(An/ Hey folks I'm back after some time off due to two deaths in the family within a few days of one another. Thank you for all the messages of condolence over the last couple of weeks. So without further ado let's get cracking with the first chapter in awhile…)
Chapter 33- Sword
The day went on until the small hours, with the majority of The Champions leaving around 11pm due to curfews set by their parents and guardians leaving only Wasp, Brawn and Iron Heart who were talking possible tech solutions for the upcoming mission with Iron Man. Luna and Alice left early due to the bunny's tiredness and the pain in her ankles from her increased weight since becoming pregnant. Robyn and Hannah also left with the other married couple on the team, with Kodi noticing that Robyn looked spooked about something and was purposefully keeping her eyes pointed down, an unusual practice for the bolshie hybrid. Bucky and Storm left soon after, both of them in dire moods following the revelations Clara told.
Ghost Rider, Captain Marvel, Kion, Kodi and Clara were sat at the bar with blonde flying ace taking the role of bar maid. She poured Clara a cosmopolitan cocktail and slid over to her while saying "Honestly I'm not worried about Rocket."
"But he's on a prison ship with an evil dictator." Clara replied, sounding concerned.
"Oh please, Rocket's been in tougher jams than that, I've known that little bastard over a decade and he always wriggles out of trouble." Carol waved off, pouring herself a bourbon.
"That Raccoon is the definition of dumb luck." Ghost Rider commented, sticking to cola as he was driving home.
Captain Marvel nodded in agreement before noticing how close the two wolves at the bar were so close together before grinning "So Mage, must be good to have your girlfriend back, especially after your year sabbatical with Doctor Strange."
"Yeah, I can't put into words how much I missed her." Kodi spoke honestly, triggering an 'Aww' from his lover.
"Maybe you can't put it into words, but you both certainly can howl it." Kion slurred slightly, feeling tipsy from the amount of beers he had consumed.
"Oh, you heard us last night?" Clara grinned, fixing her glasses before singing "Not-sorry."
"Howling? Evolved wolves still do that?" Ghost Rider queried.
"Especially when they're doing it." Kion confirmed, his beer bottle looking tiny in his paw.
"Says the guy who's hyena girlfriend laughs up a storm whenever they bang." Kodi sniggered back "Don't think I forgot about the time you and Jasiri screwed in the Bunker's gym."
Before the drunk and flustered Kion could respond, Captain Marvel cut in "Ok that's a couple of things to unpack. First of all; wolves howling while banging is hilarious, secondly; your girlfriend is a hyena? I thought lions were like their natural enemy."
"Natural enemy?" Kion scoffed "We're both predator species, we don't hunt each other."
"Yeah but all those nature docs show they really don't get along. They fight like cats and dogs." Ghost Rider interrupted.
"What's a dog?" Clara asked, never hearing of such a creature.
"Uhhhhh..." Ghost Rider sounded, not sure how to explain dogs to a wolf "Carol, care to explain?"
"Thanks Robbie, you chicken." Captain Marvel groaned, knowing the explanation may cause offence.
"Ms Marvel mentioned dogs before, but she didn't explain what they were." Kodi remembered from a few days back.
"Look Mage, Clara...it's not...look you're not going to like what they are." Captain Marvel struggled, sipping her bourbon for courage.
"So, they're something to do with wolves?" Clara guessed.
"Yeah." Captain Marvel answered, looking at the three inquisitive sets of mammal eyes looking to her for an explanation "So you know in this universe Humans, Inhumans and Mutants are the only sentient mammals on earth? All other mammals are unevolved."
"We call them savage." Kion offered.
"Right, savage." Captain Marvel awkwardly agreed before saying "So anyway thousands of years ago Humans began to take in and train savage wolves to help them hunt, to guard their lands and for companionship."
"You mean like a pet? Like a parrot or a lizard?" Clara questioned, the wolf had a pet cockatiel as a child.
"Exactly but over thousands of years the wolves changed in appearance and temperament become less wild and more domesticated. Humans bred certain types of wolves together to be smaller, or faster or prettier to become various breeds of dogs." Captain Marvel continued to explain, watching the mammals' expression change from interested to concerned.
"Humans force bred wolves to make dogs?" Kodi gasped, it sounded like a dystopian nightmare to him.
"Such a control of genetics would result in disastrous health problems for these 'Dogs'. How many breeds are there?" Clara mulled over the information like the scholar she was.
