The Praetorians, a fantasy cop drama. (Game thread Started/CLOSED Prologue)

[Dogmatic99]

Ackerman could only sigh as she watched some of the displays of marksmanship her new recruits displayed, it would take some work to get this lot into the kind of shape that was expected of officers in this day and age.

Not that the other precincts haven't let things slide... But this was her precinct now and lax training would not stand.

Time dragged on and the patrol car pulled into the drive, its fresh haul in tow.

"We're Hooome!" Novak called out as he walked back in like a conquering hero returning to his kingdom.

The captain came up to meet them and was unpleasantly surprised by what was brought to her doorstep. "Oh dear gods, Sergeant, what have you brought me here?"

He gave her a rundown of what had happened as Ackerman went over the notes Novak had made while they were out. All this of course took place in her office, away from the prying eyes of the new recruits. "So what do you want to do with them?" Novak asked, his hands fidgeting with the lack of a cigarette.

Ackerman leaned against her desk for a while, her brow furrowed in thought. "They're still too raw for an interrogation."

"They wont get any less raw if you keep them away from it."

"I know, I know." Ackerman grumbled, massaging her temples. "But gods have you seen some of them?"

"Oh don't even get me started!" Novak scoffed. "You know what one of the wargs said?"

"Not the time for gossip" She cut him off. "It's getting late and we have a pair of suspects in custody. I'll test the waters for volunteers before we have to close up, you see about the rest."

***​

Novak set about stowing the two animal suspects in a pair of separate cells down in the basement where the only windows were on the door to the room, tightly cramped with bars. As the doors locked behind them the young suspects gave up on their animal forms and let themselves shift back as the nervously paced the cells.

The cat couldn't have been older than ten and the rat looked even younger. Novak did his best to bury the little bit of depression that thought brought on and went to find them some blankets.

Meanwhile upstairs, Ackerman was sounding off. "We've got two juvenile perps waiting down their for us. Now the days closing down and we don't have enough hands to form proper shifts like the larger precincts yet. So I'm asking for volunteers to stay late and take the lead on interrogation. Four should be enough, two for each perp, the usual. The rest of you will be free to go where you please. Your time, your business."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Your time, your business."

Jason considered for a moment. It was already late an an interrogation might last all night. Elaine was waiting for him at home and after the day he'd had there were few things that Jason wanted more than just to see her face again. On the other hand, the beginnings of this investigation were just about the only thing he hadn't managed to completely fuck up today. He couldn't help but feel the pull of responsibility. He'd caught one of the suspects, and now he had a chance to get to the bottom of this case.

"Captain Ackerman." he announced stepping forward. "I'd like to volunteer. I'm a little familiar with what it's like for kids who grow up poor and get into crime. Give me some time and I might be able to get him talking."

He stole a little glance over at Rory. If the other warg took him for a heartless zealot, then it fell to Jason to prove him wrong, just like all the rest.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Cali thought about her options.

One the one hand, it had been a rough day, and she was looking forward to a nice hot bath, some good food, and long rest. On the other, however, she wanted to know what exactly had happened to that cat... and any others, for that matter.

It certainly was a tough choice, for her at least...

 

[Pappytech]

"Your time, your business."

"Hmph."

Smoothly, surely, Archibald crossed his arms and raised a single eyebrow. Taking a moment to glance around the room, especially at his fellow officers, the aristocrat evaluated his options. It was already fairly late in the evening, but it was also important to watch the criminal scum that the other squads had managed to bring in; mayhaps he should stay and-

"Captain Ackerman. I'd like to volunteer. I'm a little familiar with what it's like for kids who grow up poor and get into crime. Give me some time and I might be able to get him talking."

-and never mind. If that was the sort of company that would be hanging around the precinct for the next however many hours, then Archibald had no interest in remaining here. Honestly, he'd already wasted too much of his time in that dump of a shooting range; now his dress clothes reeked of gunpowder and whatever that strange, omnipresent smell was. No, it was far past time for him to leave.

