Chapter Text
‘I can’t believe you…’
Leon’s gaze turned away from the window, away from the street he was monitoring, and towards his superior officer. The lieutenant’s lips were quirked up into a smirk, the telltale sign that his disbelief was not fuelled by anger or disappointment. He took a long sip from his coffee cup, gulping the still steaming sludge with a long, relieved sigh.
‘How do you mean, sir?’ Marvin snickered, another disbelieving noise. As if he couldn’t understand why the rookie cop was confused.
‘You get the opportunity of a lifetime and you turn it down? How can you just do that so… So easily?’ Leon could hardly suppress the roll of his eyes, so he quickly turned his gaze back and out through the window.
Of course, it was about the offer he had received earlier that morning.
He had been called into the chief’s office just as he arrived at the precinct. He had been worrying himself stupid, thinking he had done something wrong. Had he filed evidence incorrectly, risking the investigation of a case? Had he misplaced some crucial files? Were his efforts in the field being called into question? All of these thoughts and more had been racing through his head as he walked the long journey to the chief’s office.
When he got there, it had not just been chief Brian Irons waiting for him.
Captain Wesker of the department’s S.T.A.R.S team was stood behind the desk, speaking with Irons as Leon entered. Eyes turned to him, one pair small and imbedded deep into the back of the chief’s piggy face. The other pair remained hidden, as they always were, behind a pair of dark sunglasses, his expression unreadable.
He had been greeted with an outstretched hand by the chief, which he took. He shook it firmly, and took his seat as it was gestured to him. The captain stood at attention by Iron’s side, appearing the subordinate officer, but Leon knew better. Captain Wesker had a phenomenal command over the department’s officers, and he had learned quickly to respect the captain even more than the chief. If Leon’s suspicions were correct, captain Wesker would have been a popular candidate for taking over command of the police, if that wasn’t already a step down from his current position.
‘Leon?’
‘Hm?’ The rookie turned his blue eyes back towards Branagh. The man was clearly waiting for him to say something, to continue the conversation that Leon had started to tune out. He didn’t mean to be rude, but he was already sick of people telling him he had made a mistake. Rita, Marvin and even Rebecca had something to say about his choice. The other officers seemed more dumbfounded than anything, and then just a little bit… Jealous?
‘It’s a huge thing, Leon…’ Marvin said, putting down his coffee and turning his body around as best he could in the driver’s seat so he could face him. ‘This is a big deal. We’re not mad, but we just don’t get it. You turned it down so quickly! You didn’t even ask to think about it. How can you turn down an initiative position in S.T.A.R.S so easily?’
If this was what a regular father sounded like, Leon was glad to have missed out on any disappointed speeches from his parents. Being housed and pushed around by the foster system, Leon never got the chance to get a talking to like he was now, and he was a little relieved he didn’t have to hear it through his teen years.
‘It’s not what I want, sir-’
‘Marvin.’ The lieutenant’s voice was firm, but not unfriendly. ‘Whilst we’re in the car or office, you can just call me Marvin.’
‘Marvin.’ Leon felt it wrong to be so casual with the lieutenant, but he didn’t let it bother him for long. ‘Being a police officer is what I’ve always wanted. I never wanted to be, nor do I have the training, to be initiated into a specialist team like S.T.A.R.S.’
‘Do you know how many of our boys would kill to be apart of S.T.A.R.S? Better hours and pay. Hell, you’ve got more authority in the entire police force than even a sergeant. When I was your age, I always wanted to join the team and went through their screening tests at least four… five- No, six times. Being a cop is nice and all, but that can’t be your only reason for rejecting the offer, surely?’
Leon nodded, feeling a little sheepish.
‘Really, it’s all I ever wanted. I never wanted to be a detective or part of a SWAT team. I wanted to be on the ground, helping anyone I could. If I see a crime in action, I want to be right there to stop it if I can. Not stuffed in an office waiting for the crime to happen so I can ‘solve a mystery’. And I don’t want to be diving in front of bullets for only those on the higher payrolls.’