"Hundreds." Ghost Rider answered, "My grandma had a Great Dane when I was a kid, I loved that dog."
"Gimme' your phone." Kion requested with a slur "I want to look these dog things on the internet."
"Um, sure." Ghost Rider complied, passing over his phone to the lion despite knowing the images he'd fine would upset him.
It only took Kion a few seconds to find dogs on a search engine and his instant reaction was "What the hell!?"
This reaction caused both Clara and Kodi to lean over and look at the photos on the phone and their faces matched the shocked lions "Dude how did you get from wolves to that!?" Kodi asked, stunned by the appearance of a pug.
"Those poor creatures." Clara commented, seeing the vastly different body types of dogs and imagining the health problems that went with them.
"H-hey look, it's not all bad, dogs are beloved by humans, we call them 'man's best friend' for a reason." Captain Marvel tried to gloss over.
"...Mammals in our dimension breed birds, reptiles and fish. I guess calling humans cruel for breeding dogs would be hypocritical but still it gives me the chills." Kodi tried to pragmatic about the subject.
"If it makes you feel better it not just wolves that humans bred, we did it to horses and cats too." Ghost Rider tried to brighten but this only caused the disgust to grow on the mammals' face.
"For Christ's sake Robbie." Captain Marvel groaned, face palming herself.
All of a sudden Wasp zipped toward the bar, still in her shrunken mode, the heroine buzzed in front of Kodi's face and informed at speed "You need to sort out Olivia."
"Why, what's up?" Kion asked, his drunken gaze struggling to focus on Wasp.
"She's gotten really, really drunk and won't get off Thor's hammer." Wasp replied.
"Oh boy, drunk Olivia is not fun." Kodi grimaced, getting up from his seat and was led by Wasp to the other end of the spacious penthouse to find an odd scene; Olivia was indeed swaying on top of Thor's golden hammer that was placed atop a coffee table, with a peeved Thor stood up and arguing with the mouse while the chuckling figures of She-Hulk and Black Panther looked on with amusement.
"No, this is my spot. I'm going to stay here and drink all night!" Olivia snapped, holding a thimble full of rum.
"Listen, oh rodent machinist, that is my hammer, I can draw it to my hand with sheer will so move before I do so." Thor bristled, thinking it was absurd to argue with one so small.
"If you can do that that why haven't ye'?" Olivia asked, her tone more spiny with the alcohol in her system.
"I have no wish to harm a fellow hero." Thor answered honestly.
"Then you lose, god boy." Olivia smirked before sipping her rum.
"Enough of this foolishness." Thor huffed, before reaching down and attempted to pick up Olivia only to be bitten, he snatched his hand back and yelped "Ow!"
"The mighty god of thunder defeated by a mouse!" Black Panther chortled.
"Little nerd make Thor look puny." She Hulk gave a hearty laugh.
"What in nine realms are you? Never have I met a soul so stubborn." Thor reacted, trying to shake off his embarrassment.
"That stubbornness is a side effect of being Scottish." Kodi cut in.
"Kodi!" Olivia chimed "Come to cheer me on?"
"I've come to check if you're ok. You've been hitting the rum a little hard since the meeting." Kodi tried to say this in a way that wouldn't sound judgemental.
"Pfft, I'm fine. I just want to stand on this hammer, while hammered, and piss off Goldie locks here." Olivia answered, swaying from drunkenness.
"Consider me rightly pissed off." Thor simmered.
"Come near me again and I'll bite even harder." Olivia threatened before displaying her pronounced front teeth.
"Olivia, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to start a fight." Kodi pointed out, familiar with the mouse's habits when inebriated.
Olivia looked stumped for a moment before waving off "Ah you're talking shite."
"Bingo." Wasp sighed, landing on the ground and returning to her normal size "Why do you want to fight?"
"Shut it, I don't wanna' fight." Olivia griped, taking a glug of her booze.
Kodi stepped forward and crouched down in front of the resting hammer and offered his paw as a platform for the team leader, after a few moments of silence Olivia staggered onto Kodi's paw. "Come on, let's talk about this." Kodi said, walking into another room for privacy.
As soon as the door shut Olivia fibbed "I only got on your paw to stop Thor bitching."
Kodi ignored the lie and said in a straight forward manner "Olivia, I've known you for years, stop dicking around and tell me what's eating you."
