Chapter 37: Always Prepared

June 27th, 2017, two days earlier

"I don't know, living with all males as a mom isn't all that bad really." Sherry said, as she was talking with Stu Hopps inside the prison cell. "Sometimes it even feels like raising boys is easier for parents than with girls."

"You're telling me." Stu said. "Some of my daughters are too fast to keep up with. Sometimes you worry they'll break something, scream until they break something else, always asking for new and stylish clothes, and then you got some pretty arrogant ones who wants to be the first bunny cop on the ZPD."

Sherry chuckled. "My point exactly. But still, they're good kits and I know they would never mean to harm anyone no matter how much their buttons were pushed."

Stu then turned his direction towards Chip once more, only to see him still with his head down in the corner as usual. "Three mammals…" Stu mumbled to Sherry. "Three mammals have died in here ever since we've been locked up in this cell and he doesn't say a word. And then you got Noah the guard who only tries to torture him even more, physically and mentally. Like, what kind of an animal would do such things?"

"Stu, you should understand why Chip's like that though, he lost his mother." Sherry murmured back.

"My mother passed away like his did as well a few years back." Stu said. "It definitely took me a while to accept the facts of it, but this isn't anything like Chip's case. He's never shed a tear since he heard the news, never jittered, spoke or even moved from that corner. It's almost as if he's too calm…"

"Whispering to each other again are we?" A mammal asked, walking towards the cell.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we ever asked you to step into our business." Stu argued. "And who are you supposed to be anyways, I thought that koala Noah would typically be on guard."

"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners?" The mammal wondered. "Names Felix the bear. I take it you're Stuart Hopps and… Sherry Wolford right?" He asked them, but with no response as expected. "And that guy in the corner, oh yea, I remember that wolf alright. Simon Clawchip, the idiot that got two of our mammals killed back in that incident with that Clawhauser dude in the park. Z wanted us to keep him here for a while just to show what happens if someone makes a move he doesn't like, or anything he didn't order someone to do with a negative impact to us."

"I doubt you and your little militia group haven't done the same to other mammals in the past." Sherry said growling.

Felix laughed as he laid his back onto the bars. "Well you're not wrong on that one of course. In fact, it would be considered surprising if we had someone who worked for us at least a year and didn't end up capping someone by then. But what can you do, we all got to make a living somehow in this world, and for us this is the best way of making some good cheddar without having to literally find some to eat from a trash dumpster on the street."

"None of you ever have the slightest remorse about the mammals you've killed, do you?" Sherry asked.

Felix sighed. "We were given a few psychology tips by Z on how to avoid that feeling so none of us end up regretting our sins and crying all about it to the ZPD. But I'll admit, half of the tips involved bribery. I'm guessing Z learned those tips on his own judging from the fact he's had a pretty nasty past all to himself."

"Why can't you just work like a normal animal would in this world?" Stu asked. "Don't you want to at least try something you've always wanted to do like become a doctor, or a musician, or even an astronaut? I mean heck, do what I do and just settle somewhere!"

Felix exhaled deeply as he looked at the molded ceiling. "You don't understand Hopps, when your dreams shatter, so does your hope of doing good for this world. It's exactly why every mammal in this- GHYK!"

Just then, Chip silently went towards Felix, immediately wrapped his belt around his neck and started pulling as hard as he could while positioning his foot on the bars. Felix tried to escape from the lock he was in, but had trouble stopping Chip because of his large arms unable to fit through.

"CHIP, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Stu shouted, as he watched Chip strangle the life out of Felix.

"DON'T YOU DARE INTERFERE!" Chip shouted, as he continued pulling.

Stu and Sherry weren't sure what to do at the moment, as both of them did want to get out of here but weren't too sure of a resort such as this. Stu then decided to interfere with it even if Chip told him not to, but to his surprise was Sherry blocking his way.

"Sherry what the heck do you think you're-!" Stu said, as he was then pushed away by Sherry to the floor.

"Let him do it." Sherry said. "This is our only way out of here, and I'm not giving up this opportunity!"

Felix's eyes then began to turn bloodshot red as his oxygen was being cut from Chip's belt. Felix even went to such a desperate measure, he began clawing at the belt to rip it off, not caring if ended up making hard scratches on his own throat because of it.

"This isn't right sherry!" Stu shouted.

"There is no right or wrong anymore in this Stu!" Sherry shouted back. "What they're doing to us is wrong, so why shouldn't we do the same to them?"

