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The second she smelled the fried fish, Raina was in its thrall, and nothing could stop her from getting a basket of Hesiat’s finest snack. After a long day of work and no chance to grab food, her stomach protested as she ran straight past the hole-in-the-wall fish joint as she chased down Frank Jung, the most prolific drug dealer in her district of Empyrea.
As her boots pounded on the pavement, she silently cursed Jung. She’d tailed him all day, following him to three different stops where he traded the most potent strain of ambrosia the planet had ever seen. Just when she had gotten close, a roving trader had tripped her and sprawled her across the street. The scene was enough to grab his notice, and the, “Sorry, Officer!” tipped him off enough to make him start running.
Along with his drug charges, he was resisting arrest and keeping her from a well-deserved crunchy, greasy dinner. Raina frowned and pushed herself even further forward, trying to make up lost ground as Jung’s figure grew further and further away on the boardwalk.
She could just shoot his leg and get the chase over with, but her infraction last month and a promise to her father kept her pistol securely in its holster. No, she would do this the old fashioned way — bodily assault.
Jung turned away from the boardwalk towards the city, the incline of the street slowing both of their paces. They were both on par in terms of knowledge of the streets — he knew where he was going, how to try to lose her. But Jung was never a cop and a childhood hooligan, and clearly he had never tangled with her before.
Raina veered towards a building under construction, hopped right onto a hovering industrial lift, and aimed her holo-tool at the controls. A quick bypass she always had queued (useful for perp chases and the break room vending machine) gave her control, and she forced the platform to go up much faster than the manufacturers probably ever intended.
Once she reached the top, she hurtled onto the roof as building materials fell to the street below. As she spotted Jung still running on the main boulevard, she jumped from roof to roof of the tightly packed buildings of downtown, her legs following the same path that she’d been carving for years in high school. Building jumping was the most exciting thing you could do in Empyrea when she was a kid, before all the mining companies came and brought people and industry and tourists . The downtown was seen as historic now, the dense groups of buildings made to conserve energy seen as old fashioned as sprawling estates started dominating the colony.
Jung seemed to think he lost her, and he slowed to a jog, still looking over his shoulder as he moved. Yes, let your guard down Frankie, Raina thought evilly as she lunged over an alley, adrenaline rushing through her system as she saw the drop below her. She used to be told not to look down, but she always disobeyed, relishing the way her stomach dropped with fear. It was awesome.
Raina was on par with Jung now as he turned a corner onto a smaller side street, and she saw her chance: a thick cable hanging down from a store ahead. She made a leap that left her heart on the roof behind her, her hands just barely gripping onto the cable as she slid down. Her momentum pushed the cable far enough for her to land a couple of meters behind Jung, and before he could react, she did a roll to absorb the fall and tackled the drug dealer to the ground.
“What the fuck?!” he yelled as she pinned him to the ground, forcefully taking his hands and cuffing them behind his back.
“Frank Jung, you are under arrest for three different charges of illegal drug trafficking,” Raina huffed out, her breath feeling much heavier now that she was no longer mobile. “And probably a lot more.”
“Fucking bitch,” he spit out against the pavement, squirming underneath her weight.
She started reciting his rights, standing up and hauling the smaller man next to her. He listened silently, his eyes angry, but his body clearly defeated from the long chase. Raina started leading him back towards the boardwalk — not as far away as it felt, though it always seemed like time stretches longer when every moment counts. The walk after such an intense sprint felt good, and every breath relaxed her more as they made their way back to the beach side station.
The smells of the city reached her nose, now clear to her that the adrenaline rush created tunnel vision that only let her focus on her target.
Fried salbut wafted towards her and her stomach gurgled disgruntledly, her tunnel vision now focusing on dinner. She side-eyed Jung, who was now looking down and stomping along, clearly angry but compliant. She looked at the time on her holo-tool and, to hell with it , started making her way towards the source of her gluttonous desires.
A small shack of a restaurant sat squeezed between a real estate office and a thrift store, the Something Fishy! sign lighting up with garish colors, inviting locals and tourists alike to the temptation of their fried delicacies.
Raina stood outside, thinking for a second, and Jung looked between her and the storefront. “Why the hell are we here?”
