Chapter 38 – Defying the King
As Reynard and his team prepared for the large complicated assault, Reynard and Felix realized that they were missing a lot of mission critical data, and developed a plan to attempt to gather this much needed information. In order to accomplish this task, they realized there was only one mammal for the job. That was not unusual as many times organizations depended on single members to accomplish specific goals, but what was truly extraordinary was that this individual was a little eight year old bunny named Jack Savage. Jack had not been sedentary since the last assaults of two years earlier, quite the opposite. The bunny had been training every day mastering all the new tasks and challenges his spy master threw at him. Jack had also been on a few surveillance missions during this time. While these missions involved corporate espionage, there were still risks involved. The little bunny was particularly useful in situations where his diminutive size, young age, cute and adorable appearance, and non-threatening species, made him the perfect mammal to convince others he posed no threat whatsoever.
So it was that Reynard once again called upon his wee friend to help save a substantial number of children and innocents who were being abused and violated in horrible ways. In order to execute such a huge operation all over the entire kingdom simultaneously, every scrap of information on the operations was vital to their success. The one difference they had this time was that they were not under such a time crunch when gathering the information. Of course the fox hated leaving innocent children in such conditions a single day longer than necessary, but with the King's new proclamation, Reynard knew that they would have only one shot at this, and he planned to make it count.
Jack had been attending a special school Reynard had created for gifted children among his now thousands of Kids. This school, for a very select number of special and very unique adolescents, served several valuable purposes. The first was a private school for his now older kits, eight year old Titian and Rose, fraternal brother and sister twins, and six year old Brick. Four year old Scarlet spent her time with her two year old cousin Nick and one and a half year old brother Crimson, being instructed and cared for at home by her mother, Aunt Marion and several nannies. The second purpose was as a place to develop and encourage true talent, exceptional minds, and children displaying gifts which made them stand out as individuals with unlimited potential. Reynard always looked for such individuals for his crime organization as well as his many business ventures. The fox would always find a challenging place for these kinds of individual adults somewhere in his diverse organization as he never knew when he would need their unique set of skills. And finally the school served as a secret training ground for operatives like Jack Savage to receive instruction and a special curriculum specially tailored to develop these individuals to their maximum potential.
The bunny had made remarkable progress, and had significantly improved in numerous disciplines since his last missions among the enslaved and sexually abused children. When Jack met Reynard and Felix at the school, he was quite excited to apply his talents to once again save so many. In fact he was still very close with many of the friends he had made during his three perilous similar missions, keeping in touch with most of them on a daily basis.
Jack's eyes appeared bright and enthusiastic as he addressed his direct superior and ultimate boss, "Sirs, I am gobsmacked and chaffed that you have come to me once again. Absobloodylootely! I am over the moon to give it another go."
Reynard smiled appreciating his young agent's enthusiasm for going on another such perilous mission, "Jack, you will have a two-way communicator hidden in your secret belly pouch which will have a thin light gray wire hidden in your fur leading to a tiny ear bud for your one ear. Because of how small the device has to be in order to fit in your pouch, the range is limited. But we will have Mini, Razer and other tiny hidden agents all around in range to help you and give you direction. You will want to try and be careful not to get it wet, so seal the pouch and try not to get your one ear wet while bathing if they even let you bathe there."
The bunny twitched his nose in anticipation of more details, "Ace governor, it will be a right nice change to have those guys with me the entire time. I admit it was quite lonely and terrifying whenever I didn't have my friends close by. So what's the plan this time so I don't seem so dodgy?"
Felix explained how they would have Jack infiltrate a facility where they were known to keep records on several of the operations. He would go in posing as the private slave of one of Felix's operatives who had established a cover as a top client. The client was scheduled to be staying overnight at the facility for several days. It was quite common for clients to have personal slaves who would be scurrying around even alone at times doing various duties for their masters. Because he would be posing as the personal property of the client, no one should mess him or ask him to do anything sexual or harmful as he was only meant to do those kinds of favors for his master and no other. Once the other small agents located where to find the information needed, he would be directed there by Mini and his tiny team, and retrieve it, bringing it back to Felix's operative, and then have both of them and the rest of the team leave the facility.
"Sounds like a right vacation compared to the last time. I won't have to be starkers the whole time I hope." Jack said with a laugh and grin.
Reynard laughed at that, "No Jack, you should be able to remain clothed at all times, unless you decide to distract yourself again with some more young beauties."
