The Longest Time

[Maxpphire]

It had been a gloomy day, raining on and off, puddles everywhere, and dark for 3pm. On a very busy street corner stood Dreki, looking rather dishelveled, as if he's been through some kind of harsh event. His blond hair, some of it in a ponytail, some not, missing his shoes and one of his socks. One of his sleeves rolled up to show gauze wrapped around his inner elbow, as if he donated blood or had an iv in or something and the other itself looked like it may have rolled down on its own as the cuff was unbuttoned. His vest was unbuttoned, but his shirt fully buttoned up. Clothes he didn't often wear or in a style he naturally didn't wear. He looked like he dressed up for an event. His eyes had a dead look to them and not the usual intense look that people who knew him, knew he always had.

'Walk forward. Do it. Emma doesn't need you. It's safe to to go forward. Walk. It's ok. You'll be ok.' a voice not his rang out in his head over and over and had overlapped to sound like a mess in his mind. Traffic was moderate, cars whizzed by on the in total 4 lane road. After a few moments he began to walk forward. People would stop their cars short, honked and made their way around him. After some cars had weaved around him, a truck in a lane by the middle of the road with a small trailer behind it stopped short and honked at him to avoid hitting him, the cvan behind that truck had to swerve in the right lane to avoid hitting the truck but didn't slow down much as there was an opening in the traffic. Dreki had entered the right lane by that point when the van who didn't have enough to stop from behind a truck, for sure didn't have enough time to stop for Dreki either, and the two connected. The car that hit him was going roughly 45-50mph on this multi-lane road, enough force to kill a man. Dreki was thrown several feet from the van based on how they hit.

He didn't move for a bit, not even the truck started to move again having witnessed this. The Driver of the van stayed in their car, crying and freaking out, meanwhile the truck driver got out and started to run over to the him. After Dreki had fallen golden wings started to instantly grow from his back, roughly about 7 foot each in length. After they finished he nearly instantly got up, flew to the van that hit him and cleaved the engine in half with a now golden sword he held. He had moved so fast that a shockwave of wind seemed to shoot out from him in all directions, knocking over the truck driver and shaking several cars driving by and behind the truck and van. The van now started to hiss and leak liquids onto road, with the driver having screamed at the sudden destruction of his van, ran out of his van and began to run away from it all, Dreki did not follow, in fact he stood there looking at the van with a dead sort of look in his eye, floating a bit. He landed back down on his feet onto the pavement, his injuries from the car accident now have fully healed. The sword disappeared but the wings, they had not. He stood there for a moment with that dead stare on his look, only for the intense look to finally come back to him.

He collapsed to his hands and knees as he felt some of the most intense pain he had ever felt, he felt physically sick and the last time he remembered feeling this much like garbage was when he first had dealt with being experimented on. He felt like he was in a 120 degree room with how hot he physically felt due to a fever high enough to kill a normal mortal, but his back felt the worst heat wise. It felt like it was legitimately shooting flames out the back of it. He grabbed his chest with his right hand as it seemed to hurt less than his left for some reason he wasn't aware of, his heart beating fast enough that it felt like it was expanding getting ready to explode, as a result his breathing ran ragged as he was having a hard time even doing that among all this pain.

'Good. You're doing good. Keep it up. It will pass soon. Don't worry. This is normal. Keep going.' Kept ringing throughout his head, thoughts that were not his own, he recognized the voice as Dr. Hofflan. He didn't know where he was, what was going on, or what even was happening. He screamed out in pain as his legs buckled a bit more and he moved to be sitting on his shins, leaning all the way forward, his head resting on top of his hand touching the road as his other hand gripped his chest. It was quite the spectacle for the now stopped traffic on one side and the very slowed traffic on the other, people seeing these large golden wings somewhere ahead of them. Some people on the stopped side got out of their cars and walked forward to look at the spectical ahead. The truck driver just sat where he fell over having looked on at Dreki.

"W-what did you do to me?" He asked himself out loud, mumbling, and sounded like he was in a great deal of pain. He was having a hard time gathering his bearings, he could barely even tell that he was outside, and he for sure didn't realize he was in the middle of the road. The van now caught on fire due to the damage done to the engine. Was that Sirens he heard in the background? He couldn't tell, the pain and the overlapping words of Dr. Hofflan in his mind made it hard for him to concentrate on his surroundings.

