Chapter 5, OCP Warehouses
Chapter 5: OCP Warehouses.
A couple of weeks after Lewis taking the police jacket to Reed as evidence that someone must be sacking OCP Police warehouses, Reed starts getting more police items found on the streets by his officers. Kaplan has found an official police gun in a crime scene; a subcompact Glock 42 that was scraped with a knife and painted red to disguise the bar code and the OCP logo on it.
Shortly after, Mason, found a police belt also disguised, being worn by a crazy Splatterpunk that wanted to set his patrol car on fire. Officer Mason had to shoot him, the same way Lewis gunned down the woman that was wearing the jacket.
Reed doesn’t want to think that OCP is behind everything and wants to keep the case on a low profile. He wants his best officers to investigate more about the matter, so reassigning Kaplan with Mason must be a good idea. Riggs and Adams are very inefficient and can be assigned to minor cases, since they don’t seem to take their jobs seriously.
Although there is a concern in Reed’s mind regarding the work of other two of his best officers. The Sergeant has observed RoboCop and Lewis aren’t the same ones lately. He darted a glance at the files rooms to realize those slot machines are still there taking up space and they haven’t had the decency to return them yet. Colonel David Thompson, Cyberotika’s CEO has already called him twice asking about the results of the investigation.
Sergeant Reed knows priorities should be set and his main focus at the moment is keeping an eye on the OCP Warehouses where the police items are being pilfered from. Reed thinks RoboCop can be assigned to patrol New Stoneleigh, also known as “Splatterzone” at night, he fears that once the Splatterpunks start getting more of the police arsenal the chaos and riots in that zone blow out of proportion.
No other police officer has the endurance and fire skills RoboCop has, Sergeant Reed would have peace of mind to assign an officer to that zone that can’t be killed so easily.
For a long time there haven’t been any deceased officers in Metro West, and he wants things to remain that way, it’s like a tornado day count for him.
Reed is aware now that helping Prisma city’s crisis was a double edged sword. The gang members that managed to escape from the police raid got away with it and immigrated to Detroit in the end by using the very few battered tuned vehicles that survived the fierce encounter between the vicious gang and the combined forces of the Prisma and Detroit police. The Splatterpunks have been spreading their domain and they are now an inherited problem for Old Detroit.
Reed is now waiting at his office, as he has asked Officers Mason and Kaplan to meet him there, so they can talk privately about the case.
Kaplan and Mason are relieved to be reassigned together, especially after patrolling with months with Riggs and Adams; the good cops had had to practically do all the work for their incompetent partners.
Riggs is always chasing women and can’t be bothered to make any police reports and Adams loves to spend all his money at strip clubs, requesting overtime hours later on to get the money back, just to fall asleep in the cruiser leaving his partner in turn do all the work for him.
Reed is very fond of both Mason and Kaplan. Mason’s singing and Kaplan’s jokes always make his day better. Assigning them to Adams and Riggs was a bad idea; he thought that maybe by splitting two good cops with two incompetent ones, the good ones were going to fix the bad ones. However, Reed is convinced now, that Adams and Riggs, will never change.
Kaplan: Hey, honey, have I said to you, how much I have missed you?
Mason: Well, we would have been together all this time, but they don’t seem to understand our love and they kept separating us…especially someone here…I don’t want to say names…
Kaplan: Ha ha ha so what the fuck are we man…? Romeo and Romeo from Metro West??
Mason: You can’t be Romeo too, fucking faggot, I am Romeo, I don’t know what you are…
Kaplan: I feel so sorry for your wife…you’re such a fag
Mason: I feel sorry for yours…kissing that horrible mustache of yours every day…have a shave man for crying out loud…
Kaplan: That didn’t seem to bother you last night ha ha ha
Reed: Alright, alright, very funny… I am sorry, ok? I made a mistake to have assigned you with those two incompetent idiots, but now I need you guys to focus because I need your expertise to follow this case, are you guys aware that OCP can be behind this and if we aren’t careful enough, they will fuck us up, badly…
Kaplan: So what do you think it’s really happening?
