I had another nightmare. Screaming, crying and a shadow shielding me from the bright light behind. I could not see his face this time, just like the other times, nothing but a smile and a voice saying, 'it's gonna be okay'.

Like a rude awakening, I was pulled out of my dream by the loud buzzing of the doorbell. I sat up swiftly with a short gasp and a silent 'no' at the tip of my breath. My hand stretching out to the air, my body dripping with sweat. The doorbell rang again, it was Lemon.

"We've gotta go Ezra!" She shouted, "there's been another murder!"

I exhaled. Walking up to the front door, I leaned on the door knob with my head resting close to the peephole.

"How many bodies?"

"Two, down at the eighty fourth district. The chief wants us there immediately."

The chief. That man was always in a hurry. I never really did understand why, I never really did care. In the end, the dead have all the time in the world, so what was the hurry? It wasn't like they were going anywhere.

I opened the door after she pushed the doorbell for the third time.

"What's up?" I yawned.

"Where's your shirt?" She asked, walking into the living room. "And why are you sweaty again? Every morning Ezra, you do this every damn morning!"

She walked into the bedroom, arranging my work clothes; a white blue collar long sleeve, brown jeans, a long brown jacket, a blue holster belt, and some brown kickback sneakers.

Sometimes Lemon acted like my mother, other times she acted like the trained assassin she was. Basically, she was what you called a babysitting partner, assigned to me by the chief and the district's General as a living restraint to my powers.

That's the funny thing about humans and aliens alike, they fear what they cannot control. And with a guy like me who can do crazy things like harness the destructive power of a hundred supernovas on the tips of my fingers, I was a dangerous threat even in the eyes of my colleagues.

It was a funny thing to me personally, because we lived in a world where eighty percent of the earth's population had superpowers, dangerous powers mostly used for bad rather than good. With all those superpowered bad guys out there, how was I a threat?

Maybe I was. See Lemon was the fourth partner assigned to me in a span of five years after my original partner died in a freak accident that I supposedly caused because of my powers, which in turn gave me a reputation, a bad reputation.

Whoever got assigned to me resigned after six months, but Lemon has been with me for almost two years so far, so that's a good thing. In theory, she was the only one that could withstand the effects of my energy blasts, so in theory, she was the only one who could stop me if I ever went berserk again.

Hmm, you must be lost here. Allow me to fill you in on what's happened in the past fifteen years since the year 2035. I don't remember much, but it all began on the sixth day of June, 2035. It was just a normal day, then, as they say, seven white spheres appeared in the earth's atmosphere, each to one continent. And in synchronisation, they all released a massive white energy beam that impacted the earth's crust, destroying anything and everything within its path.

After an hour, the beam dispersed, sending an energy wave that swept through all the continents, altering the genetic makeup of anyone in its path. Some died due to the change, but the ones who survived emerged with special gifts known as Yolo — don't ask me why they gave it that name.

Literally two hours after everyone thought the worst was over, wormholes began opening in every crook and cranny of the earth, bringing in aliens of different species into the planet. It was like the earth was a magnet pulling in worlds from different dimensions and galaxies.

These aliens were dumped here and there was havoc! Panic everywhere and murder. It's like I said before, humans and aliens fear what they cannot control or understand. And after fear comes panic and a kill or be killed ideology. Something had to be done.

An alliance was formed between the nine hundred and ninety-nine million new tenants of the earth and the humans. And through this alliance, the Cosmic Prime was formed; an international police organisation tailored with the objective of maintaining order and stability in the new circumstances we faced. They called those recruited into Cosmic Prime, Troopers, or Cosmic Troopers.

The Troopers were given proton guns such as blasters, stingrays and other high powered guns, they were to use them as weapons to protect themselves and the public. They were not permitted to use their powers unless absolutely necessary and if they did anyway, they were to be court martialed and stripped of their badges.

Almost all the agents recruited for this organisation had at least one superpower, no matter how lame it was. Those with low grade superpowers were assigned with those having high grade superpowers.

Those with very high grade powers were known as silver troopers, while those with planetary scale powers were called gold troopers. I used to be a gold trooper…now they call me the black trooper, a name that's not even in the records.

