Chapter 38: Rumble on River Street

Jake looked at the snow leopard's face and laughed, "You act like you've never seen kits before?"

Jerry was staring down in awe at the raccoon with the stroller and said, "I just can't get used to you being a father, Jake. I mean you were just a punk street kit yourself not too long ago."

"I figured I'd stop by the old neighborhood to visit everyone and show off the boys," the raccoon replied. "I also want to check up on Trish and Candy too."

The afternoon crowd on River Street was still sparse this early in the day because most of the street mammals had not begun to gather for their nightly activities. But slowly some of Jake's old friends began to gather around them, everyone wanting to hold the kits and congratulate the raccoon on being a father. Breaking from the crowd, Jerry scanned the street, as he was always vigilante about who was on his turf. His eyes narrowed as black sedan stopped and four large lamas in black suites climbed out of the car, they pushed their way through the crowd towards Jake. At the sight of the lamas, Jerry began to growl. He glanced and saw that Mrs. Ling, an elderly panda shop keeper, had Jack's sons protectively tucked in her arms and was heading towards her store.

The largest lama stepped forward towards the raccoon. He was at least twice as large as the smaller mammal and said to Jake, "You're the pelt who caused this entire problem? They were just whores, so you should have left our boss's son alone." He spit at the raccoon and grinned. Suddenly the lama lashed out at Jake with a knife, but the raccoon ducked and dove out of the other mammal's reach. Jake could hear a roar and glanced over to see Jerry decking one of the other lamas. There was blood on the leopard's brass knuckles and the other two lamas turned towards him.

Primal instincts almost overwhelmed Jake and he fought for self-control, he growled and attacked the lama with his claws. Biting his assailant's wrist, he made him drop the knife. Then using his claws to dig into the lama's fur, he climbed up and began biting and scratching at the lama's face and ears. The lama tried to grab Jake off of his neck, but the raccoon bit hard on the mammal's ear causing him to scream. "Don't you ever call my friends pelts again!" the raccoon yelled after spitting out the hunk of ear he had bitten off. Reaching down, he pulled out his taser baton and drove it into the beast's neck, discharging it's electrical blast even as he flipped off and into the air. He landed on his four paws next to the now stunned lama, then looking up he saw Jerry was holding his own with the last two lamas. Jerry was a street brawler, but he was staggering from a kick he took to his thigh.

As Jake began to run to help, he was cut off by a large grey mammal that had entered the fight. The rhino had slammed into one of the lamas, sending the smaller mammal flying into the sedan. Then the he turned towards the last remaining assailant and snorted, "You come down to our turf, attack our friends! That that ain't gonna happen punk, we take care of our own."

The lama looked at the crowd that had gathered around him and his eyes widened at the sight of several dozen angry street mammals, he bolted to the car and locked its doors. At the sound of police sirens, the crowd quickly dispersed leaving only an angry raccoon sitting on the sedan's roof wildly pounding on it with a steel pipe. On the ground nearby laid two unconscious lamas and a third one was writhing in pain, the patrol officers had to tranquilize Jake to get him off the car's roof.

He awoke a few hours later, lying in a cell in the First Precinct. He shook his head groggily and he groaned only to hear a very angry female raccoon say, "So Sugar, I get a phone call from Mrs. Ling that she has my kits with her at her store and then I find out they had to dart their crazy father to get him off of a car. Care to explain yourself dear?"

"There were these lamas…ah…then they attacked…big fight…actually I don't remember too to much more," stammered Jake. "Did they really have to tranquilize me?"

"You were out of control Jake," Chief Bogo answered his question as he entered the hallway. "Wilde's gone back to your suite with your sons. The DA's office does not want to prosecute because videos of the fight are all over the net and it was quite clear you were attacked. Also the Patagonian delegation is not pressing charges. On top of everything else, the mayor's office is having a fit since this almost became a major international incident."

"Does that mean that I'm clear to go?" Jake asked, he looked hopefully at the larger mammal.

"For now, but you really need to go see someone about your anger issues," said the cape buffalo.

Across town, a portly wallaby sat down at his desk. The meeting had not gone as well as he had planned with the alpaca. He was right, the ZIA still needed his connections and that damned raccoon had endangered the operation. Unlocking his desk drawer, he pulled out the file and began sorting through its contents. He was of the old school and never trusted keeping some sensitive materials on a computer. Pulling out a paw full of photographs, he began to stamp them by classification for his operatives.

Photo 1: Female raccoon standing on a veranda holding two kits. He did not hesitate stamping this one EXPENDABLE

Photo 2: Female rabbit in a ZPD uniform. The rabbit was too by the idealistic– EXPENDABLE

Photo 3: Male red fox in a tacky green tropical shirt. He mulled this one over and the decided that he was worthless without the rabbit – EXPENDABLE

Photo by photo he stamped expendable until finally there were two left, a tailless rat and a mouse. These he stamped RECRUIT.

