ALERT! OC submissions are now closed! Do not bother sending any more original characters, you'll just be wasting your time. Now let's do something I'm pretty sure everyone's been waiting for!
BEFORE WE BEGIN: Rapture At Sea, WordSpark37 or anyone else associated with the Jesse Awards, this note is directed at you. I do not want any of my stories nominated for these awards, and that includes this one. I will take action against anyone caught trying to nominate this story. Thank you.
It was early next morning when Reyes arrived at the Military Police building. He'd scanned the sharpshooters posted on the roof, and more armed officers as he walked inside. Zizi was walking beside him, two more prisoners in his sack. An officer opened the door for them, and closed the door after them.
"I called in every cop on our payroll." Zizi explained in Portugese. "We're covered. Weapons teams are stationed at every entrance. God Himself couldn't get at your birds if He wanted to."
"God," Reyes answered, "Isn't my worry."
The big ARMET Gurkha F5 rolled through an underpass, Sierra at the wheel. Esparanza was inside. Behind them, Weston and Bell kept pace in the extensively modified GMC Sierra 1500 Hybrid, with Doc riding on the back. Two matte black 2009 Dodge Charger SRT-8s were behind the armored vehicles.
"You ready?" Sierra asked.
After a short pause, Esparanza answered, "I'm ready." Sierra steered the Gurkha towards the building, making short work of the barrier. Soon after the Gurkha smashed through the barrier, the marksmen started shooting at the truck, with no effect. They were so surprised to see the Sierra and the two Chargers come past that they did not shoot at the vehicles as they made their way inside the garage. Sierra braced himself as he floored it. The Gurkha smashed straight through the wall, leaving a nice hole and exposing the vault to the garage. Sierra backed the Gurkha up, leaving a nice hole. The GMC stopped out of the way while the two Chargers slid to a stop, their back ends facing the vault.
"Go! Go!" Weston shouted as he and Bell exited the GMC. They pulled out their firearms and started shooting at the first corrupt cops to arrive. Doc up on the truck bed lined up a shot and let loose with the 9M133 Kornet, sending an Anti-Tank missile straight into a row of parked police cars, hurling them up into the air and sending them back down to earth with a thud.
"What was that?" Nicole Taylor asked.
"I dunno." Pedi replied.
"It's them." Blu muttered.
"Who?"
"The people who are coming to save us."
"What?" Jewel exclaimed.
"Yeah." Blu spoke. "You CAN trust some humans." He winked, although no-one would notice in the darkness of the vault.
Sierra climbed out of the Gurkha and opened up on full automatic with his M4A1 Carbine. Esparanza also got out and started shooting with her PT92 pistol. Tom and Ken got out of the Chargers, grabbed winches from the trunks, and attached the tow cables to the vault. While Ken jumped straight back in his Charger, Tom made sure the back bumper cage was doing it's job. They had extensively modified the Charger SRT-8 police cars especially for this job. They had installed beefy tires, a winch in the exposed trunks and back bumper cages welded onto the backs to support heavy weights. Confident that the cage would hold, Tom got back in his Charger.
In the offices, Reyes noticed the horde of officers rushing to the garage.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"They're taking the vault!" The officer who had held the door exclaimed.
"What?"
"The vault!" The officer pulled out his handgun and motioned for Reyes to follow.
Back in the garage, Tom and Ken looked at each other. They nodded, and simultaneously floored it. Both Chargers shot forward a few feet before the cables tightened and prevented the Dodges from moving any farther. 425 horsepower was still going through the rear wheels, and the Chargers did a standing burnout, sending up smoke as they tried to free the vault.
"This was the plan?" Ken asked over the radio.
"Yeah." Tom replied.
"Come on!" The officer shouted as two more cops tried to open the door. They had just opened the fence door and were now trying to open the main door. "Let me through!" The officer managed to get the door open, and rushed through...
Straight into a fist that sent him to the floor.
"Stay down!" The officer looked up when he heard a female voice in Portugese to find Esparanza standing over him, pointing her PT92 straight at him. Sierra was standing by her, looking tough, his hands never moving far from his M4A1. "Don't move!" Esparanza shouted in Portugese again.
