Eight Weeks Later
November 8
Tundratown Suburbs
Zootopia
Evening
Neal felt like a dwarf in the passenger seat of a large patrol car with Bjorn; they were pulling street duty at Bogo's behest, due to a shortage of officers for the day.
"I still can't believe it," Neal complained for the umpteenth time. "I'm a SWAT sniper, and he has me on the streets."
"Get over it," Bjorn replied. "I'm in the same boat as you. We're still getting SWAT pay, and the work load is much lighter. Besides, the shift is almost over; only another hour or so, and we'll be done."
"Yeah, but I hate walking."
"We're driving."
"When we get out, we won't be."
"You're a lazy bum, you know that?"
"Lazy bum with a good eye and a better trigger finger."
"Hold on, you see that?"
Up ahead, another arctic fox was stumbling down the sidewalk, hardly maintaining his balance.
"What, a drunk? Nice; we can talk to him, pretend we did a lot today, and go home. I can handle this, pull up."
Bjorn pulled up and parked the car on the curb; the fox in passing didn't pay any attention to them at all. When Neal got out and walked up, something seemed off about the stranger; he was shambling, as though he were drunk, but he didn't exhibit the telltale lethargy of alcohol poisoning. Instead, it seemed as though he was ready to break into a sprint at a moment's notice, were something invisible not holding him back. In addition, he was drooling and slobbering immensely; a near constant stream of saliva poured from his mouth into the snow.
"You okay, buddy?" Neal asked, concerned. The fox lazily glanced in his direction, before continuing his walk. "Hey, stop! I need to talk to you." This time, he couldn't illicit a reaction at all. Neal began reaching for the fox's shoulder to stop him, but the mammal snapped its teeth around his wrist.
Immediately, Bjorn got out of the car and leaped over to the situation, separating the two; he muzzled the perpetrator, before cuffing him and throwing him in the backseat.
"He bit me! The fucker bit me!" Neal shouted, loudly murmuring obscenities.
"Let me see," Bjorn stated, taking his partner's wrist. Four pin-pricks slowly oozed blood down his wrist, dripping into the snow. "It's not that bad, quit being a wimp."
"It burns like hell," he groaned, hopping in place, clutching at the wound. Bjorn took a bandage from the squad car's first aid box and quickly bound the wound.
"Good as new," Bjorn said cheerfully. "Let's get him locked up."
"The sooner, the better."
The duo got in the car and drove the fox to the precinct; after booking him, the pair went their separate ways: Bjorn to his home, Neal to his apartment. As the fox arrived, he was greeted by a black vixen at the door: his roommate and girlfriend.
"Hello, Lyra," he stated wearily.
"Long day?" she responded.
"Yeah. You?"
"Not much; just more research." She watched as Neal sauntered over to a cabinet for a glass, which he proceeded to fill with water. "Oh, there was also a security issue, they were still working on fixing it as I left."
"What kind?"
"Classified, dearest."
He chuckled, embracing her. As he wrapped his arms around her, she noticed the bandage on his wrist.
"What happened to your arm?"
"Oh, this? Some drunk bit me just before the shift ended."
"Drunk? What was he acting like?" She took a sudden interest into his explanation.
"Now that you mention it, he was acting weird. Kinda twitchy; drooling, too."
"What species?" Her tone gave the impression that she was slightly worried.
"Arctic fox, same as me."
"I think you should go to the hospital. Now." She grabbed him by the upper arm and began dragging him out the door.
"Whoa, slow down. What's the rush?"
"I think he might have been rabid."
"Rabid? Rabies was eradicated thirty-nine years ago, remember?"
"Yeah, but his symptoms match that of rabies, and when you get bitten by a mammal for no reason, it's better to be safe than sorry. Come on."
"I really don't think—"
"Please, for me?"
He sighed.
"If it'll make you feel better."
He lumbered beside her out the door to the hospital.
She hailed a taxi as soon as he stepped outside, and by the time he stepped in, they were already off to the destination she had requested. Buildings passed quickly, and relatively few red lights stopped them. However, they passed the hospital when they came to it.
"Why are we passing the hospital?" Neal asked.
"They wouldn't carry the treatment, we're going to my research clinic," she replied.
"Fancy schmancy, huh?"
"Only the best for you."
They arrived in front of a dimly lit building, and exited from the taxi after he forked over several bills. He rushed after her to the door, where she flashed a badge to open the door. Hallway after hallway they traveled, until they came to a storage labeled 'Rabies Research Supplies'. Lyra opened it and began fishing through its contents.
"What a funny label," Neal commented.
"Why's that?"
"Why would you do research on rabies if it's already extinct?"
"Protein coat sampling, DNA sequencing, as well as… Oh, here." She pulled out two small sealed vials and stoppered syringes, pocketing one of each. "Let's get you into my office."
"Why not one door over in the 'Clinic'?"
"I probably shouldn't be seen pilfering supplies from this closet, especially not this vial."
"But you own this place, don't you?"
"Well, yes, but… Let's just get going."
They backtracked several hallways to an office labeled 'Lyra Karahan', and held the door for him. He entered, and she closed the door behind them, locking it.
"I presume you're vaccinated?"
"Well, yeah, it's mandatory."
"Good, I only needed to pilfer two, then." She removed the bandage from his wrist, and then swabbed it with alcohol; he was wincing and trying to pull it away, but her grip was surprisingly strong. She put the needle through the vial's rubber septum, and withdrew it's contents into the syringe. "Hope you have a good pain tolerance," she muttered, before poking it next to the bite wound. He began making 'ah's, and 'oh's in protest, and again attempting to pull away his wrist. "You're making this very difficult," she stated, removing and repositioning the needle several times, injecting some fluid each time.
When she finally finished, Neal was almost to tears.
