I Fought the Law (Sean)

[Lani Hunter]

He had been a pawn for someone else long enough and he was going to be hard pressed to let someone else control him now. Lani felt like everything was crashing down around him. He thought this was over and he was being pulled back in, couldn’t he just live his own life? Was that too much to ask? The telekinetic’s eyes snapped up and he frowned, well he must have been wrong. He’d assumed whatever was stopping his power was also stopping Dr. Neville’s but that was apparently not the case. He clenched his jaw and Dr. Neville’s calm was starting to rub off on him. He shook his head. “What future,” he muttered darkly, none of his choices were his, every time his hand was forced and Lani didn’t see a future beyond thievery. Lani signed and banged his head against the bars again in frustration. Lani didn’t look up but he could only pray he wouldn’t have to face his boss. He’d already betrayed the man who had been more of a father than his own, he didn’t know if he could watch and see the knife twist.

Lani nodded. The District Attorney was going to give him information or the District Attorney was going to know what Lani could do. Probably not the wisest plan but it was all Lani had. Lani was trying to cover his fear with anger, anger was all he had. It was all he knew how to work with. If he couldn’t trust Odion then there was really and truly no one he could trust but himself. Lani could have told Dr. Neville from the get go he didn’t trust the District Attorney from the get go. Not only was he in law enforcement but he had power to bend Lani’s will. He was in many ways Lani’s boss but instead of a league of thieves under his command he had cops. Was he really so different?

Squeezing his eyes shut and trying to force back the panic and the hopelessness rising in his chest Lani didn’t know Dr. Neville was reaching out until the edges of the cloth touched his hand. Startled Lani looked up and from the cloth to Dr. Neville. “Thanks,” he said softly and reached a pair of fingers through to grasp it. He turned away from Dr. Neville now and leaned his back against the bars as he tried his best to compose himself. He tried to be subtle, he couldn’t let Dr. Neville see him tear up and he had to hold it together in front of these people. These police officers were the enemy and any show of emotion was dangerous. He dabbed his eyes quickly and pinched the bridge of his nose and looked up to stop any more from sneaking out.

Lani clenched his fist around the cloth and closed his eyes for a moment. Dr. Neville was right. He couldn’t put his family in danger. Lani didn’t care too much about himself and it was just as well, it made it easier to be heartless. If he didn’t care what people thought of him then he couldn’t be hurt by them. It was his sister, his mother and father he cared about. He wondered distantly if now, maybe now that Lani was taking this step and getting out, maybe now his father would be proud of him. He shook his head remembering that Dr. Neville could still hear his thoughts, he didn’t know how to keep the telepath out all he knew was how to change his mind about something.

Lani flinched a little and swallowed. He dropped his head, he owed Dr. Neville so much, the Hammel school psychiatrist had done so much for Lani, much of which without him asking, and who was Lani to him, just some punk kid with a bad attitude who’d gotten himself into a lot of trouble. He pushed himself away from the bars and lifted his eyes to Dr. Neville’s. “You have my word.” He couldn’t betray Dr. Neville’s trust. Dr. Neville made Lani suspicious but he’d never done anything to outright destroy Lani’s trust. And admittedly he was the only person cared, be it through some obligation or duty, it didn’t matter, it was something Lani had never asked for or expected and yet here he was to pay bail for him.

The door came open and Lani nearly broke through. Officer Matthews put a hand on Lani’s chest to stop him and flew into a lecture. Lani’s expression took on the one that he often got during his father’s lectures that just shouted that Lani didn’t care what was being said and he was pretending to listen. With his stuff back Lani went about putting his pockets back in order and he scoffed realizing that they hadn’t given his lock picks back. Lani tested the walls, no power yet, they were probably waiting until he got out, bastards. Lani started toward the door intent on being out. It was a good thing his power wasn’t back, Lani was not quite mentally stable to handle it, he was still trapped inside.

