Post by Googy McFloogal Puss on Feb 24, 2008 18:15:01 GMT -5
It had been almost 3 years since that night... 3 years since that terrible night when everything changed...
Sitting at the desk of his personal study, Alex caught a glimpse of his pailing reflection in the dusty, cracked mirror. What had he become? He had risked everything on this case and been rewarded with nothing. 3 years of his life. He took a drag on the cheap cigar he gripped in his shaking hand. He had never been an advocate of smoking, but the stress had taken its toll...
He had once been the head honcho at the local Police force - and that was after the accident that had left him confined for life in a wheelchair. He was passionate, devoted and dedicated - everything a good cop should be. But, also, everything that spells the downfall of any good cop...
A tear formed in his glassy eye as his gaze moved from the mirror to the photographs that hung on his wall. They were just memories now. Sad, heart-breaking memories. Shadows of the past. Alex's eyes rested on the middle photograph...
"Fenrir..." Alex gritted his teeth, clutching the cigar between them, "Best damn cop I ever worked with..."
Fenrir, the world renowned psychic detective, had been killed that night. Alex remembered it perfectly. They had been called to the local park by Oggelsby to hear news of his planned wedding when a mass disturbance had left several of their friends dead and countless others wounded. Fenrir was just the first...
From the photograph next to Fenrir, his younger brother Glace beamed happily, clutching the ice elf, Liam. They too were both dead. Alex remembered how cruelly he had once acted towards his icy young friend and felt a twinge of guilt...
In yet another photograph, smiling boyishly, sat the late Nicholas Mendez - Zoidberg to his friends - a Private Detective who Alex had worked with, time and time again. Alex's heart sunk...
Fenrir, Glace and Zoidberg had all been present that night. It was not orthodox for a civillian such as Glace to be at the scene of such a disturbance, but he had gotten caught up in it all, and before any of them knew, the party were fleeing for their lives as a rogue gunman fired at them. Wounded and with no other way of getting to the hospital, Fenrir was escorted onto a public bus by his two comrades... A bus bound for disaster...
Alex still found the memory painful. The trio's bus was the subject of a drive-by shooting. While this had done little more than damage the bus, a stray bullet had triggered a stick of dynamite that Alex had entrusted with Glace as he himself drove Fenrir to the hospital earlier that very evening. While he was told time and again that it hadn't been his fault, Alex never forgave himself for forgetting about that dynamite...
If the death of three of his closest friends in one night hadn't been a big enough blow, the case took a difficult turn for Alex over the next few weeks. In the immediate aftermath of the murder, Alex had hastily arrested Adam Oggelsby - the portly owner of a local diner who had recently announced his intention to marry - with little evidence or reasoning. When the murderer struck again whilst Oggelsby was in prison, Alex was forced to bite his tongue and release his culprit. Furthermore, the latest victim of the murder had been Alex's good friend Josh - an aspirational young man who had taken over Zoidberg's detective agency...
The blow had struck Alex hard, but not as hard as the lawsuit which Oggelsby had filed against him for ungrounded arrest. Oggelsby had used the money to finance not only his wedding, but his future life; he had purchased a large and expensive penthouse appartment in the middle of the city and invested extremely wisely, almost tripling his gains. The experience all took its toll on Alex...
Alex sunk into a downwards spiral. He was demoted, time and again, until finally his job became so tedious and unimportant that the police department abolished it just 9 months after the night of murders...
In Alex's absence, his former close friend David Heywood was promoted to the role of Police Chief. Heywood acted even more rashly than Alex had in the aftermath of the murders - arresting Somerset, Tobo and Gimpy for the slaughter. Even Alex himself met scrutiny under Dave's brutal police regimé, but he had a sufficient alibi to get him off the hook - he had been arresting Oggelsby...
Now, with many of his friends either dead or in prison, Alex stood (well, sat) alone as the last bastion of the truth in this corrupt city... but, with nobody to support him, he soon found things too hard to deal with. He left the city and set up his own business on the outskirts - waste management, his second passion. It was only a small key affair; he used his redundancy pay to buy a truck and used it to transport toxic sludge to and from refuse sites. His old friend Calum even came in on the venture. The world of law enforcement was now long behind them both...
Now, here was Alex, sat at his desk in his study. He still kept all of his old crime books and maintained an interest in the affairs of the city, but at a distance...
Then he saw the headline. There it was, in black and white:
"CHIEF OF POLICE'S WIFE FOUND DEAD"
Alex felt sickly smug, until he saw the photograph. There she was - his old friend Charlotte. He had had no idea that she and Dave had been married - he hadn't seen her for almost 3 years, and he intentionally kept out of touch with Dave - but this came as a shock...
