“I know not to question your work, and I appreciate you giving me your permission to speed.” Mike starts, as he drives down the freeway, at nearly a hundred miles an hour in his Corvette. “But don’t I deserve to know why you're having me drive almost an hour away at midnight, at the very least?”


        “You do.” Felicia says simply. “Winston may be walking into an ambush, that a well established crime syndicate is setting up.” She looks over to see her brother’s face and laughs. “Now faster, Chitty.” She commands, teasing him by using the pet name his wife has for him.


        Winston pulls up to the front of his wife’s work, and takes out his phone, calling her.


        “You good Lia?” He asks.


        “Oh, she’s just fine.” A frazzled, high pitched voice answers, making Winston’s face go pale. “Now ya going to listen’, and listen’ good, big boy. Ya gonna roll down your drive side winda’ and toss ya gun out, then ya gonna stick out those cute whittle pawsies. Ta ta.”  The phone call ends, and Winston has to fight the immense urge to crush it in his paws. He looks at the holster for his gun, on the side of his passenger seat, with so many different thoughts running through his head.


        If he calls Felicia, they might be monitoring his phone calls. He doesn’t know how many there are. He doesn’t know how they got in the building, without setting off the alarm. He doesn’t know where they are. He doesn’t know where Lia is. Too many unknowns to try to fight back. But he knows going along with them, means he’d be a hostage. “Fuck!” He growls and rolls down his window. He grabs his gun and thinks for a second, then throws the gun out onto the pavement of the parking lot. He opens the glove compartment and grabs one of Felicia’s bobby pins. He was never really good at picking locks, but this would be all he might be able to get away with.


        It was plastic, so he wouldn’t get caught with a metal detector. He takes a deep breath and puts it in his mouth, swallowing it with some difficulty, then sticks his paws out the window. After a few seconds, four figures approach the car on all sides, and one binds him with paw cuffs. These weren’t the kind he uses every day though, they were bulky and not even metal. Winston couldn’t even see the mechanism.


        “Good kitty.” The same voice from the phone says, making Winston look over at the sound with curiosity. “See boys, ah told ya inteaceptin’ the call ta his lady would work. Didn’t it big boy.” The figure teases and steps into the light. Winston roars so loud, it blows the husky’s, faded white, face fur back, along with her headset, which clatters to the ground. “Nice set a pipes on this one.” The canine teases. “Too bad a kitty with no claws, is a kitty with no cause.” She pauses. “Fer alarm. Get it. Eh. Eh.” She sighs. “Just get outa the fuckin’ cah.” She facepalms and backs up, letting Winston open the door. He’s met with four other figures, all with weapons, two with assault rifles, one with a shotgun, and the last he couldn’t make out. The husky is holding a submachine gun in her paw, painted pink and gold, only just visible by the lights at the entrance to the building.


        He’s shoved to the ground on his stomach. “We’d love ta keep ya two alive, but if ya don’t play with us, numba’ Two is a very good shot at range.” She threatens. “An’ he’s got ya little lady in his sight as we speak.” She kneels down beside him. “Now, ya gonna get us into that buildin’, capiche?” Winston gives a low gowl.


        “Enough playing, K9.” The one with the shotgun says and moves forward, then kicks Winston in the gut, almost making him throw up the bobby pin. “Get the fuck up, and open the fucking door.” The shotgun is pressed to his temple. “Now.” Winston does as he’s told and gets up. “See. Aggression registers better with this one.” 


        “You can only get in with a badge and a passcode.” Winson says simply. “And I don’t have a badge.” 


        “But you do have the passcode, Chief.” He says. “And we have a badge on the way as we speak.” A helicopter can be heard just in the distance. “And here she is now.” He nudges the shotgun into the back of Winston's head again.

        The helicopter lands and a familiar rabbit hops out, along with the fox from last night, his fur marking of a nine tailed fox, slightly visible under the parking lot lights. “Roxanne?” Winston questions with a mix of emotions.


        “Turns out, working as a dispatcher doesn’t pay as well as crime.” The fox says. “She came on with us about three years ago, been a real help keeping you at bay, and on the wrong trails.” 


        The rabbit gives the fox the badge, and walks over to the door, with Winston ushered right behind.


        Mike pulls over to the side of the road, upon seeing the helicopter landing nearby. “Fuck. We might be too late.” Felicia curses as she gets out, and grabs her gun, along with a few spare clips of ammunition. “Find a place to park, and meet me up there.” Mike nods and coasts into a nearby parking lot. Thankfully the building was blocking them from view, but the reverse was also true. Felicia moves to get closer when she sees her brother sprinting toward her.


