Chapter Text
16:45 EST
99th Brooklyn Precinct
8 MONTHS TO GO
"Squad," addressed Holt, professional and serious as ever, "what I'm about to tell you requires the highest level of security." at that point I was getting a bit worried, as I wouldn�t peg Captain Holt as a man to overestimate danger, ergo whatever has made him call us in was not a threat to be reckoned with.
"As a result of current events, One Police Plaza has decided to assign us a task force because our location is a strategic advantage." at this point I was getting hyped up. Like, REALLY hyped up. If he called me in here, then I must be in the task force. Who's going to lead it?
"I've picked you specifically to be part of said task force as I see you will be the most beneficial to the cause." as usual, the Captain was not emoting, not letting us into what this task force may be focused on, or why we were meeting in private. I'd noticed I was the last one called into his office and it did bother me a bit because he'd had a word with everyone else before that. Was he unsure of my skills? Did he think I was unfit for the task? I hope not. Either way, the team so far consisted of people I met quite recently - well, not too recently, it's been over a year now, but trust takes time - but from their career numbers I knew they were good cops.
There was Sergeant Jeffords - the precinct's momma hen, Detective Rosa Diaz - a resident badass and, as of late, my crush but she doesn't need to know that, and Detective Amy Santiago - who I genuinely found to be adorable, even if she was older than me. Next to Amy was Detective Charles Boyle - probably not the sharpest tool in the shed but for sure one of the most hardworking people I've met, and lastly, Detective Jake Peralta - I can't even try to encompass his entire personality in a couple of words, but, at his core, he is a giant goof but overall a good cop, even if he has his moments. And then there's me.
Basically all the detectives in the precinct aside from Hitchcock and Scully. To be honest, I don't even know their names they just collectively introduced themselves as "Hitchcock and Scully".
"You will be working closely with the Federal Bureau's Organized Crime unit." at that point you could hear everyone get a little bit excited, I myself was positively buzzing, "However, before I brief you on the details, you need to swear complete secrecy. Now, this task force is classified and requires high level of clearance so, naturally very few people will be cleared on the details." Okay, Captain Holt Boss-man, give me the case file, I need to know what it's all about.
Just as he took another breath to carry on, the door behind us opened and closed in a brisk manner, we all turned and saw a professionally-dressed woman with a dyed-blonde shoulder length hair and tired eyes. Someone hasn't slept in a while.
"Captain Holt!" she greeted with a nod before leveling her eyes to each and every one of us, "These are your people?" we were all quiet for what seemed like the longest time until the Captain announced:
"The finest in my precinct."
You could feel his quiet dignified pride as he said that. They had been through a lot to get to where we are. They deserved that title.
The woman seemed to approve of that as she gave a nod and went to stand next to the captain in front of us.
"Detectives!" she nodded our way in a similar way, and she seemed far too busy for greetings and formalities, "Bureau Chief Vincent, Organized Crime. We've got quite the unusual case on our hands." I think at that point we all kind of knew what this was about.
It was in reference to the time two weeks ago when the sky opened up and metal junk started floating over the city, there was this orb in the sky, that seemed very much ready to kill. No one knew what had happened but what we did know is that Organized Crime knew something about it - their squads were seen in formation in multiple odd locations all over the city. No one was killed luckily, but there was damage to the city and many unanswered questions.
What was that thing? Where did it come from? Why was it here? And why did it go away?
"Now, I trust you're all aware that none of what we say leaves the room. Only you, my squad and a select few civilians know of this. Any leaks will be prosecuted as treason."
"Okay, I'm starting to get a little nervous here." mumbled Jake, and yeah, I could agree, this is starting to sound a bit daunting.
Chief Vincent decided to ignore him - good call.
"In regards to what happened two weeks ago," I mean is anyone surprised? No. Were we a little anxious? Oh, you could SMELL our anxiety, "The truth is none of our forces were able to withstand what happened then and none of our well-trained officers were able to fight back against that thing in the sky. But there were four people who could."
"Were they superheroes? Ninjas? X-men?" Jake could no longer hold his excitement, he was just shaking and jumping up and down at this point, and his smile was very contagious.
We were gonna meet the people who saved the city! Are you kidding me, they must be total badasses! Absolute legends!
"Well, you're not completely wrong." Vincent sort-of-agreed.
Wait, what?!
