Chapter Text
It was another bright, sunny day in New York City, the streets weren’t as crowded as they were on any other sunny day. I walked down the streets, in a green hooded sweatshirt I bought not so long ago, with a fresh pair of jeans and shoes, not the best choice for sunny weather. Today was a day I got outside and explored around, as usual, ever since I moved from London. Growing up from there and Brazil were usually filled with people from all corners, but New York was always random, it was either busy or empty, it was a strange city, but it was home.
I expected a normal day like any other, to enjoy the sun, breathe the cool air, and maybe stop on by for an espresso. But no, the city had to be attacked by a giant monster, again. People retreated from the big pinkish monster with multiple heads, although they did look a lot like eels. I was beyond puzzled that there would be another monster attack since the last one, and that was 11 years ago! I tried to run, hoping it didn't bring it's attention towards me, but it was far too late, as it bellowed a nasty sound and threw a dumpster in my direction,knocking me out good and cold, trapped inside.
Hours passed (I think), I woke to a sore head, must’ve got a concussion from that direct hit on the dumpster. Fresh blood spilled around my head and onto the floor, it was getting hard to breathe and I’m more shaken up than ever. I believed I was trapped, no one could come to help no matter how loud I shouted. And even if I did try, the monster would hear and possibly do worse.
I was trapped.
No hope.
Until.
“C’mon Max!”
“Are you sure you saw someone under here?”
“Sure as I’m standing here risking a herniated disk! Now heave!”
Voices outside, and the dumpster lifted from underneath. Two figures were shown from what I could see, I couldn't make much of them except one was shorter than the other and they were… animals? Well, that wasn't the biggest surprise, most citizens were animals or supernatural/mystical beings, I, myself, am an elf with a tail. However, I was too distracted to hear both figures calling out towards me.
“Hey! You there! Mind giving us a hand saving your keister?”
“Just put your arms up and lift!”
Ah.
My arm was already in pain enough with a sharp but through the left upper elbow, probably by the glass around my area. But there was no other choice, just sucked it up and helped lift.
I could hear the voices outside speaking, “It’s alive Sam!”
“Oh, now we’re talking! On three! One…”
“Two…”
The dumpster immediately lifted and tossed to the side, the figures were now more revealing and easier to describe.
The tall one was a brown anthropomorphic dog, possibly an Irish Wolfhound or a Bloodhound, wearing a grey bloodhound fedora with a grey suit and white dress shirt, with a belt and black and blue striped tie. The other one was more of a white anthro… “rabbit thing”, the teeth caused hesitation. And yet, he looked 3 feet, a lot shorter than I expected him to be, especially next to the 6 foot dog. Both had a pretty amount of scars, mostly cuts and bullet holes, and one common scar around the top of their heads, maybe from a plane crash.
“I told you someone was under here!” The dog spoken to the rabbit next to him.
“Yeah, yeah,” the rabbit responded,with a tone of impatience on his tongue, “ can we get back to the giant monster now?”
The rabbit ran off to hide behind a knocked out car, with that thing causing more destruction and chaos around… well.. the three of us.
I was still shaken up after what happened, shocked, and dizzy, the pain still present as I felt more dizzy and stumbled where I stood, zoning out of reality from the already overwhelming situation, until I felt a touch on my shoulder.
“ You ok, buddy?" The dog questioned, sounding concerned for my current state, checking for anymore related injuries besides the concussion, before continuing,"It looks like you took a pretty good bash to the bonce."
The rabbit scoffed behind the dog, “I'm sorry," bash to the bonce”? Have you been watching British television again?”
I let out a silent chuckle, slightly ridiculous in this type of situation for humor, but I do admit, I found it funny.
“I can't help it," the dog answered, “the seasons are so compressed, its like a non-stop thrill ride!”
A sudden fireball from the creature came out of nowhere and landed straight near the both of us, the dog running towards the rabbit, shouting, “Uh oh. We’ve got incoming!”
“Hey Lumpy!” the rabbit shouted towards my direction,"You might want to take a couple steps to the right and/or left!”
Lumpy? Who was he calling ”Lumpy?” And how did he…?
I didn't have time to think due to head pain and the incoming fireball. I ducked quickly, stumbling as soon as I got up and faced the multiple heads in front of me and roared right in my face. I think I almost got ear bleed before I moved to hide with the dog and rabbit, I could also hear the rabbit faintly utter with what sounded as annoyed, “Yo Lumpy! Get over here before you get yourself killed!”
The dog looked over at the rabbit and elbowed him gently, telling him, “That’s not a very nice thing to say to someone who’s suffering from a dumpster-induced concussion, Max.”
“Sorry Lumpy..” the rabbit uttered again, rolling his eyes.
The dog, then looked over in my direction and immediately shouted, “Welcome to the party kid! Now get down!”
“And thanks for bringing down our ‘unintended causality’ count.”
I immediately ducked behind the car with the other two as the monster continued with its chaos, destroying a lot of the area, I turned my attention back to the two in front of me as the dog continued on,
“I’m Sam, he’s Max. We’re the Freelance Police.”
