Death in the Shell

A/N: I'm close to finishing the final chapter and it should be out hopefully by Friday. Around last month I made some edits to this chapter in order to make it appropriately reflect the direction I'm taking with this story and to also alleviate some confusion. Happy reading everyone.

Standard Disclaimers Apply

*****

Whitney's mind had been heavy these past twenty-four hours, him being a leader had advantages and disadvantages. One of the big disadvantages had been issuing the suspension of his best officer for a crime he knew she didn't commit. It wasn't like he had any other choice, the cards were on the table for a potential scandal had he done anything different. Had he not asked for Eve's badge, the showing of favoritism would've made the scandal worse.

But that didn't save him from the public outrage of her bullpen, Feeney or Jaime Lingstrom. Jaime especially, because he wanted to be a cop and was now seriously questioning whether or not it was worth it if they bit the head of their best officers to cover their own asses. It wasn't much better at home either, the way his Lieutenant looked when he issued that suspension had made him lose sleep, making him resort to not even coming home at night and drinking the most cups of coffee he ever consumed in his twenty five years as a cop.

So here he was fielding questions from reporters and sending them to the media liaison, keeping himself busy with any other kind of paperwork that involved anything but his best cop. He had been doing all he could to try and get her reinstated by doing all the strong-arming he was able to do. One of which involved sending Baxter to Roarke's mansion to get the formal interview done with, after all Roarke's attorneys blocked any chance of interviewing her at Central.

A call from his admin had notified him that Baxter was here and wanted to speak to him. Whitney ordered him in without incident.

"Commander," Baxter greeted as he walked through the door.

"Baxter," Whitney acknowledged. "Have you finished getting Lieutenant Dallas' statement?"

"Yes sir," Baxter nodded and began to give Whitney details of the interview.

Like Lieutenant Dallas, Baxter refused to sit down while giving his oral presentation, he relayed to Whitney the Lieutenant's details of what happened before Officer Bowers died, Eve Dallas' time in question of that murder and her response to allegations Bowers put against her. Crisp and formal, but Whitney noticed a manila envelope in Baxter's right hand.

"May I ask what's in your hand, Detective?" Whitney asked after Baxter finished the oral.

Without hesitation, Baxter gave the envelope to Whitney. "Before I exited the Lieutenant's residence, she gave me this for you to read, said it was for both you and Chief Tibble, sir."

It gave Whitney a feeling of dread when he hesitated to open that folder, he had seen too many other cops give his prior superiors these types of folders before. Most of those cops had been friends of his and they had either been resignation letters or retirement letters. In his time as Captain and Commander, he lost too many cops that were as good as Lieutenant Eve Dallas to this type of letter. But he knew he had to do this, so he slowly but steadily opened the folder and pulled out the paper to read it.

January 19th, 2059

Lt. Eve Dallas

Central Park West

New York City, NY

To Commander Jack Whitney and Chief Harrison Tibble:

In light of recent allegations against me involving the murder of Officer Ellen Bowers along with other allegations that were brought to the New York Police and Security Department, I have come to the realization that I do not wish to continue my career as Lieutenant. Therefore it is with great regret that I must resign my post from the New York Police and Security Department.

I do acknowledge that neither Commander Jack Whitney and Chief Henry Tibble think I have anything to do with the murder of a fellow officer. I also acknowledge that my suspension was issued to me in order to prevent any further scandal. But the past twenty-four hours have made me realize that it is in the best interest of both me and all related parties to the NYPSD that I should not return.

If I can make a request on behalf of my soon to be former aide Officer Delia Peabody, I want her to be trained by Detective David Baxter from now on until she's deemed ready for the Detective's Exam.

I also humbly request at this time, no contact with neither Captain Ryan Feeney, Officer Delia Peabody, Charlotte Mira, Detective Ian McNab, Detective David Baxter or Lieutenant Donald Webster. This is something I need to do alone and I don't want them to get involved.

Sincerely,

Lt. Eve Dallas.

The grief came to Whitney in the form of light tremors from his body, he dropped the paper softly on the desk and turned his chair away from Baxter to look at the window showing him the dreadful winter New York was going through. He knew something like this would happen, but he didn't want it to happen to the best officer he ever worked with, he didn't want it to escalate this far.

Whitney failed to notice that Baxter took a peak at Eve's letter of resignation and was able to read every word of it. Baxter felt his face go sheet white when he finished reading it, he didn't expect Eve to do this, this wasn't like her at all. He knew Eve was not one to give up with her tail between her legs.

"Commander?" was all Baxter could say.

Whitney turned his face from the window to look at his detective, "Have Feeney meet me at Chief Tibble's office, immediately."

Baxter nodded in acknowledgment and couldn't leave the office fast enough.

It left Whitney an opportunity to slump down in his chair, like he just took 500 blows from a Heavyweight Champion boxer.

"My God, Lieutenant," Whitney whispered to himself as he looked at Eve's letter. "What have we done?"

ooooOOOOoooo

By the time Feeney got to Tibble's office in the plaza, he had already seen Whitney stand beside the Chief of Police in professional attention, he especially noticed the sober looks that both of them wore.

It didn't take long for Feeney to realize that this was definitely about Eve, his former student/partner, who was suspended for being a suspect in a crime he knew was bullshit. He'd seen Eve kill people on the job before, but he knew she was not one to kill anybody in cold blood, but they suspended her anyway because of how her staying on the job would potentially cause a much bigger scandal than it already was. Those were the same words that Whitney echoed to Feeney during one of their spats after shift.

