Chapter 6: Chapter 5: Detective

Chapter 5: Detective

A month has passed since coming to this Marvel World, Benjamin has left his shabby apartment in Hell’s Kitchen and found a better and more comfortable apartment in Brooklyn.

During the past month, Benjamin visited various antique shops and even visited Chinatown a few times to look for antiques.

It was easy to know which antiques are legit or fake using his HUD Contacts. With it, he was able to buy antiques cheaply and resell them at a higher price in various museums, pawn shops, and such.

This was an obvious way to earn money if one has cheat vision after all based on what he learned in his past life’s web novels and comics.

He had also started working as a normal beat cop and the system issued him quests every now and then when he makes an arrest or settles an issue.

However, since he was just a normal cop at this point, he didn’t get to earn many points since all he had solved were petty crimes.

At the moment, he now has 155 MP. It was really quite low considering a whole month had passed.

Benjamin sighed and shook his head.

He got out of bed, cooked a simple breakfast and ate for a while then got dressed for work.

Seeing Natasha still sleeping in after a long night, he chuckled and left a note on the table to heat up her breakfast when she woke up.

He walked to the 99th Precinct to time in and was about to start his patrol when he was stopped by his superior.

“Freed, come to my office for a bit.”

Confused, Benjamin did as he was told to and walked into his office.

“Sir? You needed me?”

“Right, sit down.”

Benjamin sat down and waited.

“How long have you been working as a beat cop again?”

“Uhh, just a month sir.”

“A month huh? Well, a Detective upstairs just retired and a spot opened. Are you interested?”

Benjamin was surprised.

This...isn’t this quite fast?

Although Benjamin did want it, he had expected he would only become a detective after a while. Maybe a year or so.

...Is this the string Natasha said she’d ask Fury to pull?

Wouldn't it be too suspicious?

“I am interested sir...but is it okay to give this spot to me?”

His superior laughed.

“Haha, it isn’t that big a deal. Detective work is a lot more boring than you think it is, you know? Besides, in this past month, you have caught more criminals than anyone here has caught in half a year! Just take the damn spot.”

“Ha...haha...I’ll accept it then.”

“Alright, get out of here and report to Captain Holt upstairs.”

“Thank you again, sir.”

Benjamin thanked his superior again and left.

His superior sighed and shook his head.

“Why the hell would SHIELD be involved with this guy…?”

After leaving his superior’s office, Benjamin took the elevator and went up. Inside the elevator was another man with a collared shirt and tie.

He had a Detective’s badge hung on his neck.

Benjamin nodded politely.

“Morning.”

“Sup. Morning!”

The man was rather energetic in returning his greeting.

When the elevator stopped, the two of them got out.

Different from the beat cops’ floor, this floor had more people wearing collars and neckties as they walked around or sat on their desks, looking at some paperwork.

The energetic man beside Benjamin went to his desk and started spinning in his chair for some reason.

Benjamin took a look around the place.

There was a pantry area at the side, a small lounge area, and a small detaining area at the corner.

At the far end of the floor was a meeting room and the Captain’s Office.

Benjamin walked towards the Captain's Office and knocked.

“Come in.”

Benjamin opened the door and saw an African American man with a stoic face. It seemed impossible to tell his expression with a look.

“Captain Holt. I’m Benjamin Freed. I was told to report to you by my superior.”

“Sit.”

Benjamin sat down and didn’t mind Holt’s expressionless look.

“Let me be honest with you. I don’t like you.”

“Uhh, it would be weird for you to like me.”

“Why? Because I’m gay and you're not?”

“...Because we just met?”

“...Fair point.”

Benjamin smiled wryly.

This new Captain of his doesn’t seem to like him very much.

“Anyway, what I meant was that I don’t like people like you.”

“Like me?”

“Someone who would rely on people pulling strings for them to get promoted.”

“Ah.”

Benjamin nodded in understanding.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“It’s normal to dislike people like that sir. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be promoted so fast. I thought I’d wait a year or so. But in any case, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m already here sir. Although I took a shortcut, it doesn’t mean I will start cutting corners in my job.”

“We shall see about that.”

Holt’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He then started to read the paperwork on his desk as he spoke.

“Alright, get out of here. For now, you will be working with Detective Peralta. Starting tomorrow, I expect you to start wearing a collar and tie. Your badge and ID are on the desk.”

“Understood.”

Benjamin nodded, took his badge and ID, then left the office.

After leaving Holt’s office, he looked around at the desk to find Detective Peralta.

When he found the desk with the name, he looked up and saw the energetic man he met in the elevator sitting on it.

“Detective Peralta?”

“Hey! What’s up?”

