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To Constable Harris it was another long day at work. It was past curfew and he was patrolling the streets of Wellington Wells, searching for any suspicious activity. To be frank, he was rather tired, the only thing he could think of at the moment was getting home, popping a joy, and resting in his warm and comfortable bed.
A noise snapped him out of his thoughts. It sounded like… A giggle? He picked up his pace and rounded the street corner. Before him was a peculiar sight. At first glance, it seemed like a headboy has somehow infiltrated into town. Harris could recognize the studded leather jacket and the worn, patched up jeans anywhere. That hooligan was vandalizing a poster of the beloved Uncle Jack, he won’t stand for this!
Harris was about to call out to the headboy before he heard him giggling again. It was too high pitched, there’s no way an adult man was standing before him, but there haven’t been children in Wellington Wells since, well…
He didn’t like to think of such things.
“Oi! What do you think you’re doing there? Turn around with your hands behind your head!” Harris’ booming voice cut through the silence of the night. The headboy turned around to face him and to Harris’ surprise, the features of a young girl stared back.
She would’ve looked quite lovely with her soft, round cheeks and little dots of freckles if it weren’t for the jagged scar that mangled her features. It started above her eyebrow, passed through her right, foggy eye and split her top lip, exposing some of her teeth. Her shaved head left no room to hide, her whole face was exposed and open, you couldn’t avoid it.
Her expression changed from startled to haughty, her working green eye pierced through his own.
Maverick was so busy with improving the Uncle Jack poster that she didn’t notice the sound of footsteps echoing behind her. She admired her artwork, Jack’s head was adorned with a pair of devil horns, he had a moustache that could rival a doctor’s and some of his shining white teeth were blackened. She couldn’t help but laugh. ‘ Wait ‘till those knobheads wake up and see this!’
Constable Harris’ voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Damn, a bobby’s decided to ruin the fun. It’s what they do best after all.
Maverick turned to take a good look at the poor sap. Just a regular old copper bastard, nothing interesting about him besides his shocked expression. Being gawked at was hardly a rare occurrence to her even in the garden district. It would’ve been boring and tedious if it weren’t so bloody hilarious!
All of the bottled up laughter burst right out and soon she was clutching her stomach and struggling to stay upright from all the cackling.
“What’s so funny you rotten downer?”
“Sorry mate! It’s just that-” she burst into another giggle fit. “It’s just that I keep thinking you pigs couldn’t look any more idiotic, but you keep proving me wrong! You shoulda seen your face in the mirror, better than any kind of joy!”
Harris’ face twisted in disgust. “Why you little-!” He raised his baton in preparation for a strike.
Before he could even react, Maverick elbowed him in the stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs. She yanked his baton from his hand and bashed it into his head. He fell to the ground with a grunt where she pinned him by the neck with her foot.
“The name’s Maverick, bruv. You better remember it because this is hardly the last time you’ll ever see me!” Her sharp-toothed grin bared down at him before she swiped his hat off his head and took off running.
“Hey! Get back here before I make you regret it!”
“First you’ll have to fucking catch me, filth!” She suddenly took a sharp turn into another street.
Harris growled and started running after her, blowing his whistle as hard as he could. Soon, two other patrolling officers came running by his side.
“Got ourselves another downer altercation, innit?” Asked the constable known as Richardson.
“Which way did they go?” Asked the one named Cavendish.
“Just follow me, but be careful, This isn’t just a regular downer,” replied Harris.
They all turned down the alley Maverick ran into. It was pitch black and they couldn’t see a thing.
“Listen up! If you’d step out right now we’ll consider not getting too rough with you, we just want the path of least resistance!” Richardson called out into the darkness.
“Bit of a shame, really, that path is usually the most boring!” The bobbies looked up to see Maverick sitting on a windowsill several meters above them, proudly wearing Constable Harris’ hat on her head and swinging her feet off the edge like a child. How did she even get up there?
“But I have nothing but respect for our little boys in blue, so who am I to say no?” Three of them at once huh? The more the merrier!
She dropped from the window.
Directly onto Cavendish’s shoulders.
The impact almost knocked him to the ground, but Maverick wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and pulled him upwards. Cavendish was frantic, he kept trying to wrangle her off. Slamming her against the walls, gripping at her clothes, but she just kept laughing.
“Is that the best you’ve got, you brainless pile of rubbish?” Those bobbies were always so fun to mess around with, so predictable. She wouldn’t replace the rush that comes from beating them senseless for anything in this hellish town.
Harris and Richardson finally snapped out of their daze and sprung to action. Richardson ripped the Cockney girl away, threw her to the ground and pinned her by stepping on her chest.
“Alright,” Richardson huffed and puffed from the effort “You have some explaining to do-”
“I don’t need to explain shit!”
Maverick grabbed and twisted his leg so he fell down as well, she rolled over him and started throwing punches at his face. Cavendish kicked her off but she scrambled to her feet.
Harris lunged at her and aimed a fist at her face, but Maverick dodged in the nick of time and stomped on his knee, sending him to the ground. She was about to finish the job when Cavendish struck her head with his baton.The blow was disorienting, she was seeing double, by the time she came to her senses she found herself pinned to a wall.