"Bloody hell, I just won't ever live it down getting caught with my dobber out and arse hanging in the breeze for all to see. Poor Baabs was so embarrassed. People need to learn to give a chap a bit more of a warning next time." The bunny exclaimed quite ashamed of such a sight being witnessed by a whole roomful of young ladies as well as his mercenary friends.
The fox was quite amused at the agent's embarrassment teasing him, "I was told it was a quite cute little ass and twig as I believe you call it sometimes. I am sure quite a lot of the pretty young things would have been clamoring to get a closer look. Just be sure my Rose or, well any of my other kits for that matter, don't get a similar show."
Jack seemed quite upset at Reynard's statements, "Blimey! I would never think to do anything like that with them. They are all my mates. Rose is the dog's bollocks, but I would never look at her as anything else. Besides, those kits are fiercely protective of each other. I remember a bigger kid tried something with Titian, and Rose and Brick nearly tore him apart. I would never mess with any of your kits or Kids cause it is against the rules."
Reynard had instituted rules forbidding any sexual contact among any of his Kids until they were no longer minors and gave full consent. It was a very important rule as a large percentage of the children who became his Kids had been sexually abused and mistreated, and were very vulnerable. All these children had to be completely assured that they were safe, and there was far too great a chance of mentally vulnerable children being taken advantage of and thus harming their recovery and preventing the regaining of their confidence and individuality. The fox knew Jack would never do anything like that with his kits and was merely teasing the young agent.
Felix and the fox then went over all the details of the plan and an itinerary of the specialized training that would be required prior to the mission.
Jack's initial mission was a success as Mini and Razer has found the room they needed to get access to and had been able to steal a key card and witness the security code for the young agent. The trio were able to retrieve the information needed copying it onto several newly introduced high-density 90mm (3.5in) floppy disks which were smuggled out in Jack's hidden pouch.
The bunny's team had similar success at two other key locations, and finally Felix had enough information to plan the full assault which involved an extremely complicated number of parts with multiple teams and different types of vehicles and transportation across four districts.
As a precaution, Reynard had armed his huge mercenary team with deadly ranged and melee weapons. The fox hoped mightily that they would be unnecessary, but he could not discount the possibility of the other gang leaders having their organizations ready to block and engage his assault team. They were under orders not to strike first, but if attacked they were authorized to defend themselves with all means necessary.
This was a no-nonsense incursion with orders to subdue anyone not cooperating completely with extreme measures. Nothing could delay them, and the timetable for getting everything done was very strict and narrow. They had many contingencies for moving assets to any areas which anticipated any delays during the active operation window.
Once the 122 mammal mercenary team was completely in place and ready to strike, the order was given just after midnight to commence the full assault. Felix had all his undercover operatives in place to take out all security, and to secure all entryways allowing instant access by the full mercenary strike team. Only one facility had a failure, but they were prepared and set charges blowing a sizable hole in the underground entry which fortunately did not cause a cave-in and was far enough below ground to make minimal noise on the surface. Using the detailed plans of the facility, personnel, access codes, client and victim locations, and other pertinent data gathered from Jack's team and other discovery methods, the teams stormed each facility simultaneously taking control of all egresses including several secret bolt-holes, security stations and any guards, all data and records, and housing locations of children and innocents.
They went in with overwhelming force and quickly subdued any possible resistance removing every living mammal and every scrap of information. Everything was recorded on the latest S-VHS video cameras. All operations went fairly smoothly, and because these facilities were hidden and underground with extreme security methods, very few witnesses needed to be taken. This meant virtually all minors captured were innocent and that nearly every adult mammal was guilty in one way or other, the only general exception being adult mammals who were slaves or victims. Every adult mammal captured was restrained in pawcuffs, and had measures taken to block all their hearing and sight during transportation.
All operations were completed in under two hours with only a few minor problems. Everything was very well planned and executed nearly flawlessly. Reynard, Felix and his staff had learned quite a lot about pulling off this kind of complicated wide scale rescue mission from their efforts from two years earlier. The fox smiled thinking of it as pulling off the biggest heist in history simultaneously across the entire kingdom. He was under no illusions that he would get away with such a blatant incursion and violation of the King's mandate, but he still took every possible precaution. All mercenary personnel were strictly tracked and moved to work far from Zootopia for Reynard's business ventures once their duties were no longer required detaining, interrogating and processing those captured. Each adult was separated until they were interrogated. Once the guilt and innocence was quickly determined, those deserving punishment were all moved outside city limits at a temporary camp built on the western mainland. The innocent were medically treated and the best method of helping them move forward to the best future was determined.
