Bryan looked over his shoulder in slight disbelief of what he was hearing.
"You want to do what?" He asked Kasey, ignoring her grin.
"I say we take Prowl and Barricade and have ourselves a contest to see who can rack up the most amount of traffic ticket fines."
Bryan glared at Kasey before he sighed, rolling his eyes. "And why would I want to partake in this?"
Kasey shrugged. "Because it's something to do. Besides, I know you just love writing out tickets."
Bryan rolled his eyes again, turning back to what he was writing down in his report. He was content to ignore her for the time being.
"You're just worried you won't write enough tickets." She challenged him with a grin.
Bryan put his pen down, but didn't look up at first. Instead, he reached across the table and picked up his sun glasses with a grin.
Oh, it was so on.
xxxxxx
"The rules are simple." Kasey said, her voice coming from the radio under Prowl's dashboard. "It's not the number of tickets you write, but the total amount of fines. And just to be fair, I've convinced Jazz to look over our work to make sure we didn't just make up bogus tickets. Also, you'll get bonus points if you pull over someone with active warrants no matter what the reason, we'll say... it'll be the same amount of points that you would get for writing a two-hundred dollar ticket. Add another hundred if you can get the car towed to impound."
Bryan didn't answer her, he was already scanning the cars driving past him.
Prowl was easily swayed into the contest when Bryan told him that he would be helping the community by taking part in their game. Currently, they were parked on the side of the road.
They had found a patch of road that Bryan knew was known for speeders. They had found a parking lot with access to the main road and had pulled around so that they were at the lot's exit, facing the street.
The advantage Bryan and Prowl had over Kasey and Barricade is that, until you got close enough, you couldn't tell Prowl was a cop car. From a slight distance, he seemed like an oversized, black, SUV. But closer up, you could see the LED lights in the front grill and windows.
Barricade on the other hand, was black and white - an obvious cop car.
Not that Bryan was denying the fact that Kasey would get tickets. He'd lost track of the number of traffic stops he had when he first started working street patrol in a marked unit.
People weren't that smart.
He looked down at the radar on Prowl's dash when a white BMW sped past them, running the stop sign down the street as it did so. Bryan didn't even have to say anything as Prowl pulled out of the parking lot and followed the speeder a quarter of a city block before turning his lights on.
It took two chirps of his siren before the speeder figured out that they wanted him to pull over. Bryan allowed Prowl to drive while he reached for his ticket book. He was slightly surprised when he looked over and saw Prowl's hologram already stepping out of the vehicle.
Bryan chuckled and shook his head, tapping Prowl's arm before he was fully out of the vehicle. "Hey, change that outfit. If he sees one cop in plain clothes and the other in a uniform, there are going to be questions."
Prowl seemed to look him over for a moment before nodding, changing his form into more casual clothes, the police badge hanging around his neck on a chain. Bryan nodded. "Just fix that jacket and you'll be fine." He said, grinning at Prowl's hologram.
Bryan exited Prowl and headed for the drive's side door, walking slowly when he hit the rear quarter panel of the vehicle, hand on his holster out of instinct until he was able to see the hands of the driver.
The window was rolled down and the driver looked up at Bryan, not even noticing Prowl standing on the other side.
"I need to see your license, registration, and proof of insurance." Bryan started, keeping his ticket book at his side. When he was handed the papers, he placed them on the roof of the car, allowing Prowl to pick them up on the other side.
"Do you know why we stopped you today?" Bryan asked, ducking down a little to get a good look at the driver's eyes, checking for any signs of him being on drugs or having had a drink.
"Not a clue officer." Bryan gave the driver a good look over. Young kid, probably no older than nineteen. He was dressed in baggy clothing and had a worried look in his eyes.
Bryan immediately knew something was off.
"I clocked you doing fifty miles an hour. Do you know what the speed limit is on this street?"
"Forty-five, sir?"
Bryan blinked at that. 'Sir'? The last time he heard that from a kid was right after the kid had stolen his parent's car.
"Nope. It's twenty-five here." Bryan looked around the car. "Have anything in the car we should know about?" He started. "Knives, guns, grenades, tanks, dead bodies, RPGs, or Anthrax?" Bryan asked, keeping a strait face while gauging the driver's reaction.
When the kid didn't so much as crack a smile, Bryan knew there was trouble.
He looked over at Prowl and could easily see the Autobot accessing the police database to run the information. He looked back down at the driver. "Mind if I take a look inside the vehicle?"
