"Hmm..One more card." Judy said. Holding two cards in her hands.
Nick, sitting across from her on the dirt ground, picked up a card from the deck. The card, being an ace card, brought a smile on Nick's face "You sure?"
The smiling bunny nodded and quickly snatch the card. "I win. 21!" Judy placed a king, seven, and the ace card on the ground.
"Hnnn... Lets play a different game." Nick suggested as he scratched the back of his left ear.
Judy shook her head. "Nope. You said you will talk to me about your family if I beat you in any card game. We just play War, Speed, and 21."
Nick sighed. "Fine fine." He grabbed Judy's hand and walked behind one of the buildings. "Okay, what do you want to know?"
"When was the last time you talked to your mom?" Judy asked.
Nick leaned to the wooden wall. "Hm, last time I talked to her was about seven years ago."
Judy's ears down quickly. "Such a long time. What could've caused you two to not talk to each other for that long?"
"A big argument. She found out the illegal things I was doing once again and she told me herself that she can't help me anymore before hanging up the phone. I tried to call her back every now and then. Most time she didn't pick up, but the times she did, I could just tell she didn't want to talk to me. So I decided not to bother her anymore." Nick explained.
"You should try to call her again and tell her that you're a police officer now." Judy said.
Nick looked to the side. "Yeah, someday I will."
"Hm, are you an only child?" Judy asked.
Nick nodded to the question. "Yep. I imagine you're not an only child."
"Nah uh. 275 siblings." Judy said with a slight smile.
Nick's eyes widen. "What?!"
Judy's smile widen. "Yeah. And you're going to meet every single one of them including my parents one day."
Nick gave a nervous laugh. He couldn't imagine himself being in front of so many bunnies.
"Don't worry. I am sure they will all like you." Judy softly grabbed Nick's hand to reassure him.
"I hope so." Nick gripped Judy's hand a little more. After smiling to one another for a quick second, they made their way to Norse.
"Found anything out, doc?" Nick said as he leaned his upper body over Norse's left shoulder.
Already stressed enough for not figuring out the hieroglyphic sentence, the Zebra let out a groan. "Don't call me that. I'm a scientist, a chemist, a visionary weapon maker."
"Yeah okay." Nick looked towards Judy. He then started to imitate Norse by pretending to make something out of thin air.
"Nick stop!" Judy said in a loud whisper. She placed her hands to her mouth so she wouldn't laugh.
Nick continued his shenanigans to entertain Judy before getting a punch on his shoulder by Nico.
"S-Show some respect!" Nico has a short fuss when it comes to anyone disrespecting his idle.
Nick frowned "Hey, no need to hit man."
"Nick, you do need to show respect." Judy said in a serious tone.
"Carrots, don't act like you wasn't laughing." Nick said with a smirk.
Judy then asked. "Nico, did you hear me laugh?"
"I d-did not." Nico crossed his arms.
"Like he said. Show some respect." Judy also crossed her arms.
Nico went back to Norse to help with the puzzle.
"Wow, Carrots. I see your game, heh." Nick's tail started to wag.
"Game? I am not playing any games." Judy walked passed her fox friend. A slight smile on her face.
Nick turned around to see Norse place a rock on the top right of the Slab.
"Just three more rocks. Not sure what the hieroglyphs on them mean." Norse said as he looked at the three rocks on his lap.
Nico kept looking at the slab. "W-What words were you a-able to make out here?"
"The war between blank and the outside world blank our blank." Norse replied.
Judy grabbed one of the rocks from Norse. Observing the embedded picture, which is a road that splits into two roads.
"A fork in the road. What could a fork in the road mean?" Judy asked Norse and Nico.
Both animals had no idea.
Nick thought of something. "War separates a group of animals from another group, right?"
Everyone turned to look at Nick.
"Well duh, what's your point?" Bella asked.
Nick went up to Judy and grabbed the rock from her hand. He then placed the rock between two other rocks. He soon grab the other two rocks from Norse and placed them on the last empty slots on the slab. Soon the heavy rock door slid open.
"What... How..?" Norse was baffled by what just happened.
