Chapter 24: Redline Chase
Okay! Man, a lot happened last chapter! Let's recap here: Sun and Neptune went to Junior's club, where Neptune got into a game of Russian Roulette with the White Fang lieutenant for information. However, the lieutenant chose to kill himself before telling them where his hideout was. So, in the ensuing fight between Sun and Neptune, Junior's gangsters, and the White Fang members, one of the men sitting with the White Fang lieutenant escaped the club via car. Now, let's join our heroes in their commandeered car, already on the chase!
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Neptune tried his best to control the sedan he was driving. However, that wasn't all that easy for a few reasons. First of all, the White Fang car that he was chasing kept on drifting across lanes accidentally, probably due to the fact that the driver was shot in the arm. On the second point, it was because Neptune had to swerve out of the way of other cars. At least it was a bit easy with the sedan he acquired. This thing handled better than a van in every way possible.
The White Fang car ran through a red light, forcing other cars in the intersection to swerve out of the way. "Shit!" Neptune cursed as he avoided crashing into one of the stopped cars. Unfortunately, he couldn't dodge the car completely, and the passenger side mirror was completely sheared off the door. Well, at least the department would pay for the damages.
Sun growled as he saw the White Fang car take a sharp left onto the Vale City freeway. "Fuck! He's got cover now!"
Gritting his teeth, Neptune took the turn also, and chased the offending car onto the on ramp. "We need to force him off here!" he said to himself.
Weaving past a bunch of cars, Neptune floored the sedan's gas pedal. The needle on the RPM meter was dancing across the redline indicator. Not that anybody noticed. They needed that speed in order to make up for lost distance.
Soon enough, Sun and Neptune were right on the tail of the car they were chasing. Close enough, in fact, that they began to ram the back bumper of the White Fang car. Neptune kept on trying to force the car into a more favorable chase, but he just couldn't accomplish that from his current position.
Pushing on the brakes, Neptune yelled at Sun, "I'm gonna try something!"
Allowing the car to get ahead of him, Neptune allowed himself to lag slightly behind. That gave him more breathing room to move around in. With that, he swerved to the left and increased his speed once again. Now that he wasn't ramming the bumper, the front of Neptune's car was now parallel to the White Fang car's rear wheels.
Swerving his steering wheel to the right, Neptune nudged the front of his car against the side of the other car. This forced the car to pull to the right, in order to avoid crashing due to a PIT maneuver.
With this strategy, Neptune was able to lead on the car he was chasing. Which was fortunate, considering that he needed to take this chase off the freeway ASAP. There was no way he was going to be a part of endangering civilians while chasing a suspect a second time.
Nudging the offending car again, Neptune forced the suspect onto a nearby off-ramp. Judging by the lack of people on the off-ramp, Neptune could only guess that the freeway chase had taken them all the way to the outskirts of Vale City. Well, at least there would be less people around here to risk getting hurt. After all, only a few more miles, and they would be exiting the city limits and heading towards the country roads. So, if anything, this was a blessing.
The two cars skidded off of the freeway and back onto the street. By now, the White Fang car was having a hard time losing the lead that Neptune had gained on it. The cars were being pushed to their limits, and now that the road was mostly clear, it was proven that Sun and Neptune's car had the advantage.
Unfortunately, because of how fast the cars were going, they were heading towards the city limits at an unprecedented rate. Once they entered the countryside, not only would they have to drive uncontrollably and unsafely around winding mountain roads, but the creatures of Grimm would become a factor, too. Neptune and Sun weren't interested in having to hold off a pack of Beowolves while trying to arrest the perp. So, they needed to end this chase in the city limits, in the here and now.
"We need to stop him!" Neptune exclaimed.
"No shit!" Sun exclaimed. Then, he checked the ammo left in his revolver. Good, he still had a few more shots. Perfect. Now, he had a plan in mind. "I got an idea!"
"What?" Neptune asked, still focused on the chase.
"Pull off a little! I'm gonna blow the tires!" Sun exclaimed, rolling down his window. However, just as he was about to lean out to take aim, Neptune stopped him by grabbing his wrist.
"No, damn it!" Neptune exclaimed. "We can't have him too hurt! You remember the last time?!"
Sun couldn't argue with that logic. After all, the first chase they got into involved the perp getting such serious injuries that he'd been confined to the hospital for a while in intensive care. They couldn't afford to have this guy get into a serious crash. Only some force could be used here. So, shooting out the tires at this speed simply wasn't a good option. They needed to interrogate this guy, not kill him.
"Fuck!" Sun swore, sitting back into his chair. "What the fuck now then?!"
"We ram 'em some more!" Neptune roared, before trying to do exactly that. Since the front of his car was still parallel to the back tires, that was the prime idea to enact. If he managed to get the car into a PIT maneuver, then there was less of a risk of having the White Fang car crash spectacularly. But, they needed to pull this off right.
Neptune rammed his car into the rear of the other car. At this speed and position, it was clear that Neptune had the advantage here. Surely enough, the White Fang car was perpendicular to their car, still traveling at a fast speed. All the driver of the offending car could do was try and break as his vehicle uncontrollably rammed through a nearby chain link fence and into an empty lot. Even though the car's speed had slowed down, it wasn't enough to stop it from skidding out on the mud of the field.
