Nick held a small smile as he and Judy drove to Mr. Kev's, following just behind Dust's car. "Ever played paintball before?" he asked Judy.
"Not really, no. But I mean, it can't be that different from the practices at the academy and training at the ZPD, right?" She asked, looking up at him expectantly.
Nick chuckled. "That depends on what kind of match you're in. If you're playing in a tounrnament, the weapons and gear you get are very different. But there's this kind called 'MILSIM' that is more favored for mammals like us – officers. It has more, uh... Realistic equipment."
"Wait, 'MILSIM'?" Judy asked.
"Yeah," Nick nodded. "It stands for 'military simulation,' I think. Vets from the old army, SWAT, and ZPD play it all the time. I doubt that Kev's has it, though."
"In the off-chance it does, though," Judy thought aloud. "That could give us an edge, yeah? After all, the scenarios at the academy sounded pretty similar."
"It could," Nick agreed. "We could finally beat him at something. Wouldn't that make somebunny happy?" Nick was, of course, referring to all of Judy's rage at their frequent inabilities to stop Dust before. More than once he'd had to use his snarky comments to divert her attention from the topic, before her foot bore a hole into the floor.
"I would love to beat him for once!" she said. "After all the crap we went through to just find him, if we could beat him today, that would make my day!"
"Ouch, Carrots," Nick said, planting a paw over his chest. "And here I thought I made your day."
Her ears drooped slightly, but she shook her head and lightly slapped his arm. "Nick, stop it, you know what I mean. Besides, you did make my day. This would just be the cherry on top."
That made Nick grin, turning the pair off the freeway. "Then we better beat him, huh?"
Judy nodded, wheels churning in her head as a thought crept into it. What if they made a bet with Dust? A few two-on-one matches, with the bet being that he had to come in to the ZPD tomorrow if they won. It could work, right? They were trained for situations like this. Assuming, of course, Mr. Kev's had a paintball setup that favored them. She liked the odds of this more than she had her bet with Nick earlier in the day.
She looked over at their destination once it came into view. A massive brick building with a yellow stripe going through the middle, a polar bear with a wide grin and crossed arms stood above the words "Mr. Kev's" on the front doors. Go-kart tracks of various sizes for various mammals could be seen on one side of the building. The other side held a small, open space with seemingly random buildings, many different colors of paint visible even from the far side of the parking lot.
Nick parked beside Dust, and both he and Judy hopped out. The other fox was waiting beside his car, one paw in its pocket and the other holding his phone. He looked up as Nick rounded his car, stopping beside Judy.
"We ready?" he asked. Both nodded, Judy bouncing on her feet a bit in anticipation. Dust gave his own nod and began walking to the entrance. "So, either of you played paintball before?" he asked, putting his phone away.
"I have, once. Carrots hasn't," Nick replied. Dust tilted his head a bit, giving a small chuckle.
"Alright. What kind of game do you want to play?"
Nick rolled his head around a bit, thinking about the question. It was Judy who responded, with a question of her own.
"Do they have MILSIM?" she asked. Dust looked surprised, his eyebrows raising behind his sunglasses. After a moment of thinking, he nodded.
"I think so, yeah. It's only for members of SWAT, the ZPD, or vets, though. So I'm not sure if we'd be allowed to play, since I'm not a part of any of those." Dust replied.
Nick shrugged it off. "We'll give it a shot. Worst they can do is say no, right?" Both Dust and Judy nodded at this.
Upon entering the building, Judy found that it was surprisingly different from the arcade. Rather than the hot air filled with the smell of cheap food and foul odors, this one had crisp air and scents that made her stomach growl. The noise, however, was three times worse than the arcade – more racing games, more simulators, more shooters, more everything, and it wound all through the building. Mammals walked or ran to and fro, some with drinks, others with tickets, some with both. Older couples oversaw their children as they played, and younger ones held paws or hooves as they went to various machines.
Dust walked up to a small counter, just too tall for her to see over, and began talking to the employee, a hare with the name "Bigg" on his nametag. Dust paid for the three of them, and they were each given a small stamp on the top of their right paw by a somewhat chunky looking deer.
"If we need to leave," Dust explained to her, "These stamps are our tickets back inside."
