Summary: For something that can be a annoying to have around, you do miss it when it isn't there.
Especially when it's something that can clear one's name or prove one's guilt.
Notes: It should be noted that Clara is as protective of Kallen as he is to her...
A slight trigger warning for this.
For the want of a security camera
2094
Security cameras, for someone that specialises in sneaking around in places where he was not necessarily meant to be, were the bane of his existence.
But Captain Mahogany, aka Kallen Tracy, really wished there was one in the area he was in now…
Because if this bitch of a GDF officer, Lieutenant Leslie Johnson, didn't back off with her advances, he was going to have to kick her arse, and she seemed like the type that would scream rape if he objected to them.
It was partly because of situations like this potentially happening, International Rescue recorded everything when it's operatives were out in the field, while they didn't happen very often, there were a few people that mistook their kindness as a green light or a come on.
Mahogany knew his Uncle John had a special brand of vindictiveness for false accusations of this nature - even in this day and age, such accusations could ruin one's life even when proven innocent.
While Spectrum didn't have their officers carry cameras on their person, there were security cameras throughout all public areas of their bases, and punishment for such crimes on Skybase could potentially end up with the culprit being thrown off base - without the parachute.
But for some stupid reason the GDF didn't afford the same security measures to their people, meaning people, like this bitch, had areas where they could try and pull off their Bullshit.
Mahogany suppressed a growl of frustration, knowing that Johnson would misinterpret the emotion behind it, he, Coral and Turquoise had been sent to assess the Los Angeles GDF base's security.
As soon as he saw the look the base's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Earnest Kennedy, an officer Mahogany was sure he had heard the name of before, and not in a good way, gave Coral when they were introduced, he had quietly ordered Coral to stay with either himself or Turquoise and don't let him get her alone.
It was advice he should've taken for himself, because for a sleazy guy like Kennedy to have a female 2IC, she would also have to be fine with Kennedy's behaviour and was probably as sleazy as he was, "For the last time Lieutenant," Mahogany snapped at the woman. "I am not interested, and your behaviour is unacceptable."
0o0o0
Lieutenant Coral, looked at Lieutenant Turquoise, as she finalised up the checklist for the location they were in, "We need to get back to Kallen," she muttered. "I think he's in trouble."
Turquoise nodded, "Think the Lieutenant was also dodgy?" He replied.
Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy had volunteered another subordinate to show them around, when he had realised that he wasn't going to be able to give Coral a private tour of the base, but Coral had also gotten bad vibes from his 2IC, while she knew Mahogany could handle himself at the best of times, what she was feeling through her connection with him was sheer discomfort, a discomfort, she knew, that suggested that someone he was not interested in was getting a little too close, "He's not comfortable," Coral confirmed quietly. "And nervous, as if he's preparing to attack someone."
"Damn it," Turquoise hissed. "We should have stayed together," he looked to the GDF officer that was with them. "We are finished here, would you mind taking us back to our colleague, he should be at the hangers by now."
As they made their way back to Mahogany's location, Coral could feel his agitation rising, and she hoped that they would get to him before things escalated.
They arrived at the hangers in time to hear Mahogany give Johnson a final warning.
Which Johnson ignored, "Don't be like that, handsome," she purred as she reached for him. "Most men like the attention I give them."
What exactly happened next, Coral would have trouble remembering, because one moment she was witnessing Johnson touching Mahogany inappropriately, the next Johnson was a wailing bloody mess on the ground, and Mahogany had his arms around her dragging her away while trying to calm her down.
0o0o0
The feral inhuman shriek that Turquoise heard from Coral the moment Johnson touched Mahogany, sent a chill down his spine.
Mahogany had shoved Johnson off of him in shock and before the Lieutenant could recover herself, Coral was on her, punching, scratching and kicking the shit out of the woman, while screaming unintelligibly at her.
It took Mahogany a couple of moments to recover enough to realise that he had to pry Coral off of Johnson before she killed the other woman, Turquoise moved to make sure Johnson didn't try and rush Coral as Mahogany separated the pair.
He needn't worried, when Mahogany pulled Coral off of Johnson, the other woman collapsed in a wailing heap on the ground.
Coral was still trying to get the Lieutenant even though Mahogany had pulled her off, "Let me go," she spat. "She touched…"
"I know, I know," Mahogany soothed. "But killing her isn't going to fix things."
Turquoise looked around the hangar, the noise was starting to draw attention from other officers in the distance, "Hey you," Turquoise spoke to the officer that escorted Coral and himself into the hangar. "Stop standing there like a stunned mullet, and inform your CO, that we are pulling out, and that you will be receiving a report on your officer's conduct in due course."
The officer looked at Turquoise then at Mahogany, who had managed to calm Coral down somewhat, "Yes sir," The Officer replied. "Right away, sir."
