*Trigger warning*
Chapter Two: I Feel the Earth Move

2 hours before the Earthquake

Athena and Luna were currently on their beat when a few other officers were radioing about an offender with bright red hair who was fleeing the scene after he stole a car. The two looked at each other before, Luna sighs as Athena purses her lips, they knew exactly who those officers were chasing and made their way towards his house. They stand there leaning up against the patrol car, Luna was thumbing through her phone, Marvin walks around the corner chewing on a snickers bar. He spots the two partners as Athena tilts her head at him, Marvin looks around. As Luna straightens up, hands on her belt.

"Where you planning on running, Marvin? This is your house."

"You know, if you're going to keep stealing cars, you might want to consider a less memorable hair color." Athena reaches for her cuffs while Marvin just sighs walking over to the partners, Luna puts her phone away.

" When I hear a felonious act, the suspect matches your description, I know where to find you." Luna quipps as Marvin sighs.

" This is the third time we've had to arrest you this year."

"The hair is my signature. All master criminals have one."

" Yeah, all stupid ones." Athena guides a now cuffed Marvin over to the patrol car pushing his head down and helping him sit down.

" I'm just getting all of my sealing done before I turn 18. I'm joyriding, which is like borrowing the car without asking. Only thing I steal is some gas from a tank, if you think about it."

"Well, you're not going to juvie court this time, Marvin. Ran from the police. It's serious now." Luna explains as Athena shuts the door walking around the front of the car, the ride is silent as the trio cross the bridge.

" Am I really going to jail? Like, real jail?"

" You committed grown-up crimes. Grand theft auto, evading the police, reckless driving. You're lucky you didn't hurt anyone."

" I'm not gonna make it to jail. My mom's gonna kill me first." Marvin mutters from the back as Athena purses her lips grabbing the altoids from the center console. The ground is rumbling underneath them as the car is swerving back and forth.

"The hell?" Athena mutters trying to gain control of the car, Luna grabs the oh shit handle above her head while Marvin is freaking out in the back muttering Oh my god over and over again. The car skids to a stop as the two pile out looking at the sight before them.

The two partners pile back into the patrol car turning around and going to the lower level where the bridge broke, they begin trying to get people out of their vehicles.

" If you can drive, move your car to the shoulder! Clear a path for emergency vehicles!" They were yelling helping people out of their cars, Athena looks to her partner who just finished rounding up people before the two regroup.

"All your guys accounted for? Fire and rescue's on the way."

" Yeah, thank God."

" All right, you need to get people out of their cars before the rest of this overpass comes down. If they can be moved, move them. If you're not sure, come and find me. But mind yourself first. You want to be a hero, be the one who lives to tell the tale." Athena yells after her as Luna is pulling her hair up, they walk towards the front of the broken down overpass seeing a few empty cars, there was a blue car that was tipped over groaning coming from the vehicle. They lay down on their stomachs seeing a man trapped.

They reach him Athena grabs his hand and ask him for his name it was Dean, the pungent smell of gasoline lingers through the air as Luna scrunches up her nose at the smell, Athena nods running back to the patrol car, Luna keeps Dean company, as her partner returns with a fire extinguisher from their trunk, she walks over trying to extinguish the fire that was coming from Dean's car. The construction worker from earlier comes by tossing an extinguisher to Luna who catches it, the trio now trying to put out the flames. The flames don't die down and Dean starts screaming about how Hot it is in the car. The flame gets bigger sending the trio flying back luckily no one was hurt.

" Help! Oh, God, please! I don't want to burn."

They needed to find something to cool down the car. Athena and Luna think for a moment Luna spotting the cement truck she asks the construction worker who has they keys and he explains that his co-worker Miguel has them but he is helping people on the other side, of course there's a simple solution to all their problems after a lot of threatening on Athena's part Marvu in hot wires the cement truck moving it over to Dean's car where he pours it. On top cause the car to Cool down. Dean lets out a relieved sigh, as soon as the firefighters from the 115 arrive, the two partners leave dragging Marvin back to the patrol car with them. Athena has a rule once she puts you in the back of that patrol car nothing can fix it, she tries to stop that from happening but in Marvin's case there was no going back on it.

