Chapter 38

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"Woah! The big dumb dumb weasel showed up again!"

Putting on a smile and feigning as much enthusiasm as he could for his 'monitor the dumb-dumbs mission', Duke raised his paw as he walked in, introduced by the swift fox vixen and waved on into the back room of the messy flat.

"Did he bring anything?" came a dusky voice, the pair looking up to a thickly built hyena lady, currently knocking some of the rubbish on the floor into a corner and cleaning some space for them.

"Any what?" Was all he could ask, as a bobcat came over, putting down some boxes full of Bug-Burga takeout.

"Food," he said, "what the cuss else?"

"Right," Duke huffed. "As the poster I didn't read said 'Turn up for potluck and pred survival.' Am I right?"

There was a chuckle from the side, the swift fox vixen walking over. "You know for a big dumb dumb weasel he's quite smart," she said. "That could be our new slogan."

"And I think I did say 'bring food and stuff' the hyena said," looking at the pair.

"Ah, well I figured I could buy takeout or something," the vixen said, walking forward. "Alice. Alice Fawkes. The cussin' ZPD arrested me and stole away my kit Gwendoline when she was still a baby. Took her and made her a self-hating pawn of theirs."

Gwendo…?" Duke began, only for the bobcat to speak over.

"Meister Morderbritches…" He paused, shrugging. "Name's German in origin, so I was told. Might be Hundgarian. Doesn't change the fact though that I'm a proud Pred of Zootopia. Used to be in a bunch of pred advocacy groups… until they collapsed, the leadership betraying us." He looked away, snarling. "And just to be clear, we're not going to abandon the core anti-sheep tenants that are essential for any pred equality, right?"

"Anti-sheep?" the hyena said, laughing as she walked over. "Well, if you want one group of the criminals up there to be dealt with first, be our guest."

"Yeah," came a new voice. Looking down, they saw a podgy, if unusually stunted, North American badger in an electric wheelchair move himself over. "Honestly though, it's members of all species, even preds, who've been selling us out. Those in the ZPD, in the education system, trying to shame us simply as we're the apex mammals, those who won the survival of the fittest."

"Uh-hu," Alice said, "and stealing from us our rightful place. Puting their weak asses up to control everything…"

Duke looked on as the others nodded along.

"And corrupting everything," she finished off before Alex stepped forward.

"Uh-hu. And I mean it's well known that in the next decade or so, they'll be full swing in their attack on us preds, wiping us out. We have to fight back now. Get control now."

More nods came on, all as Duke did his job. Keep observing, keep doing what they were doing, and keep listening in. Trying to find the source. "Of course," the weasel began. "It all helps that we now have this convenient leak, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah," the hyena said, sitting down. "Brave ass hero leaking out what we all know about the ZPD and the corruption in their ranks." She smiled, threading her fingers into each other and stretching them out. "After all the years they stole from me, I'm looking forward to stealing back plenty from them."

"You're an ex-con too," Alice sassed.

"Oh yeah," the hyena said. "Five years. The big Gee-Bee-Haich."

"Nasty," she said. "I think if you add all my times up you get about four, five. All, you know, rent paying."

There was a chuckle, Duke guessing he might as well chip in. "Yeah. Same here."

"The important thing though," the wheelchair bound badger said. "Is that we now put that behind us. We are good mammals. We follow a strong and simple code. Our strength lies in our bodies and minds, that ruled the animal kingdom and can now rule the urban jungle. As long as we reject the inappropriate prey notions we were raised with, that do not work with our minds and bodies and only bring us bad health and misery as we try…" He paused, gesturing to the three ex-cons around him. "And fail to conform too. We are square pegs forced into round holes, criminalised or shamed when we don't fit, but we do have the potential for so much more. Indeed, I say we need to boost up youth recruitment."

That raised Duke's ears. "Whaddya mean?"