Felix underestimated how hard it was to claw out the belt being pulled on him. He soon made his last few twists and struggles until his whole body began to slowly shut down on him, as he then fell to the floor without a single movement. Chip then dropped the belt and caught his breath for a moment, then grabbed the keys from Felix's pocket, as well at the gun he was carrying with him.

"Jesus, oh jesus, oh jesus, I think I'm going to throw up…" Stu said starting to panic.

"Get a grip Stu, we need to get out of here before the other guards find the body!"

"W-what are you two crazy?" Stu asked. "What's the point in getting out of here if what'll happen is them catching us eventually and then shoving us straight back in here?"

"Stu, now isn't the time to be thinking about the details." Chip brought up. "If they so much as find us here, we're all dead meat."

"That is something I doubt because you know what, I think I understand how this is going to work." Stu said. "Those insane mammals out there are going to find us, and no matter what we do to stop them, they're still going to keep coming!"

"Stu, either you come now or you're going to get left behind!" Sherry shouted.

"If that's what it takes then so be it." Stu said, as he walked against the wall in the cell and took a seat.

"W-what do you think you're doing?" Sherry asked.

"I'm staying, what does it look like I'm doing?" Stu replied.

"Are you crazy, they'll kill you as soon as they see the body!" Sherry shouted.

"No they won't." Stu disagreed. "They're going to need me if they still want to supply some good motivation to my daughter Judy and her friends. If I died, then there would be no motivation left, thus causing Judy and her friends to make a move of their company they wouldn't want to see happen."

"Sherry we need to go now if we still want to have a good chance of getting out of here without security showing up." Chip said looking down the hall, making sure there weren't any guards in sight.

Sherry wanted to continue to persuade Stu, but understood the fact there wasn't much time left to do so. Without saying another word, she walked out of the cell, began running down the hall full of cells and didn't look back.

Once they reached the end of the hall, they were approached by a locked door. Luckily Chip got the keys he took off of Felix, but at the same time he worried there would be more guards on the other side. He slowly unlocked the door, took a peek inside to hear any sounds of movement or talking, but nothing was heard. However, as a precaution they continued to walk slowly towards the ladder out of the sewers.

They walked through most of the room at what looked to be their own place to just chill while someone took watch on the prisoners. "That's strange, if this is where most of the other guards are usually then why aren't they here?" Chip thought.

"Is something wrong Chip?" Sherry asked, as she saw Chip with a rather concerning face on him at the moment.

"Stay here for a second." Chip ordered Sherry, as he began walking ahead raising his gun. He then slowly began to walk towards the next right turn to be sure there weren't any guards to be seen on that side. But as he was just about to take a peak on the other side, he began to have the strange scent of an animal nearby. But after realizing how close the scent was, he instantly turned away from the side and went against the wall.

"BANG, BANG, BANG!"

Shots were being heard on the other side of the hall. "Damn it, they must've seen me take the gun from Felix's pocket and hid to ambush us." Chip thought.

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM THIS!" The mammal down the hall shouted. "HOWARD, PICK UP THE DAMN RADIO ALREADY AND GET DOWN HERE!"

"Chip, what were all those sounds I heard from over there?" Sherry asked walking towards the other side of the hallway.

Chip however realized Sherry was about to walk into the line of sight from the mammal down the hallway. "SHERRY GET BACK!" He shouted.

"BANG!"

Sherry then turned to Chip and was about to ask him why she had to stay back, but not before feeling a sharp pain go deep through her stomach as she fell to the ground. Chip then stared in shock after seeing her get shot, but knew he had to hold his ground before getting to her.

"I got a suspect down and walking towards him or her as we speak." The mammal said to her radio.

"We'll be there in just a few minutes Ellen, we didn't know things would turn out this way while we were getting a bite to eat." Howard said on the other end.

"I don't care what you think you knew Howard, just get over here as fast as you can!"

Once Ellen reached the body, she kicked it a bit to see if it was still moving, and surprisingly it still was. In order to finish the job, she aimed her pistol at the wolf's head, but only to hear a clicking sound from right beside her in the shadows.

"BANG, BANG, BANG!"

Ellen fell with three shots to the chest towards the brick wall covering it with her blood before sliding down onto her tail. Chip then ran towards Ellen and kicked the gun away making sure she wouldn't harm them, before seeing her body completely shut down and departed. Chip then ran over to Sherry to check up on her but from the looks of it, she wasn't doing very well.

"Sherry, Sherry are you still with me?" Chip asked.

Sherry's body then began to move only slightly before seeing her mouth cough up a bit of blood. "G-get out of here…." She moaned. "I… won't make it…"

"Sherry don't you say that to me, you can at least say that to your family when you get out of here!" Chip shouted, trying to keep her hanging on.

