Oh my god, you guys, I am SO sorry I've left this for so long… I could go into such a long spiel about what's been happening over the past couple years, but suffice it to say I simply… lost interest in writing this fic. I'm no good with multi-chaptered things, I always lose the muse halfway through. But with Auto Assembly just around the corner and me in the middle of my Windblade cosplay I was feeling Transformer-y. So I forced myself to finish this chapter.

Simply put, I lost my muse and it still hasn't come back. But I WILL finish this fic even if it kills me, because I don't want to be one of those authoresses who leaves their work half finished. I have to admit I hate this fic now; reading back on it to gauge where I was and what was happening, it's terribly written and frankly so sub-par compared to what I write now.

I love the AU itself, but New Recruit? Naw.

There will only be one more chapter after this one, a kind of epilogue thingy. Then maybe a list of who's who? Idk.

Anyway, I'm really sorry for the wait on this, I really hope there are still some readers left out there who are sat in hope for this one. Hopefully the next chapter won't take me 2 years to finish, huh? (nervous giggle)

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning I sleep alone

Sweep the streets I used to own

One minute I held the key

Next the walls were closed on me

And I discovered that my castles stand

Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

It was the wicked and wild wind

Blew down the doors to let me in

Shattered windows and the sound of drums

People couldn't believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries wait

For my head on a silver plate

Just a puppet on a lonely string

Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing

Roman Cavalry choirs are singing

Be my mirror, my sword and shield

My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain

I know Saint Peter won't call my name

Never an honest word

But that was when I ruled the world.

-Viva La Vida, Coldplay

-x-x-x-

Jazz fired, ignoring the ripple of almost nauseating pain that ran through him on the kickback and clipped Samuel perfectly in the lower shoulder, ducking behind the squad car once more. The shot caused Samuel to stumble backwards, and resulted in his grip on Thane loosening. The assault specialist took his opportunity and wrenched free, turning quickly on the four men holding his trine mates down.

The distraction worked; Morgan and Shiv's attention snapped to the escaping trio, shrieked orders to stop them by any means drowned by another shot from Jazz. This one caught Rumble between the eyes, dropping him like a stone to a roar of rage from Frenzy. A sense of satisfaction welled up in Jazz briefly, but that was quickly squashed.

The other precinct officers were now joining in as Morgan's crews opened fire on their makeshift barrier. Ryan cursed when Anthony Breaker suddenly yanked him down and a couple of bullets whizzed past their heads. "Like I didn't get enough of this in Afghanistan," he grumbled, causing the black-haired man and the twins to stare at him in surprise. He raised an eyebrow at them. "What?"

"You didn't tell us you were in the military," said Sidam, reaching his hand over the car hood and blindly firing towards the gang.

"I wasn't. I was part of an aid group that made three trips to Afghanistan, right into the war-torn areas. That's how I learnt to protect myself."

"You didn't tell us that either," Sunny griped, staring straight at the surgeon with a calculating gaze. Ryan stared back, unrelenting.

"I had no reason to, and you never asked. I don't have to tell you everything about me and my life."

"Ladies, enough," Jazz butted in, waving his rifle and looking between the three men in annoyance. "Not th' best place fer this, just in case yeh've forgotten."

Both the twins kept Ryan's gaze for several more seconds, before the spell finally broke and they turned back towards the battlefield. A fair few of Morgan's goons were downed now, though Rumble remained the biggest player they'd managed. Samuel's shirt was bloodied and getting redder, but he still showed no expression as he kept up a barrage of shots on the 27th.

Skylar and Dana were doing well on their side, pot-shotting who they could when they could. Raji had since returned from his post, realizing he would probably be more useful on ground zero than ground twenty-six. Orion hadn't disputed his choice. Warren, Spencer and Thane had all managed to make it back to relative safety behind the police line, where they'd been immediately cuffed by Alex and Heath, the latter snapping the metal softly around Thane's wrists and then fussing over him to make sure he really was okay. The assault specialist had just smiled wanly, saying he'd been better. That didn't seem to appease Heath much, but when no obvious signs of 'oh my god he's dying' presented themselves he backed off ever so slightly.

Another of Morgan's crew fell prey to Jazz's rifle, and the lieutenant ducked down again with a frustrated noise. "This is gettin' us nowhere! They jus' keep comin'!"

"We'll be fine," replied Adam tersely, resting his semi over the car hood and firing.

"Fine? They already outnumber us, 'n at this rate they'll b' advancin' til they reach us 'n then BAM. It's all over."

"Jazz!"

"What? Yeh know it's true, Prowler."

"Stop panicking for a second, will you?" Adam crouched and grabbed his partner, shaking him with a stern look. "That attitude isn't going to help. Jazz, I need you on this! Not Foxtrot, not the LA gang-banger and certainly not the sadist I see in front of me right now. I need Jasper Miles, my partner, my friend and my lover back, right now. Snap out of it, or so help me..." He trailed off, eyes brightening as he tried so desperately to hold back a couple tears that threatened to escape.