"I'm thinking get online," he said. "Not out wide, but in person, mammal to mammal. Get that kind of strong brotherhood connection, you know what I'm saying. Help them learn about the truth and the ways us preds can really live our lives. And how, especially with what we were taught by prey establishment schools, we're…"

"Having our spirits killed, our individuality ground down, our futures destroyed as we're put on the compliance driven treadmill to oblivion," Alex said. All as a new voice spoke up.

"Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about there," came a new voice, all eyes turning to see a red fox vixen walk in. Duke's eyes narrowed. There was something familiar about her, but why… And then she paused, looking at him and smiling. "Ha, I think that troublemaker knows what I'm talking about."

Suddenly all eyes were on him, not the best thing for a weasel trying to remain relatively incognito. "I don't," he said, not sure where this was going.

"You know," she said, leaning down. "You're the one I hear students yapping and complaining about at the lunch queue. Where ya been recently?"

She smiled as Duke groaned. "Ah, you're a lunchlady at that school I used to sell merch outside of."

She tutted. "The merch ain't the problem," she sassed, leaning down and tapping him on the head. "The alcohol is the problem."

"Wait…" the bobcat said, "he was selling kids alcohol?"

"I… Late teens," Duke said, paws out and waving down. "Late teens, big difference there…"

"Don't see much difference," he scolded regardless, walking over and leaning down.

"I mean alcohol is a toxic depressant based off of grains and other herbivorous food," the wheelchair bound badger began. "It's entirely alien to healthy pred diets. No grains, no fermented or yeast based products, no soy products…"

"Haha," the red fox vixen chuckled. "Another fussy eater I see."

"I eat plenty of meat and seafood based products," he said, pointing back at himself. "Along with a mixture of a few select native roots and berries. All that my species evolved to survive off, and that helps to ensure peak physical and mental performance. I could share my whitelist if you want."

A large part of Duke's snark wanted to leap out and comment that he was decidedly not what 'peak physical performance' looked like but let it be. Instead turning to the hyena leading the group as she talked. "Hey, Duke here's just some guy helping kits rebel and stuff. That's what we need, right? Don't want a whole generation of wimps."

"Oh, I wouldn't say the children are wimps," the red fox vixen said, sitting down. "So many are wise beyond their years, thoughtful, kind…" Her tail and ears dipped somewhat. "But I'd certainly say they seem… Less outspoken. Less independent. Or rather, less likely to strike it out on their own when compared to their peers. In groups, yeah they can go on and on about stuff if in groups, or nothing at all in groups. But by themselves?" She paused, shrugging. "And the schools are not helping. I mean, even back in my boy's day they tried to clamp down on him bringing in food and stuff and selling it off. Tried to cut down on his entrepreneurial spirit. And right now I can't help but think that it's all completely smothered by how risk averse everything is. It really is like they think all the children are just a whole flighty giant herd, and you can't have any panic or independence or danger or opportunity… They just want everyone doing the same thing and relying off people to manage their lives and no one really standing out. And I guess, I guess, the prey students are happy with that."

She went quiet, thinking for a second before shaking her head. "Who knows, I'm sure there are plenty of potential entrepreneurs in there, along with all us preds. But they're taught to just go along with the flow, sitting alone in a still pond. Heck, they don't just try and stop any chance of them getting caught in the rapids and learning to ride them… Which to be fair I totally get given how my son was bullied. But it seems they actively don't want anyone riding them whether they want it or not."

There was a round of nods, the bobcat leaning forward. "Yeah, totally. They just want herds of obedient, submissive, sub-sheep."

Duke noticed the vixen give him and odd look for a second before sitting down, smiling as she brought out a big box of… "Cheesy toasties," she smiled. "Thought it said bring food."

"Nice," the hyena said, sitting down. "I'm Banzai…"

"Oooh, like from that fun lion movie."

The smile on her face vanished, a snarl appearing. "You mean lion lies, huh. That's what you mean!"