Sherry shook her head in disappointment as tears rolled down her eyes. "Just… tell my husband and boys I love them… do me the favour of telling them that…"

Chip's eyes widened as her grip on her and Chip's paws slowly began to weaken. "Sherry, don't you close those eyes, don't you dare close those eyes!" Chip yelled, as water began to fill in his eyes. "Sherry, SHERRY! DAMN IT!"

But after his last shout for Sherry to keep pulling through, Sherry's eyes were already fully closed. Chip would've wanted to have a feeling of grief or sorrow, or even say a prayer for Sherry, but knew there was no time as more guards would be coming down the ladder any moment now. He began to run for the ladder to the outside world before doing a quick check both ways to see if anyone else was coming, before taking a look at Sherry's corpse one last time. He then climbed the ladder, opened the lid and peeped his head out to see if the coast was clear.

He began to hear footsteps coming from only a few seconds away and fast. He quickly hopped out of the sewers, closed the lid and began running to the nearest cover to hide himself so the backup guards wouldn't hear him. He then began to hear the sounds of some mammals trying to radio it who was most likely the dead guard inside.

"Ellen, we've reached the sewers, what's your status?" Howard asked, but with no response after a few seconds. "Ellen, we've reached the sewers, what is your status?! Damn it, she's not responding."

"What do you think could've happened?" The hippo Howard was with asked.

"I don't know, but if what I assume to have happened is correct, then we're going to have to stay cautious when we go down there." Howard said. "Alright come on, let's get going before anything else bad happens."

Once Howard and the hippo were down the sewers and had closed the lid, Chip then sprinted away from the entrance as fast as he could until it came to the point where he was unable to breathe. The whole time he was running, he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to Sherry reminded him so much about what happened to his own mother. Just the thought of seeing something like that happen with his very eyes only brought continuous and unwanted tears to himself.

June 29th, 2017, present time

"So that's how it went down huh?" Biggy asked, as he was listening to Chip's story on the events that had happened only a couple days ago.

"Yep, that pretty much sums it up." Chip replied. "I've still kept that gun the bear had with him, along with a couple magazines for my own safety. You never know where Z's crew is going to look for an animal like me."

"So all that time in the cell you were staying in, you were literally waiting for someone to lay their back on the cell bars just so you could get the chance to catch them by surprise and steal the keys?"

"Uh huh, and it seems like it was worth the wait when I got the chance."

"Wow, to think I would know better by now about how focused our guards really are down there."

"Z's guards are not like any typical security guards at a prison Biggy." Chip said. "Sometimes they aren't always the most focused group of mammals from what I saw in that cell. I figured if I waited long enough, then I could get my chance at breaking out of there successfully and unharmed."

"But unplanned from the sounds of it." Biggy said. "And three mammal's dead, that's…. how you holding up from it?"

"Well, other than the fact that I got Sherry killed and am now a murderer, I'd say it just takes time for me to process it is all."

"I don't blame you, it always took me time to get over killing someone." Biggy admitted. "Sometimes, that feeling just never goes away. But hey you know, when you plan to do something I guess you got to be always prepared."

"Not for Z's case, he never has those kind of feelings."

"No, Z's case is one many mammals have trouble comprehending at times." Biggy said. "He does have emotions that guy, and I've seen it many times from him especially when I hear him having some talks with his little girl on the phone. However, what goes on in his mind when he's about to kill someone, it's something no one seems to understand. He never holds it back, he never ends up thinking of another way out, and he just pulls the trigger when necessary. If you ask me, he probably goes by a motto he doesn't want to give up."

"What sort of a motto would that be?"

Biggy shrugged. "A motto that most likely states when you have a job to do, you get it done and no questions asked. Something in his past… it must've just triggered it all in his head from that moment on."

"Well you've been around with him long enough, do you got any assumptions on your mind you think you can figure out from?"

"One." Biggy said still thinking about it. "But it's longer than you think it is from what he's told me and a few of the other mammals who were with him from the start."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was long." Chip said. "I'm all eyes and ears for you now."

Biggy then laid back on his chair and started. "Z back then, and now among the public citizens of Zootopia was always known as Zamiel Stripes. He came from a very nice and well known family in a small town a few other cities away from here called Hamsver Sound. He was quite the mathematics kid back at his school, especially since he never got lower than an eighty-five on a test all the way to the eighth grade, which I presume is why he became an accountant as well when he moved to Zootopia. Including him, he was from a family of six. It was his mother, his father, and his three little sisters. Now to no surprise, as a math 'nerd' he was pushed around and teased at a lot by many of the bullies that went to his school. One day, he was walking home on his own since all of his siblings were at a friend's house, he was approached by the same usual bullies on a street forced him into an alleyway. But this time, considering their marks in math were below a passing level, one of the tiger kits grabbed him by the neck and literally threatened him to do his homework for the remaining year or otherwise claimed they would come back one day and beat him so bad, he would never be able to walk ever again."