Olivia felt a wave of shame wash over her, she had made a fool of herself and all-over petty reasons "Ignore me, I'm wasted." she tried to avoid.
"Hey, you're always there for me and the others when we need to vent, so if you need to unload, go for it." Kodi encouraged.
"It's stupid." Olivia replied in a dunk slur.
"I won't care, you're my friend, I'll listen to whatever stupid shit you have to tell me." Kodi willed, using his other paw to steady Olivia who nearly stumbled off his outstretched hand.
"...I don't know what I'm doing." Olivia finally caved, going to take another sup of rum only to find the thimble was empty.
"I'm going to need more that." Kodi prompted.
"I mean I don't what I'm doing with my life." Olivia clarified, sitting down on Kodi's paw "I've got nothing going on."
Kodi processed this for a few seconds for replying "You're the leader of a superhero team who has saved Zootopia countless times, built a mutli billion dollar medical tech company from the ground up and are currently saving lives in another dimension. I'd say you've got a lot going on."
"But that's it. Apart from hero work and my company, my life is empty." Olivia expanded.
"You have your dads, you have us." Kodi tried to lift the rodent's spirits.
"And I love you all...but it's not going to last." Olivia sighed "Eventually everyone will leave."
"That won't happen, we'll always be a family." Kodi replied.
"Kion will probably leave first, he only joined the team to find his sister, afterwards I think he just stuck around to support everyone, he's a dad now and spends less and less time being a hero. The same will happen with Robyn and Hannah and again with Alice and Luna when they become full time parents. Even you, Mr Shag-a-lot, have a girlfriend now and I'm not kidding when I say I see you and Clara being together forever...then there's me, the spinster mouse with her robots." Olivia ranted with her bottom lip quivering.
"Olivia, you're 28, you have your entire life ahead of you to find someone." Kodi urged, only remembering a handful of occasions when he had seen his fearless leader look so vulnerable.
"But I already found him!" Olivia yelled in an instant, startling Kodi "...and I flushed that relationship down the crapper!"
"Blake. You still love him." Kodi said gently, he and the rest of Team Ceartais all had their suspicions about Olivia's heartache.
"Robyn was right in what she said the other night, I can't switch off...I couldn't even switch off for the mammal I love." Olivia spoke, trying her best to keep her tears at bay "I saw us getting married, I saw us changing our names to Dawson-Gusteau, I saw us adopting children and yet I still fucked it up."
"It's not too late, Olivia." Kodi spoke.
"Yes, it is. I chose Spitfire instead of Blake too often, he probably looks back on our relationship as a mistake." Olivia lamented, hiding her miserable face from Kodi.
Kodi used his little finger to lift Olivia's chin up and gave a comforting smile "The thing about mistakes is that they can be forgiven and fixed. When we get back to Zootopia I'm going to drag you to Blake's door and you're going to talk to him."
"Shut up." Olivia dismissed.
"I'm serious." Kodi vowed "If you love Blake that much I can't stand by and let you run away from this problem."
Olivia could see the determination in Kodi's expression, she knew he would make good on this promise "When did you become the mature one on the team?" She smiled sadly, hugging one of his fingers.
Kodi didn't have the answer he could only joke "When did you become the baby?"
000
Jack and Skye Savage had heard and seen a lot since they moved to Zootopia over twenty years ago from criminal and political conspiracies, natural disasters, the rise of superheroes and the madness of the purple sky incident, so one would assume they would be quite desensitised to strangeness. But this was not the case.
The couple were having breakfast when they got a phone call from their oldest friends Nick and Judy saying that they were coming over with their grandson Aaron who had a status update on Ceartais' mission through the rift, when Skye asked how the koala knew of such things the Wildes avoided the answer and said it would be better if he explained it in person.
Jack and Skye had been babysitting Aleks and Zoe's twins; Rhiannon and Felix ever since Zoe's kidnapping so the couple had enough juice and snacks at disposal for Aaron. When Nick and Judy arrived with Aaron, they were mobbed by the hyperactive hybrid twins, with Aaron being the main focus of attention. Rhiannon and Felix saw him as a new playmate and Aaron was ready to oblige but was reminded by Judy about the reason they were here. It only took a few minutes for Aaron to relay the message he received from his mother's but the absurdity of the story flummoxed Jack and Skye.
"So, let me get this straight; you astral projected to another dimension?" Skye asked her grandson, not sure if she believed the child.
