The Take-Over [Gail & Davon]

“Agent Grimes, your team is taking over the case of the crown prince’s murder” Gail’s boss had said in a briefing earlier that morning. Gail herself just knew it was a matter of time before the case was assigned to her and her team. She stepped into her team’s own office glancing around at the members of her team.

“By that smile on your face I have a feeling we got that case today” A baby faced guy at the table in the middle of the room said, Agent Reid, he was a year or two younger than Gail, but Gail had stolen him from another section when she realized the skill he possessed, unlike his previous section did. The four other agents in the room had come to her team in similar situations.

“We did, hence why we are going over to the section 45’s office right now to gather whatever they would miraculously have gathered as evidence” Gail said as the agents stood up, knowing with her it was better to just follow.

It didn’t take long with Gail’s fast walking speed to get to the royal guard’s office. Gail didn’t bother to knock as she opened the door. Entering the room as if she owned it. The agents behind her followed her inside. Gail cast a glance at the godia warriors in the room, walking up to the head of the table.

“Who is in charge here?” She asked, as some of her agents leaned against the wall next to the door. “Sector 11, investigative team 2 has taken over the case of the murder of the crown prince” She continued on, not bothering to wait until whoever was in charge spoke up. “Which is why we need everything you have gathered for that case, pronto” She said, her tone letting them know they didn’t have a choice in the matter, as well as they had to act fast.

The office of the royal guards was far from the most effective place in the GW infrastructure. Which supposedly you couldn’t really blame the superiors for, as Sector 45 rarely dealt with cases more serious than the occasional trespasser or a particularly annoying members of the tabloid press. Which meant that the administrative and investigative work force weren’t used to the kind of importance and priority that came with a murdercase, like that of the late prince. The gathering of evidence had been amateurish at best, at least according to Davon, who couldn’t help but notice that the few interviews conducted had been seemingly incongruent — random students they had just happened to bump into on campus, members of faculty that arguably had some kind of criminal record, witness testimonies no one except Davon seemed to bother to archive. What was worse was that the superiors had decided that the EFA was to blame and had therefore downscaled the investigation at the university considerably, in favor of trying to find the terrorist organization. The disappearance of Auden had been all but dropped, despite the obvious suspiciousness of it all. And even now, a month later, the administrative team stood around gossiping over cups of coffee, seemingly unbothered by the fact that they were responsible for finding a killer on the lose and that said killer could very well be affiliated with one of the most dangerous extremist organizations of their time. Meanwhile, Davon was going over witness-testimonies, glossing over things they had missed (which was a lot, no one had even bothered to cross-reference the statement of the dog-walker who found the body and the forensics confirming time of death) and then making sure everything was filed correctly. Sometimes it seemed that Davon was the only one who actually worked — and he wasn’t even done with his training yet. It was deeply concerning. At this rate, they’d never catch the killer, unless said person decided to confess.

Then, as if hearing his thoughts, the door popped open and a bunch of agents entered the room. Sector 11, responsible for national security, one of the most prestigious institutions of the GW-faculties. Davon felt a surge of excitement rush through him, until the woman informed them they were taking over the case. When she asked for their evidence, the group gathered around with cups of coffee  in their hands looked at each other in bewilderment.

“General Decker should probably—“
“Oh, he took off early today, he wont be here before thursday again — he has wednesdays off.”
“Oh, yeah, true,” the woman said, looking absolutely lost like the rest of the group. “Do any of you guys know where the stuff is?”
“No, but Decker probably does?”
“Maybe you guys can come back thurs—“

Davon sighed, closing the file he was reading and placing it back in the box with evidence. “Here’s the main testistemonies and evidence,” he said, standing and grabbing the box. “The rest is in the back, archived top priority, under the letter T. Go grab the boxes there,” he instructed his colleagues, who looked at each other in confusion for a moment, in doubt of whether to follow Davon’s instruction or not. He raised his brow at them and the group sprung into action, going to gather the remaining evidence. 

Davon turned towards Gail, handing her the box with the most important data. 
“Sorry about that, they’re not used to think.”

Gail wasn’t surprised, yet she still couldn’t avoid getting annoyed at these good for nothing guards. Why was their boss even taking a day off when they had such a crucial investigation going on? She was starting to expect that whatever evidence these embodiments of incompetence even had gathered would be barely any use or relevant. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she spoke.

Something surprising happened. One of the guards spoke up, clearly having control of where everything was and even got his coworkers to get the rest. He then handed Gail the box he had gone through. Agent Reid then stepped forward from where he stood leaning against the wall, she handed him the box, quickly looking through the files in it. A pleasant surprise, the files were sorted quite well. Gail appreciated good and systematic organizing, it just made everything easier to have an overview of.

Gail smiled slightly at his comment. “Must be hard working in a department full of them” She said as she eyed him a little closely, as if appraising him. “Who is responsible for the archiving here?” She asked. Some of her own agents already started to look through some of the files from the box, while the others waited for the rest, murmuring amongst themselves while doing so. She had a feeling she already knew the answer to her question.

Though it didn’t show on the outside, Davon was practically beaming when the woman from sector 11 smiled and responded to his comment. He remained composed as she eyed him, with the posture of a soldier. He couldn’t help that small streak of nervousness when she asked who was responsible for archiving, what if he had filed something wrong? Though, he never did, had never done so before and there was thus no reason to believe he would have now. His voice was steady as he responded. “That would be me, ma’am.”