Immediately after they had entered, both Nick and Dust began walking to the back left of the building, following signs ripped straight from an old cartoon to the paintball arena. Judy followed after, drinking in the sights around them. In one darkened area, there was a series of pods, from which a group of mixed mammals exited and a new set entered. She caught a glimpse inside of them, revealing a seat with several screens, a wide expanse of buttons, switches, and a few levers. Bipedal robots stomped around the screens, firing lasers and rockets at everything and nothing as an announcer talked away in a husky voice.
When the trio reached the entrance to the paintball area, another cream-colored hare greeted them and requested their cards and IDs. They each presented their own (though Judy was curious as to what Dust's read, after seeing the hare's expression) and let them through the doors. Beyond was a room with several computers for the staff to use, a few TVs displaying scores – all were blank, as no one was playing – and half a dozen sets of lockers of six each, each set a different color. Black, red, and blue.
"So, what kind of game are you looking to play today?" the hare asked. His nametag read "Bil". "We've got capture the flag, VIP, free for all -"
Dust cut him off. "Two v one MILSIM deathmatch."
The hare looked over the group, almost hesitating. "I'm afraid, sir, that we can only offer anything MILSIM to members of the force, current or past. Unless you're all in that category, I'm afraid I can't offer that."
Nick nudged Judy as he presented his ZPD badge, waiting for her to do the same. Bil inspected them and nodded, before turning to Dust expectantly. The fox shrugged in response.
"Well... If you three aren't all members, then I'm afraid I can't-"
"Sir, two of us are officers who've given you proof. Why can't he join us in this game?" Judy asked. The hare looked a bit nervous.
"According to the company rules, I'm not supposed to let anyone that's not a member of the ZPD, SWAT, or a veteran play a MILSIM match. But at the same time," he said, wincing slightly under Judy's cold but expectant gaze. "They never explicitly stated what to do in a situation like this... And, giving in to my better judgement, you three can play. But I don't promise that it won't be interrupted by management." Taking a steadying breath, Bil walked over to the black cabinets and began unlocking them.
"Two on one, right?" he asked.
"Right," Nick said, putting his paws in his pockets. The hare turned back to them with three different sets of gear, each one resembling a military style vest, with several ammunition pouches and a small back pocket for a tank of compressed air.
"Two foxes and a rabbit," he said, handing them over. Dust took off his charcoal hoodie and slid the vest on, clipping it into place. Nick and Judy inspected theirs, adjusting the straps as needed before slipping theirs on.
"Your cards, please," Bil said, paw extended to each of them. He took each member's card and swiped it on a slot beside one of the computers before hopping up to one. "Okay, two teams. I need you to choose a name to use," he said, gesturing up to the screen, "and to tell me who is on what team."
The three of them looked over the screen as roughly fifty names appeared. Arkansas, Alabama, all the way to some named Colorado, Texas, Mississippi and Washington.
"I'll take Texas. I'm on my own," Dust said. The hare nodded and keyed it in.
"I kind of like Carolina," Judy mused. Nick nodded and muttered something about "York."
The hare nodded at both and punched in the names as well. "And, weapons?" he asked. "We've only got a few for mammals of your size, though."
Judy and Nick looked over the selection on the screen – each weapon was some model of a sub-machine gun or a small shotgun. After a brief debate, Nick settled on a model MP5, while Judy took a much smaller Vector. Dust chose an MP7. The hare nodded again, and walked back over to the lockers, rifling through the contents before withdrawing the selected weapons and setting them aside. He also withdrew what looked like three pistols, but each were oddly designed, the front half being slightly bigger. It almost seemed like it needed to be held with both paws.
A moment later, the hare went back to the lockers and tugged out three appropriately sized masks, setting them beside the weapons. He also took out a collection of magazines for the weapons, several silver canisters the size of a soda bottle, and three hoses.
"Before we begin, here are the rules. No shooting at one another from less than fifteen feet – just point and say 'Bang'. Two shots to the legs, arms, or body and you're out. If you take just one, you're still in. One to the head, and you're out. If you're out, you can't talk or give away someone's position. You can tell you've been hit if the paint breaks. You will each have three magazines of twenty-five paintballs each. Your sidearms will only have twelve. The gas lines must be attached to fire the weapon, as well as the safety in the off position. Each weapon is only semi-automatic. The first team to eliminate all the enemy players wins the round, and you're permitted to play as many rounds as you would like, but know that others may join at any time and the game may have to be changed as a result."
