Hoo boy, been a while since the last chapter, apologies for that I've just been rather slow writing recently

I'd write more in this note but it's far too late/early and I want to try sleeping again

Chapter 21

Lunette walked into the precinct with a happy bounce in her step. And with good reason as this morning had been one of the best since she had come to Zootopia. First off, she had woken up snuggled in Noct's embrace. He hadn't fallen asleep even after their late-night activities but the panther was more than happy to simply lie there holding his mate till she woke up again. Despite her exhaustion, sleeping next to Noct like that had been incredibly restful and she woke up bright and early and full of pep.

Lunette was still running on her normal routine, however this was based on her previous apartment which was much further away from the police headquarters. In fact, Lunette could walk from the Chrysalis Tower and still have a quicker journey than she used to. This meant that she could actually take her time this morning.

Noct and Lunette shared a shower, even with Lunette's extra time they couldn't fool around, they simply enjoyed each other's presence in the water. Noct even held off on demonstrating all the extra functions of the shower that he was so proud of.

After that there was enough time for Noct to prepare a proper breakfast for them both. Nothing crazy, a light continental meal with various breads and jams and of course coffee for Lunette. Noct himself was not a coffee drinker, caffeine did not have much effect on him and he also just didn't like the taste. He would mainly drink water during the day, or in cases like this, hot chocolate.

Even after all this Lunette still had enough time to check in on Asra before she had to leave. Noct had to open the stair well for her but he also wanted to look in on the boy. Unsurprisingly Asra was still fast asleep, his body still had a lot of work to do healing itself, but Lunette was happy to see him sleeping peacefully.

This was where Noct and Lunette separated, Lunette had to start moving to get to work while Noct was going to stay and wait for when Asra awoke, the pup was going to be waking in an unfamiliar place so Noct's presence should help him calm down. Lunette couldn't help smiling warmly at the precious male in her life.

Two males now she thought to herself glancing at Asra one last time before she left.

The way back up to the penthouse was still open, Noct suggested going that way as his private elevator was the fastest way to get back to the ground floor. Lunette felt a little nervous when she walked out into the reception, the staff would obviously take note of a stranger walking out of the private lift. However, it would seem that Noct had gotten there first, all the staff seemed to be expecting her and were very courteous in greeting Lunette as she left the building.

Noct hadn't been kidding when he said he could see where Lunette worked from his window, it was barely a five-minute walk from the Chrysalis Tower to Precinct 1. And Lunette had a wonderful bounce in her step as she made her way to work. Despite getting up at her normal time, the knowledge that she only had a five-minute trip in, along with everything else that happened that morning, meant that by the time Lunette arrived Nick and Judy were already stood talking to Clawhauser at the dispatcher's desk.

Clawhauser noticed Lunette's appearance first and Nick and Judy cottoned on when they saw the blank look on his face.

"Morning Nix" said Nick with a wide grin "Settled in yet?"

"Morning Lunette" added Judy, beaming with her usual energy.

"Morning Nick, Judy" replied Lunette with a smile that hadn't left her face all morning "I was settled in before you two left, this morning has been wonderful so far"

"Are you pregnant?!" blurted Clawhauser.

Nick, Judy and Lunette all froze while staring at Clawhauser's blank face with wide eyes. A few moments later and the cheetah's brain caught up with his mouth, his own eyes widened and his paws flew to his mouth.

"Sorry" he whispered "it's just, well I thought you were glowing when you found your mate again but that was nothing compared to how you look today. I've only seen expecting mothers look that happy"

"No, I'm not pregnant!" said Lunette rather forcefully, a light blush rising.

"Doesn't mean she's not a mother though" said Nick checking his claws nonchalantly while avoiding looking at anyone.

Judy kicked Nick in the shin hard enough to leave the fox hopping around trying not to fall over but it was too late, the damage was done. Clawhauser was now staring at Lunette with eyes like dinner plates.

"Explain!" he practically squealed.

"… Fine…" sighed Lunette, she found that she wasn't surprised by Nick's instigation, she'd obviously spent too much time around Judy and her partner "You know the boy who Nick discovered in a savage state last week" Clawhauser nodded along, Judy reached out for the arm Nick had injured unconsciously without taking her eyes off Lunette and Clawhauser "Well, Nick got in touch with my mate and, to cut a long story short, we're going to adopt him"

"Asra is, was, an orphan" explained Nick when he saw Clawhauser's confusion, Judy looked round when he spoke and realised where her paw was, she hurriedly bounced round to the other side of Lunette.

