Author's note: This chapter contains violence. In comparison, this isn't the most violent I have written, but by standards to 'VeggieTales', it is pretty violent...just a warning. No deaths, just violence.

Jail Break

EARLIER THAT NIGHT…

Bumblyburg Prison

7:30 PM

Commissioner Scooter sat in his chair, monotonously filling out and signing papers with his pen. Sure, being the head of the police department was nice, but the workload weighed as much as the benefits.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Scooter glanced up from his desk and saw Inspector Razz on the otherside of the glass. After pushing a button, the door buzzed as it unlocked, and the Inspector stepped in.

"Ah, Inspector Razz," Scooter greeted as the Inspector took a seat in front of his desk, "what do ya got for me?"

"All prisoners are accounted for," Inspector Razz reported, "our patrols are getting ready to head out for night patrols."

"Aye, good ta know." Scooter remarked and leaned back in his seat.

"Sir, may I ask a question?" wondered Inspector Razz.

"Sure, go ahead lad." Scooter permitted.

"Is it true that this prison use to be just a police station?"

"Aye, tis once was," Scooter told, "but that was before I had that meetin' with the Mayor. Ya see, criminals used to regularly break out every week, but after that meetin', Bumblyburg Police Station was turned into a prison."

"Ah, I was wondering." Commented Inspector Razz.

"Turns out that a prison is better for containin' criminals than a station, am I right Inspector?"

"Yes sir."

"Not only that, Land-Air Security Incorporated gave us some fancy paintball guns and safety systems shortly after the prison was open."

"That explains our high security detail." remarked Inspector Razz.

"Aye, tis very high," Scooter added, "we hold 600 inmates. All criminals and villains."

"Bumblyburg has that many bad guys?"

"Ya should've seen the numbers after the Bad Apple had returned!"

MEANWHILE…

"Listen up everyone," a voice calmly informed over a channel, "because he isn't preoccupied tonight, the boss will be with us when we hit 'em. We have enough time to get in and get out, but the boss wants us to do this as quick as we can. Remember, shoot any cop or non-criminal you see in there. No hostages whatsoever. And make sure your targets are unconscious after you shoot them."

All the members and henchmen checked their colorful ammunition, night vision goggles, and their armed paintball guns.

"Why can't we take hostages?" asked one of the henchmen.

"That part comes later." rasped a deep, watery voice over the channel. Everyone tuned in on the channel felt a jib of fear from hearing the voice.

"Boss, is everything ready?" asked the first voice.

"Indeed, Hector, everything is in place." the boss told him.

"Is everyone ready?" Hector Scallion asked. Multiple voices confirmed over the channel.

"On your go, sir." Hector stated.

The channel was filled with faint static and silence.

"Franco, cut the power," the boss ordered, "the mission is a go."

(…,,,…,,,)

There was a sharp crack, followed by an explosion, and then all the lights turned off.

"Aaahh, mommy!" Scooter exclaimed and bolted out from his chair.

"Still afraid of the dark, sir?" asked Inspector Razz as he turned on his flashlight.

"I'm trying to get over it." Scooter admitted and calmed down. He tried using the intercom, but since the power was gone, it was useless.
Instead, he switched on their personal radios.

"Captain Lovenski, what's goin' on?" Scooter demanded over the prison security radio channel.

"Power's been shut off," the police captain reported with his Russian accent, "I've sent a team to investigate. Good news is dhat da emergency locks activated. Criminals are still locked-"

Static suddenly erupted on the radio channel, then an accommodating low boom that shook the entire building.
Shortly after that, there were sounds of paintball guns firing somewhere in the prison.

"Captain, are ye there?" Scooter demanded.

"Return fire!" the captain's voice shouted over. More gunshots echoed in the compound.

"All officers, we are under attack!" Scooter barked on the channel.

"Petunia!" the cucumber exclaim with joy as he quickened his pace.

"Larry!" the red hair rhubarb rejoiced as she rushed up to meet him.

A dozen of black vans smashed through the prison's main gate. Before the police could react, the passengers in the vans had already disembarked and open fired with their silenced weapons. Within a few seconds, the station police guards were laying on the ground, unconscious and covered in paint splatters.

"Teams four through twelve get inside. The rest of you sweep the fences. Take out every guard you cross. Drivers, head back to base." Hector ordered. The teams complied with their orders, and the now emptied black vans backed out and drove away from the prison.

