Special Police Dekaops

27

Angela said nothing as she pumped her legs as she ran, telling herself this was part of the job she signed up for. She personally hated to work out but she knew in order to be a cop she had to stay in top shape. And especially if she wanted to be part of SPD, so she worked her ass off when it came to training. Like now Cap had them running sprint drills, the one where you had to run to a marker, pick it up and run back to start then run out to a further marker and do it over again. Cap went first to, as the other put it, set the bar. Being the rookie she went last. When she dropped the last marker at the starting point she put her hands on her knees and breathed in as hard as she could. She didn’t feel too bad though, Cap was a huffing a bit when he finished too. “Why are we doing this last?”, she asked.

“Because anybody can get a good time when they’re fresh,” he answered. “I’m more concerned about your reaction time when you’re tired.” He went over to Michelle who was keeping track on the times. According to the others she just started training with them regularly too. Apparently she wanted to do a little more field work. Comparing the times, not counting Cap, she was second behind Rev. Cap looked pleased with the results then said, “Not bad guys, but we can do better.”

Boomer, who was sitting on the floor, groaned and fell to his back, “Would it kill you to say ‘Great job guys, I can’t imagine you doing any better’ just once?”

“Me no, you yes,” he said in a matter of fact tone. “Alright people hit the showers. We’re doing this again tomorrow no matter what.” Boomer groaned again but he got up and headed for the showers with the others.

While they were heading for the women locker room she got Ace’s attention. “What’s up Target?” she decided to not fight the fact they stuck her with that nickname. Besides it could have been worse.

“I was wondering if you could clear up something I overheard,” she said. “I heard a couple of people wondering on when Cap going to take me to the ring?”

“Oh that,” she chuckled a bit. “It’s nothing, Cap just going to spar with you to see how your hand to hand skills are. He did it with everybody on the field team.”

“Is there a reason why he does that?”

“Look Target,” she stopped to explain, “you’re going to find out That Cap has a few different philosophies. One of them is anybody can fire a gun but not everyone can hold their own in a fight.”

“He wants to see if there’s any room for improvement,” she said thinking it out.

“Exactly,” Ace said. “It’s nothing personal, Cap just wants to make sure everybody at their best.”

“That didn’t stop Boomer from complaining,” she commented.

“Boomer bitches at every training session. Haven’t you noticed that by now?”

***

Sticking to the shadows Chatrox walked the alley until he found the hidden door. The entry code was a series of knocks, two-four-two. The wall slid away only to slid back after he entered. The hallway itself was barely lit. One because the occupant was highly sensitive to light and two, to make sure you didn’t see the weapons on the walls until it was too late. A simple but effective set up. Besides back when he was working both sides he operated in plenty of dark areas so this was no problem.

Walking into the main room he looked at a green skinned humanoid with no hair and wide black eye sit behind a table. As usual they sized each other up. He hated dealing with this particular alien, he was so… human. “Do you got the stuff?”, he asked.

Chatrox nodded, the alien slid a data card across the table. The Agent took it and ran it through a reader. After verifying the amount on the card he said. “You’ll find it in the usual location.”

“You know this would be easier if you would just bring the stuff with you,” the alien commented.

“And your order consist of several large drums,” Chatrox reminded him. “Bringing that all here would not be in the best interest of keeping your location a secret.”

“Don’t get smart with me Agent, if you want to get out of here alive that is,” he threatened.

Chatrox lips twisted into a scaly smirk. He could think of several SPD approved ways from his training to get out of this situation if the alien tried anything. But they weren’t as much fun as they other, non SPD approved ways, that popped into his head as well. Still smirking he said, “Of course not, a client’s happiness is always a top priority.” With nothing else left to say he left. A top priority right behind making a profit that is.

He was getting tired of dealing with this alien. Thinking things over Chatrox realized he hadn’t heard from Stevens and his accursed Deka unit in a while now. Perhaps some well placed leaked information would bring them out of hiding. Then again, as annoying as he is he was still a well paying client and it would be a shame to lose getting that much credit on a regular basis.

