Chapter 55: A Challenge Accepted
Jake confronts Le Rouge
It was one thing to burglarize an office building which was a client of Jake Runnel's, but to do so knowing the corporation was itself owned by the wealthy business mammal Mister Big was beyond bold. Many of the city's professional criminal element knew that the small shrew was also an alleged mobster leader and therefore, such a job could be considered by many in their trade as suicidal, but sill the master burglar known as Le Rouge did exactly that.
Using their contacts in the city's underground crime community, the Northern Mob quickly found out the whereabouts of the red panda. Instead of sending one of the many large polar bear enforcers, such as Kevin or Raymond, Mister Big allowed Jake to confront the thief instead. The raccoon found Le Rouge sitting in a booth inside of an old bar in a rundown section of the city known as Happy Town, the thief was flanked by two mangy looking coyotes. Standing in front of the booth, Jake casually adjusted the cuffs of his dark gray business suit as he looked over at the smiling red panda sitting before him.
"Well, it didn't take you long to find me!" Le Rouge laughed as he sipped his cup of hot tea. His two bodyguards seemingly glared up at the raccoon. The larger of the two coyotes had a scar along his chin and wore a woven dream catcher above his open white dress shirt. His claws seemed to be dug into his blue jean clad legs. The other canine wore a green sport shirt and casually chewed on a toothpick.
The raccoon didn't say anything but raised his right eyebrow slightly and both of the larger, more muscular, coyotes lowered the muzzles submissively in response before they slipped out of the booth. "Where do you think you're going?" the red panda called out in surprise as they silently passed by the raccoon.
"You really don't know that much about me, do you?" Jake softly growled as he sat down on the other side of the wooden table. "The coyotes call me The Thief and I am part of their tribe, at least since Howler's Mountain. The thing about coyote tribes is that they always take care of their own and since you hurt my reputation, you also insulted them."
"There is no way that a raccoon is a member of a coyote tribe!" Le Rouge scoffed and then he grew silent when he noticed most of the patrons inside the bar were now coyotes, foxes, and wolves.
"Happy Town has changed a lot while you were last locked up," the raccoon continued as he waved for the waitress to bring him a glass of soda water. Sipping the drink, Jake looked the master burglar straight in his eyes. "Times have changed around here and the old gang hatreds have finally been put to rest. There was once a good cop by the name of Phil Barsto who patrolled these streets at night, my pal Nick said he was a great guy and the first male spotted hyena to become a police officer. He was really loved and respected around here and when he was killed, they threw him a big funeral. Afterward, the folks around here realized that the big wigs downtown only gave lip service about improving the living conditions for everyone living here. That's when the rival gangs got together and decided to change things themselves and to make this part of the city better for the next generation. They cleaned up the streets of crime and so when you showed up…well, let's just say they have been watching you."
"And what have they found out, except that their so-called mystical raccoon named The Thief is mortal and fallible like the rest of them?" Le Rouge tried to ask in a mocking manner, but the fear in his voice was evident. Even with his perfume, the scent of that fear was also there.
"Oh there is nothing mystical about me and they know I am as mortal as the rest of them, with all my very evident flaws," Jake shot back as he slammed the glass down, making the red panda jump slightly. "Now let's just cut to the chase and you can tell me why you robbed a building owned by Mister Big? Are you suicidal of something or did you just want to take an icy swim?"
"I did it to test you Runnel, to find out if you are worthy enough!"
"Worthy enough to do what?"
"To be one of us!" the red panda answered as his paw touched the purple flower on his black sweatshirt.
"Who do you mean?" Jake softly growled as he leaned forward toward the thief.
"But alas, you have too many friends and enemies on both sides of the law to be of any value," Le Rouge sighed as he seemingly leaned back into the booth. Suddenly before anyone, including Jake could act, the red panda pounced upon the table and leaped toward the white tile clad ceiling, knocking one of the water-stained hanging rectangular tiles down upon the raccoon as he disappeared into the darkness of the drop ceiling before everyone's eyes.
"Damn it!" Jake cursed as he leaped upon the table and tried to jump high enough to reach into the opening. A large wolf quickly came behind him, he picked up the raccoon and held Jake high enough to pull himself inside. Carefully Jake tried to follow the thief, but he was too late and Le Rouge was already gone. Dropping down upon the bar, he looked around. "I lost him!" he said to a familiar-looking red fox.
The fox was his best friend Nick Wilde and he just sighed as he lifted his paw to help the raccoon get off the bar top. "It's a good thing we didn't tell Bogo you found him," the fox said. "Now what do we do?"
Jake looked around at the others inside the room and nodded.
Suddenly an elderly coyote sitting at the bar raised his muzzle and gave out a long howl. He was quickly joined by others, including the wolves and foxes. The gangs of Happy Town were on the hunt again.
Phil Barsto is from my story Zootopia: A Raccoon's Redemption - Sins of Our Fathers. "We live in those neighborhoods to get away from your kind," a deep voice said from the doorway. Nick looked up and there was a brutish looking hyena standing there. His uniform looked rumpled and sloppy. He stood a little over five feet tall with yellowish-grey fur that had irregular patterned spots, his head was flattish with a blunt muzzle. His smile showed his strong white teeth in his powerful-looking jaws. Entering the room, he came to attention and saluted the tiger before adding, "Officer Phillip Barsto reporting for duty."