Chapter 11

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AN: This chapter involves a few cameos from other works and creators, plus some external references. Due to reasons that will become self explanatory, I'll go into them at the beginning of the next chapter. Regardless, this was one of the funnest chapters for me to write and one of my favorites. Enjoy.

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Kris wasn't quite sure whether to feel relieved or intimidated. After all, the police Chief had said that a word would be put in for him, and this must have been that coming to fruition. So relief, especially after the intimidation of the whole booking procedure, was there.

But at the same time he was being taken along to the authority figure, the one who could dictate just how his whole stay here would pass, be it good or bad or anywhere in between. He had no power against him and was at his mercy, and yeah…

Kris felt a little intimidated.

Not helped by the fact that he was marching along a bleak white corridor flanked by two prison guards, his paws cuffed in front of him, his baggy prison stripes hanging off of him, and his underwear feeling uncomfortably low.

"Muzzle up, Silverfox," the deer guard spoke.

He matched that as they turned a corner and reached a metal door. A wave was given to the guard on the other side, an ID card swiped, and Kris was escorted out. Things felt a little less harsh here, the walls a bit warmer and the floor a softer carpet instead of the harsher linoleum (which he could swear was making his pads tingle slightly). There was some chatter off to the sides, and he glanced through some doors to see some generic looking office spaces, even a break room at one point. Normal looking adult mammals worked there and, though a few flashed him a look, none lingered on him. Finally they reached a large, heavy, office, the deer rapping it hard with his hooves a few times.

"Come in," came a response, and the door was opened. Inside it was just another generic office, if a bit bigger or wider. It felt like a slightly starker version of the one that the head of his old school… -no, still his school, had. He remembered being led there by his aunt on his first day as they sorted everything out, meeting the head along with his form tutor and prefect. There was a grim poetry between that act and this.

The warden himself, sat at his desk, was an argali, a short haired wild sheep with massive curling horns. He looked over at Kris, gesturing down to a seat, which he occupied. He couldn't help but notice that there was a thick rug on the floor, the soft strands feeling wonderful on his feet. "You can uncuff him, you know," he spoke.

The serval shook her head. "I don't think that would be wise. After all, he was confrontational and uncooperative during his intake. Wouldn't you agree, Mr Fulton?"

The deer kept a blank look on his face as he glanced over. "He happened to have disagreements with you when you refused to believe that you'd got his name wrong, and confronted you on that verbally Mrs Sarrahson. So arguably yes."

"And before that, before you got in," she pointed out. She paused, before her brow furrowed. "I have a better measure of the prisoner than you do."

He paused and held back, before looking to the warden. "Well, I think we can answer this situation quite easily. What is his conviction, warden?"

The argali flicked a hoof up. "That's the issue. I just want to wait until Terrance gets here…"

There was a knock on the door.

"Perfect timing. Come in."

The door opened and a giant river otter waddled in. Kris noticed that he was dressed in a much more relaxed fashion compared to the others (night and day against the deer, or Mr Fulton as he seemed to be called), only wearing the loose shirt with its clips and tags. On his lower half he wore a pair of gym pants, while a whistle hung from around his neck. "Afternoon," he spoke, before pausing as his eyes met Kris'. "Hey there kit," he spoke, walking forward. "Name's Terrance. I help with guidance and group therapy, along with the physical exercise. Holding up well?"

The silver fox was taken aback by his friendliness, but as the shock wore off he sighed. "I… Not really," he spoke, glancing to the floor. "Today's been… something."

"Tch," he said. "Nothing anyone else wouldn't feel in your position," he spoke, leaning forward and placing a paw down on his shoulder. They were both about the same size, so it provided some comfort. "Now, I don't care what you've done in the past. The important thing is that today is the day you start writing your future. Now, I know that may feel tough and daunting, but I'll be there to lend a paw throughout. Got it?"

Kris nodded, glancing up at the others. The deer had a blank look on his face, while the serval was gazing with a downcast look at the otter. They were broken off though by a short -ahem from the warden. "That's the thing," he spoke, bringing out some files. "Earlier today, Chief Bogo of the ZPD phoned me and said that we were getting a third new resident here today on decidedly short notice." There was a pause, as he brought out some files. "Moreover, he is one that he, and much of the ZPD, do not wish to be here."

"So what, the judge decided not to spare the rod on him?" Sarrahson asked.

