ALPHA GALAXY PATROL: CALL TO ACTION
EPISODE 1: TREMORS
WRITTEN BY ZAK KAYES AND KATHRINE HAWKINS
GANTHIO, KUNDARIAN NEBULA
PAYTON CITY HIGHWAY I-57
MARCH, 21ST, 30XS
8:34 AM
Ganthio: a once luscious world of forests and jungles half at its former glory; the other half filled with busting, high-tech utopias. Many smaller cities cover the terraformed part of Ganthio, each connected with high speed train systems to bring its citizens to and from the various towns. There is something for everyone on Ganthio, a planet that has successfully achieved near-planet wide peace. However, like any planet, danger lurks just around the corner and unfortunately, it isn't far behind...
Tearing around the corner, a silver SUV weaved its way through the rush hour traffic. Two german-shepherd like aliens kept the car going at a swift 60 MPH. In the trunk were bags filled with money, marked with the letters PCNB. One of the aliens leaned his body out the window and aimed his blaster at the pursuing fleet of police cars chasing them. If one were to guess, these were two criminals looking for a quick buck. Sirens and blaster fire filled the air as the chase alerted drivers on the highway to get out of the way, lest they become casualties. (A nicer way of saying roadkill, in this case.)
"Come on man, we gotta lose these guys!" yelled one of the aliens, trying to shoot at the police cars in the front.
As the crooks sped past, a pair of motorcycle driver came up from a higher level and joined the pursuit. They watched from the top level as they matched their speed with the robbers. The leader of the two, a large muscular wolf, turned to call to his partner, a slender vixen with long purple hair.
"Gemini! Take the exit down to the lower level and sweep around them! Buy me some time!"
She nodded and turned off the highway as directed, swerving around at high speed and coming out in front of them, surprising the robber. The wolf, named Dakoda, meanwhile decided to be a little more bold and ramp off the highway directly, landing on one of the eighteen wheelers and riding his way down to get behind the robbers.
"Show off." muttered Gemini.
"SHIT!" yelled one of the robbers. "WE GOT AGENTS!"
"I got them!" laughed the other robber, swerving the wheel quickly to try and ram into Gemini. She reacted coolly, evading the vehicle and aiming a gun at them.
"I suggest you pull over. I have no reservations about pulling this trigger," she warned without a hint of emotion.
The second robber saw this and ducked, making the first robber slam on the brakes to have her stream ahead of them. Dakoda, seeing this, swerved to the right and pulled out his own blaster, firing at the hood to try and cause some damage to the engine, but with little success.
"Damn it." he muttered, keeping an eye on the robbers before braking as well.
"It's armored!" Gem yelled aiming her weapon lower. "Aim for the tires!"
"We can't risk a car crash on the highway! Not without the possibility of massive casul-"
Gemini pulled the trigger in the middle of his warning, busting one of the tires and making the SUV lose traction, forcing the robbers to get off the highway or risk crashing their own getaway vehicle. They raced down an exit and off the highway into the city streets. Dakoda pulled off a device from a holster on his waist, shaped like a wolf's silhouetted head.
"All units! Disengage! We got this one!" said Dakoda into it before shutting it and putting it back on his waist. "Gem! Follow me! We're almost out of time!"
She turned and followed him, though not without yelling, "Then pick up the pace!"
Dakoda rolled his eyes and gave chase to the weakened SUV. Through his visor, he scanned the car and ran through a list of possible ways to cause minimal casualties. The words "pulse grenade" showed up and he nodded, pressing a button on his cycle and activating his targeting system. He tracked the car and rocketed down a corner until the street was clear. Looking down at the screen, he saw the words LOCK ON and immediately pressed the trigger located right near the throttle. A yellow and black colored grenade rocketed from one of the two blaster holes on the front and latched onto the rear bumper. Immediately following this, the grenade activated and wrapped the car in a yellow field of static electricity.
