Rick and James had a new mission to take care of, as they investigated the dark alleys of Biostance. James’ hands gripped on the flashlight as he trudged through the yucky terrain. Rick’s hands fidgeted as he tried to hold on to the tracking device and follow behind his partner.

The two arrived at The Shadow Heart Estate and came across big fences covering the hideout. They peeked their heads out, with no signs of anyone guarding near the place. To be on the safe side, they trudged toward the back to find a secret entrance. James spotted a lock from behind as he picked at it, while Rick was on standby.

They sneaked inside and tiptoed to the fortress’ behind. After hiding under windows, Rick got to his knees and tried to see through the foggy glass. When that didn’t work, he took out a scanning device to check if anyone was inside while James guarded him with a pistol gun in hand.

“See anything yet?” James asked, glancing at his partner.

“Yeah, it’s blurry, but I can tell there’s a lot of people in there,” Rick replied, squinting his eyes.

“That’s troublesome.” James groaned, turning away. “I still can’t believe we’re doing this instead of focusing on the big case with the terrorist with powers. Why did the chief give us this while Jim gets to do nothing?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, but I’m sure Jim is still working on finding his friend. And who knows, maybe this can get us closer to our big case.” Rick guessed, taking a shot in the dark. “Not to mention, the higher-ups don’t have everything settled in yet. They probably wouldn’t risk letting a few get hurt in vain.”

“I get your point, but that doesn’t mean I’m okay with it.”

Rick turned to face him. “James!”

“Quiet, you’ll blow our cover.”

“Sorry, it was a force of habit.”

Rick knew his partner had experience in the line of work and took things seriously when the situation called for it. But James also had a mouth, and wasn’t afraid of expressing his thoughts on different matters, especially with police work.

Despite being a lower rank, Rick couldn’t help but call him out when he went overboard. Even Rick’s surprised he’s never called out on that by the chief. James isn’t too bothered by it either. Rick didn’t want to question it himself. Not right now, anyway. He needed to focus on the mission, not get distracted.

“Um, is there anyone outside?”

“Doesn’t look like it, the coast is clear.” James walked over to his partner and got down on his knees. He pulled out a smoke detection bomb from his pockets. “Ok, wait for my signal, then you open the windows and toss this over—” James looked over and noticed Rick’s attention focused on something else. “Hey, are you listening?”

“James, look.” He pointed at the light from the corner of his eyes.

James turned as the light grew more prominent, and loud sirens blared the area. His eyes widened as he yelled for Rick to get down. The two made a break for it before the gates broke apart around them. A bunch of metallic trucks drove into the area with police sirens taped onto the front of them.

Rick and James hid behind a bunch of crates and barrels and tried to catch their breaths. They peeked their head out. From a distance, jeeps circled around the base before coming to a complete stop. A group came out and surrounded the area. One of them took out a megaphone and yelled through to it.

“Alright men, get to work!” He ordered them.

The guys stormed the place and attempted to break-in. The main doors slammed open as the other gang tried to fight back.

“Howler?” Cyborg questioned. “What are you doing here?”

“Simple.” Howler looked him in the eyes with a smirk. “We’re going to take over this base and bring your leader and blue buddy to their knees.”

“Blobs don’t have knees though.” Lightning pointed out. “Besides, we’d never turn them to your new base, you traitor!”

“When Ken hears what you’ve done, you’re going to regret it!” Cyborg thundered.

“You won’t be alive to do that.” Howler threatened. “If you won’t lend them to me, then I’ll have to force my way through. And if you’re in my way, I’ll kill you!”

“Yeah, like that’ll ever happen!” Lightning boasted.

The screams and battle cries echoed in the wind as bullets flew across the terrain. The cops sat there, witnessing the chaos unfold.