The warden's eyes narrowed as he stared back up at her. "He hasn't been in front of a judge."

The room went quiet, broken off by the coughing of the deer. "Excuse me. What do you mean, he hasn't been in front of a judge? He does not look like an exceptionally violent offender to me, and even then a judge would have to consider it first before signing off for a transfer here."

"I mean that, against the wishes of the ZPD, the District Attorney sprung a specific set of legislation against him, forcing him to be held here up until his as of yet undecided trial date. Indeed, they have a month before they even have to charge him."

"I…" Terrance stuttered, glancing back at Kris before looking back at the warden. "Was he caught stealing nuclear codes or something!?"

"No," the warden spoke, bringing up a file. "In the first period of school today the police called to his school, reporting that refined nighthowler pellets…"

"-Nighthowlers!" the serval shouted in shock, glancing angrily down at Kris but otherwise staying quiet.

"Yes. That they were present there. An investigation found them in his locker, though there was no other evidence linking him to any crimes using them."

"Who needs that," she spoke. "He had nighthowlers on him!"

"In his locker," the warden spoke, raising his tone. "And you know as well as I do that anyone could have put them there, Sarrahson. Please let me continue. The ZPD knew that too, which was why they planned to release him with a tracker as they carried on investigating. However, the DA then got involved, using the Nighthowler Act on him. A chief judge agreed in principle, and now he's stuck here for up to a month, when they can press charges, and then sixth further months before his trial may start. All with no conviction at all."

There was a pause, silence hanging over them before Terrance shook his head. "-You said today, right? This all happened today?"

The warden nodded.

"Puta xingar…" he muttered, before turning back to Kris. "I can't even imagine what you're going through," he spoke, a paw lunging down to grab Kris'. "Listen. You shouldn't be here, and if there was anything I could do to get you out, I'd do it. But I want you to know that you have a friend here, okay? I was put down to be your private councillor too, so you can talk to me."

Kris breathed in and out before nodding. "Thanks," he spoke, smiling a little. "This… this hasn't been nice. But it's nice to know that you'll be there for me."

He nodded, before stepping back. "Regardless of that, we've got to work out what we do next," he spoke, pausing to think. "I don't think it would be wise to have that as your explanation for why you're here."

"I… Wouldn't it best to just say the truth?" Kris asked, suddenly confused.

"I'd normally agree, but I'm with Officer Riotra here," the deer spoke, glancing down at Terrance as he walked forwards. "Many of the criminal elements in there have a code of honour. Some crimes are worse than others, and they pick on their perpetrators to make them feel better about themselves. Let's an unreformable crook feel that he's a good person if he picks on someone who, say, hurt a child. Now I don't like those who hurt children very much either, but I have a particular contempt for those who feel that their business and life is in crime and then hold such an action as a badge of honour. I will tell you this, those kinds of mammals lived through the howler crisis and they were angry. Some even tried to use it as an excuse for why they are in here," he said, lashing the words with an angry hint of dismissal. "Given your situation, I think that Officer Riotra might have a point. I have a feel for the boys in there, they won't like it if they're in with someone involved in that stuff and a lie might make this unfair stay of yours more tolerable."

Terrance nodded. "But should the new story be that he's still waiting trial or hasn't been charged? Or should he say he committed a crime he didn't do? I mean, personally, most of them out there accept that they all did something wrong, but plenty of the others claim they're 'innocent.'"

"Whatever it is," the warden spoke, mulling it over. "It might have to explain why he's being pulled in and out to go to his trial."

"So, just tell the truth," Sarrahson spoke up, her arms crossed across her chest. "He dabbled in howlers, they'll hear it on the news, whatever. Let's just accept what's going on and move on, rather than making this complicated."

"They don't tend to watch the cable news that much," Terrance spoke. "We could easily turn the channels over when anything about this is coming up. As for the papers, that's easy. We read through and don't stock them when it mentions him. Heck, most of the time his name will be anonymous through all of this, so if it's a light general thing we could probably let it pass."

"Still," she pressed, her tone hardening. "These are some very exceptional accommodations."

"-And this is a very exceptional case," the warden argued, cutting them off. He then turned to Kris. "Listen, I'm putting this in place because, in my view, you should not be here and, due to what you're… -well, not even formally accused of yet, I feel there are some concerns for your wellbeing and safety. So we'll work on a cover story, and then you run with it, understand?"