The vixen pulled back, grabbing her box and shifting it over. "Well you could have said you didn't like it nicely," she tutted. "None for you."

Duke walked forward, suddenly sensing that this might be about to get ugly fast, before the bobcat moved in. "Woah, woah. We shouldn't be fighting each other. That's what they want."

"I…" the hyena began, before looking at the vixen. "Now listen, we're here for good reasons, so I'll forgive that. But no disrespect. None. Got it."

The red fox vixen shrugged. "If you ask nicely."

Something the hyena looked like she was not going to do, not a chance. As the bobcat walked up. "This is how easy it is. This is how they got my past organisation, and all the others. Heck, last time they even turned our former leader against us! Making her, a downright prophet, denounce everything. The fact remains that none of us are safe, we have to stick together. They could be everywhere."

A quiet filled the room, the red fox vixen shying back. "Woah, this is getting a bit crazy."

"You better believe it," the bobcat warned.

"Yup," Alice said, the swift fox moving forward. "I mean, you know what they did to my daughter. Even changed her name. It's Gwen, not Skye!"

"But Skye came first on the birth certificate, didn't it?"

"That's not the point!" she hissed, stomping her foot. "Anyway, you know that they got your son too, didn't they?"

She paused, blinking. "Got… My boy. I mean, there was the bullying that traumatised him and…"

"And probably buttered him up to becoming the fox hating paw licker he is now."

There was a pause, the red fox vixen's eyes narrowing. "My son doesn't hate foxes. He's a fox. Why would he…"

"Oh, he's in the ZPD, he's dating a pred hating bunny wasn't it?"

The room fell silent, Duke blinking as he looked on, mouth gaping open. He almost spoke the obvious, only for the wheelchair bound badger to speak. "You're Nick Wilde's mother."

"Yeah," she said, folding her arms and giving him a sassy look. "What is to you? I thought this group was 'all welcome', but I'm starting to get second thoughts."

"Well I'm just curious why you wouldn't bring that up first," the badger began, only to get cut over.

"How about that I came here because I wanted to make new friends, to discuss things and have fun with like minded mammals, huh?"

There was a long pause before the badger shrugged. "I mean, the fact that you know him could actually be useful…"

The hyena clicked her fingers. "Never thought I'd end up saying this about a red furred pig, but maybe we could get him on."

"The level of insights he could give us," the bobcat began, only for the loud sound of Nick's mother to ring out.

"Can you kind of see why, already?"

Alice walked up to her, sneering. "You do understand that there are more important things at play here, huh?"

"You know you shouldn't take yourself so seriously," she waved off. "And yes, my son would certainly be useful for learning the ins and outs of police procedure and that. And I'm certain he'd be honoured to help us. No matter what others might think, he's always been kind, selfless, willing to help."

"That is a relief," the bobcat agreed.

"But at the same time, how would some of you like it if I pestered you for what it's like on the other side of the law, huh?" She levelled her gaze down on Alice.

"Hey, I'm in the small leagues here," she said, gesturing at the hyena.

Something Nick's mother did not approve of. "Rude…"

"Hey," the hyena said. "I fought the law and I was a real badass pred while doing so. Not gonna take that away from me, Wilde."

"That's Mrs Wilde," she said, finger up. "But I suppose, if you're not too worried about it, I could ask you. Not that it's really that in line with what I've been working on."

"Yeah," Duke said, speaking up a bit for the first time in a while. "What exactly have you been working on. Uhh… Nick's mother."

With a sudden proud smile, the vixen walked forward. "That's Mrs Wilde, or Marie… Marie Anne though don't call me Anne. After all, if that were my name it'd be up front," she chirped, giving a glance over at Alice as she walked up to the table. "Anyway," she carried on, as the swift fox vixen puffed up her tail in a quick flick. "A lot of my original stuff was actually based on some articles I read somewhere, about the 'Grand Ascension of the Small Mammals'."

