The Korps - Risk
It was supposed to be a date between two Korps members, just a chat over their morning coffee. Then the cops showed up...
CONTENT WARNING: obscene language, ACAB
“Tall blonde roast, one Splenda®, and a slice of lemon loaf, please.”
“Name for the order?”
“V. Smith,” said Vector.
“He’s with me,” Blindspot said. “I’ll have a tall americano with an espresso shot, no sugar, whipped cream and a caramel drizzle. And a meal worm bar.”
“Name for your order?”
“B. Jones.”
“Tap when you’re ready,” the server said.
Blindspot looked around for the otter. Vector nudged him and pointed at the point of sale machine. Blindspot tapped it with a Visa card (and a wink for the bunny.) The machine beeped and spat out a receipt. Vector flipped a two dollar coin into her tip cup.
“Thank you,” the server said. “And thanks for not asking for breast milk! You have no idea how tired that meme has gotten around here!”
“Please!” Vector exclaimed. “We are men of taste, we don’t stoop to such demeaning and insulting things.”
“And it’s too early for jokes.”
“When is it too early for jokes?”
“Before coffee!”
“Good point.”
They went to the pick up area of the bar and waited. Vector’s simple order arrived first. By the time Blindspot’s order arrived, two police officers were walking in the door. Vector ushered Blindspot to a table.
“Hide us!” he whispered.
Blindspot closed his eyes in concentration. When he opened them again, Vector looked around. Nobody, including the cops, was looking in their direction.
“Okay,” Blindspot whispered “why’re we hidin’?”
“It’s the same two cops!”
“Which two cops?”
“The pair that beat me up last year!” Vector whispered with a dark scowl.
“Shit! We need to get outa here. Rose, we need a pickup! We’ll be outside the Ishmael’s at Six Points.”
“Cross to Dundas at Viking Lane. A bus will arrive in six minutes. There are passengers waiting at the stop, you will not need to de-cloak until it has arrived. That is your quickest option right now.”
“C’mon, Vector.”
“No, wait! Here they come.” Vector snickered. “I’m gonna mess with them before we go.”
An off-white mutt and a bull, both in uniform, came and stood next to their table. Vector raised a hand towards them and closed his eyes in concentration. Nothing appeared to happen.
“I know I spotted that bunny in here!” said the dog. “He was standing with another suspect, ordering a coffee like an entitled piece of shit! Didn’t we rearrange his face for him?”
“Well didn’t he look like we had?” the bull replied.
“No! He looked like his fuckin’ poster!”
“It couldn’t’a been him then. We messed him up real good!”
“It was him! I’d stake my fuckin’ badge on it! We need to find him and ask some questions!”
“What about the guy he was with?”
“American badger, taser bait. I know he was on a poster too, but I don’t remember for what. Probably another failure to report.”
“Well I don’t see them,” the bull complained.
“I know they’re here!” the dog replied. “I can smell them!”
Blindspot grabbed Vector’s shoulder and pulled. Vector nodded. They climbed carefully out of their chairs, inched away from the cops, then headed for the door. Before opening it, they stopped and checked. The cops still couldn’t look towards them, but the dog looked at the table.
“Okay, they were here, like a minute ago.” He snorted. “You check the men’s room, I’ll check the back...”
They found the bus stop and waited. Blindspot, taller, saw it coming up the street; Vector tracked it on his RCGs. They stood at the back of the line. An old wolf walked past them a few times, looking for the end of the line, before he gave up and headed for the next stop, scratching his head as he went. Vector and Blindspot huddled close and spoke softly.
“Okay, we learned we’re still wanted. What were you doin’?”
“Well first the two morons walked into a store full of customers looking for supers with their psionic suppressors turned off. So I made sure they stayed off!”
“What’d ya do?”
“Cut the wires at the battery packs. Then I did the same thing to their tasers. They won’t be torturing anybody with those! And the push to talk buttons on their radios so they can’t call for backup. And I broke the firing pins in their pistols, too.”
“Ya left them defenceless!”
“They still have their tonfas and their ballistic vests! I wish I coulda messed with their tonfas. I cut the heads off most of their zip ties before we had to leave.” He snickered. “Their next victim will have a more even chance.”
The bus arrived. The other waiting passengers got on. Blindspot and Vector got on behind them. Luck was with them, a double bench seat was still unused. They took it before Blindspot dropped his Ignore Me field. But the bus turned a corner and headed for the subway station.
“We’re only goin’ another block!” Blindspot muttered. “Why did Rose send us this way?”
“So that you can blend in with the crowd,” Rose replied. “You are unlikely to be noticed on the subway if you haven’t been noticed before you board.”