The robbers themselves received the shock from the grenade and the engine itself shut down, eventually coming to a halt on the empty street. Dakoda and Gemini braked side by side and paused before the area around them began to pixelate, slowly turning the world back into one large room the walls, floor, and ceiling covered in a holographic grid.
TRAINING SIMULATION COMPLETE!
CASULTIES: 0
RECORDED FINISH: 3'21;78
NEW RECORD, CONGRATULATIONS AGENTS
Dakoda and Gemini removed their helmets and exited the training room, headed into the adjacent observation area where a group of cadets had been watching them, applauding the efforts of the two Agents. Sitting with them was a young adult otter who stood next to the screen that replayed the simulation that Dakoda and Gemini had just gone through.
"Good job, both of you," said the otter. "Though I'm not too keen on the strategies you used, I guess improvisation has its perks. Good thinking with the pulse grenade."
"Well as much as some of you younger cadets would have enjoyed seeing a pile up, that's not what an Agent is supposed to do." said the wolf, looking over to Gemini briefly with a look of slight disapproval. Gem returned it with a look of cool indifference.
In the middle of the room in front of the cadets, a figure digitally materialized into the room. The figure was that of a bunny, wearing a simple silver bodysuit that had green digital numbers constantly flowing through some black patterns. She turned to the Agents, who all saluted at her.
"Well done, Agents." she turned to the cadets who saluted as well. "Cadets, these are Agents Dakoda Weston and Gemini. You already know your instructor, Agent Evan Shippen. I am Merida, the central operating system for Alpha Galaxy Patrol, and I'm here to welcome you to our training program, as well as thank you for showing such drive to protect your fellow citizens. We here at Alpha Galaxy Patrol are sworn to serve and protect the people of Ganthio. This extends beyond the boundaries of Payton City. There will be times in your future here that you will be sent on long and dangerous assignments far from home, but as an Agent, it is your solemn duty to take these risks, to protect the lives of those who cannot protect themselves. We will be providing you with the training necessary to fulfill your tasks, to ensure you will return home safely. Once again, thank you for your dedication and service to Ganthio and her people, and welcome to AGP."
~!~!~!~
The hours passed slowly as the day dragged on, the sky slowly being painted orange with the setting sun as its brush. In the observatory level of the HQ, several stories up, Dakoda sat quietly on one of the benches with a small leather bound journal on his lap. It was open to a page half filled with words, various little scribbles outlining some of the edges. He had pause briefly to collect his thoughts, eyes wandering to stare at the cityscape below. From all the way up, he could see the entire city from all around, like a personal beacon of hope. He sighed quietly before going back to writing.
I don't know why Amin keeps insisting on me writing in this journal. Last I checked, I wasn't in school nor did I have any homework. But, I suppose it's one of the ways where I can get my mind off of events I don't want to remember. It's been one year to the day that I joined the AGP. Not by choice but back then I didn't have a choice. Amin says I'm a very different person than the one he first captured. See...I'm not exactly a hero here. By definition I might be but by my own standards, well, it's just a word. It's just who people see me to be. What I see though is a survivor. I had another nightmare last night. It's basically been like all the others. I try to have a good night's sleep and I find myself floating in darkness or ending up in places I don't want to be. I need to keep a tally for how many of these damn nightmares keep repeating. This one has me back in high school, in the lab, where it happened…where everything changed. Where I died and by some odd twist of fate, came back a completely different person…someone to this day, even I still don't recognize. One year to this day...and I still don't know who I am.
Just then, a knock interrupted Dakoda's thoughts. Without waiting for a response, the door opened and Gem stepped into the observatory, her expression still the same, cold, emotionless expression it always was.
"What are you doing up here?" she asked.
"Hm?" The wolf turned his head to see Gemini approaching him and he closed his book gently, putting it down and looking towards his partner. "I needed some alone time to collect my thoughts. Today's...different for me."
"You missed dinner," she informed him.
"Oh. I guess I lost track of time then."
