Chapter 10: The chase and the arrest
It had started to rain outside as the group looked on in shock and awe as Shaggy slammed the phone onto the floor while Fred floored the gas pedal.
"Shaggy. Did you just...?" Velma asked, only for Shaggy to turn to her.
"Yeah, I did." Shaggy nodded. "I was getting sick of hearing that man's voice."
"I mean, you just..." Daphne said, only for Shaggy to wave her off.
"Like, that man sure disgusts me." Shaggy said. "I mean, look at Ms. Harewood when we found her!"
Gesturing towards Ms. Harewood, he continued, "She was...just...wasn't feeling groovy at all."
"I guess you snapped when you thought of her, Shag." Fred said.
"Not just that, but also the close call we had earlier." Shaggy said. "I swear that those officers must've had some sort of SWAT or ever special ops training if they're that trigger-happy the way they are."
"Either way, since Ford has already figured out that we've freed Ms. Harewood, that means we certainly have to get to the courthouse and fast, before the mobilized police department catches up to us." Fred said.
"And we better hurry up, Freddie." Daphne added when she looked at the side mirror and saw the familiar flashing lights in the distance. "We're about to have company!"
Fred glanced at the left side mirror and seeing the flashing sirens in the distance, he knew he had to take drastic actions.
"How far is the courthouse from here, Ms. Harewood?" He asks.
"Not far." Ms. Harewood replied. "You just need to exit the highway at the upcoming interchange with Parkdale, and then turn left."
As she made the remark, Fred noticed the sign saying "Parkdale Ave.; Exit at 1 Mile"
Swiftly, he managed to get the van onto the rightmost lane after passing several cars ahead of them.
Before long, the van had exited the highway, and as per Ms. Harewood's instructions, Fred made a left turn just before the lights turn red.
As they drove down Parkdale Ave., the van ran over a large pothole, causing the van to shake violently.
Driving over the pothole, the gang all hear something dropping from under the van.
"Like, something just fell off the van." Shaggy said.
"I hope its not a part of the engine." Daphne remarked.
"I don't think so." Ms. Harewood said as she looked towards the rear of the van. "If it was, it shouldn't be flashing."
"Is it possible that it was the GPS tracker placed on van as Detective Ford said?" Velma asked as she followed Ms. Harewood's gaze and saw the flashing device lying on the floor, just before it got ran over by a bus that was changing lanes.
"I hope it is." Fred nodded. "Because if it is, then our job has gotten a whole lot easier."
"Nonetheless, we ought to be quick." Ms. Harewood said. "The longer we drag this out, the greater the chances of us getting caught."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Fred nodded again. "How long before we reach the courthouse?"
"We should get there in five minutes." Ms. Harewood said before noticing the heavy traffic ahead and added, "Though with the afternoon traffic, I won't be so sure if we can get there in five minutes."
Meanwhile, over at Gotham Central, a trio of officers and a couple of plainclothes detectives were at one of the wire-tapping rooms in the 13th Precinct monitoring the movements of an undercover van.
The 13th Precinct of the Gotham City Police Department, located in the Burnley District, functions as the headquarters of the GCPD's Guns and Gangs Bureau, the bureau of which undercover operations are coordinated at.
One of the officers was at the computer keeping an eye on the GPS location of an undercover van, and the officer was considering leaning on his chair to take a stretch when the red dot indicating the location of the van vanished.
The officer blinked before turning around on his chair, facing a shadowed meathead that is one of the two plainclothes detectives.
"Something wrong here, Detective." The officer said.
"What's the matter?" The detective asked, his face covered by the dark shadow in the room due to poor lighting.
"The GPS position of the van...it's gone!" The officer replied.
"Gone?" The detective asked as he got up from his seat. "I don't understand."
"See for yourself." The officer gestured towards the computer screen as he spoke.
The detective walked over to the computer screen and joined the other occupants of the room in leaning over to take a look at the screen.
Sure enough, the red dot indicating the GPS location of the undercover van they were tracking was nowhere to be seen.
"You've got to be f***ing kidding me." The detective slammed his fist onto the desk after a minute of silence. "Just when we were starting to get warm on finding out where those meddling kids and that b**bo were heading for."
"Where was the van at when you lost the GPS signal, Pruitt?" The second plainclothes detective asked the officer.
"Last I saw, the van had exited the Don Cameron and made a left turn onto Parkdale." Officer Pruitt replied.
"Exited the Don Cameron and made a left turn onto Parkdale." The first detective repeated.
