Chapter 6: Run

"Why Dingo do this?" asked Taz in extreme disbelief, "Taz like Dingo!" "This has been going on for far longer than you think Taz," explained Dingo, "I was originally an intern for Acme but then moving to higher positions as time went on. The former chairman who saw me as his son and I saw as a father figure was sick and wanted me to carry on his legacy when he passed away. Before he died, I promised that man I would do whatever it takes to make his dreams come true! So that's how I became chairman of the Acme in Tazmania. One thing I never knew though was the fact that you and one of my suspects were related." Taz spoke in his usual gibberish, expressing how he had seen the spies before on multiple occasions and wondered why they always seemed to be around whenever he hung around with his Uncle Drew. "Your uncle was in severe debt to us! He owed us a lot after the money we lend him a hand with!" Dingo went on, "He never payed us off! Therefore, we tried to catch him time and time again. All of which ended in failure until very recently. When I became chairman and Townly was hired around the same time, I saw lots of potential in him, but I wanted him to take care of other suspects of ours. I personally wanted to take care of Drew myself. It took quite some time to track him down and everything I could find about him and his personal information. But boy, did it pay off better than I was expecting!"

"What have you done to my brother?!" Hugh asked in a somewhat demanding tone. "Don't you worry about that mister," replied Dingo, "What you need to know is with modern technology getting better and better day by day, it shouldn't come off as a surprise. I will admit though, I was kinda harsh on Drew. You see, there is someone else who had a part in delaying Drew's arrest. A certain Taz over here from what I hear prevented us from getting Drew and what we wanted on several occasions!" Taz' family looked at him. "Is that true?" asked Hugh. Taz vocalized in a way of trying to explain what had happened during those times. "I knew something wasn't right when we'd go on those trips with your Uncle Drew," said Hugh, "I'm sorry if I seemed airheaded or doubtful of any dastardly deeds son. I promise I'll be more aware and listen to you next time." "Next time? There is no next time!" Dingo yelled, "This is the last time you guys will ever see each other! You guys will either A: be going to the zoo for the zoo-going children of the world! Or B: be going with Francis to his tribe! Except for Taz! He's gonna be experiencing what poison does to his body!" Dingo revealed that he didn't have regular tranquilizers like everyone else did, he had poisonous ones. "And just to clarify, you never were my friend Taz! I just used you, like I am going to with everyone else at the end!" he said.

Axl who watched and heard everything saw what he was doing in a complete different perspective. This felt so wrong to him, especially seeing how the Tasmanian Devil family was almost like any other family. Which was weird at the same time too, because he never had feelings like this before. Axl didn't know if he was now just realizing it, or if all of the abuse he faced from Bull made him open up his eyes to the harsh reality of what he was really doing. He wanted to free Taz and his family but he didn't know how to. Axl then had an idea.

Dingo aimed his gun at Taz. Taz froze in fear, while his family gasped in horror. "No!" called Axl. Everyone looked at Axl in confusion. "W-Wha- No?" asked Dingo. "What is this about Axl?" whispered Bull through gridded teeth. "I-I, I'll take care of Taz," said Axl, "This is for all the times he attacked me!" The gator then turned his head to look at Taz and his family. He gave them a wink. Taz was clueless to why Axl was doing this, but knew what his intentions were just by that one wink. "Is that gator going to help us?" asked Jake in a whispered tone. "My guess is as good as yours," whispered Molly. "Well Bull, you never told me that your partner had the guts to take care of Taz himself," Dingo said. "He never did Dingo," replied Bull, "At least not from what I could tell. Guess I was wrong." Axl aimed Dingo's gun at Taz. He was definitely shaking. About a solid 10 seconds went by and he still didn't shoot. "What are you waiting for Axl?! Shoot!" yelled Bull. Axl then pretended to trip and fall. Right before falling, he shot at a big chandelier from above. The chandelier fell and crashed down on Bull, Francis, and some of the spies. This caught everyone off guard and made everyone turn their attention to Bull, Francis, and the spies. "Now's your chance," Axl whispered to Taz and his family. Taz spoke in his gibberish to thank Axl. "Thank you gator," said Jake.

