People, they moved about their own business. Scurried like ants in formation, scarcely aware of their surroundings. The sun hung low in the sky, yet the temperature was already in the high 90’s, and it was only 8:04am. People grabbed coffee, breakfast, the lightest of conversations with passers by and went to work. Just another Monday morning. Standing in the centre of the block was the Washington State National Museum of Art. It had stood the test of time, its great pillars were like stone giants, sentries standing silent vigil against any invader.

8:05 am, the glass of the museum seamed to ripple, anyone looking at it would have almost assumed it was heat waves rising and playing an optical illusion. The glass bubbled and exploded outwards in a horrific crash. It sent shards of glass like daggers and debris flying in almost jagged star shape, a few of the museum patrons looked up in time to be showered and cut to shreds. They twitched slightly and then just dropped blood streaking from multiple lacerations. Smoke began to billow out from the empty gaping holes that once housed the windows. As people ran out of the building, clutching their chests, desperate to take in a lung full of smoke free air. Only once person was actually running into the building.

Jess Walters was first on the scene, she was a rookie cop part of the Rapid Response Unit. Most of her co-workers still referred to her as a bleeper, an informal term for rookies who had as of yet had not fired their side arm without waiting for the auto targeting lock on beep to signal the weapon was safe to fire. The more experienced officers stated that it was a safety net for the timid. She ran in her pale green eyes glinting in the dim light.

The smell was the first thing to hit her, acrid burning and melted plastic all came together to produce a head spinning concoction. She could see people, some had managed to grab breather units meant for fire and safety personal, they were little more than oxygen masks that had built in canisters. She rushed forward to help the first lot of people, wrapping her arm around one man's shoulders as a means of support as she half guided and half dragged him towards the exit.

“What happened?” Her voice cool and unwavering.

The man frowned and pulled the breathing mask aside, still choking back tears from the gas. “What do you think happened? The place exploded!”

Deciding that he knew next to nothing she guided him through the exit and turned back. That’s when her ’back up’ arrived. They floated in through the windows, like wispy Grim Reapers, dressed completely in black and their faces were just like a glass bevelled mirror. The Sense Everything Electro Kinetic Ethereal Robot’s, or Seekers for short. They were automated sensor’s and cameras. They recorded everything, the sights, sounds and even chemical compounds which we would determine as smells from any crime location. The explosion must have alerted others as well. On the back of their cloaks were numbers used purely to identify and co-ordinate the signals from each individual seeker.

Jess spoke in a louder more commanding tone. “Seeker 010. Report.”

The seeker froze in position and turned slowly to face Jess. Its vocal processors whirred to life and it spoke. “Initial Analysis is incomplete. Results so far…. There are three terminated bodies outside. First Deceased is Dr Carl Jenson, he died from a massive trauma to the face and neck, glass pierced the ventral artery. Subject would have died in 32.3 seconds after initial trauma. Second…”

Jess Interrupted, she loathed their voices at the best of times. If fear had a voice, it had provided it for the sole purpose of the seekers. They were cold and calculating, they had no emotion even when explaining the horrific. “Skip the bodies outside, just give me the report on the inside. “

The seeker hung there motionless, the faintest of whirr could be heard as it re-accessed and sorted its information. “An explosion occurred, composition of a radio detonation type of plastic explosive, detonation field was a 15 metre radius. Explosives were placed on each window and one in the central reception pillar. There are no casualties inside the building, however there are 5 males in the rear of the building.” There was a brief pause “Report complete at this time”.

Jess re-read all the facts in her head, thinking furiously. Explosives set on the windows, then it was not set to destroy the building, or destroy the artefacts, they are housed in the display areas at the back. She opened her mouth to formulate a question, then she raised an eyebrow.

“5 Men? Survivors?”

The seeker again faintly whirred and responded. “Negative, moving in a standard 2 by 2 formation. 1is sitting , additional information in currently unavailable until further investigation completed.”

