Landing at a small regional airport with a little over eight hours in the air, Leon stretched before helping Vivi down from the stairs. This airport's airstairs was treacherously steep, and he never wanted to see his lovely goddess get hurt even a little. Once on the ground, a car was waiting for them to take them to the hotel. The journey had been spent going over the facts and coming up with a game plan to tackle not only the incompetence of these local EEA branch offices, but the interviews and medical examinations of the victims of these heinous crimes. It was the middle of the night and the offices wouldn't be open for a couple of hours yet, so they would take a quick nap and breakfast at the hotel before diving in.
Vivi yawned. She never slept well in the air. Even though their jet had sleeping accommodations, she never could get a restful sleep. Even with Leon by her side on the bed, she would toss and turn. She was looking forward to a hot bath and a good size nap before their day began in a few hours. On the car ride to the hotel, she rested her head against her mate and promptly dozed off. By the time she was roused, she found herself dressed in her nightclothes and her eternally reliable mate sleeping next to her on their suite bed. She had slept through the ride from the airport into the hotel and had been redressed so she would be comfortable. It made her smile that Leon was always such a sweetheart, making sure her comfort came before his own. Glancing at the bedside table's clock, it was pre-dawn. They would have about an hour to bathe and eat before heading to their first stop on this extensive tour of ass-kicking and name taking.
Placing an order for breakfast, making sure that there was plenty of protein that her mate loved in their order, she headed for the bathroom to draw a bath while Leon continued to sleep. The concierge would have their butler prepare everything to their preferences, in this case, only bringing the food into the dining area of their suite and not entering the bedroom. They preferred privacy and nosy waiters never listened and were always grifting for extra tips that they already included in their cost at the end of their visit. Tipping culture was frowned upon after it blew out of proportion in the mid 2020s thanks to a government that had collapsed in on itself causing a huge chain reaction down to the littlest businesses having to either eat costs or resort to added fees passed onto the average consumer, often in the name of tipping.
Leon awoke to an empty spot on the bed next to him. Sensing where his mate was, he smiled and headed for the bathroom. He was sure she would have already ordered breakfast, so that left time for his favorite activity. If she hadn't already taken care of it herself on her own. Entering the bathroom, he quietly observed his mate singing along to some soft music as she relaxed in the giant bath filled to the brim with bubbles.
Her hair was still dry and up in her signature coronet. Once unwound, the crown of hair atop her head would reach the floor. She had never cut more than a few inches off in her entire life. It was his pleasure to help his mate care for it. As a young man, it had been his motivation to study, but now, it was just something that he enjoyed helping her wash, dry, and re-braid. Rarely she would have it professionally cared for and styled, but when she did, it was for a special event. Stepping into the bathroom, he stripped before entering the large sunken tub and smiled when Vivi turned to him and pulled him close for a morning kiss.
After breakfast, which ran a little late, they arrived at the local branch office in style. Their hired driver of the town car pulled up to the small office building that housed the EEA of this city. Leon, dressed in his signature three piece suit, pulled out his pocket watch; that had been a gift from his daughter for his last birthday; and read the time. It was just after eight in the morning. Turning, he helped Vivian from the car. She was also dressed in a sleek skirt suit that hugged her figure in all the ways he appreciated, making her look professional and armed with her with her no nonsense attitude.
Walking up to the building together, Leon expected that all the nearly hundred employees would be here today. And when he walked into the building, he was greeted by merely a handful of people and among them a short, rather plump man that was balding. His greasy hair was only outshone by his chrome dome that shined under the harsh fluorescent lights. Although an alpha, the man didn't look like the typical tall, broad shouldered, and fit, was an alpha nonetheless. By the man's behavior, and the vague employee ID badge that looked smudged with something he cared not to know, this was the department head.
Vivi glanced around at the lack of people that should have occupied this office and tsk'd. The general malaise of the few people present told her all that she needed to know. Overworked and underpaid to the point of not giving a damn. With one sweep of the large office area, she counted more health code violations than she cared to see. One of which was probably not helping the health of the remaining employees and that was the stagnant, almost putrid air that probably hadn't had a working air filtration system in years. It downright disgusted her that the once beautiful art déco accouterments were covered in dust, and dull or downright missing or broken from the walls in many places. The once beautiful decor of this historic building had probably all but been pried from their resting places and either sold or destroyed.
"Your name?" Leon barked at the slimy-looking man as he sensed his mate's mood shift from uncomfortable to anger.
"It's Darth Corbin, Mr. Bartley." The man looked shifty to Leon's expert eye.
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Vivian loved science fiction and scoffed at the name this man gave. How comical could one get? His name practically oozed as much as he did if he had been named after a certain villain of a popular late 20th century film franchise.
"Why would you say that?!" The man looked startled and confused. Vivi almost bought his reaction if he hadn't smirked at the last second when he thought she wasn't looking.
"Because of the uncanny nature of the name and its references to the past era's pop culture. If your name is legitimate, it seems entirely fitting that you have run this department into the ground." Vivan stared straight at the man until he became uncomfortable and shifted his gaze away.
"As records show, when these smaller branch offices were set up in these small cities and townships, there was a generous budget put in place for setting up in historic districts and for keeping up with the maintenance of these historic buildings' unique natures. Along with building maintenance and upkeep, there is more room in the budget for hiring and maintaining more than the skeleton crew I see here today. My records indicate that there should be more than a hundred people working, yet all I see are a handful of exhausted people. Pray tell where is the rest of the workforce?" Leon was none too happy about the state of things at this branch and he and Vivian had a hundred more to visit and that wasn't counting the ones in the cities where the major incidents were occurring such as this city.
"Where is the rest of the workforce? There aren't enough people to even make up a single department, let alone the entire branch." Vivi added her voice as she stared down the visibly sweating man.
"Well, you see…" The man went on to make excuse after excuse, all the while Leon was delving into the sparse operating records.
It seemed that this location had started out well managed and well funded over ten years ago, but over the last year, the budget had become tighter, and it all started when this man took over for the last head of the branch. Unlike most branches where the heads are chosen specifically from a pool of candidates that had the right type of personality and leadership qualities to handle the high stress of the job, this man was somehow in this position without going through the typical review process. Leon tsk'd as he typed out an inquiry on what happened to the last branch head. Injured on the job and took early retirement. His pension was currently pending review because of a red flag during the application process.