Maria Hall

TUMB 03/6, 8 (Called Lieutenant Hill in Chapter 8) TUMB 07/5 I was an Army brat, and my dad spent a lot of time stationed over in South Korea. I spent my years from eleven to thirteen and fifteen to seventeen there. And you know what they say, your tastes imprint musically when you’re a teen. I guess you can say I’m into K-Pop. ”

Maria Hall, a Lieutenant in the AET units in LA, resented Brownstone's ability to defend himself so well, and his lack of consideration that he hadn't fled LA when all of this bounty stuff came down on him. The LAPD’s Anti-Enhanced Threat teams provided the thin line of protection between civilians and the dangerous terrors that contact with Oriceran had unleashed upon the city, country, and planet. As far as Maria was concerned Brownstone was one of those threats, and he needed to be off the streets. Even if he was born human, he’d obviously tapped into the same kind of artifacts that half his bounties used. He was the textbook definition of an enhanced threat. “We’re the police. We’re here to keep order. The longer Brownstone runs around playing cat and mouse with these killers, the higher the chance that some little girl dies in the crossfire. I don’t give a shit that he said he’s going to try and draw these guys away. As long as he’s in our city his very presence threatens our citizens.”

Too many people in the LAPD admired Brownstone when they should have been keeping in mind he was nothing but trouble. Once he was out of the picture the city would be safer. Maria thinks “He’s just a cocky sonofabitch.” Brownstone brought arrogance to a new level. She wanted Brownstone off the streets, but just because he was a walking disaster didn’t mean she wanted some asshole criminal to kill him. Justice wasn’t the same thing as revenge. That was the big lesson Brownstone needed to learn, and if she had her way she’d be the one to teach it to him.

Maybe we’ll get lucky. If Brownstone kills the guy, we’ll have an APB out on him in minutes. LA isn’t his damned kingdom, and it’s about time he learns no one’s above the law. I’m tired of half this department covering his ass and all but begging to carry his balls around for him.” Brownstone hadn’t killed the hitman. Instead, he’d tied the man up with some cable he’d retrieved from the warehouse. Okay, so you’re not a complete thug, Brownstone. I’ll give you a tiny bit of credit for that, but I’m still going to take you down. Just write it up. I’m sure I’ll have a list of crimes and infractions a mile long by the time this is over. We’ll wait until we have a rock-solid case to bring that bastard in.” (Called Lieutenant Hill in Chapter 8)

TUMB 05/08 Lieutenant Hall still retains her hatred stronger than ever concerning Brownstone. That Lieutenant Hall seems to really want my ass in prison. She has made Tyler's Bar, the Black Sun, a "neutral" meeting ground, where police and underworld may meet without prejudice, exchange information, and, she hopes, get information that will put Brownstone behind bars forever. She thinks that the police should patrol the cities, not killers like Brownstone. She tries to get to Brownstone through his association with Shay ( a killer in her former life), and only succeeds in killing a Shay clone, the Drow assassin who was trying to kill Brownstone. Hall takes "Orb of Truth" to Browstone's house, asking him all sorts of questions about the person she thought was Shay, and Brownstone answers all questions honestly- he didn't know her, had never met her, had gone to Park, but was suspicious, so left, etc. The Orb verifies his answers, and Hall thinks it isn't working correctly, but has no other source of verification, so Hall is foiled, Brownstone is free to go, again!

TUMB 06/11 Maria and the AET A lot of people misunderstood both Maria and AET. She didn’t give two shits if someone was a man or an elf or a half-dragon or whatever, let alone if they had been born on Oriceran or Earth. America was a land of immigrants, and if some of the new ones came from another planet, that wasn’t a reason to hate them. People were people. She only had a problem with criminals and overpowered beings who thought they were above the law. The average Oriceran in town kept their nose clean and followed the law while plenty of humans like Brownstone caused trouble. Things might change in the future, but for now the powerful needed to be kept in check, and AET was a big part of that.

TUMB 07/5 Tyler thinks that all cops are is another kind of gang. AET doesn’t arrest people for using magic. Doesn’t fuck with someone just for being from Oriceran. You stop assholes who have gone too far. It’s like being a firefighter, you know? All you do is save people’s lives.” He shrugged. “Now, sure, sometimes it gets expensive, but magic isn’t exactly easy to control.”Maybe, but any decent gang makes sure that other assholes don’t fuck with people on their turf. So it doesn’t change shit whether this is about protecting or serving or if this is just about me being mad there are assholes in my territory who aren’t wearing my gang colors.”

TUMB 07/17 I’ve also been told by the higher-ups that I need to stop blaming you for everything, and…” The lieutenant looked away. “Look, one of the reasons I have problems with you is because of how fucking destructive you are. I joined AET because I didn’t like the idea of overpowered people doing whatever the fuck they want. I don’t give a shit if magic is back. The strong should protect the weak.All this crap recently, including the witch and AET’s last big battle, has given me a new perspective on what it means to deal with high-level targets. Not saying mass destruction is acceptable, but I accept now that we can’t always make the other side take it easy on innocent bystanders. “It’s crazy. When I joined the force, if someone had walked in and talked about magic, we would have sent them to the psych hospital, and now I have a job where I have to worry about fucking magical killers.” Her perspective has changed, and she is less harsh on Brownstone now than she has been.