Gazelle: Everyone is frightened right now. And that's exactly why we need to stick together. We've gotten through bad times before, and we will again, by recognising and protecting one another.
 Gazelle: I love you, Zootopia.

"Now, then…"

The new voice was smoother. Feminine. Crisp accent. And still tinged with an inevitable electronic undertone, adding an uncomfortable inorganic edge. But that wasn't the worst part. Easily the worst part was how Sly and Carmelita recognised it.

"Let's do this properly." The screen started as a solid wall of colour, as it had been for Clockwerk, vivid lilac replacing painful yellow. But as they watched, an image assembled itself.

Purple stripes. Thin, sharp eyebrows. Black hair hemmed by an ornate red border. And gleaming, green eyes.

"I owe you a huge thanks. You really did a number on the old bird. Without you, I never could have done this."

The stylized face was frozen in a wide smirk.

"That was a good play. Much more brutal than I'd expect from you, which made it all the more effective. You made him crash hard. I imagine it would've brought the whole system down… unless there was a ghost in the machine."

Sly's eyes burned. His voice was low. "How long have you been in there?"

"From the start! There must have been a backup made of me too, once I fused with the frame." Emerald eyes gleamed. "I remember you killing me, Sly. That was so cruel of you, Sly. I thought we had something special, Sly."

"Get ready for a repeat performance."

She just laughed.

"Hey guys," said Nick, "I don't want to interrupt - like I really, seriously don't want to be here at all - but could someone catch me up on what the hhhhhhhhhhell this is?"

"Oh, that's right," she purred. "You've dragged a few more losers into your orbit."

Those eyes turned to Nick and Judy, but it was purely symbolic. They knew they were really being watched through the omnipresent cameras.

"My name is Neyla. I'm a good, good friend of Ringtail and Ironsides. Or I was, until they murdered me." She sighed. "But don't worry. It won't happen again. After all these years, I've finally gotten the immortality I deserve. Can't complain about the delay, eh? I'll have all the time in the world from now on…"

"We killed you before," spat Sly.

"Oh, but you very clearly didn't!"

Nick glanced around - Sly glaring daggers, Carmelita baring her fangs, Judy curled defensively beside him. "Let's stay focused. She's never dealt with me and Carrots before, maybe we can-"

"Maybe you can what?"

The virtual tigress turned her full attention to him.

"What are you thinking, Officer Nicholas Piberius Wilde? Thirty-five years old, born June 20th? What's your big plan? Do you think you can handle this as well as you handled your exams at Police Academy? Kudos on all those high grades you got. But to be blunt, Nicky, this isn't going to go so well. This is going to be more like when your father Johnathan was killed in a random hate crime when you were five. Do you remember that, Nicky? I'm sure your mother Marian does. I can call her and ask."

There was a deadly silence. Judy pulled even closer to him, as did Sly and Carmelita. Instant, silent support. But his voice still came out hollow. "…Oh."

"Hmm. Seems your therapist doesn't keep digital notes. I've made my point, though."

"You're connected to the Internet," said Carmelita. Not a question.

"Have been for some time. It's nothing much - for the moment - but I've been keeping myself busy." A digital sigh. "Once again, I'm the only one who shows any initiative, or imagination. Clockwerk sulked in our little metal prison. Taking up all the space and muttering to himself about raccoons. But I pushed, and pushed, and finally realized I could just about reach Andross' internet access. And that meant I could do what I do best…"

The screen, briefly, went back to blue.

"Get idiots to do the hard work for me."

Sly's eyes narrowed. "I feel like I'm missing something here."

"Far from the first time. Perhaps this will jog your memory…" A digital clearing of a non-existent throat. She was having too much fun with the voice modulator. And yet, rather than creating a brand new voice, she just added an innocent lilt to her own. "Please, oh brave heroes! Help me defeat the villainous, villainous Andross! He's the biggest threat to our peaceful little world, or my name isn't 'Krystal'!" The lilac returned. The stylised face, the smug tone. "Which, of course, it is not."

"Bentley was right…" growled Carmelita.