"Right, well then, Captain," he began, inclining his torso forward in a half-bow, "I do believe I shall go ahead and take my leave. Undoubtedly the other, ah..."

Trailing off for a moment, Archibald glanced briefly at Jason, looking the Warg up and down. "...officers will be more than capable of dealing with the criminals.

"It's been an 'interesting' first day. Good evening."

Straightening his tie, the man nodded once more to the Captain and the other officers, before making his way towards the precinct's entrance.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Undoubtedly the other, ah... officers will be more than capable of dealing with the criminals."

A muscle twitched at the corner of Jason's eye, and he bit his tongue.

'Maybe the first time we get into some actual shit on the beat and you start crying like a *****, I'll remember that, little man.'

He managed not to give Archie the satisfaction of rounding on him, as he made his last snide little remark and swept out the the precinct.

"Prick." he muttered to himself, as the door swung shut.

 

[Belmarc]

"We've got two juvenile perps waiting down their for us. Now the days closing down and we don't have enough hands to form proper shifts like the larger precincts yet. So I'm asking for volunteers to stay late and take the lead on interrogation. Four should be enough, two for each perp, the usual. The rest of you will be free to go where you please. Your time, your business."

Rat came through the door just as Ackerman announced her intentions. Jason volunteered, fairly unsurprisingly. And... the name was on the tip of his tongue... Archer? Arch-something. Rat made a mental note to just refer to to him as Archie from now on. The man voiced his decision to not remain behind, giving a clear and meaningful look towards Jason, and began to walk towards the exit, where Rat still lingered. He stood his ground for a moment, and stared directly into Archie's eyes as he walked close. "I volunteer." He let the words hang in the air, along with his message to Archie, before slipping by the other man, eyes locked on Archie until he was out of his view, and striding up beside Jason. His gaze was now fixed intently on Ackerman and whatever orders she had for him now.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

It had been a while later, and several other recruits had come down to test their luck at the shooting range; though the look that Mordecai could see on Captain Ackerman's face, was telling him that she was less than impressed with the results.

'What was she expecting our accuracy scores to be like on the first day? Perfect or something?' Mordecai asked himself as he made his way up from the target range, and on his way back to the staff room, where he sat down at his desk and began looking through his twin notebooks as something to do to pass the time. He could hear the sounds of Ackerman and Novak talking from the down the hallway, something about some suspects he and a squad had brought in.

A while later, and everyone was back in the room, when Ackerman arrived and addressed the group.

"We've got two juvenile perps waiting down their for us. Now the days closing down and we don't have enough hands to form proper shifts like the larger precincts yet. So I'm asking for volunteers to stay late and take the lead on interrogation. Four should be enough, two for each perp, the usual. The rest of you will be free to go where you please. Your time, your business."

One of the other officers raised his hand to volunteer, saying that he grew up in similar conditions. The gentleman was certainly a tall and imposing figure with exceptionally broad shoulders. His jet black hair on both his head and face were rather unruly in their presentation. Mordecai had seen few men like him before. Others on the hand...

"Undoubtedly the other, ah... ...officers will be more than capable of dealing with the criminals." Spoke Constable Ampere, it appeared that the man was certainly getting on other people's nerves, with that sense of superiority in his voice. Ampere soon gave a customary goodbye to everyone present, straightened his tie, then left the room. The officer from earlier looked as though he was about to snap.

"Well, if he expects to get far in this job by passing the opportunity to prove himself to others, then he's got another thing coming." Mordecai said, sounding rather annoyed at Archibald's current behavior as he began making notes on a new page of his non-medical journal.

"Anyway, to the matter at hand. Captain, whilst I wouldn't be able to offer much in the question and answer session, there are one or two things that I need to discuss with you, though it can wait."