"And get your 2IC some medical attention," Turquoise added. "Not that she deserves the help."
"Bitch broke my nose!" Johnson shrieked. "You're going to pay for this, Coral!"
Coral snarled and lunged for Johnson, with Mahogany barely hanging onto her.
Turquoise spun on Johnson, "Shut up," he snarled. "I would be more concerned about the sexual harassment charges, if I was you."
"We need to get out of here," Mahogany muttered.
Turquoise nodded, as they started to move toward the exit, "Dumb question," he asked. "But are you okay?"
"Physically, I'm fine," Mahogany replied. "Mentally - Ask me later."
0o0o0
If Turquoise hadn't called ahead and informed him and Colonel Blue of situation, Colonel Scarlet would have been furious at Mahogany for the state his daughter was currently in.
But after realising that it was because of her protective instincts for Mahogany were in overdrive, Scarlet calmed down somewhat, had the roles been reversed, and a male officer had groped his daughter without consent, he would have fully expected Mahogany to beat the man's arse into oblivion.
If fact, after hearing what had happened to Mahogany, most of the female officers on Skybase wanted to rip this Lieutenant Johnson to shreds.
Which made what Scarlet had to tell Mahogany and Coral, all the more harder.
Johnson was pressing charges against Coral saying the incident with Mahogany was a misunderstanding and that Mahogany was leading her on.
Even though there were three witnesses to Mahogany's rejection of Johnson there was little to no evidence of the lead up to the incident as half of the very few security cameras around the base were apparently 'offline.'
Even Colonel Rigby of the GDF was having a hard time believing those claims, and made it clear that to Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy, that he was to make sure every camera at that base was working within 24 hours, and the blind spots eliminated.
As for Johnson's claims Rigby stated that she would be on report for unprofessional behaviour, regardless of whether or not Mahogany pressed charges against her.
But there was nothing he could do about the assault charge charge against Coral, unless Johnson decided to drop the charges - which was unlikely, unless Mahogany agreed to drop the charges against Johnson in exchange.
Johnson protested, of course, but Kennedy shut her up by saying that it was going to be the best deal she was going to get, because a jury was more likely to believe Mahogany's version of events with three witnesses to his rejection of her.
When Scarlet explained the situation to Mahogany and Coral, Coral objected loudly, saying that Mahogany was uncomfortable the entire time he was with Johnson, that she felt his discomfort through the bond that they shared.
Mahogany hugged Coral tighter in response, and gently pointed out that normal people wouldn't consider that fact solid proof, and then asked Scarlet to inform Blue that he would be dropping the charges on the condition, that no charges whatsoever would be brought against Coral for the incident.
0o0o0
Colonel Wayne Rigby glared at Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy and Lieutenant Johnson, "You will be happy to know," he growled. "Captain Mahogany agreed to drop the assault charges against you, Johnson, in exchange for you dropping the assault charges against, Lieutenant Coral."
Johnson, looking worse for wear, with two black eyes and a broken nose, growled softly, "Yes sir," she replied, even though she clearly disagreed with the decision.
"Be thankful that Mahogany was more concerned with protecting his subordinate," Rigby snapped. "Because due to the lack of working video cameras in this place, and the rumours and complaints I've heard about you, Lieutenant, I'm inclined to believe Mahogany's version of events over yours."
Johnson looked like she had sucked a lemon.
"Consider the beating you took," Rigby continued. "As your stupid prize for playing stupid games, and you're going on report for conduct unbecoming an officer, also, if you are involved in anything of this nature again you had better pray that there is video evidence of your innocence, because you will be up on sexual harassment charges otherwise."
Johnson dropped her head to her chest, "Yes sir," she mumbled.
Rigby spun to face Kennedy, "As for you Lieutenant Colonel," he snarled. "You are also going on report, for failing to meet duty of care requirements for the personnel and equipment of this base - Get those security cameras back up and running, and eliminate all the blind spots in the system."
"Yes sir," Kennedy growled in response.
"And if a situation similar to this one, happens again under your watch," Rigby added darkly. "I will not wait for your resignation."
Kennedy shot Rigby a look that could melt steel, "Yes sir," he snarled.
0o0o0
Colonel Blue knocked on the door of Mahogany's quarters, a couple of days later, "How are you doing Mahogany?" He asked.
"About as well as I'm going to be," Mahogany replied, as Blue entered the room. "I think we need to come up with a backup recording system we can activate if things like that happen again in the field."
"The problem being most military installations, including us, don't like other organisations filming in their bases," Blue commented. "But you're correct, we do need to guarantee the safety and security of our personnel in the field, even if it is with organisations that are meant to have measures in place."
Mahogany was silent for a couple of minutes, before speaking again, "I finally figured out how I knew of Kennedy," he commented.
