Chapter 17: Krasnaya Begins
Atlas Academy. Six Years Ago.
Svetlana Crimsonoff - known as Rachael Red to everyone else at this point in time - stood alongside the rest of her classmates in the dojo. The two most notable members of the class other than herself were Ciel Soliel and Ebony Puma; all three girls were the top martial artists of Atlas Academy who had caught the eye of General Ironwood. Currently, the three girls stood with the rest of her classmates as they followed Tukson's instructions.
However, after Tukson received a call that would require "Agent Burgundy," he ordered the girls to wait for a moment as he left to fetch something. After a few minutes of waiting, Tukson returned with a rock so heavy, he had to carry it with both arms. He sat the rock down in front of the group and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Alright, kiddos!" Tukson smiled at the group of girls. "I have to go take care of something, so in the meantime, we're going to test your endurance! In front of you, I've placed a rock. I want you all to try and break the rock. There's no time limit, but you all will be required to record your own time to see how long it took to actually break the rock! And while you're waiting for your turn, you can practice sparing! Ciel, you go ahead and start us off. Good luck!"
Ciel saluted as Tukson left the room before making her way towards the rock. Using her own stopwatch to time herself, Ciel began punching the rock while her peers sparred with each other. However, after a few short minutes and bruising her knuckles, Ciel stopped the timer on her watch and stepped away from the rock to tap Ebony on the shoulder.
"Mind if I take your place?" She asked.
Ebony shared a faux-shocked expression with Rachael. "Do my ears deceive me? Did the teacher's pet give up?"
Racheal crossed her arms. "Hey, come on, Ebony, there's no need to make anyone feel bad."
"Besides, you don't wanna jinx yourself." Jean remarked as she stretched.
"Ah, stuff it, Purple." Ebony clenched her fists and shrugged at the easy challenge. "Man says it's gonna break, I'm gonna break it."
And so, Ebony set about trying to break the rock with her own punches and kicks while Rachael sparred with Ciel. But thirty minutes passed, and all Ebony accomplished was spraining her ankle and splitting her knuckles. "Man, this is bullshit!" Ebony spat as she walked away. "I'm gonna go get some ice."
"Mind if I join you?" Rachael couldn't help but ask. "There's still a bit of time before I'm allowed to take my turn, after all, and I get the feeling that you shouldn't be putting too much weight on that leg."
Ebony gave a bitter chuckle upon hearing this. "Eh, why not? You might be a spoiled rich girl, but you're still a lot better to hang around with than some of the other students here."
By the time Tukson had returned, it was already midnight. He silently went upstairs to check on his students; to make sure they were all fast asleep. But one red-haired student in particular was missing. His ears perked up as he heard a soft grunt echo from down the hall. Tukson couldn't believe his eyes; Rachael Red was tiredly hitting the rock with all of her might. Each punch left a splatter of blood staining the rock and floor beneath her. But the young huntress in training had cracked the rock's surface, which seemingly encouraged her to press on.
"Rachael!" Tukson called out.
"Look!" Rachael smiled as she wiped away the sweat from her forehead, pointing at the hairline fracture on the rock. "I-I'm so close! I won't give up, now! I can do this!"
"Svetlana! Stop!" Tukson knelt down to speak to the girl. Whenever he used her real name, she knew it meant something serious. "This test wasn't meant to test your physical endurance. It was a test for your emotional endurance. It's an impossible task."
Svetlana couldn't believe her ears. "But… but you told me to break the rock."
"I told you to try." Tukson replied, gently. "Svetlana… I understand. I really do. You lost everything. And now, you want to make sure that what happened to you never happens to anyone else. But evil is eternal. Just like this rock. Even if you do break the rock, there will still be pieces. Break the pieces, and there will be pebbles. Break the pebbles, and there will be sand. And evil continues. Your heart is in the right place, but you can't stop evil on your own. You need to learn your own limitations before you can ever hope to help anyone else."
