Brave Police:A New Era

American Classics

It was almost 11 o'clock when Jacquin began to get bored. She had offered to take Dumpson's place on the graveyard shift so that the wrestler could attend that finally rescheduled date with Ayako, but now she was beginning to regret it. Normally, she would have been fine with doing the night shift (although she could live without Gunmax's "night owl" puns), but this was her first time doing graveyard with McCrane, and she wasn't sure of how to act around him at night. The first lieutenant sat at his desk, signing off on the paperwork in front of him. Jacquin was honestly surprised at the sight of the huge stack of paperwork on his desktop, because it was very unlike the crane to let his work pile up like that. She was innocently scrolling through YouTube on her desk computer when she had the idea to invite McCrane to join her for a few episodes, and she had a pretty good idea of what to watch. 'But first...' she thought as she stood up and walked over to him. "Hey, McCrane? Do you mind if I watch something?" He glanced up at her before saying, "Don't you have paperwork to do?" "No." Her blunt answer made the black Mech look at her sharply. Jacquin didn't push off her work if she could help it, but everyone slacked off every once in a while. The huge pile of paperwork was very embarrassing for the crane Mech, though how it got so big so fast was beyond him. This kind of stuff happened to his brothers, not to him! Jacquin read the papers in his hands from over his shoulder when she noticed something, but she was hesitant to bring it up. "Uh, McCrane? You do know that those papers in your hand are just junk, right?" He looked at her again. "What are you talking about?" "Well," Jacquin picked up a sheaf of random papers and sifted through them, picking out a few. "These papers are just reminders for that monthly magazine that you don't even read, and these are advertisements for a different wax that you tried that one time a few weeks ago and decided that you didn't like." McCrane felt even more embarrassed with each junk paper she put in front of him, and he got even more embarrassed when she said, "And aren't these Power Joe's paperwork? You need to get on him about that." "Oh... I guess I get a little too into doing the paperwork that I don't.." he trailed off, so Jacquin finished for him. "Don't pay attention?" He nodded. "Here, I'll help you sort these out, and then we can watch a show! I know a few you might like." Jacquin offered as she began to help him sort the papers. McCrane cringed. "So long as it's not one of those soap operas that Power Joe likes." She cringed mentally at the thought. "Oh, Lord no. I hear those enough, no matter how low Power Joe turns the volume down." she returned to the task at hand. "No, the ones I have in mind are old American classics, not something Gunmax would like or even know about, though." she added as an afterthought. Once they were done, Jacquin put Power Joe's papers on his side of the desk and took the junk papers to the super-sized shredder in the hallway, making McCrane's pile a whole lot smaller. The crane Mech was just finishing off the last paper when the beastformer returned, and he sat back at his desk as Jacquin searched for the shows she had in mind. After a silence that lasted about four minutes (the only sound was the clicking of computer keys), she asked, " 'The Munsters' or 'The Addams Family'?" He was incredibly confused. "What?" "The shows I want to watch, I found the Japanese versions for them. Would you like 'The Munsters' or 'The Addams Family'?" McCrane was hesitant, but he eventually chose the latter. He just hoped he wouldn't regret it.

About 2 o'clock in the morning and several episodes of both shows later, Jacquin dared to sneak a peek at the only other Brave in the room. McCrane sat with his jaw slightly agape and this look on his face that said 'What did I just watch?'. When he spoke again, he said just that. "What did I just watch?" McCrane was silent, even after Power Joe and Gunmax came into the Decker Room to relieve them for the rest of the night. Jacquin was unsure if she had just scarred him for life.

Several weeks later, McCrane was unusually eager to head off to his room one day after Deckerd had announced that they were all going to get off work early that afternoon to unwind. The crane headed straight for his room, much to his brothers' surprise. "What's up with McCrane? He's never gone to our room that quickly before." Dumpson scratched the top of his helm in confusion while Power Joe and Drill Boy looked like they were thinking really hard, which was an accomplishment for them. Jacquin shapeshifted into her beast mode and slipped into the vents that led to the Build Team's shared room. Her beast mode took the shape of a jacquin, which was a mythical creature with the head, body, tail and limbs of a jaguar and the wings and feathers of an eagle. The head of her beast mode flipped up from behind her neck in Bot mode while her limbs twisted around and the paws flipped out over her hands, and her wings stood straight up. The tail, which was long and cat-like with a feathered tip, slid out from in between her wings. Her eyes, rather than being purple like her visor, were green, and her chest compartment remained the same. As she crept through the vents, a curious ping from Kagerou made Jacquin pause in her step. "What are you doing in the vents? And why are you heading for the Build Team's room?" her eldest brother implored, Jacquin noted that Shadowmaru was on the call as well. "I think I know why McCrane is acting so unusual, and I think it's my fault." she informed them, closing off the call as she neared the vent that led to the Build Team's room. She eventually began to hear music coming from the slits in the vent covering, and once she was close enough, she could hear the lyrics. "They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, they're altogether ooky. The Adams family." 'Oh, McCrane.' Jacquin thought as she lay there in the vent, listening to the episode as the crane Mech watched on, oblivious to his audience. From where she sat, the Mecha could see a small stack of DVDs sitting near the head of McCrane's berth. He had the Japanese versions of the first two seasons of 'The Munsters' and the fourth season of 'The Addams Family' on DVD. Wanting to leave the lieutenant to his show, Jacquin slipped back into her own room via the vents, chuckling softly to herself. No need for anyone else to know of McCrane's new addiction.

Sorry about the delay, I've kinda been banned from writing lately. I'll update when I can. Thank you for reading!