Library Security, Episode 8

It seemed like just an ordinary day as Colton rode into the Grand Creek Public Library parking lot.  It would be another day of keeping the library secure.  Perhaps there would be an unruly patron to beat.  Good stuff.

Upon entering and getting into his office, he saw a letter on his desk with his name on it.  He opened it and read, "Come to the fifth floor break room...if you dare."  Could there be a situation on the fifth floor?  He made sure his gun was loaded before heading up.

Once he arrived on the fifth floor, he carefully opened the door and peered through into the wide-open reception.  It was a ghost town, when it was normally busy.  This could be serious.  He stepped through and whipped out his pistol.

From where he stood, the breakroom was about 150 feet north.  The corridor was lined with offices along the left wall.  To the right, there was a partition that rose up about seven feet, leaving roughly three feet of clearance to the ceiling.  The partition ran from the door to about thirty feet before the breakroom entrance, before breaking into an open area containing employee office cubicles.  If this was a trap, there'd be plenty of opportunity to be attacked.

He proceeded cautiously down the hall until he got to the breakroom entrance, where he stopped short.  He peered in.  It was dark.  The light switch was just inside the door to the left.  He would flip it, asses the situation quickly, and blast some heads if need be.

One.  Two.  Three.  He hurried around the corner and flipped the switch with one hand while looking around and aiming his gun with the other.  Much to his surprise, there were many staff members gathered, including the manager and Aisha, but he could identify no threat.

"That's our Colton," a librarian said.

"Congratulations on twenty years of serving the Grand Creek Public Library," the library manager said.  "Now could you lower the gun."

He holstered his pistol.  "I received a poorly written letter and hurried up as fast as I could.  I thought there was a situation up here."

Everyone knew exactly was, looking at a page.  "Whoops," he said.

"Anyway," the library manager said, "you've kept the library secure for so long, we just had to do something for you."  He opened a box on one of the tables, revealing a cake.  "The first slice is yours."

Colton wasn't really a cake eater, but how could he refuse?  This whole shindig was for him.  If something went down, he and Aisha could dart into action.  Some relaxation wouldn't kill him.

After some cake and conversations, everyone started chanting, "speech, speech, speech."

May as well.  He cleared his throat and everyone got quiet.  "When I came to the library twenty years ago, I swore the Security Guards Oath.  I swore to protect, serve, and beat.  Since then, I've come across some of the best co-workers a man can have.  I've protected a lot of library property, served a lot of people, and beat a lot of criminals."  He raised a cup of pop he'd poured earlier.  "Here's to another twenty years and twenty more after that, then twenty more."

After the party, it was business as usual.  It was a quiet day.  Nobody was trying to fight, argue, or steal.  It was almost too perfect.

Then, his phone rang after he did the rounds.  "Security.  This is Colton."

Someone let out a maniacal laugh.  Was it the same person who called last time.

"Listen, maggot," Colton said, "I don't know who you are, so you'd better quit while you're ahead."

Seemingly not hearing Colton, the person said, "The one you love most will betray you."  Then he let out another maniacal laugh and the call ended.

Colton wondered what he meant.  Who was he talking about.  His parents?  They lived in another state.  He didn't have a wife, kids, or a girlfriend.  He was an only child, so it couldn't be a sibling.  Maybe it wasn't worth thinking about too deeply.

A few incident-free hours later, it was time to shut the library down.  The manager, Aisha, and a few other employees hung back to talk to him in the parking lot.  "It really is amazing what you've done, Colton," Aisha said.  "I can only hope to be half the security guard."

Colton shook his head as he sat down on his motorcycle.  "I'm not anything special.  I'm just a guy who shows up to work and does his job."  Then, he cranked up the ignition, heard a boom, and saw a flash of white.

"Colton!" he heard Aisha scream before he blacked out.

The House Of Ellis, Episode 1

"No!" Oliver screamed as he was dragged into an alley and kicked to the ground.  Fear caused him to shake as he looked up at his five much younger attackers armed with clubs and daggers.  "Please!  I don't have any money."

"That's too bad," one of the thugs said.  "You have to pay to get through.  Doesn't matter how old you are, if you don't have money, you're gonna pay in blood."

He was almost seventy years old.  Even in his prime, he was no warrior.  Now, as someone well past his sturdiest years, he had no chance. Is this how he was going to die?  "Please.  Please!"

"Ha, listen to him beg," another of the thugs laughed.

"Please!" a third thug mocked, before laughing.

Clunk.  Clunk.  Clunk.

He wondered what that sound was.  It was getting closer, causing the young men to look back.  Footstep?  Yes.  From someone wearing armor judging by the sound.

The source of the sound entered the alley.  It was a tall woman, clad in armor.  The armor was made of white iron white gold trim around the edges.  Underneath, that was black leather armor, covering whatever the iron didn't.  On her hi, there was a large sword in its sheath.

Not wearing a helmet, her face was fully visible.  She appeared to be in her early thirties and sported long black hair, tied back in two braids.  Best of all, he knew who she was, as everyone in the empire of Empora should.  She was Lady Madison Ellis, the mightiest warrior in the empire.  What luck, to be saved by her.

"You foolish lot wouldn't happen to be committing a crime on my watch?" she asked, her voice deep and tone domineering.

"Oh no, it's Lady Madison, the Floating Armor herself!" one of the thugs cried.  "What do we do?"

Oliver saw one of them looking as if wanted to charge her.

"Before you do that, think about what you are doing," she said.  "As a soldier of Empora, I am a protector of its citizens.  All who would dare to threaten its citizens will have to answer to me.  And to those who would challenge me, I will show no quarter as I quarter you."  She drew her sword.  "Is it worth it?  You be the judge.  Drop your swords and walk away if you wish to be spared.  Or you can attack and see what it gets you."

