Nostalgic For Disasters [Jake Peralta X Reader]

11

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"This is gonna be a shit show."

Y/N stated. "Why don't we just call for backup?" Y/N took another step up the stairs, "This is too dangerous. Hell, I think I should go in alone. You've probably got people in your life now. You're not expendable." I moved onto the same stair as Y/N, standing by her left side. "We're going in together." I whispered. We both raised our guns and took a breath in. I quickly radioed in our location and what our next move was. Life currently felt like a game of chess between a blind person and someone with 20/20 vision.

"You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."

We slowly went up the stairs, avoiding all creaky steps, and lines of sight. The 13 steps felt like 1000. The suspense was as deadly as our guns. We got to the top of the staircase and were met with a hallway. A different layout than the floors below would only make things more complex. We were fully blind with the shooters having the vantage point. The pictures on the wall of the hallway were either on the ground or very tilted, showing signs of struggle. "Let's stay together." I whispered. Y/N nodded slightly, before creeping forward.

          The wall sconces in the hallway were flickering, some had their glass broken, and some were completely broken. The hallway stretched on and on, small rooms, empty, with broken or messy furniture. The floors below had a lot of glass walls, but this one was the opposite. Everything felt small and enclosed, no room to breathe. The stench of blood grew stronger the further down the long hall we got. The hallway cut through the building horizontally, the rooms on the front of the building had large floor-to-ceiling windows, while the other side had nothing.

          "This feels pointless, it feels like no one's here." Y/N pointed out. "Hold on, those three rooms have closed doors." Y/N gulped comically as we approached the first of the three doors. I placed my shaking hand on the closed door and pushed it open. The office space had one of the large windows, we could see more squad cars than there were when we went in. But as for the room, empty. "Welp, that narrows our options." I pointed out. "Significantly." Y/N agreed.

          She looked down the hallway, trying to figure out which of the large adjacent rooms to go into. "Right or Left?" Y/N asked herself. "Rock, paper, scissors for it?" I suggested. When we dated and Y/N couldn't make up her mind, we'd play rock, paper, scissors; except she picked what both of us were and then we played without me knowing what I was competing for. She only ever does scissors though, so she usually gave me the task she didn't really want to do but had to get done regardless of if she wanted to. It was a simple gesture, but the memory and the game helped to chip away her stressed expression over the impending attack.

          "You ready?" She put her left hand out flat with her right and in a fist on top of it. "Don't forget to assign what we are like you used to do." I reminded. She has some of the worst short-term memory I've ever seen, she doesn't remember anything unless she writes it down, I have zero clue how she became a detective. "I actually remembered this time." She smiled, and continued, "Are ya proud?" I chuckled slightly. "Yep, but c'mon, don't procrastinate, there's lives to be saved." Then, we made intense eye contact. "Rock!" I whisper-yelled. "Paper!" She followed. "Scissors!" "SHOOT!"

Her hand showed scissors, and mine a rock. "Ugh." She complained quietly. "So?" "Why am I surprised that we didn't get what I wanted, I didn't want either option." She stumped herself for a brief moment before heading towards the room on opposite of the one we just checked. Her gun raised up and she placed a hand on the doorknob. We shared a deep breath, and we raised our guns. "Ready?" She queried. "I guess." I responded. And just like that, Y/N whipped the door open.

          She fired gunshots into someone tall that was armed. The perp fell to the ground with a thud as Y/N kicked away their gun. The twelve or so hostages seemed relieved for a second, a good instinct. I stepped deeper into the room, kneeling in front of the hostages as Y/N checked the perp's vitals. "Do any of you know how many shooters there are? I wanna make sure we got everyone before we evacuate you all."

            "Three!" A young man sitting towards the back of the group chimed. "No, Four!" Another joined. The group began to bicker in hushed voices. "You're forgetting about Diane!" A woman that had glasses with a cracked lens concluded. The group sat silent for a second, some of them looked to the floor, some shook their heads with shame. I raised my brows and asked again, "How many are there?" Y/N stood up behind me, silently confirming the takedown with a solemn nod. "Four, including Diane." The woman concluded.

           "Four?" Y/N queried. I looked up at her, not knowing what she's thinking. Her face scrunched up as she thought aloud. "The first one jumped off the roof," she began her list. "The second was Diane," I nodded along. "The third is this guy..." Y/N finished. I sat in the uncomfortable silence of the room. The young man from earlier chimed in once more, "There were two people in here at first." The group nodded unanimously. One sat in the front added, "She got really angry, almost shot that guy on the ground dead before you did."

            The group had an eerie calm atmosphere to them. Y/N looked down at me, and began pacing the room. She thought for a moment before stopping in her tracks in the doorway. She briefly checked the hall, her thoughts still racing, before turning her attention back to the room. I disturbed the silence, "She left... How could she have left? We have a perimeter around the building, hell, we are IN the building." I stood from my crouch, something felt out of place. I held my gun up slightly, the silence tingled like static in the air. But then, the silence was broken.

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