His colleagues returned with the rest of the boxes, muttering amongst themselves about who was going to break the news to the General. Truth be told, Davon didn’t know these people very well, he tended to keep to himself as his focus was on getting results. The idle chit-chat would slow him down, he was sure. Most of the people working in the office on the regular used most day gossiping rather than working, which he had little respect for. The group handed the boxed to Gail and her team. Davon’s eyes glossed over them, counting, nodding once he was satisfied that they had gathered all the evidence that they had. Part of him was disappointed to let the case go – so many things didn’t add up and the investigation was sure to be exciting. Of course, he had to bear in mind, this was not just a puzzle. It was a brutal murder of a beloved cultural icon that they had sworn to protect. Not to mention the loss of guard amongst their ranks. Bringing justice to this case, that should be top-priority. And honestly, it was a good thing sector 11 was taking over, even if it meant it would no longer be in Davon’s hands. Things moved too slowly where he worked.

“Is this, like, a permanent take-over?” one of his colleagues asked, licking her lips nervously. It took Davon a great deal of energy to not roll his eyes at such an obviously stupid question.

Gail’s smile once again returned when he answered, and to no surprise it had been him. She once again looked at the box before looking at him again. “This is some good work, what’s your name?” She asked as she eyed him again. She then looked at his colleagues who returned with the remaining boxes, handing them to her team members who stood ready to take them. “How pleased are you with being a guard?” She asked another question as her eyes returned to him, a question to gauge his ambitions and the possibility of him transferring to her own team.

Agent Reid and agent Hannover looked at her with a knowing eye. The two agents on her team who had known her the longest, knew what she was about to do. Their eyes moved over to the godia in front of her, appraising him and Gail could swear she saw the glint of approval in Hannover’s eyes when they looked from the boy in front of her to the boxes as they went over the new boxes.

Gail’s gaze darted to the guard who had asked the question. A slight annoyance in her eyes, both for interrupting her lowkey attempt at recruiting (stealing is such a negative word) member from another sector, and just the sheer stupidity of the question. Gail took a breath and let out a deep sigh, mostly to prevent herself from saying what she really wanted to respond with. “Yes, it very much is” She said, though she sounded a bit more strict than she had meant to, oh well. With a question like that, Gail wasn’t really surprised that these guards had not been able to get anywhere in the case.

Davon beamed with pride when Gail complimented his work. “Thank you.”
She asked for his name and he got almost giddy with excitement, yet kept his stoic demeanor – asking for his name was not the same as being transferred on the spot and he best not get carried away too soon. Best to remain rational and collected about this, besides, he was all too aware of how his colleagues were staring at them with wide eyes.
“Davon. Davon Arthur Heliot.”

And then, she went on to ask how he liked being a guard. Which, well, he had very few nice things to say about his incompetent colleagues. Of course, he had the good sense to not call it out while they were in the room, he wasn’t openly rude like that, though there was little doubt to the fact that he was too good for this place.

As if to prove it, his colleague asked that question. As Gail confirmed that, yes, this take over was permanent, he met her eyes and raised a brow as if to say see what I have to deal with?

“I think I’m better suited for other challenges, ma’am.”

Gail patiently listened to him as he introduced himself and answered her questions. Davon Heliot was a name she was going to keep in mind. An approving smile appeared on her lips at his reply.

“Like a transfer to section 11?” She said, a mischievous twinkle sparkled in her eye. A stranger couldn’t tell whether she was serious or not, but someone who knew her, like her team members, very well knew that she could make that happen if she wanted. Someone had once told her she was a force to be reckoned with, whether that was true or not was up to others, not her. Gail cared about achieving her goals, completing the missions and solving the cases she was given, doing whatever was necessary to do so.  

She looked at all the boxes that was now in the hands of her team. “Was that all?” she asked. She didn’t wait for the quite obvious reply as she gave her team a nod, and they started to exit the room, heading back to their own office to go through the files more thoroughly. Gail herself remained, her eyes now back at Davon. She was quite tempted to just poach him right there and then and go through the formalities later.

Like a transfer to section 11?

He blinked in surprise. Was he dreaming? Had she really asked him that? Was this really what was happening? He could jump from pure happiness but he wasn’t about to lose face like that, he had an image to uphold. His colleagues, watching them with wide eyes and slack jaws told him that he had not heard her incorrectly. But the mischievous twinkle in her eyes had him thinking that she might’ve been joking.

“I- I mean, it would be an honor, ma’am,” he confirmed as the agents started heading out of the room. He  scarcely believed her but he still begged and hoped that it was true. He couldn’t wait to tell Melody of what had happened here today. And he couldn’t wait to gloat at Jordan later. Of course, there was practicalities first that needed to be sorted out if he was to transfer and he still wasn't sure if she had meant it.

His parents would be overjoyed when they heard. A leg-up over his older sister, finally, he'd be recognized for what he was achieving. Finally, his hard work being recognized.

She smiled at his answer.

“Then I do hope I see you seen in my team’s office soon” Gail said as some sort of confirmation that she hadn’t been joking. “Don’t worry, I will go through the paperwork and formalities” She added, even further proof she had been quite serious. And with that she gave them a nod as a form of goodbye before leaving. The heels of her boots clicked against the floor as she walked down the hall as she made her way back to her own office.

Now it was time to get working, the evidence the guards had gathered for the case probably was mediocre at best. Most likely they had missed a lot of crucial information so first things first was to get her and her whole team to go thoroughly through everything. Besides perhaps the newbie would surprise her, she had a feeling he would.