AN: Hey y'all! Before I say anything, I just wanna thank everyone who reviewed the story a few days ago. It was quite the sudden influx of reviews and I'm glad some Spanish speakers are enjoying it! And I appreciate the feedback too! This is the chapter where all the action starts to happen! So I really hope y'all enjoy it! The only thing I'd do is when the action in this chapter begins, you can look up "The Wolf's Den modern warfare" or "Team Player mw2" into youtube, both of them really set the mood. And sorry for the music recommendations again, it's just what I was listening to when I wrote this. I've been talking long enough though! Hope you enjoy this one!
Chapter Thirty Two- Into the Panther's Den– Pt 1
ZPD Chief Adrian Bogo sat at the control room in the checkpoint set up just outside Happytown, with numerous computer screens in front of him and radios sitting beside him.
The water buffalo constantly eyed the footage of the entire operation, using the camera on the ZPD's police helicopters to get a birds eye view of everything.
He had been in direct contact with the CIA, mainly Raptor One and Station Chief Lindsay Laswell, the latter of which was in the same room.
He rolled his chair back and turned to face the gazelle with a concerned expression, "What do you think they'll be up against, Laswell?" he asked suddenly.
Laswell let out a huff "we don't know exactly, but the CIA thinks it's where the majority of Rouen's men are" the gazelle answered, though that only made him even more worried.
He looked up and let out a short, shuddering sigh "bloody hell . . . So they're in for a big fight?" He asked as Laswell walked over and looked at the monitors.
"Only time will tell, Chief . . . I know you're a close friend of Frederick, it's understandable to be worried but, they can handle it" Laswell tried to assure him.
"And what makes you so sure?" He questioned, "Frederick has assets, Chief, if it's too much for them, we have almost everything on standby for him and 141 in this operation." the gazelle explained, taking a seat next to Bogo.
He looked at her with a rather intrigued face "define 'everything' . . ." Laswell shook her head "this operation is top priority, Bogo, the president is watching all of this too, if Manson needs something, all he has to do is ask for it." she explained further.
Although before the conversation could continue, they were interrupted by one of the mammals also overseeing the operation.
"Chief! There's something you need to see" a capybara spoke as Bogo got up and walked over, as he looked at the monitor it showed a weather radar, and he didn't need any help seeing the problem.
On the radar was a large mass almost a hundred miles out from the coast, even if he wasn't the local meteorologist, he knew that it wasn't good.
"What the hell is that?" He asked in disbelief, looking at the technician for an answer "a storm sir, the ZNN is saying it's the largest one Zootropolis will ever see." they answered.
Bogo looked at Laswell beside him "it's heading right towards the city . . ." they explained further before being interrupted by the buffalo.
"How long until it makes landfall?" he ordered as the capybara paused and typed for a few seconds.
"About three hours . . ." they answered, Bogo almost slammed the table with his hoof before rushing over to the radio.
. . .
It was only about ten minutes after the SWAT and SAS teams had continued delving deeper, when Officer Nicholas Wilde heard Price's radio suddenly sound.
"This is Checkpoint, Bravo Six, do you copy!?" Chief Bogo's voice shouted frantically through the radio.
"Bravo Six, what's going on Adrian?" Price asked back as everyone stopped.
"We've just been notified of a storm heading right towards Zootropolis, it's going to be the biggest one the city's ever seen!" the chief said frantically.
"Your short on time Price. It makes landfall in three hours . . ." There were multiple worried sounds from SWAT and the SAS as the police chief said this.
"We need to get this done quickly, get to Rouen's compound ASAP" Chief Bogo spoke through the radio.
Nick watched Price look at everyone and nod, "hard copy Adrian, notify me if the storm changes course" he replied, putting the device away.
The grizzly started moving again, much faster this time "you heard what he said, we're short on time, we need to move, now." he seemingly ordered as everyone began picking up their pace.
Nick followed close behind Price, still aiming his M4 at every corner, "the biggest storm this city's ever seen? How convenient" he said with clear annoyance.
