Ethan sucked in a deep breath at Eztli's words. He knew he hadn't heard him in a really long time and while he told Noah that he was ready to face Eztli again, both of them knew that wasn't the truth. Eztli's words were cold and you could hear the poison they held. Noah and Rose were currently standing in front of the table with Eztli sitting across from them. Rose had a calm and calculating look in her eyes, her posture shined with strength and she looked ready to take down anyone that got in her way. Noah, however looked like her polar opposite. Ethan saw the way he was looking at Eztli and it was in a way no one would want to be looked at, ever. He was looking at Eztli with hot rage in his eyes, mixed with so much hate that one could almost see his intentions towards the man sitting across the table. While Ethan completely understood where Noah's look was coming from, better than anyone, really, he was still quite taken aback by what he saw in front of him. Because Noah was always so kind to him and understanding, helping and supportive. It was almost terrifying to Ethan to see him this way. He guessed it was true what they said, that even the nicest people have their limits. That you should never try to make them reach that point because the nicest people are also the scariest when they've had enough. And right now, Ethan looked pretty damn close to that point. Ethan looked at Rose again, who touched Noah's hand slightly with the tips of her fingers. And Ethan almost started feeling like he was before he met Rose, but when he saw that her touch was only to calm Noah down, he took a deep breath and focused on what was going on in front of him instead.
Noah and Rose both took a seat at the table and Rose placed a recorder on the table and pressed the on button. 'State your name for the evidence.' Eztli leaned forward in his chair and got a bit closer to the recorder. A thought then entered Ethan's mind. What was he going to say? Eztli or Aaron Jam- 'My name is Eztli.' Ethan dropped his gaze. Of course. He looked back up and saw that Rose had started talking again. 'You have the right to be produced before the nearest magistrate with 24 hours. You have the right to consult with a lawyer before your defence. First of all, you are held here today for the kidnapping and murdering more than 20 minors, and only three of them had been found alive. We are here today to ask you a few short questions regarding this case. Do you understand?' Eztli nodded shortly the cold look still in his eyes and turned towards Noah. 'I understand completely. Just tell me something, would you brown eyes?'
Ethan saw Noah clench his jaw slightly and this was the worst possible time to get distracted, but damn. He could still see Noah staring Eztli down though, so he guessed that Noah probably wasn't thinking the kindest things right now. 'So, this girl right here with you? You cheating on my baby brother with her? Because that's messed up dude.' Noah gripped the edges of the table but ignored Eztli nevertheless. Rose tried to look at Noah, but he avoided he eyes and looked the other way, so Rose decided to speak instead of him. 'We want you to ask a question about the person you work with.' 'I work alone.' Rose shook her head and tried again. 'No, you don't. You know her under the name Rachel Davis, but I think that we both know that that isn't her real name. She was the one that helped you with the surgical part of your operation, shall we say so, I believe? You know, the one that cut out the girls' organs and put Tim in a coma?' Eztli had a cruel smile on her face. 'Oh yeah, her! Of course, I know her. You might not know this, but let me tell you, it was a real joy watching her work. The way she cut into those people as if it was some kind of art, she was really invested in her job I'll give her that, a real talent in her field.' Noah and Rose both had angry looks in their eyes, but Rose had somehow managed to calm down. How she did that, Ethan will never know. 'So, what exactly would you like to know about my friend? Her favourite food, her taste in music, what pets does she have?' Rose looked at him again but before she could say anything, Noah spoke up. 'No, we want you to tell us where she lives.' Eztli looked at him again and smirked. 'Oh look at that, it speaks!' Noah glared at him again. 'Can you tell us where she lives or not?' Eztli smiled cruelly at him. 'Well I could, but why would I want to? She'll probably have me killed the minute I open my mouth and you didn't ask all that nicely now did you? Except of course, what if I got something out of this? Like say, oh, I don't know, a shorter time in prison maybe?' he leaned forward leisurely and looked up at Rose and Noah from underneath his brows.
