(Playlist suggestions: Megaherz - Hurra wer liben och ; Madina lake - Never take us alive ; Let's get together - youngbloods)

Chapter 3 – Boys will be boys

As they neared the common room they could hear loud raucous laughter, taunts, and yelling. Suddenly they heard someone scream "MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN! MEEEDIC!" and they sprinted down the corridor to see what the commotion was about.

As they entered the room, they both stopped and Angela weakly uttered to the bemused woman next to her, "Are we still in the S.R.T. building?"

"Yes…and unfortunately for us I guess we haven't made the best first impression." Melissa said looking at her somewhat apologetically. "They're not always this…rowdy. Sometimes it's tame enough for me to join in…" she feebly added.

The scene playing out in front of them consisted of the room being turned into a battle zone, with the men split into two opposing teams. They had used whatever furniture they had to build fortresses, including the common room fridge and were bombarding each other with whatever they had on hand. A fire extinguisher projectile made its way across the room while cannon balls of wet teabags and grenades made from what she assumed was flour followed in its wake.

Angela watched them for a few moments before suddenly chuckling softly. They looked like overgrown children, covered in muck and grinning ear to ear. She was sure Greg and half her old team would have fitted right in with them. Big kids with hearts of gold who occasionally got insecure and felt they had to over-compensate sometimes. It's probably what landed them here in the first place.

"Are you laughing because you think you're in the loony bin or…well just loony bin I guess…" Melissa managed to make herself heard in between the shouting and music playing in the background.

Angela laughed, "No, just thinking I could fit right in here," she said smiling to the woman next to her. They both exchanged amused looks before looking back to the chaos in front of them. It seemed the other men still hadn't noticed them, surprisingly, but it looked like things were winding down if the reduction of projectiles flying through the air was any indication.

However, they didn't get a chance to crown a victor as Rick came up from behind the two women to stand in the doorway and address them. "It's a bit early in the morning to be this noisy don't you think?" He hadn't yelled, but his deep voice was loud and carried through the room.

The men all froze mid-action, uttering a few expletives and turning to look at their superior officer, apprehension evident on their faces.

"Care to tell me what prompted this?"

For a few moments it seemed as though they weren't going to say anything, instead looking sheepishly at everything but Rick. That didn't last for long as some of them realised it would be worse to keep Rick waiting any longer. A wiry man of medium build and an impish face spoke up for them all, "Well, it started out as an arm-wrestling competition to see who would get to ask the new teammate for a date, but it ended with a draw. So we decided to make teams based on the last two winners to make it a little more interesting and then it sort of escalated from there. T'was meant to be a chivalrous battle for your affections M'Lady," he said bowing down towards Angela in mock bow as he said the last bit. The lads behind him smacked him over the head, he had the tendency to give Rick unnecessary information and behave like an idiot at the worst times.

Angela couldn't help but blink at them in response. She couldn't believe her first assessment of them could be so spot-on; a bunch of ragtag boys more likely to get into trouble for being clowns than being bad officers. There was nothing she could even think of to say in response and that was ignoring the fact that Rick was standing right next to her. She looked to him to gauge what would happen next, but she couldn't have imagined what he said next.

"Well boys, this is Angela from the Harvardville S.R.T. unit. You all know the rules, it's back to rookie status for the lot of you. Hopefully we've done this enough times before that you'll remember what's expected of you. As for your punishment, since you all saw it fit to objectify make a spectacle of your fellow teammate; it's only fair that she decides what that will be. So whatever she says goes." The room remained quiet either because they had felt Rick's verdict justified, or because they knew better than to question his orders. He turned to address Angela quietly "Don't be too hard on them, 'kay?" before winking and leaving just as quietly as he had approached. He had thrown her in the deep end, made a group of grown men seem like misbehaved children in the matter of minutes and it wasn't even afternoon yet. A demolition crane more accurately described how she viewed Rick at the moment.

A few moments passed before she realised she had a group of overgrown boys looking at her expectantly. She was not expecting them to be so…placid. "Well…I guess we should get this over and done with. I don't appreciate being objectified by my teammates, like I'm something to be won."

This time another of the group responded to Angela; stocky with a mature face and a gruff voice he moved forward a bit as he spoke "We're real sorry, Angela. Your arrival was more an excuse to have some fun rather than us being sexist assholes. But I'm pretty sure whatever you have in mind as punishment would probably be justified."

Angela chuckled at their honesty. If this was the result of Rick's 'rookie policy', then she would definitely love to see it implemented in other stations. "Two things: one, no more….whatever this is," she said gesturing to the common room and indicating their recent play fight, "unless Melissa and I can join in." To which a few of the guys cheered, "And two," continued Angela, not paying much heed to the men's interruption, "clean this mess up. And that includes the teabags and flour on the ceiling," she said looking up.

"Well, that sounds pretty fair to me. Personally, I wouldn't have gone so easy on them, Angela." Melissa said from beside her.

"Yeah, it's so bloody fair we can't even hold it against her," said a burly red-head walking up to her. "I'm Reid Jackson, and don't listen to Melissa. She's a tyrant; we poor boys are always at her mercy," Reid joked. "We really are sorry though. We lads use whatever reason we can to blow some steam off. Hope you won't hold it against us?" Reid said extending his hand.

"Just don't ask me to help you clean up and we're all square."

"Haha, damn. Shot down before I could even try. "

After a round of introductions, the boys started cleaning up the aftermath of their play fight while Angela and Melissa sat back and watched.

"I'm surprised you guys are taking the whole demoting thing because of me so well." Angela addressed Mike, one of her new fellow officers who happened to be closest to her.

"Oh you shouldn't think so highly of yourself Angela" said Mike with a wink, "each time there's a new member we go through this whole process. It seems counter-productive, but we mostly go through a whole bunch of rookie exercises. It's a pretty good chance to work together as a team, new member included. Plus, we can't complain too much. Most of our previous departments wouldn't let us on the SWAT or SRT, Rick's 'bout the only one who ever gave us a chance beyond looking at our records. So if this is what it takes to stay on here, under Rick who all of us respect and who respects us in return (when perhaps we're not destroying the common room) we're willing to accept it."

Angela was gladder than ever that she had chosen the Toledo SRT department. Her first impression was that they were all down-to-earth, likeable people and she was excited to get out into the field with them. She always thought that a well put together and united team was like a well-oiled machine as it carried out its function - efficient, impressive, and powerful - and if their teamwork was as good as what they had displayed in the common room, they would be very good.