The Elf stared at herself in the mirror, her eyes frantically looked around as her brain tried to process what she saw earlier that day. Aradi ran to her bedroom, she quickly went to her desk, no phone.

Where is it, where is it
Her mind hammered the phrase over and over again as she pulled her drawer open, she moved her blankets. Then, she snapped her posture straight and spoke quietly,
"Living room"

Her feet rushed to the living room, the phone on the tempered transparent glass, next to the half drank milkshake that was now melted. She grabbed her phone, almost knocking the shake over. It slipped out of her hands, sweat?
She caught it mid air and began swiping to unlock it, she messed up entering the pass code twice. She then opened the Protectorate app and began connecting. She put in a request for surveillance data, a response window appeared:
"Off-duty Protectorate Officers are prohibited from requesting surveillance data from outside the off-"
The Elf dropped her phone on the couch, making an almost hiss-like sound through her breath. She hurried to her room and began to change into her clothes.

City of Gantun

Aradi exited a staircase to an underground garage, she waved her GCID over a machine that dispensed electrical battery activators for vehicles, after inserting the battery into her car, she hopped into the OnlyOne cruiser and inserted her key into the ignition,
"Come on come on come on"
The Cruiser's voice welcomed her,
"Welcome back"

The Elf's foot ungraciously attacked the gas pedal, the Cruiser made its emulated engine sound, but she released quickly. Being thrown back to the seat made her realize that she was about to break a speeding law. She took a deep breath, her hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that dents might've started forming. She came to a stop light. Her hands deeply rubbed the steering wheel as she stared at the light, as it gave the signal to go, her vehicle slowly moved along the traffic. As her cruiser passed an ice cream shop where it just so happened, two rather familiar individuals walked out. It was the masked man and the red eyed woman.

"You know something, you were right not to try anything. I can't get that taste out of my mouth"

Aradi pulled up to the vehicle entrance of the Protectorate HQ building. A short lizard like creature with a long tail greeted her,
"Lieutenant Aradi, nice to see you" - it was Rico, working the nightshift, the Elf scanned her card,
"Nice to see you, Rico" she said as she drove forward. As she drove off to the underground parking lot, the Citizen shook his sighed, he then flipped his tab back to his favorite game and kept playing.

The Elf hopped out of her car and proceeded to head to an elevator, the large garage was full of Protectorate as well as civilian vehicles, her steps echoed for they had no grace when she ran. She came to a full stop as she saw the control panel, it requested her GCID but she had no time for hesitation, she waved it over, the doors opened, she ran inside. She stood still for a moment, nearly breaking a sweat as she looked up at the sign above the doors that said "please wait" in red lettering, then it switched to green, the doors closed. She quickly went to the keypad and entered the appropriate floor number.

Aradi's foot tapped quickly on the floor as she watched the ascending, as her number was next in line. She took a deep breath. The elevator doors opened to reveal an Elf quietly taking her step onto the floor, her feet carried her correctly. She showed no rush, no panic, no need. She was absolutely calm. She coaxed herself to stay calm,

I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT CALM, I AM PANICKING, AND I'M IN A RUSH

She was not worried about what others thought,

I AM FREAKING OUT, AM I SWEATING, CAN PEOPLE SEE SWEAT, OH MY STARS IS MY SHIRT ON BACKWARDS? I WANT MY VANILLA MILKSHAKE

Some officers walked by, nodding in respect of her presence, she nodded back with a cracked smile,
The floor she exited too was for off-duty officers conducting check ups on investigations and what not.
Aradi came before a desk that was seated rather high, and a secretary sat behind it. A citizen whose origin was Ublars. A slug-like creature that wore glasses, its bulging eyes peered over the desk. She spoke with a slow, old raspy voice,
"Ah. The famous Ancient....what can I do for you"
Aradi looked at her,
"Bara?"
The slug nodded,
"That's right, I'm sure you're wondering how I got old, I'll give you a hint, alarm clocks Ha....ha...ha"
Aradi nodded,
"r-right..ha....I get it"
The slow wording was putting a serious sting in Aradi's impatience,
"You always got my jokes, Aradi.."
"Nice seeing you, Bara, but I need to use a desk right now"
Bara nodded,
"And here I thought, you wanted to take me out for drinks. Ha, ha, ha"

After a moment of silence. Bara turned to Aradi,
"Take a number, the desks are all filled up"
Aradi's shoulders dropped as she looked up at Bara,
"Filled up? But...ugh fine" she said as she grabbed a chip card from a small slot machine that rested on the desk. She walked to sit down in the waiting area. There were quite a few people, many trying to up their SoCred levels by putting in extra hours, many of them surprised to see Aradi present. Some stared at her. Aradi gave them a scowl in return, she was not in the mood. She then saw Bara slugging along to the Adam's Atoms Super Max Render, she placed her cup under the nozzle and punched in her desired drink, she then turned to Aradi...slowly...the two made eye contact, and the slug spoke.

