New Beginning

"Calm down, Mom! Everything's gonna be fine!" Bobby said with a trembling voice.

"No, no! You're just saying that but you don't know! You just don't know!"

Bobby shifted on his other foot as he held his mobile phone closer to his mouth. "It's what I've been training for. If I don't go for tonight's mission, they'll brand me as a deserter. I don't wanna tarnish my record!"

"But it's total chaos out there! We haven't even heard from your father ever since your commanding officer took him into custody the other day. I don't want to lose you, too! Please, son! Please!" cried the woman on the other end of the line.

"You're not gonna lose me," said the young officer as he looked into the distance. "Okay. Tell you what: After I'm done with this, I'll pack up and leave my apartment right away. I'll file a leave of absence then stay with you until we find Dad. Is that alright?"

"Promise?" asked the woman as she tried to clear her throat.

"Promise," replied Bobby, smiling to himself.

"Our targets are Garret and Amy Gibson," announced a senior officer while handing out files to his junior officers inside their vehicle. "A wealthy business couple; Both are humans of course; Husband and wife with three kids; Known to harbor rabbit fugitives since before Pearson City went under POSRA control; Philanthropists to the hybrids and, therefore, traitors to us humans. We should have apprehended them weeks ago but their files were lost when the rabbits destroyed one of our facilities in the North. Thankfully, the POSRA Headquarters have the back-up for every data we owned!"

Bobby took particular notice of one of the photos. The man seemed to be in his thirties while the woman appeared to be younger. The couple looked genuinely happy with their kids, which prompted him to question their true motives for siding with the terrorists.

The vehicle stopped at an old hotel building just as the senior officer finished the briefing. "Eliminate enemy hostiles. Get the Gibsons into custody by any means necessary. Even if it kills you," he said as the vehicle door swung open.

"GO! GO! GO!" shouted a senior officer from another squad.

The rain poured hard that night but Bobby managed to see at least five other armored POSRA trucks unloading more enforcers.

'This is overkill' he thought to himself as he watched numerous officers forcibly rush through the hallways of the hotel and pin a handful of civilians down, both young and old alike. He tried his best to clear his mind as everyone from his squad positioned themselves in front of every door.

At the signal of their commanders, all the POSRA officers barged into adjacent rooms. They barked strict orders and forced their way into each living space. They pushed husbands away from their wives and parents away from their children. No one was spared from their grasps and no room was left untouched. Bobby's heart felt like it was beating its way out of his chest.

"Clear!" shouted one enforcer after another. Soon, even Bobby himself lost count of how many times he called that word.

"This can't be happening!" growled his senior officer. "Survey every room, every window, every door!! LEAVE NOTHING UNCHECKED, YOU HEAR ME!?"

"We've got all exits blocked! They can't get away!" said one of the junior officers in the room.

'Not all exits...' thought Bobby.

Any policeman in his right mind would have said what he knew but Bobby felt like keeping it to himself. Every building he had ever been to all his life had roof access; this hotel was no exception therefore. Instinctively, Bobby proceeded to climb the nearest set of stairs.

"Portman, where are you going!? PORTMAN!!" called one of the other officers.

Most of the enforcers on the top floor were either interrogating hotel residents or on stand-by, waiting for orders. There was no clear door leading to the rooftop. Amy and Garret's kids ran between ages four to eleven. Even if the family made it out of one of the windows, the on-going rain outside would still have made it unsafe for them to climb up the wall.

Bobby quietly entered a room at the center of the hallway. It looked like a tornado just went across it. The rookie frowned at the sight of blood on the floor when he got to the kitchen. It was obvious that the other officers did more than just politely ask people for information.

He was about to leave the scene when he heard a faint but continuous 'thud' coming from under the sink. The young officer held his light machine gun tightly as he parted the curtain covering the sink, revealing a hole large enough for an adult to pass through. Ignoring protocols, Bobby decided to go in on his own. He wasn't entirely sure why he did it but his gut told him that that was the right thing to do.

"Freeze!" commanded Bobby as soon as his gaze fell upon a group of figures moving in the dark. "Put your hands up and don't move!"

"You should do that yourself!" commented a man with a loud voice.

Bobby heard his heart pounding despite the ruckus outside the darkened room. He felt something hard and cold touch the back of his ear. The young officer stood stiff as he slowly turned his head to look back at the man behind him. Bobby's jaw dropped slightly as he saw a somewhat infamous silhouette: a rabbit hybrid pointing a pair of pistols to his face.

"Pipe it down, Lockett," said a woman in a hushed tone.

