Good Cop,

Good Cop, Bad Cop
By Harris, Mitch, Shaine, and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG.

When the nestlings arrived in the command center, they found Crimson wearing a hardsuit with two pairs of wings. One was made of feathers, the other of radio panels.

"Interesting, Crimson!" Mitch said.

"It's the best we can do at the time...so don't start."

"What is it?"

"A modified comm array. We're going hunting, boys and ladies." Mitch smiled at that.

Harris simply stood there staring at the wings. "...Really? Who and where?"

"We've found out that our Boomers here are being controlled by the chips. They're getting their marching orders from somewhere within the city limits. This ungainly piece of hardware is how you will find the bastards. It has all the power of a comsat, and all the flight time of a wing."

"Hmmm..." Mitch stepped in to take a closer look.

"What you will be looking for is a broadband signal which the chips can read. Your suits have a clone chip which acts like the real thing, save that it doesn't do anything once it's been activated. Your job is to get this guy - or guys - then stop them and take them to the ADP tied up with a bow. Any questions?"

Shaine shook her head. Mitch said, "No."

"Does it matter how many pieces they're in when we deliver them?"

Shaine glared at Harris; Mitch just laughed.

"Whole, not pieces."

"So alive."

"I believe we're dealing with ADP officers here." Mitch shook his head at that, and began walking toward the hardsuits. "So alive."

"And if they resist?"

"Not dead. Wounded is fine, so long as they can still talk."

"Fine."

"And stand trial, so nothing major. No broken spines, no concussions. Now go."

Harris sighed and went to his hardsuit; Shaine followed. Belladonna was there waiting to lock them into the wings.

She smiled. "Happy hunting! Bring me back a gift!"

///

After an hour of patrolling the early morning skies, the three had found nothing other than the ordinary radar traffic. There wasn't even so much as a car crash. Then Harris suddenly picked up a pinging noise coming from about five miles away.

"I've got something, people. Seems to be coming from the northwest."

"Yeah...I'm getting it too. But I'm still working on getting a lock--"

"Follow me."

It was a two-story apartment building with five cars in front. No one seemed to be around, which didn't seem too unusual. It was only a little past 4:30. Mitch and Shaine landed not too far behind Harris, and Mitch powered up his weapons.

"Mitch, I hope you're arming those to fight me...Crim said no killing."

"Chill, James!"

The building was well-kept, with a well-trimmed yard, a nice back lot, and a man in black armor sitting out in the back having a smoke. Shaine started scanning it. "Two levels...man, this place is rigged! And at least part is jammed; I can't see anything there. But there is a shitload of equipment in there...not too bad... Five to six people and no Boomers in sight... Heyyy, looks like they got some of those new ten-quad hard drives!"

"Well, Shaine, better ask Crimson for a raise when we get back..."

"Bite me, Harris."

"Eh? Now we're asking for favors?"

"Any electronic listening devices, Shaine?"

"I can't tell what's in the jammed area. But there are some, at least, in one area...it's set up kind of like a cell block..."

Harris sighed and headed toward the back. The guard wasn't paying much attention to his watch; his ADP-issue anti-Boomer rifle was slung over one arm with the barrel pointing toward the ground. Harris walked up to him and simply hit him on the head. The guard slumped to the ground.

There was a door in the back wall, but it was sized for a normal human, without wings and power armor. Harris looked at the door, somewhat pissed, and the door steadfastly refused to look back or care.

"Excuse me, Snakebite." Mitch stepped past him and cut the door to Raven proportions with his laser claws. As he began to tear through the support beams, Harris pushed him through. The door jammed, and Mitch broke through, lying in a heap just inside it.

Harris stepped through, not caring about the Raven-shaped doormat. It was a still a tight fit, but he forced his way through into the equally cramped hall.

Mitch pulled himself back up. "Do you try to be an ass or does it come naturally?"

