Partners In Crime

Partners In Crime - Finale - A Dragon's Punch

[Author's Notes]
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And here we have it... One hundred and eleven pages into the story and it's now time for me to present the finale, of which this has expanded to a grand total of being a hundred and thirty-three pages long. I have endured assessments at school, am beginning to be encroached upon by a heatwave and I have also written three one-shots for Kung Fu Panda in the span of two weeks but now I am finally back to deliver the last chapter of this project I have been working on since May!

I won't delay this any further, just know that this has been a pleasure to write and as emotional as I am to see this story come to an end; there's always a greater rainbow over the horizon! Without further delay, Naidvar presents to you on this day:

Partners In Crime - Finale - A Dragon's Punch

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"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" A distorted, sickening and twisted voice ran throughout the massive laboratory in which Diane and The Bad Guys stood, the room rumbling and beginning to fall apart thanks to a weapon of some sorts attempting to break down the ceiling. "This will be a fun ride if you survive, peasants! For a whole year, you thought I was locked up? Oh, the joys of sneaking in a doppelgänger! I just decided to give them their liberation day when the time was right!" Alarm sirens blared, surrounding the gang as their eyes collectively peered around and searched for a solution.

"Guys? What on earth do we do? None of my technology is working? This room looks like it's about to cave in any minute!" Ms. Tarantula freaked out by crawling across the room rapidly, looking for answers on the failing and fragile technology which surrounded her. "We're going to have to hide under the desks, find a way out of here or something! We need to get out of here!" Tarantula gazed towards the crashed S.W.A.T van that had burst into the mountain only to see the hole it left in the wall was sealed up by a swarm of rocks.

"I mean, I'm glad that we're reunited and all but we can't get out of here! We're going to die in here! The exits are sealed, we're about to be victims of part of a mountain caving in- I don't wanna die! I'm too young!" Piranha started pacing around whilst his bowels let loose some toxic gas for the rest of the room to sit in and smell. "I haven't got any more crazy ideas, hermanos! I'm done! This is it! I'm gonna die spending most of my life inside of a cage only to end up in some funky mountain with a psychotic guinea pig!"

"Relax, nobody's dying... Yet," Wolf peered around the room, searching for a way out but to no avail. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to need you to put on these suits and climb underneath the nearest table, desk or anything that could shield you from this building as it's about to collapse faster than my confidence when I broke in here!" Moe reached into Diane's briefcase one final time, sought through his own to scavenge all of the inventions he could whilst tossing specialised latex suits at the rest of his comrades.

"Wolf? What are you doing? You are aware that this is made only to survive scrapes and bumps, right? Not a falling building that's destined to crush us all!" Diane peered towards Moe, who bit his lip whilst attempting to fashion something together inside of the control panel his own suit had. "No... No! You're not thinking about using that to survive! That's an experimental feature that I used these suits for to create a fall protection device for the elderly when running for governor. This is highly experimental and was rarely tested!" Wolf gazed up towards Foxington with his brown orbs filled with as much hope as he was going to get as the roof started caving in, creating the first chip inside of a soon-to-be ruined room.

"We don't have much time! We need to do what we can to survive! Everybody! There's a control panel built into the forearm section of your suits! I'm going to want you to flip open that panel and flick the lever that enables the experimental technology! Then, you're going to want to press the big yellow button which says 'Fall protection'!" Wolf demonstrated to his comrades as to what they needed to do as he watched every single one of them excel at following his instructions.

"Aye-aye, Wolf!" Mr. Snake replied back, using his tail to pry open the chest-piece which would take the place of his forearm if he weren't wearing a technologically advanced sock as opposed to an actual body suit. "Now what?"

"We find a place at the far end of the room, seek refuge underneath a desk or anything we can get our hands on and we wait for the building to fall!"

"You're insane!" Shark and Foxington reacted to Wolf's plan at the same time, trying their hardest not to reel themselves into a panic attack.

"Well, when you build up a reputation for leading one of the baddest crews on the block as you fiercely evade crime by keeping it cool on the road; orchestrating grand plans and running off with stolen goods in the process... You find some pretty insane ideas along the way and this happens to be one of them," Moe put on a final display of level-headedness for his comrades to follow as they started rushing towards one out of two corners at the back of the room, fortifying their position with whatever they could find as more of the wall cracked and more rubble came crashing to the ground. "Snake, lead the way with Piranha, Shark and Webs! Foxington..?" An eerie breeze of silence fell over the pair of them as they exchanged glances for a final time.

"You're with me until the end," Wolf gently kissed Diane on the cheek before grabbing her paw, leading her flustered form away from part of the ceiling which was starting to collapse. "Come on, come on! Something! We need something to protect our flank!" Wolf tore up the room searching for something that could fortify the underside of the massive hollowed-out metal control panel that he was crawling into.

"Will this work, Wolfie?" Diane managed to drag part of the S.W.A.T vehicle that initially broke into the isolation room which burst through the wall into the room. She brought the armour plating close to Moe and sent one of few prayers up to whichever beings of the universe would listen.

