Wrong Side of the Law (M/M)

[bigsmile21]

“Remarkable,” Zeke said, “Truly remarkable. This device could change how we approach crowd control overnight.”

The year was 2020. Officer Zeke Hawkins had been working for the city of Grandview for ten years now, and he had never seen anything like this. The tech boys over at Browning Industries had just sent over their latest toy: a large rifle that launched restraint pods instead of rubber bullets or t-shirts. Each pod was the size of a golf ball, and once the soft shell made contact it would erupt into a flurry of rubber coils, quickly incapacitating their target. The “volunteer” for today’s demo had been the newest rookie graduate from the policy academy, Justin Case. A few moments ago, Justin had been standing tall against the police lineup wall. Now, he was squirming around on the floor, encased in a tangle of black rubber tendrils.

“This is just the prototype,” the Browning Industries courier had said. He was a thin guy with a patchy brown beard. His lab suit had “Evan Stevens” sewn into the left lapel. “With the right press coverage and sponsorship from the city, Browning Industries could have one of these in every squad car by the end of the year.”

“I’ll need to see a full listing of the tech specs before pushing this along,” Zeke said, still looking down at the wriggling mess of black coils on the floor, “But for now, this little demonstration just made my day. No more chasing down perps across city blocks, or belligerents swing about in the middle of a crowd.”

Justin stopped moving, his chest visibly heaving under the restrictions. “Certainly, Officer Hawkins,” Evan replied. “For now, the ‘Peace Pods’, patent pending of course, can contain a combatant exerting up to 300 lbs. of pressure. Not enough to stop extremely muscular targets, but we’re still testing how to balance the constriction limits while maintaining the safety of the target. You’ll notice that even though our volunteer here has stopped moving that the coils around him are still writhing. The thought is to have coils link up between downed targets. The exterior shell hardens after setting, which usually takes about twenty seconds to completely envelop. We wanted the shell to harden so that the targets wouldn’t be injured by any trampling feet, or if multiple targets start piling on top of each other in a crowd.”

“How long can a criminal be kept incased?” Zeke asked. “Can they breathe or see?”

“Unlimited time. And targets can breathe just fine, though their eyes and mouth are blocked off. Air passes through the material without much hinderance. We’ve shown that some people begin hyperventilating soon after their face is covered, and while they may pass out if they don’t calm down, they are in no risk of suffocation. Once the shell hardens, vents around the nose and mouth allow for easier breathing. There still a myriad of variables to consider, however, such as how to quickly restrain a knife-wielding target without making them stab themselves.”

“Electricity,” Zeke responded flatly.

“Excuse me, sir?” Evan asked.

“We use tasers on the streets to force a criminal’s muscles to lock up. Adding short bursts of electricity to your pods would cause their hands to open and close quickly, causing them to drop any weapons. Won’t do much good against guns, but we must take a different approach for that kind of situation. Keep up the good work and I’d be happy to put on a show for the mayor.”

There’s a sound like popping bubble behind the pair of speaking men. Zeke turns to see another police officer, the one who had fired the test shot at Justin, quickly being wrapped by a mass of black squirming tendrils.

“Unfortunately,” Evan started, “the Peace Pod casings are still soft enough to accidentally go off while loading them into the launcher.” Evan looked sheepishly at the older officer. “It’s one of our top priorities to solve, as we don’t want any of your officers to set off a chain reaction on themselves in front of an angry crowd.”

“Understood,” Zeke replied. “How long until we can cut my guys loose?” The second officer was still squirming on the ground, only five feet away from the bound rookie.

“Again, it takes under a minute for the material to solidify. After that, you can use any pair of safety shears to cut a target loose. The strength of the coils will not deteriorate over time.” Evan pulled out a small pair of rounded scissors.

“Good to know,” Zeke said. He put his boot against where he guessed the second office’s shoulder was and nudged him over towards Justin. As soon as the two bodies were within a foot of each other, the moving black tendrils began linking up. The two cops were linked at the shoulders, side-by-side, then the hips, and finally the ankles. “Let’s go over more of the design features you have,” Zeke said, putting his hand on Evan’s shoulder and walking him out of the lineup room. “I’m sure there’s other ways our experience in the field could help modify your tech, aside from electricity. And I want to make sure this division has exclusive rights to your tech. I don’t want to hear about you selling it to paintball or laser tag companies. If these designs get out to the public, well, the criminal world always has a way of stepping up its arsenal to beat ours.” The two men walked out of the room, leaving the two encased officers to wait for their return.

[Xtc]

Intriguing start. I look forward to see where this is going.

[Johnsnow]

Great story!!! Do you have plans to continue it or do you plan to leave it as is?

[bigsmile21]

Thanks for the feedback! Right now leaving this as is. Throwing a lot of (word) spaghetti at the wall to see what I like to write and what sticks. Have some longer stories in mind.

[FelixSH]

Another fun one. This is a fun concept, like the ones from your other stories. Keep going, I'll look out for more from you.

[Charmides]

Love this premise, friend, and I'm a big fan of the slightly eldritch aesthetic you've got going on. Can't wait to see what else you come up with!

[Canuck100]

Interesting concept and great story!

[NeedControl]

Wow, so cool! Would be great to get to experience one of these myself.