Precinct One
Zootopia Police Department
Downtown Zootopia
3 PM

Police, the fire brigade, civilians, and reporters alike swarmed the outside of the building; the famed 'Night Howler Killer' had falsified a building fire to clear out the building, and had taken hostages inside Chief Bogo's office. The entire building was smoked out by some sort of smoke grenade which, by the looks of it, seemed to be everlasting; it had already laid out a dense curtain of smoke for over twenty minutes, which no one dared tread through, lest it be toxic.

Bogo attempted to wade through the large crowd of civilians and reporters to get to the front line. As he made his way, there was a never-ending barrage of questions.
"Chief Bogo, how did the police let the killer enter the building?"
"Chief Bogo, what do you plan to do?"
"Chief Bogo, what are the killer's motives?"
"ENOUGH!" Bogo roared. "EVERYONE OUT OF THE WAY!"
Everyone fell silent.
"I want everyone who isn't an officer or emergency crew to fall behind the ZPD barricade," he shouted, loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Other officers directed the civilians away, as Bogo met up with his other officers.
"I leave for two hours to go to city hall, and you let the precinct get stolen!" he berated. "What happened!"
"He appears to have taken one of ours hostage when we were evacuating, and-"
"I know that! How did he get in, how did you not notice him!"
"I… don't know, sir."
Bogo groaned in frustration.
"Listen carefully: he demands that we send in a negotiator, and he demands that it be Judy Hopps," Bogo stated.
"Why her?"
"I don't know his motivations, but I'm not sending her in alone. Get SWAT in behind her. He's already viciously killed seven, I'm not about to lose one of my officers."

Bogo's phone rang for the second time in the past hour. He answered it immediately.
"What?"
"I'm growing impatient, Mr. Bogo. Where is that rabbit? She was on duty today, she can't have gotten far," a low voice growled on the other end.
"Give yourself up, you can't possibly escape. We have the building surrounded."
"My negotiator, Bogo, or you'll find my hostages are quite disposable." The line disconnected; the other end hung up.

Bogo groaned; today couldn't possibly get any worse.
"HOPPS!" he shouted, wading through the crowd of officers.
"Yes, Chief?" he heard from down below; he had inadvertently nearly stepped on her.
"Hopps, I need you to go in. You're our negotiator."
"But Chief, I've never negotiated before!" she responded, taken aback.
"He demands that you go in, and he has a hostage."
"Can I take Nick?"
"Wilde? Why?"
"He's a smooth talker; if anyone can negotiate between us, it's gotta be him."
Bogo thought for a moment.
"Fine. We'll be sending in SWAT after you two. Go in, talk to him, and keep him busy. We'll try to bag him for good. You have five minutes, get ready."

Long Ago

A long time ago, at the middle of the 22nd century, there was the master; the master was a cunning man and, as such, he deserved equally cunning warriors. He had these warriors designed from the perfect genes; they were negligibly senescent, and would not noticeably age; not for thousands of years. He did not care, since they were expected to die in combat, for this era of humanity was riddled with conflict. It was one senseless war after another, and the master was always at the root of it all.

One such warrior of his was Garrett Sinclair, born in the end of the 22nd century; trained to be an assassin, he proved himself through countless trial after trial. The master invested heavily in this particular student of his, providing many illegal and unethical genetic and physical modifications: titanium bones, reinforced organs, neural implants, and ocular implants were only the beginning. The resulting man could hardly be called a man; for the most part, he was rendered emotionless and calculating; everything became a numbers game to him. However, he quickly became one of the most renowned in the world at his trade; so renowned, in fact, that the master pressured him to build a military. So, a military he built.

Conquest after conquest he led, until his final war in Japan; the master realized that his days were numbered, especially when it was realized that he was pulling all the strings. He took Garrett from the military to be his personal bodyguard. He gave him the moniker Kai, from the German word for emperor, to designate his accomplishments, and took him down to a bunker miles below the Earth.

Not long after, the world ended in nuclear fire, spawned from man's inhumanity to man. For weeks after the end, Kai and the master waited by the communications array with hope that someone else survived. No message ever came.