"Wow, you're such a baby," she stated, laughing.
"I know," he spoke with a strained voice.
"I'm only kidding," she replied, stroking his chin. "I know it burns, I was just poking fun."
"Rude," he scoffed.
"Let's get going, I'm technically not supposed to be here after hours."
"But you own the place!"
"Yeah, but cleaning crew has to clean, and I interfere if I'm here; you know, stuff like that." She avoided his gaze when he tried to meet her eyes.
They left through the same door they came in, and quickly left for their apartment.
Two Days Later
Lower Level
Court Lodge
Outside Zootopia
Afternoon
Sirius walked in with a tray of food; to no one's surprise, it was the usual. Kai tossed a casual glance, not breaking his routine of exercises. Currently, he was performing free-form handstand pushups, much to Sirius' amusement.
"Are you gonna do that every time I walk in here? Showoff."
"I have to stay in shape," Kai replied, gently falling to his feet. "Do you have any idea what prison does to your body? Prison food, especially."
"Hey, I tried really hard this time; the spices are the hardest part." The wolf slid the tray of food into the cell and sat on the chair in the room. "You know, I can hardly recognize you anymore. You changed over the last two months."
"How so?"
"Well, for starters, your…" Sirius motioned around his chin.
"My beard?" Kai felt his chin, massaging it with his hand. "Yeah, I guess it has grown in."
"Right. That, and your scars are practically gone. I don't really get how; I expected the three claw marks to be around forever."
"Scars fade. I'm more surprised in how little you've changed in the two months, to be honest."
"Yeah, well, it's probably news to you, but mammals don't change much during a season. Maybe in another month my winter coat will grow in."
"And then what? Are you going to turn a different color?"
"I'll be fluffier."
Kai laughed.
"I've always wanted a fluffy dog of my own. Say, Sirius, on the topic of fluffy dogs, would you mind doing me a favor?"
"What kind?"
"Would you mind pretending to be an old world dog for me?"
"Excuse me?" Sirius raised a brow.
"You know, man's best friend sort of thing. Stand on all fours, pant, and do tricks for me."
"You have to be shitting me."
"Come on, I've already been here for the better half of autumn."
"But it's so humiliating and degrading!"
"You know they stopped listening in a month ago, right about when they stopped asking that I give blood and step into every X-ray machine they wheeled in."
"To be fair, I think you breaking their wrists whenever they stuck a needle through the bars made them stop, and not you objecting."
"I'll give you whatever you want."
Sirius stared for a long time, shifting his glance quickly to the door. He walked over, and peeked his head out, looking left and right, before returning.
"You know, as tempting as that sounds, maybe some other time."
"See? I knew I could get you to do it if I offered a belly rub."
"Who's talking about belly rubs?" he spoke hastily, shifting his glance from side to side. "I didn't mention belly rubs."
Kai began laughing.
"You're a simple mammal."
"You don't understand!" Sirius protested. "It's not like that!"
"Not like what?"
"You have no idea how much shit everyone gives me because Achernar keeps spreading lies."
"What does he say?"
"He says it gives me sexual pleasure. It doesn't!"
The man raised a brow.
"I don't know, you were giving me that vibe, too."
"It's… hard to explain, but it's not like that. It's different from sex, but it's way better!"
"Jesus, Sirius, you need to get laid."
Sirius kept stuttering, and motioning with his hands back and forth, as if to try to clear up a very large misconception, but eventually gave up, giving a sigh of defeat.
"Whatever. I've got good news and bad news," he eventually stated.
"The good news?"
"Election results are in."
"It's only been two days."
"It's all electronic now, we can tally the votes pretty quick."
"So, new mayor?"
"He doesn't get an election for another two years. No, the senators up for reelection in the Court all got back in."
"Doesn't really surprise me, considering you can rig the polls all you like."
"Hey, we pull other strings than rigging polls."
"It's not beneath you. The bad news?"
"I'm almost out of those pills you gave me."
"How many?"
"About a dozen left."
"That should still last you two weeks, don't worry about it."
"Yeah, but with you locked in here, who's going to get me more? Antares still can't figure out how to make them."
"Maybe you can figure out how to get me on a longer leash, then."
Kai ate quickly, before pausing in thought.
"Say, today's the tenth, right?" he asked.
"Well, election was two days ago, so yeah."
"Election is the Tuesday after the first Monday. It changes from year to year."
"Yeah, it's the tenth. Why?"
"Tomorrow's a holiday. Three-in-one, actually, by stupid coincidence."
"Oh really? What's the first?"
"Armistice Day."
"Armistice from what?"
"The First Great War. Lasted four years, but in that decade, seven percent of the world's population died due to famine, disease, and fighting. Last war that people saw as good."
"I see. The second?"
"The anniversary of the Forty Minute War, which took place three-hundred and eighty years after."
"Forty Minute War?"
"Well, I call it that; I think it sounds better than 'The Last War'."
"Why forty minutes, though?"
"Ten for everyone to declare war on each other, and thirty for the average flight time of an intercontinental ballistic missile."
"Oh. Well, the last holiday?"
"Thirty-five years after that, to the day, I became the last man on Earth."
"I… I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's my fault to begin with; I had opportunities to stop it at least a dozen times, but I was too shortsighted to see the bigger picture, to anticipate the end result. No, it should be cause for celebration: I'm not dead yet, and there's still intelligent life on Earth."
Sirius pondered for a moment.
"Alright, how about this: tonight, I'll see if you can go to the meeting. There, you can ask for something to celebrate."
"I doubt they'll give me anything. They're animals, Sirius."
"Does that make me an animal?"
"You can't be serious."
He rolled his eyes.
"Hey, you've been behaving for two months. They can't refuse you."
"We'll see."
