Fundamentals of Justice

Salute stood at a perfect attention. His back was straight, his heads were completely level with the horizon, his wings were folded, and faces were a pair of stony masks, showing nothing but pure duty. The horizon part was a bit tricky, since he was currently inside a building on the top floor, and the stained-glass window he was facing didn’t give a great view of the sky. But Salute had been inside the Chief’s office enough to know the proper position by now.

Chief Hiketeria stared at Salute in silence from her desk, its expertly crafted woodwork as grand as the rest of the Guard’s Hall. Unlike the lower floors, which were well worn and almost ruinous in some areas, the gothic arches and pillars of Hiketeria’s office were pristine, maintained well enough to make the whole thing look like it was built yesterday. It was magnificent. This truly was a bastion of order.

Hiketeria sighed. “Salute. Do you have anything to report today?”

Salute, true to his name, saluted. It was an awkward pose for a Zweilous, given their stubby legs and long necks. His claw could only reach up to his chest, but Salute did it without shame. How else would he show his devotion?

“Sir!” he barked. “I successfully fulfilled my duties today!”

Hiketeria shook her head, causing the Sawsbuck’s branch-like horns to rustle with the bundle of russet leaves they currently held.

“Did you now…?” She looked back up to Salute, whose pose had not faltered. “And what exactly did this entail?”

Salute returned to attention. “I kept watch over my post, maintained the law, and subdued any criminals, sir!” It was hard to not swell a bit as he spoke. He’d done such a good job today!

“Well, that all sounds quite good, Salute. Criminals, though, that is fascinating. Who exactly did you subdue?”

“Sir! I found an evildoer! An Emolga! I arrested them for their foul misdeeds!”

Hiketeria had begun to look more and more exhausted throughout the conversation. “Interesting. And what were these ‘foul misdeeds?’”

“Assault! They were attacking an innocent Pokémon!” It made Salute shake with rage even just thinking about it. “A Foongus who couldn’t defend themselves! I had to put a stop to it, sir!”

“Yes, that’s certainly a problem. Putting a stop to that is a good thing, Salute.” Hiketeria had to compose herself before the next part. “And how old was this Emolga?”

“…Sir! I am not entirely sure, sir! I did not ask them!”

“How about a rough estimate, then? About what age did it seem like this Emolga was?”

Salute had to think for a moment, even relaxing his attention a slight bit as he did, before straightening once more.

“Probably around fourteen, s—!”

Hiketeria cut Salute off. “Eleven. Salute, they were eleven. You arrested a child. Their parents were furious, and for good reason.”

Salute didn’t know what the proper response was for that, so he simply stood rigidly.

“Now, Salute, why did you do that? You could have simply broken up the fight and left it at that, or, at most, brought the children back to their parents. But you chose to jail a child young enough that they likely still find basic arithmetic tricky.”

How was Salute supposed to explain something so fundamental? He thought it was obvious.

“…They were a bully. Bullying is an injustice.”

The deep sigh that Hiketeria gave reverberated around the room.

“Oh, bless your heart…. Salute, you have an impossibly strong sense of justice. That’s certainly a virtue. But you cannot keep making decisions like this. You have detained people for littering, loitering, and every miniscule infraction in-between. It does not give me any pleasure to say this, but…” She looked straight at Salute, deathly serious. “If it happens again then I’ll be forced to remove you from the Guard.”

Salute recoiled, losing his stance.

“What?! But sir, you can’t!”

“Salute, attention.”

Salute snapped back to attention, though his faces still looked noticeably concerned.

“As I said,” Hiketeria continued. “Your sense of justice is a virtue. I want nothing more than to keep you as a member of the Town Guard. But you need to learn proper restraint, and moreover, judgement. Until you can see the bigger picture in all of this, you will be assigned to work with another guard who will act as your superior.”

“What?!” Salute nearly lost his pose again. “But who?!”

“Pyrite. Until you prove yourself ready, you will be with him on his post at all times.”

It took everything Salute had not to shed a tear. Pyrite?! This truly was the worst timeline. How could this have happened? Salute had only been trying to uphold justice!