"Aha! Yes! Babe, you're a genius!" A massive creaking filled the room as the lights started to rapidly flicker. The wall opposite to them started to collapse down from afar as an earthquake's worth of rumbling struck the entirety of the gang as they huddled up in the corner. "Alright! Here goes nothing!" Wolf pulled his armour plating underneath with him and Foxington huddling up snugly all the while the rest of the gang huddled up in a massive ball, protected by a fort of metal chairs, desks as well as part of the control panel Mr. Sharp ripped up during his panic.

"MUAHAHAHA! GOODBYE, WOLFIE! IT WAS FUN SEEING YOU TRY!" Marmalade bellowed as he brought the fist of his device forth into the wall one final time, ensuring that the blow delivered would prompt the room into collapsing as it broke through into the control panel room and soon this entire segment of the mountain collapsed down upon them.

A violent rumbling was heard as chips from the mountain atop sunk down onto The Bad Guys and Marmalade was forced to take a step back inside of his huge device to observe the chaos. Dust filled the air, followed by smoke and chips of the stone carved into the mountain which made it increasingly more difficult for everyone to breathe as a gigantic thump was heard to signify the entire ceiling crashing down on top of them; causing everyone to black out from the simultaneous strike to their positions that left them gazed.

Marmalade stood triumphantly over the rubble, moving his device forwards and bringing the head of such a marvel of engineering forth to inspect the damage. Just as he thought this fight was over just when it started, a rock was thrown from out of one of the suspiciously piled pieces of rubble. This was soon followed by another as Marmalade raised his eyebrow. At that very moment, Piranha stumbled out from underneath the wreckage a dazed mess, shook his head and found his jaw gaping to the floor.

Before him stood a mech suit that had to be at least twenty to thirty feet in size, encased fully in titanium as well as painted black and yellow. Almost as if it were the creation of the Crimson Paw itself, it came packed filled with devices that could easily graze or slaughter someone, let alone taze them or compact them straight into the core of the earth. As the mech's bolts were held in place and the glass dome which allowed Marmalade to see into the rubble came into view, it resembled none other than one massive mechanical guinea pig with a tiny tail to follow.

"You people don't know when to quit, do you? Haven't I taught you enough of a lesson by trying to make you good? With you eliminated from the crime theatre, I would have full reign to create a monopoly over villainy far greater than anything the world has seen! If I've got to kill you or incapacitate you first then so be it!" Marmalade attempted to charge up a plasma cannon that he had embedded onto the arms of his massive mech guinea pig, only to be intercepted by Wolf and Foxington kicking at the glass dome the mech had to bear, knocking him backwards and bringing the pair of them into the massive engineering room which was used to arm such a masterpiece.

"There's six of us and one of you, I'd be surprised if that crazy mech thingy manages to keep its fuel going for that long! Everyone has their limits, Professor! And you shall meet yours!" Diane Foxington backflipped off the arm of the massive mech Marmalade was controlling as the plasma cannon shot into the abyss, causing part of the mountain to come crashing down as they stood in a room which easily had a circumference of a hundred feet and looked more like an underground rocket launching facility than it did a room that engineered a massive robot.

"Hah! You treat my inventions as if they originated in the stone ages! Do you really think this thing runs off your traditional fuels? Nope! I'm sure you'd know a thing or two about what's powering my inventions considering you've taken it upon yourself to intrude upon my property and risk the lives of your crewmates!" Whilst swinging the clenched fist of his hornet-coloured guinea pig mech, The Bad Guys collectively caught sight of a massive window into the heart of the machine which pulsed thanks to the Love Crater Meteorite being recreated in a small form-factor to power Marmalade's mech.

"Damn it! The meteorite! He's using it to power the mech! I should've thought about that when tracking you down to begin with!" Diane spat as she delivered a spin-kick to the device, knocking part of its coordination loose before she found herself narrowly avoiding a shot from the plasma cannon. "We need a plan! We can't just keep fighting this thing and we need to act fast!"

"Hey! I might be scared of heights and my parents raised me in the darkest depths of the ocean before we emerged and became a part of this thing known as civilisation after committing crimes under the seas but what if we stay above the mech? If he can't reach us as we take him down then we're going to have an easier time taking him out!" Mr. Shark let off a girly scream as he dodged two harpoons destined for his head as he jumped onto a nearby platform.

"This place happens to be filled with water as well! Look at all of those silos, hermanos!" Piranha pointed towards the silver tanks that acted like reservoirs for a huge hydro-powered reactor which powered the entirety of the mountain as well as part of the connection Marmalade's operation cabin maintained with the meteorite. "If we can knock down some of those silos, go for a swim and make it a little slippery down here; we might have a chance of winning this fight as opposed to being crushed!"

"You will do no such thing, fish-breath! All of you have ambitions of winning and all of you will be met with the jaws of failure once I depart this place and face the music outside! I know I'm surrounded but there's a reason why I'm a professor and an engineer of science!" Professor Marmalade used some of the hydraulic boosters inside of his mech suit to jump up onto a nearby ledge. "Do you really think I revealed my engineering genius to you without having an escape plan? I knew facing the 'diabolical' Bad Guys would put up more of a challenge than one thought, yet your attempts will be met with futility once you wear yourselves out and I stand proud and triumphant!" Marmalade unleashed a gigantic laugh as the room's lights powered down and the backup lights alongside the alarms kicked in all the while the room was filled with a red and smoky haze.

