A/N: Hello everybody! Right now I'm quite anxious and excited about this next chapter, because I had been looking forward to writing it and uploading it for a LONG time, almost ever since I started uploading back in August… and it was a pain in the ass to write so I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with it, and same can said or the next few chapters too, so I would love to get some feedback. Also, for those who haven't guessed by now, the one other film which gave me a tonne of inspiration for this part of the story is indeed, Mad Max: Fury Road… so if you know that film, you can expect something a little more than just an average car chase ;) … And for some suggestive listening, type: 'Mad Max: Fury Road Soundtrack – Brothers in Arms' into YouTube and listen to it. Sets the atmosphere for this chapter perfectly, not only because it shares the same title as the track, but because I practically wrote this chapter to fit this music… even though it doesn't fit, unless you can read over 6700 words in 6 minutes (and bravo if you can!).
Also, just some brief responses to clarify some things from last week's reviews:
The British spelling of tires is with a 'y' as: tyres. 'Tires' is the correct spelling in USA and Canada, but every other English speaking country spells it as 'Tyres'… even though both can be used and they mean the same thing anyway.
To make a counter point about the quantity of ZPD Officers: I personally figured that considering the size of Zootopia, it is a megacity, i.e. a population over 10 million, and I further think in my headcanon that considering the varied species and sizes of mammal, Zootopia's population is far above even that… and therefore would have a Police Force similar in size to that of the NYPD in New York or the Metropolitan Police in London to name a couple, both of which have over 30,000 uniform police officers. So no, I haven't killed almost every cop in Zootopia, but I did just kill off quite a few… and if that made you depressed or angered to read those last two chapters… GOOD! It was meant to, because it'll make these next few chapters all that more sweeter! :D
And as for whether Nick is going to fight Roan… that remains to be seen. He's still got a lot of other predators to go through first.
Ok, I'm done talking now… but once again, thank you all of you wonderful readers! And now I bring you:
Chapter 24
'Brothers in Arms'
"What's so funny cop?" the coyote asked nastily.
…
Nick replied mockingly;
"Your driver doesn't check his mirrors…"
As he braced for impact…
There was a short sound of an over-revving engine-
And suddenly the whole pickup truck was shunted violently from behind, throwing all the occupants forwards in their seats…
Except one.
Nick knew the brunt was coming, so he prepared himself, and took the chance Judy had given him to fight back… and this time with much more ferocity than he had done barely a minute ago-
Launching from his seat, he attacked the coyote first, wrapping his arms around the larger canine's neck, and using his zip tie pawcuffs to strangle him maliciously.
The arctic fox in the driver seat was wrestling frantically at the steering wheel trying to maintain control of the car…
While the bobcat in the front seat turned to face the scuffle behind them, after composing himself from the sudden jolt.
As Nick had the coyote constricted around his neck with the sharp thin plasti-cuff digging into the canine's throat… he noticed the bobcat spin around in his seat and raise his UMP45 at the Fox to cut his struggle ultimately short…
But he didn't get the chance.
Nick already reacted before the bobcat took a solid aim; he slid down on the seat, simultaneously dragging the coyote with him and kicking the barrel of the bobcat's firearm upwards as the feline pulled the trigger-
Nick had kicked the weapon hard, making the bobcat fire into the ceiling of the car and shatter the glazed sunroof into hundreds of crystalline shards that rained down on the single cop and three criminals, now littering the inside of the vehicle…
As soon as Judy had rammed the pickup in front, Fang opened the LAPV's rooftop gunner hatch with a rush, and popped up out enough so he could aim his weapon, startling the few mammals in the other cars around them at his sudden appearance…
Fang didn't relent; with a scowl on his muzzle he aimed directly at the 4 door saloon beside his and Judy's armoured car-
The armed criminals in the vehicle barely had time to notice the blood covered White Wolf aiming at them before he started firing wildly…
Fang pulled hard on the trigger, sending the whole 30 round magazine of 5.56mm bullets to cut through the car, spraying and shattering the windows and tearing straight through the unarmoured bodywork… Fang's stream of supersonic lead shredded the canopy of the vehicle, killing its occupants as the inside became splattered with their blood.
