Foxlover91 : The thing is, I never experienced a burial (which is good thing), so it was pretty me imagining how that would go down (and documenting myself on the internet), glad it turned out okay. But I'm starting to be afraid that my readers will flee.
Doug is about to be released, and yes, you can bet your money on it stirring things up. I don't remember how many mammals he darted, might have to go and check that.
Fun thing you should mention consequences of one's actions...

Put on your seatbelt ladies and gentlemammals, this chapter will be quite long. Or at least a tad longer than what I usually publish.

Chapter 25 : Letting the Tension Build Up

Saturday the 16th of march 2019

There was something fishy going on. He had started to suspect it the moment received Osman's call. He had given him an adress in the outskirt of Sahara Square, near the docks. He had asked for the fox to come as soon as possible for some sort of business that only him could resolve.

An isolated place, far from their base, a mysterious message for a mysterious task. That had woken all the alarms. He scheduled an e-mail with all the info he had been able to gather until now to be sent one hour after the time of the rendez-vous to Judy. If anything happened to him, she should be one of the first ones to now. As he was doing so, he had another inspiration.

...

"Hello. Jack talking."

"Hello, it's Frank. I think I need some help. The guys have called me to come somewhere for some kind of task, and I'm smelling danger."

"Do you think you've been compromised ?"

"I don't know. I think it's possible. And highly probable it will be the case if I don't go."

"Obviously. Give me the adress."

Nick sent him a text and heard the sound of a keyboard from the other end of the phonecall.

"A warehouse on the outskirt of town. Yeah, that sounds like trouble. Whatever they want you to do, or want to do to you, they don't want to be disturbed. Doesn't seem like a trap to me though."

"Why ?"

"If they wanted to trap you and get you to talk, or even do anything to you, it would be more easy to have you coming at the usual place and bring you there themselves. And it would be way more inconspicuous. When are you supposed to be there ?"

"In two hours."

"Alright, I'm coming to your flat, I had stuff to give you anyway." And just like that, he hung up.

Half an hour later the bunny knocked on his door and Nick opened the door. He was carrying a case that he opened on the coffee table. Inside of it were four black boxes of different size, he opened the second smaller one. "This is a wire. It could be risky but I think it would be great if you wore it from now on. You can have it sending the data directly to the ZIA or the device of your choice. There is the software on an USB key to set that up. Don't worry, it's child play." Nick was far from a computer illiterate, but not really on the tech side either. "You can have it set on 'record only'. It also works as a Talkie Walkie with this earpiece. I have the same one adjusted to the same frequency." He slid the box toward Nick and opened another. "Two micro-cameras. Expensive stuff, 52 hours autonomy. It can be used the same as the wire. It would be great if you could set one up in the cell's den."

"There is always someone there with me, they don't trust me enough yet."

"Well, keep one with you. If you ever have the opportunity please do so." He opened the smaller box yet and took out what looked like a small USB stick. "This is a bug. Plug it on any computer with an internet connexion and our tech team will be able to copy every bit of data from said machine. You have two of them but they can be used as often as you want. Of course the operation takes time so depending on how much data there is, it could take up to several hours." He put back the thing in its box and opened the largest one of them.

"Those are GPS trackers. They can last up to a week once they're on." He showed a strip of plastic on it. "Pull that and you can glue it on almost any surface." He closed the box back. "With the Don and Ron thing, they struck a big blow, but I think the next will be even more violent. Doug will be released soon, and I'm sure it's going to be their next target. We can't let that happen. If you have to chose between stopping them from getting Doug or protect your cover, consider that your cover isn't priority. But don't be reckless either. Got it ?"

"Got it."

Then the two mammals got out of the building and headed their separate way. Nick had put on the wire, earpiece and put a GPS beacons and a camera in his pocket just in case. He went straight to the cell's den. If he could see them and milk them for information before going it would be great. When he arrived he knocked several times but no one answered and the door was locked. This was unusual, there always was someone there. He had thoroughly searched the place before. Well as thoroughly as he could considering that he was never alone in there. So there were no one in, but it didn't mean they had no way of knowing if people went in and out. He was torn between taking the gamble of picking the lock or getting out. In the end, he decided his cover wasn't worth the risk for now.

