TO PROTECT AND SERVE
Written by Q Illespont
Copyright 2005 Q Illespont

All characters presented herein are property of their respective owners.

This story takes place shortly after 'Auld Lang Syne'.

'Here I am, guys!'

I made my grand entrance into the station and showed off my uniform to all those present. Ha! I bet they're just choked up with envy over how great I look in it. In fact, I bet--

'Oh, hush, Takino,' some desk flunky snarled.

'Alright, fine,' I answered, and sat back at my desk. I've got one of those now; I'm not always out on the streets, patrolling Tokyo and making sure it's a safe place for everyone to live in. Every so often I've gotta write up reports on all the bad guys I've taken care of.

Yeah, you know who you are, reading this. You're wondering just how I ended up on the police force, aren't you? Well, this isn't like those other mushfests you've read. No, this is pure law enforcement action. No kissing, no hugging, no love declarations, none of that stuff.Just cops and crooks and hard time.

Well, OK, I do kind'a wish I had someone. Chiyo and Osaka look like they're hanging out a lot now, and I know Kaorin finally bagged her catch when she moved to America with Sakaki. But I've got more important things to do than moon over some guy. Or girl. Huh, those three were lesbians. Kaorin ... she was real obvious. Man, she couldn't be more obvious if she gave Sakaki a big smooch on the lips. Never guessed the other three would be, though, y'know? None of the signs. Of anyone, I'd think Kagura was! All that rival and competing stuff. I'm sure she had the hots for Sakaki. Good thing Kaorin didn't know, she'd probably bite her head off or something. It'd be like one of those domestic disturbance calls. Man, those always looked like fun, but now I know they're a LOT of work. He said, she said, all screaming at each other.

Now, I haven't been on one of those before. It's just a matter of time, though. Sooner or later I'll get called out for something like that. And I'm sure I'll be able to get the good from the bad and punish the guilty!

I looked at the clock on the wall. 22:00 already? Just got here an hour ago. I work the late nights here, of course. Prime time for what I do. Criminals come out at night and that's the best time to get them, in the act.

I leafed through my little notebook, and waited. It'll be time to move out soon enough. Sometimes I just sit and stare at things, sometimes I watch the desk grunts going at it, sometimes I watch the suspects. And they glare back at me like I'm the representation of what they hate. Which I am, of course. I'm a cop, you know. Crooks hate cops, cops hate crooks.

In fact, just about everyone out there's gotta be a criminal in some way, shape, or form. They're always afraid of the police, and who'd be scared of us? Someone with something to hide, that's who. And I see the looks in their eyes when they see me out and about. They look at my stuff, and at me, and wonder just what their money's paying for. It's paying my salary, of course, and their safety too.

They're still resentful. They look at my hands, and see my 'weapon'. It's the long arm of the law to me, but to them it's another annoyance and something we shouldn't be using against ordinary citizens trying to do their business. I only use it against criminals, though. And if you're a criminal, beware of Takino Tomo!

My fellow officers are jealous of me. They've seen how many crooks I book and process. And the others that argue? Heh. None of them ever have a leg to stand on in court. I've testified against so many folks who thought they'd get away with their little crimes and none of them ever got off the hook.

I chuckled and decided to take a little time for myself. I closed my eyes, and thought of showing Yomi exactly what I think of her doubts. She never thought I'd make it into school, and she thought I'd never make it on the force. 0 for 2, Yomi sweetie. Mmmm ...

I can see it so clearly. Yomi's at her bank, doing her banking stuff. Loan officer, I think. Or loan shark. Probably officer, that's legal. Managed to get some loan sharks very mad at me for busting them when they thought they'd get away with it. Anyway, she's going about her business. not a care in the world. Another typical day at the office.

Then all hell breaks loose.

A bunch of armed men barge in, ski masks, guns, the works. They shout and everyone hits the floor. A few warning shots from the robbers remind all those civilians that they mean business. Poor Yomi! She's in the middle of a bank robbery, and with all that money in her bank. Now I remember, she's the manager there now, and it's all her responsibility.

