Chapter One: The Interrogation

A/N: Well, I said I was gonna wait until after Christmas to start writing again, buuut...I had some extra time on my hands and couldn't help myself. What can I say? I love writing!

BTW, for those new to the Big Cheese saga, I'd recommend reading some past stories before heading to this one or else you might be lost. As we're nearing the climax of the saga, it's getting harder and harder to keep people up to date. That said, here's a little recap to get you up to speed.

Previously, on the Big Cheese Saga...

Leodore Lionheart has been revealed to be "The Big Cheese". The leader of an underground movement to bring predators back to the top of the food chain. In this group is a mysterious mammal known as "The Adviser" who is the main mastermind behind the plot. Working with them is "Big Wings" AKA Batrov, a former cult leader who was instrumental in getting a rodent crime spree to happen throughout the city along with "Big Ears" AKA Finnick who has betrayed his best friend Nick and was putting out ant-prey propaganda for months. Along with Finnick is his girlfriend of sorts, Honey the badger. While they are both having second thoughts, the two are now too deep in the Big Cheese's plan to back out now.

The Big Cheese's main plan involves an attack on all prey during election night called "The Purge". Current mayor, Donald Trunk is expected to continue with a ceremony for "The dome" a new contraption that will put a giant, indestructible dome cover the city during winter time so that each district can still have it's distinct weather all year long. However, the dome is completely bullet and missile proof from the outside and Lionheart plans to trap everyone inside the city during the riots.

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy's relationship has grown quite a lot over the last few weeks. While visiting Bunnyburrow, they found a horrible secret. Hawks had taken over the county and were taking away the elderly and handicapped children. The two stopped the hawks thanks to the help of Gideon Grey and the new mayor of Bunnyburrow, Tom Redtail.

They did not leave empty handed. Due to overpopulation in Bunnyburrow a simple law was put in place. If you abandon your child, another person is allowed to adopt said child immediately with only the most minor of paperwork. With this in mind, Nick adopted three children. Christine AKA "Cotton" (Age 7). A lamb who's the niece of Dawn Bellweather. Her foster sister, a violent, but loving Hyena with the same name as Nick's mother, Vivian (Age 14) AKA "Scratch" (her most violent side she hides away) AKA "Spots" (a nickname given to her by Nick). Nick's other child is Peter AKA "Petey" (age 6). A bunny with an unfortunate foul mouth due to touretts syndrome who came from an abusive home. He always tries to find the non-violent solution to fights and he loves fashion.

Judy ended up adopting her blind baby brother Michael (age 6 & 1/2) after her father Stu almost sacrificed him to the hawks. (it's a long story. He was forced to.) Michael had a hard time adjusting, but when Stu scarified one of his own eyes and donated it to the boy, he finally forgave him. Still, Michael is happier with his new family than going back to Bunnyburrow with his blood parents.

Meanwhile, Judy and Nick's Co-Workers Terry Fangmeyer (a transsexual tiger) and Benjamin Clawhauser rushed into marriage. It wasn't long (like, the same day) when they ended up with two children of their own. Suzie the giraffe (age 12) an old childhood friend of Spots and her foster sister, Sarah (age 5 & 1/2) a mountain lion with paralysis from the waist down.

Terry and Ben's home is about to have a new room added for Sarah that will be built by Duke Weaselton's construction company, "Weaselton and Son's". Once a thief who frequented the ZPD jail cells, Duke has changed his life around and gone legit...mostly. After helping officer Delgato free his workers from kidnapping and possible slavery, Duke received the "Citizen of the year" award (although he felt he didn't deserve it). He feels this new bedroom project is his chance to turn around both him and his company and show that weasels can be honest and do quality work. Duke recently got married to a ferret by the name Juanita and has a new stepson he loves named Paco.

Recently, Terry Fangmeyerchased down a cougar boy by the name of James Catmull (age 15 and cousin to Bobby Catmull) who stole her purse to get money for his ailing mother. She lunged at the boy, but he defended himself with a knife and she got stabbed in the gut,

Terry's old partner and best friend, officer Tim Wolford chased the boy down and almost arrested him. When he checked up on the boy's mother, he found out she was dying of cancer. During a harrowing adventure, Tim started to bond with James. James' mother ended up in the same hospital room as Fangmeyer and the two chatted about Wolford. James' mother died, but not before getting Tim and his pregnant wife Auburn to sign her will and make James their new son.