As soon as the kid's hands tensed, Bryan had his hand on his holster. "There a problem?"
The kid shook his head. "N-n-no, sir. Yah, you can look in the car."
Bryan pulled the door open, pointing at the battering ram on Prowl's vehicle form. Go stand over there for me. It'll just take a moment."
Waiting until the kid was standing where he was told too, Bryan ducked into the car, patting down the seats and checking in the center consol, he pulled the glove box open. Finding nothing he pushed the truck release button on the keys.
When he stood back up he looked over at the driver, watching the kid shudder and look behind him. Bryan smirked as he walked towards the trunk. He knew that shudder. That was the 'I've just been scanned by an Autobot' shudder. Prowl had scanned him for weapons. Bryan just rolled his eyes and finished checking the vehicle before standing back up strait and pulling out his ticket book.
"Car's clean." He said, starting to write things on the pad. "But I'm going to write you a ticket for your speed, the tinted windows, and-" He stopped when Prowl motioned to him to come over. He walked over and took a look at the computer screen. Bryan chuckled to himself as he read the information on the screen. "Kid's got warrants."
xxxxxx
"Think we'll win, Barricade?"
"Of course." The reply was quick and gruff.
"Are you sure? It's been an hour and we only have five-hundred dollars in tickets. And that's rounding it up."
"I have already calculated our chances of winning. They are sixty-four percent."
Kasey rolled her eyes, sitting back in the seat. "Now I know you're Prowl's brother. Percentages? Really, Barricade?"
Barricade 'huffed', rocking on his suspension as he did so. "Then you have any other ideas?" He asked, taking a turn down another street.
"Actually... I do." Kasey said. "You're a Mustang, a car that most people love to race... I've got the perfect idea. Find a spot to pull over where we won't be seen."
"Why?"
"Just humor me." Kasey replied, rolling her eyes.
"I don't do humor, human."
"Just do it!" She growled back, gripping the steering wheel. Barricade decided that it would be best to do as he was told, pulling to a stop behind an old movie theater.
"Okay," Kasey started, stepping out and walking around to the front, giving him a once over. "First off, lose the decals." She said, watching in some awe as the words 'Police', 'To protect and serve', and finally, all the police related decals "melted" into the vehicle.
Now, Barricade looked like a black and white car, just with the LED bar sitting on top.
"Good," Kasey observed. "Now, lets change the paint to red."
If Barricade was in his bi-pedal form, he would have rolled his eyes. But he did so anyway, changing his paint job to a dark red color, for good measure, he removed his ram bar as well.
"Very, very nice, Barricade. If it wasn't for the fact I didn't know what you are, I'd almost say you look sexy." But she rolled her eyes. "If only I didn't know what you were."
"Anything else?" He growled, getting impatient.
"Yah, loose the light bar." She said, watching as that too melted away into the vehicle. Taking the initiative, Barricade formed a set of LED lights hidden on the dashboard, as well as two more sunken into his front grill, another set hidden by very darkly tinted windows in the back, a final set hidden in fog lights at the front of the vehicle.
Kasey was quite pleased with herself, circling Barricade slowly. "Hmm, looking good there 'Cade. Anyone who doesn't pay extreme close attention will just see a red Mustang that's ready to race."
"I fail to see who seeing a car that is ready to race will allow us to win our bet."
"Street racers, 'Cade. Those guys have warrants out their asses. More equipment violations than any one of you Transformers. And not to mention how many cars we could impound since most of them will probably have drugs on them."
Barricade took a moment to take all the information in, projecting his hologram to half sit, half lean on the hood of his vehicle form. He had changed his usual appearance to appear as a plain clothes officer - and Kasey had to admit, he did it quite well. He was grinning at her, his arms folded over his chest. "That is very, as you humans would say, 'underhanded' way of winning." There was a pause as Kasey rolled her eyes at him. He shrugged it off, adding, "I like it."
"Knew you would." Kasey said, giving him a push on the shoulder as she walked past. "Just get in."
xxxxxx
It didn't take long for Kasey and Barricade to find the first punk who pulled up next to them at a stop light. Kasey almost didn't see him until she heard the revving engine and figured out that it wasn't Barricade.
She looked over. The guy couldn't have been a day over twenty-one. He was sitting in an a white Dodge Charger, the car's entire frame vibrating as he turned up the bass on his sound system. He blew her a kiss with a grin before revving the engine again. It was obvious to her that either the man hadn't seen Barricade sitting next to her, or simply didn't care.
