Chapter 25

Busted

. . .

10 hours and 15 minutes to deadline expires…

What in reality was only a quarter, felt as several hours of waiting in the temperate cell. Within these minutes, Jim found himself wandering from one side of the square to another, just hoping that the next pair of steps down the hall, would be his ticket out in freedom. But that wasn't the case.

"Offender 131," the metallic voice of the same robotic officer that had arrested him earlier, brought Jim to pause his pacing aimlessly back and forth on the few square meters. "Commissioner Clarkson wants to have a word with you on his office," the officer said, seeming to wait for the young man to come up to him, by himself.

However, Jim wasn't that easily obeying such an order. With the little Morph hiding silently in his pocket, the boy narrowed his eyes as he spoke. "The commissioner?" he asked, his brown eyebrows furrowed as thoughtful winkles appeared between them. "What's the matter? - I've heard nothing about him talking with only temporarily inmates,"

"Don't question it. Please just follow without further complications and oppositional behavior - the Commissioner's orders," the robotic officer said strictly, still waiting for him to come closer, before he would move out of the cell opening.

But Jim had no plans of moving. At least not voluntarily. With his arms crossed certainly over his chest, he stood up straight, though the robot officer still towered above him easily. "Well you can say to the Commissioner, that I won't be showing up for this 'exchange of words' - At least not before I'm told what it is about. If he want me something, he can come down here, himself," he said, skeptically as he was, though his words came out more childish than he had wanted them to sound.

The officer with the all through metallic appearance, lifted his cylinder-like head a little more, as if Jim's snapping literally had hit him straight in the face. "Your behavior is unacceptable, 131," he simply said with his metallic voice, his arms held behind the back of his squared body. "I give you one last chance to follow voluntarily, or I will have to take you with me by force,"

"I'll take him there, officer," the sound of a new voice made both Jim and the officer direct their gaze towards the tall figure, that now had taken part in the conversation. The dark blue uniform made the slenderness of his body stand out more clearly, and his turquois skin stood in huge contrast to the plain, grey concrete walls.

When noticing the slight offended look in the robotic officer's metallic face, Angie lowered her head as an apology, still in the appearance of Darian Davis. "Pardon me for interrupting, Sir. Officer, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," she apologized with Darian's firm voice. "And judged by the discussion's subject, I guess it was a good thing I did," she said, actually sounding like she knew what she was talking about.

She could feel Jim's thoughtful eyes on her all the time, and though she glanced over at him on the other side of the cell bars, she kept her speech directed against the officer. "The station's system has been turned off shortly the previous night - probably due to an agent water damage of the city's power supply. Fortunately it has not brought any damage to the digital journals, but all the employees' schedules has been mixed up," Angie explained with her hands on her back, actually sounding rather truthful. If there was something she was good at, then it was lying.

However, the robotic officer still seemed a little bit skeptical. "If the system has been locked down - even for such a short period - how become we not getting informed about it this morning?" he questioned with narrowed eyes.

"The Commissioner just got informed most recently," Angie said. "He meant to report it to the rest of the station right away, but he was prevented in doing so. I guess I was lucky to come by his office just in time for him to tell me about the saturation," she explained, just as calm and clear as if it had been the bare truth she was telling.

"What a coincidence," the robot officer muttered with his metallic voice, still sounding a little skeptical about it all.

However, he didn't reach to question the young man further before the growling sound of quickly driving caterpillar tracks, neared them all from down the hall.

"Hey you! Bigfoot," Tracks called out, making Angie glance over her shoulder to look back down at the little square on wheels. "Yes I'm talking to you - haven't your mother told you not to walk off on a conversation?" the little robot complained, frowning up at the tall alien guy, he thought was really the one he was snapping at.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry," Angie simply said before she directed her gaze back towards the robotic officer. "Now about the boy-" she continued, though Tracks kept complaining about how rude she was to cut him off once again. "I suggest you hand him over so I can take care of what shall be done," Angie said with straight back.

This made Jim, who so far had been watching the saturation passively, open his eyes wide and raise a brow. He most certainly wasn't content with the saturation's outcome. He didn't protest just yet, though.

Even Tracks had paused his unsatisfied blabbering, so he could listen to what the young officer had to say. Not long time passed before he had to speak up, though. "Wait. But the Commissioner-HMF!"

"Is- busy," Angie said sternly, her foot now mercilessly pressing the little robot's head into the hole on the front top of his body, so he wasn't able to speak. She didn't need to use much of her weight to do so, and though the little robot struggled to break free, the robotic officer didn't seem to care much about it. It wasn't a secret that this little Protocol Droid, wasn't the most popular on this station.

With her arm now resting across her knee, Angie sighted before looking seriously back up at the robot officer. "Since the schedules no longer fits each other, the commissioner has suddenly gotten a lot of things at hand. So, since I was the first to walk by, he gave me the responsibility to take care of prisoner 131, for him," she said with Darian's deep voice.

"You?"

"Him?!" both the robotic officer and Jim, that now had decided to speak up, seemed to have their doubts in the young man's explanation.

