Devil's Advocate

Prologue

"DADDY!" the girl cried as a tall man with a taser strode towards her. She wailed in terror, hiding behind the mangled beige couch covered in various stains of cigarette ash, alcohol, and bodily fluids—most of which were unidentifiable to a four year old girl.

"I'm coming, sweetheart!" Her father battled through the hold of several policemen trying so hard to restrain him.

"Oh, no you're not," one of them grunted and clubbed the man in the head, earning a loud thud as he fell to the ground.

The girl was too petrified to move; clinging on to the back of the couch with tears staining her cheeks and matting her auburn hair. She didn't even notice Taser Man reaching down to pick her up.

After a long time of fighting the men and screaming for her dad, she finally used up all of her energy and slowly passed out in Taser Man's arms.

He smiled and stroked the girl's hair as he delivered her to the back of the police car, the girl's father being dragged to another. She slumped down in her seat as the man buckled her up, her head slowly dropping until it hit the window.

He smiled at her and whispered under his breath. "You're safe now, small one. We're going to find you a new home."

He then went around to the driver's seat and buckled up, adjusting his mirror to keep an eye on the toddler.

Moments passed and he had arrived at the local orphanage, Young Life. He got out of the car and went around to get the small child before entering the building and slowly making his way up to the main desk.

At the desk sat a young, twenty-something looking woman with bleached-blonde hair that covered her rather large bust. She had way too much makeup on, enough to make her look like a Bratz doll. Plump lips, big, dolled up eyes with little gems in the corners. Black and white gradient eyeshadow encircled her large blue eyes.

"Hello~~" she hummed in a sing-song voice as she looked up at the police officer, biting her lip. "How may I be of service to you?"

Taser Man managed to pull his eyes away from her figure eventually. "I'd like to register this girl into your system."

"Alright~~" her shrill voice rang in the hallways as she started up her computer, her long, white acrylic nails tapping on the keys of the Oxus desktop. "And what's the name of the little girl?" she asked.

"Erm..." the police officer looked at the little girl, who was still asleep. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" she looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Well, I guess we can just call her No. AZ126."

"You're calling her a number?" he asked, baffled.

"Well, unless you have a suggestion," the woman snarled.

The officer returned vhis gaze to the sleeping toddler. He thought back to when she was hard to catch, acting as if she were Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, setting up traps and easily slipping through his grasp. At just four years old.

What did he teach her? He had thought.

"Cypher," he smiled at the little girl before looking back at the suggestive "desk lady."

"What kind of name is that?" she asked, baffled.

"A name," the officer retorted. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm on a schedule here. If you don't want to be fined and/or arrested, I suggest you cooperate."

Big Boob Lady rolled her eyes and did as he asked before standing up. "Put her in there," she nodded towards the bedrooms.

He nodded back to her. "Thank you," he said before walking over to one empty bedroom and placing Cypher on the bed. He tucked her into the dusty white sheets and fluffed the equally dusty pillow.

"You're home, Cypher," he whispered, pecking the girl on the forehead.

All instinctually, he ripped a piece of paper from his notepad, his personal cell number scratched into it. He tucked the paper behind the pillow.

"You're safe. Sleep well, angel."

And with that, he left.