Saturday, April 9, 2005

   Nougat: Origins (Chapter I)
[For those of you new to this story, don't forget to read the "prologue" chapter a couple posts before this, savvy?]


Nougat walked briskly through the misty rain after parking his car outside the precinct. The building itself seemed absolutely gigantic to him at the moment, but he had a feeling that that would ease up on him sooner or later. Off in the distance he could hear the regular sounds of traffic from a downtown area. There were no car horns, shouts, or any other sounds that would suggest any conflict with the peaceful, although somewhat dark and unhappy day.

After stepping into the precinct, Nougat hiked up the small black sports bag over his shoulder and stomped the wet soles of his boots off into the rubber mat beneath him. Aside from a queue of people sitting along benches that lined the walls, it was also surprisingly quiet. Not that he minded, he was just expecting a lot more police-type action going on at the moment in a police precinct. Rather, it was just a few uniformed officers sitting behind the front desks, tending to people in front of them or managing paper work.

A desk clerk opened up and Nougat stepped forward.
"Hi," he said, "I just got assigned here today."
"Alright, sounds good." the clerk said cheerfully. "Name?"
"Nougat." The clerk looked through the rosters on the sheet in front of him. When he found Nougat's name, another wide grin spread across the officer's face. "Ohh, this is good . . ."
"Huh?"
"You're assigned to Sergeant Marcus Stone's squad, office 409." Nougat nodded, but stopped briefly.
"What's good about him?" he asked.
"They're a little strange in that squad," the clerk answered. "Be careful, okay?" Nougat nodded again before heading to the stairs - the puzzlement remained strong on his face.

The precinct still seemed overly quiet as the young, fresh recruit made his way through the hallways. Finally he came to the office numbered 409. Finding it came with a shock, though, for when he reached for the knob the door violently swung open; inside sat one man behind the desk in front of him, and seven officers standing at the sides, almost menacingly if he didn't know any better.
"Sit down," the officer behind the desk ordered while another nearby motioned towards the one chair placed directly in the centre of all of them. Nougat stepped in slowly, fully aware that every pair of eyes was fixated directly on him. He started,
"Um, Sergeant Sto-"
"Yes, but don't speak if you're not addressed first," the sergeant said from behind the desk. Nougat nodded again and made his way to the chair. While dropping his bag down and lowering himself into the oddly cold chair, the other officers were quick to form a tight circle around him.

"Okay," Stone said, "first off, yes, I am Sergeant Stone. I head this squad. You do what I say, and you stay alive . . . you mess up once too often, I'll have your badge personally . . ." Nougat tried hard not to let anything show, but he couldn't help that he was completely taken back by the man in front of him. ". . . so remember that: I'm the boss, the king, the pharaoh. Got it?"
"Uh, yes sir," Nougat said quickly.

"Alright," Stone continued while he looked at some papers he picked up, "so you're Constable Naggat?"
"Um, Nougat," the young officer corrected. Instantly he heard a murmur through all the other officers around him. Stone remained unaffected.
"Uh huh, I see . . . okay Naggat, now that we're all introduced, I have some questions to ask you . . ."
"Yes sir . . ."
"Did I address you yet?"
"Uh . . . no sir . . . . ."

Though Nougat was convinced it was his own imagination, he thought he heard someone snicker behind him . . . he didn't dare to turn around, in any case.
"So tell us," Stone said, "you graduated from the academy last class, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Nougat answered. Stone pressed his fingers together soon after hearing the response.
"That's right, sir, constable."
"Oh! Right . . . sorry sir . . ." Again, the odd feeling that someone was snickering entered Nougat's mind.

"What was your time for the POPAT?" Stone asked." Nougat answered,
"Five minutes, fifty-two seconds . . . sir." Stone rubbed his chin hard and winced slightly.
"How about your shooting qualifications?"
"I scored one-sixty on that, sir." Again, more murmuring came from the tall ring of officers. Nougat gripped the arms of his chair tightly as the sergeant stared directly into his eyes.
"Another question, Naggat" he said, "during training, which sidearm did you prefer to shoot more, the Glock or the Beretta?" Nougat flashed his vision to his sides - they were all staring at him as well.
"Well, uh . . . I suppose . . . . ."
"Come on, man!" Stone said sternly, slamming his hands on his desk, "this isn't gonna destroy the world . . . not everyone's world, anyway . . ." Nougat swallowed and took a breath.
" . . . . . the Beretta. I felt most comfortable with it." A sharp gasp made its way through the circle of officers; Stone continued to look agitated.

"So you're saying you're a slow runner, but you can shoot well . . . and that you prefer the Beretta?!" Nougat's eyes went wide briefly.
"Yes sir, but I don't see how any of this . . ."
"For the love of toast, Naggat!" Stone shot back again. "Don't you understand that everything matters?!" Nougat stood up and placed his hands on his end of the desk as well.
"No, sir, I . . . I mean . . . . ."