Lani’s hand was already on the door by the time Dr. Neville made his offer. Lani looked at him skeptically weighing his options. On the one hand, Lani didn’t have a car and chances were stealing a car this close to the police station rated very highly on the stupid scale. On the other hand Lani didn’t really feel like talking right now. “You’ve done so much already. I’ll be alright.” Lani said and held out the handkerchief to the telepath.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean held back his frown at the question. He knew Lani’s cynicism as well as he knew the boy’s situation. They had discussed this before, but the psychiatrist continued to believe that the telekinetic could extricate himself from the clutches of his Boss. That was the entire point of his intervention on Lani’s behalf, of all of their engagements with the District Attorney, of the undercover sting operation. “You have a future. One day, you’ll be free from all of this.” That was the abridged version of what the psychiatrist wanted to say, but they were in a jail cell with more pressing concerns in the moment. Tomorrow, or later tonight, they would have a deeper conversation, during which the older man would say everything on his mind, running the full gamut of reassurances.

Reassurances that included the telekinetic’s inherent humanity, and the options that would exist once his Boss was in jail. When the boy no longer had to worry about looking over his shoulder for fear of retaliation. One day, he would be free. One day, he could simply enjoy his family and his friends without fear that he had become a liability or that they would become collateral damage.

“Good.” The psychiatrist wanted that reassurance from Lani, so that the boy understood the stakes ahead. It was a lot of money, and Sean had put a great deal of faith in the telekinetic by posting his bail. As long as the younger man remained in Pilot Ridge, Sean could recover that, Lani could make whatever appearance he missed, or the District Attorney could sort the matter out for them. Then they could return to where they had been before the arrest and telephone call tonight.

The older man stepped aside to make a path for Lani as he exited the cell. He likewise made a path for the officer, bidding him a good night until he and the boy we left alone.

Sean looked back at Lani as the telekinetic studied him. He had made the offer in good faith, in that he wanted to drive the boy back to his home. That was a far better place for Lani to spend the night than a jail cell or the bus depot, waiting to find somewhere to go. “It’s no trouble.”

The psychiatrist made that remark so that, if Lani’s reasoning was, truly, born solely from the desire to avoid further impositions, he could set aside those thoughts. If the boy was using that as an excuse, then it would force his hand. Either way, the older man wanted it out in the open.

He reached for the handkerchief that Lani was returning to him. Without looking down at the dampness, he folded it and replaced it in his back pocket. Just as the boy had said nothing about it, the psychiatrist also called no attention to it; he did not thank Lani for returning it, as he assumed that the younger man did not want to discuss the underlying reason that he had had it in his possession in the first place. Few people wanted to discuss vulnerabilities, and men in particular were socially conditioned to view crying as a shameful weakness. That Sean disagreed was of no bearing on social conditioning; he had a difficult enough time trying to convince Josh otherwise, and his partner engaged in comparatively little masculine posturing.

If Lani chose not to take him up on the offer, he wanted to offer one last piece of advice and set a firm plan into motion. “At least let me call you a cab.” He had a friend; he was sure that Robert would come pick Lani up if they called. “And make sure to call me first thing in the morning so we can talk about this. I plan on trying the District Attorney again tonight, and then in the morning too.”

One way or another, they would get to the bottom of this and set a plan in motion.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani glared and looked around at the cage he was in with the bars between him and Dr. Neville. Some freedom. Lani looked away, the problem was if that freedom came with a new set of chains, if the law thought they could do something to shackle him, they had another thing coming. If he was going to appear in court, which he hadn’t decided to do, he wanted to be one hundred percent clear that any sort of blackmail would be null, because he didn’t trust the police any more than he trusted his boss and in the grand scheme of things that didn’t give him a whole lot of people to trust. “I hope you’re right,” Lani muttered as if making a wish. But right now he couldn’t see much past the mess of bars in front of him. If Dr. Neville truly believed that Lani had other options Lani would love to hear them he had been trying to move past it but he had a rent to pay and he was much better at stealing than he was at anything else.

