Dogs and Pigs: Chapter 2 – What We Signed Up For

Chapter 2 – What We Signed Up For

“So, when are you going to ask her out, Raziel?” Zahara asks me.

I sigh and say, “Can we just focus on the task at hand?”

“If not now, then when?”

“Later, when we have time. Right now, we’re supposed to be watching this protest between the Dogs and Pigs for signs of trouble.”

“When’s later going to be? Tch. Polina said the same thing, and later came and went. You both said you’d spend more time together if you had it. When’s the last time you two went out?”

“Not long after she became mayor.”

“Was it the party that we had for her?”

“…yes…”

“See? As mayor, she’s busier than she’s ever been and has to take time off for herself so she can better lead the Dominion and the city. You have to ask her out soon. Heck, I’ll help you if you want. Maybe I can hold your arm or give you a little kiss on the cheek in front of her to make Polina feel like she’ll lose you if she doesn’t reveal her feelings. Actually, if I dye your hair partially red or black so you have two different colors for your hair, she’ll probably find you more attractive.”

“That won’t be necessary. We’ll be with one another when the time is right.”

“Ugh. You two are so dense.”

Focusing back on our task, Zahara and I keep an eye out for trouble around another police protest between the two groups. We’re dressed casually to fit in with the crowds, while having light armor under our clothes and weapons by our side. Zahara’s cybernetic left arm can transform into a sniper or blade at a moment’s notice, but she’s always dressed so eccentrically with her pink and black hair and color-matched clothes, which make her look like she’s going clubbing. Meanwhile, I’m dressed in a crimson jacket, orange sweater, black pants, and black boots. Still, her words and thoughts echo some of my own. Is she right, my angel?

“It is not the right time yet,” my guardian angel says.

My guardian angel is the source of my power and can only be seen and heard by me and those versed in the spiritual. He looks like a knight dressed in flames with wings on his back, an appearance that I try to replicate with my hero outfit. When I’m lost or in need of direction, prompted or unprompted, my angel lets me know what God’s will is for me or simply tells me that I’ll find out the answer later. Even though his answers give me some peace, they don’t always give me comfort. Despite his answers, I always ask the same questions and wonder about the same things.

Am I truly doing God’s will? Am I being who God made me to be? Is there a reason why the answers I seek aren’t given or given vaguely? Have I done something wrong to anger God or my angel through actions, sinful or ignorant? These are the questions I constantly ask myself, ask my angel, and meditate on in prayer, all the while hoping that I’m not being untrusting of God or ungrateful for what I have.

“Raziel, are you mentally praying again?” Zahara says, interrupting my thoughts. “If you are, pray for peace between these groups. They’re getting louder and more in each other’s faces.”

I was praying, but I’m not unaware of what is happening around me. A true servant of God must make every action, thought, and word a prayer, an offering to Him, and I might be offering violence as my next prayer since the two groups of police, Dogs and Pigs, are pushing and yelling at one another like groups of teenagers at school. Should the flames be unleashed, my angel?

“Not yet,” my guardian angel says. “But soon, they will be.”

That’s always the answer I get when violence is about to be my prayer to God. I can already feel the fires of justice burn within me and beg to be let out, like hands reaching out from within my skin.

“This is a disgrace to watch. The police should be fighting crime and protecting the public, not fighting each other, one side protesting their work, the other side trying to push them to do their job,” I say.

“The police have changed since we were last on the force, haven’t they?” Zahara says. “The presence of superhumans does that. It makes me wish Polina and Penelope were here to intervene and use their powers to calm people down.”

“They’re busy interrogating the suspects we found, who were conspiring to start trouble. Polina already used her powers on the leaders of these groups yesterday, anyway, and couldn’t get anywhere.”

“I hope they get something out of them. Something bad is going to happen, and I don’t need an angel on my shoulder like you to predict that.”