As Bil spoke, he began handing out the masks, each of which had a scarf set inside of it, to the trio. Each one put theirs on, Judy feeling slightly suffocated by the hard plastic. Nick and Judy had a wide-eyed, single visor helmet not unlike a motorcycle helmet, a small visor included. Dust was given a more bug-eyed model, without a visor. He had a black scarf, which he wrapped loosely around his neck and head, covering all but the tips of his ears. Nick just wrapped his yellow-brown scarf around his neck, and Judy wrapped her light blue around her head, similar to Dust's, but not bothering to try and cover her ears.
Bil walked behind each of them, strapping a silver canister into each of their backs, followed by a hose. After looping it around to the front of the mammals and having them hold it, he brought over the weapons themselves and attached them to the hose, before going behind them again and turning a small nozzle. He then turned and handed each one a set of three magazines, each one gleaming with a different colored paintball at the top.
"The gas will only be used once you pull the trigger. If you run out, you have to come back for a refill," Bil said. Dust was silent, patiently waiting, while Judy strained to contain her tapping foot and Nick chuckled softly at her. "The color of your paintballs will match your scarf, to make it easier to identify who hit who. Are there any other questions?"
Dust raised a paw, putting it down once the hare nodded at him. "Are we allowed to vault, sprint, things like that?" he asked.
"Of course," the hare said. "But we are not responsible for any harm done to you or your belongings. We can take your electronics and store them in the safe if you'd like."
Dust looked at the other two and shrugged, taking out his phone and turning it off before giving it to the hare, alongside with some earbuds. Nick and Judy passed off their phones as well, not wanting to break them in their match.
Bil turned to the black lockers again and opened up the furthest one, revealing it to be empty. He set their belongings inside and shutting the door before turning back to the trio. "Anything else?" he asked, nodding and walking to the doors leading to the arena when no one else spoke up.
"When the announcer says, it's time to begin. To reset the next round, there's a button beside the door. Press it, and we'll get you set up for the next round." Bil spoke to the group as they walked outside. "You have two minutes before the round begins, each team goes to either side of the map. Good luck."
With that, he shut the door, leaving the three to look around. The arena was set up like a partially destroyed town. Buildings with deliberately broken walls, missing doors, and blocked off entrances were strewn around, with a tall building standing at the center. Where all buildings were one or two stories, that one was three tall, having a bell tower. Rainbows of paint peppered the area, giving it a strange coloration at times. Cameras and speakers littered the arena, keeping watch on nearly every angle available.
Dust nodded slightly after drinking in the sights and turned to walk off, before Judy stopped him.
"Hey," she said, voice slightly muffled by the mask. "Want to make this interesting?" she asked. Dust gave her a curious look behind the mask, but nodded. "Let's make a bet. Whoever wins the most, loser has to do them a favor and can't deny it. Long as it's within reason." She could feel Nick staring at her, as was Dust, who eventually shrugged.
"Why not?" he said, shrugging. "May the best team win," he said, offering the two a paw. They shook it lightly and walked off, Nick waiting until he knew Dust was out of earshot before leaning down to Judy.
"Were you planning that?" he asked. Judy nodded, smiling beneath the plastic.
"It's two on one in something we've been trained in, we can't lose! And when we win, we can use the favor to take him to the Precinct. If nothing else, it'll get Bogo off our backs on this, right?" she asked, ears drooping slightly at Nick's frown, though she could hardly see it through the black plastic.
"I'm not sure he'll see that as being 'within reason,'" the fox explained. "He's been evading us for a long time now, and I don't see him just agreeing to giving himself up because he lost a game."
"We'll figure something out," Judy said as they reached a fence marking one side of the arena. "First thing's first, we need to beat him."
An overhead speaker crackled to life, the noise sounding on both ends. "Round One," a female announcer said. Judy looked down at her weapon and loaded up one of the magazines, hearing Nick do the same.
"Got a plan?" he asked her, the announcer repeating herself.
"Maybe we can get up to the bell tower?" she suggested. "It'll give us a good line of sight over everything."