***

The Major was late getting to the Command Room. The other were already assembled and waiting. “Sorry to keep you waiting but I was still getting the information while Michelle was calling you,” he informed them. “Command has been getting reports of a new drug hitting the streets called Red Diamond. “

“I only glanced at the reports so far,” Michelle said, “but from what I’ve seen it pretty potent. One hit of the stuff will put you in a near coma like state fro a couple of hours. But it’s so addictive you’re almost immediately craving another hit of the stuff.”

“Command has been able to get a hold of few samples. So far they have confirmed the compound is alien based with some Earth components thrown in. So that puts it squarely in our ballpark. And from the few dealers they had been able to arrest pointed in our direction as the source. Because it’s in our backyard we’re getting first crack. Because we’re still compiling information I want you to wait an hour or so before going out in the field. Rev I want you to use that time to study what we have on the compound. Maybe you can help figure out what’s going into it that you can counteract.”

“I will do my best Major,” Rev replied.

“See if you can devise a way to track this crap while you’re at it,” Dan added.

“I do believe the correct phrase is I’ll add it to the list.”

Dan shot a look toward Ace and Boomer, “I’m blaming the two of you for teaching him that.”

“Why am I getting blamed for it?”, Ace protested.

“You’re in my line of site.” Before she could respond he said, “We’re doing this is civvies people. Since we got time recheck your SP-Shooters to make sure they’re in working order. Ace work with Michelle and plot out some potential hot spots.”

“Rodger,” everyone complied and quickly set off to their assignments.

Dan glanced over to Michelle, “So much for a relaxing evening at home.”

She smiled slightly, “The night still young.”

***

The night air was slightly cool as they headed out. Target tightened her blue letterman’s jacket around her. Dan even buttoned up his bomber jacket up a bit. Ace and Boomer looked unaffected by the weather as she drove. Rev was still studying the datapad in his hands silently. Boomer looked in her direction, “Looks like you’re getting off easy on your first assignment.”

“If you say so,” she said. Target was trying to hide the fact she was nervous as hell at the moment. Boomer smiled like he knew any way but said nothing.

“We’re in the middle of the closest hot spot,” Ace announced as she parked the jeep. They piled out and Target found herself looking around. She took some small comfort as she noticed the others doing the same.

“We’ll cover more ground if we split up,” Dan announced. “Rev, Target you’re with me. Ace, Boomer check out the west side of the area, we got the east. And Ace, don’t kill him.”

“I’m not making any promises,” she said before they headed off.

While they checked the other direction Dan and Rev made some small talk to pass the time. Target just watched at how relaxed they were with each other. She had been with the unit for a week and she still felt like the outsider. Nobody was treating her like one but the feeling still remained. She was so lost in thought she almost missed that Cap was talking to her. “I’m sorry Cap, what did you say?”

“I was wondering why you were keeping so quiet,” he repeated. “You’re usually pretty talkative back at base.”

“I was just wondering if you wanted to see how the newbie does in the field,” she told him

“Not at all,” Dan informed her. “And never call yourself a newbie Target. Trust me I understand the feeling though. Me and Rev were the last two to officially join the unit. The others were already pretty well gelling as a unit before we got here. It took us awhile to fit in too.”

“Although,” Rev commented, “You were trying to keep you distance me and the others personally for as long as possible.”

“I told you that was for professional reasons,” Dan said quickly.

“So why did you want me with you?”, Target asked getting the conversation back on track.

“Because Boomer has a tendency to jabber on these smaller assignments and I didn’t want him to talk your ear off your first time out.”

“Hey,” somebody said coming toward them. He was dressed normally but he had a stoned out look in his eyes. “You three wanna try some Diamonds?”

Dan looked at the others then walked foreword as they kept watched. It would be really hard to explain if they were caught by the local police. “How much?”

“For you guys, three diamonds for a hundred bucks.”

