Chapter 42

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AN: So, I'm writing this author's notes having just finished the end of day 3. 13 chapter in all, and a few I didn't plan on doing when first setting out. You see, pre-writing ahead in my view has a lot of advantages.

Does it have disadvantages? Well, arguably if you start getting reviews going against where you're going, there's a particularly hard sunk-cost fallacy against doing major changes as you go on. There's also the fact that you have lots of time to second guess yourself.

Why do I bring this up?

Well, first off, a private reviewer (who I do thank for his contribution) raised the issue that people might be going off this story as things are just getting darker and darker. Now, if any of you agree or disagree, please leave a comment so I can know. At the same time, let me assure you that while this day will have some dark moments, there will be some good action and there will be some solid breakthroughs in the case.

Secondly… Well, I think I need to talk about my initial plans for this episode and my writing style first, at which point I'll move into it. My initial plan was that, mirroring the final third of the Fantastic Mr Fox movie, this episode would be the final third of series 1. The third act to it all where everyone, having come together, would have to try and save Kris from his unjust captivity. At the same time, I had the ideas of having the gang face off against a 'post-truth' villain and exploring the ideas of bias taken up by the movie or, more specifically, by a lot of fanfiction. You see, the movie merely showed that certain mammals had a negative view of foxes and the city was tricked into an anti-pred stance, leaving lots open and to be filled in.

Many fanfics though translate that to 'evil rich prey oppress poor innocent preds (especially foxes), in a direct, highly simplified and turned up to 11 parallel of US race relations' or thereabouts. Prejudiced sheep, evil rich prey mammals plotting ways to deal with 'the filth', long tales by Nick of all the horrors foxes have to face, etc. etc... Consequently, I wanted to show that these kinds of biases were more complex, part of that by taking a bit of a meta take (if that's what the fanfic writers think is the truth after the movie, maybe it's what most of the gen populace thinks too. What if many mammals have those exact same attitudes, how does that play out).

And that fitted in nicely with my idea of creating a post truth villain. When I write, I really like writing character interaction and exploring different ideas (indeed, some of my favourite fanfics (e.g. a different path, L'edgendary) have had very long chapters where characters have huge long-form discussions as they go over the concepts they're faced with, engaging and dealing with them in universe). Combined with the fact that I wanted to make sure the ensemble cast all had stuff to do, wanting to get in those cameos, and me realising that I couldn't just rely on meta for the above idea (I had to show, not tell) this fic ended up a lot longer than I ever planned or imagined. It should have been its own separate season, rather than being tagged along with season 1, but alas hindsight is 20 20.

Regardless, I'd started writing these next chapters over christmas and the new year when… Well, I think we all remember what happened. And, as said, I tend to write to explore issues, and this irl event did affect the views I had. And in this fic there is a subtext that, though I think is still valid, seemed very tone deaf as a result. Consequently, I felt a few different scenes were needed to at least stand alongside said subtext, to at least show 'yes, I am aware of this thing over here, I'm aware that people hold valid views on them which I will acknowledge, I do know it's a serious issue.'

Now, does this mean I'll be doing like some fics did and changing the ending to an 'All cops are bastards, Nick and Judy quit the force' or introducing 'pred lives matter/ mammals of african descent lives matter'?

Hell no.

Think of this as deciding to add a new herb or spice to a recipe, introducing some contrast. These are a few scenes that will add some nuance (one was already planned in one form before all this, but expanded a bit. Another will have a mix of dissenting opinions, letting you judge what you want from it), but by and large the stories endings, the themes already set up and my plans will be carrying on as originally intended.

Would it have been better if I'd have stuck with my original plan, maybe by doing a 'write a chapter the week before release so you don't second guess yourself' thing… (A-la the creators of south park). Who knows?

I suppose that's the second issue with pre-writing.

If anyone else had opinions and ideas on what I've said that they'd like to share, please do share them. By the end of this in-universe day, I'll have most of the pieces set up for the endgame to really begin and, fingers crossed, Anon Vulpine will end around chapter 70. No promises though… After that, I'm planning to merge my ideas of season 2 and 3 into one big final season… Which should be a much leaner, faster paced, actiony sequel, with a good old traditional rosta of villains and some fun and exciting new faces. Anyhow, the feedback I hear may well find its way into what I do.