[Black Philip]

What. The. Fuck?

She’d been driving down the highway, a cigarette precariously hanging from her lips so both hands could be on the wheel. Her partner, an Irish guy named O’Riley, was eating a doughnut as their squad car hummed along. On the radio was latin pop, a mashup of Shakira and Ricky Martin. Detective-Sergeant Lacy Velez wasn’t the biggest fan of either performer, but it was nice to hear lyrics in Spanish, and while O’Riley would be dead if he told any of the boys back at the precinct, she actually hummed along. The cigarette made that a little difficult, but it also looked like this wasn’t the first time she’d balanced driving, smoking, and humming.

“Hey Velez, you going to put on a little show for us later? Maybe a little shakey shakey?”

Men were such pigs. She took a hand off the wheel and tossed the butt of her cigarette onto his lap. “Woah, what the fuck Velez?” he scarmeled to put it out, moving quite liquidly in the car. Lacy smiled.

“First off, it’s Sergeant, Sarge, or Detective Velez,” Lacy scolded. “Second off, make a comment like that again and I’ll have you assigned to desk duty.”

She liked that she could boss this little shit around. He wasn’t used to having a woman as his superior. Well, trial by fire was often the best education for fragile male egos, and he’d been lucky enough to not get lit up.

“You know, Sarge, a joke or two wouldn’t kill you,” the young Irish cop rebutted. She turned to face him. She was going to scold him, educate him about respecting the chain of command, even gave him a dressing down about his uniform, but then the world exploded. Two cars ahead of them a truck with a trailer attached came to a sudden stop. The chasie was too large to look around, so the detective had no idea what caused it. The van behind them swerved, and Lacy had to react fast. She drove the squad car into the shoulder and crashed into it. Airbags were deployed, and a whip lash damaged her neck. O’Riley’s nose was broken from the airbag. She got out her siren and placed it on top of the car. A loud sound and flashing red light let drivers know to stop. Lacy and O'Reilly got out of the car.

She’d been determined to go to the truck and scold him for causing the wreck, but then she saw an angel flying across the sky and attacking the truck with a sword! Sabrina and Wren had told her that angels were real, and after the events of the witches Lacy was able to see this as what it was, a… masquerade disruption? Yeah, that’s what Sabrina had called it. Then the angel cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. She knew she had to contain this quick, and got on the radio.
“I need backup on the cross central expressway,” she yelled. O'Reilly was useless holding his nose. She moved to the angel boy. “Hands up, don’t move.”

She felt guilty arresting an angel, but he’d just shown himself to a ton of mortals, clogged up traffic, and had given her a ton of paperwork to do. She kept her gun stowed as she didn’t want to further antagonize him. She suddenly wished she and Wren had their magic lessons earlier. She wore a policewoman’s uniform, blue and badged. Her hair was in a ponytail and her expression was severe. She hoped Jesus wouldn’t be angry with her for arresting one of her angels. 

[Maxpphire]

His wings had started to dissipate which at least made it no longer feel like flames were shooting out of his back. He had no idea whats going on, where he was, or that he even had wings just then and thats why his back felt like someone lit him on fire. He still felt incredibly warm and like his heart didn't know how to function properly with it beating super fast and erratically. He felt the pavement with his left hand, the coolness felt nice against the burn injury now on his left hand. The roughness didn't feel the best, but it felt better than having it off the pavement. However he felt like he was not in a good spot to be laying down and began to crawl elsewhere, out of the road. He wasn't even sure if this was a road or a parking lot, but he didn't want to risk getting hurt. When he started to move forward he heard a set of words that caused him to stop. "Hands up, don't move" it was said with an air of authority. He had no reason to believe she wasn't a police officer despite her not exactly calling it out.

'You're the victim, don't listen, you just got hit by a car, if anything she should be chasing after the driver of the van who hit you then physically ran away' Rang out in his head as he complied with her request, he had stopped moving and feebly raised his hands in the air, his elbows resting on the pavement, laying on his chest, he could feel his heart beat against the pavement and it felt very uncomfortable. He faced left as he layed his head on the pavement, not only scared about his physical well-being and whatever Dr. Hofflan did to him earlier, but now scared at whatever what about to happen for the rest of the day.