Nick nodded at the idea, readying himself.
"Round begins in three, two, one," the announcer said, before a small buzzer sounded. Judy was off immediately, waiting until she was halfway to the tallest building to slow down. Nick caught up to her as she kneeled beside a buidling. Peeking around the corner, she felt Nick rest a paw on her shoulder. She reached back and pat his leg once, before slowly walking down the side of the building, Nick covering her. Once she reached the corner, she waved for him to come up, watching their surroundings with raised ears. She could hear sounds from inside the building, as well as traffic from nearby, but she kept her ears trained for the sound of scuffling that wasn't Nick.
He set a paw on her shoulder again, this time peeking around the corner. They were a few buildings off from the tower, making them realize how big the arena was – half a city block, at least. Filled with various levels of cover.
Nick pat her shoulder twice before starting to move to the next building, stopping just between it and another building. He looked behind him and waved her to come forward, keeping watch in front of them as she did so.
They shifted forward like this until they were across from the building they desired. It was Nick's turn to go ahead, and he gently pat Judy's shoulder twice before moving forward. It wasn't until he was halfway to the building, out in the open, when she heard a scuffling to their left. She let out a hiss of Nick's name, and a flick of his ear told her she heard him as he quickened his pace. She leaned around the corner, searching for the source of the sound, as a small thudding sound brought her attention back to Nick. A black paintball was splattered against the side of his head, and he held up a paw.
He was out.
Judy's eyes widened as she shifted to peer around the corner better. Given the angle Nick had been shot from, Dust was several buildings parallel to her. He'd probably try to sneak up on her from behind, so she decided to slip around the corner, weapon raised, and press herself to the wall. Nick looked back at where he'd been shot at from, scanning the area.
The gray rabbit slowly walked to the edge of her building and peeked the corner, moving across to the next one when she saw nothing. The same happened at the end of her second building, but as she neared the end of the third, she heard something behind her. The scraping of claws on dirt. Dropping to a knee, she spun around and pressed herself against the building, only to have her visor filled with black paint and she nearly fell to the ground.
Letting out a shout of defeat, Judy wiped at the paint with her scarf, clearing it as Dust and Nick walked over.
"Nice shots," Nick commented, offering Judy a paw. She took it and stood, lowering her weapon.
"You almost had me, Hopps," Dust said. "I think you'd of had me if I took a moment longer."
Judy laughed slightly and shook her head. "I'll just have to be faster then, won't I?" she stated. Dust chuckled and nodded, walking to the entrance.
"How many games do you want to play?" he asked, letting them follow.
Nick looked down at Judy expectantly, seeing as she had taken the lead of decisions now, as she through it over.
"Nine," she said. "Odd number, shouldn't take us too long to do, but not too few that's it's based on luck."
Dust nodded, pressing the button at the door once he reached it. He flashed a thumbs up at the others before heading off to his end of the arena again.
"Any other plans?" Nick asked, walking beside Judy as they went back to their "spawn".
"Rush to the building?" she suggested. "Don't waste time moving up, just get in there?"
Nick nodded, readying himself as the buzzer sounded again. This time, he and Judy wasted no time doing a full on sprint for the tower. Hasty corner checking was done as they sprinted between buildings and pushed inside their destination. Nick positioned himself in a corner and looked outside as Judy ascended the stairs to the tower, carefully looking down from every window she saw.
The ground was silent and clear as she moved up. At reaching the top, she walked over to the railing, resting a paw on it as she peered down.
She could see the whole arena from up here. Every building, every entrance was visible to her. She could see the cameras, speakers, and Dust's tail disappearing inside a building to their left.
Wait, his tail disappearing inside.
Judy rushed to the stairs, trying to keep track of her bearings as she looked down. "Nick!" she nearly yelled. "Nine o'clock!"
She couldn't tell if the fox had heard her or not, but she could hear him shift and get up, his nails clacking against the concrete ground below faintly. Wind whistled against her ears lightly as she aimed down below, watching for any sign of their target. It wasn't until she saw Nick moving over to a building parallel that she realized she had been holding her breath. She let it out, relaxing slightly as she watched the building Dust had disappeared into. There were three windows, and a door frame to watch out for. If she could just-
Several black pellets whizzed past her ears, causing the rabbit to yelp and fall backwards. Scrambling to her feet, Judy looked down just in time to see Nick entering the same building she had been watching. There was a small shout, from which fox she couldn't tell, and then silence. Judy peered over the edge more as she tried to look down, flinching as something hit her mask from below. She reached down to where the sound had come from and wiped at it, sighing at the black paint on her fingers.
