Summer Break Five: Ride Along

by KievaLynn

Kieva Lynn's Season Three sequel. Guardians of the Multiverse prequel. As part of an over the summer school assignment, Miranda goes on a police ride-along with Thomas Lair... And gets more than she bargained for. Meanwhile, Irma tries to figure out how to complete the assignment for herself. fifth of seven one-shots in the 'Summer Break' series.

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own W.I.T.C.H., Final Fantasy, or any of their related characters/concepts, nor any other properties whose characters/concepts appear in this story. This is a work of fan fiction.

Author's Note: This is the fifth in a series of one-shots which take place after the events of "Kieva Lynn's Season Three" and before the events of my next major W.I.T.C.H. story, the Final Fantasy Seven crossover "Guardians of the Multiverse." These tales will all take place in the summer break between the guardians' eighth and ninth grade, and will serve to fill loose ends left over from the previous story and provide foreshadowing for the next. In this chapter, an over-the-summer school assignment starts Miranda on the course which could lead to the good future Will saw for her in her Vision. (Kieva Lynn's Season Three, Episode Seventeen)

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Summer Break Five: "Ride-Along"

Heatherfield. On a bright, sunny summer day without a cloud in the sky, the Guardians and their friends gathered in the park for a picnic lunch. They ate, played volleyball, and basically enjoyed the rapidly dwindling summer time off, as well as the fact that they hadn't been called upon as Guardians for several weeks. It was turning into the longest break they had experienced since their lives as heroes had started, and everyone knew their luck couldn't hold much longer.

"Y'know, as much as I hate to risk jinxing things I could wish whoever our next villain is gonna be would strike now rather than once we're back in school." Taranee said.

"Good point." Will agreed. "If they attacked during the summer we'd have less distractions."

Irma disagreed. "Speak for yourselves. I want my summer break."

"That's because you don't care about school anyway." Taranee countered.

"Guilty as charged." Irma agreed, and everyone laughed.

"Well, I don't really care one way or the other." Miranda said, "I just hope nothing happens until after tomorrow."

Irma looked over at her. "Yeah that's right! You're doing that ride-along with my dad tomorrow... Say, what made you wanna do that anyway?"

"It's for that over-summer 'write a report about a day with an adult at work' assignment."

Irma's jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide. "Oh crap!" She exclaimed.

"You forgot didn't you?" Cornelia asked. Irma nodded.

"How!?" Taranee demanded. "We've all been talking about it all summer! Heck, Cornelia spent three solid days last week talking about her day at the fashion studio!"

"Hey!" Cornelia exclaimed.

"Sorry Cornelia but you know it's true."

"Oh man whatamIgonnadowhatwhatwhat?" Irma babbled. "Summer's almost over!"

"Oh you'll think of something." Alchemy said.

"I suppose you could come with me." Miranda offered.

"Thanks, but a whole day with my dad cooped up in a car? No way." Irma declined. "I'll think of something, I just don't know what yet..."

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Early the next morning, Miranda stood waiting for Tom Lair in the lobby of a police substation. She was carrying a large expresso to wake up with and a notebook in case she needed to write anything down, but was mostly counting on going by memory. She only had to wait a few minutes before Tom arrived, with another, younger, officer at his side. "Mornin' kiddo!" He greeted her. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah. Still half asleep, but ready."

"Great! This is my partner Jeff Sloan." Tom said motioning to the other officer, who shook hands with the girl.

As Tom led the way to the back lot where patrol cars were staged, Miranda asked "So, do you always work in pairs?"

"Not always, but usually." Tom answered. "It's a big help to know someone has your back."

"Especially for these older guys." Jeff joked.

"Hey now!" Tom fired back, "Who bailed who out last week?"

"I'll never live that down will I?" Jeff questioned.

Curious, Miranda asked "What happened?"

As they reached their car and Tom opened the driver's door he said "Jeffrey here decided it was a good idea to rush a deer that had gotten itself inside a house. He found out real quick why people need weapons to hunt those things." Tom unlocked the other doors.

Climbing into his seat, Jeff said "It looked so harmless... Then it went berserk."

"Did you have to kill it?"

"Nah, just distracted it away from him and out the door." Tom said. "Animal Control took over from there, tranked it, let it go outside the city limits."

Miranda nodded, then asked "Do you get a lot of cases like that? I mean, I kinda thought police just got cases for things like crimes; robberies and murders and such."

"Oh heck no. We get it all." Jeff said.

"Yeah. Most of our calls are crimes, but there's also a lot of minor things as well." Tom agreed. "Disputes between family members, animals, little old ladies needing aid in one way or another..."

"Plus traffic accidents, and we have to direct traffic around when there's a fire..." Jeff said.

"Sounds like you must not get bored." Miranda said.

