Alright, so this is the chapter that started this whole story. What if Jaz had to use some of her training while home on leave? Obviously her sniper skills would not come into play in the streets of New York, but she is skilled in hand to hand combat ...
I don't own the Brave or any of its characters.
It started out as a normal Wednesday, over two months into leave and Jaz was on her way home after her weekly visit with her mom. She was a few blocks from her parents on her way to the subway station that would take her home. She wandered into a local quick-mart to buy a drink for her trip. It was large for a quick-mart in Brooklyn, with two sets of shelving down the middle, creating three aisles. She wandered down the inside wall with the refrigerated cases, passing a young girl and her mother looking at the ice cream selection.
Jaz grabbed an iced tea from the back and was on her way back up the aisle to pay when she heard a commotion along with a clear "give me all your mon ey" from the front. She quickly swung around and gently but firmly pushed the mother and daughter to the end of the row of shelves, and then immediately pushed them to the ground and said fiercely yet quietly into the mother's ear "stay here, stay down, don't make a sound." The mother stayed down, hugged her daughter and kept whispering quietly into her daughter's ear to try and keep her calm and quiet.
Jaz stayed at the back of the store with the mother and girl. She first looked for ceiling mounted mirrors. She could see where there had been one, one bracket was left, bent, but luckily no mirror to give them away. She kept carefully glancing down the aisles, moving between the aisle ends and carefully glancing around the corner. At the beginning the robbers were very focused at the front of the store. By Jaz's estimation they were almost four whole minutes into the robbery, which most people consider a short period of time but from an operatives perspective it was forever and she was expecting them to be almost done. And then one of them peeled off and started moving down the middle aisle. And as he got closer the more Jaz knew she would have to take him down, quickly and quietly. Like an amateur he held his gun hand too far in front of his body. Surprising him, she was able to grab it and him, and then quietly subdue him. Whatever small noise they made was masked by a noisy compressor to one of the refrigerators. She dragged him to the end of the other aisle, out of sight and then moved to the mother to make sure they were still okay.
But now she knew she couldn't stay, that the other two would come looking for their missing man. Jaz then glanced up either side of the aisles, checking to make sure the coast was clear and then slowly crept up the outside aisle. She also looked for cameras, and there was one at the front of the store facing the counter and door. So even if there was a monitor behind the counter, it wouldn't pick her up until she was well clear of the aisle. When she got to the end she looked carefully around the corner and saw the two guys, one was directly in front of the counter brandishing a gun, the other three feet behind and kept pacing back to look out the door. She quietly crept behind the one closest to her, hitting him on the back of his head and knocked him out, grabbing him to try and quietly slide him to the floor. As the last guy started to turn around she grabbed his gun hand, at first aimed it to the ceiling, then all in one motion she pivoted, then pulled/threw him over her shoulder. He landed with a solid thump and didn't move. She glanced at the clerk and instructed him to "call 911" and when he didn't more right away, she said louder "now." The clerk jumped from his frozen state to the phone and immediately started dialing. Jaz kicked the gun away from the second robber, then checked both to make sure they were still unconscious, but also had a pulse.
The clerk then said "the police are coming."
Keeping her eyes on the downed robbers Jaz asked him "do you have anything we can tie them up with?"
"I have some zip ties in the hardware section" he answered. The 'hardware section' consisted of two short shelves of basic household items.
"Can you get me a few. I want to make sure they are secured in case they come-to before the police arrive." The clerk retrieved a handful and Jaz used them to secure their hands behind their backs.
She then headed to the back of the store to secure the third man and check on the mother and little girl. "You can come out now" Jaz told the mother "they won't be able to hurt you now." Then to the clerk, "I see you have security cameras?"
"Yes, but only the owner can access the tapes" answered the clerk.
"Ok. I'm sure the police will want to review it" replied Jaz.
They could hear the sirens and moments later a police car pulled up, and two officers quickly climbed out. As they walked in, taking in the scene of two women, a child, a store clerk, and three men lying on the ground with their hands tied behind their back the first officer said "Uh, we are responding to a report of an armed robbery."
"Yes," replied the clerk "these men tried to rob the store."
