Chapter 43

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AN: Thanks for the feedback. After thinking it through, I have made a minor change going on. I've rearranged a few scenes, resulting in two fewer chapters (but the resultant ones will naturally be longer). It should mean fewer gaps between the different main parties going on… We'll see.

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"Say, Silvyfox…"

Kris froze, feeling the hard grip around his tail. He was alone, in his cell, someone behind him. His words choked in his mouth as something pushed up over his shoulder, a pair of buck teeth digging into the crook. He winced down, his eyes turning to see Luke there, the older hare holding him tight.

"-Don't fight!" he ordered, his grip getting harder. "You're not allowed to fight. Now be a good fox and stay still. You're mine, you hear?"

"I…" Kris tried to choke out, only to wince as he felt a jolt on his tail, an unnerving feeling pushing up through him.

"Stay! It's simple, idiot. Stay!"

Kris couldn't fight back as he felt his tail being pulled and tugged, nor as two other figures entered the room. One was that wolf, his tongue panting hard out of his mouth. The other, held in his scruff by his paw, was a shaking whimpering Matt. "Look what I got," he said, throwing the pup down onto the bed and getting on top. Kris ran forward to try and help, only to get thrown on the bed, feeling his clothes get torn away.

"Learn your place!" the hare yelled.

"Yeah, Omegas," the big wolf growled.

"After all," came a new voice, as Sarrahson walked up, looking between the two. "You are a dangerous criminal, and you belong here. You can't lie anymore, scheming pelt. We have your picture." There was a pause, as she smiled. "Go on boys, do your thing."

Kris panicked, he tore, he fought back, he threw his bedding off of him and gave a brutal punch into the air and… and…

He…

He collapsed, paws on knees.

Another nightmare.

Just another nightmare.

He collapsed back down on his bed, only to feel a bit unsure. A bit insecure. He couldn't help but glance this way or that a few times before taking action. Fold your legs, eyes closed, breath in, breath out. He began to let the fear of the world slip out around him as he meditated, only…

What was Luke…

He shook his head and pushed the thought away. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about that. Breath in, breath out, calm, let it flow.

He lasted a while before he thought about the hare again. He couldn't help it. It just came in, only this time, he told himself that that massive bunny was locked away. He wasn't going to get him. It was a silly dream and he could think on. He could keep on meditating. So he kept on doing, until coming to the end, feeling…

Feeling just a bit unfulfilled. Like waking up after a night's sleep and still feeling groggy. He paced around his cell for a bit before sitting down on the chair, pulling out the fur brush attached to the wall and working through his tail. It felt better, it gave him something to focus on. Something more than just his own thoughts, or the dark feelings of what someone messing with his tail might feel like. Afterwards, he closed his eyes and kept focussed on the feeling of brushing his own tail. The comfort, the relaxation. It was far better, and he felt okay as they filed out into the block. There was a pause though as he saw Timofey waving him over. He walked up to the bear and took a seat next to him, before the large ursine pointed towards a certain hare.

Kris looked at Luke and paused, spotting him curled up on a bench, paws covering his ears.

"I hear he does things to your tail," he spoke, looking down. "I hear bunny ears are to them like your tail is to you. I pay him a visit last night." There was a pause as he brought up his paw and held it tighter and tighter, a cracking crunching sound coming out as he clenched. "We keep Sicko's in their place, yes?"

"Yes," Kris nodded, feeling a bit relieved. Not that he condoned violence, of course, but after that dream…

And learning how mammals like Sarrahson would never believe him…

And hearing…

He closed his eyes and winced. It had to be a fake, surely? And they'd prove it wrong fast, right? And… And it had to be some dumb bully out there who thought it was a fun little idea to do or something. And… And… He paused, closing his eyes. Who out there wanted him here? Who planted those howlers and why… He… He closed his eyes and breathed in and out. Whoever it was, he had friends on the outside who were fighting for him. Just like he had mammals in here who had his back.

If… If they didn't find out about the truth.

Which they might, if this photo thing got blown up.

He didn't want to think about that being the case.

He just had to focus. To hold his own. To keep himself together while those on the outside worked to help him.

He closed his eyes.

He could do this.

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"I'm not sure if I can watch this."

Nick turned down, patting Ash on the back. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"But everyone in school will be talking about it," he said, paws out wide. "So I have to. It might help, and…"

"It's going to be tough for all of us," Mr Fox said, sitting down. He and his wife were kept apart by William, the pair holding his paws as they watched the TV news play on. Nick and Judy and Honey and Fenneko were there too, the last pair busy scanning through the image they had.