"Good luck trying to find me and face me sincerely whilst being unable to see me! It's a good thing I built in heat-vision into my mech so I can hunt you down and pick you apart bone by bone!" Unbeknownst to Marmalade, the governor's array of inventions was the mere reason as to why he had been driven to such a point where he had to unveil his superweapon of sorts.

As silence fell over Marmalade as he stood proudly on the metallic ledge above the smoke and brimstone that was rising up from the system he had triggered, his mech started to lower down and soon slip thanks to someone overriding the ledge system. In a panic, Marmalade gazed around to see that none other than Tarantula was currently employing her cybercraft to overwhelm the relatively mediocre defences Marmalade had engineered in response to the extreme plans wielded by those wishing to stop him.

"What? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! You can't override that system! It's secured by the keycard I have on me," Marmalade reached into the back pocket of his tiny suit only to find that his paw graced silk as opposed to the tiny card that he was opposed to feeling.

"Oh, you mean this?" Webs gently brought the card forth from the machine she was operating as she searched for a way to disable the smoke and alarms to make their fight with Marmalade more fair. "Your smoke and mirrors can only go so far, piggy! You shouldn't have second guessed a spider in captivity when we're known for escaping and getting our legs on objects that make others uncomfortable! I saw this card in your back pocket the first time we met and couldn't help but be intrigued," At that moment, a massive buzzer echoed throughout the steely room as the lights were returned to their previously amber colour all whilst the smoke faded away and the platforms disarmed themselves. "WA-BAM!"

"You lousy little-"

"Hey Marmalade!" Wolf and Foxington brought forth a massive fishing net as they gazed at one another and nodded. "It seems that it's time for the tiny fish to be fried!" Wolf may have been slightly cliche with his own lines but him and Foxington leapt off a platform in an attempt to tackle down the mech with a gigantic fishing net, only to hear a distressed and amplified scream of panic from within as a gigantic blade revealed itself through the paws of the mech and cut Marmalade's creation free. Following that, the mech swung itself backwards and struck both Wolf and Foxington, launching them onto the floor as they landed on their feet.

Marmalade took another moment to look around and saw that Piranha had armed himself with a makeshift lasoo, Tarantula was wielding one of Foxington's lipstick blow torches and was poised to strike all the while Shark prepared to bait in Marmalade by searching inside of a munitions crate all the while he seethed in the presence of Wolf and Foxington standing defiantly in front of them.

In a fit of rage, Marmalade stomped his mech's foot against the ground, prompting everyone to be thrown off course slightly as he rushed towards Shark in an attempt to incapacitate one of his many opponents and turn the tides of the fight. As Shark nonchalantly gazed behind him in the eyes of Marmalade and he went to strike, the guinea pig was further deceived when he was met by a deflating noise followed by none other than Shark wearing one of his own mercenaries' uniforms jumping on the glass dome making up the large mech's demented head.

"Missed me!" Shark teased as he brought a small form-factor glass cutter with him, tied a rope around one of the chips that he had managed to shove into the dome of the glass contraption and began cutting away. "It's time for you to learn how we sharks break out of our aquatic prisons and instead use that knowledge to loot jewellery stores..."

"And you happen to look like some tasty jewellery right about now!" Mr. Snake chimed in, slithering up the extended arm of Marmalade's mech as an uncontrollable sense of panic hit the guinea pig. This was coupled by the fact that Piranha had wrapped a lasso which wielded many of the weapons Marmalade could use and was tying up the hand whilst walking forth towards the glass dome which allowed some insight into the maniac that formulated his own plans of world domination without checking them for flaws first.

"Tarantula? Are you ready?" Foxington kindly asked as she gripped the arachnid in the palm of her paw and nonchalantly pointed towards the circle Shark was creating in the glass dome. "You've got quite a massive objective ahead of you... Don't fight Marmalade, you're going straight into the vent system of the mech and disabling it, got it?"

"Heard ya loud and clear, governor... But why the vent system?"

"Oh, we've already got a grand plan for that," Wolf leant his elbow on Foxington's shoulder before pointing towards Piranha, who winked back whilst making his way towards one of the vent intakes the mech used to filter air from the outside world and to sustain itself whilst keeping Marmalade relatively cool. "Who would've thought a walking fart joke would have a use in a situation like this, huh?" Wolf briefly gazes towards yourself, the reader, before setting his sights directly on the legs of the machine.

A massive glass cracking followed by a circle of glass smashing against the floor was heard as Marmalade had briefly placed his mech on autopilot and armed himself with nunchucks, preparing for the entry of one of The Bad Guys as a massive shout was heard. The next thing he knew, a gigantic speeding ball of black and red smashed against his face before leaving its mark within the fact that part of the hatch powering the vents of his own suite inside of the machine was broken open.

Marmalade sincerely considered pursuing the eight-legged genius yet instead had other things to worry about as his control panel on the inside started to flare and gave him a heads up about Tarantula's presence. At this point, he knew he would be on a timer before Webs attempted to disarm his device on the inside or he would be driven out. Therefore, with his confidence already beginning to wane, he pressed the overdrive button which launched an electrical shockwave; knocking everybody off his mech whilst temporarily disorientating Webs.

