Chapter 2 : Juggernaut

Forward to Chapter 3

The black and white sergal leaps, and lands deftly. Sweat drips off her chin for the short amount of time she’s still. The song “Wherever I Go” fills the almost empty yoga studio as she swings one arm out, then the other, all perfectly timed to the rhythm. She leaps again and lands in a crouch, then slowly rises. The beat drops and her arms and shoulders move sharply, hitting every beat with both force, precision, and delicacy. With her eyes closed she beats her chest along with the song passionately. She sees nothing except the next move coming up; where she has to be from moment to moment is defined by the song around her.

The song ends as she lets out a contented sigh, feeling like she just finally nailed her routine. As the sergal collects her things and shoulders her gym bag, she catches her reflection in the glass, and a glimpse of her own satisfied smile. The smile fades as she notices the cheetah on the stationary bike just past her reflection, watching her and the yoga studio like it’s the latest blockbuster movie.

The sergal pokes her head out of the glass door. Her piercing blue eyes give her apparent audience member a look that can only be described as a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment. She stops, crosses her arms and raises her eyebrows. The cheetah leaning on the handlebars wasn’t even cycling anymore, her round ears perk up as she snaps out of her entranced state.

“What?” The cheetah says through a roguish smile. “I can’t help it Jolie! You are better than FNN!”

Jolie sheepishly runs her paw through her sweaty, matted fur. “It’s nerve wracking to know someone is watching me. Hell, were you even cycling?”

The cheetah’s eyes dart around and says through a chuckle “Uh yeah, of course I was…” greatly emphasizing the ‘course’.

Jolie very visibly rolls her eyes and huffs, “Jesus Nell, I work out this early to avoid this.”

“Right! So instead of the entire gym watching you, it’s just little old me!” Nell says with the biggest grin she can muster.

The sergal doesn’t respond, rather she just rubs her temples and makes her way to the locker room with an almost inaudible grumble.As Jolie exits, Nell says “Aw… have a good morning dancing queen!” in the perkiest way possible.

After a long shower to soothe her aching muscles, Jolie opens the 20Fur Hour Fitness doors to a cold January morning. The navy-blue sky peeking through the towering empty buildings downtown is only hinting at the coming dawn. She flips her hood up and puts in a single earbud, letting the other one dangle along with her hood strings as she makes her way home.

She stops at a street corner at the traffic light's behest. She looks down the street and, as usual for this hour, there’s not a car in sight, but something catches her eye. Under a nearby streetlamp she notices something small and black, about the size of a quarter, floating up. First a few black dots, then as her eyes focus, more and more. All she can gather is that it looks like a light snowfall, but black, and rising up. Her head snaps back as a black particle floats up right past her snoot. She follows the particle up with her eyes. She can barely see it against the now navy-blue sky. Suddenly one after another, more flakes of this black “snow” float past her upturned muzzle.

She looks down to see more, a lot more. She can't even see down the street at this point. Jolie is practically enveloped by the silent dark plumes of "snow" that reach up to the barely lit sky. They’re so thick they obscure huge sections of buildings and the streetlights that dot the roads.

THOOM

A monstrous sound interrupts the sergal’s rapt attention to her changing surroundings. The ground shakes below her feet as she slowly turns toward the sound to see a large "something" in the middle of the street towering above her.

"No." Jolie whispers to herself. Her eyes strain to see through the blackness trying to disbelieve what she’s seeing. Her breath quickens as she looks away from the sound for an option to flee, but sees nothing but pitch black now.

“Shit…”

Returning her gaze toward the sound she can see slight outlines of buildings and at least a way to run from what the sergal now suspects to be an enormous leg. Jolie makes her way out the blackness to a wall and slides closer and closer to where she can see again. She finally gets out of the black and cranes her head up.

"Goddammit"

Looming above the sergal is a monster in the semblance of a white rabbit. The Juggernaut is only half emerged from the blackness, which Jolie now recognizes as the monolith she's seen on the news. The exterior of the monolith ripples like the surface of a pond as large extremities exit the pillar of darkness. The bunny’s paws rest on the tops of the buildings to either side as it's monstrous head looks around.