In the end, although Kai was practically immortal in the safety of the bunker, the master was not of superior genetics. He lived, and now it was his time to die.
"Kai," the master rasped. "It's all my fault. I got greedy." He laughed. "All I wanted was a little bit more. It's funny, those three words. 'Little… bit… more...'."
"What shall I do?"
"Cremate me, hold out. Perhaps somewhere, someone else survived."
Kai begrudgingly fulfilled the master's request; he knew that no one on the surface could have survived, and with the detonation of salted bombs, anyone lucky enough to be in a bunker for the blast, but unlucky enough to have it be less stocked than the one he was in would die of radiation exposure when they ventured to the surface for supplies. The world would be irradiated for at least a thousand years, perhaps two thousand.

Kai decided to keep himself busy in the archives; every text, movie, article, piece of literature, playwright's work, or otherwise would be in there. All the knowledge in the world at his fingertips, and he began to read. At first, when he finished the useful literature and scientific journals, he thought everything would be fine. When he moved on to fiction, he enjoyed his time rather much. However, months passed into years, which passed into decades, which passed into centuries. No amount of entertainment could last forever.

Most of the lights in the bunker were burnt out, but he could still see just fine; his eyes were modified to use nearly all wavelengths on the spectrum. A quick glance on the calendar revealed that it had been two-thousand, five hundred years to the day. Perhaps it was time to return to the surface.

First, he had to safeguard against any lingering radiation. He found his old, long overcoat, which fit him loosely. It was a relic of his past, one of the few things he still had that reminded him of the life he had before this one. Elsewhere in the quarters, he found combat boots, khakis, a zip up sweatshirt, thick leather gloves, and an old filter mask from the master's espionage division. It was sleek, unlike older filter mask models, with regenerating filters that didn't need replacement. The visor had a HUD and on-board computer that could decode signals and transmissions, track information in real time, and a host of other functions. The mask was designed to instill fear into the hearts of those that saw it: the front was engraved with designs reminiscent of a skull, with feline-like eyes that glowed red when the HUD was enabled. Kai thought that it wasn't quite tactical to give away one's position, but he figured that if stealth was a necessity, the HUD could be disabled. The inside of the mask had a radio communicator as well as a speech modulator, which layered a sound unpleasant to humans onto the voice of the wearer. The whole front and rear plates of the mask were made of titanium alloy, and could take a shot from anything under .50 caliber without so much as a scratch. He was amazed to find that after over two thousand years, it still worked like the day it was made.

He donned the mask and gloves, and then the overcoat. He tested every switch on the external instruments panel that seemed relevant to make sure that the air on the surface was still breathable. Temperature read +25 degrees C, O2 content normal, humidity 47%, air pressure high; the Geiger counter overloaded. He could disregard the pressure, since it wasn't all too much above nominal value, and the other values seemed close enough to survivable. However, the radiation ticker was worrying, but he was wearing protective gear. All he had to do now was set out. Since the elevator could not be trusted, lest he get stuck, he began his arduous journey up the stairs. It took him two hours to climb the miles of stairs, not because he was tired or because he couldn't go faster, but because he was deep in thought. The thought of what he would find on the other end of the vault's door secretly terrified him. Each step creaked from the lack of use, but each step held. Water dripped from leaky pipes that ran from the ocean floor, the tons of pressure taking their toll over the countless years. The air smelled wet, but Kai welcomed it, as it was a change from the climate controlled living environment he had been stuck in for 2500 years. A funny thought occurred to him; he was probably the oldest living being on the Earth right now. He chuckled slightly at the notion, but dispelled it, as he needed to focus. At last, he made it to the heavy steel door, the tumblers on the front locking it shut against the elements, as well as those that had less than noble intentions. Kai checked the computer console, seeing if he could push a button and have the door open, but alas, he had no such luck. The error message on the console read:

"ERROR: EXTERIOR LOAD ON VAULT DOOR EXCEEDS 2 TONS".

Kai could only guess at the meaning, but if his guess was even close to accurate, he was going to have a bad time. Over 2 tons of pressure on the outside meant that he was either buried by dirt, or underwater. Perhaps that the sensor malfunctioned? He prayed for the latter. Despite the fact that he could easily open the door with two additional tons of pressure on it, he would have to climb through dirt to get to the surface meaning he would not be able to find his way back, and water would flood the bunker, destroying the only place he knew as home. He sat and contemplated his choices for a while; he could either bust the door open and face the outside, come hell or high water, or he could return down to the bunker and wait another millenia. After 2 minutes of painful deliberation, he decided to crack open the door. He came to the conclusion that the odds of the bunker being buried were pitifully low, seeing as it was located in the face of a mountain; additionally, sea level was 400 feet below the mountain's face; only every ice cap melting could cause the water to rise that high. He grabbed the handle of the first tumbler and gave it a turn. It belied its true age, turning as if it was made no more than a week ago. It turned 4 times and stopped suddenly with a large THUD. Kai sat silent for what felt like hours, but he knew were only minutes. His heart began to race, he could feel the sweat forming on his body. He grabbed the handle, and pulled the door to the right.

