her going for all of her adult life. The only one who she
thinks truly understands her. He’s been her moral compass, her inspiration, and
absolutely everything positive you could think of. She can imagine him waiting
for her at her parked undercover police car.
Her imagination of
Alex says to her, “That was a great thing you did. I’m sure the boy will rest
in peace knowing that his name will be placed among the bravest officers in
this city.”
Harley blushes and
smiles gleefully then drives off back to the main police station.
At the entrance,
Romanova, the woman at the main desk asks, “Did the funeral go well?”
“Yes, it did. The
parents were happy that he’s recognized as a brave officer though it doesn’t
help them that much.”
“You know things
like this take time.”
“I know but I
always wish there was a way to give them a more immediate form of comfort.”
“Me too.”
“I better get to
work. Have a nice day!”
“You too!”
Harley says hi to
everyone she makes eye contact with on her way to her office. She enters it and
looks over the case file for her new self-assigned assignment. Juliet and Rose
enter just as Harley was about to call for them.
“Just in time,”
Harley says, “Anything new about this case you got for me?”
Rose steps up and
puts several files on Harley’s desk then says, “We have these other cases that
could be connected to this one. I’ve found a several criminal groups that keep
popping up across all of them with similar situations.”
“Juliet told me
about them already, is there anything else?”
Rose turns to
Juliet.
Confused by Rose’s
look, she asks, “What? Did you want to feel special telling her yourself?”
Rose answers, “I
thought I was supposed to be your superior and you were supposed to be my
assistant, deputy.”
“It doesn’t matter
to me who gives me the information as long as I get ASAP,” Harley adds in,
“I’ll go to the locations you girls found to be the best ones to find more
information at.”
“You don’t want us
to go with you?” Juliet asks.
“I’ll ask you if I
do.”
“You sure about
that boss?” Rose says, “You are the chief after all-”
“This case is very
personal to me and you know that we do things differently here in Hillside
city. You also know my skills and they haven’t rusted one bit.”
“Of course.”
“I know how highly
skilled you both are and I’ll let you look at some of these other places.
Deal?”
“Yes mam!” they
both say.
Harley gives them
places to investigate and looks over the personal case again to think of what’s
the best place to look first. The case is all about Alex’s parents and family
disappearing mysteriously. Alex went to their house one day to not find them
anywhere though the house was in perfect condition. They didn’t pick up their
cellphones nor did anyone in family know where they were. Harley went into
investigate the house and found secret rooms and evidence that the rest of the
family is connected to the newest big gang in the city, The Los Inocentes, a
gang that takes credit for the deeds of other gangs while copying many of their
styles. No one could even believe that this was true, but when Harley and her
police force searched for the rest of Alex’s family who lives in Hillside City,
they could not be found at all as if they vanished like the parents. Some of
the evidence found by Harley can damn the family, excluding Alex, to life in
jail or execution, but I can also bring down the Los Inocentes. Alex didn’t
want to get married to Harley without his parents’ approval, but he
begrudgingly says that it would be right to bring them to justice if the
connection was proved to be one hundred percent true. He’d also marry Harley
without their approval, if again, this was true.
There are two huge
rewards for her here; the honor of bringing down an infamous gang and marrying
the one she loves the most. With her purpose renewed, she heads out to a
location that might give her the best answers. It’s a small upper middle-class
house that Harley always wondered how some of Alex’s friends could afford to
live in it. Once she gets there, the house darkens, shakes, contorts, and
decays.
Familiar female
voice in the darkness says, “Feeling alone in the world can be one of the worst
feelings that a person can feel. Loneliness can lead to the deterioration of
the mind resulting in depression, suicidal thoughts, and feelings of
uselessness. Feelings like these destroy a person from the inside which makes
them into a broken person who want some way to get rid of these feelings as
quick as possible.”
The four glass
mirrors in the house shatter then shape themselves to be human figures. They
throw pieces of themselves at Harley which she quickly shoots back at them. She
then shoots the glass mirrors themselves but they shatter then comes back
together undamaged. Making a tactical retreat, she runs away deeper into the house
while shooting the monsters to slow down their pursuit. She passes by a
painting of a thinking brain and takes a breather in a storage closet. There
she sees a bottle with a depressed individual on it. Thinking of what the voice
said before, she takes it to use on the painting, however, she waits for the
glass mirrors to pass by. In the meantime, she checks her ammo and sees that
she’s somehow not lost any ammo despite all the shooting. The monsters can’t be
heard from where she’s from so she exits the closet and heads to the painting.