Without another word, Tukson gave her a hug and made his way back downstairs. Rachael looked down at her bloodied knuckles, and then back at the rock - which was stained with her own blood. Was that it? Was there really nothing she could do to stop evil? She clenched her fist once more and continued punching the rock.
Perhaps it was impossible to defeat evil on her own. Perhaps she would never be able to prevent anyone else from suffering her fate. But she could try.
New Rushland. Two Years Ago.
Mikhail was busy plowing the fields when she returned. It had been six months since the Menagerie War ended, and both he and his wife had been through much. Svetlana had taken time off to complete the paperwork for her inheritance from General Ironwood, and wasted no time in appointing Dr. Oobleck the CEO of her company so that he could handle the reconstruction process. But while Oobleck dealt with her company, and Mikhail dealt with their farm, Svetlana traveled Remnant to further hone her skills. By the time she had returned, New Rushland was home to over ten thousand citizens… and approximately five hundred criminals.
Mikhail smiled at the sight of his red-haired lover and ran to hug her. "Welcome home, darling." He purred.
Svetlana smiled, softly, and returned the hug. "It's good to be back, Mikhail. But there's work to be done."
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Jane Maroon lit herself a cigarette after stepping off of the train. She had been living in New Rushland for one week to grow accustomed to the city while her son stayed with her sister until she could find a better apartment. During her time there, she had seen how criminals were taking advantage of the developing city and began to make it their own personal stomping grounds. Not only that, but the police force had been hastily cobbled together that the city counsel hadn't conducted proper background checks. It wasn't the best situation - especially for a single mother trying to raise a son - but after working in internal affairs for two years, she needed any kind of fresh start she could take.
"Just one more month…" She thought to herself as she made her way out of the train station. "One more month until I can see Boris again."
"Lieutenant Maroon?" A voice called out. Jane turned around to see a young man in a trench coat walking up to greet her. "I'm Detective Charr Coal. Commissioner Buio sent me to pick you up."
Jane nodded and shook the detective's hand as she entered his squad car.
Uncomfortable with the awkward silence, Charr decided to speak up. "Yeah, I've been working in this city for about two months now. I transferred from Atlas, too, y'know. What brings you to New Rushland, lieutenant?"
"Fresh start." Jane replied, evenly, as she glanced out the passenger window. "For me and my son."
"Ah, yeah." Charr smirked. "New cities, new opportunities."
Ten minutes later, when they arrived at the police department, Maroon was escorted to the commissioner's office. "Ah, Mrs. Maroon." He smiled. "Come in, come in."
"It's nice to meet you, Commissioner Buio." Jane nodded as she shook the man's hand. "Thank you for allowing me to transfer to your precinct."
"Oh, of course, of course. Your record is stellar! Graduated top of your class, most arrests of the entire precinct… but, there is one thing that concerns me." Commissioner Buio popped a stick of gum in his mouth as he continued reading the file. "You spent an awful lot of time working with internal affairs. Don't misunderstand me; you've got heart, kid. But as a police force in a developing city, we all need to be on the same team. We've got to stick together if we're ever going to keep the citizens safe. Do you understand, Mrs. Maroon?"
"Yes, sir. I do." Jane nodded.
"Marvelous. You start tomorrow on patrol with Detective Carp. He'll help you get acquainted with the city."
Later that night, Jane returned to her apartment and let out a tired sigh as she sat down on her bed. "What am I doing here?" She thought to herself. "It doesn't matter how much good you do… once you bring down another cop, they treat you like a common thug."
At the same time, Svetlana walked down the streets of downtown in her disguise; her scarlet hair had been tied up and covered with a black wig, she wore contact lenses to change her emerald eyes brown, and with the right amount of make-up, she had given herself the appearance of a much older woman with a scar. To the untrained eye, she looked like a completely different person.
Once the sun went down, she made her move. As she walked down the streets, her nose wrinkled in disgust at the sight of peddlers and pimps shamelessly flaunting what they had for sale to the desperate and downtrodden. She was brought out of her thoughts when she spotted a pimp hitting one of his prostitutes.