Barricade, not one to back down from a challenge, revved his engine in response. When the man nodded his head towards the traffic light, Kasey turned back to look at the light. She couldn't nod or else the ticket would be invalid since she had outright accepted his challenge.
She waited for the light to turn green, and right on cue, she heard the tires burning rubber as the man slammed down the gas and took off. Barricade let him get ahead a little before, with precision that even Kasey couldn't have mustered out of her Crown Vic, he pulled himself within inches of the Charger's back bumper, flipping on his lights and hitting his siren.
Kasey couldn't help but life when she saw the man go a pale white. To his credit, he didn't try and outrun the Mustang, but quickly pulled over.
Kasey grinned when she looked over at Barricade's smug hologram. "I think we'll win this contest off of one traffic stop."
Kasey was approaching the vehicle when the driver revved the engine again, preparing to run. Any thoughts of that were squashed when Barricade revved his engine in response, overpower the Charger's sound by a wide margin.
Barricade's hologram just grinned. "I still got it."
xxxxxx
Much to her disappointment, they hadn't wracked up many points with the past few speeders that Kasey and Barricade had pulled over. They needed to step things up a little bit. She was just about to suggest going to another area when she looked ahead at the car in front of her. "Hey, Barricade?" She asked, taking his grunt as his acknowledgement. "Scan that car." She said, watching a little girl stand up in the back seat. "Is that kid in a child seat?"
Barricade's hologram shook his head. "No, she is not."
"Pull the car over." Kasey said, watching as the lights turned on and she heard Barricade's siren chip. The drive, presumably the mother, looked into the rear view mirror before rolling her eyes and pulling to the side of the road.
Kasey stepped out of Barricade, watching as the hologram did the same before approaching the car. She knocked on the window and waited for it to roll down. When it didn't, she knocked again. And again, she was ignored.
She ducked down to look into the car and found that the driver was on a cell phone. Again, Kasey knocked. The drive looked over, irritated and held up a single finger, telling Kasey to wait.
Kasey straitened up and looked over at Barricade who gave her a nod.
Kasey pulled open the driver's side door, whistling loudly to get the driver's attention. "Hang it up now." She growled. "Or you're going to jail."
Being ignored again, Kasey glanced at Barricade, giving him a nod. She waited a moment before he nodded back, signaling that he had blocked the signal.
"Fine. I'm done." The driver hissed, checking her bars and finding her cell phone was out of service. She looked up at Kasey, glaring holes into the girl. "What do you want?"
"Set out of the vehicle." Kasey growled, taking a step back.
"And if I refuse?" The woman replied, rolling her eyes and sitting back in her seat.
"Refuse, and I will pull you out of the car, we'll still have our talk, and when I'm done, me and my partner will take you to jail, your girl to social services until her father can get her, and your car to the impound lot. Clear?" Kasey replied, allowing a small smug tone to enter her voice.
The lady rolled her eyes again, mumbling something before getting out of the car.
"Do you even know why we stopped you?" Kasey asked, glancing at Barricade. Much to the former 'Cons credit, he was keeping an eye on the little girl still bouncing around in the back seat.
"Because you make commission on traffic tickets?" The other woman snapped, leaning on her car. Kasey let out a low chuckle, not amused in the least. "Ma'am, I don't get commission on the tickets I write. And if I did? I'd write this one for free."
"Yeah, whatever." Was the response.
"I stopped you because your little girl isn't in a car seat."
"Is that all?" The lady replied, rolling her eyes and pulling out her wallet. "Here." She said, shoving a hundred dollar bill into Kasey's hands. "Problem solved."
Kasey put the bill on top of the car for Barricade to see. "You do realize," Kasey began. "That what you just did is considered a bribe, and is a federal offence?"
The women rolled her eyes. "Then forget it happened, write me my ticket, and let me go. I have more important things to do then be harassed by two cops."
"Are we harassing anyone, 'Cade?" Kasey asked, looking over the woman's shoulder at Barricade's hologram. His reply was a quick 'Nope' before he went back to keeping an eye on the youngling in the back seat. "Anyway." Kasey started again. "At the rate you're going, you won't be getting anything else done today because you will be in jail. Understood?"
"Fine, whatever."
Kasey growled under her breath. "Are you this child's mother?"
"Yes. What's it to you." The woman snapped.