The driver had clearly been shot dead with his foot pressed on the accelerator as the car was still moving forward at speed. That was until it revealed the driver had also slumped over the steering wheel and had obviously fell to the right, as the car turned sharply and rammed the concrete barrier at the edge of the elevated roadway before overturning and tearing itself to pieces-
One vehicle down… and a lot more to go…
In the driver's seat, Judy had loosened her foot off the accelerator after ramming the scruffy blue pickup with her partner inside…
Already this was going to the top of the list as one of the most dangerous and craziest situations they had been in as partner cops.
Though her act of road rage had clearly worked, and given Nick his chance to free himself as she could see through the rear window that he was now in the middle of a fight in the back of the pickup.
…
She feared for him…
But at that moment she had to worry more about herself-
As a flurry of bullets from dual mounted M240 machineguns on the back of another pickup, (effectively turning it into a technical) started striking the side of their armoured car…
The LAPV's protective armour plating prevented any of the bullets from penetrating their vehicle, but the bullet resistant glass wouldn't last as long.
And her White Wolf gunner was still exposed whenever he had to shoot…
…
So Judy swiftly responded;
With an angered growl that would put any predator to shame, she sharply turned the steering wheel to the left, ramming the side of the 4x4-
Causing it to plough into the central concrete divider of the highway… the vehicle overturned at 90mph practically tearing it and its occupants apart and strewn onto the roadway in a bloody mess of fractured metal-
The sudden sideways jolt of the vehicle made Fang retreat down from the roof hatch, where he turned around to see the result of Judy's mad driving… there was likely to be a lot of those harsh jolts with her at the wheel, and he had to make sure he was ready for them.
As he was ducked down he took the chance to reload with a fresh magazine and quickly popped back into his gunner position…
Bullets started striking their vehicle from the cars behind… but Fang was protected- using the flipped open roof hatch as an effective slab of cover as it too, like the rest of the car, was armour plated…
And he was silently grateful that Mchorn had charged into this vehicle to commandeer it rather than any of the others… he and Judy wouldn't have got any further than now considering how many bullets were hitting their vehicle, denting into the plated aluminium armour…
It was protecting him and his mad Rabbit driver for now, but it wouldn't last under this much punishment.
And Fang needed to change that.
…
He took aim at another of the following cars-
Instantly pulling the trigger to strike the front windscreen…
But the rounds didn't break through it… clearly this was one of convoy's vehicles that had been modified with some form of bullet proofing.
It was a fairly large SUV, and was pulling up closer beside them as Fang changed his aim to the front tyres, managing to puncture through and deflate them as he fired again… but it didn't stop the assault…
Fang ducked down into the protection of his and Judy's armoured car…seeing the SUV through the bullet resistant glass until the window became sprayed with shattering impact marks… but the glass still held.
"SUV, right side!" Fang called to Judy in the driver's seat, easily gaining her attention.
She saw it in the wing mirror-
And dealt with it.
Judy turned the steering wheel sharply to the right, ramming the front of the vehicle with enough force it caused its deflated tyre to shred itself from the wheel rims, immediately losing traction and began swerving out of control…
It narrowly missed ramming into them until Judy steered out of its path-
And gave enough space between the vehicles for Fang to finish it off:
He ascended back into his gunner position… now aiming directly at the out of control SUV…
Having rarely used grenade launchers in SWAT work, he was less confident at using them… but nevertheless, Fang kept his composure and switched his trigger finger in a split second, still aiming his rifle, or more specifically, its under-barrel M203 grenade launcher.
He pulled the trigger, launching the 40mm HE grenade that was preloaded…
It struck the vehicle directly on its side, exploding on impact and blasting away some of the body work… which became further torn off as the car overturned and stripped itself clean-
In a divine spectacle of automotive carnage.
…
One more out of the fight.
…
As soon as he heard the gunfire and following sound of crashing cars, Roan released his head from its raised position against the headrest from his gloating. He hastily leaned forward to look into the right side wing mirror…
And scowled at the sight in the reflection.
To be sure it was really happening, he looked back through the open passenger window, seeing for his own eyes…
…
Now he was angry, having believed he'd won-
Apparently it wasn't going to be that easy.
He instantly turned to Mitchell, ordering;
"Step on it!"
The Honey Badger took a look in the left wing mirror, frowning when he remembered the Police had shot it out, leaving only a single tiny shard to reflect the view behind.
Instead, he looked through passenger side mirror to see exactly what Roan had seen.
