FicWad

Notes: I honestly don't know where this one came from. I was listening to the song and thought it would just work well for Judy . . . or any member of the Jump Street team, but Judy was the officer I kept coming back to. There are also tags to "Blinded by the Thousand Points of Light" so I'm guessing this takes place late season 3.

Song: "Walking in the Underground" by Pat Benatar


Cold sweat, sweat it out
In the land of the midnight sun
Walk it off, sort it out, figure out
What you're running from

Officer Judy Hoffs shivered and pulled her blue denim jacket closer to her body. She was working undercover as a hustler, trying to catch the man responsible for assaulting young teenage hookers. Underneath the jacket she was wearing a black sleeveless top that only went to her midriff and her jeans were such a pale blue they were almost white. There actually was splashes of white mixed in with the blue, so it looked as if someone had accidentally washed her jeans with bleach—which was so not the case.

The night's cold temperature was starting to reach her. She'd been warm earlier in the evening, but now Judy wished she had something warmer on.

A cold sweat broke on her forehead and she began to walk faster. Hoffs was suddenly spooked, but there was nothing else on the street with her. So she kept going to walk off the fear, sort it out. What was it she was running from, anyway?

I'm all alone on the outside of town
It's a wild night at the carnival of souls
They're strong armed in neon and out of control
It's late at night and no one's around
Walking in the underground

Suddenly Judy realized that she was by herself on the outskirts of town. The buildings in this part of the city were run-down, abandoned, desolate. Cracked windows stared like haunted eyes; doors formed a gaping mouth; loose shutters flapped in the wind, banging against the wooden clapboards; rotting floorboards looked like loose teeth.

I need to get out of here, she thought. Yeah, she was a cop, but she wasn't dumb enough to go looking for trouble. Far from it. So she turned around and started walking back into town, where there were at least a few people hanging around, even if most of them were hustlers. Aside from the other hookers and their clients, the streets were empty. But then, what with it being so late at night . . .

Night calls, and the sound
Marks the start of their masquerade
Sirens flash, stain the glass
As you pass in the street parade
Loose change losers are double-parked
Faces marked like cards at the bottom of the deck
Readin' the future no one expects
They don't look up as they shuffle down

Amber streetlight coupled with the neon lighting from clubs cast their faces with a nightmarish glow. Judy somehow managed to hide a shiver. She knew the rest of her team—Tom Hanson, Doug Penhall, Harry Ioki, and Captain Fuller—were around here somewhere keeping an eye on her, but she hated feeling like a scrap of meat.

Empty cars were double parked up on the sidewalks. With every person she passed, Judy couldn't help but notice their faces were turned down, as if they were reading something in the lines of their hands, the cracks in the pavement. Not one of them looked up as they shuffled silently past.

Walking in the underground
Oh, walking in the underground
Walking in the underground

Cold sweat, sweat it out
In the land of the midnight sun
Walk it off, sort it out, figure out
What you're running from

Nobody's children, more lost than found, yeah
Play in the shadows like beautiful dolls
Backlit in moonlight, steppin' on stars
A silent dance to an empty sound

Somehow, Judy didn't think that their perp was going to show. Well, partly that, and she was just feeling skittish. This reminded her too much of the time when the Jump Street unit went undercover as homeless teens to find Aaron and the man who had preyed on him, then left him for dead.

In fact, all of the people here were more lost souls, belonging to no one, yet everyone. Strange, really, how life worked out.

A familiar brown-haired, brown-eyed undercover cop caught her eye, and Judy wandered over.

"How's it going?" Tom asked quietly.

"I don't think he's going to show, Hanson."

"Relax, Judy," he soothed. "We've only been here for forty-five minutes."

She blinked. "Really? Doesn't seem like it. It seems longer than that. Plus, I hate feeling like a scrap of meat."

For some reason, Hanson chuckled.

Judy eyed him curiously. "What was that?"

"Sorry, it's just that I said the same thing when I went under with Booker and Ioki while we were searching for Aaron."

"Oh."

They fell silent, watching the people stroll past, keeping to the shadows, moving so silently that they might as well be ghosts dancing to an empty sound. When walking in the underground, what else was there to expect?

Walking in the underground
Walking in the underground
Ooh, walking in the underground

Yeah, walkin', ooh, ooh, ooh
Walk on

Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Yeah, yeah