 

[EnigmaticSevens]

Rory's eyebrows arched slightly as the call went out for late night volunteers. The prospect wasn't entirely as appealing as heading out to a local pub, getting a bit sauced and seeing where the evening took him, but this whole experience was hardly about choosing the most entertaining option. Jason volunteered, and Rory felt his stomach sink ever so slightly, though the statement that accompanied the offer was worth a bit of consideration. Rory's brow furrowed somewhat. The cat had proved a child, all of the so called 'perps' were children, would that soften the big man's aims any, or was prosecution still the order of the day? It'd be worth it to stick around and find out for sure. One of the human's, the one that stank of perfume, dismissed himself and took a chance to posture a bit, sizing Hunt up with an expression that reeked of silent disdain. Rory chuckled slightly, that was ballsy, to say the least. Well it'd be ballsy up into the point Hunt lost his shit and turned that fancy man into a fancy maid....

"Heh, well I got no pressin' plans. I'll stay behind as well, never got the chance at an interrogation from this side of the fence, should be... enlightenin.' Do we get time and a half wages?" Rory grinned slightly, offering Hunt and Rat a quick glance. Thus far it was looking like an all Warg party. He wondered how that would sit with Novak and Ackerman.

 

[Voidrunner]

When Captain Ackerman returned from the shooting range, she already looked annoyed about something, Collin was counting his lucky stars that he hadn't gone down there. Most likely it was some sort of horrific shooting accident, rookies and guns never worked well together. Surprisingly enough, finding Collin lounging at a desk upstairs with an empty plate on his desk and crumbs sprayed everywhere didn't raise her ire any further. Instead she got straight into the night's business.

"We've got two juvenile perps waiting down their for us. Now the days closing down and we don't have enough hands to form proper shifts like the larger precincts yet. So I'm asking for volunteers to stay late and take the lead on interrogation. Four should be enough, two for each perp, the usual. The rest of you will be free to go where you please. Your time, your business."

The mountainous officer, Hurt or Hunt or something, was first to volunteer, which didn't surprise Collin. The way the man had handled his coffee this morning had been a clear indicator of how tough he was. Ampere was speaking next though, Collin was oblivious to the snub the man was making towards the wargs so he cheerfully waved goodbye to the man as he left. A man that Collin only vaguely recognised volunteered next, followed by Vasir who didn't volunteer, but rather criticised Ampere's career choices. Collin felt rather uncomfortable at this, considering he had skipped firearm training to stuff his face with sandwiches and catch a nap. Finally, the rebel Red, the walking armoury himself, volunteered, leaving a pause for Collin to say his piece.

"I'm happy to stay on," offered Collin, his apartment was a mess right now anyway, and the neighbours were always making a racket. "I don't know if I'll be any help with the interrogation but I can fetch some more food," he gestured at the empty plate, "we're all out of sandwiches, sorry."

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Cali watched as Archibald left, throwing a dirty look his way as he did.

Well good riddance. Feeling tired all of a sudden, she figured maybe taking a break wouldn't hurt...

"If it's fine with you, ma'am," she said, "I think I'll take my leave now."

 

[Dogmatic99]

Ackerman nodded along as the volunteers stepped forward and the others reacted. Good, this gave her a lay of the land. Even the parts that went unsaid told their own little story. At least the wargs had stepped up, maybe the young perps would be more likely to open up to someone of their own race... or maybe it would make them shut down even more, it was hard to tell what with all the stories she'd heard about this particular breed of shifter.

Well time to find out for myself I guess. She couldn't think of any better way of clearing up the second hand information.

Novak appeared from the storage area with a few of the larger uniform jackets as well as some smaller items like socks and shirts, they being the closest thing to blankets he could find. "Looks like we're going to be requisitioning a lot over the next few weeks." He muttered to his captain.

Ackerman nodded silently. "I'll leave your pairings to your own judgment." She said, turning to the recruits. "The dear sergeant and I will be on hand in case you need any assistance. Remember these are minors we're dealing with here, so let's try and keep the water boarding to a minimum. Split yourselves between the rat and the cat we brought in, they should have shifted back by now... assuming they're not idiots."

