Chapter 2: Glynda's Briefing
Patch notes, 9/19/18: This really only applies to the FFN version (this updated doc is going up with its initial posting on AO3), but whatever. I went back and touched up a few things, added a detail to Glynda's office, and redid my ending Author's Note. Thank you to the person who pointed out its (unintentionally) hostile tone. I realized they were right after reading back through. Allow me to extend my apologies to anyone who felt the same way. I also took out my closing line: it was meant in jest, but in hindsight, grabbing a hot-button political topic and flailing it around like a marionette wasn't my brightest idea ever. Lastly, I added something after my AN. It's… better if you see for yourself. It will be present in every chapter from here on in.
Also, quick note: Ruby's voice is deeper in this fic. Probably somewhere between Jennifer Hale and Linda Hamilton. I know it's a huge jump, but that's just the way I imagine she'd sound here (she's twenty-five by now anyway).
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July 16, 2037 - 1435 Hours
Vale City Police Department, Central Precinct
Vale City, Vale
Ruby and Yang stepped into Goodwitch's office. The lieutenant closed the door behind them. The room, like its host, was not one for flashy aesthetics. Her rectangular mahogany desk was probably the most eye-catching object in view - not that there was much else to draw comparisons between. The oak walls in front and to the sides of the desk ended at shoulder height. Windows covered the remaining distance to the ceiling, with a withered, decrepit potted thing that may have once been a plant sitting in the sill to the right. It was a gift from a well-known snaky defense attorney: he bestowed it upon her during a client's trial for felony eluding, reckless driving, resisting arrest, DUI, indecent exposure (he'd been naked), and battery via bodily waste (he'd pissed on an officer).
Needless to say, Goodwitch's permanent disapproving scowl was immune to his attempt at garnering favor. Then again, a merciful outcome would have been miraculous after his client sucker punched the bailiff and ended up beneath a pile of blue uniforms with enough volts coursing through his nervous system to make a lobotomy patient dance.
An American flag hung from its pole in a corner behind the desk, and the fourth wall behind it was painted a dull grey. Evidently, no one had explained the purpose of an accent wall to Goodwitch: instead of adding light and vibrance to the room, the empty, neutral shade of her choice seemed to devour all traces of joy within visual range. Perhaps the woman's life had been so deprived of happiness that brighter colors hurt her eyes. Either way, the necrotic, all-consuming grey was the most depressing color Ruby had ever seen.
The desk was a flawless example of organization. In contrast to Ruby's own office, all of Goodwitch's paperwork was kept in a neat stack at the right-hand corner of her desk. A small flag holder at the front of her desk displayed pocket-sized versions of the Valean provincial and American flags at opposing angles, next to a half-dozen militaristically aligned pens. Goodwitch's computer occupied most of the desk's left side. Like all other desktop computers in the station, the center of her dark blue mousepad played home to a golden VCPD badge.
Two black leather chairs were placed in front of the desk, unoccupied despite two other officers already being in the room. Ruby didn't blame them for staying next to the wall. If the rumors were true, flaming obsidian chains would shoot out of the chairs, ensnare female officers and drag them screaming down into the depths of hell, where they would be injected with the gay by their new succubus mistresses and kept as sex pets to feed the depravities of red-skinned demonesses that literally fuck people to death. At least they get to be immortal or something. Eating carpets and getting destroyed by strapons until the end of time sure sounds like more fun than playing Ring Around the Parking Lot and collecting dime bags full of Tyrone's Secret Baking Powder.
The other possibility was that Goodwitch was into some seriously freaky porn, because Yang really did hear muffled screaming and evil cackles coming from this office one time. Sure, she'd just finished up a sixteen-hour overtime shift and was in the middle of a caffeine crash, but this was Yang. Such an honest soul would never lie about something like that, right?
While Yang went spelunking in her mind's proverbial gutter, Ruby greeted the blonde's girlfriend, as well as the accompanying officer. "Hey, Belladonna, Nikos." They were all well past a last-name basis, but Lieutenant Goodwitch loved formality. 'Fed to K-9 units for breach in professionalism' wouldn't be a very dignified gravestone inscription. Ruby didn't know why the other two officers were here in the first place, but she knew better than to ask. The lieutenant was nothing if not direct; she would provide all necessary information.
