The rest of the week was surprisingly uneventful. Well, at least by Andrew’s standards. One call was a false alarm, where a kid called the CDRs after he watched a horror movie. “Th-The chair was floating!”
His friend had tied a string to it and was pulling it up. “Christ…” Smith muttered.
But that was better than the next mission. In that one, some demon was living in some guy’s closet. Andrew knew that, because it had jumped out and almost bit his neck off. Thankfully, Singh was there to shoot him off. “Cheng, I think I found you a girlfriend!”
Gutierrez snickered, “I guess that makes two guys with crazy girlfriends.”
Smith rolled his eyes. “Fuck off…”
Other than that, the rest of the week went relatively quickly. There was risk, there was reward, and there was pizza by the end of it. Either Andrew had gone senile, or the days really did quickly pass.
“It’s already Sunday evening?” Smith chuckled. “Man, that was one of the nicer weeks.”
“Tell me about it…” Singh was already half-way through her pie as she sat back at the table. “You know, we haven’t gone out as a team in a while. I don’t even think Cheng was with us last time.”
That was true. Andrew sometimes forgot that he was still the newest member of the team, even after their countless missions together. After shedding blood, and spilling some, he had really fermented himself into the team. “Where do you guys normally go?”
Smith replied, “All the boring CDR teams like to go to City Bar. They give a discount to CDR members, so most people flock there. But, personally, I’ve gotten sick of their stale beer and dry chicken.”
“Same,” Singh sighed. “You know, New Changan has hella clubs and all. We could just go out to one of those.”
“Well…” Smith tsked in his words. He pointed at his phone, which gave a pretty quick hint. “I think my girlfriend would be fine with me going to City Bar, but I don’t know about clubbing…”
“Why not?” Gutierrez chimed. He was in the middle of fixing up the engine of the truck—it had stalled a few times earlier, but he had juryrigged it into working. “You’re not planning on fucking every chica in there, are you?”
“Fuck no! Do I look like Prince Motherfucking-Charming?”
Gutierrez shrugged. “Then I don’t see what the problem is. Besides, when’s the last time you’ve talked to… what’s your new girl’s name…?”
“Samantha,” he replied.
Singh chuckled along. “Hey, don’t forget the Asian last name.”
“Fine,” Smith growled. “Samantha. Samantha Kim.”
“Wow.” Gutierrez slammed the hood of the car down and wiped the sweat off his brow. “I guess you really traded one Korean girl for another. Lemme guess, if you break up with this one, she’ll put piranhas in your bathtub.”
“She’s nice. I swear,” Smith coldly replied. “Anyway, I’ll just text her about going out tonight. I’m sure she’ll be fine with me going out, so long as it's with you guys and not with some random girl. If I start doing crazy things when I’m drunk… make sure I don’t. Sound good?”
“Sounds good,” Kang interrupted. Everyone looked to find him standing at the door. He must’ve been there for a good couple minutes, or more, without saying so much as a word. “I don’t drink, so I can be the one keeping all of you sane. That is, if you want me to tag along.”
Singh gave a half-salute. “Hell yeah, Assistant Team Leader.”
Smith joined in. “Help me walk straight, Assistant Team Leader.”
Then there was Gutierrez. “I’m in love with you, Assistant Team Leader.”
They all held their mock salutes for a second or two, at the silly behest of their Assistant Team Leader. They held it long enough for the Sergeant to walk in with a blank face. “CDR-4, what the fuck is wrong with you people?”
***
They went out as soon as they made the rotation with CDR-1. After a brief break, where they got to change into civilian clothes, they met up at the train station with bad intentions and bad smiles. For Andrew, this was the first time seeing them in real outfits.
Singh had a crop top up to her abs and short jeans up to her thighs. That, and a pair of converse, made her look like a normal young adult.
Smith had a baseball cap, polo, and khakis. With the standard pose of a hand in his pocket and a half-grin, he looked like your average fratboy.
Gutierrez, being Gutierrez, wore a gold chain, half-buttoned shirt, and a tanktop. Basically, he looked like the cool Hispanic uncle who let you drink beer when your parents weren’t around.