"Wait, what?" buffered Peralta, obviously not expecting to have been right.
Chief Vincent and Captain Holt shared a look before our CO took charge again.
"The people who almost singlehandedly destroyed the invader are… unique..." he explained calmly, "and they value their privacy very much. In fact, this is why you were brought here."
"To meet them?" I ask enthusiastically, nearly bouncing on the balls of my feet.
I'm gonna be a part of a classified task force!? And was picked by Holt himself!? What!? I'm very proud of myself for managing to maintain somewhat of a professional profile that day.
"Not yet." informed Vincent. A wave of groans and Boyle's disappointed 'Oh man!' sounded at that, "You're here to make yourself acquainted with the idea of them."
Okay, but what the fuck?
Thoroughly confused at this point, I look around the room and see that the rest of the squad seems to know about as much as I do.
"As mentioned, they are quite extraordinary and it might take a while to come to terms with the idea."
"Just spit it out already!" grumbled Rosa, arms crossed over her chest, patience thinning by the second.
You go off, queen!
Chief Vincent looked at each of us as if looking for confirmation.
"They're giant turtles."
Silence.
Even Peralta didn't know if he should laugh or not. Which was saying something.
"Chief, what do you mean giant turtles?" asked Jeffords, trying and failing, like the rest of us, to make sense of the statement.
I would have assumed this was a prank initially but it wouldn't make sense. And this wasn't Holt's style. This must be some kind of
"I mean, exactly what I say, Detective-"
"Sargent." Terry informed.
"Sargent," repeated the blonde woman, "I realize how it sounds, and I understand it is a ridiculous thought to entertain but it is the truth."
Silence again.
And then laughter. Tear-jerking, tummy-tickling, embarrassingly-loud laughter. And then I realized it was me, but I couldn't stop it.
This must be a prank! I mean, four giant turtles running around the city and saving us from Aliens. Okay! Yeah! Sure!
"Do you find something funny, Detective?" asked Holt. I mean, what do I say to that. Of course I did.
I tried to take deep breaths, keep my laughter at bay, and when I'd finally regained my composure I wiped the tears from my eyes.
"N..n..no!" I stuttered unintelligibly, and just then I realized just how much I'd embraced myself, "I just... I thought you... might be-"
"Joking?" okay, so her harsh tone did not help my embarrassment, in fact it turned into pure humiliation, "You think I waste government resources and taxpayer money joking around?" my cheeks became hot, my eyes widened, and my heart started racing.
How embarrassing! I wished the cheap flooring in Holt's office would just open up and swallow me whole. I've just embarrassed myself, my squad and my captain to the Chief of Bureau Organized Crime. There go my ambitions and dreams.
And something else that stood out to me is that no one in the squad defended me. Like, this was a genuine reaction to what they were saying and no one wanted to step up for me. Not that I wanted them to, I was in the wrong here, kind of, but no one even tried. Just goes to show how much more work I have to do to get acknowledged as a part of the team.
"I can't blame you though," leveled Vincent as she pulled a case file out of her messenger bag - that I hadn't noticed until then, which I should have, I'm a detective - and handed it to Jeffords, "it is a ridiculous notion, and if I didn't have any proof I would think I've lost it myself. "
We all studied Jeffords' reaction as he browsed through the file. All seemed fine until page 9. When he turned the page he did an immediate double take, after which his eyes grew exponentially larger than his head. Just getting over my embarrassment, I started feeling excited again. What did she mean by "giant turtles"? Was it Bureau code for something? Is it a metaphor?
"Sir, I don't understand what I'm looking at here." stared Jeffords, doing some subtle pacing on the spot, What did he see in there? Was it gory and gruesome? I could handle that! But so could he, so what had him so shocked?
"Here are the facts:" the Chief stated tiredly, with a sigh, she seemed stressed by the whole situation and I couldn't blame her, "there are four giant mutant turtles and a rat who act human and speak English living in the sewers. They were an experiment created by Eric Sachs 20 years ago under Shredder and TCRI. They were supposed to test the reaction of some chemicals to a living organism. 5 years passed and it was found out by Kirby O'Neil - a scientist on Sachs' team - that his plans were less then savoury. O'Neil destroyed all research, the lab was set on fire and supposedly, all test subjects were destroyed. The turtles however were saved by Kirby's daughter - you may have seen her on Channel 6. After that the turtles and the rat lived in the sewers for years, fighting crime on the surface."