"NAAaaawww, that's fantastic and adorable!" said Clawhauser actually squealing this time, he clapped his paws a few times before he frowned slightly and turned to Nick "that reminds me, how do you know Lunette's mate?"

"He's my brother" said Nick with that trade mark smirk of his.

Clawhauser's gaze switched between Nick and Lunette several times before settling on the wolf.

"You're mated to a fox?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

Judy was about to jab Nick in his ribs but he was already wincing at his mistake before she could touch him so Judy let it go with just a worried frown. While he didn't think it was a problem here in the precinct, Nick was very aware about how Zootopia could react to interspecies relationships.

"He's not my blood brother Benjy" said Nick smoothly trying to redirect the conversation.

Lunette looked at him warmly but sadly, of course she could see what Nick was trying to do, it was nice to see him being considerate but this was something she knew she had to face at some point.

"He's a panther" said Lunette as Clawhauser was nodding at Nick's words.

Clawhauser paused and turned all his attention onto Lunette but didn't say anything for a while.

"Do you have something against that Benjy?" asked Judy in a small voice, the cheetah was normally so friendly and welcoming that she hoped he was fine with it.

Clawhauser jumped slightly and looked down at Judy, after a second that familiar twinkle appeared in his eyes as he leant on the desk.

"Why Officer Hopps when have I ever given you the impression I was against interspecies relationships?" grinned Clawhauser, he made sure he had locked eyes with Judy before his gaze flickered briefly to Nick, just enough that she'd notice, before he turned back to Lunette "I was just surprised because you're a feline and a canine, that's a rare mix even for interspecies couples"

"Well you know what they say" chipped in Nick, happy he hadn't brought up an awkward conversation in the end "opposites attract"

Judy was about to say something as well when she saw the time on the large clock on one of the walls and her eyes widened in shock.

"We need to move!" she shouted "Briefing's in a minute and a half!"

Nick and Lunette's heads snapped round to look at the bunny before each other. All three of them started running for the Bullpen as fast as they could, there wasn't even time to say bye to Clawhauser but the cheetah watched them rush off quite happily.

Asra opened his eyes and stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. The room was dark, the only light came from a tiny gap below the door, but Asra could see perfectly fine with just that much illumination. He always had good night vision but it was never this good before… is what Asra would probably be thinking if he wasn't panicking.

His dreams had been running rampant again, living like a savage animal, so Asra was very on edge when he awoke. Hunting was part of it but, perhaps thanks to the events yesterday, it only happened once. The majority of his dreams were very vague, there were other animals but he could never make them out, but there was warmth and safety.

"Good morning Asra" came a voice from one side.

Before Asra even turned his head to look he could detect a familiar scent that calmed him down. Unsurprisingly Noct was sat on a chair beside the bed, his green eyes flashing in the darkness.

"Good morning Mr… Dad" said Asra quietly as he sat up in the bed.

"Here" said Noct smiling slightly as he held something out.

Asra recognised the same sort of capsule Noct had given him back in the hospital. He reached out to take it, snapped it like he remembered Noct did, and swallowed it down. Noct then passed a glass of water over to wash it down.

"Where am I?" asked Asra once he had finished drinking and put the glass down on the bedside table again.

"Home" said Noct gently as he reached over and turned on the lamp that sat on the bedside table "this is your room now"

Asra's eyes widened as he looked around the bedroom in more detail this time. It was fairly bland, a white colour scheme for the walls, with only the bare essentials like a bed, a wardrobe etc. There was, however, lots of space to work with, Noct was planning to do some shopping at some point to make the place homelier. Asra would have been even more excited if he knew Noct's plans but just the room as it was right now was more than anything he'd had before.

"Come on, you should stretch your legs for a bit" said Noct standing up "I'm afraid you'll be sleeping for large parts of the day for several days to come till you're fully healed so you need to at least stretch your body while you are awake"

Asra felt full of energy right at that moment but he trusted Noct's words. He thought back to yesterday, he was fine up till they had dinner and then suddenly Asra had crashed and fallen asleep. The jackal jumped out of bed and followed Noct out into the main room.