A soft "Hello" accompanied Pyrrha's small wave, while Blake merely tilted her head in acknowledgement. The Faunus wore the same long-sleeve shirt and black tie as Ruby, except for the corporal's double golden chevrons on her sleeves. Blake's usual duty cap was gone, as she felt no need to hide her ears in a government building. Pyrrha, on the other hand, preferred the VCPD's short-sleeve uniform, as did Yang. This uniform variant lacked a tie, leaving the dark blue shirt's top button undone to expose her white tee underneath.
Pyrrha liked the shorter sleeves because they gave her arms room to breathe. Yang's reason was the lack of a tie, and by extension, leaving the top button undone. Despite popular (and very carefully spread) rumors, she did not enjoy being choked. In fact, when filling out the requisition form, the blonde had gone so far as to fill half of the 'reasons for request' box with "2 THICC 4 TIE" in oversized handwriting. She had used the other half to sketch up a crude diagram, to help cement the urgency of her request. Ruby sighed internally at the memory. The other sergeants gave her enough shit about her sister's shameless personality to begin with, so Yang dropping that form on her desk hadn't been helpful. I really didn't need to know Yang was that good at drawing tits.
The VCPD insignia was sewn into all four officers' right shoulders. Greater American Republic flag patches were sewn into the left. Police uniforms down in the fifty states still displayed the Star-Spangled Banner, but Valean law enforcement wore the GAR colonial banner instead. Because we all know Canadians aren't real people, and they need daily reminders of exactly who deleted their cucked inferior government and exponentially improved their employment rates, economic prosperity, and national security. Blake, Yang and Pyrrha all had silver VCPD badges pinned to the left side of their chests. Ruby's badge was identical save for the blue stripe across the middle, with her rank silver-lettered through it.
For her part, Lieutenant Goodwitch wore a simple white button-down dress shirt, dark grey knee-length pencil skirt, black stockings and short heels. The woman was six feet and three inches tall even without the heels; any more of a height boost would have made her an honorary Amazonian. To affirm her authority while out of official uniform, a wallet badge was clipped securely to the front of her skirt between her navel and right hip bone. As a higher ranking officer, Goodwitch's badge was gold instead of silver. Similar to Ruby, her lieutenant's rank was lettered on a blue stripe across the middle.
Lacking a duty belt, Goodwitch kept herself armed with a black leather shoulder holster. Thanks to the VCPD's wide variety of accepted backup weapons, Glynda carried a silver steel-bodied Colt M1911 in the strap under her right arm. It had seen action in the Second World War, yet its lovingly maintained wood and steel bore no visible damage. True to her constantly prepared mindset, seven forty-five caliber rounds were ready to be stripped off the magazine and sent downrange with the flick of a thumb and pull of the slide. Three more shined and polished magazines were tucked side by side into a triple mag pouch on the left strap.
Yang ended up taking the chair on the left. Yes, there were the rumored dangers of forced induction into the Devil's harem… but her back really ached. For personal reasons. Said reasons had absolutely nothing to do with the number 36, or the letter F. "So, what's up, El-Tee?"
Ruby would have rolled her eyes at Yang's blatant lack of formality, but it was expected at this point. Her older sister didn't mean any disrespect by her casual speech; it was just in Yang's nature. Thankfully, Goodwitch had more or less accepted the corporal's mannerisms for what they were, so long as she remained professional in public.
Glynda moved past the quartet of officers to stand in front of her desk. "A terrorist organization may possess sufficient resources to wage guerrilla war against law enforcement on a national scale."
Yang's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. "Excuse me… what?"
Glynda's response was part nod, part hum, knowing they would need a few seconds to process that bombshell. Pyrrha coughed and looked to her right at Blake. At first glance, the Faunus's widened eyes appeared to be her sole reaction. To those who knew the officer well enough, however, the way Blake subtly shifted her weight against the wall meant the news had still hit her like a smack in the face.
Ruby lowered herself into the empty chair with a deliberate exhale, making full use of the armrests on her way down. "O… kay. Straight to the point, then." She took a breath to organize her thoughts. "What have we got?"
