Files// [zak]

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Clayburn, Cassius

More paperwork. He hated the stuff, but Clayburn's position forced him to do a lot of it. Sign this, initial here, write up this report, take a look at these files, reassure the younger officers, punish the ones out of line- that last one always made him grin. Today, between the stacks of paper piled up on his oak desk, he was thumbing through the file of a Peacekeeper that had recently been booted from the force. An event that is quickly followed by a trip to the Detention Center and a permanent vacation from one's tongue. The folder was slimmer than others and was far less interesting. The boy had been a problem since training, too aggressive and frequently disobeyed rules. The whole ordeal made Cassius even more confident in himself. After all he had been using his special brand of discipline on District Four for years and people knew what was expected of them. Certainly, no citizen sent to the Detention Center while Cassius served there ever wanted to come back.

However since they were an officer short he had been given the task of picking a new one to fill the boy's place. A job Clayburn had then passed down to a secretary because, let's face it, the man has better things to do than riffle through Peacekeeper files searching for someone who is competent enough to hold a gun and their tongue. However he wasn't really using that free time to accomplish anything work wise. Instead he looked over the file of the rejected Peacekeeper and made a mental note of every crime he had in common with the young man.

A cigarette wrested between the man's pointer and middle finger, tittering forward as if it might dive into the paper on the desk and light the whole thing up, yet it stayed in place. He took a drag, holding it in before slowly letting the smoke escape his nostrils. With the Reaping and finding a new Peacekeeper, Clayburn hadn't had time for his usual night time crusades so he had fallen back into the bad habit.

"The replacement is here," a head popped into the doors at the other end of the room. Cassius didn't even bothering looking up- the voice was familiar, probably the boy with the long hair, or maybe the one with the bald head- it didn't really matter. It wasn't like he cared who it was anyway.

"Send him in," the man said, still over the document, his elbow propped on the desk. He could hear the younger officer hesitate at the door, to which Clayburn finally looked up at him if only to give him a glare that could stop a heart. By glancing up, however, he did find out it was the kid with no hair instead of the one with ponytail. Good, that thing looked like a dead animal pinned on the back of his head. "I said send him in, don't make me repeat my self again."

His voice was sharp and the younger officer scrambled out of the doorway. Cassius smirked at himself before taking another lungful from his cigarette and pushing it out between his teeth. Throwing the file he had been reading aside grabbed the next folder in his stack- the new officer under his rule. The Head Peacekeeper heard the door to his office open once more followed by the metallic click of it closing.

Brown eyes skimmed the file of the new officer. Transfer from District Ten, evidently their passion for justice had been too much for the crappy jurisdiction. Cassius always heard about crimes from the lower districts- maybe if they used their Peacekeeper to enforce instead of excepting bribes and paying young girls for a roll in the hay they'd have less of a problem with criminals.

In his peripheral vision, Clayburn could see the newbie standing in front of his desk. The whites of his uniform far too bleached for their own good. The man tapped his cigarette at the officer, letting the ash fly across the desk. "Take a seat."

Finishing the paragraph he had been on about the officer's dedication to work and some other worthless extra stuff they throw into those reports, Cassius finally looked up at his new recruit only to be startled by what he saw.

First of all, it was a woman. While her eyes were hard the rest of her features were soft and feminine. She was a tiny little thing, thin and short. Cassius felt like she could shatter into pieces at any moment. Brown eyes, short brown hair and there was something about those full lips and oval face that made memories the man had suppressed for decades surface again. He could almost hear the girl's muffled screams for help when he shoved his hand over her mouth. Hissing threats into her ear in an attempt to silence but to no avail. She just wouldn't shut up. If she had just been quiet....

"So. You're from District Ten, Officer..." his throat was thick but his voice didn't waver. The only hint of recognition was in the man's brown eyes. After over forty years in this world, you learn how to cover your tracks. Leaving the sentence at a cliffhanger, the man wanted to hear the name for himself just make sure it wasn't the same as... well he didn't even know that girl's name. They never did identify the body, it had been too mangled by her killer to ever recover what at one point was her face. She was buried as a Jane Doe and took Cassius' secret six feet under with her. It had been years since he thought of her, his first true kill. The man's fingers curled into fists, and his grip on his cigarette tightened. He would need to be careful, but it seemed history was destined on repeating itself.