The robbers know, too. Their leader goes up to her and sticks his ugly gun up to her, and I bet she wants to break down and cry out of fear. I'm sure some of the other folks there are by now. Who can blame them? One of them's already shaking down customers, tellers, anyone there for other loose valuables while another covers them with his shotgun. It's the most frightening thing most of these people have experienced, right here, live and in person. One false move and they all die.

Yomi knows this, too. And she decides to take a chance. She tells the leader that she can open the safe for him. And that she will. That gets their attentions, and for a moment all of them focus on her. She nods, and for about half a second makes eye contact with one of her tellers, one that risked looking up at the sound of her boss's voice. She gets the hint, and as she ducks back down, she hits the switch. The one all banks have, the silent alarm.

A silent call to arms for me!

The other officers and I start strapping our gear on. Fatigues. Battle vest. Armoured vest, able to soak up anything up to an assault rifle round. Backpack. Web gear with our badges and extra items we need. A black hood and facemask, just in case. And, finally, a brand new, shiny, ready-to-rock MP5 submachine gun, loaded up with a full magazine of 9mm justice.

The other officers and I load up in a police van prepared for us. I looked around at the others on my team. I think the Yanks call us a SWAT team. Don't know what it means, though. Maybe it's because we swat crooks down like flies. Either way, we're rough and tough and the last resort when things go bad.

Everyone around me is inspecting the gear. I do the same. The gun's ready, the radio's ready, and I'm ready. I chuckle as I look over my uniform and gear. If it weren't for 'POLICE' written in bright characters across it, I'd be a perfect ninja. That's a neat thought, the whole team is a ninja squad ready to go into action at the warlord's notice. And that notice came, and here we are, getting ready to unload some ninja whoop-ass on some bad guys.

We get there, and set up inside the perimeter the other cops set up. They just make sure no-one else gets hurt. It's my job to go in. Well, mine and my team's, true. The negotiator yaks away as we get ready, trying to talk them into giving up. They're probably too busy looting.

Finally, it happens. We later find out one of the crooks felt they needed to remind the customers--hostages, now--that they were supposed to stay down on the ground. But that's the sign for us that there would be no more playing Mr Nice Guy. They were going down NOW.

The team storms the bank. Some were ready at the back, and charge in through the employee entrance. Others, including myself, barge in through the front. 'POLICE! DOWN!' The sound and the guns should let the robbers know what's going on. The game's over, they're nabbed.

The two nearest ones hesitate, and that's all it takes for four of my teammates to get them subdued. A third one starts lifting up his shotgun, ready to gun down the officers coming in from the side door. I charge at his back and plant the muzzle of my MP5 right there and scream 'DROP IT! POLICE!' right next to his ear. He gets the hint, and soon it's three down, all without a shot fired.

We make sure the entire foyer and lobby are cleared and secured, checking everywhere. As we do that, we hear from the tellers that two more crooks are around. 'They went with Miss Mizuhara,' one of them says, and points toward the vault area. The door's mostly closed, but it's certain that the last two heard the commotion my team made as we swept in.

Then it hits me. Mizuhara. But what's the chance of it being Mizuhara Koyomi, formerly a girl I went to school with for my entire life, up until I went to the police academy?

One to one. The vault creaks open, and I see her. Behind her is one of the crooks, waving his shotgun in one hand, using the other to hold Yomi as a shield. The coward! Yomi looks almost scared out of her wits, but she's still showing that outward calm. Good for her, I think, and I train my MP5 on the new bandit.

'You! Drop your weapons or she gets it!' he threatens, brandishing his gun wildly. But I know a big gun like that can't be turned back to her quickly. I take aim, and let off a single shot from my weapon. Now, before you ask, normally they wouldn't suggest a shot like this. But that's for folks who need four or five tries to hit the 8-point ring on the target. Me, I don't measure my shots from the 10-ring. I measure from the 0 in the 10 in the ring. And lately it's not that far, either. I'm a natural, a deadeye shot, a sniper with a submachine gun, and the guy's giving me his shoulder.I sent a bullet through that.