"That isn't like you."
Dakoda paused briefly before crossing his arms. "I didn't think you cared."
"I don't. It was just an observation," she assured him.
"..I see. Well then I'll just have to get dinner on my own then."" he said, starting to walk towards the door.
"...why did you frown at me?"
He stopped in mid step and felt something stir in him for a moment. "Why do you care? Did you care about what could have happened in the simulator at all?"
"It was a mere simulation. A construct to mimic the real thing," Gem said, her tone giving away nothing. "We are supposed to explore all options, that's why we have the simulator to begin with. One doesn't just discard a potential avenue for a solution simply because there will be virtual damage."
Dakoda frowned, similar to before. "That's not how things work. Virtual or not, you always have to account for casualties. Think about it: had we made the car crash on the freeway, it would create a domino effect that would lead to people getting hurt, and last I checked, that's our job: to make sure people don't get hurt. You and I have different methods, I understand that, but do you really not care if someone got hurt in the process of us catching those guys?"
"To be quite frank, if one or two people get hurt in the process of saving many, many more, I would make that choice without hesitation."
"For you that's easy, for me it isn't. I have someone in my life I wouldn't be able to hurt no matter what choice it was. I would take that risk for myself, not for everyone else. What if Amin was one of those people?"
Gem paused a brief moment before continuing, "He is an Agent. He understands the risks that come with our line of work. I haven't a doubt he would mind making such a sacrifice…"
"And I do as well. My point is, I would not risk the safety of others in pursuit of one person. I don't want to imagine the pileup that would have happened. Be thankful we stopped those robbers on an empty street."
"I admit that was a preferable solution. I'm simply saying that sometimes you need to take a risk. Odd that I need to say that to you, considering how you like to improvise…" Gem raised an eyebrow at him.
Dakoda shook his head lightly. "Improvisation is key, yes, but sometimes there are risks I can't take-"
The conversation was abruptly ended as the ground beneath them began to tremble violently. An alert sounded not a moment later, and the pair hurried down to the command center in response. Dakoda opened his Badge as they made their way down to Evan's sector.
"What the hell just happened!?" said Dakoda.
"We've had substantial tectonic activity in Quadrant Epsilon of the City. What we felt was just the aftershocks. It's significantly worse out there," he responded.
"...English. Now," Gemini said.
"My best guess: earthquake. Come on." he motioned with his head as they headed down to the garage, closing the badge.
Evan deadpanned at their backs. "That's exactly what I said…"
~!~!~!~
Dakoda and Gemini took an SUV down to the area, since they were going to need more than just their two wheelers. They reached the epicenter of the quake to find an office building that looked significantly unstable now. Moving quickly as they were trained the pair entered the building and began evacuating the panicked employees as quickly as possible. Luckily the building was small enough that they were able to get everyone out before the supports gave way and the building came down. A survey of the area showed that while other buildings had been damaged by the quake, none were in immediate danger, so they instead went to each building and recommended everyone leave for safety until the damage was repaired. Dakoda looked around for himself and made sure some of the people were alright before opening his badge and calling Evan.
"You got something for us?" he asked. "I have an odd vibe about this quake."
"Give your vibe a gold star then sir, because I really have something for you," Evan replied, looking a little bit shaken. "Hold on, I'm transmitting it to you now."
The image on the screen inside the office building faded and a message came onto his screen. "Your Move"
Gem frowned. "Well that just sounds peachy," she remarked.
"Maybe it wasn't an earthquake?"" asked Dakoda. "It's not like somebody can just create an earthquake whenever they want."
"In our line of work? Expect the unexpected," Evan quipped. "Those readings were definitely an earthquake, but the fact that it was such a small and localized one is extremely irrational. The tectonic plates under the city are far too stable for a sudden and localized quake such as what we had here to occur naturally. I can't begin to theorize the sort of technology that would be required to create such unusual activity and still be able to maintain a level of secrecy while making it initially appear to be naturally occurring…"
"So that means that someone's behind whatever just happened here." said Dakoda, putting together thoughts. "Meaning that someone has a device that can create earthquakes at will. If someone has that kind of device...why pause? Why not bring the whole city down in one go? ...what did it mean before though, your move…?"