“That’s a little steep,” Dan protested. Actually according to Command one Diamond had a street value of a hundred dollars. So this was a steal. Or the guy was a complete moron. Taking another look at him Dan was siding toward the latter.

“Ok seventy five, but that’s my final offer. You’re robbing me blind here.”

“Alright, alright,” Dan told him. He paid the man and got three bags each with a small red colored diamond. “Thanks man. Oh and by the way…,” he trailed off as he flashed his Springfield PD cover badge.

“Oh shit,” the dealer cried out before running like a bat out of hell. They gave chase and quickly caught up with him. Dan tackled him to the ground, then forced him up and against the wall. “Let go of me you filthy pig!”

“How about you tell me where you’re getting he red stuff first and I’ll forget you just insulted me.” When he said nothing Dan glanced over to the others. “Rev, help me search him for more Red Diamonds. Maybe we’ll find where he’s been.”

“As you wish Captain,” he replied.

“Keep that filthy skag away from me!”, the pusher shouted. Target knew the word and wasn’t all that surprised this particular low life used it. The look on Dan’s face and how he reacted, however, did catch her off guard.

He pulled the punk off the wall then slammed him back harder and snapped, “Strike two jackass. Try for three I’m begging you.”

The pusher started to squirm under Dan gaze, “Alright, alright I get the stuff from a ska…,” Dan tightened his grip around his collar and he quickly changed his words. “My supplier is in this shithole of an alley around Fifth and Broadway. That’s all I know I swear to God.”

“Alright,” Dan said. In moments he had him handcuffed around a lamppost and started walking away. As he loudly protested his treatment Dan casually said, “Rev leave an anonymous tip about that loser if you’ll please.”

“At once Captain,” he said.

“That was a little rough for police work,” Target commented.

“I like to think we have a little extra leeway compared to the other units,” he said. Pulling out his OpsLicense he said, “Ace, Boomer we got a possible location. Meet us back at the jeep.”

“We’re on our way. Ops5 out.”

“I’m guessing the easy part of the night is over,” Target said.

“Pretty much,” Dan answered. “But the fun part is about to start.”

“Remind me to discuss your and the others definition of fun one of these days,” Rev said.

***

It took a few moments to find the alley the dealer was talking about. Shithole was a pretty good description for it. Unfortunately there was no way to get to this supplier he was talking about that they could see. After a few moments of searching Boomer suggested, “Maybe this is a meeting place.”

“It’s possible,” Target said, “he only said he got it in this alley. We just assumed it be here.”

“No it’s here,” Dan said. “Look at the ground.”

She did and after a few moments saw what he was seeing, “There’s a path in the trash.”

“For an out of the way place this alley gets a lot of traffic.”

“Depending on the scheduling of the pick ups this could still fit the meeting point theory,” Target argued.

“Only if the supplier likes to stand in a certain spot every time, “Dan commented, trained eyes following the pathway. Standing in front of the brick wall he studied it. Gingerly he felt it with his fingertips. There was something there. He knocked on the wall in a couple of places.

“Captain,” Rev said, “could you knock on those last couple of places again.” Dan complied as Rev tilted his head slightly and listened. He repeated it a couple of times. “The second knock sound more hollow than the first,” he announced.

Target pulled out her License and did a scan of the wall. There was a passageway of some kind behind it. She looked at Ace who simply said, “He’s has really good hearing.”

“Boomer,” Dan spoke up, “I’m guessing you don’t have any explosives on you but do you remember that little trick you pulled in Hawaii?”

“Yeah,” he answered, “But this one is going to be trickier, if I can do it at all. Last time I had access to the insides and my comm. gear. Besides we don’t know if that door is automatic or not.”

“Do what you can,” Dan told him. “I don’t want to draw any undo attention to ourselves unless we have too.”

“Right,” he said. Standing on one side of the wall he pulled out his License and went to work. Dan pulled out his SP-Shooter out of his pocket and motioned for the others to cover the door. After a few minutes the started to open up and Boomer quickly said, “That wasn’t me.”