Ethan shuddered the minute he heard that and could feel himself starting to lose his breath. He leaned his forehead on the glass in front of him and as he felt the cold of the glass seep through the skin he calmed down little by little. Once he felt like he could breathe at least a little more normally, he looked at the room in front of him again and could see Noah staring angrily at Eztli as he spoke up again. 'Yeah no way, you can forget it.' 'Very well, then you can forget about finding out where my dear friend Rachel lives.' 'Can't be that dear of a friend if you're willing to betray her for your freedom now can she?' Rose pipped up. Eztli waved his hand, 'Eh, she'd do the same thing. So do we have a deal or not?' Rose shook her head curtly, 'No, we absolutely do not.' Noah then cut in. 'See here's the thing, Aaron-' 'That is not my name!' Eztli growled lowly but Noah just smirked. 'Yeah and I don't care. The thing is, the way you're going is not only to jail, but just straight downstairs, or should I specify this for you even more? You're not going to see your sun gods anytime soon, but you will however, soon meet your god of death, what is his name again Rose?' 'Mictlantecuhtli.' 'Ah yes, Mictlantecuhtli. So what's it gonna be Aaron? Tell us where your dear friend Rachel, as you put it, lives, or meet good old Mic a bit too soon?' Ethan could not believe his ears. He had never seen or heard Noah talk rudely to someone let alone threaten someone with death. But Noah just got one over Eztli and everyone knew it. By calling him by his birth name alone, he angered Eztli a great deal, but bringing the Aztec gods into the conversation as well? That was the final punch for Eztli and Ethan had never felt as proud or as happy as he did in that moment, even if he was staring at his kidnapper that was also his long lost brother again.
Noah and Eztli were currently having a glaring match with Rose looking at Eztli as well. After about half a minute or so, Eztli finally broke eye contact and looked away and at Rose. 'So, what you're saying is, if I tell you Rachel's whereabouts, I won't get a death sentence?' Rose nodded sternly and looked at Noah who was looking quite satisfied but still glaring at Eztli. Rose looked at Eztli again and Ethan could see that she also had a small smile playing in the corner her mouth. 'Yeah, basically. You'll probably still go to jail for life, of course that's for the judge to decide, but you won't get a death sentence. If, you tell us where she is of course.' Eztli glared at Noah, 'Of course. Now I cannot tell you the exact address, and before you ask why not, it's not because I don't want to, it's because I can't. I don't know where exactly she lives, I've never been there. All I know is that she spends most of her time in an abandoned warehouse, but considering she was always at my place pretty soon after I called her, I don't think that the place could be further away from here than about 20 kilometres. I don't know if she actually lives there or what exactly she does there, but that's really none of my business.' Eztli looked at Rose again, with hate present in his eyes once again 'Will that be all?' Rose nodded 'thank you for your cooperation'. She said and Noah and her got up and started towards the door. Eztli however, spoke up again. 'Oh and brown eyes? Tell my little brother hi for me and that I'll see him again soon will you?' Noah's eyes hardened again. 'The hell you will, you're never getting near Ethan again.' Noah smirked. 'Yeah, that's what you think. Keep close to that boyfriend of yours huh?' Noah was at Eztli's side in a second, grabbing the side of his collar and pulling him up towards him, one hand in the air, ready to punch Eztli in the face. Before he could do so, however, Rose was next to him, gently tugging his right arm down gently. 'Hey, calm down Noah. He's just provoking you, we all know he's never gonna get out of the prison ever again, he's just trying to get a raise out of you. So just listen to me alright? Let him go, he'll get his justice and you won't have to be fired and I won't have to work alone. Again.' Noah slowly lowered his hand but Ethan could see that he was truly very angry. And who wouldn't be? Noah was literally so close to punching Eztli and the latter didn't seem to be even slightly affected by it. Just the opposite, really. Eztli face looked calm, even somewhat happy, probably because of the fact that he managed to provoke Noah so far. He slowly let go of Eztli and followed Rose out the door, without sparing one more look in Eztli's direction.
Once they exited the room, Ethan exited his as well and met them in the hall. He looked up at Noah and saw that he was trying to avoid his eyes at first but then looked at him at last. Ethan could see worry in Noah's eyes and he saw that he was right about that as Noah spoke. 'Are you alright? Because some of the things that Eztli said in there, I was worried of how they would affect you and if you would last until the end or if you wanted to go home sooner, which would've been alright if you did, I-' Ethan rolled his eyes and interrupted Noah 'Hey, stop talking for a second will you? I was fine, I was a little bit bad when he said that he'd get out of prison sooner, but I managed to calm myself down slightly. Oh, and by the way, the way you took him down with the Aztec god part, that was pretty amazing.' Noah looked at Ethan at that part and raised one eyebrow. 'Yeah, you liked that?' and Ethan could hear his voice dropped a few octaves lower and found that he was not against that in the slightest. Rose looked between them and then rolled her eyes. 'Oh get a room you two.' At her comment, Noah's eyes widened and Ethan and Noah both blushed and then looked away from each other. Rose chuckled at his reactions and then started walking towards the briefing room and started explaining her plan once they got there. 'So, here's my idea. I've done loads of cases where the suspect was hiding in an abandoned warehouse, so I've got some experience when it comes to these kinds of cases. First I'll see how many warehouses there are about 25 kilometres from here, but if my memory serves me right, and it usually does, there's a load of them. So, I'll probably see who they were last registered to, if anyone was recently seen near them and then we'll see how it will all go down. Once I'm done with the first part of my plan I'll report back to you and tell you how I'm going to continue with it. All clear and agreed' Noah and Ethan both nodded and then they all started towards the exit. Noah turned towards Ethan again who could see that he was back to being his old nice self and Ethan was happy with that. 'So, I have to give Rose a ride to the hospital so she can pick up her motorbike again, do you want me to drive you home?' Ethan looked down at the ground and then back up at Noah uncertainly 'If you want to, sure. I mean I'm currently living with my foster family about 10 minutes away from here and I know that they already know I'm safe and all that, I talked to them on the phone before, when you went to visit Tim with Juliet. I told them that I'll tell them once I'll get home, because both of them are about two hours away from here at some meeting and I told them I'd be home before that anyways. So, I mean they're currently not home and I promised Juliet that I'd call her and tell her about what happened at the police station anyways. To summarize, yeah, you can give me a ride home.' Noah smiled at him and Ethan found himself returning the gesture.
