- Ch1 Welcome to the Jungle -
"Be careful Agent, it's a jungle out there."
The JTF Officer's words echoed in Jack's mind as he hunkered down behind an SVU, bullets pinging off its sides as the thieves tried to hit him.
Eh, jungle, anarchy, a madman's winter wonderland; they all seem like accurate descriptions of Manhattan right now, he thought grimly while crumbles of glass sprinkled over his shoulders and into his jacket's hood as someone shot out the driver's window.
Taking a deep breath he stood up from crouching behind the car and leaned out across the hood, and then carefully lined up the iron sights on his SOCOM M1A rifle. Exhaling he tucked the stock of the rifle against his shoulder, he felt his heart beat within his chest as he slowly began to starve for air, giving him a few precious seconds of stability to make the shot. Dropping his sights over the chest of the farthest armed thug, he slowly squeezed the trigger, causing the rifle to buck in his hands and cough; the sound muffled by the silencer at the end of the barrel.
The thug fell to the ground as a spot of red appeared on his hoodie, if he wasn't dead immediately he would be in a minute. Jack ducked back behind the car under a hail of bullets as his target's friends retaliated; the thug he just shot was several yards behind the others and with luck they wouldn't notice the sudden lack of fire support. Throwing the M1A over his shoulder, Jack settled the sling across his chest as he reached back and unclipped the MP7 from the side of his bag.
The two remaining thugs ducked behind their own cars, probably reloading, giving Jack time to think and plan out his next moves. The street ruffians weren't proving to be as big a problem as Jack had originally thought; just three guys with pistols and one with a submachine gun, whom he just took out. He was able to take out the first with a long range shot, which of course got the attention of the others, but it stopped them from looting an old JTF supply drop.
Now facing two-to-one odds Jack was in a better position than he was at the start, but still not as good as, well, perhaps not in a shoot-out at all.
Jack sighed and then, while remaining crouched, he walked to the other end of the car, trying to get a better angle to shoot from. He couldn't help but compare this fight to the ones he had earlier today. The fights he had in Brooklyn were much more easily managed, not to mention over in under a minute.
Of course that was all because of her.
Judy Hopps.
Jack was pleasantly surprised when he met the spunky, purple-eyed police officer, now a member of the Joint Task Force trying to maintain order in Manhattan. At first he figured she'd just get in the way after he saved her from a couple of armed looters, but it turned out she was good with a gun and willing to help the newly activated Division agent. Together they resolved the various problems plaguing Brooklyn, making sure that the borough wouldn't fall into chaos like its neighbor.
Now he realized he actually kinda missed her. Judy may have been an…exuberant person when they met, a trait that set Jack off-guard given the severity of the situation, but she was level headed in combat and they worked well together. Between the two of them it took only a couple of hours to clear out the looters and thugs, resecuring the mercy drops and JTF supplies around the borough, making the streets safe again for the residents…for now at least.
The popping sound of pistols firing pulled Jack out of his reverie. It probably wasn't a good idea for him to be more or less daydreaming about the woman he met this morning in the middle of a firefight.
Even if she wasn't half bad looking too, he thought, before ducking his head as a bullet destroyed the brake light next to his head.
Poking his head around the corner he saw that one of the ruffians got impatient and decided rush Jack's position. He didn't even need to lean all the way out of cover to aim at the man, and with two quick bursts from Jack's submachine gun he was dead. Putting his back against the trunk door he waited to see if the last thug would make the same mistake as his friend. After a few seconds nothing had happened, meaning it was Jack's turn to make a move.
Spying around the corner again he saw the man squatting behind a sedan in the middle of the road about fifty feet ahead of him. Using a grenade, while effective, would be a bad idea and possibly overkill for one man, plus the collateral damage would be unnecessary unless there were no other options.
