M-13

The Man In Black

Atticus' POV:

Lincoln is livid that I left him alone even though today is supposed to be my day off, but it is not every day that I get a call that someone with the malfunction killed an innocent boy. If it even was someone with the malfunction... my boss seems to think so, and it is not my place to fight with him, so I had to get my ass out of bed at five.

"Your boyfriend isn't too happy, huh?" Jared asks as we walk up to the apartment door of one of the people with the malfunction.

I roll my eyes at him. "How can you tell?" I ask irritably as Jared pulls out the file of the person we are supposed to collect.

"You seem annoyed," he comments. "And I do not think it has anything to do with getting up at five for this assignment."

"Yeah, Lincoln is upset because today is our common day off," I tell him, knocking on the door. "Do you think this person is even up?"

The door opens and I glance over to see Jared has forced his face into a serious expression, as he always does when we interrogate someone. He opens the file when the boy who lives in the apartment has opened the door all the way.

"The set for Men In Black is in the building down the street," he says, and I cannot help the smirk that tugs at my lips. "Can I help you two? It is only six in the morning and I am very busy."

Jared opens the folder. "Silas Murray?" he asks, and the boy, Silas, nods slowly. "You need to come with us."

"Is this about the crazy murderer on the news?" he asks, leaning on the doorframe. "Because it wasn't me, so you guys should move on to the next room."

I frown, because I do feel bad for this guy. "We have to take you in. They want to interview everyone with the Mistacesemia malfunction," I tell him, taking out the pair of power-limiting handcuffs that all of us are armed with.

"Wait," he says, seeming panicked, as I move forward to cuff his hands. "If I go willingly can we avoid the handcuffs?"

Jared seems reluctant, but I respect his wishes, since Silas does not seem dangerous and instead just nervous about what could happen to him.

"Fine," I tell him, reaching toward Silas to grab his shoulder and guide him out. 

"Don't touch me, either," he says to me, and there is a bitterness to his voice that I understand.

After all, it isn't every day that you are woken up and taken against your will to be interrogated for something you probably did not do.

As we walk away, a guy in a red DoorDash shirt walks down the hall.

"Is that for Silas Murray?" Silas asks, and the DoorDash guy nods. "It's mine."

He snatches the iced coffee from the DoorDash guy and takes a long drink from it. "If I knew I was going to be taken away by two guys from the group dedicated to ruining my life this morning, I would have gotten an extra shot," he mumbles as we walk toward the elevator.

I will not lie; this boy is pretty funny.

He seems witty and I admire his spark despite knowing he is being taken for an interrogation even though he does not seem the kind of man to do something like this. A lot of people would see this as an opportunity to put one of the people with the malfunction behind bars, but I do not see it like that.