[TN: Here to day chapter sorry for the late release was busy helping my brother he had leg surgery today]
Not far from the Westbrook lockdown zone,
an NCPD police car was parked on the roadside with its lights flashing, but the officer was sitting leisurely on a stone bench nearby.
His cybernetic eyes were locked on the action happening on the overpass.
"Worked overtime for half a month straight, and they're still three months behind on overtime pay. Yet they have the nerve to make us work extra again," he muttered.
The rookie standing next to him had a much more serious expression, his face tense as he stared at the explosions and flashes of gunfire from the distance.
This was his first month with the NCPD, and everything he had experienced tonight felt almost surreal.
"Sir, did you see the things everyone's been circulating in the precinct?" the rookie asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, I saw it. So what?" The officer's expression remained indifferent.
"If it's true—"
"If it's true? It probably is, 90% likely. That's why we got reassigned over here. Forget about guarding the skyscraper and triple overtime pay—let someone else jump into that mess."
The rookie was stunned into silence.
The officer stood up, watching as vehicles belonging to the Tyger Claws gang were pushed off the overpass.
"Good work! Damn, I've been sick of those arrogant Tyger Claw punks. Act like they own the world... If I weren't a cop—"
"Sir, isn't 'cop' kind of a derogatory term for us?" the rookie interjected.
The officer turned to him and repeated with emphasis, "If I weren't a cop—"
But then he paused, trailing off.
And then what?
He didn't finish the thought—because if he wasn't a cop, he'd probably just end up working in some factory.
What a joke. Those lunatics speeding through the overpass right now didn't even seem human. Did he seriously think quitting the force would allow him to do something like that?
But the helicopter was arriving soon.
Even if those three lunatics had superhuman abilities, how could they break through an aerial and ground blockade simultaneously?
The sky was covered by a helicopter, and the ground was guarded by Arasaka mechs. This wasn't something brute force could overcome.
"Ah, the glory days are behind us," the officer lamented.
BOOM!
Before he could finish his thought, an explosion rocked the bridge, sending a deafening shockwave echoing through the area!
Both the officer and the rookie whipped their heads around—and their jaws dropped simultaneously.
The helicopter's minigun opened fire, orange tracer rounds streaking like meteors through the sky.
But what left them utterly dumbfounded was the sight of the Mackinaw vehicle—flying through the air!
The minigun rounds ricocheted off the Mackinaw's armored exterior, sparking bursts of fire and smoke like fireworks exploding midair.
As the car and the helicopter drew closer, an even more unbelievable scene unfolded:
As they passed, the helicopter suddenly lurched, and the Mackinaw's descent noticeably slowed—
It looked as though the car had somehow latched onto the helicopter!
The helicopter tilted like a toppled figure and hurtled toward Westbrook, while the Mackinaw maintained its trajectory, its nose shifting slightly as it carved a brief but earth-shattering arc through the air.
Straight toward them.
BOOM!
The helicopter spun out of control, crashing into the overpass in a fiery explosion!
The Mackinaw landed on its side, rolling and skidding from the momentum—
Before finally coming to rest, tipped on its side, sliding directly toward the two officers.
The officer and the rookie both turned pale, their legs frozen as if encased in lead. They wanted to run, but had no idea where to go. They were paralyzed.
SCREECH—
BANG.
The Mackinaw straightened itself with a deafening clang. Sparks sprayed in all directions, and the acrid stench of partially burned fuel filled the air. Black smoke clouded their cybernetic vision displays.
The Mackinaw had stopped just short of hitting their police car—or them.
The two officers stood drenched in sweat, rooted to the spot.
About a second later, the Mackinaw's horn blared obnoxiously—beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!
It sounded exactly like an angry driver being blocked on the road.
The two officers looked in the direction of the honking and realized it was their own police car that was in the way.
The rookie was still too stiff to move, but the officer snapped out of his daze. Using the wireless control system on their patrol car, he managed to maneuver it off the road—
Even though the narrow lane left him no choice but to park it in a nearby trash pile.
The Mackinaw revved its engine in acknowledgment, giving a couple of snorts that almost felt like a nod of approval, before casually driving off.
[NCPD Dispatcher]: Suspect! Suspect spotted!
[NCPD Officer]: The suspect took down the helicopter! Repeat, the suspect has taken down the helicopter!
[NCPD Officer]: Suspect has breached the overpass blockade!!!
"My hands! My hands! My pecs! My abs!!"
Jackie screamed like a pig being slaughtered.