She waited for the recruits to leave about their business before approaching Novak. "You're going to have to multi task a little here, Rat managed to catch a third one and we can't risk all our leads on some greenhorns. I'll monitor them for the rest of the night and try to leave you too it." She said like some conspirator mid plot.

"Sure you don't want to join me? I know you're not great with kids but you were an animal person last I checked."

"Very witty, Sergeant."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Split yourselves between the rat and the cat we brought in, they should have shifted back by now... assuming they're not idiots."

"I'll take the cat." Jason was first to say, before heading over to the vending machine to get some coffee and snacks. He didn't know how long it must have been since the suspects had last ate.

"What about you?" he asked over his shoulder to Rory. Jason wanted to keep an eye on the other warg, and he suspected the feeling was mutual. If they were going to be interviewing the kid together, then they needed to be a team, which would mean some things having to be said first.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Mordecai listened whilst the others gave out their contributions, he chuckled quietly to himself for some reason as Collin showed the empty plate of sandwiches; it would be interesting to see if there was any side effects of eating so many, aside from several trips to the toilet and a possible bout of indigestion in the morning. From what he could gather, it appeared that all the Wargs had volunteered for the interrogation session.

Novak had disappeared from the room briefly, only to return a few moments later with an assortment of clothing items, ranging from larger uniform jackets to socks and shirts. "Looks like we're going to be requisitioning a lot over the next few weeks."

"The dear sergeant and I will be on hand in case you need any assistance. Remember these are minors we're dealing with here, so let's try and keep the water boarding to a minimum. Split yourselves between the rat and the cat we brought in, they should have shifted back by now... assuming they're not idiots." Spoke Ackerman as she turned towards the group of recruits. Mordecai waited for the meeting to be adjourned as it were before approaching the Captain.

"Um, Captain Ackerman? Apologies for interrupting, but would it be possible to have a word with you please, in that private that is feasible, there are one or two things that I would like to discuss with you; it may prove useful in the running of this precinct and the group in particular for the foreseeable future at least."

 

[EnigmaticSevens]

"What about you?"

Rory noted Officer Hunt's tone and caught a glimmer of understanding in the man's eyes as he gathered snacks from the vending machine. A half smile flickered across the ruddy man's face. Well, well, perhaps it was best this way. Who watches the watchmen? The answer was surprisingly simple: the other watchmen. Their methods were sure to differ, but perhaps Rory could reach some accord with the big man, something the young warg on the other end of the interrogation would no doubt appreciate.

"I'll give you a hand with 'im, if you don't mind," Rory put the offer out their even as he collected some of the spare clothing from Novak. He started towards the room where the cat was being kept. He paused for a moment as he drew closer to Jason. It'd be best to clear the air before this got started, lest they spend the evening working at cross purposes. Besides, any insight into how the big man thought would no doubt prove valuable, perhaps making it easier to work with him in the future," What're you hopin' to accomplish in here, with this kid, if you don't mind me askin'?"

 

[Voidrunner]

"Split yourselves between the rat and the cat we brought in, they should have shifted back by now... assuming they're not idiots."

Collin didn't respond immediately to the instruction, he had managed to find a pencil under his desk and was busy tapping out a rhythm on the empty sandwich plate. By the time he realised anything of importance had happened, Rory and Jason had already paired up to interrogate the cat, that is, the boy who could turn into a cat, or was it a cat who could turn into a boy? Collin could never quite decide, either option made for a good film anyhow. Anyhow, that meant if he was going to earn his stripes as interrogator, Collin would be talking to the rat Warg.

"The one who can turn into a rat is mine then, I've got this really inspirational story to tell him," enthused Collin, who apparently had some strange ideas about how interrogations were supposed work. "I'm sure it'll work like a charm." Collin was on his feet and halfway across the room before he remembered he was supposed to have a partner.

