Day 56: Lil' Tyke Toys (Noon)

[tasteoftruth]

Badd had always cautioned younger detectives not to be so open-minded that their brains fell out. It was good to allow for unexpected possibilities but some things were just plain insane and should be ignored in the interests of time. But now the entire world was insane and Badd found himself having to believe nine impossible things before

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[tasteoftruth]

Badd had been enjoying his first lollipop in several weeks when Niikura started mouthing off. The taste, the feel, the shape, that little sensory comfort that had been up with him until the end of his career, that had really been what he was missing to get the job done properly. He reveled in the simple taste while the teenage 'vigilante' continued to make his grand claims.

Then Niikura got to the end of his rambles. Badd's face betrayed no emotion but there was a soft crunch as he bit a crack down the center of his lollipop.

You stay away from Byrne Faraday. You come within five hundred feet of him with your smarmy grin and your murderous urges and I'll snap your neck in full view of the guards.

Stone face. No reaction, that would only let Niikura know he'd found a weak spot. Badd would need to corner Byrne later and make sure he knew what a monster Niikura thought he was, and that it just wasn't safe to go throwing his name and profession at every person who wandered along. Hadn't trust been what got them into this mess? They'd let in one person, just one young woman with a tragic loss and pouty lips, and it had destroyed them.

He'd called Byrne a bird. Was it coincidence or a veiled threat? Besides Gant, who didn't seem to care, nobody else should know the Yatagarasu's secret (and he'd been an idiot to just drop it like that even if Gant was just completely insane instead of time displaced). If Niikura really was taunting him he wouldn't rise to the bait. "Well...it's kinda hard to believe...without a little proof," Badd said, sucking on the half-severed lollipop stick. "Can you blame me?"

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura's smile wouldn't have faded even if he could have heard what Badd was thinking about him, maybe saluted and said, will do in that breezy way of his. As it was, though, he didn't suspect a thing.

"Nah, I really can't. Complete stranger tellin' ya that kind of stuff...wouldn't have believed it either if somethin' hadn't gone down, in hindsight." The teen glanced at Badd. "And you two go far back, so that must've helped."

He yawned and suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be getting lunch this instant...how had he managed to get caught up in this for so long? "Anyway, enjoy your candy, Badd-san. Nice talkin' again -- who knows? Maybe the next time we run into each other, I'll have somethin' more excitin' to tell you about, seein' as how ya seem so interested in my line of work..."

[tasteoftruth]

Stone face. Blank face. Keep sucking that lollipop and don't meet his eyes.

What had Byrne told him? If Niikura got it into his twisted little mind that Badd was somehow a rival, or an enemy, that made everyone connected to Badd a potential victim. And what if he'd let slip something about the Yatagarasu--what if Gant had exposed the secret, to distract Niikura from his own crimes? It wasn't something Badd would put past him. He was an idiot to have let the corrupt chief know his secret just so he could get in a little knowing smugness. Prison really had made his mind soft.

Badd gave a slight nod as he turned to go the opposite way. "Lemme know how it goes. Just don't get too cocky with your target...lot of people here have friends, and a lot of those friends have weapons."

[oneman_onekill]

Badd sure knew how to play it cool and humor people, but maybe that was just part of his technique. He wasn't even looking at him, now that he thought about it...maybe he'd hit a nerve? Or did Badd just not like his face.

Knowing the guy, that actually could make sense.

"Right, right," the teenager called over his shoulder with a short laugh and a wave. "I'll keep those things in mind. Thanks for lookin' out for me, Badd-san. Take care now."

Time to go find lunch. His stomach was growling.