"And I'm assuming the smart choice he made for the situation he was in was he did their work for him, right?"

"Well yes, but that's a whole other story right there." Biggy said. "So when Zamiel agreed to, the bullies left him alone and called him a wimp before curling himself into a ball and began to cry. But as he was there, he began hearing the sounds of arguing and shouting coming from nearby at the back of a building. So instinctively he went over there to take a look and see what all the commotion was about, but to his surprise was two mammals pointing a gun at each other's heads. However, one of the mammals got a little side-tracked after seeing Zamiel pop out from the corner of the building and because of that, the other mammal in front of him shot him straight through the head. Zamiel was obviously horrified by the sight, which made him scream as it caught the other mammal's attention and took off by jumping over one of the fences. Now a few moments later, some other mammals who turned out to be the dead mammal's friends came running over after they heard the scream. Needless to say, they saw Zamiel and the stunned expression he had on him from the sight of the body."

"So what did they do then, interrogate him, ask him what he saw, bring him over to the police, what?"

"None of the above, one of the mammals went over to him, took out a dart gun he had in his pocket and shot him straight through the neck with it." Biggy answered. "Zamiel soon after awoke to find himself tied to a chair in some old looking garage. That's when the mammals from before came inside and began to interrogate him about the things he saw, and how it all went down. As afraid as Zamiel was, he still ended up telling them what he saw. Now from the mammals interrogating him's point of view, they believe if he didn't show up to distract the mammal that was shot, their friend would still be alive. Because of that, they thought it should be Zamiel to be the one to clean up for his supposed 'crimes'. Zamiel kept pleading to them to let him go home to be with his family, and would never speak of this to anyone ever, but the other mammals didn't seem to buy it."

"Why would they have not bought it from a scared little kit?"

"I don't know, maybe to them it doesn't matter what age someone is, they're bound to tell someone eventually." Biggy replied. "So now they went to an even further line, saying that he had a week to kill the mammal that got away to even the score with their dead friend, otherwise the mammals close to him would end up paying the price instead, seeing as how Zamiel told them his full name during the interrogation. So the mammals ended up giving Zamiel his own gun and let him go soon after. But neither Zamiel nor the mammals were sure of who the mammal was in the first place, so Zamiel wasn't ever able to get the right opportunity to actually do it. One week went by, and they found his father dead in a parking lot inside his car at his workplace. Another week went by, and they found his mother dead inside his home when he and his siblings got home from school."

"My god…" Chip said. "It was actually that far those mammals took the situation?"

"Yes, indeed it was." Biggy said. "Those mammals though were not the typical or professional kind of criminals you would see on the streets, they were insane and unnatural mammals who had no rules, limits or boundaries as to what they did. Some would even describe animals like them as savages. Now during the third week as he was walking to school while still trying to cope with the loss of his parents, he noticed a similar looking mammal walking into one of the large supermarkets in the town, who he recognized as the mammal who shot the other mammal's friend behind the building. He began to follow him and eventually found him walking back to his car as Zamiel wrote the licence plate number on it. As twisted as his situation was, he knew he had to find that car so he could find the mammal and kill him, otherwise the mammals who kidnapped him would be going after his sisters next."

"So did he ever find the mammal with the same license plate after that?"

"Sadly not on time." Biggy replied. "Another week went by and he heard the news about his three sisters and how an unknown assailant crept through the window of the orphanage they all had to stay at and injected them with a fast working poison. That right there completely broke Zamiel which made him go insane and have a complete meltdown as his entire family was now dead. When he was finally able to go back to his bed the next day, he found a note under his blankets which said that he was next if the mammal wasn't taken care of by the end of the week."

"Well, if he's still here than it sounds like he actually did it."

"And he did." Biggy said. "It was the final day he had to find the mammal and kill him. To his luck, he found the same license plate parked by a bar just a few blocks from the orphanage he was staying at. As the mammal walked out of the bar and was about to head into his car, Zamiel gunned him down and immediately began running for the woods so no one would see him. Z even told me himself that it was one of the biggest things he ever regretted doing to someone up until now. Now it does sound a little crazy coming from someone like Z, but I suppose it was because back then he didn't have a clue about anything he would later end up doing in his life."

