It was known in headquarters as “broom duty,” because it amounted to nothing more than showing up to areas that one of the special task forces had cleared out and sweeping up whatever may emerge from the residual divine energy. Pockets of divine energy was something that was well tracked by DMI officials, so for a weaker force from the Atzulith Realm to materialize, they would typically do so in quiet areas by slowly pooling energy together. This would normally take days, but it was often a safer bet to apparate unnoticed. However, more powerful forces could apparate in bustling areas, and when they were destroyed by one of the task forces aimed at powerful threats, the residual energy that they left would disperse into the area around them. This was like a demonic steroid- many weaker forces would seize onto the opportunity and swarm from the source like flies to apparate as quickly as possible.
Noa had been fairly close to the area to respond when the first report of an Atzulith force was called in, but she was instructed to hang back and sweep up on broom duty after the other officers dealt with it. As Noa sulked on a city bench waiting for confirmation that the other officers had finished up, she thought back on the other night.
…
Noa and Gabriel had sat in the small store until the early morning. When they finally crept up the stairs to exit the mall, Noa stayed posted at the entrance to prevent any civilians from walking in. The morning air carried a sweet floral smell, pushing back the musty air that wafted from behind her. Noa watched while Gabriel bashfully asked a civilian to borrow his phone while tapping at the DMI logo on his chest, and breathed a sigh of relief.
When backup arrived, they taped off the scene quickly, and got to work sweeping through the mall for any lingering threat. When they found nothing, the officers on broom duty arrived, finding that it was still completely lacking any amount of divine energy. Once this was reported to the higher-ups, the November Taskforce arrived soon after. They stuck out among the crowd; instead of wearing the standard issue DMI uniform, their uniform was heavy dark blue material, adorned with white stripes on the cuffs, and a thick vest on top. When Noa passed by them at headquarters, she always wondered how they didn’t pass out in the sweltering heat; now, she was more focused on what they were doing at a scene that had already been swept through.
”Shit, here we go.” Noa quickly caught on to what Gabriel was grumbling about: Emmanuel Koh was making a beeline directly to them. He stopped, towering over them, hands folded behind his back.
”Did you take an energy reading at the time the thing was present?” Koh sounded less cool than usual- there was a slight bite in his tone.
”Yes, sir. Initially, the reading showed a spike in energy, but when we got closer, the reading showed that there was none. You can check the log.” Noa thrust her Dalet forward, hoping that by speaking up, she might impress Koh. He took the device from her hand without even turning his head in her direction. Instead, he was staring down at Gabriel.
”And you?”
”Yeah, same thing.” Gabriel replied flatly. He was staring forward as if he could see through Koh.
”Hand your Dalet over.” There was no mistaking it. Koh was uncharacteristically short-tempered today. Gabriel cocked his head up and met his stare.
”I don’t have it. I threw it at that demon-thing. It’s probably laying around somewhere in the shop.”
Noa could see Koh’s black pupils dilate, but his face conveyed no other emotion. He stood wordlessly for almost a minute, and then pointed backwards to a member of his task force who was a few feet away.
”Take a statement from the girl. I’m going to talk to…” Koh’s eyes scanned across Gabriel’s chest. “Rossi. Follow me.” Noa tried to meet Gabriel’s eyes as he stood up and walked away, but he was focused on Koh the whole time. The task force agent saluted Koh as they walked past.
…
Noa hadn’t been able to talk to Gabriel since then, and only saw him whenever he left HQ for the day, a baseball cap pulled down over his face, shadowing his eyes. She could only make out an intense scowl from under the hat. Noa had no idea what kind of punishment he had received, but she guessed it must have been worse than broom duty. Feeling guilty, she attempted to testify on Gabriel’s behalf to Olivier to take some of the heat from him.
“Sir, it was my idea to enter the area without reporting the readings. Gabriel only came with me so I wouldn’t be alone.”
“You’ve told me as much, Noa. I understand. I’ve read his report and talked with him. Off the record, I can’t say that I fault him. Trust me, I don’t like playing the role of a hindsight critic. But officially, what he did was beyond reckless. Allowing a Dalet to possibly be acquired by an Atzulith force is extremely dangerous.” Noa had known Olivier to be laidback, and to see him so stubborn on this frustrated her.
”But sir, respectfully, simply throwing it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not as if…” Oh my God. Suddenly, a disturbing notion popped into Noa’s mind; THEY DIDN’T RECOVER THE DALET. If the device fell into possession of some demon, the chaos it could create could be unquantifiable. Noa glanced up at Olivier, trying to read his face, but she couldn't tell if he noticed the realization she had made.
”C-can I look over the file about the incident, Sir?” Noa stuttered as she attempted to pivot the conversation. Olivier forced his mouth into a smile.
”You can’t. It’s in the hands of another team now. Try not to worry too much. You will be back in the field in a few weeks. I appreciate your concern Noa– I’m happy to see that you’re integrating into your team well.”
As Noa left Olivier’s office, she noticed that Koh was looking at her from across the room.
…
Noa was ruminating on the events of the past few days while she cleaned up any accumulation of divine energy by dispersing it with a shot from her Dalet. If an apparition was weak enough, even loading her Dalet could tear it apart.