Jack had gone to the rendez-vous point's vicinity to do a bit of recon. The dock's area had a lot of warehouses, some of them, like the one they had chosen, were abandonned. Next to it, he saw an old car parked and noted the licence plate number. The buck drove around and found a parking lot a mile away where his car wouldn't be too conspicuous. As he made his way back, he received a call from Nick.

"Frank ?"

"They're not at the den. They must be at the warehouse."

"I've seen a car parked near it." He described it to the fox.

"That's one of theirs. Have you seen another one ?"

"No, but they could have parked anywhere in this area. If they have a lookout, there is no way I can approach the building without getting seen. I'll get back to my car, send you the adress of where I parked it and wait for you there."

Nick received the message. With mass transit, he would be on time.

Nick liked to observe the other mammals during those long ZUG rides. Theren a family of mouses were sitted in the rodent level, under the seats of the large mammals. He could hear their squeeky chattering, the parents trying to contain the overenthousiasm of their multiple children. To his left, a couple of kids, one deer, one panther, were playing games on their phones. A buffalo almost bumped into the fox but avoided him at the last second with a polite smile. On the surface, everything seemed normal, but every last mammal was looking around, giving nervous glance to every one that got in and out of the ZUG car.

He had dozed off and almost missed his stop. He easily found the parking lot and knocked on Jack's car window. The bunny unlocked it and Nick got in.

"I've looked around. It's the only car there, so chances are there won't be anyone else."

"Great. Anything else ?"

"I won't be far behind, If things get heated I'll pull you out."

"Thanks, I feel safer already." His joke went unsanwsered and Jack drove him near his destination, parking the car between two warehouses.

"If I talk to you through the earpiece, try to keep a straight face, you don't want to give yourself away."

"Alright. Oh, and keep this for now. I'm sure I won't need them." He gave him the beacon and camera and got out of the car.

Making his way to the warehouse, he felt his heart pounding in his chest. He was going right into the wolf's den.

Well more precisely, fox's den.

But even his inner jokes did nothing to dial down his stress. He was wearing the bulletproof vest, the gun was in its holster under his left arm, the telescopic baton was in another inner pocket. The knuckle duster was in the right pocket of his vest. And finally he had bought a hunting knife, hidden under his trousers left sleeve. It was the first time wearing weapons came as a reassuring thought.

"Jack. It's Frank, do you copy ?" He said under his breath as he was a few meters away from the emty car parked near the warehouse.

"I hear you. Do you need something ?"

"Nope, just checking if you can hear properly."

"Understood. Now forget you're wearing a wire and focus."

Nick took out his phone and called Osman as it had been planned.

"Hello, Osman Speaking ?"

"It's Frank. I'm near the car."

"Don't move, I'm coming to get you." And he hung up.

Nick's stress was reaching its maximum. The orange furred fox appeared at the corner of the building and waved him to come. The usually upbeat fox was trying to hide his sad mood but Nick feigned noticing it.

"Frank, I'm going to approach the building when you'll be inside. Cough if you think the coast is clear outside." Came jack's voice.

"Hi Os', how are you ?" Asked Nick to his comrade.

"Fine. You ?"

"Great. A paranoid mammal would be less so, being called here in the middle of nowhere for some mysterious task."

The orange-brownish fox shrugged and smiled. "A paranoid mammal would have nothing to worry about."

"A paranoid mammal wouldn't be reassured by that." Said Nick with a joking smile.

Osman answered with a chuckle and opened the door for him. The grey fox got in and coughed. "You could have found a dustier place."

"Copy that. I'm getting closer." Said the voice in Nick's earpiece.

"Sorry. Next time, I'll be sure to pick one with the right amound of mould and humidity."

"So thoughtful of you. So what's this mysterious task that only I can accomplish ?"

