Every news station, every curious citizen, had flocked to City Hall for the standoff that would define the decade. SPEC officers barred the door with their riot shields. ZPD officers struggled to break through their lines, but to no avail. Even the largest couldn't get through. There were cheers and boos all around as Bogo raised his bullhorn again: "Clive Hoofer! Dawn Bellwether! This has gone on long enough. Surrender yourself immediately!"

Hoofer watched the whole thing inside the security office, cameras pointed at the crowd and at Bogo. Bellwether trembled by his side as he lazily punched the PA button. "Neither I nor Bellwether will give in to your illegal demands. You're in contempt of our authority, and if you attempt to breach the building SPEC will open fire upon your department. Stand down at once." He could hear his voice echoing through the security footage.

"Oh, this is it…" Bellwether quivered. "No no no no no, it can't end like this, it can't end like this. Why are they even coming after us all of a sudden?"

Hoofer sighed through his teeth. He knew exactly what had happened… he picked up his radio. "All SPEC units, commence the Happytown initiative. Transport all predators at once. Do you copy? Over."

"Omega Team is a go," he heard one response.

"Sahara Square team, ready to support."

"Rainforest District, ready to support."

Silence.

Hoofer held up his radio again. "Tundratown team, do you copy? Over."

Nothing.

"Glacier Falls checkpoint, do you copy?" he asked in a much louder voice.

Nothing.

"Glacier Falls, I said do you…"

Hoofer trailed off. He could see on the security screens, two massive trucks coming up to City Hall. One was a big rig, labeled "Canisson Industries". The other was a tanker truck, similarly labeled. The ZPD and SPEC both quieted as the two vehicles pulled around, encircling the crowd.

"Citizens of Zootopia!"

The crowd murmured as the voice echoed around the plaza. A fox slowly clambered atop the truck, a megaphone of his own in paw.

"What the…" Hoofer shouted into his radio again. "Glacier Falls team, come in! A predator has escaped the perimeter! What are you doing down there!?"

Bogo, meanwhile, stood in silence watching the fox speak. He knew that face, and the murmurs in the crowd suggested everyone else remembered him too. The fox simply grinned as he continued:

"You know, it's really a confusing time in Zootopia right now, isn't it? What, with predators going savage at every turn? And now your mayor seems to be punishing you as well as us, the mean ol' preds." The sarcasm dripped from every word as he play-acted atop the truck. "But just think, she's helped solve the predator crisis, hasn't she? Isn't that just so convenient, that she was around right when the predators decided to turn bad? Isn't it just lucky for her that she had the right solution at the right time?"

"Bellwether," Hoofer stated with absolutely no tone in his voice, his eyes glued to the screen. "Go to my office. Burn every document I have. Go to your office and do the same."

"I...ah-"

"NOW!" He turned and roared at her, driving her from the security office. He stood up and began to back out of the security office, calling out, "All units, abort Happytown, converge at City Hall, I repeat—"

The fox kept going, sitting down and crossing his legs casually. "Ladies and gentlemammals, have I got a bombshell for you. In this tanker, right here, is an extract of Midnicampum holicithias, a delightful substance that drives anyone exposed to it utterly mad. They become violent, dare I even say, savage… and Bellwether herself knows just how savage this stuff makes people."

The realization began to settle in on the crowd, and there were uncertain murmurs and whispers. As the people processed this, they didn't notice the other predators scuffling around behind the tankard, dragging along hoses pilfered from gas stations and firehouses. No one noticed, except Bogo's eagle eyes. "All units, prepare for riot control," he muttered into his radio, "and someone neutralize this fox, now!"

Higgins drew out his gun, but the fox's sharp eyes spotted him. "Ladies and gentlemammals!" the fox leapt up and behind the truck as shots went off. The crowd turned to see the hippo firing - just the distraction he needed. "Let's get savage, shall we!?"

There was a WHOOSH of water flooding all of a sudden. The crowd turned again to see powerful jets of blue splashing into them. Predators in full body armor stalked around the edge of the truck. They held the nozzles steady.