Kai was chained to the stage during the meeting; he felt it was the ultimate form of irony. In the past, lone animals were chained up for the amusement of people. Now, the lone man was chained up for the amusement of animals. They were discussing some idle business about Savannah Square, and even though they all wore masks to cover their faces, he knew they were staring at him.
"So, human, it has come to my attention that you wanted to celebrate a holiday of yours tomorrow?" Altair asked. Kai was curious as to where Arcturus was; he was supposed to have recovered by now. Perhaps he was on business elsewhere.
"Yes."
"So, three holidays, three requests. What do you want?"
"First, a shave and a haircut."
The audience laughed.
"Fine, so be it. This might be easier than I thought."
"Easy? Is this the part where I request impossible goods and services?"
"Nothing is impossible for the Astral Court. Second?"
Kai thought for a long time.
"Pardon me if this request seems juvenile. For my second request: a nice, tall, cold glass of homogenized, pasteurized milk, with three chocolate chip cookies."
He was met with silence.
"E… Excuse me?"
"A glass of milk, with three chocolate chip cookies." More silence. "Surely the almighty Astral Court won't get hung up on a simple request?"
"Like… Almond milk? Soy milk?"
Kai laughed.
"I can't believe it. Among the thousand individuals here, none of you can produce a glass of milk."
"I… I…" Altair was at a loss of words, staring into the audience.
"Well?"
"Maybe another request?"
Kai laughed again.
"No."
There was a long pause in the conversation.
"Well, we'll just ignore that for now. Third?"
"A phone call."
"Absolutely not. You could talk in code; we cannot allow it."
"Then a hand-written letter, delivered to the leopardess; I want the courier to wait for a reply, and to deliver it back to me. You may inspect it for code as thoroughly as you wish."
"I… fine."
"I can expect these three things?"
"Perhaps not the second, but we shall see. You may return to your cell, human."
"Very well, rabbit."
Altair rolled his eyes, but walked up the stairs.
The Next Day
Morning
Kai had finished writing his letter on the stationary given to him:
Leora,
It has been two months since the Court has stopped pursuing you. I have not heard any news from any of the squad. How is Rufus; you remember him, the bear? Tell me a story. I am expecting a reply.
Kai G.S.
He neatly penned his signature at the bottom and, after the ink had dried, handed the letter to Altair standing, who was sitting just outside the cell.
"It'll take a day to analyze and deliver this."
"It's five sentences."
"I've seen shorter codes that held a thousand stories."
"Get it done, then."
The rabbit left, leaving him alone in the room.
At around noon, he was visited by Achernar, Sirius, and Vega; the former had to practically crawl on all fours and crane his neck low to fit in the room.
"I didn't expect to see anyone other than Sirius; what brings you two here? Achernar, Vega?" Kai asked, sitting up.
"I wanted to ask if you would be able to identify some artifacts that I brought from a recent dig," Achernar spoke.
"Perhaps when they let me out, I'd be glad to. Maybe you could bring something here?"
"I'll have Sirius do it. I hate this room."
The vixen stayed silent.
"Anyways, I brought food," Sirius stated, sliding the tray under the bars. On it was a bowl of rice, a chocolate chip cookie, and a glass of what appeared to be milk.
"No chicken; finally. I also expected three cookies."
"Hey, I take that personally," he answered, insulted. "And this is just to make sure it's made right. We don't really eat chocolate, nor bake human-style cookies."
He picked up the round, crisp treat and took a bite; immediately he gagged.
"Something wrong?" Sirius asked.
"It's awful. Where's the butter?"
"We don't cook with butter, we had him use shortening."
"There's a cookbook in the basement, item#19104. Achernar will help you find it. Make a real cookie, for God's sake."
Next, he picked up the glass of milk and swirled it.
"I can already tell that this isn't milk."
"Well, fuck me!" Sirius shouted. "What do you want us to do? Find a pregnant cow and steal from her?!"
"If that's what it takes," Kai stated, taking a small sip. "I will say, the flavor's not too bad, but the consistency is a hate crime; it's like drinking liquid starch. Here, you try."
He stuck the glass through the bars, but Sirius didn't reach for it, instead opting to fold his arms.
"I'd rather not."
"Fine; next time, bring me a glass of real milk, and good cookies."
"What's the deal with your obsession of milk and cookies, anyways?"
"Milk products and traditional pastries are two of the only three things that I can't have now. Besides, it brings me pleasure to spite the Court."
"Out of curiosity, what's the third?"
"Red meat."
They gave a look of disgust.
"Well, technically that's not true, but it's just not the same; it's all awful. Denebola's liver just tasted… bad, for lack of a better—"
"YOU WHAT?!" Sirius howled.
"What, you wanted me to let it go to waste?"
"I wanted you to have left it inside of him, where it belonged; preferably not killed him either."
"You know I had to."
"Just eat so I can go and get some work done," he muttered, rubbing his temples.
Kai ate quickly, and Sirius pilfered the tray and absconded with Achernar.
"You haven't spoken a single word, and you're still here," Kai observed, glancing at Vega.
"Well, I have a quick question."
"Shoot."
"Humans can cure rabies, right?"
"Where did that question come from?"
"Well, you see: I'm worried that someone might have rabies."
"Why's that?"
"He was bitten by a strange-acting fox."
"Did you give him vaccine and immunoglobulin?"
"He was already vaccinated, so just a supplementary dose."
"So what's the problem?"
"He developed a slight cough and a fever by the time I gave him the second dose this morning."
Kai chuckled.
"It's most likely some unrelated sickness, relax."
"I don't know, I'm just worried."
"Well, rabies was eradicated in 1980, right?"
"Yes."
"That and the fact he was vaccinated means that he can't have it. Unless, of course, the fox that bit him broke out of one of your father's labs."