Still, Hiketeria was his Chief, and the most righteous person he knew. Her orders were absolute. To question them would be to question justice. If she was going to force him to be around Pyrite from now on, that must have been the just thing to do.

“Understood, sir.” The wind was gone from Salute’s sails, but he still spoke with as much projection as he could. “Will… that be all?”

“Yes, that will be all.”

Hiketeria deflated once Salute trudged out of her office and gave a tired look over to all the paperwork she now had to handle: a pile of soon-to-be formal apologies and reparations. What a mess. And all because of a single, two-headed dragon. Having Salute on the Guard was not easy, but in the end she was more worried about what he’d do if he wasn’t a member. Without an actual outlet for his “justice,” he could easily do something really stupid.

It would be nice to have a week or two where she didn’t have to worry about him. Perhaps tomorrow would even be the start of it. Pyrite was Salute’s opposite in just about every way. It was a distant dream, but hopefully they’d balance each other out.

 

---

 

Salute burst into the Guard’s Hall at the exact second the clock hit 6:00 AM. It wouldn’t do for justice to be late, after all. Everybody inside flinched from the booming of the doors being slammed open, a crash that was amplified by the Hall’s size and fortress-like design. Ignoring the glares, Salute marched on in and handled his morning duties: checking in, gearing up, memorizing the list of fugitives, the works.

This would’ve been the point where Salute headed off to his post, but justice had other plans for him today. Pacing around the entire ground floor took nearly 10 minutes, and as unfortunately expected, yielded no results.

Of course he’s late again…. Salute thought, mood already souring. Growling in frustration, he had to settle for waiting by the entrance, madly tapping a wing against a pillar.

Sure enough, over an hour past call-time, the world’s least aggressive looking Midnight Lycanroc strolled downstairs, presumably from the Chief’s office. With a lazy smile, he waved Salute over.

“Hey-hey, Salute,” he yawned. “Just got the news from the boss. You’re with me, yeah?”

“Pyrite,” Salute grumbled. “There could be criminals committing injustices right now.”

“I dunno about that. If I were a criminal, I wouldn’t strike any earlier than noon.” Pyrite cracked his neck. “6 in the AM is sleep time.”

“It’s not 6 anymore! It’s 7:12!” Salute had to follow Pyrite as he made his way towards the storage area. “We should have been patrolling by now!”

“Believe me, we’re not missing much. When we get to the spot, you’ll find that most folks agree with me.” Pyrite slung his bag onto his back without even checking its contents. “No one should be awake until 7:30.”

“Then right now would be an evildoer’s most opportune moment!” Salute began to pace in circles around Pyrite, desperately wanting to go. “Argh! We’re failing in our duty!”

“Alright, man, if it’ll calm you down, we can get going. I’ll lead the way.” Pyrite finally brought them both out of the Guard’s Hall, but suddenly stopped halfway down the steps. “Just try to be cool, alright? No reason to make this the worst day ever.”

“Of course! But that means that we need to uphold justice!”

“Yeah? And what makes justice, anyway?”

“Order! Vigilance! Discipline!” Salute was sadly unsurprised that Pyrite didn’t even know the fundamentals.

“That’s it, huh? Well, that explains a lot.”

The pair made their way through the town of Epiphany. Unlike the Guard’s Hall and its harsh, measured, gothic design, the town itself was far more quaint and frustratingly haphazard. Apart from a couple of major roads, the cobbled streets Salute and Pyrite had to walk were winding and split-off at a whim. If viewed from overhead, the town would have an appearance not unlike roots spreading out from a single seed.

Salute was struck by a moment of longing as they passed the area that just yesterday was his own. It wasn’t a particularly notable zone otherwise, likely assigned to him for that very reason, but it was his. Hopefully no evildoers would show up in his absence.