Blue cocked an eyebrow, "Do tell," he replied curiously.
"I spoke to Keys," Mahogany explained. "I knew the name raised some red flags, apparently he had a run in with Uncle Scott and Aunt Piper in the 70's, that ended with Scott slugging him."
Blue cocked an eyebrow, "What triggered your Uncle to do that?" He asked.
"He asked Piper out on a date, after a rescue, not realising that she was already married and had two kids," he grimaced. "He took offence to Piper saying no, and tried intimidating her into changing her mind."
"Which Scott obviously didn't take well," Blue commented. "Does Paul know about this?"
"I don't know, I haven't had a chance to ask him," Mahogany admitted. "If he does, it probably slipped his mind, it's been more than twenty years since it happened."
"How he is still is an officer in the GDF?" Blue asked rhetorically. "If he causes this kind of trouble?"
"He got friends in high and shady places," Mahogany replied. "And slippery as an eel, all they seem to be able to get him on is minor misdemeanours, not enough to remove him from his position," he sighed. "While I didn't tell her the details, I did warn Keys to warn the others, if they are ever unfortunate enough to work with them in the future, to try not to be alone with either officer, and if they are, to make sure have their security cameras on."
Blue nodded, Mahogany had calmed down considerably in the months after Turquoise managed to get a communicator to Sophia Tracy, so that any of the Tracy's that wanted to be friends with the Spectrum officers, could talk to them without going through Green or Thunderbird 5, just the reassurance of being able to talk to or give warnings to his twin had done wonders to his mental health, "I'm not going to put any of you kids on anymore GDF inspections, where Kennedy and Johnson are involved," Blue commented. "If Rigby isn't able to follow my advice and remove them from their posts, that is," he laughed softly. "Paul and Ian have volunteered to deal with Kennedy while Elaine and Rebecca have a heart to heart with Johnson."
Mahogany laughed, "Rigby is going to be filing a couple of missing persons reports if that happens," he replied. "I'm surprised you and Major Green haven't volunteered to go with them."
"Who said we haven't?" Blue replied with mock offence. "But somebody has to cover for them while they hide the evidence."
Mahogany snorted, then sighed, "Clara will probably kill Johnson if she sees her again," he said softly. "Especially, if I'm in the room with them."
Blue frowned, "How do you come to that conclusion?" He asked.
"Because Clara had a territorial response to Johnson crossing my boundaries," Mahogany replied. "If I hadn't pulled her off of Johnson, she probably would've killed her - it was only after we had gotten clean away from her, did she calm down enough to realise what had happened."
Blue blinked, "Are you two in a relationship that you haven't informed me about?" He asked.
Mahogany took a deep breath, "I'm not going to deny that we share a strong connection with each other, and that it would be extremely dangerous for an intruder to try to come between us," he answered softly. "Officially, no, we are not together in a romantic relationship."
"But it will probably happen," Blue finished.
"When we are both ready, yes," Mahogany confirmed, with a wistful look on his face. "But we are not quite there yet."
But it won't be long, Blue thought. Kallen is already head over heels for her, probably has been for a long time, he is most likely waiting for Clara to be ready to settle with him before making his move.
He knew from what Mahogany had told him about his family, and Scarlet had confirmed, Tracy's didn't waste time once they decided to put down roots, things would happen very quickly once Coral and Mahogany took the plunge.
But that wasn't today, "Have you spoken with Fawn, or any of the mental health personnel?" Blue asked, getting back to business.
"You know I don't trust any of those mind readers," Mahogany growled. "I spoke to Ed, although for some things I wish could talk to Belle or even my parents, I know Ed tries his best, but…"
"I know," Blue put his hand reassuringly on Mahogany's shoulder. "It's not the same."
"I wish I could go home," Mahogany replied softly.
There was a knock at the door and Coral walked into Mahogany's quarters, she probably already had plans with him before and was wondering where he was, he had been talking to the younger man for a while, or she just simply sensed his change in mood and had come to keep him company, either way Blue wasn't sure, but he knew Mahogany had enough for today, and Blue needed to talk to the Skybase doctors about a few things.
He nodded at Coral as she moved to hug Mahogany, and left Mahogany's quarters.
Notes: Kallen didn't drop the charges against Johnson because he wanted to, honestly he knows that Johnson woman is a predator, but he knew if Clara was charged with a criminal conviction, she wouldn't be jailed but turned into Spectrum's Research and Development Department's lab rat - a punishment far worse than either of the provable crimes, and something Kallen wouldn't wish on his worst enemy, let alone the woman he loves - that only got in trouble because she was defending him.
But Rigby has been warned, and IR knows there's a problem with those two officers and Johnson had the snot kicked out of her, so maybe she will think twice before pulling such a stunt again…? Eh, probably not, but one could hope right?
Right?