Auburn Wolford is about to help Tim's boss chief Bogo with his divorce in court today. The decision made today will decide if Bogo gets visiting rights to see his own son. But Bogo also has a fair amount on his plate. He has a lot of controversy surrounding him after dating officer McHorn's ex-girlfriend, Francine Pennington while he's still married. This provides a bit of a problem seeing as how she's his subordinate. Not only that, it caused McHorn to quit the force. Bogo's other big problem is his lieutenant Swinton. She's been flirting with the mayor to get on his good side and possibly steal Bogo's job away from him.

With all that stress on him, now Bogo has to interrogate a man he once had a ton of respect for. Former mayor, Leodore Lionheart.

12:00am In the interrogation room of the ZPD.

42 hours before the purge.

They sat across the table from each other. Glaring into each other's eyes. Bogo sneered at the lion while Lionheart feigned fear. He still looked bloody and bruised and lied to all within earshot that he was being abused by the guards and even Bogo himself.

Bogo never took his eyes off of Lionheart. He had his doubts up until he came into the room and saw him doing this act. He knew his guards. He trusted them enough that none of them would have been this rough with him. Plus, the wounds were very fresh and officers Wolf and Stein found him like this in locked cell.

Leo feigned fear towards Bogo. "Th-There he is! The same chief of police that attacked poor Batrov! Wh-what are you going to do to me?"

"It was YOU who tried to assassinate Batrov. He recognized your voice. That's why you're here."

"And you would believe HIM?! A cult leader over your former mayor?"

"I did until I saw you with these fresh wounds, feigning fear of us and blaming our guards with NO alibi."

Swinton interrupted. "We have a witness. Carlos, a wolf in the next cell heard you slashing, clawing and smashing your head against the wall. All with no guards around. You did this to yourself."

"Oh really?!" Lionheart said. "Did he witness this with his eyes? Could he see me in my cell?"

"Well...no. There's a wall between you."

"Then you have no proof that there wasn't an attacker."

"We have Wolf and Stein!" Bogo replied. "They picked you up and saw no attacker."

"That's because the guard left before..."

One of the technitians interrupted. "Chief we're having a problem recording the interrogation."

"What is it?"

"The audio isn't working."

Lionheart then asked a question. "You have to record for the press. Correct?"

"Yes."

"Where is the camera facing me?"

"It's behind you." The technician replied.

Bogo made a command. "Fix that as soon as you can. Meanwhile, I want this dictated immediately! "

Lionheart had his paws on his mane and was seeming to shake. "Haw-Haw-Haw-Haw!"

Bogo was confused. "Are you crying?"

Lionheart lifted his head to show him in a hearty laughter and a wicked grin. "Haw-Haw-Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha-Haaa! That's what the press will believe when they see this without audio!"

The evil grin sent a chill down Bogo's spine, but he was undeterred. "So. Your real colors are finally showing. You KNOW we're dictating this."

"Who cares? It's now my word against yours. Me, the formal beloved mayor against you. The ill-tempered, wife-cheating Chief of police."

Bogo smashed his hooves down on the table in anger and started to stand, but then slowly sat back down. "No. I'm not going to play your game. You want me to lose my temper on camera. You're not going to get that. This is an interrogation and you WILL answer my questions! My first is...why?"

"Why?"

"Why would you throw away everything you worked for for this?! You had a guaranteed win. Mayor Trunk is an incompetent boob!"

"Hey!" shouted Swinton.

"Oh, get over yourself Swinton! Trunk had almost ZERO chance of winning against you and you were set to go free! And now...now you've thrown in all away for a war against prey?! Why did you give it all up?!"

"I gave up nothing." The lion said. "I traded up. You think I want THAT job again?! To be beholden to a bunch of stupid prey and their bureaucracy?! Everything's already in place. By Wednesday morning, I...will...be...king! NO ONE will tell me how to run this city! And sure as HELL no one arresting me just for helping keep the city from going into a mass panic."

