in all your years working as a cop, you've never seen a brawl as bad as this one tonight. blood seemed to cover the entire room in it and the only one who appeared to be able to point a finger at the main predator was also in one of the worst states you've ever seen a person in.
however, the main suspect appeared almost untouched and if it weren't for his fists, all covered in blood, you wouldn't believe that he was even involved in any of it. his shirt was covered in blood as well and his lip was bleeding too, but it looked more like he had accidentally injured himself, didn't look like the type to get himself in wuch serious fights.
before you threw him into a cell for the night, you had found out some info about the guy. apparently his name was raphaël. you joked, asking if he was a teenage mutant ninja turtle, and he said he preferred deers more, though he did seem to fall in love with the hunting dogs at the station within seconds and so did they. it was an odd thing, see a criminal form a connection with an animal this quick, but you didn't judge. the guy didn't even look like he was a criminal, he just couldn't be.
when you asked what had happened that led him to be involved in the fight, he remained silent. as if he didn't know it himself, but on closer inspection you figured that he truly didn't. you didn't know why, but you felt like this guy was telling the truth when he said he was only protecting a woman and her unborn child. usually you'd think it was an unlikely story, but in this case... no, his words felt too true to not be, as odd as it may sound.
you asked for his full name, he said his last name was varane after a bit of hesitation. you got someone else to run a background check on him while you entertained the man, trying to calm him down as he rambled on about how he was just trying to save a woman and her child, how he didn't want to hurt anybody, but that they were asking for it and there was nothing he could do about it. mumbled something about how it was his duty to make sure no woman got hurt in his presence. as if he was a god that watched over women, one of your colleagues joked, but you found it rather endearing.
when the results of the background check came back, it turned out he has quite the history with getting in trouble for the sake of protecting women. it was funny to see the long list and even raphael had to laugh when you said the number of times he has been in a cell so far for such reason; five times, which didn't sound like a lot, but it was quite the number considering he has never been actually arrested.
there were a lot of other things you ended up talking about. you noticed he wasn't born in las vegas or even anywhere in the united states, but france. you ended up discussing that, curious to know why he was there. he shrugged, saying he wasn't sure either. he just felt drawn to the place and felt like he should check out why. you considered asking if it was because of the women who he appeared to be protecting over and over again, but you didn't. it felt like a wrong question.
instead of asking him other useless questions about what had happened during the brawl or discuss his childhood, which he was very secretive over, you ended up asking him what got him caught up in all these issues where women were seemingly the victim. he laughed, but there wasn't an answer for a few seconds before he asked you out. you were confused, but he said he'd tell you if you agreed.
you agreed and you already thought he was stunning, but you could feel your heartbeat increasing rapidly and skipping more beats than should be healthy when he smiled at you in a way that it would even make the toughest man alive melt, a smile that while it didn't resemble it, it certainly reminded you of the joy of an innocent child.
you thought you knew who he was by now, but now you found yourself doubting if he was even real. he couldn't be, nothing tonight seemed possible, but at the same time, there were many records that said this man existed and enough evidence that proved this was real.
you finally spat out the question that had been bothering you the entire night and he had the guts to shrug it off before answering in a calm voice that he'd be gone before sunrise, but that he'll leave something behind.
you didn't believe it at first, but then again, everything seemed impossible tonight. perhaps this was one of those impossible things that were possible. as if he was a god or something. the thought was so unlikely that you even believed it for a moment.
one of your coworkers coming down the stairs signaled the end of your shift. despite all the confusion you've experienced, something kept pulling you back to this guy. he was definitely something else and you thought you were just seconds away from finding out.
when you came back the next morning, true to his words, raphael wasn't there. your coworkers said they let the guy they arrested go because he seemed innocent, but no one appeared to remember raphael as they said the guy had a completely different name. they offered you a cup of coffee, but you refused before heading to the cell where your god was just hours ago.
you weren't sure what you were expecting to find as surely they must've cleaned everything up. however, you noticed that someone had carved something into the wall. artemis, it said.
a quick google search was all you needed to figure that this was the message that'd be left behind for you. suddenly everything was crystal clear.