Clenching her fists, she rushed forward and delivered a swift roundhouse to the pimp's head. Once he was down, the prostitute stabbed Svetlana with a shiv stashed in her purse. "Hey! Someone help with this freak!"
Before she knew it, Svetlana had instinctively punched the prostitute in the face. Within an instant, she was surrounded by peddlers and goons, all wanting to take her down. Svetlana didn't let this deter her, though, holding her attackers off for a bit before using a flashbang that she had brought with her for emergencies to disorient everyone and make her escape. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn't planning on making her escape any easier. She was stabbed, punched, kicked, and nearly beaten to death, but finally managed to lift herself over a fence to get away.
One of them grabbed her ankle and she reflexively struck him with her hammer. She paused once she saw that she had accidentally drawn blood, and cursed to herself before picking his unconscious body onto her shoulders. He might have been scum, but even scum had families. She dropped him off in front of a hospital, then hotwired a car and drove back to her farm. However, the blood loss appeared to be more severe than she realized at first, and she crashed into a ditch seven miles away. Nevertheless, her determination drove her to walk the rest of the way home until she collapsed on her front porch.
Mikhail gasped as he ran to aid his injured wife. He carried her into the living room, laid her down on the couch, and rushed off to get the medical supplies. Svetlana cursed herself; she was too rash and overzealous in her methods. It obviously wasn't enough to take on the criminal element with her skills alone. She needed to become something more than a huntress in order to protect her new home.
"Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot…" Svetlana thought to herself. "I need a moniker… something more than the color red… something to strike fear into their hearts…"
Suddenly, a flash of lightning revealed a dark figure outside. A red-furred bat burst through the window and landed directly in front of Svetlana. As it struggled to fly, the bat let out an ear-splitting screech as another flash of lightning cast its shadow along the portrait of Natalia Crimsonoff, giving it the appearance of a horned, winged demon. With the image etched into her mind, Svetlana got up to help the bat back out the window.
"Yes, mother… I understand…" She whispered to herself. "I know what I must become…"
Over the next two days, Svetlana made a fast recovery while Dr. Oobleck redesigned her suit to her specifications. At last, it was shipped to their farm and Svetlana carried the case downstairs to the cave she had converted into a crime lab. Mikhail followed her down just in time to see her duck into the shadows, shedding her clothes with each piece of armor she donned. Mikhail gasped in shock once his wife stepped out of the shadows to reveal her new outfit. With Oobleck's help, her kevlar armor - combined with the horned cowl and cloak - gave her the appearance of a red demon.
"By the gods…" He whispered, fearfully.
Svetlana marched past her frightened husband and entered her Warthog to drive off into the night. Mikhail's reaction had given her the desired results, but now it was time to test it on criminals.
On Blanc Avenue, a dark van parked in a dimly lit alley. The driver stepped outside to deliver a bag of narcotics to his partner.
"You got the goods?"
"Yep. Tomorrow afternoon, we can head over to the middle school to give the kiddies some free samples." The other thug snorted. "By next week, we'll be swimming in it."
"If you live that long…" A voice called out from the shadows.
"What the fu-?!" The first peddler instinctively drew his gun and aimed up at the sky, unsure where the voice was coming from.
Suddenly, a cloaked figure of red dropped down in front of the two criminals and drew two weapons; a hammer and a sickle. With cat-like reflexes, she rushed forwards and simultaneously sliced the first peddler's gun in half with her sickle and knocked out the second peddler with her hammer. She grabbed the conscious thug in a half-nelson then used her sickle to fire a grappling hook and dragged him up to the roof.
The drug dealer screamed in terror as the masked figure held him over the ledge. "Don't kill me, man! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
"I'm not going to kill you, but I want you to do me a favor; I want you to tell all your friends about me." She growled; her voice distorted by a device built into her cowl. "I want you to tell them what I did to you and your goon. From now on, you keep your poison off of my streets and away from children."
"What are you?!"
The vigilante narrowed her eyes and pulled the criminal close. "I'm Krasnaya."
