Author Note: Hey again, all! I've got some good news and some bad news. Good news first: With this update, the FFN version of the story is now completely caught up with the AO3 version, woo! Unfortunately, that also brings us to the bad news: Now that the FFN version of the fic is all caught up, my backlog of chapters to post is completely exhausted, which means no more weekly updates.

I am still working on the next chapter as always, and with this one, we've hit the final act so the actual end of the story is getting pretty close, they just won't be coming out on FFN once a week anymore. I'll still be posting new chapters on Mondays once they're out though, that system seems to have been working out pretty well.

I hope you'll all still stick around after this, the chapters won't be coming out as fast anymore, but I'm determined to see this through to the end, and I hope you all are too! Anyways, on with the chapter!

"Mam, I'm so sick of climbing shit…" Nick grumbled as he pulled himself over the edge of ledge number...he couldn't even remember at this point. They had been scaling these damn rocks for nearly two hours now, what the hell did he even hope to accomplish by keeping track anyways?

"You don't get to complain, Nick. This was your idea," Judy snapped from just below, letting out a strained squeak as she reached up to grip the ledge. Things had been a little on the tense side. But then, that was hardly a surprise given how long the two of them had spent scaling treacherous cliffsides with nothing but their bare paws.

"Can complain, will complain," Nick said with a grunt as he lent a paw to the bunny and helped her up. "I don't know if you've noticed, but climbing up a deadly mountainside is pretty harrowing. I'd rather not have all that stress building up and throwing off my focus until I slip and wind up as a fox-shaped stain on the jungle floor. And it's not like I can use a stress ball while I'm doing this shit, so bitching and moaning is the best I've got."

"Oh really? Well in case you didn't notice, I just did the same exact climb as you and there wasn't a single squeak of complaint from me."

"Complaints? No." Nick shook his head. "Certainly heard a hell of a lot of squeaking though."

"Wait...what?" Judy asked, a baffled expression on her face.

"You seriously didn't hear the squeaking?"

"What squeaking?" Judy questioned. "I don't squeak."

"Uh-huh, sure you don't," Nick chuckled, stepping past the rabbit as she started pawing at her throat self-consciously. "On the plus side, at least we can walk from here." The fox gestured towards a jungle path at the back end of the ledge right between two adjacent rock faces. It was a pretty tight one, and the vegetation growing within was a bit too thick to allow for a simple stroll. There would certainly be a fair amount of bushwhacking, but even that made for a refreshing change of pace compared to all that damn climbing.

"We might even have a shot at catching up with Dante and Cackler now." Nick shrugged off a slight chill as he started up the path, shoving branches and vines aside as he went. "Assuming we keep up the pace and nothing else manages to go wrong."

"Woah, hold on, what do you mean 'might'?" Judy questioned, hurrying after him. "It didn't occur to you that this might've been worth mentioning before we spent two hours climbing up the side of a mountain?"

Before he could answer, the fox felt another odd chill. He wasn't quite sure why, the weather should've been too warm for that. Maybe he was starting to come down with something?

Not the time to worry about that. Just focus on Finn.

"Well, seeing as how there's no way we'd beat those Coastline assholes on foot if we stuck to the road," Nick started, shrugging the chill off as he glanced back at the rabbit. "No, I didn't really see any point in telling you. We'll be lucky enough to get to the city in time even at this pace, and I didn't see what could be gained by pointlessly weighing you down with more doubts."

"I can handle doubts just fine, Nick, I don't need you babysitting me," Judy snapped at the fox. "We're supposed to be working together on this. If you had told me from the start, we might've been able to figure out a better plan."

"We did have a better plan, that's what the jeep was for. You remember how that turned out, don't you?" Nick fired back just as a branch caught on his shirt, wrenching him to a stop. "Son of a...stupid...twig! Find some other asshole to latch onto!" he growled as he tore the branch loose with a loud snap. "Look, we didn't have time to dwell on it, okay? Gramp's life is on the line here, I'd rather we got to him before Dante's turned him into the world's grouchiest-looking pair of slippers, even if that means having to settle with a less than ideal plan."

"Alright, alright," the reporter relented. "I'm just a bit worried we might've made the wrong call is all…" She paused for a moment, glancing down uncertainly. "Well...more than a bit, really. You're not the only one worried about Finn."