"Better show you than tell you." The smile was on Osman's face, but not in his voice. As matter of fact, since he had seen the fox, Nick had felt something was wrong.

His smile was wrong, he was stiff, he had bags under his eyes, and looked on edge. If anything, Nick guessed he wasn't happy about what was happenning here.

Good thing I'm already totally on edge. No risk to flip out.

They got to a set of stairs leading underground, deamly lit by emergency light. At the end was a door that Osman opened. He let Nick go in front and the grey fox casually put his paw in his pocket, closing it on the knuckle-duster.

As he saw the scene in front of his eyes, it revealed itself to be even worse than anticipated. In the center of the large circle of light shed by a ceiling lamp was a chair. Slumped on the chair was the silhouette of a young fox.

Don't be dead.

Nick was walking through thick water, his movement slowed down by the liquid. He didn't notice the three other silhouette outside of the circle of light right away. He was entirely focused on the unconscious light brown fox.

Don't be dead.

He was now facing Michael and examined him. The kid had taken a beating but nothing seemed broken. Two claws of his left paw had been torn and blood was still dripping from it. He was breathing slowly, silently whimpering.

Great. Not dead.

He casually turned to the other foxes, put on the professional mask and gave a more detailed look to the room. So, in the center was michael strapped to a chair, Skye was here too, arms crossed, and like the other two, she hadn't moved when Nick had entered. Next to her was Sean, wiping blood from a pair of plyers with a satisfied expression. Behind them to their left was Lucas, looking really pale, who really didn't seem okay with the situation. Right in front of the chair, outside the circle of light was a camera. It wasn't recording.

"Guys, what the fuck ?" He casually asked.

Skye sighed and took a step forward into the light. Nick new it was coincidental but it gave a dramatic taste to the scene. As she was looking for her words, he observed her. She was sporting the same bag than Osman had under his eyes, and if he had to guess he'd say she had cried. But he also knew her enough to know that she'd never had done so in public. She was holding it together pretty well considering how protective she was of the members of her cell.

"This idiot thought it would be clever to steal some nighthowler, cut it with random stuff and sell it on the street as a new drug to pay for more heroin."

Nick lifted a brow and shrugged. "Junkies will be junkies." If he could play it down, maybe he could prevent this to go where he suspected it would go.

"Junky or not, our rules are the same. You get in our way, you pay the price." She took out a balaclava from her pocket and gave it to Nick who took it. Then Osman took the revolver he was keeping in his belt.

"Get in our way ? He did something stupid one time. How is it so bad ?"

"One time ? He's been doing that for at least a month. It's a miracle the ZPD didn't get wind of it."

"No harm done then."

He could see his trys at playing the thing down were slowly getting on the arctic fox's nerves. "It's not about harm, it's about principle. We don't betray our own. Now put on the balaclava".

Nick did so, his brain was fired up and looking for a way out of this. He had to find something, and quick. He didn't now if he would be able to shoot a kid in cold blood, and to be honest he really didn't want to find out. He then took the gun and checked it. Only one bullet. If he did try to free the kid and make a run for it, he'd have to take out his own.

"And the camera is there because ?"

"Lycus wants it recorded to be sure it was done. And also because it could be used in another segment on TV to show our resolve."

On this note, the white fox pushed the button and the camera started to record. Nick pointed at the kid's bloody paw. "Was the torture really necessary ?"

"Quicker to get answer that way." Answered Sean. Nick was sure he had heard a touch of satisfaction under his usual monocord tone. Given the glare Skye gave to the larger fox, Nick could guess she didn't condone Sean's overzealous attitude.

Nick looked him dead in the eyes while cocking back the revolver's hammer. With a satisfaction of the same kind, he saw the dark grey fox slightly twitch at the unformulated threat. If anyone else noticed it, they didn't say anything.

Nick took a few steps, placing himself at the side of the young tied up fox. "So this is for the good of our fellow predators ?"

"As I said, it's about principles. Now shoot him and be done with it." Skye said in a tone that she tried to make resolute.

