Keith looked at her face and studied her body language. He'd been trained to spot lies no matter how well hidden, and while he'd seen something that looked like a possible lie, she seemed like she was telling the truth. He clicked on the radio strapped to his shoulder. "Control 10, Adam 10," he spoke into it, keeping one eye partially on the woman.
"Adam 10 go."
"Clear for one, Flannery Rouge, born June 13th, 3000," he said.
"Copy, we'll check it," was his response.
He let out an exhausted sigh and let his shoulders slump. "Pretty sure it's not you, but I have to wait until I get a response from Central. It's really annoying."
"Pretty sure who's me?" Morrigan asked, tilting her head and cocking a hip slightly. It was pretty incredible that he'd seemingly picked up the lie. She'd spent years getting rid of any traces of a tell, and mastering the comfortable ease and confidence needed to lie, even if it meant looking slightly crazy in certain circumstances. Good thing I picked Flan's name to use, then. Let's just hope they don't mention that she's, to start, definitely not a redhead.
"Well, I'm not allowed to give out names randomly, but we have a notorious criminal running around, causing problems. And recently we've been getting warnings and threats of some gang making it's way to the surface so we need to get her off the streets so we can focus on other things," Keith was keeping his cool, and not showing anything, but he was sure she'd just let surprise flash in her eyes. She'd lied about something, and he'd bought it. Dammit, Kei, you have got to stop doing that. But her curiosity had given another idea. Maybe it was nothing.
His radio beeped signalling that Central was finished. "Go ahead," he spoke into the radio.
"Flannery Rouge, female, about 5'2 pale skin dark eyes, black hair," was the reply.
"10-4," he glanced at Morrigan, and turned off his radio. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something.
Morrigan, blessed with keen hearing, snorted. "Your guy left out the pointed ears, but alrigh', no' bad." Oddly enough, she really didn't seem too concerned. No master at escaping sticky situations should. Confidence is key, whether it's fake or not. Her grandmother's words rang through her head as she hooked her thumbs through her belt loops, grinning. "Nice t' meetcha. Most people call me Cade, but ya might know me better as Scarlet, right?"
"I kind of thought so," Keith, pulled out his taser sighing. "Right at the end of my shift to. Go down on your knees interlock your fingers behind your head please. You're under arrest."
"I got a whole truck o' food an' produce here." Morrigan said, sticking her bottom lip out in a purposefully overdramatic pout. She didn't move beyond that. "What am I supposed t' do with that? Hard work went in t' all o' that, y'know. Good people's time'n effort." You're lucky you took special care to make sure the truck and it's contents weren't traceable to the farm. Getting yourself arrested is one thing, but the others.. No ID, no DNA belonging to anyone but herself, the only the thing that could be traced might be the dirt on the tracks, but there was barely any of that, and nothing to directly lead them to her farm.
"Listen, I'm tired, it's the end of my shift, do us both a favor, and do as I say. Because I don't know about you, but among all the other things your being charged with, resisting a law enforcement officer would just be plain stupid," Keith was keeping his cool, better than even he'd expected. "You're caught, half the force is already almost here, and you don't really want to get in a tussle with me right now, because I'm more likely to just straight up prong you out right here, and then you'd be laying on the cold concrete ground. I don't think you should try running either because I have never seen anyone out run a taser. Ever. Go down to your knees, interlock your fingers behind your head."
"Bein' underestimated sure is fun." Morrigan quipped, huffing a laugh. The sound, however, was wry, and almost cold. "Y'know how hard it is t' keep a Caderyn where they don' wanna be? Best o' luck, my tazer-totin' nemesis." With that, she did get down. But instead of dropping to her knees, she flopped down and crossed her legs, holding her hands up, but not interlocked or behind her head. Small acts of defiance. She didn't honestly care if he tazed her, she just hoped, for his sake, none of the guys were eavesdropping or something.
Instead of moving in however, Keith put his taser away and pulled his actual gun. "You know what, I think I'll wait for back up on this one, since you're being so compliant. And I don't trust you," he decided after a moment. His heart was racing by this point, she was making sudden movements and he also didn't trust that all her buddies would stay out of it.I need to get a K-9.
"Smart guy, huh? Kinda a coward move though." Morrigan commented, her eyes sparkling with an almost wicked mischief. The gun on her had her heart pumping just a bit faster, though it didn't show at all. Thrill chaser. She'd been called that plenty of times, and it wasn't too far off. "Ya scared of a gal who's barely even 5'4?"
"No," Keith replied calmly. He wasn't going to let her egg him on, he knew that the moment he bought into it, was the moment he lost her. "As a matter of fact, I am not. I'm looking at this in a logical sense. I don't know if you have some people waiting to attack me. I do know that you are not as fragile as you play to be. I've seen the damage you can do, and I am not going to give you the chance to get away, or attack me. I will wait until I have back up to keep an eye on you, and to keep an eye on your buddies." Sirens could already be heard getting closer.