That got their attention, the wheelchair bound badger gliding over. "I don't think I've heard of that one. Mind talking about it?"

"Oh, yeah," she said, opening up her laptop and typing in. "It was actually really interesting. You see, back in the early nineteenth century, you actually had a massive boom in the wealth of small mammals. Rodents, mice, etcetera. And it was because they started to be able to do jobs just as good as much larger mammals, but of course for a fraction of the cost and resources. Special typewriters and being far easier to travel by air. I mean, look how many you can fit on an airship."

There was a click from the finger of the badger. "Bankers. Lemmings and the banks."

"Yes," Marie agreed. "Great example."

"The greedy little cusses."

"Language please," Marie chided. "Anyhow, this led to a few of them thinking 'Hey, we don't need big mammals anymore.'"

"Starting with us preds I bet," Alice said.

"Oh yes, plenty of cat haters in there. Naughty mice indeed," Marie noted. "Of course, that led to a lot of blowback as many of the mice and such began using their money to fund larger businesses. And so many of the mice began saying you-know-what about us and many starting off the real nasty anti-pred ideas again."

"Shepherded by the sheep," the bobcat said.

Marie looked at him. "Uh, no…"

"Yes," he insisted. "The sheep pred hate tradition is a lot, lot older…"

"Well, what I read here doesn't mention sheep," Marie said, looking at the article.

"Well, they obviously covered their hooves well," he said.

The fox looked at him for a second or two before sighing. "You do your thing, I do mine. But, here was my idea. These rodent supremacists, they had one last big spurt thanks to the greenies… -Oooh, we're small so we naturally release less pollution and are thus better. But after that, they faded away. So…"

"What if they went underground," the badger said. "You know, this is really worth looking into."

"Uh-hu," Marie said, turning back. "I was really struggling to get my focus on a central concept, until I saw this. And then, everything just started clicking into place. Imagine if all those ideas didn't go away. Instead, those small mammals began focussing on getting allies in positions of power. Building up strength, ready to pounce. And then, when they were finally ready, they'd make their power play. The only thing to stop them being a small group of plucky preds from different walks of life. Some flawed, some strong, some alone. But, because of who they were, because of… Well, just how amazing it is to be a pred and the things that we can do. Because of all that, they're able to uncover the sinister plot and save the world together!"

There was a round of cheering and claps, Marie taken aback. "I… Well this is nice," she smiled.

"Amen," the hyena said, clapping. "Amen."

"So what are they up to," the bobcat said, leaning forward.

"Well," she said, looking up and thinking. "Consider the following. A lot of mammals are anti-pred, but are not a majority. And that good faithful honest traditional Zootopian majority would not abandon us straight. But, pushed hard enough, as the howler crisis showed, and they'll turn." There was a pause before she smiled. "So, something even worse than nighthowlers. Imagine the following. 'Evil preds in high places abduct prey to eat and kill'. Real kind of schlock horror stuff, like I used to go to the cinema to watch. And I mean, it'd also be preds in high places, in low, and on the blood moon. Some kind of ancient cult worship or something too. And you might even get rich prey joining in too, bit of classic classism added in there. It's all the eternal story, isn't it?"

Duke looked around, everyone else was leaning in, rapt in attention.

"And of course," she said smiling. "However great a story that would make, however much you say it's happenning in the mice owned papers or over the internet, most mammals wouldn't believe it. Right? Except, let's say just before a big contested election, a whole load of pictures come out! And maybe videos. Escaped victims, something like…" She paused, looking at the bobcat. "A poor widdle terrified ewe."

"Oh yeah, this is all coming together," he said.

"Yeah," she said. "I mean, you could even engineer a plucky punk hero releasing it at a rock concert to get the punk vote. You could have them planning everything, everything, to turn everyone against preds right before D-day. With the plan that they use this to get as many of their people in positions of power all at once, none of them really telling the public just how anti-pred they are. It's just 'hard line' this or 'concerned' that. So many appalled preds might vote for them too. And then they use their sudden rush of power to then rewrite history and make their lies into the truth! All before anyone can reveal it. And with that, they're free to march onward in bringing in the preds first, and then all the other mammals, starting from the biggest and working their way down!"

