i_am_a_medusa Welcome to the Hellmouth [ Narrative - Part 2 ]
"Here, kiddo, drink this."
Sara looked up into a wrinkled, well worn face and a seeming sympathetic smile. She tensed. She'd seen that smile before. She'd used that smile before, on suspects.
"There are easier ways to get my DNA." She said coolly, before sipping from the cup. It was warm, some kind of tea, lightly sweetened. She looked up again, not hiding her surprise at that. She'd have expected coffee or plain water.
The man in front of her shrugged and grinned. "More pleasurable ways too, but that's no way for me to be talking to my partner."
Sara frowned, running a hand through her hair and trying to think back over the list of people who'd been assigned to her in the past two years. "I've had a couple, but you're not on the list." Her voice was huskier than usual, both from the soreness of her bruised larynx and from the tight coil in her stomach that would brook no bullshit.
The man sat down and held out his hand. "Detective John Munch, formerly NYPD: Special Victims Unit, formerly Balitimore PD; Homicide."
Sara looked at his hand. "Formerly ?" He nodded. "Yeah, as of about five months ago I became Detective John Munch, CPD." He glanced her way, still holding out his hand and wiggling his fingers. "That's City Police Department. As in, this is the City. That's with a capital C."
She gave him another look and then glanced at the door.
"In case you hadn't noticed." He continued. "This is one of the rooms without convenient spying capabilities. I brought you in here the minute I could." His voice became kinder. "I saw the way you were trying not to stare at the buildings. You don't recognize them either."
"This is a hell of a way to test me for an insanity plea." Sara replied bitterly, looking suspiciously at the cup now, and then at him.
Munch shook his head. "F.O.B. Except there is no boat. On minute you're home, the next minute you're here."
Sara stood. "Look, I don't know what your deal is, but I've got a lieutenant to report to and paperwork to sign." She didn't quite know how she'd been maneuvered into a room alone with some cop she didn't know. But she wasn't going to play along with anyone's games. "You got a problem with me, file a complaint."
Munch grabbed his coat jacket of the back of his chair. "When it hits you, look for me, I'll drive you home." He stalked past her and pulled open the door, shrugging into his jacket.
The door opened up into a squad room she'd never seen before. Sara cursed. She'd let them take her to the wrong damn precinct. She pulled out her cellphone and angrily punched in the numbers for her real partner, before remembering that Jake was currently suspended pending an IA investigation.
"Fuck." She glanced angrily at the heavy weight on her arm. She knew right now all anyone else would see is a chunky bracelet, but the Witchblade was there, heavy and reminding her of all the things she couldn't tell anyone. All the lies she'd had to tell. And the real reason Jake's career was on the rocks.
Sighing, she dialed her precinct. She knew she was in no condition to drive but maybe a black and white could come pick her up. Sara moved towards the only shut door in the bullpen, she'd let whomever was in charge know she was heading out and she'd fax a copy of the report to them.
On the line the phone just kept ringing and as Sara raised her hand to knock, a machine picked up.
"I'm sorry. The number you have dialed is invalid. Please check your number and try again. This is a recording. Thank you."
Sara paused. She knew that number backwards and forwards. Who the fuck was playing tricks... Something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. A police banner. The badge design was all wrong.
She turned slowly. No one had a Mets, Jets, Giants or Yankees cap or coat on anywhere. There were no cheap 'I love NY' mugs. No brass or plastic green mini statues of liberty; that made the best message holders without giving some drunk arrestee a wanna-be-weapon. There was no one in there with a Brooklyn accent, or anyone sounding Jersey, Bronx or Queens. The area codes scratched on to the front of the phones were all wrong. The paperwork had a different heading. A newspaper in the trashcan was one she hadn't heard of, but it looked as heavy as the Times.
If this was a joke or a scam, someone had an eye for detail. And time. Lots of time. And could it only be one person ? It had to be the entire precinct, or someone would walk in with something that'd give the whole thing away.
"Pezzini!"
Sara turned around startled. There was a woman with wispy blonde hair and hard, no nonsense eyes staring her down.
"Get your ass in here and tell me why I shouldn't hand you over to IA on a platter." The woman stepped into the office Sara had just been going to knock on to enter. Sara followed, suddenly a bit numb.
"Sit down." The woman said. "And close the door." She sat herself, without looking over at Sara. "Look, I know you just got transferred to Major Crime this morning, but I've got a pretty good guess that your old lieutenant. didn't stand for...are you listening to me Detective ?"
Sara blinked and shook her head. There were pictures on the wall of the woman, the lieutenant shaking hands with people Sara didn't recognize, against the backdrop of a city she didn't recognize. Although she thought she saw a bit of the Sears tower in one. Chicago ?
