Chapter III: The Robbery

                “So let me get this straight: you are an alien cop?”

                “Well,” said Shayera, speaking to Jordan.  “To me, you are the aliens.”

                Commissioner Emmett shrugged.  “Good point.  And you were chasing this guy, Byth, because he stole some stuff back on your planet.  And then this blast of light flew in your face and before you know it, you’re on Earth.”

                The three were in the main office to the Midway City Police headquarters.  Shayera was sitting down in front of Emmett’s desk while Jordan stood behind her.  She wasn’t handcuffed or restrained, but Jordan made sure she could see the gun in his hand.  “More or less.”

                “This is incredible,” said Jordan.  “You look just like a human, except for those giant wings.  Are they real?”

                Shayera’s feathers rose in irritation.  “What else would they be?”

                “Officer Hol,” said Emmett.  His voice was much more calm than Jordan’s barking.  “What do you plan to do?”

                “Catch Byth.  That’s my job.  I failed to capture him once, I won’t fail again.”

                Emmett nodded.  “And after you catch him?  What then?”

                Shayera hadn’t thought about that.  “I’ll go home.”

                “But how?  You said your ship doesn’t have the power—and by looking at the condition of Byth’s own ship, I’d say there is little chance for you to go home using his.”

                Shayera bit her lip—Emmett was right.  “I—I’ll think of something.  If I can find Byth, he may know how to get home.”  Shayera rolled her eyes.  “I doubt your prisons could keep him anyways.”

                Jordan was insulted by that remark, and was about to counter back when another officer entered the room.  Her badge read ‘Lewis.’  “Commissioner!  Two patrol cars are requesting backup.  There was a robbery at the museum and the thieves have already gotten away.  Officer Matthews says they’ve shot his partner and he’s got to stay there.”

                “Get the helicopter up and follow the getaway vehicle.  Jordan, we need to get to the museum.  Come on.”  He turned back and saw Shayera.  She was gripping her mace.

                “I was a cop on Thanagar.  I can help, you know.”

                Emmett shook his head.  “You’re a stranger here.  Stay here at the police headquarters.”

                Shayera’s eyes flashed in anger.  “But I can help you—”

                “Officer Lewis,” the policewoman stood at attention.  “See this woman here?  She is not allowed to leave this room.”  Emmett loaded a fresh cartridge into his gun.  “I’d like to think you’re a friend, Officer Hol, but that’s enough to let you fight, is it?”

*              *              *

                After they left, Shayera began to pace the room.  One of the radios was left on the desk, and she could catch snippets of the chase.

                “He’s blown out one of my tires.  That’s my job!”

                “Suspects have turned right…he barely avoided a truck.  Is the blockade is place?”

                “Can someone get up ahead and punch those tires?”

                Shayera turned to Officer Lewis.  “So where are they now, do you think?”

                “Someone said Maple Street on the radio.  That’s north of—hey, where are you going?”

                Shayera had opened the north-facing window and was halfway out of it.  “If you get in trouble, say I knocked you out.  Because I will if you try to stop me.”

*              *              *

                Deputy Simpson floored the pedal and speed closer to the getaway car.  He could hear the helicopter above him, skimming past the tops of buildings to remain as close to the chase.  Simpson radioed the pilot.  “Howard!  We really need that roadblock now!”

                The chase had gone on for almost an hour.  Two men had entered the Midway Museum of History a few hours prior, dressed as janitors.  They had snuck into the warehouse in the back and made off with some pieces from a future exhibit.  The two men were stopped outside of the museum, and that’s when the two thugs opened fired and hit one of the officers.  In the hour-long chase, they had caused two car crashes, one involving a pedestrian.  If the police failed to end this chase soon, the robbers were going to end it—and Simpson didn’t want to think of the body count.

                “Dispatch?  Contact Emmett at the museum and tell him I’m requesting permission to—Holy Cow!  What is that?”

                It was Shayera.  She dropped down from the sky and landed on top of the robbers’ car.  Her knees hit the roof while she spread her arms and gripped the edge with her fingertips.  “What the hell is on top of us?”

                “I don’t know.  Shoot it!”

