Damned if you do, and dead if you don't, that's really how this feels to me right now. Everyone's panicking… and I can't really blame them, not after what they've just seen.
After that TV clicked itself right off, everyone's looking at me, almost daring me to just say it, yeah, I'm going to put myself out there as bait, that's what they want me to be…
"What're we gonna do, Nick?" I hear Judy ask- "please please please let everything turn out alright…"
"I dunno, Judy," he answers her, tail flicking back and forth behind him. "We've got to start an investigation, call the cops, something, anything…"
"We are the cops, Nick," she says, cracking a terrified smile at that. "Mary, you're in this too, what- what-"
"What do we do?" I finish for her, and she nods.
"Yeah, that-," she says, letting a breath out through her nose. "Gotta calm down, plan, Judy. Panicking? This ain't it chief."
"Seriously, though, what do we do?" Nick asks, and I know I shouldn't be thinking of him like that, he's my superior officer, after all, he'd have me smacked back out onto the streets for talking to him like that, probably, I can't bring myself to just keep saying Chief Wilde in my head, not when there's two of them, and they're never so far apart from the other that there's just going to be one that I'm talking to.
"Look, I know I'm just the rookie here," I proffer, "but- and believe me I hate to realize that I'm even bothering to consider this as a possibility- maybe we freaking take the bait… if we're going fishing, someone's got to be the worm…"
I know that they get what I'm implying, just freaking send me, I'll take the fall, but they don't seem all that inclined to do that, and the bickering is just getting louder and louder and louder…
My hearing might not be as sharp as theirs, but for goodness' sake everyone, the whole office, hell, the whole Celestials-darned precinct can hear both of you bickering… this isn't gonna be good for morale, let's just say that… and hell, really, if this doesn't tear the precinct apart and take the rest of the dear ol' ZPD with it then by the stars I'll be shocked.
On that point, an officer, whose name I don't know yet (why are there so many mammals here who I don't know? It makes me really nervous) pokes their head in to where we all are and signals to get the chiefs' attention.
"Um hey chiefs," the elephant says, "two things."
"What is it, Trunkaby?" the younger Chief Wilde asks, teeth gritted. Welp she's teed off, better make sure to stay back… of course she's pissed, her son has been missing for longer than it's likely that he'll make it back alive.
"One, the whole place can hear you two, two is that the TV's back on, I think you might want to see this," the elephant says, holding the door open with their trunk.
"They all heard us?" the fox half of the pair asks silently.
"Nick, it's going to be alright," his other half reassures him… I'm trying to stay calm, but there's always reasoning behind why you avoid sending in officers with emotional connections to the case…
...and you also try to avoid having the officer investigating the case not be under suspicion of murdering another officer…
But hey, just another normally wacky day here at Precinct One.
"I need to see that TV…" I mutter, making my way down.
The screen is crackling, almost like the connection is breaking up…
Whoever's on the screen is hiding their face, but their voice sounds low, like the last time this happened.
"Mary Bellwether, we made you an offer, either come with us, or lose Jason Wilde forever. Your time is up, and if you haven't made a choice, we'll make one for you.
"I've made up my mind," I say, finding it hard to believe that I'm letting myself do this, like, pardon the awful and completely appropriate for the situation pun, a lamb to the slaughter.
It's not funny, and yet at the same time it takes a lot more energy than it should to stifle a bleat.
"I'm so glad to hear that, our dear little Miss Bellwether," the mammal on the other side of the screen says, and whether they mean to or not, the camera catches a short glimpse of their teeth; short, blocky, absolutely filthy…
But wasn't Jesse dead? Or maybe Woolter's still around?
Either way, one of them is still alive….
Suddenly, there's a screeching outside, and the angry clunking of a motor. They're here!
"Mary, stay as safe as you can- take this with you," Judy says, palming an earring to me. "It has a camera in it, put it on…"
"I don't have piercings…," I want to tell them, but there's no time- this is gonna hurt, ow- and the earring goes through.
"Guess you do now?" Judy wisecracks, not even coming anywhere close to hiding the nervousness in her voice. "Go on, Mary, we'll see you soon enough."
"No promises," I say, knowing that, even though I sound like I'm joking, ha ha ha nope, definitely not joking.
The car waiting for me is a rickety old sedan, nondescript enough not to raise any eyebrows…
"Get in," the driver demands. He doesn't smell like a sheep, and something about him seems familiar, but I can't quite place it. "You have the answers to some questions boss's been asking for forever."
With that, he stomps on the gas, clicking a button on the dashboard as he does.
I have a feeling that something's going to explode, and as we peel away, a boom echoes behind us, the windows humming a little bit behind us, and there's something blocking me from having a clear line of sight, but… that's definitely a fireball, right near Precinct One…
Oh sweet celestials above, what next?
I don't see any fire, so that's good, maybe it wasn't a bomb, maybe it-
-and then the blue smoke starts pouring everywhere, everywhere.
So many mammals are going to get hurt tonight…
Hopefully I'm not one of them.
I feel so angry, though… angrier than I should be despite the adrenaline…
Oh gods, was Judy right?
Can prey go savage?
'Cause it sure as hell feels like it right now…
Uh oh.
