At precisely 0600, Victor Stone had been standing just inside the GCPD, as all officers called the Gotham City Police Department, for eight minutes. The empty holster on his right hip felt oddly light, as did the left breast pocket meant for a badge. He saw a police car pull up, 182 printed in the fender, running board, and bumper of the standard police-issue Crown Victoria. The cop to step out was not who he expected.
His new partner held out a wiry hand tanned from long days in the sun. "Victor Stone, I presume. I'm Officer Mary Lawrence, I won't be going easy on you, and yes, as a matter of fact, I am a proud grandmother. Here's your gun, here's your badge, you're riding shotgun." Her handshake was quick and strong, just as decisive as she was.
He nodded, slightly stunned and still processing the information from the quick run-down. "How many years have you been a cop?"
"You're twenty?" she asked, giving him a sharp look. He nodded. "Longer than you've been alive, Vic. Or is it Stone? Never mind, I like Vic- one syllable, quick, easy to say, doesn't sound like I'm talking to a rock."
He slipped the semiautomatic two-chamber pistol into his holster, snapping the slip-guards in place. While doing that, he dropped the badge. Before he could catch it, she snatched it from midair and had it affixed to his pocket before he could blink. "Call me Mare. Short, memorable, not too girly. Any questions, rookie?"
"No ma'am."
"Don't 'ma'am' me, Vic. I just told you to call me Mare. I'm a grandmother, not an ailing sheep. No one here worth talking to holds with titles. The chief's Chief, none of this 'honorable commander' junk some precincts take up, the decent cops all don't insist rookies use 'officer' or 'patrolman' or 'patrolwoman,' in one snot's case. The not-so-decent cops will raise Cain because you're black and I lack certain anatomy that supposedly helps in police work. I've never seen an advantage to either."
"Will they?"
"You better believe it, sorry to say. I bet you've heard a few slurs in your time. They'll talk, all bullies and cowards do. If it gets too bad, come to me. If I can't get them to focus, I'll call in the chief. Now, most stuff can be ignored, but certain words and phrases are strictly monitored and result in immediate investigation. We have good regulations on the books, and enough good cops to make them work."
"Got it."
"You must have had great friends. You haven't given me one are-you-really-Officer-Lawrence-or-is-somebody-trying-to-trick-me stare."
Vic smiled. "I know a girl who would have no problem beating the crap out of me and throwing me out of a window before I could think of landing a punch." Raven might use more elegant language, but she wasn't there. Starfire was much more relaxed about such matters- until she was angry. No one in the Tower had ever tried to provoke Starfire.
"She telekinetic, or that quick?"
"Both."
"Oh- you're the superhero, then. Someone glanced at Jenny's notes while she was trying to do four things at once, as usual. All that got out is that you used to be a hero, part of one of the groups that keep springing up. I thought you'd like to know."
"I really would rather not go into that if at all possible, Mare."
"Fine with me. If I wanted sob stories, I would have gone into social work. Ready to roll? We're on traffic duty today, standard procedure for all rookies. We'll ease you into this. That cuts the loss rates. You're back up- observe for the first few stops, then you take a few drivers. Size alone should help you out. Lemme see your best don't-mess-with-the-cop face." He made an attempt as he pulled his seatbelt on. She was not planning on a tour of the car first. She believed in getting in and getting moving. Ifhepaid attention, he'd see how to work the extras that made cop cars different vehicles."Almost frown, eyebrows in, you know they're guilty." He tried again. "It'll do, but you'll work on that."
"I have handled tough cases before, as a superhero, so I probably won't get us both killed."
She laughed, with a half-smile so wry he couldn't help but think of Raven's biting sarcasm. The Titans had broken up a few years ago, shortly after Robin decided to become Dick Grayson, official heir to Bruce Wayne (and Nightwing on the side), Kori went with him to Gotham for some new job, and Beast Boy and Raven headed off to college.
"Worry about yourself, rookie. You're a new cop. Your badge's clear-coat hasn't worn off, the criminals remember old faces, and you aren't wearing Kevlar. I'll talk to the chief and have some at a rendezvous point. For now, the windows are bulletproof, a new addition Gotham finally let in after a really nasty triple-shooting, all one night."
"Chief said I don't need it."
"That kind of attitude will get you killed. I wear bullet-proof. So does he, whenever he gets out of the office. You're the only one without the bulk."
"Steel plating. It won't ricochet bullets or let them sink in- a polymer my dad started and I finished. Trust me. The only place they're shooting me is a small part of my right shoulder and the right side of my face. For my neck, I have quick reflexes, and there aren't Kevlar neck braces."
She poked him in the left side, the one closest to her. "Hologram? What do I see if that malfunctions? Someone else?"
"No, just your standard young adult black male with a few prosthetics" including two arms, two legs, a torso, part of the spinal column, and half a face. Good thing Jenny was on the relatively normal side- the red eye probably would have been enough to scare her out of the room.
"Just checking. I'm pretty open-minded, just as long as your out-of-uniform pastimes are legal."
"I'm fine. No drugs, no illicit habits, very few illegal activities. On a police level, I've broken a few traffic laws and we probably took out a few villains too hard, but they deserved it."
"Which one? I won't report you, but I follow a few villains and hope someone lands them in a crypt or in jail. I know it's bad, but it's cop mentality. The only reformed villain is a dead villain. Life isn't a Disney movie."
"Slade."
"Slade? As in the mastermind yet to be captured? I've been trying to track him for years. He took out my last partner, snapped his neck with a patrol car. Don's still alive, barely, but can't move a thing below his neck or on his face. Last year he was wiggling his ears, half to be obnoxious, I swear." She obviously didn't want to go into it.
"We've lost a friend- well, she would have been a friend- to him. She betrayed us for him, but tried to beat him in the end. Our leader and one of my closest friends had a few run-ins."
"He only wants superheroes for apprentices. He never tried for you?" She was a little friendlier after a cup of coffee (generic brand, black, thick enough to leave grit in the bottom of the cup, courtesy of station-quality filters). Besides, he wasn't the usual raw beginner in need of a round of "bad cop." He would listen, look to her for directions until it was his turn to shine, and would make a decent partner, a very flattering estimation.
"I wasn't his type. Atlas messed with me, but I won out there, at least."
"Atlas the killer robot? Why'd he have a beef with you?"
"I beat him at a video game."
"Come on, partner. No ducking out."
"I'm serious. To save my friends, I had to take him down."
"You took down Atlas."
"Yeah."
"I suddenly feel better. The last rookie I had almost got me killed, and was a complete moron. He ran after a purse-snatcher in the worst part of Gotham, straight into a heavy-duty drug deal. He's only still alive because I forced him into Kevlar." She shook her head. "He couldn't spit in the ocean if he was in the middle of the Pacific. His aim was the worst I've ever witnessed."
"The first time I started out, I was fourteen. I stopped the superhero deal last year, when the group grew up. Police academy was half review, but a system of rules and regulations takes out guesswork."
"Shut up before I like you, rookie. I can't break my reputation of being the toughest partner in the force." She fishtailed purposely, darting into a side street to pull over a car engaged in a probable drug deal.
"Your reputation's safe with me, Mare." She was a less careful driver than he was, though she had a perfect no-accident record. She was lucky or a genius- he'd figure out which later, but was leaning towards the latter. He added a fifth person to the list of Girls That Could Beat the Wiring Out of Him list, right behind Raven, Starfire, Jinx, and Bumblebee. The last had gone out with him for a while, before deciding she was meant to be with Speedy. He'd only not been on another date for nine months, to this day. Maybe he could change that soon, and he was beginning to get an idea about who he would ask.