No one captured was allowed to buy their way out of execution this time, as the risks were too great of leaving any witnesses. There was one exception, as one of those captured was the son and lone heir of the wealthiest mammal in Zootopia. Reynard had several business ventures involved with the father, and the fox decided it was only proper to allow the father an opportunity to offer an act of contrition on behalf of his heir. He felt quite confident several new buildings and a very sizable donation were in the future for the Reds Kids charity.
Reynard and his lieutenants gave the leaders at each facility a proper trial by combat, but Reynard only personally was involved in the execution of those few who had enough status to justify such an honor. One councilmammal, a couple judges, and a few important wealthy dignitaries were given the honor, but the contests ended extremely quickly as Reynard was in no mood to drag any out longer than necessary regardless of his mistresses begging for more blood. Once all executions were finished, all evidence was burned and dumped in the water far to the south of Zootopia.
Everything seemed to have been executed to near perfection. Every scrap of potential evidence or witness was thoroughly accounted for. Reynard hoped that they had done enough to make it impossible for his enemies to find anything to bring before the King to claim he was in violation of the law.
Nearly nine hundred innocents had been saved. Nine hundred too many as far as Reynard was concerned, but he felt thoroughly satisfied and contented with his decision regardless of the outcome of his actions. To save nine hundred more souls from the suffering he, his sister Marion, his wife Aza, and so many others had experienced, he would walk through the gates of hell itself. He had no idea at the time that he would be experiencing just that very soon.
For as meticulous as Reynard had been, for all the detailed planning, the amazing reconnaissance and surveillance, the elimination of virtually all evidence and potential witnesses, for all that, he had made one big mistake. He had underestimated the deviousness and brilliance of his enemies. For unbeknownst to him, the entire thing had been a giant trap for just one fox, him. Isengrim, Bruun, Tybalt, and his many enemies had devised a plan once they realized Reynard had been taking great efforts to be a good fox and obey the King's new law. They would create a wide scale child slavery and sex operation so massive that the fox would have to act no matter the consequences.
Even all the information Jack Savage and his fellow operatives found was a huge setup. For one thing that every scrap of information found failed to disclose, was that every facility had been wired with hidden security cameras. In addition, many of the children and employees of the facilities had been wired with tracking and monitoring devices as well as hidden microphones and transmitters. And the only mammals who knew anything about any of this were the bosses and their lieutenants only. Once they had detected a breach in the data center, they had captured all footage showing Jack Savage entering and taking this data in all facilities. They had surveillance evidence showing the same bunny being one of Reynard's Kids as well as even being in a special school with the fox's own kits. While this information alone could have doomed the fox, they were taking no chances. They knew that once Reynard had the information collected by Jack, a full scale assault would soon be forthcoming.
Sure enough, a week later a massive invasion was detected, and Reynard's enemies were satisfied to sit back and not interfere, but instead collect all the evidence showing his guilt. They intentionally made sure all gang members had orders to not engage the forces in any way. They filmed the exit of all vehicles following them all at a safe distance. While they were able to only actually follow a few to their final destination and disembarkation, it was enough. In addition they collected all the tracking data on the children and employees showing where they were taken, and gathered all audio using recorders that were moved into range to capture pertinent evidence.
It was the most expensive trap in history, but considering the proven ability of their quarry to avoid nearly anything, they deemed it necessary. The enemies did gain some money from the operations to partially offset the costs, but even so, the net cost was many millions of bucks. Reynard had failed to anticipate that his enemies would be willing to go to such lengths to convict him. Such was their hatred and desperation for revenge, that some were willing to nearly bankrupt themselves and their entire organizations. In fact some like Bruun had to leverage themselves so heavily that the King and the banks owned everything they possessed.
But they had finally won. Reynard had known it would not be wise to attend the annual Nobel Celebration that occurred less than a month after the assaults, or at least not until he was sure that his actions had gone unnoticed. He did not have to wait long, as nearly immediately upon the start of the Nobel Celebration, Reynard's enemies began the process of presenting all the evidence they had collected to the King and the court. In fact the presentation of evidence was so extensive, it took nearly two days to even get through it all. By the time it was done, Grimbeert could only shake his head, as the badger saw no way for him or Reynard to deny the mountain of evidence against them. Regardless of the justification for his actions, the fox's goose was cooked.