We'll see.

Regardless, I'd like to thank those readers and commentators for their continuing support. And, without much further ado, the show goes on.

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"Carrots…"

…

"Hey, Carrots?"

...

"Carrots?"

"I'm busy!" she snapped, her head turning away from the laptop to face Nick, the fox peeking out from under his blanket. If looks could kill…

Maybe it was a moot point that Nick had his paws up, but he held them up anyway. "I'll let you get on with it," he said, sliding the blanket off and sitting up. Glancing out from the sofa, his gaze rested on a big vase of newly delivered flowers, mainly snapdragons and foxgloves, courtesy of the pig florist they'd met before. It then turned, settling on the black sky, tinged with orange, that hung outside the windows. He paused before shrugging. "Farm girl instincts I guess."

…

"Getting up this early... Anything I can get…"

"-Coffee," she said, burrowing herself closer to her screen. "If I'm going to find something, I need coffee."

"As you wish," he spoke, retreating from where she was and finding his way to the tight spiral staircase, carved into the living wood of the tree, before making his way down. He knew that Mr and Mrs Fox were sleeping in their room and Ash in his, while Haida and Retsuko had gone home after that calamitous evening, nursing a very drunk pig between them. After all, someone had to take care of him. Razorback Ton may not be, but the fox was still glad that that mammal wasn't he. That left Jack and Skye, Finnick and Fenneko, and Honey. The first two were on camp beds down in the basement areas while Ash had been happy to have Honey share his room. That left the two fennecs and, after flicking the kettle on, he knew exactly where to find one of them. Up he walked, his paws making no sound as they climbed, before he gently opened the right door. He didn't need to turn the light on, given that his night vision more than compensated, the shapes of the nursery making themselves clear. Over to the crib he went, looking down into it, and…

He frowned. "Huh. No fennec…"

There was a blinding flash as the light was turned on, overwhelming him for a second or two. Blinking, paws out to shield himself, he looked over and let his eyes widen as he saw a fennec standing in the door.

Just not the fennec…

"Morning," she said, dressed in her baggy nightwear and looking in, a slight smile on her face.

"Morning," Nick replied, glancing around. "Where's Finnick?"

"Back in the van, where we slept the night away," she said, her voice a constant monotone, spiced with the slightest sound of supreme superiority. "I happened to hear you and Judy talk and it woke me up; were it not for his five years of experience getting sleep in a high noise environment and the resulting desensitization, he'd have probably woken up too. He's quite remarkable in fact, remaining asleep as I opened up his van and followed you in."

"... Yeah, okay then, I…"

"Of course naturally you thought he'd be sleeping in there," she spoke, glancing at the crib.

"Hey, that joke's a classic," Nick countered. "And…"

"-And you'll probably next refer to your hustles in which he dressed up as a kit," she carried on, the little smile still on her face all the while. "Which was only a business exercise done in order to meet ends meet and was coincidentally your idea. Similar to your police undercover work in which you disguised yourself as a young kit. Yet oddly enough he's the one that gets the ribbing for it."

Nick blinked. "Wai…"

"-I work with Ookami," she carried on, her voice ever the same.

"Ah," Nick spoke, smiling. "Well, just me catching the bad guys…"

"-And continuing your interest in kit stuff," she spoke. "You like dressing up other adults as kits, you like dressing up as them yourself, and it's quite clear that your constant jokes on my BF's expense is a textbook projection of your own unfulfilled age play kink desires."

…

"-Honestly, I've never understood the appeal," she said, shrugging. "Though I'm curious why you chose a bunny as a partner unless you're playing the father. Given the size difference, a big mama or papa wolf would be perfect for…"

"-Can we pick up this conversation sometime else," Nick cut in, frowning. "Like after the heat death of the universe?"

"If you want," she said with a shrug. "Though I haven't gotten to the part where I once followed a blackbuck doe around half the city to confirm my hunch that the suspiciously self-conscious three year old fawn I saw her changing in the ladies was in fact an adult dik-dik."