With that the criminal was thrown back onto the roof before Krasnaya ended up jumping off of the ledge herself. Feeling a bit bold, the criminal looked over the ledge, hoping to see Krasnaya's corpse lying on the street below…only to gap in shock to see that there was nothing there. The criminal could only let out a sound that was somehow a mixture of a sob and a laugh even as he heard the sound of sirens approaching his location.
But the siren was not for him. A few minutes earlier, Jane was driving her squad car when she received an all-points bulletin. ["Calling all cars, calling all cars! Suspicious man seen abducting child! Last spotted heading towards Oak Street!"]
Being a mother, such cases tended to ignite a righteous fire within the police lieutenant. Instinctively, she turned on the siren of her car and grabbed the radio. "This is Lieutenant Maroon! I'm five minutes away and proceeding towards the location!"
When she arrived, she practically jumped out of her car just in time to see someone exiting the building. "FREEZE!" She shouted. The hood defensively lifted his arms in the air but continued walking down the steps. "I said freeze! Stop, or I'll shoot!"
The man swiftly reached into his coat pocket for a gun, but ended up getting shot in the shoulder by Maroon. After handcuffing the perp to a lamppost, Maroon cautiously moved to enter the building. She kicked open the door with her gun at the ready, only to lower it and arch her eyebrow in confusion at what she saw inside. Nine men were scattered across the room with massive lacerations and broken limbs. And in the corner of the room, she spotted a cage full of whimpering children.
"Shh!" Maroon holstered her pistol and knelt down towards the children. "Are any of you hurt? What happened here?"
"These… these bad men…" One of the older kids whimpered. "They took us from our homes… they said they were gonna sell us… then it showed up."
"What did?"
"I don't know…" He shook his head, timidly. "It was some kind of monster. It flew in here. Cut the bad men up. Hit them with a hammer. It was so fast. So scary."
"You're gonna be okay." Jane promised as she moved to open the cage. "I'm gonna get you all back to your families-"
But once she unlatched the cage and pulled it open, the oldest child hastily pulled it shut and hugged a younger child. The lieutenant was startled and confused by such a response.
"... it's still here…" He whispered, pointing towards the stairs.
Looking over towards the staircase, Jane indeed heard a muffled voice coming from the next floor. Drawing her gun again, she cautiously moved up the stairs and down the hall. At last, she recognized the voice; "Little" Tony Greystone. She tried to bring the child-trafficker in for his crimes, but Buio bailed him out. She had once spent eight hours in a room with the slimy criminal, listening to him arrogantly brag about how he would one day own all of New Rushland. The police lieutenant almost didn't recognize his voice with all of the fear in it.
The further she went, the more bodies she found laying on the floor. She didn't have time to check if any of them were breathing before the voice was abruptly silenced. With a trembling hand, she reached out to open the door before a curved blade slid in front of her throat.
"What's your name?" A dark, menacing voice asked from behind.
She gulped and held up her hands. "Jane… J-Jane Maroon…"
"Who employs you, Jane Maroon?"
Jane felt a cold sweat running down her forehead. "I-I'm a lieutenant for the New Rushland Police…"
"Another crooked cop?"
Jane closed her eyes and let out a raspy breath. "S-s-s-son. My son. I'm a - I'm a mom. I've got a teenage son!"
"... where is he?"
Jane gulped. "He's… he's with my sister in Atlas. If anything happens to me… she'll take care of him."
"... are you a good mom, Jane Maroon?"
Jane's lips trembled, her eyes watered, and she dropped the gun to the floor. "Yeah…" She sobbed. "Yeah. I've been a good mom… I'm a lousy cop… and I'm a weak woman who got her husband killed… but that, I didn't screw up! That, I got right!"
The blade slowly moved away from Maroon's throat as the dark figure made her exit. A shaky sob of relief slipped through Maroon's lips as she slowly slumped to the floor and buried her face in her hands. A few minutes later, she heard a police siren coming from the distance. She steeled her nerves and headed back downstairs to finally get the kids out of the cage.
