Lin Beifong is a Hero (unbendable) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-09-25 02:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, aveline vallen, lin beifong |
"Hello, Cici's pizza, how can I serve you?"
Who: Lin and Aveline
What: Detective..stuff. That somehow leads to warehouse fires.
When: Sunday
Where: A warehouse.
Status: Complete
Rating: Pg-13 for inappropriate calls
It was looking to be a long day. They’d responded to two murders so far, and now were en route to investigate a report of gang activity in a warehouse near the docks. Lin drummed her fingers on the arm rest, looking out the window. The one thing she really missed from her days as a street cop was the activity and physical exertion.
The printer spit out the latest on the warehouse. Mysterious shipments moving in and out at odd hours, “I wonder why they’re not sending in the narcs.”
“There are times when I really do not understand our superiors,” Aveline said. Perhaps they thought the more specialized forces were better used elsewhere. At least Aveline had military training.
"It gives us something to do, at least. Assuming there's anything left to get a good look at." Lin stopped drumming her fingers, and picked up the paper to give it a look over, "They're smuggling something. Listen to this. One of our guys tried to get in contact with the feds and was given the runaround."
Aveline frowned. When the feds gave them the runaround, things didn’t tend to go well. Things tended to go definitely not well. “It’s worth a try, certainly. If nothing else, we can figure out who actually should look into more after this.”
Lin nodded, and checked her side-arm, after putting the paper down. When they got to the warehouse, it appeared to be abandoned, but looks could be deceiving. The gate had a padlock, and Lin got out to try to signal someone inside.
Aveline’s hand went to her side-arm as she checked to make sure no one was sneaking up behind them.
"There's no one present," Lin said. "I think we can cut off this lock." She looked down at it, and held out her hand. The lock wriggled, but that was the extent of it. She paled slightly, then returned to the police car to get the cutters.
Aveline blinked. Did that lock just...? Was her partner a mage? Or what? This...bleeding over from dreams was confusing. And not something she really wanted to bring up in the middle of an investigation.
"Okay boss lady, cover me." Lin hefted the cutters and cut the lock!
Aveline kept an eye out for bad guys!
There were no bad guys as the lock and chain clattered to the ground. Lin pushed the gate open, "Police! We just want to ask some questions."
Once again there was no answer, so she shrugged at her partner, and then stepped inside.
Aveline followed cautiously. She was beginning to wonder if this might be a trap of some sort.
It was usually a trap, wasn't it? Lin's hand rested on her sidearm as she walked in side, carefully looking around. The warehouse was filled with boxes, and the symbol on some of them was familiar. From where, she couldn't tell, but it was a stylized flame. Still others had the logo of a three-headed dog, and that she remembered from a briefing. In a low voice, she said, "I thought Cerberus collapsed?"
Aveline eyes the logo. “Just because something collapses doesn’t mean all of it’s resources disappear. It just means someone else will be interested in rifling through its pockets.” If Cerberus still had leftover equipment floating around, that could be very bad indeed.
"Yeah. Who are these other guys then?" Lin pulled on a pair of gloves and pushed open a crate. It was packed with textiles. She moved some out of the way, to see if they were hiding something, but just more clothing.
Still, she felt suspicious.
Aveline glanced around, checking all the apparent possible exits, since those could easily be entrances as well, and the last thing they needed was someone getting the drop on them.
Something rattled around upstairs, and Lin's head shot up towards the ceiling. She gestured with two fingers, pointing up.
Aveline nodded and drew her sidearm. She aimed upward, ready to shoot whoever was up there if necessary.
Drawing her own and disengaging the safety, Lin started to creep up the stairs. She stopped straining to hear if there was any more movement. She also didn't want to get ahead of her partner and into a bad situation. Your partner was your lifeline.
The door flew open and there was a gunshot, a bullet ricocheting off the railing near her.
“Police! Drop your weapon!” Aveline shouted, flicking safety off and trying to pinpoint the shooter. Whoever it was, they probably weren’t going to do as she said, but protocol was protocol. Just in case it was a far too jumpy undercover officer.
In answer the person opened fire again. Lin ducked down, trying to avoid getting hit by a flying bullet. There was only one entrance into the place. She fumbled for her phone and tried to call for backup.
"Hello, Cici's pizza, how can I serve you?"
Lin cursed and hung up. She tried again.
"You've reached Girls Girls Girls, THE home of the slippery nipple."
Her face colored and she hung up again, "We have a problem."
Aveline stared at Lin’s phone, wondering if it was suddenly possessed. She reached in her pocket and pulled out her old flip phone. She had a Stark phone, yes, but she didn’t feel right dragging something that expensive into dangerous situations, even if it had been a complimentary item. Besides, she still hadn’t figured out more than the basics of how to use the blighted thing.
She tossed her phone to Lin. “Try mine.”
Lin flipped it open and dialed. This time she got ahold of dispatch. She gave them the address and the situation, then hung up. They were still pinned down.
She flashed Aveline a grim smile, "Too damn old to start being a hero."
Aveline returned the grim smile. “I am not really interested in earning any more medals unless I have absolutely no choice. At least I know I can count on you not to try for heroics. A younger partner might make that a problem for me.”
She popped up just long enough to fire a couple of rounds when there was a lull in the firing. “If we’re lucky, they’ll use up everything they have before our backup arrives.”
Lin wished she could metalbend. Really do so. This wouldn't be a problem at all, she would just need to wrap the metal floor of the room the gunman was in, around the man. But all she could do was wobble a lock, and it wouldn't be enough for this.
"They're pretty bad shots, aren't they." Lin fired a couple more, not really trying to hit anything, "So much for a slow Sunday."
“They really, really are,” Aveline replied. “Lucky for us. And yes, so much for a slow day.” She’d really rather be anywhere but here, but that wasn’t an option now.
The sirens were audible now, and Lin positioned herself to trip up anyone who decided to run. It was about then that she smelled the gasoline.
“...damn it. We run. Now.” Aveline started very quickly, but still cautiously, for the nearest exit.
Lin was right behind her. The fire started suddenly below them, quickly spreading past the staircase just as they made it to the ground. She thought she saw figures fleeing, but there was too much smoke to identify them.
She glanced back up, where the man they'd trapped still was. She started back towards the stairs. They couldn't just leave him, no matter what he'd done, but the fire flared up suddenly and there was no time.
“Come on!” Aveline shouted. So much for not playing hero, she thought. She could understand Lin’s desire not to abandon a person, but it was too late and they had to focus on getting out alive. Aveline did not fancy being barbeque.
Cursing, Lin ran after Aveline. There was nothing they could do for that man now. They could only get out before the smoke or the fire killed them. Her lungs were already burning from the acidic smoke and she thought she heard the sound of ammunition exploding.
She ran faster. The air was clearer outside, and she took great heaving lungfulls of the stuff.
Aveline took a deep breath once they were outside. Then she kept running, looking back to make sure Lin did, as well. They needed to be well clear in case anything in the place exploded.
Oh, Lin was following, was she ever!
After the fire and rescue teams had taken care of the worse of the fires, and the demolitions team had done a sweep for any unexploded ordinance, and Lin and Aveline had given their statements and taken care of their reports, Lin turned to Aveline. She grinned a bit, "Want to clean up and get some grub? I just had a really bad day."
That made Aveline grin. “I like the way you think. Clean up and food sounds amazing right now.”
Lin grinned back. This was going to be a beautiful relationship.