Chapter 11 – PXR1000:

Author's Note:

I know, last chapter was unreasonably short… and a bit out of place, considering I said I wasn't going to be posting on any day except Saturdays. But… hopefully I didn't throw too many of you off, and you all had plenty of time to read that chapter before I posted this one (I even gave you an extra day, heh). Again, it was more of a celebration chapter more than anything else, but it did give a lot of plot explanation, so it is important. In any case, this chapter is longer, and probably more interesting.

A lot of you I have spoken to really like the dynamic I have established between Wolfard and Charlotte Summers (by the way, if anyone has any suggestions on what Wolfard's first name should be, I'm taking suggestions…) and want me to actually do something with them. Originally, they were nothing more than background characters, but your wish is my command, which is why we'll actually be following them this chapter. Not completely, of course, there's still going to be some Nick and Judy, but we're also going to get a lot more of Wolfard and Charlotte. And, before you ask, yes, I have decided what I want to happen to them (dun, dun, dun!). So… with all that in mind, please, enjoy!

XXX

"So where exactly are we taking this?" the arctic wolf asked, gesturing towards the laptop in the timber wolf's paws as she followed behind him. They had left the precinct shortly after Nick and Judy, as they had to find the laptop before they could do anything. Wolfard had driven them to a rather plain-looking apartment a few miles away from the precinct.

"You'll see," Wolfard chuckled as he climbed the stairs of the apartment building. Charlotte rolled her eyes behind him, knowing that he was being vague for dramatic effect. Wolfard led her through the complex, knowing exactly where he was going, as if he had walked the path a hundred times before.

He came to a stop at one of the apartment doors near the back of the complex. "Come on, Wolfard! What are we doing here?" Charlotte asked.

"Gosh, you're impatient today. Calm down, will you? We'll only be here a moment," the timber wolf chuckled as he knocked loudly on the door. The arctic wolf let out a huff and put her paws on her hips as they waited for the door to open.

The seconds ticked by, quickly turning into minutes, before Wolfard let out a deep sigh. "Come on… I know you're in there!" he shouted as he knocked again, even louder this time, as if he was trying to break the door down.

They waited several minutes once again before he let out a low growl. "Is it always like this?" Charlotte asked, trying to pass the time as they waited for someone to answer the door.

"Yes. He's probably wearing headphones and can't hear us…" the timber wolf sighed. "I wonder…" he trailed off as he reached out to grasp the doorknob. Slowly, he turned the knob before a grin rose on his face.

He turned back to Charlotte, who was shaking her head. The door was unlocked. "Are we just going to waltz in?" she asked as he pushed the door open. He didn't answer, stepping into the dark apartment with her following behind him. At first, it seemed as if no one was home, but loud tap! tap! tap! echoed throughout the smallish apartment causing her ears to flatten against her head.

Wolfard led them towards a soft glow near the back wall of the apartment, where the tapping seemed to be coming from. Charlotte's eyes widened as she saw a white wolf sitting at an expensive-looking computer set, pounding away at the keys. Glasses sat on the bridge of his nose as he stared intently at the screen, amber eyes flicking back and forth. He wore headphones blasting music so loudly she could hear what he was listening to from several meters away, even with the sound of him beating the keyboard.

"Cousin!" Wolfard shouted as loud as he could, trying to speak over the sound of the headphones and the tapping. Cousin? Charlotte thought to herself as the white wolf paused in his typing.

He glanced over at the police duo, eyes widening as he laid eyes on Wolfard. "Cousin!" he returned the sentiment, just as loudly as Wolfard, before grabbing a mouse nearby and clicking something. The loud music blasting through his headphones was silenced as he took them off his head and set them aside.

The white wolf pushed himself out of his chair and padded over to Wolfard and Charlotte. Her eyes bugged out of her head as he towered over her and Wolfard. She was several inches shorter than the timber wolf, being a different species, but the white wolf was over half a foot taller than Wolfard. He was probably the largest wolf she had ever seen.

Wolfard embraced his cousin briefly before the white wolf asked, "What can I do you for?"