Kang was probably the better dressed of them. He wore a black turtleneck with leather shoes, like some kind of male model gone missing.
Then there was Andrew. He was out with a silver chain, compression shirt, and cargo pants that tied at the waist. He had even washed out his hair to give that nice fluff. Probably too much effort, by his new take.
“Damn Cheng, you lookin’ good,” Singh chuckled. “Shit, if I was straight, I’d think that you’d be fine as fuck.”
Gutierrez chuckled as he patted Andrew on the back. “I gotta agree with her. You know, compliments from a lencha are real good, since they know what girls like. You tryna get some digits tonight?”
“Uh…”
“Going out for the sake of getting girls is a waste,” Kang sighed.
Singh giggled as she bumped his shoulder. “Oh, but if we were going for guys then it’d be okay?”
Kang gave a cold look. Then smiled. “You all seem very infatuated as to my sexuality, it seems. Don’t think I haven’t been listening in on your debates, let alone the money pools as to whether I’m gay, straight, neither, or both.”
“Game is game!” Singh exclaimed. “Anyway, is the Sergeant joining us?”
Kang shook his head. “No, she won’t be able to. Another debrief.”
“Hey, it could be worse,” Smith said. “And it’s not like we’re on our best behavior when we go out. Personally, I’d rather not vomit all over her dress, like how Singh did. We’re lucky we can even conceive of going out with our Sergeant.”
“But don’t worry,” Singh added. “We have our glorious Assistant Team Leader!”
“Yeah! Assistant Team Leader!”
“Long live the Assistant Team Leader!”
***
Dragon’s Den was a massive nightclub at the center of town. Singh looked like an excited child as she led the team over. “Look, I’ve been scouting this place out, and I think it might be the shit. I’m talking about good drinks, good food, and the finest girls the world has ever seen!”
“What, did you find that out from advertisements?”
“Shit it, Smith! At least you have a girlfriend!”
They walked over to the venue, which literally blasted music from inside-out. They were lucky to enter the line while it was early, because five minutes later, it went as long as the whole street. If Singh had a good idea, then it seemed that all of New Changan thought it was a good idea.
The bouncer, probably standing around 6’ 7”, who looked like he could lift a truck-and-a-half. He kept his hairy arms crossed almost to show off his forearms. Long story short, he was massive.
Singh whispered to Andrew, “He kinda looks like a goomba from Mario…”
“IDs. Now.”
The team presented their IDs and, after a quick look, he let them all in. “Thank you for your service. The whole city appreciates you guys.” As random as it was, the statement was comforting from such a big guy.
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As they walked inside, they were slowly greeted by brightening lights, loudening music, and moving bodies. It got progressively stronger as they got deeper into the room, where the strobe lights were reaching the ceiling and the bass into the bones.
Singh was smiling like a kid in a toy store. “Holy fucking shit! This is lit!”
“What?” Smith yelled.
“I said, this is fucking lit!”
“I still can’t hear you!”
Andrew couldn’t hear them either, but he knew that he was definitely in another world. Sure, he had gone to a couple clubs in high school, as any troublemaking teen naturally does, but none of them compared to this. One major piece was that, unlike in the ‘States, the drinking age was just 18.
With Singh as their partyheaded leader, they corralled to the bar where a cheongsam dressed woman was standing. Her silk clothes were quite the allure, especially since they were the tight kind that went well with a lipsticked smile.
“Hey chokri,” Singh said with a bedazzled smile. “Think you could slide me some rum? Old Monk, if you have any.”
The bartender rolled her eyes. “It’s a little fast to immediately start with Old Monk,” she replied. Her voice was strangely soothing, and somehow powerful enough to pierce the loud music. “Just as it’s a little fast to immediately call me a pretty girl, am I right, utāvaḷiyuṁ?”
Singh looked frozen in the moment, even as the bartender continued on. She poured the drinks and kept on going. “So what’ll it be for you four?” she asked. “No, actually let me guess, a Guinness, a tequila, a bourbon, and for you…” The bartender pointed right at Andrew. “Would you like milk?”