Nodding, Lani understood and he knew that the good doctor was placing a lot of trust in him, which Lani would have been the first to tell him, was a terrible idea. He let everyone he cared about down, he left his father down and he let his boss down with this blatant betrayal, well in his defense, he didn’t know that Elle was an undercover agent. He scoffed, to think that all of this could have been avoided if he’d just done as he should have and killed him in the first place. None of this would have happened, he wouldn’t have to worry about his boss anymore. Not at all. No one Lani knew was loyal enough to do anything like revenge. So long as his boss was able to get to people and threaten them, no one was safe and people could go after his family and his friends. The only thing to protect them now is if he went away forever, and then everyone could cut ties.

He’d do what he had to do to make sure that Dr. Neville got his money back, but he was not going to do more than that until he had done as Dr. Neville said. In Lani’s opinion, he trusted Dr. Neville more than the District Attorney, but he’d do what he had to because now he owed Dr. Neville. If there was anything that this sort of job had taught him it was that he was that it was a terrible thing to be in debt to someone. He was in dept to Dr. Neville now. He ignored Officer Matthews more or less with a bored expression on his face, it was important that that he didn’t show any emotion, no fear, nothing that could be used against him. He was grateful for Dr. Neville in letting him dry his eyes, because the panicked tears would have only given them ammunition against him.

Lani forced a smile and swallowed. He didn’t understand why Dr. Neville was doing all of thing for him. He didn’t have any ties to the psychiatrist, but he’d asked for help and the doctor had done so and it seemed he never expected anything but Lani’s cooperation in return. Lani was still unsure of the doctor, but he had done nothing to give Lani a reason to not trust him. The telekinetic was glad he didn’t say anything about the tears and he crossed his arms unsure. Dr. Neville had done so much, Lani didn’t need all of this help, he could take care of himself. The only thing he couldn’t do was get himself out of the jail cell. Lani sighed and rolled his eyes a bit he didn’t want to call Dr. Neville tomorrow, he didn’t want to talk about this, but at least the morning he could have a little bit of a cooling period.

“Dr. Neville,” Lani started turning back to the psychiatrist and motioning toward the door, he didn’t care if the older man wanted to talk, Lani just didn’t want to talk in here, not in the police station. He started walking, he would be happy just to stand outside. “Why are you doing all of this for me?” He asked turning back a little bit to see if Dr. Neville was following. He stopped once he was outside in the clear air and the taste of the wind was more wonderful than he remembered. He tested his power and there was no response from his, he had a bad feeling he was going to be a little distance away and get stuck by his power coming back, it seemed they weren’t letting him have any potential to use his power anywhere near this place.

He made no response about the cab, because part of his thinking was that if he was going to have to talk to Dr. Neville eventually he was weighing his options for getting whatever lecture Dr. Neville wanted to give over with now or forcing himself to do so tomorrow. He wasn’t sure he was emotionally stable for a conversation like this right now, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t call. He glanced at the older man and shook his head, “We’re going to have to talk about this aren’t we?” He asked softly, he had really been hoping to get out of it, but it seemed Dr. Neville wasn’t going to let this go.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

At least they were on their way out. Sean hoped that this would be his last visit to the police station and holding cell, at least for a bit. Josh had been on his best behavior, and with his desire to run for town council again the next year, his partner had promised not to find himself in any sort of trouble absent peaceful protests. If such were necessary, then the psychiatrist himself risked spending a night in the same jail cell, although for different reasons. Likewise, their other friends tended to stay out of trouble, and the rest of the students had been comparatively subdued recently. Lani stood alone as his responsibility during this troubled time, and he had to see the boy through the full course of events.

He hoped that the telekinetic would at least accept his offer to pay for a taxi cab. He would feel more at ease if he knew that Lani had returned to campus safely, as he could trace the payment and the taxi license plate. If Robert Cook answered the call, then he would be able to check in with him immediately afterward.