It was that more than anything Adam said which softened Jazz's eyes, dark fingers reaching out to touch the detective's face gently, lovingly. They caressed his cheek, running down his jaw and coming to rest on his lips, where his thumb brushed lightly. It was replaced briefly by a pair of dark lips, which curled into a sad smile when they let go. "I can't," he said quietly. "Jazz 'n I are too similar, this is who I am."

"No." Adam's expression darkened, though the threat of tears remained. "No it's not, Jazz. You brought Foxtrot out and you can put him away again. Please, Jazzy, I need you." Blue eyes met unseeing gold for a long while, before "'m sorry, Prowl," was heard and the dreadlocked man vanished. Adam clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as he lost the fight against one of his tears. It trailed silently down the very cheek Foxtrot had mapped out, before it was swept away and blue eyes reopened with a vicious glitter to them. Someone was going to pay for this.

-x-

"We aren't going to last at this rate, Commissioner!" called Raji from where he was stalemated in exchanging fire with Frenzy, who seemed to have been whipped up into a storm worthy of his name by his brother's death and showed no signs of slowing. "We need back-up, and stat."

"The radios don't work here, Hayes," replied Orion grimly, dodging another shower of bullets from a group of lackeys trying to turn him into a pincushion. "Dead zone, remember?"

"But not signals, right? We could trace Jazz, who's to say our emergency alert signals won't be picked up?" Raji took another few potshots at the enraged twin.

"Worth a shot. See if you can get them out there," called back the Commissioner. "And be careful!"

Raji waved a hand in acknowledgement as he crept swiftly to the lead car, bypassing most of the 27th's unit as he did. He opened the driver's door gingerly, slipped their emergency broadcast on and pushed the door to again, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a Benelli M3 shotgun. He inhaled sharply, sliding his eyes slowly upwards to find one of Morgan's goons leering down at him. He pumped the shotgun and squeezed at the trigger, but it wasn't his shot that rang out.

Raji swifted round to see Alex Redding lowering his gun and grimacing.

"Commissioner!" Alex called, casting his eyes around rapidly for any more strays. "They've breached our barrier, we need to fall back!"

Orion never questioned the security officer, just gave the retreat order into the buildings behind them. He hoped Skylar and Dana both got the message from general movement and body language, otherwise they'd have a nasty surprise in a few moments. As the 27th and their allies slunk back into the buildings behind them, keeping up cover fire, Morgan and his lackeys let out noises of gleeful victory and chased after them.

Once inside Orion signaled those nearest to him to split up into twos, and pass the message on. They would be on their own without radios, but they had a better chance by spreading their numbers out. He headed off with Alex, Raji stayed with Simon, Ryan found himself flanked by the twins, Adam and Jazz took off with no prompting from either man, and Heath stayed tight to Thane, who started stumbling his way through the building in Heath's wake, hindered by captive hands.

The scout grimaced at the sight, and debated with himself right up until they came face to face with one of the Russell posse. Before Heath had time to point his weapon and shoot Thane had let out a roar and tackled him, using nothing but his legs to manoeuver himself into a position that he could wrap bound arms around the thug's neck and twist.

Heath winced at the 'crack' that echoed around briefly, but decided then that his debate was over. "Come here," he said quietly, unhooking his handcuff key and showing it pointedly to the strategist. Thane smiled lopsidedly in thanks, and waited patiently until the tell-tale click of metal announced the return of his freedom of movement. He rolled his shoulders and stretched, snatched up the weapon the thug had dropped and gave it a quick once-over.

"Let's go find some asses to bust," he grinned as he shouldered the semi, to which Heath just shook his head and followed the man out the room.

-x-

Orion figured that maybe if he went high enough into the building's infrastructure he could start to get some semblance of a signal, radio or otherwise, with which to call back-up and help, and Alex had concurred with the idea. En route they had bumped into, quite literally, Byron, Anthony and Benjamin who were making their way up to the precinct's snipers' positions for their back-up, scaring everyone involved half to death. Byron had cracked a joke about kicking each others' buckets if Morgan didn't get to them first, and Anthony had rolled his eyes and yoinked the Italian out the room with a hasty 'stay safe' thrown at them in hindsight as Ben followed, bemused by the whole exchange.

Orion seriously began to reconsider the mental health of his precinct.

So up the stairwells they went, the Commissioner trained in front, security director skirting the rear, swapping towers every couple of floors. They never met any of their pursuers ascending or descending, but that just seemed to make Alex more and more paranoid the further skyward they got. It didn't make Orion feel any less ansty either, and by the time they reached the roof level both men had extremely itchy trigger fingers.

Orion caught Alex's eye and gestured his hand above his head - cover me - and the red-head nodded. The Commissioner felt around in his flak jacket until his phone and a mini walkie-talkie stopped their game of hide-and-seek and took pity on him. He tried the radio first, receiving nothing but static in return. He discarded that idea fairly quickly, and turned to his phone. No signal. He moved towards the aerial adorning one side of the roof and climbed up onto its base.