Nick looked at each fox in turn. Sean was hiding his enjoyment, Lucas was trying to look elsewhere, and it was obvious he didn't like what was going on, like Osman who was wearing a pained look.

"And I'm the one doing it because ?"

"Someone has to do it. And I need to know if you really have the guts. If you really are on our side."

I'm doing this because beside Sean the nutcase, none of you want to do it, and you refuse to give him the satisfaction.

"You know I didn't come to work for you to be an executioner. But if it's about principles then..." He said, while putting the barrel on the kid's head. As he did so, he observed Skye's reaction. The arctic fox tensed up, her stern expression twitched, her eyes slightly widened and Nick was sure he was detecting a very light tremble.

He let a few seconds pass, deliberately letting the tension build up.

"Shoot him Frank ! Your cover is more important than this junky." Came Jack's voice in his earpiece.

Shut the fuck up, you lunatic rabbit.

"Tell me Skye, what is all this operation about ?" Asked Nick, discreetly locking in the hammer block to avoid any accident.

"It's you shoot ing a-"

"Not us here. We all. What we're doing. Us. The other cells. Lycus. What is it all about ?"

The white fox's expression twitched again. "We're showing that we predators won't be stepped on anymore. That we deserve more than what we get."

"So what we're doing is to make the situation better, for all of us. Am I getting it right ?"

"Yes. Now-"

Nick took off the gun from Michael's head, as well as his balaclava from his head, storing it in his back pocket. "A better situation, yeah. You know how much life sucks for us foxes. Tell me Skye, how many times did you wish people wouldn't judge you for being a fox ?"

Nick didn't get an answer so he continued. "I'm about ten years older than you are, and I've stopped counting how many times I wasn't even given a single chance to prove myself." He threw the gun back to its owner who barely caught it. "So, Sean, Lucas, Skye, Osman, Lycus, you know what ? I'm going to do something that even you, that claim to be on the predator's corner, won't do. I'm going to give this kid a second chance."

Try and counter that.

No one was moving. Sean seemed to be pissed but Nick could see the hint of relief on Osman's, an Lucas' faces.

"You can't do that ! Lycus won't-" Protested Skye, who half-heartedly tried to take back control of the situation.

"Then stop me." He was facing them defiantly but none of them moved, though Sean really seemed to want to. He turned to face the camera. "Lycus, you want revenge on the pred-haters. I get that, and I'm with you on this. But protecting our own is more important. As Skye said 'we don't betray our own'. Next time you want me to execute someone, you better ask it yourself and have a good reason for it."

Nick took out his knife and began cutting the ziplocks holding Michael to the chair. "So you want to know if I'm on your side ? Yes I am. I'm on the side of every predator including Michael."

He gave little slaps to Michael to wake him up. The kid groaned, opened his eyes ang gave frightened glances around him, slowly remembering how he had ended up here.

"You're okay now. No need to talk, I'm getting you out of here." He helped him up, putting an arm under his shoulder. The movement made him whimper.

"I get that you think he's a liability. So from now on, you can consider him under my responsibility. If he fucks up, consider it me fucking up. It's the best I can offer."
Skye nodded in agreement, not knowing what else to do. She was glad Frank had found a way to save Mike. She couldn't show flexibility, but the newcomer could, as he wasn't completely part of the group yet. Nick and the kid made their way back up and out of the building. The grey fox half-expect to be shot in the back.

"Do not do that again." Came a voice in his earpiece.

Bite me, jackass.

"Now to get a Zuber." Said the grey fox, while faking using the app on his phone, turning it in a way that the kid couldn't see the screen. But he was too busy trying to walk without stumbling. "Great, there is one two minutes away. Let's go to the corner of the block to wait for it."

"Copy that. Your stuff will be in the door compartment, in the back of the car. Try to get it back discreetly. Else, I'll put it in your letterbox tomorrow." Said Jack's voice.

"Thanks." Came Michael's weak voice.

"For saving your life ? Don't mention it."

"No really. Thanks."

Nick sighed. "We're not out of the woods yet. They could change their mind and decide we're both liabilities. We're going to have to let dust settle for a bit. In the meantime, you will crash at mine."