Goodwitch touched a button under her desk, and the windows darkened. Now with a measure of privacy, the lieutenant opened one of her desk drawers, withdrew a blank file folder, and held it out to Ruby. Goodwitch spoke as Ruby cracked the folder open and leafed through the files within. They were all full-page images. She handed Yang the files individually as she finished looking them over. Her sister then passed them up to Blake, who in turn passed them off to Pyrrha.
"We acquired these from federal authorities. They, in turn, originally received them from the Coast Guard. You're looking at the Schlesien, a Schnee Oil Company tanker boarded, raided, and subsequently abandoned last night."
Blake looked between two pictures in her hands. They were shots of an oil tanker's upper deck, taken from a low-flying aircraft. Together, they showed a severe anomaly: the surface deck was empty. Blake narrowed her eyes. "This is a tanker, so where's the cargo?"
"Stolen," came Goodwitch's reply. "Out of forty-eight full sized shipping containers, not one was left behind."
"Holy shit," Ruby whispered before raising her voice back up. "Casualties?"
"Thirty-two dead," the lieutenant delivered grimly to her officers' shocked expressions, "The ship's entire security detail, plus three bridge officers and the captain, and two crewmen who tried to fight back on the lower decks."
Blake did the math. "Hold on. You're telling me an oil tanker had twenty-six guards?"
Pyrrha mirrored Blake's suspicion. "That's more security than we had on the Makin Island." The redhead was referring to the Wasp-class amphibious assault carrier she served on during her time in the Navy.
Goodwitch raised a hand to quell any rampant thoughts. "The Schlesien's security may have been tight, even by SOC standards, but that has nothing to do with us."
Yang scoffed. "Well, at least the bastards didn't get far with the Coasties on their tails, right?" Her face fell at the older blonde's lack of response. "Uh… right?"
Pyrrha blinked with wide eyes. Incredulity was clear as day in the redhead's words. "They have evaded the Coast Guard?"
Goodwitch drew her lips into a tight line with a small affirmative noise. "When the Bureau last updated us two hours ago, their agents on the shoreline and in the surrounding area had still found no trace of the cargo, or the attackers. The Coast Guard forces at sea were not faring any better."
Ruby set her hands on her knees as her inner sergeant focused on laser-engraving every detail into her memory. "What happened, exactly?"
"Obviously, the Schlesien was attacked. Pirates would be likely suspects, if there were any hostages taken or demands made - which there weren't."
Ruby tucked a thumb under her chin and curled a knuckle over her lips, studying the security camera shot in her other hand with a clinical eye. Its resolution was higher than the average cam, which allowed Ruby to pick out finer details. The image displayed a corridor somewhere below deck, empty save for a lone figure geared more like a private military operator than a marauder.
"These guys are way better equipped than pirates anyway. Plate carrier, helmet with NVGs… submachine gun with a suppressor; looks like an Evo 3… and those are either flashbangs or concussion grenades. I can't tell from here."
Yang whispered beside her, "Where the hell did they even get this kind of hardware?" The blonde was looking at a similar scene. Her image showed two men advancing back to back up a surface deck staircase, armed with short-barreled versions of the AK-12 automatic rifle.
Pyrrha posed a question of her own. "With piracy ruled out, what are the prime suspect organizations?"
This time, the lieutenant delivered good news. "Those are two questions we can answer." Goodwitch pulled her keyboard towards herself and rotated her desktop monitor so the officers could see its screen. Several mouse clicks and keystrokes later, she pulled up an audio file. "The Coast Guard extracted this from a black box in the ship's security office."
"Back then, they had all kinds of messed up executions." Pyrrha didn't miss how Ruby's eyes sharpened upon hearing the voice. "If the captain was lucky, they'd tie him to the mast and shoot him, but that almost never happened. They might tie your hands and feet together, slit open a vein or three and dump you in shark-infested waters."
"Gods, that's sick," Pyrrha muttered. The recording continued.
"They might keelhaul you: tie you up and drag you underneath the ship, port to starboard. You'd be lucky not to get torn to shreds with all the barnacles and splinters poking out of the hull."
If Blake's grimace was any indication, even she was mildly disturbed at this point.