"How did you know about that?!"
"I only guessed. I'm sorry, but if that's actually the case, I'm afraid your patient is a goner."
"Why?!"
"Rabies was eradicated. Naturally, that means the only strains around are highly weaponized."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Ask your father. Classic rabies became waterborne and bloodborne before it was eradicated, right? That most likely means that whatever he's got is probably airborne, too."
"Airborne… rabies? But my father wouldn't do that!"
"Like I said, ask. If he made the disease, he would probably have a cure for it, too."
"A cure… that's a good idea!" She ran out the door without saying another word.
Not long after that, a gazelle came into the room with shears, a fine-toothed comb, a mirror, and other grooming necessities.
"Just set them down anywhere," Kai stated.
"I was instructed not to let you get a hold of anything," she replied, unlocking the cell door. "Sit, please." She motioned to the chair outside the bars. Rolling his eyes, he sat down. She gave him the mirror and began trimming his hair short, roughly an inch in length.
"You're pretty good at this, considering you've never done this before," Kai casually mentioned. In the mirror, he could see her glaring.
When she finished with his hair, she walked around to inspect her work.
"How short do you want your…"
"Beard?"
"Right."
"Just give me the razor, I'll do it myself."
"I was instructed not to—"
"No one touches my face but me," he said coldly, practically growling.
"I—er… don't tell anyone I did this." She handed him the straight razor and took two very large steps back.
Kai took his time shaving himself clean until his face was smooth. In the end, when he attempted to return the razor, the gazelle sheepishly reached her arm out as far as she could to retrieve it.
"Come on, I don't bite."
She snatched the razor out of his hand, grabbed the rest of her supplies, locked him back in the cell, and quickly left.
As he was washing up, a black fox stormed into the room.
"What is this I hear you've told my daughter?" he demanded to know.
"Ah, I presume you are Regulus?" Kai responded, turning the faucet off and drying his face.
"Answer me."
"What a lovely color your fur is."
"TELL ME WHAT YOU TOLD HER, EXACTLY!" he shouted.
"What did she tell you?"
"She asked about a cure to my specialized strains of rabies; the only place she could have learned about them is from you. Who told you?!"
"Regulus, Regulus, Regulus…" Kai spoke, shaking his head. "Time is a flat circle."
"What?"
"All that we have ever done, or will ever do, we will do over, and over, and over again, forever."
"You're talking in riddles! How did you know I had weaponized strains?!"
"We eradicated smallpox in 1980; we kept it, weaponized it, and then released it. We eradicated polio in 2071; again: we kept it, weaponized it, and released it. The same thing happened with dengue: eradicated 2143, weaponized, and released into the United Republic of the Nile, killing half of the population in less than two weeks. It doesn't take a genius to guess that if you eradicated rabies, you would keep a few strains and weaponize them. The only question is, did you have the foresight to make a cure, or did you just unwittingly create an epidemic in the city?"
"We obtained custody of our escapee from the police, and tracked his route enough to know that he didn't infect anyone else. Now, as soon as she tells me who her mystery patient is, I'm having him moved into one of the Bureau's bio-4 labs in Tundratown."
"But you don't plan on curing him, do you? No, you plan on studying whether or not the disease will progress in the way you intend; that's why she'll never tell you."
The fox roared in frustration and stomped off.
The Next Day
Morning
Altair had returned with a tray of food and a letter. On the tray appeared to be a bowl of rice, a glass of milk, and three cookies.
"Here you go, you sick bastard," he stated, sliding the tray under. "As for the letter, I couldn't be certain she wouldn't use a handwriting cypher, so I had her type it instead."
"Paranoid, as usual."
"Whatever, I don't care what you think of me." He handed the man the letter through the bars.
Kai picked up the glass of milk, swirling it. It appeared to be real milk this time. He took a small sip, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was an actual cold glass of milk.
"I'm impressed," he stated.
"I'm really not, to be honest. We're all kind of disgusted."
Next, he grabbed one of the round biscuits and took a bite; it, too, tasted authentic.
"Real butter. You stuck to the recipe."
"Satisfied?"
"More or less." He finished the meal, and Altair left with the tray.
As he picked up the letter and opened it, he felt eager to read its contents. He took his time reading each word:
Dear Kai,
First of all, Rufus was the wolf. I thought you, as CO, would remember that.
The phrase he had written to throw the court off turned out to be unnecessary; the reply was probably written by Leora, after all.
It's been hard; police work isn't easy, especially after just getting out of these casts.
Just? He had given her panacea. Why just?
I don't really have any stories to tell. I guess there is one: my landlord didn't actually kill me. After I gave him a police statement, I managed to get insurance to pay for the repairs, so I'm all nice and cozy back in my old place. Felix took good care of me while I was waiting for the repairs to finish, so I guess I owe him one. I hope they're treating you alright.
Sincerely,
Leora.
It seemed like she was alright, albeit something was suspicious about the letter. He shook it off; perhaps Felix forgot to deliver the panacea to her, or perhaps he lost it.
There was a knock on the door.
"You don't have to knock to enter a jail," Kai shouted. In timidly walked Vega; her body was bruised, she had a black eye, and she hung her head low. "What happened?"
"It's not important; you were right. My father does have weaponized strains."
"He visited me several hours after you did."
"He also doesn't have a cure."
"He implied that, as well."
"He took my love."
"I'm sorry."
"The only question I have left is, can humans cure rabies?"
"It depends on how far it's progressed."
"Initial fever."
"I can cure that. I can probably cure it up until the post-furious stage; after that, I think his chance of survival approaches zero."
"Can you come to the lab to take a look?"
"You'll have to ask the Court about that."
"Neal has days, at best! I can't waste time with bureaucracy!"
"If I broke out, they would kill the leopardess."
