The radio crackled and buzzed with the sounds of incoherent chatter. Spitfire ignored it and focused on the road ahead of her cruiser. The siren blared loudly above, filling the air with the sound of justice. Sweat covered her brow and her gloved hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. The engine roared as the car was pushed to its near limits chasing after a dodge charger in front of them, the same one filled with armed robbers who had the audacity to rob Canterlot while she was on duty.
It was just a normal day... her and her partner were getting lunch, then all of a sudden they get the call that one of the jewelry stores was robbed, and now here they were, chasing after the robbers.
Hopefully that damned roadblock would be set up and they could take them down.
"Damn it, they're not letting up." Soarin, her ever faithful partner commented, causing his superior to scoff.
"No shit," Spitfire snorted and gripped the wheel tighter, her knuckles turning white. "Cowards."
As they drove down the road, they ended up coming to a fork in the road. Looking over to her left she saw a few other police cars from the next county arrive, blasting down the roads at high speeds and chasing another muscle car. She narrowed her eyes as the two vehicles went neck and neck down the road, both trying to get ahead of the other.
"Damn it, what is this?!" Spitfire heard the radio squawk and picked it up, "Unit 9, who is this?"
"Unit 9 this is Unit 3 of Linden County, looks like we're both after someone, care for some assistance?" She heard over the radio.
"Sounds good to me." Spitfire replied, gunning the engine and barely making a sharp turn right.
"This highway doesn't have any exits so there's no escape, we have a roadblock being set up about thirty miles ahead." Unit 3 added, "Both suspects are armed and dangerous."
"Same on our end, at least three of them in our car, good luck." Spitfire added and hung up the radio, continuing to speed down the road ahead of the other police interceptors.
The chase was pretty sub par, nothing of note happened except for Spitfire watching the mile counter go up, inch by inch the longer they drove. It was infuriating, now there were two cars they had to stop and five armed criminals to stop. Suddenly she felt nervous... she was just expecting the three, but this car added in two more threats that could potentially end both her and Soarin's life if things went south.
Damn it. She took a deep breath, eyes closing for a brief second before opening back up to focus on the road...
But then one of cars did something insane! They hit the breaks and nearly forced her to hit the car.
"Shit!" Soarin yelled as Spitfire yanked the wheel and turned a sharp right, but she went too far right and ended up going off road, nearly plowing into a tree had it not been for her fast reflexes.
She growled and dodged another tree, the tires struggling for traction against the dirt. Fuck! That dirty bastard! The car swerved through the dirt and past other trees, the car luckily missed them all. Shit! Shit! Shit! Spitfire got the car to stop, the vehicle shaking a bit as the other cars sped on by. The interceptor sputtered and crapped out, the engine dying and leaving them stranded. "Damn it!" Spitfire slammed her fist against the dashboard, growling.
Soarin breathed heavily and looked around, "Shit... guess we're out of the chase." He murmured.
And they would have been out for good, had Spitfire not seen a path through the trees and she got an idea.
"We're not out of this yet!" Spitfire grabbed the key and gave it a twist, pumping the gas and getting the car to start up once more. The engine roared and she grinned.
Soarin just got a look of terror on his face once the woman slammed the gas pedal, sending the car blasting through the trees, driving down an almost too narrow path through the trees and brush with the car.
"Whoah! Whoah! Stop!" Soarin yelled, tightening his seatbelt as Spitfire glared ahead.
The woman just growled to herself and turned to avoid hitting trees and overturned logs. Somehow she managed to avoid crashing, but it was still enough to make Soarin beg and plead with her to stop the car and just wait for a pickup, but she didn't listen, instead she just continued to send the car plowing through the woods.
Why?
To catch up to the road block down the road of course.
"AHHH STOP THE CAR!" Soarin cried.
"No can do! We're going to the roadblock!"
If they can't get back into the chase, the least they could do was help the roadblock.
Good thing was; she knew a short cut.
Bad thing; it was making Soarin rethink his life decisions, mostly regarding his reckless partner.
Spitfire just focused. Those bastards think they can trick me?! Well, let's see who's laughing when I get to the roadblock!
The mile counter continued to go up and up before they both arrived near a dirt road leading to the left. Spitfire grinned and drove out onto it, bushes getting caught in the grill of the car as she blasted through a wooden fence, blowing it to pieces and swerving onto the road.
"Hahaha!" Spitfire laughed as the car zipped down the dirt road, kicking up dust on the way to the main highway. She grabbed the radio and held down the button, "Unit 9 here, what's our status?"