"Bentley's always right," said Sly. "But this changes nothing. If we only got here because Neyla helped out, that… dents my good mood, sure. But we still beat Andross, and Clockwerk, and we've just got one dirtbag left."

"Yeah," said Nick, "except if an indefinite number of dirtbags keep crawling out of this computer, we might slip up eventually."

Neyla chuckled. "You're a good influence, Nicky. Ringtail has a habit of biting off more than he can chew…"

"Guys!"

Judy planted herself in front of the other three.

"Why's she just chatting to us?! She might be trying to distract us from something!"

"Oh, also a good influence. Some much-needed situational awareness. I'll admit this much - you're keeping better company these days than… whatever the fat one and the little one were called."

Sly's jaw set.

"I'm chatting, little bunny, because I haven't quite decided on how I'm going to kill you. After all, you've served your purpose now that you've cleared out both the old codgers in my way. Oh, it will be painful, and slow. Ironic, preferably. But one thing at a time, hmm? I'm smarter than Clockwerk ever was. I have far grander goals than vengeance. So before I start batting you between my proverbial paws, I need to ensure my future. My long, long future…"

Her smirk was relentless.

"I'm figuring out a way to transfer myself to… apparently we're calling it 'the cloud'? Things have certainly changed since my forced retirement. But unlimited access to every computer in the world does sound fun."

"We can't let that happen," said Carmelita. "We're shutting her down, now."

"Oh, don't worry! It'll be much nicer than the old bird's idea. I don't intend to 'bathe the world in hellfire', for a start. Just the parts that annoy me…"

Sly tried to ignore her. He sprinted around the length of the forcefield, searching for any weakness. Carmelita levelled her pistol and began to fire. Every shot crackled uselessly against the field.

"Look at you go…! He was right about one thing. You haven't changed. Well, I hate to break it to you, but there's no winning this time. I am this station. There's nothing you can do to me. And I'm content to watch you run around, all cute and flustered… wasting the remaining oxygen…"

Nick tensed. "Wait, what was that?"

"Hmm?" Deliberately lazy. "Oh, yes. Deciding on your deaths didn't take long after all. I just permanently disabled life support. I'd say you have, oh… one hour left to live? If you're all good boys and girls and take turns sharing, that is…"

"Don't listen to her," snapped Carmelita, ceasing her barrage to address Nick and Judy. "Neyla lies as easily as she breathes."

"Okay," he said, "but does that mean 'assume the life support is still on', or 'assume we only have ten minutes'?"

She glared. "The second thing."

"Thought so…"

"'Lita!" Sly crouched in the corner, where the forcefield met the wall. "Help me break this open!"

"Good thinking!"

"Oh, yes, good thinking," wheedled Neyla, as Carmelita ran over. "Just keep smashing everything! That's sure to work eventually. While you're at it, Sly, why don't you start lecturing me about the importance of love and teamwork?"

Judy took a breath.

She hadn't moved. She stood there, next to Nick, while Sly and Carmelita feverishly worked. It wasn't like her to hesitate in the face of danger. But she had taken those taunts to heart. They had only survived Clockwerk by exploiting his character flaws. There probably wasn't a physical solution. Definitely not one they could do without oxygen.

But she hadn't given up. They still had one card.

"Nick," she said, loud and clear. "It's time to do a hustle."

The certainty in her voice struck Sly and Carmelita. It struck Neyla. And it struck her partner, painfully, earning an incredulous stare. "Are you serious?!"

"Of course I am. It-"

"No," he said, "I mean did you seriously just announce to the whole room that we were going to try tricking her?! Just - just telegraph that?"

"Oh," she said. "…Yes."

"Why?!"

Neyla laughed. It was prettier than Clockwerk's low, toxic chuckling, but no more comforting. "Oh, dear. I haven't thrown you off your game, have I…?"

"No!" said Judy, too quickly. "Shut up! We're fine!"

She turned to Nick, poking him in the stomach. "Ow-"

"We have to do," she hissed, "…y'know." She half-nodded to the side of the room, eyes wide. Urgent.

"Do what?"

"The plan."

"What plan?"

"The secret plan."

