A/N: Just wanted to take the time for a big thank you; my last chapter got more than double the amount of views I usually get for an upload... So very big thank you! Especially for the wonderful reviews, and more favs and follows. I think I speak for most fanfic writers that we love getting recognition for our work :)
As for today, I have made some minor edits in other chapters, including a new paragraph in chapter 1 and just a few word changes here and there… and as always, a new chapter. Grab the popcorn for this one, and enjoy! ;)
Chapter 12
'Shootout on God's Doorstep'
"You ready?" Fang asked
After a pause, Nick answered; "Yea…"
"-You look ready…"
The Fox and the Wolf smirked at each other, and clutched their weapons firm in their paws… waiting for their cue.
…
-"Alright baby…" Catherine whispered, confidently, speaking to her trusty sniper rifle, "… Time to preach to the choir…"
One more inhale… she held it strong.
And the crosshair ceased to shake… giving her a clean and easy shot…
Catherine pulled the trigger… the firing pin hit the primer, igniting the gunpowder inside the brass casing… propelling the .338 bullet from the weapon barrel with a deafening roar…
"NOW!" Grizzoli yelled.
He turned the corner of the gate, leading his team through with his M16 raised… firing up the pathway of the churchyard as the crowd of armed mammals (minus one) scrambled to cover.
Nick and Fang followed through, making a dash for the refuge of a large gravestone; when reaching it Fang immediately affirmed his positon to fire his ACR, while Nick stayed down, deciding to conserve his ammo until he was closer.
As soon as the other three were clear, Delgato turned the corner of the entrance, taking a quick scope of the faraway rabble of mammals and firing a bullet of his own which landed in the chest of another.
Mchorn didn't waste any time himself, as he entered the graveyard he lifted the barrel of his machinegun upwards, witnessing a figure appear in the church tower at a distance. He fired his M240 in short sharp bursts to suppress the enemy sniper…
The Cheetah; Tatizo Duma… was honestly ashamed of himself that he'd been caught off guard. He had made his sniper's nest in the bell room as it gave him a full 360 degree viewpoint of the surrounding area, even if it meant sharing the place with the gargantuan bronze bells that never chimed due to the broken clock, as well as his own stockpile of ammunition and the missiles for the SAM launcher on the tower roof.
As soon as the first gunshot of the shootout had occurred, Duma sprung to life from reading his book… an old unkempt version of the Holy Bible, with no front cover and many loose pages.
Cheetahs were fast… Duma was no exception. In a split second after the first gunshot he placed the book down and grabbed his sniper rifle, moving over to the closest window that gave him a view of the shootout below.
He quickly raised his .50 sniper rifle, looking down the scope at the SWAT Team that had appeared from nowhere… barely having the chance to take a proper aim before a volley of bullets directed at his window forced him to retreat inside.
He made a quick glimpse from the opening before he recoiled again… it was the Rhino shooting at him. Only a few of the bullets fired made it through the window, ricocheting off the bells with metallic clangs… the rest impacted the stone outside, chipping the arched window of its architectural features.
Duma snarled as he backed away from the window again as more bullets flew his way. His calm quickly became agitated as he knew what his enemy was doing: trying to overwhelm his position so he couldn't shoot back. It was respectable at least the cops knew their tactics, but it made the Cheetah angry, considering this was the same SWAT Team that managed to escape his deadeye earlier, mostly due to luck or happenstance.
It's a good thing then that Duma was in the mood for a fight…
As soon as he heard the shot from the sniper rifle, his ears perked up…
Wolford didn't move just yet, he waited to see if the gunfire would continue.
It did more than that. A mere second he had to wait until a symphony of bangs, cracks and pops echoed from outside the church, alerting his three armed guards: the black bear, the wolf and the hyena.
"The hell is goin on out there…?" the black bear muttered. He turned to the other two mammals; "You two, go find out what's goin on!"
Clearly quite reluctant to take the bear's order with a disgruntled scowl, the wolf and the hyena began to run down the centre aisle of the church to the exit.
As they departed, Wolford cut through the last strand of the rope tied around his paws, releasing him from his sacrificial throne.
But he didn't move yet.
He stayed clasping the rope: at the moment it was his only weapon.
He started to calm his breathing, taking large inhales… it was certain what he was going to do would cause a lot of pain to his knife wounds, or just pain in general… and that was the best case scenario.
Even when he would be in a peak condition, taking on a bear was not an easy thing to do…
In a split second, the Snow Leopard pulled the bolt back on her sniper rifle… ejecting the used cartridge, and pushed it forward to load another round.
