Opening File: Rigby Lotter
Rigby Lotter was the eldest son of Sherm and Barbara Lotter. While Rigby didn't have a troubled childhood, Sherm was quite strict and harsh while Barbara was aloof and neglectful, both showing favoritism to his little brother, Don, causing Rigby to grow up feeling unloved with his only solace being his best friend, Mordecai Cristata. After the two graduated highschool, Rigby was denied entry into College University while Mordecai was granted access. Desperate not to lose his only friend, Rigby forged a letter of rejection to Mordecai.
During the Era of Rending, Mordecai discovered that Rigby forged the letter and furiously disowned him as his best friend.
From then on, life only went downhill for Rigby; He could barely find work, he lived in a low rent apartment in one of the poorest parts of the west coast, he was constantly a target for delinquents and jerks, and the only way he could afford rent or even get food was by robbing gas stations. In this time, Rigby had been forced to move to the east coast for unknown reasons and had became bitter and withdrawn.
A few months over Modus' founding, Rigby was arrested for armed robbery and aggravated assault as the police finally caught up to him. During his time in prison, Rigby was in a contraband ring ran by guards and inmates alike known as the Black Trade, which allowed him to convince the warden to commune his sentence after 4 years.
Rigby was soon hired by the Operator as his assistant, albeit because the latter was having a busy day.
Close File
Rigby sighed in finality as the plane he was flying finally landed.
It was Christmas Eve, and Toshiro Tohomiko invited the Operator for a demonstration of their latest products hoping to get his approval for more funding. Since Nyx was spending Christmas with her sister and since the rest of the park crew were there, Rigby figured why not?
"Don't like flying?" A voice broke him out of his thoughts. It was the guy sitting next to him.
"Nah, I'm just tired." Rigby waved off.
"You wanna know the secret to surviving air travel?" He asked, and continued without Rigby's consent, "After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and your socks. Then you walk around on the rug, making fists with your toes."
Rigby just blinked, "Fists with your toes?"
He chuckled, "I know, I know. It sounds crazy. Trust me. I've been doin' it for nine years! Yes, sir. Better than a shower and a hot cup of coffee." He chuckled again just as the plane landed.
The passengers all got out of their seats and got out of their bags. Planes made by Modus were designed to have easy escape routes and house at least twelve hundred passengers of all kinds. He then noticed that the guy sitting next to him went quiet.
It was due to him noticing the gun holstered by his side, under the coat he was wearing.
Rigby caught on quickly and eased him, "Don't worry. I have a license."
That caused him some relief as the two grabbed their bags. The woman on the PA reminded him of Marie from work. Apparently, Marie was promoted to an agent/assassin for Modus, meaning she's the Operator's plus one for the party. Rumor was it that she was sleeping with him, but Rigby dispelled those rumors, as he knew the Operator was both asexual and disinterested in sex.
The first reason was to save the Operator's integrity and the second reason was to prevent Nyx from freaking out when she found out.
Some other thoughts crossed his thoughts as he reclaimed his bags from the baggage claim. This was the first time in 11 years when he saw the other park employees and was curious to what they've been up to.
A sequel broke him out of his thoughts went he saw a couple reunite when the husband came back from the war in Asia. Rigby just muttered, "Hmm. Californian liberals."
Rigby managed to get a taxi to his hotel. It was nice, especially after they gave him a fancier room when they learned he was the Operator's assistant. The looks on their faces were the funniest things he'd seen in years.
By the time that it was time to leave, Rigby dressed in a red leather jacket, a black dress shirt with a red tie under a whit beater, black khakis, and brown shoes. A limo was waiting for him at the entrance, ready to leave for the party.
Sometimes, he remembered why it was worth putting up with the Consortium.
On his way down the holoway, he saw Tohomiko Tower; The largest industrial tower in the Megacity, excluding the megablocks, even among the factories and airways, gleaming even among the constant snowstorms.
This should be interesting.
The party was going on fine at the tower; The guests were talking, drinking, and dancing while the Christmas music played in sync. In the crowd was the park crew were all talking over each other, catching up with the times.
A mustached Mordecai wore a tuxedo while Muscle Man retained his muscular figure from years ago while he had a goatee and wore a Demin jacket over a yellow dress shirt, Demin jeans, and motorcycle boots. Hi Five Ghost hadn't really changed that much and Pops wasn't around due to him passing away 12 years earlier.
Skips didn't changed that much either but he wore a brown suit over a white dress shirt, and brown pants, Benson seemed the same too but he wore a simple blue suit with a black tie.
Marie was by the Operator's side, the former in a revealing blue dress and heels while the latter wearing a grey suit with a red dress shirt and black tie, and black suede shoes and black gloves. The blue haired woman had love in her eyes while the Operator who seemed apathetic. The Engineer was with them, with his jacket hung up on one of the coat racks.
"So, what have you guys been up to?" Muscle Man asked his friends, taking a drink from his soda can.
"Eh, I've been pursuing an art career. It's going pretty fine but I've had to work here for some payment." Mordecai somewhat bragged, "I've gotten a decent place for now. What about the rest of you?"
"Me and Benson still work at the park. We've been training new employees." Skips replies, Benson nods in return, saying, "Yep. They're good kids. But they need some work for the actual requirements."
Muscle Man just shrugged and took another drink, "I've been working at the university lately while Fives got a job as a pizza guy." Hi Five Ghost didn't seem bothered by admitting that.
"Say," Benson asked, abruptly, "Where's Rigby?"
The park crew looked around and, sure enough, said racoon Mobian was nowhere in sight.
"Eh, he's probably running late." Mordecai said in a bored tone, leaning back and taking a drink.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen!" They were cut off from taking further than that when Mr. Tohomiko announced something to the attendees, "I want to congratulate each and every one of you for making this one of the greatest years of Tohomiko Electronics!"
The crowd cheered before Mr. Tohomiko continued, "On behalf of the Operator and his willing donations, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!"
As of on que, Rigby's limo had dropped him off at the main entrance of Tohomiko Tower. The lobby was fancy and well clean with the man at the front desk.
"Hey, I'm here for the Christmas party?" Rigby asked the guard at the front desk, showing him his ID as the Operator's assistant.
"Just swipe here." He responded blandly, pointing to the card swiper. The assistant to the Operator only nodded and swiped his card before noticing the holographic screen above it was processing things that weren't needed or stuff that he didn't know.
"Cute toy." Rigby snarked.
"Yeah, if you ever have to take a leak, it'll even help you find your zipper." The guard snarked back.
Rigby rolled his eyes before the screen showed where the party was, "50th floor."
"They're the only ones left in the building." The guard replied, "
and headed to the elevators. They had that same catchy elevator music while Rigby just contemplated how the guys from the park are gonna respond when they find out that he's the Operator's assistant.
The elevator doors parted, revealing Rigby as he got to the floor. The attendees all seemed happy, talking and sharing events with one another while the racoon Mobian just shimmied his way through the crowd, making it to the Operator and Marie.
"Oh, hey, Rigby." His boss said when he got close enough, "What took so long?"
"Traffic." Was Rigby's only response as he grabbed a margarita from a waiter that offered.
Had I mentioned that Rigby was now only a head smaller than his little brother? Due to experiments with Organism Dg-Kr, Rigby's body was forced to accommodate with a physical fitness program curtesy of the Commander. Same with Marie. Now he was 6'4 with a muscular build, though his voice hadn't changed.
"Hey! Rigby!" He heard, turning to see the park crew waiting by a table.
"Hey, guys!" Rigby greeted the guys. They talked for a while and caught up with everything. Turns out the only reason they could attend was because Mordecai's uncle Steve was working in the building as an accountant. He gave his attendance ticket to Mordecai as he wanted to spend more time with his family and he wanted his nephew to take a break from all his attempts at making a comeback.
Things were fine, but Mordecai asked Rigby to meet him in his uncle's office.
The office was alright, not overly fancy, but also not in poor condition. Rigby just lean back against the wall while Mordecai fished something out of a mini-fridge. He tossed a Nuka-Cola bottle over his shoulder that Rigby caught before Mordecai stood back up with a second bottle in his hand.
Rigby popped the caps off with his claws, two clinked their bottles and took a swig. Both were silent for a minute until Mordecai broke the ice.
"So, do you still remember what I said that night?"
The Operator's assistant didn't react before sighing, putting down his bottle and rubbing his eyes, "Every day."
Mordecai had a guilty look on his face, "Look, I..." He trailed off, breathing in and out, "I didn't... I-I... Look, I was angry. You thought more about our friendship and I thought more about a stupid collage."
"Whatever, doesn't matter." Rigby said flippantly, taking another drink.
Mordecai frowned, "Jeez, who put you in a sour mood?"
"Nothing. It's just been a long day and I'm really tired."
"Well, what happened to the Rigby I know?"
"What are you talking about?" Rigby asked, defensively, "I'm still me!"
"No, you're not!" Mordecai countered, "You're sour, you're mean, and you're cynical! That's not you!"
He started getting angry, "What do you know about me? We haven't seen each other in 14 years!"
"Oh, yeah?! And what have you accomplished since we separated, huh?!" Mordecai yelled in unknown jealous, yet at the same time curious, "What have you accomplished?!"
"Let's see! I'm rich, I work for the Operator, by extension the government, and I don't happen be a washed up has-been of an artist living in a dump!" Rigby counted off while almost roaring at his former best friend.
The room went silent. The two just stared at each other; Mordecai in disbelief at what he hear and Rigby in disbelief at what just came out of his mouth. The latter was suddenly very grateful that it was only them in the room.
Mordecai then wordlessly left, closing the door on his way.
Rigby just facepalmed in shame, growling out, "That's great, Rigby. Good job. Very mature."
Mordecai stopped short of the party and slammed against the wall, "God, Mordecai, what was that?! That was your one chance to patch things up! But, nooo! You just had to be jealous of-"
"Of what?" He turned, seeing the Operator leaning against the wall, opposite of him, looking very unamused.
"Of being successful? Of proving that he doesn't need you?" The Operator pressed, "What was it that you said? 'You're not my friend. All you've ever done is hold me back. And I'm an idiot for not seeing it until now.'? Honestly, Mordecai; I have not an inkling why Rigby put up with you. You forced him to help you win over a girl, belittle and made fun of him over his size and statue, and after all he's put up with, all the things that you've both been through, you threw all that away all because you couldn't get into community collage?"
The Operator's tone was level but it felt like ice and razors.
"I'm actually glad that College University and it's board was destroyed, and that he separated from you. Because, given the right chances, where he is and where you are, shows me that he didn't hold you back; You held him back."
He walked off, leaving a stunned Mordecai in the hallway.
With the Engineer, he was speaking with Mr. Tohomiko about the investments.
"So, as for everything else," The Engineer finished, "Since the Operator had signed off on funding, he's allowing for Tohomiko Electronics to gain new assets for underpaid and understaffed departments and divisions."
"Great! Excellent!" Toshiro said happily, "We can begin as soon as the New Year!"
Okay, good. Now that he was in a good mood, maybe it'll lessen the blow.
"Look, um..." The Engineer stalled before forcing it out, "About Kimiko-" He was cut off when Toshiro put up a hand.
"I know." The head of Tohomiko Electronics replied sadly, "We've talked this over. What happened to her wasn't your fault."
He paused when he picked up a photograph of him with Kimiko and the Engineer; Toshiro was smiling while Kimiko was outright beaming, having the Engineer in a bearhug and the Engineer smiling awkwardly in both happiness and embarrassment.
Toshiro smiled sadly, "She would have wanted me to move on. So should you."
The Engineer choked as a memory resurface from that dreaded night.
Jack Spicer dug himself out of the rubble, looking around as he managed to get out of the pile of wreckage from the explosion. He searched around, looking for Toshiro and Kimiko, only for his heart to still when he found the latter.
She was laying there in the open floor, hair spread out and her face untarnished in her red kimono. But it all harshly contrasted with the long piece of rebar imbedded in her chest.
Jack just stared with a gaping mouth before scrabbling from his self made escape route to his wife, whom managed to turn her head his way, despite the pain. His breath was shaky, gripping her hand tightly he didn't know or care if it caused her more pain.
Both stared at each other for what was only minutes but felt like hours. Jack then yelled, "Help me." No one responded. He bellowed out to anyone that might be there. "SOMEBODY HELP!"
Still no one. Jack let go, desperate to find help before he heard Kimiko say his name.
"Jack, be alive with me tonight."
Kimiko said this as put her hand to Jack's left cheek, gentle as she was. Her husband's composure crumbled as he embraces her, in the final moments of her life.
"Yeah, you're right." The Engineer said as tears fell from his face.
Toshiro looked at him and saw his broken expression, putting an arm around his shoulder as the both of them stare at the photo.
Outside, a car and a truck pulled up to entrance of Tohomiko Electronics Plaza. The former stopped at the entrance while the latter drove into and parked at the docking bay.
The guard noticed the truck on the security cameras but only noticed the car when it's tires squealed on the pavement. The doors opened to reveal a man long, shaggy, brown hair, a gold earring, and an eye-patch covering his bad right eye, wearing a black hoodie under a white beater, black pants, and black shoes. This is
By him was a dark-skinned man with a smug grin. He has short black hair and a beard and wears glasses, a red and blue plaid button-down shirt, purple bow-tie, and black suspenders.
The second guy was talking about something involving his writing, when the first one wordlessly shot the guard in the head with a silenced pistol when they got close enough.
"Boom! Two points!" The second guy, Wayne, cheered, jumping behind the counter, kicking away the body of the guard before pulling out a walkie talkie, "We're in!"
As Wayne dealt with that, the man with the eyepatch checked the corner by the counter; another guard was wandering by the elevator. He popped a flashbang and rolled it to the guard. When it detonated, he immediately took advantage and put two bullets into the guard's sternum, putting him down before he could react.