Nick looked on uncomfortably. "Well, you have now."

"No," she remarked, tilting her head as she mused a bit. "That would also involve the part where she turned and asked why I was following her, me mentioning how I work with a dik-dik, and she then smiling and getting her red-cheeked cringing 'daughter' to explain at length how she was such a naughty girl who enjoyed and thus deserved that kind of thing."

"... I'm the one projecting?"

"Given that I strongly declined the 'mother's' requests to go home, lock her 'daughter' into her bouncer, and together show her how a real woman would treat mommy, I'll say yes. Ditto for the follow up request to photoshoot and manage the 'babies' social media profile…"

Nick crossed his paws. "That's just being a decent non-sadistic mammal."

"Debatable. After all, a true sadist would never hurt a true masochist, would they?"

"I…" Nick began, only to pause, trailing off.

"-Likewise, I know what I like and Finnster is happy to give it to me. And were it not consensual, he'd certainly be hauled off in pawcuffs and an extra-strength muzzle."

"And I did not need that," Nick groaned. "Okay, you're done now. Can we stop this cursed conversation already?"

She shrugged. "Honestly we could, but that would only feed more into the constant suppression you're forcing yourself into. It's not healthy you know?"

"Listen," he spoke, an angry snarl flashing on his muzzle for a brief second, only to be cut off as his eyes widened. He paused for a second before face met with paw. "Finnick put you up for this as revenge for my jokes… Didn't he?"

Her smile grew. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…"

He looked away before circling around, drumming his fingers on the crib railing. "Okay, I get it. It's annoying. Taste of my own medicine. Yadda, yadda, you win..."

She broke off her laughter and raised a single eyebrow. "You think I'd wake up extra early just in case this exact situation happened, all because he asked me to?"

"I…" he began. "Okay, no…"

"-I only do things because I want to. He respects me for that, which is why I wanted to do this."

He turned back around again, a confused look on his muzzle and a questioning finger raised. "Hang on. So you did get up early just in case I…"

"I'll leave that to your imagination," she said, as always in the same slightly smug tone.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you would."

"Naturally. Ambiguity leads to confusion. Confusion leads to defeat. And your defeat leads to your total respect. Of me."

Nick kept his gaze levelled at her for a long, hard, awkward pause, finally shaking his head. "You know, I used to be worried I'd set you up with a mammal you couldn't handle."

She crossed her arms and smirked. "Happy to have corrected you."

"Not happy to be your victim," he countered, pausing as he looked around the nursery. "And as for the whole undercover thing, we needed a way to secretly monitor childcare places where abuse was suspected… And if an idea is stupid and it works better than anything else, it ain't stupid."

…

"And finally, not that it's going to stop that creepy stare of yours, but you can't deny that this stuff is cute. Can you?"

"Eh," she mumbled. "Kits are expensive, noisy, and a time sucking burden with no real upsides," she spoke, walking through, pausing as she scanned the nursery decorations. "Also, this entire place was styled by someone who evidently doesn't care. That crib is pawpad themed, incredibly cliché and unoriginal, but even a complete pawpad theme nursery is better than this mismatched jumble of styles. Pawpads next to woodland next to cartoon mammals? What kind of mammal put this together?"

Nick pointed up. "A teenaged boy."

She froze in place. "That explains everything. -Except this," she said, reaching over and grabbing a certain hyena plush from a basket. "But I've already heard this guy's explanation."

The red fox chuckled. "Hey, do you think he's had his argument with his sister yet?"

"They've exchanged angsty text messages and he's currently no-contacting her… And his parents, who think he's just being 'boy-yena emotional' and are asking him to forgive and forget. Honestly though, he's had bigger things on his mind recently, just like all of us."

Nick paused, his ears going down. "Yeah," he sighed, walking over and sitting down on the rocking chair. His face slumped into his paws and he sighed. "I… -How do we come back from this? I mean, we know that it's fake, but we can't prove it! And once it gets released this morning, that's it for the protests, the law changes, the calls to get rid of that hippo and free Kris, isn't it?"