THOOM

The second enormous foot paw slams down, pulverizing the pavement underneath. The bunny, now fully free of the Monolith, towers over 5 stories above little Jolie. The Juggernaut swings its head around toward her as if it’s looking for something before it's large pupil-less black eyes stare off into the distance. A large red pearl sits perfectly between the rabbit’s collar bones, just under the neck. The pearl’s shiny surface reflecting the various street lights as well as the sunlit skyline.  The bunny slowly turns the opposite direction, turning its back to Jolie. The monster reaches up, its paw grabbing at the roof ledge of a nearby building as it begins to scale upwards. Its weight cracks the wall and shatters windows next to its paw. Debris falls to the ground across the street as the gigantic lagomorph makes its way up the structure. In full view now is what's been called the "cable". The bunnies’ cable that keeps it connected to the monolith, juts out of the white fur on its neck. The cable almost weightlessly droops a bit before leading back to the blackness Jolie had just escaped from.

Stunned, the sergal watches the giant. She stays glued to the wall, breathing in heavy huffs. The Juggernaut slowly turns on top of the building, almost surveying the landscape. It doesn't even react when a siren starts wailing off in the distance. After a good look around, it looks at a few smaller buildings below. Suddenly it crouches and leaps into the air and lands on one of the adjacent buildings utterly demolishing it, almost playfully. Jolie shrieks at the impact as she's quickly enveloped by dust while various bits of debris fly by her.

The explosion, and the lack of seeing the beast, snap her out of her paralysis. She looks down a street away from the Juggernaut and monolith and slowly starts clambering toward her escape. The sounds of destruction don't seem to stop as she flees.

 

THOOOM…THOOOM…THOOOM

The Juggernaut continues its rampage, thrusting its paw into buildings, stomping the ground, toppling another building with a good kick at its base. Jolie turns to look after getting about a block away. All she can see is the top half of a large lagomorph on top of a cloud of dust flailing and destroying anything it can touch with what looks to be a smirk.

It isn't wearing the smirk for long. The sergal's eyes widen as a blue streak hits the Juggernauts chin, knocking its head back and causing it to stumble. Seconds later, another blue streak goes right for the red pearl at the base of the large bunny’s neck. No impact this time though, instead what remains is a small seemingly regular sized person perched on the pearl. A third streak following the previous one follows right behind but is swatted out of the sky by the roaring Juggernaut before it can hit the "pearl".

"No..." Jolie mutters to herself, knowing full well the blue streak is one of the venerable D.A.V.D.'s dispatched during an attack. The swatted hero flies over Jolie’s head as it lands in the street bouncing and skidding on the asphalt about a block away from her. The sergal watches and turns as the D.A.V.D. crashes, her back now to the Juggernaut. Above where the hero landed she catches a glimpse of the bright blue spire in the distance towering over the city. Her eyes dart to the Lance, then back at the fallen fighter. She hesitates for only a second.

The sergal clenches her fist around her gym bag as a look of unbridled determination overcomes her. She begins to dash over to the hero. Unbeknownst to the sergal, the Juggernaut also turns and makes its way to the downed D.A.V.D.

Her long strides only get her about halfway down the block before she hears something growing louder by the second from behind her.

"Hey Sergal! Heads-fucking-UP!"

Jolie turns to look and for only a split second she sees a large white bear with his arms ready to scoop her up jetting across the ground toward her.

FWUMP

Suddenly, Jolie is airborne. The ground moves swiftly under her and then further away as they gain altitude.  Her gut hurts from being tackled into the air and slung over the shoulder of the bear. She barely notices the pain as she's more focused on the Juggernaut now lumbering over the very spot she was a few seconds ago, looking up at her like a cat looks at a string.

The bear yells over the rush of the air blowing past them "Sergal! You okay back there?"

Jolie doesn’t answer and is instead absorbed by all that just happened.

"Hay cheese-head! You awake back there?" The bear yells louder while using the paw holding her to shake rather roughly.

"Y-yes!" she finally utters.

"Ok good! I didn't knock you out! So, are you deaf or do you have a death wish??” the bear yells.