A couple of minutes later, Nick and Michael were in the back of the car. Jack was wearing a cap completed with a mask of worry. "Ya shure, ya don't want me to getcha to a hospital." The thick accent was near perfect.

"Nope, to the adress I gave you. He's going to be fine."

"If ya say so."

Nick helped the kid walking up the stairs, opened the door of the flat and sat him on the couch. He then went to the bathroom and got his first aid kit. He also opened the tub's tap.

"Do you think you have anything broken ?"

"I don't think so. Skye punched me a couple of times but most of it is Sean's work."

Nick sighed. "This guy is a sadist. Give me your paw, I need to disinfect. This is going to sting a lot." Nick sprayed some disinfectant on the injury. The kid winced. "If you think you're hurting a lot now, wait until tomorrow." Nick bandadge the paw and put back the things in the bag. "Get up and get naked."

"What ?"

Nick helped him up and almost had to drag him to the bathroom. "We need to reduce hematoma. I don't think I have enough ice packs for your whole body so get naked and get in the tub." The kids hesitated. Nick lifted a brow. "I'll give you some privacy, but if you aren't in the water when I'm back, you're going in with your clothes on." In the meantime, the grey fox went tot the kitchen a took all the ice trays in the freezer. He heard the sound of a body getting in the water.

"C-cold." He heard, while making his way back.

"Well, you haven't felt anything yet." He answered while coming in without knocking. He unceremoniously emptied the tray into the tub.

"What the-" Said a Michael in his brief, as he tried to get out of it.

"Stay in." Interject the larger fox while pushing him back in with a paw on his chest.

"It's too cold !" The kid was trying to get rid of Nick's paw.

"Mike, if you don't stop, I'll drown your ass until you stop moving. Stay in." Nick said with a tone of authority he had borrowed to chief Bogo. The kid immediately stopped struggling.

I'm going to use this more often.

"You're my responsibility now. That means you better do what I say. That also means I won't do anything to deliberately hurt you."

"I'm f-freezing."

"Ten minutes. Try to relax." Nick stopped pushing on the kid's chest but left his paw there. The younger fox leaned back, resting his head on the edge of the tub with a whimper. Nick took the opprotunity to observe his face. No black eye, but one of his cheek was slightly swollen. He would need an ice pack for that too, but it was less urgent than his body. Like, he had suspected, Nick could see the lumps and blue skin under the fur. Sean had taken his time, and it certainly wasn't pretty to look at.

"It hurts."

"It will hurt more if you get out. five minutes left. Don't move, I'll fetch a towel."

Nick had wrapped the shivering fox in a towel and had almost carried him to the couch. "W-was this r-really necessary ?" He asked while teeth-chattering.

"Cold helps vasoconstriction, limits the inner bleeding and helps clotting."

The kid gave him a puzzled glance. "You're a nurse of something ?"

"Nah, I learned that the exact same way you did. Maybe I had the taste to not need being rescued first."

"Sorry." He said, slumping his head.

Nick blinked. "No, I'm sorry. Not a good time to make a joke."

The kid leaned back on the couch. Time past and Nick went to the kitchen to get an ice pack

"Fuck." Came the small fox's voice in a whisper. Nick that was about to give the ice pack to the other fox put it on the coffe table. "Fuck" Tears had become rolling on the kid's face. Nick sat next to him and put a paw on his shoulder that had begun trembling.

"Okay, c'mere." He said, giving the kid an awkward hug. "You're okay." If he had to be honest, Nick had expected that sooner. The kid had been in a lot of pressure but now that it had gone, the emotion had to flow out. The fear, the guilt, the feeling of rejection, all came crashing on hime like a wave. Nick knew he'd need a long time to get over it.

When the young fox stopped sobbing, the ice pack had completely unfrozen and Nick had to get another. He put it on the kid's face and he fell asleep with it on.
Nick had a dark chuckle. It was like seeing a reflection. A young fox trying so hard to belong, getting rejected by those he believed were his friends. Well, Nick hadn't stolen anything from them, but he hadn't been threatened to be killed either, so maybe their situations were a bit different.