Immediately, a large gust of air rushed into the room; this was a relief to Kai, as he now knew that it was only the sensor that malfunctioned. The light poured into the room and blinded him momentarily; after his pupils adjusted, Kai could only stand in awe of what was before him. Past the two mountains, he saw a field of grass, and flowers, and trees. Running beyond this was a river. Nearly past the horizon, he saw twisted spires that resembled skyscrapers.

"H…H-How…" breathed Kai, unable to comprehend the scene before him. He had learned a thousand times about the destructive power of a nuclear blast, and witnessed the broadcast of the nuclear detonation in Saigon signaling the beginning of the end. The majority of the human race, nearly all of the 14 billion souls on the planet, gone in a brilliant flash of light over a senseless squabble. Kai was programmed to understand the necessity of war; looking back, if he had just killed the master, he could have stopped it all.

"Humans survived?" mused Kai, before fixing his gaze ton the skyline in the distance. He had to get to the city. To find out how other people survived the apocalypse. He knew the world ended, he saw it happen; for it to come back like this in just over two millenia was nothing short of a miracle. The rangefinder in his mask indicated that it was approximately 25 miles away; Kai could sprint there in under 20 minutes if he really wanted to. However, he figured he would take things slow for a while. The clock on his HUD read 8:47 AM, but the sun was in the noon position. Judging on the heat, it felt like it was sometime in Summer. He would have to ask the residents of the city to be sure. Before he set out, he looked around the entrance for the instrument array; he needed to see if the Geiger counter was functioning properly. Given the state of the door sensor and the fact that there was life everywhere, he had to be sure; wearing two layers of clothing and a coat in summer all while running 25 miles was not very smart, even for someone like him. Sure enough, 15 minutes later, he spotted the broken antenna of the instrument array at the bottom of a ravine. As of now there was no way to know if it was safe to shed some layers of clothing.

Better safe than sorry, thought Kai regrettably, although secretly he was amazed that every other reading from the archaic instrument panel was accurate. He set out at a reasonable pace, enough to cross the 25 miles in an hour and a half. After all, if the residents were savages, he would have to make it back to safety before nightfall and lock the door. He stopped every 5 minutes to feel the flowers through his gloved hands, or to observe the reflection of the sun in the river. Before long, his rangefinder indicated that he had only 8 miles to go until the city outskirts. Now that Kai was up close, the sheer size of the city astounded him, the feats of architecture that had been accomplished were nothing short of a marvel. He didn't recognize any of the buildings, or even the style of architecture, so the city must have been built from the ground up.

Kai continued along his path towards the outskirts, and slowly, he began hearing the noise of a bustling city. Cars idling, driving, honking. People yelling. To most it could have been described as organized chaos, a cacophonous discord of sound enough to cause a headache. Kai was not most people; to him, it was the sound of life, of the end of two and a half thousand years of isolation. However, the closer he got to the city, the more something about it seemed off to him. There were sections of the city walled off by enormous walls, at least 500 feet tall. He rationalized it as being to ward against terror attacks, perhaps they were checkpoints.

Suddenly, only 1 mile away from the houses he began to notice forms moving against the blur of color in the distance. He considered running and greeting them, but decided against it. His appearance was disheveled, he wore an old war mask, an overcoat with the hood drawn. The only logical conclusion they could come to is that he was a criminal, there to do harm. He instead crept along the far edge of the treeline, trying to stay out of sight. As he looked more and more attentively, he realized that something was terribly wrong. The 'people' were any color except what a person should be.

They were animals. Walking, talking, driving. Wearing clothing of all kinds, be it suits or casual wear. They were doing everything from jogging to watering their lawns. It was all wrong, so very wrong.