In the docking bay, the truck pulled up to the loading dock and opened to reveal 20 armed men. Leading them was a man with long, brown hair, a full beard and sunglasses. He also wore a white shirt with a red business tie over a grey longcoat, brown jeans and black pointed boots.
This is Garret Bobby Ferguson Jr.
The team spread out, covering all measures of the building, disabling alarms, activating the security gates, while Ferguson and a few others got to the elevators.
Wayne hummed while typing at his terminal. 'Okay. Just need to punch in a few more codes and... voila!'
The screens showed all elevators in the low-rise are locked down, but it also showed that the elevators in the high-rise weren't fully locked down; they could only go from the top floor to the 29th floor.
'Eh, I can live with that. Okay, now to activate the security gates.'
Outside, all entrances of the plaza were coated in red hard-light shield while the lobby to the 35th floors are covered in carbo-ceramic reinforced titanium and the rest of the building wasn't coated in an invisible hard light shield due to Wayne's intervention.
In the lobby, the doors to the elevator opened to reveal Ferguson and his cronies, whom immediately when to work in securing the building.
Wayne was vocalizing before he started tearing wires out from under the terminal and destroying a panel at the side, causing sparks to fly as he ran out, disabling the off switch to the security systems.
One of the goons took off his vest while putting on the desk guard's uniform (which wasn't an issue given that he only needed to put on a light grey suit jacket), while Ferguson swiped a stolen card from the guard after making sure that Wayne disabled the silent alarm.
The panel alit in red, showing the operation was successful. With the main entrance sealed, Ferguson headed to the elevator with some of them heading upstairs to 'greet' the party guests.
Back in Uncle Steve's office, Rigby had taken off his jacket, dress shirt, socks and shoes, leaving him only in his whit beater and black pants. After emotionally beating himself up, Rigby decided to heed that guy's advice and make fists with his toes.
After a while of doing it, he actually began to feel better.
"Son of a bitch." Rigby breathed before he got up to clean up. He used a cloth to clean his face while also using it to clean his hands, looking in the mirror and made some faces when something caught the corner of his eye.
It was that of him with the guys; they were partying at the old house, Muscle Man didn't have his shirt on, fist pumping the air while on a car with Hi Five Ghost doing the same. Skips and Benson weren't so rowdy but they were laughing along with the others. Pops was jumping happily with a balloon in his hand, jolly as ever.
And then there was him and Mordecai; Both leaning against each other, wearing sunglasses with their arms folded and smirking like two cool guys.
Rigby let out a rueful sigh and smile, rubbing his eyes. Maybe he should-
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard gunshots from the lobby. He grabbed his pistol from his holster, ran to the door and opened it a tiny amount to peek from.
It was a bunch of armed men, taking all the guests hostage. There were probably 19 of them with more probably around the building. He saw Muscle Man frozen while the rest of the crew had their hands up in surrender. Mr. Tohomiko was being protected by the Engineer while the Operator and Marie ran to some other part, with some of the terrorists chasing after them.
Realizing his options are limited, Rigby looked around and saw the stairwell door. He nearly enters 51rst floor, but notices other henchmen wheeling equipment and explosives through the hallway and decided to take his chances on the 52nd floor.
Rigby raced up before noticing that in his hurry, he had gotten to the 54th floor.
2 minutes earlier:
Ferguson and his crew got their weapons out, readying to invade the party.
"Now, remember; we're only here for the money." Garret ordered his men, "No killing unless necessary." He then glared at a handsome but bloodthirsty-looking member of his crew, "Right, Bandou?"
Bandou growled, "Fine."
Ferguson rolled his eyes. Bandou was his righthand man's best minion but sometimes he was more trouble than he was worth. Like that time when they robbed the Tohomiko building in Japan 6 years ago.
The elevator opened to reveal the partygoers, unaware of them being armed before Bandou kicks it off by firing into the air. The guests all panic but the park crew just held their fists up for a fight. Muscle Man attempted to through a punch but a blueish-purple gas is sprayed in his face by Ferguson, causing the former to freeze in place. Marie and the Operator ran away while the Engineer shielded Mr. Tohomiko.
He held up a spray can to the park crew, "Paralysis spray. Comes in handy when we've got fighters."
They all growled but put their hands up, while the others got the rest of the guests. When his men had gathered all the party guests turned hostages, Ferguson got Tohomiko into his office.
As they forced both Toshiro and the Engineer into the former's office on the 54th floor, Garret Bobby Ferguson explained that they were after the Vault in the 50th floor of the building. As for what exactly they were after, they didn't say. Toshiro couldn't help but ponder what they wanted in the vault, for it contained all kinds of artifacts and art pieces, along with at least 640 million dollars in bearer bonds.
They sat him down at a table with the Engineer standing at his side. However, the conversation went south as it devolved into Ferguson calmly but intensely threatening Toshiro with giving him the code and Toshiro outright refusing, no matter how much he was being threatened.
Unseen to all of them was Rigby in the other room, hiding under table with a model set, seeing and hearing the entire conversation through the glass walls with his gun in hand. He narrowed his eyes before
"I am going to count to three for you give me the code." Ferguson threatened, grasping his gun, counting slowly and raising it at the owner of Tohomiko Electronics, "1... 2... 3..."
"I will not tell you the code." Toshiro said with a tone of finality, "I'm telling you, you're just going to have to kill me."
Ferguson remained calmed before pointing the gun directly at Mr. Tohomiko's head, "Very well."
"Wait!" The Engineer interjected, stopping Garret from killing Toshiro, "I know the codes!" Ferguson raised an eyebrow as the Engineer spoke the code, "It is 'Kimiko.' The code to the vault is 'Kimiko.'"
The leader of the terrorists put down the gun, snarking, "See? Was that so hard?"
Rigby decided to take off to the unfinished part of the building, but as he maneuvered out from under the table, he bumped into the table. It rattled the set on the table, making enough noise to alert the terrorists.
Three of Ferguson's thugs ran out, searching the room thoroughly but they didn't find him. Unknown to them, however, Rigby managed to scramble to the next room, hiding by the doorway to the stairwell.
"Nothing." Bandou reported as they got back to the rest of the group, sounding incredibly disappointed.
Garret nodded and turned to Wayne, "We've got the code. How long for you to disable all of the locking mechanisms?"
"Two hours and thirty minutes for the mechanicals, at the minimum." The nerdy hacker reported, "The seventh lock, however, is out of my hands."
The leader nodded before pausing and asking, "The seventh?"
"The electromagnetic seal." Wayne explained, showing the schematic to the vault entrance, "You do understand that the circuits cannot be cut locally."
Garret smiled, "Trust me."
Back with Rigby, he managed to bolt to the stairwell and got to 52nd floor of the building.
"Why the hell didn't you go help them, Rigby?!" Rigby talked to himself again, as he ran into the unfinished part of the building, "Because then you'd be dead, you idiot!" He growled, putting his brain into overdrive, "Think, goddamn it! Think!"
He breathed hard and looked around for a moment before he noticed the sprinklers had been installed. Which could only mean that there had to be a fire alarm! He turned to his right, finding the switch to the fire alarm on the wall.
At the entrance of the building, the terrorist impersonating the guard, Eddie, was watching one of the Wacky Races when suddenly the fire alarm for the 52nd floor started going off.
He immediate pulled up his walkie talkie, "We've got a fire alarm."
"Call 911." Ferguson ordered while walking down the stairs from Toshiro's office, "Give them the guard's name, the building code number, and cancel the alarm. Then disable the system." He then paused as a thought went through him, "Eddie, on what floor did the alarm go off?"
"The 52nd."
"Thank you." He put down the radio and turned to the nearest of his group, a blond man in a grey sweater and sweat pants named Tony, "Head up to the 52nd floor and take them out. Be as quick and quiet as you can and be careful. We don't know what this person is capable of."
Tony saluted before running off to the elevator.
Back with Rigby, he ran to the windows, hearing the sirens of the fire department, muttering frantically, "Oh, yes. Oh, baby, come to papa. Come on..."
He saw four fire trucks speeding through the highway towards Tohomiko Plaza.
Rigby grinned before cackling madly and jumping around at seeing the quad of firetrucks, "Oh, come on, baby. Come on, baby. Come to papa. I'll kiss your fucking Dalmatians!"
His good mood died a cold death when he saw their sirens turn off and the trucks turned around.
"Oh, you stupid motherfuckers! No! No! No!" Rigby yelled, banging against the glass, "Turn the fucking trucks around!"
He didn't realize that Eddie had called the fire department and told them it was a false alarm. Before he could futilely try to call back the firetrucks, Rigby hear the elevator arrive at the floor.
Tony exited the elevator to the unfinished 52nd floor and turned to the spacious floorspace, which had it's lights off. It had already had it's supports, piping, and insulation installed, so he didn't need to worry about the cold coming in or the floor collapsing on him. Not seeing the perpetrator, he flipped on the lights.
Still not seeing him, Tony narrowed his eyes and slowly entered the floor, gun firmly in his hands as he searched through the labyrinth of construction.
"The fire has been called off, my friend." He called out, hoping it would lure him out so he could shoot him, "No one is coming to help you. You might as well come out and join the others."
Tony then heard a sound coming from a pile of ceiling tiles. He slowly crept to the pile, loudly cocking his MP5, readying it to shoot.
"I promise I won't hurt you." He blatantly lied before dashing around the corner and fired at the spot where he thought the perpetrator was hiding. The terrorist stopped when he saw that no-one was there.
Tony looked confused before he heard a power saw being reeved up. He dashed towards the area where the sound was coming from, beating his shoes hard on the floor while dashing through a way of metal pole and around the corner to see the source of the sound.
It was a power saw table that was slowly stopping when he arrived, as if on a timer.
The blond terrorist raised an eyebrow before he heard someone shout, "Just blade your day, didn't I?"
Before he could react, Rigby tackled Tony to the ground. The blond terrorist reacted by elbowing him in the gut, causing Rigby to tumble back as Tony got up and pulled out his gun, only for Rigby to right hook him in the face before he could fire. Rigby then jumped, grabbing one of the pipes connected to the sprinklers and swung, uppercutting Tony with his feet.
The blond terrorist flew into the doors to the stairwell, breaking them open and tumbled down the stairs.
In any other time, he would have been fine and continued to fight; but in a one and a thousand chance, he tumbled onto his neck, cracking several vertebrae and killing him instantly. His body laid on the floor while Rigby appeared in the hallway, holding his fallen MP5.
Rigby looked down at the body of Tony before quipping, "See ya next fall, pal."
Wayne hummed as he typed the code into the holographic keypad, which displayed the words; "ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED. LOCK NO. 1 DISABLED. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?"
"Bet your ass I wish to proceed!" He said enthusiastically, putting on some noise cancelling headphones and safety googles before activating the drill beside him.
Rigby zipped opened the bag that Tony had on him, revealing 3 clips for his MP5, a radio, and a metal lighter. He put all of the clips in his left pocket, the lighter in his right pocket, and hooked the radio to his belt. After that, he heaved up the body and got back upside.
Finding a desk chair, he set the body onto it and rolled the two to the elevator. Rigby attempted to use his shoes but they were a few sizes too small for him, which he was non too pleased to find out.
"Of all in the group, I just had to find one that has smaller feet than me." Rigby muttered as he threw off the shoes, only for him to see a Santa statue with a detectable cap. An idea got into his head as he took the cap and put it on Tony's corpse, but it didn't seem enough for some reason before he saw a red marker on the floor.
An evil smirk crossed his face as he uncapped the marker.
"Because Mr. Tohomiko was willing to give up the code for the safety of all of you, he was allowed to live." Garret Bobby Ferguson said as he was in front of the party guests, minus Marie and the Operator, at the 30th floor with some of his crew standing guard, "But have no illusions, we are in charge. And we have left nothing to chance."
As he said that last sentence, the elevator silently opened to reveal a slightly bloodied Tony sitting on a wheeled desk chair, with a Santa cap on his head, and the words; NOW I HAVE A MACHINE GUN HO- HO-HO written in red on his sweater.
One of the hostages saw the body in the corner of her eye and screamed, causing the terrorists and the hostages to see Tony's body in the elevator. Garret yells at all of them too get back as he and Bandou runs to the elevator where he saw the body.
"Now I have a machine gun." Ferguson reads before pulling the scrunched up part of his sweater down and finishing the last part in an incredibly annoyed yet-deadpan manner. "Ho... Ho... Ho."
"A security guard we missed?" Bandou asked him.
"No, no, no. This is something else."
Unseen to them was Rigby, hiding on the roof of the elevator, observing them as they talked. Garret said something that he couldn't make out while Bandou says, "We have to do something, Garret."
"Yes, I know, Bandou." The leader of the terrorists replied, "Get Norman here. He'll want to know his friend's dead."
Bandou nodded and walked off as he pulled up his radio while hearing a woman scream about how they're going to kill them.
Rigby, listening in, wrote down the names he heard on his left palm with a black Sharpie. Before he could do anything else, the elevator began ascending. He looked down and saw that Tony's body had be taken out of the elevator and the others were gone.
The Operator's assistant swore before he saw how close he was to the top of the elevator shaft. Rigby screeched and pressed himself against the top of the elevator, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the machinery at the top.
After almost collapsing in a heap of relief, Rigby crawled into the spaces between the shaft and opened up a hatch to the stairway to the roof, only to meet the Operator and Marie.
"Huh?!" Rigby was understandably confused even when the Operator help him up, "When did you two get here?"
"Funny story actually." Marie giggled at his confusion.
A bull Faunus named Roy, along with 4 other henchmen, had caught up with the Operator and Marie, the former being interrogated by Roy and the latter was being held by the other three.
Roy was attempting to interrogate the Consortium member. Keyword: Attempted. Not only was he not giving anything up, but he also insulting the bull Faunus in many ways.
"Tell me what I want or else!"
Marie seemed a little unnerved by Roy's anger, something her boss took note of.