Still nothing. A frustrated noise escaped him as he reached up and up until he was on his tiptoes. A bated three heartbeats later and one bar flickered its way into reception. "Yes!" said Orion gleefully. "Alex, we've got signal. I'm gonna need a boost up though it's-"

He was cut off by two gunshots, and whipped around to find Alex prone on the ground, unfired gun still held in limp fingers and a slow trickle of blood growing on the concrete beneath him.

The leader of the 27th's precinct had his weapon to hand in an instant, though that same said instant made the thought that if the shooter or shooters wanted him dead, he would be pass through his head. He couldn't help the look of shock that morphed his features though when he finally took notice of who actually fired the rounds.

Shiv Corey was watching him with some sadistic amusement, a small caliber handgun held languidly in one hand, a posture that told of a lot of practice. Orion was sure he didn't want to know.

"Corey," said Orion tonelessly.

"Commissioner Arkham." Shiv's falsely sugary tone sent chills down Orion's spine. "I must say I'm surprised to find you up here, I thought Foxtrot was the brains behind this whole charade."

"Guess you were wrong for once," was the sharp rebuttal, to which Shiv narrowed his single visible eye.

"Hardly. I knew you would make a play against Lord Morgan at some point, but I thought even you had more sense than to think Foxtrot could really be tamed. He's a wild animal, Commissioner, you can't give him a few treats and then expect him to follow your every command." Shiv moved a few paces to the side, almost carelessly. He was showing no signs of stress or tenseness.

"He came of his own accord. He joined the Academy, rose through the ranks and got his jobs all by himself. He chose his own way, we had no influence over that." Orion shrugged. "He was eager to join us."

"And it never occurred to you that he joined the law to hide from it?" Shiv stared at him rather incredulously.

"We never suspected his ties. He kept them well hidden until he came to us. Why should it have? And do you think there was ever anything to link Jasper Miles to the famous Foxtrot of the Los Angeles Aces bar a full recorded confession? The psychotic child who murdered so many people because he was bored and it was fun to hunt them down whilst they were scared witless of a little boy and his gun?"

"No, you turned him into something he isn't, and it will backfire on you."

"Perhaps. I mean, you trusted him and look where that's got you." Orion flexed his fingers on his gun and let his smile widen slightly. "But on the other hand, perhaps not. Would you be surprised to hear that none of the people Jazz shot while undercover are actually dead?"

"Bullshit. Spencer checked them himself."

"Ahh yes, one of your turncoats." The Commissioner shifted his weight to his side. "Jazz told us where your heists and meets and busts went down, every single one of them. We revived everyone who he'd "killed", collected a lot of trace evidence and add to that all the information that Jazz has been siphoning off your internal mainframe and you're looking at the death penalty Corey. For all of you. Face it, you've lost. And Lieutenant Jasper Miles of the Detroit PD was your downfall, not Foxtrot."

Shiv let out a howl of fury and launched himself at Orion, who only had time to get off one round which clipped Corey's shoulder before the operations commander was on top of him. They fought for control, for the remaining gun, and Orion discovered that despite Shiv's sly grace in everything else he did, he fought dirty and there was no gainliness to be found. It seemed like an age and mere seconds as they wrestled and punched and kicked to try and outdo the other when Shiv finally managed to get the upper hand and knocked Orion Arkham to the ground and pinned him. The Commissioner's firearm found its way to Shiv's long fingers, and they almost caressed the gun before he struck Orion in the temple with the butt of it.

"Well," purred Shiv, raising the gun to Orion's head and smiling coldly, "this has certainly been an... enlightening conversation. I can assure you I will make no more mistakes next time. My network will be flawless. It really has been a pleasure, Commissioner, but you bore me now." His finger tightened and Orion cast one last look at the unmoving Alex nearby before closing his eyes in acceptance. I'm sorry 'Lita, he thought.

A shot rang out, but to Orion's surprise he felt nothing. He slowly opened his eyes, to find he was still very much alive and, for the most part, unhurt. Shiv, however, wasn't so lucky. He lay on his side on the ground, blood pooling from a neat bullet hole to his temple and smug expression still adorning his face. He looked up for his savior, and nearly cried in relief at the face looking thunderously down at Morgan's operations commander, gun still poised in front of her.

"Don't you touch my man," hissed Elita Carmichael, kicking Shiv once more for her own satisfaction before holstering her gun and offering her boyfriend a hand up. He took it with his good arm, and she tutted as he leant quite heavily on her for a moment to regain his balance.

"You, my love, are an angel," Orion breathed in sheer relief. "How on earth did you find us?"

"Rang the office several times, they couldn't get hold of you by radio. Called you several times, you didn't pick up. You never miss my calls. I got worried, checked up on your unit, found your emergency signals going haywire, traced it, and voila. Here I am." Elita tried a nonchalant facade, but the slight tremor in her voice made it clear what she'd arrived to find had rattled her.

"By yourself? 'Lita, that's dangerous! You shouldn't-" Orion's concern was cut off by a gentle finger to his lips.

