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Aya Brea, mitochondrial freak and police officer, had the night shift. She had just transferred from the NYPD to Quadratuum PD in order to escape the weird glances from the new recruits. There were the facts of what she had done, namely single-handedly kept Mitochondrial Eve from absorbing every being and taking over the world with her perfect being fusions due to Aya's on Mitochondria being special, but the new recruits kept on asking her if she could set people on fire or travel through time (Where did THAT come from?) So... she transferred.
Except the Quadratuum PD had heard the stories too. And instead of asking her questions, they just whispered behind her back, or avoided her, or gave her the "Weird" cases.
The computer gave off a soft light as she continued to fill in paperwork. Aya glanced at the photo next to her desk. Daniel and Ben giving her a cake for her going away party. Ben was growing up so fast, maybe she should transfer back.
"Brea." A fellow officer said. Aya snapped her head up, her blond hair keeping out of her face in a ponytail. "We got one for you."
"What is it?" She asked as she stood up. This one... he seemed a bit off-center. He kept on glancing into the shadows and touching the keys to the jail cell that he kept on his waist.
"A thief." The man said. Her disbelief must have shown on her face because he hurried to clarify. "Look the man disappears into darkness unless you watch him constantly and shine a light on him, but he also got tripped up with a key card and ignored some valuable data for a watch."
Okay then
"How did you get him?" She asked. The two were walking down a suddenly quite well-lit hallway. That light over there was never fixed before... this guy must have them spooked.
"He also didn't know about how certain doors are locked." The officer shifted back and forth on his feet before turning to Aya. "is this a Mitochondria ability?" He said quickly.
Well well. The first person to ask her about it to her face.
"If it is, it's not one of mine." She replied. "But if someone else is out there like me and Eve, they could do their own thing." She explained. The police officer nodded and opened up the door into the interrogation room.
In front of Aya sat a man wearing some sort of dark green and black Robin Hood Cosplay. White male, average height, several handcuffs (and a quick glance confirmed leg cuffs) on him and quite a few additional lights shining on him. He looked... bored. And his mitochondria wasn't reacting to Aya, but when she turned to the other officer, she felt him... slide out of her periferal vision.
"Cut it out." She snapped at Robin Hood. He blinked at her.
"Special are we?" He asked in a taunting tone
"You could say that." She replied. She stepped back a bit to keep Robin Hood in her eye line as she talked to the officer. "Did he have anything on him?"
"Besides the watch and a few other gold and silver based items, he had a bow with some... look I think one of the arrows shoots out moss and another somehow douses fire."
Oh, okay. This was a WEIRD case and nothing like the one where she was climbing over roofs looking for some weird kid who was into parkour
Aya sighed.
"Okay, I don't know what there is to investigate but I'll-"
"You a member of the Watch?" The thief asked. "Or something else?"
"I'm a cop." She retorted. "And you are a thief. Stop shirking from the light and let me interrogate-"
"Garrett," He said. "I'm called Garrett."
"And I'm Aya Brea. Or Officer Brea to you." Aya squared her shoulders to face him head-on. "Now-"
"Oh, there you are, Officer Brea." A voice called to her. She turned and saw another rookie cop. "We've been looking for you."
"... I was just about to start my interrogation. Can this wait?" She asked.
"We, uh, were hoping you could use your Mitochondria powers to help with a drunkard." The new officer asked. At the word "powers" Garrett's head snapped towards Aya.
"Any power I have that can do that would affect everyone else there. And can't you handle a drunk?" She asked as she turned back to Garrett.
"Well, you see... he kind of... tore apart the drunk tank and is yelling for someone called Yonah. And is half-naked but in a barbarian way."
"Officer Brea, I do believe that is more important than me," Garrett said. He still seemed to be trying to slide off from the side of her vision.
"You." She pointed at the first officer. He nodded. "You are to watch Garrett. Do not blink, keep him in your line of sight at all times. I'll be back after I deal with the drunk."
What is it with people and cosplay tonight? Was there some LARP session that they didn't tell us about? Is this a prank? If it's a prank I'm calling Daniel up and transferring back-
She stopped as she entered the drunk tank. Thankfully no one else was in there as the officers were trying to hold down what may be the ugliest man she had ever seen in her life. He looked to be middle-aged, with white hair that was sloppily held back in some sort of pony tail. He wore a dark leather mask over his face, but it seemed to be nothing more than a fancy eye patch. Over his shoulder was some sort of leather guard and he wore some sort of cotton/leather hybrid pants, but very little else.
"... So what's the second part of the story." Aya finally asked.
"He tried to fight a car." The officer next to her said. "And while we haven't had the chance to get him to take a sobriety test, he doesn't smell like alcohol."
Of course he doesn't.