"The zoom we have isn't big enough," the fennec said, tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she concentrated. "If it were photoshopped, a good zoom in could let you spot the telltale signs."

"And you could see those, right?" Honey asked.

The little vixen looked at her for a second or two, her head cocking slightly, before turning back to her work.

The ratel looked on, confused. "Uh, is that a yes or a no or a…"

"-A refusal to dignify that with a response? Yes," she said. She paused, looking over at Honey. "How many images off of furbook and so on did you get for him?"

They were cut off by William. "Kris doesn't really…"

"But his friends do," she said.

Honey nodded. "Yeah, I got a dozen or so. Plus there's the video of his arrest…"

"The quality difference is too great," Fenneko countered. "Even I could see that. The rough shadows all seem to line up, so if photoshopped in it was likely just his face or such." She looked over at what Honey had found, her ears drooping down. "Though his face posture in the photo doesn't match any of those, so they didn't get it from there."

"Maybe they just had a fox who looked really similar," Honey suggested.

"Something we can't really prove with this level of fidelity," she groaned. "Though if it comes to trial, you could argue that..."

"-The timeline is more important," Judy said, breaking them off. "And the location." She paused and sighed. "We don't know when it was taken, I haven't found where, and who knows what the mammals who sent it in have said… If it comes to trial, the big thing would be the location and the date. You could argue that that's any old fox, but with a location and date you'd check whether Kris has an alibi or not." She paused, turning to William. "Your apartment has a jam cam close to the entrance and inbuilt security, they could easily work out if he was the one in there or not, if it comes to trial…"

"And if they just say they took it?" he asked, paws up. "Don't give a place?"

"Then it's really poor evidence," Judy countered. "I heard you're looking at Sam Burmowitz for Kris?"

He nodded. "We've got talking."

"Unless the mammal who took it comes up and says where and when, he'd tear into it," she replied. "The thing is, this isn't meant to be for the trial. This is stopping the protest movement right here and now."

Fenneko nodded. "Though there is some good news. Pounceheart is already claiming that it's a plant, and more protestors than I expected still have the cause. Turns out they don't really believe our DA that much."

Nick smiled. "Yeah, crazy thing, that."

Their conversation was cut off though as the news switched. A ZNN special interview, planned in advance but now all the more contentious. DA Kurt Wassermaim, questioned on his handling of the case by interviewer Steven Stinkman.

They looked on as the skunk, looking just a little nervous, looked up at the Hippo. The only consolation on their side was that he was clearly trying to hide and push through the effects of the night before.

"DA Wassermaim," the reporter began. "When you sprung the Nighthowler Act on this anonymous vulpine, you plunged this city into the biggest protests since the end of the Nighthowler crisis. You've created a diplomatic incident between us and one of our largest trading partners, and you've made a great big stink up with our city's long held reputation for anti-vulpanism. Tell me, why is it in our best interest to pursue this case?"

He paused for a second, before smiling. "Listen. I don't know what planet you were raised on, but on this one we have this thing called justice. And rule one of justice is that it's blind. It doesn't care about species. So, when a predator committed a crime that would get a prey mammal treated like this, I was fair, impartial and acted like mammals should do."

"Except we have no proof of this, as the law wasn't used against any prey…"

"-Uh, that big arrest at the docks a while back? Where hundreds of prey mammals were held with it," he said, crossing his arms. "I signed off on all of them. And now, a pred does it and…"

"-A teenage fox versus armed cultists. There's a difference you know. I stink you're being disingenuous here."

"Oh, am I?" he spoke. "And you're not. You ask me when I've treated prey the same, I give you an example, and somehow that doesn't count."

"They're completely different…"

"-Something you'd say whatever the situation," the hippo cut in. "And I'd like to remind you that an impartial judge decided that this was the best option, and…"

"-Let me fact check you there," Stinkman cut in. "You just asked a judge if The Nighthowler Act overruled the Youth Justice Act. Not whether it was the best decision, that was on you."

The Hippo's frown grew. "Sure, claim it's a fact check. Who's fact checking that one?"

The skunk glared at him. "Hey, I did my research here, I saw the transcripts…"

The hippo shrugged, turning his eyes straight to the camera. "Sure, you say that, don't you?"

Stinkman began to speak, only to cut himself off, thinking for a second before turning to the camera too. "The legally released judgement will be up on the ZNN site for all those to view."