Nick let out a weary sigh. "I know, Fluff. And I appreciate the help, I really do. It's just...I've put you in enough danger already. This is my mess to fix, not yours. You don't need to be risking your neck for me and Gramps."

"It's my neck to risk, Slick," Judy retorted, looking back up at the fox. "This may be your mess, but helping you save Finn is my decision to make, not yours."

"Yeah, it's obvious I'd have to pretty much throw you off the side of the mountain to keep you from coming at this point," Nick snorted. "Hell, even that probably wouldn't be enough to stop you." He looked at the rabbit. She looked exhausted, her ears limply drooping behind her, yet she still looked every bit as determined as he was to find Finn, that fierce bunny stubbornness burning in those violet eyes of hers. Despite all the frustration and weariness of the last few hours, he couldn't help but be inspired by such determination. "So I guess I'll just have to settle with being grateful that you've got my back," he said with a smile.

"Hey, as long as you've got mine too," Judy said, a small but genuine smile of her own forming on her weary features.

"You know it," Nick nodded, suddenly feeling a little bit warmer to his surprise. He couldn't help but wonder what brought it on. Was it from all the climbing? Yeah, it was probably from the climbing.

As the duo pressed on, the path steadily started to open up, the vegetation becoming less dense and more spread out as they went. With the path becoming less of a hassle, the overly eager bunny started picking up the pace, proceeding from a trudge to a fast walk to finally jogging forward, leaving the fox behind as she disappeared into the brush ahead.

But Nick was feeling far less eager. Something had changed once they started pushing through the jungle again, becoming progressively more noticeable to the fox the further they went. Up until now, this island had felt normal, or at least as normal as an island holding the remnants of a long lost civilization and crawling with trigger happy mercenaries could be, anyways. Point being, it felt like your typical abandoned ruins. But now, as they were getting closer to the city, things had changed. It started with a few small chills, but now the sensation was practically crawling up and down his spine, his hackles feeling like they were about to raise at any moment. The very atmosphere of the jungle seemed to radiate with an oppressive aura, it made him feel like he was an intruder to be driven out. Part of him wanted to say it was just nerves getting to him now that they were so close to the city, but his treasure hunter's intuition refused to accept that excuse. There was something off about this place, something that set it apart from the rest of the island, and whatever it was, it felt dangerous.

"Would you slow down?" Nick called out. He was feeling anxious enough already, and watching the bunny speed off through the jungle wasn't doing his mood any favours. "There could be just about anything out here."

"Slow down? We can't afford to slow down! Not if we want to keep up with Coastline," the reporter called back. "Besides, who do you think we're going to run into all the way up here? We lost those Coastline clowns hours ag- Oh my gods!" the rabbit suddenly cried out in shock and horror.

"Judy? Judy!" Nick shouted, his ears flicking up and hackles raised in alarm. Terrifying visions of the potential dangers assaulting the bunny flashed through his mind as he sped off, tearing through the bushes as fast as he could. The stinging sensation of branches slapping against his skin barely registered to him as he ran, his only focus was on getting to the rabbit in time.

"Judy, talk to me! Are you okay?" The treasure hunter was so determined to reach the rabbit that he nearly crashed into her. Slapping aside the last of the brush, he stumbled to a surprised stop when he found her just standing in the middle of the path, frozen stiff in shock. "What's wrong? What did you see-"

The fox stopped mid-sentence as he realized what it was that had so thoroughly shocked the bunny. Mere paces in front of them lay the ravaged corpse of a lion in the remnants of a Coastline uniform. He was pinned to a tree through the chest by what looked like some sort of spear.

"Holy shit…"

"That's disgusting…" Judy gasped, still partially in shock. When she was finally seemed to snap out of it, she took a cautious step towards the body. "What could've done this?"

Given the sketchy nature of his work, Nick had seen all kinds of gruesome scenes, some that didn't even involve Dante, but not even the worst managed to compare to what he was seeing now. A look of disbelief and pained shock had been etched into the lion's frozen muzzle and lifeless eyes. His armour and clothing practically cut to ribbons like newly sharpened claws going through a cotton shirt. Beneath the torn armour and all across the exposed fur was a grisly mosaic of claw and bite marks, blood still dripping from the wounds. Whatever had gotten this mercenary didn't so much kill him as it had taken the unlucky bastard apart.