"Yes, I. So if you all please will cooperate we wouldn't have to waste precious time on arguing," Angie spoke a little more sternly and lifted her foot off Tracks' head, that now appeared to be stuck in the shape-formed hole.

While the little robot struggled in vane to get his head out again, Angie stepped up closer to the officer. "Unless, you want to go against the commissioners orders?" Angie added as she stood just before the robotic officer, staring threatening down at him.

Though she was calm and certain on the outside, her mind and heart was racing inside her when she noticed how intensely both Jim and the officer was staring at her. People staring, at had always made her uncomfortable, but now she feared, that her green/blue eyes would reveal her actual appearance. Fortunately, for her, it didn't seem like it.

When the robot officer only gave her a frown in response to her comment, Angie stood up in Darian's full height, her scaled hands held behind her back. "Very well then. I will take this young offender with me to my office and set him off by his current address, afterwards - the commissioner's orders," she said sternly as she made her way passed the robot officer and grabbed a firm hold of Jim's upper arm.

The young man groaned lowly, not the slightest pleased with being dragged out of his cell in such a way, that made him seem like a little, naughty child. "Great. So what, are you gonna interrogate me now?" Jim muttered, just following along with the tall, uniformed man with a frown on his face.

"No talking. Just follow," Angie said sternly, as if she had been an actual cop, escorting the boy passed the two robots and further down the hallway.

Though he wasn't much for doing it, Jim kept his mouth shut and walked with his head lowered, so he would only have to watch his own feet taking one step after the other.

Angie could feel the robot's digital eyes on her the whole way, until she finally dragged Jim with her around a corner. But even there, she didn't lose her firm grip on his upper arm.

"Something odd is going on here," the robotic officer muttered with his metallic voice, never once moving his narrowed eyes from the corner the two had turned. While the gear wheels literally spun at high pressure inside his iron head, he completely ignored the poor Protocol Droid that drove repeatedly into the wall, because of his now missing sense of direction.

"You don't say," Tracks replied, his voice muffled from inside his own squared body. "That guy has been awfully rude since midday!"

For once, the officer had to agree with the Protocol Droid. At least on the part, that Darian hadn't been his old self. And that brought the skepticism into him.

While rubbing his sharply rounded chin, the officer processed the thoughts for a few moments before he turned his entire torso around, on top of the big caterpillar tracks beneath him, and drove the opposite direction down the hall, leaving Tracks behind to himself.

. . .

Angie never once let her pace fade, as she continued walking down the hallway with certain steps. In fact, she only picked it up even more. That made it hard for Jim to keep up with her and he ended up stumbling over himself multiple times, since she had no plans in letting her grip slack around his arm.

"Hey. Could you at least slow down a bit? It's not like it's burning anywhere," Jim groaned, trying to make the officer slow down by setting his heals in the ground. That only made him slid across the tiles, though.

"Be quite and stop complaining," Angie said harshly and pulled him up on her side, not even bothering glancing back at him.

However, when her gaze fell on the sight a little further down the hall, she immediately stopped up herself, coursing Jim to walk straight into her back. "Uff! Hey, what are y-Hmf?!" Jim's eyes opened wide when Angie cupped her scaled hand over his mouth, only to pull him back against her, as they both were hidden behind a soil against the wall.

Though Jim tried hard to break free of the officer's hold, Angie's grip remained strong as she kept the boy as easy and quite as possible was. She didn't even seem to pay that much attention to his struggling. In fact, the only thing she was focused at, was the man she had seen further down the hall. Had she spotted him in any other condition, she would have doubted that he was really who she thought. But now, she was sure. She would be able to recognize that face anytime. Besides, she knew no other men with so many mechanical replacements as he.

. . .

"What do you mean they came out of nowhere? - no one can break into this prison without anyone noticing," Commissioner Clarkson stated, his grey eyebrows creating deep furrows on his forehead.

"I tell you Sire, they're no usual offender," Gavin Ford said seriously, still seeming to be a little dazed on top of the smoke he had inhaled earlier.

"We didn't even see them coming. They just appeared all of a sudden. They can be anywhere at the station now," Darian Davis added while he held his side where Angie had kicked him, before he passed out. Since Angie had stolen his jacket, the white t-shirt underneath stood in huge contrast to the two elder men's dark uniforms.

Both Gavin and Darian seemed to be a little drowsy on top of the attach, but never the less they spoke clearly and certainly about their case.

The Commissioner rubbed his wide chin while he broke his mind for solutions. "Seems like this turns out to be a bigger challenge than I first had thought," he muttered to himself.

However, he didn't reach to go further with his conversation before he heard rushed footsteps come closer from down the hall.

"Sir Commissioner," Charlie called out as he hurried up to the three with a questioning frown patched on his face. "What is going on? I barely reach to leave the building before I'm called back," he said, his voice clearly expressing his annoyance of being called back to the station so soon.

"We have an intruder on the station," The Commissioner simply said, his tone never once changing.

Charlie frowned even more confused, now completely forgetting his annoyance. "What? How?"

