My name is Benjamin Clawhauser, I work at the Zootopia Police Department as dispatch. I've seen and heard quite a few stories in this city. Some pretty crazy ones over the last few months, but this case… this case is something I'll never forget.

It was Monday morning, and I was gorging myself on donuts and cereal. So I wasn't paying complete attention, but someone walked in. I didn't know who at first. But she approached my desk at the center of the Precinct lobby.

"Excuse me… I have a bit of a problem." The dame asked, her voice quivering with fear.

"Oh? Sorry to hear that. Is someone missing? Or is-"

"I'm afraid to say… it's not quite that simple officer." She said as she pulled off her hoodie… and there she was… the Angel with Horns.

"O… M… GOODNESS! YOUR GAZ!-"

"Shh, not so loud, I can't have anyone know that I'm here!" Gazelle said as she put her hoodie back on.

"Okay… but why?" I asked, unsure of why Gazelle of all mammals would come to the police, but not have anyone know there here.

"Well… it's an extremely personal matter. And I don't know who else to go to. I need the best of the best." Gazelle said.

"Of course you do… though they're not in." I apologized, Judy was taking the whole week off, and Nick was undercover at a chop shop. So they were basically not available. "But I can help! Just give me a moment." I said as I ran off towards Selene's lab. In the months since she had been hired on as the ZPD's cybernetics consultant. That okapi has made the ZPD's equipment advance by leaps and bounds.

So I showed myself in, as Selene was humming as she was looking at something on a computer. Possibly related to, what Bogo has been calling, 'the Chimera Island Incident'. "Uh… Selene? I need to… borrow some stuff." I said, apparently when she gets into music, she gets into it even more then I do.

"From the ashes of winter, is spring born anew…" Selene mumbled, and those must have been good headphones if she can't hear me… though I suppose that would have been the point either way.

"So… you mind if I just take the Electro-Gun?" I asked, pointing to the experimental weapon in question. Apparently, it's supposed to be effective any robotic sleeper agents created by Dr. Mulerson. For all intents and purposes, it should be completely harmless to normal mammals. "And a tranq-gun, would you mind if I took a tranq-gun? I'll take a tranq-gun. I'd fill out a requisitions form… but you're obviously busy." I said as she continued humming to the music she was listening.


I was then driving Gazelle back to my place. She said she needed someplace safe to stay at, I didn't question her… in hindsight, I should have. But it was Gazelle! In my car! That prospect was too much for me to really wrap my head around.

So I got Gazelle back to my apartment. "Are you sure I'll be safe here?" Gazelle asked, sounding scared.

"Who in their right mind would think that you would be here? Besides, this is a good neighborhood." I said as we entered the apartment.

"Benjamin? What are you doing back home from… work...? Is… that Gazelle...? THE GAZELLE?" My roommate said. A gray wolf with white fur named Kaitlin.

"Yes! But you have to be quiet! She's in… some kind of trouble, she hasn't told me yet." I said.

"Sorry… Ms. Gazelle, I'm such a big fan!" Kaitlin said, wearing one of Gazelle's concert promotional shirts.

"I can see that," Gazelle said.


"So, let me get this straight, you owe money to someone? Someone in the criminal underworld who's not only extremely dangerous but is threatening your life if you don't pay five times what you owe him?" I asked Gazelle as the three of us had coffee.

"Yes… you have to understand, my free benefit concerts aren't cheap. There are only donations that go to whatever charity there meant for. And my account was going in the red and… uh..." Gazelle said, looking frustrated at this whole affair.

"So you want ME, to get this guy to leave you alone?" I asked.

"Yes, that is what I'm asking Officer Clawhauser," Gazelle said.

"But Benjamin hasn't been on the streets in years! He's basically been a glorified receptionist for the last… the last… Benjamin, I forget how long has it been since you did patrol?" Kaitlin asked.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that the only officer I could get. Isn't even an actual officer?!" Gazelle said.

"Hey take it easy! Ben has anxiety issues. It's basically why he's so out of shape just gorging himself as he does." Kaitlin said, I then was looking for a reason to get out of this uncomfortable conversation.