They all got into Noah's car again, but this time the atmosphere was much lighter and there was almost zero tension hanging in the air. Once they got back to the hospital and Noah turned off the car, Rose turned in her seat a bit. She looked from Noah to Ethan and then to Noah again. 'Alright then. This is where I get off. I'll go home, tell you what I find and in the meantime, you take care of Ethan, alright Noah?' 'I don't need babysitting-' 'Let me finish would you? Noah, you get Ethan home safely and Ethan, you watch Noah, so he doesn't do anything stupid, he does that a lot.' Ethan chuckled and Noah glared at Rose 'I do not!' Rose just nodded and looked towards the parking lot. 'Mhm, Noey, of course you don't. Anyways, I'll see you boys later alright? Thanks for the ride N.' She then got out of the car, her duffel across her chest and her gloves on her arms. She put on the helmet that was resting on the seat of the black and gold Honda Africa Twin. She mounted the bike, turned it on and sped of the parking lot with a salute thrown their way. Noah just shook his head with a smile and smile and Ethan climbed on the front seat. 'So?' he asked him as Ethan fiddled his seatbelt, 'Where do you live?' Ethan's head shot up and a slight blush dusted his cheecks. 'Oh right! Just turn right when you exit the parking lot and I'll tell you the directions during the drive.' Noah nodded, turned the car back on and did as Ethan had said. They drove down the streets with Noah occasionally asking for directions.
After a short while Noah stopped the car in front of a two-storey house. It was a faint peach-like color with flowerpots decorating the windows and a few rose bushes were leading up to the front door. Noah looked at the house for a minute and then whistled appraisingly, 'Nice house.' Ethan nodded at first and then shrugged slightly. 'Yeah, it took me a while to get used to it though. I mean I went from practically living on the streets to living in a suburban two-storey house with big windows, that are actually clean, a manicured garden and people that took care of it all. Some days, I still couldn't quite believe it. To be honest with you, I don't think I ever will.' Noah nodded and they both sat in silence for a few more moments until Ethan coughed awkwardly and Noah looked at him. 'I uh, I better get inside. My foster parents are probably going to come home soon and they're going to have a lot of questions, which I don't blame them for at all.' Noah nodded again and then looked at Ethan in concern. 'Are you going to be ok, though? I mean if you're going to have to talk about it or anything like that…' Ethan just shrugged to that and then looked out of the car's window. 'I'll be fine. I mean yeah, there will probably still be moments when I'll feel like dying and stuff, but I'll deal with it.' Noah rolled his eyes and then reached over Ethan's lap and opened the glove box. 'What are yo…' 'Shush Ethan.' Noah pulled a small notebook and a pen out of the glove box and tore a page out and then started writing on it. Ethan was torn between asking him what he was doing and just staring at Noah. He decided for the latter. When Noah was finally done with whatever it was he was writing on the piece of paper, he folded it over and then handed it to Ethan. 'This is my work cell number and my personal number. Use it. Whenever you feel like it's all too much or when you feel like you did at the hospital or just when you want to talk about stuff. You got it?' Ethan was looking at the piece of paper in his hand confusingly for a while but then he finally smiled a little with a slight blush on his cheeks and nodded softly. 'Yeah, I got it. Thanks Noah.' He turned his head to look at him and saw that he was already looking at him. When he saw that Ethan saw him staring, he cleared his throat and looked away towards the house in front of them. Ethan joined him and then pulled on his jumper and turned to Noah again. 'Thanks again. For driving me, the stuff at the hospital and you know, being the responsible one for my case of disappearance.' Noah chuckled at that. 'Of course, anytime. And call me once your parents get home ok? That way, I'll know that you're ok and I'll be able to call you once Rose finds out about Rachel, alright?' Ethan nodded at that and then slowly exited the car. Before he closed the door he turned towards Noah again and once he smiled at him, Ethan waved shyly and then turned and walked towards the house. Noah then waited until Ethan door closed behind him and a light turned on inside the house, probably in the living room. Only after that, Noah turned on the car again and then drove off.