"I'm not a mother, but if I was, I would want my kids to be safe in the car. Do you realized that if you were to get into an accident, that your child would almost definitely be killed? That doesn't bother you at all?"
"Why don't you let me worry about what is and isn't good for my daughter."
Kasey was glaring at the woman now, not at all happy with the 'I just don't care response' she was getting. This was a child they were talking about! Someone had to look after her!
At the end of her rope, Kasey tried again. "Be that as it may, it isn't your decision as to if you want your child in a car seat or not. It's the law. Miss, she needs to be secured in a car seat."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Are you going to give me my ticket or not?"
Kasey took a deep breath and looked up at Barricade. He was grinning at her, thinking the same thing she was. Looking back at the woman, she nodded. "Yup. I'm going to ticket you for your speed, another ticket for your seat belt, a third fine for the cell phone, and a fourth for not having your kid in a car seat." She said, writing out the violations. "Sign here." She said, thrusting the pad into the woman's hands. When she got it back, she tore off the offender's copy, tossing it onto the driver's seat of the vehicle.
Now she made eye contact with the woman. "Now that that's done, put your hands behind your back and turn around." She said, pulling her cuffs from her belt.
"What?!" The woman yelled. "Why?!"
"You're under arrest for child endangerment and disobeying an order by a peace officer." Kasey said, pulling the woman's arms behind her back and cuffing them.
"When the hell did I disobey and order?!" The woman screamed, causing Barricade to cover his 'ears'.
"When I knocked on the window and you ignored me. Now sit on the curb and keep quiet." Kasey said, grabbing her radio. "B-23 to dispatch."
xxxxxx
Jazz was beyond bored as he sat at the security consol. It had been four hours since Barricade and Prowl had left to aid Bryan and Kasey in their contest. He knew they would be back soon, and he would be left to tally up the points.
He grinned when he heard the revving of engines pulling into the hanger. They were back.
Bryan was out of Prowl and already holding out his tickets for Jazz to take while the other transformed to stand upright. Barricade was just pulling in with Kasey.
Jazz's hologram excepted both sets of tickets, turning his back to sit at a desk and count them over. He examined each set in length before turning around and grinning at the two.
"Alright, Kasey and Barricade, you wrote tickets for twenty-five speed limit infractions, fifteen tinted window violations, four seatbelt violations, twelve cell phone infractions, and one child safety restraint violation. Out of those, you had fifteen cars towed, and you stopped ten drives with warrants, earning you a total of ten-thousand four hundred six points."
He turned to look at Bryan, giving him a knowing grin before reading off his totals. "Bryan and Prowl, you wrote tickets for twenty-seven speed limit infractions, fourteen tinted window violations, sixteen seatbelt violations, four cell phone infractions, and two jay walking tickets. Out of those, you had seven vehicles towed and pulled over twelve drivers with warrants, earning you a total of ten-thousand four hundred twenty seven points. Therefore, Bryan and Prowl win."
Kasey hung around long enough to shake Bryan's hand, giving him a lopsided 'figured you would win' grin before following Barricade out of the hanger. When they were out of hearing range, Jazz chuckled and looked down at Bryan, handing him one of his tickets.
"You realize you would have lost if it wasn't for that ticket." He said.
Bryan grinned to himself as he read it over.
Driver's Name: Jazz A. Saboteur
Vehicle Make: Porsche
Vehicle Model: 911 Turbo
Vehicle Tags: LV 879JAZ
Infractions: Being -way- too cool.
Fine: $9,000
Bryan looked back up with a chuckle. "It was Prowl's idea." He said quickly, pointing behind him. Jazz shook his head. "He might of helped," Jazz said. "But it wasn't his idea." Jazz laughed a little before grinning. "You're lucky I like what I'm being fined for." He said, pausing to chuckle again. "Just next time you're going to write me a fake ticket, do me a favor and get my plate number right? It's not eight-seven-nine-J-A-Z, it's eight-seven-eight-J-A-Z." He rolled his optics, folding his arms over his chest. "The amount of time you spend starring at my back bumper, Prowl, you'd think you would know that."
Bryan laughed when he heard the tactician sputter behind him, obvious in disbelief at Jazz's lack of tact in explaining the issue at hand.
Shaking his head as he walked out of the hanger, he heard more sputtering when he heard Jazz add. "Primus, I know your plates by spark with all the time I spend starring at your aft!"
xxxxxx
A/N: I had to pair up the two sets of cops for traffics stops. I just had to. XD
Besides, I'm a J/P fan.