Infiltration of the Compassionate: Chapter 2 – Thankless Tasks

Chapter 2 – Thankless Tasks

Waking up in the morning, I go about my daily routine in my house and sit at the table, half asleep and not wanting to do any work, with the morning news being meaningless noise to me, especially when they start talking about me and what happened yesterday. My dad is the most interested in it as he stands in front of it and talks to it as if the people on the other end will hear him. Given how loud he’s yelling, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually heard him.

“I can’t believe you put up with these people, Polina,” my dad says. “Just say the word, and I’ll beat them all up with my own two hands.”

My dad is the kind of guy who would actually do it, facing a crowd of people with his bare hands, without a second thought, as long as he knew he was doing the right thing. It’s that kind of bold arrogance that won my mom’s heart on their first date. She told me she didn’t think he’d be the one until a group of two armed criminals and three superhumans tried to rob them. Instead of giving in, my dad threw himself at them until law enforcement arrived to save their lives. Even though my dad had to stay in the hospital for a month, that was the day my mom knew he was the one she was meant to be with. I hope to be like him, facing seemingly overwhelming odds without blinking, caring only that I’m doing the right thing; however, my dad beating up my political enemies wouldn’t help me at all, and I tell him that.

He grunts, smiles, and says, “Yeah? I guess what you said to them was more effective, but they should still be taught a lesson. I’m sure you’ll win. These pieces of trash in overly expensive suits don’t stand a chance.”

I smile and say, “Thanks, dad.”

“How did your date with Raziel go?” mom asks.

“It wasn’t a date.”

“Our daughter isn’t a young girl anymore; she’s a grown woman, and doesn’t need us prying into her personal business, though I wouldn’t mind if she stays with us for the foreseeable future.”

“Shush. You still want to beat anyone up who picks a fight with her.”

“What father worth his title wouldn’t?”

I eat my breakfast while my parents go back and forth, and I consider my plan for the day. Because of what happened yesterday and the reports of increased crime in the city, the choice is obvious.

When I get into the Dominion office and see Raziel, who wants to know what we’re doing, I say, “The streets are getting too dirty. It’s time to clean them up.”

“Let’s do it. My guardian angel says God’s anger grows over it, and it needs to be quenched with divine justice,” Raziel says.

“Let’s not keep God waiting then.”

Putting on our armor, Raziel and I head out to the places where most of the crime has been reported. We get there just in time to catch the group of thieves and superhumans who have been recently terrorizing the area and making sporadic attacks around Meridian, including the suburbs. Their equipment is advanced for a bunch of nobodies with sets of unrelated powers, as some utilize technology, while others focus on using their powers. Looking into the souls of the people we’re facing, I begin to see the bigger picture and the trap within it. Unfortunately for us, we’ve already triggered the trap, and more criminals and villains spring out from the alleyways and sewer holes to ambush us. Before I can begin to call backup, sniper shots ring out to take out multiple robots and villains, and some begin holding their heads in pain and turning on their allies.

On the radio, I hear Zahara say, “You didn’t think we wouldn’t be in the area you assigned us to, did you?”

“We thought you needed our help, especially when we heard on the radio that you were helping us today,” Penelope adds.

I thank the two for their help and focus on using my psychological powers to subdue or kill our foes. With the tide of the battle turning in our favor, the criminals retreat as they were contracted to do, but Raziel stops them by sprouting up walls of supernatural flames that don’t burn anything but the sinful men and women who are trying to escape. Once the remaining living criminals are in our custody, Penelope and I try using our powers to further restrain them so they don’t try killing themselves, and we only manage to save a few.

Both Raziel and Zahara are unsure of why this is happening, so I explain that, “These people were hired to specifically start trouble to lure us in, and ambush us. As to who hired them, I can’t seem to tell, can you, Penelope?”

“Me neither, or rather, I can’t tell who originally hired them. Whoever did, used a go-between to protect the original contractor’s identity, and knew that we’d use our powers to try to find them,” Penelope says.