There was a rush of excitement from the group, Marie's tail wagging. "Of course, that's before our little rag-tag group of heroes come in and stops them in their tracks. Their very own big reveal of the so-called preds evil, becomes the reveal of their own."

She was met with whoops and cheers, everyone crowding around her.

"And you… You just worked that out," the bobcat asked.

"I mean, yeah," she shrugged.

"It really does follow the classic eternal story of pred pride and resistance," the badger agreed. "And showing just how the easily misled prey can be swayed to be our enemies, but also have the true potential to be redeemed. This is the way to go."

"Can't wait to get to the ass kicking!" the hyena cheered on.

Marie looked to them all, her tail wagging hard. And then her eyes settled on Alice.

The swift fox vixen shrugged. "Alright I guess."

"Ha," she chirped. "Cheered on by faint praise, am I right?"

"N-no…" she began, only for the hyena to come over.

"This probably rewrites everything…"

"Oh yeah," the badger agreed. "I'm reevaluating it all now."

"Oh don't play yourself down," Marie said. "You'll all have your own great ideas and such. I don't want you all just following me, where's the fun in that?"

The badger looked to Alice. "And this is the vixen you don't like?" he laughed. "But yeah, there's all the stuff we researched too."

"The sheep," the bobcat agreed. "You always need an evil sheep in there, don't you?" He leant in, eyes narrowing. "But more than that. This idea, the rodents rising up and corrupting our institutions. It isn't just about rescuing themselves from us. It's revenge. It's domination. It's destruction. It's about filling this yawning chasm of envy and inferiority they have with quick and bloody success at the destructive expense of others. Heck, rather than us being the ones eating innocents, I bet they are."

Marie looked at him. "Now you mention it…"

"Yeah. The biggest bad ones, so self obsessed they begin a decadent partaking in the very crimes they believe we do."

"I like that," she agreed. "I like that."

There was a loud murmur as they agreed.

"Hmmm… Only I have one slight issue."

"Which is?" Alice asked, leaning forward.

"Third person or first."

…

"Huh?" It was the hyena, leaning forward. "What and a what?"

Marie looked to her. "Third person or first," she said again.

…

"I mean third person is the standard, but I always thought and liked the idea of first. Then again, this is my first time so I should probably stick to the industry standard. What tense are you writing your stories in?"

…

"What… stories?" the hyena asked, beginning to frown.

"You know," Marie laughed. "Our Pred Pride pulpy action stories. Our silly little conspiracy political thrillers. The ones we were coming up with ideas for on those forums Alice sent me."

All eyes turned to her, the swift fox looking back and snarling. "Are you seriously that utterly thick?"

"Huh…"

"I gave you the URL and you went on and you're literally retarded or something that you thought this was talking about writing BOOKS!"

Duke looked on, clamping his jaw shut. Oh mam… There was so much he wanted to say right now. So much. So, so much. A wet raspberry began escaping his mouth, he wasn't able to stop. Thankfully, on the big idiot and the bigger idiot went!

"Yes," Marie said. "I said I was thinking of getting a hobby and wanted some silly 'feels good to be a pred' tv show or book or something, and you gave me that link saying I should look into it."

"And you didn't realise what we were actually talking about!?" the hyena exclaimed.

"No, I… I thought you were roleplaying ideas for your stories, or… or…" She trailed off before collapsing on the floor, kicking and pounding the floor with his fists, laughing so hard she began rolling about. "Oh my god! Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh god oh god…"

"Stop it," the hyena snarled. "STOP IT THIS IS SERIOUS!"