The all dropped their weapons.

She sheathed her sword and stepped aside.  "Do not make me regret letting you go."

The thugs all ran out of the alley, screaming, "she's crazy!"

Once they were gone, she walked over to Oliver and reached down to him.  "Are you unharmed?"

From this close, he could see how beautiful she was.  Her face was angelic and her eyes deep and black.  If she was wearing regular clothes, you'd never assume a woman like her was a warrior.  "He grabbed her hand and said, "if only I were forty years younger..."

She pulled him.  "Those miscreants may target you again.  I shall escort you home."

He felt like he'd be wasting her time if she did that.  "It's okay, young lady.  I can make it home from him."

"Nonsense," she said.  She bowed.  "As a protector of the populace, it is my duty."

After a short walk, they arrived at his house.  "Well, here's my stop.  I must thank you, young lady."

"Thanks are not necessary," she said.  "Knowing that I kept a citizen of Empora safe is enough for me."  And with that, she walked off into the night.

He opened his door and walked into his house, happy the he had just gotten so close to Empora's mightiest warrior.

Library Security, Episode 7

It was just another day of being a library security guard for Colton.  Everything was all quiet as he entered his office and looked over his monitors.  That's when he saw something unusual.  A staff member was laid out in the Local History section on the fourth floor.  Pushing himself from his desk, he rushed up there.

When he got their, the staff member was still knocked out.  "Hey."  He shook him until he awoke.

"Uhh...Colton."

"What happened?" Colton asked.

"A patron...tried to take my keycard," the staff member said.  "When I resisted...I was knocked out."  He checked himself.  "Surprise...no keycard."

The chances that they just left were very slim.  They wouldn't steal a keycard and just leave.  That would have defeated the logic of stealing it in the first place.  "I'll check my cameras and see what I can find.  Do you need me to call and ambulance?"

"No, but I could use some aspirin," the staff member answered.

After asking a few more questions, Colton returned to his office to look over the camera footage and see who did it and where they went.  He saw a man reach for the staff member's keycard and when the staff member resisted, the man knocked him out, just like the staff member said.  Then the man ran off.

Colton looked over the footage from other cameras to see if he could find out where the man.  One camera showed the man use the keycard on a door leading into the basement.  It wasn't hard to figure out the next move from there.

There were two sublevels in the Grand Creek Public Library basement.  One sublevel was for employees to do work behind the scenes.  The second was a storage area, where books no longer in circulation were stored.  Considering he hadn't received any calls from the employees, he was likely in the storage basement.

Colton went down the stairs and arrived in the employee basement.  There, he saw a lone employee putting books on carts to be shelved by shelvers when full.  "Seen anything strange?" Colton asked.

The employee looked up from his work.  "Oh, hey, Colton.  Yeah, I thought I heard someone run past not too long ago.  I thought it was that page who's always hustling, so I paid it no mind.  I take it, that wasn't him."

"Did they come back through?" Colton asked.

"Not to my knowledge," the employee said.  "I didn't see or hear anyone, at least.  Not even the elevator."

So, was still in storage.  "Thanks.  You've been helpful."

Colton headed for the stairs leading down to the storage basement.  Once at the bottom of the stairs, he turned right and viewed the numerous shelves.  There were low-circulation items, as well as old periodicals and the archives.  The shelves were about eight feet tall and twenty feet wide, plenty big enough to hide a whole human being.  This could be tough.

The one thing Colton had in his favor is that the only you ways out were behind him.  He didn't have to go searching shelves.  All he had to do was wait for the guy to get tired and he'd eventually turn up.

Then, there he was, peeking his head from behind a shelf.  He quickly shot back behind the shelf upon seeing Colton.

"The only way out is behind me," Colton called out.  "There is no escape.  You might as well come out and face the music.  Drop where you have and come out with your hands up."

As expected, the man didn't come out.  Colton had to no choice but to go in, but he had to make sure the elevator and stairs were covered in case the man got behind him.  He whipped out his walkie-talkie and said, "Top Dog, this is Headhunter.  I have a suspect with an employee keycard cornered in storage basement.  I have to go in after him and need the stairs and elevator covered."

"This is Top Dog," the library manager replied.  "I'm on it.  I'm calling the police now.  The stairs and elevator will be covered.  Feel free to cut loose."

"Roger that."  Colton put his walkie-talkie away.  "There is no escape, maggot.  Come out or I'll come in and drag you out."

As expected, the guy didn't come out.  "Alright.  Don't say I didn't warn you."

He began his trek, peering.  Then, about five shelves in, he saw the man  stabbing at him with a knife.  He dodged the attack as the man emerged from around the corner.  "Put the knife down."

"I may not make it out of this basement, but neither will you!" the man said.

Colton briefly thought about drawing his pistol, but opted not to.  "Put the knife down."

The man growled and attacked with an underhand downward thrust.

Colton caught his arm, flipped him to the ground, then broke his arm, causing the man to scream.  "I said put down the knife, not try to stab me again."  Colton tossed the knife aside and whipped out his walkie-talkie.  "Top Dog, this is Headhunter.  I have the suspect in custody."

"This is Top Dog," the manager said.  "Roger that.  The police have arrived.  I'm on my way with them for retrieval.  Over and out."

After the man was questioned and taken away, Colton went back to his office.  As soon as he sat down, his office phone rang.  He picked it up and answered, "Security.  This is Colton."

There person on the other side laugh out an maniacal laugh, then hung up.  It sounded like they were using a voice distorter, so he couldn't recognize who it was.  "Looks like business is about to pick up."