"You're still on that? You kidnapped predators."

'I PROTECTED THEM!" Leo roared. "I was also getting them treatment while keeping the city from going into a mass panic and what happens?! I get taken down by a bunny of all things. A BUNNY! And what did she do?! She didn't even consider it was drugs, she immediately thought it was biological, went on a specist tirade and started a mass panic within the city. Predators were being blamed for everything from then on out. It's STILL worse now than before!"

"Hopps learned her lesson." Bogo replied. "And you can blame most of that on Dawn Bellwether who still has some years on her sentence. Speaking of, when we first took her in, we had her medically examined."

Bogo then pulled out a picture of Dawn's naked back taken by the medical examiner. The deep scratch marks were very visible even through the wool. "Is this your handiwork?"

"That's what she gets for calling me 'Lionfart'." Leo replied with no empathy.

"She was too scared to tell us who did that. Now we know and that's another charge we can put on you. You...are a monster."

"A monster?! HA! She's prey! There's a billion other lambs to take her place! for a millennium, we have gone against the natural order of things! It's time for predators to take their rightful place once again as the rulers of this world. Just look at what happened in Bunnyburrow. Millions of bunnies in a small community with no natural predators to thin their numbers. I read all about it. They have become so overpopulated that they have drained up all their natural resources to the point where they used a dam to cut off the water supply from an entire state. A bird state. So what happens? Two hawks come and help bring balance by taking and eating the burdens of their society. They could have eaten rabbits randomly left and right, but they chose to take the elderly first, followed by the handicapped. Those that may be burdens to others. I admire that. That's why when I become king, prey will still have a place in our society. Not only as food or slaves, but for menial tasks. They'll still be able to own their own homes and even decide which family members are taken for food. I'm generous that way."

Bogo could not believe what he was hearing. "You're sick."

"SICK?! My dear chief, predators have always been meat eaters. Reducing us to just bugs is uncivilized. If God did not want us to eat prey, they wouldn't make species like bunnies multiply in such great amounts. Besides, the sad truth is that everything suffers and dies so that we may live. It is the way of life."

Bogo was curious. "Example?"

"You have a smart phone right?"

"Yes?"

"You have heard that some of the microchips in those phones are made from rare minerals in the southernmost region of the world and mined by child slaves. Not only that, they are then mass assembled in the far East by people barely making any kind of livable wage and often have to work 12 to 16 hours shifts just to survive. All so you can enjoy that phone you're holding. This stuff is common knowledge and yet, no one does anything about it."

"This isn't about smart phones..." Bogo argued. "This is about eating prey! Many predators are comfortable being vegetarian."

Lionheart leaned in. "I'm allowed to read newspapers and such in my cell and I read the most amazing thing recently. Plants feel pain."

"Come again?"

"Oh it's not near on the level we do and they don't understand their own mortality, but I found out that some plants emit a bitter sap when being chewed on by bugs so the bitterness will make them stop chewing on them. They know they're being eaten and it hurts them. Scientists have learned that this is true for most plants. Are you going to stop eating plants now? Of course not! You'd starve to death! But it doesn't change the fact that even plants are a form of life that suffer and die so that you may live. Bugs are a form of life that may know it's own mortality, but screw them right? If it can talk and say 'Don't eat me!' , then I guess that's all that matters hunh? As I said before. Everything suffers and dies so that others may live their lives. That's the way of the world."

Bogo was done getting sidetracked. "If you're done with your philosophical discussion, we need to get to brass taxes. How are you getting information on us into the prisons? What guards are on the take?! Who are you working with?!"

"Well, well. That's a lot of questions all at once. Let's start with the important one shall we? Who am I working with? Until I was ordered to smash my phone and throw it into the toilet, I WAS working with a number of people. I helped orchestrate many of the preds on prey crimes happening throughout the city. However, I'm not the mastermind of it all."

Bogo was a little surprised by that. "Wait...you're not?!"

"You heard me say I was ordered to smash my phone correct? While I was been given all the power I am not the one making all of the decisions. That would be the adviser."

"And WHO is the adviser?"

Lionheart started to laugh. "That's the beauty of it all! I don't know!"

"You don't know?!"

