EXT: MODERN CONCRETE STEEL AND GLASS OFFICE TOWER WITH NEAT LAWNS AND UNIFORMED POLICE OFFICERS. SIGN READS "BOARD CITY POLICE HEADQUARTERS"

Cut to: Busy office setting, police hustling suspects in handcuffs through the area

Camera cuts to Chancellor Exchequer. Middle height, dressed in a charcoal two-piece suit, shaved and neatly-groomed with a trench coat slung over one arm, a hat perched neatly on his head. His shoes are neatly shined, and his olive skin and dark hair glow in the daylight of the office. He approaches a desk with two coffees and a manila envelope in hand, and puts them both down

"Excuse me, Miss, I'm Ch...."

Franqueline Doyle, a woman in her mid-30s with wavy red hair down to her shoulders, high cheekbones, green eyes, and pale skin, cuts him off, head bent over some paperwork

"Frankie. Nobody calls me Miss. Take a seat, I'll be with you in a s......"

*Doyle looks up, sees Chancellor, and abruptly gets up from her desk. Camera follows her to an office with blinds drawn and a frosted-glass door reading "SGT. F.P. MCNULTY"

Frankie: "NUTTY, GODDAMNIT! DID YOU MAKE ME PARTNERS WITH THE FUCKING CHECKERS CHAMP OF THE DIVISION?"

FP: Frankie, say relax. You don't want to go nutty. Don't do it.

F: WHAT THE HELL, Nutty. Come on, the guy's a walking nutcase. You've gotta be kidding me. He's probably numbered his shoelaces so he knows which shoe they go on. I can't work with a guy like that!

McN: Frankie, why do you think he's here?

McNulty stares into the distance

Look, you remember when I used to work with your dad? I'd come by, bring you ice cream when we were off shift. I knew your dad, even when he became detective. You used to call me Uncle.....

F: Cut the shit, McNulty. You put him here because there's no-one in the goddamn division who'd take the fucking weirdo city-wide checkers champion.

McNulty's eyes harden

McN: Listen, Frankie. I knew your dad, even when they made him detective. He was just as hotheaded as you. Never let a plan slow him down, never was one to think things through. You know where that got him? A pair of cement boots and a one-way ticket to the bottom of the Knight River after messing with the Bishop. I took care of you after that, Frankie. Where the hell do you think your Academy acceptance came from? Who paid the fees? Shut the hell up, Frankie. I don't want you going your dad's way. If I have to make you learn to think by putting you with Checkers, then that's what's going to happen. That's final. Now, go say hello to your new partner. And for fuck's sake, BE NICE."

F: GODDAMNIT.

Doyle storms out of the office, slamming the door behind her so hard that the blinds rattle. She stomps back to her desk.

Chancellor: "Nice to see you again, Frankie. I brought some coffee and our first assignment........"

Frankie cuts him off

F: Listen, you're here because McNulty wants you. I don't give a shit. So the rule is, stay out of my way. I've worked long and hard to get here, and I'll be fucked if some snotnose OCD freak comes into my turf and starts telling me what to do.

C: So nice to see that I haven't discomposed you. I am here to work cases, as my supervisor also shared the opinion that I was far too hidebound by regulations to approach my department's minimu...

F: Second rule. Speak fucking English

C: Fine. I'm here because I like to be too detailed.

Chancellor sighs, and slides a manila envelope across the desk This will, undoubtedly, be a Sisyphean task. Nonetheless, we must take on our first case. There have been recent reports of accountants in Chinatown, linked to Asian gangs, laundering money by printing fake cheques. We will be assigned to investigate.

F: You have to be fucking kidding me. We're....running after Chinese Checkers?

FADEOUT