"Oh, you say that, but you could print what you want."

"The stink… -link, to the official court judgement will be up on the ZNN website." He turned back to face the hippo, a victory grin on his muzzle. "In any case, even if you're saying it's impartial, you've certainly been making a big fuss about this case…"

"-Ha! And you haven't?," he said, pointing at the skunk. "Okay Mr Pot, let Mr Kettle remind the world who led a severely non-impartial news stinger right after the fox was taken into custody. And who gave very pro-howler fox interviews at that protest yesterday. And before you go into me supposedly having to act 'even more professional', did you tell the world your relationship to a certain banker wolf that you interviewed out there, hmmmm…"

"I… uhhhh… -I did mention beforepaw that I had a close personal relationship with her!"

"Her, your adopted mother," he spoke. "Who's the major financier and thus shot caller of this news network." He frowned. "Here's what's actually going on. You have a pro-pred, thus anti-prey, agenda. Hence this manufactured fuss when a suspect fox is treated as a suspect fox should. The fact that I am willing to hold mammals like him accountable for their actions runs against your ideology so, when looking for ways to fight back, you kick up this manufactured fuss."

"Yes, such as gathering that big protest outside city hall yesterday," Stinkman countered. "That wasn't us, it was lots of mammals out there who all stink you went too far."

"Yes, like Anton Pounceheart's followers," he spoke. "A notorious agitator who…"

"-Called the Nighthowler crisis," Stinkman countered, grinning.

Wassermaim paused. "Who failed to call this. He claimed it was a set up and there was no evidence. Yet last night, a picture was sent in showing that very fox with the howlers, and Pounceheart's reaction?" There was a snap of his fingers. "It's false! He rejects the evidence of his eyes and ears, he's accepted the final command of the party! Do you, huh?"

"Well, I haven't seen it…"

"I have. The ZPD has…"

"Have they confirmed it," he countered.

"What is there to confirm? It's that fox."

"It might not be. We don't know yet."

"Well," Kurt said, crossing his arms and leaning in. "We'll see what happens when they do. Meanwhile, I'm pretty certain that most of the sensible protestors out there will realise they've been duped and go home. Those living in their fantasy, like Pounceheart's crew, will carry on causing trouble, as they always do. We'll see whether that dangerous biker wolf gang joins them or not, and if you start claiming that two plus two is five."

Stinkman's eyes narrowed. "You know, maybe a significant amount of this anger comes from them stinking that a public official like you should act with more sincerity and maturity."

"Pffffff…" the Hippo scoffed. "Thanks for that, Mr Kettle."

"See," he said. "That right there…"

"-You don't see it, do you?" he interrupted.

Stinkman pause. "See what?"

"You. Telling me to be all 'mature' and stuff, while you're going on saying 'oh, I stink this.' Oh, I 'stink' that." He turned to the audience. "Would a mature, proper, honest interview have something like this in it? I think not." He then turned, back to the skunk. "Well, stank you for bringing maturity to this debate!"

"Hey," the skunk defended. "Freudian stinks…" He was cut off as Kurt gave a wet raspberry of a laugh, before carrying on. "Are a rare but documented occurrence that…"

"-Would mean you wouldn't get this job if it weren't for a certain someone higher up pulling the strings." He shrugged, turning to the camera. "Why do we trust ZNN, can you really believe what they say given how clear the nepotism, unprofessionalism and biased it is?"

Stinkman was not impressed. "I worked hard for this job! And, Mr Pot, arguably the one who shouldn't have been promoted to their position is you. You were close to Bellwether, you were promoted up to your position over the favourite mammal by her. And given who you associated with, maybe we should be extra critical of what you do?"

Kurt paused, backing off. "What Bellwether did was terrible. It was wrong. But I was not involved, where's your proof, huh? Of course, whenever I do something that so much as slightly counters your ideology, you bring out that unproven little thing as a way of trying to kill the debate and stop yourself from losing. Besides, let's look at who the lot supporting this fox associate with. Hmmm? Fair's fair."

The skunk steeled himself. "Okay then," he said, as Kurt got out a photograph. He passed it over to the reporter, who blinked a few times.

"What's that of?" the hippo asked.

"It's… from the video of you charging him with The Nighthowler Act, right?"

Back in the lounge, Nick and Judy paused, looking at each other. "Bet you a nickel he'll try and bring us into it," the fox said.

Judy paused, her head cocking. "But why?"