"I've been playing an easy game with you all as I get used to playing around with this mech as I harass my grandest victims... However, with that rather uncreative caper and that act to cut open part of my masterpiece, you've now awoken a world of hurt for yourselves to endure," Marmalade's mech suddenly let off another pulse of energy as the sapphire-encrusted window that showed the entirety of the gang the energy source that Marmalade was so proud of alongside the true extraterrestrial nature of his power. "I will not let two years of studying the cosmic elements of this meteorite alongside countless more planning world domination go to waste. You will kneel before me for it is not your capabilities that reflect your abilities but your dedication... And you have to be as dedicated as myself to engineer a clone of yourself to remain in prison and to break free the moment my inventions had completed their testing phase only for my favourite 'heroes' to chase me down and attempt a redemption arc of their own... Wouldn't you say?" With one press of a button, Marmalade's steel shoe belonging to his mech slammed directly into the backside of Shark, launching him into a pile of munitions crates at the edge of the room.

"I'm okay!" Shark yelled out, attempting to pick himself up underneath the rubble all the while shaking his head and contemplating how serving his time in prison would lead to him getting here so quickly. "Man, for my first couple days out of prison, I expected this to go more delightfully!"

"Consider this serving a community sentence!" Foxington exclaimed, cracking up Shark during their moment of urgency as she avoided being harpooned by one of Marmalade's blades. "Damn! Will you lay off the archery? If you want to be effective at firing your arrows then at least take some classes!" Diane rather casually caught a harpoon and redirected it towards Marmalade's mech, decapitating the plasma cannon mounted to the paw of such a mechanical nightmare all the while a lightbulb flared inside of her mind.

"I never knew Marmalade would have trouble aiming with such a massive mech but I guess the smaller the package the more precise the aim," Wolf admittedly felt a little guilty about that innuendo as Diane rolled her eyes whilst unleashing a petty sigh. "What? Are you saying I'm more precise with my aim?"

"I'm saying you have a one in five chance of missing," Foxington winked at Wolf before recomposing herself and locking eyes with Marmalade's mech one final time, noticing the previously blue eyes had turned to a crimson red whilst staring down the pair. "That... Doesn't look good! Underneath the legs!" Foxington directed Wolf as they slid under the massive mech, briefly joined paws and then backflipped whilst slamming the undersides of their shoes into the backside of the mech.

"What an embarrassment! Looks like someone spared a snake and left them with some rope!" Mr. Snake slithered across the floor whilst carrying some rope tied to his tail which was being held up by a nearby metal support beam that he had tied the other end too, leaping forward and prompting Marmalade's mech to trip over into the hydro-silos previously mentioned by the gang. "Whoops, looks like I'll always be a good guy!" Snake wriggled free from the rope and started traversing the array of staircases surrounding the room that led up to various locations before jumping atop the head of Marmalade's mech.

"GET OFF ME YOU UNTALENTED HEATHENS!" Marmalade attempted to recover from his blunder of falling into the silos, which were now gushing water at a rapid rate to the point where he found it increasingly challenging to get to a vertical base inside of his massive mech as he found himself slipping over. "WHAT?" By some miracle, Tarantula had not only survived the bumps but had managed to get herself involved with the internal control panel and the systems powering the machine, disabling many of the internal self-defence mechanisms and disarming the air conditioning.

"Piranha! Now!" Wolf shouted as his scaly ally leapt from a nearby staircase as Marmalade was stuck in a panic and found himself directly atop the circular intake vent of the mech. "Everyone, cover their noses or breathe through their mouths! It's time for Marmalade to bask within the stench of Californian street food!" Wolf advised as Piranha positioned himself neatly on top of the vent before thinking about one of the things that petrified him most... Clowns and circuses.

"BRACE YOURSELF!" Piranha yelled in a panic all the while Shark dove into the torrent of Water crashing down from the silos in the hopes that his senses wouldn't be overwhelmed by the smell as Piranha unleashed a hurricane of flatulence into Marmalade's cabin before hastily leaping off the mechanically-failing mech.

"PIRANHA!" Webs screamed from the back hatch of the mech as she made her victorious exit all the while ripping out the final cable that powered the electrical engineering that Marmalade had spent so long assembling as the plasma cannon started firing into the nearby silos. "EVERYONE, EVACUATE! THAT MECH'S GONNA EXPLODE!" Sighting a nearby laboratory that had sat unused, The Bad Guys accompanied by Foxington rushed towards the building as the mech began to hiss alongside howl, destined to destruct at that moment as Marmalade hastily hit the eject button and found himself flying into the air right at the moment the mech unleashed its final creak and a massive ball of fire engulfed that corner of the room.

Professor Marmalade zipped with an immeasurable amount of grace through the air, being knocked fully unconscious for the amount of time he spent flying through the air for he landed and immediately regained his grip on reality to see that The Bad Guys accompanied by the governor were giving him an exponentially brutal death stare which forced him to jump through his skin.

