We're Back

Who Knew?

"Lobby's clear, entering the stairway," Del Pilar relased his grip on the earpiece before signalling to Maldives.Receiving a nod from the latter, the two men booked it up the stairs and scanned every landing for threats. "Hey uh... Del? Can I ask you something?" Maldives asked his all too private partner. When it had been announced that Del was going to be Maldives' new work partner, he nearly tore his hair out. No one really knew anything about Del save for the fact that he lives with the Asean fam and that he used to be a general in the Filipino army.

Tightening his grip on his pistol, Maldives idly wondered what Del was like outside of work. Since he used to be in the Fillipino army, he must be related to Phil... but why did he leave? It was only when Maldives realised where his eyes were going that he snapped himself back to reality with a muffled squeak. Of course, Del's sharp hearing caught that and he turned around with an accusatory and confused gleam in his eyes. Well I'm screwed... Maldives lowered his gaze only to find his eyes straying once again.

Del shook his head and continued to prowl the hallway, pushing his partner's antics to the back of his mind. When Martial had suggested that Del take on this particular line of work, he had been as skeptical as his partner trailing behind him. Even though he loved being on the front lines, the irony of the situation was not hard to miss. Especially when you take his past....shenanigans into account.

But when even Papa Asean pushed for Del to accept the job offer, he knew that he had no other choice. Besides, as Papa put it, he had spent the past 2 decades of his life years protecting his brothers and now he could protect them and his new family tenfold. Rechecking his pistol for bullets, Del knocked on the apartment's door.

"Pardon me sir but we have reason to believe that you are harbouring a known fugitive in this apartment. With your permission and cooperation, we would like to carry out an investigation if possible," Del greeted the pale-faced man who greeted him at the door. Once permission was granted, Del and Maldives pushed through the door and scanned the living area before heading to the kitchen.

There, they found a woman armed with a pistol in her right hand and a throwing knife in her left. Reflexes kicking in, Del and Maldives pointed their pistols at the woman with Maldives holding his badge in his free hand.  "Ma'am, please drop your weapoms and come with us," Maldives monotoned while Del tightened his grip on his gun and prepared to fight his way out. "Sorry boys. But no can do" she purred as she threw the knife directly at Del's head.

Maldives was frozen to the ground and could only watch as the blade flew towards Del. He's going to die isn't he... was his last thought before the woman opened fire on him. Lucky for him though,Del had fast reflexes and was able to crouch to the ground before the knife became impaled in the wall above his head. Together the two men fired rounds and rounds of bullets as the man who had greeted them earlier joined in the fight.

"This is Officer Maldives 14181 requesting for backup at the Arena Apartment complex building 5," Del heard Maldives radio for assistance while he shot both the assailants in the legs and arms. As the pair fell to the ground in agony, Del grabbed the radio from Maldives and made his mark in the younger man's memory. "This is Officer Pilar 24356 reporting from the Arena Apartment Complex building 5. All is settled, you can send the squads."

As Del and Maldives did up their own bandages, they stood to the side as the ambulances wheeled the injured drug dealers away. "Huh. Who knew a school teacher knows how to use a gun?" Maldives commented as he watched the middle aged fugitive hang his head while the paramedics fixed him up. "Yeah. And who knew that a police officee doesn't know how to work a bandage?" Del shot a look at the poorly done wrapping on Maldives' leg.

Rolling his eyes, Del crouched down and put the bandage to rights while blissfully oblivious to the hitch in Maldives' breath. "You wanted to ask me something before it all went down right?" Del recalled and looked up to see that Maldives had turned away and was biting his tongue. "I guess I just wanted to get to know you better since we're gonna be working together..."

Del stared up at Maldives as though he had grown two heads. Nevermind the fact that they had just busted a female druglord and her husband but instead,mind the fact that Del himself used to be a prime murder suspect and the fact that a police officer like Maldives wants to know him. "Indochina Cafe at 3 on Saturday. If you're late I'll drive off without you," Maldives spun around only to see Del Pilar walking away with his hands in his pockets and a bandage running up his left arm.

Feeling heat rushing to his cheeks, Maldives hurriedly tried to cover his face before Del turned around but it was too late. "Huh. Who knew an ex-suspect could have that kind of effect on a cop," Del muttered slyly before his phone pinged with a message from Asean. From the look of things, a bad date may be the least of Officer Del Pilar's troubles. NYPD officer dies after guardian finds him injured. Sounds about right...