Chapter 24: Aggressive Choices

October 3rd, 2016, minutes after the shootout incident at the Cliffside Asylum

He swam higher and higher up, until he would be able to breath once more after jumping from such a high height of a waterfall. When Clawhauser was above the surface, he caught his breath before looking around to see if Judy was anywhere to be seen.

"JUDY, JUDY!" He yelled out loud. "JUDY, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Just then, he heard something resurface from the water behind him.

"Clawhauser!" Judy called out. "Come on, let's head towards the land that way!" She yelled while pointing to the nearest land.

The two then started to swim over to the land where as soon as they got there, both of them laid flat on their backs on the sand while trying to catch their breaths.

"Remind me….. to never….. do that again…." Clawhauser said, as he was still panting.

"Same….." Judy said panting as well. "I think…. Two times is my limit…."

After another five minutes of hyperventilating on the ground, both of them slowly started to get up once they heard the sirens from high up approaching them.

"We need to get out of here before the police do Judy." Clawhauser advised. "Do you still have my collar?"

"Yea, right here." Judy said, as she took one of the collars inside the plastic bag to make sure it would get wet when they dove into the water.

"Okay good, now let's stay on the side of the water so we don't leave any footprints and-" Clawhauser said before pausing himself as he saw what Judy was still carrying. "Hold on, you still have that case Drew and his guys gave you?"

"Well of course, we couldn't have just left it there to make it even more evidence than there is right now inside that building." Judy said pointing upwards.

Clawhauser sighed. "Yea you're probably right, come on which way would you say is the fastest way out of here?"

"Well the last time I did this, me and Nick discovered some rusty stairs just down this road so if we aren't spotted, we could get out of here before they do spot us."

"Nice, let's go then."

As they were running towards it, Judy couldn't help but think about what she was carrying in her paws right now, as it was probably the most amount of money she would be seeing in her lifetime. Once they found the stairs, they sped up as fast as they could before the ZPD would be able to discover it. When they were all the way up, they zipped up their hoodies to make no one nearby would be able to see them in the dark. When they were far away enough from the Asylum and all the other cop cars, they knew they could start walking again instead of sprinting.

"Wait, just stop for a second Judy…." Clawhauser said, still continuing to pant from the running.

"What is it?" Judy asked.

"Where are we supposed to go now?"

"Well Z must have heard about what happened here by now on the news, so we may as well go back to the warehouse so he knows that at least we made it out along with the money."

"Well, I guess that's a start."

As they were continuing to walk back, Clawhauser noticed Judy opening the case and going through it which caught his attention.

"Uh Judy, what are you doing?" Clawhauser asked.

Judy looked up almost instantly after realizing Clawhauser was looking at her going through the case. "Uh…. Well I was just making sure all the money was in here since I wanted to be sure we had it all for Z to deliver." She explained.

Clawhauser wasn't fully confident in what she was telling him seeing as how she hesitated, but he decided to shrug it off. However, once Clawhauser turned around again continuing to walk, Judy slid some of the money she took from the case into her back pocket and closed up the case good enough to make sure no one would notice that anything would have been stolen.

"This is probably one of the only opportunities I'll ever get for this, I can't just throw all of it away to that mammal." Judy thought. "If Z somehow comes back from this incident after probably such a hit to his business, this may be useful if push really does come to shove."

March 15th, 2017, three weeks after their first successful weapons trade

"Yo bro, have you been hearing all these crazy rumors on the street lately?" A mammal asked another mammal, as they were sipping on some beer outside a bar.

"I hear a lot of stuff mammal (man), you might need to be a little more specific than that."

"Okay, well do you know about all those crazy missing mammal cases, and all those shooting occasions happening all around the city lately?"

"What about em? I hear whoever the mammals were that manufactured those types of weapons are probably off the grid by now since they couldn't handle all the heat. Not just that, it sounds to me like a lot of their own crew was getting killed in the process."

"Well word is on the street that they're back in business again."