So to see him in Tibble's office told him something was definitely wrong. God help him if he found out Eve self-terminated due to the overwhelming grief she carried when she broke the news to him. He hadn't lost his blood children to death yet, but if Eve self-terminated, it would definitely be the equivalent of that.

But without saying a word, Chief Tibble gave Feeney the resignation letter that Lieutenant Dallas gave Baxter earlier that day.

A thermometer wouldn't even measure the temperature of anger in Feeney's eyes when he finished reading the letter.

"What the hell is this shit!?"

"We understand your anger, Captain," It was Whitney who spoke first. "But I swear to you that we had no idea that she would escalate to this."

"Oh just like the both of you didn't see her grief when you asked for her badge?" Feeney shot back.

"I told you before, Ryan, we didn't have any other choice," Whitney replied his voice steadily rising in anger. "I've been hard at work trying to get all this fixed but I didn't want this to escalate to her resigning. I was doing everything I could to help her."

"Yeah and because of you having a God Damn stick up your ass with procedures, it's definitely certain that she's telling you to take that help and shove it up your asses. This is 100% YOUR FAULT!"

"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!" Chief Tibble roared at the top of his lungs.

The power behind that scream, stifled any further argument from both parties.

"Captain Feeney, you have every reason to display your anger at the both of us." Tibble kept his tone evenly and sat diplomatically at his office chair. "I also acknowledge that our following of procedure has caused not only the grief of our best officers, but the grief of her officers in her bullpen."

Feeney was half-tempted to say 'but'. But instead chose to remain silent.

"But the bottom line is, we have a case that Eve would want us to finish, resignation or otherwise. Therefore we must work more diligently than ever to catch the man who murdered a fellow police officer along with four other people. We'll worry about Lt. Dallas' future with the NYPSD when we catch this killer and bring him to justice."

"You guys can worry about Lt. Dallas all you want, but we're going to take charge of this case." came a deep male voice from Tibble's doorway.

Feeney turned around to join Whitney and Tibble looking at a muscular man with neck-length white hair, a black leather overcoat with all black clothes underneath. Beside him stood a woman who almost looked like Eve Dallas except with purple hair, red eyes, and a bigger chest size.

"What my partner, Batou, is trying to say," Motoko said after walking through Tibble's door. "Is that the case involving the sidewalk sleepers is now under the jurisdiction of The Ghost Organization."

"The Ghost Organization?" Feeney asked with shock and disbelief. "Just who the hell are you two?"

"I'm Major Motoko Kusanagi, leader of the Ghost Organization formerly known as Section 9," she pointed at Batou with her thumb. "This big burly man you see is my partner, Batou, and as I said we have been given authority by the United Nations to take over jurisdiction of this case due to it being a global matter."

"How come we weren't notified of this beforehand?" Whitney asked in anger.

"You would've been notified had you not ignored your beeping office link," Batou retorted. "What with both of you griping over procedure and all. So we figured we'd be nice and personally deliver the orders to you, Chief Tibble."

Although it definitely did strike a nerve, both Whitney and Feeney were too shocked at the sudden developments that just happened a few seconds ago. But it was Chief Tibble who made the save when he began to read the pages the contained orders from the United Nations to transfer any and all files relating to Eve and Feeney's current case.

"Captain," Tibble said after finishing his required reading. "I require you to gather every file you have on this case."

But before Feeney could object, Tibble raised a finger, "We have no choice in this, Captain, the U.N. is overriding all authority we have on this investigation, we are ordered to cease all work on this case and leave it to The Ghost Organization."

ooooOOOOoooo

Finally realizing that there was no further room for argument, Feeney led Batou and Motoko to his office at the Electronic Detectives Division and gathered everything that he, Eve Dallas, and Baxter had worked on. If it didn't break his heart already after finding out that his former student had given her resignation letter to Whitney, it was now pretty much shattered to pieces when he found out that even if Dallas were to change her mind and come back, she would come back with a case she would never be able to finish.

But when he watched Batou pick up the heavy box from his desk and hold it like it was a jug of milk, he had to ask.

"Why are you guys paying attention to a case that you'd otherwise wouldn't give a thought about?"

Batou didn't answer as he began to make his exit, but Motoko waited a few seconds before leaving Feeney's office by turning her head around and saying, "A little girl is crying for help, it's the guardian angel's job to make sure the crying stops."

Then as Motoko finally made her exit, Feeney sat down on his chair to ponder what Motoko meant by her answer...but then something hit his brain like a sack of potatoes. 'Little girl' he thought. And even though no one was there to hear him, he looked at his shut door and whispered "Take good care of her."

ooooOOOOoooo

"Probably should've kept your mouth shut about Dallas, Major," Batou said while beginning their drive to Ghost headquarters.

"True," Motoko agreed. "But even you know that Feeney was displaying paternal feelings towards her. I figured it was the parental thing to do."

"Yeah, he definitely displays a papa bear mentality when it comes to her. I'm surprised you didn't ask him to join us along with Dallas."

Motoko shook her head, "It's not that I wouldn't trust them to work the case with us, but it would complicate matters if those two Commanding Officers found out that her friends went Rogue in order to help us. I want them out of the way in order to make sure Eve makes a clean entrance back to the NYPSD."

"And how do you think Eve will react when she finds out about the case we asked her to help us with?"

"Well she and Roarke will definitely be happy when they find out they won't have to leave New York."

"So you definitely think they're going to hit New York?"

"No doubt about it, Batou, but why they are targeting her specifically is a mystery to me."

"You and me both," Batou replied as the car made their way towards the parking garage near their headquarters. "Nothing for Eve to do now but either sleep or have sex with her husband, while we look at her case files."