Then I got a phone call from Judy. "Oh, I got to take this!" I said as I went up to my bedroom. "Judy! How's my favorite bunny?"

"Hello Benjamin, it's been awhile." Said a mechanical voice that was definitely NOT Judy.

"You're not Judy, who are you and why are you goofing around with Judy's phone?" I asked.

"It's… not simple to explain. Not now anyway. Suffice it to say, I want to help you, Benjamin." The caller said.

"And who are you anyway?" I asked.

"Well… it's like this. Promise not to make too much noise when I actually say it?" The voice said, I just whispered something… don't really remember what it was. I was just really confused… and hungry. "Well, I'm from the future and-"

"Oh, my… what's the future like? Do we finally have flying cars? Space colonies?" I asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately, none of those suffice it to say. This case you put yourself on… unless you give me the benefit of the doubt. It is going to end, in WORSE than failure. It'll be the first step to a Robot Apocalypse." The voice said, and I'll be honest, I didn't really believe at the time what the voice was saying… but with all the weird things that had been happening since the Stampede of Doom case. Well… actually before even THAT. But… well let's just say Bogo and I know Anna Blackpaw better than most mammals would think.

"How...? Seriously, how is taking a case for a pop-star, even Gazelle make any sense. As a catalyst for Armageddon… and for that matter, how do you have a time machine-"

"Short version, my daughter has been working on a time machine since she was about… eight, maybe nine. Point is, she spent the last decade inventing time travel just to undo the apocalypse… the last thing I saw before I jumped back was the robots breaking into our safe-house and… look. I just want to save my family… and you, Benjamin." The voice said and I could almost hear it chocking a bit.

"Who are you…, really?" I asked.

"Someone trying to save their future, and right now, the only problem on my plate as of now is that robots don't take over the world. Suffice to say, for now… keep your friends close, and your enemies as far away as possible!" The voice said.

"Isn't that saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer?" I asked.

"True, but do you actually know who your enemy is in this matter?" The voice asked.

"No, Gazelle hasn't actually told me who she owes money to," I said.

"Really…? What has she told you?" The voice asked.

"Only that he's feared in the criminal underworld," I said.

"Ah… well, that much is true. Also, do you have an Electro-Gun or even a tranq-gun? Those will be invaluable." The voice said.

"Well yes… but apparently, this thing hasn't been charged. Looks like I could just use a run of the mill charging cable, however." I said as I looked over the Electro-Gun. "Also, I only got the one tranquilizer for the tranq-gun. I'd keep more around the house… but there was an incident back in the 90's. So it's generally against regs to keep a gun loaded at home for officers. Or really anyone just working at the ZPD." I explained.

"No matter, just get the Electro-Gun charged and at costs. DO. NOT. Waste that dart!" The voice said.

"Gotcha," I said as I plugged my cell phone charger into the Electro-Gun.

"Good… good… just remember. The fate of the future hinges on this case you've put upon yourself. I'll try to help however I can from here on out. Oh… and before I go, it's been good talking to you again." The voice said, and the call ended.

All I have to say is that was one of the weirder calls I've gotten over the years. And I nearly fell for a vacation on a deserted island when I was in high school. But I digress… and then I got another phone call. In hindsight that was a terrible idea.

Long story short, Selene was angry at me for taking her prototype Electro-Gun, and a tranq-gun without filling out a requisitions form… and having to fill in for me as dispatch… she made more than a few mean comments about my weight.


After I got off the phone from Selene, I left my room and found Kaitlin giving Gazelle a deep-tissue massage… Kaitlin is a professional masseuse, though it was a bit of a non-sequitur to see after hearing Selene shout in my ear.

"Oh… your paws are miracle workers." Gazelle moaned in comfort.

"Been doing this for years, and it's just a pleasure to be in the same room as you," Kaitlin said as she dug her paws into Gazelle's shoulders.

"Sorry to interrupt. But, do you actually know whose extorting you?" I asked.