Tom and Ken had been burning out for 15 seconds. The gunfight was still raging, but just as all hope seemed lost, the vault suddenly broke free, and the Chargers began moving, dragging the vault through the hole in the wall. The officers rushing to the garage were shocked to see two Charger SRT-8s shooting past dragging the bank vault behind them. Lights and sirens filled the garage as the first of many police cars started up to chase down the Dodges hauling vault.
The two partners fighting/in crime shot out of the building and executed a hard right turn. The bank vault kept on going straight, mounted the sidewalk and tumbled, snapping the Chargers into a slide just as a marksman with an M16 opened fire. The Chargers continued to slide along the road trying to drag the heavy vault back onto the road. They eventually succeeded, and it was at that moment that the first wave of police cars came in hard and hot, while police shooters filled the road with bullets. They were going to need some backup.
"Call it out Linda!" Ken shouted into his radio.
"Alright, you've got a straight shot for two blocks." Linda reported from the warehouse. "Go right."
"Got it." Tom confirmed. The two drivers steered right, and shifted into park to lock the rear wheels and send the Dodges into a synchronized drift. The vault swung round behind them, and as people on the sidewalk screamed and ran for cover, it impacted a tree before the Chargers pulled it back onto the road. The police cars soon followed and the two Dodge Chargers and the ten or so cops in pursuit passed by a bus, leaving the passengers to wonder why the hell two muscle cars were pulling a bank vault.
"Well, the plan is working." Tulio sat down beside Linda and spoke into his radio. "You guys have every corrupt cop in Rio on your tail, you guys have to move fast."
"What's the best route?" Tom asked.
"OK, keep going straight another half-mile onto Rua Fonseca," Linda replied, "And then go left."
Ahead of the Chargers at an intersection, several police cars screeched to a stop.
"That ain't gonna work." Tom reported. Ahead, the gap between a car and the wall was quickly filled with a spike strip.
"Spikes ahead Tom, we've got spikes!" Ken spoke.
"We're going right!" Two more cops slid to a stop on the road to the right.
"No, it's too tight, we're not going to fit."
"We have no choice, now!" Tom quickly steered right and muscled the Charger SRT-8 through the intersection. Ken quickly followed suit, and both Dodges mounted the sidewalk and shot past the roadblock. The vault kept on going straight, and smashed into the police car next to the spikes, before swinging round and catching the sidewalk, sending it tumbling through whatever was in it's path.
Inside the bank, people noticed the ten ton projectile hurtling towards them and ran for their lives screaming as the vault smashed through the glass into the bank. The weight was enough to send the rear of Ken's car off the ground for a moment before he steered back onto the road. The vault continued to tumble through the bank, sending glass and debris everywhere. Suddenly, the cable attaching Ken's Dodge to the vault tensed up and sent the Charger into a slide. As the vault reached the wall and made it's way out of the bank, it smashed into a row of parked cars before Tom counter steered, rubbing the side of his Dodge against the side of Ken's Dodge, putting both cars back on track.
"Holy crap!" Ken exclaimed.
"Guys, I'm hearing all this chatter." Linda commented. "Did you just take out a bank?"
The two Charger SRT-8s continued down the road, the vault now steadily being dragged along behind them. Two Ford police cars rushed through oncoming traffic to meet them.
"Two inbound." Tom reported.
Tulio typed something into the computer. "OK, there's an alley coming up on your left."
"Yeah, I got it." Ken answered.
All four cars continued on their course, playing team head on chicken. The Charger drivers looked at each other, then nodded. As the Fords came ever closer, Tom spun left, and Ken spun right, and both cars cleared the way for the vault to trundle straight on. The Ford Explorer smashed head on into the vault, before being sandwiched by the Ford Focus following close behind.
Two police motorcycles quickly approached the carnage. Tom, seeing this, shifted into drive and burned rubber. The Charger stopped cold a few feet later and burned out as the vault was too heavy for one Dodge to move unaided. Ken hurled the shifter into reverse and slammed home the accelerator. His Dodge backed up into the vault, and with Tom pulling and Ken pushing, the Chargers began to move the vault into the alley. The motorcycles followed, and as the riders pulled something out of their jackets, Ken recognized them as Taurus PT92 handguns. The riders opened fire, sending some shots wide, some shots into the vault (The 9mm rounds couldn't penetrate the vault however), and a couple of shots into Ken's windshield. Ken quickly slammed on the brakes, causing one rider to crash and back-flip into a parked car, and the other rider to slide, lose control and fall off the bike.
