Murderous Lambs

The high noon sun slowly drifted towards the horizon, but Wolf sped down the highway at a record pace. If he was trying to outrun the sun, he might've won. The ringing in his pocket only enraged him more. They weren't going to convince him any other way. The GR888 folder was in the passenger seat. He glanced at it.

He couldn't simply let this go.

Not anymore.

The west bridge came into view, but traffic blocked the entrance. "GRAAAAH! Dang it! Now what?"

He jumped when he heard a knock on the passenger window. It was a biker with a familiar silver plated helmet. They pointed to his roof.

He knew it was Lambs and he knew she was trying to find Luggins too.

What he had to remember was that he was in a police car. Wolf turned on the lights and the road magically cleared away.

But just when he did that, a blue car sped onto the shoulder lane and darted down the road. "Oh no you don't," Wolf growled. Lambs and Wolf raced down the lane with still cars flying by them. For a moment, Wolf wondered why the cars were backed up this badly; the west bridge isn't usually this crowded.

He got his answer when he saw the line of cars suddenly stop and a massive blockade of police vehicles stood between the bridge and the exit out of the city. Luggins sped up.

Lambs sped up.

Grinding his teeth, Wolf sped up.

The three barreled right through the blockade. "Come on, she's gonna get away," Wolf grumbled to himself.

Suddenly, a helicopter hovered over the bridge before them. It buzzed around the widest part of the bridge where it could easily land.

"That's my cue." Lambs pulled out her disruptor and aimed. "Time we had a talk, Misty." A bright blue ball of electrical energy shot out of the bazooka-like weapon, and the car skirted to a halt, crashing into one of the side railings on the bridge.

Smoke and a wheezing sound plummet out of the vehicle while Luggins collapsed out of the car, limping over to the side of the bridge. But the motorcycle screeched to a halt right in front of her, holding a gun right at her face. "Sorry love," Lambs rasped. "This running stops now."

"Lillia, I-"

"Save your breath."

Wolf jumped out of the car, gritting and snarling. His rage-filled eyes narrowed on Luggins. He didn't even notice his team clambering out of their car. He didn't hear or see anything until he felt several hands stop him. He looked left and right, seeing Diane, Snake, and Shark by his side. "Let me go! Let me GO!"

"Wolf, what's wrong with you?!" Snake shouted. "Calm down!"

"Let me go! She doesn't deserve to be a cop let alone outside of prison!"

"You know nothing about me," Luggins huffed, struggling to get to her feet. "At least I'm not a criminal."

Wolf snapped the others off of him, marching right up to Luggins' face. "You're worse than I could ever be!" He shouted, pointing at her face. "At least Lambchop over here wasn't shy enough to admit what you did!"

"Wolf!" Snake shouted, "Calm down. Tell us what's wrong."

"This!" He threw down the Manila file. Luggins paled and tried to snatch it, but Bill quickly rested his feet on it. He picked it up and scanned through it.

"This is... is a report on the Murderous Lambs," Bill said.

Diane's eyes widened. "I know them. They were two of the best hitmen-"

"Hitwomen, honey," Lambs corrected with a smirk.

"You... you're one of them?" Bill asked.

Lambs pointed to Luggins and pushed her to her knees, "And here's the other one."

"She's lying!" Luggins shouted. "You're going to trust a criminal over-"

"Oh, so she's a criminal?" Wolf shouted. "Even though you're the one who dumped her?"

"Don't you dare-"

"Criminal, huh? That's a funny name to call your ex-wife!" Wolf roared. The wind from the helicopter blades stilled. The echo of Wolf's voice bounced around the iron and asphalt. Everyone could see the world that Luggins methodically worked to construct crumble to the ground like a tower made of glass.

Bill and Bob looked through more of the folder. "Robberies, thefts, murders. A doz'n of the boys went missing or quit abruptly?" Bob reported.

"Which makes Luggins the convenient lone official on the record," Bill added.

"It's all lies!" Luggins shouted.

"So," Bob glared as his face reddened, "A bunch of our boys suddenly vanished except you?"

"Association with a hit... woman, tampering with evidence, possible blackmailing or worse if we look into those officers, and other tactics that wouldn't just get her fired but would definitely land her in jail. It makes sense that she would try to hide it," Bill said, giving the folder to the other Bad guys.

"Wow," Shark whistled, "You two look like a dynamic duo. And look at young Misty, she's so cute! Look at the pudgy cheeks."

"You... you can't believe any of this," Luggins called to Bob and Bill. "You're going to trust these criminals over me? A commanding officer of the law?!" Bob and Bill looked at each other, sighing as they cuffed her. "What's the meaning of this?!"

"That's the thing, Chief," Bob sighed, "You were always worried about bad guys. But you just proved that true enemies are closer than you think." Wolf looked over to Lambs who only winked. "You're under arrest."

"Actually, I don't think that's necessary," Lambs went up to Luggin's face, aiming a stun gun at her. "Seem familiar?"

"Lambs, what are you doing?" Wolf said.

"You want to know why I hunted her down? It was a simple mission, me and her. Another hit. We had just finished this mugger off when everything went black for me. I woke up later in a police prison charged with the death of an officer. I didn't know what they were talking about until I realized that my EX decided to throw me under the bridge. She used a stun gun on me just like this one. When I busted out of prison, everything was gone. The only thing I had was that stupid wedding watch."