She wasn't the only one thinking it. Over at her house, Catano had settled down to watch the interview. She'd handed that picture off to the lab techs to confirm it the day before, and so far nothing to disprove it had come back. It had been an anonymous tip though, and with no date and time given, there was nothing to prove it either. Ideally there'd be both, and she could be going out and interviewing the father and/or son to see if his movements lined up. Otherwise, it was much weaker evidence than it first appeared to be. But it was still evidence, one that the DA had been very happy to learn about, as she'd been finding out.

But as for this new thing, she was intrigued.

"Yes it is," Kurt said, smiling. "And, as anyone who's watched it can vouch, Officers Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps were there, and were not happy about it."

Back in the Fox Family House, Nick nodded. "Yup! I'm owed a nickel."

"Which you're not going to get," Judy added.

"Naturally," he shrugged. "I'm still waiting for the one from last time."

"Last time?" Judy asked.

"Oh, just a little old number involving wolves. And howling. And wolves howling, I mean what is it with that?"

Regardless of their thoughts, Kurt pressed on, bringing out a new set of pictures. They were printed out large, able for the camera to view. "Now," the hippo carried on. "I'm sure you're all too happy to bury the speciesism of a provocateur mammal like Pounceheart, given that he's one of these dime a dozen Ewetube journalists with their hot takes and their 'critical species theory'. Honestly, it could have been someone completely different, it just happened to be him. -But you don't care, do you, he's a useful mammal on your side and not too nasty that you can't hide his agenda. However, there are some who I'd at least expect you to condemn."

"Such as?" Stinkman asked.

He paused for a second. "Let's say there's a mammal out there who openly thinks that pigs and boars are the enemies of the people. He's spent years producing videos about how they own the banking system and big business, how they infiltrate the government so they can win 'pork barrel' contracts, draining the public while making themselves rich. He calls them sub-mammals, he calls them parasites, he calls them enemies of the poor and free." There was a pause, as he leant forward.

"He believes that no pig is a good pig, that they need to be controlled, they need to be monitored, because they're all in league and conspiring to make themselves richer and richer and richer all the time, at our expense. Worse than that, all his media products use the worst anti-porcine slurs, and are filled to the brim with the most ridiculous stereotypes. He calls his podcast the trough report, dedicated to opposing their pork barrel schemes, and the banner is a picture of pigs feeding from a swill trough. He continually refers to them as fat, greedy, lazy, filthy. He's created a following of likeminded mammals and is out radicalising them, creating a whole movement: 'BBQ-Bacon'. He claims that the music of Pig Floyd was written as a brainwashing tool and manifesto for their new post-nation order, that we're slowly being made sterile and submissive due to chemicals genetically engineered into our food crops by Norman Boarlaug, and that the entire city of Zootopia is under the hoof of porcine mob bosses like The Red Pig who, like the rest, is part of a cabal of international Suidaen supremacists. An order that once included mammals like Pol Pot-Bellied and Leon Trotterski, and currently includes the likes of George Sowos, David Hammeron, Boris Hogson and Jeffrey Epswine, who's not dead by the way… He's back at their home base, with the leader of that anticapitalist commune that did a Jonestown not too long back for good measure." There was a pause as Kurt looked forward, hands out. "You would condemn him, right?"

Out in the city, Catano was blinking. No… There couldn't be another one of those out there, could there?

Back at the Fox Family household, one mammal was asking just that. "That sounds similar to the old you," Ash said, looking over at Honey. "Do you know him?"

She blinked. "Nope. I mean, anti-pig? That's just dumb. -Like I now know anti-sheep is too."

"What do think he's called?"

"I dunno," she shrugged. "As I say, don't know anyone like that. The closest were probably Leo and Bertha, a pair of otters I met online who live waaayyy up north. They claimed a walrus neighbour who kept puffins as a hobby was secretly drilling and planned to release enough methane to melt the icecaps."

Nick looked back at her, his head cocking to the side. "This is probably a stupid question, but what did those tinfoil hatters think he planned to achieve with that, rather than just… -you know. Selling the gas... for money."

"Firstly, Bertha wore a very fancy black beret," Honey corrected.

"And the presumed motive?"

"World domination."

The red fox blinked, as did Judy. "But…" she began, trying to think it through. "Melt home, world… I…"

"Don't overstress yourself Fluff," Nick reassured. "I asked the stupid question, I got the stupid answer. Even if it's more stupid the longer you think about it. I… -I mean come on! Even 'melting the ice to build luxury condos' makes more sense, and that still doesn't make any sense."