Nick smirked. "Think about it. A war splits one group from another, right? 'The war between'." Nick pointed at the fourth rock, which has an embedded picture of a town. "This rock has to be talking about Bog town. So now we have 'The war between Bog town and the outside world'." Nick pointed at the rock with the two roads. "A road that is separated. Then the last rock that has a picture of animals looking like they just living out their lives. The rock must mean lives."
"The war between Bog town and the outside world separated our lives." Norse said while his eyes widen.
Everyone couldn't believe that Nick figured it out the puzzle.
"Maybe you should have Nick in one of your little science teams, bro." Lur chuckled.
"Ha! He just made one breakthrough. Doesn't mean he's qualified for such a prestigious position." Norse made his way to the entrance of the cave.
"Pfft, as if I would join a nerd group." Nick said in a snappy response.
"Enough. We have work to do everyone. Team leaders, we will lead the way." Judy pointed her sniper rifle forward while walking forward. Everyone else following behind her.
Bogo slowly opened his eyes. He found himself bound in a straight jacket and tied to a thick wooden pole. He looked to his left and right, seeing his other 50 police officers in the same position. Behind him were the news crews and Norse's team, including Keith. He then studied his surroundings. All around him is just darkness, but about 20 feet away stood Sebastian and Ruby. They were talking to three huge 1980's style TVs. He couldn't make out the what he was seeing on the screens as the figures on the screens are black.
"H-Hnm..." One of the officers next to Bogo groaned. Which caused Bogo to quickly look at him.
"John, wake up. Wake up." Bogo said to the male Raccoon.
"H-Huh.. what? W-where am I, Chief?" John said in a low, groggy tone.
"Not too sure myself. What happened to all of you? How can you all get captured?" Bogo demanded an explanation.
The Raccoon groaned slightly. His head hurting more as he tried to remember. "All I can remember is getting hit in the back of my head. Next thing I know, I woke up here, sir."
"Hm, I see. Think you break out of your jacket?" Bogo asked while he struggled to get out of his.
John started to move around in his jacket. Which started to make metal clicking noises.
Sebastian heard the noises and turned around. He could see Bogo and John awake. "Ah, some of 'em are awake!"
The lanky chameleon jumped forward, easily clearing the 40-foot gap, and landed in front of John. His right claw tightly gripping the Raccoon's neck.
"Get your filthy hand away from him!" Bogo shouted out.
Sebastian ignored Bogo. John tried his best to move his neck away from the claw.
"Lets see how ya will hold up in the pit too! Untie him from the pole! It's time to do our experiments!" Sebastian had a wide smirk on his face.
Otis came up to the pole and loosen the ropes. Sebastian quickly dragged John to the left side of the barely lit room. Flipping a switch, more lights came on, which made the other officers and animals wake up. Chatter soon turned into struggle pleads for help among them.
The floor in front of Sebastian soon opened. Without a care in the world, Sebastian tossed John into the 64 by 34-foot pit.
"John, is that you?" Said Lois, who could be seen in one corner.
John quickly turned to see not only Lois, but also Helix and Joe.
Ruby looked towards Buford and nodded. Signaling the large turtle to put on a mask and gloves. Bogo watched the turtle then go to a table. His eyes widen when seeing the turtle pick up a big handful of familiar purple flowers. The flowers being Night Howlers.
"No, what are you doing?!" Bogo struggled even harder to get free from the pole.
Ruby slithered her way to Bogo. "You know somethin' about these plants we don't know, hm? Tell ussss." Her fork tongue slithering.
"They're dangerous! You need to get rid of them!" Bogo warned. He started to bend the pole slightly.
"How dangerous?" Ruby started to smirk. "We heard it makes animals crazy."
Bogo realized that none of them are going to listen. With all his might, he made the wooden pole snap. Otis quickly got to Bogo and gripped his torso. Keeping the Buffalo at bay.
"Hurry with the experiment." Said the tall black figure in the middle TV screen. The voice being male toned and quiet young sounding.
"Yes! Now I really want to see what these new plants can do!" Ruby quickly slithered next to Sebastian.
Buford crushed the flowers into pieces between his large hands. He got to the rim of the pit and placed some of the flower pieces into a custom built spray gun. He aimed the gun first at Helix.