“Just give it up, you downer! You’re outnumbered,” Cavendish spat out.
“Alright,” she wheezed, “Alright, tell you what- If you manage to catch me before I get to the garden district then I’ll willingly go with you. Does that sound like a deal?”
“Absolutely not!”
“Glad we’ve reached an agreement,” Cavendish received a fist to the ribs and a kick to the crotch. He keeled over in pain and Maverick used the opportunity to grab his head and bash it against the wall.
CRACK
Blood was dripping from his head and onto the floor, he wasn’t moving.
The remaining two immediately gave chase, they ran through alleys, streets, between houses, on rooftops. Every once in a while they’d manage to grab her, but the fight was always short lived, the only things that were gained were more bruises.
“Cheer up, mates! Maybe you’ll have better luck next time!”
Maverick’s whole body was on fire, her muscles were sore, and she was pretty sure she got a couple of rather nasty bruises, but she loved it. She loved the thrill that came with the chase, the fights she instigated, the rumors that sprung up the next day about a “hooligan invasion” and “wastrel epidemic”. Anything that could alleviate her boredom and smack some sense into those braindead morons. Sure, she hasn’t quite made a name for herself yet, just another headboy at this point. But they’ll see, and they’ll all join the fun.
Maverick was close, she could feel it. Just a few more yards! She saw Richardson bypassing her and trying to block her path. ‘Shit!’ She noticed a glass bottle on a bench, picked it up and threw it at his face.
CRASH!
“ARGH! BLOODY HELL!” The bottle smashed against Richardson’s head as he screamed in pain, the whole left side of his face was cut up and littered with glass shards, his left eye could only see red.
Harris immediately rushed to aid his colleague, who was clutching his face. Blood was pouring between his fingers.
“Go! Get that brat! I’ll get medical aid for me and Cavendish!” Richardson called out.
“But-”
“ GO! ”
Harris switched back and forth from looking at his companion to the hooligan that was currently getting away. With a heavy heart, he left Richardson behind and left to pursue the wastrel.
Maverick kept running until she realized that she couldn’t hear any footsteps behind her. She slowed down and looked around, there didn’t seem to be any sign of the remaining bobby anywhere.
“Huh, gave up already? Honestly, I expected a bit more from-”
She felt a force push against her back, knocking her to the ground. Her chin slammed into the stone street and her teeth rattled in her mouth. She looked up from the ground but the only thing she could process was Harris’ furious face before he started pummeling her, kicking her head, her stomach, her ribs...
Eventually, Harris saw that Maverick wasn’t fighting back anymore, he grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and made her face him. Her face was battered and bruised, a bloody nose, a busted lip, and yet she was still smiling. “You better wipe that smile off your face-” “Or what, you’ll make me sad? I thought you coppers beat people up when they’re not happy! What’s the difference between me and them?”
Harris went blind with fury. “THAT’S ENOUGH! STOP TALKING-” he pulled his fist back, but Maverick expected that, it’s what she does best after all.
Maverick diverted the fist to the side and headbutted him. Blood gushed from his nose and he stumbled back. She pulled him back to a clinch and started kneeing him in the stomach over and over and over again. Harris dodged the last knee and punched Maverick in the stomach, she keeled over and he sent an uppercut to her jaw. The hooligan almost fell back to the ground but the pain fueled her, adrenaline kept her from collapsing.She quickly regained her senses and swiped Harris’ leg from under him and he landed on his back. Now it was Maverick’s turn to kick ‘em while they’re down. She stomped on his face, dishing out kicks all over.
“How does it feel, huh?” she breathed out, “how does it feel to be on the receiving side of things? HOW DOES IT FUCKING FEEL YOU BITCH!?” She was really starting to lose herself in the violence, laughing like a maniac.
Unlike when Maverick was taking the hits, Harris did not stay down. He rolled out of the way and tackled her to the ground. He straddled her waist and pressed his hands to her throat.
“You are really, REALLY going to regret all of the stunts you pulled on us!”
“Life’s too short to regret things, luv.”
Suddenly, Harris heard a stampede of footsteps coming their way. He looked up, a group of bobbies were running closer to their location, Richardson must’ve called them, he thought.
But alas, he allowed himself to be distracted. Without him noticing, Maverick removed his hands from her throat and kneed him in the crotch. He yelled in pain, she shook him off and ran straight to the hatch that was in the nearby garden.
“It’s been a fine night lads, but I have better things to worry about!” She grinned, her lips stretching and opening the once closed wounds that were there, blood dripping to her chin and on the floor. She looked like an absolute mess with all of the bruises and scratches, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from her mockingly chipper attitude.
“Well, for now at least!” She tipped her bobby helmet with a wink and slipped down the hatch. Harris realized that the helmet on her head was his .
‘ Damn, looks like I’ll have to get a new one, that wastrel…’
The other officers arrived and helped him to his feet, they asked him about what had happened, and just who was that lone headboy? But Harris wasn’t in the mood to answer, and he began to limp back home.
Now he really wanted to just pop a joy and settle in his nice, warm bed. Hopefully this won’t happen again, but something told him that he’ll see that headboy- well, headgirl, many more times in the future.