Her first shot had been the opening act to the concert of gunfire, Catherine looked back down her scope, seeing the group of armed criminals scrambling for cover amongst the gravestones… she also saw the one she had shot, dead on the floor, and another not far away, both in a puddle of their own blood.
The Snow Leopard changed her aim to the church tower, where sure enough… a figure stood in one of the bell room windows before quickly recoiling.
Mchorn's machinegun fire had the enemy sniper successfully suppressed, so Catherine adjusted her aim back to the battle below, remembering the check the tower whenever she had the chance.
The ballistic symphony continued as the SWAT Team moved up the churchyard, instigating and returning gunfire with the armed criminals. There were many large gravestones dotted throughout the overgrown grass of the yard, so they weren't short of cover… but neither was their enemy.
The sun was behind them, meaning the Police had the better visibility without any solar glare. The many conflicting air currents of the light day breeze and the sharp bullet paths made the thick sickly grass sway ever so slightly. It was both an advantage, and a hindrance. At places some of the shrubbery was so tall and thick it was impossible to see through, and gave false hope as shelter from the flying lead as the bullets passed straight through. However, it also meant there were plenty of small paths where the greenery was less overgrown that the SWAT Team could flank around the shooters.
And that's exactly what they did…
While in a spate of gunfire, Nick, Fang and Grizzoli were quickly pinned down by three of the armed criminals behind a large gravestone. However, a hidden and clear path round the wild flora made an opening for a flanking manoeuvre.
Sheltering behind the huge granite tomb, Grizzoli made the necessary paw signal to the Fox and the Wolf. Nick and Fang immediately understood and swiftly creeped through the tall grass unseen while Grizzoli kept the shooters attention. They came out just behind them; a badger, a leopard and a lynx…
Now Nick decide to fire his weapon… a quick burst from his surprisingly powerful submachinegun gunned down the badger, while Fang slew the other two shooters.
Even with the pep talk from Catherine earlier and the obvious kill-or-be-killed situation, Nick couldn't help but still feel remorse of killing another mammal…
But he didn't let it get to him.
He would most likely have to do it again, considering he was still being shot at.
He and Fang moved up to another set of the gravestone shields as Grizzoli gave them covering fire.
After a quick reload of his empty magazine, Fang peeked from the new cover, preparing to fire the last mag of his rifle- he was stopped abruptly as he witnessed a fairly portly polar bear had just taken a sound position with an MG3 machinegun, priming to fire.
Fang looked backwards to the rest of his squad, instantly raising his left arm with his paw horizontal, before quickly bringing it downwards, yelling;
"DOWN!"
Even through the ballistic symphony, the others heard him. They ducked as low as possible… just in time as the polar bear's bullet hose unleashed a stream of supersonic lead down the yard with an unrelenting repetition of loud bangs…
For about two seconds-
Catherine had noticed the portly bear… she couldn't exactly miss him.
A fairly quick aim, and the crosshairs of her scope were fixed on the bear's head.
With a resounding crack of her sniper rifle, the bear's white fur turned red, with a gentle crimson mist behind it.
"We'll have none of that thank you…" Catherine sneered.
Another pull of the bolt on her sniper rifle, and her weapon was once again ready to fire…
Duma saw his chance, after displacing to another window, the gap in the SWAT Team's fire finally allowed him to shoot back.
He twisted round, his sniper rifle held firm as he aimed down to the churchyard before pulling the trigger hard. The loud crack echoed as the recoil blasted the stock into his shoulder, sending the huge bullet towards the Police…
Grizzoli had to duck further as the gravestone he was sheltering behind was practically torn in half as the sniper's bullet impacted the stone.
With his position exposed, the Lion dived to the ground, crawling towards Nick and Fang's cover, using the same route through the undergrowth they had used just before.
Mchorn brought his machinegun back to aim at the tower, just the moment the gravestone he was sheltering behind was blasted to bits by another of the enemy sniper's bullets.
He pulled the trigger hard, the stream of bullets from his machinegun pounding the bell tower… forcing the sniper back into his nest.
The Rhino was very exposed to the rest of the armed criminals, but he couldn't hold his fire lest the sniper got a better shot on them. Mchorn shuffled gradually through the grass to find another larger gravestone for cover, unaware he was being targeted by the armed mammals up the churchyard…
But he wasn't worried.
Keeping him covered was Delgato's job:
The Tiger was already aiming up the yard as Mchorn was moving-
Quickly putting a bullet in two of the criminals trying to shoot his exposed comrade, with two hard pulls of the trigger.