"Unit 9, unit 1, roadblock is set up, suspects haven't arrived yet." A different more southern voice chimed in.
"Roger that." Spitfire hung up and blasted out onto the highway, "Now if I'm right... we should be behind the roadblock."
Soarin was quiet, still gripping onto the seatbelt and pulling it as tight as he possibly could without crushing his ribcage. After a few moments of silence however, he managed to find his voice, "S-Spitfire, a-are you i-insane!?"
Spitfire just smiled and lifted up her sunglasses as the roadblock came into view. "Heh, I got us here in one piece didn't I?" She turned to give Soarin a smug grin before parking near the other cars just as a pair of officers set up a spike strip in the road. Spitfire parked the interceptor and got out of the car as the other interceptor backed up to join them.
Just as Spitfire stepped out, she drew her firearm and inspected the chamber as Soarin grabbed the shotgun from inside. "Jeez, hopefully that strip stops them." He commented, doing a quick brass check before going over to the other officers.
Spitfire, satisfied with her Colt Python, she made her way over to stand next to a Sheriff's Deputy and his partner. Once she took up a position near him, she aimed her revolver...
It was only seconds before she noticed his side arm was a Colt Python like hers, however, hers was a primarily black with rubber grips while his the nickle finish with wooden grips.
The two locked eyes for a moment and looked at one another's weapons.
Spitfire smirked, "Nice sidearm."
He looked back out ahead across the road, fingers tightening around his python. "Thanks."
She just smirked and looked out ahead as Soarin took up a position behind the other car, kneeling and aiming.
"Sounds like they're chasing those idiots up and down every back road we got." One of the other officers commented, gripping his Glock 17 anxiously.
"Sounds like it, but the chase ends here." Spitfire told him fingers wrapped tightly around her revolver.
"Hey, maybe we'll get on one of those cop shows, World's Craziest Police Chases, what do you think?" A younger deputy asked as he looked to the others.
"What I think, Leon, is that you need to stay focused. Make sure you got a round in the chamber, and stay focused." The older man scolded, frowning towards Leon who gulped and proceeded to do as told.
"Would be kind cool getting on one of them shows." The only other shotgun wielding officer murmured, making his partner and Spitfire look towards him.
Spitfire shrugged her shoulders, "Eh... maybe, we'll have to see about that once we stop these assholes." The woman snorted hard, she was hopeful they'd crash hard...
Maybe she'd get her wish.
The sounds of approaching sirens could be heard, and Spitfire tensed up slightly alongside her fellow officers. She took a deep breath and steadied her aim as both muscle cars came blasting over the road ahead. She watched as they continued to drive neck and neck, heading right for the spike strip the other two laid across the road.
It felt like an eternity before the two vehicles hit the spike strip. Tires exploded and rims screeched against the pavement as the two attempted to regain some semblance of control over where they were going. But it didn't work, both vehicles ended up crashing into one another and flipped over onto their sides, rolling hard and sending debris flying.
Time seemed to speed up for Spitfire as her eyes watched the cars spin and flip out of control. One car ending up crashing into the ditch nearby, and the other smashing through a fence and ending up in the field before rolling to a stop upside down.
"Holy shit." Spitfire and the other deputy muttered, guns aimed towards the vehicles.
Spitfire took the initiative alongside the only other deputy using the Python and began moving forward towards the cars. Nearby the other interceptors stopped, officers getting out and armed with handguns and shotguns.
Suddenly, one of the doors opened up on the dodge charger and a man fell out, a shotgun in hand. The other car's door opened up as well with a man climbing out, handgun in hand.
"Gun gun gun!" Someone yelled and Spitfire immediately pulled back the hammer on her gun.
Her temporary comrade yelled, "Put it down!"
"Drop the gun! Drop it!" Spitfire yelled, but they weren't doing it.
The shotgun wielding one aimed at Spitfire before firing, and she dropped to her knees and fired just as he pulled the trigger. She growled as the round fired towards him, landing in his chest and sending him back as his own shot thankfully went wild. Next to her, the deputy opened up on the other man alongside the other officers, bullets flew through the air and she didn't hesitate to try and empty her gun into the one with the shotgun. Once he was down, another climbed out of the charger and tried to shoot her.
Her gun clicked.
Fuck.
Before she could brace herself for the round that would most likely send her flying back, the man was taken down, a round snapping his head back and causing him to crumple. She looked and saw it was the deputy who shot her a nod, which she returned before getting up and moving as she reloaded, dumping her empty shells and loading in new ones with her speedloader.
The moment she locked the cylinder back into place and turned back to the fight, she saw her savior get taken down by a bullet with a yelp. "Gah!"