The White Fang car jostled to a stop in the muddy lot. Although the White Fang driver tried to get out of the lot, the slickness of the mud prevented him from getting any traction on his tires whatsoever. All that accomplished was spraying mud everywhere and the car spinning in donuts in the same spot.
"There!" Neptune cried as he slammed on the brakes. The sedan skidded to a halt a few meters past the broken fence and the field. After all, momentum was a cruel, but unavoidable mistress.
Sun didn't wait for the car to come to a complete stop to hop out. With a running start, Sun cocked his service revolver as he ran towards the stuck White Fang car. As he approached it, the door on the stopped car opened, and the suspect ungracefully tumbled out. Just as Sun was about to reach the perp, the man stumbled to his feet and raised his good arm up, ready to attack. It looked like he wasn't planning on going down without a fight.
Skidding to a stop, Sun aimed his revolver at the man. "Freeze, fucker! VCPD! You're under arrest!" he announced.
"Fuck you!" the man cried, before trying to tackle Sun.
However, the man's balance was off, not only due to the dead weight of his injured arm, but his dazed state from the crash as well. So, all Sun had to do was step swiftly out of the way to send the suspect stumbling face first into the muddy ground.
Planting a firm foot on the man's back, Sun barked, "Put your arms out where I can see 'em!" He leveled his service revolver at the man for good measure.
Although he tried to struggle, the White Fang man simply couldn't get up. The case and his gunshot wound had taken too much of a toll on him. There was simply no other better choice left but to give up. Unless he was in the mood for bleeding out from the gunshot wound, of course. But, the man's survival instincts overrode that decision almost instantly.
Neptune had just jogged up as the man decided to surrender. "I got 'em Nep! Fuckin' got 'em!" Sun said, a half-elated, half-smug grin drawn across his face. This was it! They had gotten their man!
"Hand me the cuffs. I'll book him," Neptune said, holding out his hand. Complying, Sun used his free hand to dig around in his pockets, until he fished out a pair of handcuffs he'd brought along. At least he could finally use a pair of them. He tossed the cuffs to Neptune, who caught them with one hand.
Kneeling down besides the man, Neptune placed the perp's arms behind his back and locked them into the cuffs. All the while, Neptune recited the man's rights. If he didn't, then this can could stand to walk free. That wasn't acceptable at all.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, and if you can't afford an attorney, one will be provided for you by the court. Do you understand?" Neptune said from memory. It was surprisingly easy to remember. After all, that's how cop reality shows usually ended. He practically knew the rights before he even became a junior detective.
"Fuck you, asshole!" the man spat at Neptune.
"I'll take that as a yes," Neptune snarked as he yanked on the man's handcuffs. Understanding what Neptune intended to do, Sun took his foot off of the man's lower back.
As Neptune began to haul the man to his feet, the suspect roared in pain. Pulling him up by his arms couldn't have been good for his bullet wound. But, regardless, Neptune got the man standing.
Sun kept his gun trained on the man, not trusting him enough to not try something stupid. As he and Neptune walked over the car, the suspect began to spout out a bunch of empty phrases and sentences.
"You're a buncha murderers, you know that?" the man bitterly spat.
"Sure, buddy," Sun replied, not letting the words get to him.
"Just working for a corrupt system… Who're you to decide what's right and what's wrong, huh?!" rambled the suspect.
"I'm not the one who's part of the White Fang," Neptune calm said in place of Sun.
"Of course you wouldn't be! You're not one of us! But at least you're not a fucking race traitor!" the suspect continued to rant, towards Sun in particular.
"Right, right. You can tell me ALL about your fuckin' weird cult bullshit at the station," Sun dully said.
Now they were close to the commandeered sedan, Neptune opened the back door up. Without the slightest hesitation, Sun grabbed the man by the head and shoved him into the back seat. Once he was in, Sun slammed the door shut.
Turing to Neptune, Sun offered his fist up for a bro bump. "We fuckin' did it!" he grinned.
Neptune tapped Sun's fist with his own. "Damn straight," he smoothly replied, also smiling.
They had finally done it. They had finally caught a White Fang member without somehow fucking up! All they needed to do now was take the perp back to the station, and call in the cops to take away the crashed car as evidence. But, Neptune was already planning to do that on the way back. Because currently, he was more in the mood to let Sun drive him back to the VCPD headquarters. That chase had taken its toll on his still young heart.
So, Sun climbed into the driver's seat, and Neptune pulled out his scroll as he waked over towards the passenger seat. Once he was in, Sun started up the car and began to drive back to the freeway, all the way back downtown.
What a night that was indeed.
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Man, what a chase! But hey, at least Sun and Neptune got their man! All it cost was witnessing a man blow his brains out and cause a little bit of property damage. Now, I can safely say that this is where the real story begins. Ignore the other times that I may or may not have implied that. And, probably forget about this instance, too. The story is only going to get realer from here. So, go ahead and leave me a review! I'd like to hear your opinions on this action piece!
This has been The Draigg, and I felt the heat, man!