"Yep, then I saw my moms through the mirror this morning." Aaron agreed, even though he didn't know what astral projection meant.
"I know it sounds crazy but he's not lying, Aaron's powers are amazing, I've seen them in action close up." Judy backed up, the doe bunny was dressed in a casual flannel shirt and jeans.
"It's not that we don't believe him, it's just a lot to take in." Jack replied, the federal agent was passing juice boxes to the three kids.
"Your Moms sound so cool!" Rhiannon grinned at Aaron.
"Our parents are cooler though." Felix boasted.
"So Team Ceartais have found allies in the other dimension and they've found out who's responsible for the kidnappings." Nick summarized, looking sadly at Felix and Rhiannon both oblivious of the danger their mother was in.
"What did your Moms' new friends look like?" Skye asked, amazed that the child was taking all of this craziness in his stride.
"They're called the Champions and their species is something called Hoo-mans." Aaron mispronounced "They were all wearing funny costumes, and they've only got fur on the top of their heads."
Jack grimaced before mumbling "That matches the description of the 'bad guy' I'm investigating at the moment." not wanting to say 'serial killer' and frighten the children in the room.
"Arthur was there to." Aaron added.
"Officer Knight!?" Judy gasped, relieved to hear her officer was safe "Why didn't you say that before?"
"I dunno'." Aaron shrugged "I tried to tell him about a magic book and he got upset."
"Magic? Really?" Nick reacted, shaking his head "This whole thing is just getting weirder all the time."
"Oh yeah there was one thing my Moms told me that was super important; hummingbird. They said you'd know what it meant." Aaron said before supping his juice.
The four adults in the room all had smiles of relief grow on their face upon hearing this word "She's alive." Skye said, putting her paw to her heart.
"Who's alive?" Felix asked, titling his head.
"Uh, just a friend." Skye swerved, not wanting to reveal the worrying truth to the child.
"I'll text Ray and Kiara, they'll want to know this." Judy said, getting out her phone and stated to type a message.
"And I'll get Lyla to have a word with you-know-who." Jack said, omitting Aleks' name as not to cause the twins concern.
000
Lylla had been enjoying her day off, lazing in the hammock in her garden and reading a good book when she was rudely interrupted by Jack calling her and telling her to check in on Aleks and deliver the news about Zoe.
She was irked that her relaxing day had been interrupted but Aleks was her friend and she knew that he needed to hear this. The otter made her way over to Aleks apartment and soon as she arrived at his door, she could hear the TV inside, she knocked on the door but she got no answer, she knocked again but could still hear no one stirring in the apartment. Lylla was a tad worried by this and fished out her spare key that Aleks had given her in case of emergencies, she opened the door and walked into the apartment and made her way to the living room where the sound of the TV was coming from. As soon as she saw her superior, she let out a frustrated "For Christ's sake." Aleks was snoring on the sofa, fully clothed with three empty red wine bottles scattered around him and on the TV was camcorder footage of Aleks and Zoe's wedding "Damn, this is pathetic." Lylla grumbled, going over to the sofa and shaking Aleks' arm "Aleks, wake up." but he didn't stir no matter how much she shook him, the fox just kept on snoring. Lylla tutted and walked out of the room and came back a minute later with a glass of water in her paw before throwing the liquid at the sleeping fox's face.
Aleks shot up with a start, gasping and coughing "W-what?"
"Wakey, wakey sleeping beauty." Lylla smirked, setting the glass down.
"What the hell, Lylla?" Aleks half snarled, half groaned, the thumping hangover headache came crashing into his senses.
"You wouldn't wake up and by the looks of it you drank enough to sleep for a week." Lylla criticised, going over to the window and opening the curtains.
The sunlight stung Aleks' eyes causing him to hiss "What are you doing here?"
"I came to check in on you." Lylla answered "And you're doing exactly what I thought you'd be doing."
"You have no idea what I'm going through." Aleks moaned, his headache making every little sound torture.
"Really?" Lylla reacted sternly, holding up her paw and showing her wedding band, she had not taken it off since her husband was killed.
Aleks realised what he said and quickly grovelled "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"If Rocket was here he'd beat your ass and I would help him." Lylla scorned "You need to sort yourself out for the twins and Zoe's sake."
"I know I need to be hopeful but I can't." Aleks pitied himself,
Lylla felt sorry for her friend and so said the one word that would lift his spirits "Hummingbird."
"What?" Aleks breathed, looking at Lylla with bleary eyes.
