Baby Steps (A ‘Slipgates’ Story)

West Coast Sprawl, 2134

Director Mond’s intense glare was attempting to burn its way through Special Agent Raven. Raven remained resolutely staring at the wall slightly above and to the left of her superior. “Special Agent,” Mond said, his voice etched with a cocktail of exasperation, despair, and fury, “How many times have you stood before me like this?” He asked, eyes gleaming.

“Haven’t been counting sir.” Raven replied sharply, still staring just beyond him.

“Indeed. Well, I have, as a matter of fact. And I’ve been counting a number of other things related to you and your career here.” He moved his hands a bit on the desk, and it lit up with a series of documents. Raven’s icy facade began to wane, but only slightly as she glanced briefly down at them and then quickly returned her gaze to the wall. “For example, the amount of monetary damages you have been causing during the course of your investigations. …It is frankly outrageous.”

Raven kept her gaze fixed, but half-heartedly raised a finger. “I think you’ll find upon deeper examination sir that technically I have never caused any of that damage.” She said, her cool gaze remaining fixed.

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Is that so. Well, let’s take last night, shall we? What would you call it when a car goes smashing into the side of a mall at over 400 klicks per hour?”

“I’d call it not technically my damage, sir.”

“Excuse me?”

“I wasn’t driving it. The suspect was driving it. Ergo, not my fault.”

“you were chasing him, Agent.”

“And asking him to stop, sir.”

Mond sighed and waved in the air as if to brush away the stray flies of this comment. “Fine, you know what? I’ll let that one go for now. But let’s look at another ever-increasing number which just so happens to be related to that very incident!” He said brightly, but his enthusiasm was forced and a bit cracked around the edges. “Like, for example, your body count.”

“Uh,” Raven began, not sure where to take that sentence. She never got the chance anyway.

“You then proceeded to kill the suspect in question by running him over with your own car.” He said flatly.

Special Agent Raven raised a finger again hesitantly.

“WHAT?” He barked.

“Well, again, technically, no, I didn’t. I had bailed out of my car, and it was being controlled by the traffic AI. Which knew I was pursuing a suspect. So… it continued to pursue him for me. Ergo, again, not technically speaking my fault, sir.”

Director Mond’s eyes rolled so hard they were in danger of popping out of his head. “Oh don’t give me that shit, Agent. ‘Guns don’t kill people, people kill people’ and all that?! COME ON.”

Raven remained staring fixedly at the wall. “I think any lawyer could make a good case that I, personally, did not run over that man. The car did. And since I wasn’t even in it, that argument doesn’t really apply.” She said, careful to keep her voice even and devoid of any emotion.

Director Mond slumped forward and put his head in his hands. He mumbled something she couldn’t quite hear and then sighed loudly. “Special Agent,” He said slowly, “I appreciate that you… do tend to always solve the case in the end. But this isn’t some fucking action flick. Do you have any idea how many of your fellow agents have fired their weapons in their entire careers, not to mention this year, not to mention this goddamn week?!”

Raven hesitated, “Well, we all spend time at the range, of course — “

“You know damn well that’s not what I mean!” He thumped his forehead on the desk a few times and Raven fought hard to keep her face straight. After a pause he said, “Look… Hitomi.” He said slowly, his voice almost kind. “Just… walk through this with me, will you? Where do you work?”

“Sir?” Raven asked, her rigid expression breaking into a slightly confused frown.

“Where do you work?”

“Uh, The Allied Terran Territories Special Police Force. The best of the best, sir. No other private policing or investigative force can beat us at anything.” She replied, at first cautiously, but then a bit of pride beaming through her voice near the end.

“Correct. And whom do you work for?”

“Uh… You, sir?”

“Incorrect. You work for the people. The people, I might add, that you keep shooting, running over, and blowing up and all sorts of other problems.”

“And saving, sir.”

