Chapter 159 - Cop Out

"Morrigan, no,” Noir said. “Even if they are not on your list—” “I’m on duty,” she said, her voice low and distant. She kept her eyes on the

"Morrigan, no,” Noir said. “Even if they are not on your list—”

“I’m on duty,” she said, her voice low and distant. She kept her eyes on the ground. “I could still end up affecting fate. I wouldn’t normally be here if the list didn’t bring me here, so anything I do could cause ripples.” She felt the words leaving her mouth. Part of her was comforted by them, and that’s what she hated about it. “Is that what you were going to say?”

Noir’s head turned. “Yes. More or less.”

She heard the man, Kev, grunt as they hit him again, and they were laughing.

He was probably scared. He probably wanted someone, anyone, to come and help him. Meanwhile, his attackers were laughing about it. They could even end up killing him. She had died the same way.

Even if he wasn’t on her list right now, maybe he would simply die in a hospital sometime tomorrow. Or maybe he was on another reaper’s list altogether. But if she stepped in and stopped the beating, she could save him.

But she wasn’t going to.

“I am sorry, Morrigan. But…” He paused as she took her phone out of her pocket. “What are you doing?”

“Taking pictures,” she said, scrolling over to her camera app.

“I would advise against it.”

“Yeah? Well, I don’t care. Death has given people extra time before. Hell, he stepped in when my father died and totally changed the course of my and my mom’s fate. I’m sure there are other times too.” She was still hidden by her perception blocking as she raised her phone and started taking pictures. She went one by one, getting the attacker’s faces, and then getting the license plate on goatee guy’s car.

“I… advise Master against such acts as well,” Noir said. “And, in any case, he has a better grasp of what effect he is having on fate.”

“You’re not stopping me,” Morrigan said, putting the phone in her pocket now that she had all the evidence she needed. She would upload it to a flash drive later and send it to the police. If she couldn’t… no, wouldn’t… save this guy, she would at least give him a chance at getting justice.

“Is this going to become a habit of yours?” Noir asked. “Tell me, every time your reapings involve a crime being committed, are you going to document it?”

“Maybe.”

“Morrigan! Even if Master has made choices that go outside the bounds of his duties before, what you are talking about is NOT something that he does. He would also tell you not to.”

“I don’t really care.”

“Morrigan, why are you doing this? You’ve been fulfilling your duties quite well recently.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem,” she said, turning away from the scene to simply lean against the car and wait for it to be over.

“Is this because of what Alice said to you? You recognized yourself that she is a hypocrite. Believe me, she has stood witness to her share of horrific and unfair deaths.”

“It doesn’t really matter if she is a hypocrite or not. She’s right. I used to care, Noir. It used to eat me up inside every time I had to watch someone die. Lately… it hasn’t been like that.”

She took a deep breath, feeling the changeling tapping at its seal. It sensed her agitation, her regret, and now it was making its presence known. Maybe it just wanted to wrap around her and console her. She had mistaken its actions before as something sinister, but thinking back on it, all it ever really tried to do was protect her, and sometimes that even meant emotionally.

“It’s only natural and expected that you would adjust.”

“But I shouldn’t,” Morrigan said.

“Yet I’ve seen how you try to give your clients a kind send-off. Morrigan, doing your duties doesn’t mean that you are heartless.”

“No… That’s just what I’ve been telling myself. There were times when I was too busy or in a rush, or just wanted to get through my day, and I didn’t really bother. And I didn’t really feel bad about it either. Or, sometimes it feels forced, but I do it just because I feel like I should. But it’s bullshit, Noir. I just do that to try to justify the whole thing.”

“And you believe that sending evidence to the police will change that?”

“Not really… It’s probably just another way to make me feel like I’m not a monster, watching something like this and doing nothing.”

Noir shook his head. “I will have to report this to Master. Perhaps he can talk some sense into you.”