"Don't let the toxin hit you!" Bogo hollered.

His voice barely carried three feet because of the screams. The buffalo plucked a couple of beavers from what would have been their deaths in the stampede. SPEC kept holding their line at City Hall, only concerned with protecting Hoofer's stronghold. Through their shields Bogo could see the fear in their eyes. He turned back to the crowd. Two moose, some wildebeests, a hare, a pair of pigs, were on the ground moaning, rolling around. Their voices were already rough, choppy, movements spastic. News cameras shattered on the ground, reporters trying to get away before the hose turned on them too—

"Get out of here!" Bogo tried to shepherd everyone away, "All officers, open fire!"

The order was redundant; anyone still coherent had taken shots at the truck. One managed to shoot through a predator's armor, and they stumbled. The hose clattered from their handpaws.

That's when the big rig opened up.

More predators, all wielding assault weapons, poured out to hoots and hurrahs. The gunfire erupted against the ZPD. One predator took up the hose again, advanced towards the entrance to City Hall. SPEC's shields couldn't protect them from the toxins.

Bogo tried to press off to the side with what remained of the ZPD. Amid the screams were snarls, roars, prey beginning to rise up on all fours and turn with cruel eyes at their fellow mammals, snapping and snarling, and in their dumbness they couldn't see the Golden Claw leveling weapons against their heads, lining up all the easy shots...

"Fall back, form a perimeter!" Bogo yelled. "FALL BACK!"


Minutes later, the gunfire had been silenced. Lucas followed the fox as they stepped around the puddle of Night Howler toxin, over the bodies of SPEC officers, and through the glass doors of the City Hall lobby. In the dead center was the front desk, with two hallways on either side delving deep into the building and a pair of staircases curving up to the second floor. The secretary had long since fled into the heart of City Hall, and the sleek modern room now appeared empty.

"This is nice," the fox nodded as his eyes darted around. "Very nice lobby." He snapped his fingers at the predators behind them, and motioned them forward. Without a word they advanced down the hallways and up the stairs, guns drawn. Meanwhile, the leader walked behind the desk, rapping his knuckles on the desk. "How's it feel, Lucas? This is ours now, all this."

The wolf kept his face grim, eyes darting up like he wanted to peer through the ceiling. "I just want Hoofer and Bellwether to get their comeuppance."

"They will," the fox grinned. He eyed an intercom receiver marked 'Mayor's Office', and hit it. "Hey there Lamby-Lamb, don't you go anywhere, we'll be right up!"

"Hey Boss!" A voice called from down the hall. "We found something over here."

Both the fox and Lucas turned to see the cheetah come around the corner, a big grin on his face and a big gun in his hand. It wasn't just a rifle though, the barrel was far too wide. The cheetah also held out a paw filled with small blue globes.

"Looks like we got Hoofer's toys," the fox wondered aloud. He took the gun in his paw and held it up, eyeing it with hunger. "Oh, we gotta go huntin' with these, tell everyone to grab one."

"Hold on," from the staircase above, a bear poked his head out. "I think we got something even better down here…" He motioned for them to follow. Yells and shouts could be heard, and a very familiar voice...

Lucas outran the fox this time, bolting up the steps two at a time. The staircases met on a balcony, which connected to a single hallway that ran right down to oversee the council chamber. The wolf turned down the hallway. And there he was, lifted off the ground by two tigers.

"Get your paws off of me!" Hoofer looked at his captors, his eyes darting from one cat to the other. "Listen, if you let me go, I'll make it worth your while. I'll imprison your enemies, I'll make you rich, I'll get you seated in the halls of power!"

"Where do you think we are now?" The tigers chuckled as the goat squirmed in their grasp, trying to break free. "Gotta do better than that…"

"We can all be reasonable mammals here. I must have something you want!"

"Try this, Hoofer," Lucas snapped. "Give me back my brother."

The goat looked up at his name, and saw Lucas standing in front of him. "Mr. Canisson…" he set his jaw, "I would have thought you were above this."