"No idea, sir," Evan admitted. "I can't trace the source of the message. Whoever sent it did not want to be identified, and they knew what they were doing if Meridia and I together can't crack it."
"We should check around more thoroughly then," Gem suggested. "If this wasn't natural, there's bound to be something to give us a lead."
Being in the plaza area with plenty of screens flashing commercials around, one of the screens suddenly went to static. Dakoda caught this from the corner of his eye and noticed a few other screens start to shift to static.
"What the…" Dakoda pulled out his blaster just in case. Evan, what's going on with the screens down here?"
"I don't know! Some sort of signal is overriding all the others!" he responded, typing furiously on his console.
As one, the screens faded from static to another message, that said, "Not a bad move, but not good enough." Then, the words disappeared from the screen and the silhouette of a coyote took their place.
"Greetings AGP. I hope my little demonstration wasn't TOO much for you to handle but that was but a taste of what I have in store for you. I...am Master Quake. Now I'm a coyote who believes that anything can be obtained with just the right amount of force. Said can be given to a pressure point on a plate or with someone...or several someone's. So I've decided to set up a little game for you all. In 24 hours, I will position my earthquake generator over the main tectonic plate in the city and create an earthquake with a magnitude so powerful, there won't be a city left for you to rebuild."
"You gotta be kidding me…" muttered Dakoda. "Evan, knock out his communications."
"What do you think I've been trying to do!? "he said, frantically typing away. "He's broadcasting on multiple frequencies at once! I can't nail him down!"
"However, such a disastrous event can be prevented for a small fee." continued Quake. "Let's say...30 million credits. That's all I'm asking for, AGP. 30 million big ones...or I'll bring this city to its knees. Now to show that I'm NOT bluffing, allow mw to show you my power: 3, 2, 1...boom."
Before Dakoda and Gemini could react, the ground began to shake violently as yet another earthquake began to tear its way through the city. This quake was further away but the tremors it delivered were still felt at a close proximity.
"Dakoda! He's hitting the shopping center!" Evan yelled into the com. "You've got to get over there, now!"
Dakoda glared up at the screen as laughter filled the air for a few brief moments, the screens then suddenly reverting to normal. He looked to Gemini and nodded and the two raced to their SUV, heading out to the shopping center. They arrived to the sounds of panicked screams and cracking structures.
"Move it, Weston!" Gem snapped as she climbed out of the car, firing a shot that crumbled a rather sizeable piece of debris before it crushed a child that had been directly underneath it.
Dakoda smirked slightly. "You saved that kid."
Gem's ear twitched slightly, the only visible sign of agitation she ever displayed. "That's the job. Now move it!" She hurried forward, ushering the people away from danger.
Dakoda chuckled quietly to himself before hurrying to help her. The pair of them were able to get the people to safety despite some additional difficulty when the aftershock hit. The shopping center did not collapse, though it was very clear that no one would be relaxing at the mall for quite a while. Just as they were able to breathe, a nearby screen that had not been destroyed came on, displaying Quake again.
"Remember AGP. 30 million credits is the price, and I expect swift payment," he said, chuckling pleasantly as though this were a simple card game. "Good luck to you, and make your next move count!" He gave them a friendly wave as the transmission ended.
Dakoda growled and slammed his hand on the steering wheel in frustration, his hand glowing faintly for a moment before it subdued.
Gem came over to him, her expression once again that cold indifference, though her ear did twitch slightly. "We should head back. I doubt we're going to get anything else accomplished out here."
"Unfortunately she's right." said Evan from the badge. "It's gonna take me awhile but I'm gonna find a way to stop this. Leave this to me alright?"