They got dispatched to another call at a grocery store. They pull up along with a few other patrol cars and the two sergeants immediately take control of the crowd.

"LAPD. I need everyone to back up. Keep your hands where we can see them."

They walk through the crowd and into the store seeing the owner with a shotgun in his hand.

"Thank God. These people are crazy."

"You have a license for that?" Luna asks as Athena is looking around hands on her hips

He puts his hands up in the air placing the shot gun down on the ground. "Yes, ma'am. I have all the paperwork in the back. I can't expect you people to be here all the time." he replies with a small chuckle as the two officers just look at him.

" All right, well, we're here now. Tell me what's going on."

" Exactly what it looks like. They tried to loot my store. I thought the people in this neighborhood were decent folk, but apparently they think everything's free if an earthquake hits."

" Mm-hmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Hey, Lu, looters... They tend to bring stuff they want to steal to the register, do they?" Athena turns to her partner looking at the items on the register.

"I brought that stuff here."

"And when was that? After you popped off your gun, you decided to tidy up a bit? How much you charging for that case of water?" Luna asks as the man gulps

"14.99$"

"Liar." a shorter woman steps into the store from outside, Martin one of the other officers on the scene tries to hold her back. As the two sergeant look at each other they wave martin off as the woman Steps forward again straighten herself up.

" Hey, miss, how much was this man charging you for a case of water?" Athena asks

" A hundred dollars." she replies as the two partners look at the man before each other again Athena with her famous lip purse.

" Supply and demand. Are you familiar with penal code 396, the anti-price gouging law?" Luna speaks up as the man just gulps.

" It specifically states that jackasses like yourself are prohibited from raising the price of consumer goods by more than ten percent after a state of emergency has been declared."

" Was a state of emergency officially declared?" he queried sarcastically.

" The San Andreas Fault declared one just before lunch today. You may have noticed."

" Look, if I don't raise the price, two or three people will buy it all. Upping the cost ensures that everyone gets a shot."

" Oh, so you're just thinking of your fellow man when you decide to fleece them. Well, not today. These people were not intruders. The sign on your door says "open," and you are not their victim. Quite the opposite, by the looks of things. Now, there are people in real need. This city is under serious distress, and all you can think about is padding your own pockets."

I have a right..."

" So, you have got yourself a choice. I can write you up for price gouging and you can face a year in jail, or... we can overlook your ignorance of the law, and maybe we can come up with some other arrangement." Athena threatens

" Like what?"

" Oh, like, you tell me." Luna folds her arms over her chest, a brow arched at the man, of course he was scared, Luna and Athena were scary women, especially when someone was being a bully and this man was the biggest bully of them all.

" I guess I could, I don't know, like you said, raise the prices slightly. Ten percent?" He looks at the two women whose lips are pursed, arms folded over their chest. " Ten percent off?" Athena pulls out her cuffs. " Twenty percent." She takes a step towards the man. "Fifty percent off everything in the store."

"Now, that's more like it." she spins the cuffs around on her finger. Walking Towards the door." Okay, folks, it's half-price day!" everyone cheers walking inside she walks up the counter looking t few items as Luna comes over with a crunch bar Athena grabs a granola bar she just laughs slapping a few coins on the counter before the two walk away eating their snacks

"Pleasure doing business with you." Luna says as the woman laughs again, fistbumping her

The day had been long and Luna returned home, to see two suitcases in the middle of the living room.

"Mac!" she yells for her roommate/best friend she wasn't expecting him home yet, his "think tank." must've been over with. Of course when she rounds the corner, she sees her roommate standing there with a big smile on his face, he pulls her into a hug as she squeals, oh how he loved her and missed her their Cairo mission was a bust and since she decided to Join the LAPD nothing was the same without her anymore.

"You wanna watch BadLands and get drunk?" he simply nods with a chuckle at her excitement, she gets everything ready as he tells her all about his trip, she was hesitant to tell him about her last few weeks, about running into Taylor. And a certain Latino man who had captured her thoughts.

Word count:2100