"Now you'd be wrong there. This job is long stretches of boredom punctuated by brief moments that are really intense." Tom replied. "You'll find that out real quick today." With that he shifted the car into gear and pulled out to begin the day's patrol...

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Around the same time that Miranda and Tom were meeting up, Irma Lair's alarm clock went off. It was unusual for her to set the alarm in the summer, but she had gone to bed determined to awaken early to start the search for her own way to complete the assignment. Of course, being Irma, she managed only to rise long enough to slam a fist down on the snooze button. In fact, she repeated this pattern so many times that it was nearly lunchtime before she finally woke up.

Walking into the kitchen, stretching and yawning, she said "G'morning mom."

"Barely." Anna Lair replied.

"Barely what?"

"Barely morning. It's quarter to noon. Lunch is on the table."

"Noon!?" Irma exclaimed coming fully awake in an instant. "Aw man, I meant to be up six hours ago!" She grabbed a sandwich off of the table, rushing for the door. "I gotta hurry! I'm running late!"

With that, Irma ran for the front door, ignoring Anna's call for her to stop. Watching the door slam closed behind her daughter, Anna sighed and counted down, "Three...two...one..." A scream echoed from outside and Irma rushed back in the door.

"I'm not dressed yet!" She screamed, looking down at her nightgown and bare feet.

Anna laughed and shook her head. "I tried to warn you."

Grumbling, Irma went to her room to dress...

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Miranda soon learned that Tom hadn't been kidding. The first half of the day was very dull. They drove all around the western side of the city, occasionally stopping a speeding motorist or being called to assist with a report of theft or vandalism. She had expected the latter to be interesting, but in each case they arrived to file a report on a criminal already long gone.

Things turned more interesting soon after lunchtime. It started out as what seemed to be another random call. "Another domestic disturbance..." Jeff sighed as Tom pulled the car into a driveway. "Man, why do people stay together if they don't like each other so much they fight all the time?"

"Who can say?" Tom replied. As they got out of the car, he said to Miranda "Stay back, these things can get ugly."

Even as he was speaking, gunshots rang out, one after another. Jeff dived for the back of the car, swearing as he went, and Tom pushed Miranda ahead of him, also ducking down behind the vehicle. He grunted as he went. "You both okay?"

Miranda nodded, but Jeff was too busy calling for backup. Tom held his shoulder with one hand, pulling his gun with the other, and Miranda noticed the red stain spreading from the covered shoulder. "You're shot!" She exclaimed.

"Just a flesh wound." Tom answered. "Jeff, get around back, cover any other exits."

"Right." Jeff nodded and slipped away.

Tom dared to peer quickly around the corner of the car then ducked back. "Well, you wanted exciting."

"I didn't mean it like this. Should I call Al? She could heal that up."

"No. I wasn't lying, it really is just a flesh wound. And don't tell Irma either, I don't want her rushing in here all half cocked like we both know she'd do."

Miranda chuckled. "Yeah, that's Irma alright." She leaned in closer. "Here, let me see, I've got some experience patching things up." Tom pulled his hand away. "Hmm... You're right, not too deep. Bleeding like crazy though. You got first aid supplies?"

Tom handed her his keys. "In the trunk."

As Miranda opened the trunk, another shot rang out and Miranda yelped as a hole appeared in the metal trunk lid over her head. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, ducking down.

"Hand me the bullhorn." Tom said as she retrieved the medical kit. Using the speaker, he tried to communicate with the shooter. "This is the Heatherfield Police! Surrender your weapon and come out with your hands up!"

"You'll never take me alive copper!" The man shouted back.

"What the hell?" Tom grumbled. "Who's this guy think he is? Al Capone?" He tried communicating again. "Listen to me! You're surrounded and there's more of us on the way! We don't want anyone to get hurt! For everyone's sake, including your own, give yourself up now!"

"I say you give up or else I start shooting hostages!"

"Hostages?" Miranda whispered. "You don't think...? I mean it's just supposed to be his own family in there right, he wouldn't..."

"He might." Tom answered.

"So what do you do next?"

"At this point, we keep him contained 'til backup arrives."

"And then?"

Before Tom could answer, the man opened fire out the windows again, bullets ricocheting off of the front side of the police cruiser and a nearby lightpost. "I'm not kiddin' cop! Back off or people die!"

"I don't think this guy's gonna let you wait." Miranda whispered.

"No... Lemme think a minute..."

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Irma was getting desperate. She had tried several options in the hopes of finding a way to complete the assignment, but none of them had worked out. "Sorry Irma." Anna had said, "But there's no way my boss would allow you to tag along, you know what a bad attitude he has."

"No dice dear." Her grandfather had answered. "Construction sites are no place for the untrained."

She moved on to aunts and uncles with similar luck: "Sorry Irma"

"On vacation this week."

"Sorry, got no time."