…
He reacted unquestionably, applying more pressure to the accelerator before changing up a gear…
The sound of the armoured rig's engine revving hard was overbearing… it was definitely stressed;
"Gonna struggle getting over a hundred with this load," Mitchell announced.
"Just as long as we stay ahead of them," Roan mumbled.
…
The Panther didn't take his eye of the reflection in the wing mirror, seeing another car ripped to shreds as it overturned on the highway, but the view was gradually getting smaller…
The slight increase in speed, little as it was, was now increasing the gap between them and the chaos behind…
Inside the pickup truck, the Fox's attempt to escape was still in full assault.
Nick still had the coyote restrained around his neck when the bobcat attempted to raise his weapon at him again…
Only for Nick to kick the weapon away- this time even harder so that the weapon flew from the feline's paws-
And then Nick proceeded to kick at him again, this time directly in the underside of the bobcat's jaw, all while keeping the coyote restrained around his neck.
Which was no easy task…
He was fidgeting hard against him, trying to pull the sharp plastic from his neck.
But Nick was pulling all his weight down on it… it was the only thing keeping the coyote from breaking free… and he was pulling on it so much that the thin plastic zip tie was cutting into the coyote's neck, drawing a small amount of blood… but was simultaneously also digging painfully further into Nick's wrists, also drawing a small amount of blood.
It wasn't long till eventually the coyote found that strength to fight on, and managed to wriggle away enough so that Nick's grip loosened-
Only for him to regain it again… though this time he had caught the surprisingly sharp zip tie directly in the coyote's mouth, which Nick had done on purpose.
If the larger canine wanted to be free from the Fox's malicious grapple this time…
He would have to actually free the Fox from his restraints, and bite through them.
…
As Nick had hoped for… barely a few seconds later, that's exactly what happened:
…
He suddenly felt the pressure release from his wrists-
The coyote had bitten through his plasti-cuffs…
Now Nick was free… but so was the coyote.
The larger canine immediately reached for his pistol, pulling it directly from his holster-
But Nick grabbed onto it too, now with nothing restricting his movement…
In the scuffle for the firearm, both the paws of the Fox and the coyote fumbled around for the trigger.
But unlike before… this time Nick found it first…
And proceeded to waste the ammunition-
Although it also ended up firing blindly in the car; the bobcat and the arctic fox in the two front seats ducked away as the shots rang through the interior as Nick repeatedly tapped the trigger. The bobcat came out unscathed, but some of the shots from the Fox and coyote's struggle were fired directly at the driver's seat… the bullets passing straight through the upholstery and striking the arctic fox driver through his back with a final bullet to the back of his head… splattering the windscreen with his blood and brain matter.
The dead fox slumped onto the steering wheel, subsequently leaning on the horn as the low pitched whine sounded on the outside of the car.
The bobcat immediately dived for the wheel, pushing his dead comrade out of the way to maintain control of the pickup truck… including switching on the cruise control to negate the need to manage the pedals.
In the back seat Nick had fully emptied the coyote's pistol of all its ammunition, both of them now dropping the empty firearm-
The coyote instantly lifted his right elbow to strike backwards at the Fox, hitting Nick directly in the muzzle…
Although he barely registered it, as the steel bars wrapped around his snout absorbed much of the brunt… one thought went through Nick's head that how ironic it was one of the things he hated most in this world was proving to be somewhat useful to him-
His thought was interrupted, as in their half sitting half lying down position on the rear seats, the coyote had suddenly spun around to throw a punch at him…
Nick pushed the coyote's swinging arm up, making the punch fly past him- enough so that the larger canine's paw struck the rear window, causing a crack to appear and making him flinch from hitting something much more solid than Fox he was aiming for.
Nick took the coyote's flinch to his advantage, lifting his left knee up to strike the canine in the groin and simultaneously kicking him off him with his other foot.
That gave him enough time…
Picking up the coyote's dropped firearm: a P99 with its slide retracted to indicate it was empty… Nick grasped onto barrel firmly, having no intention to shoot it but instead to use it as an improvised club-
He struck the coyote on his forehead, forcing him down again, adding to his time limit.
Now Nick turned to the cracked rear window-
His only escape route…
And began striking it with the improvised pistol hammer until the glass smashed into hundreds of crystalline shards.
Nick dropped the pistol through the window, not needing it anymore, and made use of his escape, climbing through the broken glass, cutting himself in places as he fell into the empty truck bed.