"They wouldn't, I promise! Please, you have to come!"
"I can't take your word for that, I'm sorry."
"No, you don't understand, they can't kill her!"
"Why not?"
"She's not in the city!"
"She's… what?"
"Two months ago, Sirius reported to the court that she left for the Southeast Orient, she went to Sagarmatha to escape the court's sphere of influence."
Kai's expression immediately shifted to one of calm anger, and he walked up to the bars.
"I thought the letter was suspicious. Why had no one told me this earlier?"
"They thought that if you knew, you wouldn't agree to stay here."
"They thought correctly. Tell me, where are they keeping my gear?"
"I think it's in the storage closet adjacent the one for the masks."
"Go there and get me my gauntlets. At least one, preferably both."
"I was told you could bend the bars, why do you need claws?"
"I can't get this collar off safely without them; if I break the current limiter, I could kill myself. I know the weak link is in the back, I just need something sharp and non-conductive to sever it."
"I'll be right back, give me ten minutes," she stated, running out the door.
Eight minutes later, she returned with both of his gauntlets; she slid them through the bars. He put the right one on, and with his left hand, stretched the collar's links as far as they would go. He slid the index claw into the weak link and severed the wires holding it together, causing the collar to fall apart.
"Free at last," he stated, breathing a sigh of relief. He quickly put on his second gauntlet, and pried the bars apart. "I don't have long; I need you to take me to wherever you got these. I have other gear I need to get."
"Right!" she stated, nodding.
She peeked her head out the door, looked both ways, and motioned for him to follow. She scampered down the hall, cornered a left, then a right, and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks on a corner; Kai hugged the wall behind her.
"Vega, fancy seeing you here," a voice said.
"Sirius, what a… Hello," she replied. "What are you doing here?"
"Here to see the man, Achernar wanted me to ask him a question."
"What kind of question? I'll go for you."
"No, thanks for offering though. I haven't seen him since he got his haircut, and I wanted to make fun of him for it. Besides, there was an… offer I wanted to discuss further."
"Can you keep a secret," Kai spoke from around the corner.
"Who said that?"
The man stepped out.
"What—what are you doing out here?!"
"I know the leopardess is gone. I can't stay here any longer."
"I… I… I—If they find out you're gone, they'll immediately blame me!"
"I can remedy that." Kai immediately put Sirius into a chokehold, rendering the wolf unconscious in a matter of seconds.
"What did you do that for?" Vega asked.
"That way, when they find him, they'll think I escaped on my own and attacked him. If he's smart, he'll tell them that that's exactly what happened."
She nodded.
They walked down the rest of the hallway and into a storage closet; on the floor was a box that contained his mask, dart gun, ammo, and disguise projector, and hanging from one of the racks was his overcoat and vest. He quickly got dressed.
"It feels so good to have this back on."
"Alright, let's get to the lab."
"You've already helped a lot, but if they see me following you, you might face repercussions. Where is the lab? I'll meet you there tonight."
"Why tonight? We should be there as soon as possible!"
"Security and staff will be lower at night. I also need to get equipment. Right now, I'm packing light; I would much rather have a lot heavier firepower than a dart gun. I also need to set up some… weapons of last resort, so to speak, in case the Court decides to get a little trigger-happy."
"Okay; do you know where the Bureau for Disease Control's Tundratown public campus is? The lab is the North-most building on the campus."
"Tonight at 8, then. I'll meet you at the door; bring the key, or whatever you need to get in."
Kai turned to leave, but she grabbed his coattail.
"Please don't skip out. I'm begging you."
He saw her tear up.
"Hey, he's my subordinate, too. Don't think for a moment that I'd let him die."
She let go, and he ran off.
The goat did a double take as he exited, but a tranquilizer dart quickly knocked him off of the list of Kai's worries. He escaped into the chilly morning air, and found that snow was slowly drifting from the sky. He removed his gauntlet and caught a flake to watch how it melted slowly in his palm. It had been centuries since he had experienced the feeling; however, it was no time to reminisce. He quickly replaced the gauntlet and set out for his bunker.
He reached it in a little under twenty minutes, and vaulted the banister to the underground. Now that he was free, he had a lot more to worry about: the Court would attempt to strike at his squad, they would attempt to capture him again, and they would slander his persona as the ambassador; assuming that it still existed, that is.
Kai couldn't afford to worry about the future; he lived in the present, like all living things, and there was much work to be done in 'the now'. He had to gear up to invade a biohazard level-4 government lab, figure out how to keep his squad safe, and get the off-site missile tubes back in functioning order. If the Court ever got all six, or nearly all six, of his subordinates, he could keep a nuclear arsenal as his trump card. The convenience of the bunker's missile tubes being drilled into the ground many miles away from his residence was that they would be unable to trace the launch site back to him; the inconvenience would be that he would have to travel miles to get them set up. On the bright side, he still had at least ten hours until he was supposed to meet with the vixen, so he had plenty of time to get everything in working order; in addition, the older missiles that were loaded in the tubes had uranium primaries, which he didn't need to replace due to the isotope's long half-life. All he had to do was check to make sure the hatch was in functioning order, perhaps replace a bolt or two, and be on his way.
He grabbed the toolkit designed for servicing the ballistics silos (it seemed as if the bunker's architects really had thought of everything when they were stocking it), and made the loop around the mountain range. Only one bolt needed replacing, although a few needed tightening; in addition, exposure to the elements had knocked some connectors loose, and he had reconnected them as well. When he returned, the big screen indicated that everything was functional. The last thing he needed to do was fix the portable satellite display, which he did by inserting the two capacitors that were sitting finished (which he had never gotten to) on one of the fabricators. Ideally, he would have also finished the rare-earth capacitors to be inserted in the bunker's base relay to increase the signal strength several hundred-fold, but as long as he didn't stray more than fifty miles from the mountains, he would have access to the missile silos. However, due to the time he spent fixing up his nuclear arsenal, he was now down to two hours to get geared up and to the laboratory.