"No," Fenneko spoke. "It is for most of them, though I'm certain a hardcore set of radical anti-establishment mammals will still carry on."

"-Not what I needed to hear," he complained. "Heck, with this evidence, they can easily charge him and justify holding him for the full six months, and if it's well enough done and we can't disprove it, it can be used at his trial. Which they could now bring forward, locking him away before it gets disproven. We're back to square one. Heck, we're at square minus one!"

"If you disregard our sheep lead and our weasel lead," she said, "the last of which I'll be getting back to work on. Alongside helping to disprove that deep fake, of course."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I think Judy got up earlier to…" He paused, jumping up. "Coffee. Forgot. Meet me down there." He turned and left the room, Fenneko left standing there. She shrugged and put the Haida plush down before pausing, something catching her eye. Pulling out a drawer, she pulled out a soft woodland theme blanket, her mouth opening slightly as she felt it and went slightly goo-goo eyed. Putting it to the side, she glanced over at a similar themed onesie, and then a diaper cover, her ears going back, her mouth gaping open and a paw rubbing on her stomach. She paused though as she spotted a labelled box, shook her head to clear it and got out her phone.

"Honestly, this will just be marketing," she scoffed, reassuring herself. "Baby Box… Fennec… Designed to manipulate primitive maternal instincts and… and… -Aaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww… Hello there little cutie, peeking outta his boxxy woxxy you widdle fennec foxxy... Peekaboo… Peekaboo… Who's a widdle white angel with big floppy ears… you're a widdle white angel with big floppy ears… I… -No! Stay focussed. It's just the first one designed to manipulate you. Scroll down and you'll… Aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww… AAAWWWWWWWW! AAAWWWWWWWW! I... I… I WANT KITS! I WANT NOW!"

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Judy, meanwhile, wanted something much simpler from her boyfriend, and quickly received it. Her nose twitching slightly, she began sipping from the coffee as she scanned away at her computer. Nick looked on, his head tilting slightly. "I suppose we're lucky that he thrusted it in our face."

"Yup," she said, taking another sip as she glanced back at it. The photo itself was surprisingly clear, given that it was an image on a smartphone taken via a secret camera. However, what it did show gave few clues as to where they were taking the picture. 'Kris' was pictured from above and across a small narrow street, a brick wall behind him. A few drain pipes here, a bunch of weeds coming out of a crack there, but nothing overly telling.

That hadn't stopped Judy from loading up Zoogle Maps and burrowing into it, scanning around. Nick looked at it and shook his head. "We're not going to find the location."

"Not with that attitude," she grumbled, zooming out and panning over to another area, before dropping back in.

"You're scanning the whole city here, you'll never find it, it'll take too long. You'll just tire yourself out like…"

"-Like what!" she cut up, snapping to him. He backed off a bit, ears going back. "Like with the jam cams, huh?"

"I… Yeah…"

"-In which I found that whole bat lead, huh? The one that's being cross referenced with some of the fur found at Vern's place?"

Nick paused. "Well there is a difference…"

"And what about our plan for finding Duke, huh?" she asked. "Never mind a whole city, at the bare minimum we'll be searching an entire state for him… And not one of those tiny little east coast ones, either."

Nick's eyes narrowed. "But we have a solid lead there, a real business and landmarks we can follow to…"

"-To someone who may be in on it, and just be a dead end," came a cut in from behind. The pair turned to see Fenneko there, the fennec quickly joined by her boyfriend. She carried on. "I've actually located where that business is."

The others looked at her, their mouth's agape, before Judy rushed forward, grabbed the fennec vix, and threw her onto the chair. Much to Finnick's anger. "HEY!"

"Where," Judy said, gesturing to the screen.

She paused. "I'm not going to tell you."

"What?" she began, before fumbling a bit. "Okay. Sorry for mammal handling you, shouldn't have done that, now where is it?"

Fenneko turned, crossing her paws. "If I tell you, you'll grab a bunch of mammals together out of desperation and have them racing off up there to talk to the owner, won't you? After all, you're in a highly emotional state and feel you're out of options at the moment. Given the chance to do anything other than throw ideas at the wall and see if they stick, you'll leap at it and rush straight into it, not considering the downsides."