Now that you are all caught up, let's move on. Being a Cosmic Trooper has its perks besides the daily arrests and blowing off of criminals' heads. You get a free apartment, good food, a free hover car and the pay is good.

You also get to meet people, aliens from different walks of life, of course most of them would be at the back seat of your cop car but at least you get to meet them. Plus there's your colleagues who are mostly aliens, for example, Lemon. She was an alien from the planet of Zoar. The Zoarites look exactly like human beings but have this transparent diamond thing on their forehead. The only downside to being a Cosmic Trooper is that you've gotta live next door with your partner.

"Five minutes Ezra!" She yelled, as I walked out the bathroom with my towel on. "Get dressed and let's get the hell out of here!"

Sometimes, I feel like throwing her off a cliff. We walked out the doors of the apartment building with our shades and jackets on, looking like the main characters of a James Bond movie. The sky was a bit gloomy for a summer's day, which was unorthodox for the neighbourhood of Southside Galla, where the streets were cracked and the apartment buildings were confettied. The kids playing airball in the streets zoomed past us, almost taking Lemon's head off.

"Sorry!" One of them yelled, looking back.

She glared at them, giving a hiss as we approached our cars. They hovered on the sideway, there was my black BMW and her silver Mercedes.

"Get in," we said simultaneously, unlocking our cars at the same time.

We stared at each other for a while, as if communicating telepathically, then she said;

"We used yours last time, it's my turn Ezra."

"Correction," I replied. "My old car was blown up last time, this car has never been used, so technically it's still my turn."

"What, that doesn't make any sense."

"Get in the car, Lemon."

She exhaled getting into the passenger seat. "We never get to use my car."

"Maybe one day."

I zoomed off into the city. The city of Yolo or Yolo Central was what they called it. Honestly it was like the whole earth was now called Yolo, I still don't know where that name came from. With skyscrapers almost touching the sky, some bent slightly like a hunchback, covered with giant purple vines from strange sentient plants that fell from another dimension, multiple aliens and humans walking down the sidewalk on the ground below, kids zooming to and fro with their new hoverboards and hover skates, traffic jams upon traffic jams everywhere, and a handful of food trucks, the city almost felt like the old New York city it used to be.

We made our way through the traffic with our sirens on. The sirens gave us the right to drive down the freaking sidewalks, making our way down the capital district, past the old Madison street and into Billy's Avenue where the lights never sleep. Then making a sharp turn left after Burga Queen, the best diner in town as far as I was concerned, we arrived at the eighty fourth district, at the crime scene where the body was found.

It was a blue rectangular apartment building, victims were the occupants of the room tagged Room 509. We walked into the room filled with the busy troopers, encountering the dead bodies. It was your typical crime scene, a Destog alien had been shot in the back twice which indicated that he was blasted when he attempted to run, and his head had been scorched beyond recognition, indicating that the killer must be one with fire powers.

The Destog was next to a dead human woman, shot in the neck with a blaster and her ring finger had been severed. There was an X carved on the back of each victim. Destogs were aliens that were literally made by the gods! Great height, beautiful long hair and beards for the males, a golden ratio face and blue skin, man that human woman hit the jackpot. I can see why only his head was burnt.

Their bodies were found in the kitchen. Silverware and appliances scattered on the floor, there was obviously a struggle as the two individuals tried to hold on to one another before their lives were taken, seeing that there was no way of escaping and that they were going to die, they held hands.

This was obviously a hate crime.

Lemon and I stood over the body, staring in disgust as we wondered why anyone would do such a thing.

"The X master strikes again!" The opening statement of the chief as he walked up to us after talking to one of the troopers.

"Chief," I nodded.

"Ezra," he nodded back. "I suppose Lemon had to drag you from bed again?"

I cleared my throat, Lemon rolled her eyes, walking away to examine the crime scene a little closer. The chief smiled as he watched her leave.

"You should take it easy on that girl Ezra, she might be the same age as you but in Zoar years, she's probably younger by approximately five years."

"So you're saying her twenty-six is actually twenty-one in human years?"

"Precisely."

"Well that's not fair, I'm older than her and still she acts like my mother."

He laughed, clearing his throat afterwards, then he asked with a serious tone;

"You had the nightmare again, didn't you?"