The Operator replied, in the most blunt and sarcastic voice imaginable, while uncrossing his legs, "Oh, what's the big deal, Marie? I'm just waiting for this testosterone ridden meathead to stop trying to scare me and actually scare me."
"YOU WANT SCARY!?" The bull Faunus bellowed, pointing a rifle directly at his head, "I'LL SHOW YOU SCARY!"
"Aw, go ahead and shoot me!" He taunted, despite everyone else in the room growing substantially more scared and tensed, "I dare ya!"
"Don't test me, man!"
"Pull the trigger, you little pussy!"
Roy bellowed, pulling the trigger. Marie would have screamed and shifted her arm into something that would have shielded him if she hadn't seen what happened next; The bullets stopped inches away from the Operator's face.
They just still just as the rest of the occupants of the room before suddenly becoming liquescent and fusing into a single metallic mass. It then molded into a needle-like shape that reflected the room. Before anyone could react, the needle flew far and imbedded itself into Roy's forehead.
His eyes went glossy before he fell to his knees and fell to the floor.
The rest of Ferguson's henchmen had gaping expression as did Marie. The Operator just put his legs up on the table and said, "What? Never saw a Reality Bender pretending not to be a Reality Bender?"
Marie felt like she was hit with a brick but used the opportunity to dispose of the others via extending her fingers through the henchmen's heads. Blood spewed out from the entry wounds as they fell back while she and the Operator dashed out the door.
"You're a Reality Bender?!" She screeched at him.
He just seemed annoyed, "We'll talk later! Let's go!"
The wall in front of them then seemed to flow out of their way like a liquid before they got into the shafts where they found a surprised Rigby. He immediately asked where the two were before Marie began.
"Huh." Was Rigby's only reaction to the story before he gave them the run down on what's happening.
"Rigby, listen!" The Operator interrupted, "There's an emergency communications terminal at the roof. If you go to it and plug in that radio of yours, you should be able to call the emergency line and radio for help."
"Okay!" That was all he needed to hear as he ran off to the roof.
"What're we gonna do then?" Marie asked her boss.
He responded by pulling out his heavily modified .44 Magnum, "We're going hunting."
The blue haired woman grinned before her dress melts into her skin and is replaced by a red and black leather suit, with an upturned collar, and silver shoulder pads with the Modus emblem on her chest.
The two ran off to parts unknown, hoping Rigby doesn't screw anything up.
Back with the terrorists, they just told the eye-patched member of their crew, Norman, that his friend is dead. As an angry and bloodthirsty terrorist, he reacted in the most logical way he knows; exploding in fury.
Norman violently flipped over a table, yelling in potent fury before Garret pinned him to the wall, telling him to calm down.
"I WANT BLOOD!" Norman yelled.
"And you'll have it." Garret tried to ease him, but says in a forceful tone, "But first, let Heinrich plant the detonators and Wayne prepare the vault. After we call the police, they'll spend hours negotiating. We keep the Operator from talking to them, and then you can tear the building apart looking for this man. But until then, we do not alter the plan."
Norman growls, "And if he alters it?"
Garret was silent before shrugging.
Outside with the hostages, the park crew noticed that the terrorists were arguing about something.
"What do you think is going on? A security guard?" Benson asked Skips, who shrugged before Mordecai answered, "Rigby."
Rigby managed to dash up the stairs to the roof. The split second he opened the door, Rigby got hit with a blast of cold before he got out the door and onto the roof; the megacity was a menagerie of lights amidst the blisteringly cold air. Taking a second to gaze at the megacity in awe, Rigby quickly got to the terminal, which was right next to him.
Acting quickly, he opened the terminal and plugged in the radio and tuned it to the emergency line.
"Mayday! Mayday! Anyone copy?" Rigby called into the radio.
Unknown to Rigby, he hadn't adjusted it right and it was broadcasting his message to Garret's radio.
"Terrorists have seized the Tohomiko building and are holding at least 30 people hostage. I repeat, unknown number of terrorists, 10 or more, armed with automatic weapons at Tohomiko Plaza, Century City. Somebody answer me, goddamnit!"
Garret stared at the radio before pondering, "Where's the best place to transmit?" He pondered for a second before snapping his fingers, "The roof! Get to the roof and stop him!"
Norman and two other terrorists ran to the elevator after the former grabbed a bang and an assault rifle from one of the latter.
"It's the same address as that fire signal." A female operator reported as she looked over her screen.
"Let me handle it." Another operator said, talking to however was on the line, "Whoever you are, this channel is reserved for emergency communications only."
"NO FUCKING SHIT LADY! DO I SOUND LIKE I'M ORDERING A PIZZA?!"
The operators roll their eyes and sighed when he said that.
In the elevator, Norman and the two loaded their weapons; Norman having a Steyr AUG while the other to just had AR-15s.
As the doors opened, Norman threated the both into compliance without even looking at them, "No one kills him but me."
"Ma'am please, they're prepared to kill any of the hostages and fortifying their positions while you're arguing with me!" Rigby yelled at the woman on the radio, "Now, send a freaking squad here A.S.A.P!"
"Sir, I've already told you, this is a reserved channel. If this is an emergency call, dial 911 on your phone. Otherwise, I'll have to report this as a violation."
Rigby growled in frustration before yelling into the radio, "FINE! ARREST ME! JUST GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE AND-"
He was cut off, quite literally, when a gunshot severed the cable connecting his radio to the emergency terminal, ending his call.
The operators winched and yanked their earpieces out at the gunshots.
Rigby dodged the shots from Norman, jumping over the railing and sliding down the ventilation shafts with bullets flying all the way, before he tumbled and slammed into more railing, knocking the wind out of him. Barely managing to get up and get in breath, he managed to scramble to a safer place, coughing all the way.
The second operator just sighs and says, "See if there's a black and white that can do a drive-by."
The first operator nodded and types something into her computer.
At a gas station, Sergeant Al Powell, a rotund dark skinned man with a beard and short dark hair in a police uniform, was humming as he picked up a bunch of snack cakes and set them on the counter.
"Though you guys just ate donuts." The gas station attendant snarked.
Al chuckled, "It's for my wife. She's pregnant."
"Right." The gas station attendant drawled jokingly as he scanned all the snack cakes.
Getting his treats in a plastic bag and leaving a tip, Al was about to return home for Christmas break before his radio came to alive, "Dispatch to 8-Lincoln-30, over."
Al rolled his eyes, just when he was about to go home...
"This is 8-Lincoln-30. Come on in, over." He said into his radio.
"Investigate a code 2 at Tohomiko Plaza."
Powell blinked. Just a code 2? Well, should be easy enough. He can just check the place and home, easy as pie.
"8-Lincoln-30 to Dispatch. I'm on my way." He reported to Dispatch as he got to his car and tossed his bag of snacks into the passenger seat. He then walked to the side of the holostreet and looked to Tohomiko Plaza in the distance.
The tower stood like a fortress, even among the other building in the megacity of Century City.
Al muttered, "What the hell could be going on there?"
Rigby ducks as the bullets hit the railing he was hiding behind and returning fire before continuing to run away. He hadn't unlocked his aura; so if he got shot, he'd be hurt pretty bad to say the least.
Unseen to him was Norman, walking slowly along the launchpad, gun raised to kill. Rigby turned a corner while fire back. When he got to the edge of the platform, Norman leveled his rifle to where Rigby was, took aim and fired.
The latter was only managed to not get shot due to him ducking for cover behind the large section of machinery. Rigby quickly reloaded but could get a clear shot from his angle before he saw a door just across from him, locked from the inside.
He fired at the door, destroying the locks before he dived into it. The door was torn off it's locking mechanisms while Rigby tumbled onto the floor before scrambling to his feet and running off through the maintenance corridors only for the way for the next room to be blocked by a giant slowly moving ventilation fan.
"Oh, come on!" Rigby yelled in frustration before a lightbulb alit in his head.
Looking back, he made sure they weren't following him before he used his MP5 as a wedge to stop the fan. Rigby then got onto his hands and knees and crawled through the clear way. The fan's engine began smoking as it was block but Rigby managed to crawl through in time before Norman and the other terrorists came charging in.
Rigby managed to get through and tumbled to the railing before he climbed down the ladder. He looked up and saw that they could get though because of the fan before he dashed across the walkway and through the next door, only to find himself where he had meet the Operator and Marie last.
He bolted to his left, only to retract when he heard someone talking from below. Turning to his right, Rigby bolted through the still opened hatch to the elevator shaft catwalk where he had came from, only to find no elevator. On top of that, he heard the sounds of footsteps from elsewhere; no doubt, Norman and the other two.
"Shit! Where the fuck is it!?" He swore quietly until he saw an opening with a metal screen.
Using his MP5, Rigby bashed the screen off, only to stop when he saw that this was the ventilation shaft. One that spanned almost 60 stories. Rigby would have backed off, but he heard more footsteps from the pump room. Realizing he doesn't have a choice, Rigby steels his nerves as he extended the stock of his MP5 while detaching the part of the strap connected by the muzzle.
Norman searched the pump room and all the doors in it while Felix talked to Garret through the radio before the former heard sounds coming from the elevator shaft.
He grabbed the radio and said, "He's in the elevator shaft."
"Good, if we lock down the elevators, he'll be neutralized." Garret ordered, before pausing then saying, "Norman, I know you want blood for your friend, but he's called the police and they'll be here soon. I can stall them but not if they hear gunshots."
"Fine, sir. I promise." Norman said sarcastically, before immediately crossing his fingers and shutting off the radio.
Rigby slowly crawled over the edge of the vent before slowing climbing down the shaft to the 54th floor, holding the strap in an iron grip as he tries to reach the vent below him. Seeing that he couldn't reach, Rigby lowered himself further, not seeing that the strap is slowly loosening from his weight. He tried to reach again, only for him to still not be able to reach it.
He turned to the strap and the MP5; they were still holding steady, even if a little shaky. He figured he could lower himself a little farther. Taking a minute to catch his breath, Rigby steeled his nerves and lowered him more slowly.
Suddenly, the stray snapped off the gun. Rigby screamed as he fell, clawing at the walls, trying to grab onto anything he could get his hands on. He fell for 3 floors before his left hand managed to grip onto the ledge of 50th floor vent. His grip being so hard that it bent the metal of the ledge into the shape of his hand.
The racoon Mobian was left a shaking wreck by this but managed to pull it together, muttering hysterically, "A-Ah... Thank you, god. Oh... Thank you, lord..."
He managed to pull him up and get into the vent. Rigby crawled more until his entire body was in the vent before nearly collapsing in exhaustion. What he didn't see was the small black hooks that were on his fingers before retracting into his skin.
After taking a minute to calm down, Rigby pulled out the lighter he swiped from Tony and lit it because of how dark it was; the light from the flame showed the vent was quite long with a few turns ahead.
Rigby sighed before he then mockingly mimicked Marie's voice, repeating what she said to him to convince him come to the party in Century City, "'Come out to the coast! We'll have some time off, get together, have a few laughs!'"
He begrudgingly closed the lighter, extinguishing the flame.
Unknown to Rigby, Norman heard his screams when he fell and had ran to the other side of the catwalks to investigate. While he didn't find Rigby, he saw the light from his lighter illuminate the 50th floor vent, signaling where he was.
"He's in the ventilation shafts, 50th floor." He ordered the other two before dashing off to the 50th floor to get him.
Rigby groans as he crawled through the vents. The heat was unbearable at first but it was okay after a minute. And come to think of it, he found it easier to move through the vents all of the sudden and his eyes had adjusted to the darkness pretty quickly. He would have pondered this but he had bigger fish to fry.
"Uh, now I know what a pizza pouch feels like." Rigby snarked to himself as he continued crawling through the vents.
Norman and the thugs raced to the 50th floor, the former kicking open the door to the ventilation room before seeing the ducts and opening fire. It left several holes in the frame of the metalwork, but none of them had any blood coming out of them.
The eyepatched terrorist narrowed his only eye before using the barrel of his gun to press the ducts, checking for body weight.
Rigby, after pushing back when the shots came, looked up to see the duct being pushed by the barrel of Norman's gun. He checked back and realized that he couldn't move back without causing enough noise to alert the terrorists to where he was.
Pulling out his handgun, Rigby aimed it over the grill he was nearest to him.
Norman kept pressing the vent every 2 feet until he got directly under where Rigby was laying. He slowly raised his gun to press the duct up. If it moved, he wasn't there. If it didn't, he was there and Norman was gonna fill him full of lead.
"Norman!" The eyepatched terrorist was interrupted when Felix blurted out, "We got trouble!"
He growled but relented and ran off with the others, not hearing Rigby sigh in relief and slump in exhaustion.
Powell pulled up into the main lot of the Tohomiko Plaza, ready to search. So, far, there were no cars, no broken windows, or bodies, but he knows there's more than meets the eye with this types of things.
He investigated by cycling the lot for any signs of forced entry or secret entrances.
Back with Rigby, he managed to climb out of the shaft with a nearby table preventing him from making too much noise, but now his whit beater was brown with all the dust and blood staining it. Rigby kept his guard up while searching the floor, getting into Mr. Tohomiko's office, which was surprisingly clean.
Turning back to make sure no one was there, the Operator's assistant got to the windows and saw Powell's car. Rigby hollered in laughter before muttering, "About damn time, dude! What took so long?"
"No signs of disturbance, Dispatch." Al reported into his radio after a moment of silence with the investigation.
The operator on line reported back, "8-L-30, roger. Possible crank call. Check the area again and confirm."
Rigby looked puzzled at the fact that the car was just circling the parking lot.
"Who's driving that car? Blindy O'Sightless?" He joked to himself.
Unknown to Rigby, one of the terrorists on the roof saw him staring out the window and called, "Macro, Heinrich, the interloper is in Tohomiko's office."
Al finished the third circle around the parking lot before he saw that there was a guard sitting by the receptionist table. He might know something about what's going on.