“And saving some, yes, indeed.” He sighed again and held his head in his hands. After a moment he looked up at her through his fingers, seeing her still staring stone-faced at the wall. “Look… just…” He tried, and then sighed again. She glanced down at him, feeling slightly ashamed of herself for the first time. “Just… promise me you’ll try to do less… collateral damage in future? Please? Let’s have that be your goal for this year. Less deaths and damage than last year. Baby steps, okay?”

Raven shrugged. It seemed fair. And much better than she had expected, coming into this office today. She was almost certain she would be fired this time. “I can definitely promise I will try, sir.”

“Atta girl.” He said softly. He glanced at his watch. “Tell you what. Take a few days off. You haven’t taken any vacation time in… years, if I remember correctly. Just… go unwind a bit, then come back with this nice new goal and attitude, okay?” He saw her open her mouth to object and snapped, “Not a suggestion.”

Raven nodded. “Alright, fine.” There was a pause. “…Then goodnight, sir.” She finished lamely.

He waved her out of his office, the doors opening themselves as she turned on her heel and left, her long dark coat billowing out behind her like a cloak. Mond watched her go, and then swore in a creative variety of languages under his breath as he reviewed her work history. She did indeed have more sucessful operations under her belt than anyone else on his payroll, even people who had been here two or three times as long. But… He sighed again. He’d try to give her time to sort herself out. He wiped away the desk, the screen clearing itself, and opened another file and returned to work, listening to the click-clack of her heels leaving the office.

Raven wasn’t really sure how to feel about all this. On the one hand, she was furious for being treated like someone who had fucked up. Because, to her estimation, she had always done exactly what was asked of her. She would be told to stop a murderer, and she would. Whether said murderer had to be scraped off the ground or handcuffed wasn’t really her problem, was it? The point was stopping them, wasn’t it? On the other hand, she did begrudgingly have to admit the Director might have a point about life not being like an action flick. She scowled at the gleaming doors of the elevator as she waited for them to arrive. Well, she could certainly try. Why not. Fine. Hmph.

In the elevator she selected street level, watching out the glass back of the box the vast city glittering around her in the night. Thousands of towers, millions of cars, countless citizens, all just lights sparkling in the dark. She wondered what exactly do to during her few days off. As the director had said, she had never really done that before. She tried to remember what she had done before this job, but that was so long ago, such childish things probably weren’t really appropriate for an adult. Hmm. Well what did she tend to find a lot of her contacts, leads, and suspects doing? They had time off. Well… many of them were in bars or clubs. She had never done that before. Oh she had been to hundreds, thousands even, but it was always on the job. She had never gone to actually go to a club. …Might as well give it a shot.

She trudged down the busy streets, the crowds of mixed Terrans and aliens parting a little bit when they recognized her uniform, most of them deliberately not meeting her gaze. She glowered at the ground. It seems her reputation preceeded her. That was usually a good thing. Hell, just knowing who she was was often enough to get some low-life spilling the beans, their eyes wide with terror. She blinked. Maybe that was exactly what the director was trying to tell her? She glanced up and saw a Drail man, and she gave him the friendliest smile she could manage.

He returned a haughty glare and turned his back to her, continuing his conversation with several other of the aliens in his group.

She rolled her eyes in exasperation, but then thought again. Okay, okay, Drail were known for being assholes to absolutely everybody. Try again. She kept walking, and saw a little Terran boy with his parents. She gave her best, brightest smile again and added a little wave. He beamed back at her, wrenching his hand out of one father’s grip to wave enthusiastically back at her. A more genuine smile began to cross her face, which quickly left as the other father noticed who their son was waving to and spun him around quickly and walked away, giving her a stern look. She sighed again. Okay, maybe this would take some practice.