Kris nodded. "Yes," he said. Despite his initial misgivings, it sounded reasonable.

Fulton stepped out. "He's not like the standard mammal in here, he's a cut above and they will know it."

"Being pretty generous there," Sarrahson noted, only to be ignored.

"So we need something to accommodate this," the warden spoke. "I mean, if you fell asleep with a kit in your bed and accidentally rolled and smothered him, that would work as a sympathetic reason for being here. Angry step parent accused you of murder or…" he paused, shaking his head. "Then again, as Mr Fulton said, they have codes of honour and killing a baby would fall pretty against it. They may not take it lightly."

There was a pause, then Terrance clicked his fingers. "Okay then. Maybe he was volunteering at a place, he seems like the nice kind of chap who'd do that, and serving food. Only he got an allergy or intolerance order mixed up by mistake and someone fell seriously ill, had to go into intensive care or even had cardiac arrest. He was charged with attempted murder and sent here."

"I'd of thought that, at worst, would be considered criminal neglect. For a first time offence, neglect like that seems like something that would get him a caution, maybe sent him to a reform school in an exceptional situation."

"Well, maybe it happened with the DA's favorite niece then," the otter shrugged. "He then absolutely threw the book at him. This upcoming trial is his appeal."

"I…" the warden mused, "it would work leading up to the trial."

Fulton nodded. "Yes, and if he is guilty, then the truth will be coming out anyway."

The warden nodded, then turned to Kris. "Given what you've been through today, whether you did it or not, this must have been terribly confusing and hard on you."

"-Indeed," Fulton noted. "The kit is undoubtedly brave and mature, facing all this with a straight face. Credit where credit is due."

"I also don't deny that all of us discussing this is difficult too," he carried on. "But I want to make this clear to you. We don't think you should be here, not now, not yet. All the others in there have been found guilty of something and think that everyone else is too, which is a worry. It must be intimidating for us to be talking about made up crimes that you did and you will lie about, but we're trying to make this so you don't needlessly suffer any more than you already have."

There was a pause, Kris nodding. "Thanks," he spoke, sighing as he looked down at his cuffed paws and prison uniform. "I… -I don't like this, I don't like anything, but I could try and fight and thrash around and just get tired and go under, or I could try and float with the current. I didn't do it, I have no clue how those got there, but I have friends and family who I trust will find out the truth. I just need to survive until then, for them, and if this makes it easier, I'll do it."

Terrance nodded. "Good lad. They may ask you questions. Do you know a place that could fit for this incident?"

"There's a coffee shop near my house in the rainforest district that I've been to a few times," he said. "My father and I had cake or a few breakfasts there. They have books you can borrow, and an area for megafauna…"

"Perfect," he spoke. "Any experience in a kitchen too?"

"I had a week's worth of experience in one a few years back," he said, "so I do know how a coffee machine will work."

"Good," he spoke. "They'll ask questions, and you can answer them without tripping yourself up. The best lies always have a bit of truth in them, don't they?" He cracked a little grin.

Kris breathed in and out. "Yeah."

"Anyhow," the warden said, "we'll inform the other staff. This is an exceptional situation, one that none of us here want, some obviously more than others." There was cold silence as he looked up at Sarrahson before looking down. "But behave, put your head down, and we should get through this."

"Aye, I think the kit will," Fulton agreed, looking down at him. "Just by looking at him, I can sense that he's not your standard criminal, or even one who did it in a crime of passion. There are those few out there who made genuine mistakes and are sorry for them, and he is like that without the mistake." He looked down and nodded. "Silverfox?"

Kris looked up at him.

"Keep your muzzle up high and face this like the man you are."

"I will," he said, only to pause slightly as he glanced at Sarrahson, the serval giving the deer a stink eye.

It didn't matter though. The warden was already standing up, waving the other two guards off. Terrance, meanwhile, tapped Kris on the shoulder. "Let's get to my office and have our chat. I'm your councillor after all."

Kris smiled, feeling a little ray of hope in all these shadows. "That sounds good, thanks."

And with that, the otter led him off.

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Back at the Fox family house, things were quickly ramping up into action mode. Haida and Retsuko had left on a mission, Skye was on her phone and firing off a few messages, while her mate was being tortured.

"Ahhhhhh…."

"Ehhhhhhhh…."

"Oooooohhhh…."

"ARGHHHH!"