"This is your apartment now" said Noct gesturing around "the bathroom is over there, there is a TV but personally I'd go upstairs and use the ridiculous one I have" Noct grinned "there is a fully functioning kitchenette but I'm going to say that you aren't allowed to use it for now. If you want to learn to cook I'll certainly teach you but you aren't allowed to do anything on your own till I'm satisfied with your progress. Besides, you'll be upstairs with me and Lunette most of the time"

Asra nodded along with Noct's words while his eyes flicked everywhere he could see. He'd never had a home before, he'd lived on the streets for as long as he could remember, him and a few other kids banded together occasionally but they never had a place of their own. Asra could feel his eyes welling up but the moment he actually started to cry Noct knelt down and pulled the little jackal into a hug.

"I know Asra" said Noct "I know what it's like to not have family and I know what it's like to not have a home. So you just need to relax, none of this is going away, you can take all the time in the world"

Asra broke down into wracking sobs as he held onto Noct, not because of the apartment now but because there was someone there for him. He wasn't alone anymore, there were some things his friends on the streets could never fill in for, and yet now mammals understood him, knew what he had gone through.

Noct gently patted Asra on his head with a free paw while he waited for the pup to get everything out of his system.

It's a good thing we found him when we did thought Noct not even taking the whole savage drug situation into account, if he was left on the streets for a few more years Asra would end up as broken as me or Nick

It took a good few minutes before Asra began to calm down and several more before he let go of Noct's shirt. The panther gave him one last pat on the head and stood up, Noct raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his clothing, there were large holes torn in his shirt where Asra had been holding it.

"Well, I kind of expected that" chuckled Noct to reassure Asra who looked rather nervous "you aren't used to your body yet, part of me teaching you will be about control, both physically and emotionally. For now, just remember that you are stronger than you think, now how about we finish seeing the rest of the house?"

Asra wiped his nose and sniffled once but smiled and nodded. Noct walked over to one of the walls and waved Asra over to his side.

"You see that plug socket" said Noct pointing at the skirting board, Asra nodded "then go straight up from there" his finger rose up "until you see that diamond shape among the patterns on the wall. Go and wave a paw over it"

Asra was a little unsure but still stepped forwards. The diamond shape was pretty high up but it was just at the limit that the jackal could reach on tip toes. The first two swipes weren't quite high enough, Asra gave a little bounce on his feet and when he waved for the third time there was a quiet hiss and the wall next to him slid apart.

"That's what you did to open doors" Asra said looking up at Noct in awe.

Noct held up his right paw and pointed to his wrist with his left "there is a computer chip embedded in my wrist which allows me to access various things around the house. Since you are going to need to go between here and the penthouse I gave you a pair as well"

Asra looked down at his own paws like he was seeing them for the first time.

"They are very small, you won't be able to find them" smiled Noct "you never noticed anything different till I told you"

"Do they only open doors?" asked Asra curiously.

"They aren't some tiny, complete computer but they do have a few functions" said Noct as he stepped through the now open door "other than getting around the house only one of those is relevant to you. Once I show you how, you can use it to find where I am at any time, and I can see where you are as well" he looked down at Asra walking next to him "no more getting kidnapped for you" Asra nodded vigorously at that "there's only one thing, other than Nick, Judy and Lunette, you can't show anyone else how the tracking works okay?"

"Okay" said Asra firmly.

"Good boy" said Noct as he opened one of the doors in the corridor, this one was for the gym and training room "once you are fully recovered we'll be helping you get used to your new body and abilities in here" he gave Asra a few moments to look through the door with interest before he moved on again "And here is where we will be dealing with your instincts" this was the meditation room, Asra was very interested with the fountains but Noct hurried them on again, he was unsure how long Asra's energy levels would last for.

Again, there was a screen attached to the wall which Noct let Asra access and the roof opened up to let them back into the penthouse. All these hidden doors would close on a timer, providing nothing was blocking them, but using the microchips again would close them manually. Noct left Asra happily waving his paws over the ends of the bannisters, making the floor open and close, while Noct went to change the shirt he was wearing.

Asra was rather smitten with his new 'magical' ability to open doors and Noct watched from the side for a little while after he returned, letting the boy enjoy himself. But he had to step in eventually, Noct was paying close attention to Asra's condition and he figured that there was enough time to take the long way back.

They left the penthouse and took the elevator back down to the lobby, Asra was in much better condition than the first time he took this lift and he found that he could feel all the little shakes and judders as they descended.