The damage was substantial. The moment of tugging at the helicopter with that force was enough to rip a person in two, and even a typical cyber-enhanced individual wouldn't have survived.
But Jackie was far from ordinary. His lizard muscle fibers were extremely resilient under such conditions; a minor strain was nothing to him. It was his championship-grade arms that were slightly overloaded.
Of course, credit also went to Jackie's precise control of the situation. Each additional second of pulling would have exponentially increased the strain, reaching levels unbearable for carbon-based lifeforms and potentially disrupting the flight trajectory of the Mackinaw.
In the end, Jackie executed the task flawlessly.
"Stop whining. Nothing's broken. Let me tweak it a bit, and just eat more to recover the physical damage," Leo said.
He opened the gorilla arms for a quick inspection, then reclined back in the connection chair, diving into cyberspace to check the network environment.
"Oh."
Meanwhile, V was still basking in the thrill of flying, her mouth firing off like a machine gun.
"That was amazing! The car actually flew! When will Mackinaw release a hovercar version? Imagine what it'd feel like riding a hovercar. Wait, didn't we try something like that before? Hey, Leo? Leo! Are you listening? Can you whip up a hovercar for me?"
Leo disconnected, his face darkened. "Stop yelling. Not now. Drive! We're taking out Jotaro tonight!"
"Alright, alright. Are we really just charging in like this? The streets are crawling with cops! And what do we do with the car afterward?"
"Who cares about the cops? Just charge in. When we're done, park the car downstairs."
That was indeed a concern.
But not an unsolvable one.
Once they reached the location, they could leave the car. Worst-case scenario, they could let the NCPD impound it temporarily and retrieve it later.
Although the car was still drivable, aside from its durability, its performance was now comparable to a regular Mackinaw.
"Park it downstairs?" V frowned. "You've got jokes. Think of something else! I'm not letting the NCPD touch my precious Mackinaw!"
Leo sighed. "Your 'precious Mackinaw'? You hated this car not long ago!"
"Don't care. Think of something else."
"Fine," Leo said after glancing at the still-quiet street. "Let's park it here, re-equip, and approach the tower from above."
"Now we're talking. Does the car have any kind of automated defense system? Like something that blows up anyone who gets too close?"
"Nope. None of that! There's an alley up ahead—turn in there."
"By the way, doesn't this car stand out too much now? Won't someone report us?"
The car drove through the deserted streets. The area was empty because no sane person would stroll through an NCPD high-priority lockdown zone.
But further ahead, it'd be a different story. Westbrook was a bustling area, and the authorities had clearly taken significant measures to keep civilians away from the chaos.
The Mackinaw's outer armor was shredded by the gunfire, leaving it a patchwork of dents and scorch marks. Anyone would instantly recognize it wasn't an ordinary vehicle.
"That's why this car has a stealth mode. Honestly, I've got to hand it to the custom service. Thorton might just be a second-tier automaker, but they outdid themselves here."
The car slowed, creeping forward. The damaged armor began to shed piece by piece, steaming as it hit the ground.
Once the large chunks of armor were gone, the legendary Mackinaw looked like a regular Mackinaw again, sliding into a narrow alley.
The three disembarked. The car's roof deployed dual layers of stealth shielding. The outer layer was optical camouflage, creating a surface that mimicked its surroundings, while the inner layer was an electromagnetic shroud to avoid detection.
Top-of-the-line equipment across the board—clearly, Thorton had invested heavily in this prototype vehicle.
The car now sat near a pile of garbage, blending in so well it was almost impossible to spot.
V gently patted the car's stealth shield, causing the optical camouflage to ripple. "Hang tight, little Mackinaw. Once this job's done, I'll get you some upgrades."
"...," Leo gave V a hard pat. "Enough drama. Hand me your gear. I need to calibrate the electromagnetic clamps."
"Fine," V turned to Jackie, who was still fussing over his gorilla arms, checking if they were broken. "Jackie, stop being so dramatic! Get over here and gear up!"
"...," Jackie walked over.
As Leo took the tools from Jackie's mechanical arms, he noticed the arms lowered slightly, almost like a puppy bowing its head.
Leo's lips twitched. "What are you doing?"
[They're performing some kind of ritual?]
"I have no idea. Maybe a blessing ceremony?"
[Can I get one too? ()]
With a resigned look, Leo patted the mechanical hand.
V saw this and burst out laughing, her expression one of gleeful amusement. "You too, Leo? What's with all the drama?"