"Natural, Mitch. Remember that." Shaine followed them in once Mitch was out of the doorway.

There was a larger steel door at the end of the hall. It flew open with a bang and the Ravens could see the flash of gun barrels a scant moment before a rain of bullets came down upon them. It stung, but didn't penetrate the hardsuits.

Enraged, Harris rushed toward the doorway. Shaine sucked in her breath nervously, but didn't try to stop him.

The man started screaming in fear as Harris lifted him, unable to see the cloaked Ravens. He struggled, but that did little good. The others seemed to hold their fire.

They moved back into the larger room beyond the door. Harris turned toward them, using his prisoner as a shield. "Stop."

A grenade rolled out toward him. "Oh shit..." He dove out of the way, tossing the other man onto it. A blue-purple smoke filled the hallway, but had no effect upon the Ravens or their hardsuits.

Harris shook his head. "Okay...now these guys are bugging me..."

There came a low rumbling noise, and the building began to shake. Harris made his way into the other room, kicking the unconscious man lying on the floor. Mitch followed him in, then Shaine sighed and likewise followed Harris.

A large van was trying to get out of the building by knocking down the front wall. Two gunners at the top were aiming a large anti-Boomer rifle at them.

Mitch fired a low-level laser at the van, hoping to stun its occupants, just as Harris dove to the side to evade the rifle. Shaine moved away from the doorway and off to the side, then Mitch followed suit. The van lurched forward and lumbered out of the building. Shaine fired her rail guns at it, hitting the back of the van and exploded. Mitch did the same with his laser, to little effect.

Shaine swore and aimed at the gunners. Meanwhile, Harris had started chasing after the truck, and Mitch followed with laser claws exposed.

The rail burst hit, and the barrel of the rifle was split in two. Harris brought out his laser sword, slashing at the tires.

Damn...looks like I'm going to have to go follow those idiots... Shaine began running toward the van. "Damnfools," she muttered.

Mitch ripped the back door off of the van, which was beginning to tip to one side. It crashed into a wall, holding at about a 45 degree angle. Confused cries and shouts could be heard from inside.

Three men rushed out of the back of the van. Mitch fired a low-level laser at them, and Harris grabbed the nearest of the three. Shaine raced up toward the van and snatched up another; Mitch took hold of the third as he stumbled outside, looking green from the gas grenade.

The third man retched. Mitch swung him toward Harris, who stepped back slightly, using his own captive as a shield.

"Will you two stop acting like spoiled children!" Shaine snapped over the comms.

"What...what do you want?" whimpered the man she was holding.

"We want to know about the Boomer control mechanism you have."

"I...I don't know anything..."

"Don't tell him, Ken! Don't tell these filthy Boomers anything!"

Pretty brave, for someone who can't even see us... "Yeah, Ken? That's not what we heard."

"Speak!" Mitch snarled, shaking his captive. The man just moaned, turning even paler.

"I, I'm only helping take back the city," said the first one.

"From who?"

"I only did this so..."

Harris lifted him up by the collar, holding him in the air. "Genom...the crooks at city hall..."

"Where did you get the equipment from?"

"We took it. Some from busts, some from Genom, some from the n-police...some of it's from our own pockets..."

"And the chips? The programming? That's some fancy work."

"Gulf and Bradley."

"Bullshit," Shaine exploded. "G&B doesn't write code like that."

"It's a prototype that they lost...we changed some of it to get it to work. Took months."

"And what does 'Alice in Wonderland' mean to you?"

"Huh? My kid, she gave me the idea."

Shaine closed her hands around her captive. "Yeah, sure."

"Who'd think that playing nursery rhymes would drive Boomers nuts?"

"Want to be fed to the Jabberwocky, asshole?" She tightened her grip a bit more. He'd have a spectacular collection of bruises to display the next day, but no serious damage. "Why Alice?"

"Alice...Pooh Bear...they're all there, on different chips...each chip's a different story."