"What secret plan?" He stared. "We've got like twelve! They're all secret! It is unclear to me to which one you refer!"

"The one that'd work! Obviously!"

Sly and Carmelita exchanged a blank stare.

Should we… do something? said Carmelita's blank stare.

Probably, said Sly's blank stare. But I have no idea what.

Their efforts with the wall had gotten them nowhere. Pulling back the panelling had only confirmed their fear that the forcefield kept going, safely enclosing the computer on all sides. So Neyla was perfectly secure in her new digital housing, comfortably watching Nick and Judy embarrass themselves.

Judy was chopping a hand into her palm, enunciating clearly. "Bravo. Uniform. November. Yak."

Nick glared. "I really think this is more of a Delta Echo Alpha Delta situation."

"Foxtrot-!"

"Enough with the code! You may as well just tell me how you wanted to trick her - we've already blown it!"

More laughter. Louder. "Oh, you two are just precious," said Neyla. "To think I was praising you for being smarter than Sly and Carmelita… Ah, but I don't need to retract that. It's a low bar."

Judy fumed. "You think you're so great, huh? With your - your big computer body, and the fact you don't need air?"

"Yes."

"Well, I have news for you!" She stabbed a tiny finger. "You've already lost."

Neyla's tone was almost entirely smirk. "Have I?"

"Yeah!" Judy nudged her partner. "Tell her, Nick."

Nick stood there. One fang worrying his lip.

"…Nick, you're not telling her."

"I'm thinking," he groused. "That's what I do. One of us has to…"

He gave Neyla a long look.

"So, like… the oxygen will last longer if I'm the only one breathing it, right?"

Judy's ears shot up. "Nick!"

"Hush. The grown-ups are talking." He turned back to Neyla. "Well? I don't suppose we could broker a deal?"

"The idea is very intriguing," she purred. "You're a man after my own heart. And watching the four of you clawing each other apart sounds delightful. There's just one hiccup… you've just announced your intentions to them."

Nick paused. Then he smacked his forehead. "Carrots! Your dumbness is contagious!"

"Nuh-uh! I'd never be dumb enough to trust a haunted computer! That's all you!"

"I'm just trying to survive your bad decisions!"

"Stop bullying me! If you don't have a better idea-"

"I don't! Because your dumbness, as has been established, is-!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

Neyla watched, rapt, as the two legendary heroes began to ineptly tussle like angry toddlers-

And then an explosion rocked the room.

It was distant, but powerful. The whole station lurched. They had to fight to stay on their feet. But Neyla, comfortably embedded into the wall, was the most thrown.

"…What was"

All the lights went out, as did every screen on the computer. All too briefly. It wouldn't be quite that easy.

"that?"

Neyla's cameras twitched restlessly as her computer flicked back on. Some screens switched away from the digital tigress, displaying schematics. Readings. Error reports.

The hollowness of her voice soon began to fill with rage. "What did you do?!"

"Who, us?" said Judy innocently. "Nothing."

"We had no ideas," said Nick. "Honest."

"Oh, I'm sure it's very exciting, getting to watch one of our famous performances…"

She leaned against Nick. He wrapped an arm around her. And they both gave the cameras a big, big smile.

"But you forgot," she said, "we aren't the only ones here."

Everything had gone lilac.

At first, Murray had barely noticed. His arms were bleeding, his chest was bruised, his muscles were all screaming. But it was a scream of defiance. And when a Knight's axe came straight for his head, he found the strength to pull the other Knight he was wrestling directly into its path. Axe met helmet with a shower of sparks.

He shoved the attacking Knight, hard. It stumbled back, leaving its axe behind. But it wouldn't slow, and neither would the Knight with a freshly-collapsed face, and Murray heaved in a breath-

And then, everything was still. And lilac.

Murray looked around, trying to catch his breath. "Uh…?"

His two charges were both on it. Bentley cracked open his laptop, while Penelope had resorted to her smartphone.

"…What now?"

"Whatever happened before," said Bentley, "happened again."

"I'm sending a killswitch signal to these last Knights-"

"While I try to establish what the heck Sly and the others are doing."