The rookie quickly turned back and saw another rabbit hybrid. The light from the hole behind him slightly reflected the latter's pink hair while she stood there. Bobby then recognized the people sitting behind her to be the Gibsons as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Y-you're under arrest!" exclaimed Bobby. His hands shook as he pointed his gun at the pink-haired rabbit. "Stop! Stop or I'll shoot!" he barked desperately at her when she began to slowly walk towards him. "You... You don't understand! The Gibsons! I have to take them into custody!" he exclaimed, looking back and forth at the two rabbits.

"I can't let you do that," replied the pink-haired rabbit, slightly shaking her head. "So if you're gonna shoot me," she gripped the mouth of Bobby's weapon and held it to her forehead, "I suggest you aim right at me!"

The male rabbit, earlier referred to as Lockett, smirked and quickly cocked his own pistols without removing them from Bobby's head. "Go ahead and try," he said casually.

"See, my friend here? He's not as resigned as I am. He'll level your head clean off those shoulders whether you shoot me or not," the pink-haired rabbit said calmly, without letting go of the rookie's light machine gun. "But since we're protecting these people from the likes of your--" she paused briefly before continuing, "-- your kind, I can't have him do that to you right now. Then again, he still has other ways of eradicating undesirables without making a fuss."

Bobby swallowed hard while trying to think of a way out. He quietly scolded himself for not calling for reinforcements before getting into that hole earlier. As if on cue, the rangerfone on the young officer's shoulder strap beeped a familiar tone.

"Portman! Portman, come in! What's your status?" called his senior officer.

Bobby reached for the device but stopped midway when the youngest of the Gibson kids suddenly stood up. Her parents panicked as the little girl closed in on Bobby and the pink-haired rabbit.

"Please, Mister! Please don't say anything about us!" cried the little girl. "Morgue and Lockett are good rabbits! They're my friends and they're taking us to somewhere safe! Mom and Dad said we won't be together anymore if we don't go with my friends. If you tell, then the police will take my Mom and Dad away!"

The rookie watched as the pink-haired rabbit freed his weapon from her grip and gently touched the little girl's head.

"The rabbits are people, just like humans," Garret Gibson finally interrupted, his gaze fully stuck on Bobby. "They're just holding their own in order to survive. We call them terrorists but don't we, humans, terrorize our fellow men, too? I trust that you're a good POSRA officer; a loyal one! But I also want to believe that you have your own principles that you live by."

The young officer slowly let his breath out and placed both of his hands down, pointing his gun away from Garret's daughter and the pink-haired rabbit whom she called Morgue.

"Tracy! Tracy! Come here," Garret's wife, Amy, called out to her daughter.

"Mommy!" exclaimed the little girl as she went back and embraced her mother, father and siblings.

Still standing behind Bobby, Lockett also lowered his own pistols. "Mr. Gibson just wants to protect his family, but he can't do that if you have him arrested. The kids have had a rough day already. Witnessing any form of violence at this point won't help make things better for them," he whispered to the young officer.

Bobby nodded in agreement. He then recalled the promise he made to his own mother earlier that day.

"PORTMAN!!!" repeated the senior officer who was still waiting on the other end of the rangerfone.

Everyone in that dark room held their breath as Bobby pushed the on button of his gadget. "I'm on the top floor with the other squads," he replied. "No sign of the Gibsons."

"Thank you!" said Garret after Bobby pushed the off button.

"Don't thank me just yet! The others will be here any minute. I can't hold them back anymore once they discover the hole," replied the young officer as he removed his helmet, revealing his face.

Morgue quickly prompted the group to move out quietly. Amy and the children echoed Garret's words to Bobby as they all reached for the hidden ladder in the dark leading up to the roof top. Lockett held the second Gibson kid on his back and climbed first, followed by Garret who himself carried Tracy on his back. The eldest Gibson kid went up next and Amy followed right after him.

Bobby aimed his light machine gun back to Morgue again when it was her turn to climb. "Rabbit!" he called her. "The next time we meet, we'll still be enemies!"

The pink-haired rabbit looked back at the young officer, her hands already positioned on the ladder. "We ARE enemies," she uttered in reply.

"Breakfast is ready!"

"I'll be right down," replied Bobby. "Just finishing up some stuff!"

The young officer was fixing an outdated laser printer when he heard his mother's call. Bobby had written a couple of letters on his laptop the night before and was supposed to print them and choose which one to sign when he gets to the headquarters, but he figured his schedule won't allow him once he arrives. A week had already flown by since his encounter with the Gibsons but it felt like everything just happened yesterday. Amy and Garret were never found so it must mean their two rabbit friends succeeded in getting them out of POSRA's reach.

"Well, hurry up or this will get cold!"

"Yup! Just a few more minutes. Thanks, Mom!"

The young officer laid down the two newly printed letters side by side on the table in front of him: one told of his desire to file a leave of absence, and the other, his formal resignation. Bobby held and read the first one and did the same with the second letter before placing both of them back on the table. He then took a deep breath as he grabbed his pen.