Without a falter in his movement, he desperately lifted his paws to his head to rid him of his caged muzzle… It wasn't that tightly wrapped around his head, but still forced the Fox to annoyingly fold his ears upwards as he dragged it off without much of a hassle… dropping the steel caged muzzle to the truck bed-
And Nick opened his jaw to massage it a moment, feeling the freedom.
…
He looked up at the LAPV behind the pickup- seeing Judy in the driver's seat, giving all the confidence he needed.
But to continue his escape, Nick knew he would have to jump across to them…
From one moving vehicle to another-
At near enough 90 MPH?
…
It was suicide.
…
Nick saw Judy look at him, their eyes locking for a moment-
Till hers suddenly grew wider with worry… the same moment Nick heard something else thump into the back of the truck, making him turn to face whoever it was-
It was the coyote, who immediately grabbed Nick by the collar of his SWAT gear before he had chance to react, flinging him around and ramming his head against the frame of the broken rear window, making several cuts from the shattered glass…
Miles behind at the remains of Checkpoint Alpha, the area was now locked down enough despite the carnage and chaos and countless police officers that had been killed in the attack…
If Roan Fyodorov's plan was to break the ZPD's moral by attacking them directly… he definitely had succeeded.
Only the strongest willed were still doing their job unquestionably…
…
Like the Chief of Police himself.
…
Bogo stormed into the MCC, still bleeding from the bullet wound in his shoulder, and still being completely unfazed by it. Upon entering, he spoke directly to the three technicians inside;
"Where are they now?"
"ZTA's live feed is just coming through now…" the roe deer announced.
She the pig and the serval didn't taking their eyes off the live feed from the Zootopia Transit Authority's traffic cameras, placed along the entire length of the Inter-District Loop… it didn't take much searching to find the convoy of armed criminals;
"Found them!" the serval yelled, "Camera 276, eastbound carriageway,"
Bogo peered at the screen, seeing through it the 90mph roadway battle;
"Contact Precinct One… have them evacuate Central Square and lock it down… if all else fails we can stop them there,"
"On it sir," the pig responded.
Bogo continued as he turned back outside; "I'm taking the APC… I want updates every minute!"
"Roger that," the serval responded, "… though you're gonna have to put your foot down to catch up Chief… they're about five miles ahead!"
"Noted," Bogo yelled back before he slammed shut the heavy door of the Armoured Personnel Carrier, keying the ignition and pulling away with burst of tyre smoke as the engine roared to life…
…
A row of bright flashes emanated from one of the highway's overhead signs as the entire line of speed cameras captured the current scene of the roadway battle…
…
Judy had a front row seat to see Nick's continued struggle against his coyote captor, witnessing everything while she was fretting not being able to do anything else to help him…
Because bullets were still striking her and Fang's vehicle.
The Wolf still dared the pop up through the roof hatch to fire his rifle and attached grenade launcher, having blasted away another pursuing vehicle... but every single time he was shoved back down by suppressive gunfire… and she was consistently checking the mirrors, ramming away any vehicle that came too close to them.
But Judy still feared for the wellbeing of her partner in the car in front… and both she and Fang were starting to think they had bitten off more than they could chew…
They were outnumbered.
Outgunned…
And the convoy of armed terrorists were running rings around them…
The coyote still had Nick pinned against the broken rear window… the shards of glass now cutting into his already bleeding wounds on his face and muzzle.
He could see into the car; the bobcat was still at the steering wheel, maintaining control of the vehicle with the dead arctic fox slumped beside him.
Proceeding to free himself… Nick shoved his right elbow into the coyote's chest, winding him instantly, and continued to parry against the canid with a left uppercut to the stomach and an immediate right hook against the snout as he turned to face the larger canine…
He took the hits hard.
But as Nick went for another, the coyote hit back just as hard… blocking the Fox's punch and throwing his own to Nick's muzzle… planting him back against the broken rear window.
The hit dazed him for a moment-
Till Nick felt the coyote's paws clasp around his throat and snarled;
"How do you like getting strangled!? HUH!?"
