Chapter 59
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In her hospital bed, Judy sighed,
It felt wrong.
All she could think about was the others out there, suffering, trying to get through, hoping that the things they'd set in motion would carry them over the line.
But how did she know that?
How did they know that they weren't slowly being pulled under, something that she could help salvage.
Idly, she fired off another text.
Frustration.
The tv was on, glassing over her in a meaningless, unimportant sheen.
Eyes closed, she groaned.
Was she just not capable of turning off or something?
She wanted to be able to jump out of this damn bed and get going, her feet were already twitching, but no. She had to do nothing, the one thing she couldn't set herself up to do. Turning over, she planted her head into her pillow and moaned. "How am I meant to do this?"
She had to try. Nick was right, it could drive her over the edge, and sweet cheese she could see that. But how… How to turn off.
The only time she'd ever managed it was after the press conference, her three month exile. But there'd been a reason there, her 'help' had torn the city apart. Removing herself had stemmed the flow that she'd caused, helping by doing nothing. But now? Right here? She'd all but got within striking distance of the finish line and, for all she trusted Nick and the others to give it their all, she didn't know if that would be enough.
Her ear raised as she heard someone enter the room, hard hooves knocking on the door. "Are you here to tell me I need to be doing nothing?" she asked, speaking into the pillow.
"I suppose that's one way of saying it."
Judy groaned. "I've heard it plenty from my friends, but I don't know how. Does everyone have a switch that you can turn off, making you not care or something? Because right now, I think I'm missing it."
"Maybe that's one thing we have in common."
"Huh?" she mumbled. "So, how do we do this, huh?"
"We accept that carrying on this fight will do nothing but destroy what we were trying to save."
Judy lifted her head out of the pillow, nose twitching slightly, before turning over to see her visitor. It wasn't one of the staff or nurses, it was a civilian. A sheep. Her nose gave a flurry of twitches as her brain snapped into position, just who he was coming back in a flash of pictures on computer screens and an echo of a mammal she'd recently seen behind a glass window. "Dominic Bellwether?"
"-Calrama," he hissed, stomping the ground. "I've put enough effort into keeping my family safe, and blown enough of it trying to do so. So please, don't go shouting around what I don't want mammals to know! You and your friends did enough damage already."
Judy, slowly sitting up in her bed, kept her eyes levelled on him for a second or two before speaking. "You know, I'd feel more sympathy if you hadn't hired that ermine to slander us."
He closed his eyes and took a breath in and out. "Yes. And it blew up in my face. That's why I'm here. Peace treaty. I'll pay that girl to put down her stuff and leave you alone, if you do the same."
The bunny blinked. "That's it? You want… out, of all of this? Why?"
"Because of my daughter," he said, looking up. "Finding out what her aunt did tore her apart and ever since, she's acted… -Like she thinks she's responsible for it or something. Going on about sheep guilt this, or how we're prejudiced that…"
"-Says the mammal who talked to Kurt Wassermaim and Dawn Bellwether about the predator superiority complex," Judy pressed, crossing her paws. "Don't you think that maybe you have some blame in her thinking you're anti-pred?"
They were silent, him hanging there for a second, looking in the corner. "Do you know when I first started coming up with that idea?"
Judy thought on for a second. "No. Go on."
"When I was little, I remember all the things that society and school would tell us. They'd plant it in the childrens shows we watched and the lessons we were given. Zootopia was a place where all species had come together, and we all had to work together to make it work. Big mammals had to keep an eye out for small mammals under foot, but small mammals had to look up. All needed to learn the rules of the street so they, together, could keep safe. We should help dexterously challenged species if they asked and make sure to get to know all sorts of other species to be friends with. And, when it came to pred and prey, they talked about how we'd all moved on from the past, together. We both evolved. Preds didn't choose to give the prey their rights, prey didn't arm up and force preds to evolve to keep up and chase. We did it together, and even today, we must work together. Many prey still have some form of latent fear, they get worried if chased or might feel nervous if they see teeth or claws or aggressive behaviour. We needed to understand that preds were often more rambunctious, they had these teeth and claws, and if we pushed through these worries we could get over them. And, in the meantime, we should try and hide them, because of how unfair it was for a pred to scare mammals simply for being."