She paused her walking and looked around, trying to figure out where she had wandered too while lost in thought. Much to her surprise, she could see a hip nightclub just across the street and up one level. She stared at the entrance for a moment, the long queue and flashing lights outside, and made up her mind. Setting her face resolutely, she took the stairs, crossed the walkways above and strolled right up to the front door, ignoring the line completely as she had always done. The bouncer began to quickly move to block her path as she walked in, but she shot him an icy stare and when he saw the badge on her armored vest (she had forgotten to even change her clothes) he just as quickly dropped his arm and went back to looking threatening to the queue. It occurred to her that she probably should have joined the line just like everybody else as she wasn’t here officially, but, oh screw it.

Inside was… loud. She had never really noticed the noise of a club before. Every time she had been in such a place she had her mind focused on the job. She had always been aware of the crowds, of the lights, the music, all of the possible exit routes and potential weapons around, but that was just survival instincts. Now she properly experienced it for the first time and had to resist clapping her hands over her eyes and ears. Special Agent Raven had no religious beliefs herself, but had heard about them, and suspected that this was the part of Hell librarians went to when they died. She glanced around at the patrons, trying for the first time to see them as fellow citizens, not just… objects in the way of her mission. She was mildly surprised to note quite a lot of aliens here, maybe even more than half the clientele were non-Terran. And plenty were from some of the ‘minor races’ she didn’t even recognize. Oh well, not her problem. Immigration wasn’t part of her job. And besides, she had no problem with aliens herself. People are people everywhere, as the saying goes. And in her line of work she had found this axiom to be extremely true. Everybody lies, everybody gets mad, everybody can be a good citizen, or a bad one. Regardless of species.

Her well-honed instincts for noting oddities were trying to tell her something. She glanced around, eyes narrowed as the music THUMPA-THUMPA-THUMPA’d around her, and realized what she had unconsciously noticed. There was a Telha sitting alone at a small table near the back, just sitting and looking around with a wide-eyed look of innocent and happy curiosity (no small comment for a species with considerably larger than human eyes), nursing a drink, all by himself. Himself. He was male. Now, Hitomi knew that technically, there were of course male Telha. The species had to reproduce somehow, they couldn’t all be girls. But you almost never saw their males, and you never saw them off their own worlds. She stood stalk still and stared at him, mildly amazed, and he caught her eye. He gave her a big beaming smile, and she realized she was grinning slightly back. Oh what the hell.

She made her way over to his table, and stood before him, unsure what to do next. “Hell-o!” He said, his accent mild but noticeable. His face was positively glowing with joy, and Agent Raven wasn’t really sure how to respond.

Eventually she said, “H-Hello.” She stammered. Another pause of him beaming happily up at her, and she gave up, “…Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all!” He said brightly, “Please, do!” And pointed to the chair opposite.

As she swept her long coat under her to sit down, she was surprised that the noise level dropped noticeably. This booth was constructed in such a way to block some of the incredible din beyond. She could finally hear herself think again, and hear this alien man as well.

They stared at each other for a moment, and just as Raven opened her mouth to speak a waitress popped up. “What’s yer poison?” The pink-haired girl asked cheerfully.

“Bourbon, double, neat.” She paused, then grabbed the girl’s arm as she was about to leave, “And pick something good. Ya know, not top shelf, but not rot-gut, eh?”

The bubbly waitress winked at her. “Sure thing ma’am. One good but not wallet-ruining drink coming up.” And she scurried off to the bar.

The alien man was still beaming his permanent smile at her, but he tilted his head in mild confusion. “Rot-gut? Poison?”

“Slang.” Raven said shortly. She paused, not sure how to just… strike up a conversation with someone who wasn’t a suspect or a resource. He saved her the trouble by asking the question burning in the back of her mind but was too polite to actually voice.

“I bet you’re wondering what a Male is doing here, right?” He said, looking her up and down, taking in her dark armored vest, dark long coat, and her long black hair, all stark contrasts to his white everything. White tunic, white as snow skin, white hair, …the Telha were a remarkably monochromatic species. He saw the surprise in her face and laughed. “It’s okay! I’ve been getting stares all night. I only got here a few hours ago, and even my own people are confused to see me here.” He looked her over once again, eyes widening a bit at seeing her several gun holsters, and then glanced at the other Terrans in the club.

