Ch. 9: Introducing Inspector Gadget Pt. 3
Previously on Inspector Gadget: Body of Steel
"Greetings, inspector. I am the voice of the Gadgetmobile. Do you need anything at the moment?"
"Just a bit of crime to clean up. I just got out of recovery hours ago and want to see what I can do."
"Then you should like this incoming call from dispatch. Mob boss Alec Bern and a few of his men have just taken the Mayor and several of his staff hostage at City Hall."
"Red alert, arm the photon torpedoes."
"I'm not sure I follow you, inspector. Photon torpedoes are a fictional weapon and-"
"It's just an expression, turn on the siren and let's get to city hall as fast as we can."
A few police units and even a news crew had already reached City Hall by the time I got there. The officers were staking out around the exits to the building and the newsmen were starting there reports.
"This is Dan Sanders reporting live from City Hall where mob boss Alec Bern and his men have taken the mayor and some of his staff hostage. Bern has yet to issue any demands but police have arrived on the scene and blocked all the exits."
"Gadgetmobile, get me an infrared scan of City Hall, I want to know what's going on in there."
"Scanning building… scan complete. It appears that the mayor and three of his staff are being held hostage on the second floor. There are eight more hostages on the bottom floor. There are seven threats, three on the second floor and four in the lobby, one guarding the other hostages. All of the terrorists are armed with D-10 Executors. It seems they intend to hold their ground for now."
"Definitely, if the hostages are to be freed, someone's going to have to go in there."
"Inspector, I should warn you that you should avoid being fired upon as much as possible. Extended fire from the D-10's will damage your endoskeleton."
"Thanks for the heads-up. I'll take cover as much as possible. But for this to work I'll need a distraction. That means waiting for Bettencourt and his S.W.A.T. team to get here. Which should be any second now," I murmured as I glanced at my watch.
As if on cue the sound of more police sirens filled the evening air and several more police vehicles, including a S.W.A.T. van. More police flooded the scene and started to hold back while the growing number of press members while Bettencourt and his men got right to work.
"Lieutenant!" I called out over the crowd. "Lieutenant Bettencourt! I need a word with you!"
"What is it, Tin Man?"
"I have an idea for saving the mayor but I need your support to make it work."
"No."
"Just like that?"
"Yes, just like that because terrorism is a tricky business. I'm not putting the hostages' life on the line so you can go in half-cocked."
I was about to give my rebuttal when gun fire rang out of the top floor where Bern was with the hostages. The bullets broke the window and shards of glass rained down onto the sidewalk.
"Listen up coppers and listen good! You cut off the phones in this building and that really pisses me off! Here are my orders; you get me a direct line to Calvin King! That's right, I want to talk to the CEO of Archangel! And to ensure your cooperation, every ten minutes that our demand is not met, we kill one of the hostages starting now!"
One of the hostages in the mayor's office was suddenly thrust into view and shot out of the window. I didn't think, I just acted. Thanks to my enhanced reflexes I was able to catch the man in mid-air and roll onto the ground. I immediately checked for a pulse and found one. It was faint but there nonetheless.
"Get this man to an ambulance, he's still alive!" I yelled.
"That one got lucky, officer. I can assure you the others won't. Get me a line to King or everyone dies. And as an insurance policy against you trying to rush in here, we've taken the liberty of wiring the building with explosives. If you try to come up here, I detonate them and the entire building goes up taking everyone with it. Tick-tock, coppers, tick-tock."
"All right, Bettencourt, now will you cooperate with me?"
"We're on a time limit now. What do you need done?"
"What I need is for you to keep Bern distracted long enough for me to get in there and free the hostages."
"How are you going to do that? It's not like you can just walk in through the front door, that's where his men are and he'll detonate the bomb once he knows you're in there!"
"We're cops. What we do isn't without risk. Besides, I know how to get past the scum in the lobby. Trust me, I have the perfect gadget for the job."
Bettencourt had relented and let me implement his plan. While he stalled Bern tried to keep his focus out the window, I had used my grappling hook to ascend the building and climb in through the ventilation duct onto the second floor. Easy as pie so far. Before facing the boss, I wanted to ensure the safety of the hostages in the lobby so I crept down the stairs and pulled out a sleeping gas grenade. It would knock out the hostages as well but at least then Bettencourt's men could get in and release the prisoners. That just left the mayor and his staff. I rolled the grenade across the floor towards the unsuspecting criminals and waited until the men started dropping before departing. But just as I was ascending the stairs I noticed one of the mob members hadn't quite gotten enough and was inching his way towards the walkie-talkie on the receptionist's desk. Without thinking about it two powerful mechanical legs catapulted me across the distance between me and the gangster and tackled him to the ground just as he was fumbling for the radio. I held him down for a few seconds before his struggling tapered off and he became still. Now to get back to the main objective.
I got back up to the second floor and using my audio enhancer and thermograph I was able to listen in on and see what Bern was saying and doing.