He paused, turning one of his hooves over. "Likewise, preds needed to understand that they could worry prey. It wasn't much effort to avoid showing teeth or claws too much, not thrusting them in mammals faces and so on, like not saying rude words. And so, that was how it was, until I was fourteen or so. Because then, the bare-your-teeth movement began. Preds saying that the guides to avoid showing teeth too much were speciesist, that their natural behaviour was being made taboo by speciesist prey, that they had every right to show the world who they were. And so, I'd go to school with these punk rocking aggressive preds, howling out loud or deliberately showing off their teeth and claws, often getting into peoples faces when they asked them politely if they could behave a bit nicer in public."
He slowly turned back to Judy. "For all they talked about society being on their backs, they certainly got a lot of traction. Lots of mammals of all types jumped on the 'bare your teeth' bandwagon, and about how they were evening out society and making it a better place, or whatever…" He waved it off. "But no-one seemed to notice all the prey buckling through it, still trying to uphold their side of that old bargain, while the preds felt like it was oppression and they were above it. Indeed, the more I thought, the more I felt that our society's culture is pred based. Maybe because pred and prey is the great theme, that equal billing meaning preds get five times the proportional rep or something, I don't know. But I just felt that preds had an oversized presence, prey an undersized one, and… well… it was my observation, my theory, and based on it maybe I could do something to help rebalance it. Where's the harm in that?" There was a pause, then a shrug. "When my sister who very much agreed with those ideas went into politics, why wouldn't I support her?"
Judy looked on and nodded. "Given what happened, I think we all know the harm, don't we?"
He shrugged. "Pol Pot-Bellied was a teacher. You could level that same argument against any educator that's left leaning."
"There's quite a bigger connection here, isn't there?" she pressed.
He nodded. "Touche. Maybe you won't believe it, but I truly believe what my sister did was appalling. I also feel my views are still valid, and aren't anti-pred or anything. But my daughter doesn't. Ever since Dawn was arrested, Maisy's acted like questioning what these preds say for a second means you're an evil speciesist. And, when this whole thing came along I knew, I just knew, how much it would rip her apart and it has. Do you know what it's like seeing your own daughter tear herself apart, huh? And that's before the inevitable happened, the ZPD and others stoking themselves up. How long until you outed us, or if not you the ovinophones in your ranks…"
"So you felt you had the right to play these media games to keep us away?"
"Et tu?"
"Huh?"
"Don't tell me you haven't pulled out those same stops for that fox."
She shook her head, crossing her arms in front of her. "You're saying that like it justifies what you did?"
"No," he shrugged. "At least, no more than it does for you. We both wanted to save a child we cared about, whatever the means, in doing so tearing ourselves apart. That's why I'm here, that's why I'm offering a truce. Before Maisy or Kris get hurt anymore."
"Kris is a lot more hurt than Maisy though…"
"And that was our fault?"
Judy looked at him for a second of two, before breathing in and out and looking down. "Right…" she mumbled. "Okay. Presuming you didn't fake that picture…"
"-I didn't."
"I get where you're coming from. But this isn't forgiveness or anything, you need to earn it…"
"If I can help get that kit out, I will try," he said, glaring down at the floor. "I just want this stupid mess to end, okay. I want to stop being ripped apart from the ones I love and go back to a normal life… Or a simple one. Who knows."
Judy looked at him for a second or two before one of her ears perked up, then going down as her face morphed into a frown. "Something makes me think you're only doing all of this now as you know Kurt is going down for good."
"Well, that's not guaranteed, is it? He's still got a last chance interview." He shrugged. "But I suppose you're right, in a way. Though he tried my patience a lot, he was a friend."
"A very troublesome friend."
"Et tu," he said again.
Judy scratched the side of her head, before both ears dove down. "I'm guessing you'll be bringing up Honey, again. Listen, she's changed. She was reformed. She doesn't hate sheep anymore, she's even trying to fix some of the damage she did. Not that I expect you to believe me."
"Maybe I will," he pondered. "But what if she starts going back, huh? Begins talking more about the evil sheep, and what they did. When will you call it quits on her?"
Judy looked back, blinking. "I… I don't know," she confessed, looking down. "Got me there."
"And now maybe you know what I was dealing with."
"Except Kurt was always like that, wasn't he?" she asked. "He even shared his theories about that banker wolf being a vigilante with you… which you 'put up with.'"