"Uh unless you have another idea," said Collin, turning to look back at Rat.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"What're you hopin' to accomplish in here, with this kid, if you don't mind me askin'?"

"Simple really..." Jason replied, still waiting for the vending machines to do their work. "I want to get to the bottom of whoever's running this racket and take them off the streets before anyone else has their family pets murdered and their heirlooms stolen, and I reckon Mr. Mitten-Paws in there can give us the names we need. Whether or not he will depends on how smart he is, but it seems to me that you don't put the dumb kid on look-out duty. I think that we can make him see that, one way or another, he's better off on our side."

Jason drew himself up and looked to Rory, searching for any hint of accusation in his gaze.

"I don't plan on roughing him up, if that's what you're worried about. If the kid's not feeling chatty, I'll make him see that right now, we're the guys with the least intention of doing him any harm, and that's why he needs to keep talking lest we be forced to kick him out into the cold. He got caught, and that means he's damaged goods now. He's a link between us and whoever's at the head of this gang, so he can't be trusted any more; and if he's anywhere near as smart as I believe he is, then he already knows that.

Now..." Jason said, gathering up the evening's rations "It seems to me that I ought to ask you the same question; because if you'd had your own way back at that house, Prince Fluffykins, or maybe even the guy who was being robbed would have ended up on the receiving end of a snake-bite, no questions asked, and we'd be nowhere close to getting to the bottom of this case right now. What's your game, Red? If you've got anything terribly important to tell me you'd best say it now, because the kid in that room has got no reason to trust us if he senses that we don't trust each-other."

 

[Belmarc]

It seemed that the two who definitely shouldn't be working together had decided they were definitely working together. Rat sighed, closing his eyes and mimicking what Archie had done before, pushing an invisible glasses frame up on his nose. It wasn't like he could stop them at this point. Besides, he had been the one to catch the rat, he might as well follow up on it. He turned to where his partner had been and was shocked to see him almost to the door already. It seemed the man had remembered him at the same time.

"Uh unless you have another idea."

Rat shook his head slowly. "Unfortunately." He said it with a slight smile. He nodded to Cali, and with a quick "good night" followed after his current partner.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Cali left the room in order to go down to the locker room, intending to get a shower in before she left for home.

Quickly undressing, she cast her clothes aside before turning on the shower and stepping under the spray. She closed her eyes, letting the water wash over her.

That's just what I needed. Thank the Gods for indoor plumbing...

After a few minutes, she turned off the shower and grabbed a towel to wrap around her body, then went over to her locker. Soon Cali was dressed in a more casual outfit, a midnight blue tunic, black pants, and leather shoes, topped off by a brown leather jacket.

Well, that was my first day in the force. Not bad, all things considered. She thought.

Spoiler: OOC

Just something I threw together to get this thing moving again.

 

[EnigmaticSevens]

Rory bent an ear to Officer Hunts explanation and ignored the looks that came with it. He had to marvel at the way the man's mind worked, always hunting, twisting and turning this way and that, but always honing back in on this ring leader who may or may not exist. It put Rory in the mind of the human hunters' hounds, barking and slathering in their pursuit, no real hunger in their bellies save for a hunger for their master's approval. The wolf in him scowled at the though of such short-sighted, demeaning work, but Rory bit back the impulse to judge. This was still strange ground, and he didn't have solid footing yet. City warg thinking had its own paths, its own mutations, and though it didn't match his own, that didn't mean it was without merit. Should this band of children have some taskmaster, that one had a great deal to answer. Hell... whoever was fencing for these kids had plenty to fucking answer for as well. It looked like most of those trades were for bread, not cash.

"Shit gang ta mark you after one run in with the blues, but they didn't seem the tight sort.... But you're right, one way or another, we're all he's got, fuck, we're all any of 'em's got," Rory worried over that knot in particular. That was the real problem, wasn't it? What needed solving? They'd need something preventative, something they could set up that would discourage this behavior and replace the need it seemed to fill. Whether that need was work or food... that'd be a thing to learn from their young captive.

