Officer Nick was moving Jenkins to the alleyway entrance and marked down the boy’s identification number. He took Jenkins’ cellphone and wallet, counting the money before placing the items into a bag. The man jotted down some notes in his notepad.

Officer Jeremy stood by Tim as he oversaw the young officers and Gardios at work. “It’s rare to see ruags above ground,” he commented as Officer Kelvin lugged in four detainment cubes.

The boxes were perfect cubes of twenty-three inches every dimension. It used a special frequency to force ruags into their liquefied forms. However, they only worked on Blood who had already been frozen by Fractite. A typical Blood moved too quickly to be captured in this manner.

“Seems like they were after me,” said Tim.

“Sounded like it when you filled me in,” said the officer. “But why did they come up here? And as such a large group?”

Officer Kelvin attached a removable hose to the center of one box in front of Wazp, over a closed, circular shutter valve. He then pressed a green button to the right of the shutter.

Glub.

The Blood liquefied immediately. His bruises were still visible, but they were scattered about on his gelatinous body. Wazp’s tiny mandibles could be seen vibrating as he snored quietly. He almost looked cute.

SHOOP!

A suction could be heard as Officer Kelvin pressed a different green button on the left. The hose pulled Wazp’s liquefied form into it with a vacuum. He could be seen travelling through the tube before the shutter closed shut and locked. It looked quite chilly inside the box. Officer Kelvin detached the hose from the shutter and thoroughly inspected the box before moving on to contain the rest of the ruags. Kich carried the box back to the police car with ease. The box made the ruag’s weight more manageable.

“Beats me,” Tim admitted, scratching his chin. “I can’t believe they blew their cover just to clobber me.”

“Me too,” said Officer Jeremy, holding out his hand. “Anyways, you know the drill, kid.”

Tim handed over his wallet and phone. Officer Jeremy scanned Tim’s Creed Crest with his phone and then counted all of the cash from his wallet. He jotted everything down in his notepad and plopped the items into a plastic bag.

“We’ll be returning these to you and the boy over there tomorrow,” he notified Tim.

Tim nodded. That meant that they were going to announce the capture of underage thugs the next day. Tim would identify the delinquents, who were actually actors working for the Creed, and their stolen belongings would be returned. Simple and clean.

“All done, sir!” the two younger officers reported at the same time. The detainment cubes had already been moved into one of the police cars by Kich. Officer Kelvin handed back Tim’s cuffs, who thanked him as he tucked them away. The gelatinous masses slithered out of the alleyway.

“All done, sir!” the two younger officers reported at the same time. The detainment cubes had already been moved into one of the police cars by Kich. Officer Kelvin handed back Tim’s cuffs, who thanked him as he tucked them away. The gelatinous masses slithered out of the alleyway.

“All done here too,” said one of the blobs. Tim wasn’t quite sure who he was.

One of them approached him and asked, “Want me to fix that for you, son?” He was referring to his trench coat. Tim pulled it off and handed it over. The Blood shoved the whole thing into his mouth, appearing to chew on it for a minute before spitting it back into Tim’s arms. It didn’t look good as new, but the rips and tears had disappeared. Tim thanked the Blood gratefully as he put it back on. The Blood eyed Tim’s ripped jeans and told him to buy a new pair.

The blob moved back to his respective car. Officer Nick handed him the contents he had collected from Jenkins, which the Gardios gobbled. Afterwards, he seeped back into the crevices of the car, re-merging with the vehicle.

“We’re all done here,” announced Officer Jeremy. “Boys, take down the field.”

“Yes, sir,” the men chimed in unison.

Jenkins began to stir a little, slowly coming from unconsciousness.

“Hmm … it’s time for me to take my leave,” said Terranis, disappearing into the shadows.

“Go ahead with the memory swipe, kid,” said the officer, patting him on the back before getting into his car. “You might want to take a break. Your body looks like it’s about to fall apart.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”

“… and stay out of trouble, boy,” he added. “I hate seeing you while on the job. It’s never anything good.” He waved as the crew silently drove off, leaving Officer Nick behind.

Tim let out a sigh before heading over to Jenkins. There were no signs that a battle had ensued in the alleyway. The large web had been removed and all damage to the buildings and ground had been repaired. Like before, the place still looked old and run-down. Tim squatted down, wincing as his leg smarted again, and began tapping Jenkins on the shoulder to wake him up.

“J.K., J.K.! Are you okay?”

Jenkins slowly began to stir, his eyes opening slightly, “Uuuuugh …”

Tim tapped his Creed Crest and waved his hand in front of him. Afterwards, Jenkins stared blankly into space. Tim had swiped Jenkins’ memories of the night’s events. He resumed tapping his co-worker on the shoulders.

“J.K., J.K.! Are you okay, man?!”

Jenkins slowly came to his senses. “Wh-wh-what?!” He looked confused for a moment, his eyes glazed over, before realizing that Tim was looming over him.

“Eep!” he cried out in startlement. He pushed Tim, causing him to fall over.

“Ow! What was that for, man?!” Tim asked in frustration.

Jenkins scrambled to his feet, pointing in shock as he tried to keep his distance. “Wh-wha-what are you doing?! Why am I here?!” he asked as he looked around, spotting the policeman nearby. The lights on the roof of the car were flashing. The radio was playing a song, but Tim was pretty sure it was the Gardios singing karaoke.

“Hey, calm down. Don’t you remember? We were jumped by some thugs!” Tim tried to explain as he struggled to stand back up, brushing the dirt off in the process.

“Th-thugs?!” Jenkins squeaked, trying his best to check his injuries. He couldn’t find any, though the back of his head was throbbing. “What happened?!”