“Oh. Yeah. That makes sense. Okay, so what if those cops have to stop a bad guy?”
Vector looked him in the eye for a few seconds. Blindspot tilted his head.
“We’re the bad guys,” Vector reminded him.
“But we don’t wanna hurt anybody. We’re just fightin’ state oppression to free minorities like us from hate n’ prejudice n’ like that. What if they need to stop like a actual crime?”
“Since when have the cops ever given a shit about stopping an actual crime? We have cops to suppress protests, break strikes and tread down the downtrodden. They want people afraid of crime so they can demand bigger budgets.
“Anyway, if you’re so concerned for them, they probably have spares of everything in their patrol car. I just hope they don’t notice they need spares until some poor queer escapes.”
“Bobby,” said Rose, “there’s a problem.”
“Are they following us?”
“Those cops? No, they’re still searching Ishmael’s and giving the staff a hard time. Your actions triggered a review. I’m sorry, but I have to make a report to Karen.”
“No, wait,” said Blindspot, “what kinda report? What is it?”
“Disciplinary,” Rose replied. “Agent Vector.” she went on. “You vandalized equipment belonging to the police officers who previously assaulted you. In doing so, you caused little real damage or inconvenience and risked capture for both yourself and Agent Blindspot. How do you justify your actions? You can answer when you’re away from civilians.”
The bus arrived at the station and the other passengers started getting off. Vector and Blindspot got off last. They walked together to the escalator down to track level. Vector thought as he went. When they got off the escalator, a train had just left, so they went and stood away from the crowd and the security cameras.
“Okay, Rose,” Vector murmured. “In my opinion, the callus arrogance and self-righteous hate those cops showed in assaulting me is worthy of death, but I can’t do that. Too many others would suffer for it. They should be made to face justice for what they did, but I can’t do that, either. As cops, they’re above the law, courts have made that clear over and over. And anyway, I’m not a lawyer. I want to tell the world what happened to me and make them know that this is the kind of people cops are. But I can’t do that either, first because I don’t really believe anybody would care and second because even of they did, there’s nothing they could do about it anymore than I can. But I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d just run away. It would have been like them assaulting me again. So instead, I vandalized their equipment in a way which I hope will give them a little bloody nose. It’s the only form of protest that I have. I think it helps that I also gained a little useful intel.”
“This is your justification?”
“Yes.”
“Agent Blindspot, as Vector’s team leader, I need your opinion, too.”
“My opinion? This is bullshit! We didn’t risk anybody but ourselves! We made their lives a little tougher and we learned something. It was worth it! I just wish we’d had longer and coulda fucked with them some more!”
“You stand by your team member?”
“Fuckin’ right I do!”
“Thank you. Please stand by.”
“Please stand by?” Blindspot exclaimed. “Aw shit! Y’know what that means?”
“Rose sent her report to Karen.”
“It means Rose went and told… yeah.”
“Karen is reading it,” Rose added. “My report included my own opinion. I want you to know that I supported your action, Bobby. You were daring and courageous. And given what you could have done to them, you were merciful. If I could admire you, I would. But it’s up to Karen now.”
“Thanks, Rose.”
Vector cuddled close to Blindspot. Blindspot hugged his shoulder.
“Ya know what can happen?”
“I read the manual. They can have me confined, transformed, take away my memory of the Korps, then dump me some place where I can’t do any harm.” He hugged Blindspot’s chest. “They can make me forget I ever knew you.”
A train arrived. Passengers got off. Other passengers got on. Vector and Blindspot got on and found seats together.
“I’ll never forget you,” Blindspot growled.
“Don’t blame the Korps. It was my fault. I fucked up.”
“Karen agrees,” said Rose, “provisionally. She has decided not to escalate my report to The Overlord. Just don’t do it again. Her personal reply... is... might be embarrassing.”
“What did she say?” Blindspot demanded.
“Quote, kid, you have balls of tungsten steel. Good job, end quote. And she has recommended that Team Blindguard march in the Agent’s Day Parade in June.”
Blindspot grabbed Vector in a tight hug and growled triumphantly. Vector pumped his fist in victory. He grinned up at Blindspot, who grinned back at him. They looked, grinning, into each others eyes for a few seconds. Then their lips met. An entire subway car full of people looked the other way with no idea why.
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This story and all the characters in it are copyright © 2024 by D’Otter, except as follows.
ROSE, Karen and The Korps universe belong to Karen King (@kraken) and are used by general permission.
My own characters are available for use by other writers in the Korps Extended Universe, (and Kraken if she likes.) Just please ask first. Character sheets are available.
This is a work of fan fiction based on the works of Karen King. It should not be taken as canonical to those works, (unless she says otherwise.)