…
Inside the church, Wolford still sat patiently on his chair.
He looked up, analysing his foe; the single black bear that had been left on his own. The bear had his back to the supposedly retrained Wolf, an M60 machinegun in his paws with the ammo belt draped over his arm.
Slowly, Wolford rose from his chair, the coil of rope still clasped in his paws, carefully stepping so as not to cause pain to his knife wounds-
That was near impossible.
As soon as the Wolf stood, he gasped in pain… luckily the symphony of gunfire outside muffled his agonised grunt.
But the Wolf persisted, allowing himself to pant to suppress the pain. Ever so slowly he skulked forwards, pulling the rope taut with his paws.
The bear was completely unaware the Wolf was right behind him-
Until he felt a rope coil tightly round his neck…
Wolford jumped on the bear's back (as much as he could with his injured leg), and brought the rope over his head to wrap around the bear's neck, strangling him. He put all his weight behind that rope, making the bear gasp for air as it constricted his airway, dropping his machinegun to the ground as he tried to pry the rope away.
The struggle continued for roughly five seconds before the other two armed mammals returned, quite abruptly. The wolf spoke first;
"It's the cops! They're-"
He was quickly cut off by the sight of the struggle the far end of the centre aisle.
"Son of a-!" the hyena growled, raising his rifle.
The wolf did the same.
The bear's eyes widened at their actions; he managed to pull the rope from his neck a moment just to plead;
"NO, WAIT-WAIT-WAIT-"
There was definitely no honour amongst these thieves… or killers, in this case.
The wolf and the hyena opened fire.
The bear's feeble plea and the following loud bangs echoing throughout the old church alerted Wolford to the coming ballistic barrage. He was forced to drop the rope and crouch behind the bear to use him as a (non-)living shield from the bullets flying his direction.
The sickening squelching sound of bullets impacting flesh and splattering blood could just about be heard over the echoing gunshots as the bear took the brunt of the ballistic fire. The limp and lumbering dead mammal eventually collapsed, forcing Wolford to drop to the cold stone floor behind the corpse.
In the heat of the moment and a daring reach across the floor, Wolford grasped the trigger of the dead bear's M60 machinegun that had been dropped to the floor… conveniently already aiming down the aisle at the two shooters. In the split second after grabbing the trigger, he pulled it… firing his own ballistic barrage to defend himself before the two shooters could change their aim…
They barely had time to take cover either.
Wolford's wild machinegun fire tore down the church aisle, kicking up the dust around him as the wolf and hyena just about managed to dive out of the way, with a mere few bullets passing by inches.
Wolford didn't relent from firing his weapon as the wolf and hyena took shelter, the only exception was when he returned to his shaky feet, continuing to suppress the two armed criminals hiding behind the stone pillars either side of the centre aisle. Wolford moved backwards towards his old chair and the crumbling stone alter- being that it was the only thing he could use for cover. The combination of his limped steps, and the recoil and weight of the machinegun itself and dragging the M60's heavy bullet chain across the floor made it a difficult exercise, but he eventually made it, taking shelter behind the holy table and holding fire-
"You're rather spritely for a dead wolf!" the hyena mocked loudly.
"Not dead yet!" Wolford replied.
"Sa'shame you had to be a cop… I actually kinda liked ya," the opposing wolf spoke; "What's your real name again?"
"Mike… Mike Wolford…"
"Wolford… and you're a wolf…" the other wolf scorned, "Real fu*king original!"
Peeking from the pillar, he took a shot at the altar, making Wolford duck lower behind it. The hyena followed, also taking a short burst…
Only just retreating to the cover of the pillar as Wolford returned fire with his far more deadly machinegun- chipping the stone from the edge of the column.
"You know you aint getting out of this…" the hyena shouted, "…there's two of us and only one of you!"
Wolford lightly smiled to himself behind the altar;
"I think I can manage…"
…
Back outside, the shootout raged on.
After dealing with the polar bear, and taking out another of the shooters, Catherine had readjusted the aim of her sniper rifle back to the church tower, after the enemy sniper's few deafening shots at her teammates in the churchyard.
Luckily she could see, none of her friends had been hit.
Down in the yard, Mchorn still had the tower suppressed, forcing the sniper to retreat to his nest.