Once he finally got back home Noah unlocked the door to his apartment and left his car keys on the table by the door, along with his apartment keys. He then made his way towards the fridge where he wandered for a while but then settled on a can of soda and went to sit on the couch with his laptop in one hand and his phone in the other. He put everything down on the coffee table in front of him and then started writing the report. He had a lot of paperwork to do. Especially considering Ethan and his kidnapping. He remembered the days he spent in his office, just staring at Ethan's picture on the wall in front of him and wondering if Ethan was even alive anymore. He heard of so many stories of the town's kidnappings, all done by Eztli. He heard about Charlotte, the student from the nearby town, he heard about Tim and Juliet, the two almost 17-year olds, kidnapped within a few days. And last but not least, he heard about Ethan. He was his first case, after arriving to the city. Sure, he helped with other cases before, either at internships or at the academy, where they sometimes got real cases to solve. Easier than these ones of course, but cases, nevertheless. He always worked with Rose. He was his partner in crime, to put it ironically. They always stuck together, always had each other's back, no matter what. And then one day, there came the case of the robbery at a lonely street in his hometown. Noah winced just thinking about it. He and Rose were on patrol, just finishing their internships at yet another one of the police stations they've been sent to as a part of the learning programme at the academy. They were walking down the street and the sun was setting, making the surroundings glow a part orange, part grey light. Every corner seemed darker than during the day, but they've been on this patrol every day for the last month. They knew this town; Noah grew up in it. But then, just as they were walking back towards their car, they heard some noise from around the corner and they decided to go and take a look. It was most likely nothing, probably just a stray cat, but it was their duty to check if any suspicious noises were to arise. So they turned around the corner and they could see a man dressed in black pants and a dirty green hoodie pulled down over his face robbing a woman who couldn't be older than 19. The man was holding the woman back by her neck and was forcing her to hand over her bag and phone. Before she could do so, however, Noah and Rose charged into action and started running towards the guy. He must have heard them coming because he turned around towards them and pulled a gun out of his pocket. As he did, Noah could see his face and he was suddenly frozen on the spot. Because the guy in the dirty green hoodie was his old friend and schoolmate, Jed Malkins. He knew him for about eight years, before they went to different universities, but it looked like Jed didn't get far. He didn't see to recognize Noah, or he just didn't care as he shot at him and then ran off. Noah only had time to scream at Rose to go after the guy before he collapsed on the floor, his right leg throbbing in pain. He could hear some yelling, but he couldn't hear how away it was, because everything he could focus on at the moment had been the pain that seemed to be spreading through his leg. After some time, he couldn't tell whether it was minutes or half an hour, Rose came back, Jed walking in front of her, his hands cuffed behind him. Rose led Jed towards the police car and called for reinforcements, which luckily arrived pretty quickly. After Jed was being taken over by some of the other police officers, Rose came and kneeled down at Noah's side. 'You might wanna tell me what the hell happened to you back there?' Noah looked up at her and then away as the paramedics carefully bandaged up his leg to take him to the hospital. 'I knew him Rose. He was my friend. I don't know what happened, but I just froze.' Rose exhaled deeply and then looked at him again. 'Look, I get it ok, I really do, you saw someone that you thought of as a friend waving a gun at you. Most people wouldn't know what to do either. But in this job we can't allow our feelings to get the best of us. That comes after our shift ends. When we take off our uniforms and lay down in our beds or sit down on our couches. That's when we can think about that. Because here Noah? In the field? If you let your feeling get the better of you, you can not only lose your job, you can get killed. And I don't want that to happen. Don't make me lose my hunter in crime Noah, don't make me work alone, alright?'
Noah was brought back to the reality by the ringing of his cell phone on the coffee table in front of him. He rubbed his knee and winced; it never did heal correctly. He turned the phone over and speak of the devil… Rose was calling him. He swiped at the accept call icon on his screen and lifted his phone to his ear. 'Yeah?�� 'I found The Doctor.' Noah could hear the grin in her voice, 'I know where this bastard's hiding. Get off your ass Noey, we're going hunting.'