Chapter 10: Old Ties
2 day's later
We were running in the sun as we made our way to an abandoned building on the outskirts of Zootopia. I ran into the wall for cover right next to the door, Nick, Judy, then Alex were lined up behind me. While in front on the other side of the door there was Delgato, Fangmeyer, and their apprentices, Kion and Jasiri who I met a while back.
"You guys ready?" Delgato asked. We all nodded. Delgato nodded before looking at me and signaled with his head for me to help him. We got out of cover and stood in front of the door and kicked it in with Nick and Fangmeyer leading the way into the building dart guns in paw. We went in and cleared the building.
After the all clear, we did a thorough search of the building. We didn't find what we were looking for. I was talking to Jasiri and Kion when an angry Alex walked over. "Again with the dead ends!" he said grabbing the fur on his head in frustration.
"Sixth time this month," Kion said thinking.
"Anytime we think we have a lead to find the kids, we fall short and hit a dead end. AAAHH! It's so frustrating!" Jasiri exclaimed shouting out into the sky, or ceiling since we're inside.
"I'm going to have to ask for their help, aren't I." I thought. I sighed, "I'll go find them tonight, and if gods willing they'll help instead of shooting me on sight."
"Hey Jack, Is everything alright?" Alex asked with an eyebrow raised and his head tilted.
"What," I said not realizing he was talking to me. "Yeah, Yeah I'm fine," I said. Before they could ask anything more Nick walked up.
"Come on guys let's head back to the station," he said before turning around and walking to the cruisers. We got back to the station and reported the whole thing to Bogo who seemed to take it normally. He dismissed us for the day and when the time came for us to go home, we all left with anger and sadness weighing us down.
But what weighed me down. Was what I was going to do.
12:25 AM
I just got up from a nap and was getting ready to leave. I had urban camo jeans, t-shirt along with a black jacket and my hat. I also had my backpack with my officer uniform, vest, 'dart gun', my badge was in my pocket.
I was about to go when I looked on my nightstand and saw my marine knife. "Would I need that." I thought. I shook my head and walked out. Just for me to turn around a few seconds later to grab it.
I walked out and went to the living room. I wrote a quick note, basically telling my parents that I went in early to work out. "I hope they don't wake up too early." I thought. I quietly made my way to the door.
"I hope Judy doesn't hear me leaving." I thought as I snuck out slowly and quietly. When I got outside I put my headphones in before flipping the hood over my head and started my journey.
The half moon was in the sky shining down on the city which returned it by shining its lights back on it. I was on a 'bridge' where it went over an alleyway. I looked over the side to see no one there.
So I over the guard railing and dropped to the cold hard concrete below. My feet slammed into the ground and I timed the roll perfectly. But I was still on one knee when I stopped. "Few…" I huffed looking back up at the drop.
I quickly looked around to see the ally empty. I stood up and started walking down the alley before I noticed the paintings on the walls and ground. Each one different year stand to say the same message. I noticed one, a skeleton wolf holding an ax. It had worn-out clothes with the shirt being torn up around the stomach.
The top half had the words DEDSEC in white. "When did she do this." I thought before continuing down the alley. After a few more paw steps I saw a light hanging over a metal door. Next to it was a number panel one to nine.
"Let's see if this still works." I thought as I entered in my code.
1459, I punched in the code and it beeped at me. I sighed, "It makes sense that they would change the code." I thought before kneeling down. I pulled out my knife and carefully pulled the face plate off exposing the wires behind it. I started examining the wires before unhooking the locking mechanism. I then got up and was able to jiggle it open with my knife just enough for me to put my paws in.
Then I slid the door to the side opening it for the world to see. Behind the door was stairs that descended into darkness. I took in a deep breath, "Well here goes nothing." I thought as I descended into the darkness.
I reached the bottom of the stairs and I started walking around trying to find a light or something to help with the dark. But not long after, a light came on and a gun was pressed to the back of my head.
"You have about 10 seconds to explain why you're here." a familiar voice said from behind me.
"It's me, Holloway," I said hoping he would remember me, oh he did.