But Catherine didn't take her eye off the tower…
She waited till the sniper appeared again… in a situation where one was suppressed, it was procedure to displace and find a new and safe shooting position-
So as soon as the sniper's silhouette appeared in another of the bell room windows, Catherine fired…
Forced back by the Rhino's machinegun fire again, Duma displaced to another window, currently not being barraged with bullets; it was one of the three he could see the shootout from.
With a swift spin on his foot, the Cheetah looked from the window, lifting his Barrett .50 up to take aim-
Quickly noticing, in the corner of his eye- the distinctive little faraway glint of an opposing sniper scope.
Duma leaned backwards… just in time as he was forced to duck as a bullet slammed into the stone window frame he had been leaning from, chipping a large portion of it away into his face.
Now he really was angry… not only was he being suppressed, he was being counter-sniped.
So Duma decided, he had to take out the police sniper first…
Down on the ground in the overgrown churchyard, the SWAT Team still pushed further forward, closing the gap between them and the armed criminals, continuing to exchange gunfire as they moved from cover to cover.
However, as Nick, Fang and Grizzoli advanced, they quickly became pinned by a small group, dotted across the area in front of them.
As bullets slammed into the opposite side of the gravestone, Fang lifted his rifle above him, blind firing it wildly to suppress the armed criminals…
Until his ACR ran dry of ammunition.
"Damn it," the Wolf muttered, tossing the empty weapon aside and drawing his shotgun from his back.
Grizzoli was completely pinned behind his cover of a tall oak tree, not even able to blind fire his weapon without risking getting shot.
During the shootout, Nick noticed, as the other two were distracted, one of the plucky criminals was about to lob a grenade their direction…
He quickly put a stop to that.
As the criminal- a wolverine, rose to throw the explosive, Nick peered sideways from the headstone he was sheltering behind, firing a burst from his SMG- a single bullet striking the unlucky wolverine in the head… leaving a gaping hole in the mustelid's skull.
The live grenade just dropped to the ground… unknowingly to the other armed mammal that was using the same cover. The eventual explosion killed him too.
As Nick came to fire again, he realised that burst had used the last of his MP7's ammo. He tossed it aside, and un-holstered his G17, holding it firmly in his paws and continuing the shootout.
The sudden grenade explosion forced a gap in the other enemy combatant's fire as they took cover; Fang took advantage of this;
"Cover me!" Fang yelled, "I'm goin in close!"
Nick and Grizzoli obliged. The Fox peeked from the edge of his tombstone cover, now firing his handgun with several taps of the trigger, while the Lion fired his assault rifle in short bursts from the cover of the tree.
Fang leaped over his cover, running headfirst at the shooters, staying low with his tail outstretched behind to balance him. He swiftly moved up to the gravestones the armed criminals where using for cover the other side. The sudden appearance of the White Wolf in SWAT uniform startled the two armed mammals as he stood before them aiming his shotgun-
One.
Two.
Pulls of the trigger and the criminals were down for good-
But Fang didn't see the third; another wolf… who had his own shotgun drawn, and aimed at him-
A sudden eruption of blood from the canid's chest and a loud far-off crack quickly brought him down.
Fang ducked behind the closest cover of another gravestone… looking back the way he came to the building rooftop, with the friendly scope glint and figure of a Snow Leopard atop it…
He mouthed;
"Thanks…"
"You're welcome…" Catherine smirked, still aiming down the scope of her sniper rifle.
With her friend (and love interest) in the clear, the Snow Leopard once again quickly changed her aim to the church tower- catching another glimpse of a feline silhouette…
And a scope glint.
That split second Catherine realised the sniper was aiming at her.
With the quickest pull of her sniper rifle's bolt action she had ever made, Catherine lined up and fired… a poorly aimed shot...
But not before the enemy sniper managed to fire a round of his own-
The Snow Leopard flinched, ducking below the dwarf wall as the echoing crack perforated her hearing.
The shot had clearly missed her, but Catherine almost fainted with shock when she witnessed the wall but a foot from her position explode as the enemy sniper's bullet tore through it, blasting the clay bricks apart.
"Woah…" she said nervously, as she noticed by the sound, and the size of the hole that had been left in the wall, "That's a .50…"
Crouching down behind the wall, Catherine displaced from her current position to throw the sniper off if he fired again. She didn't move far, but it was at least five metres across the roof, still giving her a clear view of the battle in the graveyard, and a clear shot on the church tower.
…
While the shootout outside was further escalating, the shootout inside was soon to end.
As Wolford exchanged gunfire with the two armed criminals, the bullet chain for his machinegun was getting shorter and shorter. As it seemed, his major blood loss had definitely faltered his performance and concentration. The wolf and hyena were still going strong, and using far less ammo.