The rest of the team was already hooting with laughter. They slapped Andrew all over. “A glass of milk! Did you hear that shit?” Gutierrez howled. “Like goddamn, chica, you didn’t have to kill my boy like that!”
In the end, Andrew settled on having a light beer. He was already red-faced by the end of the cup. Asian glow was a bitch.
Looking around, he saw the rest of the team already in a world of their own. Singh was spitting more game at the bartender, Smith and Gutierrez were acting like fools on the floor, and Kang was happy enough with his glass of bourbon. As lonely as it seemed, Andrew felt nice in their company.
“Hey, is anyone sitting here?” a girl suddenly asked.
Andrew looked to find a short-haired blonde woman standing face to face with him. She had the look of a Wasian, at least by her smooth skin and eyes that kissed at the ends. Pretty. And she was asking to sit next to him.
“I don’t think so,” Andrew replied. He immediately felt like an idiot for saying something like I don’t think so, but that was mostly the guy-brain going crazy at the prospect of a pretty girl. If men were smart with women, romance movies would be over in fifteen-minutes.
She sat herself next to Andrew before quickly ordering from the bartender. “I’ll have lychee soju. Thank you.”
Things were quiet for a moment as the music kept blaring, the lights kept flashing, and the club kept partying. Andrew’s cup had long been empty, so he felt like he was just loafing in this corner like an idiot. Well, an idiot who could hardly utter a word to the girl next to him.
“This kind of place not for you?” she suddenly asked.
“Huh?” It took a second for Andrew to register the question. “Oh, yeah. I’m relatively new to town.” For that, he wasn’t entirely wrong. As a CDR member, he hardly had the chance to actually venture around New Changan and absorb it for what it was. “You?”
“No, I’m not one for clubs either,” she replied. “By the way, I’m Gwen.”
“Andrew.”
“Nice to meet you, Andrew.” Gwen extended her hand and Andrew shook it. “To be honest, I’m here because a bunch of my friends from work wanted to drag me over here. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, so they wanted to get some partying in while they still could.”
Andrew smiled. “Yeah. Same here.” It was hard trying not to break into laughter whenever he spoke to anyone not in the CDRs. Hearing complaints of the train taking too long or the ice cream being too warm sounded stupid when he stared death in the face. “What do you do for work?”
“I’m…” Gwen looked like she was carefully choosing her words. “A glorified housesitter.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” she continued. “I protect property. Or something like that. What about you? You have something that kidnaps your time?”
“Something like that.” Andrew also had to choose his words. People either loved or hated anyone related to the CDRs. “I’m… a technician. I work with and repair equipment and trucks.”
“Really?”
“Of course,” Andrew said, even though he had the feeling they were both lying. “It’s a nice paying job, and with decent enough hours. I’m on call for one week, and then I get some time for myself. Hence why me, and my coworkers, are here right now.”
Those coworkers were still up to no good. Singh had moved on from the bartender and was now talking up some other chick at the seats while the rest of them kept looking like idiots trying to dance. “Yeah. My coworkers.”
Suddenly, a glass broke and a man stood up. “Hey! Bitch! What the hell are you doing?!” A definitely inebriated man, standing probably around 5’ 6” or something, was causing some trouble with Singh. “It’s bad enough I’ve got to deal with—hic—those fucking CDR bastards, and worse that I gotta deal with bitches bumping into me!”
The music continued as the man tried throwing a punch at Singh. Andrew wanted to help, but as he watched Singh slip under it before throwing a knee at his ribs, he realized she was all good. “Jesus, what’s he badmouthing the CDRs for?”
Gwen shrugged. “He’s probably an off-duty cop who’s a tad too tired of the CDRs. Right now, the CDRs are in some weird limbo where they’re supposed to work with the police, yet aren’t part of the police.”
“Well, it doesn’t help that the police don’t help out,” Andrew found himself saying. He seemed to forget his decorum as he defended his unit. “Where the CDRs are charging in, the police are standing by.”
Surprisingly enough, Gwen wasn’t arguing. “Housesitting,” she only said.