"Hit!" she called out, turning to descend the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, Nick greeted her, two black spots evident on his chest. He offered a shrug as Judy rolled her eyes. Dust was waiting outside, rubbing at his neck as the others exited.
"You almost got me, Nick." Dust said.
The other fox chuckled. "You got lucky, falling on your back like that."
Dust nodded. "And you, Hopps, I wasn't expecting to actually hit you from that angle."
"Well," she said, shrugging. "You just barely managed to hit the bottom of my mask." She held up her fingers as proof. Dust rubbed the back of his neck more.
"Lucky shot," he said, turning to head to the entrance and start the next round.
Judy turned to Nick with a thoughtful expression. "I think I figured out how to get him," she said. Nick's ears raised and he looked down at her expectantly, both walking to their starting point.
"You almost got him while he was focused on me. What if we do that, but stay coordinated? One distracts and the other goes around him?" she suggested. Nick gave the idea a quick run-through in his head, before nodding.
"So, one of us goes into the tower this time," he thought aloud. "And the other gets into a good spot that covers where we think he'll hit from?"
The gray rabbit nodded. "The past two matches, he's circled around to where we start. One of us should do the same, hit him from across the way."
The fox beside her nodded, and they turned at reaching their fence. "I'll hide inside the building," Nick said. "I'm bigger, he'll see me easier and it'll draw him out."
Judy nodded, both pushing off the fence at the announcer's third buzzer sounding. This time, Nick sprinted for the building without even looking for Dust, Judy circling around the back of the buildings around it to reach Dust's side. She checked the corners hastily, but met no opposition as she settled inside of an empty two-story building. Half the wall facing the bell tower was missing, and it gave her both cover and a line of sight to where she felt the reynard would attack from.
In silence, she sat for a minute and a half, before she saw Nick lean out one side of the doorway. He was looking on her side of the map, ears at attention as he listened for the other fox. He flinched a moment later, black paint splattering on his scarf as he called out "Hit!"
Judy saw the angle the shot was fired from, and shifted into the other corner. Across from the doorway Nick was in, Dust was peering out a window, his weapon raised and aimed high. With a smirk, she leveled her own weapon and squeezed the trigger a few times. Bright blue balls of paint sailed through the air, several hitting him in the leg and chest, peppering the walls as well. With a raised paw, he called out "Hit!" and stood up, Judy grinning under her mask as she raced downstairs and outside to meet the others.
"Nice shots, Hopps," Dust said, brushing some of the paint off from his chest. Nick raised a fist and Judy bumped it with her own.
"You got me in the neck," Nick said, rubbing the spot where he'd been shot. Dust gave an apologetic chukle.
"Well, Judy paid me back for it. I took seven hits," he said, pointing to each blue spot on his clothes. The rabbit let out a small giggle in response, swapping her magazine with a new one and holding it up, her other paw on her hip.
"You needed a splash of color," she said. Dust chuckled and shook his head, turning to walk back to the start.
Nick and Judy turned and began jogging to their spawn again, waiting at the fence as the announcer counted down.
"Same plan?" Nick said.
Judy nodded. "Except, let's change areas. You stay on one end of the map, I'll stay on the other. Ground floor," she said. Nick nodded again, both sprinting away as soon as they were allowed to. Nick paused on their end of the map, turning and entering a two-story building as they passed it, taking up a position somewhere inside as Judy kept going. This time, she went around the same end of the map Dust seemed to always take.
She didn't expect to see him entering a building, his black-tipped tail disappearing inside as she rounded a corner. Smirking with satisfaction, she approached the entrance and looked inside, paintball gun raised. Dust was in a corner right in front of her, little over fifteen feet away, peering out a window.
Without warning, she aimed for his head and fired, hearing the paint break on his helmet as the side of it became splattered the bright blue.