"I need you to tell me what this is," Wolfard said, holding up the laptop he had brought with him.

His cousin raised an eyebrow and took the laptop from Wolfard's paws. He took one look at it before deadpanning, "It's a laptop, cousin."

"I know that… I need you to tell me more. Like: what type of laptop is it? Who made it? And, if you can, try and unlock it," Wolfard responded. The white wolf nodded slowly before walking back over to his computer, taking the laptop with him.

"Who is this guy, Wolfard?" Charlotte whispered when she was sure the other wolf was busy fumbling with the laptop.

"That is my cousin, Wolfgang, he's a bit of a kook, yeah, but he's the best there is when it comes to tech," Wolfard explained.

"Cousin… there are no USB ports on this device," Wolfgang said, turning to look at the two police officers.

"I know."

"And there is no charging port either."

"I know that as well. I have no idea what the hell that thing is, do you see why I need you to figure that out?"

"Right," the white wolf muttered before turning back to his own computer, pulling up his keyboard again. The loud tapping resumed.

"I see where you get that from," Charlotte deadpanned as her ears flattened once more. "What makes him the best?"

Wolfard opened his mouth to respond, but the other wolf was faster, "I found it."

"Oh, that was fast, even for you," the gray wolf chuckled, padding over behind his cousin, Charlotte following reluctantly. They leaned over the white wolf's shoulders and looked at his computer screen.

"Here, the PXR1000," Wolfgang said, gesturing towards the picture on the screen, an exact match to the laptop that sat on his lap. "I actually designed its predecessor, the PXR900. A wonderful machine, if I do say so myself, but even I admit the 1000 model is much better."

"How so?"

"Well, for starters, the 1000 can't be hacked, no matter how good you are. So, sorry about that, even I can't get into it. While the 900 was typically used for undercover work, as it had self-destruct capabilities, the 1000 is definitely military. It's nearly indestructible, waterproof, fireproof, unhackable, untraceable, and can store well over forty terabytes of data," Wolfgang grinned giddily. "They're selling for five million bucks a pop on the dark web. Hmm… maybe I should buy one…"

"Military?!" Charlotte asked, disbelief evident in her tone. "What the hell is a military laptop doing here in Zootopia?"

"I can't tell you that," Wolfgang sighed. "But I can tell you that you're running out of battery."

"How can you tell?" Wolfard asked, Charlotte fuming beside him, still trying to comprehend what was going on.

"It's difficult to see on the black background, but here," the white wolf pointed towards an icon on the bottom left of the screen, "Is your battery life. And would you look at that? Green text on a black background? A little pretentious, if you ask me. Too matrix-y."

"How do we recharge it?" the timber wolf sighed, trying to get more answers. Wolfgang was easily distracted by fancy tech, but he was still the best of the best.

"Of course, I always preferred red on a black background, so who am I to judge?" Wolfgang chuckled, looking over his shoulder at his cousin. "Just leave it out in the sun for a few minutes. It's solar powered."

"Huh. Well… thanks anyways. You at least gave us something," Wolfard said.

"Yeah, no problem… hey… when did she get here?" Wolfgang asked, pointing at Charlotte.

Both the timber and arctic wolves blinked a few times, realizing that the white wolf had been so distracted with his cousin and the fancy laptop that he completely missed the other wolf. "I've been here the entire time!" Charlotte growled.

"Really? I didn't notice you… who are you?" the white wolf asked.

Charlotte looked extremely offended for only a few seconds before a devious smirk rose on her face. "Oh, she's my-" Wolfard started to explain, but she cut him off.

"Girlfriend," she grinned. "I'm his girlfriend. Charlotte Summers, nice to meet you!" She grabbed Wolfard's arm and pulled him closer to her, smirking all the while.

"Arctic wolf named Summers, that's clever," Wolfgang deadpanned, but held out his paw for her to shake anyways. "Wolfgang Fritz, I'm his cousin."

She accepted the formality, shaking his paw. "Yeah, I know, I've been here the whole time," she said.

"Oh, right, sorry, I forgot," he chuckled, adjusting his glasses.