“I know, I don’t really fit in either,” She said with a small grin. He beamed back at her, permanent joy remaining.

Just then, Raven’s drink arrived. The waitress gave the pair a tiny curtsy and left. Raven lifted her glass and after a second he realized what she was doing and did too. She tapped his glass with a clink, “To being the odd ones out, then, friend.” And they both took a sip. Raven smacked her lips slightly, enjoying the burn of the liquor and savored the smell for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “So… I have to ask. …Why are you here?”

She immediately felt bad for asking, not wanting to seem unwelcoming right off the bat, but he seemed unperturbed. “To be honest, I was just curious. More and more of my people come here by the day, many of your people have begun coming to our worlds, and, well, I just wanted to see it for myself! So, I took a… a vacation?” His voice rose at the end, unsure if that was the right word.

Raven arched an eyebrow. “But, I’ve lived here all my life, I don’t think I’ve ever seen another male Telha on Earth. Hell, it’s kind of a standard joke that you don’t even exist.”

He chuckled good-naturedly at this. “We exist. We just don’t get out much. I’m sure you know, we all serve the Empire in our own ways, and, well, males are mostly just expected to breed and to contribute quietly in the background. I have done so for many years, but I had… what did your ambassador call it? Oh yes, ‘wanderlust’.” He took another sip from his drink. “So, I stored the necessary genetic material to meet the quota, got a special permit, and took a trip here. I wanted to experience it for myself! So many of my children have come here and back and told of amazing things, I just had to see it for myself.”

Raven stared at him. “So… those rumors and jokes and such are… serious? Males just… fuck constantly and, what, do little academic jobs in the background? Your whole life?!”

He looked a bit bemused at this. “I… would not put it quite that way, but, I suppose that is accurate, yes.” He said carefully.

Raven continued to stare. “Just how many kids do you have?”

“I have no idea.”

Raven’s eyes bulged at this, and she actually burst out laughing. This only seemed to confuse him. “I’m sorry, that’s just… well, a very alien answer, you know?” She cracked up, taking another swig of her bourbon. “No dad would give that answer in the Territories.”

The alien man smiled again, “Yes, I’ve heard you do things quite differently here. Again, that’s why I’m here, I wanted to learn, to see it all.”

“And what do you think so far?” Raven asked curiously.

“Amazing! Astounding! Very…” He hesitated, and seemed to be searching for the right word. “ah, ‘Jenhengen’ that is…big, loud, a bit intimidating. Exciting. Energetic.” He finished.

Raven snorted. “Yes, that’s one way of putting it. We are rather… Jenhengen.” She swirled her drink in one hand idly for a moment as they stared at each other. “So, what is it you actually do, besides fuck all day, you lucky boy?” She asked with a grin.

He frowned slightly. “That is perhaps the hundredth time a Terran has told me I’m ‘lucky’ to be a male Telha. I don’t understand. I don’t feel very lucky. It’s just genetics.”

“But you get lucky all the time, eh?” Raven said, her grin widening. This joke appeared to zoom clear over his head so she amended, “I mean, well, a life full of sex and not being required to do much, that sounds like a lot of people’s idea of heaven, buddy.”

He tilted his head curiously at her. “Does it.” He asked flatly. He considered this for a moment. “I’ll admit, it is pleasurable, but, well… I invite you to consider that Terran phrase I heard as a child, what was it… something about a hobby that becomes a job becomes not fun anymore?”

Raven grunted. “Huh. I hadn’t considered that.” She admitted. “Well. You certainly seem …happy?”

“Oh I am!” He reassured her quickly, “It’s just, well, …it gets a bit repetitive, to be honest.”