An Anaroid charged out in the next instant but it quickly went down as four shot hit it. “Change Standby!”, Dan ordered, OpsLicense switched to Change. “Emergency! DekaOps!”

Dan was surrounded by a red digital field as the Dekametal formed around his body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark red stripe went down the middle of his body from his shoulders to the top of his boots, on the left side of his chest the red and black formed the outline for a number one. A backpack solidified on his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Dekametal flashed over his head and formed a dark red helmet. “Ops1!”

Target was surrounded by a blue digital field as the Dekametal formed around her body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark blue stripe went down the middle of her body from her shoulders to the top of her boots, on the left side of her chest the blue and black formed the outline for a number two. A backpack solidified on her back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Dekametal flashed over her head and formed a dark blue helmet. “Ops2!”

Rev was surrounded by a green digital field as the Dekametal formed around his body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark green stripe went down the middle of his body from his shoulders to the top of his boots, on the left side of his chest the green and black formed the outline for a number three. A backpack solidified on his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Dekametal flashed over his head and formed a dark green helmet. “Ops3!”

Boomer was surrounded by a yellow digital field as the Dekametal formed around his body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark yellow stripe went down the middle of his body from his shoulders to the top of his boots, on the left side of his chest the yellow and black formed the outline for a number four. A backpack solidified on his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Dekametal flashed over his head and formed a dark yellow helmet. “Ops4!”

Ace was surrounded by a pink digital field as the Dekametal formed around her body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark pink stripe went down the middle of her body from her shoulders to the top of her boots, on the left side of her chest the blue and black formed the outline for a number five. A backpack solidified on her back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Dekametal flashed over her head and formed a dark pink helmet. “Ops5!”

“Special Police,” Dan said. The lights on the side of their helmets started to flash. As one they announced, “DekaOps!”

More Anaroids and some Batsuroids rushed out of the new door and into the alley. Dan took a quick look at what was coming out and at the space they had to work with. He glanced at the others and saw they were doing the same and felt a little pride for his unit. Drawing his D-Colt he only had one order, “Make some space.”

They followed that order without another word. Dan turned to his left and fired at some bots that were trying to flank them. Rev was doing the same with a Batsuroid that was trying to do the same on their right. Ace and Boomer had their D-Shots in their hands and was cutting down any other bots that was coming through the door. Target fired off at those coming at her. She dodged a blast and fired at the same time. An Anaroid charged her, she spun out of the way and ducked as another volley flew over her head. Three more shots held fell the bots that fired them. She noticed Cap looking at her with his arms crossed. “Too flashy?”, she joked.

Holding his finger and thumb about an inch apart he said, “But impressive.” Raising his D-Colt he fired a shot that hit the Batsuroid that was trying to come up behind her.

Looking at the fallen bot she said, “Always stay aware of your surroundings.”

“Learn it faster than Boomer and you’ll do fine,” he told her. No more bots were coming out of the door and the ones that did were sparking on the ground.

“Why am I always your example for what not to do?”, Boomer complained.

“Do you really want him to answer that?”, Ace asked him. “So do you think the hallway is booby trapped?”

“Only one way to find out,” Target said. She picked up an old bottle and tossed it into the doorway. The moment it hit the hall four red beams obliterated the bottle. Target tried to figure it out. “Obviously a computer tracking system. Something that tracks motion or maybe air currents. There could be an outside chance it could detect heat signature, reading the residual heat left by my hand. Or maybe…,” she trailed off when she noticed Cap was staring at her again. “Too much?”

Again he held out his finger and thumb, “Right now I’m more concerned about getting past it.”

“It would be easier to tell you if I knew what we were dealing with.”

“Maybe it’s time to use that new toy Michelle gave me,” Dan said. Reaching into his pack he pulled out a modified pad with a tube like device on the side. Flipping it up he leaned against the wall and turned on the pad. Touching the screen in a few places the tube started to extend and turn around the corner. A camera on the end of the tube showed what it was seeing on the screen. “Pretty dark in there,” he commented. Touching another part of the screen he activated the night vision. They saw a head peek around the corner at the end of the hallway and quickly disappear.