"Don't do this! You have no id m-mmnhhh!" Bogo's mouth got covered by Otis's hand.
With nowhere to run for cover, Joe attempted to climb the steel walls, but the walls were too smooth to be gripped on. He then got hit by a spray of Night Howler pollen and petals
"Urgh! No! Guys k-keep away from m-me!" Joe got onto his hands and knees. He coughed loudly as he trembled like crazy.
Lois, Helix, and John pressed themselves to the adjacent wall. They knew what was about to happen next.
"John, you stay back. Lois and I will handle Joe, okay?" Helix said as he tensed up.
Lois gulped loudly and soon enough, Joe's eyes were crazed and he bared his teeth at all three animals. He growled very loudly.
"Oh my.." A shiver went down Ruby's spine due to seeing the strange effects of the flower.
Sebastian leaned over the pit to gets a better view. "He goin' to tear 'em up, I tell ye what!"
"CPU, Night Howler antidote." Helix said.
"Invalid command." Said the computer.
Helix started to huff and he prepared himself. Both him and Lois stood in front of John
"Grrrrrr!" Joe saw their sudden position as a threat and started to run on all fours towards them.
"Unusual and dangerous behavior detected. Intent to harm teammates detected. Suit soft lock down activated." Said Joe's suit computer.
Suddenly Joe's body went down to the ground, making him slide along the ground. Coming to a complete stop just mere inches from Lois's feet. All three animals moved from Joe's open and closing mouth as he still tried to attack them but couldn't move his body.
"Notifying Norse Smith of Joesph 'Joe' Brown's suit soft lockdown to grant clearance." Said the computer.
Ruby blinked. "What just happened. Why'd he stop like that?"
"That darn suit, yeah. Need to take it off him." Sebastian slammed the end of his stick to the ground.
"No need for that. I can clearly see what those flowers can do. Sebastian and Ruby, leaders of Mambo group A, find more of those flowers in the outside world and bring some to Mambo group B, C, and to my research team." Said the middle black figure.
"Got it. What do you want us to do with these officers?" Ruby asked.
"Keep them as hostages. They will be our test subjects as time goes on. Also, take care of the intruders that are in your section. I don't want them getting passed Bog town. Eloi and LeRoy, got anything to add before ending the meeting?" Said the middle black figure.
"No, sir." Said the black figure in the right TV screen. The shape of the figure is short and bulky. The tone of voice emitted from the figure sounds very deep and stern.
"Nah, Cain. I want to go back to playing games." A very soft tone of voice that belongs to a child caught Lois's attention when the black figure in the left TV screen spoke. The shape of the figure is very short and skinny.
"Okay. Sebastian and Ruby, I trust you two to bring at least one pound of that flower to us by the end of this week. This meeting is over." All three TV screens turned off.
"Sir and madam. Those animals from before got through most of the traps. Only one more trap remains." Said Clovis.
"That's okay. It's a pitfall trap. Most, if not all, will be captured. Just in case, Sebastian and I will take care of the rest. Come, hun." Ruby slithered out of the room and Sebastian followed close behind.
The Z-Squad were on high alert due to passing eight traps in total. Judy and Nick were in front of the group. They carefully planned each step. Suddenly, the ground under them opened wide. Thinking very quickly, Nick gripped the very edge of the hard ground since he was standing at the rim of the trap. His other hand grabbed Judy while she attempted to grab Bella, but she was too slow.
"No!" Judy could hear her squad's screams but couldn't see them.
Nick pulled himself and Judy up slowly.
"Nick, we have to find them!" Judy said. Having tears in her eyes.
Nick nodded. "Trust me. We will find a way to get them but we can't go down there. Must be another way."
Judy calmed herself down a bit and pointed her sniper rifle forward. She could see some light down the tunnel. "Follow close behind me and watch our six, Nick."
Nick lightly pressed his back to Judy's back to keep physical contact. In no time, both Judy and Nick got out of the cave.
"Welcome, you two." Said Ruby.
"Yeah, welcome to your demise, ha!" Sebastian leaned onto his long stick.
Judy and Nick bore shocked expressions from seeing the long snake and chameleon.