“Because, Frankie,” Raina said, leading him to a thick pipe outside of the dirty windows of the restaurant. “I’ve been following you all day, and since you didn’t take a break, neither did I.”
“Fuck off,” he mumbled, but there was no bite behind it. Raina tested the pipe by shoulder-checking it, and, satisfied, secured one half of the handcuffs to the it.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, standing tall over his hunched form. “And if you’re a good boy, maybe I’ll get you some fries.”
He spat on the ground as she walked away, and Raina gave him a pointed glare, made an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture with her fingers, and strolled into the store.
Every moment Raina had to wait on line, she felt like more and more of her soul was seeping out through every pore. She felt like her stomach was a hollow cavern that was caving in from lack of support, her very being imploding while she was waiting for her fish sandwich. Her eyes strayed outside the window every couple of moments, ensuring that Jung was still secured. He didn’t seem to be doing much, especially after she disabled his holo-tool.
Her order barely hit the counter when her number was called — she swiped it from the cashier’s hand, greedily stuffing a handful of fries into her mouth. She moaned probably a little too loudly, but did not shy away from the looks that the other patrons gave her — she only kept scarfing them down as she gathered her drink, condiments, napkins…
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside — someone was dragging Jung up by the collar. Raina rushed through the door, greasy paper bag in hand, a mush of fries still in her mouth as she yelled, “Hey!”
Her combative stature stopped the moment she saw that the figure standing over Jung was, in fact, the police chief of Empyrea.
“Detective,” Chief Davis Cornwell said, turning slowly towards her. “When, exactly, were you planning to bring Frank Jung into custody?”
Raina swallowed what was left of her fries and stood a little taller, feeling a little indignant. “He was in my custody. I was on my way back to the station. I just got a little...distracted.”
The chief raised an eyebrow. “Cornwell, I don’t care what happens — you catch a perp, you bring him straight back to the station. The arrest comes before anything,” Raina could probably recite the rest of his lecture from memory. “And your disrespect for the badge, and the people of this city by leaving a dangerous criminal unattended, is unappreciated.”
“And I apologize to the greater people of Empyrea,” she said, feeling indignant. “But should I not take care of my body so that I can greater serve them?”
“Raina, don’t give me lip.”
She continued, not heeding his warning. “I got Jung, he’s in my custody. I was going to the station, and everything was in control. I followed almost every rule in the book.”
“That’s enough,” he said, stomping up to her and swiping the bag of fast food out of her hand, dunking it straight into a garbage can. “Your insubordination—”
“Hey! I was gonna eat that!” she almost growled, taking all of her will not to dig through the garbage to get her dinner back.
Fuming, he said, “Your insubordination will not be tolerated, nor will your ignorance of the law. That’s another infraction, Cornwell.” His face scrunched up in disapproval. “Have Jung back at headquarters within the hour, and then we’ll discuss the consequences of your actions.”
“But, Dad, I —”
“Within. The. Hour. ”
Davis Cornwell turned away from his daughter, stalking back to his department hover craft, the anger radiating off of him in every step that he took.
Raina stood stiff, flexing her fingers in and out of fists as she tried to stop herself from punching the nearest wall. As far as she was concerned, she did the job — in a pretty kickass way, if she may add — she got the bad guy, she finished her two week investigation. The paperwork and formalities could come later. And the fact that her father couldn’t give one centimeter of flexibility for the best detective under his command, and especially his daughter, infuriated her to no end.
It was never enough for him. No matter what she did, who she caught, how far up the chain of command she got. It didn’t matter that she was the most prolific gymnast on the planet, or the best shooter on his squad. She would never be enough.
The fact that he disrespected her enough to throw out her food, reprimand her in front of a perp... Raina ran a hand roughly through her hair, deeply scratching her scalp, trying her best not to chase after her father’s craft and blow out the engine. She stared as he puttered away, hoping that he felt the laser beams of anger coming from her glare.
She heard a shift of movement next to her. “So, did you get me any fries?” Frank Jung said from his position on the ground, still handcuffed to the pipe.
Beside her anger, she gave a small laugh. “Fuck off, Frankie.”