"Every mammal has a breaking point," the wolf retorted with a snarl. Suddenly he grabbed the lapels on Hoofer's jacket and tore him out of the tigers' grasp, sneering down into the goat's face. The eyes darted around, and Lucas relished the fear visible in them. "I think we're gonna find your breaking point tonight."

"Enjoying yourself?" Lucas turned to see the fox strolling their way, the Night Howler rifle in one paw and pointed at the ceiling. "The Golden Claw delivers, Lucas, it's what I've been saying. Mind bringing him over this way?"

Lucas didn't look back at Hoofer as he dragged the goat behind him, despite his best struggles. Together they approached the far balcony, which opened into the council chamber. It was a magnificent room; the decor must have been from a century or two ago, contrasting with the sleek modern exterior. It bled with history. And at the moment, thirty council members were trying to barricade the door with their chairs.

"Oh dear," the fox called out, prompting them all to look up in fear. "You blocked off the doors, there's no way we can get you now."

"I-If you're mad about the relocation," one of the rams down below called up, "we're gonna fix it right now! We have the paperwork all drafted up, you can add anything you want to it!"

"Hm," the fox leaned against the banister and pretended to think. "You know, if you really cared about this kind of stuff, then maybe you wouldn't have relocated us in the first place." With a shrug he raised the rifle and aimed, all the members took cover…

...but then he lowered it. Lucas watched the fox slowly turn around, the eyes glinting hungrily. "You," he gestured to a brown bear that had followed him up. "Come here, how'd you like to have a little bit of fun?"

The bear said nothing; a grin on his face and a crack of his knuckles said it all. He was just about to jump down when the fox stopped him.

"Uh uh. They're so afraid of 'savage predators', it'd be a shame if they were liars…" He held out a dose of Night Howler serum. The bear looked at him.

"Boss, I wanna enjoy this."

The fox shrugged. "Fair enough, fair enough…" With that the bear went over the edge. The whole building seemed to tremble as the bear hit the floor. There were screams from the prey as he advanced, chuckling.

The fox sighted down the rifle's barrel, and fired.

Lucas opened his mouth to object before he caught himself. He heard the PAP as the pellet hit the bear right on his neck. The bear stumbled, yelling out in shock, as he felt the sting. His confused and painful groans began to turn into rolling growls. Councilmembers tore the chairs away from the doors and tried to yank them open, only to find them held shut by predators on the other side. The bear eyed them, took a step forward…

Lucas watched the bloody scene unfold. His jaw hung open. He'd never seen anything like it. No history book could have prepared him for predatory action actually unfolding before him. He'd always pictured it as a noble feat: a pounce, then the animal was downed and the meal ensued quietly from there. But this? He winced at every blow, could practically feel the claws tearing into himself. He had never heard a sound like this before. No horror movie could ever produce something so appalling.

"First time's always a doozy," the fox watched comfortably, the rifle tilted against his shoulder. He smirked up at the wolf. "Don't worry, that's just the social conditioning getting out of your system. Here, let's help it along." He pointed at Hoofer. "Throw the last guy in there."

Hoofer grabbed at Lucas' arm. "No, please! Please, have mercy!"

"Yes," the fox smirked, "show him the same mercy he's shown to us, to you."

Lucas looked down at Hoofer. He saw in Hoofer's eyes predators driven mad, children brutalized, students lighting themselves to burn in protest… he pulled back his lips and showed his teeth as he roughly dragged the goat up and slammed him against the balcony railing.

"Please!" He begged again, holding his hooves in the air, "Please don't let me die!"

The bear looked up, his jaws stained. He reared up, roaring for the fresh meat. Lucas felt his chest rise and fall, his own handpaws trembling.

He gave a shove.

Hoofer screamed, tried to swipe at the empty air. He tilted backwards, the world turning upside down. He saw the council chamber one last time. He saw the carpet, littered with carnage. He saw the waiting jaws and outstretched claws. Saw the paw swipe across—

Lucas couldn't help but flinch as Hoofer was torn apart before his eyes.


Judy woke up just in time to see the predators leave, casting hungry glances at her, but heeding Lucas' words. She rolled her head, trying to scrunch her face in concentration. Sleep. So badly she wanted just to pass out, that sweet oblivion...