Before the conversation could continue, a siren blared from down the street. By the time the three attackers looked up, a cop car came around the corner and zoomed down the street, skidding to a stop.

They dropped Kev, he fell into a heap on the ground, and before they could make the decision to run, two doors from the cop car flew open, a man jumping out of the passenger seat and a female officer who looked Hispanic jumping out of the driver seat, but drawing their guns.

“Freeze! Nobody move!” The woman—Maria Martinez, perhaps—shouted. “I said, don’t fucking move!”

“Hands in the air! Now!” the male officer followed up.

Morrigan looked down at her phone. Perhaps there was no need for her evidence after all.

The beanie hat guy made a move as if he was going to run, but a warning shot stopped him in his tracks. More shouts to keep their hands in the air and no sudden moves had the three men looking at each other, grimacing like schoolkids caught skipping class, then raising their hands and going down to their knees as ordered.

“Lie down!” Martinez ordered. “Keep your hands where I can see them!”

Morrigan smiled, relieved that those guys were not going to get away with this after all. Would they have even stopped before this if she said something? Maybe not, so she supposed she could comfort herself with the knowledge that maybe none of this was her fault anyway.

But that relief was short-lived as she remembered her list and checked the time on her phone. One minute. As in control of this situation as they seemed to be, she knew it was about to take a drastic turn.

Her eyes darted around. It couldn’t have been the guys on the ground; their arms were spread with two guns trained on them as the two officers waited for backup.

Then she saw it. Goatee guy’s car, sitting halfway on the curb. The passenger door slowly opened; neither of the two officers were looking.

Martinez moved forward, towards Kev, speaking into the radio on her chest. “We need medical aid for a civilian with blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen.” Then, as she got close,r she began to kneel. “Hey, are you okay?”

Her partner kept his gun on the three other guys, but he didn’t see the fourth slowly coming out of the car, a gun falling into position between the hinges of the door.

Before Morrigan could stop herself, her mouth opened, preparing to scream. Alice had shown her that night with Pepper that fate can be changed. Her method was different; it required some complicated crap with a fake list, but if just two words could save someone’s life…

“Look ou—” She yelled, unable to stop herself.

But just as the words were leaving her, a black curtain shot up from the ground, concealing her in a dome that turned everything around her into shadows. Noir had done this before, in Michael Roy’s office, when he pulled her into a pocket dimension so that they could sneak out of the room unseen.

The echo of gunshots rang out; she couldn’t see what was happening, but a wobbling noise made it through the barrier. A few moments later, it fell back down.

The car was backing up down the street, passenger door still open and catching a light pole and being torn off as the male officer fired shots at it. The three other men were running down the street in the opposite direction. And Officer Maria Martinez was dead on the ground, blood leaking from a bullet wound in her head.

“Noir!” Morrigan hissed at him.

“I did what I had to do, Morrigan.”

“But… She was there to help. And I could have…”

“Save her? Even if you interrupted, you do not know that. In fact, you could have made the situation worse. What if you distracted the other officer, or the shooter panicked and ended up taking more lives?”

Morrigan watched in a daze as the male officer ran to Martinez’s side. The three thugs and the car had all successfully vacated the street, with only Kev unconscious on the street near her.

“Officer down! Officer down!” He shouted into his radio. “Oh god, Martinez!”

Morrigan lowered her eyes; the voidling was on the ground by her feet, staring up at her, his tail flicking. “Go harvest her soul, Morrigan. Then we will complete the final two names on your list.”

“It’s not fair, Noir…” she said in a low voice. “She was one of the good guys. And that guy who just got beat up by three people… she was there to save him.”

“I had thought you learned by now that life and death are not fair. You do not have the power to change the unfairness of the world, and nor should you try.” He let out a soft sigh. “Perhaps you have had too much happen recently, outside of your life as a reaper. After today, I will see about giving you some time off.”

“Wait… what?”

