Big O Fan Fiction ❯ Season 2: Highway to Hell ❯ Act 16: Blood & Roses (Hazel Love) ( Chapter 3 )

The Big O : Act 16
(Season 2: Highway to Hell)
Blood & Roses
(Hazel Love)
(Rough Draft 2 Edition)
by Crystal Acids

FOREWORD: Less violent and sex filled than the original. Rough Draft 1 started with Dan in bed with Hazel Love (originally, a split personallity of Angel from the trauma of Act 15 + all her double talk in the first 13 episodes. Act 17 actually starts off by refering to that scene in Rough Draft 1.) Also, it involved a much more violent scene with Big Ear (think Godfather) with many people involved.

Another change from RD1 is that a bridge original explodes as Dan tries to get out of the city. The one true thing to survive is a version of meeting the prototype police car (Batman:TAS referance). Both RD 1 and RD 2 end the same way with Roger seeing Dan in the car (about a few seconds after Act 14 ends).

In this version, Hazel is a *new* person instead of a split. Again, I like the original idea better. Fairly complete, otherwise.

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"Roger?" a female voice spoke, "Roger Smith? Oh yes, I know who he is. He comes in here all the time."

Dan Dastun stood within the entrance covering of Instro's small pub. Up the stairs led to dark clouds and darker memories of the past few days but here Dan like felt he was in the light. Dan shook it all off. He was looking for answers and somehow he knew his old friend Lt. Smith was involved. He took another deep breath and looked up to meet the pair of eyes staring at him from the cracked open door. From the darkness came a pair of large hazelnut eyes. A few wisps of brunette hair strayed across her smiling face as she leaned through the crack a little further to give Dan a better view.

"Has he.. uhh," Dan began to stutter. He felt more like a schoolboy trying to ask a girl out for the first time then the cool but angry officer he was known for. Her subtle beauty was throwing him off his game.

"Has he.. what?" she gingerly asked with a small grin. "Men are so cute trying to act all big when they're attracted to a woman," she thought quietly.

"Has been he lately by?" Dan came back with easily while trying to gain some composure. Dan thought about those words for a moment and winced deep inside. "I mean, has he been by lately?" Dan was turning a shade of dark red.

"Not for a few days," she smiled, "but you might want to talk to Instro. He goes over there a lot to teach piano. I think he's smitten with the girl prodigy." She giggled. "But he better not get any ideas," she added with a button-nose grin.

"I see…," Dan said drawing a blank, "well, is Instro in at the moment?" Dan knew the answer to this question.

"Nope, sorry." she replied. "He may be gone all day." She said the last part with a slight pout.

Dan debated the last part of that statement for a second before throwing it out of his mind. He thanked her for her time and turned back towards the stairway to the street when he heard the door behind him open wide. A slim hand touched his right shoulder before spinning him 180 degrees into the welcoming arms of a perky nineteen-year-old brunette. She gave Dan a quick squeeze around the waist before he could react any further. Dan was speechless.

"You will come inside and wait for him, won't you?" she asked looking up with her big doe eyes.

"I.. uhh." He was stammering again. "Uhh, sure.." came out with some uneasiness.

The pub was very dark inside. Chairs were stacked upside-down on the tabletops and the floor looked a little dusty. The happy guide walked across the room and motioned Dan to come around the wall next to the bar and up the stairs. Still uneasy, Dan sulked through the maze of tables and over to the stairs. Dan caught a glimpse of her backside up the stairs as she left the darkness of the stairwell for the light of the next room.

Dan walked into a large studio flat that had been hidden away above the bar. Looking around, the Major couldn't see why the room was so bright beyond the pure whiteness of the walls. The mysterious woman walked across the wooden floorboards to her small couch in the center of the room. She beckoned Dan to come over and sit next to her.

"Don't worry," she added cheerfully, "I don't bite." For the first time, one could fully see her artistic style of dressing. The white tee shirt was stained with various strokes of colors from painting and her jeans revealed even more streaks from wiping paint off her delicate hands. Dan tried to look other places but one couldn't help but notice the lengthy gashes across the blue fields and the pink underneath that was slowly fleeing its confines for freedom.

Taking a seat and then sliding away from the young artist left Dan feeling awkward again. He glanced around the room and started to notice small paintings stack everywhere. Some were finished and some were still going through the motions. All of her artwork seemed to be centered around Paradigm City or at least some version of it. In one image, some skyscrapers stood tall; free of the domes and shadows cast from the hanging clouds.

"Where did all these come from?" he asked with amazement. The paintings seemed so real to him, but he didn't know why.

"They just pop in my head and then I put it on to the canvas." She answered. "I don't know why I keep seeing them, but I just can't help it." She reached over and lifted a large painting leaning on the couch side.

