"Well you still have about 24 hours before you can be physically exerted and we gave you today off anyways so do something on campus that relaxes you that isn't exercise of some sort and then you'll be back at classes tomorrow"
"Understood sir"
The next day the cadets learned of the various departments in the police and how nationally some police departments had a mounted division which meant that horses were involved
"Our area doesn't have any horses since they aren't really needed, but we are partnered with another police academy that does have horses and we'll be going to them soon enough for some training since you never know if you'll join a department that uses horses or even might handle horses depending on the situation"
A cadet raises their hand
"What do you mean by handling them?"
"Easy, sometimes police officers will work hand in hand with animal rescue organizations and if it involves horses you have to know how to be safe around them and how to get them into trailers for transportation"
"When will that happen?"
"That all depends on our partner academy actually, they do have indoor facilities but at the same time they have to have students working with equines, that's another word for horse by the way, in either capacity first and they just had a class go through that course before you guys started and it can take up to three weeks before horses are involved in a new class"
"And we've been here about a month already"
"It also depends on how fast the instructors can start other basic skills with the cadets and as such while it normally only takes up to three weeks it can sometimes take longer, once it was two whole months before a class was able to go to our partner academy, then again part of the problem that time was our partner academy had...issues that delayed horse classes"
Clair knew exactly what the issues were too, because those issues involved one of the cases she was waiting to hear about going to court for, shortly before Clair had been called back to America early the Texas Rangers had needed to borrow horses from other police departments around the country and the partner academy was one of the places that had loaned horses to the Rangers, unfortunately the horses all had wounds by the end of the chase and while all the horses would heal eventually it still took time for the wounds to heal and the Texas Rangers paid all medical expenses to all departments that had loaned the horses to them but while the horses were healing they couldn't be used and as such it delayed classes
"In any case while we're waiting on word for when we can send our class there for a week or two we'll continue learning other areas of our job and what each division of the police department is responsible for and how they go about their jobs"
Suddenly though another instructor came in and gave Clair two pieces of paper, one which had the white house on it and one with only her name in English, she went with the white house one first if only because it meant that it was from the President and possibly important, and it ultimately was since it gave her the dates she had to be in court for the cases of the escaped criminals and possible corrupt Senators, her family one mentioned that Masaki was thinking about adopting another child and that her Cybertronian family was all for it but that it was ultimately also up to her since it meant bringing someone new into the clan, and the only reason the Cybertronians were for it was the fact that the kid had parents that were part of the civilian support crew of the EDC, having actually retired from the EDC shortly before Clair had left the terrorist organization she had joined for seven years due to the fact that they had the kid about a year before and had decided to partially retire until given the option of civilian support in Japan with keeping their clearance. Clair knew she would have to meet the kid before she made her decision but at the moment it wasn't a good time since she had been dealing with a PTSD flareup since the sudden explosion, and the instructors had started to notice that Clair was struggling but they weren't sure what was causing it even with having access to her file. The class continued daily shooting practice and learning about the other departments and everyone was starting to get a little jealous of Clair's ability to handle any weapon not knowing of her background
"Kerenai you're just too good at weapons, any weapon the instructors give you you get a perfect score every time"
"That's because of my situation when I was younger, something you won't know about for years possibly depending on several factors"
Suddenly the instructors came in and told them to grab their bags
"What's going on?"
"Finally time for you guys to go to our neighboring academy and learn about horses, except you Masaki, you have other duties to attend to and we've heard from another organization that you already know how to ride"
"Oh is this group known to you?"
"Yep, and some of their members are here now for a special trial, which you guys are going to actually attend as well"
"Then why are we going to the neighboring academy?"
"Oh that's simple, you're going for a half day and watching the trial the other half since for some reason the courts have decided to do half day trials for these guys"
"Oh I know why they're doing that but I'm not going to spoil the reason or the surprise, and are those members here to give me a ride?"
"Yep, they said something about not being sure if you would actually make it on time if they didn't personally escort you, something about you being late before without escort"
"That wasn't my fault and they know it, but I see their point, reminded them that they have no jurisdiction here right?"
