Eyes are windows into the soul.

Shota, Jasper, and Keith stood at the back entry of the gas station as Shota keyed in the code for the door. A small beep sounded as it was unlocked, opening the door Keith went in first. His steps were careful and silent, walking through the chilly fridges filled with crates of unstocked food. Light shined through the fridge racks, they could partially see the 4 thugs. The 3 of them walked through the long curved fridges until they were at the door that led behind the register.

Keith cracked the sliding door open as he crouched against the frame and the wall. They could hear the thugs arguing.

"Stupid bitch can't open the safe." "Who's the stupid bitch that said 'this place was perfect'?" The 2 speaking pushed each other, and a third one threw a bag of chips at them.

"Hey, fuck faces, this is no time to fuck around. The police are outside. Wolfe, are you almost done unhooking the damn safe or not?"

Wolfe, was a guy who was crouched behind the register messing with the safe, right in Keith's view. He had a small duffle bag of tools on the floor next to him. The cashier was sitting at the feet of the thug who threw chips with their gun to their head. The other 2 thugs had the customers laying on the floor with a booted foot planted on each of their backs.

"Shuttup, cutting the power has to be done smartly, besides there is a tracker on this thing I gotta get off without tripping some sensors." The 3 of the thugs groaned. Each wearing some kind of concealing mask and sweaters that obviously hid bullet proof vests.

Jasper stood in the fridge area as Shota and Keith stationed themselves by the door. He could see that there were a few fridge doors that were completely out of view of the thugs and the register area as they were behind the coffee and drink machines. He carefully inspected the fridge rack of one of them, it was a metal shelf that could be moved if he wanted to and luckily it didn't have much on it.

He began pulling it out, lifting the heavy shelf and walking it backward, being extra careful to not be loud enough to be heard. It was a tight fit with it pulled out, but he was able to squeeze through. He crouched down with his gun drawn and slipped out of the fridge door, taking cover behind the coffee island. Had the thugs been closer to the fridges, he could have attempted shooting them through the glass doors, but with their distance and the angle he would have to shoot, from his calculation the angle of obliquity would be too high to get an accurate shot and he prided himself on his accuracy.

He sat there listening to see if they heard or noticed him at all. Using the reflection in the fridge doors he figured out which side of the coffee island he should be on to aim at both the thugs who had the customers underfoot.

Jasper weighed out the best options, if he didn't kill them, would they shoot the hostages? The 3rd thug was out of his view mostly, as was the 4th. He knew Shota wasn't one to kill crooks unless necessary. Begs the question, was it necessary now? Jasper watched them for a few seconds, one of them was shaking. He doubted the fool would have the guts to even kill a hostage.

After watching Jasper with a bit of concern, Shota stood behind Kieth and aimed through the slim crack at the thug with their gun at the cashier. Keith aimed his stun gun at Wolfe, inching the door open as quietly as he could without alerting them.

However the door slightly creaked, their eyes all snapped to the cold storage room door. Kieth shot at Wolfe who shrieked as he was tased, falling over and convulsing on the floor as he rolled around in pain. Shota shot the gun arm of the one aiming at the Cashier, causing him to drop his gun as blood splayed out of his arm with a loud cry and went to duck behind a file drawer clutching his arm. The cashier had actually grabbed the gun and aimed it at the one who was holding it, but seeing that it wasn't loaded she tossed it to the side and stayed on the floor, looking at Kieth who barked orders through his mask.

Jasper used the mild distraction of the sound made from the cooler door to shoot the thugs in his view, their shoulders that were overlapped had a single bullet fly through them both. Blood splattered onto the snack racks and the customers below them. Their gnarly cries of pain were slightly muffled by their masks, moving for cover as they aimed at the fridges. Only one of them actually shot at where Jasper was, barely missing him as the bullet exploded through a fridge door and an energy drink. Shota and Jasper withdrew from their spots as Keith burst through the door, pulling out his pistol.

"Drop your weapons and keep your hands where I can see them! Get on the floor now!" He stepped over the cashier and kicked the one hiding behind the filing drawer, kicking him over since he wasn't listening.

Shota was on his radio telling the officers inside to move in, peering over the door frame and watching Keith's back.