He suffered enough of that today he was somewhat used to it… but it just made him madder. Nick growled savagely in response as he lifted his legs up and kicked the coyote backwards…
Both of them falling onto the bed of the truck-
On their left side, another modified car… this one a convertible with another mounted LMG. It was fast pulling up beside their vehicle…
Aiming quickly, Fang took a pot shot with his grenade launcher-
"Shi*t!" he yelled as he flinched from the burst of bullets directed at him, striking against the flipped open roof hatch and making sparks fly as the rounds ricocheted, consequently making his launched grenade miss by a mile…
Waiting a moment before returning, Fang took another chance as he aimed round the roof hatch again… firing precisely…
A few quickly well-placed shots and he managed to kill the enemy gunner.
But the hostile car was still moving, as Fang noticed when he retreated down to reload safely… the opposing vehicle was attempting (uselessly) to pit them by ramming their rear bumper;
"Convertible, left side!" Fang told the Bunny driver.
…
Judy glanced at the left mirror…
Immediately pressing on the accelerator and turning to the left to cut in front of the pursuing car.
She then gently pressed the brake, startling the driver of the convertible by making them rear end her and Fang's much tougher vehicle… following by pressing back on the accelerator, still juggling the peddles with her good left leg.
"Hit them now!" Judy yelled at the Wolf.
Fang complied… with a fully loaded magazine he re-ascended out the roof hatch, peering round the open slab of armour plating to spray his ammunition at the two mammals left in the car…
The mammal in the driver's seat attempted to stomp on the brake, but he had no time as the open roof provided no protection as they took all of the Wolf cop's bullets…
Their roofless (and now driverless) car slowed to a halt as the armoured LAPV pressed on.
…
One more car down-
Nick and the coyote simultaneously stood up to face each other… not risking standing up fully on their shaky duelling platform of the truck bed as the rushing wind made it difficult to stand…
The coyote didn't tower much taller than Nick… and he certainly didn't wait for the Fox to compose himself before he lunged at him-
Nick found himself being slammed against the truck canopy again, lightly disorienting him before the coyote attempted to punch him in the muzzle-
But Nick dodged the punch, the coyote striking the vehicle's metallic bodywork instead… once again recoiling from the harsh impact, which Nick used to his advantage…
He kicked the coyote's right leg, forcing the canine to fall slightly then grabbed him by the shoulders and moved to his side before slamming the coyote directly against the broken rear window frame-
Nick now being to one to pin the other against the fragmented glass, the shards now cutting into the coyote's face and muzzle.
But suddenly he pushed Nick's arms away, pulled himself up, twisted round and tackled the Fox to the truck bed harshly, landing on top of him.
Nick struggled as the coyote pinned him there… attempting to strangle him again-
But Nick had had quite enough of being strangled today…
As a risky but rewarding manoeuvre, he lifted his head up abruptly to head-butt the coyote in the muzzle… then, using the larger canine's wince to his advantage, Nick pushed him over with all his strength-
Now Nick was the one pinning the coyote on the floor of the pickup bed… and in return, began to throttle him mercilessly-
A single little modified dune buggy came speeding through the assortment of cars, driven by a fennec fox and another in a mounted back seat… approaching on their right side.
Seeing it through the rear window of their armoured pickup, Fang almost laughed at it… thinking it would be easy to deal with…
He popped back out of the roof hatch, aiming his rifle at the buggy-
But immediately ducked back down when a torrent of searing flames was directed at him;
"AH!- Motherfu*ker!" he yelled as he patted down his singed fur.
"Do you really have to swear that much?" Judy rebuked.
"Are you kidding me right now?" Fang questioned whether she was actually being serious, going on to explain why his profanity was necessary; "Those damn fennecs have a fu*king flamethrower!"
…
Judy looked in the mirror…
And indeed they did have a flamethrower, obviously a crude homemade one as it didn't look well finished.
Judy turned the steering wheel sharply to the right intending to ram the tiny vehicle away…
But the fennec's modified dune buggy was a lot more agile than her vehicle, and they pulled away faster, dropping speed for another vehicle to take position:
A 10 wheeler towing rig was pulling up beside them, the shooter in the passenger seat refusing to relent firing at Judy's window, peppering the armoured glass with shattered impact marks…
Every impact made Judy cringe into her seat… she wasn't sure how much longer that bullet resistant glass would hold out-
Nick was still strangling the coyote, hoping he would give in soon-
So he was ill-prepared for the canine's countermove…
While the coyote was trying to pry the Fox's paws from his throat, he had lifted his legs up… promptly kneeing the Fox over him, whilst simultaneously moving his paws to the cop's shoulders and throwing him away.
Nick was thrown right over the coyote's head, consequently freeing the larger canine.