The mammal's eyes widened. "You're not kidding, are ya?"

"Well, at least that's what I've heard. Now don't quote me on this, but I hear at least seven trades have already been done in secret to my knowledge in just the past three weeks or so."

"God damn, sure sounds like a good handful for just a few weeks don't you think?"

"Yea, and hearing it from multiple sources makes it highly unlikely now that this is just another phony rumor."

"Do the ZPD know anything about these rumors?"

"No, not to my knowledge at least. But nobody's going to tell the ZPD squat even if anyone does hear rumors. You know why?" He asked, as the other mammal shrugged. "Because their afraid. They've all heard about those mammals that have gone missing and their connections to it. They probably wouldn't want to end up on the billboard at the ZPD's missing mammals section if you ask me."

"Hey, wouldn't that include us as well then now?"

The other mammal laughed. "I guess it would, wouldn't it? But hey, I've also been hearing another rumor around the streets regarding the trades from a few of the sources I got it from."

"What is it?"

"Apparently at least two or three sources I've heard from recall seeing the dealers that gave them the guns masked well up all the way to their faces, you can't even tell what kind of species they are. And get this, they gave this group a name."

"A name? And what would this name be?"

"The mysterious five."

"The mysterious five? The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Now they may not be showing their faces, but the funny part about them is that they all have an art picture put on the hoodie right where their faces are."

"Get out, are you actually being serious right now?"

"I am actually serious dude. They say they got one with a microphone, one with a carrot, one with a pawpsicle, one with a pizza slice, and one with a headset drawing on their hoodies."

"These guys sound more like comedy acts than weapon dealers to me bro. I mean what kind of mammals would possibly even think about going to those deals with that on?"

Finnick, Danny, Judy, Nick, and Clawhauser decided to try and get a quick bite somewhere after they were finished with the deal they just did, so they found a nearby sandwich place named Furway and took off the supplies they used before they went in.

"This was our third one now wasn't it?" Clawhauser asked, as the five were sitting around the table eating their sandwiches.

"Well technically fifth if you alsho count the ones on Claw Shtreet and the Cliffshide Ashylum." Judy said with food in her mouth.

"Those ones weren't quite what I would call a successful trade though Judy."Clawhauser said disagreeing.

"Well, they still count regardless Clawhauser." Nick said.

Clawhauser sighed and decided to continue eating his sandwiches.

"So, did Z ever mention to anyone about when we would be finished with this work he's got us doing?" Danny asked. "Like, maybe in one of their interviews with him or something?"

"Which reminds me by the way, does anyone else want to come forward with their little secret of some sort yet?" Clawhauser asked, as the others stayed silent. "No takers huh, of course."

Danny tried to rub off what Clawhauser just brought up. "A-as I was saying, did anyone ever get a single clue of information from Z when they were chatting with him that night?"

"Well everything he and I asked about each other had nothing to do the shall I say, 'business' so who knows, maybe he doesn't even have a specific time yet."

"I know, how about we go ask him, instead of sitting around here like idiots eating sandwiches and wondering about it?"

Danny chuckled. "You make it sound like it's so easy."

"Well it is." Finnick stammered. "Come on guys, do you think Z would know better by now than to shoot a mammal in the head for asking a question like that to him? Besides, I would call him if I wanted to, but when I tried to with that number one, one, three, two, three which is his business number, no one was picking up."

Nick shrugged. "He probably would if you ask me."

"Oh really, care to explain why then?"

"Well he shot my mother for no apparent reason, so there's that." Nick replied, as he was sipping on his drink.

"Well what did you expect was going to happen then Nick?" Finnick asked. "I mean we lied to him about something that seemed to be a pretty big deal to him."

"Finnick, are you actually trying to justify a mammal that intentionally shot my mom in the head right before my very eyes?"

"Hey, don't talk like you're the only one who's lost someone here Nick." Finnick snapped back. "My mother died as well along the way."

"Yea, well you see mammals die of sickness, but you don't usually see very many mammals get shot in the head lately do ya?"