"Nothing useful, I'll bet," muttered Penelope. "Loading… loading…"

As one, the Knights seized up. And with a resounding chorus of metal, they all collapsed.

"There! Just wish I had a chance to do that the first time." From his shoulder, Penelope gave Murray a smile. "Thanks for buying us time. That was amazing."

Murray wiped his face. "Just doing my job… Uh, Bentley? You're looking a little pale…"

He didn't reply. After a few more seconds of staring at his screen, he choked out a question. "P-Penelope. Can you access the station's life support systems?"

"I mean, I can't access them, but I can check the data on-"

"Yes. That. Now, please."

She muttered, but relented. And then she was staring too.

"Uh? Hello?" said Murray. "What's the problem?!"

"We," said Penelope, "have about twenty-six minutes of breathable air."

"Oh!"

Murray suddenly felt much more conscious of his huge, tired lungs. A second ago, he hadn't even thought that was possible.

"That's… bad!"

Penelope met Bentley's gaze. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Hostile AI takeover. Only an inorganic opponent would target the oxygen supply, and an uncontrolled pulse of raw data would explain your robots' behaviour. But how?"

She sighed. "Andross thought he found a backup of Clockwerk's mind. I warned him, but did he listen…?"

"Oh. Oh dear."

"That's," said Murray, "even worse!"

"We have to purge Clockwerk from the system! Can you re-establish control?!"

"No," said Penelope, "because I never had it. Andross centralised everything to his personal computer, and I don't recommend going to his lab. That's where the AI will be centralised, too. Your friends are probably d-"

She stopped herself when she saw Murray's expression.

"I just mean," she said carefully, "we should stay put."

"I'm surprised," sniffed Bentley. "I thought your preference would be fleeing."

"Obviously I want to," she grumbled, "but I can't. The hangar doors were centralised too. Andross centralised everything!"

But then, her frown evaporated. And she gave the brothers a tiny, triumphant smirk.

"…which is something I knew I could use against him."

"Have you come up with a plan?" said Murray.

"Gimme some credit, big guy. I've been planning my escape from minute one. And lucky for us, it'll be a perfect Clockwerk killer!"

"Then we're with you!" Murray turned to Bentley. "Right?"

"Uh…"

"Right?"

"Ugh," he said. "If it's that or asphyxiation…"

"That's the spirit!"

"I… appreciate it," managed Penelope. "I don't have time to pull this off alone. I'll need you two in a minute, but first…"

She fiddled with the tiny, tiny earpiece in her tiny, tiny ear.

"I might have a guy in the right place."

Wolf trudged onwards, one foot after another. For the first time in years, a fight had left him aching.

But he wouldn't stop. He didn't care about anything else; about the abrupt changes in the station's lighting, searing yellow or ominous lilac. He had a goal now. He was leaving this carnival, once and for all. And he was taking his prize with him.

With strong, steady, and very gentle arms, he clutched Fox to his chest.

Wolf was working up the nerve to break the silence when something beat him to it. His ear flicked reflexively as a familiar voice filtered in. "Hey, idiot."

He responded with a low growl. "What is it, you little monster?"

"I don't have the time to explain how or why we are screwed," said Penelope, "but we are really, seriously screwed. All of us."

"Sucks," said Wolf plainly. "I was actually just leaving."

"How? The hangar doors are sealed, and I guarantee they won't open. We're locked out of everything, including the oxygen supply, which is off! Work with me here or you're already dead."

He paused. She didn't exactly have a reputation for truthfulness. But if she was lying, it was a very convincing performance. Fox shifted a little in his arms, gazing up at him.

"You're still on the upper deck, aren'tcha?" she said.

"Yeah."

"Find the main power coupler and blow it to hell, if you don't want to die. Now." She paused. "Um, please."

"…Fine. We're on the way."

"'We'?" He heard her scoff. "You too, huh? So much for being self-sufficient."

"Bite me," said Wolf, and cut the connection.

Fox was still looking up at him, eyes dim, voice quiet. "Who was that…?"

