Chapter Text
Alec was relaxing in a coffee shop. It wasn't exactly the best one in town, but it was close to the loft, had internet, and made coffee that was much better than he could. That, and it was away from his teammates. In this case, most importantly, it was away from Lisa, who was in a particularly vindictive mood. There were times when irritating someone could be entertaining, and times where it was just going to make entertaining yourself harder. This was one of the latter times.
A shadow fell over his table, and Alec looked up from his phone. To his mild surprise, there was a police officer glowering down at him. Alec thought back, but couldn't think of anything he'd done that might attract the police. Lately. In his civilian identity. That wouldn't attract the PRT instead. Yeah, he was completely innocent.
“Yes?” he drawled.
“Don't you have somewhere else to be, kid?” the cop frowned down at him.
Alec blinked. “Um, no?” What, was this guy telling him to clear out? He wasn't certain, but he had the vague impression that police were usually a lot more officious about that sort of thing.
Clearly irritated by his answer, the cop continued “Christmas break ended yesterday, kid. Aren't you supposed to be in school?”
School? What, this guy was a truant officer? Brockton Bay even had those? “No, I'm older than I look,” Alec replied, rolling his eyes. Seriously, this was just obnoxious.
“Sure you are,” Officer Asshole replied. “You wouldn't happen to have any ID to prove that, would you?”
Alec did have a false ID. Granted, it was only meant to get him into clubs and buy alcohol, but he did have it.
… it was in the loft. He'd only been going out to get coffee, so he hadn't bothered to get it. “I don't have it on me.”
Officer Asshole’s scowl might have twitched into a self satisfied smirk. “I didn't think so. Come with me, you can either tell me which school you attend, or we can do this the hard way and bring you down to the police station while I figure it out.” He grabbed Alec's arm.
Alec considered his options. He could run, but he didn't think he could get away without using his power. And then his civilian identity would be compromised, he'd have to lay low, and that just seemed like a real pain.
He could refuse to say anything, but then he'd get dragged to a police station, and they would start looking for him in their records. They probably wouldn't be happy when they didn't find anything. Or, even worse, they might actually figure out who he was.
Or he could lie and claim he attended some school, then escape from there. That sounded fairly simple.
So, what school to choose? Arcadia was out, what with the Wards all attending there, it probably had better security than the police station. Alec tried to remember what other schools were in Brockton Bay.
He vaguely remembered Brian mentioning that he was glad his sister didn't go to one particular high school. What was it? Wilson? Winston? Oh, right.
“Fine, I go to Winslow. Happy?”
“No, I'm not,” Trooper Truant said in a tone that sounded pretty satisfied to Alec. “Come with me, kid. I'm taking you back to school.”
Yay, a ride in a police car. What fun.
Officer Asshole (Alec was sticking with that one) marched him out. Well, he tried to march. Alec dragged along after him, giving just enough resistance to throw him off his stride. Officer Asshole was just about to push Alec into the back of his car when Alec said “Wait, aren't you forgetting something?”
“What?” the cop said, barely glancing Alec's way.
“Aren't you gonna put your handcuffs on me? Every time I've dreamed of this, I'm always in handcuffs by now. I'm kinda disappointed.” he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Shut up, kid,” Officer Asshole growled, shoving him into the back of the car.
Alec proceeded to “give directions” the whole way to Winslow.
-=T=-
By the time they arrived at the school, Officer Asshole was seething. Which may have been why it was Alec that first heard the faint banging and crying sound coming from one of the lockers they passed on the way to the principal's office.
Alec stopped, jerking the policeman holding his arm to a halt as well. Maybe, just maybe, if he could distract the cop with something else…
“Did you hear that?”
“Kid, if you think I'm going to fall for another of your damned games, you've got another thing…”
“No, seriously.”
This time, the man registered the change in Alec's tone or something, because he actually paused.
“What the…” he muttered, and stepped towards the noise. Alec, arm still clutched in the cop's hand, followed.
As the crying grew louder, Alec started to notice the smell. It was foul, but he thought he recognized blood and rot, and possibly vomit.
Officer Asshole knocked lightly on the locker the sound (and smell) seemed to be coming from. “Hello? Is someone in there?”
There was a cracked scream, that devolved into a repeated hoarse “let me out, let me out, let me out!”
When Officer Asshole finally got the locker door open (which, Alec thought, might have been quicker if he hadn't been keeping half an eye on Alec), what spilled out would have turned anyone's stomach. Even Alec's.