                A bullet shot through the roof, about two inches away from Shayera’s elbow.  Suddenly she realized her awkward position.  She couldn’t grab her mace without losing her grip.  “Great…just great.”  She lunged forward and pulled herself so that she landed on the windshield.

                Whatever the thieves were expecting to be on top of their car, an winged alien cop was near the end of their list.  Shayera pulled her mace from her waist.  One hard swing cracked the glass, and she pulled her hand back to swing again.  The driver screamed obscenities and swung hard to the left.  Shayera spun off the vehicle and crashed into a pile of garbage bags on the side of the street.

                The robbers didn’t fare too well.  The driver had pulled too far, and set the car in a spin.  It stopped after crashing into a chain-link fence.  “Come on!” said the driver to his gunman.  “Let’s get out of here before that—that—that freak finds us!”

*              *              *

                The ambulance had finally arrive.  The injured police officer was still conscious.  “Don’t worry John,” said Emmett as he stood over his fellow officer.  “You’re going to be all right.  I’ll check up on you when you’re settled in the hospital.”

                Emmett could here Officer Jordan swearing like a truck driver in the squad car.  “Jordan!  What’s wrong?”

                “The alien escaped!  Lewis said she flew out—oh shit!”

                “What now?”

                Jordan was shouting to the pilot to confirm what he said.  “Captain Howard spotted her!”

                “Where?”

                Jordan was in a fit.  He finally got waved for Emmett to get in the car.  “Well,” laughed Jordan as Emmett stepped in.  “Maybe she really is a cop!  Howard said she’s stopped their car—by hitting it with a mace!”

*              *              *

                The two robbers had run far into the alleys to avoid being spotted.  The gunner was still waving his pistol in the air.  “Put it down, you jerk.”

                “What if it followed us?”

                The driver didn’t answer.  He was just as frightened.  They ran on, splashing through puddles, jumping over fences and knocking down trashcans as they found some dark and quiet spot to recuperate.  There was a ‘courtyard’ formed by the alley walls with a small bunker opposite the two thieves.  No one would find them there.  Above and around them, pigeons and sparrows drank from puddles and rain gutters.  They scattered into the air as the two men sprinted to their hideout.

                WHAM!

                The shooter spun around to see Shayera slam her mace into the driver’s shoulder, lift him up, and throw him against the wall.  There wasn’t much room with her giant wingspan, so Shayera pulled her legs back and circled, trying to get some height.  The gunner reacted instantly, and fired two shots.  Shayera blocked one with her mace, but the other flew through the shafts of her wings.  “Got you, guttersnipe!”

                Shayera perched on a windowsill directly above the gunner.  Her wing smarted, but it didn’t seem to matter right then.  She pressed a button on the handle, and the mace began humming as an electric current ran through.

                “CAW!”

                Shayera dove from the windowsill and swung her mace.  Hard.  It hit the shooter in the chest.  He collapsed on the ground, groaning.  Shayera stood over his limp form.  The sun was behind her, creating a giant raptor-like silhouette over the criminal’s body.  “Please…don’t kill me…”

                Shayera grinned.  She bent down and spread her giant wings over her quarry.  It wasn’t Byth standing under her right now, but it felt good anyways.  “Kill you?  I wish.  You’ve caused a lot of trouble today, or so I’m told.  But you have helped me prove myself today.  So perhaps I should bring you to Emmett, eh?”

*              *              *

                Commissioner Emmett was looking at the crashed car up against the fence.  There was no word on where the two thieves had fled.  He turned his head toward the alley as two cops emerged from the shadows.  “You find either of them?”

                “They fled, Emmett.  We can’t follow them.  I’ve sent for a few detectives, but I doubt they’ll turn up.”

                Jordan groaned.  “Great.  We lost them and the alien.”

                “Nobody’s lost, officer.”  Jordan, Emmett, the rest of the police officers, and the reporters spun around.  Shayera was standing on the edge of a rooftop.  Her wide, warm grin could be seen under her mask.  In each of her arms she clutched the collars of the two robbers’ shirts.  One was unconscious, the other looked very scared of heights.  “I said I was a cop.  Do you believe me now?”