"-And done," Judy spoke, watching as he collapsed onto the nearby sofa, exhausted from all the jumping jacks he'd been doing. He briefly realised that he could work out a pun from that, but he hadn't got enough effort to even try.

"Why…" he muttered, looking over. "Am I…. Doing this…?"

"You want to be 'secret agent' Jack, then you need to get fit," she spoke, tapping a few things into her mobile phone.

"Who says…"

"I do."

"And who put you in charge."

She looked over, her eyes narrowing as she smiled. "Let's say that it was mutually and non-verbally agreed on."

"Undemocratic... bunneh…" he panted, sliding down the seat. "I feel like my spleen… is now a razor blade of pure agony twisting and coiling within me…"

"No Cuss," Nick spoke. "It's a right of passage."

"To your credit," she noted, checking an app. "You're a lot more fit than I expected you to be. I'm guessing it was from all the running around on stage you do."

"Oh thanks, that makes me feel real better…"

"And your lung capacity from all your long speeches," she mused, shrugging. "But! The important thing is that I've now calibrated your app." She handed it back to him. "You'll be scheduled up with frequent and small exercises, as well as targets on how far you need to walk, jog, etcetera…"

There was a pause as his phone buzzed. He picked it up, looking on at it curiously. "What's 'a plank?' I'm guessing it's not pirate related."

"Ho-boy," Nick said, walking in and crossing your arms. "I'd say it's a little pirate related."

"In what way?"

"Well, pirates say, Arghhhhh! A lot. And, doing the plank, you will also say Arghhhh a lot."

The jackrabbit groaned, looking over at Judy. "Remind me why I'm doing this?"

"Because you need to get fit Jack," she said, sighing a little as she walked forwards. "If you're going to be doing these things, you might come across mammals who really don't like you, who want to attack you, or get mad and try to harm you." There was a pause, then a sigh. "I don't have the time to teach you to properly fight and defend yourself in these situations. Yes, you'll be trying your hardest to avoid conflict with your acting, yes you'll have gadgets and weapons from Skye and her friend…"

"-She's in, and she says she'd like to catch up with me ASAP," Skye spoke, looking over.

Judy fist-pumped. "But anyway, Jack, things might turn ugly and if that's the case you need to be able to run. You need to be able to run as fast as your legs can take you and get out of there." She paused, before looking over at Nick. "When I picked up Nick, getting him to help me out on the missing mammals case, do you know how many times I put his life in danger?"

"I… -three?"

Judy blinked. "You actually got it right."

"Yeah, rules of threes, and what the maize and squash!?"

"First I dragged Nick into a position where he ran into someone who really didn't like him," she spoke, listing it off against her fingers. "-We were lucky to get out of that. -Next we had to run from a savage jaguar and almost fell to our deaths."

"You're counting both of those as the same event?" Nick asked, his head tilting a bit.

"Yeah," she said. "You don't?"

"No."

"Then where does getting trapped at Cliffside fit in?"

He shrugged. "Given that they'd just lock us up there, I don't think it'd count."

"You were literally going around saying that we were all dead."

He shrugged. "Hey, hindsight twenty-twenty."

"And what about the fall into a waterfall?"

"Given what I know of vulpine terminal velocities versus the impact of falling into water, I figured we'd be safe. Same principle as cats."

"Oh, never thought of that," Judy mused, all while Jack looked on in the background, slack-jawed. "So how many incidents do you count the train things as?"

"Oh, you dealt with the rams so that doesn't count," Nick mused. "And as there wasn't a cooldown period between the near head on collision and the crash and fire, that's all one. Followed by the second with the ewe of doom."

"So you count the train and explosion as one but Manchas and the vine as two?"

"Yeah, because I had the chance to leave in the middle. Two separate events," he shrugged.

"Oh, okay then. Makes sense," Judy agreed, before pausing. "What was I discussing before all of this?"

"About why I needed to get fit," Jack said slowly. "I think I get it now."

"Yup," Nick agreed. "Welcome to the Judy Hopps pain programme."

"Right," he mumbled, before his phone buzzed. "It really wants me to do this plank thing too. Okay then…"

Nick nodded and got down by him, ready to guide him through it. Meanwhile, Skye walked by, sitting down next to him and patting him on her head. "Don't worry. Keep these up, and I'll make sure my secret agent gets some special rewards."

Jack's morose mood lifted. "Right! One plank! Ready to go," he said, matching Nick.

