The Explosion
I don't own The Bad Guys
A simple mission. That's what they were told. How a simple mission turned into such a mess was anyone's guess. Wolf sped down the road through the sparse arid landscape just outside the city. The mountain trailed behind him in his new black convertible; the old one was pretty beaten up from all of their adventures. The sun was setting, making the glint in Wolf's dark sunglasses shine. He stepped on the gas and rode towards Los Angeles city.
His phone rang.
"Hello!"
"Hey, where are you?" Called a familiar serpentine. "Luggins started getting worried about you. Thought you bailed on the mission."
"Why would I do that?"
"She said something of bad memories," Snake replied. Wolf chuckled. He knew what the Police Chief meant.
"Tell her I'm good. Just running a little late. Had to get the car tuned up."
"They're at the station waiting for you. We're already in position."
Wolf hung up and drove to the station faster than the speed limit allowed. He didn't get caught, so everything should be fine. Wolf chuckled to himself a bit. "Might want to make sure that Luggins doesn't know about those 'speeding' incidents," He mumbled to himself.
Parking in front, Wolf strolled up to the police station in his white suit, folding the sunglasses into his pants pocket. He opened the doors like a king. "I'm here."
"You're late," The Police Chief grumbled, placing her hands on her hips.
Wolf shrugged, patting the Chief's shoulder, "Don't worry, Luggins. I was getting my car... regulated."
The cop raised her eyebrow. "You actually do that?"
"Can't have you thinking bad of me," Wolf smirked.
"Did you care about that before or after you framed me for your ruby heist?"
"That's beside the point," Wolf replied. Luggins rolled her eyes as they walked down a white hall into a room with thousands of computer monitors and screens. Tech wizs typed furiously at the keys while a small spider stood at the middle control panel. "Is everything in position?"
"Yeah, Ms. Tarantula upgraded the security a while ago," Luggins grimaced.
Wolf rose his eyebrow. "Is that bad? You look bummed about it."
"I'm not, but she...burnt herself out several times in the process. I think she got a little upset about it."
"It's a challenge for her. Don't worry about it."
"How are you so relaxed?" Luggins asked.
"One, you're on my side this time," Wolf smiled, leaning his elbow on her shoulder. "Two, you have my friends as your friends."
"Quit jabbing your fin in my face!" The whole computer room heard wolf's friends over the coms. Video cameras showed Snake and Shark crammed into the back of a car with the driving police officer trying to keep his cool; Piranha was in a different van.
"That last one doesn't comfort me," Luggins muttered. Wolf groaned, rubbing his muzzle. "I want to make sure that there are no hiccups this time. When you guys tried to steal this, it was a major eye-opener, but someone can and will always find a way around the security." Luggins brushed her red hair with her hands. "And even though you're on our side, this thing needs to be put in the vault and never see the light of day again."
"Why?"
Luggins gave Wolf a side glance. "As fun as it is to catch bad guys with this thing, we have to keep upgrading the protection system just to make sure we're ahead of the game. Thousands of tax dollars go into that. And for what? Something only worth 500,000 dollars?"
Wolf jerked his head back. "Wait, the dolphin is only worth 500,000 dollars? Why?"
"No one wants to take it because people keep trying to steal it," Luggins grumbled. "The crooks just want to say they managed to steal something so hard to steal. If it were outside the states, it would be worth more."
Wolf looked at the screen showing the cargo. Golden Dolphin was ready for transport, perched on an immobile pedestal with a camera on every corner of the small armored police van. Police Chief Misty Luggins wanted Wolf and his team on the case to make sure it made it to the vault safely. "That and I want to save time arresting you if you do steal it," She joked.
After a year of working with the police to get other bad guys like Marmalade, Luggins had become a less frazzled, "Bad Guys"-obsessed cop, but Wolf and his gang still kept her on her toes.
And not in the way she wanted.
"Quit pulling my tail!" Snake shouted.
"Why did we cram them in the back?" Wolf asked.
"Snake and Shark kept calling shotgun," Luggins muttered. "Ms. Tarantula, how are we looking for transport?"