More silence, and at that point I genuinely though I must be dreaming. Four giant mutant turtles and a rat? Shredder and TCRI? Fighting crime? What?
"Okay, so," mumbled Boyle, "so... You're pitching a movie to us... And it... Sounds okay, I can do it - I can play a turtle-"
"This is serious, Boyle!" scolded Holt, oh, he was stressed as well, that much, I could tell, "Do you think we'll be standing here and wasting time on a prank?!" here came his gravitas and you knew he was on edge, "Sergeant," he addressed Jeffords, who handed the case file to Diaz, who had a similar - but far more contained - reaction to Jeffords'.
"I mean," I started again, hopefully this time I won't embarrass my entire unit, "you have to know how this sounds, right?"
"I do" she nodded and leaned on the edge of the Captain's desk, and I could feel pity for her, I don't know what this was, but surely it's not easy to deal with, "and I did react the same way. To be fair, it's far easier to believe once you meet them."
Meanwhile, the folder was slowly making its way down the line towards me and honestly I was nervous. I don't know what I was about to see, and I didn't believe it would be giant turtles.
"They are good people and have put themselves in danger countless times to save innocent citizens, helped arrests and took this massive risk two weeks ago. They are truly extraordinary and we need to treat them with respect and kindness." this was honestly surreal. It felt like we were in preschool and we were being told to be nice to the special-ed kid. What the hell was going on?
The file landed in Peralta's hands and he gave a gasp. So far his reaction was the most openly-shocked one - not surprising for him - and I was trying to not peak from my peripheral vision.
"So cool!" he mumbled, eyes almost as wide as his smile.
"We are showing you this now so you won't react out of surprise or shock. They've had enough of that as it is." Vincent seemed to be nearly done with her speech, shoulders drooping with every next word, as she was drawing to a close. "You will meet them tomorrow evening. And one last thing," Oh, boy, what now, "I'll need one of you to be their handler. Now, you'll need to be available at all hours of the day, have very few days off..."
"I'll do it!" I exclaimed, almost feeling instant regret, but holding strong, "I can do it."
Vincent squinted her eyes at me, looked me up and down and I felt like I was being examined by the terminator. I tried not to flinch or fidget, I kept my head high, my posture straight and my eyes determined.
Peralta finally passed the file to me and I looked down at its contents. Multiple reports of pursuits ending with the perps tied up or unconscious in an alley, multiple cases solved and processed because of mysterious arrests. And then, a picture.
It was dark blurry photo with the resolution of an old smart phone camera. It took me a while to register what I was seeing. There were four... what looked to be men, jumping or flying (because at this point, why not, right?) in strange clothing, with something that looked like one of those heavy-duty tourism backpacks that campers carry around.
Wait, hold on. This doesn't prove anything.
Those could very easily be suits, or some kind of photo editing, that's not evidence.
I held my dissent however, because I really wanted this task force. I need to take initiative if I want to make Captain one day.
"You're sure you can handle it?" doubted Vincent, and I could kind of get her point, I was the youngest one on the squad, with the exception of some of the beats but I also had the numbers to prove my capability.
"Yes, ma'am. I can do it." I still had it in the back of my head that this was some kind of joke, prank, or test, but it didn't mean much because I still wanted this task force.
"Okay, then." she agreed, and turned her attention back on the team, just as I was done examining the minimal evidence there was, and handed her back the file, "Now, this task force will be held completely off the books." Wait, what!? But, I... "The evidence and case data collected will be processed and filed as usual with no mention of these four gentlemen-" So, I was right they're dudes, but that still doesn't mean much, "-or this task force." she turned to me again and stated, serious as ever, "As their handler, you will have to take care of their contacts on the surface, their safety and make sure all their separate arrests get processed and filed according to procedure. You will also have to distribute and assign these separate cases to your team. " Oh, God... Am I in over my head? "This is your last out, are you sure you can handle it?"
I swallowed hard and hoped no one noticed but without an ounce of doubt stated:
"Yes, ma'am. I can do it."
She seemed to buy my confidence this time and nodded in agreement.
"Great, I want you all in ceremonial dress at the Statue of Liberty, 9 pm.
Don't be late!" and with a final cold look and a silent threat on our lives, she briskly left the room and announced the end of the work day.
Here we go! This will either make or break my career!...
Only time will tell...