Pyrite’s post was far from the center of town. In fact, it was close enough to the outskirts that you could see the wall in the distance. Epiphany was built on a slight incline, normally difficult to notice. Out here, however, the difference in elevation was far more pronounced, making everything feel slanted and necessitating the buildings to be placed on terraced land. The houses of the area were of modest features and sprinkled around without any sense of planning. Most were bunched up close together, but a few were given wide berths, tending to have patios or gardens to break up the space.

True to Pyrite’s word, few folks were out, and those who were hadn’t been for long. The Lycanroc gave a wide gesture to the area with a big smile on his face.

“See? What did I tell you?” he said. “Nothing much happens here.”

“But something could have,” Salute growled. “Vigilance, remember? We have to stand ready for injustice to strike at any time!”

“Is that what you do all day? Sounds terrible.” Pyrite shrugged. “I think my way’s better.”

“What’s your way?”

Pyrite grinned. “Watch and learn, friend. Watch and learn.”

Pyrite’s way basically was just to meander around the neighborhood at random. He had no pattern, wasn’t really keeping watch all that carefully, and even left several streets completely unsupervised. What he did have was a constant stream of conversations with the locals. He seemed to know just about everybody in the neighborhood, and stopped every few steps to personally greet them.

“Hey-hey, Tonoi! How’re the kids?”

“Lydia! I didn’t know you were back yet! Was the trip fun?”

“Whoa Dorian, nice antennae! How long did it take you to get them like that?”

“Locris, is your back feeling better yet? You should be careful about how much you’re lifting.”

“What’s up, Menander? You saw the new play, right? How was it? I never found the time to go….”

It took ages for him to finish. By the end of it, the town had finally woken up all the way, and Salute was at the end of his rope. He stood dutifully while Pyrite sat on a barrel situated comfortably in the shade of a building’s overhang, watching all the people he’d befriended go by.

“All. You do. Is talk,” Salute grumbled. “You’re not even keeping things safe.”

“Sure I am.” Pyrite leaned back on his makeshift chair. “Just look at how peaceful everything is.”

“Peaceful?!” Salute stomped his foot. “There could be criminals on any of these streets—especially the ones you didn’t check—doing terrible things!”

“Sure. And if there is, someone will tell us.”

“What?!”

“C’mon, look at all the folks around!” Pyrite gave some passing Herdier a wave. “They can be our eyes. If something actually does go bad, they’ll let us know.”

“So you’re just gonna laze around all day?! Not on my watch.” Salute lunged one of his heads in to pull Pyrite down.

“Whoa-ho!” Pyrite dodged out of the way, jumping off his barrel. “Easy there. I don’t swing that way, y’know?”

Salute gave a glare. “You’ve flirted with over half of the males in the guard.”

Pyrite chuckled and pointed at Salute’s 2 heads with 2 separate claws. “I meant polygamously.” He suddenly gave a sly look. “Didn’t think you would notice, though. How come you’re so interested in my escapades, huh? Do I have to break a 2-headed heart?”

“U-unwanted advances are an injustice!” Salute cried, backing away. “I can’t let you get away with it!”

“Well, that’s probably true. Still, everybody has seemed pretty cool with it so far, so I think I’m safe.” Pyrite stretched and took a deep breath. “So, you want something to do, right?”

“Yes! We need to uphold our duties!”

“Alright, let’s go, then.”

“Finally!” Salute began to race ahead. “Let’s find the evildoers!”

“Nah, I think I made my stance on all that clear.” Pyrite motioned Salute down a different path. “There are other ways to help people than just arresting folks, y’know?”

Pyrite led them around, checking a few areas before managing to run into a noticeably well-built Simipour. She was one of the townsfolk Pyrite had made small talk with earlier, though that distinction hardly narrowed things down. She was busy hauling on her back a large sack of something. Something that that looked heavy enough to require a whole team.

“Locris,” Pyrite chided. “What did I tell you about the lifting? You’ll kill yourself doing that every day.”

Locris threw down the sack with a heavy thud and even heavier sigh. “I’ve got a big job to do, Pyrite. Can’t afford to waste time with multiple trips.”

“C’mon, it can’t be so bad you can’t get help.”