Steeling himself with another deep breath Jack pushed off the SVU and sprinted for all he was worth. His boots pounded against the frozen pavement as his pack rocked back and forth, luckily all his gear was tighten down and stowed away, making running less of a chore. About halfway to the car he saw the man stand up and raise his pistol, still he ran, trying to beat the man's trigger finger as he raced to the back end of the car.
Time seemed to slow as the thug fired his gun.
POP
POP
POP
All three shots missed as Jack slid into the car, causing it to rock back and forth from the force of the impact, as well as eliciting a startled yelp from the man on the other side. Immediately, Jack put his MP7 over the trunk and fired blindly towards the front, his bullets shattering the back and front windows on their way to his target.
After firing he heard a dull thump come from the front followed by silence. Getting down on his hands and knees Jack looked under the car and saw the boots and pants of the man as he lied on the ground.
Getting up he cautiously stalked forward, planning to make sure the man was dead. Transferring his MP7 to its clip on his backpack Jack pulled out his pistol from his thigh holster and held it before him in a two-handed grip. As he rounded the front of the vehicle he saw the man on the ground with his pistol some ten feet away, apparently the man threw it as he fell.
He wasn't dead yet, his chest still rose and fell, albeit slowly, and pumped blood onto the ground from the two bullets wounds he sustained. The man slowly turned his head to look at Jack as he approached, his glossy eyes full of pain and hatred, then raising a shaky hand he flipped off Jack.
Without a word Jack raised his arm and fired a single shot. The sound echoing off the stranded cars and deserted buildings somehow seemed louder than the hailstorm of bullets that flew mere moments ago.
Jack sighed wearily as he holstered his pistol and checked his sub-gun's clip, looking to see if he needed to reconsolidate his ammo before moving on. There was about half a clip left so he simply slapped the magazine back in the gun and racked the slide before putting it back up.
I wonder if Judy's having a better day than I am, he thought, unslinging his M1A as he pressed on down the street.
She had chattered a good bit as they walked between destinations and encounters, mostly about her time as a cop but also a lot about her partner, some man named Nick. Judy was sent to Brooklyn to help control the situation there while Nick had stayed at the JTF's Base of Operations, it was a one day task for her that turned into a three day hassle as things spiraled out of control before Jack and Faye Lau arrived.
She expressed her worry about the city and what the Dollar Flu had done to it. She was also really worried about Nick, and her friends back at the base; when she left there were rumors about the local street gang making a push against the JTF. She hadn't received any word or transmissions from them the entire time she was in Brooklyn, and the radio silence was getting to her.
Before Jack could travel much farther, ISAC chirped on his left shoulder indicating he had an incoming message. Jack raised his left hand and looked at the watch on his wrist, its glowing orange ring shining brightly despite the sunlight around him; it was from Faye, which was a good sign.
"Agent Savage here," he responded in a cool voice.
"Agent, it's Faye Lau. I heard you went off to run some errands while I was in surgery."
"Sure did, just playing janitor out here is all."
"Good job, the Joint Tasks Force needs the help and it'll be good for civilians to see us making some ground against the opportunists and thieves out there. Anyway I need you to double-time it back to Camp Hudson, JTF needs our help with something else, HQ has been cut off by armed forces and the last few transmissions didn't sound good."
"10-4, I'm on my way."
Jack closed his eyes and took in a long deep breath of cold air; he watched the stream of fog that drifted out as he let out a deep sigh. The silence on the street became eerie and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Looking around he took in the scene around him; four dead criminals, half a dozen shot-up cars, and lots and lots of brass on the ground mixing in with the snow and blood.
It was going to be a long mission.
"Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games…" he sang softly to himself before jogging off back to camp.
AN: Thanks for reading the intro chapter to this story. In case anyone is still wondering this story takes place in the Division universe with our beloved Zootopia characters placed inside. Some Division people have been replaced with some from Zootopia, just as a heads up. Please review and let me know how you feel about this chapter. -RA
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the furniture in my home, it's all my wife's.