"You little baka!" Ken yelled before he sent the Charger going again in a wall of tire smoke and Hemi engine roar. The Dodge Chargers shot out of the alley, turned left and settled back onto the road. Ken steered to the right, reversed past the vault, and spun around to be facing the same way as Tom again. Re-assuming the position, Ken spoke, "Alright, good job Tom, right hander right here, right hander." The Chargers turned right onto a wide boulevard split in half by a bus stop.
"Guys." Tulio warned. "You have a big group coming from the south, you have to do something now!" Tom looked back to see the first of many police cars sliding onto the road that they were on. Ken noticed this too.
"Tom." Ken advised. "Go wide." Tom agreed, and Ken swerved onto the other side of the road, while Tom steered farther left. The vault was in the middle, and plowed through the bus shelter. The next thing it ran into was a big light pole, and it toppled onto a Chevrolet Blazer SUV. Another light pole was torn down, and a Ford Explorer tried to slide to a stop, only to impact the pole and roll like a barrel. A Ford Focus tried evasive maneuvers, but crashed into a parked vehicle. Other police cars screeched to a halt before hitting the chaos that was in front of them. The two matte black Chargers continued on their course.
"Yeah!" Tom celebrated as the vault continued to move behind the Charger SRT-8s. More police cars arrived on scene, and Tulio and Linda were busy tracking incoming arrivals. There were about ten police cars behind the two Dodges.
One Charger police car drew up alongside the vault. An officer climbed out and sat on the door. He pumped a Mossberg shotgun and fired, sending out buckshot that missed the Dodges. He fired again, also missing. Ken noticed this and swerved, slapping away the Charger police car and sending it onto a sidewalk. The driver blipped the siren while the officer yelled for pedestrians to get out of the way. While the black Dodges slapped another police car into a tree, he pulled out his Taurus PT92 handgun and shot off an entire magazine at the Charger SRT-8s, again missing them. Ken swerved again, this time sending the vault into a row of parked cars that got scattered all over the sidewalk, creating a roadblock that stopped the cop car in it's tracks. However, there were many more police cars still behind the two Chargers. As another Charger drew alongside and the passenger pumped his shotgun, the police car was suddenly rammed from behind...
By another police car.
Anthony steered his 2011 Dodge Charger R/T police car around the spinning 2006 Dodge Charger R/T police car that he had rammed and lined up his car so that it was in front of another cop. He then slammed on the brakes, causing the cop to smash into the rear end of his car. The cop then spun out and was unable to continue the pursuit due to engine damage.
"You're all clear on the left." Anthony reported.
"Good afternoon officer!" Fernando shouted before sideswiping a Charger cop car. "License and registration please!" He rammed into a Ford Explorer police car, which rammed into a row of parked vans, sending the Explorer/van fusion onto the road, where a Mazda 626 slammed into the Ford. "Yes! This is big boy stuff!" He picked up the radio. "You're clear on the right."
"Oh man." Was all Ken had to say. The four Chargers continued rolling along in formation.
"Thanks guys." Tom said into his radio.
"Any time." Anthony replied.
"I'll see you on the other side." Fernando added.
"You guys just carved out a ten second window." Linda spoke from the warehouse. "Make it count." The police Dodge Charger R/Ts broke away from the formation, while a quarter mile back, more police cars were rushing past the devastation caused by Hurricane Vault.
"Zizi." Reyes said from the back of the Volkswagen Touareg SUV. "Stay on them." Zizi steered the VW out from a side street, and joined henchmen and the police in the pursuit. The Chargers meanwhile rumbled past a garbage truck. They headed out onto a bridge that ran over a wide river. The police went past the garbage truck about ten seconds later.
"They can't outrun us on the bridge." Reyes remarked as the Touareg went onto the wide bridge.
Ken looked in the mirror. "Crap." He commented. There were fifteen police and henchman cars in pursuit.
Reyes chuckled. "They have no way out."
