7. Not Good Enough

Foxx rolled his eyes, but he let Harlow drag him through the room, waving at Charity when they passed. She waved back as he was pulled into Tony's office—which Harlow had just entered without even knocking.

They found Tony bent over, looking at some document on his desk with a magnifying glass. The man stiffened and glanced up. "Ah, yes, how nice of you to fucking barge in," Tony said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Harlow sniffed, and looking completely unbothered, he stated, "We are here for Foxx's new badge."

Foxx had personally requested to interrogate the fucking priest who had taken his, because it was likely still existed, but Tony had swiftly denied that generous request…

Which, if you asked him, was unfair and wasteful. Why make something again when it still existed somewhere?! At least Harlow had been on his side!

Tony straightened up, set the magnifying glass down, and yanked out a drawer. The man pulled out Foxx's new badge and tossed it on the desk. "There, now, shoo. I don't have time for your ass today." He paused and added in a much nicer tone, "Unless Foxx has something he needs to say."

Harlow gasped in what was obviously fake outrage. "You have time for him, but not me?!"

"Yes," Tony deadpanned without hesitation.

"I'm hurt."

"Good."

Foxx snorted. "I do have something to ask."

Tony's gaze flicked to him, brow raising. "Oh?"

"I want to know what progress has been made on getting protection put in place for the victims."

"Ah…" Tony sighed. "Sit… Though I don't have much of an update."

Foxx took a seat in one of the square black chairs, while Harlow remained standing, though the human did move right behind him.

"It's going…slow. Which we assumed it would. Since the issue isn't just localized, and trials will happen throughout the country, I contacted headquarters. I won't say they seemed enthusiastic about it, but the powers that be have agreed that it is likely necessary."

"How nice that they agreed that it's LIKELY necessary," Foxx sneered. "But as nice as it is that they agree that protecting literal fucking victims is necessary, what are they actually going to do about it?"

"Well, after some discussion, we decided there are two options. The first being that we begin lobbying various politicians to pass statues that will essentially allow the Guild to set up the same protections for vulnerable paranormals as we do hunters.

"The second being, we wait for judges to be assigned and then request privacy and protection orders. The former would be better to have in the long run, however…most are in favor of the latter option. Because even if the laws we push are adaptations of what is already on the books for hunters, the timeline will no doubt still be lengthy and convoluted.

"There's always a chance we could get lucky, and get something into place quickly, but more likely than not, it will take years, and by then, at least, some of the victims would have testified already."

"It's not good enough!" Foxx burst out, before he was able to pull back his anger.

"Foxx…we do have some time still to get this done. None of the trials will even take place this year."

He took a deep breath. "You do realize that all it would take is names being leaked for these people to be in danger. There will be so many going through the files on both sides before anyone ever steps foot into a courtroom."

Melody's face flashed into his mind. Any time he thought about the little girl, his mind showed him her staring up at him, her large hazel eyes full of fear and hope…

Foxx…had to protect her. It had been a little over a month since they'd parted… He was healed, his threads were back to normal…yet, the worry he had for her…hadn't dissipated.

At the same time, he couldn't begin to understand how he was feeling back then to even suggest…no, demand that he be allowed to take custody of a child. Still, in the back of his mind, the thought was always there that if she needed him…he would do it.

Which was beyond insane. He really didn't like children. Well, he didn't hate them, he just didn't want anything to do with them. They were sticky…and messy…and gross.

Even so…he hoped she was doing well. She had to be well. More importantly, he had to make sure that she stayed safe.

Tony sighed. "I'll push for the first one and reach out to my personal contacts in politics to see what more can be done. If that fails…the second option isn't a bad one, Foxx. And it may be all we can use to help these people, even if you think it's not enough. We can only work with the tools we have to make changes. Speaking of changes, I did receive some good news today that might interest you."

"About?" Foxx sighed.

"I have it on good authority that the president will, within the week, be issuing an executive order that will overturn the previous rules put into place by the last president, which granted hospitals the right to deny paranormals medical care."

His hands clenched in his lap. The news was… Foxx swallowed and slowly asked, "Are you sure?"