It was midmorning so the lobby was fairly quiet, mammals who worked in the offices on the lower floors should all be at work by now, and it wasn't time for the next turnover of hotel residents on the higher floors.

A giant anteater in suit and tie, a burst of colour was added to the outfit with a vibrant blue-ish purple flower Noct would recognise as Beardtongue, was stood talking to some of the receptionists. He, along with the other reception staff, turned to look towards the private elevator as it opened.

Asra hid behind Noct when he noticed all the attention on them as they walked out into the lobby, unfortunately this only seemed to draw more interested gazes to him. The anteater stepped forwards to greet them.

"Good Morning Mr Clement" said the anteater with as much of a smile as his long snout could manage "you seem to have gained several companions recently"

"And good morning to you Manager Hargreaves" chuckled Noct "indeed, I have reconnected with family I was not expecting. And let me introduce you to my adopted son, Asra"

Manager Hargreaves raised an eyebrow before looking down at Asra who was peeking round Noct's side.

"Good Morning to you too Asra" he greeted politely.

Asra quickly hid behind Noct again, there were too many strangers around for him to feel comfortable right now, but a quiet 'Good Morning' could be heard.

"How is the Tower running?" asked Noct, as the majority owner he had a vested interest in this.

"Smoothly Sir" replied Hargreaves straightening up again "the vacancy in the office block on the fifth floor was filled by a graphical design company who finished moving in two days ago. The hotel is as popular as ever and profits are at the high end of the projections for this quarter"

After a few more minutes of conversation Noct excused himself and led Asra down a side corridor towards the main elevators of the Tower. Once they were gone the various receptionists began to talk amongst themselves.

"Never expected that from such a nice mammal like Mr Clement"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how's he supposed to raise a jackal properly when he's a cat?"

"Not to mention that he's living with a wolf"

"So what? He's handsome, she's beautiful, and the boy's adorable. They're like the perfect family"

"Well I think it's quite scandalous, makes you wonder what the city is coming to"

"Ahem" Manager Hargreaves cleared his throat while he looked sideways at the receptionists who quickly grew quiet "regardless of one's personal opinions, I myself do not exactly approve of all this, it should not affect your professional conduct. I speak from experience that Mr Clement is the best mammal I have had the privilege of working under during my time. I would recommend that you do not jeopardise your positions here, you will not find better working conditions in this profession"

Down the corridor, standing beside an open lift, Noct smiled lightly. He had heard everything that had been said after he and Asra had left. Of course, he knew that there would be many who did not like his relationship with Lunette, Noct had paid careful attention to who had said what.

Hargreaves continues to surprise thought Noct I knew he was rather conservative but he really is the most professional mammal I've ever met, I'm lucky to have him

Asra was watching Noct a little confused, the elevator had arrived but they hadn't gone inside yet, Noct chuckled slightly at the pup's questioning look.

"You want the highest floor these lifts will go to" instructed Noct as they finally stepped inside, Asra happily pushed the right button, though he had to jump slightly to reach it.

This elevator was obviously not as impressive as the private one that connected to the penthouse, Asra could tell that they were going up quite a bit slower.

"If you just want to go through the penthouse and use the other lift, that's fine too" said Noct as if he read Asra's mind "but you should at least know how to get to your apartment normally"

Asra nodded slowly, he could feel himself getting a bit drowsy but didn't want to let it show. Not that he could hide it from Noct, the panther had been paying careful attention to Asra the entire time.

He should be just about okay to get back to the apartment thought Noct.

The trip in the lift took several minutes more than the express elevator to the penthouse and Asra was swaying slightly when it arrived. Luckily no one else stopped the lift they were in, otherwise Noct would have had to carry Asra the last little distance. As it was Asra tottered along the corridor as they headed for the last apartment on the right.

"And the last thing there is to do now" said Noct as he fished around in his pockets "is to give you these"

Noct held out a pair of keys to Asra. The boy perked up a little as he reached out to take them. Noct nodded him towards the door and Asra, after fumbling slightly, opened the door to his apartment with his own two hands.

Noct shot forwards the second he saw Asra stumble and swept the pup off his feet before he could fall. Asra blinked sleepily in Noct's arms, he was still awake enough to tell what was happening, he just didn't have any strength anymore. Noct took him back to the bedroom and tucked Asra in once more, this was pretty much how long he had expected the boy to last.

