MVUTO

chapter 53 - your shout

"Before we do anything embarrassing online, we should study the gameplay of others and find some cheats", advised Chief's wife, sitting up in bed with a laptop perched in her lap.

"you've played online before?" Chief seated beside her, looking over her shoulder at the screen.

"of course, but this game is a little more underground than the popular ones. When I do play, I pose as a teen and get hit on a lot. I'm often given gifts in-game and helpful advice while other male newbies flounder and get bullied. There is a mountain of single men playing online. I'm surprised the dept still hasn't tapped this info resource yet!"

"early days, darl'. ... what was that about a mountain of single men?"

"you're still the only one for me, sweetie. It's just that not many women play."

"or waste time with players?"

"I see what you did there", she tickled his chin, "you get some sleep while I study this game", and indicated he use his eye-mask.

Not wanting to wake her sleeping bear husband, Chief's wife muted online, citing to the other players that she would get into trouble from her parents if they discovered her playing when she should be sleeping. Of course, not in so many words. Chief's wife typed with emoji's and abbreviations just like everyone else. Chief's wife was AFK and still asleep when he woke up. So he fed the dog and grabbed a coffee from a drive-thru on the way to work.

"cadet, are you playing that demon king game?"

"not presently, sir."

"I meant in your spare time... I'm trying to ask you what your handle is?"

"oh! you mean gamertag! Ah! I'll write it down instead," the cadet blushed. Then, not wanting anyone to see what he wrote, he rushed it into Chief's office.

'xbig_bloomersx'

"what the hell, cadet!"

"you asked me to find a student from the boys' school playing the game, and the only way to do that with a high chance of probability is to pretend I'm a girl", he whispered.

"I'm actually questioning if someone your age would know 'bloomers' meant women's underwear?"

"I used a thesaurus. All the typical words for women's 'things' were already taken. conversations get confusing if similar tags are used."

"ah, I see."

"are you playing it now?" the cadet asked.

"ahem, not quite into it yet."

"I nearly forgot to mention... I've noticed something relevant to the POI ... I remember that list on the board mentioning slaves... in that demon king game if you're a newb and want to join a group of players, they demand that you become their slave."

"really! So that's why it's a thing in the schools of a free country!"

"if a big enough group at the school are online gamers, the gameplay would likely spill over into the playground."

"point taken. Thanks for your insight, cadet."

"you're welcome, sir."

As the cadet left Chief's office, he looked to see if the desk sergeant had overheard but could only see other disinterested staff processing paperwork. Throughout the rest of the day, Chief jumped whenever he heard the security door for the front desk open while he was researching footage from the front camera to spy on Sarge. Right up to the first day of the school year, the desk sergeant never received a call or text while on duty, nor did he contact anyone. This was remarkable to Chief as the rest of the staff couldn't go a day without direction. Although now that he thought about it, Sarge never did ask for direction. He always knew what to do and how to complete his tasks. Only ever speaking when necessary, even when in the kitchen during breaks.

Another email pinged. The BOS enquiring whether patrols were actually interacting within the community due to next to zero public complaints. Reminding Chief to check night patrol logs. 'okay, a relatively quiet night; pulled over a dangerous driver on mobile; called out to shoplifting incident; called in dangerous potholes to road maintenance; moved on some vagrants sleeping in the park. They say it's safer there than any other place in the city. Chief will be pleased... hmm, someone's taking the piss ...'

During a short meeting between shifts, the night and day staff took turns jibing one another.

"Nothing, there's next to nothing to report for the week, woohoo! So what do we do now to catch the POI in the act? Wait for a criminal gang to show interest in this 'quiet' part of town?"

"The BOS must think it's odd that day stats outweigh the night!" a couple of nights jibing day staff.

"that's because we don't have a vigilante on our shift!" day staff fist-waving at the nights.

"settle down! Sorry to be a stick in the mud, but there is always a dip between violent incidents. This is mainly because we increase the number of patrols for a while [knocks on a random desk twice]. Nevertheless, don't drop your guard because of the lull. It's business as usual. The same rules apply. Be on your way!" Chief commanded.

Chief drove home, feeling a little empty as if he hadn't achieved anything at all that day.

"wanna spend some time at the gym with me?" he asked his wife.

"nothing happening at work?"

"Good guess. Just an increase in vagrants sleeping in the park."

"can't have them there! It's the kid's play area!"

"they were moved on."

Chief's wife breathed a sigh of relief. Even Rocket noted her mini panic attack, licking her hand to take notice of him. "You're such a good boy, Rocket", she patted Rocket and handed him a treat. "yeah, let's go. We haven't been out of the house in ages," she included Rocket.

Rocket was a familiar doggo customer at the gym. Easily recognisable because of his service dog vest asking people not to pet him. Not to undervalue his calm demeanour sitting or laying down next to whatever gym equipment Chief's wife was using at the time. Chief was just as attentive to his wife's behaviour. If he saw that she was following him, he would turn and ask what exercise machine she preferred to use and then use the one beside it.

"so, did you get anywhere in the online game?" Chief asked while assisting his wife during her bench-presses.

"yeah, filtered out a few in the local area.... should really wait for the weekend to get deeper into it."

"our cadet is also looking. You won't believe what his tag is!"

"what?"

"I'll tell you when we get home. I'm not shouting it over the music!"