"We've got word from Ceartais, a mission update, it's not much but one thing they mentioned was 'Hummingbird'." Lylla explained.
"Zoe's codeword...she's alive." Aleks began to cry.
"I'll explain it all to you after you get a shower, you stink of booze. I'll make you some breakfast and we'll talk about it, ok?" Lylla proposed.
Aleks rose from his seat in a crying, happy daze and stumbled towards the bathroom while repeating over and over "She's alive."
000
Rocket Racoon was sick of throwing up, the hornet prisoner bracelet had activated every time he attempted to break out of the general population deck of the prison ship, three times in the 48 hours he had been there. His most recent attempt had him trying to remove the tiles in communal showers and crawl through the small space in the walls where the water pipes were however once he had made it through the crawlspace he had wound up in the room where the Doombots recharged. His bracelet was instantly activated and the Doombots grabbed hold of him. While he was violently vomiting, he didn't notice a figure walk into the charging room, looking at Rocket with smugness and sadism. When Rocket finally stopped hurling the figure spoke gruffly "You're a tenacious little prick, I'll give you that."
"Wha?" Rocket panted, his vision switching to where the figure stood; he was portly man who wasn't human, his teeth were sharp and crooked, his long brown hair greasy and his face was heavily scarred "TAZERFACE!" he yelled, trying to free himself out of the Doombots' grasp.
"I heard you got yourself on this ship just to get a shot of claiming my bounty." Tazerface sniggered, taking a few steps toward the mammal.
"Damn right I did, I'm going to drag your ass to the Nova Corp and let you rot in a cell til ya' croak!" Rocket snapped, hoping Tazerface would crouch down so he could try biting at his face.
"You've been after me for years yet you still can't snare me, even when you're so close." Tazerface mocked.
"Oh, I'm going to get ya', you can count on it!" Rocket promised sinisterly.
"No one can capture the great Tazerface!" Tazerface declared.
"That name's still stupid." Rocket laughed mockingly.
Tazerface looked like he was about to shout back at Rocket for a second but calmed and smiled "You know your girlfriend thought my name was funny too, she laughed at me so I made her stop."
"You bastard!" Rocket growled, the memory of him holding Lylla's lifeless body burning his mind.
"Hit a nerve, did I?" Tazerface grunted.
"When you die alone in a cell and get your miserable carcass dragged to hell there's going to be an angel that'll come down from heaven and torture you for kicks, her name is Lylla and she thinks your name is the most moronic, stupid, dumb name in freakin' galaxy." Rocket replied.
"My name is not stupid!" Tazerface howled before kicking Rocket in the face, forcing him into unconsciousness.
Rocket didn't know how long he was knocked out for, what stirred him was a stinging on his chin "Ah." He uttered, opening his eyes to see he was in a cell, but not his and Esso's, he was laying down in a bunk and when he turned his head, he saw Vanessa with a first aid kit, cleaning the cut on Rocket's chin.
"Welcome back, I assume your latest escape attempt went tits up?" Vanessa smarmed, dabbing the cotton wool ball on Rocket's cut.
"You assume correctly...but at least I know for sure Tazerface is on this tin can." Rocket smiled smugly.
Vanessa ignored the ridiculous sounding name and got a band aid out of the first aid box while saying "The Doombots tossed you down here about an hour ago, when I saw you were bleeding I brought you to my cell, I'm the only one with a first aid kit."
"Thanks for patching me up, you a doctor or something?" Rocket asked.
"I'm actually a professional party planner." Vanessa smiled.
"Well you can throw a big ass party when I take control of this ship." Rocket replied as Vanessa stuck on the band aid.
"Who's Lylla?" Vanessa asked out of the blue.
"How do you know that name?" Rocket asked back quickly, sounding defensive.
"You were mumbling it when Harper carried you in here." Vanessa answered.
"...Someone I loved." Rocket revealed "She's been dead for years, but it still hurts."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried." Vanessa backtracked.
"It's ok, it isn't like I'm walking basket case about it." Rocket shrugged "As long as there's guns, booze and babes in this galaxy, that suits me just fine."
"Charming." Vanessa said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, don't act like such a prude, I bet you've wanted to get a piece of this." Rocket taunted.
Vanessa looked back at rocket and slyly smiled "Maybe I do."
"Huh?" Rocket sounded, clearly not expecting this response.