"You know I've not worked a day in my life."

"Who are you? Get out before I call the police!"

Irma grumbled to herself as she walked out of the random storefront she had tried for the previous attempt. "This is hopeless!" She complained. Slumping down onto a park bench, she watched people running about, enjoying themselves, including a group of young children. They were playing, pretending to be knights with cardboard and aluminum foil swords and shields. A grin crossed Irma's face. "Hey Elyon, I got a question..." She thought into the mental link...

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"We've got to stop this guy somehow..." Tom whispered. "And fast."

"I'd say this definitely qualifies as a life or death situation, wouldn't you?" Miranda replied.

"What are you thinking?"

Miranda answered by looking around to make sure no one was watching, then changing into a small bird. "I'll see what the situation is inside." She flew off before Tom could stop her. Landing on the roof of the building, she ran to an air vent and changed into a mouse, then crawled through the duct work, looking through the grates at each room. She was surprised to find that all of the rooms were empty of hostages. In fact, the only person present in the building was the gunman himself. Miranda found him in the kitchen, shooting out through a busted open window over the sink.

"He's alone." She thought to herself. "What in the world is this about?"

Examining the rest of the room, Miranda saw a vast arsenal of guns and ammunition, plus other items she didn't recognize but suspected were bombs. The entire room was trashed, furniture busted and broken. The gunman was dressed only in cutoff jeans. Sweat poured off of him, and the glimpse of his eyes the girl caught frightened her. Something was very, very wrong with this man.

Slipping back through the duct work, exiting in a small bedroom, Miranda returned to her human form and found a cordless telephone. She dialed Tom's cell number, praying he would bother to answer in the midst of the crisis. He did. "Thought it might be you. What do you see?"

"No hostages." Miranda whispered. "He's all alone in here. Well, except for his guns. He's got a lot of guns, maybe bombs too."

"Bad news."

"Yeah. And there's something more... Something I've not seen before, the look in his eyes, it's just wild, crazed, even inhuman."

"Drugs." Tom said. "He's high on God knows what... Even with the good news that there's no real hostages, this just got even worse. Look, the SWAT team's pulling up out here right now. Get yourself out of there."

"Right."

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Tom disconnected as his commanding officer arrived and scurried to his side. "Situation?" He asked.

"One gunman, contained inside. Jeff's around back. Gunman claims to be holding hostages, but something about him makes me suspicious of that. He also claims to have bombs, which I wouldn't doubt."

"Your arm?"

"Flesh wound."

"Alright. Where's your ride-along?"

"Miranda? She's the one that got the arm wrapped up. After that I sent her out of harm's way 'til this is over. She should be about a block away."

"Alright, good. Let me try to talk this guy down then..." He raised a bullhorn. "This is Captain Carl Wexler of the Heatherfield police! We just want to help you out here! We don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Hurt this!" Came the reply, followed a moment later by a small rounded object flying out of the window.

"Grenade!" Wexler shouted. He jumped back behind Tom's patrol car as Tom was also ducking for cover. The blast was bone-jarring, ear-shattering. As the shockwave subsided, Tom risked a quick look around the corner of the car. The grenade had landed less than thirty feet away. There was a foot deep crater in the pavement, and the entire driver's side of the patrol car was pockmarked with shrapnel.

"I'll ask again, who is this guy?" Tom grumbled. "I mean grenades? Really?"

Wexler was speaking into his radio. "Everyone okay after that?" Confirmations came from everyone else on the SWAT team...

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Having returned to the ducts in rodent form, Miranda retraced her steps back towards the roof vent she had came in through. As she was passing by the kitchen vent, she heard a new voice booming loudly from a bullhorn outside. "This is Captain Carl Wexler of the Heatherfield police! We just want to help you out here! We don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Hurt this!" the gunman shouted back. He grabbed up one of the objects Miranda hadn't recognized, pulled out a pin, and threw it out the window. A moment later there was a terrific explosion which shook the entire building.

"Whoa!" Miranda thought. "I was right! Those things are bombs!" She started to continue on, but motion from the back of the room caught her eye. She turned to look closer, and saw nothing more at first. Then she saw it again; a shadow, in the next room over, as of someone carefully, silently inching towards the kitchen door. The gunman, confident he was alone, didn't notice. He was too busy reveling in the chaos he had initiated with the grenade. He snatched up a second one, but didn't pull the pin.

"I know there wasn't anyone else in here." Miranda thought as she studied the slowly shifting shadow. Then the person in the next room moved close enough to the door for her to see. It was Jeff.

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Meridian. Raythor stared down at Irma as she stood waiting. "Let me see if I understand this." He said. "You want to... follow me around all day while I do my job? ...Why?"

"It's for a school assignment thing." Irma explained. "I have to do this with someone then write a paper about it. Major bore if you ask me, but I figured with you something interesting is bound to happen. So what'dya say?"

