fandomhigh | Steath and Deception #4, Wednesday Morning, Dangershop

The students had received a ~~handwaved~~ e-mail to come to the Dangershop in the morning as opposed to Cafe Fina.

When the students arrived, they found themselves in the most varied landscape they had ever seen. Three kinds of forests, two kinds of swamps, a desert, two plains, a snowfield, and an urban environment.

A noticeably clean and shiny urban environment. Complete with a newspaper vending machine with a headline that read "Superman saves Metropolis from Giant Spinning Top!"

Then the students heard some cursing from the side. "How does Barbra deal with these things... wait, here we go."

The clean urban environment shimmered and was replaced by a dark, dilapidated cityscape. The newspaper headline was replaced with "Who is the Batman?"

A man stood up from the console and ran a hand through his hair. "Hi kids. I'm James Gordon, commissioner of the GCPD. I was also in the Special Forces when I was younger, so Alfred asked me to come talk to you guys about cameoflage."

He shrugged off his coat and walked over to the center of the danger room, where a table with a selection of military camouflage options in various sizes was sitting.

"The important thing to remember about camouflage," Gordon said, pushing up his glasses, "is that despite what television may tell you, there is nothing to make you disappear completely. Not even the Batman," he continued, nodding towards the newspaper vending machine, "can pull that off. All it can do is conceal you, force someone to actually look harder to find you. Ideally, you want to be harder to find than they are willing to put into looking."

Gordon looked down into his notes, pushed up his glasses again, and launched into a lecture on millitary camouflage.

"Alright then," he said. "I've got a bunch of environments up to practice on and a selection of uniforms here. Try to match the right camo to the right environment and see if you can find the best place to hide to make maximum use of the camouflage. I should have sizes for everyone here, but if you can't find something in your size, just tell me and I'll see what I can do."

He pulled out a small jar. "I also have camoflage face paint. See if you can figure out how to best use it in conjunction with your camouflage."

_{[[Wait for le OCD! Have fun kids! Don't break Gordon!]]}

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Having ~~handwavily at this point~~ experimented with camoflage, Seras decided to come up and talk to the Commissioner for a bit.

She was still decked out in camoflage fatigues and had her face painted. ~~But, surely the Mr. Gordon would not be startled, having been in the special forces and everything~~

Gordon looked up from some of his notes. "Can I help you Miss....?"

"Victoria...Seras Victoria."

Oh brilliant. Introduce yourself in the most cliched manner possible.

Seras cleared her throat.

"I...I'm studying to be a police officer, sir," she said, "Or at least I will once I graduate Fandom. It's not often that I get the chance to speak with someone so experienced. Might I ask you a question or two?"

"Of course," Gordon responsed as he put his notes down on the table. "Although I don't know how much help I can be if the questions are about the English police force specifically."

Seras nodded and tried to think of a good question that didn't go into specifics.

"What do you think is the most important thing to keep in mind as you go about your duties? The most important thing you've learned as a police officer?"

"Interesting question," Gordon responded, leaning back against the table. "I'd say the most important thing to keep in your mind is integrity. Your own personal integrity. You have to figure out where you want to draw the line. Because I'm afraid to say that to be a truely effective cop, sometimes you have to break a few rules. It's the nature of the system that we all live in, and I have no doubt at all that it's true in England as well. But you have to find your stopping point, otherwise it's a slippery slope into being just another crooked cop."

Seras nodded, though inside she felt a bit uncomfortable. Rules and the law were how she defined her stopping point. She always kept them in mind, using them to guide her, to make herself stable.

"How did you find your stopping point, sir?"

"Well, it was probably a very different case for me," Gordon responded. "I joined into one of the most notoriously corrupt and dirty police forces in the country. As I recall, I promised myself I would never go on the take, I would never kill a man unless I had no other choice. That was basically the way I did it. I didn't break the rules unless I had no other options left open to me save running away." He looked over his glasses at Seras. "If there's one thing the most important you have to remember, it's this. We are police officers. We protect and serve. For us, running away from the problem is never an option."

"That's how I feel, sir."

Seras stood straight and nodded. She could do that. She would have to. She tried to look confident, though doubt niggled about in her stomach.

Gordon smiled. "Good. That's the most important part of being a police officer of any stripe. What branch were you looking to go into? Beat cop? SWAT? Negotiator? Detective?"

"I feel I should start out as a beat cop," Seras replied, "Get to know my city. If I like that, I'll stay as one. If not, then I'll have experience that would help me do any of the other choices better."

"Everyone works their way up from the bottom," Gordon said. "I remember my days as a beat cop. Christ, that makes me feel old." He shook his head. "Any other questions, Miss Victoria?"

_{[[Sorry, LJ decided to withold this notification for it's own nefarious purposes.]]}

Seras shrugged.

"Any good stories about life as a copper?"

"Lots of them," Gordon responded. "Including one where I actually pulled a gun on a friend."

"No!"

Seras' eyes went wide.

Gordon nodded. "He was about to cross his line. Seconds away from beating a man to death. If there was a ever a man who deserved it, it was this man. Killed God only knows how many people. But I couldn't let my friend do it. Because if I let him do it, my friend would be no different than any lunatic who takes a gun in his hands to "clean up the streets". And I couldn't let him do that."

"And, pulling your gun stopped him?"

Seras wondered. A man in that much of a rage would be difficult to stop. Or a woman, for that matter. Or a small girl...

Gordon tilted his head to the side slightly. "Well, not exactly. But it got his attention long enough so that I could talk some sense into him. That stopped him."

"Oh."

Seras stuffed her hands into her pockets.

"He was lucky to have you as a friend then, sir."

Gordon smiled. "Thank you, Miss Victoria."

Seras nodded.

She liked this man. He seemed good and honest, and he made her think of her father. And he'd listened when she'd told him she wanted to be a police officer.

"I realise that you're probably quite a busy man," she said, "But, I wondered if I could maybe write to you from time to time? I promise it wouldn't be often. And, only if I've got a question about police work. Or the like..."

Seras' eyes stayed resolutely on her shoes.

Gordon laughed and reached for his notes. He tore off a sizable corner and scribbled something on it before handing it to her. "E-mail and physical," he said, handing it to her.

Seras took the paper and looked down at it for a moment before glancing up and smiling.

"Thank you, sir!"

Steath and Deception #4, Wednesday Morning, Dangershop

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