Inside the spacious armory of the ZPD Headquarters, Emperor Spleriia Splero was just cleaning a rather different and ugly-looking pistol. As he continued on cleaning it, Officer Nick Wilde went inside and he saw him.
'Greetings, Splero.'
'Heya, Nick.'
'What's up? I been looking everywhere for you.'
'Oh. I'm just cleaning my secondary sidearm here, Slick.'
Nick went puzzled and he placed his paws on the side of his hips.
'Secondary sidearm, you say? I though you said that you only use one sidearm for police duty.'
'I know. I'm about to replace my old service pistol for my next tasks on-duty sooner or later.'
'I see. Now that explains to me the slight streaks of gun oil on your sleeves.'
The human absolute monarch chuckled and he turned his back to face him.
'You want to see it, Nick?'
The red fox nodded and Spleriia showed him the handgun. Immediately, Nick got more curious by the sight of the ugly-looking pistol.
'Now that looked so damn ugly.'
'I know. This is a Japanese-made Type 94 Nambu pistol. Made in 1935, it was used during and after World War Two. I bought it from Japan for a price of twenty-five thousand dollars.'
Nick wolf-whistled to the price mentioned.
'Now that was expensive.'
'Yep but it's obviously a working antique alright.'
Spleriia finished on wiping the handgun with a piece of cloth. He then took a magazine full of restored 8x22mm Nambu cartridges from the gun pouch before loading it to the gun. Swiftly, the Emperor pulled the slide back and as the slide moved forward, the gun is now ready to be fired.
'Okay. The gun is now set, Nick. I should head to the field now.'
He stood up from the bench. Spleriia was about to place the pistol into his holster when Nick broke the silence.
'Sire?'
'Hmm?'
'Mind if I hold it, Spleriia?'
'You mean this Nambu 94?'
'Yeah. That one you're holding.'
'Sure thing. Hang on, Slick. Let me set the safety first.'
Spleriia then sets the safety catch before give it to Nick Wilde. The red fox chuckled as he could feel the slight weight of the antique firearm on his paws.
'Whoa. This thing is so hefty.'
'Of course. I wanted to replace my C-96 service sidearm because the wooden holster of it was too bulky for me in the field sometimes. Especially on the obstacle course with that track and field.'
'Ah. I see.'
Nick Wilde began to indulge himself on looking through the Japanese and Keranian markings that were all etched on the pistol's metallic surfaces.
'I could see that you also marked this one on your own, Sire.'
'Uh. No, Nick. Chimpan did that but I also ordered him to do so.'
'Nice.'
The fox then noticed a metallic piece that was slightly protruding out from one side of the gun. He started to press it slightly with the tip of his paws.
'Hmm. I wonder what's with this protruding part here?'
Immediately, Spleriia yelped in sheer distress.
'Wah! Nick, don't touch the sear bar!'
Nick tried to reverse his action but it was too late as he unintentionally pressed the sear bar and the gun went off. The sound of the gunshot deafened Nick's ears and he couched down in a stunned state while the gun simply dropped onto the floor. As he coughed and waved the smoke away, he quickly called out.
'Splero, are you okay?!'
When the smoke cleared, Nick could see Spleriia lying on the concrete flooring. He had a gunshot hole on the uniform he was wearing. Upon seeing this, adrenaline kicked in and the red fox checked on the Emperor.
'Sire?! Sire, are you alright?!'
Splero groaned as he was helped by Nick in standing back into his feet again.
'Damn it, Nick. I told you not to touch the sear bar!'
'I thought that the gun was on safety!'
'Ow. What a kick there in my chest there!'
'I didn't even pulled the trigger on that thing, Splero! I swear!'
'Alright, Alright. Just calm down, okay?'
Spleriia inhaled and exhaled a bit as he tries to recollect himself from the dangerous experience. After calming himself down, the Emperor could feel something on his chest. He undo his uniform and on the front part of the Kevlar vest that he was wearing underneath, a small 8mm Nambu pistol slug was protruding from the breastplate.
'Whajah Buwah.' (Oh my God)
Spleriia removed the slug from the Kevlar vest. Nick was stunned to see it.
'Holy shit! I'm...I'm so sorry, Splero!'
'No, Nick. Don't be sorry. I should be the one to say sorry to you because I didn't told you about the faulty safety catch in the first place.'
Nick looked at the Emperor in a bit of confusion.
'Wait. You're saying that the pistol is defective?'
'Yeah. That Japanese pistol was a last-ditch version of the original kind. That's why it was call as 'suicidal pistols' during the war and many users got killed or wounded by that deadly rascal.'
'Oh. I...I see.'
'Yep. It's safe for me to be honest that I'm truly playing with fire alright.'
Spleriia took the pistol from the floor. He removed the magazine and pulled the slide back, causing one of the live cartridges to fall. Now unloaded, he inserts the magazine again and this time, he hid it to the holster.
'Don't worry about this one, Nick. Besides, we're in a soundproof room. No one could hear that from outside.'
'Umm...Okay, then.'
The monarch wore his uniform again and he grabbed his saber from the locker.
'Anyway. Would you like to come with me to Savanna Central? Both Judy and Chimpan were there.'
'Oh. Sure thing, Sire.'
'Very well. Follow me, then.'
With that said, both Nick and Spleriia left the armory.