"Rick!" A man back with the cars yelled, Rick himself falling to the ground.
Panic ran through the air as people pelted the cars with gunfire, trying to take down the assailants. Rick writhed on the ground and Spitfire cursed. Goddamn it! Spitfire was quick to aim at the shooter, firing off three rounds in rapid succession, twice in the chest and the final one snapping his head back and killing him. A bullet whizzed by her head and made her spin around to the charger, where a woman with a pistol was aiming at her.
She didn't get the chance to fire before a burst of handgun fire and shotgun slugs pelted her from behind and the sides, flinging her body against the car, taking her down and giving Spitfire much needed reprieve.
"Rick!" The man yelled again and Spitfire was immediately reminded her savior had been taken down. She rushed over to him alongside the other man.
A cough and wheeze came from Rick before he yelled, "I'm alright!" He coughed, checking his revolver as Spitfire held out a hand to help him up, which he took.
"Damn, man," Spitfire sighed in relief upon seeing 'Rick' alright.
The other man looked panicked, understandable in her eyes. "I saw you get tagged, man. Scared the hell outta me."
"Me too." Looking down at Rick's vest, they saw his torn shirt and the bullet still in the vest. "Son of a bitch shot me, can you believe that?"
A shake of the head from his partner, who shouldered his mossberg. "Got you right in the vest."
Spitfire holstered her gun with another sigh. "Good thing you had that on, vest saved your life." She commented with a grin, patting Rick on the shoulder.
"Heh, yeah," The other man nodded as Rick gave his partner a stern look.
"You do not tell Lori that happened, ever," Whirling around on the man, "Do you understan-" A sudden gunshot rang out, the previous air of calm shattered as Rick's cry of pain filled the air, "-Ahhh!"
Spitfire whirled around, and there... she saw him, standing near the other car was a third man with a handgun aimed right at Rick. "Damn it!" Spitfire was quick on the draw, her revolver pulled out fast as a blur as she fired the rest of her rounds into him. All of them connected with his chest, and it was Rick's partner who delivered the final blow with his shotgun, the slug slinging the man back onto the ground with a muffled cry.
Rick was gasping for air on the ground as smoke trailed up form her barrel, and timed slowed... T-there was a third?! She panicked before turning back to Rick, finding him bleeding from a wound on his back. "Shit!" She dropped to her knees on his other side and aided the other man in taking off Rick's shirt and vest, revealing a bloodied tank top and quickly paling skin.
His gasps and groans of pain made Spitfire wince.
"Rick! Rick! No, no, no! Shh, shh, shh." The other man was terrified, his breathing rapid and panicky, "No, no, no, no… He's hurt! Leon! You get that ambulance down here, you tell them there's an officer down, you do it now!" He bellowed loudly as Spitfire held down her hands on the wound as best as she could.
Spitfire didn't know what to say... her eyes were unfocused, her body trembled and a cold sweat covered her. As the deputies ran to the cars to check them, only one thought ran through her mind...
This was her fault...
The Next Week
It had been exactly one week since the shootout on Highway 18... and despite the reassurances, despite being told Rick was going ot make a full recovery, she still couldn't shake that feeling in the back of her head.
That she had let her guard slip, and Rick suffered for it.
'You couldn't have known, no one did... someone fucked up, but it wasn't you. Don't blame yourself...' Shane, Rick's friend and partner, had told her after the hospital visit. She barely knew him, but she still felt... ashamed? She wasn't sure what it was she felt, Spitfire just knew that she should have been more aware...
But even so.
She sat up on her bed and stared at the wall for a bit, having just woken up in the early morning. Clad in a loose fitting tank top and short shorts, she stood up and made her way to the coffee maker in her kitchen before flipping it on. A sniff and her eyes drifted to the newspaper on the counter...
In big bold letters on the front page.
KING COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPUTY SHOT!
It still hit her hard. He saved her life, and she was too slow to do the same for him.
A sigh escaped her. "Fuck..." She stared at the coffee maker as it brewed her hopefully refreshing drink. While it did that, she turned and made her way into the bedroom to throw on some better clothes.
A quick shower and a change of clothes, and she was ready to face the day, as much as she could anyway. She adjusted her jacket and shoved her wallet into her jeans before grabbing her conceal carry firearm... which, coincidentally, was also her service firearm, the Colt Python.
Spitfire looked it over and opened it up to look at the six shells sitting within... hopefully, she'd never have to fire it again.
Crash
BANG BANG
"AAAAAAHHHHH!"
Sadly... that day would never come.