"They might even hold you down on a table and force-feed you burning coals. I even read about a guy who had molten tin poured in his ears; yikes!"
Yang paled and shivered. "Jesus…"
Goodwitch deadpanned, "Charming, I know. There's more."
"Just thinking about some of that stuff gives me the willies. But hey… it was par for the course. By now, I think you know who these fine individuals behind me are. And for a bunch of angry Faunus whose favorite pastimes are setting off improvised explosives and mutilating Atlesian soldiers? Well, I can't imagine the next few minutes of your life are going to be full of sunshine and flowers."
The recording ended, and the office was draped in silence until…
"Torchwick."
The room's occupants all turned to Ruby at her single grit out word. Her eyes had shifted from muted grey to intense steel, her jaw was set in a hard line, and she gripped the armrests with enough force to expose the veins and tendons in her hands and wrists.
Goodwitch looked the younger woman over with a curious eye. "Yes… Roman Torchwick." She refocused to the room at large. "A major underworld arms dealer, turned mob boss after more than two dozen high-profile armed robberies on money trucks and banks. And now from this recording, it appears he has forged ties with the White Fang."
The officers' eyes widened, and Blake muttered a curse. Everyone knew about the White Fang. The original organization emerged during the American Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Ethnic acceptance was progressing smoothly but Faunus rights were still in a deadlock, mainly due to lack of an organized image. The wide range of Faunus "races" may have vastly differed in appearance, but they all had one thing in common: their oppression.
If oppression was their sole commonality, then oppression would be the banner they united beneath. The White Fang's chosen name was curious to say the least, especially with their members' sworn commitment to nonviolence. As time passed, their peaceful actions caused more and more people to realize the White Fang only donned the masks humanity had already painted on them.
The White Fang's efforts proved a massive success, with the Faunus being granted full rights alongside society's other formerly downtrodden populations. Its purpose served, the organization dissolved; a happy memory of the men, women and children who had broken humanity's cousins out of their government-imposed rut.
Until now.
In the late 2020s, a different organization took up the old movement's name. They didn't even bother to claim alignment with the original White Fang's morals and values - stating only that they would "finish what their predecessors had started." These people did not want Fanus equality. They demanded Faunus supremacy, and were willing to take any measures to achieve it. Simply put, the new White Fang was a global terrorist network. Their heaviest numbers were concentrated in Eastern Europe and the westernmost parts of Asia, with a steadily thickening presence in North America. Their rapid expansion was for the most part left unchallenged due to the short power vacuums following the Unification War that propelled Germany up into second place among the world's superpowers and established the Atlesian Empire.
These terrorists had been satisfied with small scale hit-and-run attacks on local businessmen and law enforcement for a time, until a trio of suicide bombers took it upon themselves to erase half of Cologne's police headquarters. Suicide or not, the White Fang learned not to try that kind of stunt again after German federal agents kicked in hundreds of doors and the greater Atlesian military crushed every last shred of rebellion in a hundred-kilometer radius.
Despite the government forces' success, other White Fang members slowly trickled in after the military pulled out. They had yet to pull off any major strikes, probably thanks to GSG9's indefinite high alert status and counterinsurgency teams on fifteen minute deployment notice.
"The White Fang?" Blake spat the terror group's name like it was poisonous. "Why the hell would a mob boss team up with them? They want humanity extinct, and any Faunus who doesn't agree with them, dead."
Glynda pursed her lips; one of her most common expressions. "That is another thing we can't yet answer." She adopted an advisory tone, with the barest hint of warning. "Despite how strongly you may want to decipher this puzzle and bring Torchwick down…" Her eyes briefly passed over Ruby. "...it would serve you all well to remember that that job falls to CID," she said in reference to the Criminal Investigations Division; the department's overarching entity under which operated its detectives, homicide investigators, Vice squad, and organized crime specialists, among others.
Pyrrha cleared her throat into a fist. "Excuse me, Lieutenant, but what is our job?"
At Goodwitch's raised eyebrow, Ruby leaned forward and rested her hands on her knees. "Yeah. We appreciate you keeping us informed," The sergeant turned up a palm, "But even I'm starting to wonder why you really brought us here."