"LIKE HATING ON THAT DUMB LION KIDDIES CARTOON!?" she cackled, pointing up. "OH MY GOD…"

"THAT WAS AN INSULT TO ALL HYENA KIND!"

"HAHAHA! WEREN'T YOU… ON THE FORUM…"

"THEY SHOWED PRINCESS JASIRI IN SOME MADE UP 'HYENA RESISTANCE!'"

"-S-S-SAYING MA-MAMMALS SHOULD HAVE THICK SKIN!"

"DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MANY LEVELS THAT'S INSULTING ON YOU MANGY PELT!"

"OH GOD! Haha! Ha… Ha…" Marie began trailing off, though not for a lack of humour. Wheezing and panting, she let out a few more pounds on the floor. "You called me a mangy P-word… I ain't even mad. I ain't… Ain't even mad."

"THE REAL RESISTANCE WERE SHENZI AND HER ARMY! FIGHTING MUFASA THE MONSTER AND HIS ETHNIC CLEANSING!"

"STOP THIS!" the bobcat yelled, marching forward. He looked to the hyena. "For god's sake, we all know that the hatred by lions and hyenas is entirely manufactured via the machinations of the sheep!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT THEY AREN'T," she yelled, smashing a fist right at him. He leapt back, eyes wide, and almost grabbed something to chuck at him before sinking back down.

"I'm not going to give the sheep what they want. Us fighting each other rather than them."

"Oh god…" Marie wheezed, lifting herself up onto the table. "And the sheep stuff too! That's so stupid!"

"It's not stupid!" he yelled.

"I mean, it may seem at first," the badger said, wheeling himself over. "But when you start doing research, you really do begin to see the threads of influence running through. Maybe it's not literally true, but the real lived experience is. I mean, you kept on talking about the oppression of our youth, how they're being denied and shamed from developing into the true alpha predators they are meant to be. How they…"

"No," she laughed, snorting as she shakily headed off. "I…" She broke down and chuckled again. "I'm good. Really… You can buy my book when it's ready. I…" She collapsed against the front door, laughing again. "Thanks for everything Alice! This is the most fun I've had in years!"

And with that she practically collapsed out the front door and stumbled away, leaving the rest of the group in a stunned silence.

Oh god…

Duke should have been an actor. How… How was he not cackling right now?

How…

"Cuss," the bobcat finally said. "It's happening again. They took down the sheep sceptics by taking out our leader. Now she's going to tell the ZPD and get her traitor son to destroy us."

"Yeah," the hyena said. "And she insulted us yeens too." She cracked her knuckles. "How about I call up the old crew, make sure she doesn't get the chance."

In that second Duke's expression went blank. He wasn't laughing, and he had no problem in not doing so. "Woah! Woah, woah, woah… No need to get physical here," he said.

"Oh really?" the bobcat said, turning down. "Listen, they wormed their way into anti-sheep and rotted it from the inside. Now look what they're trying to do."

"I mean, maybe she's just some… I don't know, big dumb-dumb foxxo," he urged. "No real threat."

"Yeah," the hyena agreed. "As I'm the threat."

"Right on," Alice said. "So am I."

"Hold up, I agree with the little fellow!" All eyes turned to the badger, waving his arms about. "Did her just dismissing our important cause hurt? Yes. Is it insulting to see a Pred that so obviously gets and understands it, but then turns it on her head and laughs at what's obviously going on and what we're doing in her best interest feel insulting? Frustrating? Irritating? Ludicrous that a mammal would act in such a self harming way? Yes, it does. But we need to remember one thing." He held up a finger. "We can't let ourselves screw ourselves up. If she still sides with them when we expose this evil, well it'll be then she'll share the same fate!"

"Damn right!" the hyena agreed. "But she can't get away…"

"Hey, be patient," the badger said.

"Patient this," she scoffed. "Patient that, why don't we…"

"Act stupid and get us thrown in the joint!" Duke yelled out. He paused, before giving a slow clap. "Yeah, real good move."