"Asra, make sure you don't lose those keys" teased Noct gently as he took them from Asra's paw and placed them safely on the bedside table "It'll probably be near dinner time when you wake up again"

Asra vaguely nodded as much as he could but almost immediately there was a soft snoring as the pup drifted off to sleep once more. Noct stayed where he was for a while just to make sure Asra was settled properly before he returned upstairs. The floor closed up behind him, hiding the bottom floor of the penthouse, as Noct made his way to the kitchen. He settled down to do the washing up from the night before, there was a dishwasher but there wasn't too much that needed cleaning so Noct didn't bother with it.

He had had just about finished up and was putting away the frying pan when his phone beeped once and then twice more in quick succession. Noct put down the cooking implement, flipped out his phone and quickly tapped one of the icons, a green-ish grey video appeared showing what appeared to be an empty alleyway. Noct waited patiently, that beep was a proximity alarm, and sure enough a fuzzy figure appeared in view.

They scurried across the alley and the camera turned to follow them, the alley was revealed to be a familiar courtyard, and the figure halted in front of the door to Broken Clockwork. Noct tilted his head slightly as he observed, there were many different types of mammals that visited and he could tell a lot about them from how they acted when they arrived.

This mammal in particular knocked once and then waited patiently. Noct saw them glance at the light above the door that was not lit at this moment. After several minutes, when there was no change in their behaviour, Noct smiled. He had a client to meet.

Adeline Rover was a racoon. Similar to foxes, racoons were not viewed in the best light by Zootopia, certainly prejudices were fading but racoons were still thought of as sneaky and untrustworthy. Adeline, however, was an interesting sight. Her fur was soft and silky, clearly well looked after, without a hint of dirt or grime. She wore a modest amount of makeup that highlighted the masklike markings on her face, many racoons were insecure about their natural 'robber's mask' but not Adeline, she wanted others to know she was a racoon. She was wearing a smart business suit and trousers, a small hand bag hooked over her shoulder, and she was perfectly at home in that outfit.

Adeline stood in front of the door with interlocking gears carved in frosted glass and waited. She stood tall and confidently, Adeline gave off an aura of power, like she had inner strength racoons were not known to have. However, this was understandable. The Rovers were an old family in Zootopia. They had fingers in many pies though their main focus was on the media, the Rovers could be found behind many of the major newspapers and television corporations. And Adeline was the current head of the Rover family; she was a mammal of influence on par with Mr. Big, though the Rovers kept away from crime, so a certain kind of persona was expected.

Racoons have excellent night vision so Adeline was not inconvenienced in the courtyard. Despite it being nearly noon now, sunlight never penetrated down to the courtyard hidden between the Twin Calypso. Adeline had been waiting there in the dark for around half an hour now however she showed no signs of impatience.

The Rover family had made full use of Broken Clockwork's services in the past. Though Adeline had not been the head of the family at the time, she was being groomed as the next successor and was thus involved. She knew full well how to deal with Broken Clockwork. While some mammals may have given up by now and concluded the rumours were false, Adeline continued to wait. Only those who dealt with Broken Clockwork for long enough knew that you were under observation from the moment you enter the courtyard, not just when you enter the office.

There was a faint whine and the little light above the door flickered on, the dim light barely illuminating the rest of the courtyard. Adeline took a deep breath, it would seem that the rumours had been true after all. Not that the Rovers had doubted them, Broken Clockwork was an existence known only to the upper echelon of Zootopia and no one who knew of them would dare to impersonate them.

Still, it had been ten years, as the new matriarch Adeline had felt it only proper to come in person. Along with this it would be her first time interacting with Broken Clockwork as a figure of authority rather than as an heir to her family. Not wanting to waste any time Adeline pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The office was exactly as it had always been described to her, a large bookcase filled with aged books covered the wall to her right, a large grandfather clock sat directly opposite the door as she entered. A large ornate desk sat in front of a line of filing cabinets along the back wall. The room was clean and organised, no sign of dust or neglect, it was like Broken Clockwork had never disappeared.

There was only one other mammal present, a panther in black suit and tie, wearing sunglasses despite the dimness of the room, was sat at the desk.

"Welcome to Broken Clockwork" said the panther quietly gesturing at the chair sat opposite him.

Adeline sat very gracefully, her legs crossed in front of her, her paws resting on the handbag placed in her lap, as she observed the mammal sat opposite her.