"I don't believe you!"

"No one would pick up on it."

"What did they tell you?" she continued as if he hadn't spoken.

"Who the hell thinks of this shit? No one would believe it, so we used it."

"I know where you got this from," she snarled, "So you might as well tell me about it."

"They told me we could change things, if we just had control of the Boomers...no more rogues..."

"And you believed them! You believed that crap?"

"No more friends dying because of Genom..."

"Believed they'd ask you to help them?"

"Yeah, I believe it. I've seen it work."

"Let me name a face, and see if it rings bells... I'm talking about a blond man, 5' 10", or a woman with brown curly hair and huge eyes...maybe a short girl, twentysomething, also brown hair... Which one was it?"

"I don't know," he gasped. "I've never met them, or I've seen too many like them."

"I find that hard to believe." She tightened her grip even more. Any further and she'd risk bruising his ribs.

"Shit, I see people like that every day."

"How about names?"

"I see them in the back of the paddy wagon, or brought in for questioning..."

"Erik Kohl? ...Kathy? Shaine? Katerin, maybe?"

"Kohl? Those Genom bastards?"

"I know he put you up to this!"

"You think I'm working for Genom? Fuck you! I may have fucked up but I'm still ADP!"

"He duped you," she continued coolly. "He lied to you."

"I am no Genom lackey!"

She shook her head.

"Shit, you Boomers are dumb!"

"Alice..." she whispered, just low enough for the three men to hear.

"Alice? Look...we're not with Genom."

"Sure."

"We did this on our own. Look," he twisted around, trying to reach the badge in his pocket. "Ken Andrews, ADP frontline."

"I don't care who you are. Or what lies he told you to get you on his side. How he hid who he was." She inhaled deeply. "Alice. Huh."

"Oh, man are you nuts!"

Shaine stared at Andrews, wondering whether she ought to try to convince the others to bring him back to the Nest.

Meanwhile, Mitch's captive had come to again and noticed that his feet weren't touching the ground. He couldn't see the cloaked Raven's laser claws, but he could smell the ozone and feel their warmth. "Yeeeeahhhh!" He started kicking frantically.

"Hey, welcome back to reality! My name's Wolverine." He sliced his claws through the air, generating a whirring noise. "Can you guess why?"

"Heh." Shaine grinned.

"Who are you?" Mitch asked.

"Lieutenant Robert Michaels. ADP. Don't kill me; I have a wife and kids!"

"Aw, crap...I'm picking up a large air vehicle on radar! We need to get out of here."

"Tell me what your orders are...or I'll show you what these laser claws can do."

"To gather equipment," the still-stunned Michaels replied. "Acquire Boomers for armaments...we, we wanted to..."

"There's more. Speak!"

"Yes...there's more...but all I know is that the chips were being used to hijack Genom Boomers. Only Genom made that model, so at least we could get them off of the Force. We made the chips here...we're trying to fight Genom."

"Why were they programmed to steal a K-suit?" Shaine asked.

"To help them. K-suits are the only thing that can take on a rogue Boomer. And we added weapons..."

"Who designed the chip?"

"Oliver. He came up with the basic design. But Ken added the coding, and I did the signal...the others were support. Each night we'd rob Genom of more weapons, the next day we reported the crime...it was perfect until this!"

"No...it wasn't perfect before this. What about the one that went rogue inside of a K-suit?"

"It didn't go rogue. We had it under control."

"Oh?"

"Until we got it to the top of the Tower...then something zapped it, lightning or something, and the whole system got fried... It half cooked one of us from the feedback!" He shook his head. "What do you want from us?"

Any response the Ravens might have made was cut off by the sound of gunfire.

"Shit! I told you!" Shaine launched into the air with her captive, followed closely by Mitch. She didn't see if Harris was behind them. "I'm reading a K-suit back there...firebee close by...both of them ADP. So, Wolverine, should we turn them in now or ask more questions first? I still don't believe this half-assed ADP Liberation Army story of theirs."