"I-I didn't even hear it coming. Is your friend ok?" Jolie says still stunned.

“Hell, if I know! Too busy saving your du-“

The bear is interrupted as the D.A.V.D gear sputters and the blue hue behind him disappears as they both plummet. Jolie only has time to emit a slight scream as they ascend again when the gear kicks back in.

"Shit, lil' bugger got me good! As I was saying HOLD ON!" The bear yells. Jolie looks down to see a stream of white smoke trailing along with the distinctive blue streaks the D.A.V.D.'s are known for. She finds places to hold onto the large flying bear. Finally getting her bearings, Jolie looks down at the rather fixated rabbit staring holes in them as it gives chase. The Juggernaut, no more than several yards away, clambers over buildings almost clumsily making a beeline for the airborne pair. The beast knocks over lamp posts, crushes corners of buildings, kicks cars, destroying anything between it and its goal. Jolie gasps when their pursuer stops on top of a building. She only has a moment to grow a grin before she notices the Juggernaut has torn an air conditioning unit from the roof of the building it’s on.

“Um bear! Hey bear! BEAR!” the sergal yells over the rushing wind.

“Name’s Levi, ma’am” the bear says distractedly trying to fly.

The large bunny then proceeds to ready the large piece of machinery for a toss.

“Levi! We need to get a building between us and IT right now!” Jolie screams further.

“What?” Levi turns his head and flies sideways for a bit just in time to see the large piece of metal leave the Juggernaut’s paw. “Oh goddamnit”. The bear veers to the right to round the corner of a building a few seconds too late. The hurled unit crashes into the building right next to them pelting the pair with glass and metal from the impact. The bear grits his teeth and powers through the turn while the sergal shrieks.

As they break line of sight with the rampaging giant, Levi notices a shocking red streak from his shoulder where the sergal’s head is resting, and that his passengers once frantically tight grip has slackened.

Taking advantage of not being under the watchful gaze of their hunter, Levi quickly lands on a nearby rooftop and winces at the pain of putting weight on his very obviously broken leg. Gritting his teeth, he lays the sergal out behind a line of chimney stacks to inspect her.

THOOM

The bear’s ears twitch toward the loud crashing. He turns his gaze toward the sound to make sure he hasn’t been seen, then turns his attention back to the seemingly wounded sergal girl. Levi pets back the matted fur along the side of her face after picking out bits of glass.

THOOM

This crash is closer, no more than a block away. Levi tenses up and looks around again for their pursuer’s steely gaze. He turns his attention back to the sergal, again looking for trauma. Jolie starts to groan as he notices her eye is red, puffy and sealed shut. Seeing as that is the extent of her injuries, he leans her up against a wall, cradles her muzzle in his paws, looking her square in her eye, and in a hushed tone says.

“Hey cheesehead? Ya got yer bell rung, ya with me?”

The bear smiles in relief as he sees the sergal grimace and begin to say “You call me cheesehead one more-“

THOOM

Levi’s expression instantly turns from relief to alarm as the Juggernaut lands on a building across the street, finally within line of sight. The groggy sergal snaps to attention too. Jolie’s only operable eye widens as she sees the fear in Levi’s face.

Jolie begins to get up, “I’m here, I’m here,” she whispers. They both slowly and methodically move as the enormous bunny surveys the landscape. Levi stands up putting most of his weight on one leg and propping himself up on a wall, then slaps his D.A.V.D. gear beckoning the sergal.

“Are you ok?” Jolie says as she grabs ahold of the bear.

“Well… I certainly won’t be running a marathon any time soon. Ready?” Levi says, looking for an avenue of escape. He turns on his D.A.V.D gear. Three luminescent blue flame trails sputter out of his backpack. Jolie’s eye widens as the bright blue fire brushes close to her legs. The large bear noticing his passenger tense up says through a smirk “Don’ worry darlin’. My foxtails are cool to the touch.” The bear then waves his paw right through them, prompting Jolie to confidently reapply her grip.