"Hit!" he said, raising a paw and looking her way. His indigo eyes were hidden behind the tan goggles of his mask, but she could tell they were filled with surprise from how the fox stood up. "Didn't think you'd get to me so quickly," he admitted. "Nice shot."
Both of them walked out to the middle, Dust pointing to the side of his head once they were in Nick's sight. He laughed, raising a paw for Judy to meet with her own.
"Alright, two for two," Nick said. Despite the mask, Judy could tell he was grinning.
"Two for two," Dust echoed, nodding as he went back to the start.
Judy and Nick began walking to their spawn yet again. "So how'd you do that?" Nick asked, glancing down at her.
"Saw him go inside a building, snuck up on him," she said. Nick laughed again.
"And you just got him in the side of his head?"
The rabbit nodded. "Same plan this time?" she asked. Nick nodded, both silently pushing into a sprint at the fifth buzzer.
Nick climbed into the same building as before, Judy circling the right side of the map again. She posted herself inside a single-story, two-room building and peered outside the doorway from within, eyes narrowed as she watched for any movement. She didn't expect her vision to suddenly fill with black paint, followed a moment later by Dust calling out "Hit!" a third time.
Using a loose piece of scarf, she cleared her visor and walked out, grinning under the plastic. They were finally in the lead.
Dust had an off-green splatter over the front of his visor now, lightly talking with Nick as she neared the two. They shared a small laugh, turning their attention to the gray bunny as she neared.
"Took you long enough, Wilde," Dust said, humor lacing his voice.
"Hey, it's not my fault Carrots here is half our size, alright? I'm a bigger target," came Nick's response, both his paws held up as he chuckled.
Dust shook his head, turning to walk to the start again before Judy spoke up. "Dust, we'll reset it this time."
The fox paused for a minute, before shrugging and walking off to his spawn, giving them a thumbs up. Judy and Nick walked side-by-side as they went to set up the next match.
"So, what's the plan, Slick?" Judy asked, looking up at him. He looked back, ears tilting back.
"What, you want me to come up with a plan this time?" he said, surprise filling his voice. She nodded, causing him to chuckle. "Well, officer, I would be honored to be in charge of something so important." He hit the reset button and started walking back with the bunny at his side, thinking.
"So what if we did the same thing as before?" he asked. "Only, we stay with one another? Say, one of us on the ground floor, the other on the second?"
"Wouldn't he be able to see us both?" Judy asked, frowning a bit. They had just gotten the lead, she didn't want to throw it away.
"He would," Nick started. "If we were on our side. If we went on the other half of the map, though, I doubt he'd expect us. He's been watching our side only, not his."
Judy rolled the idea around in her head for a moment, before nodding with satisfaction. The duo reached their fence just as the buzzer sounded, both immediately pushing off and moving to the right side. They clung to the outside edge of the map, before they were parallel with their target building – another two-story willed with walls of plywood. They slowly walked inside, sweeping the inside, before Nick began walking for the stairs. They creaked faintly as he moved up, but settled back to silence once the fox had reached the top. Judy went to the front of the building, aiming outside of it as she watched for the second fox.
A small thud sounded behind her, and she spun around, slightly confused to see nothing. A second thud sounded, slightly to her right, and she crouched down. She could hear a small thump just before the thudding noises, coming from somewhere in front of her.
Just then, Dust leaned around the corner, firing two shots into her chest. The force of being hit at such close range sent her on her back as she fired off several of her own shots, before calling out "Hit!"
Dust looked down at his chest, a shiny new splotch of blue paint visible over his midsection as he looked to the stiars. Judy bit her lip and wished she could call out to Nick as the other fox disappeared around the corner again.
Thirty seconds later, she heard Nick call out that he'd been hit, and both foxes descended the stairs.
"How'd you know we were here?" Judy asked once they had met up.
"I was circling the back by the fence and saw you two head in here," Dust explained. "I hit the wall by you twice," he continued, pointing to Judy. "I had about an inch of space I could see through and just couldn't get to you, so I followed you inside."
Judy raised her head in realization of what she had heard, letting out a long "Oh." Dust nodded, counting the matches on his fingers before looking at both her and Nick.
"We're tied, three for three," he said. Nick nodded and looked down at Judy, who had already begun walking to the entrance.
