"But Serge...!" Officer Houston shot up from her chair.
"No, Emily!" The bull-like Sergeant Candle spun from his window overlooking the vast Badlands beyond, "You screw'd the pooch this time. I can't save you from this one." "Are you kidding me?" She leaned forward on his desk, "I informed I.A. about the commissioner's corruption and I'm the one getting punished?!" "The commissioner is the law around here. Every other officer here knows what to focus on and it certainly isn't the commissioner's affairs!" Candle leaned forward, asserting his dominance, "Now pack your crap. You've been reassigned to Denver."
---
Officer Houston about put her fist through her locker. She had done the right thing and now she had to leave everything and everyone she had grown up with. She took a few moments to recompose herself before she shrugged her duffle bag onto her shoulder and exited the station.
Outside, the dust caked everything in a faded orange color. Houston mentally activated her TAP and called home. Valerie's voice was soothing to the agitated beat cop, "Hey sweetie! Glad you called. I'm about to start dinner and I invited Raven, the new neighbor, over. Is that ok?" "Actually..." Houston set her bag into the cargo of her bike and climbed on, "Something happened...we need to talk."
That night there was a lot of crying and two hearts breaking. As much as Valerie loved Emily, she couldn't leave Phoenix. Her job was too important and they were on the verge of a big break through. But Emily was being metaphorically run out of town and she couldn't stay unless she joined stooped to the level of bounty hunter or worse...ganger. Neither was likely to happen. She hadn't worked as hard as she had to just throw it all away. In the end, they spent that last night together before Emily left for Denver. Emily promised Valerie that she would visit soon and often. Houston was still Valerie's girl, no matter what.
---
Six months went by. Emily hadn't had the chance to visit as she had hoped. The new beat kept her too busy and too poor to fly down. She had kept in contact in those early months, but communication became difficult and Valerie seemed to be increasingly unavailable. Emily couldn't figure out if it was just the work or something else. Then came the rumors...rumors that Phoenix went dark.