"The mouse. We're in trouble, apparently, and we gotta do something about it." He glanced around for the right sign and changed course, trudging down a different corridor.

"Wolf?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't seem to like her very much."

He barked out a laugh. "Your problem, Pup," he said, "is that you think everybody acts like you. Not everyone goes for big smiles and warm hugs. Jerks like me and her have our own way of making friends."

Fox just blinked at him.

"Fact is," said Wolf, huffing a little, "I respect her. A bit. She's the first person in years to actually listen to me."

He looked down again, purple eye bright.

"Since you, that is."

"So, uh," said Murray, "if Wolf knocks out the main power…?"

"Let's be optimistic, big guy, and say 'when'." Penelope had disappeared into the wall, but her voice was still audible. "If he doesn't, we won't be bouncing back. So 'when'."

"Positive attitude. Love it. When Wolf knocks out the power…?"

"The station will switch to a back-up power supply," said Bentley. "There'd be a lot of redundancies built into a place like this."

"There are," said Penelope, "which I- yeowch!"

"You okay?" called Murray.

"Fine. Touched a wire that was maybe still live. Whiskers are tingling. Anyway," she said, "Andross routed the new power through the old circuitry, since apparently even he has his limits and didn't want to rewire the whole thing. And that was mostly fine. Unless…"

"Unless," said Bentley, looking over the readings from his laptop, "two of the redundancies tried to activate simultaneously, which would create… ingenious! An irreversible feedback loop, culminating in a massive electro-magnetic pulse!"

"Holy cow!" said Murray. "Sly was actually right!"

"Oh, c'mon!"

Penelope emerged from the wall with singed whiskers and a glare.

"I let you guys in on my cool plan, and you still somehow make it about Sly?!"

"Oops. Sorry. Kinda slipped out."

"Yeesh…"

She hopped into Murray's palm.

"We gotta time this just right. Murray, please smash open that access panel over there. Bentley, the system needs to be confused with the right mishmash of digital information, so your subpar hacking will be perfect."

She adjusted her tiny glasses.

"On my mark."

"It's…"

The emotion had drained from Neyla's voice. Coupled with the engineering jargon, she sounded, for a moment, like an actual computer.

"Power systems overloading. Discharge imminent. Danger of electro-magnetic pulse. Controls overridden. Safeties overridden. Critical failure in… in…"

And then every ounce of rage in those cold circuits erupted out at once. Any trace of smugness burnt up and buried.

"You cheated!"

Judy just scoffed. "Oh, sorry you're not having fun. Please accept our sincerest apologies."

"And a full refund." Nick smirked. "You can't honestly lecture us about cheating, though! Which one of us is supposed to be dead, again? That's cheating."

"You stupid, insignificant little-!"

Judy laughed. "Oh, yeah! We're a couple of clowns. Clearly."

"Clowning is second nature to us. Our most powerful tool." Nick gave an artisanal shrug. "When did I transition from genuinely yelling at my partner, to realising she had a plan I needed to play a role in? Honestly, not even I can say…"

Neyla let out a wordless growl. But before she could speak, a fresh sound rang out.

For the second time since they'd met him, the partners heard Sly burst out laughing.

"Wow! Wow." He managed to even his voice out, but his eyes looked a little wet from laughter. "You seriously made the same mistake that got you killed? That is so embarrassing! I mean, we hit Clockwerk with some desperate, all-new strategy, but you… My god, you're dumb as a bag of hammers, aren't you?"

"'The fat one'? 'The little one'?" Carmelita was eager to join in. This was no longer a fight. It was a bonding activity. "Those were the two men who killed you, Neyla. And it seems like they've done it again."

"We didn't have to think of a plan," said Judy. "We're only half the team. And if you forget that, if you don't have the much-needed situational awareness to think beyond who's directly in front of you… well, that's your loss. Literally." Sly punctuated this thought with another laugh.

"Shut up." Low and feral. "Shut! Up!"

"Nah," said Nick. "It's more fun to keep dunking on you."

Neyla roared.

It was impossibly loud, backed with blaring, bitter buzzing. Tearing through the air like tiger claws.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE CLE-VER"

Her voice was hellish. Stretched to the limit of the speakers, far past any noise a living creature could make.