"My name is Adeline Rover" said the racoon as she introduced herself, she paid careful attention to the panther, trying to judge his reaction to her name, but she was disappointed by his unreadable expression "how should I address you?"

"Ah, so it is the head of the Rover family" said the panther quietly "an honour to have you here in our little establishment. You can simply call me Gear"

"Very well Mr Gear" smiled Adeline "if you don't mind me asking, what happened to the fox who used to work here? We've never heard anything about a panther being connected to Broken Clockwork"

"We were always a two-person business, madam" Mr Gear leant forwards on the desk "my colleague however has retired from our line of work during our absence. Rest assured though, Broken Clockwork will continue to function as normal, so the question is… what does my first client in ten years want from Broken Clockwork?"

Adeline was silent for a few minutes as she picked as much information out from what Mr Gear had said as possible. While she had people subtly blocking off the Twin Calypso so that no one else would bother her visit, Adeline had come without any immediate support or monitoring as a sign of good faith. This meant that she had to take in and remember every little thing about the newly returned Broken Clockwork so that the Rovers would not fall behind.

"Recently" began Adeline "we have been encountering issues with Mr. Big's mammals in-"

"Denied!" said Mr Gear curtly before his lips curled slightly "I know for a fact you are on good terms with Mr. Big, not that it matters, what is your actual request?"

"We always thought there was some kind of connection between you and Mr. Big, I mean he endorsed you but so did many others" chuckled Adeline slightly "I apologise for inquiring in such a manner"

"It's nothing major Mrs Rover, we have never particularly hidden who Broken Clockwork has good relationships with, Mr. Big has been of great assistance to us over the years. So, what might the Rover family actually wish to request?"

Sure enough, providing that you were polite and did not cross any metaphorical lines in the sand, Broken Clockwork was perfectly civilised to interact with.

"Times have changed Mr Gear, some old players have left, families and organisations declined. And of course, new mammals rose to take their places on the high stage. Many of the new blood appeared after Broken Clockwork disappeared, they have either heard vague rumours of you or know nothing at all. I will not lie, there is certain friction between the established groups and the recently uplifted"

Mr Gear retreated deep into his padded chair and steepled his fingers in contemplation. This was not unexpected, the city had grown and changed for ten years without Broken Clockwork, anyone privy to the right knowledge could predict it would happen. Adeline reached into her handbag and pulled out a brown envelope that she placed on the desk. A sudden movement beside the panther made Adeline stiffen for a moment. Mr Gear's tail sinuously rose into view and scooped the envelope off the desk and into his hands. A flick of a claw easily sliced the envelope open and the panther began to browse the papers it held.

"Randal Wombach" stated Adeline as she saw Mr Gear pull a photograph of a rather plump looking wombat out of the envelope "a business-mammal who owns various nightclubs and bars across the city. A trivial character at our level, something he greatly dislikes, he still needs to pay 'tribute' to Mr. Big among others if his clubs are on their territory. New on the scene, intimidated by the power groups like my family wield, these new mammals often resort to acts that our older faction disapprove of"

"I see" said Mr Gear, the wrinkles on his forehead showed that he was frowning behind his sunglasses "Mr Wombach uses his clubs to distribute drugs, organise prostitution…" the panther raised an eyebrow "occasional mammal trafficking? How does that manage to fly? I know for a fact that the Chief of Police keeps his forces in an iron grip, he won't stand for any corruption in his officers"

"Since the clubs themselves are running the crimes, rather than hosting them unknowingly, it is far easier for them to hide everything from prying eyes. As for the trafficking… as you said it is only on occasion. And when they do they always target species that people won't care about too much" Adeline's eyes hardened "mainly racoons… or foxes"

Mr Gear gave a toothy grin as he pulled out the photograph of Randal once more. Despite the seemingly amiable expression on his face Adeline felt rather unnerved.

"And you dislike your species being targeted?" asked Mr Gear snorting slightly "is such a chivalrous reason why you are here?"

"Of course not, Mr Gear" said Adeline with a very neutral expression "it is certainly a bonus that the trafficking will stop but you should know that none of the players on the high stage would be moved by something as naïve as pity"

"Family comes first" said Mr Gear slowly, almost to himself "so what has Mr Wombach done to earn the ire of the Rover family?"