"Look I've been on this ship for months and I've had zero action, to say I'm sexually frustrated would be the understatement of the decade." Vanessa said pragmatically "And I'm betting you've never done it with another sentient racoon."
"Well, I, uh..." Rocket rambled in an uncharacteristic manner.
"Look I personally think you're a selfish jerk but you're handsome, it's just sex, no romance. So how about it?" Vanessa propositioned, while looking at Rocket with hunger.
Rocket thought about it for a nano-second before replying with a slightly nervous "Sure."
000
"Are you sure this is necessary?" Spiderman asked, sounding slightly apprehensive.
"Oh please, Miles, I've been scaling skyscrapers since before you were born." Alice assured. The pregnant bunny was wearing a comfy hoodie along with maternity pants, in her paws was her katana resting in its scabbard.
"But I don't get why you have to be up so high." Spiderman fussed. The web head had agreed to help Alice begin tracking Andi and Ronin, he figured she'd want information about New York and possible hideouts however he was roped into letting Alice ride on his back and climb to the top of the tallest building in Manhattan 'One World Trade Centre' "And why do you need your sword?"
"The height helps me survey the landscape and rule out where my targets could be hiding and as for my sword, it just feels right to have it with me on a hunt." Alice answered, standing on the edge making Spiderman anxious.
"So... any insight?" Spiderman asked, seeing that the rabbit wore a serious expression.
"We can rule out any tourist areas, too big a police presence. Same with Chinatown, they won't hide out in the same place again. They'll avoid anywhere near central park; the Champions' mobile bunker would ward them off. These two won't use traditional hotels or Air BNBs, they'll likely use an outlaw nest. However, Deadpool and other mercenaries are after the bounties on Andi and Ronin's heads so it would have to be outlaw nest that prohibits violence or they have allies running the place." Alice listed off efficiently.
"Outlaw nest?" Spiderman questioned.
"A business that caters to the needs of assassins, merc's and other bad guys. These can be hotels, bars or armouries." Alice answered before going back to her deduction "Now that I think about it Andi and Ronin must have friends in New York's outlaw nest, I'll have to access SHIELD files on their known associates, from their we'll rule them out one by one."
"Good plan but how do you know they're still in New York?" Spiderman asked.
"They have Beast, we know he's not on The Cauldron, meaning he's still in this dimension. They wouldn't move him out of the state because they need to be in New York, hoping to get the other scientists at the Avengers compound." Alice reasoned "Besides we're still here."
"You think they'll come after us?" Spiderman asked, he had never considered this possibility.
"They may have slain Captain America, but we captured two of their allies, destroyed most of their Doombots and have two former Cauldron prisoners in our hands. To think that someone as tyrannical as Doom won't retaliate would be extremely foolish. I'd say there is an 80% chance they will try and attack us, if it was me, I'd separate everyone and kill them in quick succession instead of the teams of heroes head on." Alice gave an extended answer, while pacing the edge of the tower, unfazed by the 541 metre drop.
Spiderman was taken aback by the bluntness of Alice's words, commenting "You really were a hitwoman, weren't you?"
"I hate to say it, but I was the best. Even when I lost my arm I could still tear through my marks, in the seven months before I got my prosthetic I...I was still used as a weapon." Alice remembered aloud, looking at her cybernetic arm with a poker face "But that was the old me, now I just want to get this hunt over with and go home to Zootopia."
"We'll catch Andi and Ronin, find out where Beast is, save the mammals and get you all home. Easy." Spiderman quietly rallied, finding it hard to believe someone so sweet could have emerged from such darkness.
When Spiderman and Alice arrived back at the SHIELD apartment complex via web shooters, they found that every member of Ceartais and Champions were focusing on their new tasks, invigorated after the emotional funeral of Captain America the day before. All the heroes had a new drive, new purpose and new mission, it helped them focus. Mage, Viv and Snowguard were on the gym level of the building; testing out Clara's powers. Ms Marvel was alone on a roof, conducting a secret project she was working on. Spitfire, Iron Heart, Wasp and Brawn were brainstorming ideas on how to recreate a rift in the first of the two apartments the mammals were stationed in, Kion and Robyn were having a childish push up contest in the armoury while Hannah did her morning target practice with a variety of weapons a few feet away. Luna was with Dragoness pouring over the files that the SHIELD operative had acquired looking for any weakness for Andi. Alice indented to talk to Dragoness regarding her outlaw nest theory but first she wanted a mid-morning snack, she and her babies were hungry.