“Captain may I see that individual again?”, Rev asked. Dan rewound the feed and froze on the image and the person in question. Huge eyes stared in their direction. “A Sullarian,” he commented. “That explains the darkness as the Sullarians are highly sensitive to light.”

“Light,” Target said suddenly. “The Sullarians developed their own automated weapon system. The main weakness is very intense light.”

That was all Dan needed to hear, “Boomer…”

“Way ahead of you,” he said throwing a flash grenade into the hallway. It exploded in a bright flash of light that fried the guns sensors. The Sullarian got enough of the flash from where he was and held his eyes as he screamed in pain. Target and Ace both jumped in with their D-Shooters out. They quickly spotted the guns and fired.

Target took out three of the four wall guns. Looking at Ace she said, “Now that’s how you do it.”

“Don’t get cocky,” Dan told her as the rest of them entered the hallway. They found the Sullarian on the floor rubbing his eyes.

“Please don’t get up,” Boomer told him.

“Rev,” Ace spoke and he proceeded to punch Boomer in the arm.

“She got you doing that now?”, he whined while rubbing his arm.

“You’re not going to get me,” the Sullarian told them as he got to his feet.

“Dude you been caught,” Ace informed him.

“You’ll never be able to get rid of all of my Red Diamonds,” he said.

“Rev?”, Dan asked.

“From the material I have studied I can safely dispose of the Diamonds here.” He looked around the room, “And since the Diamonds are created with those pieces of equipment over there we can dispose of it as we wish.”

“This only one lab,” the Sullarian said suddenly. “You won’t find the others without me.”

“One step at a time,” Dan told him. “Besides, it’s not our call to make. Target if you will.”

“OF course.” She pulled out her OpsLicense, switched it to Judge and held it before her, “Target orders.” The area went dark as a red X and a blue circle flashed between them. After the Sullarian was scanned the red X shined brightly, “Eliminate target.” Ace stepped up as they locked their License into their D-Shots and primed the shot as they took aim, “Strikeout!” Two blue stream later and the Sullarian was deleted.

After it was over Dan spoke up, “Rev do what you got to do. Target good job on your first time out.”

“Teacher’s pet,” Boomer joked. Target smiled to herself behind the helmet. For the first time she actually felt like she belonged.

***

The next day, just like the others said, Dan was testing her hand to hand skills. She didn’t think they would actually be boxing but she was proud of herself for holding her own so far. “So what do you think of the rookies skills?”

“Not bad,” he admitted. Then he hooked his leg around hers and tripped her. Before she knew it the palm of his hand was an inch from her nose. He took the hand away saying, “Ace told me she already told you about my first rule. Here’s rule number two. The fight is not over until somebody either tied up, knocked out or dead.”

“That wasn’t in any police manual I’ve ever read,” she told him. “I know, I know we’re not a traditional unit.”

Dan sat down on the mat next to her as she sat up. “Look I’m Army through and through, but I have not once said police procedure didn’t have a place in what we do. But the way I see it we have to be prepared to get our hands dirtier than anybody else if it comes down to it.”

She nodded in understanding, “How about you, did you have trouble adjusting to this?”

“It took me a while to wrap my head around the whole delete thing,” he admitted. “But I found away to live with it.”

“So what’s the final verdict on the hand to hand?”

“You’re good, but you can do better.” She knew that was coming. “And the next time I hear you call yourself a rookie you’re running twenty laps around the gym. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir,” she said with a salute

“Ok hit the showers. Oh just a word of warning,” he added. “I have it from a very good authority that Boomer is planned an official welcoming party for you. If you know anything about Boomer…”

“I’ll try not to hurt him,” she said.

“See you’re fitting in already.” Target chuckled a bit as she headed for the locker room.