Meanwhile, Judy was walking over to the fennecs, watching as they typed away.

"I've registered some interest in Duke's room," Finnick said, showing his phone. "We got a viewing early tomorrow, so your bunny agent better be ready if he wants to do what he wants to do."

"That he does," Judy replied, only for her ears to raise as she heard some mild screaming in the background.

Finnick looked on, his eyes narrowing. "I mean why don't I just do it?"

"Well, you can both go," Judy shrugged, before shrugging and looking at him. "And I mean, he does want to help. Surely that's a good thing. Kris needs us all to give a-thousand-and-one percent."

"Guess so," the fennec mumbled, as his girlfriend walked past him, speaking out.

"I've already uploaded the video in question and leaked it to various websites. Even better, a version is slowly climbing up P-slash-Zootopia as we speak. Meanwhile, political Ewetuber Anton Pounceheart will be hosting Mr and Mrs Fox along with the Dr to talk it over. Of course, if we want this to have any impact, we need to break out into the mainstream media world, especially the news networks. Thankfully, I think I've gotten the contact numbers of a few highly influential mammals, ones who can bring a lot to our side. I've already sent out appropriate communications," She paused, then shrugged. "Does the day after tomorrow sound good for a protest?"

Judy nodded. "It does," she agreed, smiling. "Thanks."

She saluted them, before glancing down at Finnick. "Remember what I asked you to remember for later, earlier?"

"Yep," he said, looking at her.

"I'll need you to contact someone too in a sec. Just working on getting his email."

"Right on," he agreed, as the two carried on working. Judy meanwhile headed back over to the sofa. Jack was current in Skye's arms, getting petted. "Judy," he spoke, looking over. "This would be easier if I were masochistic. What monster invented that thing?"

"It's an ancient evil," Nick groaned, finally getting out of his own plank. "Trust me there, Stripes. Trust me there."

"It is only due to vixen love and affection…" he began, before getting cut off by a few kisses to his side, "-that I feel I can cope with this."

His phone buzzed again and he groaned, looking at it. He then looked at Skye, showed it to her, and she held her arm out. He grabbed it and began groaning as he tried to pull himself up. Slowly but surely he raised himself above her arm, getting a little kiss in response.

"Nineteen more of those," Skye said, briefly kissing him again as he pulled himself up, then we can meet our helper and get you suited up.

"Count me in," Judy agreed, Nick nodding too.

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Meanwhile, across town, some of those same appropriate communications were busy. Haida and Retsuko waited outside of the ZNN office building, their eyes peeled. Eventually they found their black and white mark and began following.

"Right," she said, feeling excited. "We're actually doing this!"

"Yeah," Haida noted, looking down and smiling at her. He brought out his phone and began reading things off. "Okay, common skunk."

"Check."

"Yellow shirt and cargo pants."

"Check."

"ZNN cap and a novelty backpack in the shape of an arctic fox newsreader."

"Check."

"Pine tree shaped car air freshener worn as a decorative necklace."

"Check."

"Reporter at ZNN."

"Highly suspected."

"Evidence of sad backstory."

"Sadly."

Haida nodded and scrolled on, only for his eyes to narrow. "Okay, T-M-I Fenneko, T-M-I…"

"Huh?" Retsuko asked, glancing up at him.

Haida handed the phone down, her eyes narrowing. "Suspected sufferer of spray dysfunction after highly negative review of rubberised underwear product. Quote: The scent blockers. They do nothing!"

She handed it back. "Yeah. Let's not mention that."

"-Mention what?"

They paused, noticing that the skunk in question had stopped, turning around to face them, his eyes darting up to Haida and back down level to Retsuko, before flitting between them. He looked a bit nervous, fumbling with his paws, before moving them to his rear. The pair shared a nervous look, only to relax as he didn't move them towards his tail hole, before unrelaxing as they saw his claw tips rest on a refillable scent can held in his pocket, an elegant spraying method for a more civilized age.

"Woah! We're just here to discuss business," Retsuko said, smiling.

He paused, thinking. "You're the one who messaged me earlier?"

"Well, a mutual friend was," Haida replied, before gesturing to himself. "Haida."

"Retsuko," the red panda introduced herself.

The skunk relaxed a bit, smiling, before looking over to a nearby bench. "Steven... -Steven Stinkman, Ace ZNN reporter!" he spoke, as he led them over.

Haida rubbed his chin. "Hmmm, I wouldn't say that just yet."