“Why?” The psychiatrist repeated, before spreading his hands to substitute for a shrug. An inelegant gesture, perhaps, but it conveyed his reasons well enough. “Because I don’t think that you or your family should suffer the aftermath, and I think that your boss is dangerous and shouldn’t evade punishment. Beyond that, because I care.”

It was as simple as that. Lani had not been one of his protégés, but he was a former student, and so he cared about what happened to him. They had been working together for these past months, before the boy’s disappearance, and during that time, Sean had become fond of him in his own way.

Yet that conversation was momentarily shelved when Lani asked his question, and his thoughts became those of a scale, balancing the pros and cons of waiting until tomorrow.

Sean’s planned remarks only partially constituted a lecture. While he had begun to compose what he wanted to say to the telekinetic, lectures typically involved more pontificating than he desired to use. Yes, he wanted to remind Lani of the promise that he had made about staying out of trouble and remaining in Pilot Ridge and about attending whatever court dates the District Attorney set out for him. Yes, he wanted to make sure that Lani understood the machinations of the legal system to what little extent that the psychiatrist could explain them. Yes, he wanted Lani to be safe and not at risk of further reprisals, either from the legal system or from his boss.

Mostly, he wanted to make sure that Lani understood that he was not alone in this. He had not been alone from the moment that he had stolen Sean’s wallet, and he had most certainly not been alone since he returned it, un-pilfered, to the psychiatrist’s office those weeks later.

“Eventually we are,” he confirmed with a nod. He kept his voice low, as he had enough experience with law enforcement to know not to speak too loudly about personal matters. While he had full confidence that the District Attorney working with them would be able to offer some assistance, he did not want to provide anything potentially incriminating or harmful to the police by virtue of carelessness. “I’m happy to let you sleep this off, so that we can have that conversation with a clear head tomorrow.”

Sean spoke the truth. It had been an exhausting night, and what he wanted to say would keep. If they waited until the next day, then he might have heard from the District Attorney, and then he could offer practical legal information in addition to his general advice.

[Lani Hunter]

Sean’s hope was something he shared with the telekinetic. The telekinetic was not going to let anything like this happen again. Never again. He shivered uncomfortably, to be trapped in a cage was something he had nightmares about. Anything that felt like a prison, like Hammel, made Lani feel uneasy. Any place where he was restricted from his freedom was a place he didn’t want to be. Maybe it was something about what his boss had done or how he had spoken that made Lani ignored the fact that he was trapped with him as well. Somehow it had taken him this long to realize it. It was like he was a flighted bird unaware that the world didn’t end beyond the direction of the falconer who held his jesses. He’d been hooded and now he could see and his jesses were broken and when he flew the currents he was truly free. The thought of losing that hung over his head while he was in here.

Lani raised his chin and looked with penetrating eyes at Dr. Neville as he explained his reasoning. It was a rare moment that Lani wished he had some sort of mind reading power so he could tell how much the telepath was pulling out of nowhere. Lani looked down at his feet his arms crossing over his chest, as if he were protecting what rested in his heart. He smiled wanly and shook his head. That wasn’t an answer that made sense. Well, the initial part Lani could understand but the fact that Dr. Neville cared… Lani wasn’t sure if Dr. Neville was lying or if he was just a fool. Lani had stolen from him the first time he spoke to him, if their roles had been reversed Lani would have let whatever happened happen and cut ties with him.

The telekinetic looked up and shook his head. “You’re mad,” Lani informed the good doctor. Dr. Neville wasn’t a normal human. Or maybe it was Lani who was confused. It wasn’t normal in Lani’s world to care, and even if he did it wasn’t usually wise to step in because it could backfire. Lani had no illusions about his status as a person, he really was a terrible person, by most definitions. But no one was the villain of their own story and the world wasn’t cut into good people and bad people. Lani just happened to have a lot more of the bad in him. Maybe that was why people who pretended to be better than others bothered him so much. The cops pretended like that, but Lani’d met enough dirty cops to know better. Lani swallowed, this was a strange sense of fear that went along with that. He supposed most people would be afraid because people they were supposed to trust were untrustworthy, but Lani already went in assuming the latter. He supposed the fear came from the power that they held and what could happen if it was abused.