"Relax, honey, I brought my backup. They're helping your boys finish rounding things off."

"Thank God." If Orion had ever had any doubts before that moment about whether he loved Elita unconditionally, they were completely gone. "You wonderful, beautiful, brave person. Marry me?"

"Ask me again when this mess is cleared up," said Elita, amusement filtering into her tone. "But yes." She helped Orion steady himself, then walked with him over to where Alex Redding still lay motionless on the cold rough roofing. He knelt down next to his security officer and slowly pressed two fingers to the pulse point along the underside of his jaw. What he found make him exhale sharply in sheer relief.

"'Lita, he's alive. He's got a pulse but it's weak, we need to get him out of here."

Elita nodded, already taking her under jacket off to use as a compression. "Don't move him yet, keep him here. He'll lose more blood otherwise."

"We still need that ambulance."

"It'll be here, honey, don't you worry. I told them to be a few minutes behind us in an attempt to keep them safer."

"Good."

-x-

Dana whipped around when she heard a noise behind her, rifle strapped to her back and glock out in front of her pointing to the noise but not seeing anything. Another noise to her right had her abruptly switching views, with no luck either. She frowned, tensing, then jumped as a couple of shots rang out, followed by a few loud thumps nearby. There was silence for a moment, and then a familiar head poked around the corner briefly to lock eyes with Dana. She didn't register the face at first, leveling her pistol at the door until the head peeked back in the room again. Dana lowered her weapon when she recognized Moira Ace, the 84th's best sharpshooter, stepping inside followed closely by her partner Shane Getz. She gave them a small smile after a quick surprised expression flashed across her face.

"You are a sight for sore eyes. I've been trying to find Skylar, but I've not seen him anywhere." She eyed them. "How'd you find us? We're in a dead zone."

Moira shrugged slightly. "Long story. In short, Elita."

"Ah."

"Yeah, she's stubborn like that." Moira nudged at Dana slightly. "Where's everyone else?"

"Scattered. We're hunting and being hunted, but I suspect your team brings the odds in our favor." Dana looked around, shifting the rifle on her back slightly. "We should find them and regroup."

"Sounds good." The sharpshooter glanced back at Shane briefly, then to Dana once more. "We'll follow you."

-x-

Raymond Ironhide was never, he decided, ever going to help out the Detroit 27th Precinct ever again. Ever. There was something to be said about his life if he kept finding himself stuck in the middle of a mass firefight. This once was more than enough.

Another blast from his shotgun sent one more goon tumbling backwards down the flight of stairs Raymond was currently trying to hold, stopping the men from reaching the others higher up the building. His body twisted and flailed violently, and there was a brief smirk as a few expletives made themselves known a little further down, but the disappeared when a shot whizzed right over his head and smacked into the wall behind him. He growled and shifted his grip on his gun.

Ten minutes later and there were still a couple more just a flight down from him, who were pot-shotting and making it extremely difficult for him to get a clean shot on them. A few of their attempts had nearly been successful, and he was starting to debate the effectiveness of a head-on charge down the stairs at them. On the one hand he could storm down the stairs and catch them by surprise, hopefully eliminating them both before they came to their senses properly. But then on the other hand, he'd probably die.

Raymond had just started to settle on the idea of making a go of the assault when there came an almighty BANG from the floor where the last couple of men were taking refuge, followed by several shouts and exclamations and a couple more softer bangs, and then silence.

Ironhide didn't move for a moment, not breathing as he listened.

Nothing.

So he wasn't expecting the rather loud and familiar shout of "Oi, Hard-Ass, you can stop hiding like a sissy now, it's safe."

At that he broke cover and thundered down the stairs to the voice, shouldering his shotgun when he found himself face-to-face with Connie Miller, Elita's second and, like himself, former military. He glared at her.

"I didn't need your help."

"That's the thanks I get for saving your sorry ass?" Connie snorted. "Looked to me like you did."

"I had them right where I wanted them." Raymond put one hand on his waist, giving her a petulant look. She grinned and patted his arm patronizingly.

"Keep telling yourself that honey. Come on, we've got a lot of people to round up." Connie marched back out the way she'd come in, through the lower floor door, and Raymond followed her, grumbling loudly the entire way. But not before sneaking a look at the brunette's backside.

It wasn't often he could do that without getting caught and punched, after all. It was worth it.

-x-

The twins were more than a little antsy, Ryan could tell. Their guns twitched at every little sound, and were even more waspish and snarky to each other than normal. Sunny in particular seemed determined that every little thing was out to get them, having shot at and only just missed an extremely startled sparrow that hand landed on one of the open windows. Ryan was positive the bird had had a heart attack almost right afterwards.

The fact that none of them had come across any of Morgan's men at all didn't sit well with any of them, making all three of them - though Ryan was decidedly better at hiding it than the twins - more and more paranoid.

As a result, Sidam nearly blew Kurtis' head apart when they entered a hallway and came vis-à-vis with him and Ricky. He would have done too, if Kurtis hadn't anticipated it and ducked just a millisecond before the bullet flashed past him. He threw Sidam a half-annoyed, half-approving look.