Dingo and Townly looked behind them to see Taz, his family, and their Turtle charging at them. Before they could react, they including the remaining spies got attacked. Dog bit Townly on the leg as he yelped and fell over, "That damn energy drink wore off!" Taz, Molly, and Jake attacked the spies in their own ways while also helping each other. Dingo was trying to stay clear but bumped into Hugh while doing so. "So, you want to hurt my boy?" asked Hugh with an angry expression, before growling and tornadoing towards Dingo. "I should've gotten all my spies," said Dingo, before getting attacked by Hugh. Jean didn't want to attack but found herself getting surrounded by spies who aimed their guns at her. "How about we just relax and talk this out," she said. "Tell that to the zoo-going children of the world or Francis' tribe," one of the spies said. Hugh noticed this, while Dingo layed hurt. Hugh came to the rescue as fast as he could and took care of the spies. The rest had also taken care of the others. "How could these guy's try hurt the best woman in all of the world?" asked Hugh as he came back to Jean. The two looked at each other romantically but were interrupted when Townly radioed on his walkie talkie. "Requesting back up!" he said with some pain in his voice.

Taz, his family, and dog quickly bolted out of the house to their car, but more black cars with spies pulled up. They ran back inside and were gonna go out towards the back, but the same thing happened where more spies showed up. They ran into the bathroom upstairs and locked the door, and put multiple objects in front of it, unsure where to go or hide at this point. They then looked up and saw the vent cover. "We got tools in here?" asked Jean. "Yep, right in here," Hugh said as he went to get them from the cabinet. He then got a stool and stood on it while unscrewing the cover off. All the while, a bunch of banging could be heard from the other side. The reinforcements, as well as Dingo and Townly were outside the door. "Break this thing down!" demanded Dingo. Townly attempted to break down the door with just his foot and leg, but that didn't work. Next, one spy in a referee outfit blew a whistle and another dressed like a football player began to hit himself into the door. When that didn't work, they decided to use a giant log, carried by 4 spies to break down the door. It seemed to kind of work, since the door had come loose, but the objects still in the way.

By this point, the vent cover was unscrewed completely and both Jean and Hugh helped their children into the vent. They were about to assist Dog into the vent but trouble brewed on the other side. One spy got a few sticks of TNT and set them off. This caused the objects to fly out of the way from the door, giving way for Acme to get in. Taz vocalized wondering what that noise was. "Don't worry Taz," said Jean, "Just take-" Before she could finish her sentence, Townly and the spies came in and shot tranquilizers at her, Hugh, and Dog. The 3 collapsed to the ground. "MUM! DAD!" Taz screamed as he rushed over where the ceiling had once been, to see his parents and pet passed out on the floor. Townly came into view and jumped to try and grab Taz. Molly and Jake quickly pulled their brother back in, while Townly hit his head on the top of the vent before falling back down. "Come on Taz!" Molly ordered. The 3 climbed as fast as they could to wherever they would exit.

"Ugh, that's gonna leave me with a bigger concussion than usual," Townly uttered, "But hey, we got 2 of em, including a Turtle." "Alright, that's it!" Dingo bellowed, "Call in the special units! I'm gonna make sure we get them! They're not going to get away from me!" "But we got two of them," said Townly, "One can go to Axl and Bull, while the other can go to Francis." "I know that! I'm not deaf!" snapped Dingo, "My problem is I can't have them running around in case someone does take them serious! Call in the special units ASAP!"

The vent cover that lead to outside was kicked out and the 3 siblings ran out and were on the top of their home. "Taz says we go back for mum and dad!" said Taz. "I know this might be hard for you to understand Taz but we simply can't," replied Molly, "Plus, did you hear what that Dingo guy wants to do to you?" Taz had a look of sadness on his face, trying fight back tears. "Does this mean we'll never see mom, dad, or Dog again?" asked Jake, with genuine worry in his eyes. Molly sighed, "I don't know Jake. I really don't know."