"I do see a guard inside." Powell reported to Dispatch through his radio, "I'm gonna go in for a closer look."
"8-L-30, roger. Please proceed with caution."
He slowly parked his car by the entrance before getting out to investigate. The guard seemed to notice him as he got up from his desk and walked up to the door, unlocking it and peaking outside to meet him.
"Evening, officer, what can I do for ya?" Eddie said, charmingly.
"Yeah, I'd like to investigate a disturbance here. Did anything happen?" Al asked, walking inside with Eddie.
The 'guard' replied, while leading him in, "Another false alarm, sir. If you ask me, that god damn computer needs to be reformatted cause it's sending you out on a wild goose chase. Been chasing the bugs ever since they installed it."
Al found that a bit odd as most Tohomiko computers were top notch and top of the line, but this place wasn't completed yet so, he guessed it made some sense. Still he had a job to do.
"AW, SHIT!" Eddie swore abruptly, causing all to turn to see him at his desk, watching the Wacky Races, "I got 50 bucks on ya, come on!"
Al rolled his eyes, "Well, you don't mind if I take a look around do ya?"
"No, help yourself." The 'guard' replied, flippantly.
Al nodded and walked off, not seeing Eddie stare back.
"Come on," Rigby drawled as he still didn't see anything after the cop entered, "Where's the damn backup?"
All of the sudden, he hear someone running in. Rigby immediately pulled out his gun moments before a dark clothed thug enters the room and the former yells, "FREEZE, ASSHOLE! DROP IT!"
"OKAY! OKAY! DON"T SHOOT!"
It soon devolved into both of them yelling at the top of their lungs; Rigby yelled for him to drop his gun and Marco shouting that he would while actually lowering his submachine gun. Eventually, their shouting match later for a few more moments when Heinrich busted in, "MARCO, DUCK!"
The first thug threw himself to the ground while Heinrich fired. Rigby managed to avoid getting hit before firing two shots that hit Heinrich. Chucks of flesh and blood blew out of his wound before he fell dead. Marco took the opportunity to attack.
He fired at Rigby's hand, with the bullet hitting the side of his gun. The Operator's assistant yelped, dropping his gun before ducking under the zigzag-shaped table when Marco suddenly jumped onto the table. The latter cornered the former when he kept firing at whatever space he could see him. Eventually, Rigby was forced against the wall from all the shots.
"You are done. No more table! Where are you going, PAAAAALL?!" Marco cackled madly while reloading his submachine gun, "Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don't hesitate."
Suddenly, he was impaled in the legs, pelvis, and lower abdomen by thick wooden spikes that had grown from the table. Marco screamed before he was silenced by a bullet through between the eyes. Curtesy of the Operator, holding Rigby's fallen handgun in his right hand.
He'd taken his suit jacket off along with his dress shirt and gloves, revealing his lean and scarred yet muscular build with a black whit beater being the only clothing on his upper body.
The Operator quipped to Marco's dead body, "Thanks for the advice." He got Rigby out from under the table, before the two walked to the window, watching from the parking lot of the plaza where they saw the police car.
Rigby turned to ask, "You think he'll call for back up?"
"Let's not our hopes up just yet, Rigby." Was his boss' only reply.
Al was done halfway through the hallway before stopping and muttering, "Oh, to hell with this." He's got a wife to go back to and it's almost Christmas! He can't waste his damn time for a false alarm!
He headed back to his car, not seeing one of the terrorists lowering his gun when he turned around.
"Sorry to waste your time." Al waved to Eddie, apologetically.
"No problem." He waved back, "Merry Christmas."
Al nodded before heading outside and humming, "'Oh, the weather outside is frightful. Dum-dee-dum delightful.'"
Back up the building, Rigby and his boss were watching the cop leaving the plaza.
"Oh for the love of..." The Operator growled before he facepalmed, calm yet exasperated, "I am toughening my hiring standards when this is over."
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?" Rigby screamed, hands firmly on the glass of the window before turning to the Operator, "Oh, we've got to get his attention!" His boss replied, "So, less talking and more thinking!" The two looked around the room for something to use before Rigby's gaze locked onto something.
"8-Lincoln-30 to Dispatch." Al radioed his station.
"8-L-30, go ahead."
"Yeah, that's a wild goose chase over here at Tohomiko Plaza. Everything here's okay. Over." Al reported it in before he got into his car, singing, "'But nobody has a place to go. Let it snow, let it sno..."
Suddenly, the body of Marco drops through windshield of Al's cruiser.
Al reacted as anyone would, "SHITGODDAMMITJESUS H. CHRIST!"
Garret's surviving henchmen open fire from the upper parts of the building. The sergeant quickly shifted the gear into reverse and put the petal to the metal. The cruiser sped backwards, fast enough for the bullets that were meant to hit him hit the hood instead. He continued to sped backwards as the henchmen fired on him.
Back with Rigby and the Operator, the latter yelled down to the officer, "Welcome to the party, pal!"
Meanwhile, Al was screaming into his radio, "Policeman under fire at Tohomiko Plaza, they're turning my car into Swiss cheese! I need backup assistance now! NOW, GODDAMNIT, NOW!"
In his panic, he backed his cruiser into a retaining wall, crushing the protective fence and falling over the ledge. Al managed to crawl out of the car with only a few bruises and scratches.
10 minutes later;
A whole slew of police cars blared down the road to Tohomiko Plaza, turning to cordon off the entrance while teams appeared outside to plant barricades. News crews and other reinforcements came just behind.
The hostages looked to the windows and saw the lights and noise of the sirens.
Mordecai broke into a grin and whispered to Benson, "Never thought I'd be glad to hear that sound.'
With the terrorists, Garret tried calming them down.
"All of you. Relax." The leader maintained his composure while trying to placate he henchmen's fears, "This is a matter of inconvenient timing. That's all. Police action was inevitable, and as it happens, necessary. So, let them fumble about outside, and stay calm. This is simply the beginning."
Suddenly, his radio blared on.
Garret quickly grabbed it and said, "I thought I told all of you to maintain radio silence until further-"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Garret Bobby Ferguson Jr. I didn't get that message."
The one talking to Garret was the Operator, whom was stalling as Rigby looted the bodies of the terrorists and planned out what to do, which he seemed surprisingly good at. The Operator was also talking with in a more joking tone to throw them off as his usual tone was an extremely deadpan and dull one.
Rigby's boss continued to stall Garret, "Maybe you should have put it on a bulletin board. I figured since me and my friend waxed Tony and Marco and his friend here, I figured you, Norman, and Bandou might be a little lonely. So, I decided to give you a call."
"How do they know so much about-"
Garret put his hand up, cutting off Norman before speaking into the radio again, "That's mighty kind of you two."
"I assume you and your friend are our mysterious party crashers. You two are most troublesome for guards."
The Operator made a buzzer sound, "Wrong answer, Garret!" He then turned to Rigby and resumed his usual deadpan tone quietly, "What have you found on him?"
"A few clips and some smokes."
"Take the smokes."
Rigby looked confused, "Why the smokes?"
"For stress relief. What else, Rigby? Check his bag."
His assistant rolled his eye and searched the huge black bag that Heinrich brought with him.
"Who are you two then?" Garret asked after a moment of what he assumed was pondering.
"A fly in the ointment, Garret." The Operator resumed his joking mask, "A monkey in the wrench. A pain in the ass."
Rigby, meanwhile, was digging through Heinrich's bag, finding some more ammo, nodes, and a bunch of C4 sticks. His pupils shrunk before he quickly began tapping his boss' shoulder to get his attention.
"What?" The Operator whispered, returning to his usual tone while putting his hand on the speaker to prevent them from hearing him. Rigby simply held up the stick of C4. The Operator's eyebrows only raised, "Whoa."
Suddenly, the radio started blazing static, causing the two to looked at it in confusion.
Garret ordered his henchmen, "Check on all the others. Don't use the radio. See if he's lying about Marco and find out of anyone else is missing."
His men ran off to where Marco ran off to while their leader radioed back the two, "Mr. Mystery Guest..."
"...Are you still there?"
The Operator resumed his mask, "Yeah, I'm still here. Unless you wanna open the front door for me and my friend." He said this as he grabbed a Winchester repeater from Heinrich while Rigby took the bag and the former lead the latter to the room with the ducts.
"No, I'm afraid not. But you have me at a loss. You know my name but who are you and your friend? Just some manchildren that saw too many action movies or been saved by Huntsmen as kids?"
"Not really," The Operator answers, "My dad showed affection by intentionally missing whenever he threw his empty mugs at me. Then again, I did always like westerns as a kid."
"Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?"
Both of them heard the elevator bell dig, signaling that Garret's henchmen were coming. The Operator held the radio to Rigby who said;
"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!"
The two then kicked the door open and ran in, just as Norman and the others came out of the elevator.
7 minutes later, Norman, Bandou, and Felix ran back to their awaiting boss while the hostages watched, intrigued.
"He wasn't lying about Marco. He's down on the street." Norman reported as they got into the office where their leader was, "And the other man was Heinrich. And his bag is missing."
Garret almost looked worried, his mouth opening and closing for a few seconds, "But he had the detonators." Without the detonators, his plans can't be executed! The leader of the group typed something into his radio, "Wayne. Wayne!"
"Yo!" Their hacker replied.
"We have some problems. How's our schedule?"
Wayne was silent for a second, likely checking his progress before answering, "Three down, four to go!"
"Then don't waste time talking to me." Garret put his thumb off the button to contemplate what to do next before his radio to turn on by itself. It was picking up a signal.
"This is Sergeant Alvin Powell of the Century City Police Department. If the person who radioed for help can hear me on this channel, acknowledge this transmission. I say again; if the person who radioed for help on this channel can hear me, acknowledge this transmission."
The Operator gave Rigby the radio; as he explained that if they found him, they'd use him as leverage to escape. When Rigby asked why he couldn't use his powers, he explained that nobody other than the Leader knew this and since there were too many people to use them secretly, he'd be exposed. Also, since Rigby called, he had to answer.
Rigby supposed he couldn't argue with that logic, "I read you, Powell. Are you the guy in the car?"
"What's left of him." Powell snarked, "Can you identify yourself?"
Rigby looked to his boss who was shaking his head.
"Not now. Maybe later." The Operator's assistant replied to Powell, "Listen fast, this is a party line, and the neighbors got itchy trigger fingers. Here's the deal;" He stated as he and his boss walked off to elsewhere, "You got about 30 or so hostages on the 30th floor."
"The leader's name is Garret Bobby Ferguson Jr."
The man in question just so happened to be listening into the conversation while his henchmen were panicking.
"We have to find him and shut him up." Felix stressed out, "He's telling them everything!"
"Let him." Garret responded, maintaining his composure, "I'm waiting for the Red Right Hand to arrive when they realize that one of the Consortium is here. Until then he can waste as much time as he likes, but we must find the bag. Felix, go with Uli. We must have the detonators."
"They have a freaking arsenal. They got missiles, automatic weapons, and enough plastic explosives to make any mad bomber blush." Rigby continued, "They're down to 12 now, counting the skydiver you met. They're mostly American, some European, and one Asian."
"Well, how do you know that?"
The two looked at each other for a second before Rigby replied, "Let's just say my friend and I have been doing some spying. Look, long story short; You've got some badass perpetrators and they're here to stay."
"I hear you, partner. Century City's finest are on it. So, light 'em if you got 'em."
"Way ahead of you." Rigby deadpanned as he saw his boss light a cigar just when Al said that.
"So, what do I call you?"
The racoon Mobian opened his mouth, only for the Operator to snap his fingers to get his attention, mouthing, 'Not your real name.' Rigby opened and closed his mouth several times before saying, "Call me Roy."
"Really? Roy?" His boss whispered sarcastically.
"It was all I could think of!" He harshly whispered to his boss.
"Well, listen up, Roy." Powell says as he walked to the barricades before a medic began to clean his wounds, "If you think of anything else you think we need to know, don't be shy, okay? In the meantime, I want you and your friend to find a safe place to hole up and let us do our jobs. Understand?"
"They're all yours, Al." 'Roy' finished.
That was the last thing from the radio. Powell stands in front of his destroyed cruiser and looks up at the building. Behind him technicians, City Power and Light personnel, SWAT officers in protective gear, etc., arrive from all directions. A trailer is being backed into a parking lot, which will become the police center of operations. It is like watching a small town being constructed right before your eyes.
Finally, a black polished car pulled up beside Al's car. The deputy came out; a tall, pencil thin man with a grey suit and red tie. Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson. Al sighed, here came trouble.
"All right, who's talking to em?" Robinson says after holding up his badge to show proper identification.
Al took the plunge, "I am, sir. Powell. Sergeant Alvin 'Al' Powell."
"Dwayne Robinson, Powell. What the situation? What do these pricks want?"
"Well, if you mean the terrorists, sir, we don't exactly know." Al decided to say honestly, "We haven't heard a peep from them."
The Deputy Chief looked incredulous and asked, "Well, who the hell have you been talking to?"
Al sucked in his breath and embraced himself, "We don't know that either, sir. He wouldn't give us his name. All that we know is that he phoned in the report and that he's got a friend with him. They've offed one terrorist for sure and they claim they've capped off several others."
"They claim?" Robinson repeated, even more incredulous, "Powell, hasn't it occurred to you that the two could be some of the terrorists pulling your chain? Or some nutcases in there?"
"I don't think so, sir. In fact, I believe they're agents." Al replied, "Maybe not from the Red Right Hand, but they got skills to pay the bills."
"How do you know that?" His superiors questioned.
"A hunch." Al explained, "Things he said. Like being able to sneak around and identify the terrorists."
"Oh my Christ, Powell!" Robinson replied, exasperatedly, "They could be fucking hobos for all we know!"
"Excuse me, sir?" A cop interrupted their arguing, "The media's here."
The two were silent before Robinson facepalmed gently, "Oh, damnit."
