Nostalgic For Disasters [Jake Peralta X Reader]

9

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"Ma'am, I'm gonna need you to breathe."

          The woman's head jerked up. She was hyperventilating as she rocked, she was frantic and shaking, blood on her hands. I looked at Ryan and Stephen, just a glance. Ryan took a step forward, "Are you injured?" He asked, about to take another step. "Don't come any closer!" She yelled, pulling out a gun and aiming it at Ryan. "Ma'am, I need you to calm down." Stephen said, pointing his gun to the side. The woman couldn't have been older than 45. Mascara dripped down her cheeks. "I didn't want to be a part of this." She took a couple of short breaths, "I didn't want to hurt anyone, I swear."

"Put the gun down!" I commanded. "I don't want to go to jail!" She let out a large sob. "What's your name?" Stephen asked. "Diane." Stephen inched forward. "Hi Diane, I'm Stephen. Do you work here, Diane?" She nodded quickly. "I'm an accountant." He nodded back to her. "Do you have any significant others, Diane? Maybe a kid, or a spouse?" He began to step forward when she shook her gun once and yelled at him, "I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU MOVE ONE STEP CLOSER I'LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!" Stephen remained completely still. "How many shooters are there?" I asked, leaning forward a bit. "Oh, this is all just a mess, a big, big mess. And you guys are terrible negotiators!" She laughed with shock. I spoke with a more assertive tone, "How many people are you with?" She let her head down, and choked out another sob. "I'm not with anyone! I didn't want to hurt anyone, I swear! I'm a good person! I don't want to go to jail."

          Stephen shook his head at her, "If you hurt anyone, you'll go to jail, life sentence. But if tell us about any other shooters and or accomplices the sentence may get reduced. This is your last chance to have less jail time, Diane." "Is that a threat?" She rebutted. Stephen said nothing, neither did Ryan or I. "Y'know what, I'm over this. Shoot me." She stated, wearily getting up to her feet, grunting with pain. The hand holding the gun raised its aim to be level with officer Manion's head. "I'm a threat to an officer which means you can shoot me and be within your rights to do so!" Since she was standing, it became clear that she had suffered from a major wound on her side. "SHOOT ME OR I'LL SHOOT YOUR GUY!" Stephen nodded towards Ryan and I, signaling for us to not make any action. "LOWER THE GUN DIANE!" Officer Manion commanded.

The sound of a gunshot rang through the air.

Everything moved in slow motion.

The bullet flew through Manion's skull,

With a splatter of blood jolting out on the other side.

Officer Matteson raised his gun and shot at the woman repeatedly, blowing five bullets into the woman. Manion collapses onto the ground as Matteson drops his gun. I stood still, point my gun at Diane as she fell to the ground. I stalked over to her, keeping my gun aimed, before kneeling to the ground checking her pulse. Dead. "MANION DOWN! MANION DOWN! HOLY GOD FUCK NO!" Ryan radioed down to all the officers and EMTs outside. As I stood back up, I turned to face the downed Officer. His blood leaked out of his head onto the floor like an extremely leaky faucet.

I could tell that all of Ryan's desire to be an officer and work for justice had just leaked out of him. He reminded me a lot of myself, excited to do police work, young, bright, and eager. This was definitely going to mess with his head for a while, as with mine. The whole day would ring in our memories, a nightmare while awake. Y/N entered the scene, and muttered, "Holy shit." She turned to me and raised a brow with a shocked face. I returned back to the bodies in front of us. "Ryan, would you be able to move Officer Manion down to the entrance for the EMT's?" Ryan was kneeling down in front of Stephen's corpse, solemnly looking at the soon-to-be cold hands and all the intricate veins strewn across them. He was probably contemplating the concept of life and death, his place in the universe, and the impact of his actions.

        Y/N hesitated for a minute before speaking into her radio, "Send in enough cops to carry a corpse down. We'll be sending down Officer Matteson to leave the premises due to shock, we would prefer him to wait for the other officers to get the body of Officer Manion before he exits the building." Y/N instructed, then nodded to me, before exiting the room and heading back to the stairwell. "We've got one more floor, then the roof, right?" She asked. "Yep. And you know what that means?" I asked dimly, "The hostage situation is almost one-hundo percent gonna be on this floor." She fist-bumped the air tiredly before proceeding to the stairs. She placed her hand on the railing and one foot on the stairs and stopped moving.

          "If this goes bad and you get hurt, I'm sorry for this, and for everything. I've been shitty over the years, but we might be marching into death right here, so I just wanted you to know that." I wrapped arms around her and hug her torso from behind. She stayed solid as a rock at first, then turned around and reciprocated the hug. We remained like that for about twenty seconds, before pulling apart. A slight smile tugged at her lips, more awake and ready for action. She asked with a sarcastic tone on her enthusiasm,

"You ready to kick some ass?"
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