Alright everyone! So, with the results of the poll in, it would seem you guys want me to write this story first, the concept of the Zone Cops always intrigued me and I figured I'd do my own adaptation on it. This story is going to include multiple OC variants of characters since the original appearances of the Zone Cops only had a few characters, nowhere near enough to do a full cast. So, I'm doing my own versions of characters we never got to see or hear about originally! I hope you all enjoy it! Let's begin!
No Zone Archives: Drift
Records
Zonic never liked paperwork, he'd much rather be out in the field, chasing after some interdimensional criminal somewhere. He figured it was a necessary evil, somebody had to do all the paperwork to keep the machine running. Come to think of it, maybe he could get Zally to do it for him, she always seemed to enjoy this kind of stuff. Sitting back in his chair and pulling out his communicator, he tried to contact her, only to be met with no answer. He tried again to the same result. He groaned and set the communicator back on his belt. As he did, one of the monitors in front of him had an orange light activate. He quickly pulled up the incoming feed from the dimension. An orange light meant that there was an ongoing dimensional breach somewhere in the zone.
The zone's data didn't look too out of place, there was evidence of a breach somewhere within the readings. He put his helmet on and rushed out toward the main teleport pad. As soon as he arrived, he was confronted by Zantoine, whom oversaw reasons and times for each entrance and exit, along with controlling the very pad itself. Zonic had tried to run it once, only to succeed in almost teleporting everyone in the nearby vicinity into a random dimension with no hope of returning. Needless to say, he was banned from ever attempting to operate it again.
"What are you doing here?" Zantoine asked, his familiar accent being carried across the room.
Unlike most Zone Cops, Zantoine didn't really wear much of the standard combat uniform, his olive green and red casual outfit fit much better and he claimed it didn't make his feet ache, which was something the hedgehog could get behind. The lucky Mobians down in the more information-based jobs didn't have to wear the large clunky boots that officers had to. They got to be comfortable.
"Just headed out, there's a dimensional breach in Z-529."
"Do you have confirmation of your orders?"
The hedgehog froze, "Since when do I need that?"
"As of last cycle, remember?"
"No…"
"I assume you fell asleep during the presentation, again? No agents allowed to leave without confirmation of the order from a higher up, now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work, I suggest you do the same."
Zonic grumbled insults under his breath as he sulked back to his camera room. He supposed he could get Ziles to authorize his leave, though that would be a challenge, considering the fox only outranked him by technically.
He settled in for a largely boring day of absolutely nothing, what he would give for some actual action. Just as he had gotten comfortable, he was alerted by another report from a monitor, Sector S-827 just had a dimensional anomaly appear. He sent the report over to the scientific teams, they always liked to know about these things.
Dimensional anomalies weren't uncommon, but their exact cause was still unknown, they were just something that happened occasionally. The scientific side didn't really interest him, he just wanted to enforce the law, figuring out the secrets of the Multiverse, while it did have a nice ring to it, wasn't quite for him.
He continued going over his reports, constantly checking the time until his shift ended, it seemed to drag on for forever. Eventually, he received a call on his communicator, it was Zally. He quickly answered.
"What's up?"
"I was about to ask you the same question," The voice on the other end replied. "I couldn't answer, was in the middle of a trial. There's just not enough to convict this guy, he claims he was dimension hopping by accident. One doesn't just go though several dimensional vortexes on 'accident'"
"That sucks."
"I just know Nega's behind this somehow, but without the evidence, I think I'll have to let him walk."
Zonic, didn't like hearing that, everybody he captured he knew was guilty. But they were entitled to a defense and Zhadow, the resident defense attorney, was notorious for his ability to turn cases around.
"Have you checked with Ziles, maybe he's got something." Zonic commented.
"I was actually going to ask you to do that for me."
"What, scared of a little blood!?"
"You know he gives me the chills."
Zonic figured that was going to be her answer, Ziles tended to do that.
"Alright, I'll ask him next time I see him."
"Thanks, tell him it's now or never."
"Can do."
Zally hung up on her end, Zonic would have asked her about taking his shift for him, but she appeared to be busy. He figured he'd try a but later, he had just agreed to do a favor for her after all.
He continued scanning the monitors, nothing else of note, small breach here, flicker there, total collapse of an entire dimension. These things happened all the time. As if on command, his communicator went off and he recognized it as Zicole.
"Yes?" He answered.
"Zonic, the chief would like to speak with you."
The hedgehog instinctively swallowed hard. If the chief wanted him, it generally wasn't for a good reason.
"Alright, I'll be there in a second." The hedgehog got out if his seat, he figured that whatever trouble he was almost certainly in was better than staring at screens for hours on end.
