Who: Leon & Judy What: Doing their civic duty When: During the Orc plot Where: Just outside the Irvine PD Rating: Low, save for Leon's cursing Status: Complete!
When the first reports began streaming into the station, Judy was at her desk, head in her hand, pen tapping on the desk as she looked through a case file. The perp was behind bars, but it left the ever dreaded paperwork, something Nick always seemed to put off to Judy. Not wanting to shirk around any duties, Judy always willingly took it, even if her patience with her partner was growing shorter and shorter.
Her head snapped up as she heard all the phones begin to ring throughout the office and she stood, looking around as officers were called over or began to run out of the department. She frowned, glancing around for someone to update her.
“Leon! What’s going on?”
Leon wished he could have said he was surprised when the call about fucking orcs came in, but at this point he really wasn’t anymore. It was just one more thing that he had to deal with as a cop. A big pain in the ass, if anyone asked him. But of course they didn’t.
He was making sure that his magazine was full when Judy spoke to him, and he clicked it into place in his gun before turning to her. “Goddamn fucking orcs,” he grumbled, and then dropped his voice. “Someone’s dreams got out of control again, and guess who’s stuck cleaning up their mess?”
Of course, Judy thought he was joking. Orcs? What were those? Those creepy looking things from the Lord of the Rings movies? Someone dreamed in that universe? The look on her face must have been one of confusion and bewilderment, but when Leon’s expression didn’t turn to a smile, she faltered a little.
“Orcs? What do you mean? What are they doing?” Well, if it were true, Judy had a feeling she knew what they were doing and it probably wasn’t going to be good.
“Probably fucking shit up,” Leon grumbled. Really, he didn’t need the phone calls to tell him that much. He’d been through enough Orange County invasions lately to know what to expect. “Come on, Hopps, you’re with me.” If he was going to go out in this mess, he might as well have another dreamer at his side.
He didn’t have to ask twice. Judy grabbed and holstered her gun, a few rounds tucked into her jacket as she pulled it on and followed after him. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride that Leon chose her to help him out. True, she had been the only officer really around him, talking to him...still, she took it to be a good sign.
“Where are we going?” Judy was shrugging on the rest of her jacket when they stepped outside the department and she looked around at the terror that lay before them.
And she thought the Peeps were bad.
People were screaming and running down the street. Judy glanced down to see what it was they were running from and her eyes grew wide.
So those were Orcs.
“Leon?” She felt her heart race and she flexed her fingers as she thought of what to do. What could they do? She looked at her current partner, hoping to take his lead.
It seemed as though they didn’t have to go far before they were in the thick of it. Judy was obviously scared, but he hoped she could keep her head about her. He knew it was a skill that too many police officers lacked, the ability to keep a cool head in stressful situations. It would be a good test to see if Judy was cut out for this job.
“Our first duty is to make sure people are safe,” he was saying, not looking at her but instead taking in the scene around her. “People get fucking stupid when they’re scared. We tell them where to go, and they’ll listen to us, but if we don’t then they’ll panic and do something stupid.”
He caught sight of a man being dragged by the ankle across the cement by one of the towering brutes. Leon didn’t hesitate, firing a bullet directly into the thing’s ugly face. “Get him on his feet and tell him to go to the precinct,” Leon instructed as it fell backwards with a crash, keeping his eyes roving for anyone else who was in immediate danger.
Judy flinched at the gunshot, ashamed that her reaction was one of fear and high anxiety. She took a deep breath. Pretend they’re not orcs...they’re bad people and you have to save those around them. She looked at Leon’s instruction and nodded her head, rushing over to the man’s side.
“Sir, come with me,” she said, bending down to put his arm around her shoulders. “The precinct will be the safest place for you now.” The man was still in such shock that he only looked at her with disbelief and allowed himself to be drugged over to the steps of the department. Judy left him there, hoping he would be able to find his feet and get himself inside.
She pulled her gun out, not wanting to take any chances in this circumstance. Calmandsteady, calmandsteady, calm and steady. She willed her heartbeat to come back down to normal levels as she continued to rush to the aid of any civilian that needed it.
There was too much chaos. Judy didn’t want to make an announcement for fear of attracting the attention of these things. They seemed intelligent, intelligent enough to figure out what was going on if Judy started shouting at people.
She glanced back at the group that was huddled on the steps and rolled her eyes. No, don’t just stand there!
“Everyone, INSIDE NOW!” She walked towards them, waving her arms as if shooing school children into class. Even for only raising her voice a bit, it did attract the attention of a lumbering orc. It turned its head, a grin (was it a grin?) on its face as it began to make its way towards them.
“Crap on a cracker…LEON!” Judy yelled, her eyes scanning as she had lost track of him. She aimed the gun at the beasts head, just as he had done, only half noticing the small shake of it in her hand. “Don’t come any closer, I’ll shoot!” Whether the orc understood her or chose to ignore, his pace sped up and he began to charge. Judy shot once, only grazing him in the shoulder. It may have been a fly landing on a person. Cursing under her breath, she took another shot, this one finding it’s mark on its forehead. It made a gurgled grunt before collapsing.