The guy spins away, his shotgun dropping uselessly to the ground, and he clutches his shoulder screaming. Yomi stays shock still for a while, too, before she realizes she's been let go of. She turns and throws a nasty kick right at the guy's face as I'm coming up to properly subdue him. She's got on some fancy dress shoes, but it still crunches nicely into the robber's face, and he's down and out. Four down.

Yomi turns to me, and looks. Now, again, I'm in the heavy stuff here, and she can't really tell who I am. 'Thank you, sir,' she says. Guess she can't tell what I am, either, aside from the cop that just saved her. Damn it, this bulletproof vest makes me look all flat-chested! I've spent years getting my figure finally right, and now I've got to wear this breast-squisher. Oh well, it's part of the job.

I giggle and start to answer, 'Oh, it was--'

I stop. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the fifth bandit. He waited back in the vault! And he's bringing his handgun up, and it's aimed right at Yomi!

I can't tell which happens first. I'm sure that I shove Yomi behind me first, then I hear the bark from his pistol. I stagger as one round, then another slam into my chest. Those must be big rounds, and I wonder for a few moments through the shock whether the vest held up.

As I fall, however, my MP5 is rising up in my right hand. I don't aim, I don't brace. The gun just rises in my hand, then buck as it tries to rip itself out from the recoil of two rounds.A third huge blam from the bandit, another hard shot to my belly ... and then his head erupts as my rounds meet him. One, two, that's all it takes from me, and soon bandit five is down for good.

Yomi can only stare, of course, as she witnesses the tragic end of the robber. She finally gets over it, enough anyway to rush to where I lay, wheezing weakly on the ground. She looks down at me, and she's worried. She's worried about me! But she can't really know it's me under the mask.

'Are you allright?' she asks. And I finally--FINALLY!--get to answer her with the line I've saved up for so long for her.

'Oh ... it was nothing, really.'

Soon the other officers are around me, and they help me up. I groan, but find my legs under me. The vest did hold up to the rounds (American .45s, they say later). I smile and wave, and soon we're back on our way to the station. The other beat cops can handle the four suspects. And the coroner can handle the one cadaver.

All along the way, I feel like I'm passing out. I just saved Yomi's life, and I even took rounds for her! Does this mean I'm in love with her? No, I'm just another cop and I'm proud to serve and protect. Or is it the other way around?

As my head bobs, I hear the other teammates yell my name. 'Takino! Takino!'

'Takino! Takino, wake up!'

I opened my eyes. Gee, it's 22:44 now. 'Hey, keep it down.'

The other girl smiles sweetly, the same charm that's convinced almost every crook she's come across to just do as she says. No threat of force or anything, just pure movement. She's also got one of those 'cute' faces. And pigtails like Chiyo has. I'm always tugging on them, but nicely of course. 'What is it, Inoue,' I answer.

'Just nothing. You look kind'a cute when you get wistful like that.'

'Wistful? Ha!'

She giggled, and I let out a triumphant yell. 'Shiver in fear, criminals! Soon, Takino Tomo is going to be back out on the streets, looking for you!' I all but leaped up and posed ...

And quickly clenched up, clutching my side. 'Arrgh!'

Officer Inoue moved over and helped me back into the desk. 'Sure, Takino. Once your ribs heal up, you'll be back out there. "Bulletproof" doesn't mean "injuryproof", you know.'

'Hey, I'll be fine in two more weeks!'

She just nodded. Damn her, she's just making fun of me because I've got to do desk stuff while I heal from that shootout. Still, once I'm ready, criminals beware.These streets will be kept safe for everyone. Even Yomi.

Especially Yomi.

After all, I want to see the look on her face fifty years from now when I tell her just who saved her butt at the bank.And I've got to make sure she lives long enough so I can do that.It'll be so great ...