He took out his phone and wondered what he could do now.

He wanted to call the kid's sister, but he didn't really know on what terms they were. Maybe he needed a bit of time to find himself before being confronted to her. So, no big sister for now. That meant he would have to take care of the kid for a few days, and he wasn't very keen on letting him alone for long in the flat. During a few seconds, he considered calling Finnick and ask him a favor, but Finnick was a link to Nick Wilde, not a great idea to maintain his cover.

Nick groaned. He had no choice. He went to and dialed the number.

"Hello ?"

"Hi Judy." He said as low as he could. "I won't be able to make it this afternoon."

"Really ? What's happening ?"

"This is a long story."

"Well, I'm not very busy right now."

Nick opened his room door and looked at the couch. He couldn't see the kid, but if he got up, there was no way He wouldn't notice. He went to the other side of the room, as far as he could from the couch but in a way that he could still perfectly see it in the gap between the door and the doorframe. If he spoke low enough, the kid wouldn't hear him.

"You know the foxes in my cell ? One of them is a kid, caught up on drugs, that kind of things. Stole stuff to sell it to buy more heroin. Since our little company isn't really big on forgiveness, they wanted to eliminate him, and guess who got short straw ?"

"N- Did you-"

"Carrots, it's me we're talking about. I talked our way out of it."

"That's my fox."

"He's at my flat right now. I don't think it's going to be a good idea to leave him alone in the next few days."

"Doesn't he have any family you could send him to ?"

"Based on my own experience, I'm not sure he's ready to come back to his family, if he even got one."

"So we're not seeing eachother tomorrow."

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, you're doing what's right. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. Is there anything new on your end ?"

She made a slight pause. "I don't want to keep you. If he's at yours he could hear you."

"Nah. He's sleeping, and even if he wasn't, I'm talking low enough so he wouldn't hear me."

Judy took an inspiration, thinking about what had happened during those two weeks that they hadn't discussed via e-mail yet.

"Okay, let's begin by the crappy stuff. I don't know if you knew, I didn't, but Blackfur had a daughter."

"Had ?"

"Yeah. She fell into a coma years ago, and she died this week. The burial was yesterday."

"Oh fu- crap. That sucks."

"Yeah, it does."

"Can you give her my condoleances ?"

"I'll do that."

A bit of silence passed, before Judy spoke again. "In other news, stuff happened with Clawhauser."

"What did he do ? Beat his record on the number of donuts eaten in less than a minute ?"

"No, not this week." She laughed. "He was staying late at the precinct, watching video footage when he fell asleep on the desk."

"And ?"

"Well, chief Bogo saw him and since I suppose he was really tired too, he woke him up-"

"That's not so bad."

"By poking his belly."

"The chief did that ? Oh my gods. You don't poke a cat's belly by surprise, it's the shortest way to painland."

"Yeah he did. Woke Ben right up, so fast he fell from the chair. But the chief caught him mid fall."

"Wait wait wait. Let me picture that. Ben falling in slow motion while the chief dives to catch him, reaching him at the last moment. An arm under his shoulder, the other around his hip. Rose petals start to fall slowly around them while their faces slowly approach each other..."

"Please don't put those pictures in my head."

"You're no fun carrots."

"I get that a lot." She smiled.

"Do you think he at least got at taste of the Buffalo Butt afterwards ?"

"Oh gods, Nick ! No ! Bad fox !" She snickered. She slowly breathed, ridding herself of the bout of giggles that was rising. "Okay, alright. No, no romantic last second fall breaking. The chief caught him by the arm."

"Less fun."

"Way less fun. Ben was startled so his claws were out."

"Ben hurt the chief ?"

"Yep."

"And he wasn't suspended ?"

"Nope. He stitched the chief himself and that was it."

"Knowing our feline friend, he's not going to forgive himself that easily. He knows how to stitch a wound ?"

"I suspect he knows how to do each and every thing a cop could that doesn't involve physical fitness."