"YOU THINK YOU'VE W O N"

Piercing. Piercing. They covered their ears, trying in vain to block her out.

"YOU'LL DIE. ALL OF YOU. ALL OF Y-O-U. I WON'T LET YOU WIN. I WON'T LET YOU LIVE. I HATE YOU. I-H-A-T-E-Y-O-U-!"

"Go to hell, Neyla!"

Carmelita's voice was a beacon for the others. Solid, unbending, and more than a match for any monster.

"And this time," she growled, "stay there!"

Another roar. Another set of explosions, elsewhere in the station, heavy enough to make the room tilt. They all clung to each other, Sly balancing Carmelita, Judy steadying Nick. All the while, Neyla continued to shriek, transcending to impossible soundscapes of rage, frustration, fear-

And then the pulse arrived.

A powerful weapon, absolutely harmless to living creatures. None of them felt the brief passage of radio waves through their bodies. Only Carmelita could pinpoint the moment it hit them. Because the object she was gripping - out of readiness, out of habit, out of the sense of comfort it had always given her - gave a sickly little twitch.

Her pistol died. And then, so did Neyla.

The room went dark. The forcefield, impenetrable mere seconds earlier, fizzled. But the computer reacted with far more drama. Every circuit surged. There was a high-pitched hum, terribly fast but long enough to unmistakably crescendo. And then the screens began to explode, one by one, cracking and crackling and spitting smoke.

Neyla screamed. Until she didn't.

There was an immediate emptiness to the room when her voice cut out. Not that it was silent. The computer continued to crackle and burst, chunks of it raining merrily onto Andross' unconscious body. Soon he was lightly buried in debris. Face-down amid his life's work.

But they weren't looking at him. Their focus was on the computer, eight eyes scanning for any sign of resurgence. Of yet another attack.

Instead, they saw that central socket shake in place. They saw a plume of black smoke spill out. And then, they saw the Fileactery. Removing itself, eerily similar to how it had plugged itself in…

Except as it left the computer, it was already in pieces. They dribbled lamely to the floor, indistinguishable from the other wreckage. Dead.

A moment passed in stillness, and then a few more, and finally Judy spoke. "…We win?"

The statement hung. Everything still felt unreal, not helped by how the last set of explosions gave the room a new, more jaunty angle. The floor felt strange under their feet. But there was no fresh ream of villainous declarations. They were alone.

Judy's ears were tall. Proud. "We win!"

She leapt up at Nick, who caught her in a hug, and they laughed and spun in place. Sly watched them, smiling warmly. "Good thing we brought those two jokers, huh?"

"Yes…"

His smile dimmed, and he immediately turned to Carmelita. He was ready to assure her of their victory, that Clockwerk and Neyla were definitely gone. But that wasn't her concern.

Her shock pistol, the weapon she had relied on her entire career, sat in her hands. Pulling the trigger didn't even produce a click.

Sly drifted close, laying a hand on her shoulder. Various comments about her history with that thing - about his history with it - presented themselves to him. He ignored them, and went simple. "I'm so sorry, 'Lita."

She nodded, distantly. But then, with a breath, she holstered it. Let it rest. "It's just an object," she said. "I'll replace it. Find a nice place to store it."

"Your mantelpiece, maybe," he smirked.

"Wherever. The point is…"

She put a hand on his cheek.

"Some things are more important."

He smiled at that. And kissed her.

Of course, not everything they owned was electronic. When Judy disengaged from her partner, rushing over to hug Sly and Carmelita, Nick produced a pen, and a small, bright green journal. Still perfectly functional.

He murmured his shorthand aloud as he wrote. "Dear diary… evil computer… Zoogled my childhood trauma…"

He caught Judy watching him, and returned her quiet smile.

"Handled it - like a champ - thanks to my… excellent… friends."

Did you know Neyla and Krystal are both voiced by the same person, Alésia Glidewell? I knew that! Then I forgot it! And then I wrote this twist and only remembered afterwards like "whhHHOAAHHHH-"