"It makes landfall in four hours? That's enough time, right?" Grizzoli asked as they moved quickly.
"I doubt it mate, we don't know for sure if Rouen is in this compound" Diego added as Price shook his head.
"Time is not on our side, lads, we need to get this done quick . . ."
Nick watched Price reach for his radio again and speak into it.
"This is Bravo Six to Raptor One, do you have eyes on the compound?" There was a short silence before an answer came.
"This is Raptor One, Affirmative Bravo Six, we have eyes" the pilot said from the other end.
Price stopped moving for a second "10-4, how far are we from it?" he asked patiently as the buzzing of the helicopter got closer.
"Raptor One to Bravo Six, you're only two roads away from the entrance, both roads look clear."
It was true, this whole time they had been navigating from road to road, they were no longer in the industrial district, now they were in another urban district of the city.
"Hard copy Raptor One, we're moving" Price said as he made the paw signal to move up.
Nick moved out onto the street with them after Price, Fang and Grizzoli, with Delgato, Mchorn, Frost and the SAS teams behind him.
He trained his M4A1 on the buildings surrounding them before, scanning as they continued further.
Though in front of all of them, Price made the signal to stop and stack up.
"Redbone, Frost, get up on one of those buildings, set up an overwatch" Price ordered as Nick watched Charlie nod.
"Rog, Frost, you're with me . . ." The two mammals broke away from the group and seemingly vanished into the apartment complexes.
The team of mammals kept moving until they reached a lych-gate above a road. Unlike the surrounding buildings, it was in relatively good shape.
"Stack up on me . . ." Price ordered as the teams stood there, the grizzly signaled for Nick and Fangmeyer to move up, the two canines nodded and followed.
Nick and Fangmeyer hugged the sides of the gate as they moved in front of the entrance, he watched Fang give a silent three second countdown with his paw.
Quickly and quietly, the two mammals simultaneously peeked around the corner, checking up and down the road.
"Clear.
"Clear."
Price moved up with them, followed by everyone else, "good, on me . . ." the grizzly ordered as the two canines fell back.
The mammals stuck to the edges of the overgrown road, as they saw the first proper glimpse of Rouen's compound.
Initially it looked far less intimidating than Nick was led to believe.
It was one of the grandest projects from NATO and the EU to try and turn Happytown into a somewhat livable place . . . Had it been completed, it would have definitely improved some aspects of the city, though the victory of the Predator Rights Movement put an abrupt end to it.
The half completed building was large enough for the entire site to take up multiple blocks, the building itself was five storeys tall, though it seemed that part of the roof on the opposite side had been left incomplete. It was designed in a notable 'L' shape: with two perpendicular wings forming the shape of the structure, the inner side overlooking the construction yard filled with unused building materials.
Rusted, rotting steel scaffolding and tarps covered most of the opposite structure, all while the perpendicular side had been mostly complete, external concrete walls and glass had been installed.
Though, like much of the abandoned district, the building was overgrown with grass and weeds, all having grown in the construction yard and up the walls. Though there was the exception of a large patch of dirt that had notable tire tracks imprinted into them, clearly indicating previous visits of vehicles.
The SWAT and SAS teams wasted no time crossing the four lane road, stacking up against the large barriers of the construction site entrance.
"Echo Four Three to Bravo Six, overwatch has been established, we have eyes" Redbone's voice spoke through their radios.
"Copy, we're . . ." Price was interrupted by Redbone.
"Hold at the entrance." The wolf's voice blurted through the radio.
"What do you see?" The grizzly responded.
"Multiple tangos, taking positions in the roof and scaffolding,"
"Several more in the construction yard," Catherine added.
"They're all quite armed, assault rifles, lmg's, smg's" Redbone added further.
"Something tells me they've been expecting us," Delgato said, peeking through a small gap in the fencing.
"To be fair . . . Who wouldn't?" Fang added before Price put his finger up.
"How many are there Redbone?"
"In short, too many . . ." Charlie answered "and the entrance is too exposed, we'll thin them out, tell you when to move" Catherine spoke.