Tapping a finger by his chin, he then added, "I believe I know where those dirtbags are heading."
"They're heading for Bill Finger, ain't they?" The second officer asked, referring to the Bill Finger Courthouse located near the borderline between Burnley and the Diamond District that houses the Office of the District Attorney of Gotham City.
"That's right." The first detective nodded. "And no doubt they'll drop by Central along the way to get Internal Affairs."
"Internal Affairs." The third officer said. "If they find out what we're up to, we're toast."
"Not if Commissioner Pauling can help it." The first detective retorted. "As long as we have the commissioner's back, Hackle can't do a d*mn thing about our operations."
"And even if Pauling's not around, we've got Forbes in Internal Affairs who can take care of Hackle." The second officer added.
"Nonetheless, we better get moving." The second detective said. "Even if they didn't drop by Central to fetch Internal Affairs, I'm sure we'll still be toast when Van Dorn finds out what we've been up to."
"Don't worry, I've got that covered." The first detective said. "The guys at the 30th are patrolling the Bill Finger. There's no way those meddling kids and that lying sack of s**t can get to Van Dorn."
"Good to hear, Don." The second detective nodded.
Back on Parkdale, the group eventually arrived at the Bill Finger Courthouse and Fred slowed down the van.
"Now that we've arrived at District Attorney Van Dorn's office, we should hurry up and go fetch for her." Ms. Harewood instructed as Fred stopped the van.
Ms. Harewood was about to open the door when she felt someone tugging her back.
Turning, she saw Shaggy tugging her back as he shook his head.
"I don't know, Ms. Harewood." He said when Ms. Harewood looked at him quizzically. "This could be a trap."
"A trap?" Velma asked. "What are you talking about, Shaggy?"
"Like, it's almost five in the afternoon, I'm pretty sure she might be gone for the day and besides, even if we managed to ditch the GPS tracker, I'm sure the guys are smart enough to figure out that we're heading here to the courthouse, especially since we've lost the tracker only after we made the left turn onto Parkdale." Shaggy said.
"Shag's got a point." Daphne nodded. "I'm sure it wouldn't take long for the police to figure out we're heading here."
"And besides, there's no one on the sidewalk right next to us." Shaggy added as he gestured to their right. "Something is up. I can feel it."
"Well, I don't see any cops around, guys." Fred argued. "We're losing time if we keep holding Ms. Harewood up."
"Yeah." Velma agreed. "We need to be quick on this, guys."
Before anyone could respond, a shot suddenly rang out from the front, followed by a crack in the windshield.
"Duck!" Fred shouted as the shot rang out, and everyone quickly took cover.
There was some silence in the van before everyone looked up.
What attracted their attention was the bullet hole in the top right side of the windshield and a bullet stuck in the cushion of the front passenger seat, where Daphne was seated at.
Before anyone could take in what just happened, another shot rang out from the front.
Like the previous shot, no one was hit, but the trajectory had entered the van through the top right and has now hit the cushion on the rightmost back passenger seat, where Ms. Harewood was seated at.
It was then that Daphne gasped as she spotted a faint outline of a police sniper on the tree ahead of them.
With a realization on what just happened, she turned to Fred and shouted, "Drive, Freddie!"
It was Velma who spotted the police sniper next, and she can tell that the sniper was busy reloading his weapon on the tree.
"What a spot to pick for that guy to shoot at us." She remarked as Fred, without hesitation, quickly shifted the van to drive and slammed his foot on the gas pedal.
As the van lurched forward, there were a few more gunshots from where the tree is at, and the group can see more heavily-armed police officers storming towards them with their weapons ready.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed at the sight. "It's the National Guard! Step on it, Freddie!"
Fred gritted his teeth without a word, and he accelerated the van to what he felt was its maximum speed.
What followed was several police sirens following them, and the group can see a whole squad of police cruisers and military-grade Quick Response Team (QRT) vehicles in close pursuit.
"Oh, come on!" Fred moaned. "Get on with it!"
"It's gonna be hard to outrun those vehicles, especially when this is an undercover police van." Velma said. "Which means we gotta find more crossroads and zig-zag our way out of here!"
"Sounds like a plan, Velms." Shaggy said as he and Scooby turned to the back and added, "Though Freddie needs to be quick on the turning part, because those guys sure aren't giving up the chase!"
As Shaggy finished the remark, one of the pursuing patrol cars accelerated and slammed on the rear of the van, causing it to lurch forward.