"Shut up, I don't want to get shot." He muttered to himself, basically trying to tell Dr. Hofflan off. When trying to think it, his own thoughts were drowned out by being told that he was the victim and not the perpetrator repeating over and over again. He was physically shaking, he would feel warm to the touch as he did have a high fever, but he would be as compliant as possible with this police officer. His pockets would have his keys all looked to have a series of punched out holes in the big part of the key, his wallet with his ID, his bank cards, and some paper money, all folded up in certain ways based on their denomination, as well as his insurance cards, and his work ID at the local mortal high school.

The final thing in his pocket would be a plastic bag, with a few prescriptions papers yet to be handed into a pharmacy with the Dr. Signature looking like chicken scratch, and a note from Dr. Hofflan in regards on how to take care of Dreki. Explaining that Dreki is blind and just had a procedure done on him to help with that blindness but didn't go into detail about that procedure beyond that. Also it explained to not bring him to a hospital as they would likely accidentally kill him and a detailed table as to what medications and how much he should take when feeling certain symptoms. None of the medications were known for being abusable. The final thing on the piece of paper would be a 'Thank you for taking care of him, Dr. C' as if this doctor expected someone to find Dreki in the aftermath of whatever happened.

[Black Philip]

Lacy didn't discover the contents of Dreki's pockets or touch him. She didn't know how to approach this conversation, or deal with the chaos this wreck had caused. She cautiously moved in with handcuffs and put the boy in them. She had no car to move him though, and so she directed O'Riley to stop being useless and check on the van driver. She kept one hand on her gun belt. This angel seemed disoriented and was talking to someone who wasn't really there. Was he just crazy? Did he hear the voice of God? She crouched down into a shortstop stance, and showed her badge.

"Detective Sargent Lacy Velez," she identified. "Do you need to go to a hospital?"

If not, she'd be taking him to the station for questioning. She'd search him then.

[Maxpphire]

When she asked if he needed a hospital he almost said yes, but the voice in his head kept saying no so quickly and so loudly that it nearly sounded like gunshots going off in his head. He winced as it was giving him a very quick and fast headache.

"N-no" He feebly spoke to Lacy, his hands now secured behind his back, as soon as he spoke, the voice in his head stopped telling him no. He felt like he probably needed to, his upper back hurt really bad, and so did his left hand. He also felt incredibly sick, for the first time in years he just wanted to curl up in his bed and rest, but he would hate to see what happened if he had said yes, on what Dr. Hofflan would do to him if he disobeyed. Emma would probably get involved, thats the last thing he wanted. He didn't seem to really acknowledge her badge, but more her words.

"What do you need from me? I'll be compliant." He mentioned, with a tired and slightly scared tone of voice, figuring the sooner he could get this all over with the sooner he could sleep. No point in fighting it, would just make things last longer and cops were known for being assholes if you were one back to them first, and he didn't want that.

[Black Philip]

Lacy had seen many criminal masterminds, and this kid wasn't it. He also looked like shit. He was obviously not well, and there might be some pysch stuff happening too. She pulled out her phone and then realized Sabrina and Wren didn't have cellphones. Fucking witches, she thought, realizing for now she was on her own. She'd run back to the Parlor later to ask Sabrina for information on angels, but for now she had to get this kid off the highway. Another set of squad cars had forced their way though the growing pile up. O'Riley and the van's driver, who was having a panic attack, were placed in an ambulance.

"I need you to come with me to the station to answer some questions," she explained. She'd help him up and lead him to a squad car. She pulled rank, and told the officers in question to help clean up the wreck and get traffic moving. She put Dreki in the back, helping him to mind his tall head. Once inside she closed the door and lit a smoke. There weren't enough of these glorious little tobacco sticks to get through the day. She got into the car, and turned on the radio. More Latin pop played and she started driving towards her home station. It was located in the Brazilian Quarter and had a few special cells for super strong types.

"So what's your story kid," she asked back to Dreki. Perhaps she could get most of her info before they got there. 