Kai pocketed the display, barreled down the long hallway to the armory, and began selecting from the refurbished weaponry.
You'd really destroy the city for six mammals?
"Not now. I don't have time for this."
It's your ultimatum, but think about it: how many innocents will die? Twenty warheads on a single missile…
"Not my concern."
The voice didn't respond, but he swore he heard a long, drawn out sigh. He scanned the shelves of weapons and took a silenced handgun, a silenced collapsible carbine, and his helical railgun; he restocked his assortment of grenades and tactical devices, and ditched the pain darts, instead opting for paralyzing ones. Next, he visited the medical quarters and stocked up on a large variety of medications. Although he wasn't sure if he could cure rabies in one visit, he could certainly stall it with a large assortment of antivirals; ironically, despite being named 'panacea', the red fluid most likely wouldn't help much, if at all, in a scenario against a weaponized virus. However, he took a couple of vials anyways: one just to give it a try, and one in the event that there were unforeseen complications in his assault.
Before he set out, he set one of the fabricators to make more medicine for Sirius. It would most likely take several hours (if not overnight) to finish, and he didn't want one of his very few allies in the Court to drift farther from him.
Now that his business in his base was finished, he activated his wolf's visage before racing up the stairs and to the city. As he approached, he quickly climbed to the rooftops; at this point, it was standard procedure, but he had to be extra cautious, as he knew the Court would be looking for him by now. After a while, the Tundratown Wall was several blocks away.
Suddenly, Kai heard a dart whiz by and hit the rooftop next to him; a second dart hit the tail of his coat. He instantly came to a stop, slid around, retrieved the carbine from under his coat, and unfolded it before taking aim; there, he saw them: two snipers, both in tactical gear, on opposite rooftops. Neither wore an insignia of any sort; Kai suspected they were Altair's agents. That is, they knew who to shoot at, but not why.
Two quick shots put them both out of commission. Although the first one went down instantly, the second one attempted to dive out of the way; his efforts only caused him to fall off of the rooftop when the bullet traced a path through his lung.
You could have just ignored them. They couldn't have taken you down, and you know it.
"It wasn't a lethal shot until he dove. Besides, when did you become so righteous?"
No response. He continued past the Tundratown Wall and along the rooftops until he reached a clearing in the Northern end of the district: the Bureau's campus.
He descended to street level and continued, as inconspicuously as he could, to the North-most building on the campus. He still had twenty minutes until he was supposed to meet with Vega; however, she was already leaning inconspicuously against the wall near the door. She was wearing a lab uniform, complete with badge, and was holding a lit cigarette; however, the way she held it, and the fact that she wasn't actually inhaling when she brought it to her mouth, indicated that it was only a ruse to keep others from bothering her until he had arrived.
Kai approached the vixen, and she hurriedly brought the cigarette to her lips.
"You're not actually smoking it, don't bother," he spoke.
"Who are you?" she asked, flicking the butt into the snow.
"I'm here to help you fix up your boyfriend."
"Procyon? I thought you… I don't know how you pulled it off, but weren't you gray before?"
"There were complications. Let's get going before someone asks what I'm doing here. Altair already suspects something; he had his agents shoot at me earlier."
"Good idea; we don't really have much time to lose, anyways. Hold on for just a moment." She swiped her card, opened the door, and reached inside. "There aren't too many researchers still here, but I figured better safe than sorry." She pulled out a labcoat and threw it at him.
"Huh, deja vu."
"Pardon?"
"Not too long ago, I broke into a lab similar to this one, also with a fox; the only difference is, I was giving him the labcoat."
"I see; anyways, I don't have a badge for you. That, and you'll need to ditch the coat."
He held the labcoat up to the light.
"Unfortunately, I don't think this will quite cover the… equipage that I have brought with me."
"That being?"
"You don't really need to know."
"So what do you suggest, then?"
"That depends: how expendable are the researchers?"
"How could you even ask that?!"
"Alright: how tight is security?"
"Very."
"Then we might have a problem. I could potentially blow out the cameras, but—"
"There aren't any cameras. The system's down for maintenance until tomorrow; I saw to that."
"Clever," Kai complemented.
"The downside is that there are a lot more guards."
"I don't suppose I could flood the ventilation system with knock-out gas?"
"This is a biohazard-4 lab, brute force isn't the solution. They have all their vaccinations up to date, the rooms are all independently ventilated with high-quality filters, and I don't think you brought enough tranquilizer darts for everyone."
"Or bullets, from what you're describing."
"I forbid lethal force."
"There we go."
"Surely you can make a stealthy entrance?"
"I'm not the world's best assassin for nothing. Get me a clipboard and a hard hat."
"Why?"
"You can get them, can't you?"
"Sure, the tech closet is just down the hall, but why?"
"You're the daughter of the proprietor of this facility. All I have to do is look official enough walking next to you and no one will think twice about it."
"Again, why?"
"I can already tell that a labcoat won't work: first of all, it won't conceal my equipment; second of all, I'm sure most researchers would know each other in a facility this small. A new face would be suspicious. An outside contractor, on the other hand…"
"Well, you know best, I guess." She took the labcoat back, and entered the building, leaving the door to slowly shut. Before it could close completely, she returned with the promised hard hat and clipboard. Kai donned the helmet and held the clipboard out in front of him.
"Let's go."
They entered the building and walked down a rather wide hallway. They made it exactly twenty paces around the first corner before they were stopped by a pair of mammals who, judging by their uniforms, were the lab's security.