Alice walked into the apartment and found Arthur sat at the dining table with a tablet in his hand, showing young Jason some images "Ok, now look; some humans are police officers too, and cops are what?" Arthur prompted.
"Good guys." Jason answered, the young caracal smiling ever so slightly.
"What's all this?" Alice asked, setting her sword down and trotting over to the fridge, grabbing a punnet of strawberries and carton of cream.
"Well I'm trying to show Jason that humans are mammals too, that some are good and have normal jobs like the ones back in Zootopia." Arthur explained, searching google images for photos of teachers.
"You're helping him with his fear of humans, that's sweet Arthur." Alice smiled, getting out a bowl from the cupboard and emptying the strawberries into it.
"But humans eat other mammals." Jason said out of nowhere.
"Who told you that?" Arthur asked, hating that this truth had been revealed to him.
"I saw an ad on the tv for lamb chops, they eat sheep! What if they eat caracals too?" Jason worried.
"I think you're ok, humans only eat prey." Alice tried to ease his worries while pouring the cream over the strawberries
"So, they would eat my friends back home?" Jason asked, seeming more freak out than before.
"Jason calm down, look humans wouldn't-" Arthur never got to finish his sentence.
BOOM! The entire outer wall of the apartment shattered and erupted with an explosion, Jason instinctively activated his metal fur and dived under the table, Alice grabbed her sword and ducked around the kitchen island while Arthur was knocked by the blast. Parts of the wall crumbled away and through the fire, smoke and dust a drone could be seen. It was about the size of hatchback car, being kept airborne by the four helicopters like rotors, a myriad of weapons could be seen attached to the tool of death including a machine gun, micro missile launcher and most worryingly an experimental small rail run. "I hate it when I'm right." Alice hissed, peeking behind the kitchen island only to find her hunch about a possible attack had come to fruition and the sounds other explosions around the building meant there was more than one of these drones.
"What is that thing?!" Arthur yelled before coughing from the dust.
"I'm going to guess it's a present from Ronin and Andi!" Alice shouted back, rushing over to Jason to see that metal furred cat was paralysed and rooted with fear under the table.
"We need to get you and Jason out of-Shit! Get behind me!" Arthur warned with a bark, the cop seeing the machine gun powering up and aiming inside the apartment. As the first shot fired, he held out his paws, drawing his powers from within and forcing the bullets to stop in mid-air.
"Arthur!" Alice screamed, worried for the wolf's safety.
"Don't move from behind me, I'm not letting anyone else die! Too many have gone!" Arthur bellowed, wisps of blue light danced around him, even the terrified Jason gawped at the spectacle. Dozens upon dozens of bullets were stopping mid-air a few feet away from the cop.
"You can't hold those bullets forever!" Alice snapped, tugging on Jason's clothes trying to move him but his wouldn't budge.
"It'll run out of ammo soon, when it does run, I'll draw it's fire away from you and Jason!" Arthur instructed through gritted teeth as the blue light whirled around him.
"But-" Alice began to protest then ceased, but she knew it was the best course of action, she didn't want her unborn kits to be harmed or for Jason to be killed.
"Arthur...your pendant." Jason uttered, barely audible over the gunfire and explosions.
Arthur didn't hear the boy, but he saw the pendant it rose from around his neck glowing the same colours the wisps of light were before he could react a cacophony of voices in different tongues raced through his head, he'd be scared if he already wasn't battling for his life and then like a shot the pendant tore itself away from Arthur and floated mid-air for the briefest of moments still glowing bright blue before zipping towards Arthur, piercing and burying itself in his chest making the area where the pendent pierced glow as well. His screams were loud indicating to the others what was happing to him was painful, but he kept his focus on the drone and stopping the machine gun fire from hitting Alice and Jason.
"What on earth..." Alice uttered as she saw something she couldn't fathom, from the very faintly bleeding bright blue hole in Arthur's chest something was emerging; at first it looked to be a diamond but it was slowly starting to show a handle of a sword.
(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! A Sword is coming out of Arthur's chest!? Where is everyone?! Where are Andi & Ronin? What did you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! Next time on The Broken Mirror; Arthur taps into his greater power, Clara takes to the sky and Ms Marvel is caught off guard. Please review and c ya soon...actually not soon I'm sorry, I've got another funeral to go abroad for so the earliest i can post the next chapter is April 8th.)