"Gotta be able to tell friend and foe apart, kid." He pursed his lips slightly. "But nice reflexes. Good thing to have in your arsenal."

"Who are you?" Sunny demanded, stepping in front of Ryan. The gesture didn't go unnoticed by Ricky, who smirked.

"Name's Ricky Howe," he said, "and the old-timer is Kurtis. We're with the 84th."

"Watch who you're calling old-timer, boy," Kurtis growled, tapping a fist into Ricky's chest. He then used the same hand to gesture at the twins and Ryan. "Let's get you out of here, we don't wanna hang around here any longer than we have to." He started back down the hall, and Sunny and Sidam both shared a look before they tugged at the surgeon and followed the older man and Ricky.

"I don't trust them," growled Sunny under his breath.

"You don't trust anyone," sniped back Sidam at the same volume. "Just go with it. They're the first living things we've seen since we came in this stupid place."

"And what if it's a trap, moron? Ever think of that?"

"I've heard of Kurtis," interjected Ryan quietly. "I think we're okay."

Sunny gave him an odd look, but subsided in his argument. Instead he muttered, "I'm still making sure this isn't a trap. Last thing we want is you getting hurt."

This time it was Ryan's turn to give a weird look, but both of the twins were deliberately turned away. He pondered why as he was dragged along. It wasn't the first time they'd made him wonder like this.

-x-

Frieda and Aimee were the only two of Elita's team to have been left behind outside with the squad cars. They'd found Warren and Spencer taking refuge inside one of the 27th's cars, both still cuffed from when Alex had bound them before, and quickly taken care of the few lackeys of Morgan's still hiding outside. Now they were both guarding the squad car, which they'd locked both to keep Warren and Spencer from running away and make sure they stayed alive, and waiting for the emergency teams who'd not been far behind.

Well, 20 minutes behind at the moment, and they still hadn't arrived.

"Think Morgan had contingencies for this?" asked Aimee quietly, eyes never leaving the buildings the others were in.

"Probably. But they were warned, I'm sure they're fine. Traffic." Frieda adjusted her gun. "Wanna bet on who comes limping out first?"

"Orion, being dragged by Elita," Aimee grinned. "He's so whipped for her. It's cute. And what's going to stand in 'Lita's way when she's mad?"

"Not even the apocalypse." The auburn-haired woman considered the doorways and windows. "I think Alex. His paranoia's gotta be going utterly haywire, he'll be out screaming like a girl pretty soon."

"Loser buys Taco Bell?"

"You're on."

-x-

Jasper shot the last of the three men who had followed Adam and him right between the eyes with a blank look, briefly letting satisfaction crack the mask before he shivered and put a hand up to his face. Adam put a hand on his shoulder in concern.

"Jazz, you alright?"

Jazz shook his head. "No, 'm not. Prowl..." He looked up at his partner. "This last day, it's been bringin' back th'rush. I can still remember how good it was, what th'rush was like when I had someone else's life in mah hands. It's so addictive. Adam, I..."

The brunette holstered his weapon and pulled Jazz into an embrace. "Don't worry, I will never let you get that far gone."

Jazz returned the embrace briefly, then pulled back with a small smile.

"Thanks partner."

Adam nodded, redrawing his gun. "Let's go find the Commissioner and get some back-up down here."

Jazz followed Adam onwards, keeping his weapon low but his whole body sang of being tense and jumpy. Adam led them both through the lower floors of the building until they came to outside again. They checked around, then decided it was safe enough and ventured out to the police cars once more. Jazz was just opening the door to one of them when he heard someone behind him and ducked just in time to avoid the butt of a gun swung right where his head had been. Adam's weapon immediately trained itself on Morgan, the detective himself furious.

Jazz went for his gun, but was halted when Morgan placed the barrel of his own gun against the man's head and drew another one from a back holster, pointing it at Adam.

"Now, here's a predicament I don't envy. You shoot me, Detective McCallen, and Foxtrot is dead. You try anything Foxtrot, and McCallen's dead. What now?"

"That ain't gonna happen. I ain't gonna let you hurt him." Jazz took his hand away from his gun, raising it slowly. "Prowler, shoot this son o' a bitch."

"But..."

"He's threatenin' police officers, do it."

Morgan Russell chuckled, never taking his eyes off Jazz. "You really had me going, Foxtrot. How does a psychopath like you end up in the force? Right under my nose. You even passed my test, and Thane was the one who came up with it."

Jazz scowled. "I woke up. My ass got saved at th'price o' mah savior's life. Yeh don' go through sommat like that without it bein' a huge smack t'th'face."

"Really? That's all it took for someone like you?"