Raven was mildly bewildered, unsure how the hell to reply to that. So she sought to change the subject. “Sooo… What is it you do in your spare time then, when not providing the Empire with all its new citizens? Oh, and what’s your name?”

“I am Jinaer! And I am pleased to meet you.” He did a little half bow at the table, “And I am a cultural and historical archivist.”

Raven raised an eyebrow. “That must be interesting. Lots of culture and history out there, if you get to look into the aliens too? Hell, is that what prompted you to come here?”

“Yes, indeed!” He said, the happy beam back in his face. He paused, and looked her up and down again, “And you are… a soldier?” He guessed.

Raven laughed. “No, I’m an Investigator. Special Agent Raven, nice to meet you too, Jinaer.” She stuck out her hand to shake, and after a pause where she saw the briefest flash of concern cross his face, he reached out delicately to shake her hand. She could sense his nervous tension as she gripped his hand, and wondered what could be suddenly bothering him. They shook, and she continued, “I’m like, police, but, well, a lot more advanced. More options, more responsibilities, bigger problems to solve. I… don’t know if you really have such a thing in the Empire. I suspect your military might be called in to deal with the sort of problems I tend to face, so I suppose in that sense you would think of me as a soldier. But, well, my job is to help people.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Anything I can help you with, my new friend? You seemed nervous a moment ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He said, and hung his head shamefully.

“It’s… nothing to be upset about, I just want to help if I can. Like I said, it’s my job. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I was just… remembering something the Terran consulate said to me before I left for this world. A warning.”

Raven’s eyebrow arched so hard it nearly left her face. “Oh yeah? and what was that?” She asked, burning with curiosity.

“She said, ‘never get in a fist fight with a Terran, ever’.” He parroted flatly.

Raven stared at him, then chuckled, “What? Seriously?”

“Indeed. Were you not aware of our biological differences? This planet’s gravity is higher than our homeworld’s. You are much hardier beings than us. And did you not learn about our little war of first encounter in school? All soldiers, I am told, are warned to be wary of Terrans when working with you. So I was cautioned against getting into any fights just as they are.”

Raven gave this some thought. “Interesting.” She said finally. “Though I must say, I, as a Special Agent, am rather specifically NOT supposed to get into fights with people, so, you have nothing to fear from me, okay? I’m one of the good guys, sort of by definition! And hey, you contact me any time you’re in danger and we’ll be there in a flash to make sure you don’t have to fight a Terran, okay? A Terran will fight for you.” She gave him the most reassuring smile she could, and he seemed quite pleased.

“You are too kind! I don’t deserve such extra service, Madam Agent.”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Like I said, it’s my job, and it’d be my pleasure.” She thought for a moment, and then blurted out, “To be perfectly honest, you’re the first friend I’ve made in… quite a while. Like, just, a friend. Not a resource or asset or lead or snitch. Actual friend. So of course I’m going to be extra nice.”

“You too are the first new friend I have made in many years, actually, and I am honored for you to call me so as well.” He said humbly, bowing slightly again.

Raven was curious. “Really? I mean, your job is to breed all day, and… those aren’t your friends? or wives? or whatever?”

“No?” He answered, polite confusion all over his pale face.

Raven gazed at this man for a moment. “You know, our two peoples have been friends for over thirty years, and I still don’t think we really understand each other much.”

He shrugged. “Perhaps. But there is always time. And, if I may say so, Miss, you and I seem to be getting along fine.” He said with a smile.

She smiled warmly back. “We are, aren’t we? Alliance is a wonderful thing.”

They drank in silence for a few moments, and eventually Raven said, “Well, to be honest, I think I should get some sleep.” He looked crestfallen for a moment, but forced a polite smile back onto his face almost immediately. Ever the good citizens, these people, raven privately thought. She continued, “But how about we hang out again later? Maybe I could show you around? I’m supposed to be on vacation too, so, I’ve got nothing better to do. Sound like a plan?”