"No!" Ken shouted. He grabbed the radio while keeping an eye on the ridiculous amount of cars in pursuit. "There's too many of them." He rammed the push-to-talk button home. "Hey, Tom, there's too many of them, we're not gonna make it!"
Tom looked back, and sure enough, the police were edging ever closer. "You're right, we aren't." He replied through the radio. Ken looked over to his Charger. "You are."
"What are you talking about?" Ken questioned.
"Just let the vault go, get out of there!" Linda urgently pleaded.
"You're one of the best drivers I've met, Ken, and a great buddy too." Tom commented.
"No, I'm not leaving you!" Ken yelled. "Now you stick with the plan!"
"It was always the plan." Tom monotonously said. "Take care of Miyuki and Natsumi."
"Tom, you listen to me now, OK?" Linda spoke. "You cut loose right now!"
Tom held a device in his hand. He pressed a button, and one of the tow cables snapped. Ken's Charger, now free of the vault's weight, sped away. Tom spun the Dodge away 180 degrees. Ken yelled and hit the steering wheel in frustration. Tom now faced the approaching horde, alone.
"Hey, what is he doing?" Reyes asked. Tom was facing them, doing a burnout, and revving up his Dodge. "We've got him!" Big mistake.
Tom shifted into drive and pulled away for a little bit, before the weight of the bank vault stopped his advance. The Charger SRT-8 was powerful, but even it was not powerful enough to move a bank vault by itself. That's where the modifications came in. Tom reached down and flipped a switch. Next to it were three big nitrous bottles. Tom called one bottle into action with a press of a button. The nitrous injected into the Hemi engine, increasing it's power and enabling the big Dodge to begin motion. The Charger and the vault were now moving again.
"Close down the bridge!" Zizi called into his radio as Reyes stared at the Charger.
Tom pressed another button, injecting more nitrous into his Dodge's motor. There was now so much power going through the Charger SRT-8 that it pulled a wheelie, lifting the front tires off the ground. Once the front tires came back down onto the ground, Tom started his assault. He momentarily played head on chicken with a Focus, before swerving all over the road. The vault swerved with him, and the Focus tried steering out of the way, going this way, then that, only to crash head on into the vault. Another swerve sent a Blazer and a Mazda sandwiching into the vault.
Tom's Charger was like a samurai sword, moving across the road with mighty precision, and eliminating all who happened to get in the way. Fortunately, the bridge was closed off, so only police and henchman cars were lining up to get smashed. Tom steered the bank vault into a Jetta, smashing it out of commission.
"Do something, idiot!" Reyes screamed.
With another mighty swerve, Tom made a henchman's Ram 1500 and a police Ford Focus plow into the vault, sending them over the edge, and into the river below.
"Kill him dammit!"
Tom steered across the road, causing an Explorer to smash into the vault. A VW Passat drove between the Charger and the vault, and got it's top chopped off by the cable.
"Kill him now!" Zizi spoke into his radio. A bit of the roof of the other Touareg opened up to reveal a minigun. The operator took aim.
Tom scraped the vault on the side of the bridge. A Jetta had nowhere to go, plowed into the vault, and launched into the air and into the bay spectacularly. The operator manning the minigun opened fire, sending shots in the general direction of the Charger. Tom began evasive maneuvers as shots impacted the road.
With one last button press, he injected every bit of nitrous into the engine. He then engaged the handbrake, and spun around. Minigun shots impacted the Charger as it continued sliding. The vault crossed over to the other side of the bridge, tumbled end over end and swung back around due to still being attached to the Dodge. Zizi slammed on the brakes and stopped just as the vault flew over the hood of the Touareg. The other driver wasn't so lucky, and the vault smashed into the Volkswagen, pushing it through the wall and into the river. As the vault stopped, the cable tensed up, swinging the Charger into the air, and straight for whatever was in it's flightpath.
The Dodge Charger SRT-8 span in the air, and headed straight for the Volkswagen Touareg. Zizi dived for cover, but all Reyes could do was scream a split second before the Charger plowed hood first into the cockpit of the Touareg.
There was not a sound from either vehicle.
Please comment on this chapter, and accept my thanks for waiting for this update. This is easily the longest chapter I have written, and also perhaps the most epic. This chapter was worth it, was it not?