Nick waved once to Dust before running to catch up with her, the other fox turning and trotting to his spawn.
"New plan?" he suggested, once he caught up to her.
Judy nodded. "Just find him, shoot him," she said. Nick raised an eyebrow under his mask.
"No official plan?" he clarified. "No bait, no ambush, none of that? Just run up and hit him?"
"Yup," was Judy's response, making Nick take in a breath before nodding.
"Alright, you're the boss," he muttered as they neared the fence. The seventh buzzer rang out, and both officers broke away from the fence in opposite directions. Judy ran left as Nick passed behind her, heading right. There was silence on her end for what felt like the longest time, until a familiar thump could be heard from inside a building to her right. She carefully began to head inside, bringing up her weapon as she saw Dust leaning out of the doorway.
In her haste, Judy fired off a random paintball, which splattered on the wall next to the fox before her. He turned slightly and threw himself from the building, one of Nick's paintball's splattering on the inside wall as she raced out after him. Dust was currently firing off in one direction, facing away from her as he ran for another building. Judy aimed again and fired, this time hitting the back of his leg and staining his pants blue.
Dust turned to fire at her again, but was stopped as one of Nick's paintballs broke on the side of his mask, then his shoulder.
"Hit, hit!" he called out, raising one paw and lowering his other. Slowly, Judy and Nick approached him.
"Was that planned?" he asked, looking between them as he panted a bit. He was now covered in different shades of paint, more so than both Nick and Judy. Both of them shook their head and smirked, despite knowing the other fox couldn't see it. "Lucky as hell," he muttered, turning to walk back to his spawn.
Judy looked up to Nick, beaming, as they walked to the entrance. "Again?" she said, her smirk transforming into a grin as the fox nodded. They spun reached their fence just before the buzzer again, and both again broke left and right.
Judy clung to the outer edges of the map this time, keeping an eye out for Dust's more vibrant red fur. She never saw him, however, only instead feeling two rounds hit her left leg and shoulder before she called out a defeated "Hit!"
Nick eventually wound his way around to where she was kneeling, one elbow on her leg as she held up her head. He only briefly looked at her before looking around suspiciously. At finding nothing, he began moving for a building. He only managed a few more steps when he took two paintballs in the back, holding up a paw and calling out "Hit!"
Dust stepped out behind them, lowering his paintball gun as he did so. "Tied again," he said, swapping out his magazine for a new one. "This next match decides the winner. Good luck," he said before walking off. His tone was now more serious, as opposed to the light-hearted one he had earlier.
Nick and Judy looked at one another, before rushing back to their spawn.
"We need to win this," Judy said.
"I know," Nick replied.
"Like, need, need to," she said again. "I think it's the easiest way to bring him in."
"I know," Nick said again.
"And I don't want to lose to him again," she continued, paws turning to fists. "It's so infuriating! I mean, how can he-"
Judy was cut off by Nick reaching down and gently taking hold of her chin, leaning down to look her in the eye as best he could with the mask. "Hey, Carrots, listen. Don't get so worked up over this. This is just a game, even if winning benefits us at work. It's a game. Treat it as such. Have fun, alright?"
Judy took a moment to stare at him, amethyst gaze searching for his emerald one behind the visors they wore. She thought she could see a small flicker of them, along with a true smile, and she gave her own. Nick was right – winning would be a huge bonus, but unlike before, this was just a game with Dust. If they won, they'd have a leg up, but if they lost, what was the worst that could happen? As long as she gave it her all and had fun, that was what really mattered.
The buzzer sounded for the last time, interrupting her thoughts. A small idea formed in her head.
"Nick," she said. "We need to corner him. Watch for him to enter a building and we go into both entrances."
Nick tilted his head, before nodding. "Alright, that should work. Let's go," he said, beginning to run to the left side of the map. Judy followed after, each watching the other's back. Judy had been engrossed in thought until Nick tapped her shoulder and pointed to a building just outside her view. With an unspoken coordination, she nodded and began moving around the buildings between her and their destination, Nick doing the same a few moments later.
When Judy looked into single-story building, Dust was nowhere to be seen. Then, a small motion just beyond the doorway caught her eye, and she saw the distinct black scarf of her target. She fired once, barely missing the fox's paw as he drew away and turned to face her, firing blindly before a burst of paintballs from his right made him dive away from his hidden position. Judy fired at him again, leaving new splotches of paint along the wall as Dust rolled and forced himself into a corner.
