Interim and Departure. (3)

The questions continued to pour in, and Relovan felt as though he was taking part in a question and answer segment of a press conference. He was answering articulately, but it didn't take long until the questions began to get on his nerves – mostly because they were becoming redundant.

"By the way Captain, any idea what happened to my equipment?" Relovan asked, clearly changing the subject.

"Okay, well Void Lord Juxtae had one of her people return both your baton and your gun. What the in foink happened up there?"

"Void Knights are strong. I took down five Void Knights, and was on the verge of death afterwards."

"…doesn't that just illustrate how scary Chief Nura is?" Biggum asked.

"Yeah, I heard he took down the other Void Knights while Relovan here was busy with his Void Knights." One of the others said with a thinly veiled sneer.

"Yeah. That guy is crazy strong." Relovan said as he rubbed his jaw without realising it.

"Anyway, your new gun and baton are in your locker, along with the old, ruined ones."

"Understood. Thank you, Captain."

Relovan made his way towards his locker, with those who had surrounded him splitting and making way. The locker had a biometric scanner on it, and once Relovan unlocked and opened it, he not only saw the new and old weapons, but a new uniform to replace the one that had been destroyed. There were no pictures, no personal touches, not even a hint of customisation – just a boring locker. In fact, even his desk was like this. Once he had collected his equipment, Relovan made his way to said desk and looked it over. Being an Enforcer, he was mostly on the ground, but even then, his desk was woefully barren. That didn't bother him at all though, and the lack of attachment that he felt towards the place and the people meant that he wasn't even inclined to alert anybody when he decided to leave. He just took his stuff and tried to exit the building. He was stopped by a few Officers, but after saying his forced goodbyes to those who cared, he left the precinct and began the walk home.

Everything was exactly the same as it was the last time he walked the streets of the Fourth Planet, complete with the annoying hooting and aggressive driving of the Quantum, the sounds and smells, everything. The Enforcer was sure to take a route that avoided K'Tax and his chittering partner, and by midafternoon, he was ascending the stairs to his apartment with some groceries he had stopped to pick up on the way back. Over the course of the next week or so, Relovan spent his time training, eating, reading and sleeping. Things were rather slow as he waited for the Marshals to arrive, yet during a workout, as Relovan was holding two dumbbells while completing a lunge and with absolutely no warning, five white orbs of light appeared and surrounded him. The orbs swiftly turned into five broad and tall figures who were dressed in coats that were almost cartoonishly large, with large tails and massive lapels. The parts of their bodies that were exposed were wrapped in bandages with glowing markings, and they wore rather tall top hats. They teleported into the room with such force, they produced violent gusts of wind that sent things flying in all directions. Whether due to their weight or the teleport, their feet dug into the floor below, and they all they looked at Relovan. This all started as the Enforcer was mid lunge, and when it ended, he had just stood up to his full height. Despite it all happening in an instant, time seemed to slow down for Relovan, and he looked around at these large strangers who beamed themselves into his apartment.

"What the—"

"Enforcer Relovan, in the name of the Council, you are hereby summoned to appear at the Z0-N-D0 Commission, for the Blargon Hearing. You are to present the facts pertaining to the incident as you remember them. The SS Illusive will come to fetch you in exactly three days – be sure to have all your affairs in order before it arrives."

The Marshal closest to the Enforcer tossed something that hit Relovan on the forehead. He didn't even attempt to evade whatever it was, and Relovan, who was still holding the weights watched as the strange Marshals glowed again and teleported out of his apartment with just as much of a commotion as they had teleported in with. The Enforcer stood perfectly still and he looked around at the damage they had caused simply by arriving, and then leaving.

"Those guys… I wonder if I can bill the Council for this shit."

Relovan set the dumbbells down and began cleaning up a touch. He did this for just over ten minutes before the sound of sirens caught his attention. This caused Relovan to stop what he was doing for just a second and look a little concerned.

"…that can't be."

The blaring sirens became louder with each passing second, and it took no time at all for them to reach Relovan's building, all but confirming his suspicions. Seconds later, there was a loud thud outside Relovan's door which caused the ground to shake a little, but then that was followed by the daintiest of knocks. The Enforcer already knew who it was that arrived, so he opened the door.

"Come on in." He said before going back to tidying up.

It was quite the struggle for Nura to fit his massive frame in through the door once again, but he managed to do it without causing any damage to the door frame.

"They were here, weren't they Lawman?" The Adonian asked as he finished squeezing through the door.

"How could you tell, Chief?"

"Beings of power always leave traces of themselves either when they enter a place, or they leave it. In most cases, one has to be of a certain level to be sensitive to these traces. Besides, Marshals don't even try to conceal their presence, or their power. Those of us sensitive to that kind of shit would have to be real stupid if we weren't able to detect them."

The two men stood in Relovan's tiny apartment without saying a word for a bit, before Relovan looked at Nura suspiciously.

"…Chief, if both you and I were the ones to take on the Void Knights and Void Lords, wouldn't those Marshals come to see you as well? Were you not also summonsed?"

"…no, well… no, they didn't come to see me, Lawman." Nura stammered somewhat as he cleared his throat. "I didn't receive summons like you did, but I signaled my intention to accompany you to the hearings to the Council's representatives long before they sent the Marshals."

"So you'll be coming with me?"

"Of course, Lawman. As the Police Chief for Blargon, it would be improper to send you off to face the Council alone – like we did the Void Knights and Lords nearly two months ago."

"Hmph." Relovan snorted slightly before nodding his appreciation.

Nura grinned before nodding back at Relovan. He stomped over to the Enforcer and tapped Relovan's forehead with a large forefinger, which made a strange sheet of ethereal paper pop up in front of Relovan's face.

"What the fu—"

"These are your summons, Lawman." Nura said as he read what was on the paper. "Well then… you are being treated like quite the V.I.P, Lawman. They are sending the Illusive to come and get you, which means they want you to arrive with absolutely no fanfare."

"How do you mean, Sir?"

"The SS Illusive is one of the quickest Traversers within the Council Fleet. For them to send it to pick you up means they likely fear Vox is going to try and take you out, or at least, take out his anger on you – you did try to get in his way, after all."

"Hmph, let him try. Next time, I'll cuff him and haul his red ass in front of the Council."

Nura burst out laughing, while 'patting' Relovan's back gently.

"You're terribly defiant when it comes to the law, eh?"

"The law is absolute, Chief." Relovan answered sincerely. "Anybody who disregards it is a deviant in its eyes, and at that point, they are simply walking around on borrowed time until I find and arrest them."

There was a chilling look in Relovan's eyes that caused the Chief to grin broadly and dismiss the summons by swatting it away like some sort of galactic bug.

"Right you are, Lawman. Anyway, I shall take my leave now – be sure to have all your shit together before we leave. Also, pack your ceremonial uniform – it's what you have to wear when testifying."

"Understood." Relovan said with a nod.

"Alright, later then."