"Best cover right now is on the right side of the yard, where the building materials are," Charlie added.
"Copy," Grizzoli answered, seemingly taking the initiative; "We're moving right . . . Fang, Nick, Price, with me, we move through that yard and clear any hostiles . . ." Grizzoli continued "Rick, Sebastian, give that damn building everything you've got."
"Was already planning on that, let's do this" Mchorn said as Nick and Fang gave a firm nod.
Grizzoli grabbed his radio now "you two ready up there?"
"Ready when you are mate"
"Trigger finger's burning" Catherine answered enthusiastically.
Though when it just seemed that they were ready for action, Nick saw Price put his finger up "hold your fire for one moment."
"Charlie, give me an estimate on how many there are over there" the grizzly spoke into the radio.
"I'm counting at least 30 Tangos in the yard, and 20 on the roof, there's most likely more," Charlie reported.
"Copy." Price nodded, finnicking with his radio for a moment as they stood there.
"This is Bravo Six, Striker 3-1, do you copy?"
There was a moment of silence before there was a response.
"Copy Bravo Six" a voice came from the radio.
The grizzly took out some kind of binoculars from one of his pockets and peeked over the corner for a moment.
"This is Bravo Six, we need a precision airstrike on these marked coordinates." Price said, putting the device away.
Nick watched Grizzoli recoil for a second, "precision airstrike?" the lion questioned quietly with squinted eyes.
Though as Nick was about to question it as well, the distinguishable sound of a jet fighter began filling the air, getting closer by the second.
"This is Striker 3-1, good copy, strike inbound."
The voice came through the radio before the roaring of a jet was louder than ever.
Looking up Nick could see a blur of gray for a split second before a deafening *BRRRRRRRT* filled their ears, followed by another *BRRRRRT* from above in quick succession.
Everyone covered their ears as they saw two small lines of bright red hit the ground in front of them, followed by dust flying everywhere from the construction site.
"Bravo Six to Echo Four Three and SAS, weapons free." Price said before turning to everyone else.
"Wait till Redbone and Frost clear the rest out, then we'll move in.
"This is Striker 3-1, multiple hits on that run, good effect on target." the pilot spoke from the radio as Nick watched Price nod.
. . .
Above the teams, Detective Catherine Frost and Sergeant Charlie Redbone began picking off the shooters.
"What the hell was that, Charlie?" The snow leopard asked as the gray wolf beside her chuckled.
"A precision airstrike mate, that right there was an A-10 Warthog," Charlie answered rather fondly.
Catherine huffed amusedly "really? that was one hell of an entrance then" she said putting her eye to the scope of her rifle.
"Oh the entrance is far from done yet mate" Charlie added enthusiastically, doing the same thing.
Catherine had her L115A3 bipoded on the edge of the apartment building's roof, lining up a shot on one of the shooters in the construction yard.
The resulting crack of pulling the trigger sent a high speed pointed piece of lead from her sniper barrel, which was followed by the vastly louder and lower pitched boom of Redbone's Rytec AMR. Both shots hit their mark and forced the other shooters to duck behind cover.
"Hostile down."
"Jesus Charlie, more like lost his fucking head" Catherine commented as Redbone nodded.
"I told you, the bastards won't even know what hit em" the wolf said with a smile.
. . .
The silence didn't last much, as there were many confused shouts from the hostiles in the compound, which were silenced by loud sniper shots from above.
After several minutes of intermediate sniper shots, Officer Leonard Grizzoli heard a voice over his radio.
"Echo Four Three to Team One, you're clear, go now!"
"Roger that Charlie . . ." he said, turning to the teams "LET'S MOVE!"
He went first, raising his M16 and readying to fire, followed by Price, Fang and Nick, who did the same thing, Delgato followed with Mchorn and the SAS in tow.
He watched Price branch off from them "SAS, on me! Clear the building!"
The cracks and booms of friendly sniper fire still permeated through the air as Grizzoli and his team ran to cover to join in.
Their presence was definitely not unnoticed.