"Yep they've been reminded alright"
"Good"
"And if nothing else you have emergency authority to allow them to act as law officers"
"Since when?"
"Since this just came in with them, someone knew you were here as this has your name on it, we got a copy so that we know it's legitimate and legal"
Clair reads the paper and sees that it's signed by the President, though the group doesn't know this for obvious reasons
"Okay then just making sure I won't get in trouble"
Clair goes to where the car was and the rest of the cadets are really, really confused to see people wearing basically cowboy outfits with what was obviously a badge of some sort pinned on but they didn't recognize the badge from a distance and also didn't recognize a cowboy outfit as a uniform
"Okay is anyone else confused about what we just saw?"
"Oh I know you cadets are confused, but answers will be in the courts, and by the way they may not technically have the authority they would have in their home state but they are officers of the law outranking any of you cadets at a moments notice if Kerenai so decides"
"Emergency power to empower them as law officers?"
"Yes, there's a reason she has that emergency power which you aren't going to find out, for the most part they will be acting solely as witnesses for one of the cases being held in Federal court in making sure that final justice will be played out, justice that for them is a long time coming"
"How come?"
"Again you'll find that out in court"
And so the cadets watched a Federal court procedure learning that most things are the same but that there were also differences, and that's when they learned that the law officers they didn't recognize, that were wearing a very weird uniform and unrecognized badge were Texas Rangers, law officers that could not legally be disbanded such is their importance to Texas. Clair was forced to reveal some of her past with the Rangers due to having to testify in court about certain aspects of the original case, she also herself found out that Texas had decided to combine their case with the Federal case because the criminals were charged with thirty counts of murdering a law enforcement officer which included several Texas Rangers and another seventeen counts of injuring a law enforcement officer, plus various other crimes the criminals committed during their run from the law
"Clair Kerenai-Masaki, where were you when these criminals escaped?"
"I had just recently finished High School, being several years behind my age mates and there were other things going on as well, things that I'm afraid must remain a secret due to security issues. I actually found out about their escape through a letter per certain rules and regulations regarding me, unfortunately I couldn't join due to other obligations that again I can't state for security reasons, I found out about their capture through a phone call and the full details through the Captain of a police station I was working at before joining the academy, and the police report that came with a newspaper gave me the details I was unaware of by a simple phone call"
"Why were you so far behind your age mates?"
"If this was a closed court I would fully explain, as it is again I can't due to a security reason, I'm sorry but only POTUS can countermand security reasons for me not to speak up"
"POTUS?"
"Yes also known as the President of the United States of America"
"Very well we won't ask any further questions"
After a week the case against the escaped criminals was over with and the prisoners were sentenced to death, for the second week of riding classes Clair was there the entire time and the cadets quickly found out that Clair could ride
"You're doing well for a beginner Kerenai-Masaki"
"I'm not a beginner though, if you've been following a case that involves Texas Rangers they taught me to ride and I keep it up whenever possible, as such I know how to ride, now then I don't do any fancy rodeo riding but I can ride any horse I am on easily and can quickly learn their quirks and habits which allows me the ability to ride them to their full potential and also allows a bond of trust at the very least to form quickly so that we can do whatever it is that is needed"
"Okay you win, but you still need to pass this course before going back to your academy, it's a rule that was agreed upon when they first realized that this sort of arrangement was needed"
"But of course, you must absolutely make sure that cadets will always be safe around horses"
"Kerenai, there's a phone call for you now, something about the trial we witnessed"
Clair goes pale because there shouldn't be a call about the trial so soon and she knew it
"This is Kerenai-Masaki...I see...anyone hurt?...okay...okay...thank you for informing me...what about the...okay that's good...bye"
"Masaki?"
"The criminals are dead, killed in an escape attempt by US Marshals escorting them to a Federal penitentiary awaiting their execution date"
"So it's finally over then?"
"For those criminals yes, but for another group it's only just about to begin"
"Huh?"
"Sorry not explaining that one, period"
"But otherwise it's basically over?"