"Hold on a moment, Charlotte-" this time she stepped on Wolfard's foot, causing him to interrupt himself with a yelp of pain.

Wolfgang seemed completely oblivious to his cousin's pain, instead focusing on the arctic wolf. "You're a lucky man, Wolfard, she's gorgeous," Wolfgang grinned, "I'm almost jealous."

Wolfard didn't respond, he had collapsed to the floor, rubbing his aching foot. She had stepped on it hard. "Yes, he is very lucky to have me," she giggled, glancing down at him, before looking back at the white wolf. "But there's no need to be jealous. I'm sure you could find someone if you left this room every once in a while. Though I doubt they'd be as flawless as me."

"And you have an ego the size of a blimp," he chuckled as she struck a pose, but she didn't reply to his comment. "But I'm afraid the single life is for me. I have lots of work to do."

"And so do we, coincidentally. So we'll just grab that," she said, snatching the laptop out of his lap, and turned towards the door. "And we'll be on our way."

"Right, of course. But that laptop isn't much more use than a paperweight at the moment, you'd might as well leave it here," he said.

"It's evidence, so we can't exactly leave it here," she chuckled, grabbing a hold of Wolfard's arm, and began dragging him outside.

"Right… see you later, cousin," Wolfgang waved at them as the door shut before turning back to his computer. He resumed his pounding on the keyboard, the loud taps echoing through the small room.

He typed for only a few minutes before he froze, fingers twitching at the keyboard, before he let out a deep breath. Silence reigned for a second or two before the tell-tale sound of a lighter being flicked on sounded. "I told them what you told me to," Wolfgang said softly, removing his fingers from the keyboard, and adjusting his glasses.

A hyena stepped out of the darkness, taking a deep drag on her cancer stick before shoving her lighter back into her flak jacket. "I know, I was here," she chuckled as she padded towards him.

He swiveled his chair, turning to face her before saying, "I wasn't able to get them to let go of the laptop."

"I know. It's fine, I never wanted them to," she said, exhaling through her nose, smoke following.

"Why did you have me tell them the truth? If you were going to give them so much info, why not let me give them the password?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"You did lie to them, you told them you made the previous model when you made this one," she chuckled. "It's not their place to open that laptop."

"I'm sorry, you didn't give me anything to go on… I wanted to take a little bit of credit, though," he chuckled. "Then whose place is it to open that laptop if not theirs? You must have someone in mind… otherwise you would've had me try harder to keep the laptop."

"You know, you're too smart for your own good sometimes," she growled, patting her sidearm. "Don't forget who's in charge here."

"I am. You have a chain of command… I report directly to the big boss himself," he grinned, crossing his arms, and leaning back into his chair. "I outrank you."

"In your dreams. If you outranked me, you wouldn't have accepted my request," she growled, but refrained from drawing her weapon.

"It never hurts to have a few favors from you," he explained. "And you're not the only one armed here." His own paw slipped down to his waist, moving aside his shirt to reveal he did indeed carry a weapon.

"Fine, whatever," she growled, crossing her arms. "You did as I asked without a mistake, so I suppose I owe you. Right?"

"Yeah… you can start paying me back in any way you like," he grinned, standing from his chair, towering over her.

"Trust me, you couldn't handle me at my best," she smirked, reaching up to grab the back of his head, and dragging him down so that his face was on level with hers. But he never lost that smirk. "Let alone when I'm pissed the hell off."

She let him go, but he didn't immediately rise back to his full height. "Still, I had to try," he chuckled. "Your other option is five million. By Friday."

"Fine," she grunted as he collapsed back into his chair. "But I might be dead by then."

"Then I'll just send the bill to the big boss," he shrugged. "But your other option is still there, if you don't think you can make the deadline without dying."

"I'll get you the money in time, don't worry about it," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Though that girl was right, you should probably go out more often. Maybe if you weren't so pale, I'd take you up on your offer."

She grinned as his eye twitched in irritation. "It's genetic," he growled, crossing his arms as he did. "It has nothing to do with how little sun I get."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that," she shrugged. "But I have somewhere to be."