"Alright, Plan B it is," Marmalade seethed as he aimed a grappling gun towards a ledge at the top of the mountain and pulled the trigger, soon shooting him into the air as everyone followed suit. "You thought you'd be defeating me that easily? You're sorely mistaken!" The pint-sized guinea pig had surely lost his mind as well as his sanity as he attempted to lead The Bad Guys on as they all fired their grappling hooks up into a similar position.

"You can run, Marmalade... But you can't hide," Wolf growled underneath his breath as Marmalade managed to escape into another vent system upon landing at the roof of the mountain. "Webs! Follow him through the vents! Snake! If you catch him, lunch will be served for you right then and there!"

"On it, Wolfie!" Tarantula followed suit, chasing Marmalade into the vents as Wolf eyed up the labyrinth of corridors and doors sat before him as he was followed by the rest of The Bad Guys.

"Oh boy! This guy's gonna be extra delicious considering I'm hungry for lunch and haven't had scrap to eat since last night!" Snake's gruff voice echoed throughout the vents as the echoes and banging spread into the floor below them all whilst the remainder of the gang were confronted by security guards.

"Diane-"

"You don't have to ask me twice, baby~" Diane delivered a split-kick to the pair of security guards blocking their entry to the staircase, landing in a split before scanning an RFID code into the rest of the base for it began to crumble. "Is it just me or is the stability of this mission beginning to fracture?"

"That's probably thanks to the fact Marmalade used his HUGE mech to destroy most of the foundation inside of that room, amiga!" Piranha mounted the steel railings that led down the staircase and started riding them down as the others jumped onto them in the hopes of outrunning the vent system. "Did you see how much that explosion destroyed? It left most of the room in rubble!" At that exact moment, the mountain began to rumble violently as the group of vigilantes almost slipped off the circular spiral of railings that would lead them to the bottom floor of the mountain.

"Webs! We've gotta speed this up somehow! He's getting away and having to use my tail to destroy all of these filters is starting to get a little painful! I'm sure this mountain's getting ready to crash down on itself considering how much of it's been hollowed out by Marmalade's inventive acts of villainy!" No matter how fast Snake slithered or Tarantula scurried, the moment they managed to catch up to an even pace with Marmalade, he somehow managed to put gas onto the pedals that powered his legs and sprint further. "Uh oh!" Snake was almost pulled into a crack made in the vents as metallic clanging and rubble started to pour into the tubing.

"This is an insane idea but I'm going to need you to swallow me and spit me back out again right at the moment we catch up to him! Can you do that?" Webs backpedalled for a moment and with little time to think, Snake merely opened up his jaw and allowed the arachnid to climb in. "Now slither!" She shouted from within his mouth, feeling herself slip a mere inch away from the digestive acids of the serpent.

"We're almost at the bottom! I can feel it!" Wolf's fur was being littered with pellets of rubble as well as parts of the collapsing ceiling as he finally spotted the double doors leading to the bottom floor, which turned out to be none other than a basic research facility which would lead to the outdoors and was apparently controlled by the military as opposed to Marmalade. "Guys! You don't know us but clear out! We're chasing Professor Marmalade and the mountain's about to collapse in on itself!" The innocently working officers wearing lab coats and drinking coffee practically spat out the contents of their mouth and soon found themselves evacuating followed by the clanging of the vents as the lights flickered and their computers shut off.

"BLEH!" Snake ejected Webs right at the moment he caught up to Marmalade, who was beginning to finally run scarce of stamina and breath as Tarantula was shot directly into Marmalade's backside as well as out into the unforgiving sun rays of the desert, greeting the majority of the S.W.A.T team preparing to storm the building as she pinned down Marmalade and started to seal a web around him.

"WATCH OUT, EVERYONE!" The entirety of The Bad Guys and Diane with the exception of Tarantula yelled as the scientists alongside them burst out of the laboratory that was built into the mountain and the armoured double doors were sealed behind them.

"Governor Diane Foxington here! Clear the premises immediately! Part of this mountain is going to come crashing down! A rocky avalanche is coming! Move!" Whilst Webs picked up a struggling Marmalade and moved him out of the crash zone, everybody else quickly hopped into their vehicles and sped away from the zone of impact; subsequently leaving The Bad Guys behind with Professor Marmalade as he struggled against the might of Tarantula.

"PROFESSOR- MARMALADE- WILL LIVE ANOTHER DAY! Y-YOU CAN'T STOP ME! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE IF YOU BRING ME WITH YOU! I'LL BE TAKING YOU WITH ME EITHER WAY!" Marmalade cackled all the while Webs spun him up whilst on the run. Realising that she was going to end up falling behind and being crushed by the incoming boulders that were crashing down from the mountains, she had no choice to finish her work early and throw Marmalade behind her.

"Damn it, I had to let go of Marmalade or else I would've been sacrificing myself!" Tarantula managed the impossible and caught up with the others to inform them of the news, which is when they collectively glanced back and witnessed none other than Marmalade struggle against the web before being crushed by a huge boulder. "I don't think... Uh... That's going to be a problem anymore," Webs remarked as the rag-tag team of ex-criminals mixed with the governor concluded their fight by collapsing mere inches away from Musty Luggin's feet, who happened to be eagerly watching the entire time as a massive cloud of dust and rubble soon swept behind them with the mountain crashing down behind them.