That was when he knew for sure that someone behind him was definitely snickering.

The snicker forced its way out of the female officer's nose and gave way to an all out belly laugh. Nougat turned around and saw that the rest of the squad was quick to follow suit - one even staggered backwards and had to brace himself against the nearby shelf. Turning back to face Stone, Nougat could feel the stress and anxiety flutter away with his new sergeant's contained, mischievous grin. Nougat fell back into the chair, psychologically defeated; after landing, several hands were quick to pat his shoulders in a reassuring manner.

"Well, that was fun," Sergeant Stone said, smiling. Most of the rest of the squad at settled down, save a couple who were still trying to catch their breaths.
" . . . you guys are assholes!" Nougat got out while trying to hide his own freshly-formed smile.
"Yeah, they know," Stone replied casually before leaning back and putting his feet up on the desk. Nougat shook his head and said,
"Y'know . . . the guy at the front desk told me to be careful, too." Immediately the squad erupted into another fit of laughter; Stone laughed hardest out of all of them.
"Yeah, those guys know too . . ."

The squad members all took less menacing positions around the office while Stone continued talking.
"Alright, let's do this again," he said, "I'm Marcus, and I'm the sergeant of these idiots . . . and soon enough, you shall be an idiot along with them, I'm sure," Nougat grinned and answered,
"We'll see about that . . ." Stone grinned, happy that Nougat was finally taking his own position in the game.
"Anyway," the sergeant continued while motioning around the office, "to your left are Constables Roch, Ruth, and Cook. On the other side, there's Marsden, Henry, and Kitzman." Everyone said a quick hello; Nougat gave a kind of weak wave all around him. Stone spoke again.

"Now that we're all introduced for real now, let's get down to the really important business," he said boldly. Nougat thought for a moment as to what it might be, but chose not to venture a guess.
"So what might that be, sir?" he asked.
"Movie quotes!" Stone answered. "Cop movies, to be precise . . ."
" . . . . . huh?"

Constable Cook was the first to openly speak out of the six.
"Just relax," she said, "it'll all make sense in a second . . . alright, let's do it!" She clapped her hands together and backed up. The sergeant rubbed his hands together and looked upwards in thought.
Alright, let's see . . ." Nougat sat quietly while Stone thought. "Okay, got it: This is the cleanest and nicest police car I've ever been in my life! This thing is nicer than my apartment!" Something sparked in Nougat's head.
"Oh! Uh . . . Beverly Hills Cop?" A small cheer went up around him.
"Good, good," Stone said, leaning back in his chair, "that's one . . . . . alright, next quote . . ."

Stone cleared his throat.
"I thought maybe you were a smart boy. But I guess if you were real smart, you wouldn't be a convict." Nougat thought for a moment, but knew he was at a complete loss.
"I don't know," he said, while shaking his head. The officers feigned disappointment in various physical ways.
"48 Hours, Nougat, 48 Hours," Stone answered; Nougat shrugged innocently.
"What is it with you and the Eddie Murphy movies?" Ruth asked. Stone just shrugged and made an odd face - everyone laughed again.

"Alright, last chance to redeem yourself," the sergeant said, "you ready?" Nougat nodded and waited. "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho." Everyone in the room made another small reaction.
"Come on, Flint, that's way too easy!" Henry shouted.
"Yeah, Flint," Ruth followed, "you were never this easy on us before."
"Ah, sure I was," Stone said dismissively. "So how 'bout it, Nougat?"

After all that commotion, Nougat couldn't help but feel stupid.
" . . . . . ah, I'm not sure, actually . . ." Another huge reaction went through the squad - again out of complete disbelief.
"How could you miss Die Hard?!" Marsden exclaimed while the rest laughed; in reaction, Nougat just slapped his face.
"Right, right . . ." he muttered, "Die Hard . . ."

Sergeant Stone took his feet off his desk and sat up straighter. The other officers leaned in slightly as well. Again, Cook was the first to say something.
"So Flint, one outta three . . . whadayathink? He have promise?" Stone rubbed his chin for show once again for a moment.
"Ahh . . . . . I think we can make somethin' of him, yeah." A half-serious round of applause followed the statement.

"Constable Nougat," Stone said, "we're gonna hafta sit you down in front of about five dozen movies in the next couple months . . . but yeah, welcome to the squad. I hope you enjoy it here." The applause grew in volume - as did Nougat's comfort level.
"Thanks, sarge," he said while leaning way back into the chair, "I won't let ya down."


[Heh . . . this totally went longer than I thought it would . . . . but, I have fewer chapters planned out . . . maybe they'll just be longer, then? But yeah, here we go!]
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