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The move to District Four was leaving a bitter taste in Lee’s mouth. It seemed more like a punishment than a promotion though her supervisor assured her that it wasn’t. She had been looking forward to going back to District Ten to keep her eye on the scumbag Jack Lexington, he was nothing more than a criminal and soon enough he’d slip up and she’d be able to finish the job that had started. However a few days after he was released (the thought of him walking out sent a shiver of disgust up her spine) she was told that she was being shipped off to a bigger district where her talents would be of more use. Part of Lee was thrilled but still the timing seemed off; so with a set of her plump lips she packed up the few things she owned and hopped the train off away from the cold of the detention center and not headed towards the dusty farms of District Ten.

Instead Lee was headed somewhere warm and wet, where money wasn’t as scares and people were better behaved. Maybe it could be like a vacation when I’m not at work. She tried to picture herself spending free time at the beach, sprawled out with the sun kissing her pale skin, but even that didn’t placate her with the fact her plans were so abruptly changed. Hopefully her new commanding officer had been alerted to her arrival, and hopefully he wasn’t too shocked to see her female form accompanying the file marked “Elliot Bronson”. Too often she’d seen the wide eyes and amused smirks when she walked in the room, but the file told a different story. One that proved her tiny frame was a betrayal of the ruthlessness that lived inside.

Before she could be situated into a living arrangement (most like a small apartment within the city) she needed to meet up and get her transfer papers and job assignments. Sitting in a hall outside the commanding officer’s door at the Peacekeepers Precinct Lee sat waiting and wondering if the fact she had left her nails perfectly polished and still wore a knee length dress of pale pink with flat shoes would offend the man behind it. Coming directly from the train she figured it was safer to wear her civilian clothes, being that she was off duty until her assignment was presented to her. Soon the door opened and she was called into the office. Her steps were soft as air and she held her head high taking a deep breath before moving forward though the door and carefully shutting it behind her. Lee kept moving til she was standing in attention before the desk of an older man.

Not that he was conspicuously old, but he wasn’t near as fresh and dewy as Lee. Following his direction she sat and licked her lips out of a nervous habit. ”Thank you sir.” Her legs crossed at the ankles, always proper for a woman to sit like a lady and her posture was straight and confidant. There was a brief moment of surprise as his eyes scanned up to see her sitting there, just like she expected, but it wasn’t enough that she felt offended. In fact his look was the least shocked she had seen someone wear after walking through the room. ” Officer Elliot Bronson sir; and no not originally. I grew up in District 2, but I have served in 3, 7, 11, and most recently 10. Though I wish I would’ve had a bit longer there…” her voice trailed off a bit its melodic softness trickling through the air.

There was no denying that Lee was a soft female in her mannerisms, but none of that mattered when it came to her job. She hoped her file had at least shown the man in front of her that and not that she was a young girl who couldn’t handle herself. Trying to impress him a bit she continued, ”I’ve also worked a bit at the Detention Center with the worst of the criminals. Apparently my commanding…well former commanding…. Officer thought that somewhere bigger would be a better growing experience.” Her eyes didn’t leave his as she tried to keep a professional air about her. Lee wanted him to know that she wouldn’t let him down; She’d do what was needed and do it without question. The smoke of his cigarette lingered around the room and she fought the urge so swish her hand through the air in front of her to clear it.

”Sir is there anything I should be aware of in District 4? Any rules or changes to the basic manual? I’m not quite sure what to do with myself since I’ve never even visited her…” she chewed on her lower lip a bit and felt the blush of embarrassment come to her cheeks. I must sound so childlike but I don’t even know where we’re expected to live.

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Clayburn, Cassius

Despite his course exterior, Cassius' throat was swelling and it was hard for him to swallow his emotions. He took a long pull on his cigarette, letting the warm smoke fill his lungs and calm him down before letting the air out through his nose. The room was smokier than he had intended it to be. He was only going to smoke one today but looking at all the empty spaces in the pack on his desk he realized his mistake. He might just make it through what was left in the carton now that this girl was sitting in front of him.

"Officer Elliot Bronson sir" the way her voice wrapped around the word "sir" made him shift around his seat. She was petite and soft, her face round like Ariadne's but her eyes were harder- like the ones that stared back at him from all those years ago. Those eyes had long decomposed but he felt like they were back to haunt him again in the gentle face of this girl. Suddenly, Cassius wasn't sure he should be anxious about this new officer being assigned here. Maybe this was a good thing, after all she seemed nervous and the worried are easily molded.

”Sir is there anything I should be aware of in District 4? Any rules or changes to the basic manual? I’m not quite sure what to do with myself since I’ve never even visited her…” her voice trailed off and Cassius smiled at her. A genuine warm grin from the outside that looked almost... fatherly. On the inside the man's thoughts were anything but. Standing up, he walked around his desk to lean against the front edge as to get a full view of the new officer. Crossing his arms over his chest, his cigarette burnt nearly half way down. Looking down on the girl, brown eyes watch her chew on her lip and her cheeks slowly turn pink. Cassius' chest felt tight, his tongue slipping out to lick his lips.