[Maxpphire]

He physically complied and moved with her, and once in the car he just kind of layed on his side in back to the best of his ability and closed his eyes, to at least relax a little on the ride. Taking in the Latin Pop music playing, wondering if she spoke Spanish or was some form of Latinx.

"Story?" He asked back, a little dazed. He wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that. Like his life story? The story of how he ended up in the middle of the road in Pain? He wasn't sure how detailed she wanted so he decided to stick to what he knew of the days events anyway.

"If you mean for just today," 'Be careful on what you say, don't tell her about the facility, don't cause us trouble.' He winced hearing the thought enter his head, being talked to like this gave him a bit of a headache, "I don't remember much, just a doctor's appointment, being on my way home, then all of a sudden being in pain on the ground and you telling me to raise my hands." He explained, figuring he would do his best to answer her questions while not allowing the facility rally know whats going on. He could tell that Dr. Hofflan either had eyes on him, had him bugged, or something. He also had no idea how he was being fed these messages in his mind because he knew he wasn't wearing any ear pieces, but he wanted them to stop.

[Black Philip]

Lacy watched the road mostly, but spared a look in the rearview mirror to inspect her little angel. She’d asked the story question so open ended because she was always amazed what perps would confess to when they didn’t think they were being interrogated. His interpretation that she meant for today was fine for now. She did want to know how he’d ended up where he was. The doctor’s appointment made sense considering how sick he was, but what kind of doctor treated angels? She flicked her ash out the driver’s side window.

“Who’s your doctor,” she asked. “I should call them and tell them what happened and that you’re still looking pretty sick.”

She took the exit for the Brazilian Quarter. They’d be at the station soon.

[Maxpphire]

"Don't worry about that, he's aware already. He mentioned to get what rest I can and that I need to ride it out." He sounded almost annoyed with that word aware, almost as if he was annoyed with his doctor. In a way keeping anything facility related out of the conversation, half to protect him and half to protect her. She was a normal mortal, he'd hate to see her get mixed up with the facility like he had. He had no idea of the facility had the police in their pocket or not, but it wouldn't surprise him.

He started to focus on the Latin Pop music that was playing during the ride when she wasn't asking questions, translating the lyrics in his head, giving himself something to do while he waited for this car ride to be over. He just wanted this day to be over with at this point, he wanted to rest, not talk. And to particularly not talk to the police, but he figured whatever came next, the Facility brought it upon themselves for making a public spectacle of him. Dr. Hofflan was quick to remind him otherwise however, 'Oh don't think like that, what would Emma have to say to those thoughts hrm? I swear she is better behaved than you are, sometimes I wonder if we should have experimented on her instead and have just let you age out of the foster system.'

[Black Philip]

Lacy may not have had special powers, crazy abilities, or sacred purpose but she was an excellent cop, and knew when she was getting the run around. He hadn't answered her original question about who the doctor was, and while the second half of his answer might make sense under a different context, this kid was supernatural. Was he protecting more of his own people? She pulled into the parking lot, and put the butt of her cigarette in the ash tray. A Shakira song in Spanish was playing as she turned off the engine. The detective turned her head towards the back seat.

"I'm going to take you in for questioning. You caused a major wreck and attacked people. If you cooperate I won't charge you, but I will be turning you over to the supernaturals in charge of this part of town if you don't."

She didn't bother to be nice about it. She needed answers, and he was being cagey at best.

[Maxpphire]

"I, don't remember the accident or attacking anyone." He mentioned still laying back there. "But I'll answer what I can." He spoke the truth, mostly worried about Emma if he answered the wrong thing. He was worried knowing that the facility was somehow listening. Then it hit him, Dr. Hofflan didn't seem like a vampire, he didn't feel different from mortals. Sure he could mentally talk to Dreki, likely something to do with the procedure as it never happened before it either. He wondered if a listening device was on him. He hoped if there was they would find it before the interrogation.

'Don't say anything that would harm us' Dr. Hofflan kept repeating in his mind, as he sat up ready to try and be ready for when Lacy opens the door for him.