"-Nope," Honey agreed. "I mean that polar bear was just awful. He travelled all the way down to Zoo York to save his home, and just spent his time twerking naked in Times square before getting arrested for twerking naked in Times square."

Judy raised her paw to ask more about that, regardless of whether or not she felt that was a good idea (boy, she didn't), only for the ongoing news report to catch her, and everybody elses, attention.

"-And you'd condemn those who associated with him, right?" Kurt pressed.

Stinkman pause. "-If they knew what he was, yes."

"And you accept that all that is far more overt and evil than what you claim I've done, and a movement that accepts them into a key role has a big problem. Right?"

"Well, more cartoonishly evil, my favourite kind of evil, certainly. And I guess so."

"Good," Kurt said, as his grin widened. "Thankfully for pigs, there's no mammal like that out there. But if there's one for a different species, it's equally bad, right?"

"Of course," Stinkman said happily, not aware of the windenning eyes of the gang back at the Fox Family household.

""Such as sheep," he said, his grin massive.

"I don't see the point of this…"

"-I do," he said, as he brought out a picture from the protest. In it, Nick and Judy were talking to Honey, Stinkman and his crew not far away. He pointed at the ratel, and looked at the skunk in front of him "Do you remember seeing this mammal?"

"Oh yes," he said. "She came up and talked to Officers Wilde and Hopps a bit."

"And did your adopted brother mention her?" he asked, bringing out another photo. Max and Honey, together.

"Hey," Stinkman cut in, eyes narrowing. "My brother saw a stranger having an issue and helped her, that's all. Who even is this mammal?"

"This mammal is a Ewetuber called Honey Badger or, as her fanclub of Ovinophobes know her, Gruinard Gal. And she is everything I said just back then but for sheep, and she has some big friends in the movement." He cycled through the pictures, showing Honey with Nick and Judy on that day, even including a picture of them out of the corner of Stinkman's interview. "And let me assure you, they know exactly who she is. After all, not that long ago they arrested her." He pulled out a report and shoved it into his face, looking like a kit in a candy shop as Steven read out how, in full detail, the pair had confronted and subdued Honey.

As for what she was actually thinking at the time…

"No… Nonononono… I… Uhhh… I mean… Ooohhhh… If… he… Oh crap, uahhhh… Um… A…"

All eyes turned to look at her as she began to breath faster and faster, panting and shaking. Judy leapt out of her seat and ran up to her, just as she found the word she was looking for.

"Cuss…"

Before Mrs Fox could so much as scold her for dropping that in front of her son, Judy was holding the sniffing ratel and making sure she knew exactly what to think. "Ignore him."

"But…"

"NO BUTS!" Judy almost shouted, cutting her off. "That hippo does not know you. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care that you are not that mammal anymore, and you have proven it. Understand?"

She sniffed a few times. "Yes, but…"

"Every mammal deserves a second chance," she carried on, holding her paws tighter as her ears went down. "This is yours. We still care about you, we'll stand up for you, you've proven yourself a mammal that deserves that. So go and ignore what he's got to say, because it's not worth thinking about. Got it!"

"Yes, but…"

"Come on, Honey," Judy urged. "No buts…"

"-But what will others think!"

She frowned. "I don't care about them…"

"But the whole case," she pressed. "What if he… -I mean I... turn mammals off us!"

There was a long pause, Judy not quite sure what to say. She looked down, her eyes scrunching in worried thought, before she shook it off. In the end, her brow furrowed. "Then they're wrong, and they're just as judgmental as that hippo, and we don't need them, do we Nick?"

…

"Nick?"

The fox sighed. "Judy, this is a problem."

"What!?" she asked, not quite sure if she believed what he was saying. "But…"

"I know it isn't fair," he spoke, cutting her off before she could say anything. "But he's played us… He's played us good. If we're going on about him being anti-fox, and it looks like we're hanging about anti-sheep mammals, well how does that look, huh? It's a double standard unless we try and claim that being anti-sheep is less nasty than anti-fox, and that just makes us look like jerks."

"But right now foxes are the ones he's hurting!" Judy shouted. "The one that's been torn from his family is a fox. The one he and his mammals don't like are foxes. The one we're trying to save, as he needs saving, is a fox. A fox we know. A wonderful fox who's a good mammal! Sweet cheese and crackers, I know anti-sheep mammals are horrible, I have sheep friends, and I know he'll try and slam us for it. But Honey isn't that anymore, she's proven it! It's just that hippo and his cheap tactics. One house is currently burning, one isn't, and he's trying to say that we're the bad ones as some of those in our bucket chain once talked about setting fire to the other house?" She stomped her foot on the floor. "Why should we care about what he thinks!"