No, no no, stay focused. Feel the chair. Feel the ropes on her arms. Hear the sound of voices and cackles outside, the sound of trucks pulling away. Stay in reality, stay awake. Stay awake.

Judy pried her eyelids open. It may have been a minute, it may have been an hour. The room was now empty, save for herself. Turning her head she could also see Nick at her back, his head slumped forward. Right away she tried to wriggle at her bonds. No use; if only she'd been awake when they'd tied her, she could have sabotaged their efforts. Her palms had been tied together, rendering her hands useless. She was also tied at the ankles and knees. The only thing she could do was try to throw her torso to the side to scoot her over. Even then though, it only scooted her maybe a centimeter? She tried again. No better luck.

Then her phone rang inside her pocket.

"Seriously?!" she shouted at it, knowing full well she was addressing no one. "Now. Is. Not. The. TIME!"

She jumped a little further this time… and toppled over onto the floor.

"Whoa wahh!" She managed to tilt her head away to keep it from cracking on the ground. Judy kept at her ropes, until her ears perked up. She heard a voice from outside calling...

"Everyone, this is an emergency! Please stay inside! Don't come out, don't listen to SPEC. Stay inside!"

Judy took a deep breath: "TRAVIS!"

He went quiet.

She opened her mouth to holler again. "TRAVIS!"

Pawsteps in the rough, darting closer.

"TRAVIS!"

The pawsteps approached the house, came in the main room, and the coyote looked down at her. "Oh God, Judy! What happened?!"

"The Golden Claw, they tied us up. Can you get us out?"

Without a word Travis sat Judy and Nick upright again. Then he knelt down and began pulling at the ropes, using his claws to pick at the knots. "Oh geez, of all the times…"

"It's even worse," Judy felt her hands loosen, and relished the feeling. "They're going to poison the entire city. All prey mammals, they're going to unleash the Night Howler toxin, turn prey into murdering savages, and then…" The thought sickened her so much she couldn't even complete the sentence.

Travis himself slowed as she spoke. "You're… you're serious?"

"Yes, and we need to stop them before they get to City Hall, and the watering hole. We—"

The phone blared in her pocket again. Judy gave an exasperated sigh. "Here, just…" she finally managed to wrench her hands free. "Work on Nick, I'll deal with this and get myself out." With that she wormed her paw into her pocket and got her phone. "Listen, I don't have long to talk, so—"

"Judy Judy, please! Don't hang up!"

Her blood chilled. "Bellwether?"

"Hey. Judy. Listen." the lamb spoke in short sharp gasps. "I know, that we don't always see eye to eye on issues—"

The rabbit huffed, trying to pick the knot on her knee. "That'd be an understatement, but go on."

"Um. Well…." There was a coarse grating sound, something rough against something rougher, and from what Judy could tell Bellwether was in a very tight place. "Predators are storming CIty Hall right now?" She spoke in a high pitched voice, a cross between trying to be pleasant while being under immense stress. "If you could help me out, I'm sure we can let bygones be bygones? Right?"

Judy silently fumed, finally managing to cut one knee loose. "You know what Bellwether, no. I'm not going to save you. You're about to get what you deserve for trying to murder predators!"

"Hey, I just sectioned them off in the city, and yeah, I wanted to kick them out, but it's not like I tried to—"

"You can drop the act. I saw Happytown last night. I know what you and Hoofer were planning."

There was a long silence. "What are you talking about? It's… it's just a neighborhood to get predators away from us."

"I didn't see a single building there Dawn. And I can send you pictures to prove it, there were only trenches — mass graves. I overheard SPEC and everything."

"You… you overheard..." She suddenly seemed to lose her breath. "Oh no, no, he…? I didn't— I never intended — Hoofer was — it was his project! I didn't know! I thought it was just gonna be a predator community outside of the city, away from us! You gotta believe me!" Her voice was growing hysterical "He showed me blueprints and everything! I wasn't involved, I just gave him the go ahead! That's all! I didn't — I'd never want to —I just wanted to be mayor, Judy! You gotta believe me, Judy! Please!"