"I entertained him," he said, chuckling. "Part of me actually wants it to be true. Not for any hatred of him or her, but for the idea of someone going out and dealing with the filth of the underworld. Filth who did things I couldn't imagine doing to anyone, yet alone someone like my daughter... And you know what, this goes beyond pred and prey, I think that right here both sides think the same. They want the biggest heroes to fight evilest villains, giving the scum of the earth the justice they deserve. If Kurt is right, that's what she was, you could prove her guilty to the core and I wouldn't be surprised if there were protests to give her clemency, pred and prey united. The thing is, Kurt knew just that. He hated it to the bone, he felt it was pred superiority distilled down to its purest maximum, but he knew the public wouldn't care, and that was the truth."
Judy nodded, before her mouth piqued. "I thought he believed truth was relative."
He let a small smile grow on his muzzle. "Oh, he was being relative when said it."
Judy shared a chuckle, before nodding. "Listen. I don't know you. I don't agree with you on most of what you said. But I'm willing to try and trust you here, if it is just about Kris and your daughter." There was a pause, "this isn't forgiveness or anything. I don't feel like I can give you that yet. But… Thanks, I suppose, for coming to make this truce. There's probably a lot of mammals that wouldn't and instead just keep on fighting."
"Thank you," he said, pausing as his phone rang. He picked it up, listening in as Judy spoke.
"I guess I'll tell the others," she said, as he leant forward and wrote his number down. "What's that for?"
"In case you need to reach me," he said, moving out to the door. "I need to go now, but best of luck, I guess."
"Likewise, I guess," she said, and then he was gone.
Judy sat down and thought, not sure what to think. It wasn't long before a beaver nurse walked in, pausing as she recognised her.
"Yup," Judy said, "it's me."
She smiled. "Nice to see you," she said, before looking over her shoulder. "Just gonna check your bags here. Everything okay?"
"Fine," Judy said, trailing off.
"That sheep not bothering you?"
The bunny paused to think. "No, I don't think so."
"Good," she said, sighing as she pulled back from Judy's IV bag. "Doesn't seem like he messed anything up."
The doe's eyebrow rose.
"It's the sheep nurses we employ which are the real trouble," she sighed. "All that access to patients that you can't monitor. I've done my best to fight back, raising as many reports and complaints as I can to push them out, not that those embedded high up made it easy. They should have all been fired after the howler crisis."
The bunny paused. "I don't think that's very fair. It's not like those sheep did anything."
"Sheep don't operate on an individual level," the beaver dismissed. "They're a unified flock, they think all the same, and who knows what they're plotting next." She looked down at Judy. "They've already got the wolves you know. And replaced the biggest whistleblower, their imposter putting out a video trashing all her previous vital work." She looked around, before patting Judy on the head. "I'll make sure they don't get you though, promise."
With that she walked off, Judy mouthing a silent, unsure reply as she looked on.
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Everything was dark.
"H-Hello?"
The call echoed out and vanished.
"Where are you?"
…
"Please!?"
…
A panicked scared scream came out, the tug felt in the core of the receivers heart. "I'm coming."
It screamed out, desperate to give any kind of solace as the race began to find the cries and shrieks of pain. Desperate calls out, pleading for mercy, pleading for help, begging out, and with a crash the source is in front.
Only the victim is not the victim anymore. It looks up and stares, before leaping out into the black, tearing the ground up with its clawed paws. "No… This isn't you." A beg to it.
But it laughs.
It begins laughing more and more and more. "This is me!" From behind, head snapping to face it. "It always was me." Again, still behind.
Turning around again, the sounds are coming out from each and every side, the desperate snaps of head and ears doing nothing to pin it down.
But knowing that it is coming closer.
"No…" The plead is futile as the panic builds up. Finally, right over there, a tree. Up, safety, safety! Running faster and faster and faster, laughing as it goes, looking behind and the jaws are out and…
"HAIDA!"
Upright in her bed, panting hard, shivering from the dream. Retsuko slowly slipped out, picking her way through the mess on the floor before finding her way to her bathroom. She glumly noted that she didn't have long left, and her fur was a mess.
Still, she took her time to brush herself down, not that it was out of care or anything. Her mother would chide and nag her if she knew she was going out looking like this, especially to such an important meeting.
She didn't care at this point. She'd have had her head in her paws as she travelled along the subway if she'd actually been able to find a seat. Instead she just kept her gaze fixed on her feet as they travelled, and then she walked, and then she sat down.
"Hey, Retsy…" She managed to look up at Haida and… yeah, he was still her hyena, not the one from the dream.