"Hey-" She shouted at him. The man turned towards her. "Listen, if you don't calm down I'm going to fry your nervous system. I've got a thief who can vanish in another room and my night is already weird." The man stopped trying to pull away and instead stood a bit quieter. The officers around him began to relax. Good, he bought her bluff... wait, why did he buy the fact she could fry his nervous system? Her power was mostly dormant and was unique to her. He shouldn't know about it or even react to it.
"I'm not in my village, am I?" the man asked, breaking Aya's chain of thought.
"This is the city of Quadratuum, so no." Aya walked towards him. "Officer Aya Brea." She held out a hand.
"Nier." He replied. "I'm looking for my daughter and my friends. Her name is Yonah."
"I'll check missing persons but I don't think anyone has come in with that name." She said. "Have you had anything to drink lately?"
"Just water," Nier replied. "I don't mean to cause trouble, I'm just"
"Looking for your daughter. I get it." Aya crossed her arms and sighed. "Okay, you sit quietly here and let the other officers give you a sobriety test. I'm going to go check my files for anyone named Yona and then I'm going to go back to the thief who can disappear when no one is looking at him. Okay?"
"Deal," Nier replied. They nodded at each other, and Aya trudged back to her desk.
There was a teenager sitting there. Or rather, at the chair next to her desk. He wore... a lot of plaid and had brown hair that stuck up like the picture of the Chocobo exhibit the American Museum of Natural History had the day she went there seeking answers about Mitochondria.
"Hey, kid." She said as she walked over. "What are you doing here?"
"You... you can see me?" The kid looked at her in astonishment. "You're not the first person to see me, but it's still rare."
"Have you been drinking?" She finally managed to say as she sat down at the computer. She should have asked how Yonah was spelled.
"Actually, I've been dead." The kid replied. "I'm Sora." he held out his hand. Aya glanced at it, then at an officer who just entered the room.
"Hey!" She called out. The officer turned. "The kid, who brought him in?" The officer's gaze flipped to Sora on her right.
"Officer O'Neill." She said. "Said he was trying to fight shadows with a giant golden key."
"Key's in holding?" She asked as she tried typing in Yonah with an h this time.
"It disappeared when we got close. We, uh, figured you could help it out. But you were off when we got here." the new officer said sheepishly.
"It's been a busy night," Aya said as this search came up empty too. Sora had picked up the photo of Daniel, and she absently grabbed it from his hands. "Don't touch that. This Sora kid is the third oddball to show up."
"I'm right here." Sora huffed.
"Is it a full moon?" She finally asked the officer. That was the one thing that could explain... all of this. It was a full moon and everyone was acting weird. The Robin Hood Cosplayer, the Barbarian LARPer who was looking for his daughter, this teenager...
"Hey, Officer Brea, why are the shadows moving?"
Aya looked up and watched as... eyes... appeared out of the shadow on the floor, forming into insect-like creatures. The Mitochondria in her body didn't react to it, so it wasn't Eve again. Still...
Aya pulled out her gun and urged her mitochondria to remember what they could do. As they began to warm up, no pun intended, Sora jumped over her desk and as he did so, the giant golden key appeared in his hands. As he landed, he swung out, the key causing the shadow things to vanish.
"The heartless like where there are people," Sora said in utter seriousness. "Where else could they go?"
"Drunk tank," Aya whispered and tore back towards where Nier was. As she turned a corner, she saw she didn't need to worry. Someone had given Nier a giant sword and he was swinging it around, yelling about the "Shades" and how "they wouldn't get anyone here."
"Officer Brea." He said as he jogged over. "Who's your friend?"
"I'm Sora." Sora held out his hand. Nier shook it. "So, where else could the Heartless be?"
"Heartless? those were shades." Nier argued. Aya glanced back into the drunk tank. Everyone seemed fine but...
"Interrogation room." She said and ran back down the hall. As she did so, Garrett was running towards her, the officer thrown over his shoulder.
"Something killed the light," he said by way of explanation. "Fighting is not my forte."
"It is mine though." Nier gave a... well, it would pass for a chuckle. Some sounds came from around the corner as if they were coming from the interrogation room. As all four of them tensed, something large and dark and black dragged itself forward. As it did so, Aya's mitochondria finally came back online.
"There you are." She whispered and tried to set it on fire.
It didn't work. Whatever it was, it lacked MItochondria for Aya to manipulate. Well, never let it be said Aya was a one-trick pony. She pulled out her revolver and poured shots into the creature. It hissed at her and began to get closer before Sora ran forward, swinging the giant golden key. Nier was behind him, older, heavier, but each muscle packed with power. Garrett stuck by her, but she could hear his bow draw back as he prepared...
"Where did you get your bow?" She asked as she finished reloading.
"Thief, remember?" And he fired a flaming arrow at the creature. A few seconds, and several hits later, it disappeared into smoke.
"Heartless," Sora said proudly. "And a big one too, I wonder if this world has a heart for it to eat?"
"It's a shade," Nier argued. "They lack sense and attack mostly at night. And they can get that big."
As Sora and Nier argued, Aya sighed.
She had a feeling this night had barely begun.