Yang piped up, "And why'd you tell us to stay away from Torchwick? Sure, we'd love to go after the guy, but we're patrol officers. What are we gonna do? Cite him for rolling a stop sign?"
Glynda sighed, and the barest hint of fatigue crept into her voice. "Very well. Forgive me for talking in circles; recent events have been… rather hectic."
Ruby glanced at her own knees, feeling bad for trying to pry more information out of Glynda's brain. Just taking this in was taxing enough for the four officers, but Goodwitch had to stay constantly updated with a volatile situation teetering on national incident. That meant sifting through and organizing a flood of information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Office of National Intelligence (ONI), Immigration Security Bureau (ISB) and a ménage-à-trois of state troopers, county deputies and local officers.
After comparing notes between the agencies to determine what matched up, Goodwitch had to compile the resultant mass of raw data into something that wouldn't require cork board and red string to make sense of, and then relay the final product to her subordinates, the other lieutenants, her own immediate superiors, and since she currently liaised between VCPD and this case's scattered mess of a joint task force, the Commissioner himself.
Ruby respected Lieutenant Goodwitch for many reasons, and this absolute Charlie-Foxtrot added several items to that list. Were their positions reversed, the brunette couldn't say if she would have passed out by now.
Goodwitch rubbed her temples. "I gathered you four to offer you a very… unorthodox assignment." She noted the quirked brows and and puzzled expressions. The prospect of low-ranked patrol officers having a choice in their duties was incredibly confusing. "The Schlesien raid was not the only incident." She pulled up another file on her computer. "Barring time zone differentials, this occurred roughly one hour after the hijacking."
When the lieutenant stepped aside, the screen displayed the first frame of a phone video. Ruby died inside when she realized it had been recorded vertically. The phone's owner stood outside a large building, and it didn't take much guesswork to figure out where they were. A massive silver rendition of the Schnee family crest, doubling as their company's insignia, was emblazoned above the building's ornate glass doors. This was the Schnee Oil Company's towering skyscraper in Germania. Formerly known as Berlin, the reconstructed ultra-modern metropolis of Germania served as the capital and seat of power of both the German national government and the greater Atlesian Empire.
The building's doors opened when the video started, revealing a quartet of men in black-and-white suits and sunglasses - three with wraparounds and one with aviators - escorting Jacques Schnee to a limousine parked out front. The phone's owner turned out to be one among a mob of reporters, as the CEO came under immediate verbal assault from dozens of press employees. He avoided eye contact, ducked under their cries of "Herr Schnee!" and dodged their rapid fire questions.
And then three gunshots rang out.
One of Jacques Schnee's escorts fell, clutching the side of his neck. The three who remained drew sidearms from their jackets and bodily covered the CEO in a sprint for the car. Another of his men dropped with a headshot, and Schnee unceremoniously dove into the car.
As the limousine sped off, one of the SOC men pointed at someone to the right of the cameraman. He sighted in on his pistol and yelled, "Schiesse ihn! Shoot him!"
The other man spun around and brought his own weapon to bear. The recording ended abruptly as they both fired at their unseen target.
Yang let out the breath she'd been holding. The corporal blinked big and slow. "So... that happened."
Goodwitch nodded. "Indeed it did. These two incidents have pushed Mr. Schnee to enact major security increases for senior company executives."
Glynda looked to her officers once more. Were they truly ready for this? She wanted to believe as much, but this was out of her hands. Even if she had wanted to intervene, there wasn't much a lieutenant like herself could do when the Commissioner personally delivered a handwritten, signed order.
"That added security goes double for his family… which is where you come in."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Yang eloquently summarized their thoughts: "...wut?"
The taller blonde took over again before questions started flying. "I admit my reaction was similar. Please, allow me to explain."
Ruby gestured for her to continue. "Of course."
"Thank you. I'll keep this short."
Glynda opened another image file. It was a portrait, and the person in it was… Well, she was certainly unique. Long ivory hair in an offset ponytail framed the young woman's face. Her poise was elegant, almost soft, but her crystal blue eyes projected iron determination. What really caught Ruby's attention was the thin scar that traced a short distance from her left eyelid down her cheek.