"You wanted to become mayor by demonizing predators," she spat back with venom in her voice. Judy now moved down to her ankles. "What exactly did you think it would lead to, huh?"

"No no no no no no…" the lamb trailed off. Her voice was shaky and timid. "Judy, please. I don't wanna die here." And in that moment, Judy could find no sinister tone, no lurking knife ready to stab her in the back. "If you save me now, I… I will tell you everything I know. I'll come clean. I'll go in front of the whole city and confess everything."

Judy looked over at Travis, and caught him staring. He immediately refocused on Nick's arms, the fox just starting to stir and lifting his free arm up to rub his eyes. "Are you in a safe place now?"

"Yes, the mayor's panic room. But they're coming up soon, and I won't be able to talk."

"Stay there until they leave. They're gonna head to the watering hole to poison the city, and we're gonna stop them there."

"The watering hole?! Judy Judy, I can help! I can be helpful!"

The rabbit practically stared through her phone. "You can help?"

"I studied public health, and my thesis paper was about the Zootopia water system. It's really old, practically a maze inside, but I know it like the back of my hoof. If you can get to the reservoir before the Golden Claw, then you can stop them."

Judy put a hand to her forehead, thinking long and hard. "If you're lying to us—"

"I'm not, I promise!" Desperation was laced in Bellwether's voice.

"Let me finish," Judy spoke. "If you're lying, you are going to condemn yourself and millions of people to a future as chattel. Do you understand?"

"I promise Judy, I — oh no, they're coming!" The phone clicked off, and Judy was left uneasy. It took her a while to lower the phone from her ear.

"Think we can trust her?" Travis asked as he finished off Nick's legs.

"Not really," Judy shook her head. "But she's as screwed as we are if the Golden Claw succeeds."

Nick groaned, and rubbed at his domed forehead. "So, I just picked up that tail end of the conversation. That wasn't Bellwether, was it?"

"Yeah." Judy stood up from her chair finally, kicking the ropes off from around her legs. "Golden Claw's at City Hall, tearing the place apart. If we hurry, we can cut them off."

Nick gingerly felt the bump on his skull, and hitting a sensitive part he flinched. "Carrots, listen. Maybe, just for now, we should just… get outta dodge?"

She turned to him. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, there's no way we can get across town that fast. And then, what are we gonna do? Get shot down? Have our butts handed to us again? Look, let's just take Lucas' advice. We go settle down in Bunnyburrow, okay? We wait out the whole storm here. The Golden Claw will run rampant, but it's not gonna last. They're a pack of liars, and people will realize it. It'll be messy, but we can get out of it."

"Are you serious?!" Judy shook her head. "Since when did you become so scared?!"

"Since a tiger knocked me out in one blow to the head!" He yelled back. "Judy, this is different. You tried your hardest, but we can't win this!"

"But everyone is counting on us! We can't give up! We need to keep trying!"

"This isn't an after-school special, Hopps! It's real life, and the reality right now is that you cannot stop the Golden Claw!"

"I can't? And why can't I, huh? What, you think a rabbit can't take on a bunch of predators—"

"You're gonna DIE Judy!"

Nick suddenly took her by the shoulders, and his voice cracked at his scream. She saw the fear in his eyes, and suddenly she understood.

"You're not invincible," he croaked out. "You nearly died when I... " he couldn't bring himself to say it. "And that's when I was feral. These guys will kill you for the sheer pleasure of it. And if I couldn't help you now, then what good will I do then?"

"You'll do better," Travis broke in. "Because you'll have me."

Judy looked up at the coyote. His eyes betrayed a hint of nervousness, but he still stood there proud.

"You helped me Judy, when I was close to death. It'd be wrong for me not to back you up now."

Judy felt her breath steal away. "Travis, no, you don't have to. These guys are dangerous. Besides, I was just paying you back for curing me in the hospital."

"That was my job, so it doesn't count." Travis quipped. "And listen, it'll be more than just us three. Come on, I'm gonna finish my rounds…"