Jasper went around the otherside of the snack racks away from the 2 thugs and hopped over the register counter as Wolfe stood up, now recovered from the taser and pulled out his pistol with a silencer aiming at Shota, having not noticed Jasper until his hand was grabbed, forcing the gun downward as he was punched in the face. Shota barely had time to react before Wolfe was already disarmed.

Getting the gun out of Wolfe's hand he held the barrel to his head.

"Hands up, on your knees, like a good boy." Jasper growled with a sinister look, his lips curling upwards as if he enjoyed it, keeping the barrel on his head as he went onto his knees.

Shota rushed over and used the register commands to unlock the front doors, letting the policemen in.

Kieth had the rest of the thugs on their stomachs, getting the hostages up he made sure they weren't hurt and sent them over to Shota who walked them outside away from everything. The police officers who were outside began patting down the thugs and cuffing them while reading their rights. Getting crime scene cleaners on the way as they started taping the gas station off. Kieth and other officers swept the rest of the store, just to make sure no one was hiding in the bathroom or behind the hot food station.

"Rest is clear!" Kieth shouted.

Shota put his gun away and talked to the customers and the cashier. "Are you 3 alright? Did they hurt any of you? Did they say anything?"

"No, I'm fine, they just shoved me around a bit. They come in here all the time, so I know who they are, they're part of the Cell Block Dragons. They never caused me any problems, so.. I stayed quiet about them." The cashier felt guilty, crying as she held her face in her hands and muttered in her frustration. "I'm so gunna get fired!"

"It's not your fault, you did your job. If I was still licensed to carry I wudda done more." The older man of the customers patted the cashier's back, a clear bruise on his cheek from being punched as well as his blue polo shirt dusted with blood spray.

"He's right, you did your job… Can you tell me more about the Cell Block Dragons? How did you know they were members?" Shota had his notepad out as he wrote things down.

Jasper removed the gun from Wolfe's head as an officer came to detain him, handing the gun off to another officer. "That was his gun, they called him Wolfe."

—--------------

Once everything was handled and they gathered what they could they let the victims go home but they would stay in contact. The thugs who got shot were patched up and kept under surveillance by officers until they are discharged by the doctors so they can be booked in the jail and their court dates can be made.

The gas stationed had to be cleaned of the blood from the gunshots and would be closed for at least a few days.

Wolfe, who was uninjured, was brought to the precinct and put into holding. Shota, Jasper and Keith were currently working on the reports of the situation.

It was eerily quiet in Shota's office aside from the clacking of keys from him and Jasper, who typed exceptionally fast with an expressionless face. Shota was honestly creeped out. There was something interesting about the way Jasper performed, and even behaved during the gas station robbery. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like Jasper was in a completely different league than him. Being out skilled is one thing, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, Shota never compared himself to other officers. But seeing as Jasper wasn't really an officer and actually a Hitman, perhaps that was why he was finding himself comparing and actually admiring Jasper's skills.

He grumbled to himself, 'Admiring? He's a cold blooded killer…' He thought to himself, a scowl hardening his face.

Shota slightly jumped as his desk phone rang, picking it up he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder. "Detective Hayate APD." His typing stopped as his eyebrows twitched upward.

"Ah, Lemmons, how are our deputies?" His eyes narrowed with his lips parted as he listened.

*"Lopez has a mild concussion from getting hit by the motorcycle wheel, but otherwise he and Hayes are mostly fine aside from some nausea and drowsiness from the tranq. Zanueta had to get the bullet removed, but she is expected to heal just fine. She is going to take some time off to recover."*

"That's good news then."

There was a gruff groan that came from Lemmons. *"I got word that you handled the robbery at the Aldo gas station."*

Shota leaned back in his seat a bit, feeling Jasper watching him. "Yes, the officers there called us since the robbers were gang members."

*"Which gang?"*

"They were called the Cell block.." Looking over his notes to make sure he remembered correctly as his voice trailed off. "Dragons.. Cell block Dragons. Have you heard of them?"

There was a bit of rustling that Shota heard over the phone. *"Theres new gangs every fucking day at this point… Whats with that stupid.. Fucking name?"* Lemmons let out a harsh sigh.

"Hmm.. Not sure. The cashier said she sees them all the time, and mentioned they were a newer group that she 'thinks' started over in the southside of Asher by those newer neighborhoods."

