Chapter 3

The day was bright, Caine and Scarlet were quiet, walking in streets packed with mammals, living their daily lives, every eye shifting to the pair, a glance, a deep stare, it didn't matter at this point, both were well versed with those. For Caine it was just like any other day, sometimes eyes filled with curiosity, at others with disgust, but all of them always shifting away when he stared back, he didn't care, not for Scarlet, those stares still got to her from time to time, but right now it didn't matter, nothing mattered, they were focused and determined. After 15 minutes walking they reached their destination, an alley.

"From here we go up, right?" Her voice was soft but plain, her eyes scanning the alley trying to find what they were looking for.

"Yeah, we can use the fire escape stairs to get on the roof." Caine kept his eyes on the stairs several feet above their heads, measuring the distance.

"Can you reach it?" The bunny asked in the same tone as before.

"Uhum…" Caine was bending down, checking his legs. "I can reach it… Come on hop up." He signaled to his back if his thumb.

As in queue Scarlet climbed Caine's back, wrapping her legs on his torso and arms around his neck, she kept holding tight with her legs since her paws were occupied with her suitcase. A low humming started to fill the alley, for the more attentive ears, the sound could be described as gears and metal shifting, moving, Caine took some steps back, his legs started to move, he bolted towards the wall, each step giving him more momentum, as he jumped, he could feel Scarlet's grasp tightening followed by a small gasp. The wall came in fast, Caine's right feet was the first contact, one which didn't last long, moving up, he took another step on the wall and lunged towards the Fire Escape, his paws getting the hold of it, he quickly threw his legs up to secure his climb, his movements swift and precise. After the small feat, and with both secure on the Fire Escape, Scarlet got off of his back as they headed to the roof.

The view from the roof was gorgeous, you could see almost the entire park from there, the building being 50 ft. tall was a perfect nest, the ornate railing on the edge worked as a nice cover, while giving enough space to maneuver from side to side, Scarlet was the first to position herself, opening the suitcase she started to assemble her M40A5. Caine on the other hand, took his binoculars and jacket off, he placed his jacket on the floor and layed next to it, binoculars at hand.

"We have a perfect view from here, no obstructions or anything." A grim formed on his muzzle "400 yards, wind is coming up." He laughed, not a normal laugh, it was something different, something… Devious.

"That just makes my job easier…" The soft voice came, plain and almost monotone, after attaching the bipod and suppressor, Scarlet placed herself and the rifle on Caine's jacket. Scanning through the scope she continued."We are looking for a…"

"Bengal Tiger, male, 10 ft. tall, blue eyes." Caine answered quickly and coldly. "Our info said he takes a break at the park every day after work." He kept looking through the binoculars searching for the target.

"Why our "guy" wants him dead again?" Scarlet didn't move an inch, her body completely still.

"Don't know, don't care. But my guess? It is about money, it's always about money." His voice was cold.

"Yeah… And it makes easier for…" She cut herself short moving the scope. "Contact, 9 o'clock of the bench in the intersection of the path" Scarlet's voice once again was plain, emotionless.

"I'm on it, 390 yards, wind is up 1 mile per hour, west to east. Wait for a clear shot, too much movement"

"Uhum... " Scarlet adjusted her scope to compensate both distance and wind, her breathing steady and slow, she kept the tiger on sight, it didn't take long for him to sit. "Too easy…" Her finger slowly moved to the trigger, the safety lock long gone, she exhaled, ready to take the shot, her finger ready to apply the pressure to end all, to finish their last job and be gone with all that, she felt a bliss building up.

"Don't shoot." The flat and cold statement made all that bliss disappear, finger off the trigger, Scarlet didn't move, except for her right ear, which flicked towards Caine's direction. "Cops, two of them, coming from the north trail."

"I'm not going to lose our mark because of two. Fucking. Cops, Caine." You could hear the hint of annoyance on her voice, moving her sight to the north path, she saw the both mammals, wearing the ZPD uniform, one small gray bunny with purple eyes and an average red-fox with green bright eyes walking down the path, the latter holding a weirdly paw-shaped popsicle, for all she could see they were chatting and probably going back home after work, as every other mammal were. "If they don't be gone when our mark starts to move again, I'm taking the shot." As Scarlet moved her sights back to the Bengal Tiger, which was now sitting on the bench with his legs crossed, enjoying his break, she heard Caine.

"Wind's down half a mile." He kept his binoculars on the pair of cops moving through, they were heading right towards the Tiger's path. With a small chuckle he continued. "Poor bastards, they are going to have the worst after-work of their entire lives…" The devious laugh was back.

That laugh made Scarlet shiver entirely, for a split of a moment her breathing was uneven, deep and unfocused, she took another deep breath and became focused again, her heartbeat slowing down as she adjusted her scope for the wind change. After seconds, that felt like hours, both cops were now out of sight, the pair in the rooftop got their attention back to the Tiger which was now preparing to get up and went his merry way.

"Just like shooting ducks in a pond…" Her voice trailed off as she exhaled and started to move her finger back to the trigger.

"Night night…" His voice was low, the sound of the trigger being pulled was followed by the muffled shot flying through.