As they stayed sheltered from the police officer's gunfire, they quickly glanced at each other.
"Go round the side, and frag him…" the hyena ordered.
The wolf nodded, preparing himself as he crouched down low. The canine rolled from the bottom of the pillar, staying low, out of line of sight of the opposing cop.
The hyena peered from the opposite side of the stone column to acquire the cop's attention, achieving it instantly.
Wolford took barely a glance at what was left of his ammunition… a quick guess of no more than fifteen rounds. It was appropriate to say after being tied up and left to bleed out he had been feeling a little trigger happy… so when he saw the hyena peer from the column the opposite end of the church firing his AK, he quickly returned fire without regard for the little ammo he had left-
But that's when he saw the wolf was skulking down the side aisle, and quickly changed his aim…
As the wolf got closer, he quickly revealed himself as he could see the cop aiming at him- firing several rounds from his own Kalashnikov to deter any ballistic response, after which he quickly dropped his rifle, grasped one of the grenades on his belt, and pulled the pin…
The gap in the opposing wolf's gunfire allowed Wolford to reacquire his target; dropping to the side of the alter he aimed his weapon at his enemy and fired as the other wolf let loose his grenade-
Which had barely left his paw… when one lucky shot of Wolford's last few bullets collided with the deadly sphere- detonating it prematurely with a huge burst of flame and a loud boom that echoed throughout the church.
The hyena glanced from his position behind the pillar, just in time to see his comrade- or more specifically: what was left of him, drop to the cold stone floor.
"Motherfu*ker…" the hyena growled.
Leaning further round the pillar, he sprayed a series of bullets from his weapon that collided with the top of the church altar in retaliation.
Wolford peeked from the side, pulling the trigger of his MG… only just now coming to realise, at the sound of a quiet click… he'd just used the last of the M60's ammo.
Nevertheless, as he returned behind the stone table, he shouted confidently;
"One on one now!"
"Yea, I'd be breaking a sweat…" the hyena growled, "If you hadn't just ran out of bullets!-"
Now with no chance of any return gunfire, the hyena confidently strolled from behind the stone pillar down the centre aisle- firing his rifle at the altar as he went.
Wolford ducked down low… realising how much of an idiot he had just been now that he had no means to defend himself. He'd have to resort to paw-to-paw combat.
The hyena continued to stroll down the centre aisle, firing his weapon with barely any effort into aiming it… it didn't really matter, he still had several full magazines left, and as soon as he reached the altar, he'd put the undercover cop down for good.
But as he took the time to reload and pull the charging handle… the hyena wasn't expecting what came next…
Putting as much effort in as possible, Wolford lifted the useless machinegun over his head and threw it at the hyena- the heavy MG flying over the altar and colliding on target as it disarmed the criminal, his rifle falling to his side, dangling from the carry strap as he staggered backwards.
Wolford stormed from behind his cover, as fast as he could even with the pain from his knife injuries repressed with adrenaline. He threw a punch… striking the hyena's face, and another…
Which was abruptly stopped as the hyena grabbed his wrist mid swing, and then head-butted the Wolf in his snout.
Wolford now staggered backwards, left lightly dazed and then constricted as the hyena pushed a paw to his throat.
"Choke on it, cop!" the hyena growled.
Wolford certainly was choking… he brought his own paws up to pry the hyena away from his throat… but instead, in a desperate move, he trust his left paw downwards… at the risk of shooting his own foot as he found the trigger of the hyena's AK47, and pulled it hard-
Several quick bangs echoed between them… the resulting bullets luckily missing the Wolf, but one did land straight into the hyena's foot.
He recoiled with a howl as the pain engulfed him, pulling backwards with a slight hop.
Wolford saw his chance. As the hyena backed away the Wolf grabbed the collar of the criminal's shirt, and dragged him round so his back was leaning against the crumbling stone altar. A swift punch to the hyena's snout dazed him easily and made him lean further backwards before Wolford swiftly and brutally punched directly into the hyena's exposed neck… collapsing his airway, and left him choking on his own blood.
"Choke on that…" Wolford grunted, letting the dying hyena slide off the altar to drop to the ground.
…
As she had displaced, Catherine took the time to reload before reasserting her aim… waiting until the sniper reappeared again as her scope became fixed on the church tower.
She managed to pull the trigger once as the sniper reappeared…
At a different window.
Catherine's shot missed by far, and now she had given her position away.
