Just Another Day on the Job Part 1

Life is cheap in Zetsubo City. So cheap is it that a mugger will think nothing of gunning down their victim, just as law enforcement would gun down a mugger as soon as a murderer. Crime runs rampant. The ongoing conflicts between the police and various gangs and criminals verges on outright warfare. Everyday, platoons of armed and armored police descend to the streets to mete out what passes for justice while the average street thug returns fire and plans ever more daring acts of criminality.

Rookie Officer Katsu Nakagawa assumed his routine patrol would prove as uneventful as things ever were in Zetsubo city. Despite the background noise of gunshots and other various crimes in progress, the directive from the captain was to watch out for gang activity specifically, with one particular gang taking priority.

The Royal Dragons, as they called themselves, had gotten too big for their britches. Sure they might have been dealing with illegal firearms and trafficking narcotics, as was normal, but they had seen fit to kill an officer and string the body up for all to see. The brass had interpreted this as a naked challenge to their authority, and so any opportunity to bring the hammer down was to be taken immediately.

As Nakagawa trundled along the boulevard in his squad car – a slight misnomer, as the vehicle more resembled a small tank than a car, lacking only the cupola and turret – a flash of color, incongruous with the bright neon lighting surrounding it, caught his eye. He slowed to a stop and glanced at the viewfinder for the external camera.

On the one hand, it could very well be nothing; that would be Officer Nakagawa’s preference. But if it were merely nothing, it was also useless for bolstering and advancing his career. Nakagawa might not have been the most eager maverick in the barracks as it were, but he knew there was no more certain route to relative safety and luxury than being promoted to a rank that permitted him to sit behind a desk instead of trudge in the trenches.

He glanced at the viewfinder again. The banner that he had latched onto was dark blue in color with white lettering. Based on the intelligence the department had, this was likely an indicator to those in the know that this location was friendly to the Royal Dragons.

I’m in luck, he thought to himself. If I can get some useful intelligence, then I’m sure to get promoted. Considering that it might not do to be spotted by these alleged gang members, Nakagawa turned off any and all external lights and signage that might give him away.

Next order of business, he thought. I need to call this in.
“Nakagawa reporting in,” Nakagawa said, speaking softly into his radio, in case anyone outside might overhear him. “Possible Royal Dragon hangout sighted at sector thirty-seven, sub-sector beta. Moving in for confirmation. Over.”

“Acknowledged,” came the grainy reply. “Proceed with caution.” Nakagawa parked the squad car, but left it running in idle in case he needed to leave in a hurry. As he approached the ramshackle, rundown building with the banner, he took a closer look at it. It certainly matched up with all the descriptions he had seen of the Royal Dragons' iconography, especially when presented with the intricate details comprising the dragon’s scales.

Drawing his service pistol, which incidentally was a misnomer as well, as his sidearm had a recoil powerful to injure an unwary user, he moved to the entrance. A brief glance around informed him that there were no guards or lookouts.

Quickly and quietly, he slipped in the through the entrance. Past the doorway was a corridor with rooms along one side. Slight murmurs of distant conversation wafted from the far end of the hallway. Slowly and deliberately, Officer Nakagawa crept forward.

Tentatively, he peered in through the first door. As soon as he saw no less than a dozen obvious gang members, he withdrew back around the corner. It would be good to gain an idea of the gang's numbers and disposition, but certainly not at the cost of his life. Only when he was absolutely certain it was safe, he crept past this door and moved to the second door.

The second room was devoid of people, but seemed to represent a cache of some sort. Looking both ways, Officer Nakagawa snuck inside. The room was lined with shelves and the shelves were filled with anonymous-looking storage cases, specifically designed for transport. Popping the lid of one such case, Officer Nakagawa was unsurprised to find weapons, and illegal weapons to boot. Naturally, any identifying information had been removed from the weapons to facilitate their use in illicit activities.

The other cases contained similar forms of contraband, ranging from other weapons to drugs. By Nakagawa's reckoning, if he managed to bust these people, or at least led to them being busted, it would certainly reflect well on him when it came time to hand out promotions.

Finally, Officer Nakagawa decided to trek further. There was still the matter of the muffled conversations, which had been growing louder as he progressed into the lair. Slowly, he crept down the hallway towards the last room. As he crouched low and peered around the corner, there could be no doubt that this room was the source of the sounds he heard.

“Those Red Death shitheads got what they deserved!” said a man with a dyed mohawk as he slammed an empty bottle on the table.

“Yeah!” agreed one of his compatriots. “Now we can move into the Gap and take over the business.” The statement in particular stuck out to Nakagawa. The Gap, he knew, was a colloquial nickname for one particular set of city blocks, and with what was mentioned of the Red Death, everything seemed to line up with reports he had heard earlier of a gang massacre.

“What have we here? A little rat snooping around?” A voice asked. Nakagawa whirled around and to his horror, there was a gang member standing behind him, gun already drawn, albeit held casually.

Oh shit, Nakagawa thought to himself.

“What are you doing here, cop?” said the gang member, waving the gun vaguely in Nakagawa's direction. “You better start talking.” Still crouching on the ground and vulnerable as he was, Nakagawa knew the situation looked grim.

“Takeshi, dude, what's taking so long?” came a voice from inside one of the rooms Nakagawa had crept past. For the briefest instant, the thug that had caught him turned to address the voice. Nakagawa took the initiative. In that moment of carelessness, Nakagawa brought his service pistol around, up under the gang member's chin, and pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped through flesh and bone and exited the far side of the man's head – or at least what remained of it – before embedding itself in the ceiling. Now with his cover blown due to the noise, Nakagawa began to sprint full tilt towards the door.

Immediately, there came a clamor as the other gang members, previously jovial, snapped to attention. As he ran down the hallway Nakagawa glanced behind him and saw that the rest of the gang began to pour into the hallway, weapons drawn. Shortly after guns fired and bullets began to ricochet off the walls around him.

He ducked into an alcove by the entrance, dropped into a crouch, and took aim in preparation to return fire. He fired off two shots, each of which proved ineffectual, and paused. As more and more thugs poured into the hallway, it became evident that they wielded far more dangerous weaponry than his service pistol. Deciding that perhaps discretion truly was the better part of valor, he waited for his moment, and then sprinted outside and over to the squad car, making sure to put the bulk of its armor plating between him and his pursuers.

“Officer Nakagawa reporting an active situation involving the Royal Dragons,” he said speaking into the receiver. “I repeat: Officer Nakagawa reporting an active situation involving the Royal Dragons. Requesting backup.”

“We read you loud and clear,” replied the operator. “Dispatching EMP to sector thirty-seven, sub-sector epsilon. Standby.” Nakagawa frowned. He didn't think that this situation warranted the deployment of an EMP, but it wouldn't do to complain about it. An exact location flashed up on the console screen, showing where the EMP would be deployed.

“Damn them all,” grumbled Officer Nakagawa as it dawned on him exactly how far away from him the bio-weapon was being dispatched. Normally, he felt it behooved him to give anything labeled as a bio-weapon a wide berth, but when the weapon in question also represented his best shot at survival, he would just have to deal with it.

A bullet smashing into the passenger door window, causing a spiderweb of cracks in the reinforced glass, snapped Officer Nakagawa back into the present. He had to get to sub-sector epsilon and quickly. He shifted the squad car into gear and sped off.

Through his rear-view mirror, he saw that the Royal Dragons had quickly adapted by grabbing their motorcycles or whatever other vehicles they had and had joined the pursuit.