Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded

「You’re on the wrong side of the road! Go to the other one, the other one…. go back!! He- heeeeeeyy….?!」

A huge trailer was driving right in front of them and they were getting closer at an incredible speed. His horn blasted at them like the roar of a huge beast. The instant their bumpers were about to crash into each other, the side of Matoba's head slammed into the window next to him. Tilarna had barely managed to go left, avoiding crashing head first into the trailer.

They crossed the strip in the middle of the road as the car violently bounced up and down, but eventually managed to return to the right side. Matoba’s head smashed hard against the ceiling several times, as he screamed in pain. His sight had been slowly returning, but now due to Tilarna’s maneuver, he was seeing flashes of light again.

「Alright, I think I’m starting to get this. This thing you guys call speed driving isn’t half bad. Actually, this is truly…」 「You don’t understand a single thing, you alien! And you in particular really have no clue what you’re talking about! Anyways just stop this already! If you don’t I’m going to—」 「There they are!」

Shouted Tilarna, completely ignoring his words

「That’s Tony's car. I’ll catch up to them.」 「To- tony is there?」 「We’re going to catch that guy.」

The Maserati’s engine roared even louder than before. The morning sunlight, the road, and even the traffic lights all turned into a chaotic mess of lights and shapes that ran past them. Was she going over a hundred miles per hour already? Weren’t they driving on a regular street?

Matoba was scared. He was in true fear of losing his life.

The blonde haired goddess of death sitting behind the wheel was going to take him to the afterlife while looking oddly filled with pride or sheer happiness.

The Citroen in front of them sped up as well. They had noticed the Maserati and were trying to get away.

「I won’t let you do that…!」

Shouted Tilarna getting caught up in the moment. Going at that speed, there was no real method to slow down whatsoever. The only thing Matoba could do was sink deep into his own seat and hold on tight to the cushion below him.

「I’m begging you. Let me get off the car.」 「Stop talking nonsense, we’re almost there.」 「I don’t want to die.」 「Don’t worry about that. If we die we won’t even notice it.」

The Citroen kept driving past several other cars. It was getting close to an unavoidable turn. But it was not slowing down. And neither were Tilarna and Matoba. They were still chasing after them. And at that exact moment, the Citroen slowed down dramatically and quickly turned left. It crossed the intersection and kept driving east.

The tires screeched. The engine roared.

Blue flames coming out of its exhaust pipe, as the sound of it kept reverberating through the road.

But the Maserati wasn’t going to lose either. It dashed through the intersection as the traffic lights were turning red, while slightly driving on top of the sidewalk. It corrected its course rapidly. A regular car that was caught off guard by its movements had to brake aggressively, causing it to spin and crash violently.

「This is good. I can’t even find words to describe it… this has to be what it feels like to “be high” or something like that, right?!」 「I can’t take this anymore. Just kill me already!」 「The window’s right there. Just jump off if you feel like it.」

She drove past yet another red traffic light. The Citroen was driving right in front of them again. Tony was sitting limp on the back seat. The man in the front putting his gun out the window was visibly panicking, and shot at them. Naturally he would miss while driving at such a high speed. But then…

They heard a loud high pitched noise. The front glass was fractured like a spiderweb. Glass shards flew inside the car, Matoba and Tilarna both tried to cover their bodies.

「They hit me! Hey, I’m hurt! What are you going to do about it?! Huh?!」 「Stop crying like a little girl!」 「Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!!」

The two cars were leaving the harbor district behind and driving into a commercial district. They kept driving forward as the Citroen started fleeing. Tilarna clicked her tongue, and maxed out the throttle. The Maserati started shaking heavily, and moving even faster, cutting the wind before it.

「Hey, don’t tell me….」

She was going to pass them and cut in front of them. It was a completely insane technique. No, he was the one who had taught her that technique in the first place. If anything, this was divine punishment for that.

「Wait, wait a minute! There’s no way that you—」 「I can do it!」 「Sto—p!」

The Maserati barely managed to avoid crashing straight into the Citroen despite their efforts to block the road. Their right door crashed into it, and sparks started flying through the air. Matoba attempted to cover his ears as a piercing metallic noise resonated loudly. They passed the criminal with immense speed and took hold of the entire road as they slowed down aggressively.

「Ah…!」

They crashed.

The Citroen crashed into the back of the Maserati. Matoba’s back slammed hard against the seat. He completely lost his balance as the car was thrown into a wild spin. All their surroundings turned into a flash of unidentifiable colors and shapes as they kept spinning. Even the sounds of their screams were coming from all directions at once. He could barely make out the shape of a construction site on the side of the road getting closer and closer.