"You don't say."

Biggy grinned a little. "So once the job was finally finished and the mammal he needed to find and kill was dead, the following day nothing happened to him. However, the day after that as he was walking back from school as he typically would on a weekday, a car approached him. The owner of the car asked Zamiel to get inside saying that he wanted to take him somewhere special. Instinctively of course, Zamiel said no and continued to walk, but not before the driver caught up to him again and pulled out a pistol. And with that, Z and the driver were off to god only knows where. Turns out he took Zamiel to the gang's hideout which seemed to mostly be a place to chill seeing as how there was a bar and some old pool tables around there. When he got there he was shown to the leader of the gang, who simply congratulated him on completing what they asked him to do, and giving his fake-sounding sorrows to him for hearing about his whole family's death."

"That sounds like something any mammal would lash out on."

"But not Zamiel." Biggy said. "Zamiel however said not one word while he was there, even if someone were to ask him his name, not a whisper from him. The mammals decided to leave him by one of the couches for the remainder of the night and deciding what to do with him after a few beers. But the error they all made on that part was going a bit over the top with the drinks as each mammal hand drunk up to at least five bottles worth of alcohol. Zamiel at the same time began to notice they were vulnerable due to all the alcohol that got into those mammal's systems. It was only then when he realized it was his chance, a chance to get even with all those mammals. Think about it Chip, being alone with a bunch of mammals who basically massacred your entire family vulnerable to a mammal like Zamiel?"

"I got a pretty good feeling at what he did next then."

"And you're probably right." Biggy agreed. "Because soon after, Zamiel went through one of the bags of guns they had kept inside that place, took out an assault rifle and bambambambam! Gunned all ten of them down with one mag. Now who would have thought it, turns out one of the mammals who was the leader still had a few breaths in him. Zamiel obviously noticed, so he took a pistol from one of the dead mammal's on the ground and approached the leader with it as he stood over him. The leader couldn't speak due to his injuries so he waved his paws up in surrender as he feared of dying, only to be shot in the head a few seconds later by Zamiel."

"Woah…" Chip said. "Sounds to me like he really is as dangerous as they say. Those mammals really did create a monster out of him."

"Perhaps…" Biggy said. "Or maybe they just released the chain of the animal inside Zamiel, all this time. Say Chip, do you know why Zamiel calls himself Z now?"

Chip thought about it for a few moments. "I don't know, but I assume you know the answer to that."

"It's because it represented the broken parts of him after that incident." Biggy said. "From that moment on, all he had after that was himself, nobody else to love or look up to. Because of that, when he went into this major business of weapon manufacturing, he decided to show his true self to the world and how broken inside he really was as an animal. He then shortened his name from Zamiel to Z, mostly to show it was really that was all inside him, even feeling disgraced to himself for mammals saying his full name when he knew inside he would never be full again."

"Did Z really tell you all that stuff to you and everyone that worked for him?"

"No, but considering I've worked for him for many years he always ended up mentioning lots of memories about his past in full detail." Biggy explained. "It wasn't hard to connect the separate stories together too long after. But look Chip, the point I've been trying to make is that Z believes the motto of when a mammal has to do something, it needs to be done. No refusals, time delays or excuses, simply done. It must have stuck to him after seeing what had happened to himself when he never followed that motto when he was young. Sometimes the past is too hard to let go of for many mammals, and I am one of them."

Chip looked over to Biggy in concern, knowing the kinds of pain he himself must have gone through as well. "You love your family that much don't you?"

There was silence in the room for a couple moments before hearing some chuckling from Biggy. "I suppose that's one thing in which makes us both very alike Chip."

Chip slowly nodded back. "So what do we do now?"

"I have no earthly idea Chip." Biggy replied. "Taking down a mammal like Z and his organization is merely the exasperation of the situation itself. We have very few mammals who are on our side now."

"Oh, so we still have those four mammals from the mysterious five group right?"

"Three now actually." Biggy corrected. "One of them was filled with led by the police after having shot Z's ex-wife in the head on some mischievous street down in the Canal District.

Chip was merely speechless after the words which invoked his inner self. "Wait a second, Z's ex is dead? What the hell have I been missing out in the world after all this time?"

Biggy laughed out loud. "Ohhhhh you wouldn't believe it Chip. You wouldn't believe it…"

Next week: Chapter 38, Natural Instincts

Fun fact: Ellen and Howard, the two guards mentioned in this chapter were already heard from before in chapter 30, Irreversible Actions, where they were the two mammals Finnick eavesdropped on in learning the truth about his mother.