“You know this man”

The platinum beauty brandished a manicured finger in the direction of the image, her eyes scrutinized the brunette before her.

“Y-yes Ms. Alzina”

He stuttered, Henare had seen many frightening and disturbing things in his life.

He had wrestled a gun out of a robber's hand, tapered a severed limb, cleaned the station bathrooms.

But none was as frightening as the women who stood before him. She wasn't any older than him, him being 19, her 21.

He might have been the youngest junior informant in the states, but she was the scariest daddy's girl in the world.

“this exact man has been seen in cahoots with wanted felon Akira. Are you aware of this?”

Of course, he was. If you didn't know about the country's biggest manhunt, then you were probably living underneath a rock like Patrick star or something.

Leandro Serrano was his best friend, his sister was his senior officer. Their mothers got together every weekend to bake.

Of course, Henare was aware.

“He's one of my closest pals ma'am”

He assured glancing up at her. Her eyes registered with surprise. She must have not thought of Leandro as an actual person, with actual relationships with actual people. To her, he probably was some crook with nothing else to do but shoot at police officers and aid wanted criminals.

“I also know he's not a bad man, I mean no disrespect, but you've pegged the wrong person ms. Alizna”

Henare said softly the tension in the office building up slowly as he fidgeted underneath her heated stare.

“People can change-”

“Not in the span of a few hours, I was the one who dropped him off to work that day”

Henare stood up, he was growing sick of this. Leandro was a good person, why were they doing this? Why would they automatically assume the worst like this?

Probably because they didn't know him as he did. To them, he started off as another statistic entering the United States, they didn't notice him until now.

The door banged open and they both turned around. A brunette stood in the doorway, her eyes were narrowed to judgmental slits as she glanced over at Henare then to Alizna.

“excuse me miss, but Henare, you're needed in the office”

Henare shot to his feet before the mayor's daughter could protest. Without a word he skimmed past the brunette who pushed up her glasses, slamming the door shut without another word.

“you saved my hide, Violetta”

He thanked her with a large exhale of relief. She patted his shoulder with a kind smile as they made their way down the hall.

“no worries, I can't stand her”

“she means well-”

“for her own gain”

Violetta rolled her eyes. Henare couldn't blame her for disliking the other female.

“how's your mom doing?”

Henare said softly, Violettas shoulders slackened and she shook her head with a shrug.

she's just tired of everyone trying to change her mind about her own son. But you can't change a Serrano's belief once it's been set into stone.

Henare noted the bags underneath the brunette's eyes, the way she walked, shuffling across the floor as if the world was pressing its burden against her back.

Which in a way it was. She was the first woman on the force, the only one in his sector so people were constantly looking for her to mess up, make a mistake.

And on top of that, her little brother had been accused of helping a murderer. The ransom on his head had just started growing.

“It'll be alright Vi, things will sort themselves out slowly, just give it time”

“So procrastinate on doing anything about it myself?”

She shot back tiredly and Henare winced.

“do you have a choice?”

He said softly and Violettas eyes fluttered shut, she rubbed away the sleep with a shake of her head.

“No, we don't, but I do”

[ • • • ]

“Akira! Buddy!”

I pounced on the Male the moment he crossed the threshold, throwing my arms around his shoulders I gave him a warm welcome, but he only pushed me away with a grumble. However, I was undaunted trailing after him.

“So, what's the word?”

“I've decided to go after the case again, dig up old leads, find out why I was framed and see if that'll help me”

Akira said sitting heavily on the couch, j followed right after, watching as he flipped open his laptop.

“And me?”

“You can't go back if you agree to help”

Akira said softly, but I was past the point of decision, the police had failed to save my father, but I could help save Akiras reputation.

“You already know my answer bro, count me in”

I offered my first and he gazed down at it startled before tapping his knuckles against mine. We both immediately turned to the screen In unison,

“Alright, so my first lead is somewhere around the outskirts, I dropped it immediately when I saw how empty it was, but we could try again and see if the locals have anything to share”

And just like that, we were suddenly a team.

“I think I might have lived there once”

I remembered my finger flying up to tap against my lip thoughtfully. It was a rough neighborhood, but it was fairly quiet at the same time.

“Good, then you should know the layout”

Akira pointed out and I nodded eagerly. Closing the computer he leaned over at the other males seated behind the kitchen counter, they were talking quietly amongst themselves.

“Hachiko! We're going out”

He called and Hachiko nodded. As we neared the door, he must have remembered something. Akira reached into his pocket pulling out a small gun, the blast-away 3.0, I could tell by the smooth dull gleam of its shell.

He handed it to me with a small wince.

“It's all that I have”

I turned the object over in my hand, letting my fingers run over the blue stripes along the end I finally pocket it away tapping Akira's shoulder gently.

“No problem bro! I love it!”

His face broke out into a startled blush at this compliment too which he began to fumble with the doorknob letting it swing open before reaching over me to snag two hats.

One he tossed over to me before putting on himself.

“Keep your head low, don't say anything and no one will see you”