Just then, a helicopter was flying over them. "Maybe they can help us," said Jake. The 3 started waving in which the helicopter turned in their direction. They called to it, waving their arms like crazy. The helicopter was getting lower and lower. "We're gonna be saved! We're gonna be saved!" Jake exclaimed excitedly. Taz stopped and squinted as he wasn't sure what the lettering on the bottom said. It said Acme on it. Once Taz realized what it said, he spoke in his gibberish. "I spoke too soon," sighed Jake. The 3 ran off as fast as they could, with the helicopter on their tails. The pilot spoke through the radio. "We found them Alpha 3," she said, "They're headed East towards the forest." "Ten four Chopper 40," said a voice, "We got all special units on the way. We'll notify the squad to head East. Do not attack."

Taz, Molly, and Jake continued to run with the helicopter following them from behind. They were on a big open plain, but approaching the forest. The helicopter went the opposite direction of where they were going. Taz vocalized, wondering why the helicopter stopped following them. "What the heck? Why is it reversing directions?" Molly wondered. This made them stop running. The 3 watched the helicopter fly away but then all of a sudden it stopped in the middle of the sky. 2 figures popped up from the ground far out in the distance. One holding what looked like an old phone from the world war eras, while the other spoke into it. Up close, one guy holding the phone was in a full military outfit, while the other was in a similar outfit but wore a baseball cap that said Acme on it. "All units, this is Alpha 3," the guy said, "We have spotted our targets! Come out of your hiding places and take care of em! Ya hear? Take care of these darn devils!"

Just then, a gigantic amount of soldiers popped up from the ground. Multitudes of helicopters came into view, fastly approaching. And several vehicles such as motorcycles, amoured trucks and vans, and amoured cars came roaring towards the 3 devil's. "Oh...my...goodness," murmered Jake. Molly didn't say anything, she just gulped. "Taz don't like this," Taz said quietly. Alpha 3 laughed and got back on the phone. "FIRE!!!" he shouted. Everyone fired upon command, while the 3 devil's quickly took cover behind a nearby rock, nearly getting hit by the tranquilizers. With all the Acme special units approaching fast, they knew they'd need to keep on running and boy, did they. In the process, they dodged the tranquilizers coming at them from behind and from above where the helicopters were.

Once they got into the forest, it didn't get much better. Taz, Molly, and Jake slowed down due to some stuff being in their way. The special units were coming from behind so quickly and even if the helicopters couldn't really see them anymore, the devil's still had to worry about the units on foot and their vehicles. This forest particularly was thick and not easy to get through. They eventually got back to pace when they were out of the thick portion. It seemed like they had lost Acme since they hadn't showed up.

After the 3 siblings were out of the forest, they found themselves on an empty road with a little bridge adjacent to where they were standing. There was also a river below the bridge. Taz spoke in his gibberish, to suggest that they cross it since it would lead them away from where Acme was. Molly and Jake agreed, but half way through crossing it, Acme showed up on both sides. Taz raspberried at Acme, as they got out of the vehicles. The devil's looked down at the river, seeing the very powerful stream, but then looked at the special units approaching them. "On the count of 3, we jump in," said Molly. "Wait, what?!" exclaimed Jake. Taz vocalized in protest at the idea, seeing it as too risky. "What else are we supposed to do?" Molly asked to Taz and Jake, "Get captured and face possible imprisonment? Or take the risk and hope we make it out fine?" Jake contemplated but ultimately agreed with Molly. Taz still refused but then he saw the special units take out their guns and then looked at the faces of his two younger siblings, expressions clearly showing they wanted him to come with them. "Ugh, Taz will risk it," he said.

Alpha 3 saw them getting close to the edge and had a feeling of what they were gonna do. "Shit! Fire at them before they jump!" he demanded. "1, 2, 3!" said Molly, before she, Taz, and Jake jumped into the river. The special units were too late and they knew it. "Ugh! Dammit!" Alpha 3 yelled, "I should have suggested boats to the chairman..."

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 6 published 7/15/22)