"Calum..." Alex ashed out his cigar and picked up the phone, "It's time we went back to the city..."
Sitting at the desk of his personal study, Alex caught a glimpse of his pailing reflection in the dusty, cracked mirror. What had he become? He had risked everything on this case and been rewarded with nothing. 3 years of his life. He took a drag on the cheap cigar he gripped in his shaking hand. He had never been an advocate of smoking, but the stress had taken its toll...
He had once been the head honcho at the local Police force - and that was after the accident that had left him confined for life in a wheelchair. He was passionate, devoted and dedicated - everything a good cop should be. But, also, everything that spells the downfall of any good cop...
A tear formed in his glassy eye as his gaze moved from the mirror to the photographs that hung on his wall. They were just memories now. Sad, heart-breaking memories. Shadows of the past. Alex's eyes rested on the middle photograph...
"Fenrir..." Alex gritted his teeth, clutching the cigar between them, "Best damn cop I ever worked with..."
Fenrir, the world renowned psychic detective, had been killed that night. Alex remembered it perfectly. They had been called to the local park by Oggelsby to hear news of his planned wedding when a mass disturbance had left several of their friends dead and countless others wounded. Fenrir was just the first...
From the photograph next to Fenrir, his younger brother Glace beamed happily, clutching the ice elf, Liam. They too were both dead. Alex remembered how cruelly he had once acted towards his icy young friend and felt a twinge of guilt...
In yet another photograph, smiling boyishly, sat the late Nicholas Mendez - Zoidberg to his friends - a Private Detective who Alex had worked with, time and time again. Alex's heart sunk...
Fenrir, Glace and Zoidberg had all been present that night. It was not orthodox for a civillian such as Glace to be at the scene of such a disturbance, but he had gotten caught up in it all, and before any of them knew, the party were fleeing for their lives as a rogue gunman fired at them. Wounded and with no other way of getting to the hospital, Fenrir was escorted onto a public bus by his two comrades... A bus bound for disaster...
Alex still found the memory painful. The trio's bus was the subject of a drive-by shooting. While this had done little more than damage the bus, a stray bullet had triggered a stick of dynamite that Alex had entrusted with Glace as he himself drove Fenrir to the hospital earlier that very evening. While he was told time and again that it hadn't been his fault, Alex never forgave himself for forgetting about that dynamite...
If the death of three of his closest friends in one night hadn't been a big enough blow, the case took a difficult turn for Alex over the next few weeks. In the immediate aftermath of the murder, Alex had hastily arrested Adam Oggelsby - the portly owner of a local diner who had recently announced his intention to marry - with little evidence or reasoning. When the murderer struck again whilst Oggelsby was in prison, Alex was forced to bite his tongue and release his culprit. Furthermore, the latest victim of the murder had been Alex's good friend Josh - an aspirational young man who had taken over Zoidberg's detective agency...
The blow had struck Alex hard, but not as hard as the lawsuit which Oggelsby had filed against him for ungrounded arrest. Oggelsby had used the money to finance not only his wedding, but his future life; he had purchased a large and expensive penthouse appartment in the middle of the city and invested extremely wisely, almost tripling his gains. The experience all took its toll on Alex...
Alex sunk into a downwards spiral. He was demoted, time and again, until finally his job became so tedious and unimportant that the police department abolished it just 9 months after the night of murders...
In Alex's absence, his former close friend David Heywood was promoted to the role of Police Chief. Heywood acted even more rashly than Alex had in the aftermath of the murders - arresting Somerset, Tobo and Gimpy for the slaughter. Even Alex himself met scrutiny under Dave's brutal police regimé, but he had a sufficient alibi to get him off the hook - he had been arresting Oggelsby...
Now, with many of his friends either dead or in prison, Alex stood (well, sat) alone as the last bastion of the truth in this corrupt city... but, with nobody to support him, he soon found things too hard to deal with. He left the city and set up his own business on the outskirts - waste management, his second passion. It was only a small key affair; he used his redundancy pay to buy a truck and used it to transport toxic sludge to and from refuse sites. His old friend Calum even came in on the venture. The world of law enforcement was now long behind them both...
Now, here was Alex, sat at his desk in his study. He still kept all of his old crime books and maintained an interest in the affairs of the city, but at a distance...
Then he saw the headline. There it was, in black and white:
"CHIEF OF POLICE'S WIFE FOUND DEAD"
Alex felt sickly smug, until he saw the photograph. There she was - his old friend Charlotte. He had had no idea that she and Dave had been married - he hadn't seen her for almost 3 years, and he intentionally kept out of touch with Dave - but this came as a shock...
"Calum..." Alex ashed out his cigar and picked up the phone, "It's time we went back to the city..."