"Hi," she said, before feeling a shiver in her as his grin widened, showing his large bone crunching teeth. She looked away as he, Fenneko and Finnick sat down together.
"You okay?" Haida asked.
She didn't really know what to say, so just shrugged. "Sure…"
"Yeah," he nodded, glancing at the fennecs. "You two are right, this is gonna be a doozy, isn't it?"
"Naturally," the vixen said, smiling.
"Well, I suppose I get a good moment with my sister, bad moment with you," he said, turning back down.
Retsuko looked back up. "Your sister?"
"Oh yeah," he said, smiling. His two paws held into each other. "Boasting to her about how I beat a lion. How I was the hero." His face then lit up as he raised a triumphant first. "Ha, I actually left her speechless! No more cute widdle baby brother, huh? Oh no, she literally admitted that I am, and I quote, the family badass." He spread out his paws to the others ecstatically. "Isn't that awesome! All cackle no crunch no longer! Family baaaadassssss!"
"Yeah," Finnick smirked. "You did good, Yeen. You did good."
"Yup," he said, turning back down to the red panda. "Isn't this pawsome!?" he asked, teeth wide out, sharp and powerful and bonecrusshing and… "Retsy?"
"Huh?" she asked, blinking.
"You… You flinched away," he said slowly, his ears going down. "Why?"
"I…" she began, only to clam up. She looked away. This was going to ruin it, wasn't it? It was probably rude and speciesist. Why did she have to feel this stupid way, she…
"Are you… scared of me?"
She cringed a bit. Oh god, it was true. "I… I had a dream," she finally got out.
"A dream?"
"It was like that night. I was scared for you, I was trying to find you, to help you. But… But when I got there, you were the attacker. And then you were out, hunting, laughing, and you came for me. It was scary, and…"
"But I'd never do that to you," he said. "Heck, I'd use that to defend you! Fight off the bad guys, keep you safe. Isn't that what you want?"
She wasn't quite sure what to say at first but then, like a spark, it came to her. "No," she said, looking up. "It isn't you."
One of his eyes narrowed while the other eyebrow cocked. "Huh? What do you mean it isn't me?"
"It just isn't, and…"
"What, so like the time I did that thing to Tadano's driver? That wasn't me then?" he asked. "That wasn't me doing it to help you?"
"Ditto when you kept on saying you'd punch Tadano himself, only to end up shaking his paw," Fenneko said with a smirk.
"Thaaaaat's not important," the hyena waved off.
"-Ditto for Resasuke."
"You can stop now," he said, looking down at her.
"Just like you always did," she finished off.
The hyena glared at her, before turning back down to the red panda. "I just don't see what the issue is? You know I wouldn't hurt you. I'd only hurt those who'd try and hurt you."
"But you hurting mammals…" she mumbled, trying to find the words. "That's.. That scares me. It's just not who you are."
He slowly crossed his arms. "Then who am I?"
"I…" she began, trying to think it through. "You were always nice. You always had this smile on you. You…"
"That won't change," he said, incredulously. "I like being nice. But I also like being a badass too! What's wrong with that? You liked it before."
"Because you were always threatening to punch mammals, you were always saying you'd stand up, but then you'd always back down, give them a nod and shake paws."
The hyena blinked. "I thought the 'not liking' it was for when it was the other way around or… You mean you actually want a boyfriend who's a blowhard, or…"
"I want a boyfriend who doesn't scare me," she said, feeling a flash of shame after she'd said it. She looked up, hoping he wasn't offended or anything, but instead just seeing a blank expression on his face. "I want a boyfriend who isn't out there, doing stuff that makes me fear for his life, that makes me dread to know what happened to him… I thought you… I thought you were dead back then. And when you got back... I want a boyfriend who doesn't come back looking like a savage, who gets excited talking about breaking someone's paws in their teeth! I… I want my sweetheart back."
And then Haida's expression broke, soft sad lines etched on his face. "I…" he began, sounding unsure of himself.
"-Woah, woah, woah there," cut in a new voice, the pair looking at Finnick. The fennec was pointing at Haida. "Don't sell yourself short, yeen. Don't let some girl browbeat you into being what you're not. Y'hear?"