"Oph!" Everyone exclaimed as the van lurched forward.
"That cop is obviously one lousy driver!" Daphne complained.
"Forget about the lousy driving!" Ms. Harewood said. "If we don't lose those police officers behind us, then we're not going to make it!"
"Hang on, everyone!" Fred shouted as he jerked the steering wheel towards the left, causing the van to lurch towards the left and drove onto the perpendicular road.
With a squadron of patrol cars in hot pursuit, the van continued on down the road with several other vehicles on the road forced to move out of the way.
Meanwhile, over in an empty conference room in Wayne Enterprises, George and Bruce were chatting in private after their business conference meeting was wrapped up for the day.
"How is Radley doing lately?" George asked. "I haven't seen him around."
"When was the last time you saw him, George?" Bruce asked.
"That will be months ago, just this past spring." George said before narrowing his eyes. "Please don't tell me he's 'deep on assignment' again, Bruce."
"Well, you know him, George." Bruce shrugged. "He told me that the Blue Falcon had found someone in Coolsville's underworld that he can use as a criminal alias to gather more information in his war on crime."
"The same way Batman uses Matches Malone as his criminal alias?" George raised an eyebrow.
"Pretty much." Bruce nodded.
"I guess the unsolved murders of his parents back in '84 has taken its toll on Rad." George remarked with a sigh. "Devoted himself to that sort of lifestyle...I really worry about him."
"Tell me about it." Bruce said. "Although I can relate to him."
"Right, with your parents falling victim to a mugging gone wrong in '78, Bruce, I understand what you mean." George nodded. "Though there wasn't a need for you to go down this dark path."
"What makes you think that?" Bruce asked.
"I mean, your constant devotion to trying to rid Gotham of crime, Bruce." George said. "And your reliance on painkillers to treat the trauma inflicted on you on your daily patrols at night...I really worry about your health."
"I could stop if I can." Bruce said with his face set to stone. "But Gotham needs a h*ll lot of fixing that can't be done overnight, and with the police being part of the problem facing Gotham, together with a clearly-rotten justice system that fails the victims of crime, you understand why today's not the day for me to stop my crusade, George."
"Yes, I know, since I feel the same way with regards to Coolsville." George nodded. "Though I'm sure there's a way for you to fix things up in Gotham without the need to don a frightening costume and go out on patrols at night."
"If there's another alternative for fixing Gotham, one that doesn't require unorthodox methods, George, then I'll gladly take it." Bruce said. "But like I said, with the police being part of the problem, fixing Gotham is a job that needs to be done, and it's not by choice."
George chuckled at the remark. "You're a really stubborn piece of work, Bruce. You know that?"
Bruce grunted and was about to say something when their attention was drawn to the television news.
At that moment, the MSNBC channel had begun its 18:00 newscast with local breaking news.
"Breaking news from Gotham this hour." The anchor reported. "Police has advised the public to avoid travelling on the Joe Shuster Memorial Highway, which is the site of an on-going high speed police chase."
George and Bruce shared a look with each other as the anchor continued.
"According to sources, police are in pursuit of a fugitive who is alleged to have stolen an undercover police van." She said. "And apparently, those sources have claimed that the fugitive is shielded by a group of four kids and their dog."
"Four kids and their dog?" George wondered out loud before realizing that Daphne hasn't been checking in on him during the whole day. "Oh dear. Is Daphne in trouble?"
He then turned around, only to find that Bruce had disappeared.
Looking around, George found that Bruce was nowhere to be seen, then he sighed.
"I hate it when Bruce does that." He remarked to himself.
He then turned back to face the television as the news anchor continues, "Meanwhile, over in Coolsville, the fallout over last night's brutal police beating continues as Chief of Police Gil Mason announces in an afternoon press conference that the four officers involved in the beating have been placed on leave, though the former Gotham City deputy police commissioner has so far refused to respond to calls for his resignation."
Looking at the screenshot taken from the video of the beating, George raised an eyebrow.
"I wonder how is Sam faring?" He wondered to himself before sighing. "In a city like Coolsville, I won't be surprised if things start hitting the fan soon."
He sighed again before deciding to make his way to his hotel room, but not before taking out his cell phone and dialed Daphne's number.
Meanwhile, as the sun began to set, though actually, the sun wasn't really out due to the cloudy weather that day, not to mention the late-afternoon rain, Fred is trying his best behind the wheel to keep the van ahead of the pursuing police cars as they sped down the Joe Shuster Memorial Highway.