        “What’d I miss?” He asks, with his rifle slung over his back, then he pauses, seeing a glint in the moonlight across the way. “Hold up.” He aims down the scope of the rifle. “Fuck. They got a sniper. But, he’s looking at the building?” The cheetah questions, confused. “Why is he. He doesn't even have a high profile scope.”


        “He might be watching something on the inside of the bank.” Felicia says.


        “Could be. Wait, wait, wait. That’s a fucking bank?” Mike asks. “It’s got like, nine floors.”

        “Technically fourteen.” The panda corrects. “Six of them are underground, and the first twenty five feet are the lobby.” Mike gives her a sideways look. “What, you gotta do you homework kiddo.”


        “I’m older than you.” The cheetah deftly responds, aiming at the sniper.

        “Yea, and I got a cooler job than you.” Felicia retorts. “Do you have the shot?”


        “Yea.” Mike says setting his finger on the trigger and turning off the safety. “You want me to kill him, or just get him out of the tree?”

        “The latter is better, if you can do it with a single shot. We can’t have him shoot.” She explains. ”When you do, I’ll move in.” Mike gives a thumbs up, and she moves in closer.


        Winston pauses at the keypad, trying to remember his wife’s code, then starts pushing the buttons. “C’mon hurry the fuck up.” The one with the shotgun urges, pushing it closer to Winston’s head. Winston finishes the code, just as a loud crack of a rifle can be heard. “Two better not…” The man is cut off by a bleat from behind, as the goat falls out of the thirty foot tall tree, and onto the pavement.

        The fox swipes the badge, and the door clicks open. “Get in, now.” He commands and Winston is shoved inside. “A fucking sniper? Seriously?” He groans. “K9, get the fucking alarm system down.” The husky nods, and skips off to the security room. “And you.” He looks at the puma on the ground, the gold marking on his fur, now much more visible in proper light. “You better not fucking test me anymore. Find her.” He commands and they all head in different directions. “I bet you still don’t know anything about us do you? Seven years, we’ve been building up to this heist, and one slip-up caused our newest member to run, only a few days before we went for it.” He explains.


“I had to go back and try to cover his tracks, so he wouldn’t lead you pigs back to us. Nice kid, Ray. Unfortunately, he’s terrible as a cover up. Got me caught” Winston stays silent, knowing he was talking about Cayde's older friend. “Too bad you couldn’t find him, or that girl he was with that night. What was her name?” He prods. “Nicky, was it? They're just sitting at the bottom of the docks. Forever bound together. Had you not taken the kids home you could have saved them.”


        “Enough!” Winston snaps, having heard enough.

        “I agree, let's get you somewhere comfortable, shall we?” He responds, his bright red eyes glinting in the light.


        Felicia runs up to the unconscious goat on the pavement, and cuffs him, then puts him in the back of Winston's car. “Now to get into the building.” She turns to see Mike running up. “Nice shot.”


        “Thanks.” He looks around. “Now what?”


        “We get into the building.” She explains, as the feline walks up to the door, and knocks on the glass. “Bulletproof glass, Mike. You're not shooting your way in.”


        “I’ll be right back.” He says sprinting on all fours back to his car where he grabs a small cinch bag from the back, then makes his way to his sister.

        “I still can’t get over how fast you are sometimes.” his sister says, a bit impressed, as he loads his rifle, and aims at the door. “What are you doing? I told you, it’s bullet...” A loud bang breaks the conversation, followed by the shattering of glass, as the door is blown off its hinges, and the cheetah is knocked onto his ass. “Proof.”


        “You might have the cooler job. But I have cooler toys.” He says triumphantly after pulling out his earplugs, and standing up. “Ow. Hell of a kickback though.”


        “I’m not even going to ask.” Felicia says and she moves into the lobby. “Get to the security room. I’m gonna flip through the cameras.” 


        “Nice try redhead.” K9’s voice is heard, and they both look up to see the husky, standing on the stairs with her SMG. “Ya might have gotten in here, but yer not gettin’ to mista’ K.” Both siblings look at eachother, then dive for cover. The sound of one thousand rounds per minute, lights up the room, sending shrapnel of both wood and stone, flying everywhere.


        “OK! crazy bitch? Check. High RPM gun? Check. Wet pants?” The cheetah looks down. “Check. The fuck are we gonna do about that?” He asks his sister. “I can not move that fast.”