Dakoda nodded. "...alright. I trust you on this."
~!~!~!~
The next morning saw a very frustrated Dakoda awake to an alert. It wasn't the same sort of alert as the emergencies, rather a notification of important information. He made his way to the intelligence sector to see Gem standing over Evan's shoulder, looking rather impatient. To the other side of the poor otter stood a handsome tan fox in a red button up shirt with long black hair pulled into a ponytail., watching the computer screen. A crossbow holster rested on his hip, and he was trying to get Gemini to give Evan a little breathing room. This was Amin, possibly the only person on the planet that Gemini would willingly spend time with, though neither had divulged the reasons why. He was AGP's top intelligence Agent, and he knew it, which made him a little cocky sometimes. Fortunately, he was always very focused when it came to doing his job.
Accustomed to displays like this when the three were in the same room, Dakoda merely shook his head. Suddenly, Evan sat up with a triumphant cry, smirking.
"Hah! They have yet to design the encryption that I can't break into! I already had some good info for you two, but now this addition will make bringing down this so-called "Master Quake" simpler by a significant margin!" he cheered.
"What did you find on that processor?" Amin asked.
"What processor?" Dakoda interrupted.
"Oh right, sorry," Amin apologized. "Last night, while the cleanup crews were doing their thing at that office building, I decided to go have a look around for myself to see if I could dig up anything you two might not have." He gave a slightly cocky grin. "It is my specialty after all."
"Modesty is never your strong suit, Amin. Let's cut to the point here. We have a situation on our hands," Dakoda suggested, causing Amin to give an apologetic smile.
"Anyways, I found the remains of something that looked like it could have been office equipment, but a closer look showed some rather disturbing components. Depth gauge, stability reader, and most importantly, a high powered, encrypted processor that has no business being on a copy machine. I brought the parts back here to good ol' Evan, and he's been spending the better part of his night deciphering the information on that processor."
"And I'm guessing we may have some form of a lead now?" asked the Gemini.
Amin stood and looked at the duo. "Our Master Quake is named Jaigon Benta. A quick run through the most basic of databases made finding this guy's history easy. He used to be a construction worker, though his records show he was mediocre at best. He specialized in demolitions, but got himself fired when he got carried away with those big booms while clearing a site. He disappeared off the map after losing that job, went underground. Evan did a little digging, and we found out something really special."
Evan turned in his chair to continue where Amin left off. "Benta has been dealing off-world, creating experimental energy generators with the claimed intention of 'giving cities a fresh start,' but his work, or what I've been able to locate of it given how little time I had to research, indicates he was utilizing illegal, unstable sources, garnering a substantial profit while leaving his customers with a hazardous generator which they believed could supply them more economical energy, allowing them to develop a far superior manner of living."
Gem glanced at Amin, who said, "He made cracked out generators for people off-world, using dangerous and illegal materials and methods. He made himself a big supply of cash, but gave the people dangerous energy sources, all while pretending to be helping them build better lives."
Evan frowned, but remained quiet.
"So, con artist, is it? Hardly surprising, considering his demand for credits," Gem scoffed. "Con artist to extortionist isn't that big of a leap."
"Oh, it gets better," Amin grumbled. "Those generators are directly responsible for this entire scheme. See, a couple of those cheap-as-hell generators failed, but one of them failed rather catastrophically. It didn't explode, rather it sort of caved in on itself, and the backlash caused a huge tremor as the reaction went into the ground and reached the tectonic plates of that city. That accident leveled no less than eight square blocks around it, but instead of learning a lesson, Benta saw a bigger opportunity. He used his knowledge of demolitions and experience with making these generators to refine a controlled quake generator. That's what we're dealing with here."
"All of this is fascinating, but I don't get how this helps us stop him," Dakoda interrupted.