Reed: I don’t know, but something tells me OCP executives have their hands in this, I wonder why they are interested in our police arsenal, I am afraid they want to cause riots in the city on purpose so they bring that new team here…call me crazy but I think they are connected with the Splatterpunks’ problems in one way or another
Mason: The guys in grey you mean? We have all seen them around here…
Reed: I don’t even know what they are…police officers? They call themselves “The Rehabilitation team” Although I know they haven’t trained at the academy, so I wonder where Johnson is recruiting them from
Kaplan: We can’t tell everyone here about this, you know we would create collective hysteria?
Reed: This is precisely why I want you to keep this matter on a low profile, no one has to know we are investigating this, agree?
Mason: We will need GPS radars and better weapons just in case
Reed: Don’t worry guys; you’ll get everything you need
Kaplan: So what about Murphy? Would he come with us, just in case we get into trouble? What if they find out what we are doing and they send those robots after us?
Mason: The TDX-1000s are faster than the ED209s, it would be difficult to run away from them if they send a unit after us
Reed: At the moment, Robo will be patrolling New Stoneleigh, I need him there, just in case Splatterpunks already own more of our weapons, but if you get into trouble I will send him where you guys are, don’t worry, he always gets there on time...
Kaplan: Well, that is a relief; let’s hope we stop them before they get more of our arsenal…
Mason: I used to think our marvelous RoboCop was infallible, whatever happened with him wiping out the Splatterpunks’ gang entirely? That worked great for us, huh, Sarge? Cleaning up Prisma city, just to bring the trash here…
Reed: Murphy and the S.W.A.T. team did their best. We can’t really blame them for the inherited problem that resulted afterwards; those fuckers seem to reproduce like rabbits
Kaplan: So after we finish with this investigation, will we have to buy Murphy a beer?
Mason: I don’t think he drinks beer…you just want to get him drunk, so he makes your dream come true, don’t you, eh?
Kaplan: Who doesn’t dream of that? Just picture this: RoboCop carrying you in his very strong arms away from the line of fire?
Mason: Man, I want that too now ha ha ha, hey RoboCop, I can’t stop thinking of your very strong arms…can you please carry me away from danger?
Kaplan: It’s unfair man…how come only she gets that from him? He should treat all of us the same way…no robo-loving for us huh…are we that fucking ugly??
Mason: You are…
Reed knows that Mason and Kaplan are so thrilled to be reassigned together that as much as he wants to speak to them seriously about the matter, both officers will keep cracking jokes to have fun. Reed sits down to have a coffee and enjoy the moment.
Sergeant Reed starts to reflect upon things and feels remorseful about sending RoboCop to New Stoneleigh, alone, exposing him just to prevent his other human officers from being slaughtered by their own police weapons, if Reed wants to send Murphy there, he thinks the right thing to do is to explain everything to him in advance and not give him orders as if he was just a programmed robot.
Days pass by and when Reed has everything ready for his officers to start investigating the OCP warehouses suddenly, everything goes back to normal.
New Stoneleigh seems to be quieter than ever and the police items stop appearing at crime scenes. Mason and Kaplan are disappointed for not being able to start with the investigation yet, since Reed asked them to hold on for a bit more. He is waiting for any kind of evidence that the police arsenal is still being sacked in one way or another.
The OCP Warehouses investigation is not dismissed yet; it is just put on hold for the moment. Reed is already frustrated about the whole situation, when he looks back at the files rooms and once more sees…that still, RoboCop and Lewis haven’t returned the machines.
The sergeant is ready to confront them as soon as they walk into the station, nevertheless, the responses Robo and Lewis give him, confuse Reed even more. They seem to contradict each other by mentioning wrong dates, useless technical information about the official police vehicle they requested, Lewis insisting the investigation about the hacker is hers and RoboCop repeating in a robotic way it was his idea to return the machines to the CEO of the company.
