FNF: The Corruption Crisis

Chapter Twelve: Stalemate

After storming out of Tankman's recovery room, Bolt was greeted by the ringing of the emergency phone. Ever since he had been tasked with being the new commander of the Tankmen Police Department, the emergency phone has been ringing off the hook. Not that he really expected anything else, given the situation at hand. Giving a sigh, he picked up the phone and braced himself for whatever call might be waiting on the other end.

"This is the Tankmen Police Department – what's the emergency?"

God, saying those words still left a bitter taste in his mouth. He hated having to work for the very unit that he was once at war with. However, as Rick said, desperate times call for desperate measures including being forced to command John's unit. He might hate John's guts but at the end of the day, it was all about keeping the community as safe as possible from this crisis. He did his best to keep that in mind as he adjusted himself to his new duties.

"There's a hostile set of Corruptions just outside of Ritz Boulevard!!" the panicked female's voice sounded. "I thought there was an officer back there but maybe he lost...someone needs to stop them before they enter the town!"

"Ritz Boulevard...alright ma'am. Seek shelter now. I'll have a unit look into it right away."

"Hurry!! I don't think those guys are alone! This town is dangerous enough as it is!!"

Bolt sighed as he ended the call with yet another panicked citizen. The constant inflow of calls certainly didn't give him much time for rest, did they? Despite the circumstances and telling the woman he would, Bolt did not order an officer to investigate the situation. Sending someone out there against hostile Corruptions was definitely going to be a death sentence. No. He would investigate the situation via the cams first, something he had noticed that John had been failing to do. Perhaps if John just took a more careful approach on things from the start, so many of his men wouldn't be gone now. Bolt supposed it was up to him to attempt to set things in a better direction.

He heaved another tired sigh as he flung open the doors to Tankman's old office, the office that was now his. He was relieved that Tim wasn't in there. Ever since he came here, Bolt's assistant had hardly left his side, going on about how panicked he was about the crisis, how his family was corrupted and how he didn't think the rest of the unit stood a chance. Bolt had about enough of Tim's negativity and ordered him to work on an inventory count of the food and resources they still had to work with in this makeshift shelter of a HQ. Tim must have still been away doing that, which was a relief for Bolt. Now wasn't the time for more sob stories.

"Now to see just how bad this situation is..."

He braced himself as he settled into the office chair, logging into the computer and accessing the security cams. Bolt was glad that this specific call was about an area where there was a security cam stationed. It meant that he could investigate without carelessly sending men to the area. He could get an assessment of the situation and decide if a response was going to be worth the risk or not.

No sooner could he click on the screen leading to Ritz Boulevard did Bolt about drop the computer mouse. As the citizen had said, there was indeed a set of hostile Corruptions stationed just by the town's exit. They were pretty hard to miss as one of them was on a speaker that had magenta spatter all over it. The Corruption looked like Steve though it had horns and glowing red eyes – eyes that reminded him of the demon glow that the Dearests would give when they used their powers. No way was Steve a demon, right? This must just be some other soldier who looked like Steve, one who sat on a speaker much like he remembered how Steve sat on the tank whenever he was actually paying it attention and not leaving it somewhere for them to steal. It wasn't too much of a farfetched idea since many soldiers wore round goggles like Steve. With their uniforms, they all looked the same. However, there was no mistaking the identity of the second Corruption. The rifle on his back and the glowing magenta lights on his visor alone showed that it was Ted. The strings on his torso and the deep gaping wound on his back looked a bit disturbing to Bolt though. However, none of it was more disturbing than what he saw on the other side of them.