"Are you seriously looking to pick a fight here right now Nick?" Finnick asked starting to get aggravated.

"Typical, you guys are fussing over like kits again on something you're seeming to make a big deal out of." Danny said. "But Finnick does have a point though Nick, I don't see the harm in asking him about something like that if it means no harm to him. I would like to know when my mother can come out as well."

"What, you're taking Finnick's side on this now?" Nick said becoming frustrated.

"I'm not taking any sides here Nick, but I'm just thinking about the most logical move we got here right now."

"Logical." Nick said mumbling. "Judy, Clawhauser, what do you guys think?"

Judy and Clawhauser paused for a moment to think about it. "Well Nick, I would want to know as well about when we're finished with this." Clawhauser said. "I mean, my sister is still locked inside a cage somewhere, and I just want to know how much more I need to do in order to ensure her safety."

Nick was shaking his head, as he couldn't believe everyone was going against him on this. He turned his head towards Judy, hoping she would agree with him. "Judy?" He asked silently.

Judy stretched her ears back after being pressured to take a side in this. She knew one side was logical, but another side was emotional. She then finally stood up, but oddly started to pack up her things which caught the other four's attention.

"Judy, what are you doing?" Finnick asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing, I'm finished with my sandwich aren't I?" Judy asked.

Finnick looked at her in disbelief. "But we're still waiting for you to respond here, you can't just walk away and think that we can assume an answer-"

"I'm choosing not to answer it Finnick." Judy said, interrupting Finnick. "Guys what is this anyways? We have to choose a side now apparently? There are no sides between us, there can't be. I don't want to see us separate into opinions like the way we are right now. We all decide on one thing and that's that, not….. this." She said as the other four still couldn't think of anything to say. "Now you four can debate all you want but I'm not going to be a part of it, sorry." She said as she was walking out the door.

Finnick then glared over to Nick. "Way to go genius, you just had to be so braggy about things that you make that happen."

"You started it." Nick argued back. "But Judy's right, we can't have sides between us otherwise it'll never work out between us five."

"Nick, it's just a simple question to Z, you don't even have to look at that guys face if you don't want to, just let us do the talking." Danny said.

Nick still wouldn't respond.

Finnick sighed. "Forget it guys, we can just go now and tell him about it we're finished."

As Finnick got up and started to pack his things, Danny and Clawhauser followed along with him since they knew perfectly well where they were moving on too. Nick on the other hand, stay seated since tricks we're still being played on his mind with whether he should go or not. As Finnick was prepared to go, he stepped in front of Nick one more time.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Finnick asked, but with no answer. He nodded slightly to himself. "Very well then."

When Finnick, Danny, and Clawhauser packed up all their things, they started walking to the door. But just as they were about to exit, Nick called out to them.

"Wait!" The three turned themselves around to face Nick again. Nick laid his paw on his head, seeming to be very resistant as to what was trying to come out of his mouth. "…. I'll meet you three in the car."

Finnick smiled. "I knew he would change his mind." He thought, as he continued walking out the door.

They knew around this time, Z would either be in two places since by now they understood he was sort of a batmammal kind of deal. By day he was a normal mammal walking the streets of Zootopia, but by night he's a crime boss that continues with menacing plans of whatever deals he has to make with his weapons organization.

The first place would be at Jerry's cheesecake store where a few months back, they were lead down to a secret bunker underneath the shop to be used as a storage area in case if they needed to keep their weapons somewhere for safe keeping. The other place would be the bunker under the warehouse in the rainforest district, where they mostly went if ever having to prepare for a deal or trade they were required to do.

They stopped by the cheesecake store first since it was close to the Furway to see if he was there, but they were informed by the owner Jerry that he wasn't there. However, he did say he would usually be doing some work at the warehouse in the rainforest district around this time, so they decided to drive over to see if he was there.