In Uncle Steve's office, where the leader of the terrorists had set up base, while Felix turned on Channel 6 News to they could be updated on what the media knows about their heist. Suddenly, the Engineer walked in with two of the terrorists beside him.
"I have a request." He stated calmly, gaining Garret's attention.
"We have a pregnant woman out there. Don't worry, she's not due for 3 more weeks." He started and assured any questions or exasperations, "But sitting on the rocks is not doing her back any favors. So, I'd like permission to move her to one of the offices where there is a sofa."
Garret thought about it, before saying, "No, but I'll have a sofa brought out to you. Good enough?"
"Good enough." The Engineer replied, "And unless you like it messy, I'd start bringing them in groups for the bathrooms."
The leader sighed before relenting, "Yes, you're right. It'll be done. Anything else?"
"No, that's everything." The Engineer finished, walking out to the rest of the hostages.
"Bandou?" Garret called the Asian terrorist, "Make sure they don't give anymore requests. I don't want them to think we're going soft." Bandou nodded with a grin before walking out to the open floor and firing up in the air to get the startled party guests' attention.
"Listen to me, you sons of bitches!" Badou yelled out with the aura of pure smugness, "Because you're needed, I won't hurt you." His aura then became one of pure unadulterated sadism, "But if you step out of line or make any more demands, I'll slit your throats and rape your corpses with a knife! UNDERSTAND?!"
Most of the hostages whimpered and nodded in fear except for the Engineer, Mr. Tohomiko, and the park crew just glared angerly at Bandou. Even Garret and his crew looked appalled by this statement and threats.
Norman growls, "You sicken me."
Al was getting nervous, thinking about what Robinson said, blocking out the sounds of the other's talking before he noticed that a team was being deployed; heading out to the entrance of the building.
"What's going on?"
Robinson replied, "What does it look like? We're going in."
"Going in?! Man, that's crazy!" Al shouted, flaberghasted, "There could be over 30 hostages in there for all we know!"
"We don't know shit, Powell." His superior retorted, "If there's hostages, how come nobody's come to us with ransom demands? If there's terrorists in there, where's their list of demands? All we know is that somebody shot your car up. It's probably that same sill son of a bitch that you've been talking to on the radio."
Al had had enough, "Excuse me sir!" He said forcefully, "But what about the body that fell out the window?!"
"Well, who the hell knows?" Robinson waved off, "Probably some stockbroker who saw Teen Titans Go and opted for early retirement!"
"We're ready, chief." The officer interrupted their arguing again.
The Deputy Chief nodded and readied his orders, "All right, light em up. Let's go!"
"All right, hit your lights!" "Blue Team, go!"
Several spotlights turned on, signaling that they were ready to breach.
Back with the Operator and Rigby, they were still at the incomplete 52nd floor, the former laying against the cubicle in exhaustion while smoking his cigar and the latter had his gun that he stole from Marco leveled at the hallway, standing guard for anybody that might be looking for them.
"Do you see anything?" The Operator broke the silence, reading his Winchester repeater.
"Nothing yet." His assistant replied.
The two were quiet after that before the white haired man sighs, taking a drag from his cigar, "'Go to Century City for Christmas' they said. 'It'll be fun and you'll get some extra work done' they said."
"By the way, I know this is a bad time. But can I get a raise after this?"
The Operator stares deadpan at his assistant.
Rigby, defensively, holds up his hands.
He sighs again, "Fine, sure, whatever. You're gonna get paid 300 dollars an hour now. Can you please just keep watch until help arrives?"
"Oh, sure."
Internally, Rigby was jumping up and down like a kid on Christmas.
Suddenly, there were lights from the outside, shining through the window. The two looked at each other before going to the window just after Rigby scanned the room one last time to make sure Garret's men weren't coming. They looked outside and saw spotlights being shined on the building while they saw a team moving into the main entrance of the building.
The Operator motioned for Rigby to call Al, which he did.
"Al? Al, you with me, bro?" Rigby called a little spooked, "What's going on? Yo, Al?"
"I'm here, Roy." Powell answered, "Though I'm kinda busy right now. I'll take to you later."
"Al, what's wrong? Did something-" He trailed off as he began realizing, "Oh, God. You're coming in! That's it, isn't it? Christ, Powell, I told you what you're dealing with here-"
"I said we'll talk later, Roy." Powell cuts him off, If you're what I think you are you should know when to listen, when to shut up... and when to pray."
Hating himself, Powell disconnects from the radio, watches the spotlights snap on in the parking lot to illuminate the area.
Also hating himself, Rigby does the same thing. Pale, he moves to a window to watch with his boss what he knows is going to be brutal.
Garret gets up from his desk and walked to the window, hunching over his communicator, "They'll be coming. Get ready. Wayne, watch the screens. Be our eyes and ears. Eddie, wait until they're close.
Eddie slips away from the desk, a computer card in his hand. He meets up with another terrorist and they move behind a slit in the wall. Eddie waves his card at the sensor and a metal grid crashes into place. They hold their weapons behind it, ready.
All now with earplugs in their CB's, taking up positions, the terrorist prepare to make their move.
Mitchell listens to CB radio, as the leader of the team radios, "We're in position." Mitchell looks at Robinson, who is visible tense. Robinson hesitates, then gives his approval with a nod. "Go."
The team moved out from the cover of the spotlight and to the entrance of the building.
Rigby and the Operator looked on as the 30 man team approaches the main entrance.
"Oh, you macho assholes! NO! NO!" Screeching how they're running into a trap.
Wayne had taken a break from drilling to watch the monitors.
He clears his throat and starts as he ate some peanuts, "Alright. Listen up, guys. Twas' the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, expect the four assholes coming in through the rear in standard 2X2 cover formation!"
The SWAT team leader moves in SOP style to the door, scans it carefully before radioing to Mitchell, "Okay, we're all set."
Mitchell nodded and turned to Robinson, "We're ready."
"Kick ass." Was Robinson's only response.
"GO!"
"Right. Let's do this!" The rest of the team nod and approached the entrance door. One of them got out a lockpicking kit and got to work. When that didn't work, one of the SWAT officers remove a portable welding torch and begin cutting their way through the locks, not seeing Eddie and Uli take up prone firing positions, using the gaps in the steel partition like gunpoints.
None of them saw Uli signaled something to Eddie.
Suddenly, a window shattered as rifle fire rang out from sounds from the building.
Robinson responded, worriedly, "They're shooting at them"
The commander remained calm, "It's panic fire...they can't see anything."
Powell, however, quickly realized what they were doing, and muttered under his breath, "They're shooting at the lights."
More shots ring out from the building going over the SWAT officers' heads and suddenly the huge dome of one of the spotlights shatters behind Mitchell and Robinson's head. The glow fades. A moment later, the next light twenty feet away dies.
Robinson, to his credit, quickly caught on, "They're going after the lights!"
The two SWAT officers cutting the garage ate suddenly look up as their cover starts to disappear.
"Call them back!" Robinson ordered.
Mitchell denied, "No, they're almost in."
Suddenly, the third and fourth lights are shot out and the SWAT men have just become sitting ducks.
Garret looked out the window to see the lights gone and calmly speak into his radio, "Don't get impatient. Just wound them."
Uli fires, hitting one of the officers in the leg and the second one in the arm. Eddie rolled from behind cover and shoots the other two in the legs
"Get them back!" The Deputy forcefully ordered, "They're sitting ducks up there without those lights!"
The commander sighed and signaled, "Send in the car."
An armored car wheels toward the building and starts toward the wounded men, kicking up the tons of snow on the streets.
"Well, what have we here?" Wayne grinned, "The police've got themselves an R.V. James, Alexander, southeast corner."
James and Alexander quickly load two crates onto the service elevator and push the button for the 3rd floor. As the car starts down, they remove an anti-tank gun from one of the crates.
The service elevator arrives on the 3rd floor and James and Alexander move across the room toward the windows with the anti-tank weapon. At the window, they prepare the weapon for use.
Outside the window, the armored car has stopped in front of the wounded man and paramedics quickly load them in from the sheltered side of the vehicle. Alexander quickly sights on the armored car.
Alexander called to Garret on the radio while aiming, "I have them."
"Fire."
A blast ROARS from the third floor window and the shell hits the armored car. The car pitches forward like a beast whose front legs have been shot out from under it; its front axle destroyed, unable to move.
Alexander looks back at James and grins.
Garret watches from his window, coldly picking up his CB, "Hit it again."
Rigby was listening and watching and couldn't stand it anymore, feeling helpless. He pulled out the radio and yelled, "Garret, you motherfucker, you've made your point. Let them pull back!"
Garret's voice rang out, "Thank you, Mr. Cowboy. I'll take it under advisement. Hit it again."
He roared in anger before yelling to the Operator, "WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING!"
His boss was thinking calmly despite the situation before snapping his fingers, "I got an idea! Get the elevator doors open!" He yelled as he got to work on something with the kit bag.
Rigby bolted to the elevator door and dug his fingers deep into the metal. After a moment of intense struggling, Rigby forced the gates opened with a mighty roar, not seeing his arm muscles bulge like a bodybuilders. He kept them open with a nearby fire axe.
Back with the police, they look on in horror as the armored car sits helplessly on fire. On the police radio channel, they HEAR the screams of men inside. Mitchell was the first to snap out of it, yelling into his radio, "Rivers! Rodriguiz!...Report..."
River's voice came on, but it was full of pain and agony, yelling, "This is Rivers. We've got one dead. Everybody's hit. Rodriguiz's bleeding bad. We've got to get the fuck out of here!
Mitchell yells into the radio, "Rivers, hang on! That's an order! Hang on, we'll get outta there!"
The Operator finished rigging up their payload; an office chair holding several computers rigged to several stick of C4 with a grenade the Operator produced with his powers. It was ready to blow.
He and Rigby quickly wheeled it to the open elevator shaft where the former quickly attached a white string to the grenade's pin.
"Geronimo, MOTHERFUCKER!" He emphasized with a kick, sending it down the elevator shaft. The string tied around the pin caused it to detach from the grenade while it and the rest of the chair fell down the shaft.
For a long moment, there is nothing. Then the shaft is filled with light, then a sound, an ungodly roar, while the Operator and Rigby are thrown back across the elevator corridor against the other back of doors by the concussion wave.
The explosion, like a firestorm, rips across the 3rd floor; blowing out the two, shattering the windows, and sending desks, chairs, phones, and typewriters into the air while it rains down fire and death. The police take cover behind their cars. Powell, Robinson, and Mitchell look like they've seen the face of God as the building rocks from the blast.
"Holy shit..." Was all Robinson could say.
Henry's cigarette falls from his mouth as a desk is sent hurtling across Avenue of the Stars into the trees across the street.
"My. God." The reporter gaped, before turning to his cameraman, "Tell me you got that."
"I got it! I got it!" The cameraman eagerly nodded his head.
With the hostages, the windows were enveloped in light before the building rocked with tectonic force. A unearthly boom rocked the air while the blast shook the building. The hostages are shaken and the terrorists guarding them aren't too sure of themselves either. Only Garret, Tohomiko, the Engineer, the park crew were relatively calm. Though the latter were more in awe than calm.
"Whoa." They all drawled out, impressed.
"Way to go, Rigby." Mordecai breathed.
"They're using artillery on us!" Felix yelled as he ran into Garret's office.
"You idiot." Garret replied, "It's not the police. It's them."
Marie, in the form of a blue amorphous mass in the vents, was rocked by the force of the blast, glad she didn't have a mouth or the guards would have been alerted to her presence.
Back with the Operator and Rigby, the duo got up from behind the desks that they had landed behind and were inadvertently used as the makeshift cover from the blast. Rigby got up first, whooping like a kid that did something cool and the Operator just calmly dusting himself off from all the dust that had fallen on him dur to the force of the blast, muttering, "Well, that one way to get the blood pumping."
The two got to the window and saw the chaos outside. More specifically, two piles of torn up flesh and bone that was also on fire.
"Heh. At least they went out with a bang." The Operator fired off while Rigby high fived him, laughing.
Getting that out of his system, Rigby radio the sergeant, "Al! Al, the guys in the car, did they make it?"
On the street, Al was watching as the survivors are pulled out of the wreck and to safety. He then heard Rigby's transmission and answered, "Safe and sound, thanks to you. What the fuck was that?"
"The plastique I found." 'Roy' answered before asking, worried, "Is the building on fire?"
"No, but it's gonna need one hell of a paint job and a shitload of screen doors." Al looking off at the ruined 3rd floor, nodding, "One spotters say you got two with that blast."
"Well, I can't take all the-" Before Powell can answer Robinson comes running up to him.
"Is that him?"
"Yes, sir."
"Give me that." Robinson grabbed the radio out of Powell's hand before yelling angrily at Rigby "Now, listen to me, mister! I don't know what you think you're doing, but demolishing a building doesn't fall under the definition of 'help'! There's hundreds of people out here and you covered half of them in pieces of glass-!"
"Glass? Who gives a crap about glass! Who the hell are you?" 'Roy' interrupted.
"This is Deputy Chief of Police; Dwayne T. Robinson, and I'm in charge of this situation."
"Well, from up here, it looks like you're in charge of shit, Dwayne. I haven't seen such a fucked up operation since that Ask the guys in the armored car if they minded a little flying glass."
Robinson was infuriated, "Listen, asshole-"
"ASSHOLE?!" He was cut off, "I'm not the one who just got butt fucked on national TV, Dwayne! Now if you're not part of the solution, stop being part of the fucking problem! Get off the Goddamn radio and put Al back on!"
Somewhat intimidated, Robinson backed off and gave the radio back to Al, who was sniffing a laugh, before the latter asked, "Hey, Roy. How you feeling?"
"Pretty fucking unappreciated." 'Roy' snarked.
"Hey, I love you." Al said to cheer him up before looking around to the other officers, "So do a lot of the guys. So, hang in there, man. Hang in there."
'Roy' was silent for a moment, before finishing with, "Thanks... Partner."