Glynda filled in the obvious question, and ticked off each info point on her fingers. "This is Jacques Schnee's daughter, Weiss. Twenty-seven years old. Heiress to the Schnee Oil Company. Double major in business accounting and petroleum engineering from the University of Germania." She took a breath before delivering the final point, and their assignment. "Her safety will be your responsibility."
"Huh…" Ruby pondered her superior's words, "Protection duty, then?"
"Put simply, yes." She noticed Ruby's lifted eyebrow. "Is something the matter?"
"About the job? No. It's weird, though. Why isn't SOC security handling this like the others? And don't the Feds have a division for this kind of work anyway?"
"We haven't been given a straight answer, but paranoia is a likely culprit. Mr. Schnee may not trust corporate security with his daughter's life after these attacks. As for the Federal Protective Service, he might believe they are too high-profile to be trusted."
Ruby shrugged. "Good enough for me."
Yang grumbled in the background. "Great. So now we're stuck answering to a suit halfway around the world."
Glynda's eyes sharpened. "No, Corporal. You answer to me."
The younger blonde shrunk back into her chair. "Right."
Ruby set the conversation back on track. "What about housing, Lieutenant? This doesn't sound like a short-term assignment."
"Hmm… we're still looking for a suitable location for Ms. Schnee. Until then, she will stay here at the precinct. As amusing as it would be to house her in the drunk tank…" Yang gave a small pout. "…I'm sure an office would be appreciated."
Ruby dropped her hands on her knees. "She can bunk in mine." A smirk tugged at her lips. "Since, y'know, I'm the only one who's got an office."
Yang clutched at her stomach in mock hurt. "Ouch. Way to rub it in, Rubes."
"I got promoted for a reason, two-stripe." She turned back to Goodwitch. "Any known threats besides the White Fang?"
"None at the moment, but this is a delicate situation. Stay alert. Any number of interested parties might benefit from removing Ms. Schnee, even rival corporations."
Yang crossed her arms. "What, you think Exxon's gonna hire Blackwater mercenaries to bump her off or something? Ugh, this is sounding more and more like a bad spy movie. All we need is some forced romance and we're set."
Sarcasm dripped from Ruby's voice. "We got any popcorn to go with this?"
Yang's eyes lit up. "Ooh! I can pick some up at the Circle K!"
Blake took two steps forward and smacked her girlfriend upside the head. Yang rubbed at her grievous injury. "Owie… domestic aboose," she whined, "Glyndaaa, are you gonna just let her do that?"
The woman in question looked up at Blake. "Thank you, Belladonna."
Yang sputtered, "But… but I… wha-?"
Ruby redirected the briefing once again. "We'll keep our eyes open."
"Good. Ms. Schnee will be arriving at seventeen hundred tomorrow. Make sure you are all present and ready."
Blake smirked, remembering what Yang would call their 'assclap retarded overtime'. "Just in time for us to get back from the streets."
For once, Glynda matched her mirth. "I can't let you get bored, now can I?"
Ruby snorted. "No. No, you can't. Anything else we should know?"
The older woman shook her head. "That's all for the moment. I will inform you of any new developments as they arise."
Ruby stood and brushed off her uniform. "Alright. See you all tomorrow. I've got a date with my pillow and a bottle of Melatonin."
Yang snickered. "Speak for yourself. I've got a date with Kit-Kat over here and a bottle of whiskey."
Glynda raised a finger. "Corporal Xiao Long? Congratulations. You've been randomly selected for a urinalysis tomorrow."
"What?!"
"Zero six thirty, and not a minute later." The older woman looked more smug than Ruby had ever seen her. "Your career is on the line, Corporal. Be careful not to… piss it away."
If the author hadn't removed Semblances, Yang would have set half the precinct on fire in a red-eyed rage. "That's my pun! THAT'S MY PUN, YOU DRIED UP ROTTEN SOUL-SUCKING BI-"
Yang was subsequently carried out of the lieutenant's office by her compatriots before she could get herself arrested for aggravated battery on a peace officer.
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We broke 75 followers since posting chapter two! Thank you all so much!