The hyena growled, only for the badger to cut in. "Hey, we really going to bust ourselves up over a little hit to our pride like this? Is that all us predators are now, what we've sunk to, becoming what they want?" He gestured to all of them. "In ancient times past we fought and were forged again and again, and came out on top. We were the ones to win in the moraless anarchy of the savage ages, the ones who came out on top. Kings of the jungle. Leader of the pride and proud of it. And, as lions… -and hyena, like that, do we really listen to the opinions of sheep?"

The bobcat raised a paw to speak, only for Duke to cut him off. "No need to fill us in on where you stand buddy."

"Thank you," the badger replied. "Let her think what she wants to think, for now. Let her have this win. But we are proud mammals, we don't let a little hit like that cause us to lash out. To attack and turn against their own. I mean, isn't that what they want Meister?"

The bobcat shook his head. "Yes, but I've seen them do this before."

"Her son is a pig," Alice piped in. "He'll believe her."

"And if we attack her?" the badger said. "Really? Is that where we want to go? And once we do that, to a cop's mother, by several mammals who already have a reputation with law enforcement. No no no… As I said at the start, it's winning mammals over that we need to do. It's educating them, sharing with them, and it's a lot to take in. So maybe we start slowly, a little at a time. As she said, the schools are set up around a herd model. So we capture the restless preds, the fast growing weeds, we make them feel and share the discomfort the system has them feeling. A little hook, and we get them in, and we start going on. A little at a time. More and more and more. Giving them what they want, need, what makes them feel good and strong. Until they see the world for what it really is and are there, ready to fight with us when the future is on the line."

There was a long pause before Meister the bobcat started clapping. Duke, thinking it best to carry on with the flow, joined in. With a huff Alice added to it and, finally, the hyena rounded it off. "Just as long as we ban that dumb cartoon and show Princess Jasiri as the loyal lion stomping fighter for hyena kind she was."

"Hey, all for the future," the badger said, moving himself over to a computer screen. "Just like we might be able to win back that vixen, or even her son. Or if they're collaborators put them down like the rest of them. I mean, what she said was interesting. If we re-read through the latest set of drops…"

"I mean, there might be evidence of the attempts to sanitise Jasiri in there," the hyena carried on. "Look!"

Scrolling through a list of the leaks, they paused on one of the newer entries, Duke's eyes narrowing as he read through it.

'Fellow travellers on crusade for justice and tackling threats seeking to destroy way of life. If waiting for move or call, do not grow impatient, many a mammal makes an early move and jumps the gun. You are not one to get shot, being among smartest of mammals. Moves are being made. Action being done. Soon cometh rage of the red one. Grey, abused, slandered, will tussel in the battle. Those so small harbour much violence and rage, who's day is coming. As those in power seek to use the purple weapon to fire their mark again. Ancient foes at each other's throats. The righteous will prevail. Truth will come out. Have faith. A friend is on the way. But be wary, many false prophets and liars try to take my words of truth and use it for them, against you! Be ready to fight for your life against them. Find more, join together, get ready. The day is coming fast. We will win.'

"Well," the hyena spoke. "Was I right or was I right?"

Sighing, not sure he'd like the answer, Duke looked up at her. "Can you explain how?"

She tapped the screen with her claw. "Grey, abused, slandered," she pointed at herself.

"Weren't those hyenas in that dumb cartoon you hate purplish."

"As those in power seek to use the purple weapon to fire their mark again." She tapped it a few times, looking doubly happy for herself.

Alice though shook her head. "No. That'll be Nighthowler."

"If it's purple it's nighthowler," Meister agreed. "It's always the nighthowler."

"Annoyingly so," Duke agreed as the badger began searching.

"Let's just see what others might think," he began, pausing and grumbling as he scrolled through a Fur-Chan page. "I… Well, he's right about another thing."

"Okay then?" Duke asked. "Shoot."