"Yeah, that's why I'm asking you… why are you here?" He said pressing the gun against my head more violently. That's when more mammals walked out of the shadows. One of them was a female tiger.
"Marcus what's going on?" she asked rubbing her eyes.
"Found Jack." he said in a slow and angry voice.
"Marcus put the gun down." another voice came in. It was a Hyena who said that. Holloway did and holstered the sidearm. I let my arms drop and the breath that I didn't know I was holding, out. Marcus walked in front of me and headed to the group. The tiger walked forward.
"So Jack, what brought you back to Dedsec?" she asked with a smug smirk.
"I just need some help-"
"With what?" Holloway interrupted.
"I'm trying to find missing children, and I thought you people out of everyone else would want to help," I said plainly.
"How many?" wolf with a mask that had lights up at his eyes showing random expressions asked.
"285, and counting," I said. They all looked at each other wide-eyed before huddling together. It didn't take long for them to turn around again.
"Okay Jack, you win. We'll help you." The tiger said before signaling for me to follow her. So I did, the whole area was illuminated. But we walked into a side room with no door. In the corner was a row of lockers and near that was a table with a small metal box on it, right next to the small table was a long desk with a computer on it with a couple drones next to it.
"You're about to get the Dedsec discount." she said sitting down at the computer. "Give me your phone," she said holding out a paw. I just dug into my pocket and unplugged my headphones before handing her my phone. "Is there something on here I shouldn't see?" she said teasing.
"Ha Ha. Very funny." I said not amused rolling my eyes.
"Oh come on Jack I'm trying to be nice at least hummer me, unlike Wrench," she said smiling. Wrench was the wolf with the mask.
"Well, Sitara when your old crew hates you. You're not too keen on opening up." I said putting my back against the desk as she plugged my phone into her computer.
"Oh. And your stuff in there." she pointed to the metal box on the table. I walked over and opened the box to reveal two gauntlets and a bandana. I grabbed one of the gauntlets first and examined it.
I put them on and made sure everything was on correctly. I then flicked my wrists and a blade came out of both of them. "They kept my hidden blades." I thought in astonishment. Then I grabbed my bandanna. I then took my bandanna and tied it around my neck.
"Here you go," Sitara said holding up my phone. I grabbed it and plugged my headphones in again.
"What did you do?" I asked looking up from my phone.
"I installed the Dedsec app. So now if we get anything we can keep in touch." she winked at me. "Also we'll be able to send information to you. Oh and here." she handed me a wire. "This will allow you to hack into anything you need to hack," she said standing up. "Let's go see what the others found," she said as she walked out of the door.
I followed her back into the main room. The room was made out of concrete with carpet, white wallpaper that was painted on. The stairs lead down to a wooden platform that met with the carpet. In the center of the room was a long table with foldable chairs around it.
In the corner, there was a flat screen with a couch in front of it. The room smelled like coffee and energy drinks. It was at least cool enough to keep the jacket on. They were all around a computer.
"So find anything yet?" Sitara asked.
"Yeah, we did," Marcus said not looking up from the screen. Marcus was a fox with black and white fur with blue eyes.
"This van has been spotted in almost every area where the kids vanished." Wrench said with a robotic voice from the mask.
"And we think we found their hideout." Josh a koala said placing clicking and a picture came up. The picture was of the abandoned building on the outskirts of town.
"Well then let's go. Josh, you stay here and keep us posted." Marcus Holloway said. (same fox with black fur.)
"Ok. Oh, wait Jack!" Josh said frantically. I turned just in time to see him toss something my direction. I caught it, the object was a square shape with circular corners. Before I asked he answered.
"It's a packable drone. You can control it with your phone and it's already linked." He said turning back around.
"Thanks," I said turning around to see Sitara holding a computer bag with a sling.
"You might want this. Hacker and all. Consider yours." she said as I grabbed it. The bag was urban camo and was small and compact. The laptop could be balanced on one leg, easy to use.
"Thanks," I said putting it over my shoulder so it sat in a comfortable position so I can run jump and move freely without having to worry about the new laptop or bag.