‘That’s not-’
‘I know that’s not what S.T.A.R.S does, but I’m happy here. This…’ Leon gestured to the car and the crowds passing them by along the curb through the windscreen. ‘This is what I’ve always wanted.’
There was silence from the lieutenant, as the older man slumped back into his seat and took another sip of his atrocious coffee. Leon thought the conversation was over, but his relief turned to frustration.
‘Sleeping in your car is what you’ve always wanted?’ It was a low blow tease and Leon didn’t hold back his glare. It only seemed to amuse the man as he chuckled again into his drink.
‘I haven’t had the time to rent a place. And besides, I’m comfortable and I’m saving money.’
‘You know you would be more comfortable in a departmentally issued residence, courtesy of S.T.A.R.S employment? You wouldn’t have to sneak in every morning to shower, either.’
He made a good point.
Leon had not had the chance to find a property to rent in Raccoon City since his arrival. He hadn’t been in the best state when he first travelled out, straight after graduating from the academy. His girlfriend, Michelle, had broken up with him the morning of graduation, and over the phone. She had given little explanation, and even though it had been a long-distance relationship, Leon hadn’t sensed that the pair were under any kind of strain.
When she had called him and broken it off, he was inconsolable. The graduation didn’t cheer him up and neither did the number of drinks that had knocked him out to sleep that night. He had woken the next morning with a head full of flies and a buzz in his stomach that turned to a churning tidal wave of sickly vomiting. He had held onto the bowl of that toilet for so long, it felt like hours. It was well into the afternoon when he was kicked out of the academy residences and forced into the blindingly bright and loud daytime.
He had driven into the evening, well after the sun went down, before he arrived in Raccoon City. He had managed to buy a room at a small, after-hours motel and collapsed there after another night of drinking. He hadn’t even realised he had missed his first day of work until he arrived the next morning to one, very unimpressed lieutenant Marvin Branagh.
He was lucky not to be fired on the spot.
It had been five months since he had joined the RPD, and he had worked himself into the ground to regain some semblance of respectable human dignity. He had done well in the office and on the field, but he had been neglecting his own need for a place to call home.
‘I’m fine, Marvin. Really. I’m happy where I am, and I’ll earn enough eventually to get a place of my own.’
‘Yeah, maybe. By the beginning of the next century.’ The older man scoffed. ‘You should think about it. I mean it, Leon. You graduated top of your classes at the academy and you’re a crack shot in the gun range. You may not have the experience of most members of S.T.A.R.S, but it is a huge opportunity. Especially if it really was a special request by captain Wesker.’
‘That’s just a rumour. He was just there. He didn’t even say anything.’ Leon could recall the captain throughout their short meeting. Quiet and watching with those hidden eyes. Leon couldn’t picture his face without those secret service sunglasses; they seemed almost a piece of him just as the Matilda had become Leon’s own hand of justice.
‘He’s not normally there for just any job interview, Leon.’ He said.
There was a crackle of static over the radio. Marvin twisted the dial until dispatch could be plainly heard. ‘Two-Forty-Six in progress. Dunstan and Rhodes, 36 and 11th. Suspected casualties.’
‘Lieutenant Branagh and officer Kennedy responding. Show us going.’ Leon gripped the hand hold above his head as Marvin switched the sirens on. With a long wail and a shine of blue and red, the police car accelerated forward, out of its space and down the street. Vehicles parted to the right, allowing them to pass as they hurried to the scene.
As they sped away towards the address, Leon’s mind sped away from the thoughts of S.T.A.R.S’ proposal, leaving it behind in the dust. He was too pumped, too anxious and far too ready for the day ahead of him than the morning he had left behind. No matter Branagh and everyone else’s opinions on his decision, Leon had made up his mind.
He doubted anyone could change it.