They all ran as the shooters sent a hailstorm of bullets their way, most of which were quickly dispatched by the snipers above them.
The rapid sprint across the construction yard was over in seconds, with Grizzoli reaching the assortment of yard materials first, still aiming his sight in front of him, gunning down two criminals as he pressed down hard on the trigger.
Though he was suddenly forced into cover by a dingo, firing his Mp5 wildly in his direction, as he became pinned, Fangmeyer moved to outflank the canine.
The wolf came up right in front of the dingo who staggered back upon realizing the officer, who quickly hit the canine with the butt of his rifle, right on the muzzle before they could even raise their weapon at him, knocking them out completely.
Though the wolf was too distracted to realize an ocelot trying to come up behind him, only to take three rounds to the chest, dropping to the ground with a growing pool of crimson below them.
"You need to watch your back better Fang" Nick suddenly teased as they both ducked down behind cover.
"Don't need to when you've got friends" he quipped with a grin.
Though they seemed to be pinned down for a moment by machine gun fire, until it was abruptly stopped, the ursine firing at them having his whole arm blown off.
"Jesus Christ . . ." Nick muttered as they were interrupted by the shooter "MG is down, you're clear mate" Charlie's voice shouted through the radio.
"You took his fucking arm off!" Nick shouted in response.
Grizzoli moved up and joined the two behind cover, peering over the concrete panels they were using and firing "let's go! Keep moving!"
. . .
Though as the three officers made progress clearing the construction yard, Officer Sebastian Delgato was picking off criminal after criminal with his rifle. There were plenty of targets to choose from, on the scaffolding and unfilled windows of the building.
He took effort to make sure that once his targets were down before moving to the next, giving each a double tap with his M110 after they fell.
The officer accompanying him however, Richard Mchorn, didn't have to worry about getting shot at, having deployed his ballistic shield on top of his minigun, in fact it had already been hit multiple times, he was practically unstoppable.
The rhino found a spot amongst the cover to level his death machine and force it on the hostiles, aiming it at about thirteen shooters and pressing down on the trigger.
The barrel took less than a second to spin at 2000 RPM.
Then all he had to do was pull the trigger.
The six barreled death machine let out a hail of 7.62 rounds at the seemingly defenseless attackers, tearing them to crimson colored shreds as the metal casings piled up beside him with countless metallic jingles.
The tiger and rhino worked in tandem, Mchorn burst firing his minigun at whatever cover the enemy hid behind, the sheer amount of bullets tearing through everything like a hot knife to butter, displacing them for Delgato to pick off with his M110.
. . .
Barely a minute had gone by since the firefight had begun, and the SWAT Team was seemingly holding off on their own.
Officer Nick Wilde's adrenaline was pumping, heart pounding in determination, not hesitating to use his weapon against the hostiles without any second thought.
All of it seemed to be going to plan, they had done a good job thinning out the majority of the criminals and were making quick progress.
That progress was abruptly halted when all of the sudden, the entire side of the building opened up with an uncountable amount of machine guns, raining down from the third floor of the building.
Nick felt a bullet whizz so close to his fur that he could feel it brush against it, while Grizzoli's tail was nearly shot off.
The bombardment of lead didn't even stop after they had all taken cover, they constantly fired while others reloaded, fully suppressing the SWAT team.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE!" Fangmeyer shouted at the top of his lungs as Grizzoli grabbed his radio "damnit Price! We're pinned!"
There was an immediate response "where are you!?" Price asked through the radio, it was barely audible.
"Don't worry Team One! I see you! Get down, we will take care of it!" the Russian voice of Belikov sounded as the sound of a chopper joined the symphony of gunfire.
. . .
Officer Micheal Wolford stood in front of the large sliding door with the handles of a side mounted minigun in his paws.
"I'm ready when you are Belikov!" The injured wolf said, his face determined to get some well deserved payback.
"Open the door! Fire at will!" Belikov shouted back as Judy also stood behind him on another minigun.
He slid the door open with a single action of his hand and grinned maliciously at the sight he was presented with.
