Continued from Chapter 34
A loud gunshot sounded out through a warehouse.
"Agh!" Jack Savage groaned as his shot was poorly aimed by a black rabbit foot catching him in the wrist and pushing it away. After delivering the roundhouse kick, the black rabbit it belonged to advanced swiftly and pummeled Jack with a series of precise strikes. Jack countered with a kick that was deflected by a matching kick from the opposite leg of his assailant, and when Jack tried to aim his gun again, a reverse chop of the dark-furred bunny's hand dislodged the gun from Jack's hand and sent it spinning across the floor.
"Rgh!" Jack expelled as the black rabbit struck with his palm, catching Jack on the chin and pushing his head upwards, staggering him. With Jack opened up this way, the rabbit leaped forward and performed a twisting drop kick that landed on the striped white rabbits chest and stomach.
"Ugh!" Jack went flying backwards and onto the floor of the warehouse, where he rolled across the floor before coming to a stop. Pain flooded his body, and he groaned. "Nngh..."
"You are unskilled, Jack," the smartly-dressed, brown-eyed black rabbit with a slightly eastern accented voice said. He advanced upon the fallen blue-eyed rabbit. "Is this really the best a Zootopia-born rabbit has to offer? Pathetic." The rabbit stepped on Jack's chest roughly, making him yelp. "Vince Mousawitz will die by my hand. Know this: Kuro, the black rabbit of Inaba, has claimed your life and his, due to your failure."
"Ngh..." Jack reached for his gun, which was laying on the floor, just out of his reach. Kuro kicked the gun out of the way, and it skittered across the floor.
"Ah ah, tsk tsk tsk," Kuro said, waving his finger with one hand and drawing his own gun with the other from his coat. "I thought metal guns were illegal in Zootopia."
Jack coughed. "For the common citizen, yes, but only because they don't work the same on every mammal, and there are some they work a bit... too well on."
Kuro laughed scornfully, pointing his gun at Jack. "What a backwards notion. Zootopia tries to retain some sense of civility with their laws against bullet-firing guns. In my country, there is only what is practical, and nothing else. One bullet from my gun will be more than enough to kill you. However, I will shoot you three times, just to be sure." He chuckled. "But one bullet will be much more than enough for Mousawitz. My employer will be quite delighted to see him slain on live television. Think of the nightmares it will give the children." Kuro shook his head in mock pity.
"Who are you working for?" Jack grit his teeth, trying to get up. "Who wants Mousawitz dead so badly?"
"Silence," Kuro snapped, slapping him across the face with the back of his handgun. Jack's head hit the floor, and he moaned. "That information will do you no good in oblivion. Now. Before you go, would you like to beg me for your life? Or excuse yourself for your pathetic fighting ability?"
"No," Jack shook his head. "I... knew it would turn out this way."
"It was no big leap of logic," Kuro sneered. "You are a poor fighter. Your fellow agents are gullible and easily tricked. It's a great wonder that Zootopia hasn't already crumpled under attack."
"It's a conflict of interest," Jack said quietly. "Serendipity couldn't save us both."
"Serendipity?" Kuro seemed surprised. "The concept, or...?"
"After you pull the trigger, I will ask her, if she will permit me, to tell me why she chose you over me," Jack muttered.
"The Lapine Goddess Serendipity!?" Kuro's jaw dropped. "Are you joking? You really are a backwards people if you still believe in the goddesses! What, are you from the stone age?" He laughed loudly and derisively. "Well Jack, where is your goddess now in your hour of need? Perhaps she is playing in a pachinko parlor at the moment, mm? Do you even have those machines in this country?"
"Blasphemer!" Jack spat back, managing a burst of anger.
Kuro's laugh became gentle, even pitying. "Oh, what an idiot you are. Serendipity! Hear me! Smite me if you are able! Save your groveling follower!" He held out his arms, giving Jack a snide look. There was an uncomfortable moment where nothing happened. "Oh, is she a nice goddess, then? Does she not do the whole 'smiting' thing?" Kuro laughed again, a snicker that burst into a full laugh.
"She would do nothing so overt," Jack muttered.