…
But that was the least of his troubles…
As Nick was thrown, he continued forwards till he collided hard against the pickup's tailgate-
Which fell down as he hit it… catching Nick completely off guard as he desperately clawed onto whatever he could to stop himself falling- finding nothing in the split second he had, and frantically dug his claws into the steel of the truck bed…
Nick now finding himself dangling from the back of the tailgate… hovering precariously above the speeding roadway-
Nick's sudden perilous situation caught Judy's attention in an instant.
Looking, even through the bullet ridden protective glass of her driver window, she could see him hanging helplessly from the back of the scruffy blue pickup truck… and there was nothing for him to push, pull or drag himself up with…
…
As he was desperately trying to pull himself up, Nick looked to his right…
Seeing Judy in the LAPV watching him with worried eyes.
One thought popped into his head… that if this was how it ended for him, at least he got to see her one last time-
No.
Judy wasn't going to let it end like this.
…
She wasn't just going to watch.
…
She wasn't going to let Nick die.
…
Not while there was something she could do about it.
She wouldn't give up.
She wouldn't give up on him, and he wouldn't give up on her… Like the two of them had been since they started working together only those short three years ago, very little time after they had first met:
Partners.
Best friends.
Brothers in arms.
…
Two mammal's against the world…
Two mammals to save the world.
…
She had his back.
And he had hers.
…
So like what she had wanted to do all day, what she had practically begged Bogo to let her do while she was forced to stay back, away from the danger… injured and helpless, filled with despair that she couldn't be by his side, thinking she had lost him already…
Judy finally helped him:
As more bullets impacted her window, she swerved sharply to the left… ramming into the side of the 10 wheeler tow truck shooting at her and Fang's vehicle…
Behind her, it led for one of the mammals, a tiger, on the back of the tow truck to jump to their armoured vehicle… startling Fang back into the car as the feline tried to claw at him… Although he promptly ended that when he swapped briefly to the KSG shotgun he still had from earlier… and shot the tiger directly in the face, the feline falling from their vehicle onto the speeding roadway…
The muzzle of the passenger shooter's gun broke through Judy's side window as she rammed it… the severely weakened glass finally failing from the direct impact as the criminal's arm coming through with his submachinegun raised-
But Judy dodged the barrel as it came in… and letting go of the steering wheel, she raised her left arm… bringing her elbow right down with all her strength onto the arm of the maned wolf that had his limb stretched before her, breaking the canine's bone with a brutal crack.
She then grabbed the MP5 the wolf was holding, dragging it from his paws to throw into the passenger foot well…
She still wasn't done-
Judy pulled out her PPK pistol, aiming through the window and fired all but one bullet of her magazine into the front of the tow truck, killing the wolf in the instant.
Having dealt with that, she turned the wheel to the left, whilst simultaneously juggling her pistol and the steering wheel as she swapped to aim with her left paw back through her window at the blue pickup truck…
Judy fired her last bullet- planting it into the shoulder of the coyote to halt any attempt to throw Nick from the back of the truck; she then focussed on moving the car into position, returning to directly behind the pickup…
…
Nick knew exactly what she was doing…
Giving him exactly what he needed:
He smirked as his dangling feet soon landed on the metallic front bumper of the LAPV… giving him the necessary step to push himself up.
With the help from Judy's leg-up, Nick immediately found his feet back in the bed of the pickup truck and charged at the coyote as he grimaced from his gunshot wound… Nick tackled him against the back of the truck canopy, forcing him against it harshly.
He didn't relent, the coyote was dazed… he had his chance, he was going to use it:
Reaching down, Nick picked up the caged steel muzzle that had previously encased his snout, now encasing it around his right paw to use the crude restraint as an improvised knuckle duster…
He began punching the coyote repeatedly, and mercilessly… not stopping till blood was drawn from his punches and the larger canine was induced into unconsciousness, dropping lifelessly into the back of the truck-
Just in time for Nick to see the bobcat had abandoned the steering wheel; he had climbed out the truck's sunroof, and was once again aiming his submachinegun at the Fox-
Suddenly the bobcat flinched as a bullet struck his shoulder…
Nick glanced back to see the White Wolf through the roof hatch of the LAPV, aiming his carbine-
His other brother in arms.
And he too had given Nick exactly what he needed.
