Floodlights activate, a trio of targeted lamps blinding the getaway vehicle as a siren activates. Flashing colors bounce off sidewalks and storefronts, a symphony of chaos screaming through passing streets.

“I can’t see!” Issac yells as immense light reflects off the windscreen.

“I GOT IT I GOT IT.” Maddie replies as she crawls towards the back of the cargo bed.

A weapon braced against cold steel, eyes burning in the face of three concentrated suns. The spinning of five barrels lost against the carnage of the chase, a singular purpose unlocked within minds.

The Bandit fires first.

Divinity unleashed in a stream of non-lethal rounds, metal bearings tearing blindly into exposed glass. Lights crack, mechanisms broken as the Driver regains control over his sightlines.

An ocean of bullets, a gateway forged within a divine magazine. To bleed a desert of brass and gunpowder dry, five barrels withstanding insane abuse as rounds are fired through them.

Black steel burns red hot, the Bandit releasing the trigger as she grips the moving vehicle in a hard turn.

A stalwart frame remains, the armored police car unflinching against a barrage unleashed.

“He’s still on us!” Maddie yells.

Issac wipes sweat from his brow as he rips the car past an intersection, the metal frame barely crashing into a group of unsuspecting pedestrians. “Adami…”

“Loose ‘em in the Old City.” The woman offers. “Streets are tighter there!”

“How do we…”

The woman points forward, the world blending together with immense speed. “Away from the Ley Line Tower, just follow the major roads!”

From behind them a voice is broadcast through arcane loudspeakers, a familiar tone speaking newer orders. “THIS IS JUDGE HOPPE, STOP YOUR VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY!”

The Enforcer kneels up, voice grim as he tries to align crude shotgun sights towards the pursuing car. “Issac, by the Five keep this thing steady!”

“Alright!”

Four blasts of buckshot aimed at engines, sparks of impact deflecting off both pavement and armor.

“Gods…”

“They’ve got armor on that thing!” The Bandit reports. “Adami!”

“Keep this thing steady!!!” The Lookout orders as she dangerously leans out of the passenger side door, battle-rifle in hand.

A tuned engine shakes the very earth beneath it, a modified monster mechanically transformed into a tool of justice. The roar of eight cylinders growling with injected biofuel tightens as the wide distance is closed with insane speed.

“Come on…” The Lookout grins as she charges the rifle’s crisp bolt, the first round entering the firing chamber. Eyes narrowed, adjusted iron sights aligned with sharp vision.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The heavy crack of rifle cartridges emanates across building facades as the woman pulls the trigger, accurate semi-automatic fire sent in carefully timed bursts towards the massive engine block of the police vehicle.

Bullets peel away on impact, armor piercing rounds effortlessly shedding skins of copper to reveal lethal payloads of lead. Three strikes out of twenty in a magazine, lost against the blasting of whirling air at high speed.

“I got a few hits on ‘em!” Adami yells.

“Keep it up, they're still on us!!!” The Leader reports.

From the pursuit vehicle a form leans out of the passenger window, the abyssal blue uniform matched with armor and armaments. Bandoliers of rifle and shotgun rounds placed in stripper clips, a belt of grenades completing the lethal form.

In passing street lights the Bandit spots him; the graying hair of an old man against the stalwart application of justice.

The Lookout swears as she dumps the empty magazine from her weapon onto the speeding ground, turning to the rest of the Gang as she darts back into the safety of the cabin. “It’s Judge Murphy!!!”

Lever action rifle in hand the Judge aims carefully at the getaway vehicle, unstable infrastructure jostling for an experienced point of aim as the well paved streets of the central district fades into the carved stone of the Old City.

A divine weapon of justice fired, the rifle round roaring past the escapees.

“Gods he’s not a good shot…” Jacob begins as he fumbles shells into his weapon.

“That was a fragging warning.” Maddie corrects.

The massive leyline tower marking the center of the city serves as a navigational point, Issac tearing through tighter and tighter streets in a desperate escape attempt. Biofuel engines echo through tight spaces, backup arriving behind the armored policing vehicle as roads consolidate.

A pack hunt, four entities now on the tail of the sole prey.

The truck clears the next turn, Adami spotting the flashing lights in the near distance. “Issac…!”

“Yeah I see it!” The man grunts. “Hang on!!!”

The squealing of tires as he slams on the emergency break, the entire vehicle shuttering in sudden deceleration. A hastily setup roadblock now spotted, the wall of three parked machines created by an intermix of armored assault trucks and pursuit cars.

Inaccurate gunfire erupts from the police line, oncoming lights binding to officers as bullets indiscriminately carve through the lawless and the lawful. Sparks fly as handgun cartridges make contact with metal, deafening shots echoing through the Old City.

Issac rips the wheel sideways, the truck turning into a crowded side street.

Market stalls illuminated by lanterns. Religious artifacts intermixed with cooking food, a day’s closing hour interrupted by the brutal intersection of criminality.

The man honks the horn, a speed slowed as the massive tonnage of the getaway vehicle rams through livelihoods. Civilian onlookers dive out of the way, debris cracking windshields and ripping suspension springs as the Gang is nearly bucked from the cargo bed.

“Gods WATCH IT!” Adami screams as she spots a staircase descending sharply, the Driver simply accelerating at the sight.

Five feet of clearance is leaped over, the truck roaring in protest as the landing is struck perfectly. Issac takes a moment to smile nervously. “I-I got it.”

The trail of carnage is followed, the armored police car unwavering in its pursuit of justice. Through shattered stalls and debris fields the Gang watches as the monster leaps over the obstacle, heavy modification stalwart in the face of punishment as it lands with enough force to crack stone pavement.

“Gods damned Judge is still on us!!!” Maddie reports.

The Enforcer next to her breaks open the breach of his shotgun, four unfired shells clattering on the sheet metal of the cargo bed. “Cover your ears for this!”

From within his vest two rounds are produced, the black cylinders bending reality to themselves as they catch the shedding light of five dead suns above. Ancient lettering written across them in unknown white text, a geometric alphabet defying logic in calligraphy.

The pair of arcane bullets are stuffed into chambers, the shotgun snapped closed as sights are aligned with the pursuer.

A non-lethal subtarget, the engine block of the armored machine aligning as the vehicle hits uneven terrain.

The Enforcer pulls the trigger.