Detectives Coal and Cash barged in and gasped in shock at the number of bodies on the floor before turning to see Maroon opening the cage. "Lieutenant? What happened?"
"Well… it looks to me like New Rushland has a hero." Lieutenant Maroon remarked.
"That's certainly one way to describe her." Detective Cash smiled. "The press is gonna love you."
Two hours later, Jane returned to her apartment and sat on her bed, just staring at a picture of her son with his father. "... I'm sorry, Boris." She whispered. "I'll make this right."
At the same time, Krasnaya decided to call it a night and returned to the cave. This time, she felt a slight sensation of personal victory. Krasnaya was off to a much better start, now. As she removed her suit and hung it up in the pressurized case, her husband walked down the stairs to greet her.
"Why'd you let her go?" Mikhail couldn't help but ask in no small part due to how he had been watching everything through the camera built into her cowl lenses.
"I couldn't do to her son what Loki did to me," Svetlana replied. "Besides, there's something about her that tells me that she's not like the other cops in town."
And Svetlana was indeed correct. In the days that followed, Jane Maroon had cracked down on several bad cops while putting away more and more infamous criminals. But while her fellow officers began to see her in a positive light, a few others had a different opinion. Such as Detective Carmine Carp who voiced his grievances to the commissioner, personally.
"She looked at the roll of cash like it carried the plague!" Detective Carp complained. "Punched the dealer in the face, then gave the entire squad a forty minute lecture on integrity! I'm telling you, Mark, she's not fitting in! She's gotta go!"
Commissioner Buio sighed and placed a newspaper article depicting Maroon saving the children on the front page. "I had such high hopes for her. But we can't make any moves against her just yet. Maroon's got the press on her side."
"So what do we do?"
"Not much we can do until an opportunity to act presents itself."
Two weeks later, the corrupt commissioner had been invited to dinner with several notorious crime bosses who had made New Rushland their home. Little did he realize that he was also leading the infamous Red Woman towards the banquet, hosted by the biggest crime boss of all; Carl Hawkson. Once all the guests were inside, Krasnaya made her way towards the banquet hall, knocking out all of the guards she could find as she did. Looking inside the window, she confirmed that no one had seen anything out of the ordinary before getting to work preparing to deliver a special message.
Meanwhile, various socialites were gathered inside the banquet hall, enjoying a fancy dinner and discussing what had been happening recently.
"Have you seen Krasnaya, Commissioner?" one of the female socialites at the dinner couldn't help but ask. "They say she's huge."
"You shouldn't pry, Margret," declared Carl Hawkson, the central crime boss at the table. "Mark has his hands full: we're trusting him to deal with Krasnaya and Maroon."
"Well whoever this Krasnaya is, she's having a positive effect on public spirits," one of the other male socialites at the table remarked. "Street crime has dropped significantly. Hell, maybe Mark ought to offer her a job."
The others just laughed a bit before the man at the head of the table slammed his drink onto the table. "Hey, hey, let's not kid ourselves. Krasnaya is costing us all money."
"Two sides to everything, Carl," Mark called out even as he continued to enjoy his meal. "Look at the long term: a few stray operatives are put out of action, true, but the people of New Rushland have a hero. Makes them feel safe."
"And the safer they feel, the fewer questions they ask, right Mark?" the male socialite from earlier declared.
Carl thought about this as the flambe was brought out and lit before turning to Mark. "I don't like it: it's stirring things up, and with Maroon pushing internal affairs to go after our friend Mr. Carp…well I don't need to tell you how hard Carmine would be to replace, and if he were to talk…"
"Let me worry about that," Mark smugly declared, still ignorant of what was happening outside the room. "Relax, old friend: everything is under control."
No sooner had he said this, though, a smoke grenade was tossed into the room, which predictably filled the room with a cloud of smoke just in time for the lights to suddenly go out thanks to Krasnaya cutting the power.
"What's going on?!" one of the male socialites called out
"The lights! What happened to the lights?!" a female socialite added to the commentary.