A moment of silence passed for every single member of The Bad Guys followed by Diane Foxington, who all breathed collective sighs of relief regarding the fact they were still alive. Despite their entire bodies being covered by dirt, rubble and remnants of falling boulders as most of the mountain crumbled down behind them up until a wall of stability was founded by nature itself and the mountain picked up the majority of its weight with no more grey and brown rocks collapsing down from the foundation itself; all of them were lucky and thanked the lords above for the fact that they were able to live to see another day.

All of this celebration was brought to a halt when none other than Misty Luggins finally stared down at the creatures beneath her feet, stomped her foot and kicked up some desert to enlighten the entire crew and their lungs with the blessing of cloudy dust which prompted them to sputter and find their way onto their hands, knees and eventually buttocks as they peered up towards her steely gaze.

"We... We stopped Professor Marmalade, chief," Wolf declared deliriously, attempting to reach onto his feet all the while he lifted his paw into the air and cheered for himself. "WOOHOO! The pesky professor is no more! At least I think! Haha! We did it!" Moe's vision unblurred only to reveal a set of scowling faces from authority figures alongside Chief Luggins herself. "What's with the frowny faces? We did what was asked, right? We saved the city!"

"YES, YOU DID!" Misty Luggins paused before stomping her foot directly onto Wolf's toes, prompting a few of his bones within his paws to crack in the process. "AT THE COST OF A LOCAL LANDMARK, YOUR CREDIBILITY, THE STATE'S CREDIBILITY AS WELL AS A CASUALTY WHEN PROFESSOR MARMALADE SHOULD BE SERVING HIS LIFE SENTENCE IN PRISON INSTEAD OF HELL!"

"Hell's a... Hell's a better place for the scoundrel anyways," Wolf soon stumbled back onto his buttocks whilst Diane brushed herself off in the best way possible whilst raising her paw to explain something to Chief Luggins herself. "Woo! We did it!" Moe continued to cheer whilst Misty's eyes snapped towards Diane Foxington.

"Misty-"

"Diane. I thought you out of all people would know better not to roll with such diabolical criminals and to endorse their plans! It's bad enough that we had to cover up your records and forge false alibis for you when you wished to visit your boyfriend in prison but this? Oh, please! I would love to see you pour maple syrup on my pancakes and scramble my eggs if you've got an explanation for this that doesn't tank your political career!" Misty Luggins took pride in agitating the vixen, even smugly repositioning her hat whilst dealing with the blistering heat as she was accompanied by the entirety of the Californian major-crimes division in the task of staring down the ginger-muzzled governor.

"Well, you out of all people would know that drastic times calls for drastic measures, as you've demonstrated by constantly pushing the limits of your department's budget to stop The Bad Guys in the past as well as setting up spy networks to keep track of them because you cannot trust their detention," Diane dropped a major bomb on Misty alongside the rest of the gang, who were in the process of picking themselves up. "I will admit, it was none other than Wolf's idea here to hijack a S.W.A.T van and to infiltrate the premises but we are all responsible for what happened inside of there. Besides, what's the worry? I'm sure this will turn into a nice tourist attraction once some of the rubble is dug out and people get to see some of the works of the great Professor Marmalade!" Foxington spun around whilst using her paw to casually gesture towards the mountain.

"It's not just that, Foxington... You infiltrated GOVERNMENT-SURVEILLED quarters with a group of known criminals and for what? For it to become a hostage situation as Marmalade ran across the state in tunnels he created to escape the clutches of the law?" Chief Luggins' folded up her arms whilst scowling at the ginger vixen. "You seriously couldn't have thought being that reckless would result in something positive! I mean, we had Marmalade locked up in prison the entire time-"

"Actually, ma'am, I would like to dispute that," Wolf finally bounced to his feet as well as did his best to unmask himself to the best of his abilities. "As it turns out, Marmalade had been using a doppelgänger for around a year to serve his time; apparently they got swapped out whilst inside of the holding cell thanks to his whole experiments with the guinea pig lab. So, this whole time, you had Professor Marmalade underneath your boots and you weren't aware... Is that what you call detective work, Chief?" Wolf slyly smirked all the while the rest of his friends got to their feet.

"Yeah! Your lack of know-how almost got us killed by that terrifying monster and his short yet potent claws!" Mr Shark remarked whilst his facial expression let the world know as to how tense he was. "Hey! We may have destroyed a lot of property but Marmalade would've destroyed the world with his constant voodoo talk about world domination!"

"Why are we getting the bad rep for this act of goodwill, too? Shouldn't you be somewhat glad that these criminals instead decided to help you numbskulls instead of defecting to their side and starting a new criminal order with Professor Marmalade?" Snake chimed in, admittedly adding a good point as Misty found herself under the collective gazes of her superiors.

"We almost died going in there, Chief Luggins! Does that mean nothing to you? Are we just a bunch of worthless and brainless criminals to you? Because then-" Piranha had to be restrained by Webs all the while she gazed up towards the emotionally conflicted Californian Chief of Police.

