The Good Life
AN: Day late again, as usual. Not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but I think I did well enough for a scene that I struggled with immensely.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Bad Guys or Zootopia.
Chapter Twelve:
Even with it being nearly midnight, the city was still alive with activity. Not as much as during the day, obviously, but a city this size never really slept. There were always people going from one place to another for some reason or other. Most of those, however, were probably headed to work or just passing through the city on their way to somewhere else. They weren't heading for the starting line of an illegal street race.
He cruised through the well-lit streets of Savannah Central towards the wall separating this part of the city from Sahara Square. The meet was near there. His radio was off once more. He kept his speed within the limit and always used a signal to turn or change lanes. The last thing he wanted was to get pulled over for some minor traffic violation, so he kept his eyes peeled. He glanced at every alley and side road he passed in case there was a cop there and checked the mirrors regularly to make sure he wasn't being followed.
Thankfully, nothing interrupted his drive.
As he approached the meet, the other drivers started turning in from other roads until they were two wide and three deep. When they stopped at the red light on this relatively quiet road, the habitation wall looming above them on the right, he was in the front right position. Joe was next to him, and when he noticed the other wolf rolling down his window, he did the same.
The sound of revving engines, turbo flutters, and supercharger whines blasted through the open window. "Nervous?" Joe called.
"Funnily enough, I was about to ask you that question," Wolf returned with a cocky smirk, which only made Joe snort. Also, ironically, he'd been nervous the whole drive here, but now that the race was imminent, he was excited.
They both rolled up their windows, and Wolf revved his own engine. One foot was on the gas, the other on the clutch. His right hand was on the shifter, ready to slam the car into gear as soon as the light turned green. His gaze never left the red light. Once the other street got the yellow light, Wolf floored the gas, and when their light turned green, he was off immediately in a storm of tire smoke.
Joe's all-wheel-drive Audi pulled ahead at launch, but it didn't take long for his car's sheer acceleration to overtake the German car. The Supra fell behind, thankfully, its power simply too much to use at launch. The Viper was immediately on his tail, though, and the Mazda wasn't far behind. It was relatively underpowered when compared to the other cars, but it was lightweight, which meant it would go around corners a whole lot better than his Camaro.
He didn't shift gears until he was almost to the red line, and he was halfway through second gear when he hit had to hit the brakes for the first left. The viper came startlingly close to hitting him, but they were collision free on the first turn, which is where the Mazda pulled ahead, only for the two muscle cars to pass it again once they were able to open up. Now on a busier road, they had to dodge traffic, too.
The first light was green, so they just sailed straight through it to a flurry of honking horns and angry yells. Moments later, more honks came, and Wolf glanced at his rear-view mirror to see the Toyota flying down the road. Already there was some distance between the two muscle cars, the Audi behind them, the Mazda behind Joe, and the Supra was already passing into fourth place.
He looked forward again just in time to swerve right to dodge a car. The sound of static came from his passenger seat. "Watch the road, man! Haha!" That sounded like Michael, the guy in the Viper right behind him. They must have snuck a radio into his car when they searched it at the warehouse.
He looked over at the seat long enough to spot the thing, and he grabbed it, clicking the speak button. "I was. Just behind me. That Toyota's fast."
"I know it is!" Jorge laughed. "Faster than yours, I bet!"
The road ahead forked into a Y, and they took the right road, having to go into the other lanes briefly to bypass the sitting traffic at the light. "I'm starting to regret agreeing to this," Gary commented over the radio. A quick glance showed that, yeah, he was just now coming around the last corner in dead last.
"The curvy bits at the end of the route should work in our favor," Joe responded, his Audi steadily falling behind. "Just make sure to take whatever curves you can faster than them."
Wolf and the Viper were still neck and neck, the two cars having strikingly similar power curves, apparently. The Supra was just passing the Audi now, which meant it was fast approaching the two leaders. "Make way for me!" the tiger taunted, him having to actually slow down a bit to prevent ramming into his opponents. Once the traffic in the other lanes cleared up for a minute, he blasted past.
Wolf glanced at his speedometer. "We're doing 140 right now, and you passed us like we were standing still." And in the time that he was speaking, they hit 150 and were still climbing.