Wolford pressed down on the trigger hard and heard the barrel spinning immediately at 2000 RPM and ready to fire.
Without a word, he let loose a long stream of fire from the mounted death machine aimed at the third floor of the building.
It immediately silenced the machine gunners shooting at the SWAT Team, tearing them to bloody shreds as Wolford's gun suddenly stopped.
He looked down at the six barrels to see that they were bright red, "Shit! I overheated!" He shouted to the back.
"Do not worry! I will turn around, Mrs Hopps, open fire when you get a visual!" Belikov shouted back as Wolford watched the rabbit nod.
. . .
Officer Judy Hopps grabbed the sides of the mounted minigun, being just barely tall enough to do so, yet she was still determined to help Nick and Team One.
She slid open the door, a harsh gust of wind hitting her face as she saw the orange flashes of bullets flying towards her and the sight of multiple machine guns opening up on her fellow officers.
"Shoot them! Now! We are taking fire!" Belikov shouted loudly as Judy blinked for a moment before nodding and pressing down on the trigger.
The minigun's barrel wasted no time spinning up to speed, firing a rather long burst of concentrated death onto the criminals.
She let go of the trigger for a moment and fired in several bursts at the criminals in the building, chewing up and peppering the cement walls like swiss cheese, while also being careful not to fire on her fellow officers.
Though eventually the criminals became out of reach as the helicopter faced towards the firefight, she and Wolford heard the deafening roaring of two miniguns on the front of the helicopter, finishing off the firefight for now.
. . .
The entire SWAT Team covered their ears as a hellstorm of lead suddenly poured down on the criminals from above them in one long burst, turning multiple into red mist, before stopping abruptly.
However it didn't seem like they were done just yet, because noticeably less machine guns opened fire on the SWAT Team again.
Yet that was drowned out and met with several bursts of fire from above, cutting even more of the criminals into shreds and then some, all while the SWAT Team could only look up and cover their ears.
Even that stopped abruptly though, and the SWAT Team began to look up at the damage, Grizzoli looked behind them to see the helicopter facing front towards them "wait! Get the hell down!" He shouted at everybody as another long burst rained down and panned across the length of the building, peppering its outer walls completely.
Grizzoli looked up to see two streams of bullets coming from their helicopter for a solid six seconds, until it too fell silent.
He heard Fangmeyer let out an elongated "Holy shit . . ." the wolf said, gripping his chest tightly.
"Was that enough for all of them?!" Belikov's voice shouted from the radio, Grizzoli grabbed it.
"I would say it was overkill, but it looks like just enough!" Grizzoli responded, looking at the bullet hole filled wall in front of them.
"Haha! That is good to know! But you must keep going! Price and the SAS are already inside!"
"Copy, thanks for the assist" Grizzoli said, getting up and dusting himself off.
"Yeah, thanks for the assist Carrots, looks like your one mean bunny now" Nick spoke into the radio.
There was a laugh from the other end "you knew I always was, Nick, really glad to help." Judy's voice responded on the other end.
"This is Bravo Six, give me a sitrep Team One" Price's voice asked through the radio.
"We're good, just a bit roughed up . . ." Grizzoli answered.
"Good, secure the perimeter and make sure none of those bastards get away" Price seemingly ordered.
"We should split up, Me and Fang can get in there and help secure the inside" Nick said as Fangmeyer nodded at this.
"Fine, go, we'll secure a perimeter," Grizzoli said with a shake of his head.
He watched the fox and wolf leave, guns raised as they ran out of view.
AN: Whew! So that was a lot of action huh!? I really hope you liked it, because there's a fair bit of action to come! I'm really curious to know what y'all think of these action sequenced though, especially with the sudden appearance of Striker 3-1 and the chopper assist by Belikov, Judy and Wolford, I know some of y'all have been really missing Hopps, so I hope I implemented them right. This is in the endgame now, a lotta stuff is about to happen! So please, let me know what y'all think! It's very motivating seeing reviews on this story, it means a whole bunch! Anywho, I've gotta keep up the writing, so see ya later.
A Laughing Wolf.