Then it all clicked. Andrew felt like an idiot as he looked her in the eyes. “Wait… don’t tell me… are you… a cop…?” His voice went quiet as he felt the world crush around him. That’s what usually happens, when anyone fumbles a pretty girl.
“A housesitter, who has to bring their incapacitated boss home,” Gwen sighed. She paid her bill and got up with a straight face. That had more of a sting than any insult she could’ve given. “Have a good night, demonbuster.”
Andrew didn’t even have the courage to say “you too”. He could only watch as Gwen picked up the knocked-out cop while Singh made out with that same cop’s girlfriend. “Shit…”
He watched as she hauled him out towards the front door, exchanged a word or two with another man, and then left as a crowd of pissed off-duty cops came storming right in. “Oh! Shit!”
He immediately charged towards Singh and pulled her away from the girl. “Hey! You got inbound!”
“Huh?”
A hand touched Andrew’s shoulder. Singh took the hint and punched the poor cop in the nose before following with a kick to his nuts. In short order, she made the man reel back.
“What the fuck is wrong with you people?” the cop groaned. Blood drizzled from his nose as he struggled to stay on his feet. “I was just trying to apologize for our drunk Sergeant! We lost a few guys a while back, and he hasn’t been the same since.”
“Oh.” Singh didn’t look like she felt too bad, since she had acted on instinct.
“You guys must be CDRs,” another one of the men said. “Fight first and ask questions later, kind of people. Look, we’ll pay for your next round of drinks and be on our way. Sound good?”
“Sure,” Singh bitterly replied. Perhaps in her slightly inebriated state, she wasn’t trying to be rational. Knuckles and rum seemed to be a fun combination. “So long as you fuckass cops actually help, next time we get called up.”
“Look, if you’re trying to pick a fight, just know that it wasn’t our call,” the cop replied. “A bunch of us want to help you guys, but we get orders from higher up to let you guys go in alone. If it was up to us, we’d be charging in there with you, APE suits or not.”
That last statement finally soothed Singh’s drunken soul, at least by a little bit. “Hm. Fine. Just get me some Old Monk and we’re cool.”
That sounded fine to them.
***
By the end of the night, everyone had their share of drinks. Even Kang was drunk as all hell. “That was good… the place was good… a little pricey… but pretty good…” he hiccuped. “I’m just glad I don’t have—hic—Asian glow…”
Andrew, on the other hand, was as red as a cherry. He felt like if someone pressed on his cheek hard enough, he’d burst all over. From the little he recollected, the cops had been more than willing to pay for all of their drinks. Actually, after the outburst was more than over, they were actually able to have a good time.
Shuffling all over the street, the CDR team headed for the train station. “You know,” Singh slurred, “that shit was funny as fuck. I mean, that guy called me, a skinny bitch.” She giggled like any drunk person would. “It could be my fault though. I bumped into him while chatting up some pretty Asian girl.”
“Asian?” Gutierrez asked with his crooked smile. “If you say that loud enough, Smith might listen in.”
“Fuck off already…” Smith was barely conscious as he shifted left and right. Even as the group made it to the next train, he was hardly able to stand up straight—especially when the train started moving. At that point, Andrew had to prop him up. “I love my girlfriend…”
Singh laughed as she started poking him on the chest. Maybe in her drunk mind, she was playing a game of mini whack-a-mole. “She left once the cops came in though. Too bad you weren’t able to see her, Smith. Luckily, I was able to snap a picture while we were making out…”
She got out her phone, fumbled between the apps—mostly between Tinder, Hinge, and Instagram—before finally getting to her photos. “Here. Fresh Asian shawty for your collection.”
The whole group, including Kang, focused on the picture. Drunk minds think alike, so it took them a solid second for them to register the picture. “Wait… Smith…” Kang mumbled. “Isn’t that… your girlfriend…?”
The train grinded to a sudden halt. The drunken CDR team fell as one while the intercom gave the usual, “Now arriving at: Washington Street. Xianzai daoda: Washington Dadao.”
Smith was the first of them to sit back up. His face was drunk, sad, and drooped. “Shit… so that’s why Samantha wasn’t texting back…”