"Why so blue...ha...ha...ha"

The Elf awkwardly looked away as she took out her phone. Bara could tell something was going on with her, but decided it was best to not intervene. She looked at the other Officers sitting down in chairs, some just staring at her nonchalant like. The slug took her phone out and opted a report in the SoCred app to conduct a scan for indecent behavior in her area. Suddenly, many phones got pinged, they all looked at the message: "You have lost 1000 credits for: Discriminatory Observation. Please report to your local ethics training sermon to schedule rehabilitation"

One officer in particular dropped his phone, his hand slowly went up to cup the side of his face, he broke a sweat as he gulped,
"I...I lost my class...."
Some others looked at him,
"I'm...Class E now..."

The Officer leaned back in the chair as he looked around, he then saw the Elf on her phone,
"You!" he shouted as he stood up, Aradi as well as the other Officers immediately got up, she stood there as the others pounced to restrain him. She stood there watching him being pinned to the ground, his cuss words were apparent, but chopped due to the struggle trying to break free. An on duty officer came down the hall quickly. The endangered citizen watched as the once fellow officer's body pressed hard against the floor, his face squished against the hardened metal floor. As he was cuffed and then raised up, he looked at Aradi with much anger, as he was carried away, he hurled insults at her.
"You bitch, why'd you have to be born, dumb stupid human"

The Elf didn't bother looking at him, she simply stared straight at the phone as it vibrated more, notifying the officer that he lost even more SoCred. Bara took a sip of her coffee, Aradi turned to the slug,
"Bara, thanks"
The slug nodded. As the room calmed down and returned to its mundane silence. The chip Aradi was given beeped. She took out the sleek, shimmering brown metal device, known as a UDC. This one's specific purpose was to alert the user when a desktop was available to use, doing its job well, she headed to the computer area.
Aradi quickly threw herself down on the swivel chair, she caught herself from falling over from gripping the desk, she then adjusted herself quickly and inserted the UDC into the computer's front. The screen read: "Please scan your GCID before proceeding". Aradi waved her phone over a scanner hooked up to the PC, the soft red lights grazed on the QR code which rested on the back of her phone. A login screen appeared. She tapped the keyboard quickly, maybe too quickly, the screen returned a login error. Aradi sighed as she reentered her info. Success.

She navigated to the Surveillance Hub app and requested access to Class B districts, she was greeted with another screen: "Sorry but your assigned district does not cover Class B surveillance authorization. Please fill a request form in order to view". Her foot tapped the floor aggressively. She then proceeded to fill out a form. Yet again another message window popped up,
"Your request is being reviewed, please wait........"
Her eyes looked around the monitor, trying to kill time, examining the pixels, adjusting her posture, her middle finger rolled the scroll wheel between both clicks of the mouse. She could hear the tapping of mechanical keyboards, people clearing their throats, buzzing sounds of the computers, desynced clicks of mice as they shifted around. Her attention was finally sated as a new message window appeared on her own screen, "Your request has been denied"

"FUCK"

People lifted their heads from the small cubicles that were neatly placed throughout the computer room. The Elf quickly hunched herself in a bid to hide out of embarrassment, her lips wiggled as she nervously panned her eyes left to right.

Aradi's home

The Elf laid in her bed, staring up at the cold bleak metal ceiling, the only sound in the darkened room was the muffling and bustling city outside of her walls. She knew sleep was for her to endure, but the failure of tonight's ultimate goal was certainly something gnawing at her. After a few minutes of laying in the same position, she leaned over, her hair trailing behind as the bed adjusted to her new position,
Is she another, like me? ...How come I didn't notice the ears earlier...and her eyes, there's nothing like her being described in the museum...then again I never really read everything about my kind....

The Ancient's blue eyes slowly sought peace away from the world as its eyelids closed, leaving the woes of her world for a temporary reprieve. In another part of town, a different event transpired...

Class D Entertainment District

Plastic glasses clinked in celebration, loud music overshadowed in door voice volume, many shouted their accomplishments. One Citizen in particular, raised his glass to another, his head lazily attempted to steady itself.
"To...Oreon" he said,
The smaller like citizen looked at him, drunken like, she responded,
"To...Or....Oreon..."

Sidko and Zzarr's glasses collided, the drinks not spilled over the rim before they took their swigs, but afterwards would spill a bit down their cheeks as they drank. Sidko exhaled a belch,
"Ahh, damn, it feels good to be an officer. A real one" he said, Zzarr nodded,
"Y-yea, what...what drink are we on again?"
Sidko's eyelids dropped, and then almost struggled to lift themselves up as his head swayed upon his hunched posture,
"I dohnoh, 6th mug? itsa...sa a pint, right?"
Zzarr snorted,
"6....I think i'm - no I mean I know, I'm buzzed, buzzed shit - as shit, buzzed as shit"
Sidko chuckled,
"Buzzed shit....what if, bu- what if shit could buzz, what kind of shit would that be"
Zzarr smirked, "Drunk shit"
The two laughed.
Sidko looked at his credit score on his phone,
"I have enough credits too...too get us both in a sim"
Zzarr grinned as her elbow leaned on the table,
"O-oh....yea....let's go"
Sidko nodded. Suddenly another graduate jumped in,
"Yooo Sidko, Zzarr, what's goin on? You two still down in the gutter, you're graduates, come on"
Sidko nodded, he tilted his head in the direction of the larger crowd, Zzarr quietly agreed. The two headed to the crowd, drinking, talking about their futures.