“You heard me. I think you’ve had enough successful days that it should not be a problem. Now please, Morrigan, go collect your client’s spirit.”

More cop cars came skidding down the street as Morrigan stepped forward. Martinez had already left her body, watching her partner hold her dead body. “Martinez, god damn it!” he yelled, sorrow in his voice. “God fucking damn it!”

“Bishop,” Martinez’s spirit said, “Ey, Bishop, I’m right here! I’m—” She backed away, shaking her head. She could see her dead body, and how her partner wasn’t responding to her. She must have known what was happening but just couldn’t believe it yet.

Morrigan approached her, her glamour dropping for the spirit’s eyes. “He can’t hear you,” Morrigan said softly.

Martinez jumped in surprise. “Wah—what the hell are you?”

“I’m a reaper, and I’m very sorry, but you died.”

Martinez’s eyes darted between Morrigan and the bloody pavement where her body lay. “No,” she whispered, stumbling backward. “No, no—this is a joke. This is a damn dream. I’m—this can’t be happening!”

“I… I am very sorry. I know you were just doing your job and trying to help someone. And… it’s not fair.”

Martinez’s expression crumpled. She clutched at her chest even though there was nothing there—no heartbeat, no weight. Her knees gave out, and she sank down to the asphalt, stunned. “Shit…”

Morrigan knelt beside her, keeping a calmness in her voice that she didn’t actually feel. “On the bright side, you’re going to heaven. I bet the life of a cop is a really hard one… you’ve probably seen all kinds of horrible things, but… I bet you helped a lot of people too. So you were a good soul.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she snapped, a harsh edge returning to her voice.

Morrigan swallowed, looking over at Bishop, who was still crouched by his partner’s body, hands shaking as he observed a wound that he already knew couldn’t be helped.

“No… I guess a few cheap words really won’t make a difference.” She reached to the side, summoning her scythe, the action bringing Martinez’s eyes back to her. “But… I’m glad people like you exist in the world. People who actually do something to help others. Even if… well… it ends up costing them. I wish I could be like that. I wish there was more to me than this…” she sighed. “This job.”

Martinez looked at her more steadily, taking her in. “How old are you, kid? I mean, are you even a kid?”

“I was. I mean… I’m sixteen. I’ve only been doing this for a few months.”

“So what? This is your summer job?” she said sarcastically.

A smirk cracked on Morrigan’s lip. She had made that joke herself too many times. “It’s… more than that.”

Martinez frowned, then stood, looking at her partner. “Don’t suppose you can give me a few last words, can you?” She clicked her teeth, shaking her head. “I’m telling ya’, this knucklehead…” The humor slipped from her voice. “He’s not going to know what to do without me.”

“I’m sorry. I really wish I could.”

Martinez nodded, eyes fixed on her partner. “Alright. Go ahead and do what you’re gonna do then.”

Morrigan’s grip tightened on her scythe, preparing to raise it. But Martinez had something else to say, so she stopped.

“Hey. So, you said I help people. Look, kid, it’s not always that simple. Lot of time, doing this job,” she looked over her shoulder at the young reaper. “I’ve been the enforcer of some real bullshit that I don’t agree with. That’s the way it goes.”

Morrigan blinked. “But… You’ve helped people, too. Right?”

“Oh, yeah. When I can, but… This job’s still a job. I don’t put on this uniform so I can feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You feel me? There’s a lot I regret, rules I wish I’d broken, or situations I just wish I had handled better.”

 “I… see…”

“But you know what? What it really comes down to is just never stop caring. Situations pop up where you do have a shot at making the world a little better. But if you let it all break you down, and you just don’t care anymore, you won’t be able to notice or act on those moments.”

“Thanks… That’s actually really good advice.”

Martinez didn’t say another word; she just nodded and looked back at her partner. It seemed to Morrigan that she was ready, so she raised her scythe and then reaped her client.

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Chapter 160 - Reasonable Doubt