"Well… not exactly. I was contacted by a pair of middle mammals; they were mice by the names of Thumb and Crain." Gazelle said. I was familiar with those two, for nearly a decade those two worked for Mr. Big. Some sort of obsession on Thumbs part with taking over the world or something. But then they fell out of favor with him… apparently.

As I'm sure you heard from Kaitlin. It's been years since I've actually been out and about. So I'm more than a bit rusty with the particulars, beyond bakery addresses anyway.

"Any idea where we could meet them, try to talk them out of this?" I asked.

"NOT… until I get all the knots out," Gazelle said.

"No lie Ben, she's got knots like you wouldn't believe," Kaitlin said as she dug her paws into Gazelle's back.

"Ah, the stress of this whole mess?" I said.

"No… it's just that it's been years since I've had a message. I always feel guilty getting one… oh boy was THAT a mistake."


It was at about 6:00 PM when we finally got underway. We met up with the middle mammals in downtown Tundra Town, and we met up with Thumb and Crain. Thumb was the thin one, and Crain had the oversized head.

"So, you finally got the money Gazelle?" Thumb asked.

"Can we get ice cream?" Crain asked.

"No Crain, we need the money to give to our employer!" Thumb said.

"Oh… why are we working for him again?" Crain asked.

"Because we need the money to fund my next scheme to take over the world, we've been at this for twenty years Crain! Why, can't you ever remember unless I've done some kind of intelligence boosting experiment on you?" Thumb said in aggravation.

"How about this instead, no money changes between anyone, you show ME to your boss. And I don't arrest you two." I said to the two white mice, showing off my ZPD badge.

"What! I thought I said no cops!" Thumb said.

"Yeah, that's cheating! NARG!" Crain said… no idea what narg could mean, however.

"Just take us to whoever the nice gazelle owes money to, and I put you both down," I said as I picked them both up.

"Your paws are like clouds made of chocolate pudding! PROL! TROG!" Crain said.

"Look, just… just don't hurt us. We'll direct you to our employer if you promise not to hurt us. I'd be incredibly embarrassing to be harmed by probably the ONLY overweight cheetah in the world." Thumb said, and what I like about this. Is that I don't even have to make up a bluff.


A few hours later we were in an abandoned warehouse. "So this is where the whole deal went down? Do you know who it was?" I asked.

"Well… no, we never actually saw what this mammal looks like." Thumb said.

"Yeah, all we heard was this commanding voice from on high!" Crain said.

"HAVE YOU BROUGHT THE MONEY?" A commanding voice from on high said.

"Just like that, it even sounds the same as well!" Crain said.

"That would be because he's here, Crain," Thumb said.

"Ah… and you must be the illustrious Benjamin Clawhauser. I've heard so much about you." The voice said as a number of glowing eyes surrounded us. And out of the shadows stepped robots… robots that looked like mammals. Not unlike what happened to Selene and Sally.

"Dr. Mullerson… you borrowed money from Dr. Mullerson?" I asked.

"I had no idea who he was I swear!" Gazelle said.

"And how do you even know who I am?" I asked.

"Let's just say that… a friend of yours told me everything about. And I mean everything!" Mullerson said as a figure in a robe stepped out of the shadows. It took down its hood… and it was Kaitlin.

"What? I thought she was your friend!" Gazelle said.

"Oh, we've been friends since we were cubs. It's just that well… Kaitlin isn't really in right now." She said as she pulled out some sort of dart gun.

"Is that like with me?" Crain asked of Thumb.

"No Crain, she's obviously been turned into a robot, same as the other poor souls that surround us," Thumb said.

"Yes, Mr. Thumb. And soon… all four of you will be robots as well. Thanks to MY nano-bot darts, you'll all be quickly, and efficiently be turned into my robotic minions. Miss Ulriksdottir, if you would do the honor?" Mullerson said as robo-Kaitlin took aim.

I thought it was the end… but then an angel from on high intervened.

To be Continued…

What? Oh, come on! A cliffhanger, really?! Just a bit more and we'd already be done and finished with this story!