"What downsides?" she asked. "Kris is in serious trouble, we need to find Duke, and…"

"-And this isn't Duke, is it?" she said. "It's a shop owned by one of Duke's semi-close relatives whose relationship with our wanted weasel is unknown. He might not have even gone there, but if you charge up and barge in asking, he might phone up our wanted mammal and get him moving again. That's disregarding whether or not he told him to look out for certain mammals following him."

"I…" Judy huffed, before drumming her foot. Hard. "Okay, but what if it's the other way around, huh? What if he doesn't know, or doesn't like him, or…"

"-Or has a no snitch policy."

"Ha," Finnick laughed. "A no snitch policy coming from a Weaselton?"

"He's actually a Stoatsmith."

"-And you're actually loud," came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Jack there, ears drooping down and looking like he very much wanted to go back to sleep. He paused as he held the door open. "What's this about?"

"I found out where the rental place is, but I'm withholding it to stop these mammals racing up there and potentially blowing it."

"Right…" he began, breaking off to help Skye through with her crutches.

Judy looked at them, then looked back. "Okay," she moaned. "We won't do a random race off. We'll do another one of those investigations that we did back at the apartment. Nick and I are in on reserve duty due to the protests, but if this kills them we'll get the day off and can race off to this place. We'll go in, look around, check things out and find new clues."

Fenneko shook her head. "No you won't," she said, before pointing over to Jack and Skye. "They will."

Jack blinked a few times, before leaping up into the air and kicking out into the air. "Hooray! New mission!"

"I…" Judy began, before blinking. "Of course, he's probably heard about us from Duke! Jack and Skye though…"

Nick smiled. "Yeah. And a comment about being another bunny-fox pair could probably be spun to get him talking about Duke!"

"Yes!" the stripped bunny cheered, Skye behind him nodding slightly.

"I suppose it could," she mused, thinking it through. "But there's two problems."

"Which are?" Judy enquired.

"One, I can't act."

"Not a bit," Jack agreed.

"And two," she said, a heavy hint of annoyance seeping in as she tapped her bum leg with a crutch. "I technically can't drive, neither can he."

"In terms of the acting, you could let Jack take the lead," Judy suggested. "As for getting there, maybe Finnick could take you?"

"Hey hey hey," the fennec in question cut in. "First, Duke knows what my van looks like."

"The rental weasel won't, and you park it around the block anyway."

"Second, how far is dis?"

"Predford City," Fenneko spoke, all eyes turning to her. "Deep in Oregon, but on one of the main routes out of Zootopia. Three hours there, three hours back again." She typed in the location and they zoomed in, switching to street view. There it was, the same scene they'd seen on Duke's wall. "I'm presuming he's camping in one of the national park areas to the east, and I've been working on my own leads to work out where he might be." She paused, looking at the three. "The website has pictures of all the vehicles he has, but the registrations aren't clear. If you could get a list of those, especially the ones that are gone, it would make things much easier."

"Right," Finnick noted. "What about you. What'll you be doing?"

"Looking at and inspecting that picture," she said. "The sooner I prove it's a fake, the sooner we get our momentum back."

"Yeah," Judy nodded. "If we can do that before he goes on air, that's perfect!"

"Or maybe not," Finnick spoke. "I heard he's going on the news this morning! Let him pipe it up, then make a fool outta him!"

The bunny cop paused. "Also a good tactic. Not my favourite, but I don't think we have much choice…" She sighed. "I don't think we'll be able to stop it going out. We just need to make him suffer even more for doing it."

"If he did it," Nick added. "Devil's advocate, it might not have been him."

"I…" Judy began. "Well I suppose it could be a troll, or…"

"No," Finnick cut in. "It's him. Listen, I saw him and Dominic Bellwether chatting! Talking about 'the chance' of bringing in new things and stuff. It was that Hippo! And if it weren't, it was that sheep!"

"Or those others," Judy countered.

Finnick's head tilted. "What others."