Lani turned his eyes up and the stars shone. He closed his eyes and dropped them back to the ground. For a long time the stars had been his source of peace. Somehow coming to Hammel had gained the telekinetic more than acquaintances and allies, it had gained him friends and with that came dangerous territory. He’d learned that the hard way with Odion. The one person he had actually come to trust had spat in his face. Lani guarded his heart closely and the hurt of the breakup felt like a betrayal. He had never felt like such a fool. Slowly the reality was starting to set in, as cold and distant as the stars he admired. How he longed to be so detached, but he was only human and as a vagabond once told him, he couldn’t be without anyone.

A groan escaped the telekinetic’s throat and he gave Dr. Neville a joking smile. “That’s fair,” he agreed. Being out of the walls and free in the night air was giving Lani chills and his fingers twitched with the adrenaline starting to seep in and excite his nerves. Like a near meeting with a vehicle, being imprisoned and freed gave him a similar near death excitement. As sad as it was, it really made Lani want to rob some high security bank. That would probably be soul crushing if Dr. Neville knew about that desire. Everyone dealt with things differently, some people knitted, others drank, more still worked out, Lani broke and entered.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Lani said and looked off into the night his hands in his pockets. A night would allow him to process and calm his nerves. “I have to go for power training tomorrow anyways,” he said offhand as if he was only doing this because it was convenient to him. He let the situation wane into silence and took a deep breath. He paced down the steps. His nerves were too active for him to think about taking a cab home and sitting there. He wasn’t sure what he would do, but he couldn’t relax. He got a few paced before he stopped and looked back at Dr. Neville for a moment before walking back and holding out his hand. “Thank you.” He wanted the man to know he was sincere and of all the people Lani knew Dr. Neville was one of the few who held his utmost respect.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

As clichéd as the thought could be, Sean firmly believed that hope would get them through this situation. He was pragmatic enough to understand that hope alone would do nothing but keep up their spirits, but if Lani or himself lost hope, particularly if Lani lost hope, then it would undo everything that they had worked towards over the past many months. Sean had hope as much as he had confidence in the legal system and in the District Attorney, and in his own ability to keep promises that he made, and in Hammel’s far-reaching influence, even though Lani was an alum instead of a current student. Likewise, Lani needed to have hope enough to stick to his word and to continue to work towards their common goal. If Lani strayed from that path, the consequences could be dire, and clean up and management might be far more difficult, if not outright impossible.

At least, for now, it seemed that they had reached an understanding, and that was all that he could ask for tonight. They would be able to discuss everything fresh in the morning, and, with a night’s sleep somewhere outside of the jail cell, he hoped that would provide each of them with a clearer perspective. Particularly if the District Attorney returned his telephone calls by then, so that they would have a plan of action for this incident.

The psychiatrist shook his head, although he maintained eye contact with Lani. “I’m not mad; I’m concerned.” Very few people had seen Sean mad in his life, and he worked to keep it that way. This situation was a mess, but there was a solution if they stayed the course. After they reached that solution, he and Lani could sit down and plan for the telekinetic’s future in a way that would help him to prevent ever finding himself in a similar situation again. In time.

He then nodded his understanding. They could meet at Hammel after Lani’s power training, if the boy found himself back on campus as it was. “Then come by my office when you’re finished.” That would provide them with as much time to talk as necessary, even if it was possible that the young man would have a headache as an after-effect of his training. Sean would prefer that, and to treat it with his ever-present bottle of Excedrin than to meet prior to the training session only to be interrupted. As it was, he would be in his office for most of the day.

Then, before Lani left, he added, “Take care of yourself tonight.” His voice was painfully sincere in that directive.