Hurling himself at the bobcat, Nick climbed to the roof of the pickup, immediately grabbing the feline by the collar before forcing his head brutally against the roof of the car, knocking the already pained bobcat out cold to fall inside the truck canopy… and proceeding to take his weapon to use himself…
He looked back to see Fang had dropped back inside the LAPV and Judy flinching- trying not to get shot through her now broken driver side window as the remaining mammals on the 10 wheeler tow truck pelted their car with every bullet they had.
Nick had to stop that-
…
Wielding the bobcat's UMP45, he aimed at the tow truck's front tyres… firing into them what remained of the magazine, not relenting from the trigger till the rubber rings burst from the ballistic barrage, knocking the rig unstable…
His two comrades swiftly took the chance he had given them:
Judy followed up Nick's attack by turning hard on the steering wheel… ramming the front side of the tow truck again, forcing it to swerve side to side and lose speed to fall behind them on the roadway…
Then Fang finished it off, with another shot from his grenade launcher, striking the vehicle directly in its wheel arch, blasting the front axle to pieces and making it overturn front first and flip into the air as it stopped abruptly, ripping itself apart as it was torn asunder against the asphalt with its wreckage strewn across the speeding roadway in another spectacle of automotive carnage.
…
That gave them their window.
…
After Judy checked her mirror to witness the tow truck's destruction, she turned her attention forward… noticing a slight turn in the road ahead; she slammed on the accelerator to pull up beside the pickup truck.
As the friendly LAPV pulled up beside them, Nick glanced behind him quickly to see the mild turn in the roadway ahead… which was dire for him as his vehicle now had no driver- no one steering to follow the path of the road.
He looked back at the armoured car-
"JUMP!" Fang yelled to him.
And so he did… positioning himself on the edge of the roof, Nick leapt towards his colleague's vehicle over the speeding asphalt beneath him, just the moment the pickup struck the concrete barricade at the edge of the highway… and like the other vehicles that had overturned at this speed, tore itself to pieces…
He landed hard against the bullet ridden armour plating of the LAPV, scraping his claws against it to find traction… something- anything to grab onto.
Until he slipped…
For sure Nick thought that was game over-
Till a blood stained white paw clasped onto his arm as Fang stopped him from falling to his death…
Dangling from the side, the front passenger door opened suddenly as Judy had momentarily abandoned the controls to quickly lean over and open it for her partner… and Fang swung the Fox inside.
As he let go, Nick grabbed onto the interior handle with a sound grip on the car, and climbed inside himself, shut the door… and finding himself in his usual spot:
…
In the passenger seat, next to Judy.
…
He turned to face her as she took back control of the car-
She turned to face him-
And both smiled…
A warm smile that only the closest of companions could share.
…
"Good day Slick?" Judy asked comically, turning her attention back to the road.
"Naaa Carrots…" Nick responded in the same tone, "… mediocre…"
He reached down to the foot well, picking up the MP5 Judy had grabbed from the tow truck to check its ammunition, just as the White Wolf in the rear seat descended from the gunners position.
Nick looked behind him;
"Glad to see you're still with us," he said genuinely, referring to the last time they had seen each other.
"Lucky for me Catherine had her antidote…" Fang explained, reloading his rifle.
"Who's Catherine?" Judy asked openly.
Fang was about to reply-
Until Nick answered whimsically on his behalf;
"Fang's girlfriend…"
"You have a girlfriend Fang?" Judy pried playfully.
"As of today… yea…" the Wolf murmured back, "… But don't we have a big rig to stop right now?"
"Yea…" Nick answered that question, "You got a spare gun? This one's pretty much empty," he advertised the MP5.
"Here take this…" Fang offered him his KSG shotgun, "… 12-gauge, pump-action…"
Nick took the weapon from him willingly, looking forward at the speeding semi-truck ahead on the highway;
"Get me to it, and I'll jump on-"
"No way!" Judy protested, "I just got you back, I'm not letting you go again!"
"Judy…" Nick looked at her genuinely, "… It's the only way… there isn't gonna be a city left if we don't stop that thing… and I can do this…"
"Fine…" Judy conceded uneasily, but she wasn't going to argue that fact; "How will we know you're at the wheel?"
"Trust me… You'll know…" Nick insisted, as he climbed into the back seat, "… Just keep the rest of the convoy busy…"
"Got it," Fang approved.