"That 'Shylock' and 'Carmen'," she began. "And Nick and I suspect that an old underground figure might be back, and doing bad things. I… -Someone, somewhere, is trying to use this whole case to further their own agendas. What better way than to plant this deep fake?"

Nick nodded. "Or, devil's advocate again, maybe Wassermaim or Dominic are in with them too?"

A long quiet pause filled the room, before Judy sighed. "We don't know. We really don't. But you know what we do know? We're here to help Kris. That's our goal. We save him. Then we make sure we get all those that did it."

A murmur of agreement filled the room. "Right then," Finnick said, looking at Jack and Skye. "Get dressed, get in the van." He looked over at Fenneko. "Sweetie, get anything you want outta there outta there pronto."

"Will do," she agreed.

Together, they headed off, getting ready for the next long day of investigating ahead. Judy herself went back to her computer. Even with how she'd looked at the shadows to figure out the street orientation and the fittings around him to narrow down the areas, she knew it was a crazy long shot. She knew it was so unlikely most other mammals would disregard it. But she had to try. She had to do her part. She had to make it right, because there were mammals out there conspiring against them.

She wondered…

Who were they?

What did they want?

What were they planning right now?

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There was something seemingly unnatural about this place.

The cold hard walls, the echo of paw and hoof steps on the cold concrete floor, the oppressive thought of the weight bearing down on them from above.

But in the end, there was something more, something nagging at the back of their minds. Philosophically, one might wonder if you needed to know what was done here (or rather what was meant to be done here and never was) to feel like that.

The mammal in question looked over at his partner in this business. He was the kind to muse over that kind of thing, a complete contrast to what the first mammal, and everyone else in this city, likely thought of him given his infamy. But no, getting to know him, getting to know a mammal so like himself that it…

He closed his eyes and breathed in and out, letting an excited tremor shake down his spine and to the tip of his tail. Oh, for all the disguises and tricks that they had used in their past, present and future, to just be yourself amongst kindred minds...

His excitement faded somewhat though as they approached a great heavy door, both of them sharing a nervous glance. They could both guess what was behind.

And who…

As if summoned, the great handle was unlocked and the door swung open, the rectangular irises of an orange furred caprid looking back at them.

"Morning Petey," the first mammal spoke, his partner doing likewise. Offering a hoof too.

They were then led on, out into the open black vastness, surrounded on all sides by the rising grey walls and hemmed in by the towering roof. Catwalks and wires and huge sprawling tubes overlooked them, rising up as they climbed and pierced and held on to the sheer mammal made cliffs. And there, at their top, a great beam crane spanned the cubic chasm they had entered, a massive cylindrical monstrosity of a machine held up from it.

Up ahead, it rested calmly upon the floor, in the centre of a web of hard, cold, heavy, dull metal hexagonal tiles. And there, resting in a cleft among its metal flanges and bolts, he sat.

Smiling.

The first mammal felt himself snarl a bit, his teeth baring. Unable to hold it any longer, he spoke. "Tell me, what part of subtlety don't you understand?"

And he looked back and laughed. "Subtlety? Subtlety my dear friend?" He paused, waving into the air. "I completely understand the concept. I just don't care for it."

He would have shouted out at that, were in not for his partner taking the lead. "Well it seems that's not the only thing!"

…

"Excuse me?" he asked, almost foppishly as he slipped off of his throne and began walking out across the floor. "May I just ask a simple question, hmmm? Just one? One, like, HAVE YOU NOT SEEN ALL THAT I HAVE DONE FOR YOUR PROJECT RIGHT NOW!"

This time his partner didn't get the word in. He did. "Enlighten us," he spoke. "Project chaos was our idea. It was our scheme. Our magnum opus. We only brought you onboard thanks to your reputation. And what do we have to claim for it, hmmm?" He looked at his partner, paws thrust in his direction. "His mammals! Our backbone for the operation. Gone! Arrested. Taken."

"Oh yes, that lot," he said with faux sympathy. "Honestly not the brightest bunch in the room. That wildebeest or whatever was quite a bore, was he not? Let's face it, their little cult would have collapsed anyway, it was only a matter of time. Honestly, given your partners track record, what did you expect? Instead, I came up with the plan to furnish us with an army for the job. A true army! An army that is ready at this very moment to strike, if the fire catches! That's more than you can say for your lot, isn't it?!"