"Piranha would've gone loopy if he got to say anything else but we made a sacrifice today, perhaps not to prove to the world that we've changed but to prove to ourselves that we've had time to evolve. We're not about doing bad things anymore and quite honestly, I think I and every single one of us can agree that doing hard time taught us some things about self-worth and honesty... Even Foxington, who had to see her boyfriend through the glass panes of the correction facility," Ms. Tarantula crawled up the shoulder of Foxington, resting upon her shoulder as she continued to talk. "Why should it matter who the Governor decides to date? Why should it matter as to how we deal with evil? It's safe to say Professor Marmalade would've escaped if it weren't for our slight familiarity with him and stealing the meteorite from him the first time. Not everything goes to plan and I am sure you can look back towards those times you tried to catch myself, Wolfie and the rest of the gang to no avail. Marmalade is dead as opposed to being locked away, he's managed to garner relief for the punishment he was supposed to face but he's no longer here to harm us. It's just a matter of raiding the lab a second time independently and surrendering some of the treasures Marmalade was keeping inside of that lab to the government for further safekeeping and testing," Webs' take on the situation humbled the usually hot-headed police chief, who was more content on the fate of Marmalade being a prisoner scorn and tortured for his crimes against the entirety of the state.

"I think what Webs is trying to say is that we can't do anything perfectly. I think it's time for me to come forth and announce that I am not the perfect politician you all elected either as there's a reason I've been collaborating with The ex-Bad Guys as well as dating Mr Wolf and that's because-" Just as the press showed up, Wolf happened to interject a second time to save Diane's reputation.

"She can't resist bandits that have more than a misdemeanour on their records. Yes, babe, we get it," Wolf softly stroked Foxington's massive, soft and fluffy ginger ears before turning his attention to Misty Luggins. "Sometimes collaborating with criminals is the best way to gain insight into what they do. Foxington was merely with us to prove that we could keep our word and complete the objective of a 'heist for good' compared to just stealing everything. You've seen how inventive Foxington has been and how good Diane is at fulfilling the promises she made to the people... Why should it bother you or the world if she's working with criminals that aren't even criminals anymore!"

"Uh! Yeah! We served the time, amiga! We deserve to have a little more respect thrown our way instead of just the scraps! I know we used to be a part of The Bad Guys but you need to have more faith in your own prison system! It's not the best but it's not Detroit!" Piranha's subtle joke cracked up Luggins, who finally saw through her own ignorance and was able to see the sense in the situation.

"Alright, alright! I get it! I think I'm being a little too dramatic or at least handling this with less maturity than I should! Even though this situation is admittedly messy, it's more favourable that we keep it this way with Marmalade most likely buried under the rubble and crushed into dust instead of having him alive and with the chance of breaking free once again. Not every situation can be handled perfectly, even when following protocol and I understand that; you've completed your objective with only one casualty and I think that's for the best," Luggins peered around to see there was a slue of officers surrounding her, waiting for her next command as a Limo driven by none other than Hailee herself arrived by the side of The ex-Bad Guys. "I won't be arresting you today, Foxington can deal with the paperwork and the political turmoil that comes from this and my investigation teams can do a majority of the dirty work. Speaking of which... Ladies and gentleman! It's time for us to begin excavating part of the crime scene and to find the remains of Professor Marmalade before moving forth into the mountain. Please advise caution and keep your helmets on!"

"YES, MA'AM! HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT-HUT" A massive horde of police officers which had been assigned the role of investigators and excavators made their way towards the remnants of the crime scene with nothing more than a few pickaxes, shovels as well as the hope that part of the massive mountain in the distance wouldn't collapse as several police cruisers soon started their engine and moved forth to catch up and pass them.

"Well, I would say that's a job well done, wouldn't you say?" Wolf calmly met eyes with the tranquil emeralds of Foxington as she let off a little giggle. "We got to prove how ready we are for this relationship by sticking together, managed to kill a psychotic guinea pig and we avoided getting arrested in the first forty-eight hours of us all being free... How does everyone feel about going to a bar despite the afternoon being over the horizon and reminiscing on old memories before beginning anew?" As Hailee got out of the limo and opened up the doors for The Bad Guys, every single member started to holler, yell as well as cheer as they stepped forth before Wolf and Foxington stalled by waiting outside.

"You know, I'm proud of you beyond what words can convey, Wolfie. From circumventing the entirety of the police force and admittedly attracting my attention despite robbing something as lowly as a bank to proving yourself during the telling of this entire story... It's safe to say that you've got quite a lot of experience under your belt for being charming whilst remaining honest. It's almost like you were never a criminal in the first place," Foxington started climbing into the limousine as she peered back and winked at Wolf. "But we all know you performed the heist of the century when you stole my heart," Her voice softly cooed all the while the entirety of the remaining gang heard what she had to say as they started snickering all the while Wolf entered the limo.

"Seriously, I wonder what on earth you two are going to get up to in your lifetimes? I mean, we'll always be The Bad Guys when it comes to being friends but I think this is a nice time to say that we are heading towards a neat divide as to what we're going to do with our lives," Snake had already managed to find his way towards the champagne glasses and admittedly hadn't poured himself more than some grape juice during the time Moe and Diane spent mingling outside.