"The adviser cherishes animosity above everything. I tried to find out his identity myself, but all he said was that he was a ghost. HE'S the one that snuck in my cell phone so I could make contacts. HE'S the one who knows which of your guards are with us. Even I don't know that. And finally, he's the one tapped into your network! I've just been following his master plan up until now."

Bogo started to chuckle, followed by a huge belly laugh. It angered Lionheart. "What's so damn funny?!"

"You! You've risked your entire career so you can be 'king'. Only it requires a master plan in which you have to take orders from a guy you've never met and have no clue who he is! HA! Some king! It seems we nabbed the wrong man! This...Adviser is the real leader. Not you!"

This started to upset Lionheart. "I AM the Big Cheese! I'm the one in charge! The Adviser is merely my partner. He only wants to live a life of peace. One where he won't have to walk the streets and be stared at for being a predator. To have the same advantages that all prey's have. The same that all predators want."

"Only you want to make prey slaves and food as well."

"It's the natural order of things."

"What makes you so confident this plan will go down? It requires not only the predators of this city to riot, but the near impossible breakout of this prison and the predators involved there. Many of whom are now siding with Wilde. They are calling themselves "Wilde boys".

"Ha! They will soon change their tune when they see how the ZPD have roughen up the poor, former mayor."

Bogo just rolled his eyes. "Oh please! We're dictating everything you're saying and when have the medical examiner give you the once over, I'm sure it will show that these wounds are self-inflicted."

"Oh I'm sure it will." Leo chuckled. "But none of that will matter to the press. They're going to demand to see me and when they see the way I look, they'll produce their own story for me. Rating are all they care about and what better story than the poor, former mayor being abused by the ZPD? It will garner me sympathy and gather the predators to my cause."

Bogo was getting upset. "Enough of this! What are your plans for election day?! How are you planning to break out of prison?!"

"This is where I go silent." Lionheart said. "Tomorrow night, the dome will go up and I'll be having lamb for dinner."

Bogo started to growl. "Enough!"

A wicked smile came across Lionheart. "Maybe I'll have some beef afterwards."

Bogo just about couldn't take any more. "Why you son of a..."

Just then, Bogo was once again interrupted by the technician. "Sir? We got the audio working again."

A wicked smile came across Lionheart's face. Despite being pawcuffed, he managed to grab Bogo's hooves while he was resting them on the table and pulled them up to his neck."

Of course, Bogo taken by surprise. "What the hell?"

"AAACK! No! Please! No more!" Lionheart falsely pleaded. "I'll tell you anything you want!"

"Let go of my hooves!" Bogo demanded.

Lionheart released the buffalo's hooves. "Please! Get this madman away from me!"

Bogo fell back. "I never touched you! Enough of this! He's only going to try and make himself look like the victim. Lock him up in solitary! And put extra security on Bellweather. It's obvious he means her harm."

As the guards took Lionheart away, Bogo leaned back in exasperation. "This is not going well." He looked over at Swinton. "His entire plan relies on that dome going up. The mayor won't listen to me. You HAVE to convince him to delay the dome going up!"

"I'll try." Swinton replied. "But I doubt he'll listen. He's VERY stubborn."

Bogo finally stood up. "Well, do your best. I'm going home for some much-needed sleep. Then, it's time go get divorced."

"Good luck." Swinton said as Bogo left.

Meanwhile, Wolf and Stein took the cuffed Lionheart into the prison and down the hallways. Stein stopped for a moment. "Wolf, can you get my baton from our locker? I want to make sure we have protection in case things go wrong."

"Sure thing pal!" Wolf replied. "I'll be right back."

As the wolf ran off, Stein whispered into Lionheart's ear. "I've got the poison ready. We're administering it tonight."

"Good." Lion heart replied. "So you're in on it hunh?"

"Yeah. MY partner's not, so sadly he's going to be one of the ones poisoned. It won't kill them, just incapacitate them. I hope to make him see the light."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then he's dead to me. Literally."

"VERY good." Leo said with a smile. "Thank you for joining the cause."

Wolf came back running with the baton. "Here you go buddy!"

"Thanks pal!" Stein replied. "Now let's get this scumbag to his new home."