        Felicia pokes her head out just for a second, and the shrapnel of the wall goes flying behind her. “Yea she’s got some reflexes too, can’t provide you cover fire.” She pants.


        “You know the blueprints of this place right?” The brother asks. “Where’s the teller’s door.”


        Felicia exhales. “Next to the stairs.”


        “Fuck.”


        “How long do you think you can avoid a direct line of fire?” She asks, as the sound of the gun goes off again, in a burst of high velocity lead, hitting the wall the brother is behind, the shrapnel forcing the feline to move further back into his cover.


        “Here kitty, kitty. Quit being a pussy, and show ya self.” K9 cackles, with a hint of a growl.


        “Are you serious?” The older brother retorts. “I’ll be swiss cheetah in an instant.”


        “C’mon, Felicia. Think.” She says aloud, her head in her paw. After a few seconds, she looks up to see the cabling of the chandelier that's hanging in the center of the lobby. “Mike. Up.” He looks up. “Can you get two, while I get the third beside her?” He pulls the scope off his rifle, lines up the first shot, then swaps to the second, and nods in affirmation. Felicia takes a breath, spins out of cover, sights the target and fires once, twice, three times, while her brother takes his two shots. 

        K9 spots the female, and swaps targets. Just as she pulls the trigger, the chandelier comes loose of three of it’s five anchor points, and swings right into the husky. All three hundred pounds of bronze and glass collide with the lithe frame, pushing her into the wall, and getting her crushed by the weight, the SMG clattering as it falls down the stairs.

        “Ah!” Felica groans, dropping her gun, and falling to a knee. “Fucking, bitch!” She rips off her uniform’s sleeve, and ties it around her arm that got caught in the burst of lead to stop the bleeding. “Fuck I love Kevlar.” She exhales, knocking on her bulletproof vest underneath her shirt, riddled with marks.


        “Nice shot.” Her brother comes over to her. “She isn’t getting up from that.” A small pool of red, dripping down the stairs, can be seen on the beige carpet covering them. “You good?” His sister nods. “Good. Cause we gotta move. That was loud, and no doubt everyone just heard it.”


        Felicia groans, as she’s helped up by her brother, and they make their way to the camera room. Felicia rapidly flips through the cameras with her good arm, and stops when she sees Winston, tied up and gagged. “Great, he's being held hostage on floor B2, in the counting room.” She notes and keeps flipping, stopping at a camera that has had it’s feed killed. “Clever girl.” She says flipping to the next, and then another, all of them dead. “Somewhere on floor 6.” She tells Mike. “All of them on that floor are dark.”


“So you think Lea is there?” He asks and his sister nods and starts making her way to the back stairs. “Right. Guess I’m following you again.” He says and trails just behind his sister as they climb up the back stairs.


When they get to the sixth floor they realize the door is locked. Felicia pulls out a bobby pin and works to unlock the door. “Come on, I know it’s been a while since I’ve picked anything but.” A sharp click, cuts her off, and she smiles, then pulls out the broken bobby pin. “Fuck. That was my last one.”


“Need something small and sharp?” Mike asks, extending one of his claws and moving his paw in front of his sister.“Just don’t fail ten more times.” Mike begs. 


The door opens a minute later and Mike retracts his claw. “Gonna need to get that sharpened again.” He comments walking into the dark room, as he’s abruptly assaulted by something around his throat.


“Woah. Lia it’s, Felicia.” She calmly explains, and the Lioness drops the desk lamp she had around the cheetah’s throat, then runs over to her in a shaky embrace. “It’s alright we are gonna get you and Winston out of here.” She assures, rubbing Lia’s back, as Mike rights himself, catching his breath.

        “Good improvisational use of a fucking desk lamp, though.” Mike coughs.


The group brings Lia up to speed on the situation, and she sits on the floor when they finish. “But Cayde’s safe right? My cub is safe?” She almost begs for the answer.

        “Yes, he and Jet are in a room at the medical building.” Felicia explains softly. “Cameras all around, inside and out. Do you have any idea how we can get to B2, quietly. That’s where Winston is being held.”

        “The counting room?” The lioness asks. “There is the elevator, but that’s too loud.” She pauses and thinks. “They did just install some new ductwork, I think one might lead to it, but I’m not sure.”


“If I can get you, and Mike into the ducts, do you think you can navigate your way there?” Felicia asks.

        “Why me? You’re more flexible.” Mike defends.

        “I said one might lead to it.” Lia repeats.


“At this point it’s our best entry point.” The sister explains. “I’m going to call for a bit of backup, before going  though.”