"Wedding watch?" Wolf said slowly. "Wait, the watches in the photos. The one you used for the tracker. That was your wedding... watch?"

"Why a watch?" Snake asked.

"Well, I don't have good fingers now, do I?" Lambs grunted back, waving her hoof.

"Lambs, I'm sorry-"

"No, you're not," Lambs shook her head. "You and I both know that you could've told me what you wanted and I would've let you go. No, you did it because you wanted more. You weren't satisfied with the job OR me. So you decided to just... leave," Tears started to streak Lambs' face, though she still held the stun gun at Luggins' head. "You just left me there to rot in your place simply because you wanted more. I wanted more, Misty! I wanted to make a family with you. I wanted to give it up. I wanted to give up all of that for a better life! But you were greedy. I should've never met you when you were a bartender!"

Wolf slowly walked up to Lambs's side. "Then... why did she-"

"She knew what I was going to do," Lambs grunted. "She read my diary and panicked. She thought I would leave the business and let her take the blame. The night I wanted to talk to her about it was the night I wound up in the slammer. And when she realized she couldn't do the hitwoman thing alone, she decided to do the next best thing. Why be the criminal when you can profit from taking the bad guys in? There's a reason why the Golden Dolphin is the hardest thing to steal, it had MY defense ideas. MY Plans! She stole everything from me!" She turned her head to Wolf. Water streaked her face like rivers. "Now tell me why I shouldn't tase her to her death?!"

Wolf froze. The gentle wind picked up, brushing against his gray fur. Boiling and chilling emotions ravaged Lambs' eyes. The creature had too much hurt inside of her. Too much pain. What could he possibly say to that? Two forces tugged at his brain. Wolf looked at Bill and Bob. Their arms and hands had a loose grip on Luggins. Right, the stun gun could spread its electricity and Luggins, to them, wasn't worth getting tased to death. He looked at his crew behind him. They couldn't find words to say. All he saw was dropped jaws and worried eyes. He looked at Diane. Her pleading eyes held an answer, but Wolf couldn't figure out what.

But he knew what he had to do. He knew what he had to say. He simply sighed, saying, "Because you're not as bad as her. Her mistakes don't have to be yours. You did what you came to do. Justice. Not revenge."

Lambs glared back at Luggins. The hand holding the stun gun trembled as more rebel tears streamed down. "Then why does revenge feel so good right now?" She asked in a raspy voice.

"Because you want your pain to mean something. You want the bad guy in your story to suffer like you did," Wolf said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "That's not how it goes, you know that." Lambs struggled not to burst into more tears. She wished to everything in the world that Wolf wouldn't be right. But he was.

As Lambs glared at Luggins, Wolf slowly lowered her taser. Lambs shut her eyes, sighing heavily as she wiped them.

"Take her away," Lambs said. Bob and Bill did so while Luggins dragged her feet along the asphalt, speechless. "I hope you can sleep better without her annoying you," Lambs sighed heavily.

"Are you alright?"

"I will be. Somehow," Lambs replied softly.

"It's good to send someone like that to jail," Wolf smiled. "So wait, bartender?"

"She still does it. Never lost her touch. Must have done so to drown away her guilt," Lambs sighed.

Diane quietly came up to both of them. "I hate to be that person, but we do have to arrest Lambs."

"What? Why?"

"Wolf, even if what she did overall was right, she still kidnapped you, threatened someone, and caused a lot of damage."

"Yeah, but-"

"It won't be long. In light of what Luggins did, I'm sure the most she'll get is a couple of... where did she go?"

Then they heard a motorcycle start up. Wolf laughed as he saw Lambs already on her bike, waving away.

"It was nice meeting you, Wolf. Hope we can meet again!" She sped past the police vans and cars and underneath the helicopter, disappearing across the west bridge out of town.

"She's... definitely different," Snake slithered up to Diane and Wolf.

"Luggins sure can pick them," Shark mentioned.

"I think it's more like Lambs can sure pick Luggins," Webs chuckled.

"So what do we do about her?" Diane sighed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find her. When she wants to be found," Wolf sighed, wrapping his arm around Foxington's waist, "Right now, you and I are going on a date and I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Oh! Mr. Big Brave Wolf finally decided to stop dancing around the name?"

"What can I say? Being kidnapped put me in a good mood," Mr. Wolf smirked.

"Uh huh," Diane smirked back.

Snake rolled his eyes. "We'll stay around to make sure everything's cleaned up."

"You sure?"

"You of all people deserve a rest from this whole mess," Snake grinned. "Go on and enjoy yourself you crazy kids."

"Thanks, Snake!" Wolf darted into the police car with Diane and drove off.

"Did he have to take my car?" Bill sighed.

Snake smiled, resting his tail on Bill's hip. "Don't worry about it, man. I'm sure he'll bring it back in one piece."

"You hope."

"I hope," Snake chuckled. Shaking his head, Bill followed the other Bad guys to the jail cell where they would finally put an end to the whole mystery of Lillia Lambs.

For now.

Continued...