"I have no idea." Nick finally answered, stepping past the bunny and leaning in to take a closer look. "I'm guessing this poor sucker was a forward scout. Probably was ambushed just like those other groups that patrol was talking about."

"I didn't know what to make of that story. If it was wild animals or maybe...something else..." Judy brushed a paw over one of the wounds. "It looks like some sort of predator took him apart. Maybe a mammal that went savage?"

"I'm not so sure," Nick started. "Since when do savage mammals pin their victims up like trophies?" He flicked the spear with a paw, the weapon briefly snapping back and forth. "Plus...there's something off about the tracks."

"What do you mean?"

"Take a look," the fox pointed out a flurry of track marks imprinted into the mud and soil. There was a set of paw prints on the ground that likely belonged to the lion, scattered in every direction as if the mammal had been frantically struggling with something. "Those belong to our unhappy camper here, but…" There was another set of prints mixed in with the felines. These ones were more curved with a hard edge to them, almost like they belonged to some sort of ungulate. "Unless everything Mrs. Marlowte begrudgingly taught me in third grade was a lie, those look like hoofprints."

"But...that doesn't make any sense…" Judy remarked, looking back and forth between the prints on the ground and the mangled body. "This lion's covered in claw marks and puncture wounds...as if a predator was biting and clawing at him. What kind of predator has hooves?"

"None that I've ever heard of." Nick bent down to look closer at the hoof prints. "Maybe a prey mammal pinned him to the tree and something else fed on him afterwards?"

"These wounds were defensive, Nick." Judy pointed to the excessive number of bite and claw marks on the front of the mammal's arms. "They were inflicted while the lion was still alive. And look at how he's pinned, that spear was planted after he was dead." The body was angled in an awkward pose as if someone had propped it up first and then pinned the lion in place. "What kind of mammal would...or even could do something like this?"

"Not one I'd ever want to run into in a dark alley, that's for sure." Nick slowly started to stand up as the tension he was feeling intensified, his paw slowly drifting towards the gun in his holster. He had a hard time understanding the chills he was feeling before, but now, it was beginning to feel like something or someone...was watching them. He couldn't for the life of him figure out who would do that or why, all he know was that he felt dangerously exposed right now.

"Nick?" Judy's voice called out, breaking him out of his trance as her paw tugged at his. "You okay?"

Nick looked down at the reporter's paw and then at his own hovering over the holster, just short of grasping his gun. "It's nothing...I'm fine," he answered after a moment's hesitation, shaking his head. There was no need to worry the bunny just because he was starting to get tense. "Nerves just getting to me a little bit," he said, trying to convince himself as much as Judy. He finally stepped back from the mercenary corpse and back onto the path, motioning for the rabbit to follow. "Come on, think we've stayed here long enough. Let's get out of here before we run into whatever's been chewing on this guy."

Judy took one last look at the mangled lion before following after the fox. All these unanswered questions would have to wait. For now, Finn was the goal. They needed to find him before it was too late.

"Come on, Nick, pick up the pace," Judy pressed, beckoning for the fox to hurry. "It can't be much further, now."

"Moving as fast as I can, Carrots." Nick panted as he struggled to keep up with the bunny. He'd like to tell himself that he was trying to take it slow because of the last surprise and the sense of unease that was now permeating the jungle. And to a degree, that was even true. But more than that, this path was just getting way too steep and it was starting to wear the fox down. "Why the hell did they have to build this damn place so high up?"

"Don't wear yourself out thinking about the trek," the rabbit suggested. "Focus on looking forward to what's waiting for us once we get to the top."

"What, you mean the two psycho's and their merc army that'll most likely shoot both of us the second we show our faces? Yeah, that sounds like a hell of a thing to 'look forward to.'"

"Just quit your whining and keep pushing." The rabbit didn't even look back as she surged ahead. "We're almost at the crest of the hill, it should be a lot easier after that."

"Here's hoping," Nick grumbled as he forced himself forward, the crest of the hill getting steadily closer the higher he went. "Just...a bit...further."

As he finally hit the top, he saw Judy crouched down on one knee next to a tree, looking out at the horizon. From here, he could see that the hill was part of a ridge overlooking the jungle and path below. "Finally," he muttered as he crouched down next to the rabbit. "Could use a break."