The next left turn came in sight when the crested the top of a small hill and began going down the other side. It was a busy intersection, and they needed to turn left on a red. Ahead, he could hear Jorge blasting his horn as he drifted through the traffic to continue along the route.
Three cars were run off the road, but that just cleared the way for him and Michael to drive through with the other two a couple seconds behind them. "There's police chatter on the radio," King reported. He must be monitoring the situation from back at his warehouse.
"So what do we do if they start chasing us during the race?" Wolf asked as he hit the brakes to turn right on the next intersection. He had to toss the radio back onto the seat to shift back into first, but he still heard the response.
"Finish the race, and then lose them." That should be easy enough.
"Think you can do that, newbie?" Joe chuckled.
Wolf smirked and grabbed the radio again. "I've got fifteen years of experience as a getaway driver. What about you, 'Mr. I don't own a car'?"
"Not gonna lie, sort of forgot you were a getaway driver," Jorge commented, surprisingly serious. But then, unsurprisingly, his tone turned teasing. "Hasn't stopped you from being in second place, haha!"
"Oh ho ho...challenge accepted. Prepare to be humbled." Wolf flicked on the radio, holding the radio up to it for a minute, so they could hear the song he had cued up. 'Turbo Lover' by Judas Priest started playing, and he could hear a few chuckles through the radio.
"Sounds like Wolf is for serious now!" Michael laughed.
Wolf grinned, putting the radio back down. So far, he'd been treating this as a race and driving like he had been during the few tryouts he had. Now, he'd start imagining the cops behind him.
Of course, literally two seconds later, two cop cars turned onto the road, illuminating the whole street with reds and blues. "How did he do that?" Gary wondered. "We're talking about how Wolf is a getaway driver and knows how to run from the cops, and then cops show up."
"They must know he's for serious, too!" Joe chuckled.
With the familiar sirens and lights behind him, Wolf actually felt himself relaxing. He sighed and smiled fondly as he drifted around the next corner, sliding perfectly between two other cars that the Viper had to slow down and go around. Now in second place and gaining distance from the others, he saw the Supra ahead and floored it. "I missed this..." he whispered to himself.
Being good was great and all, but it was frustrating when the world wouldn't even give him the chance to show them that he'd changed. Being behind the wheel of his car with police lights in his rearview felt like stress relief in comparison. It was what he was used to, after all.
No longer was he trying to keep a clean line, managing the gas and brakes to optimize momentum and grip around corners. Now, he was just letting the car go sideways and swerving in and out of traffic with mere inches to spare. "Holy hell! He's a mad man!" Michael shouted incredulously over the radio.
He checked the clock as they took an on ramp onto the interstate. They were about three minutes into the race, so they were past the halfway point. They took the next exit, and he was slowly but steadily gaining on the Supra as the other cars fell behind. The road they were looking for ran parallel to the interstate, and he spied a newer tow truck with a hydraulic ramp sitting on the overpass just ahead. The ramp was down, and three people were pushing a broken-down car up to it.
The exit ramp was packed with cars, which really slowed down the Toyota, but Wolf ignored it altogether and hit the ramp, flying over the bridge rails and sailing through the air until he hit the road. This sort of thing is why he had heavy-duty shocks on his car. Might as well make use of them. He had to jerk the wheel a bit to keep straight when he landed, but his car kept on going.
"What the!? What!? Did you just!?" The tiger's incredulous sputters were music to his ears.
"Who's in second place now?" he taunted as he turned right on the next road. More cops had steadily been joining the chase during the last few miles, and three more were heading straight at him in staggered formation. He glanced at his mirror again to see the Toyota rounding the corner. "Check this."
He cut left as if he was going to go around the first cop that way, and when the cop reacted accordingly, he cut right, going into a drift as they skirted each other with no contact. Once his tail end got past him, he threw the car in reverse and gunned it, which got him past the second and third. Then, he J-turned, threw it back into gear, and kept going.
There was utter silence over the radio, and he looked in his mirror to see the Supra wrapped around a light pole. Cop cars were already cutting off any avenue of escape and blockading the road. He winced at the sight but knew there was nothing he could do as he entered the final few corners.
No one was behind him by the time he crossed the finish line. A few seconds later, King came over the radio. "Congratulations on the win, Wolf. Come by tomorrow night, and your payment will be waiting for you."