She splashes the bottle’s liquids onto the painting which deteriorates it and
reveals two clips of special ammo with blue bullets. Now with hopefully better
ammunition, she makes noise to attract the attention of the glass mirrors and
they come to her. She shoots them and their oncoming attacks which damages them
and kills them. The darkness and decay lifts from the house and the bodies of
the monsters disappear. Harley checks her ammo again and the blue bullets are
gone and she still hasn’t used any of her ammo. Events like these are normal to
Harley and because of this, she has some control over it. She’s heard of
various religious explanations for it, scientific ones, and other random ones
that do line up in ideas, but she doesn’t care about it. Nobody knows that
Harley has this condition and she keeps it that way. It’s just another crazy
phenomenon that happens to people in her mind.
Now that, that’s
out of the way, she investigates the house and finds a special room where she
finds the sitting dead bodies of Alex’s friends tied to chairs in a circle.
Harley calls over her two of her favorite officers to look at the scene once
they’re done where they’re at. They come over thirty minutes later and analyze
the scene.
“What do you think
happen?” Harley asks.
“Judging by the
way they are, it looks like they were almost forced to be here then they were
sacrificed one by one in some sort of fanatical religious group,” Rose answers.
“You think they
wanted to back out at the last second?” Juliet asks.
“That’s possible.
Look at the symbol that’s carved onto their shoulder.”
“That’s definitely
the one used by the Los Inocentes. It’s a symbol they used that’s inspired by a
satanic gang.”
“The bodies look
like they’ve been dead for a long while, possibly before Alex knew before his
family’s disappearance.”
“So Alex’s friends
were involved with this too? It seems like the gang is deeply involved with
almost everyone Alex knows.”
“Yeah it’s pretty
weird how everyone seemed to be in on it except for Alex and you.”
“But you know
neither of us would be involved in things like this,” Harley says.
“I know because I
see that both of you are great people. I never saw or talked to his family or
friends so I can’t really say anything about them.”
“I never thought
someone who’s as nice as Alex would have people like this around him,” Juliet
adds, “I just seems so strange.”
“Well these people
are the only friends of Alex I know of so his friends are completely off the
list I guess unless he has more I don’t know about. I should probably go tell
him about this when I go home. Did you two find anything at the other
locations?”
“Just more places
to look and the dead bodies of people who looked like they were killed after
finding the information we found.”
“That’s how you
know we’re on the right track when getting this information becomes dangerous
to have. We should see where this evidence takes us later tomorrow. Get some
rest and we’ll hit more than two locations each. Sound good?”
“Yes mam!” they
both say.
After adding their
reports and such to the police station, they went their separate ways and went
home. At home, Harley tells Alex what she found and he became upset since he
never thought his friends would end up this way.
“You’ll always
have me with you. That’s not just a promise, it’s a fact,” Harley states.
“I trust you with
that. This whole situation is so fucked up and crazy! Why is everyone I know
involved in this gang? How could we not see this?” Alex says with tears in his
eyes.
Harley hugs Alex
since she can’t stand someone who she thinks is the strongest person she knows
being brought to tears.
“Some people are
really good at hiding their dirty secrets in plain sight. I’ll make everything
right so we can have a perfect marriage and a perfect life together here with
everyone in the city.”
“Heh, and I
thought the man was the supposed to be the strong support of the family.”
“You are! You’re
everything that’s keeping me alive and happy! Just keep being happy with me so
nothing can hurt us.”
“Alright, but I
promise you that I’ll do more for you than just being morale support.”
“Of course you
will. You always do.”
Chapter 2 – Paper Trail
Harley gets up
early the next morning to get to work on investigating the locations of
interest. This next one is yet another house like the previous one except isn’t
so large and more normal. It’s a house that belongs to cousins of Alex’s so the
connection between his family and the Los Inocentes. The same thing that
happened in the previous building happens again with the inside of the house
decaying and the light turning pitch black.
The same familiar
female voice speaks and her voice echoes throughout the building. She says,
“Love is an emotion felt by everyone that can get taken for granted. It can
give people a reason to keep living and deal with hard times, however, an
excess want of love can make people want to obtain it like an addictive drug.
Once they find a consistent source of love, they never let go of it lest they
lose their mind.”
