"No!"

Nabbit seemed to have succumbed to full-throated panic now, and Luigi could see why. Though G-force was driving tears out of his eyes, blurring his vision, the closer they drew to Orbit City, the more clearly he could make out swarms of flashing lights launching from the surface. Blue and red flashing lights — OCPD was coming for them. Straight for them. As in, on a direct collision course. Fear punched up into Luigi's throat.

What's going to happen? He had no idea of what to expect. Did this group of police know that this vessel had been commandeered by Nabbit? Why were their lights flashing if they didn't? What, then, would happen when they got close? Would they shoot them down with lasers? Or would they surround the vessel and ask for a polite surrender?

Apparently, Nabbit knew exactly how it would go down: "I'm not going back to prison!" came his scratchy voice though the speakers. "I'm not getting incinerated in a giant fireball either! I'll let you handle that, cucumber — I'm outta here!"

What? Luigi, still clinging to the crossbar on the edge of the roof, peered down in time to see something drop out from the bottom of the flying shroom: Nabbit, strapped into an ejection seat. Quickly, he fell down and away, and then something fired up in the bottom of his seat: a jet pack, directing him back to the Road.

No! Luigi looked back at the approaching OCPD flying shrooms, who did not look like they were going to nicely ask for surrender, and then back at Nabbit. I have to get out of here! But what to do? If he leapt into empty space, he would be stuck floating out here until he got sent back to the Road by a gravity well or until someone found him. His eyes seized on Nabbit again.

Blast it! I'm not letting him get away!

Struggling against the power of G-force, Luigi bunched his legs beneath him and struggled to aim himself at the wayward criminal. Doubt assailed him, and for a moment, he wavered, wondering if there was a less ludicrous way to save himself from what was certain to be a fiery death. He decided to stop thinking and kicked, punching out from the ship with the power of two Springs.

Behind him, the OCPD cops blew up Nabbit's stolen ship, and the fireball expanded out behind him like a supernova in miniature. The force of it doubled his already reckless speed, and he plunged ahead in a Luigi-shaped missile through a world that was blurry and out of focus.

Except for Nabbit — perhaps it was because Luigi was putting every molecule of energy into aiming for the crook, but when the burglar came out of the dark, powering along on his little ejection seat jet pack, Luigi saw him with a sort of hyper-clarity, and when he was close enough, he flung out an arm and seized both of the ears of his rabbit-shaped hoodie.

Nabbit barely had the chance to scream out a stunned "What the heck!" before they were both spinning through space at dangerous speed, around and around and around like tops as they approached the Road. It didn't occur to Luigi how badly they would land until they actually did: together, they hit the Road on their sides and went skidding across the glowing pavement, through packs of surprised and shrieking tourists, until they hit the opposite edge plunged back into open space again, falling towards into an infinite abyss.

Then the gravity wells caught them and brought them back up to the Road once again.

The landing was softer this time: Nabbit first, and Luigi tumbled on top of him, reawakening the screaming Charley-horse that had subsided beneath an overdose of adrenaline. Both of them skidded to an awkward stop about two feet in front of a public water fountain, where a staring, openmouthed toad was refilling his stainless steel water bottle.

In fact, a lot of people were staring — a crowd had gathered very suddenly, and were looking between Luigi and Nabbit with a mix of expressions ranging from incredulous amazement to outright bewilderment. Luigi tried to ignore both them and the liquid fire coursing through his leg, and crawled over to Nabbit, seizing the back of his hoodie.

"Nabbit," he said hoarsely, "I'm placing you under citizen's arrest. So give up and go peacefully."

He needn't have bothered though — the crook didn't respond, and after a cursory inspection, Luigi realized that he had fainted.