But the sound was enough to bring more orcs their way and Judy kept pushing people behind her, blind to see if they were actually making it indoor. “LEON!” She tried to call for him again, a thought in the back of her mind if the precinct was protected enough from something like this; what if they did allow the orcs to cross that line? Would the people inside be safe?
She wasn’t sure if she was enough defense against these guys.
Leon had watched Judy help the man he’d pointed her toward, and then had seen her start to get a handle on the situation and take charge herself. Good, he thought. He’d hoped that Judy would be able to do it, and he was glad to see that his faith hadn’t been misplaced. But then, he’d always been pretty good at reading people.
He’d been watching Judy and hadn’t noticed when one of the orcs had lumbered up beside him until it had smacked him in the head. It had been a long time since the last time stars had swum before his eyes - not since he’d played football in high school - and he laid their dazed until the creature was grabbing at him. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and then struck out with his spare foot, planting the sole of his foot into it’s ugly nose until it loosened its grip and he was able to pull his ankle out from his grip.
He heard a gunshot, and he looked, trying to find Judy. He’d lost her in his scuffle, and he cursed under his breath until another shot rang out and he saw Judy standing, looking tiny and alone in front of the group of people on the precinct steps. This time he heard her call his name, and he pistol-whipped the orc that was still pawing at him. The thing finally fell to its knees and Leon used the opportunity to get away, his first couple of steps stumbling before he managed to get his feet under him, and then he was pushing his way through the crowd to Judy.
“What the hell are you still doing out here?!” he bellowed over the ruckus, angry authority in his voice. “You,” he said, jabbing his finger at the woman who was standing closest to the door. “Open the fucking door and all of you get inside. Stop fucking shoving each other and act like human fucking beings!” Now that the door was open, the crowd had tried to push inside all at once until Leon yelled his final command, and then they managed to get in all at once.
“Like I said, you’ve got to fucking spell things out for these people,” Leon said, now raising his hand to his head. He didn’t think he was bleeding, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up with an ugly bruise. There was a group of orcs headed their way, and Leon grabbed Judy’s wrist. “Come on, we’re moving.”
There was no time to chide him for his tone with the civilians, but she couldn’t really argue it later. She made a mental note to work on her “Leon” tone, one that she could use and people immediately knew to do what was being told to them. She watched as the people finally started going through the doors and turned back right as he grabbed her wrist to pull her along.
It took her a moment to find her feet, but she followed along, her eyes scanning the area for the brutes. She glanced at Leon and noticed the bruise already forming. “You ok?” she asked, already figuring what he might say. She had her gun at the ready, only taking the shots if she knew it would take them down. These guys weren’t messing around and it seemed the bullets had to be aptly placed to do anything to them.
“We’re officially up shit creek, aren’t we?” It was the closest Judy would get to cursing.
It was a tone that Leon had had a lifetime to practice. His father had been a police officer too, and had used that tone on Leon more than once when he’d been growing up.
“I’ve had worse,” Leon answered, ignoring how warm and sore his face felt. He still had a job to do, whether his face was turning black or blue or not. It was just part of the job after all.
“Don’t go getting pessimistic on me, Hopps,” Leon snapped, though he a little impressed that Judy had said something a little stronger than ‘cheese and crackers’ for once. “We might be, but I’m a pretty strong swimmer. Besides, this isn’t anything the OC hasn’t dealt with before.” Okay, maybe not giant, kind of smart orcs. But they’d been invaded plenty of times in the past.
Judy had to tip her hat at Leon for being the one to talk her through this. She was always so use to being the positive one, the one who could see a way through any problem! But this was a whole other level that she wasn’t sure if she could get through. There was a good chance she could actually die with this invasion, something she had never really thought about. Strange how fantasy could make things seem very real.
She gave him a quick smile, making a mental note to joke about how his positivity was helping her through this. “Alright, alright, alright, alright,” she said, trying to keep her energy high. “What do we do next? The department can only hold so many people!”
“We basically just force them to get into any building they can,” Leon said. “People are morons. When shit like this happens, they like to mill around in the street and get in the way. Either because they think it’s actually some sort of whatever-the-hell The Agency says this is,” he was guessing they’d claim it was some kind of movie promotion or something. Because that was going to get people off the streets, “or because they’re panicking and they can’t wipe their own ass without being told to do it. Not saying that some of these things won’t go into buildings themselves, but with this many people on the streets, why would they?”
Well, it would at least be a start. Judy nodded her head and started yelling at people to clear the streets, to get inside and to not make any noise to drive the beasts attention their way. She was surprised (and not at the same time) that Leon’s assessment of the situation was right; she had to physically push some people inside a building because all they could do was stand in plain sight and gawk.
“You’d think this was a movie shoot or something the way people don’t seem to care,” she shouted at Leon, watching as he practically threw someone into a coffee shop.
“Yeah, I bet you have the Agency to thank for that,” Leon said bitterly. Because no doubt people were just standing around like idiots because of whatever the hell the Agency decided to cover this up with. But, he realized, as he narrowly managed to hop out of the reach of one of the orcs, he probably shouldn’t be standing around complaining about the Agency right now.
A call came over his radio, and he responded. “Come on, Hopps,” he said. “We’re needed at 15th.”