Though this world was different in many ways from his own, apparently they still had a jail. Niko discovered this when he decided to stay in an establishment rats frequented. It didn’t help that those rats had no manners, and Niko didn’t know how to not get into trouble. They totally started it, though. 

He was escorted to a room with a couple people in chairs, pads of paper in their hands as they sketched some of the rats before them. 

“Say cheese!” One of them called, smiling wide as they worked. The rats smiled back, proud glints entering their eyes as they were immortalized in crime. 

Niko couldn’t have stopped the laugh from slipping out if he had tried to. 

It didn’t go unnoticed, the lead rat whipping his head around as he glared at him. Niko just waved, middle finger possibly entering the greeting as he was led to a different part of the room. 

There was just a young woman there, hair covering her eyes as she readied her drawing supplies. It was comical, seeing this strange world copying a method Niko was so used to on Earth, though they clearly lacked the technology for film and cameras. 

“Sit here, please.” The woman spoke softly, voice barely surpassing a whisper as she gestured toward a seat in front of her own. Niko obliged, flopping down and sighing as he was finally off his sore feet. The walk here was already torture, and yet he had to run for his life as a horde of murderous rats tried to eat his liver. 

She got to work immediately, pencil flying across the page as she glanced up occasionally. There weren't really any emotions on her face, she just seemed to be very concentrated on the task. Niko felt a little awkward, having to sit there as a person drew his countenance because he ‘committed crimes’. Niko was clearly the victim here! 

Those vermin were just flat out disrespectful. And he didn’t even want to know where Plu went. She was barely lucid when he ran out of that clearly janky inn. He knew nothing good could come from a place called The Crusty Biscuit. There was just no way that name eluded to something fresh and clean. Niko certainly didn’t expect Plu to get drunk so fast, either. She was guzzling those tankards like water. Do Flairs drink water? 

Niko didn’t know. Apparently, they drank alcohol just fine. He just knew nothing good would come from him getting involved in treacherous beverages. He’d probably die. 

If nothing tried to kill him again, first. 

He was listing to the side just a bit, exhaustion creeping into his bones as he sat there, getting enshrined in wrongful misconduct. He thought he might have seen a bit of sympathy on the young woman's face, though it was hard to tell when he couldn’t see her eyes under all the auburn follicles. 

The mugshots took around an hour, and the woman showed Niko the result when she was done. It was actually really good, clearly she was in this job position for a reason. He wondered how the rats were doing, since there were so many and each one was responsible for a different piece of destruction. 

They may have toppled a couple of buildings trying to catch Niko. And he might have egged them on more than he should have. He was seriously pissed at them though, and they were acting like chasing a random stranger that questioned their manners was a viable solution to their unchecked aggression. 

“All right, come this way and we’ll get you processed.” The woman stood, motioning for Niko to follow her through a set of double doors, oaken and dark. He felt almost nervous, like he was really in trouble for some unpardonable crime. 

It was just some architectural damage. That couldn’t require too much recompense, right? 

Then again, Niko was broke poor. He didn’t exactly have his money on him when he fell into a fiery pit, though he doubted it would have worked in this world anyways. Did the jails here even do bail as an option? Or was he just going to waste away until death as penance? Or maybe, they’d turn him into a slave and auction him off, using the money to repair all the damages. 

He started to feel apprehensive about what might be on the other side of those doors, almost stopping completely in his tracks as  the woman pushed one open. 

He clutched the object in his pocket, thumb rubbing across the smooth surface as he fumbled with a bit of the bravery he felt lacking in. It was just a set of doors. Nothing scary about that.

 Before the lady could question his stuttered form, Niko followed her into the other room. It was surprisingly cozy, plush sofas littered around a large coffee table. A man sat at one of them, flipping through a stack of papers as he muttered softly to himself. He didn’t acknowledge the new occupants of the room, and Niko and the girl took a seat across from him. 

“Lieutenant Clark. This is Niko, one of the people involved with the destruction downtown.” 

She spoke softly, garnering the man's attention as he looked up from the papers in his hands. 

His eyes shone like a dark sea, lowered brows that darkened with a look of annoyance as he regarded Niko’s form. 

He raised a brow, before turning back to the woman. 

“You sure about that, Mila? He doesn’t look like he could destroy a sapling, let alone multiple houses.” The man scoffed, lip curling a bit as he regarded Niko’s, apparently weak, appearance. 

Niko’s eyes squinted, glaring at the man’s complete lack of manners. Sure, maybe he was right, but still. That’s not how one should act at a first meeting. 

“I didn’t touch those buildings.” Niko muttered. Okay, maybe running through them in terrified horror, an army of rats on your trail would count. 

But he definitely didn’t destroy them himself. 

He felt the angry eyes on him, trying to drill a hole with their hostile intensity. 

“Care to explain, Niko?” The man asked, arms bulging as he folded them across his chest. 

Niko didn’t particularly like the way he said his name, as though it was some lie he’d told them, but he did know he had to explain what had happened at some point. 

So he did, going into great detail about how the ill-intentioned rats were out to get him, and he was just running for his life. Nothing much to blame on him, at this point. 

Lieutenant Clark didn’t seem to buy it, dark eyes scrutinizing his every move, searching with avid severity as he tried to find some kernel of doubt to grab onto. Lucky for Niko, he had the truth on his side, at least mostly. 

So yeah, maybe he had been egging them on a bit, but it was seriously hard not to when tiny rodents were threatening him bodily harm. They weren’t really menacing when they spouted threats. It was definitely terrifying when the few rats he was chewing out turned into one giant swarm.