The headache strikes again. Reed can’t be bothered to listen to their nonsenses, for the first time, two of his best officers are being irresponsible with police work and that should end immediately.
Reed: I don’t believe this…what the fuck is wrong with you two? You always share the credit for everything you do together…you have until Friday to return those machines from hell…why are you being so irresponsible…?
Lewis: I am not…being irresponsible, you see, Estevez and I are ready to go there as soon as you assign us an official police vehicle
Reed: Estevez? Since when do you make decisions over me?
Lewis: I am sorry, sergeant…I didn’t mean to
Reed: Besides, she isn’t without a partner anymore, she was reassigned to Smith, didn’t you know?
Lewis: Oh…she did that…without telling me, great…
Reed: Lewis, I am not here to listen to any of your personal dramas, you go with Murphy, you return those things, end of the story! Otherwise I will ask Adams and Riggs to do that for you, and neither you nor you will get any credit for anything…
RoboCop: Officers Riggs and Adams are not competent enough to handle this case.
Reed: And you are not being responsible enough to handle it either!! I don’t and I mean I don’t want to see any of you for the rest of the day…get the fuck out of here…
Robo and Lewis walk away feeling humiliated, the word “irresponsible” hurt their pride. This is the first time this ever happens to them. Some of the cops stare at them maliciously enjoying the moment. Reed is yelling at two of his favorite officers and that is endless fun for the ones that don’t like them, especially RoboCop.
Having a robot cop at Metro West that not only protects civilians, but that is prone to protect other police officers as well should be a relief for everyone there, however, not all cops are pleased to have a programmed cyborg at the station working day and night in such a proficient way, they have to work harder to be noticed by their superiors.
RoboCop doesn’t perceive a salary, nor has pension benefits, he can’t even be promoted, this is why some of the cops at the station think the “robot”, steals the glory from them, they are the ones that need to be promoted, some of them even need the money to support a family, but how are they ever going to accomplish that, if “The RoboCop” gets the credit for everything?
Mocking him is a way for them to take out the frustration against him. Lewis has heard them saying things like “The robot can’t even talk as a normal guy” and even worse. She is usually upset by thinking almost no one has taken the time and patience to approach her partner as a person.
It took her many frustrating months in the past to make him have an almost normal conversation with her whilst they were together in the cruiser and although the situation is cruel for him, Lewis finds some guilty pleasure by knowing no one else shares the degree of personal closeness she does with him, nevertheless things have escalated and now their jobs are being affected by their personal issues. As they walk towards the cruiser, RoboCop and Lewis exchange a few words among them.
Lewis: Hey, Murphy, I am…sorry for trying to get you out of the case…
RoboCop: Everything is fine, Lewis.
Lewis: Is that it? You won’t apologize for driving the van that day?
RoboCop: I will allow you to drive this time when the official vehicle is assigned to us again.
Lewis: Allow me…Hey he was pissed at us, huh…?
After the unpleasant episode with Sergeant Reed, RoboCop and Lewis will engage now in an unspoken deal between them: Pretending nothing happened, for the sake of their police work. Nevertheless, being conscious they can aspire to share more than what they already share as friends and partners on a daily basis will be a difficult thing for them to forget.
The reason behind the warehouses robberies stopping for a while is that there is a hidden character somewhere reporting to OCP executives and the Rehabilitation team that the police department is starting to investigate the matter and that is not convenient for them. Reed should not underrate the enemy. Enemies can be closer to him than he thinks.
The stolen police arsenal was never meant to be handled by the Splatterpunks, they were just hired to steal the weapons and deliver them to a higher command, but as usual, a gang of drug addicts couldn’t be trusted enough for a serious mission like this one.
Whoever planned to use delinquents to get the police arsenal without raising suspicions made a terrible mistake; things will blow out of proportion later on, when Splatterpunks grasp it’s better to keep the weapons for themselves, instead of delivering them in exchange of cash, stealing money is easy for them, getting police weaponry is not and that is a great opportunity that won’t be missed.