Soon two police detectives arrived. The robbers were taken off to the hospital to be checked out. The detectives first talked with just the clerk, and then just the mother, and finally just Jaz. Taking their statements separately.
When the detectives finally got to Jaz she gave them her name and described what happened. Answering their questions she explained how she was walking to the subway station to go home after visiting her mother, giving them her home address and eventually her parents address, asking "please don't talk to them before talking with me again first".
The first officer, who had introduced himself as Detective Meyers looked at her skeptically and said "you don't look like someone who could take anyone down, never mind these three big guys."
Jaz stood a little straighter and replied a little sharply, "perhaps I should re-introduce myself, Sergeant Jasmine Khan, US Army."
Meyers didn't blink just asked "Active?"
"Yes, but on leave" Jaz answered.
"Do you have any ID?" asked Meyers.
"Only my dog tags. Everything else is back at my apartment" replied Jaz as she pulled out her tags.
Meyers glanced at the dog tags but was still unimpressed, still suspicious.
Jaz asked "Detective, surely there is there a security video showing the attempted robbery."
"Don't worry about that" was his dismissive reply as he walked away.
As Detective Meyers walked away he pulled out his cell phone, calling the local military liaison officer. He explained the attempted armed robbery and asked him to run a background check a Sergeant Jasmine Khan with the U.S. Army. The detective didn't believe that Jaz was able to take down the three men. His gut told him that something was off about the whole situation, and he didn't like that. And he was sure she was somehow involved.
Meanwhile Jaz pulled out her cell phone dialing Dalton. He replied on the second ring "Dalton here."
Speaking quietly she replied "Top, it's Jaz, I might be in some trouble here. I stopped a robbery. Took down three robbers, protecting three civilians. No one was hurt, no shots were fired. I asked about the security video and can't get any information on it… " her voice trailed off for a second and then "Top, the police are acting sketchy. I think this is going to be a problem."
After that Dalton started asking questions.
After Lt. Brian Martin hung up the phone with Detective Meyers, he logged into the military personnel database, put in the search parameters and was surprised when the area that would display the records found came back blank. No records display, and there was no 'no records found' message either. He was just starting to think that this was strange when his cell phone started ringing. He answered and was greeted with "Lieutenant Martin?"
"Yes, who is this?" replied the Lieutenant.
"You just ran a search on a Sergeant Jasmine Khan?" asked a voice.
"Yes, who is this?" replied the Lieutenant a little more firmly.
The voice replied "this is Hannah from the DIA. Please hold for the Deputy Director." The only thought going through Brian's head after hearing 'DIA' and 'Deputy Directory' was 'oh, shit' as he sat up straight in his chair as if the person on the other end of the phone could see him.
"Lieutenant Martin, this is Deputy Director Campbell. I understand you just ran a search on Sergeant Khan. Please explain the situation" asked Patricia briskly and professionally. Brian briefly explained the robbery, and how Jaz was involved. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Her commanding officer will be there tomorrow to assist" replied Patricia.
Confused Brian asked "Director can you please explain what is going on? Why you are calling?"
"Captain Dalton will be able to assist you with the situation when he arrives on scene tomorrow" replied Patricia.
"But I don't understand" stated Brian in confusion.
"I understand. As I said Captain Dalton will be able to assist you when you see him tomorrow."
"Ma'am, the police officers aren't believing what she is saying" replied Brian.
"I understand, that is one of the reasons why I'm sending Captain Dalton. Hannah will be back in touch with you shortly to arrange logistics" replied Patricia before she hung up.
Brian looked at the phone in his hand, and all he could think was 'what just happened?' Followed by a 'did that really just happen?' Fifteen minutes later Hannah called back to confirm logistics for the following day.
After Director Campbell hung up with the Lieutenant she immediately called Dalton's cell. Seeing the caller ID Dalton hung up with Jaz and answered "Director Campbell, I was just about to call you. I've just been talking with Jaz."
"Yes she apparently stopped an armed robbery. The local authorities are questioning her statement of events and her ability to take out three armed robbers."
"Yeah, Jaz is getting a sketchy vibe off one of the detectives, and they are not giving her an answer about video" replied Dalton.
"Yes, that is a concern. I need you to be there first thing in the morning. I'll have Hannah confirm all the details and get back to you."