"So, he knows how to stitch a wound, he's the best shot in the precinct-"

"He reorganized record in the few weeks he spent there."

"-Our ultimate cop is a fat cat that can't run. How ironical is that ?"

"I'm sure he can run. He's a cheetah so he would be more of a natural sprinter-"

"-very dangerous over short distances ?"

"You have to get it out of your system, don't you ?"

"I don't have a lot of occasions to joke. Besides, you know you love it."

"Yes, I do."

Nick heard a bit of movement coming from the other room. The kid hadn't moved from the couch, but he had to be waking up. Or he was moving in his sleep. In any case, Nick didn't want to risk it.

"I'm going to hang up now. I love you."

"Love you too."

Nick had made some coffee and was now sitting next to the small vulpine on the couch.
"What do I do now ?"

Nick chuckled "Are you asking me or asking yourself ?"

"Both I guess."

"You have several choices I believe. You could leave our little group, but I think it would mean flee the city, or put yourself under the protection of the police." The kid shook his head. "Yeah, I wouldn't advise it either. If you have any relatives, you could go to them." The kid shook his head again. "No relatives ?" The kid looked away.

"It's complicated, isn't it ?"

"Yeah."

"How ?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Nick smirked. "Do you believe that ? Well let's compare then. I quit my home when I was twelve over something really stupid. I spent twenty years leaving on the streets, hustling any mammal I came across for their money worth. My father died of cancer seven years ago and it was the last time I saw my mother. Not that I talked to her that day." He had delivered that in a totally casual tone. He sipped some coffee while observing the small vulpine over the border of the mug. "So, do you think I could understand ?"

The kid's shoulders had slumped. "I guess you could."

"You don't have to talk about yourself if you don't want to. But I'm interested into knowing how someone like you ended up in the situation you're in."

The kid sighed and sipped his coffee. By that point, Nick knew he was going to talk. He was desperate for someone to confide in.

"If you want the story since the beginning, it's not that complicated. My mom was a crackhead, Dad was a dealer. The only decent fox in the family was my sister. Well, half-sister from another mother. I don't know what happened to her mom, and I don't think she nows either. Either way, dad was a dealer. He sold pot, but he always tried to keep us away from the stuff. Well he did repeat that we shouldn't touch it, so I guess it counts." He shrugged. "Mom died when I was eleven, but she was never really there, even when she was home, neither was dad, if you see what I mean."

"I guess I do."

"Dad had pretty much given up on us, so it was basically Scarlet and I. We fought a lot, but she tried to keep me on the right path. By that point, I was already doing terrible in school. The five last year I spent there were more about selling stuff that studying. Fun thing is, it's not why I got expelled. I fought a guy who had insulted my sister, said she was a whore. Lost that fight by the way. So I began selling drugs full time. Dad had begun slipping completely, he left one day and we never saw him again. Then I worked for a lot of people, Scarlet and me drifted appart. She wanted me to come live with her but I was making enough to get by on my own. Then four months ago, I met Osman. He talked to me about this group that did all sort of stuff, fought for fox's and pred's rights. You pretty much know the rest."

"Yeah. Your life sucked kiddo, but I don't really see why I wouldn't have understood. You can't go back to your sister because you feel like you have to know how to care of yourself."

"Yeah."

"It's not that complicated. You do drugs because of your circonstances."

"Well, I was in rehab once because of my- um- problem. All I got was comments like 'it's no excuse to do drugs' or 'The law is the law'. The teachers, the concellors, they were no better. I mean, I know I shouldn't do drugs, I know it's stupid and wrong. But I just- "

"It's not easy to stop, is it ?"

The kid shook his head.

They had spent the night at Nick's. He had let the kid use his bedroom while he slept on the couch. The main reason why, was because he didn't want the kid to slip away. During the night, an idea came. A really sly one, but there were chances it would work. And it was for a good cause. He'd have a couple of phone calls to make to arrange things.

When he finally got to sleep, he was in a better mood. Everything would not go smoothly, but it would work, he knew it.