As he stared at the file, he reviewed possible operatives. Alpha Team, but James was out of the country and that wolf had a terrible time keeping his female partners alive. Beta team was recuperating after their last mission since Mr. Steed had a broken leg. Charlie Team was still available and he could count on Savage, but he was worried about Skye and the way she now acted around the raccoon. Delta Team was not exactly top notch. Hell, if the one eyed white mouse wasn't the nephew of the director, he would have already dumped both him and that stupid mole.

So he would keep Charlie Team on the mission, maybe things would play out without their involvement? There was the issue of another party having also targeted the raccoon, although having a mob war may be something they can exploit to their advantage.

"Patagonians be damned, for now they will just wait!" snapped the Wallaby as he slammed the photos back into their file.

Later that night, Jake was naked under the bed's sheets and had tucked his paws behind his head. He was waiting for Marie to come into the bedroom. She was still mad at him, but he had a plan. Nick had tried warned him that make up sex was not the answer to this problem, but the cocky raccoon was counting on his new pheromones to overwhelm his mate like it did a lot of females. Marie did finally enter the room, but with both boys in her arms.

"Here's daddy and guess what boys, he's going to tuck you in tonight. Isn't that right Sugar?" She said as she handed the struggling kits into him arms. She looked at the bulge in the sheet, which was deflating fast, and frowned. Picking up his boxer shorts from the floor, she tossed them into his face.

After what seemed like an eternity of rocking, he laid his now sleeping boys into their crib and padded back to his bedroom only to find his mate asleep in bed and still dressed in her pajamas. The room smelled of Scentoff air freshener. He softly whimpered in disappointment as he crawled into bed and tried to sleep. Fretfully he tossed and turned throughout the night, until finally he felt his Marie's paw on his chest and then he finally slept.

The next morning he joined Marie and the kits as she went to work at the Coyote Cultural Center, which was now located in remodeled building in downtown Happy Town. Jake marveled at the changes that had been made to the once blighted town's center. New shops and restaurants had opened, including a Snarlbucks Coffee Shop. As they exited the train station, they were warmly greeted by several of the town's residents, a mixture of foxes, raccoons, possums, and coyotes. Jake's eyes locked on two teenage wolves, who were watching him and his family exit the station. Expecting trouble he was somewhat surprised as they just nodded at him.

When they arrived at the center, Charlie Longtail was standing in the building's alleyway and staring at graffiti on the center's side wall. Marie looked at him and then angrily said that she'd call a painter, but was everyone was surprised when Jake disagreed. "Leave the graffiti alone guys, this is a good thing," Jake said. "These are the tags of the three most powerful gangs in Happy Town and they have declared this area a neutral zone." Pointing to the closest symbol, he explained, "That is the Nine Tails Gang and their alpha is a fox, next is the coyote West End Pack and the last is the Snapper's Gang. Their all wolves and the most powerful of the three, their alpha goes by the nickname of Killer. Anyone who enters this area will know that it is protected."

He looked down the street and was impressed with the changes that were taking place. Across the street the old St. Patrick's Church was finally being renovated and a new youth center was being built next door. A big sign showed what the building would look like when finished and it was titled the St. Patrick's Activity Center, but someone had spray painted on the sign The PACK.

The center itself had offices for the charity, of course, but it also a day care center where working mothers could leave their pups. There was also an employment center, a tutoring center, and a gymnasium for after school programs. In addition, there was an extensive museum and library about coyote culture. Little Nicky and Freddie spent most of their time at the day care center, when they weren't with Marie in her office.

After lunch with the family, Jake strolled around the town looking around at the many changes that already had taken place. Still dominating the view from the downtown was still the old dilapidated factories, remnants of the heyday of the wool industry. The now abandoned hulks stared windowless in the midday sun as they slowly decayed. Nearby were the old tenements, still occupied despite being dangerously in disrepair. The city's promise to force their absent owners to bring them to code never became a reality and it was quite evident that the slum lords still had considerable political power in this part of the city. Nearby many of the once stately manors of the rich still stood as empty shells, although a it was encouraging to see a few were being renovated.

This is home? Pondered the raccoon, the place I grew up in and where I lived until my father's death. A place I wanted to so badly leave. He knew that rejuvenation was slowly coming, but the Happy Town still had a long way to go. The major change had come to the streets, the brutal crime and gang warfare which marred the community had declined. This was not so much because of the efforts of the understaffed police, but a coalition formed by the aging gang leaders who realized they want more for their children and grandchildren. Granted that petty crime was still rampant, but the drug dealers and violent criminals had been forced off the streets.

Oddly enough this change was spurred by a large influx of coyotes into the community. They were drawn by the growing industrialization to the city's east, where the newer heavy automated cotton factories had been built, along with a vast network of warehouses and improvements to the rail yards. These newcomers welcomed even the foxes into their growing packs, bridging the gap between these canids and the wolves. Their presence changed the community dynamics as the pack alphas met regularly to arbitrate territorial disputes and even punish minor crimes.

In his heart, the raccoon knew that this was still his home.