The house looks
radically bigger now that it’s changed. Every door is unlocked and in one room,
she finds red pistol ammo on top of a bed with human silhouettes. There is one
special big door strapped with chains, however, that is locked with a pressure
plate in front of it. Harley steps on it, but she doesn’t weigh enough for it
to open and it appears that something needs to stay there so the door can
completely open. While she walks throughout the house, she checks her pistol
clips and finds that she has an extra clip with the blue ammo from last time. A
screech in the house sparks her attention and she goes to it to find what looks
to be a piece of a living organ trying to hug or mate with mannequins and
human-like objects in the room. Its sharp appendages try to attach itself to
things but they just break or are unsatisfactory to the monster. Harley tries
to shoot it with the blue ammo to kill it, but this in fact, only makes it
upset as it goes after her. She switches to red ammo and that calms it down and
go back to what it was doing. Maybe that monster is what needs to go on the
pressure plate and yet, the organ looking monster looks incomplete. There must
be another one in the house and Harley finds it not too far away from the
first. Its skin is lighter in tone and it tries to insert things into its holes
as if they give it pleasure. Harley shoots it with the blue ammo to get it to
follow her to the next monster. Once the two “see” each other, they combine to
make a beating heart that roll around the room, which also shakes up the house.
Now that the two are together, Harley must get them to the pressure plate, but
once she leaves the room, the house forces her to take a certain path
throughout it by closing off doorways and passages while offering new ones not
seen before. All while this is happening the beating heart chases her to crush
her beneath it. The chained door is just ahead and there’s just enough room for
Harley to let the beating heart pass by her and sit on top of the pressure
plate that wraps it in barb wire to keep it in place. Now that the door is
opened, everything goes back to normal.
As Harley opens
the door, someone shoot it from the other side, forcing her to take cover on
the wall.
The man who is one
of Alex’s cousins says, “I know who you are and what you’ve done! You’re not
going to get away with it! That bitch Alex is going to get it along with the
rest of the damned police force!”
Harley tries to
calm the man down by saying, “I don’t exactly know what you’re talking about,
but we can talk about this you know.”
“No we can’t and
you know that!”
Knowing what he’s
going to do, she quickly pops out of cover and shoots the man in the head.
After which, she sees that he has files in packages along with food, water, and
ammo as if he was going to make his last stand there until he died. These files
tell of a plan by Alex’s family to eliminate or bog down the police force in
the city to have the Los Inocentes as a dominant force in the city like how
they are in their country of origin. It also explains that Alex wasn’t told to
be part of the gang since he’s such a Gary Stu type person. They think he
would’ve ratted them out to Harley. She thinks this as well and is thankful
that they didn’t involve him in their plans. Not wanting to just hit one
location like Harley said yesterday, she deposits the evidence to the police
station and goes off to another location.
This one is an
apartment that coincidentally was condemned because of a fire fight that the
police had with the Los Inocentes. Several Alex’s aunts and uncles lived here
and now the reasons why Harley is here make their living here make sense. The
same thing that’s been happening happens again with this location.
The disembodied
female voice says, “People who are aggressive are naturally very touchy and not
too friendly with others. This could be the result of abuse, neglect, or
humiliation by others. There are few that could break through the walls that
aggressive people put up to find the compassion within them.”
A black
scorpion-like creature that stands up on three legs appears to Harley. It has
green acid dripping out of its mouth and another vaginal-like mouth on its
chest. The first thing it does is try to ram her and when she tries to dodge
it, it slashes at her with its arms and tail. Using her red bullets, she calms
it down for a few seconds before going back to being aggressive. Harley goes
through each room while trying to avoid the creature which doesn’t work for
long as it breaks down all the walls in between them. There then comes a door
which is locked so Harley tricks the monster to break it down. Once it does, a
giant bee-like insect with stingers for feet kill the black scorpion creature
by stabbing it in its chest mouth which then spits out a green clip of pistol
ammo towards Harley. She shoots this ammo at the bee to see what it does and it
ends up bringing the bee under her control. In her mind, she thinks she
could’ve really used this in the previous house, but she also thinks that the
red ammo helped here as well. The bee follows her throughout the apartment
while breaking through whatever walls she commands it to and holes whatever
pressure plates it’s told to. Its usefulness comes to an end when a giant red
ant breaks through the ventilation and devours it using its mouth on its chest that
is similar to the black scorpion’s. This ant stands up on two feet and is more
aggressive than the other insects as it instantly goes for Harley and doesn’t
stop. The yellow ammo only slows it down for a second before it goes back to
its rampage. She then thinks to use the red ammo and only when she unloads the
clip into it does it take effect to calm it down and allow the yellow ammo to
take effect. The ant then breaks and moves whatever Harley needs out of the way
before it suddenly dies at a certain door at the top floor.