Before anyone could make sense of what was happening, the area around the window exploded, with a dark figure entering the room soon afterwards.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you've eaten well. You've eaten New Rushland's wealth. Its spirit. But your feast is nearly over." Krasnaya called out as she approached the group of dirty individuals, covering up the flambe with the plate's lid so as to put out the flame. "From this moment on, none of you are safe."
"Right back at you," Mark snarled out as he reached for his gun, only for Krasnaya to slam down a flashbang and disappear as everyone tried to come back to their senses.
Once his vision cleared, Carl spotted two dark red horns spray painted on the walls where the Red Woman had been standing. "Alright… this means war." He sneered.
Unfortunately for the criminals, it was a war fought on two fronts. While the Krasnaya attacked and intimidated criminals at night, Lieutenant Maroon would continue to bring down crooked cops by day. The mob grew desperate and threatened to out Commissioner Buio and all his crimes if he didn't put a handle on the lieutenant. Thus, Buio and Carp came up with a plan to put Maroon in her place. Thankfully, Krasnaya had anticipated this and bugged the commissioner's office to listen in on his plan.
"They aren't going to make things easy for Jane, are they?"
"I doubt it," Svetlana couldn't help but remark in regards to her husband's question. "But while these cops might be dirty, they aren't stupid: they know that they can't just kill her, as it would raise too many questions at this stage in the game. Question is how they plan to work around that issue."
As if to answer her question, the police scanner she had on standby suddenly went off. "Attention all units: we have a kidnapping plot in progress. Suspect was last seen heading toward the Diamond District."
"Wait, wasn't that where Jane was supposed to be reuniting with her son?" Mikhail couldn't help but ask.
"So that's how they want to play it." Svetlana snarled out as she got to her feet, already aware of how the Commissioner likely hoped to frame Jane for the crime to turn the press against her.
"Should I get your suit ready?" Mikhail felt the need to ask.
"No, Mikhail." Svetlana shook her head and grabbed the keys to her motorcycle. "Never during the day."
A few minutes earlier, Boris Maroon stepped off the plane and made his way into the airport to meet his mother. As he fiddled with his scroll, a detective in a trenchcoat approached him. "Boris Maroon?"
Boris arched an eyebrow. "Who wants to know?"
"My name's Detective Carp. Your mom sent me to pick you up."
Boris pulled up his messages on his scroll and showed off the screen. "She said she was meeting me here, personally."
"Yeah, well, things change."
Before he knew it, Boris had been shoved out into the airport's parking lot and pinned against Carp's squad car. Three other officers exited the vehicle and helped hold down the kid. Just then, another car pulled up and Lieutenant Maroon immediately aimed her weapon at Carp.
"What is this?!" Jane couldn't help but snarl out.
"This is what I like to call an intervention of a crooked cop - one who thought she could get away with kidnapping a defenseless child - that went south, tragically ending in the death of New Rushland's latest Lieutenant and her only son…or at least that's what the news will be reporting tomorrow morning," one of the crooked cops sneered out. "After all, it's not like either of you are going to be able to dispute the story that our good friend the Commissioner will put forward."
"Right, because it's not like someone could just happen to pass by and see what really happened," Boris sarcastically drawled as he gestured to the wide open space around them.
"Yeah, I'll admit there are potentially one or two flaws with the plan," another crooked cop said with a shrug before giving a mocking grin. "But hey: we can just buy them off like all of the other witnesses…and even if that falls through, who do you expect people to believe: some random goon on the street or the respectable officers of the NRPD?"
"You'll never get away with this," Jane snarled out.
"Funny, every other cop I've killed said the same thing," Carl said with a mocking scoff before cocking his gun with an almost pitying look on his face. "You should have just gotten with the program, Jane: after all, there are no heroes in New Rushland."
"Want to bet?"
Jane didn't quite let out a sigh of relief as a figure dressed in red swooped in on a motorcycle and took out several of the surrounding goons, giving her the chance to knock the gun that had been pointed at her to the ground and punching her would-be assailant in the face.
