I know what you're thinking. Once again, it's about fergin' time, Falcon, where have you been?!

Once again, vB's word count is being a (insert various censored words here), so I'm going to have to go into explode-o-vision.

Enjoy.

Chapter 12: Encounter

The next time Vaper showed up to confront the rabbits, they were more readied for a sudden ambush than he had expected. He had vastly underestimated the combined strength of six battle-ready rabbits, let alone six battle-ready rabbits in a group, and as a result he had only narrowly escaped them with his life.
His first target was Iam Canadian, tagging along at the back of the group and not paying attention to anything in particular. His mind was elsewhere from time to time, which kept it from being on the matter at hand. Then Vaper got him.
All the other rabbits heard was a strangled noise, and then a loud snap, as Vaper caught Canadian in a tight headlock and jammed his head to one side, cracking his neck and immediately rendering the crimson rabbit unconscious. Lori, having been closest to Canadian at that point, had already pulled a quick about-face as he fell to the ground. Jazz’s blaster was pointing at the Turbulent’s head, and from less than three feet away it was highly unlikely, if not impossible, to miss.
But she didn’t even get a chance to pull the trigger. With his signature supernatural speed, he darted forward, dropping to his back, and his foot drove into her ankle, pushing her leg backwards and knocking her off balance. Faster than she could steady herself, his other foot came up, and planted itself squarely in her midriff, just underneath her ribcage.
Lori gasped in surprise, coughing once to try to catch her breath, when the Turbulent rabbit dealt the finishing blow. He kicked up again with his other foot, and caught Lori under the chin, forcing her head to snap backwards with an audible crack, not dissimilar to the sound Canadian’s neck made. The kick lifted her a few feet off the ground, and her body arced backwards through the air before she fell back to the ground, unconscious long before she hit the floor.
Meanwhile, the force from Vaper’s upward kick flipped him completely over. He rolled backwards over one shoulder, and landed on his feet, straightening up almost instantly. The smirk on his face was one of triumphant superiority.
However, the other rabbits were not just standing by, watching. As soon as Vaper got to his feet, Coppertop and Acid were both on him, tackling him to the floor again. Jazz and Spaz had their guns ready, and they opened fire wherever they saw an opportunity.
Coppertop sat on Vaper’s chest, pinning him to the ground with her weight, and smashed him solidly across the face with her blaster, fueled by the anger she felt after watching him incapacitate two of her comrades-in-arms. She smiled grimly at the sight of the blood spraying out of his nose onto the floor, and was about to lay another hit to his face with her blaster, but his hand was suddenly around her wrist, halting its progress. Within the next split second, he punched her in the face with his free hand, damaging the mercenary’s already injured nose further.
Coppertop’s firm seat on Vaper’s chest was lost as she recoiled in shock and pain, giving the Turbulent the time to pull his legs out from underneath her, and thrust them squarely into her chest, sending her backwards into Acid. However, the green-furred rabbit was quicker than Vaper had expected; as he caught Coppertop, stopping her fall with his body, his hand wrapped around her fist, pulling her trigger finger with his own. The bullet missed Vaper’s head by less than an inch.
Jazz and Spaz took over as Acid hauled Coppertop’s body off of Vaper. The mercenary’s hand was once again clamped over her nose to try to stifle the bleeding, and she fired a few erratic shots at Vaper. She was obviously groggy from the blow to the face, and with the strength that the Turbulent put into the punch, Acid could only hope that her brain was unscathed. Signs of that were few at best; Coppertop’s legs didn’t appear to be working properly, and Acid had to hold her upright, or else she’d simply collapse. She finally gave up trying to hit Vaper with the unsteady aim she had left, and clung to Acid as he carried her away.
The sounds of the Jackrabbit brothers’ respective weaponry rang out from behind him as Acid rested Coppertop’s half-limp form against the wall, and he wasted no time in checking her over. Pressing two fingers to the side of her neck, he was relieved to find that her pulse, while weak, was steady; judging by her inability to use her legs, and the weakness in her arms, he guessed that her head had been jolted pretty hard, but the precious contents within was not damaged save for being bumped about something fearful.
Now that his anxiety had been partially sated, Acid moved back a few inches, as if to allow the injured mercenary before him some room to breathe, and looked her over once more. The blood had stopped flowing, and there was a ring of crimsoned fur around her nose. She appeared to be slowly recovering from the kick to her chest, which had stolen the breath from her earlier.
Coppertop looked up at him, and it seemed like she was putting all her energy into not succumbing to unconsciousness. “Acid… am I dead?”
“Far from it, Copper,” Acid said quietly.
“I feel so tired…”
“Rest, then. We’ll take care of…”
Here, Acid realized that he didn’t know what to call the enemy that had just nearly killed her. A quick glance in her direction proved that it didn’t matter anyway; all semblance of consciousness had left her, and she slumped limply against the stone wall. Acid’s mind immediately went into overdrive, and he checked her pulse again, worry stamped on his face. Relief washed over him like a wave as he felt her heart still beating silently.

(continued...)