-X-
"You called for me Chief?" Zonic asked, setting his helmet down on a nearby table as he entered. Chief Zamy, a pink hedgehog, was seated in the desk in front of him, she wore a black uniform laced with gold trim, which glinted in the red-orange sunlight as she turned to face him.
"Yes, I've got a new assignment for you, it seems Nega has recruited some new lackeys, they were terminated last mission, but their bodies are still intact. I want you to take Ziles with you and see what you can find.
"You don't ever put me with Ziles, what's the special occasion?"
"Well, normally he doesn't get assigned to fieldwork, and you're the only one who gets along with him, plus I figured we could start giving it a shot again. Zantoine should already be informed as to the site where we're sending you."
Zonic smiled at the comment, "You got it chief, we'll take a look."
She nodded at him and he stepped out and started toward Ziles' lab, he expected the fox to be excited about his new assignment.
-X-
Forensics Lab and Ziles' Quarters
He instinctively read the sign outside as he approached, scanning his mind just in case if there was any reason the fox might have revoked his credentials, he hadn't remembered bringing any food in within the past few days so he should be fine. He placed his palm on the scanner and the door opened in response. The smell of disinfectant reached his nose and the stark lack of other agents or officers was stunning as usual.
Ziles possessed almost an entire district to himself, even so, he specifically requested he have, "No assistants, no sidekicks, no 'little helpers'." As he had put it. Some of the other officers had come to calling him 'The Necromancer' because of his reclusive nature and borderline fascination with corpses. Sonic didn't mind, he had known the kitsune for years.
Currently he seemed to be busied at one of the many desks scattered throughout the room, his white lab coat billowing out behind him. He could hear light growling underneath the fox's breath, along with the distinctive irritated taps of his leg braces on the floor, he was frustrated about something. His singular tail stood on end behind him, confirming Zonic's suspicions. Zonic approached behind him and lightly tapped on his shoulder, causing Ziles to jump in surprise.
"Zonic!" He exclaimed, "Don't scare me like that, I've got important work to do."
"Thought you'd be happy to see me!" the hedgehog replied, pulling the fox away from his work and onto his feet. "The Chief's got some field work for us."
"Wait, they actually gave me a field assignment, one with you no less?"
"I know! It seems insane!"
"Well let's get going! The more time we have the better, what are we up to?"
"Some of Nega's new associates kicked the bucket, we're in charge of checking it out."
"Field mission with you, and fresh corpses? Is it my birthday early?"
"You only wish! I would have gotten something for my favorite fox."
The kitsune in question grinned at the statement, "Well, let's get going! They're not going to collect themselves!" Ziles ran into the back of his personal. laboratory. He emerged a few minutes later wearing his uniform.
Rather than the olive green and crimson of the standard uniform, Ziles' was a pristine white, it was much less bulky then the standard uniform, but was more form fitting to the scientist, he was never deployed to front line missions, so the suit lacked armor, it possessed basic shields to protect him from the elements, along with the occasional stray projectile in an emergency. The helmet had space to accommodate his ears and had a light blue visor across the front. As per the fox's request, the suit lacked the heavy boots that were generally standard issue, and instead were paw shaped pads placed across the bottoms, which he found much more comfortable. A set of leg braces were built into the uniform, allowing him to not have to worry about them while in dangerous situations.
Ziles' legs were an interesting story, while it was normal for his other selves throughout the multiverse to have genetic mutations, most of the time they were minor, such as different eye colors. Not anything that would severely effect their lives. Ziles was one of the exceptions to the rule, he had diagnosed with a form of diplegic cerebral palsy, it prevented muscle development in his legs, as such, they were unable to support his weight. He required leg braces to even walk, and so they were built into his uniform.
He still remembered the look on the fox's face when Zonic had first taught him to walk upright. He could never get that grin out of his thoughts.
The fox walked up to him, "So, where we headed?"
"Don't know, Zantoine's already been prepared, so I guess we'll see."
"It's a surprise? This really is strange."
"Well, the chief said she was trying out something new. Also, anything new for Zally? She says it's now or never."
"I've hit a road block, I've been going over the data for days on end, there's just nothing there."
"Well, just keep trying. But don't lock yourself in that lab for too long. Maybe this new mission will let you look at it differently."
The fox shrugged, "Can't argue that that."
Zonic noticed that any other Zone Cops they walked past quickly moved out of their way, or made it look like they were busy, Ziles had that effect on others because of the rumors spread about him. If the hedgehog didn't know better, he would have assumed that Ziles liked the aura of intimidation around him.