Officer Hunt made his accusations and asked his questions. Rory cocked an eyebrow and gave the man a lingering look, wary and slightly incredulous. The first words came to the back of Rory's throat and the young wolf promptly swallowed them. First words were dangerous things, best to keep calm and think. When the second words rose to the surface, Rory had time to turn them over, examine them thoroughly and deem them worthy of speaking. They were reasonable and they were honest. Even on a job that required deceit, Rory made it a habit to speak honestly. His voice came out calm, cool, and deadly serious, "Hunt, if you came into that room and found some down from a bite of mine, it would've been our man. It's not a thing I'd do lightly. If it became necessary, I damn sure wouldn't waste time comin' out to see how you felt about it. My 'game' is seein' if we can be more effective than the racist, incompetent shits this city calls cops. Maybe not the most orthodox, mabye not the most commended, just the most effective. That means knowin' when to bite and when to coddle."

Rory stepped into the first interrogation room's antechamber, holding the door open for Hunt and closing it behind him, leaning against it gently, "But let's be clear, Hunt. I got no cause to trust you, and you got no cause to trust me, we might as well go ahead and use that, cuz it damn sure ain't gonna evaporate in the next five minutes. We can feel it, let him feel it. We use the first few minutes to fact find and let him think he might use one of us against the other. We'll see who he jives with first, then we can pull back. The one he likes goes in, plays up that secret confidence, and goes after the meat. Make sense?"

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Effective? Right..." Jason suppressed a derisive laugh as they pushed their way thought the doors to the ante-chamber. "See, hears the thing Red. I take it you're not from around here, and I imagine if we were somewhere different they'd be a lot of things you could teach me about the way the world works. Right here though, this is my turf, and it seems to me that I'm the one who needs to show you the ropes.

You want to know what an 'effective' force needs? It needs trust. Trust is what makes victims come to you for protection; it's what makes witnesses speak out when they'd otherwise keep their lips sealed tight; and it's what makes a jury believe the evidence you hold up in front of them in court. In short, trust gets results; but it takes time to build and no time at all to destroy, especially with shits like Archie Whatshisface on the force. Most importantly, nobody trusts the guy who only ever plays by his own rules.

This is the world I know Red. You see, before anyone even knew I was a warg, I was poor. Obviously, that meant I was also, dirty, lazy, and stupid. It wasn't even questioned whether anyone had ever taught me any morals, of course they hadn't! I'd come from nothing, and to nothing I would undoubtedly return. Now, I could have got angry at their ignorance. I could have lashed out and hurt them, or else rejected their rules and made a living for myself as a thief or a thug, and nothing that's good about my life right now ever would have happened. Instead, I showed them different. I worked hard, I kept my nose clean, and I took pride in it, until after a while they stopped looking at me like I was something nasty stuck to the bottom of their shoe. I earned their trust Red, and now those people know I'm worth it.

Now I don't have to hide that I'm a warg, it's the same story all over again. People look at me and they see an animal, and it's up to me to prove them wrong, something I'm sure as hell not gonna do if I act like an animal."

Jason didn't doubt that Rory was sincere about wanting to do some good in this city. What still concerned him, was what Rory would do the first time they met obstacles that they couldn't just ignore. However, he sensed that he wouldn't be getting the answer to that particular question right now.

"Make sense?"

"Sure," Jason replied. "but make sense of this. Until I can trust you, this city is my home, and the people in it are my people. So..." Jason placed his had firmly on the cell door. "I lead. You follow."

With that, Jason pushed his way inside, to find the kid, in human form this time, seated on the other side of the room. Smiling at him, though not making too big a show of it, Jason pulled up a chair and sat opposite him, placing the bottle of water and the snacks between them.

"Sorry I couldn't rustle up something a bit more filling," he told the kid. "but I figure every little helps. When was the last time you ate?"