"Since he started his more distasteful activities Randal Wombach's worth and power has indeed risen. This increase in rank and reputation, while minor, seems to have gone to his head. A problem that afflicts many of the new blood, they are getting ideas above their station, Mr Wombach in particular" Adeline sneered in disgust "despite joining the upper echelons of Zootopia, the new blood are young and inexperienced, they have not been around long enough to learn all the secrets and ins and outs you need to survive at the top. Many of them do not even know who else holds power in the city"

"Ah" nodded Mr Gear as a light of understanding appeared in his eyes "Mr Wombach is trying to expand"

"Indeed, the problem is that he has no idea that the areas he is trying to get a stake in already belong to others" Adeline sighed in exasperation "We are not the only ones who are not happy with Mr Wombach at the moment, in my case he has set his eyes on one of our smaller newspapers"

"Hmm, he has some sense" the panther flicked through the paperwork he had till it mentioned the newspaper "the Daily Herd is small enough that he could get some sort of grip on it… if it wasn't already backed by your family. Having control over the media in some form would give him another layer of protection. So, what is it that you wish?"

"From what we have gathered about Randal Wombach he is a very particular mammal, likes things to go to plan and run on schedule, he likes schedules a lot. He has been seen writing in and referring to various notebooks while we observed him"

"So it is very likely that he has incriminating evidence written down somewhere" concluded Mr Gear.

"Yes, we would like Broken Clockwork to find anything linking him to his illegal activities"

Mr Gear was silent for several minutes, Adeline waited patiently, she had a good feeling about this meeting so far.

"Very well, Broken Clockwork will take this job on" spoke the panther "I'll be in touch once the evidence has been acquired"

"Oh that's not necessary" said Adeline with a little grin "I want you to deliver everything you find straight to the desk of the Chief of Police, I'm sure we'll notice when you are successful"

"Mr Wombach would appear to have stepped on the tiger's tail, so to say" said Mr Gear raising an eyebrow, his opinion of the head of the Rover family rose several notches "Delivering the evidence to the police will cause a lot of ripples" the panther grinned that unnerving grin again "it would seem that my first mission in ten years will be an entertaining one"

After reaching an agreement the two mammals spent ten minutes or so discussing the price. Adeline was surprised at how cheap Mr Gear quoted his services. He simply pointed out that now there was only him at Broken Clockwork and that he would feel awkward charging the same fees. Even so Adeline did not want to compromise, regardless of making a good relationship with the newly returned Broken Clockwork, just their past accolades warranted suitable payment. In the end they settled on 80,000 Zootopian Dollars, roughly two thirds what Broken Clockwork used to charge on average.

"Oh yes, Mr Gear" said Adeline as she stood up to leave now her business was over "Mr. Big is organising a get together sometime soon. Given your good relationship with him, you wouldn't happen to be attending, would you?"

"Why Adeline, you wouldn't be asking me on a date would you?" smirked Mr Gear "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint, I already have a mate"

"Why Mr Gear, I will have you know that I am a married woman"

There was silence for a few moments before the two of them burst into easy laughter.

"I will be attending" said Mr Gear with a smile "I look forwards to seeing you there, it has been a pleasure working with you"

"Likewise on both accounts Mr Gear, you'll have to introduce me to your mate at the party, and I am eagerly awaiting news of your success"

Walking with immense confidence Adeline exited the office, the door clicking gently shut behind her and leaving Mr Gear, Noct, alone in the office. Noct picked up the paperwork once again; he reread everything provided three times more, he didn't need to since he had already committed all the details to memory but it was a habit to make sure he never slipped up.

The job seemed fairly straightforward, Randal Wombach actually lived above his main nightclub in Downtown. As a club it would be busy at night but that had never stopped Broken Clockwork before, if anything it gave Noct more to work with. He drummed his fingers on the desk a few times, the information provided by the Rovers was good, the only problem was that there wasn't enough to properly put together a plan.

Noct reached into his jacket pocket and took out his phone. He stared at it for a long while before deciding what to do first. First he sent a message to Lunette saying 'I love you', most of their messages since they exchanged numbers again were like that, before bringing up his contacts.

The ringing of the phone cut through the offbeat ticking of the grandfather clock. When it finally picked up there was a blurry "Hwa?" from the other end.

"It's gone midday Bakari" said Noct with a grin "you really need to wake up"

"What's Aaww- what's the matter Noct" yawned Bakari on the other end of the call.

"I have a job for you, that's what"