He breathed in and out, looking at Retsuko. "That's the thing," he said. "I like… I love being a sweetheart. But I've also always wanted to be a badass!" He gave a few punches in the air. "To be cool. To be this big hero, or…" He looked down. "And yeah. I was scared for my life last night. Thinking back, some parts still make me shiver." He did just that, Retsuko somehow knowing it wasn't for emphasis. "But at the same time, it… It was incredible. It was like the craziest rollercoaster I've ever been on, that I could only dream of before, and… Part of me wants more. I want to ride that rollercoaster, and I don't think I can change that."
The red panda looked up, before her eyes closed hard as she glanced away. "But I don't want to have to fear for you… Or fear you… I'm… I just can't do that. I'm sorry."
There was a long pause, Haida looking between them and thinking. Finally, slowly, he spoke. "You'd… be okay with me doing something like MMA or boxing, wouldn't you?"
She blinked. "I… Yeah," she said, not sure where this had come from. "I don't see why not, I…"
She was broken off as he held her paws. "There we go I guess. I can train up in it and still be a badass there, while being your sweetheart here. I can have both, right? Where's the shame in having that?"
It took a second or two before, slowly, her face lit up and she smiled, running forward and hugging her. "Thank you," she said, burying her face in his chest. "Thank you for… for understanding..."
"Hey, no problem right," he said, patting her back. "It's not like this adulting stuff is that hard or anything, right? And I already said I'd worked this mean yeen and girly yeen stuff out. We can go to your comfortable place, getting a nice new job with that tax detective, while I get some excitement with martial arts and such. All happy. Aren't we?"
"Yeah," Retsuko said. "Yes we all are."
…
"Slight issue…" They both turned to Fenneko, the fennec's ears turning down. "I also enjoyed doing this stuff, with my boyfriend too. But I want it all…"
"Yeah," he said. "We wanted to be PI's. We still want to be."
There was a long pause, the red pandas head tilting. "So you won't be coming with us?"
Finnick crossed his arms. "You ain't coming with us?"
"But…" Retsuko began, looking at fenneko. "I thought we'd… We'd all still together. I…"
The vixen's ears went down and she glanced away. "I guess not. It seems we'll be going on different career paths from now on. I mean, that's nothing unusual, but it feels..." She trailed off, looking down.
…
"We…" Retsuko began, "-we'll still be friends, right?"
The vixen glanced up, giving a smirk. "We can always keep in touch.".
"Go to raves," Finnick added, chuckling.
"Double dates," Haida said, smiling.
There was a long pause, the group looking between themselves, before Retsuko walked forward and held onto the fennec vixen, hugging her tight. Haida joined in too. "It was great working with you," the red panda said.
"Very fun while it lasted," the fennec agreed. "And naturally now I've got you up to a level where you can function, no guilt in leaving it."
Haida gave an amused snort and nodded along, the trio all holding themselves together. It had been fun, while it lasted, and so they felt no reason to end it just now.
They could hold on to each other, make it last, for just a bit longer.
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Mrs Fox had a particularly impertinent look on her muzzle, one that Mr Fox was quite glad was not focused on him. Instead, it was fixed on their television screen, along with that of their son, their brother in law, their friends. And, on it, they watched as an interviewer addressed the camera. "Last night, the controversy around DA Kurt Wassermaim exploded when a recording from a ZPD undercover operative, posing as a prey supremacists, was leaked. Instead of confirming or denying his own involvement with such, it uncovered that he has a long held vendetta against lupine banker Murana Wolford, believing her to be a vigilante of urban legend fame known as 'The Dark Flame Wolf'. While the mayor has requested that he vacate his post, or be forced to leave, he has instead requested this interview in order to defend his position."
"The last stand of Kurt Wassermaim," Mr Fox said, working his muzzle around like an old western outlaw with a piece of straw would.
"In the sink dear," his wife said.
"Kylie," Mr Fox said, the Opossum perking up. "The vase." He quickly reached over to the flower vase, gifted flowers still blooming, tilting it over so Mr Fox's shot of spit sailed right through the stems and into the water in the bottom.
Mrs Fox just rolled her eyes, before glaring on as the hippo in question walked onto the screen, immediately taking the initiative. "Very interesting you use the word vendetta," he said, sitting down. "I like to use the word crusade. Crusade against an incredibly dangerous mammal, who uses her power and wealth to engage in carnal desires that are long since outlawed. That civilization itself was set up to contain. Now, I expect someone to take that as an 'anti-pred' stance or something, as they always do, but that's the truth. We built this society so that no mammal had to fear being prey any longer. No mammal had to fear being hunted down, being ripped apart, being the sport for someone else. But this wolf, having risen to levels of wealth that most normal mammals could never dream of, has decided that she's above all that. She's superior to it. She dressed it up in a false coat of morality or justice, but the principle remains that she is doing this for no other reason than the thrill of the hunt." He jabbed his fist down. "And that is why I have done deep, at length, research into her, given that the ZPD, filled with predators and prey sympathetic to this toxic hunting culture, would never be interested. It was my own private investigation, and now that it's been revealed those who sympathise with her dangerous, elitisist ideals have decided I am too dangerous and that I need to be removed. It's as simple as that."