"Huh! Hey, I do good news," he said, almost pleadingly. "I do real good news, and reports; Mr Lagopus himself likes me."

"Well, given that your mother is Murana Wolford, director of the bank that practically owns the company," he began, only to pause as he saw the newly demoralised look on his face, "-Of course, you've also set yourself out as a real swell fellow, haven't you, huh?"

"Oh," he blushed. "Thanks."

"But what you need is a really big scoop!"

"Hey!" he shot back. Paw to his heart, the skunk looked genuinely hurt. "Firstly, it's only my musk gland. Secondly," he sniffed, before sniffing again, "when you're just a kit, and get taken and used for months as nothing more than a you meant the journalist kind of scoop, didn't you?"

They both nodded, before Retsuko spoke up. "Listen," she said, putting a paw forward. "We know that when you were a young teen you were a key witness in the trial of those behind the infamous North-Pier Musk Mill. I'm not here to ask about what that was like, I can't imagine it. What I can say though is that there's another kit, older than you were but not by much, who is suffering right now. And you can help him."

"Yeah," Haida agreed, "And make a big break while you're at it."

He looked on for a second or two, before his eyes narrowed. "Who's out there hurting a kit, and can I give him a taste of my own medicine?" he asked, ruffling his tail a little.

Retsuko handed over her phone, she and Haida explained the context, and Steven watched, enraptured and then enraged, his limbs shaking a bit. "Why that… that… that big tub of lard! After all the pointless crap he's put my mother through, he thinks he can hurt an innocent kit too! Oh, if he stinks he's seen Murana Wolford mad before, he ain't seen nothing yet! "

"Yeah!" Haida began, before pausing. "Though I'm curious. How did you end up being adopted by a banker wolf?"

"I… -Well…" he began, suddenly fumbling again. "My mother adopted me when my birth family couldn't be found after my rescue. I'm not sure if I should say this or not, but she's the reason that I and every other skunk there was rescued, and the reason why so few of those behind the mill reached the trial."

Haida and Retsuko's ears went back, the red panda chuckling nervously. "I… -We just want to turn public anger against the DA and for our kit."

"Right," he spoke, chuckling. "I mean, she doesn't do anything like that anymore, of course! But being a wolf, she was always very vocal of her displeasure at the DA, especially after she had to fight off a bunch of his over eager charges, all brought about by spurious claims and lies from dissatisfied ex-employees. But even before it became fursonal, oh she'd want to take him down for harming a child like this! I promise you now, with her influence she can turn ZNN into the one stop pro-Silverfox propaganda machine!"

"Yeah," Haida said. "And, you have some star witnesses here, right now."

"Yes I do!" he cheered, jumping up in glee, only to suddenly freeze. There was a slight pause as he sniffed the air before carrying on regardless. "Right, follow me, back to ZNN and the scoop of the century. This is going to make my career! I can see it now: David Frost, Jon Shrewart, Louis Caribou, Steven Stinkman!"

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In a different part of town, a different mammal was about to learn the news too. He'd gotten home, chosen to log into his computer set-up rather than practice his guitar, and had been ready for a good time browsing.

A ping on one of his screens had distracted him. He didn't look at it, instead waving his paws in front of him. Staring up through his virtual reality goggles, he moved the 'screen' so that it was in front of him, then opened the email.

He paused, thinking. His fingers, jet black fur with wisps of grey, began gliding out across a virtual keyboard.

Eljaysliver: Hey, DF-243… You say you have something important for me?

DF-243: Yeah. You could say that.

Eljaysliver: Well, if someone I talked to once on a newspaper comment section a few years back gets my email and messages me out the blue, it's gonna be. You follow what I'm bringing out?

DF-243: Listen, Kit, if you are who my vix thinks you are, then you'll want to brace yourself for what's coming. Don't tell no-one, but I struggled too, and I deserved what happened to me.

There was a pause, before an email post containing a video and a set of notes came across. The computer owner quickly isolated them onto a quarantine drive, disconnecting it from the rest of his set up with a simple word command before dissecting it with a variety of protection programs. He then opened it up, watched and trembled, his teeth gritting. He had to hold himself from tearing off his headset, finally putting it down safely and marching away from his set-up, right towards a brick wall of his loft apartment. He made a beeline to a punching bag and hit it, hit it harder, fox screaming and gekkering as he laid into it, even timing his punches with some pounces.