Lemmons scoffed. *"Right. Just what we need is some new gang getting into a turf war with those idiots in the industrial area right over there. I'll read the reports you make later. You and Hawthorne good?"*

Shota hesitated. "Yes sir. I think we will get along just fine, he really impressed me today. You'll see in the report."

*"Good. Let me know if the results come back from the drugs before you clock out."*

With that Lemmons hung up. Shota felt relief that the injuries his fellow officers received weren't anything major. Though the weight that had lifted with that thought, was added right back on as he recalled Jasper had told him before the tranq he used would give them that reaction. Now, he just had to wait to hear about the drugs they were testing.

"You seem relieved. And I am quite flattered you told Detective Lemmons that I impressed you, I wasn't expecting praise on my first day." Jasper's voice was smooth and velvety, laced with a playful tone that only added to the discomfort Shota felt.

Casting his gaze to Jasper with tightly knit brows he met Jasper's eyes as they looked at him through their eyebrows, a look he had seen a handful of times from especially deceptive people. Jasper stared at him as if he was his prey, with no intention of killing him but with all the intention of playing with him for his own entertainment. His throat suddenly felt dry remembering the sociopaths he had encountered. It was just a feeling in his gut, but he was sure Jasper was a sociopath, or a psychopath.

"Well, you performed well. I wasn't about to lie." Shota had to look away from Jasper, his eyes going back to his computer screen.

"How noble of you." Jasper said with a charming laugh, had Shota not been really on edge and creeped out by him, it would have been incredibly attractive. "Once we are done, let's get some food. I'll buy."

Shota visibly grimaced, fixing some spelling errors he made before finalizing his reports. He was starving, and his mother would slap him if he refused a free meal.

"Alright. Where do you want to go? And are we taking one of our cars or…?" His voice trailed off as he started collecting his things from his desk, checking his phone notifications briefly as he waited for him to answer.

Jasper looked at his watch, tilting his head as he thought. "Hm.. Is Archway's burgers still 24 hours? We can drive our own cars there. I have some private calls I have to make anyway."

"Uh.. Yea, they just reopened their salsa bar since having to close it because of the pandemic. I'll meet you there, I'm going to head to the lab."

"Sounds like a plan, Hayate."

Shota was trying his best to keep composed. Getting up from his seat he started packing his laptop bag. Jasper casually, and almost robotically did the same. Watching his from the corner of his eye it seemed he had a very specific and practiced way he would put his things away. He left his desk with everything perfectly aligned, and set.

He felt a twitch in his eye as he watched Jasper put his seat pushed into the desk so properly, without even looking like he did it deliberately. "Are… You a neat freak or something?"

Jasper wasn't even bothered, he pulled his bag onto his shoulder and grinned. "I like my things clean and orderly. Helps with efficiency."

He couldn't really complain, he liked clean and organized spaces as well. Shrugging it off he paused before he left the office. "I can trust you to clock out and stuff right? I really don't feel like babysitting you."

Jasper tsked. "Oh I think I can manage, Officer Hayate." His lips curled upwards as he teased.

Shota gave him a dry look, walking with him out of the office. "Your smartass attitude is real refreshing." He didn't bother hiding his sarcasm.

Jasper ignored him, smiling at Keith and walking off on his own. He gave Shota a casual wave over his shoulder without looking back. "See you later, partner."

Shota grumbled, "See ya… In like 10 minutes…."

Keith looked at Shota curiously. "You alright?"

He straightened himself in response and turned the light off in his office, closing the door. "Yea… Still getting used to having a partner."

"Well, Jaz seems like a cool guy, I'm sure you'll both warm up to each other." Keith cleared his throat and pat Shota on the shoulder. "Plus, he's pretty attractive. I won't rat on you if you two… You know." Keith wiggled his eyebrows.

Shota couldn't help but laugh, his face lighting up a bit. "Yea, you two can have at it. I know you've been ogling him."

"Admiring is more accurate." Keith pat his chest with his other hand and stepped away, heading back to his computer. "You look exhausted, go get some damn sleep. I'll see you tomorrow yea?"

"Yea Yea, I'll get some sleep. Catch you all later." Shota waved at everyone in the room and left to go to the lab. He was exhausted, and quite honestly he hadn't been able to fully process everything. Was he seriously about to have dinner with a hitman like they were good pals? He needed a drink. A stiff one.