"You do? Did you get new orders?"

"Not quite. Say… do you have an envelope I can use?"

XXX

"Why'd you do that?" Wolfard growled as he climbed into the driver's seat.

"Why'd I do what?" Charlotte grinned as she shut the passenger's door. This is fun, she giggled internally. Maybe now he'll get it through his thick skull.

"You lied to Wolfgang!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah? So? He clearly approved… he called me gorgeous," she chuckled, wide grin still in place as he started the cruiser.

"If he finds out… he'll kill us," Wolfard groaned, gripping the steering wheel tightly as he pulled out of the parking space.

She snorted loudly, "Yeah right. He's more of a nerd than a murderer, don't you think? And besides, how would he even find out? He looked to be about as dense as you."

"Hey!" he protested, but offered no other defense as she only gave him a dry look. "He's going to tell everyone else in my family… they'll ask to meet you… I'll have to come clean… and then he'll kill us."

"I don't think he's ever even held a gun," Charlotte chuckled. "And if you're that worried, then maybe we should start dating. That'll fix all our problems." She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, reveling in her victory. Not even a complete idiot would miss out on this opportunity.

"No… that's too extreme, I don't want to have to do that to you," he grumbled as he took off towards the precinct, sirens flashing so he could avoid traffic. "Besides… he'd actually have to make contact with family in order to tell anyone. By the time he does that… he should have forgotten. Or assumed that I've already done so and it would be old news."

Her mouth hung open as she listened to him reassure himself. How can he be this dense! she internally screamed as she stared straight ahead. She barely heard him continue to mumble to himself about how he didn't have to worry about lying to his crazy family, and at least Wolfgang had been helpful. How can I get more obvious than that? she groaned to herself.

The cruiser came to a stop at the precinct and Wolfard immediately hopped out, carrying the laptop with him. Charlotte was a bit slower, still thinking to herself. But she eventually let out a sigh and stepped out of the car, following Wolfard back into the precinct.

They headed straight to their office, Nick and Judy already waiting for them. "Oh… you're back already," Wolfard said.

"Yeah, so are you," Nick replied, leaning against the timber wolf's desk, Judy next to him. She held a piece of paper in her paws as well as her carrot pen. "So, what did you find out?"

"Not much, unfortunately. But… there are two things that are absolutely clear. One, this laptop is definitely unhackable. And two, there's a good chance this is a military matter," Wolfard said, setting the laptop down on his desk.

"Zootopia has-" Judy started to say, but was cut off.

"No military, yeah, I know. We all know… but that doesn't mean that other cities or countries don't have militaries. What if the reason the badger and the elephant are John Does is because they're foreign military?" Charlotte asked, crossing her arms.

"Well… that's an interesting thought," Nick admitted.

"And it's the only one that makes sense," Judy sighed in agreement. "But… what about these mercenaries? If this badger and elephant are foreign military… could that mean that the mercenaries are on our side? Protecting us?"

"Huh… and Lionheart hired them to get rid of these foreign ops, right?" Wolfard asked. "That would also make sense, and that would be where Lionheart is connected in all this."

"I gotta disagree with Carrots," Nick said. "From what I've heard, these hyenas would never help this city, unless a really hefty sum was paid. And at that point, someone would've noticed and would've gone public with it. Everyone would know."

"That sounds about right," Judy said. "It doesn't well with me how these mercenaries killed that badger and that elephant."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's too flashy. Too showy. These are unnamed, unknown mammals, it would be really easy to kill them and dispose of the evidence, and no one would be none the wiser," Judy growled. "But they're clearly trying to send a message."

"What if the message is 'hey, stop sending foreign agents?'" Charlotte tried, cracking a small grin despite the topic.

"I doubt it. They only ended up causing panic inside the city. If they wanted that result, they would've delivered the bodies back to their home country," Judy explained. "And Nick said these mercenaries were…"

"Professionals. The best of the best. They'll do anything and they get results," the fox nodded. "If, maybe, a little brutal and medieval."