"Yes, the criminals were going to be executed anyways due to their crimes, they just died faster than they would have originally is all"
"What I'm wondering is why Texas decided to combine their court case with the Federal court case"
"Well, it isn't fully combining the court cases, from what I heard from the Texas Rangers is that originally they were in discussion with the Federal court system to see who got first crack at the criminals and the fact that if the Federal court system wouldn't choose the death penalty than Texas most surely would. As the talks continued it was decided that both would choose the death penalty but now they had to set a priority of who would try their case first and who would go second, ultimately Texas decided that if the Federal government would add the charges of the Texas killings to the Federal charges than the Federal government would have the group for the entire trial, but the Federal government still wanted Texas involved in the case besides just the fact that the criminals were going to be tried for the original twenty killings and Texas Rangers were going to be witnesses in their ultimate capture, that's when it was decided that members of Texas would also be part of the jury and the criminals would not only be held accountable for killing several Texas law enforcement officers but that Texas itself would try the other crimes committed not only in their state but also the other states they were in traveling to kill me, it's why it was mentioned that the state of Texas found the defendants guilty of their other crimes and the Federal government found them guilty of the killing and injury of 47 law enforcement officers most of them from Texas"
"Well for now we have equine classes to continue, so pay attention"
The cadets do indeed pay attention and Clair is passed within two days of classes since she showed expertise in everything needed
"So looks like the Texas Rangers taught you thoroughly, like they mentioned, they taught you to ride but I didn't realize that they taught you the other aspects about horses as well"
"Actually I kept up my skills as much as possible after learning and learned the other lessons the hard way at a stable I would go to"
"How hard was the hard way?"
"Um, if not for certain classified matters I would never be a police officer due to how many broken bones and concussions I would have had"
"And how many would that have been?"
"Well several bones would have been broken or re-broken at least thirty times and sixteen concussions over a period of two to three years"
Suddenly someone Clair was not expecting speaks up
"Actually Clair you would have either broken or re-broken several bones a total number of sixty-two times and at least eighteen concussions as a result of head injuries"
"Captain Faireborn, would it have really been that many?"
"Yes Clair it would have been, and for a few we didn't know to count those as part of the concussion count or not so we decided not to include it otherwise the concussion total would have been higher"
"Okay then, you definitely learned your lessons the hard way, but why didn't the Texas Rangers teach you the other lessons like they taught you to ride?"
"That's because they simply didn't have the time or ability to teach me the other lessons. You see I had to go to school by the time I finished tracking the criminals so the lessons beyond riding basics were never given to me, plus all their horses were already trained properly to be police horses so they would have had to take me to a training stable to teach me the other lessons I needed to learn and the nearest training stable to the area I was mostly in was several miles away in another town so they had to focus on the riding lessons before anything else and we simply didn't have time to slip in the other lessons while tracking the criminals"
"Okay you win on your points"
Suddenly though there was yet another blackout and a struggle, but this was no military training abduction, this abduction was for real and the abductors took Clair's locket from her and no one knew since most of them were blindfolded, but within an hour Clair was starting to panic about being bound and blindfolded, by two hours she was catatonic, and the only relief she ultimately had was a drugged sleep that was accomplished through Faireborn who was the only person not blindfolded or bound only because of the fact that she was being used to keep the other hostages under control and they all knew it, the problem was that Faireborn was unaware of the missing locket since as per usual Clair had kept the locket underneath all her clothes and the riding clothes combined with the uniform basically meant no one was aware of the locket unless she so chose to reveal it and Marissa simply thought that Clair had decided to keep the locket hidden not knowing their captors had known about the locket and taken it from Clair
"So about how long has it been since we were abducted?"
"About three and a half hours, and I'm worried about Clair, she's been bound and blindfolded for too long, if need be I will inform you cadets about why that isn't a good thing but let's just say she isn't the greatest at being captive for reasons known only to the EDC, her family, and several higher ups in both the military and police since they have the clearance and need to know about her issues"
"Captain Faireborn is right, her files are classified as need to know and since she was coming to this academy even temporarily to learn about horses I needed to know everything about her in case something happened that forced her or you guys to continue your other lessons at my academy for any reason"
"Why?"