"They came in by the back door. Officer Ford and Officer Davis was victims for their intrusion, but their intentions are yet unknown. Their identity too," The Commissioner said, the thoughtful furrows dugging deeper and deeper in his face.

"They're probably still on the station. If we act quickly and efficiently we might be able to catch them," Darian said, standing slightly bent while he held his side.

"If that plan is going to succeed, we must be severely careful. We have no idea what we are dealing with," Gavin added seriously and the tree other men nodded their heads in agreement.

"We'll set the rest of the staff members in action. The entire station must be scoured right away," The Commissioner ordered sternly.

"Yes Sir. Commissioner," Gavin and Darian said before they both rushed down one of the hall's sideways, to inform the rest of the officers.

The young Charlie was just about to follow behind, but stopped when he felt a firm hand grab hold of his shoulder. "And you-," the commissioner began with a firm voice. "I want you to gather yourself a group and make sure to examine the area around this building. Every corner shall be searched, is that clear?"

"Yes Sir. Commissioner," Charlie replied with a certain nod before he passed by his father.

"Oh and Charlie," hearing his name being spoken by the worn voice he knew so well, Charlie paused his walking one more time to glance back at the commissioner. When Bill spoke again, his voice was less formal, yet still stern, as if he now was talking to Charlie as his son, instead of as his employee. "Consider this as a chance for you to prove to me, that you are ready for challenges like this. Don't blow it," the grey-haired Commissioner said seriously, his old eyes never once losing their grip on his son.

Charlie couldn't help but let a slight honored smile spread across his lips as he lowered his head, to thank for the opportunity. "Don't worry. I won't disappoint you," he assured before he turned to walk down the main hallway with certain steps.

Bill couldn't help but take a glance down at his son's metallic leg replacement, secretly fearing that he would end up tripping or hurt himself in another way. However, he pushed the thoughts away, put the firm frown back on his face and turned the corner to the sideway.

. . .

Angie had listened closely to the conversation all along, fighting the urge to watch from around the soil. However, as soon as she heard the cyborg's alternately metallic and plain steps come closer, she quickly reached out behind her to grab a hold of the handle of the door, her back was firmly pressed against. With her other hand still cupped over Jim's mouth, she silently opened the door and got them both inside, before she closed it behind them.

First when they were inside, she realized that the room was a broom closet, and that they now were surrounded by crowded shelfs and mops, only with two square meters of floor. Though there was a light bulb hanging down in a wire from the ceiling, Angie didn't bother turning it on. The more they could do to keep anyone from grasping suspect, the better. But that Jim didn't quite agree upon.

"What the hell are you for an officer?!" He exclaimed as soon as Angie had released her grip around his mouth. "Who drags people into a broom closet out of nowhere?!" he snapped and wiped off his mouth, standing as far away from the uniformed man as he could on the few square meters.

Angie just roll her eyes at him. "Will you please shut it up before you get both of us arrested," she hissed at him, almost forgetting that she still was in the form of Darian. No wonder Jim was freaking out. Honestly, who wouldn't if they were held back by an officer and pushed into a tiny room without any explanation?

"Both of us?!" Jim exclaimed, his eyes never losing side of the officer in the darkness. "You're the one to arrest people, I'm the only one here who should fear to end up in jail!" he said, continuously speaking with a raised voice.

"Will you just stop yelling?!" Angie hissed lowly through her teeth, finally looking directly at the young man. "If anyone out there hear us we're both in big trouble,"

"Why should you be in trouble?! And why are we hiding in a broom closet?!" Jim questioned in the same confused tone as before.

"You wanted help to escape didn't you?!" Angie hissed back, having a hard time keeping her voice low, since Jim began to get on her nerves.

Now it finally began to get through to Jim what was actually going on. With wide eyes, he stared back at the scaled officer, suddenly recognizing the familiar blue-green eyes in the darkness. "Angie?!"

"No the king of Catmusfarr - of cause it is I!" Angie hissed, still speaking with Darian's deep voice.

Now Jim was even more confused. "B-but how? You're not- I-I mean you don't-"

"Look, this is really not the time for a long explanation," Angie cut him off before he could get any further with his sentence. "Right now the most important thing for us is to get out of here as fast as possible,"

"Right. Sure. So what's the plan?" Jim asked, trying to focus on getting out at first.

"Improvising," Angie answered, trying to look through the narrow space between the door and the doorframe.

"Improvising?!" Jim repeated, not sounding rather confident with that answer. "Did you seriously break into a fully staffed police station without any plan for how to get out?!"

"I had a plan," Angie said a little irritated "But as things are now, it seems like we will have to come up with something else,"

"Well, that's just great. We're trapped in here," Jim muttered sarcastically and crossed his arms, the little Morph now finally daring to come out of his pocket.

"Not so fast solar-boy~," Angie said with her own voice, making Jim turn her head towards her. Angie just smirked at him, now changing back into her normal self, as she pointed to the ceiling.

Jim followed her finger, only to let his shoulders fall back down when he realized the airshaft just above their heads.

"There is always an escape route~,"

. . .