"Oh, but it does," Evan said, smirking. "Those attacks he's already caused, plus understanding the tech behind it means I can turn it against him AND use it to track him. See, those were smaller generators. They had a signal, a very unique signal, that triggered them, and because of thaaaaat…." Evan turned around and brought up a city map on the screen, which displayed the east side of the city. "Presto! I can't nail down an exact location, but he is without a doubt in this area."
Amin tilted his head. "That's right by the business district...oh boy…"
Dakoda grinned. "Great work you two. Gem, gear up. We're headed out."
~!~!~!~
Deep underground within the subway tunnels of Payton City, a familiar muscular coyote was busy typing away on a keyboard connected to a central hub setup, keeping track of city activity and displaying his still empty bank account.
"What a pity…" he chuckled, "They're that stupid enough to be stubborn and risk their city? 30 million wasn't too much to ask."
The monitor started beeping and Jaigon turned his attention towards the screen, seeing two red dots making their way down the tunnel. Jaigon groaned as he turned around, hearing and seeing the monitors that kept track of the tunnels go static one-by-one. Someone was systemically taking out his cameras, and he had a feeling he knew who.
"Right on time…" he said, turning around and bringing up a walkie-talkie. "We got company fellas. Be polite, and show them a good time."
Deeper down the tunnel, a group of thugs waited patiently with bats and clubs, ready to deal with any intruders. The sound of running feet caught their attention and they gasped when they saw the outlines of a wolf and vixen running through the tunnels towards them. Before the thugs could charge in, the duo was right there to deliver a beat down onto each of the thugs. In less than two minutes, the thugs were KO'ed on the floor. As the two raced down the tunnel towards the signal, they eventually came upon the station where Jaigon was waiting for them, his hand on the keyboard.
"AGP! You're under arrest, Jaigon Benta!" yelled the wolf.
"And just like a bad penny, YOU two finally show up!" laughed the coyote. "But you're already too late. In just a couple minutes, I level this city with an attack the likes of which you've never seen!"
"Not if we can help it!" said Dakoda. "It doesn't have to be this way, Jaigon."
"Step away from the keyboard and get on the ground NOW or we will use force!" said Gemini.
Jaigon shook his head and suddenly pressed a button on the keyboard, activating the generators around the city. He stepped away and put his hands behind his head before suddenly making a run for it up the stairs to the entrance.
"Leave him to me!" said Dakoda, giving chase. "You figure out how to shut those down!"
Gem nodded and Dakoda quickly ran after Jaigon. Though Jaigon was quick, Dakoda was resilient and full of energy, eventually catching up to the coyote and shooting a ball of fire at him. The ball slammed into Jaigon and the impact made him scream and crash onto the ground. Dakoda caught up to the coyote as he grumbled and got to his feet, staring down the wolf.
"You can't stop my reign of destruction, Agent Weston!" laughed Jaigon. "The only way change can begin is with total destruction, starting from scratch! I BRING REVOLUTION!"
"You are out of you goddamn mind." said Dakoda, assuming a stance. "I'm asking you one last time, Jaigon. Surrender now or this won't end well for you."
"Empty threats, Agent Weston. Put up or SHUT up."
Dakoda paused briefly before smirking, suddenly charging in. Jaigon tried to throw a punch but Dakoda ducked and speared Jaigon in the shoulder. The muscular wolf hoisted Jaigon up and twisted him around, slamming him hard into the ground. Dakoda proceeded to rain down punches hard onto his face. Jaigon shoved him off and pulled out a pipe from his belt and waited for Dakoda to get up. Jaigon thwacked Dakoda in the face and knocked him down, proceeding to start kicking him in the stomach. Dakoda rolled out of the way and Jaigon jumped on him, trying to use the pipe to choke out the wolf. Dakoda struggled as the pipe pressed hard against his larynx. Getting to his feet, he ran backwards and sandwiched Jaigon into the wall, hitting hard elbows into his sides. Jaigon tried to swing again with the pipe but Dakoda blocked and then brought his hand up and caught the pipe, his eyes suddenly flashing red along with his hand. Jaigon watched in confusion as Dakoda clenched the pipe in his hand and set his hand on fire, making the pipe too hot for Jaigon to hold.