As things continue to heat up around us, and Zahara and I are about to intervene, something bad does happen. A whistling sound precedes an explosion that blows up a majority of the police in the crowd. What comes next is a wave of armed criminals with cybernetics who indiscriminately shoot into the crowd in the direction of the remaining officers. Zahara and I immediately get back on our feet, activate our weaponry, and I am finally able to let the fires of justice burn. They envelop me and spew from my mouth and hands, and seek and melt their targets to ash. I then unsheathe my scythe, it lights up, and I start cutting the attacking criminals down, and as a catalyst that my fires also shoot out from.

Zahara’s left hand transforms into a sniper that she uses to take out multiple criminals at once, and she uses the sidearm with her right hand to shoot at the others coming for us that get too close. Meanwhile, the civilians run away in terror, and the police struggle to get back on their feet and join in on the fight to defend themselves. My flames grow stronger and spread around the area, supernaturally burning some people, while leaving others alive and shielding them from harm, and leaping from the ground and those they protect onto our attackers. By the time all the criminals are dead, Polina and Penelope call Zahara and me through our earpieces about more attacks and robberies happening throughout the city.

“This cannot go on for any longer than it has,” my angel says. “It must end now.”

Telling Zahara what my angel said, she tells me, “Go ahead and fly off! I’ll stay here to help everyone. Just make sure those people pay for all this.”

“I will.”

Wings of fire spread out from my back, and my angel lifts me into the air. He leads the way to our target destinations where we rain fire from the sky and descend down the cut the criminals to pieces. These people are attacking all kinds of banks, jewelry stores, and police stations. We thought a group of criminals would take advantage of this situation, and we were right. Thankfully, I see the two opposing groups coming together to defend the city as I see the leaders, Tanimura and Munakata, fighting alongside one another.

After helping to defeat their attackers, I fly down to them to check on them. I say, “Are you two okay?”

“I’m fine, but we need to get out there to protect the public,” Tanimura says as he rushes off to the nearest police car.

“With what weapons?!” Munakata says as he throws his empty gun to the floor. “They blew up our armory, hundreds of our people are dead or injured, and we’re all running on empty and fighting with batons and fists. There’s hardly anything we can do! My God, it’s happening again…”

Tanimura gets up in Munakata’s face.

“We can’t give up because we’re outgunned and outnumbered! We can ask the Dominion for weapons and support. They have to give it to us.”

“And then what? These criminals are after us. We’ll only get in their way. We have to help the civilians while the Dominion takes care of this.”

“We can do the same while protecting the public.”

“You’re going to throw your life away for nothing!”

“You’re underestimating the police!”

A wall of flames bursts between the two officers as I say, “Enough! Both of you! You can’t be at each other’s throats while the city is in danger. Both of your goals can be true. We’ll arm your forces so you can defend yourselves and the public, while you save and get them to safety, okay?”

Both men look at each other.

“He’s right,” Munakata says. “Truce?”

“As long as you do the job you signed up for,” Tanimura says.

“Deal.”

They shake hands, and I direct them to the nearest Dominion office. Together they drive in the same car with those they lead driving behind them, and I fly above them. Munakata and Tanimura call the other stations to spread the word about getting guns and armor from the nearby Dominion offices and going out to protect the public and each other from these attacks.

“This is no time to work separately. We must work together for the sake of the innocent,” Munakata says.

“It’s time to do what we made a vow for, to protect Meridian with our lives, and I'd better see all of you on the front lines,” Tanimura adds.

When we arrive, the officers arm themselves, and the building comes under attack by more criminals with cybernetic enhancements and aided by their robotic companions. The superhumans and heroes of the Dominion protect the building until the police come out better armed and armored than before to help us out and secure the building. Once the building is protected, the police head out to help the public, side by side with one another as they should. Even though the city is still under attack, we should be able to get it under control now. I just hope that Polina is okay, and the chaos of this situation will end the conflict between the two groups of police for good after peace returns to Meridian.