When they got to the warehouse, they could already see a few cars parked outside of it, making the four certain that at least someone was inside here. As they were walking down through the trapdoor, they could already hear voices coming from the other side of the door. Finnick approached the door first and knocked on it.

"Who is it?" A mammal asked on the other side of the door.

"This is Finnick, along with Nick, Danny and Clawhauser, we just came here to ask Z something."

There was silence for a moment before the mammal on the other side responded. "Why didn't you just use our number instead of coming all the way here?"

"Nobody was answering, so we just decided to talk to him in-mammal." Finnick answered.

There was still no response for a few moments. "What's taking so long?" Danny whispered.

"They're probably just trying to look over what Finnick just said and see if it's true or not." Nick replied.

"Alright, give us a second." The Mammal on the other side said, as they heard the door in front of them unlock and open. "Follow me to Z's office, but this better be quick, because he's in the middle of a few arrangements right now."

"It depends on what way you want to look at it." Clawhauser said.

"And we apologize for the inconvenience of having you come here to ask your question." The mammal said. "Z's assistant Britney would usually be the one to answer or receive the calls, but she was taking work off today since it was her little boy's birthday. Nobody must have heard the phone ringing when you called."

They then began walking inside the room. Not too many of the mammals in the room gave the four a good look as they were glaring at them, as they still believed they were the ones at fault for losing some of their colleagues. The four thought it would best if they didn't make any eye contact while they were walking to Z's office.

When they made it to Z's office, the leopard knocked on the door with the four mammals hoping he would answer.

"Who is it?" Z said inside his office.

"It's some of those mammals you got working for you to do some of those deals, they got to wear those goofy looking hoodies on them with the art pictures on their face?"

"Oh, those guys." Z said after figuring it out. "Alright, send them in, but they better be quick."

"Yes sir." The leopard said obeying Z's orders while opening the door for the four. "I'll be outside, but just make sure whatever you're asking him is quick." He said to the four, as they were walking inside.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here visiting me." Z said grinning. "The irony in this is that usually this would be the other way around, but the fact that it isn't like this makes it very peculiar…. Care to explain what this is all about?"

"Well Z let me just get to the point here." Finnick said. "You see, we've done about five or so deals for you now, and maybe a couple of them didn't end the way you wanted it to, but all in all you got what you wanted in the end, am I right?"

"In a manner of speaking." Z replied.

"Well you see, it's only been about three weeks now and you've already had us do three separate weapon trades through that time." Finnick stated. "But the problem we're is that we haven't been seeing an end of the tunnel here."

Z was a little puzzled. "What?"

Finnick rolled his eyes, annoyed Z didn't get the metaphor. "What I'm saying is that you haven't really given us a clear time on when we're finished and done with you."

"Oh, that." Z said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Well so, can you tell us when we can end this work with you or what?" Clawhauser asked.

Z started scratching the back of his head, know they may not like the answer. "Well to tell you the truth boys, that sort of thought hasn't really been something that I've been thinking about lately."

"What, what do you mean it isn't something you've been thinking about?" Danny asked.

"Well first of all, I've got an entire business to run here so silly thoughts such as that never tend to bounce around my head when I'm working." Z replied. "Second, you five have been doing a pretty good job of it so far in the past few weeks that I don't see why I had to be thinking about that at all."

"This is not something we're making a career out of Z, this is something you're making us do." Nick said deeply. "What, you think this is something we want to be doing? That this is something big as in, going out of the law kind of big we would want to have to work for?"

Z shrugged. "I suppose not. But the way this business has been beginning to expand once more, if you really want to know how much longer you may be doing these jobs for, I'd say about a year, maybe more."

"A YEAR?!" All four of them shouted at once.

"Are you insane, we can't do a job like this for an entire year!" Clawhauser shouted.

"Well like I said, you all have been doing a pretty fine job of it in the past few weeks so I don't see what the big deal is." Z said, trying to reason with them.

"Look, what Clawhauser is trying to say is that we don't think it's fair with you having us continue this sort of work for so long." Nick said. "You seriously think any of us would want to stick around after all the stuff you've put us through?"