"Right," Judy muttered, "… Hang on…"
And then pressed the clutch to gear up, and then slammed down on the accelerator… gradually closing the gap between the LAPV and the armoured rig…
Roan still peered through his window at the right side wing mirror, seeing through it the reverse display of motorised chaos… half his armed convoy having been destroyed by the three daring police officers.
And now they were catching up.
…
The Panther silently growled as he seethed with rage in his seat…
He wasn't going to be stopped… not now, not after all this work, this endless planning-
Not by some irate temperamental Wolf.
Not by some snide conniving Fox.
Not by some arrogant dumb Bunny.
…
He wasn't going to be stopped by them.
…
The gap had been closed quickly as the LAPV was still the faster vehicle…
And Judy was pressed hard on the accelerator pedal. She was on a mission. All three of them were.
With a firm grasp on the steering wheel, Judy manoeuvred the car, matching the speed of the rig and pulling up on the right side of the trailer, leaving the smallest gap she could afford without getting too close to the semi.
But it was still an easy enough cross and small climb for Nick to reach the trailer;
"Go now!" Judy yelled behind her.
The two canine's followed her order; Nick climbed out onto the roof of LAPV through the roof hatch, Fang following into the gunner's position to help him if necessary-
Seeing them close enough… Roan reached down to his holstered .50 calibre pistol…
And swiftly turned in his seat to aim out the window behind them-
Judy saw the Panther first…
And swiftly raised her smaller pistol, leaning slightly out her driver window and fired instantly-
"GAHRR!" Roan grunted as the 9mm bullet pierced his left shoulder with a small splatter of blood, forcing him to recoil back inside the cab…
In an instant, the Fox in the rear seat of the modified cab reacted… Max picked up his P90 submachinegun, moving to the side window to fire behind them at the pursuing armoured car-
The gunfire caught the two canine's attention:
"Get down!" Fang hollered, forcing Nick behind the open roof hatch before ducking down into the car for his rifle.
Bullets struck the reinforced windscreen, barely making a scratch as they impacted. The small shootout engaged as Judy fired her pistol wildly out her window at the opposing Fox as Max swiftly returned it with his much larger capacity SMG.
He was eventually forced back once Fang had picked up his rifle… firing in bursts at the truck cab, and Nick peered around the flipped up roof hatch, firing a shell from his shotgun-
As he dug the bullet out from his shoulder, forcing blood to exude from the wound, Roan looked back into the wing mirror at the scene…
Noticing Max had been forced back inside from suppressing gunfire- that same gunfire also striking his own door, Roan reached over to the steering wheel… startling Mitchell as the Panther clasped onto the edge of the wheel and turned it sharply to the right-
The trailer collided against them, knocked the LAPV unstable for a moment till Judy returned to two paws on the wheel as the collision crushed her left side wing mirror-
The car started to vibrate against the road when the tyres travelled over the rumble strip as the armoured rig tried to force them off the highway;
"Nick, move your ass!" Fang howled, knowing their time was limited… Judy could only fight against the much larger vehicle for a short time.
Nick moved into position at the edge of the roof for his bold jump-
He didn't waste time, with his shotgun holstered with the carry strap over his back, Nick leapt across the (now much smaller) gap and clasped onto the edge of the shipping container with his paws, claws out for extra grip.
He found a solid footing on one of the trailer's improvised steel armour plates, allowing to push himself up onto the top of the trailer-
Roan hadn't taken his eyes off the wing mirror… now seeing the Fox board his vehicle, climbing onto the trailer behind them…
He looked behind into the rear seats of the cab at his two vulpine bodyguards;
"That Fox is on the trailer!" Roan growled at them, "This time… kill him!"-
As soon as Nick had a leg on the trailer, Fang dropped down back inside the car, calling to the Bunny driver before the lorry forced them off the raised road bridge;
"He's on! Back off!"
And Judy swiftly responded-
But in the spur of the moment…
She forgot about her injured right leg… as it slammed onto the brake;
"AARRRRRGHHH!"-
Nick heard her scream- his heart almost stopping at the tone of it, thinking she'd been shot or something worse...
He looked back in shock… Witnessing his companions armoured car fall abruptly behind the truck in a cloud of tyre smoke as it swerved out of control.
...
A/N: I hope you had as much fun reading this chapter as I had writing it, despite how difficult it was, and the same goes for the chapters left to follow… because this, is just the start of this action sequence ;)