"One and a half minutes to the next execution, coppers! You'd better be working real fast on getting King, because the next person to take a fall is a real beauty!" he yelled as he pushed a woman up to the window. "It really is a shame to waste such beauty, but it doesn't have to happen!"
"Come on now, Bern, don't do this!" came Bettencourt's voice over the loudspeaker. "We're getting King on the line for you right now, even patching the call directly to the vid-phone in the office!"
"Well, that's real nice of you, but if it doesn't ring in the next minute there'll be one less person alive in here."
I had heard enough. I was ready to break down the door when the vid-phone started ringing and there was an audible collective sigh of relief from the hostages.
"Now that's what I call service, and there was only fifteen seconds left. Calvin King, it's great to see you."
"What do you want, Bern? I make it a point of mine to never negotiate with terrorists!"
"Oh, this is not a negotiation, it's a demand. You see, this not how I planned on this evening going but nevertheless, it is a much greater opportunity to show Detroit that I mean business. What I want is for you and the mayor to agree to terminate the city's contract with your company to build New Detroit."
"You're insane! Archangel has too much invested in the project!"
"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, King. So here's the deal: either you agree to call off New Detroit or City Hall becomes a crater."
"What are you talking about?"
"My men have wired explosives throughout the building. We will leave once we've achieved our objective but if we are followed then this building and all the people inside it get blown up to St. Peter. But until then we will stay in here and continue to execute the hostages until our demand is met. What's your answer?"
Before King could answer the doors to the office flew off the hinges and into the office. "The answer is no, creep. Hands above your heads, you're all under arrest."
The two goons with Bern turned towards me with their machine guns firing but I rolled out of the way, drew my autogun, and returned fire with pinpoint accuracy, wounding both of them.
"You'd better back down officer or I'll kill the girl! I swear I'll kill her!" exclaimed Bern as he pressed his Desert Eagle to the head of the woman he was holding.
ASSESSING SITUATION…
94.6% OF TARGET SHIELDED
CALCULATING OPTIMAL SHOT…_
Before I could say or do anything an unexpected gunshot caused the autogun to fly from my grasp and clatter across the floor. I turned and was met with full blown punch to the face. I was not expecting this and as a result I was sent tumbling down and was just getting back to my feet when a foot collided with my stomach region. Apparently one of my shots was not enough to fully incapacitate one of Bern's stooges.
"Well done, Connor. Now, let's show them what we do to cops who go against our orders. Alright you bastards, you sent in one of your men but he failed! It was certainly not your best move as he is about to die right in front of you now!"
I was pushed up to the window and Bern let loose a burst from his machine gun but the bullets did nothing but bounce off my coat. I remained standing and looked him in the eye with a smirk.
"And that was a bad move on your part as I'm now going to take you out with extreme prejudice."
Bern recovered from his stupor and fired again but I still advanced against the hail of bullets. Finally the gun clicked empty and he drew his Desert Eagle again but was too slow. A powerful fist collided with his jaw and he was down for the count. It would probably be dislocated when he woke up.
"Your move," I said as I turned to the remaining lackey.
"All right, all right, I give!" he yelled, threw away his weapon and raised his hands.
"Smart move," I grinned before punching his ticket to Dream Land.
"Just moments earlier a police officer entered city hall with the intent of freeing the hostages but was caught. His fate remains unknown at this time but we do believe that he is dead. Wait, Lt. Bettencourt is receiving a call. The situation has been neutralized, the hostages are free! And here comes the officer now that did this!"
As I walked down the front steps of city hall carrying Bern and one of his associates over my shoulder I was swarmed by reporters and news crews snapping pictures and shouting questions. It might have been a bit disorientating to a normal human but has little to no effect on me. I ignored them for the moment and made my way to Bettencourt.
"Here you are, lieutenant, one giftwrapped mob boss. The rest of his men are still unconscious as are the civilians in the lobby. By the way, I had my car scan the building and there are no signs of explosives. Bern was bluffing."
"Well, thanks for your help, inspector. You really came through."
"It's what I was designed for," I grinned before turning around and walking back to Gadgetmobile with the press still shouting questions. Just as I was about to get in, a reporter shouted a question that caught my attention above all the rest.
"Sir? What's your name?"
I turned my head and saw the reporter. He had a youngish face and was visibly hoping for an answer.
"My name? My name is… Inspector Gadget."
A/N: Sorry for the wait on this chapter. It had a hard time getting out. But now Gadget is on duty and I feel the unlawful of Detroit will be shaking in their boots before long.
Gadget: I know you should be right now.
Me: Yes, well, I'm your creator and as such I do have some control over you. Hit yourself in the head.
Gadget: (WHACK!) OW!
Me: You see?
Gadget: How did you do that?
Me: Like I said, I'm the creator.
Gadget: But, that's not possible... is it?
Me: Talk about it with the author of the Doctor Who fic Facebook for the Companions. It's hilarious.
Gadget: Maybe I will.
Me: And fall down the stairs.
Gadget: What stair-AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Me: It's good to be me!
Gadget: I hate you.