"Eh, maybe not but…. But that's not the point." Z said hesitating a bit. "It's just, with all the new business coming in, it's not just you five that will need to be doing the deals. This all takes time, and mammals to make those deals. And if I'm unable to have all those, then we won't be able to have enough money to keep this business from going anywhere than it is right now."

"Well, what's wrong with right now?" Danny asked.

"Nothing is wrong with right now, actually." Z replied, as the others weren't understanding him. "But the thing about me regarding business is that enough, is never enough."

"This is preposterous." Clawhauser said. "You can't simply expect us to accept this stupidity you're talking here! WE WANT TO DO THIS, AND WE WANT TO BE OVER WITH IT, THAT'S IT."

"Yes, well your definition of being over with it and that's it, is a little bit different when it comes to my standards Mr. Clawhauser." Z claimed. "Business is business, and sometimes you got to make tough choices such as your case. If you don't like it then we could always do what we did to Nick's mother again to your relatives, well, whoever's left at least if that's what it takes."

"BAM."

Nick hit his paw hard onto the desk, as he stood up filled with rage after what Z just said. Z thought he may have taken what he said a little too far. He put his hoof up in front of Nick as a sign of peace.

"Calm down Mr. Wilde." Z said calmly. "Now as I was saying, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but this is how it's going to work with you five if you ever want to be let off the leash from us."

"What about our relatives?" Danny asked.

"What about them?" Z asked back.

"Well, aren't they going to as you say, be let off the leash as well?"

Z laughed. "Probably not."

The four couldn't believe what they just heard.

"Excuse me?" Clawhauser questioned.

"I'm sorry, but that's all the time I've got for you four today since I got to get back to work." Z informed.

"Wait just hold on a sec-"

"Do I have to ask you four again?" Z asked, interrupting Finnick. Z then called out to the leopard outside. "Richard, get them out of here!"

"No, nonononono hold on, what do you mean by probably not Z?" Danny asked.

Richard started coming into the room, along with a few other mammals to help him.

"What does that mean though Z?" Danny asked once more as he was being pulled away. "WHAT DOES IT MEAN Z?!"

The four were then dragged out of the room by Z's mammals and were forced to continue making their way back outside. When they were brought back outside, some of Z's mammals already had their guns drawn on them.

"Now if you five even think about opening that trapdoor again for the remainder of this night, I'm pretty sure you know what's going to happen next." Richard threatened, as him and the rest of Z's mammals started walking back through the trapdoor without Finnick, Nick, Danny, and Clawhauser.

"Well this was such a big help wasn't it?" Nick said sarcastically.

"W-what the hell did he mean when he said probably not when we asked if the rest of our relatives were going to be let go as well?" Danny said panicking. "WHAT THE HELL DID HE MEAN?!"

"Danny, Danny, calm down!" Clawhauser shouted in front of Danny, trying to keep him cool.

"They've had my mother stuck in whatever cell they put her in for four frickin months now!" Danny howled. "FOUR MONTHS! I can't have her go through this anymore because of me, I can't…. I can't, I can't, I can't, can't, can'tcan'tcan'tcan't CAN'T!"

"Danny, pull yourself together already, you're losing it!" Finnick shouted.

"I swear to god I don't ever see her again because of that psychotic zebra, I'LL RIP HIS TAIL OFF AND SHOVE IT RIGHT DOWN HIS-!"

"SLAP!"

Danny was slapped by Nick, who couldn't handle anymore shouting coming from him. "Get a grip Danny." Nick told him.

Danny stood there for a few seconds completely speechless. He then fell to his knees, curled up into a ball and burst into tears, whimpering on the ground. The others watched, saddened by the sight at what Z caused him to do.

Clawhauser turned his head towards Finnick and Nick. "Finnick, Nick, you guys get going, I'll get Danny back to his place and see if I can try to cheer him up."