"I am. Even if the president didn't, with the recent events and the mounting lawsuits, the courts wouldn't be able to use the same bullshit reasons as they did before when they first declined to overturn the original executive order."

"Someone will probably try to stop it."

"It"s likely, but the courts won't be able to put it on ice, even if it is challenged. It's too easy to prove that harm will be caused by doing so."

People would protest…and likely, paranormals would face aggression and anger as they navigated the new change…but…it was progress. Good progress. "Thank you for telling me."

Tony grunted. "Now…moving back to the subject of trials… I don"t think you should testify."

Foxx chuckled and smiled—both very much masking his real feelings. "You can't stop me from testifying. In fact, I already submitted my request to the prosecutor assigned to my case."

And it was his case, as being kidnapped by the fuckers had gotten his name on the local victim list—lucky him.

Tony grimaced. "Foxx…"

"I'm doing it, and that is final."

What was with people trying to control him lately?! First, Harlow with the fucking tracking thing, and now, Tony… Though…Harlow, in general, often tried to tell him what to do… Not that he'd actually listened to any sort of order from the human, unless he bloody well wanted to.

"I'm going to testify too," Harlow suddenly added.

"What?!" Tony barked.

Foxx's eyes widened, and he looked back at the human. "You are?"

"I am," Harlow said, his mouth twisting up into a smug smirk.

Ah…he definitely was not doing it for the same reasons as Foxx…

"For fuck's sake, Harlow!" Tony cursed vehemently. "You are not testifying!"

"I am."

"Don't. Just don't. Please, for the love of all, spare us and avoid being there in person to voice the shit you did! Because I can guarantee, the multiple people you tortured to death is a subject the other side will be trying to drag and drill home in their efforts to demonize our side."

Harlow sniffed. "It's not my problem that they were fucking weaklings. They should have talked if they were going to die that easily."

Foxx snickered, before gasping as he remembered something. "The video! I still haven't seen it!"

"Get out, both of you," Tony snapped, sounding oddly…disgusted.

Foxx blinked and turned back around. Tony looked even more disgusted than he had sounded. "What did I do?" He pouted.

Harlow chuckled. "He's just jealous that we get along so well."

Foxx snorted. Yeah…doubtful.

"OUT, NOW!" Tony roared, pointing towards the door.

He huffed and stood up, leaving with Harlow.

"You know, he gets angry really easily. At his age, that can't be good for his blood pressure," Foxx murmured to Harlow as soon as the door closed behind them.

The human chuckled. "I have warned him about it."

Foxx glanced at Harlow while they continued to weave their way towards the front, intending to say something, but then Harlow suddenly growled, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

He followed the man's gaze, eyes widening upon catching sight of Iggy and Oceana approaching them. Iggy pretty much looked just as he had the last time he'd seen him. With his facial piercings and messy, vibrant blue hair, studded jacket, band T-shirt, and his two-tone black and red checkered trousers, the man was definitely still going hard into his 80s British punk rocker look.

Foxx could probably get past the clothes, but the chains on his trousers, not to mention the absurd number of rings he was wearing, were just…too impractical for him to overlook. Like, did he want some paranormal to yank him around during a fight? And while those rings would hurt others if he punched someone, they'd definitely hurt him too.

His partner, Oceana, just looked so normal in comparison, with her long black hair, pale skin, blue eyes, jumper and leather pants.

"Didn't you hear?" Iggy beamed when he reached them.

Harlow scoffed. "Why would I ever stick around to hear anything about you?"

Iggy sniffed in indignation. "Well, if you had, you would know that we transferred here."

"You what?!" Harlow barked out, sounding truly horrified.

Foxx barely held back his grimace when Iggy turned to him and winked.

Ugh, how could the human not tell he wasn't Foxx's type? Oceana should, at the very least, notice that he and Harlow were fucking. But then…maybe she hadn't told Iggy?

"So, Foxx?—"

Harlow growled loudly, drowning out Iggy's words, before wrapping his arm around Foxx's shoulders and guiding him around the two, while saying, "Let's get the fuck out of here before the idiot rubs off."