A violent sound came from somewhere outside. The Citroen had somehow become airborne behind them.

On the other hand, the Maserati kept spinning until it eventually crashed into the first floor of the construction site. The car’s hood tore into the safety net. All sorts of construction materials started flying all over, the car barely missed being completely crushed by some scaffolding, and eventually it dug itself into a mountain of cement and finally stopped.

「What a fucking mess…. Shit, what a mess.」

Maybe the cement had worked as a cushion, but for some reason he wasn’t gravely injured. The airbags had been activated at some point and they were inflated right in front of him. He hesitantly moved over the inflated bags, and looked at the driver’s seat. Tilarna was limply embracing the airbag.

「Hey, Tilarna」 「Ugh…. ah….」

She also seemed to be alright, though her eyes were still spinning from the crash.

「Stay right there!」

He tried opening his door, but a destroyed cement drum was blocking the exit. He tried pushing it and eventually managed to create an opening barely large enough for him. He stumbled his way out of the car. His head felt hazy and confused, and his eyes were stinging.

They were on a construction site. A steel beam was hanging above him from a large crane.

He turned around and looked at the Maserati. All of it’s exterior was badly damaged, and it’s windows were all shattered, but unbelievably, it seemed to have somewhat survived the crash. It would certainly cost quite a bit of money, but it was still salvageable. The fresh cement had saved their lives. They had been really lucky to crash into a relatively empty crash site, and not a completed building…

「That’s right, Tony…!」

He looked around and immediately found them. About fifty yards from there on the back of the same construction site, the Citroen was lying on its side with the left door at the bottom. It’s rear wheels were still spinning. Matoba drew his gun and ran towards the car. He checked inside without lowering his guard.

The man named Yun was still sitting completely limp on the driver’s seat. On the back seat there was yet another Chinese man together with Tony. Both of them were completely unconscious too.

「Fuck’s sake… all of them fucking useless…」

He said in an annoyed tone, as he roughly dragged out both Chinese men from the car, disarmed them and restrained them with handcuffs. He then stuck his torso inside the car, and shook Tony softly trying to get him to react. He started muttering weakly.

「Oh Kei… You died as well…? This place looks pretty grim and dreary for heaven, though… Are we…?」 「Sorry but we ain’t going to heaven just yet. Can you move?」 「I’m sorry, Kei. I never thought it would turn out like this…」 「Don’t worry about it. Pull yourself together, come on.」

After struggling a bit, he eventually managed to pull Tony out of the car. He wasn’t gravely injured either. They would have to perform the appropriate medical examinations, but it didn’t seem like he had been shot, and there were no evident exterior wounds either.

In any case, mission accomplished.

He called Zimmer on the cellphone and informed him of the current state of affairs. He then walked back to the Maserati. It took around five minutes for the other officers to arrive at the scene. Gyarben and the rest of the gang were arrested and taken away without any further issues.

As he returned to the car, Tilarna finally opened the door and walked out in a daze.

「Where are the criminals? What happened to Tony…?」 「Tony is fine. And we carrested them.」 「I see…. That’s good….」

Tilarna started collapsing looking relieved. Matoba hurriedly caught her.

「Don’t push yourself. You’ve just come out of a pretty intense car crash. We still don’t know if you’re injured, for fuck’s sake.」 「It’s because you’re always making fun of me.」

Tilarna said sulking.

「So… So now you’ve seen… That even I can pull off something like that. I’m not awful at driving anymore either, got it?」 「I got it, I got it. So please spare me the reckless driving again.」 「See? You’re still doing it. Could you at least recognize anything I do right?!」 「Hm…」 「You’re treating me like luggage! Even though everyday… everyday I’m studying hard. You only recognize my failures. If you don’t ever tell me what I do right then who will?」

Tilarna lowered her gaze and fell silent.

Hearing all she had to say, Matoba finally understood her feelings. Ever since she had destroyed his Mini Cooper S, he had been especially mean with her. Sure, he was angry, but he was also mercilessly attacking her. He had gone too far.

She was trying her best and wanting that to be recognized.

As he understood that, all his anger for her reckless driving a little earlier completely vanished. They had accomplished their mission, and no one had any life threatening injuries. If anything, it was thanks to her efforts that they had managed to save Tony from a much worse fate. Who knows what would’ve happened to him if they had just let them get away…

「I’m sorry.」