The Havenport Files: Book One

Midnight

At a certain agency's headquarters, Unit 0 forgets the tiredness of the day and sits together in a circle around a small, housey coffee table, a piece of furniture that, like the long leather sofa and cushioned armchairs, makes the metal walls around them, hidden behind a not so subtle wooden panel, look less like a facility and more like something one could call home.

Yui stretches their small body on the comfortable sofa's surface like a cat, taking as much space as they can as a yawn escapes them sluggishly; their hands reach for the phone resting atop their chest, flipping it up so the screen is turned to their eyes before clicking their tongue to show how bored they are.

"Ugh! I swear I'm about to bash my head against the wall if you two stay dead silent for more what? Four hours?" Groaning, the agent talks in hopes of reaching the two others in the room, but when their actions don't bring any reaction, they pout only to stop as a plan starts to form in their head—a way to get at least one of the two to entertain them out of the boredom that crosses their mind.

While they start to formulate the next words that will come out of their mouth, Dalia and Colette stay lost in their own little world; the first connects herself deeply with the old, dusty pages of a book that long lost the words that stamped the animal skin cover, her fingers dance a familiar tune, expertly moving the pages as her eyes steal all the words it possesses and transmits it to feed her hungry mind, efficiently losing not a single, precious second of her time before basking into the uncharted knowledge that the next one holds, a guarantee surprise in each turn; as per Colette, she doesn't distract her mind with an item, but instead, lingers her eyes at the 'window' in the room, which in itself is just a television with a real-time feed of the night sky outside, but what takes the stage is the bright, third-quarter moon at the center of the screen; her eyes lock on it, not like a predator looking at its prey, but instead, like an old, bittersweet relationship.

She could be perceived as anxious, perhaps even a little stressed; one could assume almost anything from the troubled look on her face, but as none dare to pry further than a look, it remains as a secret for her to keep; unfortunately to the woman, the moment of peace is interrupted by the last attempt to grab her attention from the frustrated agent.

"If no one is willing to talk about today, I guess I'll need to be the one to start the talk. Colie, so, can you enlighten us on what happened between you and the detective while we were outside? Because, strangely, it was just Lia leaving you two alone for some minutes, and you suddenly stopped complaining as you were before about the human. So, what was it? You had a sudden change of heart? Or maybe she said something you liked, something that made you all tamed-"

The agent's mocking words are interrupted as the woman, displaying her superior strength, unleashes without any restraint her sharp claws and sinks them deeply into the soft material of the armchair, clawing its way violently enough to make the job of whoever is going to sew it up be harder than necessary; a toothy grin grows on the agent's lips as finally, a reaction worth their time is pulled from the growling woman.

Yet, amidst the sounds of someone ready to blow in rage, something else happens—an unexpected thing that makes the grin slowly die down from them as they watch the woman take in a long, deep breath, filling her lungs with clear, fresh air before exhaling it out of her mouth in a cloudy smoke that seem to carry her angry away.

"My reasons are my own; if I decided to follow the words from Dalia and give the human a chance to prove herself useful, then that is something for me to deal with." Colette's words come out with a calmness—the most she can muster considering her nature—that manages to silence Yui's provocations as they spend a good moment in shock.

"And I thank you for it profoundly; even so, I don't appreciate you tearing our only furniture, you know?." Ungluing her eyes from the yellowed pages, Dalia smiles sincerely at the woman, sharing a good second of silence as she watches how Colette turns her eyes away from hers and to her claws as they retreat from the depths of the armchair and back to her chest as she crosses those arms tightly against her chest, so much so that the sound of her heavy coat being wrinkled is audible to anyone's ear in the room. "I need you two to trust me; based on what I saw today, the detective doesn't have anything bad in her nature. She is but just a scared girl. We can't blame her for that, so let's focus on catching our target and bringing some peace to her and the good people in this city."

Well intended as it is, Dalia's speech is interrupted by a message alert on Yui's phone, and using the replenished energies of the many sweets they had before provided, they inhumanly quickly grab the phone and check the contents of the message; after a moment of reading, the agent lets out a sigh as they throw the phone at the coffee table, letting it slide to Dalia's reach as they slump back into the softness of the sofa.

"It looks like we are not the only ones with our little detective in mind. This is new; we are being praised for once by JB's bosses instead of receiving a warning about our performance."

Raising an eyebrow, confused at the agent's words, Dalia takes the unlocked phone and reads the text from their handler; it is clear that it is from Julia by the many dog stickers decorating the text.

"'Just got out of a meeting with the higher-ups. They are not happy with the new body being founded, but they are happy with the recordings not falling into the human's hands; they send their praises and said to remind you all of the importance of the mission. The decision you three made today was the right one. PS: The bar of the city is not half bad; the drinks are to die for.'"

As Dalia reads it out loud, another alert of a message comes, this one being the photo of a fancy drink atop the bar counter as the owner of the establishment smiles widely at the camera, displaying his biceps as he poses for the photo.

Seeing all that there was to see, Dalia carefully places the phone back on the table and lingers a finger atop the book she was reading before sighing and deciding to get to her feet, pushing herself up; the other two agents look at her waitingly. "I must retire to my chambers; the night is soon to end, and I wish to catch some shut-eye before we go meet the detective again. Please remember to wake up early tomorrow; we want to catch the detective at the earliest hour."

Colette only answers with a prompt nod of her head before copying the woman's movements and getting to her two feet before disappearing into the long hall with the doors leading to their respective rooms; Yui stays on the sofa; only this time they decide to play on their phone to pass the time.

As the tiredness grows behind Dalia's eyes, she retires inside her room and meets her bed, finishing this day only to prepare herself for what will come on the next one.