Wolf pulled into a parking lot and shut the car off to lay low for a while. Then, he grabbed the radio and responded. "Thanks. Do all of your races get interrupted by cops?"
"Most, but not all," was the simple reply. "Like I said before. High risk, high reward."
"Speaking of: Jorge wrecked. His car was surrounded by cops last I saw. And I don't think the others made it past, either." He wasn't far from the finish, so he would've seen them come by if they had. "None of them have crossed the finish, at least."
"We're still going, Wolf, don't worry," Joe came over the radio. "Since you won, we went ahead and broke off. No point in finishing anymore, anyway."
"Yeah, but I think the entire ZPD is on my tail right now," Gary reported. "I count at least seven cars." There was a moment of silence and then the squeal of tires. "I've been PITted, guys." The shouts of angry cops came over the radio after that declaration, and then came the sound of a car door opening before it went to silence.
"Michael, what about you?" King asked.
"Laying low. I lost them, but they're not far away. I can see the lights on the buildings." There was a pause. "I'm ditching the car for now. I'll try and get away on foot. I'd suggest you do the same, Wolf."
"Meet you at the apartment, neighbor. I'll check back in once I meet up with him," Joe said next, and then the radio went silent as Wolf turned it off. Loathe as he was to just leave his car here, he knew that was probably the best thing to do. Like Michael, he could see the police lights on the buildings, and as he got out, one passed the lot he was sitting in, making him freeze for a split second before it drove past.
He took two steps after locking his car, and then paused. "What am I doing?" he muttered. He turned back to the car, got back in, cranked it up, and then got on the radio. "Michael, stay in your car. I'll draw the cops off for you."
"Dude, bad idea," or a delineation thereof, was the immediate reply from everyone else.
"Don't worry. This is what I do." He pulled out of the parking lot and stopped in the middle of the road, revving his engine as a challenge to the cops down the street. That one car that passed by earlier stopped and turned around while two others turned the corner on the other side of the street. To himself, he muttered, "Catch me if you can, coppers." Then, he floored it.
Surprisingly enough, during the chase he learned that the ZPD cops weren't as good drivers as the LAPD cops. He actually had to slow down to let the cops keep up with him as he led them on a merry chase around the north part of Savannah Central and into the Rainforest District. Every time he turned a corner and there wasn't a cop right behind him, he slowed down until there was, and then he took off again.
Once they were deep into the Rainforest District, he decided that that was long enough, so he endeavored to lose them in the twisty backroads of the dark jungle biome. And he did. Easily.
A quick glance at his clock showed he'd had the cops on a goose chase for nearly thirty minutes, and his tank was nearing a quarter. He stopped at a gas station to fill up, surprisingly without incident, and then headed home the long way through Tundratown, Sahara Square, and then back into the southern portion of Savannah Central.
He pulled into the dark parking garage and parked in his normal spot halfway between the entrance and the elevator. As he stepped out of the car, he realized that the garage's lights were shut off, but that realization came just as several bright beams of light blinded him, and he covered his eyes in reflex.
"Hands on your head!" someone shouted, and he complied. Even if he could see through the light and the inevitable spots in his vision, he could only guess that the entrance was blocked off as soon as the lights came on.
When the beams of light finally moved away from his face, he opened his eyes and saw the whole parking garage lit up by red and blues. Three cop cars had been hiding on the other side of the dividing wall, which is why he hadn't seen them on the way in.
Two people were instantly recognizable. Nick Wilde was standing just a few feet in front of him, twirling a pair of handcuffs around his finger with a smirk. And then, behind the fox stood a rhino with a stun gun aimed right at Wolf. It was the same officer who pulled him and Snake over the day they arrived. The guy must have remembered his plate number and told the other officers where he lived.
"Not gonna lie...this feels good." Wolf just glared at the fox but sighed as he lowered his arms to be handcuffed. As Nick stuffed him in the back of a police cruiser, he had to wonder how mad Diane was going to be when she heard about this.
AN: Yes, Officer McHorn remembered that little incident from eleven chapters ago, and Nick finally has his revenge. But Wolf's question is accurate. How much trouble is he going to be in?
Let me know what you think about the chapter since I'm not entirely satisfied with it. Is it serviceable? Is it a bit dry to read?
Until Next Time
AdmiralCole22