Jess waved a hand dismissively and turned away from the machine. She drew her side arm and moved with careful decided steps towards the rear of the building. Their was little debris after the smoke had settled, she walked with purpose and no fear. Up a small and sloping set of stairs to where she could hear movement. Bracing herself she leaned against a supporting wall and dropped to one knee, she ducked her head round the corner and surveyed the area. 4 men dressed all in back, they carried assault rifles, two of them had them slug behind their backs while the other two who were slightly obscured from her field of view had them across their chest. She shut her eyes and braced herself.

She stood up and turned out into the room, clasping her weapon with both hands. With as much force as she could must she spoke. “Police! No Body Move! Drop your weap-” The furthest away man at the back of the room spun on his heals along with the man closest to her, had it been a ballet they would have had a standing ovation for synchronisation. They had their weapons drawn and raised, Jess didn’t wait for the beep and pulled back furiously on the trigger. She leased off three shots before she made it back into her cover. All three hit the first man in the chest, he just dropped to the floor and twitched slightly. She made it into cover, but only just, bullets sprayed the wall chewing away plaster. Jess decided that she was not going to wait for them to come round the corner and gun her down, she dropped to the floor and rolled along the floor back out of cover and let loose shots of her own. The first one missed and sizzled past her combatants and hit wildly into the ceiling. The second shot hit the closest man's weapon, sending sparks from it, the third hit him somewhere in the throat, it sizzled as it burnt past his vocal chords preventing him for screaming. He dropped to the floor dead. The two remaining soldiers stepped into cover while she let loose her shots.

The battle was broken by an unfamiliar voice, it came from the radio of the dead man in front of her. “Cease Fire, we have what we came for. Deploy charge and evacuate. Confirm?” Jess only heard one word in response, a man with a distinct accent that she couldn’t at the moment place. “Copy.” By now she was tucked away safely behind another wall. The two men poked out of their hiding places, and started firing randomly forcing Jess to keep her head down and stay in cover. Then as suddenly as it had started the firing stopped and a whirring noise was heard. Jess poked her head out to see both men repelling skyward to a hole in the ceiling that she hadnt noticed previously. Both men reached the top and were through before she had had even time to blink. She stood up and ventured deeper into the room, and spied the 5 man. A security guard that had been bound and gagged sitting on the floor. He was mumbling and nodding at a corner of the room, his moaning and grunting almost frantic. Jess looked over and saw a brown package where one of the men had been, the digital readout on the front of it was flashing and counting down. 22.….21.……20.

Jess turned to the guard and grabbed a hold of his bonds, she didn’t have time to free him, 16 seconds remaining, as she dragged him down the flight of stairs, the guard moaning and grunting with each impact of the steel stairs as he bumped down them. 12 seconds, she didn’t have time to drag him round glass and debris and he was too heavy for her to try and lift. So he was dragged over it, he would have to worry about glass and splinters in his ass after they were outside. 8 seconds she dragged him past the reception desk and towards the double doors, the basking sunlight outside looked ever promising and forever inviting. 4 seconds, she dragged him out of the doors and into the light, her eyes stung slightly as the sudden brightness and it made her pause slightly. 2 ……. 1 …… The ground shook before the noise of the explosion was actually heard. With an almighty crack and boom the explosive device detonated. The stone pillars that had stood their vigil for so long cracked and waned but they did not fall. The roof upon the rear of the building caved in and a cloud of debris and dust burst out behind them.

8:25 am, emergency services had started to arrive on scene, the first being the fire service and then the Police. Two squad cars pulled up and a detective clambered out, he surveyed the damage and lets his eyes fall on Jess. When he spoke it was a voice of age, one too many cigarettes and far too many late nights. “Walters! What the hell are you doing here? What the hell is going on?”

Jess Simply looks up and smirks, “Well Sir…. I am in the Rapid Response Unit, and this was a Rapid Response. See you back at the office, I haven’t actually clocked in yet”

Jess then strode off towards her own vehicle, an outfitted Ducati Motorcycle. As she straddled the bike and turned the key in the ignition she smiled to herself…. At least she wasn’t a Bleeper anymore.