Interim. (2)

"Wouldn't you like to know about what happened after you got your ass beat by Juxtae?"

"I already know what happened before, and seeing as how you are here, I can hazard a guess as to what happened afterwards."

"Is that so?" The Chief asked as he leaned back into the tiny seat back. "So, what happened before you lost consciousness?"

"I was abandoned." Relovan simply stated.

"And what happened afterwards?"

"I was shielded from some kind of blast, and then I guess things were sorted out."

"What makes you say that?"

"You are seated right here next to me. If you have the time to be here, then the situation was handled rather quickly."

"…tell me, just how long do you think you've been in this hospital, Lawman?"

"A few days, perhaps?"

"Try weeks."

Relovan just looked at the Chief in disbelief, with the large Adonian looking at Relovan's disbelief with a proportionate amount of disbelief of his own.

"Don't tell me you seriously think your injuries were such that a few days of rest and relaxation would heal them? Your torso was so damaged, it took hours for the team of doctors to put it back together. In fact, you should be dead."

"I will not die." Relovan bullishly interjected as he scoffed and looked up at the ceiling. "Was I really that bad, though?"

"Worse. I don't even know how you managed to wake up right now. Anyway, your assessment of the way things went was somewhat accurate. Your fellow Enforcers left you up in the Terminal and followed us all down, yet when things went awry, they were the first ones to run. They evacuated the civilians with the Officers that were already stationed on the First Planet so quickly, I was impressed. But once it had been reported that everybody had been taken underground more or less in one piece, they just didn't emerge again. They claimed to be protecting the civilians by remaining with them – ALL seventy-nine of them. Meanwhile, you acted like a true policeman and went to contain the situation on your own. I don't think you truly understand just how impressive that was, Lawman."

"I was just doing my duty as an officer of the law."

"Custodian of the Law is what you called yourself, I believe."

"What? How did you know that? In fact, and forgive me if I speak out of turn, but where were you during the entire fracas, Chief?"

The Chief smiled in leaned in close, his giant nose stopping short of touching Relovan's, before practically whispering.

"I believe that you encountered and subdued six of those Personal Knights, am I right? Well, there were thirty-four other Knights that had to be taken care of, Enforcer."

Relovan's eyes grew just a bit in size before he closed them and nodded slightly.

"Understood, Sir." He simply stated before leaning back into his pillow.

"Anyway, using the reports you kept making as breadcrumbs of sorts, I was able to trace your steps and find those Knights you had taken care of. Unfortunately, I was only able to reach you after Juxtae destroyed your sternum with those long, sleek fingers of hers." The Chief raised his eyebrows suggestively a few times before licking his lips

"And then you shielded me from that dome like thing?" Relovan asked, completely ignoring the Chief's face.

"More or less."

"…thank you, Sir."

"Not at all." The Chief said with a smile.

There was something of a lull in conversation, and just as said lull became uncomfortable, Relovan spoke.

"So, what actually set those fucking Void Lords off? And what happened to them after I passed out?"

"Well, I can't tell you what set them off because both camps retreated to their Void Walkers and refused to say a thing to us once they did. Worse still, Vox didn't even wait for clearance or permission to leave – he just took off and entered the Void."

"I'll fucking bet." Relovan said with a scowl.

"Juxtae on the other hand is still here – she just hasn't left her Void Walker. As to what happened to them, a Regulator kind of teleported in and stopped them as Juxtae had her fingers in Vox."

Relovan once again ignored the innuendo and focused on the events.

"A Regulator? You mean the Void Emperor's Personal Knights?"

"The very same." The Chief confirmed. "The moment the Regulator appeared, they both knew they were in a heap of shit and practically stopped on the spot. The Emperor spoke through the Regulator, and the moment they heard his voice, it was as if they had been struck by lightning or the like. Anyway, he admonished them, and revealed that they would both have to come back to Oxea to answer to him, but only after accounting before the Council."

"Hmph." Relovan snorted as he nodded once in approval. "They should thank whatever gods they worship that there were no civilian fatalities."

"They really should… by the way, Lawman…" The Chief said, suddenly looking serious as he reached inside his breast pocket. "When you lost consciousness, these tags became visible. Knowing what they are and what the symbolise, I quickly took them from you as I was sure they would have brought about all manner of questions."

The Adonian held out a set of dog tags, one of which had an acronym of three letters, and the other had a number which had been scratched out. Relovan's eyes changed as he focused on the tags – as if he hadn't expected to see them again. He reached up and opened his right hand, prompting the Chief to drop them into his palm. The moment they made contact with his skin, both blood stained tags started glowing, causing Relovan to quickly hang them around his bandaged neck. Once he did that, the tags began to sink into his skin, going through the bandages and disappearing into him. Despite Relovan's efforts to hide it, this looked like an extremely uncomfortable process, and once it was over with, the Chief smiled and spoke again.

"So, Lawman, tell me; how did you take all of those Knights out?"

"Sir?"

"I want to hear the details!" The Chief exclaimed excitedly. "I want to know what happened and how you reacted to the changing situation and everything."

"I will tell you all that if you can reveal to me how it is you are able to sit on that tiny chair without it falling apart."

The Chief laughed and waved away the condition.

"Start talking already!"

Relovan sighed and started from the moment everything began. He was often times forced to elaborate on certain details, or go over them again as the Chief's interest made telling the story rather difficult. By the time story time had come to an end, Relovan was out cold and snoring ever so slightly. The Chief, who had been by his side the entire time without eating or even drinking, finally stood up and pushed the little chair towards the wall – causing it to shatter into an uncountable number of tiny splinters. After looking at Relovan in silence for half a minute, he turned around and left the hospital room, leaving the Enforcer alone for the first time. He walked around the corner to find a small team of similarly dressed subordinates standing quietly and waiting for him. When they saw him, they all saluted the Chief somewhat tiredly.

"Chief." They all said in unison.

"Let's go." He simply replied before thundering past them all.

They followed after him, and their capes all fluttered impressively as they did. The subordinate who had come to see him whilst Relovan was still in Intensive Care scurried away from the rest of the group and caught up to the striding Adonian.

"Sir." He said once he caught up to him. "Are you hungry?"

"Starved, Kipp."

"I figured that you would be, Sir. There is food in the car."

"Excellent." The Chief said as he grinned, baring all his teeth.

The group walked in silence, and the intimidated doctors all gave cursory waves as the Chief walked past them and out of the building.

"Finally!" One of the doctors quietly said. "It felt like we couldn't even go to the damn toilet with that gargantuan Police Chief hanging around here!"

A few of the Chief's subordinates chuckled to themselves at this while the man himself just walked towards his motorcade. There were a number of vehicles within said motorcade, and the largest one was in the middle of the group. Kipp pulled a set of keys out and pressed a few buttons, both unlocking and opening the door. The Chief stepped in, causing the car's springs to lower quite a bit. The smaller Police Officer then made his way around to the driver's side, and hopped in. The rest of the Officers split up and got into the other vehicles and after a few moments, the motorcade pulled off and drove away. Inside the Chief's vehicle, the Adonian was looking over his choices of food in silence when Kipp spoke.

"Forgive me for asking Sir, but we have all been wanting to ask—"

"You all want to know why exactly I sat in that hospital for over two weeks?"

"…y-yes, that's correct, Sir."

"It's quite simple, Kipp – the Lawman in there might just be the most precious resource we have in the Coalition; thus, he must be protected and cherished at all costs."