Hector lead the teams into the main lobby, and took out any policeman they saw. There were a few panicking citizens in the lobby; Hector took out two while the rest were taken out by others.

"Fan out." Hector ordered them. Hector mentally listed two reasons why the cops were so easy to take out: the police couldn't see in the dark while on the other hand they had night vision goggles on, and the flashlights gave away any police's position.

(…,,,…,,,)

"Get to the armory; I'll head this way." Commissioner Scooter ordered as they exited his office.

"Yes sir!" Inspector Razz called back as they rushed in the opposite ways. Fortunately, there were a number police officers in the office cubicles just outside the Commissioner's office.

"Five of you come with me," Inspector Razz barked, "the rest of you go back up the Commissioner."

Without a minute to spare, five police officers accompanied Inspector Razz, and the rest of the policemen went after the Commissioner.

"Commissioner, I sent some men to escort you." Inspector Razz informed on the radio.

"Thank ya lad." Scooter's voice replied back.

"Alright, let's move." Inspector Razz ordered, and they rushed out of the office room. The assembled squad rounded a corner, and made their way down the corridor in the direction of the armory.

They all stopped as they heard something hit the ground with a clank behind them. They turned around and shined their flashlights down the hallway. Inspector Razz shined his light on the ground and saw the cover for the air duct. Immediately, he pointed his flashlight and pistol at the open air duct above.

"They're above us." Inspector Razz told the five police officers. The policemen aimed their pistols up and shined their lights on the dark air duct opening. Each of them were nervous and gripped with adrenaline. Before Inspector Razz could inform on the radio about the air ducts, something dropped from the air duct.

"Flashbang!" one of the officers shouted, but it was too late. There was a brilliant, painful flash of white light that left the officers temporarily blind; it was accompanied by an ear shattering bang. Inspector Razz leaned against the wall to stable himself as he tried to regain his sight and sound. He could barely hear the sound of paintball guns firing and paintballs whizzing past him. Then there were impactful stings on his body, and then the world blacked out, and Inspector Razz barely felt the cold floor smack against his head.

(…,,,…,,,)

"Clear." the pea henchmen reported and dropped down from the air duct. Seven more armed vegetables slipped out of the air duct and went around the six downed policemen. They proceeded towards the office room while pressed closely against the walls. They entered the office room and found nobody present. As four members searched the cubicles for any remaining cop, three members braced themselves against the Commissioner's office. With a nod, one of them busted the door open with the butt of their gun, and the three stormed into the empty office room.

"This is Franco, we cleared the office room, but the Commissioner isn't here." one of the three reported on their own channel.

"Find him." the boss ordered harshly.

"Yes boss." Franco replied as they exited the Commissioner's office. Just for the fun of it, Franco tossed into a paintball grenade into the Commissioner's office. In a second,

there was a blast, and everything in the office was covered in sticky paint.

"You know, sometimes I miss the Rhubarb Scorpion." Larry remarked with a sly look on his face. Petunia returned his expression with a smirk.

"Well, we all know that Rhubarb Scorpion had given up the superhero life." Petunia added.

IN THE CELL LEVEL…

The policemen and attackers were fighting on both the ground of the Cell Level and the upper deck area. The prisoners were all awake at the sudden chaos.

"What's going on!" shouted an inmate in his locked cell. His voice was hardly heard over the exchange of paintball guns firing and the shouting of both attackers and policemen.

"I don't know!" shouted another inmate from the otherside. The whole level was suddenly filled with shouts and screams from the inmates.

"Vhy is zhis happening!"

"Free us!"

"Save me Lampy!"

"I can't see anything!"

"Don't panic Cubby!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Frank! Jessie! Get me outta here!"

"The paint! It smells!"

All the imprisoned criminals caught whiff of the splattered paintballs littering everywhere and half of them gagged. While paintballs could never kill anyone, they were known for their force and stench.

"Upper floor secured!" shouted one of the attackers. Several of the criminals held up on that floor cheered.

"Fire down below!" requested another attacker on the lower floor. The armed attackers leaned over the railing above and fired down upon any police officer below on the lower floor. After a few solid minutes, both the floors were littered with unconscious cops and wretched paint splatters everywhere.

"Get us out!" one of the imprisoned criminals demanded. All of a sudden, every villain and evil-doer was shouting for their freedom, either with pleas or threats.

"Did Ricochet and S-Cape ever figure out who was the fastest?"

"Surprisingly no; it always ends of in some sort of tie. They even agreed to cheat on a race just to solve who was faster, and they still tied!"