"Man, I could've sworn that the mayor have deployed the New Jersey National Guard for the chase!" Shaggy remarked as he looked to the back for what seemed like the fifteenth time since the wild-goose chase began almost an hour ago. "Like, look at those vehicles that are taking part in the chase. You can sure see the military-grade vehicles among the cruisers!"
"Tell me about it, Shag." Fred gritted his teeth. "Can't let them get to us or Ms. Harewood, because who knows what will they do to her when we get caught."
"Better not think about that, Freddie." Velma said. "Because one of those armoured vehicles is catching up to us!"
Glancing at the rear view mirror, Fred noted that one of the GCPD QRT armoured vehicles has indeed sped up and is fast approaching them.
One of the QRT officers on board leaned forward with a grenade launcher in hand, the launcher aiming towards the rear of the fleeing van.
The officer took a moment to breath in, then with the finger on the trigger, he took aim.
Next thing the group knew, something hit the rear doors of the van.
Before anyone could comment, the rear of the van was suddenly engulfed in a deafening explosion.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he looked to the back. "I think they just blew the rear doors opened, Freddie!"
"We can feel that!" Daphne said as their hairs started flipping around with the air flow.
It was then that they heard gunshots from the sides, and as the girls turned to look around, they saw two police vehicles on the sides with the officers on board firing their weapons at the van.
"They're on both sides of the van, Freddie!" Daphne exclaimed. "Any minute now, they could shoot at the tires!"
"Not if I can help it!" Fred retorted as he suddenly slammed on the brakes.
The officers on the two police vehicles were so preoccupied with trying to open fire at the van tires that they didn't have time to react when their target came to a complete stop, and by this point, they were just about to discharge their weapons.
With the van at a complete stop, the gang looked on as the officers on the two police vehicles shot at each other and ended up flattening their tires in the process, leading to the two cars to lose control and skidded to the side of the roadway.
The gang all breathed a sigh of relief, but albeit temporarily, as the sirens from the back reminded them that the chase is far from over.
Just as he slammed on the gas pedal, though, Velma suddenly said, "Shaggy, Scooby, what are you guys doing?"
"Those open doors are going to slow us down, gang." Shaggy said as he and Scooby revealed to have unbuckle their seatbelts shortly after the stop. "Scoob and I are gonna try to close the rear doors."
Just as Shaggy finished his remark, the van lurched forward as a result of Fred's slamming on the gas pedal.
"Guys, wait!" Daphne exclaimed, but it was too late.
The van's sudden lurching forward caught Shaggy and Scooby off guard, and they ended up falling over.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he and Scooby started flying towards the open rear doors.
"Shaggy! Scooby!" The girls exclaimed in horror as they joined Ms. Harewood in their attempt to grab Shaggy and Scooby's arms.
However, the duo ended up sailing out of the van, where they managed to stop their flying by grabbing onto one of the opened rear doors.
"Freddie, stop!" Velma turned to Fred.
Fred quickly slammed on the brakes, causing Shaggy and Scooby to sail through the air and ended up crashing on the rear seats.
"Are you guys all right?" Daphne asked in concern.
"We won't be if the cops catches up to us!" Shaggy exclaimed as he pointed towards the rear. "Step on it, Fred!"
Fred nodded, but as soon as he slammed on the gas pedal again, they all realized that they've forgotten something.
"Oh no." Shaggy said when the van started lurching forward again and he and Scooby realized that they haven't grabbed onto something to hold onto yet.
Before anyone could react, to the horror of Fred and the girls, Shaggy and Scooby flew right out of the van and missed the opened rear doors.
The duo were almost certain to crash into one of the pursuing police cars if it weren't for Shaggy's reaching over and grabbing onto a nearby lamp post and Scooby grabbing onto his legs.
However, their troubles were only set to worsen. No sooner did the duo settled down on the ground did the closest two police vans stopped and the officers on board jumped off with their weapons drawn.
"Hands up, you rats!" One of the officers shouted as they all aimed their weapons towards the duo.
Shaggy and Scooby, facing the group of heavily armed police officers, swallowed as they both raised their arms in surrender.
They were soon both grabbed by officers, who quickly took them to the stopped police van with one of them slamming Shaggy's head on the engine hood.
"You sure got some nerve harbouring a wanted fugitive on a stolen police van, pal." The lieutenant said to Shaggy and the officers searched him before handcuffing him. "What do you have to say for yourself, huh?"
Although Shaggy was clearly terrified, he remembered what his father told him what to do in the event of him facing bad cops.