"Don't relax just yet," the bunny smirked. "Check out where we are."

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he looked down and noticed not one, but two ancient stone roads connecting together. "Wait…the roads meet up?"

"Yup."

"Then that means…" Pulling out a set of binoculars from his satchel, Nick followed the road until he was staring at the site of a massive stone wall built into the mountains. Even from this far back, the barrier seemed to tower over the rest of the jungle like a grand monument to the ancient society it once protected. Despite the wall's size, the roofs of buildings could be made out just beyond, poking over the very top.

The stone was ancient and worn, but it also seemed to stand tall and solid despite the cracks that had formed in the foundations over time. There was a mix of granite grey and moss green as the stonework meshed with the brush now growing over it and pushing through the cracks, the fusion almost making it look like a natural part of the jungle. Built into the wall itself amongst the cracks and vegetation were ancient carvings depicting those strange white flowers that resembled night howlers alongside carvings of various parts of the island and its denizens. From small outposts and docks to the Nocturnal Fortress itself, and, of course, the very city that this wall acted as the bulwark to. The formidable structure was as much a layer of defence as it was a tribute to this long lost society and the mammals who had once lived there.

"I can't believe it," an awe-struck Nick said. "We finally found it."

There was no denying it now. After all the hardships and strife, they had finally made it. They had reached the forgotten city of Henosia. Even given the rather dire circumstances, Nick still couldn't help but feel a sensation of pride and accomplishment at what was undoubtedly his single greatest achievement to this point.

"Uhh...hate to kill the mood, but it looks like we've got a problem." Judy pointed towards the wall. "Check out that gate."

"Hmm?" Nick focused his gaze on the gate in question where the road passed through to the city proper. The area was lined with parked jeeps and armed mammals, most of whom were following the road as it passed through the gate and into the city itself. As he focused on the gate, he noticed the shattered remnants of two collapsed doors on either side, small traces of smoke still coming off of them.

"Looks like they blew the gate open. Guess that shouldn't be a surprise, subtlety isn't exactly Coatline's strong suit. Still, should be good if we just wait until they've all gone through, then we can make our-" Nick stopped short as he finally noticed something else about the gate. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…"

Several jeeps with mammals sitting on the turrets were parked by the gate along with at least a dozen armed mammals either standing guard or patrolling the road, a pair of which seemed to be equipped with RPG's. As if that wasn't enough, there were two elephants and a giraffe holding position right at the entrance, all covered in a veritable wall of kevlar and metal plates, and each gripping a menacing GRLK heavy machine gun that probably weighed at least twice the fox and rabbit's combined weight.

"Where's the trust, you guys?" Nick sighed. Even one of those heavies was packing enough armour and firepower to embarrass the entire ZPD, but three of them, plus all those soldiers and MG's backing them up? Nick might as well have just taken his gun and blown his brains out right there and then, it'd at least make for a more efficient suicide. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Stripe 'n Scars really don't feel like sharing the city with us."

"There's no way we can fight our way through all of that," Judy observed, her eyes darting from one mercenary to the next as she searched for a weak point in the Coastline defences. "And we definitely can't slip through the gate, not with that many guards watching…"

"Yeah…" Nick's gaze followed the great wall blocking their entrance. "So waltzing through the front door is out. Guess we'll need to find another way in."

"Any ideas?"

"Maybe." The fox pointed off to the right at a heavily damaged section of the wall far from the gate. It looked out over an opening between two of the mountains that made up part of the raised valley. Looking through the gap, they see the ocean and jungle far below. "Check it out, that section of wall over there looks like it's just about had it. What do you wanna bet there's a breach or something we can use to bypass all those Coastline idiots?"

"You think so?" Judy furrowed her brow as she looked at the damaged section. "It's a bit of a gamble...What if Cackler and Dante posted guards to watch that side as well?"

"Carrots, this entire trip has been nothing but gambles," Nick pointed out. "I'm just suggesting the one that's most likely to pay out. Certainly makes for better odds than knocking on the front door."

"I guess they wouldn't have enough mammals to cover the whole city," Judy considered as she glanced back at the heavily guarded entrance. "And their main focus would probably be on finding that 'vault' Sir Francis mentioned."