"Yep." Jazz's empty gaze narrowed. "Jus' a real big smack t'th'face." At that he whacked Morgan's gun away from his head at the same time Adam ducked down to avoid the gun pointed at him. Morgan had time to snarl before Jazz's fist connected with his face solidly, knocking the crime lord back a few steps. Morgan didn't take well to the hit, rounding on Jazz as the two of them started a real brawl. Adam looked torn between wanting to break it up and stepping aside to avoid everyone getting hurt, but when Jazz gave him a fleeting but determined look his mind was made up for him

He stepped back, letting the two of them at it. Jazz had it under control, he was sure.

-x-

"Go on then, Foxtrot. Do it." Morgan grinned viciously up from where he was kneeled on the floor, spitting some blood out of his mouth. "You know you want to."

Jasper held the gun steadily in one hand, cracked visor sparking and both eyes narrowed and hollow. He pulled back the safety, citing a bigger grin from the crime lord.

"No Jazz, don't do it." Adam holstered his weapon and moved slowly towards his partner. "You don't want to do this, you've shed enough blood today."

"But you haven't, have you Foxtrot?" said Morgan snidely. "Killing's a drug for you, you get off on it. Don't you? Killing me will bring you your biggest rush, your longest high. Do it."

"Think about this Jazz," Adam countered carefully. "All of this hard work, all your sacrifices - our sacrifices - will have been in vain if you do this. It'll all be for nothing."

"But killing me will guarantee I'll never see the light of day again. If I go to prison I'll be out on parole before you know it." Morgan settled back slightly.

"I'll make sure you never see the outside of solitary confinement while you wait for your execution," snarled Adam at last, turning on the crime lord who merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"Then I'm a dead man walking anyway. Foxtrot should just do it now, save the State some trouble."

"Shaddap," said Jazz suddenly, sharply. "I ain't doin' anythin'." He put away the gun and stepped over to Morgan. "I'm gonna make sure yeh suffer fer what yeh've done before ya die. That'll b' satisfaction enough fer meh." He paused, then carried on, not looking at either of them. "'Sides, mah biggest rush came from mah first kill. Nothin' compares t' that."

"Jazz..." Adam lifted a surprised gaze to the saboteur, who did look up then and gave him a slightly sheepish smile before turning around sharply and punching Morgan in the face. The crime lord's head snapped back, and a prod at a pressure point made him growl in pain before he passed out. Jazz huffed, blowing a stray dreadlock out of his face, before flinching and resting a hand across his now dark-red side. Adam walked slowly up to him, concerned, and put a gentle hand on Jazz's arm.

"Jazz?"

"'M here, Prowler," the former gang-banger replied softly, putting his unbloodied hand on top of his partner's. "It's meh."

"You sure?"

"No." Jazz gave a wry grin then, small, shaky, and turned to face the brunette. "I don' think I'll ever b' sure again. But I ain't havin' any homicidal thoughts right now. That's gotta count fer sommat, right?"

Adam didn't say anything, but he reached up with his other hand placed it against his partner's cheek. They stayed like that for several seconds, neither saying a word, before Adam let out a breath of air that sounded suspiciously like a stifled sob and he threw himself at Jazz. Their lips met in a desperate kiss, all teeth and tongue and missed you, want you, need you.

When they parted, panting, they stood together forehead to forehead. Jazz's eyes were lidded, Adam's opened and pupils blown. "Don't ever suggest anything like that ever again, Lieutenant Miles. I'm not sure either of us will come out of it next time."

Jazz chuckled weakly. "I can't promise that, but I promise I'll always come back t' yeh."

"I guess I'll have to take that," replied Adam, kissing Jasper briefly once again. "But I warn you now, I'm not letting go of you so easily next time. I love you too much for that."

Jazz stiffened at Adam's words and his expression schooled itself into a mixture of surprise, shock, wariness and joy. "What?"

"I won't let go next time. I lo..." The detective trailed off when he realized what he'd said. "Oh."

"Say it again," the dreadlocked man murmured, almost pleadingly, "please."

Adam hesitated for just one second, then he smiled and cupped Jazz's face with both his hands. Dark ones covered them gingerly. "I love you, Jazz," said the brunette lightly, feeling some kind of weight lifting from his heart when he did. "You're my world."

The lieutenant deflated, body unwinding almost completely against his partner with a hiccough, who automatically supported him and wrapped him up in long arms. "Yeh... love meh?"

"I said as much, right?" Adam whispered in one ear, making Jazz shiver slightly. The saboteur grabbed his sparking visor, unhooked it and tossed it to one side uncaringly, letting his other senses take in the entirety that was Adam McCallen. There was a brief moment of stillness, and then Jazz relaxed utterly in his partner's arms as blood loss and exhaustion finally caught up with him and he passed out.

-x-

It was Dana, Moira and Shane who ended up rounding up most everyone else. They first came across Kurtis, Ricky, Ryan and the twins, they themselves having only found each other a few moments before. The older man was reaming Sidam and Sunny for dragging the medic into this whole mess, which had got the twins' hackles up something fierce before Ryan had coldly interjected that he could look after himself thank you very much.