"...of the Tohomiko building, sources say that the terrorist leader 'Garret' may be this man, Garret Bobby Ferguson Jr." A beautiful anchorwoman said as a slide of Garret appears behind her. He was with a man that looked like an older version of him. "A member of the radical Voltok movement; a movement that is heavily against the Imperialistic nature of Modus. Strangely, the Voltok leadership issued a communique an hour ago stating that Ferguson has been expelled from the organization and is operating on his own.
At the same time, Garret has just turned on the set out here for his "guests". He smiles modestly as they "recognize" him from the on-air shot, returns to his office. A while later, none of them saw Norman strut in, angerly.
"YOU STOPPED ME FROM KILLING HIM WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!"
"If you had listened to me, he would have been neutralized!"
"I DON'T WANT NEUTRALIZED! I WANT DEATH!"
Garret just sighed in annoyance and looked into the crowd of hostages before noticing Mordecai. He blinked and looked at some of the photos on the shelve behind him; they all showed the owner of the desk with Mordecai.
Wait a minute, those people he was with; They were the crew from GrimmFall Park! How'd they get invited here?
The gears in his head going into overdrive, Garret got onto the desk's computer and accessed the emails sent. Apparently, this office belonged to one Steve Cristata, an accountant working in the American division of Tohomiko Electronics.
One of them, sent yesterday, read: Hey, Mordo! I decided to take some time of because I wanted to see the wife and kids, so I'm giving my invite to you. And because I talked to Mr. Tohomiko about it, you can bring the Park Crew along for the party!
By the way, speaking of the Park Crew, I think you should invite Rigby. I know you two had a falling out and I know you have a right to be mad about him sabotaging your chances at going to college, but come on, you two have known each other ever since you were in preschool! Did all those good times you had with each other during your time at the park mean nothing?
I get it. It's easy to not forgive someone after they hurt you. But, every time we met ever since then, you just seem... empty without him.
If you don't invite him, I get it. But if you leave things the way they are now, you'll regret it. I don't know how Rigby'll react, but it never hurts to try.
Thanks, Uncle Steve.
"Rigby?" Garret muttered under his breath. An idea then popped into his head before in that typing name into the holographic screen. The results showed several pictures of Mordecai with a racoon Mobian.
'Wait, that's the Operator's Right Hand Man!' The gears in his head kept going as he pulled up the guest list for the party. He quickly realized, after comparing the list to the actual group, that they were missing two guests.
"Norman." He ordered the confused eyepatched terrorist, "Get that blue jay Mobian in here. I think we've found our trouble makers."
Meanwhile, the Operator, Rigby, and Marie (who had gotten back from spying on the terrorists) were watching a show from before the Era of Rending, Easton Fire. It's a typical action/crime drama.
Manetti yells as he kept Easton from escaping, "You'll never take me, Easton! You put me in jail, I'll just escape!"
"Escape this, Manetti." The detective jerked the wheel, causing the car the both of them are in to flip over.
Rigby turned to his boss, "Dude, didn't he flip a car in the last episode?"
"He flips a car in every episode." The Operator responds before mimicking Easton's voice and puts up his hands like he's holding a wheel, "'Hey, bus full of grade schoolers, learn this.'" He then imitates the sounds for tires screeching and explosion while motioning with his hands, causing the trio to burst into laughter.
"Roy!" Powell called Rigby, "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He responds, "Just watching some Easton Fire."
"Heh, cool."
"So, got any family, Powell?" Rigby randomly asked.
"Got a wife. She working on a kid."
He laughed, "I'm not planning on marrying. Never really found that special girl."
"Well, when you do and get married, wanna go out for a day?"
"Heh. Drinks on me then."
The two of them laughs with Marie grinning and the Operator just giving an amused smirk when suddenly, another voice came onto the radio. It was Garret.
"Touching, cowboy, touching. Or should I call you, Mr. Rigby Lotter and Ms. Marie Kanker. The Right Hand Man and assassin of the Operator respectively."
Marie and Rigby froze before the Operator just stared at the radio.
Powell blinks before reacting by signaling an Aide, who's already writing down the conversation.
"Dude," One of the officers put a hand to his forehead and turned to an unnoticed Robinson, "Robinson badmouthed the Operator's right hand man!"
Powell's eyes went wide as the realization of what his superior did sunk in.
"I have one of your friends, Mordecai Cristata." Garret called, "He wants to talk to you."
"Rigby?"
Rigby froze. It was Mordecai.
"Go see if he's bluffing." The Operator whispered to Marie, whom nods before shifting into her amorphous form and slithered into the vents.
"Garret." Rigby gritted his teeth in cold fury, "You do anything to him and you're dead. You hear me?! DEAD!"
"Thank you, I'll take it under advisement." Garret was unintimidated, "Give me my detonators in 30 minutes or your best friend's brain will be a stain on the wall."
The radio went silent as did Rigby, only Marie slithering out of the vents did he snap out of it. She shifted into her normal form with her clothing being of a whit beater and black pants.
"He's not bluffing. They've got Mordecai at gunpoint. He's scared shitless." Marie reported.
The Operator responded with "Give me that." as he took the radio and bag from a surprised Rigby before walking to the nearest window and shattered the window with a kick. He then held the radio up and yelled, "Garret? Garret, are you there?"
"Yes, who are you?"
"You know damn well who I am. And since you do, you'll damn well listen." The Operator started before holding the bag over the edge, "I have the bag with your detonators hanging out the 52nd floor's window. If you kill my assistant's friend, I drop the bag and you lost your detonators."
"Y-You..." Garret actually seemed surprised, "You're bluffing."
"I'm bluffing?" The Operator laughed flatly, before switching to Al's channel, knowing that Garret's still listening, "Oh, Al? Do you see an incredibly handsome man holding a duffle bag out the 52nd floor window?"
Al responds, "Yeah, I see you. He is holding that bag out the window, ready to drop like a piece of trash."
"What do ya say, Garret?" The Operator somewhat taunts, shaking the bag for emphasis, "It's now or never."
Garret was silent, contemplating what he should do before answering, "Fine." He turned to his henchmen, "Let him go."
Bandou growled before untying Mordecai but then roared into his face, "YOU. GOT. LUCKY." Mordecai didn't give him the satisfaction of looking scared as they escorted him out of the office and to the rest of the group.
"Good." The Operator then proceeded to taunt them more, "If you execute anyone else, bye bye detonators." That left Bandou seething in fury, much to the other terrorist's amusement.
"Well, now what?" Norman whispered, even though the Operator had disconnected the line, "Without the detonators, our plans can't go off."
Garret waves him off, "I made a backup plan as he was talking. Something a scalpel is needed instead of a blade."
Because Robinson was trying to keep the media out during the Operator's stunt, he didn't know what was going on and thought that Garret had killed someone.
"Goddamn, didn't you hear him!" Robinson was wrestling the radio from the sergeant, "He practically pulled the Goddamned trigger himself! He gave that man to them!"
"Christ, can't you read between the lines!" Powell fired back at his deputy, "He did everything he could to save him! If he gave himself up they'd both be dead!"
"Maybe." Robinson said, unsympathetically, "And maybe they'd at least be talking to us! Now tell your 'partners' to stay out of it, or so help me if they live through this, I'll put them behind bars myself!
Powell was honestly amused, "Those two are alone, tired, hurt, and hasn't seen diddly-squat from us and you think they give a flying fuck about what you're going to do to them? Robinson, wake up and smell the shit you're shoveling!"
The deputy was silent before saying coldly, "Anytime you want to go home, Sergeant...consider yourself dismissed."
They lock eyes.
Powell stood defiantly, "No. Sir. You couldn't drag me away."
"Attention police. Attention police."
The two look at the radio and then back at each other before sneering. This can wait. It's asses and elbows time. Tape recorders are started.
Robinson attempts to speak but Robinson grabbed the radio before he could, "This is Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson. Who is this?"
"This is Garret Bobby Ferguson Jr." The terrorist leader said into the radio, "I assume you realize the futility of direct action against me. We have no wish for further loss of life."
"What do you wish for, Mister Ferguson?"
"I have comrades in arms around the world who are languishing in prison." Garret began issuing his fake demanding The Modus Megacity Department enjoys rattling its saber to its own ends... Now it can rattle it for me. These are my demands."
Marie, Rigby, and the Operator reacted to this with expressions ranging from astonishment to dismay to outright derisive amusement, respectively.
"...The following people are to be released from their captors: In Northern Ireland, the seven members of the Midgard Front. In Japan, the five imprisoned leaders of the Crimson Blades..."
"...in Serbia, the nine members of the Liar's Dawn movement..."
Norman does a double take, looking at his boss and mouthing, "The Liar's Dawn?"
Garret shrugs, not putting his finger on the button, "I read about them in a magazine." He put his finger back on the button, "When these Revolutionary Brothers and Sisters are free, the hostages in this building will be taken to the roof and they will accompany us in helicopters to the Century City International Airport where you will be given further instructions. You have two hours to comply."
"Two hours?! Are you insane?! I can't authorize-" He was cut off.
"Do you think they will even try to do it?" Norman asked.
"Who cares?" Garret waved off before switching to another channel, "Wayne, are we on schedule?"
Wayne called while monitoring the process of getting the drilling done, "One more to go...then it's up to you."
The graphic on his screen flashes: "WARNING: ELECTRO-MAGNETIC SEAL ARMED."
"And you better be right, because this one's going to take a miracle."
"It's Christmas, Wayne, it's the time of miracles. So be of good cheer and call me when you hit the last lock." Garret said, before disconnecting and ordering his nearby henchmen, "Hunt the little shit down and get those detonators."
"Felix is checking the explosives, Fritz is with him." Norman said.
"I'll check the explosives. You just get those detonators."
"No, no. No, darling." Robinson called his secretary, trying to comply with Garret's fake demands, "'The Liar's dawn.' Dawn. D-A-W-N."
"Sir." An officer demanded, "The Red Right Hand is here."
The Deputy blinked, "The Red Right Hand?" The Red Right Hand are the personal guard of the Consortium, so why were they here? Robinson decided not to think of it as he adjusted his tie and suit.
"Need a breath mint?" Powell snarked.
Robinson didn't dignify him with a response as he came face to face with the lieutenant of the Red Right Hand. All of them wore black hi tech suits with the right arm and hand being painted red.
"Who's in charge?"
The lieutenant's voice was hard and commanding, even Dwayne was sweating bullets in its presence.
"I-I am." Robinson pathetically raised his hand.
"Not anymore you're not." That was final and Dwayne couldn't do anything about it.
Rigby was at the 53rd floor, essentially patrolling it since he's staked out there until actual help arrives, constantly looking into every dark corner, gun held ready, moving toward the stairwell. Marie had gone out to check on the hostages while the Operator went to 54th floor to check for any advantages that they could find, leaving him to guard the bag alone.
Well, more like take the bag and walk off.
He called the police, "Al? Al, you there?"
"I'm here, cowboy."
"Speaking of cows, did you ever hear so much bullshit in your life? Two hours? That doesn't even make any sense-
Powell responded, "Don't tell me, partner. I'm just a desk jockey who was on the way home when you rang."
"Give me that." A new voice said over the radio, but it wasn't Dwayne's, "Mr. Lotter, this is Lieutenant Hawthorn of The Red Right Hand. What's the status of the Operator and the Engineer?"
"Um, the Operator is on the 54th floor and the Engineer is one of the hostages."
The lieutenant of the Red Right Hand asks, "Roger. What are your orders, sir?"
Rigby's mind went blank for a second before he screamed, "WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME!?"
The Lieutenant replied, "As the Operator's right hand, along with him and the Engineer being unavailable, you are the highest ranked Modus official present, thus command falls to you as per protocol."
Rigby blinking dumbly, "I'm what?"
"You are in charge." replied the lieutenant, bluntly.
"Okay. Okay ummm…"
Rigby got his head in the game and hemmed for a minute, then snapped his fingers, "Cut the power to the building. Use the helicopter Garret requested as a distraction. Then raid the 50th floor. That's were the hostages are."
"Roger."
Rigby then muttered, "Oh, god. Please let this work."
Garret turns, looks up at the ceiling. Too dim up there to see from here. He sighs, sets his gun and flashlight down on a buttress, and starts to climb up, clearly not enjoying it. After a few minutes, he had gotten to the 53rd floor where Heinrich had planted the charges. He remembered having ordered old fashion C4 and radios so that Modus technicians couldn't hack into them and disarm them remotely. Garret checked on the nearby plastique, not pleased in the slightest.
He lands, knees bent... and found himself looking directly at a pair of bare feet. A pair of a racoon Mobian's bare feet. A gun barrel drops into the shot, close to his head.
"Lost?" Rigby quips.
A moment. And then Garret turns, looks up. The transformation in his expression and bearing are mind-boggling. Hands shaking, eyes filled with fear, he swallows, looks up at Rigby and in a perfect American accent says, "Oh, God, please...don't kill me-don't kill me- you're one of them, I know it!"
Rigby was understandably thrown, unsure and trying to placate him, "Whoa, whoa, easy man."
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me, please!" Garret continued to panic, still acting.
"I won't hurt you! I not gonna hurt you!" Rigby yelled, which finally seemed to placate him, "Who are you? What are you looking for?"
Garret's eyes dart towards the buttress ten feet away, where a tiny piece of his gun sticks out, barely visible.
"A way up to the roof..." He then stuttered and tried to explain, "I thought I could signal for help-"
He starts in that direction, trying to get his gun.
"Forget it. They got a guy up there. You want to stay alive, keep moving." Rigby responds before calling when he was ignored, "Hey? You hear me?"
Garret realizes this tactic won't work. Rigby's perceptive, so he'd quickly notice him trying to get his gun. So, much to his hidden dismay, he had to follow Rigby and strike when he has the chance.
"You..." Garret fakes shock, "You're an American?"