"You ready?" Holloway said in an irritated voice standing next to Wrench. They were waiting at the stairs.
"Yeah," I said walking over
"Wait! I'm coming too!" Sitara said running over. "I want to join in on the adventure," she said walking past me and Holloway.
"The more the merrier." Wrench said walking up the stairs. Sitara walked up behind Wrench then Holloway behind her. But not before giving me a dirty and angry look, his muzzle looked like he was growling. He ascended the stairs after the others, with me behind him.
2:28 AM
We arrived at the abandoned building, Wrench pulled up to where the police parked the first time. "We're here." he chirped.
"Alright let's get inside and see what we can find," Sitara said getting out of the vehicle. We all followed her lead and got out.
I looked up to see some clouds slowly making their way through the sky before someone tapped my shoulder. I looked to see Wrench.
"What?" I asked.
"You might need this," he said handing me a Glock with some spare ammo. I took the gun by the handle before taking the bag.
I placed the items where I could easily reach them before nodding to him and started walking towards the building. When we got inside it looked like a check in receptions desk for a hotel. There was a hallway on the right and a hallway to the left.
"I'll go left with Sitara. You and Wrench will go see if you can't find anything to the right." Holloway said. We all agreed and headed towards our assigned hallway. Wrench and I went room to room clearing each one, looking all over for any signs of something. We were now in the second to last room.
It was an open space with a queen sized bed, T.V, and dresser with a clear wall that had a shelf on it. Wrench was looking under the bed for anything while I looked around the dresser before going to the shelf.
"So… I heard there was a shootout between the police and a gang here." Wrench said still looking under the bed.
"You'll be right," I said nonchalantly while I looked over the shelf.
"I looked into it and the gang's name was… Oh come on I know it because it was cool," he said standing up shaking his head trying to remember.
I started looking over the shelf to find an old antique metal, trophy thing. It was a wolf in armor and a long sword stabbed into the ground. It was a metallic brown color like copper. "Mmm. What's this?" I thought before I grabbed it and tried to take a closer look at it. But it had a string attached to it.
"The Underground Devils…" Wrench said before he was interrupted by a *Clink Click Click* noise behind the wall. The next thing we know is that the wall opened. I quickly cut the string and stepped back from the opening. The door opened completely allowing us to see a dark staircase descending downward into darkness.
"Secret passageway cool," Wrench said in awe.
"Same old Wrench." I thought.
"Come on. Let's go." I said as I started walking down. Wrench apparently put the statue thing in my bag. Without noticing my uniform. We made our way down the stairs before coming to a very dark room where Wrench tripped over something. I finally found the switch and turned on the lights. It revealed computers and other equipment, and Wrench tripped over a tool box.
"What's all this?" I asked myself looking around the room. I walked up to a desk that had a computer and a map of Zootopia next to it. I turned on the computer and it was saved to what looked like a schedule.
"Wrench you might want to see this," I said not looking away from the screen. Wrench came over and looked at the screen.
"That's a map of the route that each can takes." Wrench said amazed.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that there's more than one know," I said downloading all the information. I then grabbed and followed up the map and put it in my bag. That's when my phone went off and I noticed it was somewhat like a radio where it connected to Dedsec so we all can communicate with each other.
"Wrench, Jack! Find anything yet?" that was Sitara.
"Oh yeah. We found enough information…" Wrench explained before he was interrupted by a voice.
"Hello little chicken fucks, well if you found our little hideout congratulations. You'll be rewarded with hot fiery death. Bye Bye-e." the voice was recorded.
"Vaas?" Wrench said shocked. I was about to ask him who that was when we both heard something. *Beep Beep Beep* I looked under one of the tables to see an explosive.
"GET OUT NOW!" I shouted before both Wrench and I raised up the stairs we ran as fast as we could. We got to the entrance when all of a sudden I was sent flying forward. I slammed into the hard concrete. With Wrench next to me. Sitara and Holloway were already outside.
Sitara ran to us to make sure we were ok while Holloway went to grab something. While Sitara was making sure we were ok Holloway seemed to get angry like his teeth would shatter at the pressure he was grinding them. I was able to stand up just in time to take a fist to the muzzle.