"What the-!?" Jaigon watched Dakodas hands. "How did you do that!?"
"You really wanna tempt me Jaigon?" the wolf growled and assumed his stance. "Surrender. NOW."
Jaigon rolled his eyes and shook his head before going in to try and kick him. Dakoda caught the leg and grinned, pinning and clocking Jaigon with a back elbow. He proceeded to hit a hard series of punches at Jaigon's ribs and head. The coyote tried countering but Dakoda's martial arts were proving too much. He fell onto the ground and scrambled for his pipe, turning around and suddenly attacking Dakoda in the groin with the pipe. Dakoda groaned out as the pain forced him to keel over and Jaigon scored a hard uppercut that knocked Dakoda away.
"Not today, Agent Weston!" laughed the coyote. "Not...today."
With the wolf incapacitated, Jaigon took this as a hint to run away as fast as he could. Dakoda got up groggily and watched him get away before shaking his head and hurrying back to Gemini, realizing that time was running out.
Gem, meanwhile, was having some severe difficulty. There was a reason she often had to have someone translate what Evan said, and now it was biting her in the tail. Still, she did the best that she could with the computer training that all Agents received. Typing like a madwoman, she eventually got past the firewalls and broke down the activation codes, just barely managing to stop the signal to the generators. Unfortunately, in her fumbling, she somehow managed to turn this signal back onto the console itself, starting a tremor in the tunnel. She attempted to shut this down, but the vibrations were too strong, and she was unable to maintain focus long enough to stop it.
"Gemini, what the heck is going on down there!?" yelled Evan. "You tripped one of the failsafes!"
"...I don't do computers, okay?" she retorted, her ear twitching. "That's your thing! Can you hack it?"
"I can, but not fast enough to keep the tunnel from coming down on you and Dakoda!" Evan answered, sounding agitated. "Okay, what you need to-"
"...the hell with it," Gem grumbled.
She pulled out her blaster and shot the console, causing arcs, sparks, and eventually a sizeable explosion, after which the tremor stopped. Right at the moment, Dakoda emerged from the staircase and stopped right by his partner.
"Or, that works too," Evan said, though he sounded frustrated.
Gem holstered her blaster calmly and turned to Dakoda. "Jaigon?"
"...he got away. Bastard pulled a fast one on me and got away before I could stop him."
"So we can add coward to the list of his charming traits," Gemini remarked.
"What matters is we stopped a quake from destroying the city." said Dakoda, rubbing the back of his head. "Whatever's left of these generators, Evan can find them and Amin will bring in a team to take them down."
"A successful day," Gem admitted.
The two fist-bumped briefly before leaving the area, relieve the earthquakes were now put to rest.
~!~!~!~
Jaigon closed the heavy doors behind himself, a frustrated look on his face. He would have liked to see some more damage get done, but beggars couldn't be choosers after all. He had been there for a purpose.
"Jaigon!"
Jaigon turned with a smirk, approaching the source of the voice. It came from a computer system, though the screens were not displaying any image. Deciding not to dilly-dally, he responded.
"Don't worry. It worked. Not as much chaos as I would have liked, but I already accomplished what you sent me there to do, and best of all, AGP has no idea." He grinned darkly. "It won't be long before we see the end of Alpha Galaxy Patrol."
"Do you really think it's going to be that easy, Jaigon? Or are you really THAT naive?"
The coyote rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Trust me, I've got a plan. I've always-"
"YOU will do no such planning without my consent or permission. I hired you for a reason Jaigon and that was to bring out our enemies and study them. YOU will stick exactly to my plan without question, is that understood?"
"...yes." mumbled Jaigon.
"Louder. I do not tolerate mumbling."
"ALRIGHT!" yelled Jaigon. "...but dude, you better give me something to take on that wolf's fire powers or I'm toast."