I knew that was coming. The Chief was the only person I had told about my nightmares… well it's more like he persuaded me to tell him about it. See the man had the ability of persuasion, an ability that makes you do or say whatever the wielder commanded you to do or say. According to experience, the effects only last for five minutes, but five minutes is all it takes to be murked or, as is my case, to suck secrets out of you.

"Yes," I exhaled.

"Did you finally see the face of the person shielding you from the light?"

"No, Lemon woke me up before that could happen."

He sighed, arranging his glasses on his face. "You should really see Dr Bruce, he's the best of the be—"

"For the last time, I don't need a therapist chief," I replied. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my work, it's not a problem."

He exhaled, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Listen, I'm not gonna persuade you to do what you don't want to do. Just take care of yourself kid."

Just at that moment, Lemon walked up to us with one hand in her jacket and the other holding a wristwatch. She had that stern look that made her brows seem vexed.

"I found a lead," she said.

She pulled up the wrist watch, said it was discovered by one of the troopers under a chair in the living room. Bentley fifty-five model, brown leather arms, one cut off and a cracked silver screen. It was one of a kind, made and delivered on demand.

"Only a few people have one of these in Yolo," the chief said, checking every single part of the wrist watch carefully. "And the victims were definitely not one of them."

"Come on chief, Just because they stay in a middle-class apartment doesn't mean—"

"They both have their watches on," he said before I could finish my sentence.

He was right, although the screens were damaged due to the struggle, Lemon and I could see that the dead couple had their watches on. We watched as the coroners slid the bodies into body bags and took them away.

I could see the neighbours watching as the bodies were being towed, crying with sad looks that were all too familiar in this line of business. It was obvious these two were loved, we had to catch the X master before he killed again.

"So, how is that a lead?" I asked.

"The initials," they replied as if rehearsed.

"The first letter of the owner's name and the first letter of his or her last name is engraved on the bottom of the watch," Lemon explained.

"So we're assuming the culprit is a woman?"

"No," the chief replied. "We don't have time for this Ezra! Fill him in on your way there"

He pointed at Lemon when he said that. She nodded, pulling me away while I asked where the hell we were going! When we got to the car, she asked for the keys. One of my many rules was that nobody else drove my car except me, she knew this and still demanded for the keys.

"You obviously don't know where we're going, it'll be quicker if I just drove there," she reasoned.

"You can practically give me directions, there's no need to drive my car!"

"Lardana's pits!" She exclaimed, getting into the passenger's seat and slamming the door.

"Who the hell is Lardana?" I asked myself, getting into the driver's seat. When I turned to look at her she had her forehead on her two fingers like she was thinking of how she was going to pay rent, or tax, something.

"You ready to go?" I asked, ignoring whatever was going on with her.

She exhaled looking at me. "I can't do this anymore, Ezra."

"What are you talking about?"

"Something is obviously up with you, and you don't trust me enough to tell me, or at least ask for help. I'm at my limit," she replied. "You weren't like this last year, last year we did actual detective work, caught the worst of the worst criminals—"

"We still do detective work," I interrupted, chuckling.

"No we don't Ezra, not since this year began," she countered. "I mean last year you were so cool, I adored you as a fellow detective, I fought anyone in the precinct who would say stupid, mean things about you. But ever since January you've been slacking off…waking up late and sweaty, lackadaisical towards proper home hygiene, and a lack of interest in your actual work as a detective! I mean the Ezra I knew would have literally solved this case months ago!"

I exhaled, sinking in the chair. It was almost like I was being scolded by my mother. Technically she was right, I have been slacking off and honestly, if I was asked, I wouldn't give a viable reason. It was probably because of the nightmares, which started in January this year. Bruh, 2050 just wasn't looking like my year.

Lemon exhaled. "I understand you're still having problems with your memories coming back and finding out where you came from, and who your family is, but that's no excuse to slack off for seven months Ezra!"

She stared at my face as I tried my best to avoid eye contact with her, which gave her the impression that I wasn't even paying attention to what she was saying.

She sighed. "Listen, after this case, I'm gonna ask the chief to reassign me to another precinct and I'm gonna suggest you get therapy, maybe you'll learn how to trust your partners more. Start the car, we're going to Ese's Boutique. That's where they make these watches."