"I believe Scoob and I both have the right to remain silent." He replied nervously but defiantly.
The officers shared a look with each other before the lieutenant sneered. "Oh, is that right?"
"Don't try to play smart with us, hippie." The sergeant said. "You and your pooch just got caught harbouring a wanted fugitive on a stolen police van. That's a serious offence, you know."
"And so is violating the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Officer." Shaggy replied.
"Now don't you Fifth Amendment me, son." The sergeant sneered. "I know about the Constitution more than you think, and stealing police property is one of those crimes that are exempted from protections offered by the Fifth Amendment."
"So here's what you're gonna do." The lieutenant said. "You tell us where your pals are taking that lyin' sack of s**t Harewood to, and you'll be looking at a reduced sentence."
"Not a chance." Shaggy shook his head.
Meanwhile, back in Coolsville, Deputy Chief Sam Rogers was ready to call it a night after a long day at work.
Lieutenant Mark Krebs had already headed home for the night, and it was clear that Sam could use the night for rest.
He was about to close up his computer when he suddenly spoke without turning to look.
"Good evening, Gosnell." Sam said. "Wasn't expecting you to be working late this evening."
"You're a piece of work, Rogers." Gosnell spoke as he stood by the doorway to Sam's office. "You know that?"
"What do you want?" Sam asked as he finally turned to face his nemesis. "I'd bet you're here to complain on my task force centring our investigation onto one of your investigators, eh?"
"You've got some nerve accusing Paxton of violating departmental policy, Rogers." Gosnell gritted his teeth as he pointed a finger directly into Sam's chest. "You've got no concrete proof!"
"On the contrary, Gosnell, my task force does." Sam retorted as he folded his arms. "They just got me the Internal Affairs citizen complaint files detailing officer misconduct, files that also include the complaints' in IA not properly investigating officers accused of misconduct, and those 35 files I received this late afternoon are just for this year alone. You can bet that there are more files for the preceding years, files that can certain stack up to multiple stories high."
"Whatever." Gosnell huffed. "That's not why I'm here. I've got friends over at Gotham, and they got me news you certainly will be interested in."
"What?" Sam asked.
"Your son and his dog have been arrested for assisting a wanted fugitive on a stolen police van following a high speed chase." Gosnell said. "I thought you'd like to know."
"Oh, is that right?" Sam asked as he took off his reading glasses. "Who's the wanted fugitive?"
"They didn't tell, but think about it." Gosnell said as he folded his arms. "Your son and his dog are involved in something at Gotham, and you do realize what this means?"
Sam arched his eyebrows, and Gosnell leaned forward.
"That means having the son of a high-ranking police officer in Coolsville getting arrested by Gotham City police isn't gonna bode well with citizens here." He smirked. "The choice is yours. You can use your influence to have him released, thus earning you the scorn of the press that have helped you in the past, or you can sit by and do nothing while your son and his pooch rots away in a holding cell."
Gosnell then chuckled as he turned and walked away, leaving Sam to digest the news.
Meanwhile, that late evening with the sun pretty much set, a police van transporting Shaggy and Scooby were driving down the roadway as the police resumed their chase for the van.
Shaggy and Scooby were handcuffed and sat on the bench on the side wall, both with their heads down.
Both were still thinking about the relentless interrogation the officers subjected them to.
In spite of the relentless questioning and the threat of force, Shaggy and Scooby were both in one piece and managed to held up like a rock, and finally the lieutenant in charge of the chase had no other option but to have them transported back to the precinct for further questioning and the night.
Even though they managed to get out of the three-hour field interrogation in one piece, both Shaggy and Scooby wondered how long will they be able to withstand the police interrogations before breaking down and gave up what their friends are up to.
Of course, the police knew that the group was looking for District Attorney Van Dorn, but they subjected Shaggy and Scooby to the interrogation on the basis that Shaggy was the one that told Detective Donald Ford to go screw himself.
As Shaggy sighed and thought that he really ought to watch his mouth, both their stomachs started to growl.
It was a reminder that they haven't eaten one bit since breakfast that morning, and now both he and Scooby are starved.
As the police van stopped at a red light, not that it's in a rush to get back to the precinct, a giant bat-shaped shadow overcame the rear doors.
Shaggy and Scooby were about to think of something to say when they both heard the locks on the rear doors being picked.
Then, as the door opened, both of them gasped in shock of what was in front of them at the other side of the door.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed, his voice barely above a whisper as the rear doors opened.
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