Locris gave a breathy laugh. “Yeah, help. In a week I’ll have no help. Storm’s comin’ in, and I’m the only one who can work through it.”

“So you can’t delay at all, huh?”

“Nope, the other workers have gotta do everything they can, when they can.”

“Sounds like you need a couple of young lads with nothing better to do—” Pyrite grinned at Salute as he said this. “—to handle some of the hauling for you.”

“Really?” Locris gave an incredulous look. Clearly, this was not the kind of thing Pyrite normally did. “Well, I won’t refuse free labor.” She nodded her head in Salute’s direction. “And who’d you manage to rope into this completely unpaid job?”

“This is my bud, S—”

“Co-worker,” Salute corrected.

“Friend from—”

“We’re not friends.”

“Best friend in the whole world, Salute! We’re working the same post for a while. Seriously, though, let us help. You can focus on the actual building.”

“Alright, suit yourself,” Locris said, leaving the sack to them. “I’m not liable if you get hurt, though. Good luck.” And she jogged off.

“You got it, boss!” Pyrite called after her.

“Really?” Salute groaned once she was out of earshot. “We’re movers, now?”

“We’re helping.” Pyrite gave that same grin that was already driving Salute up the wall. “By keeping this nice, hard-working lady from hurting herself. Now, you take that side, this is definitely a 2 person job. Or is protecting citizens’ health not ‘justice’ to you?”

He had Salute there. “Fine. Let’s get this over with….”

And so, the next while was spent lugging bags, crates, and piles of heavy materials and tools over to the construction site Locris and her team were working. Salute was the one doing most of the lifting, not only because he was the physically stronger of the two, but also because Pyrite still insisted on greeting the roughly 200 or so people he knew.

After a long, exhausting time, they’d whittled things down to a couple of items that could be taken by one person. Carrying things solo gave Salute a good opportunity to split off and actually patrol the area a bit. It didn’t sit right with him just how much of Pyrite’s post had gone unsupervised, so remedying that took top priority. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hit all of the streets they’d missed before joining back up with Pyrite once they got to the last object: a single beam of wood they somehow couldn’t seem to fit on any of the other trips. He’d have liked to do more, but the Chief had ordered them to stick together.

Salute was walking beside Pyrite, whose slowness had left him the one carrying the beam of wood. To make up for the Lycanroc’s chattiness, Salute hadn’t said a word for the last half hour. It had killed any sort of conversation between the two, which Salute was honestly a bit thankful for at this point.

“Welp,” Pyrite sighed, startling his co-worker enough to cause a small jump. “I’m beat. Mind holding onto this for me?” And he tossed the beam onto Salute.

Salute scrambled to catch the thing—not easy to do with 2 heads and 0 arms—but he managed to save it just in time, and even continued walking.

“What are you doing?!” Salute growled, straining under the sudden weight. “This was yours to carry!”

“Relax,” Pyrite said while stretching his back. “I’ll take it back in a bit. Besides, you’re the strongest member of the Guard next to Hiketeria.”

Salute stood up a bit straighter, hearing that. “Well, yeah. But it’s the principle! The order!”

“Right. Order, Vanity, Demolition.”

“Vigilance. Discipline.”

“Yeah, that good stuff.” Pyrite took the beam. “Speaking of good stuff, thanks for the assist.”

“I didn’t want to,” Salute scoffed.

“Hey, but you did it anyway! And with that—” Pyrite deposited the beam at the site. “—we’re done. Consider justice served.”

Salute rolled his eyes, even if no one could see them. It was the principle, after all. “So now what?”

Taking a glance up to the sun, Pyrite hummed. “Eh, it’s about noon. The marketplace is probably in full swing by now. Let’s have ourselves a look.”

“This had better be good….” The last thing Salute wanted was another useless distraction.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll love it!”

Pyrite led Salute once again, but stopped as they were passing a lone house in a secluded part of town. It was one of those that had room around it, though nothing broke up the space—there was simply more ground. The utter lack of surroundings made the house’s already unassuming features feel all the more barebones. A lone Eelektross was making his way out of the abode, only to be hailed by Pyrite. Salute let out a low grumble at yet another conversation.