He beamed at her. “Sounds wonderful!” He watched her pull out a pen and write on a napkin for a moment.

She paused, and glanced up at him, “You can speak English pretty well, but, uh, can you read it too?”

“yes?” He said, curiosity filling his huge grey eyes.

“Good, then here, my contact info. Send me a message tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can show you. You have a good night, new friend, and don’t be afraid to contact me if you think the warning your consulate gave you is going to come up, okay?” She said with a grin.

He smiled up at her as she stood to leave. “Thank you. For being a friend.”

“Same to you, man. See you around.”

She began to leave, and to her amazement remained smiling faintly. She hadn’t honestly smiled in, hell, she had no idea how long. ‘Icicle’ and ‘glacier’ such had been her nicknames at the force and on the streets for as long as she could remember. She took her job very seriously, and as her job was her life, well, she took everything very seriously. Not to mention a decade of seeing the very worst Terrans and aliens had to offer had put a rather sharp edge on her blade of cynicism. But that funny little alien man had been surprisingly charming in a quirky sort of way, and she was surprised to find a bit more spring in her step than usual.

Unfortunately, this respite of happiness was not to last, as her well-honed danger sense tingled and tugged at the back of her mind. She surveyed the room, eyes narrowed, an implant in her head giving her all kinds of extra information on the club and its occupants. Then she spotted it. A Telha, a girl this time (just like usual, in point of fact) was standing in a rather threatening way near the waitress who had served them earlier. The pink-haired girl was standing near the register and every inch of her body language broadcast terror. Raven began to slowly make her way through the crowd, trying not to draw attention. Unfortunately, the waitress saw her coming and met her gaze, and something in her face must have warned the alien because she spun around behind the waitress, using her as a meat shield and holding a very sharp and violent-looking knife up to her throat. In an instant, Raven had a pistol out and aiming at the suspect. “Stop, in the name of the Law!” She shouted over the din of the club.

The club patrons were parting in waves as quickly as they could shove each other out of the way, not wanting to get hurt in a cross-fire. The Telha criminal began to edge slowly towards the back door, but Raven sidestepped quickly enough to block this idea, the crowds again parting around her to give her room. She glowered at the alien. Not an hour since her reprimand about not getting people hurt, and here she was again. Life was so unfair. Then she thought again of her boss’s reprimand, and had an idea. “Can you understand me, Telha?”

“Yes.” The alien woman snapped, her other arm twisted around the waitress’s shoulder in a very smart hold, one that surely indicated military training. Just Raven’s luck.

“So… Look. I’m sure you don’t want to kill that poor girl, right? If you did, you would have done it already, right? You just want to get away with the money or contraband or whatever else you came here for, right?” There was a pause and eventually a barely perceptible nod from the alien woman. “Okay. So, how about we make a little deal. I put my gun away, you let the girl go. Then we can just talk this out, resolve this peacefully.” There was silence as the criminal glanced around the room, not seeing many options. “Well?” Raven prompted.

A longer pause, and then the waitress was slowly pushed forward, and Raven kept her word and slowly put her gun back in the shoulder holster. Once she had it completely away and raised her hands to show they were empty, the poor pink-haired girl was shoved to the floor. She crawled away quickly, and was being tended to by concerned citizens nearby. It seemed most of the crowd was still here, and she was surprised at this, but even more surprised to realize her new friend was staring at her, open-mouthed.

Meanwhile, the criminal Telha girl had dropped down into a defensive stance, still holding the knife and there was a suitcase on the floor by her feet. “I’m guessing that’s what you came here for, right?” Raven said, nodding to the case. The alien nodded mutely, her large grey alien eyes gazing coldly into raven’s blue ones. Like chips of ice, people said. Raven began to advance slowly on the alien girl, hands still raised, but she subtly shifted the way she held her hands up from ‘defenseless, look I have no weapon’ to actually a ready stance for martial arts. She privately hoped this alien couldn’t recognize the change.