Finnick and Nick were surprised to hear that coming from Clawhauser. "Are you sure Clawhauser?" Nick asked. "I mean we could always just come to assist since there's also the van we needed to take to here and-"

"We'll be fine, just go home and try to get some rest.

Finnick shrugged. "Whatever you say then."

"Wha- Finnick!" Nick whispered. "We can't just leave them like this, they're our friends."

"Yes, and one of our friends just offered to help them without needing any assistance." Finnick said. "So it seems to me there really isn't anything to worry about, especially when that friend offering to help is Clawhauser.

Nick thought about it. "Well, you do make a good point with the friend being Clawhauser, I'll give you that." Nick said while exhaling deeply, thinking about siding with Finnick for once on this. "Alright fine, let's just get to the van."

Finnick and Nick slowly walked back to the van as they heard the whimpering howls of Danny weaken, as they continued walking. When they reached the van, both Nick and Finnick hopped into it and started driving back onto the street, before seeing a glimpse of Clawhauser trying to comfort Danny while still trying to get him to stand back up. Nick never liked to see someone like that in pain, especially when that someone was his friend. He tried to get it off his mind, as he turned his head around to the front of the van again while they were driving back to the city to go home.

Later that night.

The Tundratown bars were where most of the polar bears would go to get a drink. It was also the main place where most of Mr. Big's Henchmammals would go for one too. Kevin, who was one of Mr. Big's mammals was indeed also having a drink with a few of his friends.

"Want to go for another round there Kevin?" A polar bear friend of Kevin asked.

"Nah I'm good, I think I've had a little one too many as it is boys." Kevin replied. Just then, his phone started to ring. "Oh hold up you guys, I got to take this."

Kevin went out the back of the bar so he could be sure no one was disturbing his privacy with the call. "Che cos'è?" He said in italian. "Non ti ho detto prima, signore, quel lavoro è già stato affrontato. Va bene, va bene bene, tornerò domani mattina per chiedergli dove i soldi che deve a noi è. si, lo prometto-!"

Just then, he heard the sound of a click coming from behind his back. He turned around curious to know what that sound was, but knew instantly he was too slow to react.

"BANG!"

He was shot in the leg, causing him to drop to the ground.

"OOOWWWWW!" He cried.

The mammal with the gun slowly walked towards him and fired more shots at him.

"BANG, BANG!"

The mammal shot him straight through the very end of the right side of his waist, as well as his left shoulder.

"COSA DIAVOLO VUOI?!" Kevin shouted.

"English, please." The hooded mammal said clicking their gun, and aiming towards Kevin's head this time.

"I SAID WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!" Kevin repeated.

"Oh it's not what I want, it's what Z wants." The mammal replied.

"Z?!"Kevin shrieked. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT?! US AND Z'S GROUP HAVE ALREADY AGREED TO STAY OFF EACH OTHERS TERRITORY!"

"Things change sir." The mammal said. "I'm not here to kill you, I'm just here playing as a message for Z."

"BANG!"

The mammal had shot Kevin again, this time in the right arm as Kevin continued to howl.

"Now here is what you're going to do." The mammal said kneeling towards Kevins head with the gun still on him. "You're going to tell Mr. Big about what happened here, who the mammal was that sent me, and that we are now in control of whatever territory we want no questions about it. Either that, or we will go into his house and SLAUGHTER THE WHOLE LOT OF YA! Understand?" The mammal asked, as Kevin wasn't responding. "UNDERSTAND?!"

Kevin slowly, and shiverringly nodded to the hooded mammal as he was too afraid to look him in the eye. The mammal then stood up and put their gun back.

"That's what I like to see." The mammal said, as Kevin saw the hooded mammal walking away.

Not too long after the mammal had left, another mammal had to talk to someone as well in the back of the bar, and noticed Kevin laying on the floor puddled with blood. As the mammal started to dial nine, one, one, Kevin started to get a little dizzy and not too soon afterward had his eyes closed unconcious.

Next week: Chapter 25, Understanding Your Mistakes