The interviewer was not impressed and counter attacked. "That's leaving out this complex issue with the anonymous vulpine who…"
"-Who I used the law, as it's meant to be used, against? For the last time, if this had been a prey mammal, especially if that had been a sheep, had I not used this law then I'd still be here, today, being grilled about not using it and hating preds." He looked forward. "Ask yourself this, huh? With that big ZPD leak, convenient leak may I add, why haven't they attacked me for being a pred hater? A fox hater? Huh? Why not? Because it proves I'm not one! There's nothing they can use. Heck, you heard it, I was lording it over that presumed prey supremacist, threatening to call security on him right there and then…"
"And why didn't you?"
"Because he threatened me! And this thing was leaked before I could work out what to do. Heck, if I'm as evil as you say, why didn't I ask this mammal to go out and remove Wolford himself, huh? I told him not to, to leave it to us doing it the proper way. The right way."
"But surely the simple fact that you think this crazy theory, believing that a reputed banker is this vigilante who's an urban legend at most, means that you are unsuitable for this role?"
He paused, eyes narrowing. "I knew that there'd be a blowback if this was leaked before I had my rock solid case together, but that vigilante is real, and it is Murana Wolford. And the fact that I'm the only mammal willing to hold this toxic version of predator culture to account, the only one willing to try and stop the damage it will cause, means that I am the most suitable mammal for this job. Period."
He ended it there and there was a long pause. Back in the fox family lounge, Nick, sitting there, crossed his arms. "He's getting his narrative out. He's legitimising himself. We need him knocked out here so far no-one will touch him." He sighed, looking down. "But I don't think that's going to happen."
The interviewer was paused, looking up at the smirking hippo who very much seemed to share that opinion. However he, taking a breath in, spoke on. "On learning that you were here today, we sought out Murana Wolford for comment. Instead, she requested to join us here to talk with you direct, which we, after some discussion, agreed to. As a result," he said, as Kurt's eyes widened with shock before narrowing with determination. "May I please introduce Mrs Murana Wolford."
And then in she strolled, to a wave of gasps, especially from the interview. "Uh… Ma'am, your suit…"
She smiled. "I decided to change into something more comfortable," she said, as she walked on and sat down, dressed in a vivid red neoprene bodysuit, complete with long metal claws on her paws and an obsidian black domino mask. The costume of the urban legend itself.
Kurt, shaken for words, jumped up. "See! There! Look! Look, look, look, look!" He marched up right next to her, pointing her out. "She believes in her predatory superiority so much she thinks she can walk onto here fully in costume! Arrest her."
…
He looked around some more, arms out wide. "For Cuss sake! Arrest her!"
"Language dear," Wolford gently chided him as she settled back into her seat. "And I don't believe there is any law saying a lady cannot attend a tv interview in her lounge wear."
"LOUNGE WEAR!" he yelled.
"Yes," she said, smiling. "An online costume designer gave me a very good deal."
"Then what are those claws!"
"Oh these?" she asked, leaning forward and examining them. "Whenever my heat cycle comes around I have a strong craving for olives. Claws are excellent at eating them, you should try getting ones like these." She smiled, miming herself sticking them in a bottle and pulling them out, before biting an olive off the end of each.
"But you already have claws!"
She looked up. "But this way I have double the action, dear."
His teeth grit. "Listen, you're not fooling me! I'm far too intelligent for that! You are the dark flame wolf! You use skunk spray bombs to incapacitate your enemies!"
"Oh this?" she asked, bringing out a small bottle and flipping off the lid. "After years of looking after an adopted skunk, I found myself used to the scent. It's actually a pleasant reminder of him during tough work days." She offered it forward, the hippo backing off in a fit of coughs and hacks.
"See! Can't everyone see! Look at her, she's mocking you! She's mocking you all!" He looked at the camera, waving at it, while the wolf just fiddled with her claws in the meantime.