"Let's blindfold them and bring them back."

"Right...but how?" She frowned. "Or just knock them out..."

"Yeah..." A moment later, both of the ADP officers were unconcscious.

"All right, let's go." Where the hell is Harris? --Wait. You shouldn't care about that... Shaine launched off of the rooftop upon which they'd perched, and the pair headed back for the Nest. A few moments later, Shaine saw Harris's suit following them and told herself not to be relieved that it was so.

Back at the Nest, the officers were placed in the medlab and examined by Branks before Crimson arrived, then tied to chairs. Harris removed his helmet; Crimson scowled and motioned for him to put it back on.

As Harris sighed and did so, Shaine laughed a little and slipped out of the room. Crimson stared after her for a moment. No. I'll take care of that later.

Moaning, the three officers began to wake up. "Where is this...?" asked Robert.

"Don't know," Ken replied.

Then they saw the Ravens for the first time.

"Greetings, gentlemen! Welcome to your afterlife." Mitch growled at them. "As you can see, my brother here doesn't much like what you've done. Nor does he believe you. His name is Wolverine; like the small mammal he eats his prey raw."

Harris shook his head at the blatant melodrama.

"And this is Snakebite..."

"Yeah, for some reason they call me Snakebite..." And I am still going to find out what Shaine knows about that...

"He kills with one strike, and is just as nasty."

"Ah, yeah, that's it! So...which one of you pigs wants to squeal first?"

Mitch exposed his laser claws near Michaels's face, letting him feel the warmth and hum of them again. Michaels quickly turned pale once again.

"What do you want from us? We've already told you everything we know."

"Who is your leader?"

"Hector. He answers to Oliver, and Oliver set us up..."

"And why use Boomers?"

"We have families," Ken answered. "We can't be found out, or we lose everything. If the Force found out we were stealing ADP gear for vigilante work, they'd take our badges. And our pension... Not many of us have family but those that do...want to make sure they can keep them safe."

"You'll lose more than pensions if you don't tell me how those chips work."

"They're coded with nursery rhymes...the radio signal activates the chip, then the chip overrides the Boomer's code and we control them by remote, through the chips. Each one is a different story, so a different code."

Crimson nodded. "Why Oliver?"

"I don't know. He came up with the idea."

Crim opened a private comm to the others. "What do you think?"

"What did they have to gain?" Mitch asked.

"What do you get out of all of this?" Crim relayed.

"A little money, from whatever we sold off of the Boomers...but mostly just to get our city back from Genom."

"Likely." Crim muttered over the private link.

Harris sighed and began to walk out. "Call me if I'm needed."

Crimson looked back at him but again said nothing.

"I don't know, Crim...I feel like there's something they're not telling us. Why, I don't know."

"Could be, probably is... It doesn't fit. Who is this Oliver, and what's his stake in all of this? And why start a group like this?"

"I think we should toss them back and see where they lead us."

"Good idea. But one other thing, first..."

Crim held up his armored fist, and the room filled with a faint, sweet-smelling gas. Soon the three officers were unconscious again.

"Oliver is associated with the ADP, but how I don't know."

"They're all officers, or front line...they've all risen up through the ranks. And what bothers me more, is that this Oliver is connected with the mob...if it's the same man. Have you ever met him?"

"Yes."

"I want you to get the file on this guy, anything the ADP has but especially a picture."

"I met him at Murphy's when Shaine came to cheer me up."

"Really! What did he say to you?"

"He asked me about the new police Boomers coming in..."

"Anything else?"

"No; I wasn't in the mood for talking shop."

"Hm... Next time, play up to him. He might have tried to recruit you. With these guys out of the way, he'll need new people..."

"Good idea. I'll keep my eyes open."

"Good. Go ahead and change; I'll take care of these three."

"No problem, Chief!"