“I’m Benjamin Freed, the new Detective. I was told I’d be working with you by Captain Holt.”

“Jake Peralta at your service!”

Jake patted Benjamin’s back while laughing.

Suddenly, he shouted to let everyone hear him.

“Listen up everybody! We got some new blood! You know what this means?”

A buffed man wearing suspenders rolled his eyes.

“For the last time Jake, we don’t do initi-”

“It’s initiation time!”

“...”

Then, a woman with long black hair and a pink shirt pulled Jake away.

“Don’t mind him. Welcome to the Nine-Nine Precinct! I’m Amy Santiago. The one in suspenders is Sergeant Terry Jeffords, that’s Charles Boyle, Rosa Diaz, and those two are Hitchcock and Scully.”

“Benjamin Freed.”

Benjamin smiled and shook her hand.

Rosa Diaz, another female Detective with a cold stoic face looked at him up and down and said.

“You’re hot. Wanna hang out later?”

“Uhh, thanks. But I have something on later, maybe another time.”

“Aight.”

Charles Boyle was a short man with an honest look. He also looked at him up and down.

“You’re hot. Wanna hang out later?”

“...No.”

“Aight.”

After a while of joking around here and there, Benjamin was able to get to know the group for a bit.

Basically, Jake is the lively and funny guy.

Charles is the honest and awkward guy.

Amy is the straight-laced girl.

Rosa is the cool girl.

Terry is the big brother trying to keep the kids behaved.

Hitchcock and Scully are...well, Hitchcock and Scully…

When Benjamin saw the two of them comparing warts, he figured it was best to ignore them from now on.

Benjamin’s desk was right behind Jake’s desk. For now, he started with cleaning up his desk and organizing his things...though he didn’t actually have much with him so his desk was mostly empty.

In the afternoon, they held a meeting and delegated tasks to everyone.

Jake and him were tasked to handle a murder of a woman a few blocks away.

[Main Quest: Catch the murderer of Anna Hayworth]

[As a Detective, you must solve the mystery of the murder and catch the person responsible!]

[Rewards: 200 MP, Free Gacha Draw.]

[Failure Condition: The murderer leaves New York]

[Failure: -500 MP, Weakened state for 24 hours]

“...”

It was the first quest in a while that he finally got rewards in the hundreds…

Although the failure penalty is a bit severe. Benjamin didn’t mind it as he just simply needed to catch the murderer.

I mean, how hard can it be? I’ve watched one thousand episodes of Detective Conan in my past life!

“Alright partner! Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

“Not you Charles!”

“Oh…”

After Jake shoo-ed Charles away, he pulled Benjamin out and drove to the scene of the crime.

Upon reaching their destination, Jake nodded at the officers at the scene and started to look around.

They were in an alley a few blocks away from the precinct. A body lay on the ground covered with a sheet.

At the sides of the alley were some broken bottles and trash bags.

Jake bent down and took a look at the body.

The victim’s skin was pale and they could see some scratches here and there.

“Signs of struggle. The victim fought back. What’s the cause of death?”

Jake asked the M.E. nearby.

“Blood loss. She was stabbed in the stomach and chest area multiple times.”

“And the weapon?”

“It hasn’t turned up yet. But from the wounds, I’d say we’re looking for a knife about 4-5 inches.”

“How about her belongings? Does she have a wallet?”

“None. I guess some thief was trying to steal from her but she fought back and got stabbed.”

Benjamin asked.

“How about her phone?”

“Here.”

“So wallet’s missing, but not her phone? It doesn’t seem to be a robbery gone wrong to me.”

Jake shrugged.

“Maybe the thief panicked and only took her wallet then ran?”

Benjamin shook his head.

“She was stabbed multiple times. Each was deep stabs too from the looks of it. It doesn’t seem like something a panicking thief would do. It’s more like the murderer has a deep hate for the victim then staged it to look like a simple robbery.”

Jake nodded.

“I guess that makes sense. Alright, let’s go look into this victim and see who has deep grudges with her. Good work.”

Benjamin nodded.

Just as the two of them were about to return, Benjamin paused and looked back at the crime scene, frowning.

“What’s up?”

“...I don’t know, something just feels odd.”

Jake raised an eyebrow and looked around.

“Well, now that you mentioned it, something does feel off about this crime scene.”

“Yeah…”

Benjamin frowned but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

After looking at it for a while, they sighed and left to continue investigating.

-----------------

Note: Nine Nine!

To those who still didn't get it, Captain Holt, Jake, Amy, and the rest are all from the TV show Brooklyn 99. I just figured that since I'm doing the police route, might as well use these guys and put them in the Marvel Universe.

You can just search Brooklyn 99 characters to get an idea of how they look and behave if you're curious.