"Get them!" someone cried out as a brawl quickly broke out between Jane, Borris, and the figure in red with the gathered goons.
"This a regular thing here?" Boris couldn't help but ask even as he used his gymnastic skills to avoid some knife swipes from one of the guys surrounding them.
"Welcome to New Rushland," Jane called out in a tone that was only partially joking.
Unfortunately, Carp had knocked out the only other witness and grabbed her child as he made his escape. Jane holstered her gun and got inside her own car to pursue. "Boris, stay here and wait for me to call you!"
As his mother drove off, Boris hastily picked up a gun and turned towards the mysterious woman in red.
"Stop right there!" Boris shouted as he aimed the gun at the stranger. "I know how to use this thing!"
"Mr. Maroon… I promise you, I'll save your mother and the infant."
Boris just stared at the figure before him for a good few seconds before firing the gun at one of the goons that had been getting back up, knocking him back to the ground as a result. "You better keep your promise, or you'll be sharing that guy's fate."
"Understood."
Boris merely nodded as the figure got back on a nearby motorcycle and drove off after his mother, before going over and kicking a gun away from a goon that had begun to regain consciousness. "Yeah, I don't think so."
The goon in question just spat in reply. "You're just as obnoxious as your mother."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Meanwhile, Jane had finally caught up to Carp's car and rammed into him as hard as she could just as they got onto the bridge. He swerved into the wall and groggily stepped out with the infant still in his arms. Jane rushed towards him, but took a knife to the shoulder for her zeal. Carp had her pinned against the wall, the knife just a few precious centimeters away from her face. Thinking quickly, Jane kicked his shin, forcing him to drop the knife and the baby over the ledge.
"NO!" Jane shouted as she leapt after the falling infant.
However, a blur of red swooped past her, diving towards the child and wrapping her arms around the baby before spinning around to land in the water. Jane crossed her arms over her face to cushion her fall, sacrificing her glasses in the process. Once she wiped the mud out of her eyes and rose to her feet, Jane blinked in shock at the sight of the red blur safely cradling the infant in her arms.
"She'll be fine…" The mysterious woman promised as she handed the crying baby over to the captain. "Please, see to it that she's returned to her parents."
"I will. Thank you." Jane smiled as she hugged the baby close to her chest, gently rocking her back and forth in her arms and giving a relieved smile as the baby started to calm down. As the sound of police sirens drew nearer, she let a sigh slip through her lips. "Y'know… I'm practically blind without my glasses. If you were to slip away, I'd never even notice."
Little did she realize that the woman had made her escape as soon as she'd handed over the baby.
A Few Hours Later (While Still Being 2 Years Ago)…
"...and that's pretty much what happened." Jane declared, having just finished describing what had happened to the Mayor. "Oh, and before I forget, we managed to reunite the kidnapped child with her family. They're currently being watched over by Aiysha Cash: I might not have known her very long, but something about her tells me that I can trust her. They'll be safe for the time being."
"That's good to hear. In any case, I'm not happy that Krasnaya got away, but given the circumstances, I'm just glad you're alright, Maroon," the Mayor said with a bittersweet smile. "On the plus side, this should give us more than enough evidence to throw the book at those dirty cops who aided in that kidnapping plot."
"Maybe, but given that the Commissioner is included in that group…"
"Let me worry about that, Jane. For now, go ahead and go home to get some rest. You've more than earned it… Captain."
Jane smiled, quickly realizing that she'd just been promoted. "With pleasure, Mayor."
The Mayor simply gave a smile of her own in reply. "Please, do me the pleasure of calling me Meloni. Oh! And before I forget, there's someone I'd like you to meet." She pressed a button on her desk, signaling her secretary to let the guest inside.
In stepped a tall, red-haired woman with emerald eyes dressed in a black business suit.
"Captain Jane Maroon, meet Mrs. Svetlana Crimsonoff-Kashtonovvy." Meloni introduced. "She's been helping us build the city. She even helped fund my campaign for mayor. Trust me, Jane, she's one of the good millionaires-"
"Ah, that's billionaire, Meloni. Millionaires are so last year." Svetlana gave a cocky smile and winked at her friend before shaking hands with the police captain. "But in all seriousness, it's good to finally meet you, Captain Maroon. I read all about your exploits in the papers."