"I'm going to just go ahead and take that as your tacit approval." Nick started moving back down the ridgeline to the path below. "Come on, time to move. Now that Coastline's gone and called 'dibs' on the city, this rescue's going to be even trickier to pull off."

The duo carefully followed the path towards the city, making sure to give the heavily guarded entrance a wide berth as they approached the great city walls. "Such a shame," Nick whispered with a smirk. "All that hard work they put into our welcoming party, just for us to go and slip in through the back door. Those guys will be so disappointed once they find out."

"Preferably after we've grabbed Finn and gotten out," Judy reminded the fox.

"Well, yeah, of course."

Even once they were certain they were out of earshot of mammals with even the sharpest sense of hearing, they still crept forward cautiously. As dumb as Coastline mercenaries could be, the leadership had at least somewhat of a clue what they were doing, and Nick wouldn't have put it past them to send off a patrol or two to check out the edges of the city just in case. That and the weirdly oppressive aura of the area combined with that nasty business with the dead lion was leaving him feeling very uneasy. There was an obnoxious voice in his head insisting that he and the bunny would suffer the same fate as that lion if they weren't careful, a voice he couldn't shake in spite of his best efforts.

"Nick!" Judy called out from up ahead. "Over here, you're not going to believe this!"

"Carrots...Coastline...quiet," Nick hissed at the rabbit.

"Sorry," Judy's ears drooped behind her head in mild embarrassment. "That being said, you're still going to want to see this."

"What is it?" As Nick caught up to the rabbit, he found her standing at the edge of a massive cliff overlooking the gap between the mountains. Down below, a wide inlet unfurled before them, carving a path through the jungle all the way out to the ocean. The way the sunlight reflected off the water caused the inlet to sparkle, but Nick and the bunny were far too focused on what was in the inlet itself to pay its natural beauty any mind.

"Woah…"

The waterway was littered with the wrecks of dozens of old ships, easily enough for an entire fleet. Even from this far up, they were able to pick out the rotten husks of centuries-old galleons and frigates still partially submerged in the depths of the inlet or washed up against the shore.

"Is…is that…?"

"It's the Blackhorn fleet…" Nick finished, still able to make out the empire's insignia on the tattered remnants of some of the ship banners. "They never left the island...I guess that would explain why word never got out about this place."

"But...what happened?" Judy questioned, turning to face Nick directly. "What could wipe out an entire fleet like that?"

"I have no idea," Nick said, recalling that account he had recovered from the remains one of Wilde's sailors. It wasn't completely out of the question to think that his ancestor might've found a way to destroy the Blackhorn fleet despite the odds. But something still didn't seem to add up. Wilde's focus seemed to be on the city, why would he waste what limited resources and mammalpower he had going after the fleet? With all the weird things that were going on, this revelation just left the treasure hunter feeling even more uncertain than ever. "Seems like the more we find, the more it feels like we never should've come here."

"Wow and that's coming from you of all mammals," Judy remarked, her expression initially on the smug side, only to shift to a more sober one the more she thought about it. "Why does that make me feel so nervous?"

The fox tried to shake off the tension with a shrug. "Probably because you're starting to wisen up." He turned around and started making his way back towards the wall surrounding the city. "And it's only going to get even more dangerous from here, Fluff. Cause if we have any hope of grabbing Gramps and getting out of here, then we're going to have to delve even deeper down this rabbit's hole." Nick took a few steps before freezing in place as the phrasing of his words finally caught up with him. He could already feel the heat rising beneath his collar as a wave of embarrassment washed over him."

"You just realized how that sounded, didn't you?" the rabbit deadpanned from behind in an unimpressed tone.

"Yup…" Nick awkwardly croaked out, feeling even warmer now. He was seriously starting to wonder what the point of having red fur even was, it certainly wasn't doing much to hide how much of an awkward idiot he felt like at the moment.

"Let's just get into the freaking city already," Judy sighed in annoyance, jabbing Nick in the side as she walked past him.

"Yup…" Nick repeated in an equally awkward tone as he followed behind her.

"You sure we'll find a way into the city in time?" Judy asked as she followed the fox along the edges of the wall. "I've yet to see any actual breaches we can reach."

"But we're still finding them, aren't we?" Nick responded. "We're bound to find a way in soon enough, just gotta have some faith."