We interrogate the criminals and villains about what they know, and they don’t tell us much more. They tell us they were each from different groups and independent persons, some of whom caused chaos to distract us for the money, others did it for fun, and the last group mentioned did it for the most interesting reason, that being that they wouldn’t be bothered by the law if they succeeded and managed to live.

“There it is,” I say. “Our true targets are those with the power to influence laws and law enforcement.”

“That’s the part that we’ve been trying to figure out,” Zahara says. “All the crime you’ve been having us investigate is all connected and part of a bigger plot that we haven’t been able to find the end of, yet.”

“Why didn’t you ask me for help?”

“You’re running for mayor and busy with all that political business, taking care of the poor, kissing babies, and all that,” Penelope says.

“Well, I’m back to protecting the public as part of my mayoral run.”

“How is that going to help you?”

“It helps in the same way that helping the poor does. People see me actively helping to protect the city, and should vote for me, because of it, or at least, they should.”

“Maybe some of your rivals are responsible. Proving it will make your victory even easier.”

“I didn’t see it on their souls yesterday during the debate, so I doubt it.”

With nothing else to go on, we all go back to the Dominion office as law enforcement arrests the criminals, villains, and the dead. Returning to the Dominion office, the Compassionate and I review the records we have to see if those we encountered have any connections to political leaders. We find that they do have some connections, but these political leaders are outside of Meridian, or have already been arrested and put in prison. Turning to the latest news to see what my rivals are doing, I see that they’re all seemingly turning over a new leaf after I brought their sins to light, as they help feed the poor and make public promises to change, with detailed plans for how they’ll help the city.

Zahara says, “How about Penelope and I question the people in prison? It’s possible they were the ones working with the go-betweens to cause chaos in the city as a form of revenge.”

“I’ll come too,” I say.

“No, your rivals look like they’re gaining more support. If anything, you should be doing more in public, while we handle this matter that’s in private.”

I can’t argue that Zahara is wrong, so I allow her and Penelope to do what they want. Thinking about what we could do next, I decide that Raziel and I should go back to the place we were fighting at to help the cleanup crew and the civilians who were caught in the crossfire. I usually leave the work to those who can write checks to those whose businesses and homes are affected and whose jobs it is to clean up the scene, but I think it’ll be good if people see me personally cleaning up the mess I’ve made. When I go there, many are happy to see me helping out, though there are a few who would rather not see me.

Even as I’m helping around, giving condolences, and promises to prevent future damages like this, people say things like, “She’s the reason why this happened!”

“She didn’t do enough to protect us!”

“They’re just offering their help to get votes and more power over the city!”

Looking at the souls of these people, I see that many are hurt, and there are a few bad actors in the crowd who are just doing this to stir trouble and take advantage of what happened to turn people against me. There’s no easy solution to this, so I let my actions speak for themselves, as I continue to help people. I don’t return insults, nor do I flinch when things get thrown at me from the crowds. Instead, I continue doing what I’m doing until the crowds get tired and disperse, and the work is done as much as it can be today.

“I’m sure you gained and held onto support today,” Raziel assures me. “Don’t let the words of the naysayers get to you.”

“Thank you. Since today was another hard day, does that mean you’re treating for dinner again?” I ask.

“How about I make something at my house for you?”

“Oh, I haven’t had your cooking in a while.”

“I’ve been trying to improve it in my free time. How does pasta and chicken sound?”

“I think it sounds great.”

Sure enough, when Raziel makes and serves dinner, what he makes is amazing, beyond high-end restaurant quality. Enjoying our meal and each other’s company is short-lived when Penelope and Zahara call to let us know what they found, which is nothing. No one besides the family of our suspects has visited them. Surveillance hasn’t caught any suspicious conversations between them, and Penelope hasn’t found any notable memories in their minds. They ask whether they should investigate the other suspects outside the city, and I tell them not to because I need them in Meridian. I tell them we’ll have our allies in the other cities investigate those suspects instead.

After saying goodbye and hanging up, I try to continue having a nice dinner with Raziel, but I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed. We still have an unknown enemy out there, and there’s nothing more I can do about it, so I try not to let my nervousness about it get to me and pray that they don’t strike again anytime soon and that our allies in the other cities will take care of them for us.