Shit. The alien girl didn’t seem to want to back down, even backed into a corner like she was. She too advanced slowly, knife at the ready, and put a table in between them as they paced slowly, staring each other down. This girl wasn’t to know, but inside her own head raven had used her neural connections to call in this incident to several of the local minor police departments, and normal beat cops would be here any minute. But right here, right now, she had a duty to protect these people as best she could. She glanced again at the booth where her new friend still sat, stunned, watching her closely. Raven really wasn’t sure how to diffuse this situation.

Raven slowly circled around the table, her hands raised in a well-practiced kung fu defensive position. She stared down the alien woman, her blue eyes darting between the glinting knife in one hand and then back up to her snow colored face, watching for the slightest opening or lapse in concentration. The Telha, for her part, had also clearly had quite a lot of hand to hand training, her stance was perfect, able to quickly advance and retreat, to strike or parry all with the slightest movements. Raven’s eyes narrowed. But… as she looked closer, there was a slight, ever so slight tremor in her knife hand indicating how heavy it felt to the alien. “That reminds me,” she said abruptly, switching her gaze back to the alien girl’s face.

The Telha raised an eyebrow slightly. “What?” She said, unclear why her enemy would be making conversation.

“I made a new Telha friend today actually. And he told me a few things. First, he reminded me of something I learned in school as a kid. Earth has much higher gravity than your world.” She watched the alien’s slightly overlarge eyes glance at her own shaking hand and then back to her human opponent. “And second, he told me a funny little thing that apparently your government warns all your people about before coming here, which I guess you forgot.” Raven said, her tone surprisingly friendly and conversational, as though they were talking over dinner rather than deadly fight. Raven slowly began to close the gap between them as she spoke, inching closer and closer, taking each step carefully one at a time.

The Telha looked slightly confused, and a bit offended, puffing herself up defensively. “Oh yeah? And what did I forget?”

Raven lunged and managed to catch the wrist under the knife while only receiving a small nick on her arm from the blade. She clamped down as hard as she could, and felt a bone break. The Telha’s face went even more white and her knees wobbled. “Never.” Raven said, and delivered the best haymaker she could manage, right to the side of her pretty silver haired head. WHUMP. “Pick a fist fight.” WHUMP. “With a Terran!” WHUMP. The last punch made the alien go limp, and raven held her dangling by the broken arm for a moment before letting her fall to the floor. She looked down at the woman, and watched her chest to see if she were still breathing. She was. “There.” She said to no one in particular. “I am perfectly capable of doing my job without killing people. Just had to beat the shit out of one. And I’m not counting the kills earlier today. But this one will be fine, that counts for something right?”

No one replied. Raven dusted herself off, checked her knuckles for damage, and then kicked the knife away under a table, just to be sure.

Just after the nick of time, normal beat police arrived and started crowd control and attending to this criminal. Raven flashed her badge and gave a brief description, and they let her go. But as she turned to leave, she saw her new friend still sitting in his booth, and he was grinning at her. She smiled back and gave him a thumbs up. He returned the gesture, and she turned and left the club, again the crowd parting like a school of fish before a shark.

She stood outside and lit a cigarette just as it began to rain. She looked up at the clouds, and back over her shoulder at the club. Her ‘vacation’ had only managed to last about two hours. She sighed, but then tried to cheer herself up. Everything takes practice. Now, it was time to go home, take a shower, and take some time off properly.

Afterall, with a new alien friend to show around the city tomorrow, who knew how many more times she’d fuck up her vacation? Might as well enjoy her time off while she had it. And with that little dash of self deprecating humor, she smiled as she went off to find a train to get her home. Even her vacations still had work. But, well, her work was her life. And all things considered, she felt she had a pretty good one. She had saved several tonight this time, and maybe this was exactly what her boss was trying to tell her. “Baby steps.” She muttered to herself as she turned up her collar against the rain. “Baby steps.”