And then, they began to hear it. A chuckle. Maybe from a camera mammal, maybe from a member of staff, but it was there. "What's that, why are you laughing?" the hippo asked, turning to face him. "Can't you see who this is?" He marched back over, grabbing her up. "THIS IS THE DARK FLAME WOLF! LOOK AT HER! TAKE IT ALL IN!"
"But remember I'm a married wolf, please…"
He snapped to face her. "Can't you all see. I mean, the costume! Weapons! The skunk stuff! He pointed at a pine shaped earring in her ear. "This alone should be enough to throw her behind bars!"
"Well my son did buy them for me," she said, "so you could say they were a steal."
Another round of laughter from the stage crew, and from the crowd watching. The hippo was looking around, not quite believing it. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!? WHY DON'T YOU CARE!"
"Maybe because I spent my time incinerating the toxic trash of society?" she asked, the room going silent. "The pieces of filth that spread around, polluting this fair and noble city, with impunity. That truly need and deserve to be destroyed, burnt into nothing, to stop them carrying on harming and harming with no end in sight."
"So you confess!" Kurt said, heroically.
She shrugged. "To funding the new refuse incinerator in the canal district, yes."
The round of laughs echoed through both the fox family house and the studio, the hippo looking like he was at his wits end. "Come on! Look at her! It's clear she's the Dark Flame Wolf!"
"Yeah," someone shouted from off the side. "And Shrewis Brindley is the Briestol Pusher!"
Even if most mammals didn't get the reference, it didn't matter, more laughs coming out as the hippo looked from side to side. "These are your rights she's taking! She thinks you're nothing! She thinks she's above you all."
"Well I am when I'm in my office," she carried on. "It is at the top of a very tall building don't you know." The laughter kept coming, a look of concern on her face. "But I mean, maybe there is strong evidence I am who you say I am." She stood up, waving her tail behind her. "I mean, compare the floofiness of our tails."
"YES. Look at the floofiness," Kurt carried on, through another round of laughter. "I don't have the picture with me here, but the evidence is irrefutable! I spent hours at night measuring and comparing the tail floffiness from multiple sources, and it confirmed it all."
She turned around and sat down, nodding along. "Well, I will say it confirmed something."
"Oh don't you know it," he boasted, leaning in.
"Though I'm afraid it will amount to nothing for you."
"That's where you're wrong," he said, pointing down. "This is our society, not yours. You just think that because you dealt justice to mammals who tortured, enslaved, raped and murder women and children, acting with impunitity even from the ZPD, and gave them a taste of what you felt they deserved for their wicked lives… You just think that you can get away with it, that the people will side with you…"
"I will," someone called.
There was a pause.
"Yeah, so will I."
"Me to."
"It's a shame she's not this hero."
And on it went, each one chipping away at the hippo's facade until it was trembling, face turning red.
And then finally.
"No, not that dear," Murana said, idly fiddling with her claws before looking up. "Listen, I know when certain clossetted men get certain feelings for women, they can act out… But it doesn't endear us you know. Especially as I'm already taken." She showed off her wedding ring. "Though you probably knew all this, hence your overreaction to this little crush of yours. I'm afraid though that even if that weren't the case, you're just not my type. After seeing you today, I'd say you've dropped down to middle-ish D tier, me being generous. Sorry Hon."
She waved him off and, amidst a wave of laughter, he stormed off the stage.
The feed cut back to the main news anchors, Peter Moosbridge and Fabienne Growley glancing at each other. "Well," the moose began, trying to suppress a chuckle. "That was something."
"Indeed it was," his co-host replied. "Regardless, the mayor has stated that Kurt Wassermaim is still due to be replaced later today, and is happy to fight any wrongful termination suits he may file. His expected replacement, ADA Jeanette-Deux, has stated that her first act on Monday will be withdrawing the forced imprisonment ruling on the Anonymous Vulpine, though he will still be facing the charges at present."
And with that, the TV was flipped off, a round of whoops and cheers going around the fox family house. Jack had been one-hundred percent right, Kurt Wassermaim was over, Murana Wolford was safe and, most important of all, Kris was coming home.
But one question still remained. Who had planted those howlers in the first place?
After Ash had come home, they thought they knew.
But proving it would be another matter. One that would need to wait just a little bit, to get all the pieces, some of whom those in the room most definitely did not want to play with, into position.
But it was coming, soon.