"For everyone's safety, all instructors have to know how to handle her in any given situation for their own safety and also hers, she can be very dangerous and hurt you or herself accidentally, she wouldn't have been punished but she would have blamed herself if any harm came to you cadets or any of the instructors because of her"
The group finally made it to their location and wound up being there for several days, being freed by Winspector of all people who were supposed to be in France dealing with a police conference but had been brought back to America when Faireborn and Clair had been discovered missing and it was actually Junko who had discovered Clair's locket and realized that Clair might not be in such a good state
"Here Clair, here's your locket"
Junko simply puts Clair's locket in her hand and then the waiting began for Clair to come back to them after three days
"This might take a while since it's been so long since she's had her locket, but it will work, and we have the time so we're not moving her unless it suddenly gets dangerous"
Masaki on the other hand does what any parent would do, he simply holds her, strokes her head and speaks in calm soothing tones in Japanese
*Hey Clair, it's dad, you're safe now and free, if possible I'll take you home for a bit to meet your potential new brother Daichi, who needs someone in his life who understands him in a way I never will, even with you away from home for seven years you understand him better and can probably tell him stories that he'd appreciate*
Masaki continued this for what seemed like hours but finally Clair responded to Masaki verbally
"Tou...san? You're supposed to be in France, conference of some sort"
"We were called in to find you"
Clair put the locket back around her neck and continued to hold it needing the comfort of it's presence in her hand and around her neck. When the cadets finally got back to the academy they were informed they were being given a mandatory two week break with reassessment after the two weeks were over, with that in mind Clair went to France with Masaki to meet her potential new younger brother and quickly realized that she wanted him in the family and told Masaki to go ahead with the adoption and during that time she also let her new brother know that she did have something called PTSD and that the locket was important, because that was part of the problem when she had been abducted and why she had gone catatonic, she had flashbacked pretty badly while being bound and blindfolded and without her having access to the locket she couldn't ground herself like she normally would have been able to
*Don't worry, you'll soon be able to tell if I've had a bad night if you stay with me long enough I promise little brother*
*Clair, are the episodes more frequent in America?*
*That does seem to be the case, but I think it might slowly get better now that I'm adjusting to my job even though it might flair up again once I transfer to my potential permanent station*
*It also might be that part of the problem is not being around family as much as when you were in school*
*It's possible, don't worry I will seek help if I feel it's needed and I know when it's needed I've proved that well enough over the years haven't I?*
*Yes you have and I trust you to know when you need to seek help for your PTSD, and if nothing else your boss has your files which will be a big help ultimately*
*True, might send me to help immediately after something major with potential for an episode happens, we'll just have to figure it out as we go though*
*True enough, now then I think you need to get back to the academy, the two week period is almost up and you want to be there early for some reason*
*I have my reasons dad, let me know when the adoption is official?*
*But of course*
Clair books a flight out that same day amazingly enough and hugs both members of her family one last time before going back to America for reassessment about whether or not she was able to return to the academy, finishing up the horse lessons first due to the interruption. But before that she had another matter to take care of, a funeral for two FBI agents and a preliminary hearing for several Senators with an actual court date to be set for a later time when things were a little more settled
"Now then this is just a preliminary hearing, the actual hearing will happen at a later date"
The preliminary hearing was over with relatively quickly and three out of seven Senators were exonerated in that hearing through another Senator wanting clemency mentioning that the other Senators actually involved only made it look like those three Senators were involved so as to make sure that no one would look closer into their activities due to the fact that the three Senators not actually involved were some of the first to try and look into the other Senator's activities, once they were suspected of being involved they were forced to take a leave of absence and all paperwork burned beforehand
"Okay then, those three are free to go, but the rest of you have a date set for next month"
The judge dismisses everyone and then Clair finishes her horse lessons passing that part of the class, the next day back at her original academy it was time the cadets learned about the fact that they would sometimes deal with foreign nationals
"Now then we do have a translator for the spoken word, it has all known languages programmed into it which will help facilitate communication if no official translator is available, but for the written word you do indeed need a translator since there is no automatic translator for the written word, like this report given to us by Russian police"
Everyone is given a five page report and Clair knew it would take her a few minutes but she could easily translate it
"Now then we have already translated it, but I want you to just read the report in it's original language and think about how someone from another country might feel if they were given a report completely in English and they don't know the language, now then...cadet Kerenai, what are you doing?"