"Hey, don't you give me the 'just gotta have faith' line. I already used that back at the ambush site, you get your own thing!"

"Hey, nobody owns any of these 'things'. You got to use it earlier, and I'm using it now." A wide grin formed on Nick's muzzle as he and the rabbit passed a corner. "And besides, I was totally right."

The duo found themselves standing before a massive breach in the wall. The gradual decay brought on by time and the elements had been too much for this part of the wall to take. A large chunk had collapsed outward, leaving a large hole atop a pile of rubble. The breach was too high for the two of them to reach on their own, but the rubble and stone left behind would make for a suitable enough climbing surface.

"Told you we'd find a way in."

"Okay, I really don't like how lucky you are," Judy grumbled. "Makes me nervous it'll end up running out at the worst possible time..."

"Hey, I'm not a one-trick-fox, Fluff, luck's only part of the equation. It's also just a lot of good old fashioned intuition." Nick nodded to the rabbit and begun climbing over the rubble. "Like figuring that a several thousand year old wall's bound to have at least some gaps big enough for a fox and bunny."

"And what about Finn?" Judy asked as she started climbing up after Nick. "He was in pretty rough shape the last time we saw him."

"Don't worry too much about Finn, they'd want him alive, and he knows how to tip the odds in his favour. Might have all the charm of a burning cactus, but he's got a sharp wit to balance it out," Nick assured the rabbit. "He'll tell those Coastline idiots just enough to convince them he's worth keeping around while still stringing them along until we can get to him."

"I hope you're right…"

"Yeah, well...too late to change your mind," Nick replied as he scaled up the last of the rubble and pulled himself on top of the wrecked wall. He reached back down and grabbed the bunny's paw, pulling her up next to him. Once they were both settled on top of the wall, they looked out at the city expanse that lay before them.

"So this is it…" the fox whistled. "This is Henosia…"

"I can hardly believe it," Judy whispered in awe. "I mean, after everything we've seen...even now that I'm standing here with you, I still have a hard time believing it's real. It almost feels like something out of a dream."

From atop the ruined wall, they could see nearly the whole city. Entire networks of roads and streetways seemed to spread outward like an intricate web around buildings, statues, and monuments of all shapes and sizes. The city was divided into sections not so different from the districts of Zootopia, with each having a distinct style and design meant to accommodate different types of mammal. Even the material the buildings were made of seemed to differ from one district to the next, with the warmer ecosystem districts being darker in colour, likely for increased heat absorption, while cooler districts were lighter and built into the shadows of the valley. Each district had a temple dedicated to whatever gods of old overlooked that particular ecosystem. They all looked to have been built from solid white marble with accompanying statues of the deity the temple was built for. The actual state of each temple seemed to vary from district to district. Some were majestic monuments, if a little worn, that stood in magnificent splendour over their district, while others were hollowed out shells, often with missing chunks that had either broken off or simply disappeared. Two districts didn't seem to have any temples at all, although Nick wouldn't have been surprised if they were either built for rodents or had simply collapsed into rubble.

"It certainly is something. Just wish we had time to really take it in," Nick noted, pulling out two pairs of binoculars and passing one to the reporter. "Here, let's figure out where Cackler and Dante would be taking Finn. I'm betting it'll be whatever building looks the most valuable."

"Sure thing," Judy nodded, taking her pair and looking out at the ruins.

As Nick did the same, he could see that the city was one of contrasts, of majestic beauty alongside ruin and decay. The mighty walls surrounding the city had been built to last, but the same couldn't be said for many of the buildings within. There was a mixed palette of stone and vegetation similar to that of the wall. It was difficult to tell how much of it was part of the original city design and how much was the result of the city's losing battle against the resurgent jungle. Plants and vines twisted through and enveloped many of the ancient structures, giving them an almost organic appearance, while others looked like they were being devoured by the jungle as the overgrowth slowly wore away at their foundations. The streets and roads themselves seemed to fare little better, cracked open with plant life breaking through, or being buried in piles of rubble from buildings that had collapsed long ago. What caught Nick's attention more than anything else though were the scattered piles of skeletal mammal remains. These were no doubt the long dead citizens of this ancient city. The cause of their deaths was unclear, but he seriously doubted they had all decided to just lay down and take a permanent dirt nap. Like so many other fallen civilizations, whatever fate had befallen the city and its people seemed to have been a violent one.