Zonic had heard his own fair share of rumors about the fox, some guessed he was a vampire, others, that he had secretly went mad years ago and was kept in the forensic lab like a prisoner. He knew they were all false, Ziles just enjoyed his job as he had put it. "Bodies are so fascinating! Figuring out what made them tick and why everything broke down, all the little clues you can figure out about someone from just what they ate yesterday! It's like a puzzle!"
Suddenly, he could see where all the other agents were coming from…
-X-
The duo stepped out of the portal and arrived on site, the area was surrounded by jagged cliff sides that seemed to extend to the very heavens themselves. There were also steep drop offs on each side of them, Zonic readjusted his Warp Ring placed around his wrist, they were generally only one time use and allowed Zone Cops the ability to warp back to base whenever required.
He reached down to his belt and activated the dimensional stabilizer, the No Zone had its unique quarks, one of them being that its denizens tended to remain fixed to its orientation, even when in other dimensions, causing them to seemingly float parallel to the ground. The stabilizers allowed them to remain upright and rooted within the physics and workings of their current dimension. It was had become ingrained in the protocol for Zone Cops that he didn't know what he would do without it.
Lying in center of the small canyon they were in, was a singular body, a second lay a short distance from the first. Ziles stepped over to them and began to physically overlook the corpse, turning it over and inspecting every inch of it. Zonic always wondered what the fox was thinking during these investigations. What exactly he was looking for.
"Well, let's get the obvious out of the way." Ziles began. "He was shot, judging by the scorch marks across his fur, I would guess from behind, the injury is still rather fresh. He pulled his hand out of the small burnt hole, revealing dark red finger tips. "There's still plenty of blood here."
Zonic recoiled slightly at the appearance of the blood, "You creep me out sometimes, you know that?"
"Yep! It's part of the job!"
Zonic laughed at the fox's explanation and let him continue.
"He would have been hit right about…" His voice trailed off for a second as he took a step back, he walked over to a nearby segment of rock and planted his feet. "Here."
The fox walked back over to the corpse. He removed a small syringe from his belt and inserted it into the wrist of the unfortunate victim, drawing enough blood to fill it. He replaced the syringe back onto his belt. He continued to examine the victim, he snapped his fingers on his right hand and instantly his palm was aglow with light, he shone it into the blaster wound and looked around. "Well, seems like whoever shot this guy has had his target practice, straight through the lungs."
Ziles stepped back, "Well, I'm going to need better equipment for this one. Not a whole lot I can do here."
He walked over to the other corpse, Zonic followed behind him and the fox knelt by the body.
"Shot, very similar appearance to the other," Ziles removed his right hand, from the injury on the body, his palm was completely coated in blood. "Its nowhere near as clean as the other one though, normally these things would cauterize the wound as they went though, burning it to prevent bleeding. This one's a bit odd because of the lack of it here."
"What do you think caused that? Didn't you just say he was-"
The fox held up a bloody finger to the hedgehog, silencing him for a moment, he removed a small knife from his belt. "You might want to look away, this isn't going to be pretty."
The fox made several linear cuts across the body's chest, eventually creating a small square of flesh he could lift away from the skin, he snapped his fingers again, causing the lights on his palm to activate, he noticed several bruises on some of the muscles inside the body. This instantly confirmed the fox's theory.
"I'm going to have to change the cause of death here, he actually died from trauma."
"What makes you say that?"
"See those bruises on his muscles, I'll bet he was shot, didn't instantly die but instead put up a fight with some of the officers. Which resulted in several hits to the gut. This caused internal bleeding, which is evidenced by the amount of fresh blood here, which is what he actually died from."
Zonic just stood there in shock, "How do you figure this stuff out?"
"Look for what's off, if you work with bodies enough you start to see patterns in some things. Now, using the cause of death, I can figure out how the dimensional residue would have deteriorated from his last dimensional hops to see what he was up to."
"Sounds awesome, you might want to wash up before hand though…"
He looked down at himself and noticed the bloody gloves along with the speckles of blood across his chest from slicing with the knife. He took on a slightly embarrassed look, "Guess I got a bit carried away there…"
"Hey, you got us started! Let's figure out where these two are from!" Zonic activated his warp ring and the two exited back into the headquarters. Causing Zantoine to run over to the fox and check if he was hurt from all the blood, much to Ziles' annoyance. He called in a retrieval crew for the corpses and ordered for them to be dropped off outside of his laboratory. He figured he'd find out exactly what these two were up to as soon as they returned. Before then however, he was going to take a bath.
Alright! 3k words has got to be a solid start to this story! I hope you guys all enjoyed it! Please follow to be notified of the next chapter, and review to tell me what your thoughts are! Until next time!