He finished, landing down and panting in and out. The rage had subsided, it was now a controllable inferno. He marched back to his computer, eschewing the headset, and typed back in.

Eljaysliver: Yeah. I'm in. You want this done under the table or over?

DF-243: I'm around law types, so keep it over. We need presence for an upcoming protest. I hear you can get your paws on some pretty big mammal power, ha-ha.

Eljaysliver: Yeah. I'm following what you're bringing out. Cya there.

He broke off, pausing as he panted in and out. If he had any less control, he'd be trembling. Different country, different time, the place here certainly wasn't Granite Point but in his mind that was like saying that The Cooler at Stagen Luft 3 wasn't the Black Hole of Cowcutta.

He closed his eyes and spoke out. "Picture, Mom, Enter."

The screens all changed to the same image, that of a pretty cross fox vixen, held at the back of his memory but lost to the world far too soon. He stared at her long and hard before closing his eyes, making sure to recite her voice in his head and the songs she sung before giving it the order to close down again.

He thought of that other kit, right now.

It hurt him.

"Call, Mother, Video, Urgent."

The screens turned a different colour, briefly pausing for a second or two before a new face came online. A pure white face with two crescent moon earrings, that had come as a stranger and pulled him out of hell, who he'd come to love. Maybe he wasn't that good at showing it, he'd learned to hide all his vulnerability and live on his own long before they'd met, but he wouldn't give her up for anything. "-Dear…" she asked, a look of maternal concern struck on her face the instant she saw him.

"Something… something bad is going on, out there," he spoke, suddenly feeling tears beginning to well up in him. He shook his head. -That wasn't supposed to happen, not anymore.

"I'll send Felix to pick you up," she spoke softly, as he sighed with relief. "You can tell me everything."

He nodded. "Thanks mom," he spoke, wiping an eye. Dammit, he wasn't supposed to get soft. He shut down screen feed and stepped away, barking out an order. "Mother. Shut-down."

Not to any maternal figures this time. It was a fun sci-fi reference of his, and he watched as the computer systems of his home closed themselves off. He picked up a few things: some memento's, toiletries, one of his guitars, that damned algebra assignment. He got in the lift and went down, emerging onto the street as a massive jet black motorbike rumbled into view, a wolf's skull affixed to the front of the beast. A sidecar had been attached, and the mammal jumped and packed his things up, pausing as a hearty pat on the back came from the driver. "I'll get ya' there quick, kit."

"Thanks bro," he replied calmly, giving a solid nod of confirmation before they headed off, quickly cutting into the Rainforest District.

They didn't notice the sight of a bunch of other mammals making their way along a higher road in a beat up van with a funky mural on the side. It parked itself up, the fennec giving a wave before heading off.

Jack, Skye, Judy and Nick walked along the road. "Listen, I'll stick you guys on my insurance tonight," the swift fox vixen said, as she scooted along with her crutches. "Typically, the doctor said I shouldn't drive, which rules out my one auto." She paused, looking at them. "You guys know how to drive a manual?"

"No," Nick said.

"I do," Judy said, smiling. "Farm girl."

Jack, groaning, jogged up next to them, slumping down when his app told him he was done. "Maybe… Instead of this fitness thing… You could teach me… how to drive…?"

"When my leg is better I can," Skye said, before pausing. "Better check Retsuko and Haida too. I know she can drive, but not what type."

The others nodded in appreciation, as she checked her phone. "Right, this should be the place."

They'd arrived at a little nook like home near the bottom of one of the Rainforest District's artificial trees. Reached by a little wooden walkway, it seemed a little isolated, part backed onto a hill and with shaggy untrimmed grass around it. A few bin-bags were laid outside, one of them spilling out opened letters, another smelling of all sorts of rotten food. The windows were wide open too, and the sound of hoovering was coming from inside. Skye knocked.

"Hey. Just a sec!"

The vacuum went off and Skye smiled, before pausing as she noticed an odd look that Judy was giving. "Judy?"

She shook her head. "Sorry," she mumbled, shrugging. "Deja vu…"

"-Now, I don't want to get into this too much," the voice from inside spoke in a resigned tone, Judy's eyes suddenly opening wide with realisation as the door began to open. "But you gotta have some funky timing. You chose to call me at literally the earliest I could…"

She froze, everyone froze, as Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde looked once again into the eyes of Honey Badger.