"I say that I have very severe reservations about this."

"Oh c'mon Ray! It's me!" Irma pleaded.

"Exactly the source of the reservations." Raythor answered.

"Oh that's nice." Irma grumbled. "Fine!" She turned and started to storm off.

"Now hold on Guardian!" Raythor called after her. He shook his head. "I'm gonna regret this... Let's go then."

Irma squealed loudly as she ran back to Raythor's side. "Thanks Ray! You're a life saver! So what's up first? We got time for lunch?"

Raythor sighed deeply. He just knew he was making a terrible mistake...

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Miranda was shocked. The young officer was supposed to have waited outside, covering the back to prevent an escape that way. This was not a part of the plan at all. "This isn't smart Jeff." She thought to herself. "Didn't you hear the explosion? Get out of here!"

Jeff continued to inch forward, slowly rounding the door frame and stepping into the kitchen behind the crazed gunman. He leveled his gun at the man's back, then carefully reached down and pulled a small canister of mace as well. "Drop it!" He shouted.

The gunman reacted instantly, swiveling around, grenade still in his hands. Miranda saw him pulling the pin, knew he would throw the explosive towards Jeff who might not have time to react. She changed into a larger rodent, barely small enough to fit in the duct, and raised a ruckus of noise to divert the man's attention. It worked. Kind of. He shouted something unintelligible and tossed the grenade towards the grate she was looking out through. It bounced off the wall, and clattered to the floor right in the midst of several more grenades and a large amount of ammunition.

The crazed man actually tried to dive in and recover the weapon. Jeff maced him and grabbed an arm, pulling him forcefully away, hoping to get them both clear before the inevitable blast. Miranda realized she had best get clear herself, and ran as swiftly as she could towards her rooftop exit. She was just flying away as a bird when the whole structure erupted in flames below. There were several large detonations, one after the other, and countless smaller bangs as hundreds of rounds of ammunition went off from the extreme heat.

Soaring high into the sky, looking down, Miranda could see Jeff and the gunman just outside the back of the ruined house. Both were on the ground, unmoving, covered in black soot. Tom and several other officers were moving around the sides of the burning ruin, converging on their fallen comrade and the suspect. Unwilling to simply observe, she flew down to an empty ally, resumed human form, and ran to rejoin Tom.

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Miranda returned to a scene of chaos. The burning ruins of the house filled the air with noxious black smoke. Jeff was lying on his back, now conscious again, unmoving but insisting that he was not seriously hurt. The gunman was in far worse shape. He wasn't breathing. Tom and Wexler were attempting CPR. Miranda stood and watched as they worked, trying to save the life of the man who had injured and tried to kill them. They kept at it until paramedics arrived and took over, sliding him onto a stretcher and continuing to apply aid as they rushed the man to a waiting ambulance.

As the gunman was carried away, a second group of rescue workers collected Jeff. "Get yourself to the hospital too." Wexler said to Tom. "Get that arm taken care of. The paper work can wait 'til tomorrow..."

Back in Tom's severely beat-up but but still functioning car, Miranda sat silently as he drove towards the nearest city hospital. Finally Tom said "Sorry the day didn't work out like you hoped."

"Are you kidding? I'm just glad you're okay. And I hope Jeff's okay."

"Kid's tough. He'll be fine."

"You know... Even with how long I've been on earth now this was still different than I expected. Back home, when I was working for Phobos... Well, let's just say no one would've went to the trouble of trying to save a criminal's life. Especially after what this one did."

"Well that's a part of it." Tom answered. "You're justified in killing when you have to, but it's better to focus on how each life is precious and worth preserving."

Miranda smiled. "Yeah. You're right."

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Once the dust was settled, Tom's injury put him out of work for two weeks. Jeff more severe injuries, including broken bones and a concussion left him sidelined for much longer, as did the reprimand he received for breaking position and entering the house on his own. The gunman was resuscitated in route to the hospital. Once there, he was found to have multiple illicit substances in his bloodstream. Investigations would later show that he had purchased all of the weapons on the black market, apparently intending to use them against an imagined conspiracy against himself.

All of that would become apparent over the course of time. In the short term, though, we find the Guardians gathered together the following day at the Silver Dragon.

"Sounds like you got more than you bargained for." Cassidy said after Miranda finished telling her story.

"Totally. But it'll make for a great report so that's something."

"Speaking of reports," Will said, "What did you end up doing Irma?"

Irma told them about her day with Raythor. After she finished, Taranee said "Well gee Irma, that's great but..."

"But what?"

"Let me put it this way... You're planning to give Professor Harmon a report about a day spent on another planet..."

(Author's note: In keeping with the "T" rating of this story, I won't be printing the words Irma spoke next...)

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Up Next: "Summer Break Six: Dominators, Dominated"