A loud bang echoed and the wall beside her erupted as the sniper's bullet impacted the bricks… the broken clay shrapnel forcing the Snow Leopard to duck below the top of the wall.
She was glad she had too… Catherine gasped in shock as the concrete coping stone she had been leaning from was split in two by another .50 calibre bullet. If she had still been leaning up… that's bullet would have been the one with her name on it.
She had little place to go for cover… not that cover really mattered as the enemy sniper's .50 calibre bullets would pass through anything she tried to hide behind.
Instead Catherine went prone: lying down on the warm bitumen roof as low as possible, and crawling away as the enemy sniper continued to fire on her position… blasting holes through the wall in an effort to kill her.
Catherine winced after every echoing bang, knowing that any one of those could mean her imminent death.
The Cheetah didn't relent from pulling the trigger, firing his sniper rifle wildly in a furious frenzy… all through this encounter he had been at a disadvantage: on the receiving end of machinegun and sniper fire, but now he had the upper paw.
Duma kept his aim fixed at the apartment roof where the Snow leopard was cowering from his fearsome weapon.
He could see, through his ultra-zoom scope the police sniper had resulted to laying prone to avoid his shots. With the glances he got he now took his time, managing his breathing as he lined up a kill shot on the Snow Leopard…
And pulled the trigger-
Only a quiet click came from his weapon.
Duma snarled to himself as he lowered his sniper rifle, falling back from the window to reload just as the police sniper fired back-
In the gap of sniper fire, Catherine took a chance, swiftly leaning up from her prone position to fire two consecutive shots at the bell tower.
She knew it would do little to deter the other sniper. Her heart was pounding behind her SWAT gear as she returned to leaning on the wall. She maintained her aim on the church tower, waiting for a kill shot. In a shootout like this, she had always been the one behind the scope, aiming… never the opposite. She had never came to realise how terrifying it was, especially when battling with a sniper who had a far deadlier weapon than her.
At least she had the option of shooting back. For the next few moments she still held her aim.
But the sniper had not reappeared just yet.
In the brief respite, Catherine listened to the gunfire below her in the churchyard. Without lowering her rifle, or breaking her aim, she took the time to reload herself, before peering over the dwarf wall to check on the others progress…
But that wasn't what immediately caught her attention-
"You've gotta be fu*kin kidding me…" Catherine muttered in disbelief, as she became aware of what she was observing down her scope:
A maned wolf with an-
"RPG!" Delgato yelled.
He and the others ducked as the rocket propelled grenade was launched with a resounding and echoing boom…
The projectile explosive travelled down the churchyard… poorly aimed as it zoomed over the SWAT Team- the echoing boom repeating when the rocket impacted the graveyard wall the far end, obliterating it into nothing but rubble, and a cloud of dust.
The explosion left a ringing in everyone's sensitive hearing.
"What the fu*k!?" Fang cursed loudly.
"No-one mentioned having to fight perps with fu*kin rocket launchers!" Mchorn hollered to Grizzoli.
The Lion was sheltering behind a large oak tree, reloading his M16 as Mchorn shouted to him.
He was about to respond when another boom resounded near them.
The SWAT Team ducked even lower than they currently were… each of them hoping that rocket wasn't aiming for them.
It wasn't.
The explosive projectile zoomed over their heads again at a slightly higher altitude…
Careening towards the building where their Snow Leopard companion was providing their sniper support.
Fang cried her name in a vain effort to warn her;
"CATHERINE!"
She had barely any time to react before the rocket was upon her. The Snow Leopard leapt from her spot on the rooftop dragging her sniper rifle with her, jumping sideways just as the rocket crashed into the building below her.
The explosion obliterated the walls… internal and external with a loud boom and crash of glass and breaking bricks. The floor fell from beneath her feet… Catherine was forced to drop her rifle, digging her claws into the rooftop as it collapsed from the explosion.
But eventually the roof gave way too as the unmaintained building collapsed further into itself.
Catherine fell two floors below, into a cloud of heavy dust and rubble. A broken brick struck her head as she fell, drawing blood and putting her in a heavy daze. Her feline righting reflex failed her as she landed hard on her back… releasing only a small groan as she came to rest.
…
"YOU BA*TARDS!" Fang roared, firing several shells of his shotgun in retaliation… thinking the possibility that Catherine had perished.
His shots landed on empty air or the vertical headstones of the churchyard graves, as the rest of the criminals took cover.
But another resounding boom of the rocket launcher quickly made Fang flinch back down.
The rocket was a clear miss, passing over the police officers before slamming into a tree down the churchyard with another boom splintering the trunk from the impact, with enough force it now became lopsided.