Commissioner Scooter made his way down the hallway with the squad of policemen behind him. Reluctantly, the officers let Commissioner Scooter take point. With his flashlight, the Scottish carrot saw the outline of a flashbang grenade being tossed from around the right corner.

"Close yer eyes!" Commissioner Scooter barked. There was a bang and the momentarily blinding flash of light. Luckily for Scooter, his well atoned eyes adjusted in a mere second, for he was practically immune to flashy lights. He ran forward and lunged himself at the corner.
Twisting himself right as he leapt pass the corner, he shined his flashlight on four potatoes wielding paintball guns and night vision goggles.

The potatoes spotted him and fired. He barely felt the paintballs whiz past his moustache. As he hit the ground, Scooter fired his pistol, splattering a paintball against each of the potatoes' foreheads and knocking them out cold. Scooter picked himself up and glanced back at the squad following him. They were just now recovering from the flashbang.

"Come on, let's go lads!" Commissioner Scooter encouraged and resumed leading the squad. What he didn't see was the four attackers following silently behind them.

(…,,,…,,,)

"Come out and fight cowards!" a different carrot police officer taunted. Two teams of attackers had successfully cornered a police squadron in the briefing room. Unfortunately, there was only one way into the briefing room, and the policemen had all pointed their weapons at it.

"Boss, we have a bunch cornered in the briefing room," Hector reported on the channel, "we can't get in whatsoever."

"Must I do everything?" groaned the boss with his low water-logged voice.

INSIDE THE BRIEFING ROOM…

"Do you think they given up?" asked one of the eight policemen.

"No." answered another flatly.

Suddenly, something dropped down from the air duct and landed on a pea officer with a thud, knocking the officer out. One of the police officers spotted the new attacker and aimed, but the attacker knocked the pistol away and grabbed the carrot officer.
The tall attacker whirled around and used the carrot officer as a shield just as the other policemen were taking aim at him.

"No wai-" the carrot officer being used as a shield shouted right before the other police accidently fired on him.

"No!" an asparagus officer shouted and charged at the attacker. The figure shoved the unconscious carrot officer at the charging policeman and lunged at another in the opposite direction. The charging asparagus collided with the unconscious carrot thrown at him as the figure tackled the corn officer.
When the corn officer hit the ground, the figure did a handstand and spun around, kicking a cucumber policeman in the face and sending him flying across the room. After landing the kick, the figure pushed up into the air and brought down a knee into the corn's face, knocking him out.

Glancing up, the figure saw two cauliflower taking aim at him. In less than a second, the figure propelled himself at the two and grabbed ahold of their faces. Still propelling forward, the figure slammed the two cauliflower officers into the wall, cracking it and knocking them out cold.

By then, the asparagus had recovered from having the carrot officer thrown at him. Instantly, the asparagus took aim with his pistol. The attacker saw his out of the corner of his eye, and dodged the shots at the last second. He then rolled over towards a pile of folded metal chairs, snatched one, and flung it at the asparagus. The asparagus ducked as the folded chair flew over him and broke a section of the wall behind him.

"What the-" was all the asparagus managed to say as he stood back up, but then another chair struck him dead on, and sent him crashing into a table.

The attacker slowly started to make his way out of the room, when there was a shot, and a paintball splattered against the side of his head.

The last officer standing watched in horror as the figure slowly turned and glared at him. The officer was struck with so much fear, he couldn't even fire the remaining paintballs in the pistol.

Without a word, the figure back handed the last officer, who crashed unconsciously into the corner.

(…,,,…,,,)

Hector peered into the briefing room. He saw all eight officers scattered throughout the room, all of them knocked out. He then saw his boss standing there with paint splattered on the side of his head.

"Fish Taco, are you ok?" Hector asked as the two teams filed into the room.

Fish Taco wiped the paint off the side of his head with his fin.

"Never better, Hector." Fish Taco remarked.

Fish Taco was a tall fish that stood on his two caudal fins, and used his two pectoral fins as arms. He wore a metal rebreather around his mouth filled with water, which altered his voice. The apparatus itself clamped tightly around his head, and there was a spike that ran up between his eyes.
The spike juttered up, almost looking like a dorsal fin of a shark.

"Boss, we have the Commissioner." reported one of his men on the channel. Fish Taco adjusted his headset piece.

"Good, bring him to the Cell Level." Fish Taco ordered.

"Sir, all perimeter guards are taken out." reported another team leader on the com.