"Fool, there is no Serendipity!" Kuro became angry, clenching his free fist and then slicing his hand through the air. "And even if there was, she would be a goddess for talent-less idiots like yourself to follow! There is no agency or honor in praying for luck! There is but skill to shape this world. I have it, and you do not. Maybe you should have asked your 'goddess' if she would have been kind enough to have you stumble upon some fighting techniques that you sorely needed. But, it's too late for that, Jack. Your luck has run out." Kuro drew back the hammer on his gun. Jack sneered, making one last attempt to get up, but it failed, and Kuro strengthened the pressure his own foot was placing on Jack's chest.
Jack sighed and closed his eyes.
"If you happen to see Serendipity and she will admit a disgrace such as yourself into her presence..." Kuro gave a snide grin. "Thank her for me."
Three deafening gunshots reverberated through the mostly empty warehouse.
Kuro lifelessly fell to the ground, and Jack gave a huge, deflating sigh. He turned his head and saw an arctic fox holding his own gun. The arctic fox had a stony, grim face on, but after a few moments she lightened up and formed a half-smile.
"If I'm honest, he was kind of asking for it, wasn't he?" She asked in her slightly refined-sounding voice.
"Skye!" Jack breathed out in amazement. "You don't know how glad I am to see you, love."
"I'd like to think I could guess," Skye said, putting the gun's safety on and helping Jack up. "Are you hurt much, darling?"
"Maybe some bruises, a broken rib at worst," Jack groaned, getting up laboriously with Skye's help. He glanced at Kuro's body, adjusting his own coat. "I suppose those big bunny ears of his couldn't hear you come in over his monologing."
"How fortunate for us, then," Skye gave him a knowing smile.
"My goddess has saved me yet again," Jack closed his eyes and gave an exhausted smile.
"Just 'Skye' will do nicely enough, Jack," Skye gently kissed his temple. Jack gave a warm, tired laugh.
"How did you know to find me here?" Jack wondered. "We're a good distance from the venue where Mayor Mousawitz is to speak."
"Well, you'll hardly believe it, but Nick and Judy were the first mammals to meet me when I got to the venue," Skye explained, looking somewhat impressed. "Judy had said she'd heard some unusual, loud noises coming from around the back, and Nick smelled an unfamiliar smell coming from this direction. I figured it must be gunpowder."
"I do believe..." Jack said slowly and reverently. "And yes, he shot Bart and James and rolled them off the pier..."
"Shame..." Skye frowned.
"Are Nick and Judy here?" Jack wondered.
"Afraid not," Skye began to smile again. "Judy said that a certain bunny had told her she had to remain present at Mousawitz's events." Jack's eyes rolled back to the ceiling and he looked up.
"Serendipity, thank you for being with us," Jack said softly. "Thank you for directing the steps of my lovely vixen to my aid... I continue to never doubt your paw in the affairs of the lapine, and I praise you that you have remembered me."
Skye smiled happily. "You're so very cute when you're pious, darling."
"My dear Skye," Jack managed a dashing smile. "I am always cute."
"I suppose that is true," Skye chuckled. "Now let's see if we can meet up with our ZPD counterparts. Kuro Inaba is the only assassin intel suggests is here today, but you never know. It's best not to leave things entirely to chance."
"No, you're right..." Jack nodded. "I can't be complacent and expect Serendipity to save me every time. If I became stronger, it only increases the amount of ways that probability can bend. Do you think you could teach me some of your more technical fighting moves?"
"If I can adapt them to someone so small," Skye teased, starting to leave with him.
"You've adapted well enough to having a small mate!" Jack shot back.
"So I have," Skye laughed as the two exited the warehouse. "You know, I've never seen a depiction of Serendipity before. Is she meant to be attractive?"
"Um, I suppose so?" Jack replied. "The ah... 'attractive' Lapine Goddess is usually... ah... Fertility." His ears felt a bit warm.
"Oh my," Skye giggled into her free paw, offering Jack his gun back. "I bet she's fun at parties."
"Aheh..." Jack laughed nervously as he set his gun back into its holster, wondering if the celestials did indeed partake of such things.