"Don't worry, there's always something to withstand an element. Always…"
~!~!~!~
A few hours after disabling the generators, Dakoda returned to his dorm and wrote down what had happened in his journal, taking a long, warm shower before deciding to invite Gemini out for a drink. It had been a long day and being a social drinker, he needed to unwind. He slipped out of his uniform and went with a more casual look, sporting a dark red tanktop and navy blue jeans with black gym shoes and a black button up t-shirt unbuttoned to show his tanktop. He sighed quietly as he grabbed his badge and pocketed it, grabbing his wallet and blaster just in case.
He arrived downtown on his motorcycle to a lively looking poolhall with the word "JENGAS" lit up in hot pink neon lights. Dakoda parked his motorcycle and made his way inside, listening to the sounds of people talking and cheering over the pool tables and the light music coming from the stereos on the four corners of the hall. He walked over to the bar where a male dingo in a pink tanktop, black jeans, and bandana was serving drinks to customers. When he saw Dakoda, he went right over to him and waved.
"Right on time, lobo," said the dingo. "Are you okay? I was worried the quakes might have gobbled up my favorite customer."
"Heaven forbid." said the wolf with a chuckle, getting to the bar and leaning over to give the dingo a hug. "You would only miss the tips."
The dingo scoffed and put his hand to his chest faking offense. "Oh now you KNOW that's not true, hun."
Dakoda smiled lightly and sat in front of him, arms laying on the counter. "I know Humboldt. I'm only teasing you."
"So you caught the bad guy?" he asked.
"Not exactly but we managed to stop the city from being sunk six feet under?" the wolf replied with a confident smile.
"Ah, now that's what i like to hear!" Humboldt reached over and ruffled Dakodas head playfully, looking into his eyes. "Leave it to my favorite lobo to save the day."
"You flatter me too often, sexy." he smirked, leaning over to kiss him gently. "The usual, if that's alright?"
"When is it never NOT alright?" asked Humboldt, giggling and tilting his head. "Give me one minute."
Dakoda nodded and watched Humboldt leave, smiling and taking out his badge to check a few things. It was at that point that Gem walked through the door. She wore a zip-up purple spaghetti-string top over a black tube top, black jeans, a loosely-tied tan sash around her waist, and purple and white sneakers. She looked surprisingly stylish given her nature, and more than a couple of heads turned to look, although these same heads turned right back around when Gem gave them an icy glare.
She sat next to Dakoda and gave him a quizzical look. "Any particular reason you asked me to come here? If this is your attempt to get me out on a date, you're wasting your time."
"He doesn't swing that way anymore!" laughed Humboldt as he passed by and waved lightly at her. "Not after-"
"Bolt!" laughed Dakoda, embarrassed before turning to Gem who rolled her eyes at the two's flirting. "Relax. I'm not here to pull any funny moves. I figured I owe you two things. One, I owe you an apology for being hard on you and two...what you did down in the subway, I'm surprised you took a page from my book. It was risky but you made it work."
"I merely did what I had to do. There were lives at stake after all," Gem said. Her ear twitched at the praise, though.
Dakoda gave her a look. "Gem? Be real with me. I'm trying to say thank you."
"...I will not be responsible for failing, not when failing has such a high price," she said after several minutes. "The number of lives riding on the outcome was far too great for me to not take a chance. Besides, that is what AGP is all about. We do what's needed so that others don't have to."
She looked at Dakoda and for the first time, he saw something in her eyes besides the cold indifference she perpetually projected. There was sincerity. She was being fully honest with him, talking just a little openly. For all her icy personality traits, Gemini was dedicated to her job, something Dakoda had known for a long time. All the same, it was nice to have confirmation about it. Humboldt stopped by the two and gave them glasses of butterscotch whiskey, smiling at the two. Dakoda picked up his glass and looked to Gem.
"Ain't that the truth." he smiled. "To partnership."
Gem raised her own glass. "To AGP."