I came across a Half-Life 2 mod on Gamebanana that replaces the crowbar with Yang's arm. So... that happened, I guess. And before anyone asks, yes: I brought in ONI and the ISB, because fuck Innies (that's "Insurrectionists" for those not up to snuff on Halo lore), and fuck backwater rebel moisture farmers. Go back to farming moisture, you absolute degenerates.
Okay, but in all seriousness, I'm sorry for taking… *checks calendar* DAMN NEAR FIVE FRIGGIN' MONTHS to continue this. If we could paste images into our stories, I'd slap in a meme I found where a dude's holding his paycheck and saying, "Hell yeah! I just got paid!" and then his bills pop up like, "Nah fam, I just got paid." What I'm trying to say is, work and life are partly to blame here (guh, adulting)... but to be honest, it's about a 30-70 split between that and laziness. I am truly sorry for neglecting such a great and positive audience for this long. The Last Call gained 30 followers in its first twenty-four hours on FFN. I am not bragging; that kind of popularity was unheard of for someone whose previous record was twenty-two followers in two years. I wouldn't care if I fail to pick up even one more follower until the end: the numbers as they are already bring a smile to my face every time I look at them.
Anyway, this is actually only half of what I had planned for chapter two, but I felt really bad for making you guys wait this long. Fortunately I've more or less outlined the next few chapters, so we should have smoother sailing from here on in. Buckle up, boys and girls, because you're about to see some serious action when we come back.
Until then, cheers!
-Sarge
Fallen Heroes, 1 August 2018 - 19 September 2018
Here, I will gather American public safety officers killed in the line of duty between chapters. Listing every life lost since the 12th of March (this story's initial FFN publication date) would be too exhaustive, so for this chapter I will start from the first of August, when chapter two originally went up. Those interested can about these officers in more detail on the Officer Down Memorial Page.
"EOW" stands for "End of Watch."
K9 "Vader," Virginia State Police, VA
EOW 1 August 2018: Gunfire
Investigator Timothy Dale Cole, Sr., Comanche County District Attorney's Office, OK
EOW 4 August 2018: Gunfire
Officer Kirk A. Griess, California Highway Patrol, CA
EOW 10 August 2018: Struck by Vehicle
Officer Fadhi Mukhlis Shukur, Detroit Police Department, MI
EOW 14 August 2018: Vehicular Assault
Officer Kathleen O'Connor-Funigiello, New Rochelle Police Department, NY
EOW 16 August 2018: 9/11-Related Cancer
K9 "Boco," Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Office, LA
EOW 17 August 2018: Gunfire
Deputy Benjamin LeMont Zirbel, Clay County Sheriff's Office, FL
EOW 21 August 2018: Motorcycle Crash
K9 "Smokey," Nowata Police Department, OK
EOW 28 August 2018: Struck by Vehicle
K9 "Benzi," Columbus Division of Police, OH
EOW 1 September 2018: Gunfire (Accidental)
K9 "Nell," Refugio County Sheriff's Office, TX
EOW 1 September 2018: Assault
K9 "Grunt," Refugio County Sheriff's Office, TX
EOW 1 September 2018: Assault
K9 "Rocky," Riverhead Police Department, NY
EOW 2 September 2018: Automobile Crash
Officer Kirt R. Ricks III, Montgomery Police Department, LA
EOW 7 September 2018: Automobile Crash
Deputy Aaron Paul Roberts, Greene County Sheriff's Office, MO
EOW 7 September 2018: Drowned
Officer David A. Tinsley, Fort Wayne Police Department, IN
EOW 11 September 2018: Duty-Related Heart Attack
Officer Oscar Reyes, Costa Mesa Police Department, CA
EOW 12 September 2018: Duty-Related Heart Attack
Corrections Officer Armando Gallegos, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, CA
EOW 14 September 2018: Assault
Officer Garrett Hull, Fort Worth Police Department, TX
EOW 14 September 2018: Gunfire
Chief of Police Frank McClelland, Jr., Ludowici Police Department, GA
EOW 15 September 2018: Vehicle Pursuit
Deputy Robert K. Kunze III, Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office, KS
EOW 16 September 2018: Gunfire
Deputy Mark Stasyuk, Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, CA
EOW 17 September 2018: Gunfire