The growing group picked up Skylar next, the sniper panicking because he'd been looking everywhere for everyone, he didn't know where they'd gone and he didn't like the fact that the building was crawling with people who wanted to kill him, he didn't really feel comfortable knowing he had to kill to move on because he didn't like violence much and being alone made it much easier for someone to pick him off, did they realize how scared he'd been, afraid they'd all been killed-

At which point Dana put a hand firmly over Skylar's mouth to stop him from talking any more, pointing out that the guys looking for them would be more likely to find them if he kept rambling.

Byron, Raji, Ben and Simon followed soon after, Byron on his own trying to get communications established with anything outside the zone and the other three having a stand-off with another group of thugs across a room. The arrival of back-up meant the six men that had been on the trio's case for nearly twenty minutes, as Ben informed them, were quickly and swiftly dealt with.

Shane decided afterwards that the group should split up from there, half to go back to the cars to see about the rest of Elita's team and any more back-up or medical vans, and the other half to look for the rest of the 27th precinct cops. Ricky, Shane, Simon, Dana and Skylar headed back downstairs to the cars to wait, picking up Anthony and a few more of Morgan's stragglers along the way, while the rest carried on the search.

Heath was next to be located. Most of the group tensed when they realized not only was one of Morgan's top goons loose without cuffs but also armed. The scout talked them fairly quickly out of shooting Thane, with the help of Byron, but he and Thane both reluctantly agreed for the cuffs to be replaced before they were sent back to the cars. Before leaving Heath tersely informed them that both Frenzy and Samuel were dead, which got several raised eyebrows as Raji pushed the two of them towards the door and out, following close behind. The scout was sent off with the assault specialist with strict instructions to take him back to the cars and keep him there, not matter what. Raji leaned into his friend slightly just before they took off, warning him under his breath to keep it professional.

Raymond and Connie pretty much ignored the group when they'd been found, heading down back to the cars arguing heatedly about who had the higher takedown tally. Apparently their discussion was much more interesting than the rescue team, so said rescue team simply looked at each other and left them to it, but not before Ryan picked up a piece of debris and threw it so it hit Raymond expertly on the back of the head yelling at him to tone down the old married couple routine. The ex-soldier let out a string of expletives in response, broken up by Connie's hearty laughter.

It was when they got to the roof and found Orion and Elita trying to patch Alex up as best they could that Ryan immediately took charge and stalked up to them. Gone was the prickly mood he'd been in the entire time, replaced instead with a professional no-nonsense demeanor as he took over the duo's efforts with a practiced ease. Both Elita and Orion, splashed with blood that they confirmed wasn't all Alex's and none of theirs, looked relieved to see everyone alive, if not a little worse for wear.

A couple minutes later and the whine of ambulances and EMTs finally drifted up to the group, who let out a few celebratory noises and caused Ryan to bark at someone to go bring a team and some supplies up to him, right this instant. The twins immediately volunteered, deciding that their medic was surrounded by a big enough group that they could safely leave him in their care, and shot off from the roof back down the access staircase.

-x-

It was a bit of a surprise to Frieda and Aimee, then, when Sidam and Sunny came hurtling out of one of the buildings, pausing only briefly to scan the area before marching straight up to a team of medics and launching themselves into a quick fire, blow by blow account of events that left the EMTs blinking at them, speechless. Frieda came up to them just in time to hear Sidam finish with "and now we need a helicopter. Do you have one?"

One of the EMTs seemed to recover a little quicker. "Yes, but-"

"Then we need it. Chop chop!" Sidam flapped his arms at them expectantly, and they spluttered at him. Frieda couldn't help grinning even as she stepped in.

"It's why we have it, guys. Who's the pilot?"

"I am." One of the nearer medics who was treating Skylar for a gash across his side where a bullet had grazed him, despite his feeble protests it was fine, answered, evidently having overheard quite a lot of the twins' spiel.

"Well, we need you. You've got another patient."

The EMT stood up, exposing the badge around his neck that identified him as Blake, turning to face them with a slight smile. "Well, let's get going then. This one will be just fine." He picked up his bag, motioning for a couple of the others to follow. Sunny and Sidam both moved to go too, but Blake shook his head.

"Only room for one more, and there's no return trip once I've got the patient."

"You go, Sunshine," Sidam said, prodding his brother. "I'll stay here, help the others keep guard."

Sunny looked at him levelly, shutting his mouth from where he was about to chastise his twin for calling him 'Sunshine', before nodding and clapping a hand to Sidam's shoulder briefly and then following Blake down the road. A couple minutes later and a helicopter rapidly rose up to one of the building rooftops, settled for all of 4 minutes and then juddered away towards the hospital. Frieda hoped whoever was on board would be okay.

-x-

Blake found just enough time between hauling ass to the roof with the helicopter, getting Redding onboard, arguing with the surgeon who'd been tending him about whether anyone should go with the security director and flying to the hospital to be impressed with Doctor Ryan Chester. He'd managed to keep Redding alive and stable until the EMTs arrived and patch up the walking wounded who had joined him on the roof.