"Finally found some locals," Nick pointed out. "Or...what's left of them." As he continued surveying the city, he began to notice something off about it. The whole thing was on a slant, sloping downwards towards a bay at the north end. The city itself stood above the bay, but it looked like a sizable chunk of it had broken away and collapsed into the ocean, leaving the broken edge practically hanging by a thread over the bay with some of the buildings already having partially broken away and plunged over the edge already. Large sections of the northern half of the city had also become littered with sinkholes. Some of them were so massive that it almost looked like they were their own small districts built at lower elevations. Nick might've even had mistaken them for just that if not for the fact that a number of buildings had been quite literally split in half by these sinkholes. Others had given away into seemingly bottomless pits, taking whatever structures once stood there with them. How deep those sinkholes went and where it was they ended up, the fox could only guess. "Wow...given enough time, it looks like this whole city will eventually collapse into the ocean."

"And what about all those bodies?" Judy added. "The streets are littered with them. What could've happened to this place?"

"Nothing good, that's what," the fox answered thoughtfully. "Figured when they originally sealed the gates, it was to keep threats out, but what if they were actually trying to-"

"Ooh, over there," Judy interrupted, tapping at the fox and pointing out towards the center of the city. "I think I see something."

Derailed from his train of thought, Nick followed the rabbit's paw towards a massive temple. It looked similar to the ziggurat-like structure they had discovered back at the very start of this expedition, but on a much larger and more elaborate scale in keeping with the city. Intricate columns and statues of mammals aligned the entire structure with a set of decorated stairs leading up to the entrance. And, of course, those damn flowers again. They seemed to be everywhere, even carved into the mosaics on the temple wall. On top of all that, the building was far more intact than any of the structures surrounding it. There was an occasional hole in the wall, a collapsed column or statue, even a partially caved-in roof, but it still managed to stand out against the rest. A supposed beacon of stability amidst all the chaos and ruin that had engulfed so much of the rest of the city.

"Big, elaborate, fancy looking, and somehow still standing while everything around it seems to have gone to hell," the treasure hunter observed. "If that's not a big flashing neon sign shouting, 'Hey, Coastline! I've got all the good stuff! Come on in and loot me!' Then I don't know what is."

"Now we just gotta find Finn…" the rabbit continued. Her ears seemed to mirror the direction of her binoculars as she looked over the temple until they suddenly froze in place. "Wait, I see him!"

"What? Where?"

"Down at the staircase, look!"

As Nick focused on the stairs, he saw a large group of Coastline mercenaries heading up them towards the temple entrance. Looking over the group, he briefly saw a furious as ever Tanger slapping his cheetah partner across the face before shifting his focus to the very front of the pack where Dante and Cackler stood alongside a battered looking fennec fox that could only have been Finnick. "They've still got Gramps!" Nick exclaimed a little more excitedly than he intended. "I knew that stubborn old bastard would manage!"

The hyena seemed to be directing the group while Dante shoved the fox up the stairs, threatening him at gunpoint and motioning for the small vulpine to keep moving. Defiant as ever, Finnick turned around and bared his teeth at the zebra as he seemingly growled a response. Knowing the old fox, it was probably some sort of insinuation about the equine's mother. Dante seemed less than impressed by whatever it was since he promptly stuck a hind hoof in the desert fox's back, knocking him muzzle first into the stairs.

"Finn!" Judy gasped in worry.

"That son of a bitch…" Nick bitterly growled as he watched Finn pick himself up and begrudgingly start limping up the stairs. "We've got to get moving, now. Before those bastards decide he's outlived his usefulness."

"Just hold on a bit longer, Finn," the rabbit urged. "We'll get you out of there soon enough."

"Damn right we will." Nick nodded to the rabbit as he reached for his grappling hook, lodging it into a jagged scar in the wall and throwing the rope over the side. "What do you say we go and get our partner back?"

"Wait…'our' partner?"

"Yeah," Nick winked at the rabbit. "We're in this together, right?"

"Right." The rabbit nodded. "Sure thing, partner." She gave Nick a thumbs up as they both grabbed the rope and started climbing over the edge of the wall. As they glanced at the temple again, they both took a deep breath and then slid down the rope, beginning their descent into the city limits.