In a matter of seconds all the silence of the peaceful park broke into screams, the Bengal Tiger hitted the floor hard, it was a clean shot, the bullet entered through his temple and exited by the occipital bone. The back of his cranium exploded in a pomegranate sized hole, blood, brains and bones splattered across across the dirt, chaos was settle, mammals running and screaming, others were taking pictures of the scene, it didn't take long for the cop pair were back at the park only to see the horrific scene.

Bolting the bullet case out of her rifle, Scarlet quickly started to disassemble it, she packed up quickly, Caine was right behind her, he picked up his jacket and the bullet case, both headed to the edge of the rooftop, Caine swooped Scarlet off her feet. "Don't you dare C…" with a smirk, he jumped down to the alley, the fall took mere seconds, but for Scarlet it was an unending torture, she quickly shuted her eyes as she felt her stomach turn, a sharp "eeep" escaped her as she was now hiding her face on Caine's shoulder. As they approached the floor Caine just bended his legs a little, to absorb the heavy impact of the fall, the sound of metal striking the floor echoed through the alley. As he putted Scarlet on the floor she almost fell on the floor, her legs wobbly and unstable.

"I hate you so much right now…" Her voice was trembling, her eyes wide in a mixture of fear and anger.

"No you don't." Caine laughed as they started their walk back to their apartment. Police sirens rushing through the streets, while both went home. Bringing Scarlet closer to him. "Finally… It's over..." The tiredness on his voice was clear, the type of which is not about the day but about everything.

"Yeah…" Her voice was low and tired as his. Her head resting on his side as both were now close to their home. "We still have one bed though…" The comment made both of them chuckle.

"We can share." The statement so nonchalantly put, got the bunny by surprise, her ears rising up high even though she tried hard to contain it.

"Really? You don't mind? I-I mean, it's not like it will be the first time right? And this time we can actually rest, not like the last time which were up all night and whycan'tIstoptalking?" Scarlet was now making her name proud, as embarrassment crept her cheeks.

"You know I don't mind Pretty. And we really do need to rest." He just smiled, he felt like a massive weight was lifted off him. "Tomorrow is another day, another leaf. Maybe we could finally grab that cup of coffee we always talked about, remember?"

"That… That would be nice, yeah…" Memories were rushing inside Scarlet's mind…

5 years ago

"Come on Red! You promised!" Caine's happy voice came through the back seat. "You said, if we got the bad guy you would let me buy you coffee."

"When I said "get the bad guy" I meant alive Caine…" The bunny's tired voice was in the verge of her patience. "Jhones, tell him that a dead wanted cat is not a caught target…" Scarlet was pressing her eyes with her fingers to try alleviate her headache.

"Oh no, you didn't said anything about wanting him alive, I remember really well you saying: We need to get that Jaguar, we need to stop him." Trying to imitate his friend voice Caine laughed before continuing. "Not once you said he couldn't die. And also, who would knew that not all cats land on their feet?" Caine was holding his laugh as best as he could but was in vain.

"You threw him off the 10th floor of that building!" Scarlet was now shouting at Caine, seething anger. "You were suppose to neutralize him and arrest, not… Not…" She couldn't finish her sentence as she was about to scream at him again.

"Oh come on! He tried to attack us, I was just defending myself. Not my fault that the window was the closest thing to use! Also, you laughed when he hitted the floor!" Caine was now in the defensive, Scarlet was really upset.

"Only because you were making jokes the entire time until we got to the window and saw what happened" Jhones, a grizzly bear, who until now was only driving finally spoke. "That was a real mess Caine."

"Oh come on! Those jokes were good and you all know it. Not my fault that a common assumption wasn't true." Now Caine was the one upset. "I still won that bet Red."

"Yeah yeah… We can have a cup of coffee when we get home C…" The tired bunny didn't care anymore she only wanted to rest.

Present Days

"Earth to Scarlet, someone there?" Scarlet didn't realized where they were until she heard Caine snapping his fingers in front of her, they were back at their apartment.

"Wha...What? How did we get here?" Puzzled she looked around to find Caine taking off his shirt and grabbing a towel and some spare clothes.

"We walked. You know? With our legs" Caine barked a laugh while heading out of their room towards the building bathroom on the end of the hall. "Now I'm going to take a shower and be sure to take one too. Tomorrow we are going out I will buy you that coffee."

It took Scarlet some seconds to fully understand everything, finally getting her bearings she quickly got ready, grabbing her towel and some spare clothes just like Caine, she made sure to hide her suitcase in the closet, not that it would actually hide it, but she just wanted to have it in someplace not in sight. After everything was ready she headed to the hall and waited by the bathroom door. After some minutes the sound of running water ceased and a shirtless and not so dry Caine came out of the bathroom, towel in shoulders, "trying" to dry his fur. Scarlet couldn't help but stare at him.

"See anything pretty Red?" With a smirk and sarcastic tone Caine tried to imitate question at the train station, as he passed by her, he made sure to sway his tail at her face.

"Pretty? I would say cute!" She replied, after shoving his tail away, laughing at the situation. After staring at Caine's back, she went to take her shower, while at it she felt a small shiver running down her body, finally realizing something.

"Did C. finally asked me on a date?"