Levi and his passenger effortlessly lift off the ground, but the bright glow finally catches the attention of the Beast. As the pair jet off, the Juggernaut leaps from the adjacent building landing right where they were only seconds before, obliterating the rooftop.

As Levi flees, he eyes the outskirts of the city and most importantly the tree line. He veers directly for what he hopes is a good place to lose the Juggernaut. The gargantuan rabbit leaps from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit. The passing buildings get shorter and shorter as they reach the city limits, but they descend too slowly due to the failing D.A.V.D. gear. Eventually they get to street level, rushing down the road toward the trees they so desperately need for cover.

“Shit” Levi says through his teeth. “We’re not going to make it with my gear sergal”

“What do we do??” the sergal shrieks in his ear.

“You are getting off and I’m going to distract it while you run like your life depended on it for those trees. Hell, I’m willing to bet it's after me anyways”.

Through heavy breathing,she reluctantly replies “Okay”.

Levi slows only a bit to do a running landing, his feet hit a few times and then finally lands hard on his injured leg and tumbles with the sergal down the middle of the road. Jolie props herself up, looks around, and winces at the road rash she sustains from the crash. Dazed, her eyes lock onto Levi lying in a lump a few feet away, groaning and cursing.

THOOM

The pair both look down the road to see the Juggernaut land right in the center of the street about two blocks away. The asphalt cracks and cars fly about at its feet. The monster slowly makes its way toward them, its white eyes fixed on them. Another line of expletives comes from the downed bear as he turns to look at Jolie.

“It doesn’t look like you’re running cheesehead! Get your tail in those trees!” He screams as he tries to get up, but unable due to the searing pain in his leg. “Ghhhh goddamnit!!”

The Juggernaut suddenly tenses up and begins running down the road. Jolie doesn’t respond, but rather, runs to her savior to pick him up. Jolie grunts trying to lift the bear and his gear, frantically looking back at the large rabbit barreling toward them. She hears the booming footfalls get closer and stops her attempt to release Levi from his gear. Jolie and Levi lock eyes for a split second. The bear looking angry and the sergal giving a weak smile and shrug as if to say “sorry”.

TWANG

The wounded pair both look startled as they slowly turn to look at what should have been impending doom behind them. The Juggernaut, no more than a handful of yards away, stops, its feet digging into the ground and crumbling up the asphalt, trying to move forward but failing. The cable on the back of its neck is pulled taut, directing straight back to the monolith miles away. Levi and Jolie stunned can do nothing but stare.

The large bunny stops its advance, still showing no real emotion, and attempts a few leaps to test its restraint. The pair are shaken and deafened by the commotion. The Juggernaut stops again, turns to pick up a freshly made chunk of asphalt, then raises its paw to hurl it at its prey. Jolie moves her body to cover Levi again, facing the monstrosity with her head held high.

CRACK

A familiar blue light streaks across the bunny’s muzzle, knocking the monster’s head up and forcing it to stumble.

Seconds later, a D.A.V.D pilot lands on the enormous red pearl on its chest, perched via a clawed glove. The pilot is fitted with what looks to be a large chisel attached to her forearm, the tip extending past her paw and the other end flat, extending even further past her elbow. She points the tip at the pearl like she knows what she’s doing. A fraction of a second later another D.A.V.D swoops in hitting the chisel into the pearl with an enormous hammer, systematically cracking it in several places.

The Juggernaut unceremoniously vanishes in a cloud of black ash. The chunk of asphalt and its “pearl” crash to the ground. The two victorious D.A.V.D. pilots land next to the wounded pair. Jolie stares awestruck at where the monster had been only seconds earlier. The cable that had saved them slowly fades into nothing, retreating into the monolith where she had started this whole endeavor. The monolith itself now slowly fades up into the clouds and eventually disappears.

Levi’s comrade kneels next to him. “Jesus Levi, you’re a mess. Are you ok?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m pretty sure my leg is toast though. Luckily, I had this little lady protecting me. Unless I was lucky, I’m sure your name isn’t Cheesehead.”

The sergal turns to regard the three heroes before her lit by the growing dawn behind them. Starry eyed she replies “Jolie.”

Forward to Chapter 3