"We're almost there. Officer Barnes is in position with the Dolphin," Webs pulled up the cameras looking at the Golden Dolphin. Wolf chuckled slightly.
"What?"
"Nothing, just... Years trying to get this thing and now I'm protecting it," Wolf smirked. He looked at Webs tapping away at her tiny computer. She was next to another person at the computers. A tannish-skinned black-haired young man, skillfully tapping away with the keyboards. He might have stood at Wolf's height if he wasn't sitting and had a small square-ish shape to his face. "So, who's the guy next to Tarantula?"
"Oh, that's Officer Robert Barnes, a specialist with computers and head of tactical operations. His brother is driving the Dolphin car, Hubert Barnes," Luggins explained. Wolf gave a silent glare that held a confused question. Luggins rose her hands. "I didn't birth them so I didn't name them."
Wolf chuckled, "You've gotten relaxed around me."
"With you guys, I have to," Luggins smirked. "It's the only way to make sure you're not taking my watch... again."
"I didn't know it was a gift from your wife. Is Lillia still upset about that?"
"You mean does she still want to kill you for 'accidentally' smashing it? Yes. I've never seen that lamb so upset."
"I find that hard to believe."
"The woman is an ex-Special Ops Marine, Wolf. I do a darn good job trying not to get on her bad side."
"I hate to interrupt the 'family' affairs," Webs butted in. "But the cargo's on the move."
The truck started to move, followed by two other decoys. Several police cars trailed behind and in front, trying their best to hide in plain sight. Parked in the byways and alleyways of the route, police were all over the city, ensuring that the cargo was safely brought to the vault up north. Wolf crossed his arms, making Luggins look at him. "You're tense. What's up?"
"What, you have a tracker on my movements?"
"No, I just know when you're nervous," Luggins said, "So does the governor."
Wolf pursed his lips for a moment. "It's going too well. I'm worried about the suburbs."
"Why?"
"Would you expect an attack there?"
Luggins only nodded, resting her hands on the table as she leaned over with a pensive face. The large screen was their whole attention. "Cargo's out of the city and on the open road. How's it going boys?" Webs called over the coms.
"Other than Shark's taking up the view?" Snake groused. "The trucks doing fine. Piranha?"
"Nothing here, hermanos. Nice little neighborhood around here."
"Yeah, nice," Wolf muttered.
Suddenly, the caravan came to a brief halt at a stop light. "I knew we should've used our lights," Luggins muttered.
"It would've drawn more attention than we needed," Wolf replied. He tensed his jaw.
There wasn't supposed to be a stop there.
It wasn't supposed to be this long.
As time ticked on, Wolf furrowed his eyebrows. "Webs? What's going on?"
"I don't know, I didn't-"
Something flashed across the screen, blinding their eyes and a loud explosion erupted. "Snake! Shark! Piranha! What happened?!"
"I don't know!" The snake's voice came in through a skittish radio signal.
Wolf, Webs, and Luggins shot out of the police station, crashing the glass doors open. Down the street, a ball of flames towered from the site as thick black smoke entered the air. Luggins and Wolf stood silent. Their eyes plastered to the sight of mayhem as their jaws hung wide open. A chilling shiver ran up both of their bodies as the air suddenly turned cold.
"Luggins, call it," Wolf hoarsely said.
Luggins, slowly nodding, slowly creeped out of her stupor, "Officers, we have a 10-80 at South Santa Anita Avenue and Fano Street. Repeat, 10-80 at South Santa Anita Avenue and Fano Street. Mobilize ambulance and fire squad immediately."*
While Webs stood on his shoulder, Wolf jumped into his car. "You come in?" Luggins hopped into the convertible, whistling for a police escort. The wolf hit the gas and zoomed past every street light, making Luggins grab the seat for dear life.
They didn't care about the speeding ticket.
That was the furthest thing from their minds.
"Misty," Wolf asked in a raspy voice. "Can someone survive from that blast?" Luggins looked at him with such a lost hopeless face. Wolf shook his head away from the worrying thought and drove faster.
Continued...
*I know that this might be one hundred percent accurate, but nothing in fiction is soooooo. XD