Wolfard let out a loud sigh as he collapsed into his chair. "Well… we do know that the badger and the elephant are military. Whose military they belong to or why they're here, we don't know. And we still don't know who hired those mercenaries or why," he growled, leaning back.

"Basically, yeah," Nick shrugged. "But Judy did swipe something off of Lionheart's desk."

"Oh? What is it?" Charlotte asked, she too sitting down in her seat with a huff.

"It's a list of… well… something," Judy said. "It looked suspicious, so I snatched it off his desk."

"You just took something off of Lionheart's desk!" Wolfard asked, raising his voice in his panic. "What will Bogo think?"

"Bogo doesn't need to know," Nick countered, crossing his arms, and glaring at Wolfard.

"Like I said it's a list. And one thing stands out," Judy said, passing the piece of paper over to Wolfard.

"Are you sure Lionheart's not gonna notice?" Wolfard asked. Judy could only shrug, but Nick shook his head a resounding no. "Fine then," he sighed, finally glancing at the piece of paper. And the four letters, three dates, and one word written on it.

W: 06-27-1990

B: 08-16-1990

E: 10-31-1990

H: Unknown

"I have no idea what the hell this is," Wolfard said, handing it back to Judy. "It probably wasn't worth taking."

"No, hear me out on this," Judy said. "Lionheart was being squirrely for sure. But… what if 'B' stands for badger and 'E' stands for elephant?"

"So? That's a stretch, if anything!" Charlotte protested. "It doesn't make any sense. I don't know what that is, but it's probably useless. Let's just hope Lionheart doesn't find out you took it."

"Right," Judy sighed, balling up the piece of paper and shoving it in her pocket. "So we still have nothing?"

"Yeah," Wolfard sighed. "And we're running out of time for today."

"Well, I'm going home," Nick spoke up before walking towards the door. "Maybe we'll find something tomorrow, but today's just about over. Carrots?"

"Hmm?" the rabbit hummed, looking up at him.

"Are you coming?" the fox asked, pausing at the door.

"Huh? Oh, no, not tonight," she said. "See ya tomorrow, Nick." He let out a sigh before walking out the door, offering a disappointed wave as he went. Judy let out a sigh and turned towards Charlotte and Wolfard. "What are you two going to do?"

"I'm probably going to head home too," Wolfard admitted, letting out a yawn. "Seeing cousin Wolfgang is always tiring."

"Ooh, me too!" Charlotte grinned as she followed Wolfard out of his chair and towards the door. "Maybe you can take me home… or maybe I'll just sleep at your place tonight!"

"I can take you home, it's no trouble," Wolfard said, exiting the room. Charlotte paused, throwing her paws up into the air, before following behind him again. Leaving Judy alone in their office.

Judy shook her head and chuckled to herself. She stood alone in that room for several minutes until she let out a deep breath. She would go home herself, but she figured that would accomplish nothing. She had a few hours until she passed out… might as well put in some overtime.

She padded out of the office and headed towards the lab building. She wondered if Dr. Tavi had sent those venom samples yet, she figured she would try and work on her other case while she had the time. Even if Bogo would be upset about it.

But as she walked towards the lab, a nagging feeling rose in the back of her mind. Although Charlotte had called the 'E' and the 'B' on that scrap piece of paper a stretch if they really stood for elephant and badger… Judy couldn't help but wonder if 'H' stood for hyena.

XXX

Boom, another chapter down. And this one much longer than the last. Lots of stuff to talk about, though, so let's start at the beginning. For those of you reading both this story and Immoral, you might recognize the character Wolfgang Fritz. In Immoral, he's a dangerous crime lord, here… he's more of a computer whiz. I thought it would be fun to put a cameo in this chapter, and I couldn't think of anyone better for Wolfard to visit with the laptop (if you know how the two are connected in Immoral). In any case, as far as I can tell, Wolfgang isn't going to be making another appearance.

And we get a few answers in this chapter… as well as half a dozen other questions. Some of you might be able to start connecting the pieces, some of you might've done so already. All I can say is that next chapter… is gonna be fun!