[Black Philip]

Lacy didn't care about his memory. She had enough evidence to convict him twelve times. There were dozens of witnesses, camera footage from the highway, the actual damaged vehicle - which was obviously not from a wreck, etc. If this kid wanted to help himself he needed to give more than I don't remember.

"Let's go inside," she said, getting out the car and helping the angel-boy out. She led him peacefully into the station, going back a massive front counter. Beat cops, other detectives, and criminals were all moving around like a well oiled machine. Dreki would hear a million phones ringing, printers printing, and voices a plenty. He would be sat in a plastic chair, catty corner to a desk. "Wait here," she instructed, moving to the main desk to get a room. The desk clerk on duty assigned her one, and within five minutes she was back at the desk, and moving Dreki once more. If he'd tried to go through her desk, a beat cop would've stopped. She ran her unit tight as a drum.

"Follow me," she said, once more, guiding the blind boy along to an interrogation room. He'd be put in another plastic chair, with a table in front of him. Lacy sat and lit another cigarette. She was a pack a day kind of smoker.

"So, we're alone, unobserved. Tell me about the wings and sword, angel."

Let's see what he makes of that, she thought smugly.

[Maxpphire]

He followed her willingly, the noise of office made his headache worse. He sat in the plastic chair and leaned forward to rest his head on the table, closing his eyes waiting for her to question him. When she called him out for being an angel, he opened his eyes.

"I'm not sure what you mean by wings or sword." He explained speaking the truth. "Very perceptive of you to notice I'm part angel, you seem like a normal mortal however. I've only ever had other supernatural beings comment on that and even so, they never assumed and only asked what I was. What tipped you off?"

He let a few things known there. That he was only part angel and not full, that he's met supernatural beings before, and that apparently it was hard to outright guess he was part angel. He wasn't good at keeping things like that hidden, at the same time didn't acknowledge a sword or wings.

[Black Philip]

"The wings and sword," Lacy replied bluntly to Dreki's question about what tipped her off. This kid was playing dumb really well, although now she knew he was only part angel as opposed to a gift from god on high. She also didn't like that "normal mortal" talk, and scowled in his direction. It was about time someone stood up for the normal mortals of this city. She was still learning about the things who controlled the city by night. She knew about witches now, and now thanks to Dreki here, angels. Vampires she had a large theoretical knowledge base. She'd cleaned up their messes, seen them from a far, and had heard stories of mortal becoming obsessed with and worshiping them like gods. Sabrina had also mentioned demons. The mortal police woman's knowledge was growing by the day.

"Well us normal mortals aren't stupid," she chastised, letting him know he could keep his condescending praise to himself. "What made you part angel? I assume you weren't born like that."

She was taking a stab in the dark. Her assumption could easily have been wrong. However, he didn't say half angel, as in one of my parents is and the other isn't, and therefore part angel made her think that someone made him that way.

[Maxpphire]

"I didn't mean to have the phrase Normal Mortals to mean stupid or bad or anything. I mean that in a way of I used to be a normal mortal too, but now I'm not. If I could do it over again I clearly wouldn't and would have liked to stay as a normal mortal. What happened to me wasn't worth it." He explained his phrasing a bit more.

"That being said I was altered with a medical procedure. I was really sick throughout most of it so I don't quite remember much of my time there except they didn't expect me to live through the procedure's after effects. I was 16 years old when I decided I wanted to try it, with the procedure taking place not long after I turned 18. I did it because I wanted to be able to see, I still might as well be blind because at best I can see outlines of objects and people. I don't need a seeing cane anymore, but really, I don't think anyone would have given as much of a shit about it as an adult, compared to how I was bullied as a child for it." He said trying to explain as much as he could to satisfy her thirst for knowledge without giving too much away. At the same time he wasn't lying, he wasn't lying about any of it. Then a thought hit him. The feeling of flames shooting out of his back and how it felt like he burned his left hand yet again, maybe that was what she meant by wings and sword?

"Although it seems as if I have powers I'm still not fully aware of. You mentioned a sword and wings, I have no memory of that, unless the feeling of fire shooting out of my back right before you talked was the wings?" He asked in a curious tone. "Was I holding this sword with my right or left hand? If it was my left, it would explain why it currently feels like I've placed it on a turned on stovetop or something."