"Well," his partner spoke. "If we're working with those kinds of metaphors, at least our lot almost had the accelerant completed and ready for use. A few more days, and it would have been perfect! But no, we've had to start from scratch. And with all those protests going on in the city up there, it's all well and good talking about how the conditions are perfect, but none of that matters when we're not ready!"

"And so why do you think I've been doing my damndest to extend it. Drag it on. Hmmm? Maybe you should think of that and speed up your production, rather than wasting your time complaining to me!"

The second mammal crossed his arms. "And who here has those do-gooders completely hoodwinked? Who got us that latest piece of information, hmmm? Who's already forwarded you the news about their new lead? I see your big cats aren't here, hmmm? Off to do their thing? Who here has given us that chance to stop any early resolution, and create the outcome that we want?" He pointed at himself. "Yours truly."

He gave back a not too happy look in return. "Surely I could say the same thing, huh? Do you want me to list the things I've done off? I mean seriously… Seriously… The one who's been slacking off the most here is your partner."

The first mammal let out a growl. "And who actually got you your army? And who did your dirty work for you?"

He looked back, giving him a stink eye. "Yes, and got your old nemeses onto my tail too."

The second mammal snorted. "If we're talking about nemesi, then you're really one to talk. Aren't you? After all, why were we chased down so quickly, hmmm? Let's…"

"-AND THAT'S MY FAULT?" he yelled back, arms out wide. "Hmmmm, let us think. Let us think. Did I bring the ZPD down upon your crew? No. Were they looking for me at the time? No. They'd have still got you anyways. If it weren't for me, you would have nothing, you understand! NOTHING!"

A long pause filled the room, the noises they'd made echoing around a few times, each turn closer to their deaths.

"Besides," he began. "Having a vengeful nemesis is part of the business. I mean…" He pointed at the second mammal. "Let's be honest, you have one too, don't you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe an old enemy, but he's harmless."

He waved his paw. "I could get my crew to kill him for you. Heck, you can choose any way you want… As long as it's an icepick." He smiled as if he'd just made the world's most cultured joke. "After all, when you have a chance for such poetry…"

"I will pass," the second mammal said. "Because, unless he's an active threat, doing so will just draw more attention to us! Attention we do not need. Attention that you seem to want us to have. I mean seriously, a base in this place?" He gestured around before looking down, stomping one of the metal tiles. "Before you ask, I am going to insult your intelligence here. Even if you had the skill and resources to turn this thing on for whatever reason, it would be impossible to hide it. And then you'd have the entire ZPD swarming down here, cutting through all the No-Access signs you've put up and all the red tape you've spun to let you use this place without mammals noticing, and then it would be over. Over! So, tell me, why have you set yourself up here? Why not just a good old fashioned warehouse, or ship, or whatever?"

He yawned. "For a start, those are just so humdrum..."

The first mammal began to growl.

"And I mean, I need a laire fitting for my stature. The warehouse doesn't have much of a ring to it, does it. But The Charging Hall, it…"

The first mammal's growling cut him off, before he himself had the favour repaid. "Fair is fair," his partner, the second mammal, said, taking him by surprise. "But there is something more. Something far more. What is your scheme, hmmm? Why does it need this place? And what does it have to do with our little legal case going on up there. We all know how that furthers our aims, but what about the other way around, hmmm? Let's face it, you have far more interest in the Silverfox case for your own plans than we have in it for project chaos, so why? Why?"

"Yeah," the first mammal added, crossing his paws in front of him. "After all, what's so important about the father? About that history and stuff you're interested in? I did not get where I am by being an idiot, and I know that there is something in there that has your interest. What is it you're looking for, hmmm? Some lost battle-bunny treasure?"

And then he paused, paw up, finger waving. He stepped back, folding his arms and smiling, an unsettling gleam in his eye. "Let me assure you, the knowledge that fox has could be more important than you lot could ever imagine. The treasure, or rather treasures I'm looking for, are not with him. I have two items of interest I am due for collection in the near future that might further my knowledge. But he, though, has the skills to unravel their true secrets. And, together, let me use the true treasure that I seek!"