"This one," she continued, "I did the other day while at the harbor."

Dan was a little uneasy with the memory of past events coming up, but he tried not to show any emotion in front of the girl. Training his eyes to slowly pan over the canvas, Dan noticed that the subject was not of the harbor as it is or even was. In fact, the picture revealed a new harbor with shopping malls, residential zones, and happy citizens. It looked like a concept drawing of the future.

"A man asked me to paint this," she interrupted his thoughts with, "and offered a large some of money in advance. Since I have been burdening Instro for so long by staying here, I decided to take the job." She looked into Dan's eyes, "Do you think he will like it?"

"It looks very picturesque, if you ask me." Dan assured her, "Who, may I ask, is the man with the deep pockets and passion for fine art?"

"I don't really know his name," she conceded, "but he told me that when I finish I could leave it at the front desk of the Paradigm Group office and they would take care of it from there. He had a secretary with him.." she paused to think for a moment, "Casseey, that was the name. I remember it had Casseey in it." She leaned the painting against the couch again and stood up.

Dan smiled, "Well, I'm sure he'll enjoy it whoever he is." Inside, Dan had an idea who the art collector was and would follow that trail next. Dan stood up as the young lady walked over to a dresser and pulled out a long overcoat. Dan looked at his watch and knew he had already spent too much time here. "I guess I'll catch up with Instro another time." Dastun stated as he headed over to the stairs.

"I'll walk you out," her chipper voice returned.

Outside the pub door again, Dan tipped his hat and smiled before heading up the stairs. It hit him half way up that he had never actually gotten her name. Turning around, Dan noticed her watching him trek up the stairwell.

"Uhh, I never caught your name in all this. Miss..?" Dan politely asked.

"Love." She responded. "Hazel Love." Her eyes lit up and a warm smile went across her face.

"Well, thank you for all your help Miss Love.." Dan started.

"Hazel," she responded with a coy grin, " YOU can call me Hazel."

And with that, she bounced into the darkness of the pub once again. Dan stood there bewildered once again at the hands of one Hazel Love.

***

The bar was fairly noise. "Big Ear" glanced over the top rim of his glasses at all the construction workers sitting at the bar. Shaking his head, he returned to his newspaper looking for the usual signs. "One's work is never done." he thought quietly to himself as he noticed a dark body brush behind him and plop down in one of the other seats available at his table. Annoyed, Big Ear folded his paper neatly and dropped it onto the table next to his drink. The voice spoke before he even looked up.

"You know.. you really are slime." the voice said coldly, "And because of this it is never hard to find your trail."

Big Ear shot the rude patron a dirty look. Slowly reaching for his glass, the patron grabbed his arm and shook it for a moment before releasing it. Big Ear retracted his arm and brushed off the "contact" he had received.

"And since when do you make house calls, Dastun." he answered with a glare to match the mean look he was receiving. "You know, this could be considered an intrusion on my rights as a citizen."

"Your scum, you have no rights unless I give you one," Dastun started to grin, "and I wouldn't lose any sleep over waiting, if I were you."

"Is there a point to this, I am working here." Big Ear reached into his jacket and pulled out a pad and ballpoint pen. "I know why you're here, detective." he added with a slight grin, "Feeling guilty over killing civilians AND your own men in a useless war?"

Dastun gave Big Ear a cross check with the fist shape of his left hand. Big Ears glasses were knocked to the floor while a red impression glowed on his cheek. Dastun covered his left hand with his right and popped the knuckles.

"That's Major." Dastun noticed that not a single customer was paying attention to their argument inside the bar. "Care to re-phrase the last statement?" Dastun smiled. He had been needing to release some feelings for awhile now. And Big Ear was the perfect punching bag.

"A love tap, your very kind," Big Ear spatted out as he lifted his cold glass to the dull ache of his cheek. "And what is this visit concerning..."

"Rosewater." Dan said in a low tone.

"Rosewater..?" came a surprised reply. "Aren't dogs taught not to bite the hand that feeds them?" Ear said with a coy grin.

"Would you care to continue this discussion at the station?" the Major came back with.

"And why would we do that?" the bar fly asked, "You don't think I didn't know your badge was pulled after that stunt the other day?"

Dan grew angry. In one swift motion he stood up and backhanded Big Ear. Ear flew back in his chair and crashed into the next table a few feet away. The local patrons tried their best not to stare at the action. No one wanted to be involved. Big Ear rolled over onto his chest and started to get up. Dan walked over and nailed Ear at the small of his back with his thick, black-sole boots. Big laid on the floor coughing.

"Abuse," Big Ear sputtered, "second to last action of a true coward." Big started to get up and but a swift kick into the ribs from Dan laid him out again on his back another few feet away. "Punch me.." he coughed out lowly, "kick me.. kill me.. do all your victims get this much attention before..." Big Ear shot Dan a bloody grin.