As if with an unspoken command, Nick leaned just within the doorway at the front of the building. Judy began pushing into the room, aiming to where she assumed Dust was, until a flash of black and red went across the room. It took a moment to process what had happened as she heard Nick yelp and the crunching of dirt, accompanied by the sound of two paintball guns being fired rapidly. The rabbit quickly raced outside to see Dust rolling to one side, firing his paintball gun at both her and Nick, who was strafing to the right. The hasty shots from the paintball guns sent the rounds wide as both parties moved to avoid the projectiles.
Judy began firing at the other fox as well, watching him constantly pick himself up and throw himself in whatever direction and behind all the walls he could to avoid the paintballs. He was returning fire, but missed just as often as they did, until his weapon finally ran out of paint and spat out air.
A curse was uttered as he sprinted for and rolled behind the bell tower, disappearing from their view. "Flanking right!" Nick said, beginning to run to the bell tower, leaving the rabbit to strafe left. As she did so, she felt three paintballs hit her in the leg, stomach, and neck, making her call out the hits and take a knee. Dust was rounding the corner, ears flattened against his head as he began circling the building, the unique sidearm they were given in his paws. The MP7 was at his hip, magazine empty. Nick rounded the corner just as Dust disappeared around the opposite one.
They were circling one another, and they kept up until the third circle. Dust broke the cycle, turning around just before he disappeared from Judy's view again and sprinting to the corner facing her. He dove to the side, parallel to the ground, just as Nick rounded the corner. A few shots later, and Nick held up both his paws – but not before Dust did the same.
The rabbit and black-splattered fox walked over to the comparably vibrant Dust, who was just laying there and panting, not having moved from his position on the ground. Nick was also panting, but significantly less so. "That was slick," he commented, leaning down with an outstretched paw to help up the other fox, who took it with thanks.
"Thanks," came the quiet response. "I didn't think that would work."
"Well," Judy said, looking over both herself and Nick. "It did, and it almost won you the game. Nice play." She extended a paw out to Dust, to shake it, which he took and did with a nod, followed by his shaking Nick's paw. They began heading to the entrance, mostly in silence, until Judy spoke at something that bothered her.
"Hey, Dust? How'd you get out the room?" she asked, looking at the taller reynard.
"I jumped out the window," he said simply. "It was the only available exit."
Judy nodded after a moment, shrugging a bit. They hadn't considered that as an option.
Bil was waiting just inside as the group entered. In silence, he took their gear and put it in their respective places within the black locker before handing back their phones and Dust's earbuds.
"That was a good game," the hare commented, standing before the door. "But, the winner is Carolina and York. The paint will come out with a normal washing. We hope to see you all again."
With that, he opened the door and let the other three pass through before walking out himself, letting the door swing shut.
Judy's ears drooped in confusion at the massing of mammals around the paintball area. Wolves, elephants, and other mammals were cheering at the group as they walked out. She looked up to Nick, but he seemed just as lost as she was. Dust seemed to have his neutral expression back, minus his sports glasses. Paws in pockets, he paused and looked over the crowd, most of whom were reaching down to give him a low-four, which he hesitantly obliged to.
A coyote reached down as the trio passed by the end of the group. "Yo, that was awesome! I don't know how you three learned to play like that, but I wanna know!"
Dust shrugged and offered a nervous chuckle. "Uh... To be honest, there's no secret. Just luck on my end. These two are better, though."
"But still, you almost took 'em both down, two on one! Come on, you're telling me there's no secret?" the coyote pushed. His jaw dropped a bit when Dust shook his head again.
"Just lucky," he said, before walking off, Judy and Nick at his side.
The group continued in silence, walking to the front entrance. When they broke through to the sunlight, both foxes hissed and scrambled to shield their eyes with sunglasses.
"Alright, Dust," Judy said, resting her paws on her hips as she gave him a defeated look. Nick set a paw on her shoulder. "What do we do?"
The hooded reynard looked at the mammals before him in silence, opening his mouth to respond when his stomach growled. He looked down and shrugged lightly.
"Know any good places to eat?"