Fortunately none of the others who had been there seemed that badly hurt. The bodies would be dealt with later, when the area was actually deemed 'safe'.

As soon as Blake had left with Alex in the capable hands of the medics the pilot had brought with him, Ryan curtly informed Orion that the others would probably need his help too and had packed up and left before any kind of protestation could be made. Orion and Elita simply exchanged looks and followed the surgeon back down the building, trailed by the others who had found and joined the party.

It wasn't until they'd got back down to the 14th floor that Ryan's skills were properly tested. Adam had flagged them down from his position sitting against a doorway where he could see both the stairs and a prone Morgan with his gun, a look of pure relief washing across his face. While Morgan was taken into custody by the 84th's leader, her right hand woman Moira and Kurtis, Ryan's attention was focused solely on the African-American man being held carefully by Detective McCallen. Both men were bloodied; Jazz's tussle with Morgan hadn't done his wounds any favors and he hadn't been able to hold up against the blood loss and pain any longer. He was pale, shaking and cold to the touch.

Once again Sidam and Sunny were sent for more EMTs, a stretcher and as many supplies as possible. Expertly dodging Prowl's rather frantic questions as to whether Jazz would be okay and swearing up a storm while he worked, Ryan refused to make any comment on his patient's condition even after they were all safely out of the building and Jazz was loaded into one of the waiting ambulances.

Orion had to order the brunette to stay and make sure he was alright instead of barging his way into the ambulance to go to the hospital with his partner; the less distractions the better.

As it was, Alex and Jazz were the ones worst hit by the whole ordeal; most of Orion's precinct had made it out with scratches, grazes and a few concussions or bleeding head wounds and a bullet graze for both Simon and Heath, one in the hip and one in the side. No casualties on their side.

At least, not yet.

-x-

"But Elita-"

"No buts, honey," Elita interrupted tartly, hands on her hips. Standing in front of Orion Arkham she looked so delicate, and compared to his six-feet-something she was tiny, but when she got stubborn no one wanted to refute her. "You all look like you were dragged through Hell and back, some more than once, so if you don't get back to your precinct right now with all your little minions in tow..."

Orion raised his hands in surrender, quirking a slight smile. "Alright, alright. I hear you. We'll go."

"And we'll finish up here." Elita kicked the car behind her lightly, where Thane had been bundled in with his trinemates and Aimee was waiting in the passenger's seat. "These losers will be delivered to you. All of them. But for now, you need to get back, go home, and for god's sake rest." She put a hand on Orion's cheek briefly.

The Commissioner grimaced slightly, looking around him before back down at her. "I will. As soon as I know if my team is going to be okay. I'm heading to the hospital, I have to know if Alex and Jazz will make it. And quite possibly keep Adam from murdering someone."

The 84th's leader sighed, but nodded. "Alright. Just... take care."

Orion bent to steal a kiss. "I will, promise." With that he headed for the rest of his team, who were standing or sitting together at the cars which had formed their first defensive line, mostly silent. They all either stopped talking or looked up when he approached, and he rolled his shoulders with a groan when he reached them.

"So?" asked Skylar, looking even more jittery than usual. Dana was sat next to him, hand on his arm to try alleviate some of the twitchiness.

"We're heading back," Orion said simply, holding up a hand to forestall any protestations or remarks. "I am going to the hospital and I will message you all with any updates I get. In the meantime, you will all go back to the precinct, grab your things and go home. I don't want to see any of you for the rest of the day, or tomorrow." He looked back over his shoulder at Elita. "The 84th has offered to finish up here and help us out in the days to come."

"What's the catch?" piped up Byron, grinning wanly to show he was joking. Orion turned back to him with a tired but almost reverent smile of his own.

"I get to marry that fireball."

-x-

Detective Adam McCallen was currently not a happy bunny. The doctors and nurses wouldn't tell him anything about his partner's condition other than he and Redding both were currently in surgery, and it would be some hours before they were out and Adam would know exactly how bad it had been. That was all the information he had. If there was one thing Adam absolutely detested it was not having all the facts, being left out of the loop. This whole venture had been a nightmare from start to finish, and all he wanted was for it to be over and Jasper to be alright.

Some welcome to Detroit, he mused as he seated himself in one of the waiting areas, not caring that everyone could see the holsters and guns strapped to his body. Poor Jazz... so new to the precinct and the first thing that happens is the biggest bust of the year. He unconsciously touched his ear, the same ear Jazz had ripped his stud out of, and shivered. As if bringing Foxtrot back to the surface wasn't bad enough, he'd been captured, almost killed himself escaping and then shot twice for good measure.

Yep, a really shitty past few weeks.

Prowl eyed the 'off limits' corridor where the surgery patients were wheeled through, made a noise of frustration and settled back in his chair. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long, and hopefully... he twitched and shook his head, pinching himself sharply for even entertaining the thought. No, no Jasper would be fine, dammit.

He had to be.

Well, there we go. Action's (mostly) over and done with, and chapter 15 is well on its way to being finished.

If there's anyone left who's actually reading this, I hope you enjoyed!