“Zazel!” Pyrite greeted. “What’s the occasion? You’re never out.”

“And hello to you as well, Pyrite.” Zazel gave a big smile that put on full display the huge fangs the eel had. “I thought I had told you that I have business today.”

“That was today? Oh man, I totally forgot.” Pyrite shook his head in an exaggerated display of self-disappointment.

“And I thought we were going to the marketplace,” Salute said in a completely dead tone.

“Yeah, yeah, in a minute,” Pyrite dismissed. “I never see this guy. He doesn’t leave his house, like, ever. Which is crazy, ‘cuz he’s a stage magician!”

“Retired stage magician,” Zazel corrected. “My show ended some time ago.” He turned to Salute. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet. You are…?”

Salute snapped to attention, and answered before Pyrite could spread any misinformation. “Salute, sir. I have to work with Pyrite for the time being.”

“Best of luck, then.” Zazel gave a knowing smirk. “All he does is talk.”

“Thank you!” Salute cried in relief. Someone finally said it.

“Oh, come on.” Pyrite shrugged defensively. “We did all that lifting stuff just a moment ago.”

“You talked the whole time during that, too.”

“Whatever. We’ve got a marketplace to get to, right? And Zazel has his business.” Pyrite began to walk away with a loud whistle.

Salute sighed. What an annoyance, making noise like that without even a thought as to whether it was wanted.

“You seem like a reasonable one,” Zazel spoke to Salute. “Once you pry him away from his slacking, keep watch over my home, if you will. I’ll be gone for a good while, and would rather not have any nuisances trying to get in.”

Salute nodded. “Will do, sir! I won’t let anything come to it.”

“Wonderful. You have my thanks.” And with another smile, Zazel left in the opposite direction from Pyrite, who Salute now had to rush to follow.

 

---

 

Salute thanked whatever gods would listen that Pyrite didn’t have any more chats before they made it to their destination.

The marketplace was set up on one of the few straight roads in the town. That alone would have set it apart from the rest of the area, but it was also busy. A steady stream of people flowed on through, browsing or purchasing from tents and stalls on the sides of the street and selling a variety of goods, though fresh produce and artisanal foods seemed to be the primary stock. Either way, there were enough merchants that the center of the road had been colonized for their purposes, dividing the single street into two lanes.

“I always forget how terrible of an idea it is to come here,” Pyrite mumbled, deftly avoiding collision with the innumerable oncoming pedestrians.

Salute was far to occupied by his monitoring to notice. Both heads scanned the crowd continually, even as Pyrite checked out a few of the more open stalls. With so many people, this would be the perfect breeding ground for criminal behaviors. Why, any one of these seemingly innocent civilians could be a crook!

He didn’t even register Pyrite calling for him a couple of times before the Lycanroc gave up and returned to a stall. No, Salute was making good on his promise of vigilance. His trained eyes saw all through the shifting, amorphous cloud of people. Every purchase, every bumped shoulder and subsequent apology, every action committed in the marketplace was watched by a single guard. One that could feel something about to happen.

Injustice has a funny way of striking nearby. It was at the very stall Pyrite was at, one run by an older Unfeasant, that a young Sandile slithered up, undetected by both the merchant and the guard currently distracting her. Salute knew a foul game was afoot, and watched the scrawny reptile without blinking. When it happened, it didn’t surprise Salute even a bit.

Like a villainous bolt of wicked lightning, the fiendish Sandile snatched up a bundle of fruits, and darted off in a heinous flash. An evildoer.

They had managed the whole thing unseen by all. All but one.

Salute was ready, launching off and giving chase before the criminal had even begun to run. He dashed around and even leaped over innocent passersby—or barring that, barreled through them as politely as he could—quickly gaining on the thief. By the time they noticed they were being pursued, it was too late. They made an effort to speed up, but this turned out to be their undoing, as they ran straight into an area with densely packed stalls and a thinning crowd. Nowhere for evil to hide.