"Honestly, Snakey? I had never thought about what's to come for the future. Who knows, maybe I'll run for being a politician, become a banker or perhaps some sort of car salesman. Maybe I'll become a private investigator and fight on the side of the law... Perhaps become a lawyer? I've still got quite a lot of time left in my life to do what I want. As for my relationship? I mean, I know with Foxington, I can confront anything the world throws in my face and with you guys by my side? I might as well be invincible..." Wolf prepared to put on his iconic pair of sunglasses as he reached into the front pocket of his latex suit. "Maybe I'll become a father some day and work a domestic job or maybe I'll become another Californian Governor, perhaps the president? We'll see. I don't even know if it's possible for a wolf and a fox to have children but they're not so different and well, miracles have been proven to happen considering I have you guys in my life," As the limousine started to get on the move and Foxington's face was filled with a rich, healthy and warm red blush; everyone else teared up considering Wolf's kind words.

"T-that was beautiful! And we'll always have you two in our lives- we'll always have everyone until the very end! Wolf, you should seriously become a writer, man!" Shark couldn't control his stream of tears all the while Wolf took the time to melt into the leather chair that the limousine had on offer.

"Writing? I mean, I've considered it but it seems a little boring... I mean I've watched the author of this story type fifty-thousand words to get us into this exact situation- not to mention the readers who are insane enough to crawl through this to the end!" Wolf found himself locking eyes with yourself one final time as the reader of the story. "Hey! You! Yes, you! I know we've had our hiccups in the past and you've seen that we're not that bad... But considering we've proven it in one of the craziest ways possible and further gotten acquainted, the corrections system does its job, wouldn't you think?" As Moe turned away from gazing towards your very eyes, he darted his beady orbs around the room and gazed towards Tarantula, who had somehow managed to get her hands on an MP3 player. "Tarantula! Karaoke session time!"

"Alright!" As the limousine gained some speed, The Bad Guys found themselves trying their best to sing along to "Brand New Day" written by "The Heavy" as the camera starts to pan towards the distant city of Los Angeles, illuminated by the all-seeing sun alongside the warming rays of society as the road soon starts turning quiet with their mission to circumvent Marmalade's reborn plans of world domination and to have them snuffed out like a disobedient flame.

With a destination only known to the governors of the universe itself alongside the experiences of the past and present influencing their lives, almost as if their foundations had led them to that exact moment... Who truly knew what The Bad Guys were going to get up to next? Considering Professor Marmalade is no more and everyone has a clean slate to live upon after experiencing something as grand as a gigantic mech fight with a possessed guinea pig and surviving such a fate, the world was truly their oyster.

Meanwhile, Wolf and Foxington had proved that they could be far more than mere lovers that were held behind bars and collaborated based on a frivolous day of fun. They had proved their loyalty to one another beyond what words could comprehend and had truly become partners in crime in their own right. Whether it be love, life, challenges or obstacles as well as the happiest of days; it was safe to say that Wolf and Foxington had one another to rely on and with their friends along their side..?

Only the future could foresee what was to come of the present of our humble heroes, who had experienced such adversity to get to where they were to this day to the point where they felt some regrets for accidentally killing Marmalade when he showed them the morals of flipping the coin and playing nice for a change.

Yet, regret would become something that would smear their clean slates but never stain it for it only proved how ready our heroes were to play nice with society... To make a positive change as opposed to constantly making the lives of those outside of their friend group miserable. Their own destiny was within their grasp and it's now their responsibility to seize the opportunities of the future.

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[The End!]

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[Credits:]

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The Bad Guys, Tiffany Fluffit, Chief Luggins, Professor Marmalade and Diane Foxington alongside extra characters original to the story: Dreamworks, NBCUniversal

Hail/Hailee: Naidvar

Story writing, planning, production, presentation and editing: Naidvar

Being patient enough to witness this series unfold: You!

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[Author's Notes]

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I would like to give a tremendous thanks to you all for remaining patient throughout the unfolding of this story and for the final chapter. Although the final chapter was not entirely what I imagined, I have had to make do with my conditions as well as write this in advance considering a massive heatwave is poised to pounce on my home-country and it would further delay this project further when I would love to preferably get this done!

There are definitely lessons I have learned about this story, that including the fact that I will definitely need to familiarise myself with the landscapes of California and perhaps not push myself so far when trying to get stories off the ground as I definitely faced some burn out during the writing of this. However, I am proud of what I have created despite my minor errors here and there and I am super thankful for all of you for supporting me!

As for the future... I already have plans for another Bad Guys A.U but it's safe to say that I'm going to be taking quite a hefty break! I also have plans for a separate one-shot that'll be published that relates to this story within the next week whenever I'm finished writing it and finalising it! - I should also make it clear that all author's notes beyond this point have now been removed and that this story is officially declared as completed!
I'll most likely go through and correct some errors and add in some crucial pieces of information to fix some continuity oversights in the near future but as for now... I would like to thank you so much for supporting this project until the very end despite its simple plot, you're all truly awesome and I look forward to seeing you whenever I decide to write my next piece for The Bad Guys or kick off a new A.U! As for now, it's time for me to go and enjoy part of the summer! Take care, people!