"Seb! Take him down!" Grizzoli ordered.
Delgato had already been trying, but the rocket launcher wielding maned wolf was surprisingly elusive; there was no clear shot on him at all.
"Can't! Bast*rd's hiding!" the Tiger responded.
Grizzoli looked up the yard; there was still a fair few armed criminals between them and the maned wolf with the RPG.
"Then I'll get his attention…" Grizzoli announced.
He reloaded his M16 with his last magazine before he made his daring manoeuvre-
Quickly glancing from the tower, the Cheetah could see the remains of the police sniper's shooting position, now turned into rubble and a half collapsed building.
A look down the scope of his sniper rifle also confirmed there was no sign of the Snow Leopard… the feline lost in amongst the rubble and dust cloud.
So now there was no need to worry about her.
Duma turned to the window that gave him a clear view of the churchyard…
Seeing the sniper return to the window, Mchorn once again raised his M240 and pulled the trigger.
His machinegun roared for only a couple of seconds… until it quickly became silent.
"Sh*t!" the Rhino cursed, dropping below his cover.
"What?" Delgato asked.
"I'm out!"
And they both knew what that meant…
After the brief few impacts, the Rhino had not continued firing at his sniper nest again. He immediately came to the resolution that the cop had ran out of ammo.
So now with no opposition… Duma was so confident he even lifted a foot to the window ledge as he leaned out of it, lifting his sniper rifle up, with a full magazine this time, aiming down at the rest of the cops…
Once again the sniper rained down from above, forcing the SWAT Team to take cover as best they could from the deadly .50 calibre rain.
Even so… Grizzoli persisted; he practically jumped from his gravestone cover… and made his last mag count, firing in short two or three round bursts as he moved forwards between the gravestones. His aim was precise and accurate… tallying up three kills as he moved forward-
The Lion's advance had caught the Cheetah's attention… forcing Duma to hold his fire and watch the SWAT officer's progress.
He was quite impressed with the Lion's skill…
But alas, he had to stop him-
As he continued forward, one of the criminals- a bobcat, attempted to attack Grizzoli from behind with a combat knife as the Lion walked past-
A very poorly placed stab allowed Grizzoli to dodge the blade… swiftly swinging round to bring the butt of his rifle to the underside of the bobcat's jaw. During the swift move, Grizzoli let his rifle go, with only a few rounds left… rapidly bringing his right paw down to draw his M1911 from his pistol holster.
A single shot put the bobcat down for good, and Grizzoli racked up another kill as he aimed and fired his pistol up the yard.
The maned wolf had clearly noticed the Lion's advance. Waiting until the large feline had to reload his pistol.
But Grizzoli planned ahead, having already pulled out a new magazine for his handgun in his left paw. Briefly taking shelter behind a taller gravestone, he made the move to reload his handgun-
But a loud crack forced the Lion to duck further down- dropping his spare magazine as one of the snipers bullets ricocheted off the stone, startling him.
That moment, the maned wolf rose from his own cover to aim his RPG.
Grizzoli went to aim his weapon… quickly noticing his blunder as the slide was fully back on the pistol: within the small commotion, he'd forgotten to reload.
…
The maned wolf fired the RPG, with another resounding boom…
…
The rocket came so quickly, all Grizzoli could do was turn to his side and lean away from the rocket…
The warhead slammed into the tall gravestone beside him, obliterating the stone into harsh shrapnel, the blast knocking Grizzoli clean to the ground in a small cloud of kicked up dust.
Where he remained unmoved…
The others could only witness in horror as their friend and team leader fell to the ground, powerless to help him.
"Leonard!" Fang shouted worriedly.
He attempted to reach his fallen friend but was cut off by more gunfire, slamming into the gravestones, and another gaping hole made in the dirt beside him as the sniper changed his aim.
With the SWAT Team all but pinned by gunfire, the wolf with the RPG didn't suspect much resistance… so he had no idea what would come next once he rose to fire again.
…
With determination for revenge of possibly killing his friend, Delgato already had the russet coloured wolf in his sight… planting a bullet through the canid's skull with a burst of red behind him before he could launch another deadly explosive rocket.
"He's down!-"
The Tiger's yell was cut short when a volley of bullets was sent his way by the remaining criminals… Mchorn swiftly came to Delgato's side pushing him aside as the Rhino pulled himself into the path of the bullets;
"Urrghh…" The Rhino grunted as the rifle rounds slammed into his body armour with several heavy chinks, forcing him over off his already precarious standing position.