Elliot Bronson. Short hair, soft face, pretty dress- like a doll. He was collecting quite a collection of them now. Her eagerness to do well planted seeds in the man's head that would eventually sprout into devilish ideas. Sure, many women were on the force under his control, but none of them seemed quite as interesting as Miss Elliot Bronson. None of them were as young or nearly as soft as she was. Not to mention she had worked into the Detention Center- a shiver ran down his spine just thinking what she might have done there.

"It seems we're quite similar Miss Bronson," he grinned down at her. "I'm called to the Detention Center frequently to take care of special cases. We'll have to share stories sometime."

Leaning back, the man tapped the end of his cigarette against the side of the ash tray. Turning back to look at his new officer, Cassius took in her features again making sure he wouldn't forget any part of them. "Well, every district functions differently but don't worry Miss Bronson- I'll take very good care of you."

If anyone else were saying the words whoever heard them might feel comforted and safe knowing the Head Peacekeeper of the District would be keeping and eye on them. However from the thin lips of Cassius Clayburn the words held a very different meaning. Ask any criminal unfortunate enough to meet him in the Detention Center and they'll tell you the same story.

That man cannot be trusted.

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The nervous uncrossing and recrossing of my legs was something I was trying to stop from doing, there was no reason for me to be uncomfortable in the presence of my new commanding officer…but my gut never lied and something about him was setting off silent alarms throughout my brain. People like he and I didn’t rise to power without a past, and while mine was riddled with things I already knew his was sealed shut and I didn’t know if I’d ever figure out what brought him here. My worries were soon slightly quelled with the quick promise of safety and comfort he offered.

“We take care of each other Office Bronson.”

[/i]] I remembered the voice echoing around me through the Nut as Physical Training took place. I was smaller then, even smaller than I was now, and the men were quick to point out my failures, but once I took my oath it was never a true issue. At least in my mind, though the scars down my back proved otherwise. As my eyes traveled up the length of Officer Clayburn I couldn’t help but wonder if he judged me the same as those men. Weak and unsure of how to function…but I wasn’t. Ask the people who’s tongues I’d collected, the women who no longer had husbands and if you wanted specifics, ask Jack Lexington who nearly lost everything because I couldn’t be bothered to search for a damn piece of paper. I wasn’t clay to be moulded, I wasn’t soft like the outside showed…was I?

I did care a bit too much about how my appearance played into my perception, but Officer Clayburn would dare judge me as weak or incompetent after reading my file, though almost as if he knew I was worried about it, he smiled assuring me that we were similar. ”I’d love to learn from someone as talented as you sir.” I wasn’t kissing ass, but I was being sincere because when it came to my job learning the tricks and ways of each peace keeper was something I prided myself in. I wanted to be the best, and to do so I needed to train with and study the best. Obviously he had to be talented to be in this position of power that I so desperately wanted.

As he slithered out and relaxed against the desk in front of me, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the way he carried himself. He was so confidant and sure, the way I was when I was set for interrogation, but the me outside of the core was the one he was getting to see now. The floaty dress, the soft words, the proper woman for any man to see; and looking down at my outfit I blushed again,”I apologize for my appearance Sir. Without knowing the district I felt it was more appropriate not to draw attention to myself on the train.” If I wasn’t in uniform though, you’d most often find me in stylish dresses filling the part of the woman I was…it was a double edged sword seeing as though relationships were not allowed for the 20 years you signed on to in the core. Men could hide it easily, slipping away to knock up some hooker on the side, but when you couldn’t dare be carless as a women, you never did find anything more than longing looks.

So maybe that’s why I wanted to trust that he wouldn’t be just another man trying to take advantage of what I had never given away but the way he said “Miss” instead of “Officer” only gave way to those fears. ”Would you mind showing me around? I’m not sure if we have a required place of residence or if we’re on our own to find some place to stay…Also if you don’t mind Sir Perhaps we could dicuss what my requirements would be around here? There seems to be far less crime in the larger more prosperous districts so I’m not quite sure what you will be wanting me to do I assume its got to be more than beaches and fun in the sun.” I laugh my smile crossing from ear to ear as my eyes glance up to meet his.

Though when my eyes finally settle in his gaze I can’t help but notice how intently he was staring at me. The bubbles of doubt and self-consciousness creep up and instinctively I smooth my skirt and blush. Perhaps Officer Clayburn could be of some help, as long as he stays at arm’s length.


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