Dastun walked over and grabbed the back of Big Ear's shirt. Pulling him up to a half hunch in the middle of the room, Dan pulled out another chair and thrusted Big Ear into it. Ear barely moved. Covered with small trails of blood flowing to and from unknown sources, he looked more like the passenger in a car accident than a bar brawl participant.

"Who gave the order?" he shouted. Dan noticed that many of the patrons had quietly fled during the few seconds of scuffle. Returning to his current target he scanned over Big Ear's slump of a body.

***

Dan walked around his car to the driver's side. Glancing back, he examined the broken glass and slumped body laying on the bar floor just beyond the shattered window. In the distance, one could hear sirens wailing. Dastun slid into his car seat and turned on his police radio as he pulled away.

***

The car roared up to an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city limits. Pulling around the long side away from the road, it nudged into the vast darkness revealed from an open cargo door. The building was dusty. Unused since the early days of the Event, no one had ever expanded back out to the true border of Paradigm City. Here, criminals and the unwanted could seek true refuge from the unblinking eye of higher society.

Dan stepped out of his old squad car that was retired when he was promoted to major. Unmarked, it help serve him in the early days of the force. The rust blended in with the brown paint job, but nothing of the current force could compare to its refitted engine, shocks, and tires. That fact had been proven just a few minutes ago.

Turning on a flashlight, Dan walked back over to the cargo door entrance and pulled it closed. The door rustled and clanged as it shut off contact with the outside world. Dan pulled down a lever on the wall near the door to lock it down. His attention then focused a spot in a black part of the warehouse. Dan walked over to empty region and shined his flashlight to reveal a shiny black two door sports car resembling a '70s Ford Mustang. A smile walked across his face.

***

On the road again, Dan adjusted to driving the smaller and stronger Mustang over his most recent rides. Developed by Dastun and a two other friends on the force a few years ago, the Mustang was the end result of retooling the standard military police car package into a better frame for long term work. Bullet proof glass, an experimental type of armor built under the metal exterior, and an engine which could only be described as a 24-valve titan on steroids were all "standard". However, the final cost to develop the prototype gave the Paradigm Group reason to shutdown the project and approve what is the now standard patrol car. Upset, the three filed the paperwork into the trunk and let Dan hide it so that the Paradigm Group couldn't enjoy the fruits of their labor. Now, it was lending a helping hand to its lead creator to payback the original people who tried to end its career.

The internal radio squawked with static as the former Major rolled through the dials to find the current military police band. Standard procedure was to change the default settings whenever a upper rank officer retired or released. The stunts in the city earlier had been aided by the fact that no one seemed to have changed the channel yet. Dan pulled out and onto the largest bridge connecting Paradigm City to the outside world. The Paradigm Group headquarters was located directly at the end of the road that crossed over the bridge and into the heart of the domed sections. The radio started to moan in and out as the channel began to clear up. Dastun kept focusing between the road and his tuning. Fading in came the familiar voice of dispatch issuing orders to various patrol cars.

"Roger, 313." a deep voice spoke.

"No sign of him, over." a softer voice cracked in.

Dan tried to decipher the communications running on top of each other in hopes that the police had given up an active search for him. Within minutes he had a working model in his own mind where units were posted and the activities each was carrying out. No one, it seems, had given Dan a second thought after he crossed the bridge and headed for the outskirts of town. This was puzzling to Dastun since he should be considered a dangerous criminal for his actions, his own or not, of the past few days. Something in the back of Dan's mind said this wasn't right. But, the former Major also knew that all the answers would lead to Alex Rosewater for the final truth.

Dusk had set in as Dan crossed into the protection of the domes. He debated swinging by Roger Smith's home briefly to get some advice, if not help altogether. The thought flew out as quickly as it had come in and Dastun decided he would handle this problem on his own at first. There was no true needed to get Smith's hands soiled in this dirty little war the Major had become trapped within.

A loud honk started to rattle out a couple of cars behind Dastun. Glancing into the mirror, Dan saw the familiar black car owned by one Roger Smith. The Griffon pulled up along side Dan's Mustang, but Mr. Smith didn't notice who its driver was immediately.

***

Roger stared for a moment. Was it real? Was this real? Did he really see the Major behind the wheel of a sports car? Roger gave a slight nod when the other driver turned his attention back to the car riding along beside his. Dastun nodded. Roger kept focusing between the road and trying to convince his eyes that what he saw was indeed real.

***

Dan grinned at the sight of a speechless Roger. To the Major, it was obvious that both men were heading for the Paradigm Group. After all, it was the only thing of any importance on this particular road.