Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XI

ARU
Mini's words seemed to echo in the silence that followed. 

"Wh-what do you mean?" Brynne asked, her own eyes wide. 

"The Supermundus Organization has a spy in the NYPD." Mini said, her voice not terrified, but now, dull. 

"And that spy is the lead detective on this case," Aru growled. 

"And we just handed him whatever proof we had!" Brynne groaned, burying her face in her hands. 

Mini nodded miserably. "Lenguine can just wipe the gun off of any fingerprints, and no one will be any wiser."

"What if we tell Opal? Or any other officer?" Brynne asked, hopefully. 

"How can we trust them? Heck, they could be spies too, for all we know!" Mini said angrily, pulling out a paper towel from the dispenser. 

Brynne cursed, and paced the bathroom. 

"Ugh, he's already suspicious now. He saw both of our faces last night, and now he knows we saw his face! Neither Rudy nor I were exactly inconspicuous out there! I might as well have put us all in danger!" Mini said, the anger in her voice rising. 

"It's okay," Aru said comfortingly, patting her on the shoulder, "you were scared, that's understandable." 

"But what do we do now? We've handed them all the evidence we have! I'm not holding out hope that we'll get Witness Protection." Brynne said, and stopped her pacing. 

"We start from scratch," Aru said, the words scalding her mouth before coming out in the open.

"All our hard work... wasted." Mini sighed, leaning against the sink. 

"Not really, Mini. We do know quite a bit about the Supermundus Organization, and about the canal 'treatment', and we still need to have them reply to the email we sent them." 

"Won't that put us in more danger?" Mini asked, her voice muffled, since she'd covered her face with her hands. 

"Maybe... but, we'll be okay. We've collectively managed to survive being held at knifepoint, several threats, Leslie Grant's insufferable-ness, and being held at gunpoint--somewhat." Brynne said encouragingly. 

"Uh-huh." Mini let out a sigh, and said, "We'd better go, we've spent too much time here." 

————

Aru and Brynne watched Mini, as she silently lay face-down on the couch, her face hidden. 

That day's copy of 'Woodstover Editorial' lay on the floor, crumpled up by Brynne. 

"This is a mess," Mini finally said, her voice muffled by the couch. 

Brynne toed the newspaper. "Tell me about it." 

Mini turned her head, and said miserably, "Bee, do you have any qualms with squashing people?"

"I don't, Mini, but by this point, I doubt Leslie's human." Brynne said, as her attempt to cheer up Mini. 

"Don't care. I know a good amount about human bodies, after you end her miserable life, I'll make sure you get an alibi." Mini sniffed. 

Brynne exchanged a look with Aru. Aru cleared her throat, and said, "Mini, you were held at gunpoint yesterday, I doubt this is your biggest problem." 

Brynne shot her an exasperated look, as if to say, Not helping!

"Somebody sent a picture of the article to my brother! He sent it to my parents! It's a nightmare!" she said, gesturing vaguely to her phone, which was blowing up with texts.

Aru decided to not read those texts, but just glared at the newspaper, which had a front-page article about Mini and Rudy. 

After they refused to tell Leslie anything, she followed through with her threat, and spread lies about the two of them in that day's edition of 'Woodstover Editorial'. 

The most disturbing part was that she'd somehow found a picture of Mini and Rudy. 

They were blurry in it, obviously running, but you could faintly see their faces, and the fact that they were holding hands. 

It was at times like these she hoped that the Supermundus Organization did the world a favour and ended the life of Leslie Grant. 

Aru cast a pitying look in Mini's direction, having no doubt that Rudy would be having a similar existential crisis in the boys' apartment, before returning her attention to the picture. What Mini was wearing caught her attention. 

It was the same jacket as the previous day. She was wearing the same jeans as the previous day too, and one could faintly see Rudy's horrible tie-dye shirt, and dark jeans. 

"Mini..." Aru said slowly, "Was this picture taken yesterday?" 

"I don't know." Mini sniffed. 

"Can you... can you see it?" Aru tried. 

Mini got up, balancing on her elbows, and held out one of her hands. Aru handed her the paper. Mini sent a nasty look at Leslie's name at the bottom of the article, but squinted at the picture. 

"It... it was! What the heck--" Mini's words were stopped by a soft thump of a letter falling to the ground. It had been slid through the letter hole, and stayed there, before Brynne strode forward, and picked it up. 

"Mini." Brynne said sharply. "It's addressed to you." 

Mini got up, confused, and went to Brynne. Brynne handed her the envelope, as Aru reached the both of them, and began reading it behind Mini's shoulders. 

The cover was printed, with Mini's name on it: "To: Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez". 

She opened the flap, and slid out a sheet of paper, which contained the words: Watch your backs. You'll need it.  

"It's probably Lenguine." Mini said disdainfully. She said 'Lenguine' as if the word left a bad taste in her mouth. 

Something else slid out, stiffer than the A4 paper used for the "letter". It was a photo. 

In fact, it was the exact same photo printed in Leslie Grant's article...

Mini, Brynne, and Aru all exchanged questioning looks. How did Leslie Grant, of all people, have the photo that the Supermundus Organization, was using to threaten them?

Brynne squinted at the picture once more, before looking up at the both of them. "You... you don't think Leslie's a part of Supermundus, do you?" 

————