"Marcus, what's wrong with you?" Sitara said not getting a reply. I got a reply, it was his foot as he stomped on my stomach. It was so hard I almost wrapped around his foot. The force was enough for fluid to come out of my mouth along with blood. Before he could do anything more Wrench got up and grabbed him pulling him away.
"Dud what's gotten into you?" Wrench asked as he held Holloway.
"He works for the ZPD! He's going to sell us out!" He said thrashing around trying to get free of Wrench's hold.
That's when I noticed my badge laying on the ground. "That's what he saw! It must have rolled out of my pocket after the blast, that's what he saw and went to grab." I thought to piece it together. I quickly grabbed it and shoved it back into my pocket.
"Marcus that doesn't make any sense. He came to us for help, he already knew where our hideout is so asking for help doesn't make sense. He could have just told them where we were." Sitara said trying to reason with the pissed off fox.
"NO! I told you we shouldn't have trusted him, he betrayed us and left us behind!" He said. That got Sitara to punch him in the face.
"HE LOOKED FOR A BETTER LIFE!" She said screaming. "He was an orphan looking for a better life he thought it was the military, leave him alone," she said the last part almost as low and as terrifying as the Chief.
He just stayed there looking a little shocked that Sitara yelled and punched him. She came over and grabbed me taking me to the car. She sat me down in the back of the car, she grabbed the medic bag and dug her paws into it to find cotton balls. She then put it against my nose.
"Thank's," I said plainly.
"No problem… I just forget how much anger he has because you left," she said making sure I was okay.
"Why does he hate me so much?" I asked more out of curiosity.
"Because Jack he saw you as his little brother. Someone he could help, protect, and guard threw life. But when you left… He feels betrayed." She explained while she checked me then sat down next to me.
"Well, that explains a lot. Thank's." I said looking down. Then I felt a gentle smack on my shoulder.
"Hey, at least we're helping you with this. And Josh just informed me that he got us some more street help." She said smiling at me.
"Let me guess. The Rook's?" when I said that she nodded. "At least it's people who don't completely hate me," I said chuckling. She cracked a smile at me.
"Yeah. maybe we should get ready to leave we have," She paused looking at the time. "We have about two hours of night left and I'm guessing you have work tomorrow?"
"Yeah I do and I have to make a goddamn good excuse as to how I 'found' this evidence," I said doing the paw gesture of the quotes.
"Yeah, I see why," she said rolling getting up and walking into the van. I followed so I could look through the evidence. When I sat down the door shut along with the cabin's front. Wrench was in the driver's seat while Holloway was in the passengers.
Nothing was said as Wrench drove to the next area. But as I looked through the evidence, something caught my eye. "What the?" I thought as I looked it over. It was a list of kids.
I scrolled thru the list to see name after name of kids along with some information such as. Name age, height, weight, and what I'm guessing is the route they're taking. "How are they getting all this information about their targets.
It was just name after name but a group caught my eye. A fox named Vincent Sims and a wolf named Kyle 'Sims' Warren. They looked familiar before I looked closely and recognized them. Those were the two at Largo's room the day we went there. The ones who were being bullied are now kidnapped by a street gang.
"Can these two get a break." I thought. I looked through it some more just to find more kids. One being a rabbit. So I looked over the information.
Honey 'Unknown'
Species: Bunny
Age: 13
Height: 2 feet tall
167, Blue
"Well, thank's for the last name," I said sarcastically. But then I read another one under that.
Aiden 'Unknown'
Species: 'Timber Wolf'
Age: 14
Height: 7 feet tall
195, Red, Yellow
"Geez, 7 feet tall. Goddamn, they captured Goliath." I thought a little jokingly. "WHAT'S WITH ALL THIS SHIT!" I screamed on the inside.
"What's the colors, What's the number for, why do they have quotes on Timberwolf. AAAAHHHH! This made more questions than answers." At least it points us in the direction to find them.
I hope you enjoyed that but to clarify one thing. Honey and Aiden are characters owned by Spectre47 and yes I asked permission to use them.