Rigby then held his hand out in a friendly, joking to try and ease the man's fears, "Only if the old GrimmFall counts."
It works. The poor frightened civilian shows a hint of a smile and walk together to where the elevators are. Garret is still a 'nervous wreck', nodding to all of Rigby's questions, "There was a party or celebration... all of a sudden they were there shooting at us..."
Rigby looks at this poor civilian, on the edge of going to pieces. He puts his hand on his shoulder, "Relax, man...you smoke?"
Garret nods, still 'frightened.' McClane takes out his spoils of war, the cigars that the Operator took from Heinrich. Two left. He sighs, takes one, offers the other one with an expression like a little boy forced to share a cookie. Rigby takes out a lighter, does his and Garret's. Garret nods, grateful...then peers at Lotter.
"You... You're the Operator's Right Hand Man!"
Rigby chuckled, "Actually, I'm not his Right Hand Man. I'm his assistant."
"His assistant?" Garret asked, puzzled.
The former began explaining, "An old friend invited me to the Xmas party. Who knew?" Garret couldn't help but laugh. His plans were being foiled by a guy that was crashing the party. After a second, his eyes took in Rigby's bare feet, which he took notice.
"Better than being caught with your pants down, right?" Rigby joked, extending his hand, "Rigby. Rigby Lotter."
Garret shook his hand and gave a plastic smile, "William Clay. Call me Bill."
Rigby nods, friendly like, and his eyes glance casually over at the wall opposing him where a roster of the building's employees was placed. His eyes then locked onto the C's and, sure enough, there was a William Clay in Accounting.
"Bill, you know how to use a handgun?"
Garret seemed hesitant before answering, "One weekend I went to a combat ranch..." His tone then turned apologetic, "You know, that game with the-the guns that shoot red paint? Must sound pretty silly to you..."
"Eh. Sounds better than nothing." Rigby takes out his Baretta, pops out the magazine, jams in a fresh one and hands it to Garret. "Time for the real thing."
The moment he turned around, Garret pointed his newly acquired gun at the back of Rigby's head, while he pulled out his radio while speaking in his heavy British accent, "Norman, Fritz; I'm on the 53rd floor. Come quickly." Garret then disconnected before ordering, "Put down your gun and give me my detonators."
Rigby just slowly turned around to face him, looking eerily calm, "Garret. You're Garret."
Garret nodded and motions to his gun, "Put it down."
"Must have been tricky, with the accent. I bet you do a great George Washington." Rigby ignored him and questioned, "Why do you need the detonators, Garret? I already used the explosives."
"I'm going to count to three-"
"Just like you almost did with Mordecai?"
Rigby raises his machine gun and aims at Garret. The terrorist leader pulled the trigger before his assailant could, only to here a CLICK instead of a loud BANG.
Garret looks at the gun in his hand in both astonishment and shock before pulling the trigger three more times only to get the same result. Rigby reclaims his gun and mocks the leader, "You think I'm an idiot, Garret?"
The ding of an approaching elevator rang through the floor.
"You were saying?" Garret shot back with the smuggest smirk ever.
Rigby whirls in time to see Norman, Felix, and Fritz coming out of the elevator, firing at him. Rigby fires back, hitting Fritz twice in the chest and once in the head, killing him. Norman and Franco take cover. ducks into a water cooler alcove, looks back at where Garret was; He's gone, a swing office door the only evidence of his passing.
The Operator's assistant curses himself, then retreats into a bank of computers where he ducks and dodges as bullets ping and ricochet all around him. Ducking, rolling, he fires at Felix. His bullets rake his middle and throw him over a desk, his weapon flying closer as He slides right into a glass door. It smashes around his head.
Bright arterial blood fountains up as Felix take a few final chokes of life before his eye go dull.
Before Rigby could take out Norman, his face suddenly falls as bullets fly in from an unexpected direction. He turns: Garret had reappeared and snatched up Franco's weapon. Rigby fired, moving, trying to keep from bring flanked. One of his shots shatters a glass panel, raining down shards near Garret, who escapes with only superficial scratches.
Garret looks at the glass around him and gets an idea. He shouts to Norman. "The glass, Norman! Shoot the glass!" And, saying this, he demonstrates, shattering a glass panel near Rigby. Norman quickly follows suit.
As glass flies everywhere, Rig sees one option, takes it. Blasting a burst to keep their heads down, he whirls and jumps on top of a long counter and runs across the room. Their bullets follow him, six inches behind his moving form! Big cray units groan with electronic squeals and sparks as a million Gigabytes goes to ram heaven. Rigby reaches the end of the counter, dives and rolls to the floor, but his foot goes right down on a jagged shard.
He roars in, but keeps going, managing to reach the doors as bullets from Norman came flying. He's out, gone, safe!
Norman looks pissed as hell. Behind him, Garret sifts through the rubble, then comes over, smiling. He's holding the bag of detonators.
"Smile, Norman." Garret saying, smarmily, "We are back in business."
Back on the hostage floor, Eddie and Uli are guarding the hostages. Muscle Man was unparalyzed as the effects of the paralysis spray wore off, but the others convinced him to stand down when he saw the other hostages. Garret and Norman return through the elevator as the former tosses the bag of detonators to Uli, who grins, leaves.
The park crew watched all this, trying to come up with a plan to get them and the other hostages out of this situation. But Muscle Man's eyes follow Norman, who doesn't share the mood of the others as he started kicking and hitting a tray table with his gun before sulking off.
Muscle Man whistled quietly, "That one look pissed, bros"
Mordecai let out a breath, relieved, "Thank God. Rigby's still alive. Only he could drive somebody that crazy"
The door to the washroom is forced open, revealing Rigby, who has an expression of utter agony, all but crawls inside. As he passes the camera, we see his dragging foot leaving a trail of blood on the linoleum.
At the same time in the Vault room, Wayne reacts in delight, as he got the message; "SIXTH LOCK DEACTIVATED."
Suddenly a buzzer sounds off and the graphic flashes: "ELECTROMAGNETIC SEAL ENGAGED. CANNOT BE DISARMED AT THIS LOCATION. TERMINATE SEQUENCE (Y/N)?"
Wayne called Garret to inform him, "You better heat up that miracle you were talking about, boss. We broke through on Number Six, and the Electromagnetic came down like a sledgehammer..."
Garret's voice came on his radio, unfazed, "Well, have a look at what our friends outside are doing and I'll be right up."
Wincing in pain, Rigby washes his foot in a sink basin. He washes a deep cut, soaps it, but the pain doesn't relent. Suddenly, the pain went away within a moment. He blinked and looked back to his foot; the cut was gone like it had never existed.
When a voice speaks, Rigby jumps before realizing it's the radio.
"Rigby, you still with us?"
"Yeah. But all things being equal, I'd rather be in GrimmFall. By the way, chalk up two more terrorists."
"The boys'll be glad. We got a pool going on you."
Rigby rolled his eyes and tries to wrap paper towels on the foot but his grimace shows that is still hurts like hell. He says through his teeth, "Yeah? What's my odds?"
"You don't want to know."
"Put me down for twenty anyway... I'm good for it..." He jokes, as he worked on another cut, "So, what got you off the street, Al? You liked lousy coffee, or what?"
Powell doesn't answer right away. At the same time, Rigby swallows, seeing a gleam inside his foot. He gingerly probes, and pulls out a shard of glass almost three inches long from its angled gash, his mouth twisted in a silent scream all the way.
"I... realized I couldn't do what I had to anymore...at least not out there. I had an...accident."
Rigby throws the glass across the room, forehead bathed in sweat. He snarked, weakly, "They way you drive, I can see why."
Powell was silent for a moment before coming back on with, "I...I shot a kid."
Realizing what he's hearing for the first time, Rigby's face shifts to a new kind of pain.
Powell continued, softly, "3 years ago. Oh, it was dark... He was big for his age... Damn toy gun he had looked real enough... Yeah, I had all the right excuses...but afterwards... I really couldn't draw my gun again."
"I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make a joke of it." Rigby sincerely apologized.
Powell reassured him offhandedly, "Hey, you couldn't have known."
"I still feel like crap."
"Well, if it makes you feel better, the Red Right Hand are going along with your plans."
That did make him feel a little better.
"Don't worry, Al. Do whatever you feel like you want. If you wanna be a desk jockey, who am I to judge?"
"Glad you understand, pal."
"Alright, Al." Rigby said, in an instructing tone, "Listen to me very carefully and tell the lieutenant this;"
Garret and Wayne lean over a monitor watching a DWP truck near the parking garage. The latter started while tapping the screen, "There's the city engineers...they're going into the street circuits... But who are these guys in the suits?"
"That's the Red Right Hand." Garret explained, "Mr. Lotter was ordering them to cut the building's power. They're as regular as clockwork... or a time lock." He looked to Wayne, "As you explained, he circuits that cannot be cut. The switches to the seventh are cut automatically in response to a terrorist incident. You ask for miracles, Wayne. I give you my masterplan."
His techie was honestly impressed, "When you're hot, you're hot."
As we saw on Wayne's screen, the Red Right Hand are nearby a manhole with a city engineer. A big control box is there, cables snaking into the ground where another city worker finishes a last connection.
"We're rigged it down the line." The engineer called when they were finished rigging the control box to the powerlines of the Tohomiko building.
Lieutenant Hawthorn ordered, "Do it...now."
The engineer throws several large levers on the control box, almost immediately. Inside the manhole, sparks sizzle and massive contacts clunk. One by one, floor by floor, the lights of the building go out in all floors at frightening speeds.
In the Vault room, the lights go out before the emergency light come on. An alarm beeps, while the holographic readout on the safe changes to "FIBER OPTIC TIME LOCK DEACTIVATED AT SOURCE. SEVENTH LOCK DISENGAGED."
With the Ode to Joy playing in Garrets, the vault door opens. Wayne and Bandou laugh in delight, giving each other high fives. Even Garret loses his usual cool, pats Wayne on the back as the latter and Bandou cheer.
"Well, you sure this plan'll work?" Powell asked Lieutenant Hawthorn, who responded with, "Relax. Both the Operator and his Right Hand Man were very specific with their orders. We have no doubt in their abilities."
"Well, let's hope you're right." Was Powell could say as their plan unfolded.
"Attention in the building."
In the vault room, Garret talks while Wayne and Bandou tackle the problem of unloading the racks and racks of bonds and transferring them to the black cases, "This is Garret."
"This is Lieutenant Hawthorn of the Red Right Hand." The voice of the Lieutenant rang out, "The Megacity Department has arranged for the release of your comrades. The helicopters you requested are on the way."
"I hear you, Red Right Hand. We'll be ready." He disconnects, smiles at Wayne, "When they touch down and we blow the roof, they'll spend a month sifting through the bodies and rubble. And by the time they figure out what went wrong..." He began smiling at the irony, "...we'll be earning twenty percent like nice fat Capitalists."
Rigby simply breathed in as he got to the roof where the Operator told him to be. The explosive that Heinrich had planted were all there for Garret's plan, he just needed to get to the launchpad and-
Someone hit him behind the head before he could get there.
The Operator's assistant turned to see Norman standing above him. The eyepatched terrorist takes Rigby's Baretta and tosses it away, then the former takes his radio before dropping him. Smiling, Norman smashes the transmitter underfoot.
He then hovers over McClane, who hasn't moved a muscle, quietly saying, "We're both professionals. But this is personal. You...are done."
But then, Rigby elbows him in the face, breaking his nose. Norman roared in pain before Rigby got up and slugged him across the face, before delivering a series of blows to the former's sternum, breaking several ribs. Norman attempted to throw a punch but Rigby dodged and chopped the former's elbow before kneeing him in the gut then right and left hooking him in the jaw. Blood spewed from Norman's mouth but he didn't get the time to react before Rigby swept him under his feet then elbowed him in the gut in midair, slamming him into the ground.
8 seconds. 8 seconds was how long the fight lasted. What'd you expect when a gunman fights a trained martial artist without his gun? Especially one who knows Death Kwan Do? One of the deadliest martial arts in the world?
Rigby dusted his hands off before quipping to the beaten and bloodied Norman whom was roiling around the ground, "Easy as pie, loser." That said, Rigby was a little lightheaded from Norman's first blow but he recovered after he collapsed for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, Garret was getting ready as Eddie and Uli turned up the volume to the broadcast where they were interviewing a blue jay Mobian.
"Hello, I am Richard Thornburg and I am interviewing the uncle of one of the hostages; One Steven Cristata." The anchorman said as he was talking to the distraught looking man, "Steve, is there anything you'd like to say to your nephew?"
In the crowd, Mordecai looked to the screen in shock that his uncle was on TV.
"Mordecai? If you're seeing this, I hope you make it out. If this is the last time, you'll see me..." Steve started and then choked before managing to pull it together and continued, "Well, I just want to let you know... I'd do anything if it meant you being safe. I hope that-that..." Steve then buries his hands in his face and starts crying while the anchorman rubs hos back, sympathetically.
Moredcai felt tears prick up but then, Garret reentered. He raises his weapon but he only shoot it into the ceiling, making everyone jump!
"On your feet, everyone! Upstairs, now!" As almost everyone fearfully complied, Garret mutters quietly, to Uli, "You'll lock them up there and come right down..."
Uli nods as he and Eddie help herd everyone towards the stairs. Garret moves forward and grabs Mordecai himself. Wayne and Bandou load the bonds into the big cases which carried all their gear when they entered. As Garret and Eddie come in, they look curiously at Mordecai.
"A little bonus for us." Garret explained, shoving her forward, violently, "The interloper's friend might come in handy." He picks up a radio and talked into it, "Oh, Mr. Lotter! I got some news for you!"
You can imagine his confusion when he only received silence.
"Mr. Lotter?" He tried again, only to receive silence again but he quickly pieced it together. "Oh, no. Norman." Garret swore, turning to the two, "Bandou, find Lotter and Norman. Get the latter to safety and kill the former, don't hesitate. Wayne, gets those bonds and hurry!"