"The pleasure's mine, Mrs. Crimsonoff-Kashtonovvy." Jane nodded. "I look forward to working with you to make New Rushland safe."
Now
"...and all of that stuff really happened?" Azure asked.
"Yes, yes it did." Krasnaya nodded. "Any questions?"
"... how do you know about the parts you weren't there for?"
"Don't sass me."
"In all seriousness though, it's cool to know that Boris and his mother were always looking out for New Rushland in their own way," Azure said with a smile.
"Yeah, I'll admit that we didn't always see eye-to-eye, but the Maroon family has proven to be a valuable ally." Krasnaya said with a nod.
"Yeah, I guess even if he's not a cop, Boris has been pretty helpful tutoring me." Azure remarked.
"Uh…" Krasnaya thought whether or not it was her place to tell Azure about Magenta's true identity, but ultimately decided against it as she and her sidekick proceeded to attack another drug ring.
At the same time, Jane was just about to leave for work when she saw her son putting together a photo album with a bunch of news-clippings.
"What have you got there, Boris?"
"Just an old newspaper article about you taking care of that kidnapping plot back when I first arrived in the city," Boris declared with a shrug. "Felt a bit nostalgic for some odd reason and decided to give it another look. Still can't believe how much has changed since then."
"I know what you mean," Jane said with a nod. "Part of me still can't believe that they actually managed to get rid of Carp and Buio."
"Well, if nothing else, you've had plenty of time to figure out what to do if folks like them ever showed up again."
"Indeed I have," Jane declared with a contemplative expression. "Actually, would you mind if I borrow that newspaper clipping for a bit?"
"I don't see why not." Boris remarked even as she handed it over. "Why? Are you feeling a bit nostalgic yourself?"
"Something like that."
"Okay then," Boris said with a shrug, before blinking as her Red Wave went off, indicating that Krasnaya was in need of Magenta's assistance. "Uh, listen, I need to…."
"Meet up with Cyan for a tutoring session? Okay then: be safe out there." Jane declared with a hidden wink, indicating that she knew - or at least suspected - what her son was really up to but choosing not to publicly acknowledge it.
Boris smiled in reply. "I'll try. Love you, Mom."
"I love you too."
Sometime later, Jane posted the newspaper clipping on a billboard in the meeting room of the police station before turning back to see everyone coming in while making numerous comments about what this was about. "Alright people, settle down," Jane called out as she waited for everyone to take their seats for the meeting.
"And for goodness sake, watch your language," Aiysha teasingly declared from her seat.
Jane glared at her old friend in response. "Really, Cash? Just…really?"
"Sorry, Boss: I'm not letting that go anytime soon."
"I was afraid you would say that." Jane said with a groan before clearing her throat. "Anyways, you're probably wondering why I called this meeting today."
"Actually yes, yes we were," Alex called out even as she sat down. "Does it have anything to do with that old newspaper clipping you attached to the billboard?"
"As a matter of fact, it does. You see, as that newspaper clipping will tell you, two years ago, Mayor Meloni Brass and I discovered a conspiracy within New Rushland's police force." Commissioner Maroon explained. "Veteran officers of the law who betrayed their oaths and put lives in danger for their own interests. And I'm sorry to say that it's still happening today. My most trusted detectives and I are working to root out any and all corruption that could threaten this city. But with threats such as the Trickster, Night Terror, and many more on the rise, the NRPD may have to consider… alternative solutions."
Chief Rojos arched an eyebrow. "Such as?"
But before the commissioner could answer, the lights to the building went out. One officer burst into the room, claiming that none of the computers were working and that the scroll lines were jammed with panicked calls from citizens. Just then, Rojos' radio went off.
"Hey, chief! It's me, Sam! I need you and Cash to get the bombsquad to the First Bank of New Rushland!"
To Be Continued!