"Doctor Karahan, who is this?" one of them asked.
"Louis Daguerre," Kai spoke without pause, extending a paw to shake. "As I understand, the camera system is down for maintenance and upgrade; I'm here to plan out better positions for camera placement."
"Is this true, doctor?"
Vega nodded.
"Very well." They radioed to the rest of the guards not to bother the doctor and her engineer, and went along their way. When they were well out of sight, Vega gave a deep sigh of relief.
"How did you know that would work?" she asked.
"It always works."
"Louis Daguerre?"
"One of the inventors of the camera."
She gave a light chuckle, before continuing along their path.
They entered onto a suspended walkway in a very cold room, and Vega gave some idle explanation.
"The 'cold room'. We use this as the ventilation hub; it's connected straight to the outside, which saves a lot on cooling costs."
After they exited the 'cold room', they descended down a large number of stairs, before entering a hallway with a large number of adjoined rooms, most of them giving off a dim yellow light from their windows.
"I hate this hall," the vixen spoke. "Every room looks the same, and there's no real organization with the samples."
"What about the color?"
"I don't really have a problem with it, but some researchers complain that they have a hard time differentiating; it's a mess, but we need it, since higher frequency light would destroy some of the samples."
"You have light-sensitive virions?"
"The plates we store them one have specialized diodes and transistor circuits to measure various readings; it's not so much the biological components as the mechanical ones that can't take it."
They passed every room, and then through two sets of double doors that Vega had to swipe her card to get past; a quick flight of stairs up, and then they were at another hallway.
This hallway was different, however. It seemed that every room in this one was dedicated to housing patients, as evidenced by the large beds, IV racks, and numerous cabinets of medical supplies. The doors to the rooms were very large, and externally sealing; in between the hall and each room was a decontamination room, which held a small number of sealed suits of different sizes for dealing with patients of airborne diseases; in addition, the large viewing windows had a computer console underneath, with a large array of buttons. One especially interesting button was small, bright red, and hidden beneath a glass box and a flip switch, also requiring a turn-key to press. Vega, noticing how Kai stared at the button, gave a brief explanation.
"They call that button the 'deep six'."
"Why?"
"Because if they push it, whatever's left of you will be a deep six feet under."
"What does it do?"
"These rooms are for containing patients of particularly dangerous viruses. If the patient comes to a point where it is no longer safe to enter the room, or if the virus mutates to an extremely dangerous strain, they hit the button. The room floods with cyanogen and ozone, and after a short delay, it ignites and burns at five thousand degrees centigrade for three minutes. It's a heinously expensive system to maintain, and it cost about three million per room to set up, but it works very well."
"Doesn't it destroy the rooms?"
"It did, until they decided that spending a million rebuilding the rooms each time was a waste of government resources, so they rebuilt it using ablative heat shields beneath the white tile. That way, they only have to replace about three-hundred dollars worth of tile instead of a million dollars worth of infrastructure."
"Let's hope wherever they're keeping Neal—"
"It's just down the hall," she interrupted, not wanting him to finish the thought.
They eventually arrived at the end of the hallway, and looked through the viewing glass: there, restrained in the bed, was the white fox.
"Alright, let's get suited up, and we can go in and get him all patched up," Vega spoke.
"Suited up?"
"It's airborne. I don't exactly want to catch it."
"Don't bother, then. You should stay on the lookout, in case anyone comes."
"But what about you?"
"I'm immune."
"Humans are immune to rabies? Were you vaccinated or is it an innate—"
A pair of voiced sounded from around the corner, all the way down the hall; quiet at first, but slowly approaching closer.
"Who is that?" Kai asked.
"I don't know, but they must have come from the west wing; we can probably ignore them. I suspect it might be—" she paused and her ears twitched as she tried to listen to the voice. "It's my father."
"Should we hide?"
"Yes!"
As the voices got closer, they both jumped into the decontamination room attached to Neal's room.
"… and perhaps you need to listen to her more," a second voice rang out.
"Listen to her? She needs to listen to me! She never listens, she never obeys!" Regulus barked.
"Why does she need to? She's an adult now."
"She is still my daughter, and she is still a Karahan. As long as I am the patriarch of the family, she will follow my orders."
Vega gave a very quiet, yet still noticeable noise of disgust.
"Why are you always mad with her? Even when she does well you are still mad with her."
"You don't need to know." There was a noise of rustling papers. "Viral load is extremely high… this is bad."
"Why is that bad?"
"It's only been a day; I made the virus too efficient. He might not live long enough for us to study him." A loud beep sounded. "Hello? Rav? Mr. Snowburrow, can you hear me?"
A loud grunt meant that he could.
"I am Dr. Karahan, the city's top virologist and head of this facility; I brought with me Dr. Viverin, chief psychologist among our faculty. We were hoping we could speak with you."
"Tired."
"We know, and we're working on curing you; however, since what you have is a very rare strain, we want to figure out all of the symptoms in case this happens again."
"Ask away."
"How do you feel?" Viverin asked.
"Extremely tired."
"No, what I meant was, do you feel upset? Angry?"
"I'm kinda pissed that I'm in this situation."
"Why?"
"I was told that I have rabies. I got vaccinated, and I thought it was eradicated. Now, I'm sitting here hooked up to a hundred machines, I feel like shit, and my girlfriend told me that rabies is incurable when symptoms start to appear."
A strained squeak could be heard when Neal said the word 'girlfriend'.
"Could you excuse us for a moment, please?" Viverin said.
"It's not like I'm going anywhere."
A beep indicated that the intercom was turned off.
"What the hell was that, Regulus?" Viverin asked, annoyed.
"You know I don't approve of my daughter dating that… inferior species."
"Where do you draw the line then? Is the tanuki an inferior species because we aren't melanistic red foxes?"
