TEXT: Day after the Festivities

[sociallychallenged]

Username: dpdhank@dualislink

My name is Hank Anderson, I'm a patrol officer with Dualis's police. I think I met a few people at the Dualis Days festival, many of them during the unfortunate opening ceremonies.

The police are conducting an official investigation but I want to conduct my own independent investigation. In my experience that usually solves cases a little more quickly. [That's how he and Connor made it as far as they did, superseding what was technically required of them. The end result was also the better result for the world, not the preferred result for the powers that be, too.]

I know some of you were close to the bombing. If you're interested and able to give me some information I'll be in the kitchen on floor six for the rest of the evening.

[Anyone that comes to find him will be lucky. For the moment he'll be listening to some jazz he loaded onto a music player and speaker he found in a thrift shop rather than metal. But you better believe when it's necessary he'll switch to metal if he has to. In the meantime he's also reading an actual paper book, a softcover novel that he was lucky enough to find.]

Comments

[sociallychallenged]

[Hank knows sometimes there's not much time for guilt. And there is a pang of some empathy when he mentions that he just wanted to be done. Hank's been done for a long time. He's just too much of a cowardly shit to pull the trigger sober and without chance, and he's too prideful to just let some asshole kill him. But if it were to happen? He'll be happy to see his son again.]

[He'll be happy to see Cole on the other side.]

[Hank grunts softly at the comment, though, rather than saying too much. Maybe the moment of commiseration strikes his face, but it doesn't come out his mouth because like fuck would he understand coming back from that.]

[He looks at the ingredients thoroughly.]

They at least have what they call beef and onions. Might be some alien three-headed fish that tastes like beef but that's close enough to me. I'll trust that a human agreed on the flavor.

[He starts putting in the order.]

Whoever committed the bombing was at the scene when it went off. Had to have some sort of detonator on them. That's why the winter coat thing made me curious. It bothers the hell out of me that the robots just fuckin' tranqued you instead of talking to you at the scene and getting you a medic. I just got over hating androids, I don't wanna go right back to being pissed off about it. [He sounds pretty irritable about that, but he might have to.]

What sort of business were you into that terrorists were bringing you back to life and assassins were slitting your throat in a span of a couple of different universes?

[scathefires]

Works for me. [even if it is some kind of synthetic meat, he's eaten much worse out of dumpsters. he shrugs.] It was winter where I was before, so that's why I was wearing the coat. Didn't seem like a priority to take it off when I got here. [he'd been disoriented and numb, and hadn't felt hot in the summer weather.

hank seems to know what he's talking about with the bomb and the detonator - jason has plenty of experience with explosives, too - and it seems like there's a story there with the androids, but jason files that question for now in favor of answering hank's.]

Guess you could say I'm in the vigilante business? Since cops and laws don't seem to be getting the job done, where I'm from. First time I died was more of a general sense of duty, going after a criminal who's responsible for the deaths and suffering of hundreds if not thousands of people. I made some stupid mistakes and he got the upper hand. Second time ... the guy came after my friends. I couldn't let that happen. Better me than them, y'know? Old habits die hard.

[ha. his mouth twists into not quite a smile and his gaze drops while he thinks about that, about things cissie said to him when they'd reunited here. about how long they've known each other, through now three weird side trips through the multiverse, how she was immediately kind to him when he showed up in wonderland, bruised and bloody and angry and hurt in more than just the physical sense. something about hank reminds him of how that all went down, and he glances up at him again.]

Why're you being so nice to me right now? You typically play the good cop?

[sociallychallenged]

Depends on your definition of good. If you're a fuckin' decent human being you don't eat a whole damn pizza in front of someone without offering them some. I'm gonna be a passable person before I'm any kind of cop.

[He scratches the back of his head. Alright. Vigilantism. He's not really a fan of it, but then again sometimes it has is place. Wierd thing to think, but what the fuck is a private investigator or a bail bondsman if not minor brands of vigilante? Just with a permission slip.]

[So he doesn't really scold. Not when apparently the robots will arrest the guy for existing immediately.]

Some laws are bullshit time-wasters. They just sort of get made to band-aid up a bigger wound that needs stitching and they just get left. It's a problem in any universe. I guess I got lucky in mine. Detroit still has problems but not at the level we used to.

[But he does see why the guy is messed up. But thousands of people? Really? Sounds like a corporate guy to him.]