"Which is?" the first mammal asked.

He hung on it for a second or two, before shaking his head. "You would not understand. Trust me here, I did not either," he spoke, his voice reaching back to a time, a moment, where everything had changed. "It was doing the mere kind of villainous schemes that we're used to when I first found the path to my dark enlightenment. I thought nothing of travelling to one of the four corners of the world, to one of nature's wonder, and nothing of why we had not been permitted to see it before. But then, as I looked over hell on earth, I strayed off the beaten path and found things… Things that those in charge had tried to hide. Full of things they do not want us to know… And I learnt of something…" He closed his eyes, tapping the ground, shaking.

"You learnt what?" the first mammal asked.

"Such… such… Wasted potential!" he screamed, his eyes going half savage. "It was to us like we are to a mere stalker, yet that was what it wasted it on. It deserved its fate, but there as I looked on I realised that I could inherit it and use it as it was truly meant to be. So I left my empire, I travelled the world searching, learning, and I soon learnt of an item that I must have… There are supposedly many copies, but only one whose existence that I am certain of. One that was STOLEN! Taken from its home by the most infamous and most filthy and most hated disgusting RAT of all time!"

The pair gave each other an aside glance at that, but let him carry on.

"-And from there it tumbled down and through history, crossing paws, and through the files I tracked it. Years spent looking into the mammals who'd run it. Learning of DUGA, and the truth of what happened to those nine on death mountain, or in the early hours of that infamous spring day…" He paused, looking around where they were and laughing at the irony. "And then, by pure happenstance, I found that it was taken by a mammal who had fled here. To this city! And so, to take my glory, I came home! And soon, when its owner returns, when he returns and I spring my trap…" he looked down, his body quivering with excitement. "Gentlemammals. I bear you no ill will, and indeed I have so much respect for project chaos in all its deliciously thought out evilness…" He quivered and moaned slightly, as if his lover's claws had just raked up his back, before looking up as if he was hearing and relaying the words of god. "You my fine colleagues will see the crescent. But I will see the whole of the moon."

They held back, looking at each other, not sure what to say.

He cut them off, speaking from the low that followed his high. "Go. You will understand all when I have the props to explain." He paused and smiled. "Despite some attempts by our mutual enemies, a certain arms dealer, the only... mammal..? -as far as I know, who I could call my living criminal superior, is on his way here with one of those two treasures. If I'm right, you won't have to see it to understand, you can hear it. You would not… -get it, otherwise."

They stood still.

He looked up, his eyes narrowing. "My mammals are in position, waiting, ready to pounce and make sure that this chaos will still be going on when you are ready. Villain to villain, I give you my word, I will see you out until your end of the bargain is complete."

The second mammal took a step forward.

He cut them off. "Petey?"

The goat, silent throughout, nodded.

"See them out."

The goat cut in front of them, the pair stopping where they stood. They looked at each other, freezing, hiding their anger and frustration and walking out together.

…

He sat back down where he had been when they came in. Looking over his lair. Yes, this was a good place. A fitting place. A fine place. A place that was strong enough to withstand what he planned to do. Ha, a normal warehouse stood no chance. And up there, above, the mammals were waking up for a new day. He knew that a certain hippo was going to be interviewed by a certain skunk on the morning news. He'd certainly watch that with his missus, from what he'd heard of the night before it was going to be spectacular! Oh, the simple joys of simple evil…

How innocent and childish it felt now.

Wassermaim would have his moment of joy, live on TV. He thought about him, and his mind wandered to a certain disgusting rodent of times past whose theft he was still pursuing. Bar the size difference, Wassermaim and that rat were certainly alike, were they not? He relaxed back, smiled, and remembered the song that was written in honor of that rodent's infamy. Indeed, those do gooders were banking on that hippo suffering the same fate laid out in the spoken word segment, were they not? And from his mouth, those lines filled the hall. "But when his drinking and lusting, and hunger for power, became known to more and more people. -The demands to do something about this outrageous mammal became louder and louder!"