Seeing their own doom, the Sandile attempted, in a last ditch effort, to dive into a shop, only to be pulled to the side by Salute chomping down on their tail. He took advantage of the momentum and swung them back down to the ground, pinning them against the stall of the very same shop they had tried to flee into. As Salute stood over them, their eyes went wide with a yelp. Clearly, they sensed that the jig was up, and their injustice would no longer be allowed to stand.

“Stop right there, criminal scum!” Salute cried. “Nobody breaks the law on my watch! I’m confiscating your stolen goods. Now pay your—”

“Whoa, hold on.” Pyrite slid in-between Salute and the thief. “Cool it. No need to get crazy here.” He turned to the Sandile. “You run along, now.”

The Sandile slipped away with a shaky nod, immediately scurrying off into the swarm of people as Salute stared in disbelief.

“What was that for?!” Salute glared at Pyrite. “I was about to deliver justice!”

“Looked more like vengeance to me,” Pyrite sighed. “Seriously, I think the scare you gave them was punishment enough. They looked like they were about to die of fright.”

“They’re an evildoer! They broke the law!”

“They looked like a hungry kid. It’s not that big of a deal if they stole 2 pears, an apple, and a tangerine.”

“But you don’t know that! And either way, they’re a thief! They stole from an innocent person! That merchant could have needed the money!”

“Yeah? Then gimme a sec’.” Pyrite ran over to the merchant and dropped a couple of coins on the table before running back. “There. Problem solved.”

“Wha-?! But-!” Salute sputtered. “But they still stole!”

Pyrite grinned. “No they didn’t. They accepted some fruits that someone was kind enough to buy for them. No theft there!”

“That’s not how this works!”

“Sure it is. The merchant seemed cool with it, at least.”

“Buy now they’ll go off and steal again! They haven’t been taught a lesson yet!”

Pyrite’s smile faded. “Believe me, I don’t think they’ll be stealing again for a long time after that….”

Salute felt a headache coming on. More of a “heads-ache,” really. “You can’t just do that for everyone.”

“Sure. It’s on a case-by-case basis.” Pyrite paused, looking around self-consciously. “Alright, let’s get out of here. We’ve caused enough of a scene.”

“Fine. But we’re going my way, this time.” Salute had had just about enough of Pyrite’s whims and failures. Plus, they had an assignment directly from a citizen. That wasn’t something Salute was about to let go.

 

---

 

The trip back to Zazel’s home was not a fun one.

“Seriously.” Pyrite had been going on about the marketplace incident the whole time. “Were you about to tell that Sandile ‘pay your fine?’ They clearly didn’t have any money.”

“Then clearly it’s off to jail for them,” Salute responded. “Or it would’ve been, if not for you forsaking your job to let them go.”

“Call it a charity. No one needs to steal if they’re given what they need.”

“What about the case Chief Hiketeria solved 2 years ago? That guy was stealing money so he could build his own mansion. What, did he need one of those?”

Pyrite sighed. “Okay, so some criminals are just selfish. But you can’t just judge everyone the same way. Circumstance matters, y’know? Isn’t that the whole reason why you’re here?”

Salute thought about it. It was true, that Sandile was pretty young…. There was a good chance arresting them would’ve just made the Chief upset again. It was different though, right? Sure, most people wouldn’t call kids bullying each other ‘aggravated assault,’ but everyone would call stealing ‘stealing,’ regardless of age.

Proper restraint, and moreover, judgement…. Salute had no idea how to obtain those. What was ‘restraint’ supposed to mean? Don’t arrest evildoers? Let them continue to commit crimes? There were 2 types of people: just ones, and unjust ones. Law-abiding citizens and crooks. You could turn the latter into the former, but only through proper discipline. That was how this worked.

“Argh…!” Salute cried in frustration. Thinking about it was getting him nowhere. “This is stupid! I’m gonna keep fighting for justice. I always knew what was right and wrong before.”

