The protectors of the streets, guardians of justice. For they are the Bureau de Équilibre Équité, or as people call it, the B.É.È.
Despite their fancy and boastful titles, they are simply your local police officers who stroll aimlessly around town despite working for the government.
But as it goes with any government-related business, getting into the B.É.È. isn’t some simple land-sweeping work. There are quite a few tricky criteria to pass through, but looking at the minimum wage of an average B.É.È. employee who lives off coffee and bread buns, you might not think twice before signing up, even if they tell you to go through hell and back.
Each district of the town has at least one branch office of the B.É.È. But among all the branches, one of them easily sticks out (just like its district) with its work, and it just happens to be the one located in DISTRIK 7, parented straight from the B.É.È.’s central headquarters.
Branchstrick 7’s unit doesn’t really give much publicity, let’s just say. They work more secretly and prioritize each client personally, although they can also occasionally be seen patrolling around Distrik 7.
What’s so special about Branchstrick 7, you ask? Well, the thing is, Distrik 7’s branch is usually labeled as “high-risk” and is often associated with “containment” rather than capture. Almost as if it feels inhumane. In which case, that would be true.
It’s never much of a secret to the public. More so, they themselves promote it without any shade or shame.
“As the days go by, more and more ‘anomalies’ are scurrying throughout Distrik 7! Oh no, the number of anomalies is skyrocketing through the roof, disturbing the people of Distrik 7! My oh my, who are they gonna call for help?
Well, worry not, fellas! The B.É.È. will always answer your call for help! We at B.É.È. help keep peace in your daily life!
The Protectors of Justice will make your daily life way easier to live through!”
There, you kinda get the gist of it, right?
.
.
“Oh my god, what’s with this shitty ad playing nonstop? Ugh.”
A young man groaned as the TV played a jingle with a bee winking repeatedly.
It seemed like one of those old supermarket ads you’d see in the 90s.
“Stop being overly dramatic, Elliot. It’s been like this since forever.”
An older woman shouted from afar while doing her paperwork.
It seemed like this was just another Tuesday for them.
“Ah, come on, Cas. I know you’re sick of it too. We’re not paid enough for shit like this.”
Elliot jabbed back and sighed.
“Instead of complaining, you could maybe come help me with this paperwork? How the hell did I end up with all this workload when it was split between the four of us?”
There you go. There’s the frustration Elliot had been waiting for.
“Haha, my bad, Cas~”
He smirked cautiously while walking towards a desk with a pile of papers on top of it.
Well, today’s gonna be a long day, huh?
An obnoxious jingle through their ears.
An ocean of paper before their eyes.
What a blissful way to start the day!
They both sighed to celebrate the great start to their day.
.
.
.
tick tick tick
The room was quiet, with only the occasional ticks of a wall clock soothing the employees’ ears.
“Bzzt.”
Oh, the speaker made a sound. It had been pretty quiet for a while.
The two employees snapped their heads towards it, hoping for a drop of good news to be blessed upon them.
‘Could it be a week off? Or maybe a planned celebration for a promotion!’
A cheery melody suddenly burst out of the speaker.
“My oh my, who are—”
“Oh, for God’s sake! When will it stop? We should demand a raise at this point!”
A young woman let out a weary laugh, with watery eyes still plastered to the monitor screen.
“Hah, it’s not impossible for you, Elliot. That director would give you his position as long as you’d stay.”
“Tch, plain BS, Cas. They’d risk my life without hesitation. They’re probably scared to lose a valuable employee, since nobody’s joining these days~”
Clack Click
Silence suddenly occupied the room. No sign of a response could be heard.
“Right, Cas? Huh? Casey?”
Elliot slid into Casey’s desk beside her.
She seemed focused on something, almost confused, actually.
“Um, need any help, Cas?”
“Wait, Elliot. Take a look at this paper for me, would you?”
Casey handed an application paper to Elliot, her eyes still glued to her monitor as the sound of keyboard clacking filled the room.
“Hm, it’s a job application… Wait, for the Field Division?! Oho, interesting shit going on here, just when i said interest rates are going down~”
Elliot skimmed through the paper, reading every word very attentively.
“He’s a favored candidate by Director Blake, Elliot. It seems like he studied directly under him.”
Casey pointed at the screen.
It showed “Cyra Qitch”, with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice.
“Hey, holy shit! This guy is the real deal, Cas. He’s also only 21, basically a kid, eh~”
Casey spun her chair around to face Elliot.
“Orrr maybe just another potential nepo baby for us to babysit.”
“And who’s the other nepo babies?”
Casey stayed silent, glaring a “duh” into Elliot’s soul.
“Heyyy, come on! Compared to this guy, I was basically some stray the director decided to take in. C’monnn, do you really think of me like that, Cas?”
Casey let out a sigh and stood up.
“Yeah, yeah. I was just joking. Anyways, they’ve already accepted the guy. The director told us to take care of the scanning and interviewing next week, so be ready.”
“Ughhh, Cas! I demand an apology from you! I’m not gonna pay for your drinks anymore, y’know!”
Elliot shouted, moving sluggishly behind Casey like a noisy, pleading chick following its mother.
“Shut your trap, Elliot. I’ll tell the director you’ve been slacking off and apparently complaining about how you need more cases.”
The clock was pointing perfectly at 9 PM. Ah yes, what a beautiful time of the day to clock out and end the day with some good night’s rest.
“Nooo, Cas! I’m sorryyy, huhu! Please have mercy, O great Caseyyy!!”
Maybe not so beautiful when a broken speaker behind you is constantly chirping your name, for God knows how long.
“Damn it, Elliot! You’re no better-sounding than that lame-ass jingle right now, you know?”
“Hahahaha! Oh man, Cas, you don’t gotta do me like that~”
The lights in the office flipped off, and the TV screen eventually went dark.
The office went silent, and another day was complete.
The front door jingled once again for the last time that day.
But unexpectedly, this time it was accompanied by the sound of jittering raindrops touching the roads of Distrik 7.
Despite that, the roads of Distrik 7 were still as busy as ever, as were the people around.
Fluorescent neon lights surrounded them as usual.
Truly, a district with insomnia.
“Hm, it’s raining. Damn, I didn’t hear anything inside. Probably because of that damn TV, huh?”
Elliot stretched his hand out, celebrating a sign of short-lasting freedom.
Casey, still unamused, pondered upon the rain.
“I’m wondering how this Cyra Qitch will turn out.”
“Ahh, whatever, man. I’m beat. Hmm, you wanna get a drink, Cas~?”
Casey looked at Elliot with a blank stare.
He dreamed of her lying on her bed with hot coffee beside her.
But oddly enough, her body stayed put, staring back at Elliot. Maybe a sip wouldn’t hurt.
“So, how about it?”
“Haaah, fine. Let’s go.”
“Yahoo! Let’s get ourselves some self-reward, Cas! No more jingles. We’ll spoil these babies with some jazz~”
“Oh shoot, we got no umbrella.”
Casey stared at Elliot.
Elliot suddenly let out a chuckle.
“Man, who cares? Let’s just enjoy ourselves with the blessings of nature, huh, Cas?”
Droplets of rain fell on their hair and neat clothes.
Casey and Elliot chuckled as they both walked the streets of Distrik 7 once again, relishing in the droplets of water before another aggravating day.