"Tha' damage only comes when it's deserved." Morrigan said, some unreadable emotion flickering across her face. And she was right, though he wouldn't really know that, unless he did a lot of digging. She had never killed someone, at least not anyone they had found, and the people she did hurt…they had hurt other people. They deserved it. "An' ya leave them outta this, a'ight? They're jus' worried for a friend."
"Yeah, I know," Keith replied just as calm as before. "But worried friends tend to try and be heroes for their friends, and I don't have the patience to deal with them right now. So long as they stay out of it, we won't even touch them. Right now. They jump in and attack me or any of the back up I have coming, that is A and B on a law enforcement officer. Assault and Battery, which will land them in jail for a year with a fine of up to $2,000. So you better hope they don't come out here and be stupid."
Morrigan's eyes narrowed, though her grin never left her face, leaving her with a slightly terrifying expression. "I'm pretty sure you're the one who should be hopin'." Her friends had plenty of experience fighting outnumbered, and all of them were forces to be reckoned with themselves. And that was before even getting to her. "Jus' know, they hear a gunshot, an' even I won' be able t' stop 'em. Which is too bad. Guns are fun."
"I hope I don't have to use my gun," Keith stated, keeping an eye on her while watching to make sure that her friends didn't come after him. He'd had way to many times where it was him against too many people. "I hate it when people suicide by cop. It is demoralizing for us, and it makes people hate us even more than they do already. That being said, I will use it if it will save my life, and everyone has that right." Several vehicles, with light flashing came into view, and were coming in their direction.
"Suicide by cop." Morrigan snorted, rolling her eyes. "Tha's only a thing in movies, Gun Man." Gods, she wanted to pull her own gun so bad. Don't draw the guys into this. They've got families, lives worth living that would be ruined by getting arrested. "So, do I get a phone call? Or is tha' for low level offenders?"
"That is a lie," Keith snorted. "Look it up anywhere, anywhere you will find people how did stupid things, went running at a cop or three waving a weapon around, and got shot, and died, because they wanted to. Or those idiots that came running at a cop, screaming at them to shoot them. It happens all the time, but all anyone wants to see is that the police senselessly murdered someone. Or police brutality, and all that shit." Several cars came to a screaming halt and several police got out.
"You ain't ever met a criminal, have ya?" Morrigan asked, her eyes never leaving the officer. Even across the bit of distance, a weary sort of defiance and dislike shown in her eyes. She'd seen more than a twenty year old should have that much was obvious. "Those that ain't cowards have families, are ou' here 'cause they got people t' support. Tha's not the kinda person who does that. The one person I know tha' came close, had the threat o' his family bein' killed if he didn't." Her smile was more armor now than anything. She couldn't afford to drop it.
"Do you have any idea what My job is? I run into criminals all over the place, and when will people learn that police have families to? We are not heartless being, we do try to help people. But there are better ways to take care of your family than criminal behavior. It doesn't end well for you when you do that." Two other officers came up with their weapons drawn.
"Kei," one of them nodded in greeting. "Scarlet," he looked at Morrigan. "You've been difficult to find."
"Sometimes it's the only option left." Morrigan said, shrugging a shoulder. That was the entire reason she was being arrested. For taking care of the family she'd built, the people who trusted her. She had done what she had to, the only surefire way to keep the farm afloat and let them keep their jobs, their home there. And that was something this cop would never get.
As the other officer greeted them, her grin was once again in place as she quirked an eyebrow. "Tha's kinda the point, ain't it? Can' steal from the rich when you're locked in a cell, right?" Lucky, isn't it, that she wouldn't be in a prison, at the very least. Though a ship carrying her to her death wasn't that much better.
Keith put his weapon in it's holster and pulled out his hand cuffs. He glanced at his two partners to make sure they had their weapons trained on her, and he could hear more sirens on the way. He walked over and clicked one cuff on Morrigan's wrist. He didn't want to take any chances, grabbing her unless need be. "You're not robin hood, stealing is an offense that can land you several years in jail. Normally it would only be a month or so, but in this case it will be a few years."
"I take'n'give. Might no' be a Robin Hood, but at least I ain't no Sheriff of Nottingham." Morrigan said, using her metal hand, the one uncuffed, to toss her hair back from her face. Then she held that one out as well to be cuffed, grinning wildly. "Robin Hood wore green, too. An' he wa'n't no farmer, for sure."
"Nope, he was one of the rich and gave up that title for the poor, when they had an oppressive dictator taxing them to the point of not being able to do anything. In case you hadn't noticed, we aren't being oppressed," Keith hand cuffed her other hand behind Morrigan's back and stood her up. "Come on, Robin hood wanna be."
"Maybe you're the one doin' the oppressin'. Though I gotta admit, I was never rich." Morrigan said, looking to the other officers as she stretched. In one quick movement, made easy by her metal arm, her hands were in front of her and she was rolling her shoulders. "Anyone here mind if I use my phone t' call my grandmother? Jus' gotta let 'er know I won' be by today."