Pyrite shrugged. “Suit yourself, I guess. Moving on, I thought we were doing your way for now.” He glanced around the quiet street they were walking down for emphasis. “This just seems like my way, but antisocial.”

“My way is doing what I’m told to,” Salute said as they passed around a bend, arriving back at Zazel’s house.

Immediately, Salute stopped and scanned the whole area for any suspicious people or items. None. Nothing out of the ordinary was lying around, and the other residents were either out of home or cooped up inside.

It would thankfully be easy to keep watch over Zazel’s house, thanks to the distance between it and the other buildings. With 2 guards standing on opposite sides, they’d be able to see anyone incoming. Salute felt a great sense of relief. This was a job they were sure to succeed in.

“Uh.” Pyrite ran a paw through his mane. “So, are we going, or what?”

“This is it.” Salute set up by the front door. “We’re staying here.”

“What? C’mon, really?” The Lycanroc looked around suspiciously. “Nobody’s here. Weren’t you going on and on about patrolling earlier?”

“We were given orders. Watch Zazel’s house and make sure nothing happens to it.”

“And you’re just gonna listen to him? He’s not even a guard. Aren’t there, like, 50 murderers or something just down the street according to you?”

“All we have to do is let them murder people and then they’ll be fine, right? That’s your way of doing it.” Salute pointed to the other side of the house. “Go over there. We need to watch both sides.”

Pyrite reluctantly shuffled off. “This is gonna be super boring, man. We really should find something else to do.”

Salute didn’t listen to his co-worker. He was going to do his job no matter how much Pyrite complained about it. Sure enough, it was as easy as it seemed. Nobody approached for over half an hour, and nothing but the faint sounds of the wind were heard. At this point, it looked like the surrounding buildings might not have even been inhabited… but a sure-fire job only increased Salute’s conviction. Vigilance. Never let your guard down, even on the simplest assignments.

…Well, he’d be lying if he said this wasn’t a little boring, actually…. Salute’s left head was nodding off a bit. But his right was completely focused! Having 2 of the things just meant that he could afford to let his attention slip from time to time. With his right head, Salute gave his left a small nip on the neck, waking himself back up. There. Back on track.

To keep himself vigilant, Salute took to mentally charting the entrances and exits to the small zone they were guarding. The clearing surrounding Zazel’s house was roughly oval-shaped, and the ground slanted downwards off from the front porch. There were 2 streets you could enter from, but due to the gaps between the surrounding buildings, over a dozen alleys could be used for the same purpose. If it weren’t for the space, it’d be far more difficult to prevent any intruders. Maybe Zazel chose the location specifically for that reason? Smart man.

“Maaaaaan…” Pyrite groaned, approaching from around the corner. “What’d I tell you? This is the most bored I’ve been in years. Can we do something else now?”

“Hey!” Salute growled. “Watch your half!”

“I’m telling you, this is pointless.” Pyrite looked up to a window. “Zazel never comes out. He literally might already be back, and we wouldn’t even know it.”

“It’s not pointless,” Salute explained. “If nothing happens, then that means we succeeded. Preventing crime is even better than stopping it.”

“Never expected you to be the one to say that. I assumed you got a kick out of jailing folks or something.”

“Justice is justice. And part of justice is making sure that bad things don’t happen to good people.”

Pyrite raised an eyebrow, but for once stayed quiet.

“Now get back to your half,” Salute flatly ordered.

“But it’s lame.”

Salute sighed. “Then we can yell to each other. You like talking. That’ll keep you invested.”

“Seems like that’d make a loud rack—”

And just then, a deafening crash erupted out from Zazel’s house, one that was overlaid by a piercing scream. Combined, it was enough to echo for what seemed to be minutes on end down the muted streets of the area. To make things worse, no sounds followed. Not a one. Even the 2 guards were silent. No words, no shuffling, no breathing. Only the grim reverberations of the cry, growing more and more metallic as it bounced back over and over again. It was cry of suffering. Perhaps even a cry of death.

Salute and Pyrite looked to each other, eyes wide, frozen in place, still completely silent, mouths agape.

This was going to be the worst day ever.

---