"Sweep through the prison to find any of our men, we do not leave here without them." Fish Taco instructed everyone via comlink.

"I didn't know we have the policy of leaving no vegetable behind." Hector remarked as the two teams and Fish Taco exited the briefing room.

"We don't," corrected Fish Taco, "we leave no one for them to interrogate."

"What?" Larry asked.

"You got a moustache." Petunia giggled. Larry realized that he had a smudge of chocolate on his upper lip.

All of the attackers had gathered up in the darkened Cell Level, awaiting their leader. Their unconscious members were placed against a wall; they would be carried back afterwards. All of the attackers were now crowded in the two floors of the Cell Level, vigorously chanting two words over and over.

"Fish-Fish Ta-co, Ta-co! Fish-Fish Ta-co, Ta-co! Fish-Fish Ta-co, Ta-co! Fish-Fish Ta-co, Ta-co!"

Their chanting drowned out all the other sounds from the imprisoned criminals around them. Up above, Fish Taco walked over to the middle of an outstretched catwalk. The chanting only seemed to become louder at his presence. Fish Taco raised up his fin-arms, and all of them ceased chanting. An eerie and cold silence filled the room before Fish Taco started talking.

"My mercenaries…" Fish Taco proclaimed, his voice echoing everywhere in the Cell Level, "we are successful!"

His mercenaries all cheered, their voices filling the Cell Level.

"We have taken Bumblyburg Prison," Fish Taco summarized, "and we have also…"

He motioned to his side, and Hector brought out an unconscious Commissioner Scooter.

"…taken out, Commissioner Scooter! Which is impossible, given his reputation and abilities. But…we have done the impossible!" Fish Taco seized Commissioner Scooter's body and held him up. His followers shouted with triumph.

"Aside from this," Fish Taco resumed, tossing the Scottish Carrot aside near the edge of the catwalk, "we are now able to proceed with our plan. Attention inmates of Bumblyburg Prison!"

All of the prisoners paid attention, either out of boredom or interest.

"Although you can't see it, I hold in my fin the release button that will free you all." Fish Taco proclaimed, but then glanced at the device.
"I question why they even have one in the first place." he muttered quietly before resuming his speech.

"When I push this button, you all will be free from this prison." Fish Taco stated, and as if he could read minds he added, "Some of you are thinking that there is a catch to this. There isn't."

With that said, he pushed the button. An alarm klaxon rang, and in unison, all the prison cell cages unlocked and cranked open. Slowly, the criminals started to step out of their containment, not sure if they could trust his word or not.

"What I would like to do is make an offer…" Fish Taco continued, "This little incident was only part of our plan. We have bigger things ahead of us, and so far, everything is going accordingly as 'planned'. My offer is this: join us in our master plan. If you don't, you are free to do whatever you want after we leave here. If you decide to join, my mercenaries will show you the way." Fish Taco finished.

The moment he finished, the mercenaries started moving out as fast as they stormed, taking their unconscious teammates with them.
As they moved, they continued to chant their leader's name.

"Fish-Fish Ta-co, Ta-co! Fish-Fish Ta-co, Ta-co!"

Fish Taco didn't bother to count how many villains and evil-doers were going with them. Turning his attention to the unconscious Police Commissioner, he grabbed him with one fin and carried him across the catwalk. Once at the end of the catwalk, Fish Taco made his way over to an empty cell, and tossed Commissioner Scooter into the corner. Without remorse, Fish Taco pulled the cage door shut and locked it. Looking to his side, he found his second-in-command, Hector Scallion, waiting for him.

"Let's move." Fish Taco muttered, and they two left the knocked out Commissioner in his cell.

"Good night Larry." Petunia sighed, right before she drove off.

"You too Petunia!" Larry called back; he wasn't sure if she heard him or not.

OUTSIDE…

Fish Taco's mercenaries were moving fast, making their way out of the Prison, and to the streets. They started climbing into the manholes in the streets and slipping into the sewers. Many of the super villains followed, as well as some evil-doers. The others took to the streets and rooftops.

The Prison's power was still out, and would remain out until dawn. All of Bumblyburg's night police force was incapacitated for the time being.

With satisfactory results of the night, Fish Taco silently pulled the manhole over his head as he descended into the sewers.

Although Bumblyburg had no idea, the city was in danger.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's note: So basically, this chapter was happening at the same time as the previous one. Was the violence too much? I don't really think so. After all, it was paintball and nobody died.