Everything goes
back to normal once she opens the door to find the remnants of a firefight.
Harley finds the bodies of several uncles, aunts, and other family members of
Alex along with people that have a Los Inocentes tattoo. Among the massacre,
she finds plans to assault the police station with various secrets of it that
Harley remembers telling Alex’s family when she took them for a tour of the
station. This has to be one of the biggest mistakes Harley has done, but at
least she’s trying to make up for it now. There are also hints as to what the
main base of operation for the Los Inocentes looks like. No one knows what it
looks like, where it is, or where to even begin to look for it. Only
high-ranking members of the gang are allowed to see the trip from wherever they
are to the actual location while others are blinded even lower ranking members.
Harley calls this into the station to get her other agents on this while she
calls a meeting with Rose and Juliet back in her office.
“What have you got
for me?” Harley asks them.
Rose starts out by
saying, “Nothing new that you haven’t seen. It’s just information backing up
what you found. In fighting in the gang, connections to Alex’s family while
excluding him, and hints as to what the location of their hideout is.”
“With all of this,
we could bring down the gang in a matter of days,” Juliet boldly states, “We’re
well armed and smart enough. All we need are the correct targets and the gang
falls over like a stack of cards.”
“I think you girls
should have the day off the tomorrow. I’ll have some of my forensic
investigators take a look at the scenes and the information we found to point
us in the right directions.”
“Are you sure
about that?” Juliet asks.
“Yes. The jobs you
girls are great at are combat and investigation. Forensics aren’t exactly your
field so let the others take care of it and rest so you’ll have plenty of
energy to take down the Los Inocentes once and for all. Good?”
“Yes mam!” they
say.
After this long
day of work, Harley goes home and sees that Alex is fully dressed up.
“What’s the
occasion you’re going to?” she asks.
“We’re going out
to dinner.”
“Thank you for
treating me out of nowhere-”
“Your two friends
are coming. I called and already told them before you came in.”
“Oh…well that’s
good.”
“Is there a
problem with that? I thought you love going out with them and me together?”
“I do, I do! What
about Morgan?”
“She’s working
overnight on some patients she has. I could talk to her about it later. I am a
physician’s assistant after all.”
“We have to get
that girl a boyfriend. Let me get changed quickly.”
Harley gets
changed into a dressy white shirt, black jeans, and dressy flat black shoes.
The two get in their car and Alex drives them to the nice restaurant uptown.
Once they get there, they see that Rose and Juliet aren’t dressed as nicely and
are just wearing casual clothes.
Rose sees how the
couple are dressed and as they sit down, she distressingly says, “Oh I didn’t
know that we were supposed to get dressed up for this occasion. I thought it
was just a normal dinner.”
“I actually don’t
have any dressy outfits,” Juliet admits.
“It’s ok girls,”
Alex assures, “I was taught to be more traditional about things.”
Rose and Juliet
hold their tongue about inquiring about his family given the present situation.
He continues by
saying, “So have you girls found anything new?”
All three of them
stay quiet. A waiter comes by to take their orders and they stay quiet after
that as well.
Alex hits the
table.
“Damn it, I get
that my family is connected with the Los Inocentes-”
“We know you’re
innocent,” Juliet interrupts.
Alex continues by
saying, “That’s great knowing something both you and I already know, but I want
to hear something new. Did you arrest any of them yet?”
Harley slowly
answers, “…We found the dead bodies of your uncles and aunts and,” she swallows
her regret, “I killed one of your cousins in self-defense.”
There’s silence
among them for a solid minute.
Alex then rubs his
face a couple times before saying, “Ok, ok…ok…I’m good. I’m glad that you’re
alive Harley. I’m glad that you’re the only one I know of besides you two that
are always honest with me.”
The dinner stays
mostly ok with Juliet and Rose bringing up TV shows and movies to try to
lighten the mood. Later when they go home, Alex almost seems to break down, but
he holds it in and shows a smile to Harley who is deeply worried about him. He
reminds himself that he must be strong so Harley can be as equally or even
stronger than he is.