From what she understood, the demon had appeared in Little India, and a nearby specialist team had been sent to deal with it. Since she was only on the cleanup crew, she was given the bare minimum amount of information- the amount and radius of the energy that was dispersed. Given that she was on hour two of sweeping up, it was safe to say that whatever the force was, it was powerful. Suddenly she heard a familiar, inharmonious voice.
”Hollywell, wow! Yeah, I’m really glad to see you here.”
”Pung!” She turned to see the man who mentored her during her training standing behind her, brushing dust of his hands with a smile on his face. He was a middle-aged man, with short spiky hair and a pair of rectangular glasses. He was slightly overweight, but during her training, Pung would move like a man in his twenties. It was rare to see a squadron leader in the field, which must have meant that this had been a particularly power demon.
”Hello, Noa! Yeah, you are still on broom duty?” Pung was jovial, often to the point of aloofness, but Noa was happy to be met with a friendly face. Typically, the officers Noa would meet with would be haggard and cranky after dealing with a particularly powerful demon, but Pung always seemed to have his head in the clouds, unbothered by the circumstances around him.
”Yes sir. For the next week and a half… if I’m lucky.” Noa glanced around- the small square of the Little India district was covered in a thick dust, with mopeds and debris scattered everywhere.
“Seems like you had a rough go here.”
”Huh? Oh, yeah, it was, yeah. It was really bad. But it was not a problem for me.” Pung shook his head, but then smiled again.
An idea struck Noa- if the case was moved to any team, it could have possibly been moved to Pung’s. Even if it wasn’t, his team was primarily focused on investigative work; it was extremely likely that he was privy to the case files.
”Hey, I think I’m almost done here- do you want to grab lunch after this?” Noa tried to match Pung’s enthusiasm.
”Yeah, it's a really good idea.” Pung excitedly shook his head. “It will be my treat.”
…
Noa was sitting in a spacious outdoor food center, watching Pung carry a tray back to the table she was sitting at. When he set it down, she noticed that it only had small cuts of toast and bowls, two of which were filled with hot water and an egg. Despite the fact it was only the afternoon and they were still on duty, there were also two pints of beer. Pung tried handing one to Noa, but when she politely declined, he took a long drink from it, draining half of the glass in one go. He grunted in satisfaction and then pointed to the bowl.
“We can open the egg now, its a really good time.” Pung cracked the egg into an empty bowl, and Noa followed his direction. The egg was half-boiled and steaming. Pung grabbed the bottle of soy sauce on the table, poured some in to the bowl, and handed it to Noa. Finally, he added pepper and stirred it.
“You told me you really had a sweet tooth. I promise, you will really love it.”
After she replicated the mixture, Pung spoke again, shaking his head.
”Now we will dip the bread.”
Noa grabbed a slice of toast, noticing that it was like a small sandwich with a pale spread inside. She eagerly dipped the bread into the eggs and took a bite. The toast was sweet, and it perfectly complemented the rich flavor of the eggs.
”Woah! Sir, this is great, thank you!"In her excitement, Noa hadn’t taken the time to finish chewing. She dipped the toast into the egg again and took another bite. Pung stuck his chin up in pride.
”It is kaya toast, yeah, its often eaten for breakfast here.” Pung had finished the first pint of beer already, and had started on the second.
She scarfed down the rest of her toast, and Pung insisted on giving her his last piece of toast. When she finished, she thanked him again, and a silence fell between them.
”Sir, did you manage to read about the report of the Tanglin incident?” Noa broke the quiet.
”Yeah, you were really brave.”
“Thank you- but I was curious about something. When Rossi threw his Dalet, the report said that it wasn’t able to be located.” Noa was going out on a limb- she had no idea if the report really mentioned it. Pung cocked his head.
“Yeah, it was a really daft move, but really brave. But it could not be found after, that's right.”
“So, does your team have any idea what happened to it? Did that, thing, get it maybe?” A quick chill shot up Noa’s spine. The image of the creature staring down at her through the cracked door flashed through her mind.
“My team, we aren’t assigned to look into it. Yeah, I cannot even access the report anymore. But it was really interesting when I read it.” Noa leaned forward. “Yeah, so, it did not seem that it apparated there. It was, yeah, more like it was summoned. But there was no sign of a summoning in that area. It’s really strange.” Pung led an investigative team focused on tracing and apprehending “Goetic Terrorists-“ a term that Pung had coined for lone-wolf or small groups that would summon and attempt to create pacts with a force from the Atzulith World.
”Wait, why don’t you have access to the records then? Wouldn’t this be the kind of thing that your team would investigate?”
“It was given to Koh.” Pung finished off the rest of his second beer. Koh? Why would he-
”Do they think this has to do with the November Disaster?” Noa hopped up from her seat in shock.
As Pung opened his mouth to reply, his phone began to ring. The ringtone was bizarre. It was a loud honking noise, like a far-away ship's horn. The sudden sound made Noa wince, but Pung was totally unphased. He reached into his pocket and after reading the caller ID, answered it, putting it on speaker.
”Sir, I know you’re on field duty today, but the November Taskforce is looking to speak to you today. They want me to remind you to stop by headquarters to meet with them before heading home.”
Pung raised his head towards Noa, his mouth open in an odd smile.
”Yeah, maybe I will get the answer to your question.”