Nick positioned himself behind the car as comfortably as he could. As he glanced around at the other officers huddled at the intersection, waiting for the two bandits to come into view, Nick realized that he didn't recognize a single one.

These must be guys from other precincts.

"Hey, here they come!" Nick's attention was suddenly drawn ahead. The two bank robbers were just pulling out into the street, one driving the car while the other walked slowly along the sidewalk. All officers including Nick began to fire at the walking suspect, but the rounds did not seem to do much.

To Nick's surprise, however, the gunman showed the first ounce of self-preservation that Nick had seen so far. As bullets flew by, the gunman fired a quick burst in Nick's direction before ducking behind a parked car. Once one gunman was out of sight, the officers around Nick turned their attention to the gunman in the car.

It took only one bullet crashing through the windshield for the driver to depress the accelerator to the floor. The tires screeched as the vehicle began to pick up speed, quickly driving past the waiting police. Time seemed to slow as Nick managed to lock eyes with the suspect as he drove past. He could see the minute details of the wolf's masked face, namely the dark gray fur around the eyes and the deep amber color of the eyes.

"Hit the tires! Hit the tires!" one of the other officers shouted, snapping Nick back to reality. Nick lifted his weapon and began to fire at the retreating vehicle in rapid succession. He could see the bullets find their mark. The car slowed and began to move erratically as the driver struggled for control.

"Pull back, pull back! He's getting too close!" A call came back over the radio, pulling Nick's attention back to the lone suspect who was still on foot. Now alone, Nick feared the suspect would become more irrational.

"We're hitting him but he's not going down!" Another call went over the radio. It wasn't one of the officers with Nick, which meant other units were engaging the suspect from multiple angles. He was distracted and boxed in.

Now's our chance.

Nick bolted from cover. Ignoring pleas from the other officers, he quickly began to close the distance between himself and the suspect. He was maybe ten yards away when he saw the suspect clearly for the first time. Still huddled behind a parked car, the suspect was looking the opposite direction as Nick. Nick hurriedly raised his weapon and fired.

None of his shots hit their mark. Nick could see them sparking off the sidewalk and denting the car. The suspect saw them too and turned to see Nick standing in the open. Nick only noticed the barrel of the machine gun raise in his direction before he began running.

Nick held his breath and waited for the ear-splitting barrage of gunfire that was undoubtedly only milliseconds away. He dove back to cover with the other officers just as he realized that the air remained relatively calm. Confused, Nick lifted his head over the car that served as his protection. He had no visual on the suspect.

"He's right here!" Nick called over the radio.

Without warning, the suspect began advancing, fast. Gone was the large machine gun, replaced by a small pistol, a pistol very similar to the ones carried by Nick and his fellow officers. The wolf advanced and raised the weapon, firing a few rounds.

Nick had a lifetime of training in reading body language, and he noticed something very off-putting about the wolf's gait and his total disregard for safety in advancing, outnumbered, toward police. He didn't have time to ponder the suspect's walk when all officers began to fire at the suspect. Nick joined and could see the bullets strike the armor the suspect was wearing. Still, the wolf continued to advance.

He's trying to end it.

Nick's realization came just as one of the officers hit the wolf in the hand. The gun dropped from the wolf's paw and clanked against the sidewalk. The wolf slowly bent down to retrieve the weapon. Nick saw the wolf place the gun to his head and looked away. He knew what was coming next.

"Down! Down! Down!" Nick never heard the shot, but he looked up to see the wolf looking more like a heap of black clothes on the sidewalk. "I repeat, suspect is down!" one of the officers finished calling over the radio.

"Move up slowly," a cheetah officer said as the group began to move toward the wolf. Nick approached cautiously. It was such a strange feeling to be this close to someone who had spent the last twenty minutes trying to kill him. Keeping his weapon pointed at the lifeless figure, Nick inched in close and tapped the body with his foot. The other officers placed handcuffs on the suspect before calling over the radio of a cloth to cover the body.

"He got the easy way out. Couldn't live with himself," a lion commented.

"No," Nick interjected. "His partner left him behind." The lion looked at Nick questioningly. "To him," Nick gestured at the body, "He was useless on his own."

A squeal of tires caught the attention of the small group of officers. They looked up to see a single police car flying down the road toward them. Nick immediately noticed the markings.

SWAT. They finally get into the action.

The car raced past. Nick realized they were moving to intercept the last remaining suspect, who was still trying to escape in a shot-up car.

"Someone tell that officer to back off! They're getting too close to the suspect!" an officer called over the radio. Clearly someone didn't realize that car was SWAT. Chief Bogo's voice boomed over the radio.

"That's a SWAT unit, they will not back off."

The next sound to reach Nick's ears was a barrage of distant gunfire.