The reason the instructor asked that was because Clair had brought out her notebook and was already starting the translation of the report
"Translating this, I know you said you already have a translation but I want you to compare mine to theirs, this will take me a few minutes by the way"
"How long exactly?"
"No longer than fifteen minutes, this is a surprisingly detailed report, thus the five pages I presume"
Fifteen minutes later exactly Clair was finished with her translation and it was being compared to the other translation, and that translation was from someone who immigrated from Russia to live with family and it matched word for word except in one section, and that was only because what Clair didn't know was that the one section was a newer section in police reports for Russia and as such they had their own words and definitions for those words, but otherwise it was a perfect translation
"Well Kerenai, except for one small section this is a perfect translation, and the one section isn't your fault, that section is a recent addition to police reports and as such they had to create words and translations for that section"
"Just how old is that section?"
"About two years old and it wasn't formally adopted into police reports until words and translations were finalized internationally"
"That makes sense then, and that also means I need an updated Russian lesson, if only for that one little bit"
"But considering that it appears you already know Russian it will be easy for you to learn what you need to learn for next time"
"True enough, can I see the translated report to know where I went wrong?"
"Sure and we'll highlight that section for you too"
Clair reads the report and sees the highlighted section and realizes that she made mistakes that were easy to make since she could tell that the new section really was new, but that all in all it wasn't a bad translation in that section, just a slightly inaccurate translation
"Okay I know what I need to work on for the future, but for now it's time to continue the lesson I believe"
"Indeed it is"
And so Clair continued the academy when one day Clair received a nasty surprise, the cadets were all asked to help with a current case
"There's video to be seen first to understand the case we're currently working on, but be warned it could be too much for some of you"
The group watches video that was taken and the Chief sees that Clair is surprised
"What's wrong Clair?"
"Hang on I need to make a phone call, but don't expect to understand me"
Clair dials a number and then the group doesn't understand her due to the Japanese she speaks
*Dad it's Clair, I thought that the two terrorist groups were taken down three years ago...I see...I see...okay and we weren't informed because why?...okay...what do I tell the group?...okay...right...see you then...bye*
Clair hangs up the phone and gives out a deep sigh
"Okay, two things you need to know, first off is that the video is two groups now combined into one, another thing you should know is that I thought both groups had been taken down three years ago but apparently they just went deep into hiding and decided to combine forces after realizing they had a common enemy, the final thing is that this group is not to be taken lightly since they're terrorists and very dangerous terrorists at that"
"Oh?"
"Yep, and I have proof of just how dangerous they are, first off the French portion of the group almost killed me with a fire and I will show you video of that fire later, the Czech group made us think that an EDC operative, who was not an EDC operative at the time, was dead, that video file I have on me now with everything except one portion deliberately muted due to security reasons, finally I have physical proof as well of just how dangerous they are"
"Show us"
"Fine you asked for it"
Clair stands up and turns her back to the group, taking off the top shirt and then taking off the undershirt showing her back full of scars
"Oh man...how long did the group have you?"
"Two months, during my summer vacation, I also have more scars on the front of my body and on my arms, and not all the scars are recent, there are other scars from much longer ago but those scars I am not going to tell you how I got"
The group then sees the video file that was currently on her and the only part that wasn't muted was the Cybertronian part, everything else was indeed muted and no subtitles provided
"So we couldn't understand that one bit but why is security so tight for the rest of the video?"
"I'm afraid that again for security reasons I can't explain why we have such tight security on the video, and the only reason I even have the video file on me is for situations like this"
"Wait, I have an idea as to why the video is secured like it is, now I am not going to ask specifics but can you confirm that the reason why security is so tight on that video is for the safety of the EDC officer and their family?"
Clair debates for a moment and then simply nods in reply since it was basically the head of the police academy asking about it and since he had to know about certain security issues for EDC kids it was safe to confirm that the security on the video was tight for the safety of the EDC officer and their family because she knew it would go no further in regards to questions once that was confirmed