Pursuit

Chapter 10

Pursuit Team

Fitz's grip was tight on Smii7y's shoulder and cuffs. No way was he letting Smii7y go now. The cockiest racer wasn't so mouthy now without his car.

Smii7y kept his head low so his hair shadowed his eyes. Fitz didn't care how he was feeling, though. The streets were one big leap closer to safety and without their leader, the racers would fall apart like bricks.

"Not so tough now, without your car, huh?" Fitz smirked as his grip tightened on Smii7y's shoulder. He took the cuffs off of his wrists and pushed him into the jail cell where he'd be held with Blarg until morning. A ferry would be taking them to the mainland where they'd face court and a sentence. Tucker put Blarg into the cell too.

Fitz had finally done it. Trestle's most wanted criminal was now in custody. Sure, Kryoz may have helped, but Fitz had organized the team to take Smii7y down. That damn car was totaled and Smii7y was locked in a cage. It was only a matter of time that Fitz caught all the others.

"Not going to talk?" Fitz teased, "Now that I finally bested you?"

"Go to hell." Blarg snapped. His glare was murderous through the bars.

"You're the one's going to hell." Fitz shot back.

"Fitz!" Nogla snapped as he came into the room, "Behave yourself. None of this would've been possible without Kryoz. You're lucky I'm keeping you on the pursuit team." Fitz didn't argue. Nogla glanced at the racers in the cell. Smii7y had his back to the bars with his hands in his hoodie pocket. Blarg had his arms crossed.

"You have your rights to the fifth, but I ask you this, why? Why did you choose this route? Years of racing? All to end up here? Was it really worth it?" Nogla asked as he watched the two racers carefully. Blarg glowered at him and looked like he was about to speak but Smii7y spoke first.

"Yeah. Because I kept people safe." Smii7y mumbled.

"How? You put people at risk every time you go past the speed limit." Tucker stated.

Smii7y turned to them, "And you think ramming them off the road will stop others from breaking the law?" He glanced at Fitz, his green eyes like lasers.

"You use brute force to stop people who don't side with you. I stopped all of it. I kept both sides safe. Only when you got involved, did people get hurt. Don't you dare blame me for your recklessness." Smii7y glared, his tone sharp like knives.

"You didn't stop shit! You put people in danger!" Fitz yelled.

"We did?! Did you really forget what you did?! You killed Droid! You were going to kill Smii7y! Look in the fucking mirror! You should be in here with us, Fitz!" Blarg shouted.

"That's enough Fitz! Leave if you can't restrain yourself!" Nogla demanded. Fitz scoffed and left the room.

Nogla sighed, "You will be sent to the mainland for trial. However you justify your actions, I doubt others will see it that way." Nogla and Tucker left the room.

"Something happened? Fitz killed someone?" Tucker asked.

Nogla sighed, "During Fitz's undercover work, he gathered a force to catch Smii7y. A racer took a hit for Smii7y and died from the crash. Fitz went against orders to do it in dangerous conditions."

Tucker grimaced, "That's horrible. How is he still on the force?"

"I vouched for him. Said it was an accident. Blamed it on the racers for their irresponsible driving." Nogla explained.

"Maybe it's time to take him off the force. He seems to have done more harm than good. Something like that isn't okay. No matter who it is. Racer or police." Tucker replied.

Nogla nodded, "I think you may be right, Tucker." He found Fitz in the meeting room with his feet propped up on the table.

"We need to talk." He stated as he closed the door.

Fitz rolled his eyes, "I know. I overreacted and what not."

"Yes. You also can't follow orders, Fitz. You overreact or disobey orders all the time! You're doing more harm than good!" Nogla said.

Fitz took his feet off the table, "You think I meant to kill Droid? I didn't, for one! I tried harder than anyone here to catch that son of a bitch! I was only doing my job Nogla!"

"No. You weren't. You were being egotistical. Smii7y was the one thing that you couldn't get over and it ended up costing someone their life. Maybe you do deserve to be behind those bars too." Nogla shot back.

Fitz stood up, "I'm not the only one, Nogla! Who blamed that accident on the racers? That their careless driving made Droid crash to the press?"

"I said that for you! To keep you out of trouble!" Nogla snapped.

"Then I guess you aren't any different from Smii7y either! Breaking the rules to keep the balance!" Fitz huffed. Nogla bit his tongue. Fitz was right. He lied to keep Fitz from getting in trouble.

"You can't blame this all on me, Nogla. You said catch Smii7y however you can. I tried. I didn't mean for Droid to get caught in it." Fitz responded.

"You were going to do that to Smii7y, though." Nogla argued.

"Yes. I was. Would it have been so different from all of our other attempts to stop him? Wrecks at high speeds are devastating." Fitz crossed his arms. Nogla pondered that for a moment. They had become the dangerous ones.

"I-" Nogla couldn't believe he was even thinking like this. All this time, he thought he was doing good. Keeping the people of Trestle safe. That included racers. That's what set him aside from Smii7y. Smii7y protected everyone while he only protected what he considered good from bad.

"No. We aren't like Smii7y. He was right. We deserve to be behind those bars as much as he does." Nogla grumbled.

Fitz raised an eyebrow, "Not what I was expecting."

Nogla exhaled, "We fucked up. Things are going to be changing from now on. You can either agree to accept these changes or join Smii7y and Blarg on the ferry to the mainland." Nogla had new motives now.

"Is that a threat?" Fitz asked.

"Yes. You've been let lose too much while under my command. That's my fault. So, things will be changing and if you can't handle that, I'm sure Smii7y and Blarg have plenty more to say to you on the ferry to the mainland." Nogla said sternly.

Fitz blinked, "Alright then. Guess I'm changing then." Nogla nodded. He had a lot to fix now. He left the meeting room. Eli and Vanoss came up to Nogla with worried expressions.

"We have a problem." Eli claimed.

"What?" Nogla asked.

"Weare getting hundreds of calls." Vanoss answered, "Racers are going nuts! Accidents, take overs, completely holding up traffic for racing."

"Kryoz was right. This was only going to get worse and it did." Eli said.

"Okay. Let's get out there and do some damage control." Nogla ordered.