"Detective ? Did you get yourself checked out by the EMT's before you came back to the precinct ?"
Sara blinked again and tried to focus. "I don't know, sir. I... my last solid memory was being on top of Irons Investments."
The lieutenant. nodded. "Yeah, you'll be getting leave for that. Just one day. Use it wisely. Now, want to tell me what happened ? I heard there was a hand."
"Sir ?"
The lieutenant's voice got, coy somehow, it didn't suit her face at all. "Don't you want me to know how it went down ?"
A knock on the door interrupted them and a face wearing glasses poked in. "Sorry, lieutenant. But the medics told me to get Sara home and in bed as soon as I could. I just picked her up some pain-killers."
"Fine. Take her home, Munch. But day after tomorrow I want to see both of you in my office, 9am sharp. We need answers."
Sara fet her elbow being taken and she was led out of the office and across the bullpen and down the hall, Munch whispering. "Shh." All the way. They went to an elevator and down into a garage and then he was piling her into his car and strapping her in. Sara tried not to think about the license plates on the cars.
But when they pulled out of the dark of the garage into a city lit up for the night and the bus that passed them had a banner reading 'City United Industries: We merged for you.' She was ready to scream.
"What the fuck is going on here ? Where am I ? Why do you know what's going on ?!"
Munch just shook his head. "I told you. We're in the City. If I was gonna pull an answer out of the crack of my, well, out of thin air, I'd say it was some sort of parallel reality. Knew a guy who worked in the FBI who knew about stuff like this. Pity I can't find him here."
"Parallel... ?" She gave him a hard look. Hard and long. And then it turned incredulous when he just shrugged. In fact, he smiled at her.
"Hey." He said. "I figured you'd understand that easy. What with that claw thing you've got on your arm."
Sara glanced down at the Witchblade. He could see it ? But he was still talking and her brain was still trying to make her listen.
"Gotta say I'm happy that someone regular showed up, well, aside from that thing on your arm. Though, it makes me wonder what I'm doing around here. I mean, Superman showed up a few days ago. Super-freaking-man. I used to know stuff about him too. Read all the comics growing up, what else was a Jewish kid in Baltimore going to do, right ? But now I can't remember anything about him other than y'know, 'faster than a speeding bullet, leaps tall buildings in a single bound'"
Sara rubbed a hand over her face trying to make sense of it all. She'd had some weird things happen to her ever since she got the Witchblade. But parallel realities ?
"You said you've been here five months ?"
"Yuuup. One minute I was in the crib taking a nap, we'd been working on a possible serial pedophile. Nasty case. No sleep. The next someone was shaking me awake at my desk and the lieutenant was telling me she didn't know what I was talking about. Almost got put on medical leave for talking like a crazy person." He paused. "Oh, that reminds me. The buildings move around here. So, you're not going crazy if you see one disappear."
Sara looked at him wide eyed and incredulous. "Stop the car. Stop the fucking car."
Munch pulled over and Sara unfastened her seatbelt and got out, taking deep breaths. She looked up, and even though they'd been driving for five or seven minutes she still couldn't find a building she recognized. The whole area was currently all dark brick and fancy stone work and gargoyles.
She looked at her arm, wondering if the Witchblade had done this. But all it seemed to do was take over her body at the most inappropriate times and be completely useless when things might matter the most.
"Superman ?"
Munch nodded. "There used to be this glowy guy too, but I haven't seen him lately. Maybe he got out of here. Maybe he went civilian. But yes, Superman. And a couple of the patrol cars mentioned seeing weird shadows at night. So who knows, maybe Batman too. Some parts of this City look like how I'd imagine Gotham."
Sara leaned against the car. "Superman." Shock was giving away to something, she didn't know what. She just knew she wanted to giggle. It came out as a snicker. "With the cape and the..."
"Yuup." Munch said easily, leaning forward, his arms on the roof of his car.
"Robocop ?" Sara asked a touch bitterly.
Munch laughed. "Could you imagine that ? That'd shake things up around here. But things aren't quite that violent. Yet. They might get there."
She turned to look at him and arched a brow. He shrugged. "A month ago cops were the only ones with guns. And then suddenly they were everywhere. Gang warfare in the open streets. Went on for days. So yeah, it could get worse. Hopefully it won't."
She brushed at her hair again, rubbing her temple. "This is..."
"A lot to take in ? I'd say you can say that again, but you might slap me. Look," He said earnestly. "Let me take you home, so know where you live, for starters. And we can spend your day off filling you in on how stuff works in this place."
"You get a day off too ?"
Munch grinned. "Hey, you're my partner and I'm taking care of you. I think they'll understand."