Freelance Police? The well-known detectives or heroes as some call them, of New York City? Well, this is going into my list of surprises.
Max then spoke as I snapped my train of thought, “You may recognize us from our breakfast cereals and underground comics.”
Well, ain’t that the truth. Kinda.
Sam then explain the whole situation and why he and Max were here to prevent it from continuing on, Max blurted out a few times, but I'm guessing that's a usual thing to happen.
“ Anyway," Sam declared," we think we’ve got a plan to stop this terrifying enigma…”
Max then spoke," But first, we need someone with five fingers to operate this!”
Max pulled out a rocket launcher out of…
Actually.
Where the hell did he pull that out from? He isn't wearing an inch of clothing!
“Where were you keeping that, Max?”
“That’s classified, Sam. Also horrifying.”
As confused and shocked as I am, I didn't dare hesitate to grab the rocket launcher, even if I was aware of the situation I'm putting myself into.
“That’s the spirit!” Sam beamed in delight, approving that I was willing to help, then he continued, “Here's what we need you to do.”
“When I yell ‘go’, we’re gonna try to distract Mr. Grumpyheads.”
“All you have to do is load these rockets in to this state-of-the-art rocket launcher-”
“ Which we totally didn't steal from military trade show swag bag-” Max added before Sam continued on,
“Wait until we’ve distracted it, point this in the general vicinity of one of the heads, and-”
“BOOM!” Max shouted," Great big gobs of greasy grimy monster guts! Do we have a copywrite on that?”
“Ready?”
“Set..”
“Go!”
Max disappears off, already shooting his gun to distract the creature, enough time for me to aim the rocket launcher towards one of the heads. My hold was shaky and often lost my hold, but I managed to hit one of the heads on the far right.
There were now four heads to just shoot down, and with dodging another fireball. The shooting wasn't working as a distraction, so Sam took in and read the creature’s “right to get blown up”.
And if it didn't want to get blown up?
.
Well, that was too bad.
It’s going to get blown up anyway.
I aimed once again and managed to hit another head. Three left. But with the monster once again not distraction enough and still sending fireballs in my direction, one I got directly hit for not dodging quickly.
Now the both of them were distracting the creature with music from a banjo. That sounded oddly familiar… from a game… with a sniper… spy… engineer uh… a big guy with a minigun and likes sandwiches… ah forget it.
I aimed and made a hit, there was only two left, and they needed a new distraction. And they chose.
.
.
.
Fireworks.
(God that was awful)
I always hated the sound of fireworks,and with a concussion made it worse, but I still made the shot, leaving the final head, going crazy with fireballs, a few to fast to move or duck.
Shooting came off as the last distraction,before I aimed and…
missed.
Yeah.
I missed the shot.
I immediately grabbed another rocket and made the hit before the creature could even spot me again.
With all the heads down and defeated, and quickly heading towards cover as the thing was twitching like a “gramarrian a chat room” quoted by Sam. But it just shrunk down and exploded. I stood there for a moment to rethink what just happened, but my head was too sore to think, so I made my over to Sam and Max as I could hear Max shout, “Hey look! It shrunk! They don't usually do that…”
“Maybe it just got out of the pool” I heard Sam reply.
I brushed myself off, letting out a sigh of big relief as I approached Sam and Max. Sam noticing my approach, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder, “You ok, kid?”
“Lumpy’s fine!” Max suggested,"Those dilated pupils and twitching eyebrows are the signs of a true hero!”
‘What is his deal?’ I thought to myself, ‘I’m suffering from some blood loss from a concussion from some dumpster and he wants to make insults like I'm a daily clown.’
I opened my mouth to make a comment before Sam remarked, turning his attention to Max,
“Y’know, Max you may be on to something.”
“I am?” “He is?” Both Max and I questioned, puzzled. Sam nodded as he turned towards me with a smile, “Kid, you’ve got moxie, nerve, spunk, and an overall joie vivre that’s downright refreshing in this mechanized age.”
“What?” Both Max and I spoke out, again.
“As it so happens, the Freelance Police are looking to expand their ranks, and we could use a gusty go-getter like you.”
“Please Sam, don't…”
“So, what do you say, kid? Do you have what it takes to become one of the few, the odd, the marginally compensated?”
“I'm begging you."
“Do you want to join the Freelance Police?”
Max groaned beside Sam as he pulls out a flyer or a form of sorts about joining the Freelance Police.
I looked at Sam, then Max, then at the flyer. Surprised and speechless, I never thought in all my years living here, I would be applying for a job, for a police officer at least. And with the famous duo of New York, this was… something, something I can't describe. I didn't realize how long I was staring until Sam asked, “Um, kid?”
“Oh! Right.. Sorry about that.” I answered, grabbing the flyer and looking at it, from front to back. I looked up to say something but, Sam and Max already left, it was just me and this job application.
This was surprising, this was one of a lifetime and I went through a concussion just to get here. I looked over at my watch, it was shockingly still morning, 8:17 am. I stared over the form again, not realizing this smile on my face.
I was about to become a Freelance Police officer myself, with the one and only Sam and Max, and it was starting, today.