Bandou saluted and rushed to the roof while Wayne started packing more bearer bonds.
After a few minutes, Garret started growing paranoid. Deciding to leave nothing to chance, he grabbed the detonator, extended to antenna and mentally counted to ten before baring his teeth and hitting the
As Uli got to the roof with the hostages and the helicopters were coming towards them, the door behind him rattles. Uli goes to the door, opened it and two bullets come flying out of his back. Smoking Beretta in hand, Rigby vaults over the body before it has even stopped twitching. As some of the hostages squeal and scream, Rigby snatches up Uli's machine gun, runs out onto the roof. He charges through the crowd, spots the park crew near the edge of the roof.
"Hey, Rigby!" Benson yelled as they high-fived over the fact that Rigby managed to be the hero. They celebrated for a second before Rigby noticed that Mordecai was missing from the group.
"Hey, where's Mordecai?" He asked.
"Oh, crap! I forgot!" Muscle Man facepalmed, "That Garret freak took him to the Vault! I think he took him hostage!"
Rigby swore before running to the middle of the launch pad and started yelling, "Listen to me! All of you, get down to the lower floors! You're all in danger!
"What are you, crazy?!" One of the hostages screamed. "We're being rescued! Those helicopters-!"
"There won't be shit for those helicopters to land on, because the whole top of this building is wired with explosives! Now get below-!"
"But...we're safe up here!"
"Safe, my ass!" Rigby interrupts, "This ain't a helipad, it's a launching pad!" And he fires over their heads! Most of them scream and head for the door as he hoped with Mr. Tohomiko leading them down! He fires again, raking a line across the roof. They really haul ass after that.
"LOTTER!"
Rigby turned around and blinked; It was Norman, broken and bloodied, dragging himself to the launchpad. Norman roared in impotent rage before he raised his gun and pulled the trigger. However, instead of killing Rigby, his gun burst, sending shrapnel in his chest, causing him to scream in pain.
It was a one in a million chance, but the bullet ready to fire was filled with too much gunpowder, causing it to backfire and destroy his gun.
"Rigby!" He turned to see his boss behind him, throwing something at him, which he caught. It was his second weapon; a hi tech pistol called Occultist. He then grinned at a confused Norman.
"Sorry your plans came crashing down." Rigby quips before firing the Operator's gun up in the air.
The main projectile and the several swirling projectiles accompanying it hit the underside of the helicopter, causing it to go up in flames while still airborne.
Norman looked shocked only to notice Rigby and the Operator diving away into the doors leading to the floor below the roof. And he quickly found out why, as the flaming helicopter was spearing straight towards him at high speeds!
The eyepatched terrorist only closed his remaining eye in acceptance as the flaming helicopter crashed into the launchpad where he was laying. The entire roof soon followed as Garret activate the detonators the split second the helicopter crashed into the roof.
All the cops duck as they watched the top of the building erupt into flames like a volcano. Fire, smoke, glass and metal rose up and rained down while the helicopters crashed down to the street.
Everyone looked shock before Robinson summed it all up, "Holy shit..."
Powell shouted to the unfazed lieutenant, "HEY, AREN'T YOU GONNA HELP THE PILOTS?!"
"The helicopters were remotely controlled," Lieutenant Hawthorn explained, "They were a distraction so an actual squad could move into the exits."
Powell and Robinson look at each other. What was the main plan then?
The entire floor shook as the Operator and Rigby tumbled to the floor, narrowly escaping being cooked alive by the flames from the explosion. Dust and debris fall from the ceiling, but other than that, they were fine. The rest of the hostages were with them, as the Engineer helped up the Operator and the park crew helped up Rigby, who gave the former his gun back.
"Come on! We gotta go!" Rigby yelled, trying to lead the hostages down only to be stopped by several bullets being fired at the floor.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWERE, MOTHERFUCKER!" A very angry looking Badou came up the stairs with a machine gun in hand. Almost all the hostages raised their hands while the fighter got ready only for the Operator to blink.
"Hey, I know you." The Operator suddenly said, "You're Tamaki Bandou. Wanted for the deaths of over 200 people and the destruction of the Tohomiko building in Japan. Though I'm not really impressed." He intentionally provoked the terrorist.
"Not impressed?!" Bandou starts screaming, "I've done things like this before! When my crew and I went to Tokyo, I planted that bomb that killed Kimiko Tohomiko! I KILL THE DAUGHTER OF TOSHIRO TOHOMIKO! IMPRESSED NOW?!"
"Eh, not really." The Operator shrugged, before pointing behind Badou, "But he is."
The sadistic terrorist was confused and turned around to see a seething Engineer standing right behind him. Bandou panicked and tried to shoot, only for the Engineer to put his left hand on the Uzi, disassembling it and sending shrapnel into the terrorist's palm. Bandou screamed only for the Engineer to grab his throat in a crushing grip.
"Listen to me, you son of a bitch." The Engineer seethed in cold fury, staring directly into the thug's eyes, "Kimiko meant more than you or I ever could. More than I ever was. And you killed her."
Bandou looked terrified, desperately trying to escape but the man's grip was iron.
"Now? Now, you get what you've earned."
"So what if I killed your whore of a wife?!" Bandou screamed at the Engineer whom remained stoic yet seething, "I've killed hundreds! Thousands! You ain't got the guts to kill me! YOU AINT GOT THE GUTS TO KILL ANOTHER MAN!"
If it were possible, the Engineer's aura reflected his cold, blistering fury; it was red, swaying outwards like flames while his eyes seemed to lose their irises and pupils, and his teeth grit so hard that it was a miracle they hadn't broke.
"No." His voice was blistering, placing his hand on Bandou's chest, "You're not a man. You're nothing."
The aura around his hand flared, signifying the activation of his semblance then he backed away. The despicable man lurched, gagging harshly while holding his gut and falling to his knees. Blood dripped from his mouth before he suddenly projectile vomited a stream of blood and meat to the opposing wall.
Chucks of his internal organs spewed out of his throat, staining his clothes while his ribs caved in, puncturing his lungs. Bandou began choking as his throat is clogged by the shredded viscera. He choked more and more for air until his face turned blue and his eyes turned bloodshot.
Bandou continued choking and clawing at his throat before he slowly became still.
The Engineer sneered coldly, "That was for Kimiko, you son of a bitch."
Rigby and a bunch of the hostages looked like they were gonna puke while the Operator seemed impressed. The group just walked away from the thug's body, not saying a word as they left him to rot in his own foulness.
The Operator, Engineer, and Mr. Tohomiko, along with the rest of the Park Crew lead the hostages to the 51st floor while Rigby went to the 50th floor to the vault to confront Garret and the surviving henchmen.
First he had to check his ammo; His submachine gun was all out while his Beretta only had two bullets left in his clip. Rigby cursed before looking around until he spots some tape on one of the tray table. An idea then pops into his head as he grabs the tape from the table.
"Wait, all of this was for the bearer bonds?!" Mordecai asked incredulously, "For all your talk and theatrics, you're just a common thief!"
Garret slaps him across the face, "I am an exceptional thief, Mr. Cristata. Please show some respect as I'm moving up to murder if you don't be quiet."
"GARRET!" The two of them saw Rigby, standing in the hallway, backlit by sparks still tumbling down from the roof above. He holds the machine gun ready, fur and clothes stained with dust, blood, bits of glass, and an furious expression adorning his face.
Mordecai could honestly say he was a little scared of Rigby at that moment, with a small "Holy crap." escaping his beak while Garret and Eddie retreated into the vault with Wayne heading to the truck.
Eddie noticed a gun by the bag but waited when he had the chance.
"Dude, we have to stop meeting like this." He jokes to Mordecai before taking in the vault, "So that's what it was. A fucking robbery. So, why nuke the building, Garret?"
Garret responded with a shrug, "When you steal six hundred dollars, you can disappear. But, when you steal six hundred million, they will find you... unless you play dead." He then gave a tight smile, "Which happens to be your next role. Drop your gun, please."
Rigby hesitates. Garret pushes the gun against Mordecai again, really hurting him. Eddie quickly raises his weapon.
"No. This one's mine." Garret calls him off before calling to Rigby, "This time the cowboy does not walk off into the sunset with his friend in arms."
"You don't watch a lot of TV, do you?" Rigby said, completely deadpan.
"No more jokes, drop it or he gets it between the eyes!" Garret yells, his patience waning from all the stress.
Rigby complied, slowly putting down his machine gun, before quipping, "Whoa, Garret, now you're the cowboy?"
"'Yippee-Ki-Yea, mother fucker'? " Garret couldn't help but quote back, jokingly, "Now you are fucked."
Rigby couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "Always leave them laughing, right, Garret?"
"Always leave them laughing."
He aims before Rigby shouts, "Mordecai, now...!
Instantly, Mordecai sidesteps and jabs his elbow into Garret's face! At the same moment Mordecai moves, Rigby grabs his Baretta from its hiding place taped to the back of his neck and shoots Garret high in the chest! The bullet passes right through Garret, and the window behind him splatters with blood and shatters. Even while this is happening, Rigby spins and Eddie takes a gunshot. He drops just like the loser of western showdown.
Garret almost drops his weapon, staggers, looks down at his own blood in shock.
"You were right about us Americans." Rigby start before he blows smoke from his pistol barrel, "We are cowboys."
Incredibly, Garret still stands, eyes filled with shock and disbelief. He reels, falls against the windowsill, and then he grits his teeth and from some inward place finds a last reserve of strength to raise his gun before Rigby shot him two more times in the chest. Blood spews from his mouth as he staggers before falling onto the pile of bearer bonds he was attempting to steal, his eyes went glossy under his sunglasses.
Mordecai and Rigby looked down on Garret's corpse before the latter quipped as he picked up Garret's sunglasses and put them on, "Waste of good paper and good sunglasses." Mordecai laughs as the two walked out of the vault.
He then gives his own quip, "Well, he got what he wanted in the end: He died in money."
The two laugh as the Red Right Hand came in to secure the floor.
Wayne was running through the hallway with a bag of bearer bonds. He managed to get to the elevator and to the basement floor. Now, he just needed to get to the truck and he'd be-
"Freeze, bitch!"
The techie froze. Just as he opened the door to the garage, he was meet with several cops lead by Sergeant Powell pointing their guns at him.
Wayne immediately put his hands up and began pathetically pleading, "Please, don't kill me!"
Twenty minutes later, the Red Right Hand had secured the building while the hostages were lead outside. Rigby and Mordecai meet his boss and Marie outside with the Engineer and Mr. Tohomiko, along with the Park Crew. They all talked and laughed about how crazy this night turned out to be.
"So, what was your plan?" Marie asked the Operator.
The Operator began explaining, "Well, when I heard Garret's fake demands, I knew there was more to it. So I went to the roof and found the explosives he had rigged up to the helipad. When Lieutenant Hawthorn called Rigby, I signaled for him to give those specific orders. The cut power was to get them to lose cohesion as they'd be too busy to gather the bonds and follow their plan at the same time and the dropped shield meant that the squad could get in. The helicopters were remotely controlled as a distraction before Rigby shot them down. One squad of the Red Right Hand would secure the hostages while another squad would take out Garret. I didn't account on him taking Mordecai hostage and Rigby taking him out but it didn't really matter."
Everyone stared at the Operator due to his insane plan before Rigby broke the silence with a summery of the whole thing, "Dude, that is complex on so many levels."
"Well, it worked didn't it?" The Operator snarked as he took a sip of booze.
They all just laughed a little at his response while Marie lays on his shoulder. Classic Operator.
"Anyway, Rigby, how was life after we parted ways?" Mordecai asked.
Rigby sighed, "It was pretty horrible. I was living in a crappy apartment and could only afford rent or even get food by robbing gas stations. Then I got sent to prison and all sorts of junk happened that I don't wanna talk about. Bet it went well for you."
"No... It was all a waste, Rigby." Mordecai finally confessed, surprising Rigby, "I sold us out. I became a huge art celebrity. I had everything; wealth, fame, a fancy as hell mansion. And for what? No friends and barely any family. I was miserable. I wasted all my money on booze and ruined my reputation because I desperately wanted to fill that hole. It wasn't worth throwing away my best friend, I'll tell you that. Truth is..." He paused before letting out a breath and continuing, "Right now, I'd trade in anything for an afternoon playing video games with you and the others again back at the park. Just like old times..."
"No, I should be apologizing." Rigby responds, "I was so screwed up by your words that I stopped being me. While I got my act together and worked for the Operator, I felt like there was a hole that I couldn't fill, no matter how much I tried to fill it."
"Well," Rigby's boss interrupted, "You two made up. So, because I'm feeling like it, Mordecai and the park crew can work for me if they want."
Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other before the latter asks, "Not that I'm ungrateful for the chance, but why are you offering?"
The Operator just said, "Because, Rigby: I do whatever I want."
The duo were silent and looked at each other before Mordecai chuckled, "I'll think about it." Rigby chuckled and pulled out two cold ones from a fridge for him and Mordecai before they clinked them and took a drink while the police got everything cleaned up.
Name: Rigby
Weapon: Samurai Edge
Description: A heavily modified Beretta 92F that has insane amounts of stopping power, capable of killing a non-Aura user in one or two shots. For extra firepower and against Aura users, there's the Cobra Assault Ammunition; high explosive rounds that can kill a Grimm in one shot. However, Rigby has only one clip of this special ammunition so he only uses it in situations where he's out matched.
Name: The Operator
Weapon: Occultist
Description: A heavily modified .44 Magnum specifically designed to kill Huntsmen and Huntresses. While powerful on it's own, the Occultist's true power lies in it's ammunition; high powered, super condensed fire dust rounds that explode upon impact while producing a number of similar projectiles that swirl around it as it travels, great for crowd control or depleting the Aura reserves of a Huntsmen.
Engraved on the barrel is "Life is ours. We live it our way."