Delgato was slightly dazed, as being pushed over by a Rhino would normally do, until he noticed Mchorn was cringing with pain.
"You're hit-" Delgato fretted.
"S'fine…" the Rhino wheezed, "We gotta get to Leonard-"
"But we're pinned-" Delgato responded, interrupted as a volley of bullets impacted the top of the gravestone they were both sheltering behind.
"Not for long-" Mchorn said, "Cover me…"
Delgato nodded in response.
With a thunderous roar Mchorn broke from their cover and charged forward, his steps thundering through the ground with a malicious beat behind them. He continued until he rammed straight into one of the taller gravestones- snapping the stone from the bottom as it fell from his brute force.
It completely startled the jaguar who was hiding behind it, knocking the feline to the floor and dropping his weapon. Mchorn used his empty machinegun as a heavy club… swiftly swinging it to strike the feline across the head with such force it snapped the jaguar's neck.
The Rhino's audacious charge had allowed them to move up further, but both Mchorn and Delgato quickly became held down by gunfire again.
Duma was really stuck for choice on targets now… continuously changing his aim as his remaining comrades below stopped the police from moving any further forward.
He wasn't even going for kill shots…
He fired with a malevolent grin on his muzzle… toying with his prey.
…
A decision he was soon to regret…
Currently Nick stayed sheltered behind yet another headstone, occasionally shooting a couple of rounds from his pistol.
As he looked around at the rest of his team it became clear to him now that with no sniper support, a mammal down (quite possibly two), limited or no ammo, and all of them pinned by gunfire...
This called for improvisation.
…
As he peered forward up the churchyard, an idea formulated inside his mind…
Whether it would work was beside the point.
…
Nick turned to the White Wolf not far from him.
"Fang, cover me!"
"What're you doing!?" he asked, not expecting such a daring move from the rookie.
"Improvising!"
Fang nodded;
"Go! I gotcha!"
The Wolf did the best he could as the Fox went into action, using the last few shells of his shotgun to suppress any criminals that tried to shoot his friend.
Nick used his smaller size to his advantage, bolting from his cover staying low and fast, cutting through the tall grass and the mass of gravestones. He kept his tail close behind him, taking pauses every time before he moved to the next stone shield, firing rounds from his pistol every so often until he reached the dead maned wolf.
Nick ignored the body, going to grab the RPG instead.
He quickly moved behind a row of small gravestones as a volley of bullets was sent his way, reaching back to drag the rocket launcher with him.
Nick looked over the RPG7, with completely no idea how to use it, and suddenly second guessing his improvised plan.
But right now he didn't really have the time to ponder… the thing was loaded, and it had a trigger-
That's all that mattered.
Plus he'd seen RPG's been used in films and videogames…
How hard could it be?
…
"To hell with it…" Nick muttered to himself.
With a gap in the criminal's gunfire, Nick darted from his cover, exposing himself completely, the oversized rocket launcher in his paws, and lifted it till the explosive warhead was pointed towards the top of the church tower-
With the sudden move from the smallest of the cops… the Fox… Duma changed his aim…
Just in time to see the vulpine aiming the rocket launcher upwards.
At him.
The Cheetah's eyes widened in surprise…
As he aimed the RPG, Nick couldn't help but to paraphrase a line from one of his favourite comedies;
"OH LORD! BLESS THIS THY ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE!-"
Hearing Nick's (rather odd) words, Fang peered from his cover… witnessing his friend wielding the rocket launcher.
And he mumbled;
"Oh sh*t…"
Nick pulled the trigger… sending the rocket flying with another resounding boom.
The back-blast knocked him from his feet, but the blessed rocket fired true.
It didn't have very far to travel…
And it hit bang on target.
The rocket entered though the bell tower window, traveling until it slammed into the ceiling... exploding on impact-
And igniting the stockpile of ammunition, explosives and missiles for the rooftop SAM launcher…
The stone monolith burst into a blinding flame that expanded so brightly to rival the morning sunshine, creating a thunderous explosion that echoed for miles around and with enough force it blasted the old stone to pieces, forcing the tower to crumble and fall. The brass bells became dented as they fell from the rafters, clanging loudly like a Sunday morning symphony as they too collapsed with the church tower.
As the blasted stone fell to the ground, an enormous dust cloud encompassed the entire churchyard, the ground shaking like an earthquake as the largest pieces of stone crashed to the ground-
Until the scene of the previous shootout of the last few minutes suddenly became ever so quiet…