"That's not what I meant! I will find her a suitor! Until then, she should focus on her research!"
"I'm not that kind of psychologist, Regulus, but I did study mammalian instincts and basal psychology for my magisterial degree. She's in love, and in all known species, love ranks higher on the list than parents. You think she is rebellious, she thinks you're being stubborn."
"She knows what I think about other species."
"Love transcends all boundaries, Regulus; even the fact that he's a different subspecies won't deter her if she really loves him."
"I'd rather six him than bother trying to cure him. If she wants him, she can have his ashes in an urn on her dresser."
Kai heard a rustling; Vega was getting into a suit.
"What are you doing?" he whispered.
"I can't let him kill Neal! He won't burn the room if I'm in it."
"Fine. I'm staying here in case I need to go into the hall." He took several vials from his vest and handed them to her. "Human antivirals; they might not kill the virus, but they will at least slow it down until I can get stronger medicines synthesized."
"Thank you," she mouthed, before donning the large hood and opening the door to Neal's room.
Several bangs on the viewing window, and the intercom beeped again.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Regulus shouted.
Vega ignored him, instead attaching the vials to his IV line.
"Love, Karahan," Viverin stated calmly.
"Lyra, you will get out of that room RIGHT NOW!" Regulus screamed.
"Or what?" Vega spoke. "You'll beat me again, like you did yesterday? You'll call security to drag me out?"
"That second one wasn't a bad idea; come to think of it, the first one wasn't, either. I will call the guards, and they will drag you out."
"Why can't you see that I can cure him, father?"
"Nothing can cure him! It's a weaponized strain!"
"A what?" Neal muttered weakly.
"That's right, a weaponized strain. The arctic fox that bit you was a researcher that had some ulterior motives; he injected himself with the wrong strain and wandered off."
"Wrong strain? You allow mammal testing?!" Vega shouted.
"Of course we do. How else do you think anything gets approved? Of course, it was never meant to be this virus, it was meant to be a vaccine for a strain of influenza; somehow, he managed to switch a couple of vials. When I find out who helped him, I'll have them killed, but no matter what, I can't let Mr. Snowburrow leave the building."
"And what happened to the researcher?"
"The rabies already killed him. It'll kill your beloved in a short eight hours at this rate. Get out, now."
"I can cure him! I have human antivirals, they for-a-fact can fix this!"
"Human anti—… Wait a minute… YOU BROKE HIM OUT!"
"Yes; as a matter of fact, I did. You were keeping him there on a lie to begin with, and you weren't getting anything useful done with him. So, I got him out. Now, I have antivirals, and I can save Neal's life, if only you would just stop hounding me for five minutes!"
Regulus stared for a long time, and eventually took out his radio.
"I need security to come to the patient holding labs; there's a rogue researcher."
"Father!"
"You forced my paw, Lyra."
"Even when you know I'm right, you still refuse to listen."
"All you had to do was listen to me."
"Why do you hate me, even when I try to make you proud?"
"What are you talking about? I'm proud of you, I always have been."
"You don't act like it. My twenty-fourth birthday, I got my doctorate. Second youngest to ever graduate from the faculty of medicine at Zootopia University. What did you do?"
Regulus only narrowed his gaze.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"I made you my protege."
"No, you struck me and asked why I couldn't have done it at twenty-three, like you did!"
"Karahan?" Viverin asked.
"And again, when I discovered the capsid width of arctic rabies, sequenced the genome, and asked for funding to make a vaccine?"
No response.
"You had the paper wiped from the Bureau's archives, because you thought it wasn't written to a high enough standard, and then denied me funding."
"IT'S BECAUSE I WANTED A TOD, AND NOT A VIXEN! NOW THAT MY WIFE IS DEAD, I'LL NEVER GET ANYTHING EXCEPT FOR YOU!"
Vega recoiled, and took a step back.
"So that's it, then. Everything I did to make you proud, invalidated because I'm the wrong gender." She removed her hood and threw it to the ground, before giving Neal a long, drawn out kiss. As she drew away, she stared at her father for dramatic effect. "Now you can't take me from this room. The strain of your design will make sure of that."
"NO!" Regulus shouted, banging on the glass.
"Don't worry, I can fix it. Now, you'll just have to let me."
Regulus began to weep, his tears falling to the floor.
"What's wrong, Karahan?" Viverin inquired.
"The human knows he can't cure the virus."
"What are you talking about?"
"If he thought he could, he would be here to view the symptoms, before carefully choosing a drug. He wouldn't give five at random to her to administer. Now that she foolishly infected herself…" He reached a paw into his labcoat and tore a key from off of a necklace.
"Father, what are you doing?"
He inserted the key into the console and turned it.
"You know what I'm doing. I can't bear to watch you die like this. You say you love him… the least I can offer you two is the opportunity to die together."
"Father!" she ran to the window and slammed her clenched fist against it.
"I'm sorry."
He put his paw onto the big red push button.
"Wait," Kai shouted, before exiting into the hallway.
"Who said that?"
"The human."
"You're not him. Don't lie."
"I have medicine that can cure them. She has some with her as we speak. You just have to let her try. Call off your security and step back from the console."
They stood and stared at each other for a very long time. Regulus eventually looked into the room to his daughter.
"Do as he asks; please, father," Vega pleaded.
Regulus looked back to Kai, closed his eyes, and slammed the palm of his paw onto the button.
A/N: Haha, I didn't cheat with the word count this time! Forgive any typos, please.
Also the next chapter is ready, but I have absolutely no clue what to name it. I'll put it up when I figure out a title. The chapter heading for this one isn't very good, but you guys waited long enough as-is.
Fun Fact #29: The flag erected on the moon by the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission was quite literally bought at a local Sears for $5.50 prior to the launch.
