"If I promise to cooperate in the investigation will you please just freaking let me go?" I ask, shivering in the interrogation room. "Please… my father is dead, my bo- best friend is missing, the Chief's been freaking kitnapped and all you folks are worried is whether I'm guilty? Really? And half the department's been quarantined because there's a stomach flu going around… please just let me go!"

It doesn't work. Everyone just ignores me, ignores me, ignores me…

And then finally, FINALLY, an officer comes up to the holding cell I've been sitting in and unlocks it. Oh thank the Celestials it's one of the only other officers who actually likes me. Instead of letting me out, though, they step into the cell and close the door behind them. I don't hear the lock click closed though, so… maybe I'm just imagining things, yeah that's got to be it.

"Mary, can you tell me what happened?" Captain Peterson asks me, smiling sadly. "I know this isn't the greatest place for this, but it's the safest for right now.."

"Well, I didn't kill him, if that's what you mean… I'm more than that."

"Look, I know you didn't… but you did have the weapon in your hoof… how'd that get there?"

"I really don't know!" I plead, hooves trembling. "I- Wolfard went nuts because everything went blue and I hid-"

"Blue?" the captain asks me, the lynx sighing. "Scat, another one… they're going to want you fired, Mary…"

"But- I didn't-!" I try to say, but the words just won't come out of my mouth.

"I'm going to get the Chiefs, alright, Mary…"

Great.

Three hours later- or is it three days later, I have no idea, time doesn't matter anymore… I'm sitting, cuffed to the table, and the Wildes are right across from me… there's nobody else in here but me, this probably isn't going to end well…

Just the feeling that I've got right about now…

I mean, I hope that I don't get fired, I swear… I really don't need to go down like that… I don't need to be the 'just another Bellwether' that everyone expects me to me…

"You know what this means, right, Mary?" Nick asks me, and well, I know that he thinks that I can't tell that the fur on his cheeks isn't wet.

Probably that I'm fired and that I'm going to lose my apartment and going to end up on the streets… or in jail for the rest of my life?

And that's what I tell him, and I'm wholeheartedly half-heartedly (does that even make any sense, I hope so. Geez I'm a mess) expecting him to nod and threaten my life, my job, cuss me out, something, anything…

But no. What he does is worse- and to top it all off, the other Chief Wilde's the same way, sobbing, heads in paws, and gods my eyes are dripping too, and the faucet won't turn off!

I'd offer to hug them, but… yeah, jail cell. Can't get my arms through the bars anyways.

"Mary we're taking you with us alright?"

And you'd sacrifice your career for me, Nick?

The look in his eyes tells me that, yes, he'd gladly do that.

"But first," he says, "you need to tell us what happened to Wolfard."

Oh, celestials above...

"If you think I killed him you're kidding yourselves!" I spit, trying not to seem angry, I'm a Bellwether, I don't need to play into their paws…

"Mary, did we mention anything about you killing Wolfard? No, no we did not," Nick says, sighing, one paw to his brow and the other to his side. "My son, Mary, your boyfriend, he is your boyfriend, right?"

"I mean, if you don't want us together, I'll move out… I swear my intentions are honest sir," I mumble.

"Mary, once again, you're missing my point…," he says, smiling sadly. "We need your help… alright, can you do that for us? Tell me what happened to Wolfard."

"I- we- we were sent on patrol together, Chief, and- and there was blue gas everywhere and he went nuts and then he tried to attack me and-"

I see one Chief look to the other and then nod, and one fishes for their ring of keys, the same one we're all issued when we're stuck on holding cell duty, big and heavy, a reminder of the importance of our duty...

"You're coming with us," Chief Wilde- the lapine one- says, the fur around her eyes a little grayer than it used to be but the fire and determination in them burning bright still." She stabs a key into the lock and the deadbolt, rusty and unused, clacks open. Her husband looks at her, shocked for a second, surprised at her brazenness if I had to guess- I am too, I can feel my mouth hanging open and I know it's rude, but- yeah.

"You sure about this, Chief?" the other Chief asks, the same look of grimly fierce determination plastered on his muzzle as well, frown wrinkling the gray that's patched on its end. Neither of them are really young anymore… and if they get hurt trying to do this, well, I'll just live the rest of my days in this cell. That would be fine, really, at this point, at least I'd have a roof over my head.

"Nicholas," she says, staring him down, "if this costs us our careers so flocking damn it, alright? This is our son we're talking about, Nick, our son, and the rest of the department won't help and Wolfard went mad, and this- this is all wrong, Nick…"

"Judy, both you and I know- and me more than anyone else here, believe me, that two wrongs don't make a right-"

"And just why is she out of her cell?" another officer, one that I don't recognize, a capybara, asks, looking at me with intense fear in his beady eyes. "You know that she's incredibly dangerous, don't you? You really should put her back in there before she stabs you…"

"I think we can handle her, Sergeant Feliciadae," Judy says, and the capybara grumbles frustratedly before shuffling off.

"Well, when you end up dead too because that criminal scum stabbed you or had you killed somehow, just remember that I told you so. She's a crook, Judy, so don't say I didn't warn you…"

"She's a vital witness in a missing mammal case, Sergeant, and we need her out in the field," Nick says, gritting his teeth and making sure that they stay covered by his lips…

"Fine, fine, you're the Chief-"

"That's right-"

"But when you're dead, don't come crying to me…"

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Sergeant."

"Suit yourself," the capybara says, wandering off, and Nick's frantic paws land squarely on my shoulders, panic in his wide eyes- and tears too, oh dear, if this is getting through his facade this really isn't good-

"What do you know, Officer Bellwether?"

"You know anything about Ketazine?" I ask him, and the little pinpricks of his pupils boing out and then disappear even smaller than before.

"Yeah. I do. They run a drug smuggling ring, trafficked mammals too; you name it and they sell it… we've been trying to drop them for years, what do you know…?"

"Maybe I just remembered that my father's best buddy and pal in crime used to be the CFO of that place… and I didn't make that connection earlier why?"

"They're arms dealers, Mary, but- well, you know those old X-Mammal films? The ones with Captain Animalia?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with-"

"They were all based on what really went on there Mary, experiments, you name it…"

"And they've probably got Jason…," Judy mumbles. "He's dead, Nick, oh sweet cheese and crackers he's gone…"

"No, hon, he's not," Nick says, his facade dropping just a little bit, just barely. "We're gonna find him, and Mary-?"

"Yeah?"

"You're brave, right?"

Not really, I want to answer, but instead I gulp and nod. "Sir, yes sir."

"Then Mary, lead the way."

Well, I didn't ask for this adventure, but it's sure as hell asking for me!

-and one more thought-

I can do this, I HAVE to do this. I can, and I will.