Nick groaned, facepawing. "I know… I know it so much. I've lived it, I've felt it, and when you live your life under someone else's hoof, boy do you hate the idea that you have to shed some tears for them. But do you know what most mammals think? Burning all houses is bad, let's not burn houses…"

"Especially if there's a non-burnt one left," Ash added. "Best way to limit damage is to make sure that one doesn't go up too."

"Yes," Judy said. "But we all know he doesn't care about sheep one bit, don't we? He's using this to sink us. He's not just hurting Kris now, he's hurting Honey. A mammal who changed. Who made herself better. Who doesn't deserve this!" She looked back at her. "You need to do what's right. Yes, there are nasty ovinophobes out there, who are bad mammals. But Honey is not one of them anymore. Honey is a good mammal. She suffered, she changed, she's trying to earn her redemption and as far as I care proved it to us yesterday! We owe it to her to help her. Don't we? After what we did?" Her eyes bore into Nick's as she said it, and his ears drooped back.

"I know, I…"

He was broken off by Fenneko. "Ovinophobia is trending on social media," she warned, opening up a picture. There was a compilation of pictures taken from the protest. A bunch of mammals, including a deer, coyote, okapi and sea mink protesting with ovinophobic signs. A ferret yelling slurs in city hall. A picture of a sheep running away, egg in her wool. A white ermine, giving a talk about how Nick and Judy were 'Ovinophobic degenerates'.

"Dammit, Dominic Calrama was talking to her yesterday," Nick said. "Well, at least it isn't on the news," he began, only to pause as Wassermaim brought up his phone and began showing the same video. "Oh great…"

"And is Honey a part of that?" Judy asked, walking up and holding the ratel's paw. "No. She stood up against them. She confronted them! And of course they'd never show that, would they? But I don't care. Honey is my friend, and whatever that hippo says, I'm not gonna abandon her."

"Thanks," Honey said, sadly. "But I am gonna do that to you, so bye."

"Exac… -Wait, what!?"

"Listen," Honey said, this time holding Judy. She sniffed a bit before carrying on. "I know that I was a bad mammal, and that I have changed, and I know all of that…" She paused, sniffing a few times. "An' I also know that… I also know that I hurt mammals real bad, and they ain't never gonna forgive me…" There was a long pause. "I joined to help you help your fox, didn't I? I am not needed for this anymore." She paused, before standing up. "You can still do damage control and stuff, but not if they catch you with me again. So, I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna go home, stay there, post the apology vid I've been working on and that's how I help Kris. He wants to use me to hurt you? Well, I'm not gonna let him."

Judy trembled slightly. "Honey, are you sure? I mean…"

"-She is sure," Nick cut in, walking up to Honey and holding her, smiling. "You know when to back out. That's so good, it really means that you're better, doesn't it? Heck, Dr Twirly tail will be so proud, won't she?"

"Will she," she wondered, blinking before smiling. "Yeah, I think… Thanks Nick." She turned down to Judy, sniffing a bit. "Thanks too. For sticking up for me, even if I gotta do this."

The bunny held still, glancing at a nodding Nick before looking back, smiling. "You're welcome," she said, walking forward and hugging her. Honey hugged back, as Nick went to Mr Fox.

"With the van gone, can you smuggle her out in your sidecar?"

"I presume hidden, naturally," Mr Fox said.

"Yup… This is the last link they could make between her and us. It's unlikely, but…"

"Say nothing more," he said, standing up. "To the tarp pile!"

Together, they slowly set off to get their things ready.

Unlike a certain cheetah, in a different part of the city.

Catano just sat there, thinking. She knew that bad mammals would often tag along to things like that protest, and being unorganized there wasn't much that could be done. Still, her opinion of the wider movement had gone down sharply after seeing the kind of speciesist mammals it included, even if she still sympathised deeply with the end goals. And after learning that Nick and Judy had talked to that mammal…

Well the interviewer had pointed out that it may have just been a coincidence… Maybe she was there and, knowing her from before and seeing she was upset, they just checked her out. Being impartial or giving her a strongly worded warning. He had no proof they were working together, right?

He was just making that part up.

She nodded. That had to be it.

It had to be.

...

Yes, she told herself as she got her things together.

That had to be it.