Kai sprinted to the mountain bunker, and threw open the door, slamming it behind him. He jumped the banister and dove the 6 miles down the center shaft. He had to check something, and there was no time to waste. He recalled reading a scientific journal published in the mid 23rd century where biologists had managed to implant human genes into animals that gave them the ability to talk, read, write, and form intricate subgroups; their justification was for organ harvesting, but he questioned their ethics. The floor approached fast. Kai performed a half-sommersault, landing on his feet; the floor wailed in protest, but it held. He ran to the archives to find a newspaper article related to those animals. A search through the news section revealed the article in question.

ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUP FREES TALKING ANIMALS Sat. Mar. 17, 2256

…, chairman of WHGP, revealed Sunday that a group of animal rights activists broke into their research lab and freed a group of talking mammals.

'This could have devastating effects on the ecosystem if we can't recover them; if one of our talking animals produces children in an uncontrolled environment, their offspring could have the genes to make them essentially human in an animal body,' said Dr. Quinton Dale. When asked to elaborate, he said only this: 'When you look an animal in the eyes and it looks back in that way, and you know that it has feelings, it can talk, it can read, it can believe, dream. How can you look it in the eyes in any other way than if you were looking at another man?'

"I'll be damned," uttered Kai. This explains everything. Even in total nuclear war, computer guided missiles wouldn't target dense forest. A population of humans couldn't survive on the food that could be grown in a forest, but a population of animals easily could. Radiation might kill some of them off, but the survivors would have children that would be resistant to radiation. The resulting nuclear winter could be troublesome, but some plants don't require much sun to grow, and a fur coat would drastically minimize the danger of the cold. The animals rebuilt society. He couldn't help but chuckle at the notion.

Kai decided after some deliberation that the best thing to do now was to remain quiet about being a human. The last thing he needed was to end up in a lab being experimented on and dissected in the name of their science. This meant keeping the overcoat and mask, which meant not being sociable. Seeing that there was animal and plant life that wasn't horribly deformed, Kai knew there wouldn't be much radiation up there, so he could shed some of his clothing layers.

His first order of business would be to visit a library in the night to avoid as much attention as he could. The next order of business would be to get to the top by any means necessary. This meant that Kai would need to radically alter his fighting style. He was trained to fight and disable humans, not bears and other predatory animals. The smaller animals would be easy enough to deal with, any direct hit would probably break bone or even sever limbs, but big animals have dense bone as well as sharp claws and fangs. His solution was fairly inelegant: he would arm himself to the teeth, wear armor to protect against claws, teeth, or other sharp and horrid ways to die, and he would use his speed to his advantage. A bear can run as fast as a horse if it's angry, but a bear doesn't have titanium bones and machined neurons; he would be able to outrun anything out there that wasn't either a machine, or augmented. Again he couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Not only was he the oldest living thing, but the fastest too. It was like the punchline to a bad joke.

Kai went to the armory of the bunker to see what he could salvage before his quest to the library. Racks of guns, none of which were in working order, lined the walls of the expansive room. Different varieties of armor lay on shelves at the entrance for various purposes. Explosives had a dedicated rack in the middle. In the very back were a row of universal fabrication machines, able to build nearly any substance from its base elements, or any compounds that contained them. Of the six that were stocked, five were in a state of disrepair, and one needed calibration. Around 1,400 years into his stay, Kai had thought about manufacturing a fertile egg so that he could grow a human and have someone to spend eternity with; however, the machines possessed a time complexity varying with the difficulty of creating a structure. For something homogeneous, a fabricator could have it finished in under a day. For instance, repairing the weapons in the armory. On the other hand, something composed of complex molecules, amino acids, and polymers could take 10,000 years to finish, if that. If Kai had enough time to spare, and if the machine wouldn't break down, he could try it.

Kai settled on a woven riot vest with nano-ceramic strike plates, designed to resist all stab and slash attacks. It had the added bonus of being compartmentalized, and he filled its pockets and containers with various explosives and knives. He took Kevlar meshed gloves and pants, and replaced his lurid old clothing with the darker uniform. He set the fabricator to repair a silenced handgun, and after it was finished, placed it in his holster. Next, he donned his overcoat and was thankful that it fit over all of his gear. After mentally preparing himself, he was ready to set out. He climbed step after step, until he remember that he had no clue of the city layout, or any climbing equipment. In addition, he also remembered that the city was divided into sectors by enormous walls, presumably checkpoints that no reasonable officer would admit him through.

He had to focus now, he was already starting to slip. He leaped up the stairs by bounds, he had so much to do and so little time. He threw the vault door open and made haste to the city under the setting sun.