"You've got a group of mammals up in the Meadowlands, a lot of rich dumb herd types…"

"Sheep," the bobcat said, folding his arms. "No need to mince words."

"Yeah, though I mean there's plenty of other larger prey," he carried on. "And naturally, just like we were warned, they're trying to rewrite the message to say it's anti-pred."

"I mean this was obviously going to happen. As I said before with what happened to the anti-sheep movement."

Duke nodded along. "You know what would clear all this up? If the person you're listening to just said 'we're pro-pred, this is exactly what's happening, these are the exact mammals you need to deal with."

"Hey," Alice snapped. "Don't insult our leaker."

"He's probably under a ton of stress, and he is having to code all this to get past the filters and everything," the badger added.

"I…" Duke began. "Let's just say I can't really think of why he can't state what is exactly going on, unless he needs to make it deliberately ambiguous. You know, as if he's trying to get as many different groups as possible hyped up and on his side, so he can use them for what he wants."

There was a long pause as they all turned to look at him.

"I mean, just saying or suggesting or, train of thought," he said, paws slowly coming out and up. "Hey! We gotta challenge ourselves right, don't want one of those anti-us guys asking these same questions and we can't own them with our facts and logic."

"Well maybe he is trying to get as many groups together as possible," the hyena said, pointing to the badger. "As you said, little bits at first, things we want to hear, so we're all onboard for the big final push. That unites and saves Zootopia!"

"Yeah," he agreed, clicking his fingers before turning to Duke. "And after all, the overall weight of the argument is by far in the pro-pred agenda."

"Right…" the weasel said in response. "So that will include us working with the anti-pred mammals who say we're trying to turn everything into a 'predosavage cult' thing and are literally eating children, right?"

"No you dumb weasel," Alice groaned before looking at him. "I mean, you warned me about it, but it's still getting real tiring. Those are the mammals we were warned about. The ones who want to frame preds in control for eating innocent mammals, and so use it to take over and oppress us."

"She's right!" the bobcat agreed. "Genius!"

"Haha, nice work there Alice!" the hyena agreed, all as the badger began talking enthusiastically about it. Duke just stood back, letting the big idiot have her moment, a glow on her face and tail wagging as she was told, and then boasted about, how intelligent she was.

And with that, their discussions continued. Scrolling through and opening up dialogues with other groups, many of whom were located nearby. Theories were discussed, even team calls were set up.

One ending very badly when a fast growing and seeming pred and prey united group's leader saw Alice and furiously yelled at the group for being 'under the control of the foxes', 'the sneaky conniving scum who destroyed my job, are trying to destroy my family, and will destroy Zootopia if given the chance.' The serval's speech was promptly cut short, and on they researched and talked.

As other 'fellow researchers' began arriving at the door. It didn't take long for someone to arrive with cases of beer and, as more turned up, the mood in the room got livelier, jokier, the mammals all having a good time as they shot around different ideas, all sorts gaining their fancy and being incorporated into the conspiracy. The sober badger moderated it and laughed and joked in between documenting the ideas and concepts. Occasionally saying how excited it was that their organisation was growing, and reminding them that most of all they were a proud, peaceful, law abiding group of mammals doing the right and moral thing, who would never and had never threatened or in-fought with any of their fellow preds.

At that, Duke felt he had to speak and 'recalled' how they'd had a 'good laugh' at a vixen who'd thought they were a writing club, the original four all nodding along and saying how she'd been an idiot and in return earned nothing more than an innocent laugh. After all they said, waving it off, what more would it even warrant?

Duke meanwhile smiled, playing the part and holding his tongue, all the while getting more nervous.

"Hey, so how did you find this place?" he finally asked a wolverine entering the building.

"I mean, I'd heard about it on the internet," he said. "But getting here the fox you have outside was actually a real help, pointed me straight here."

Duke paused. "Which fox out front."

"I… You know, down on the terrace. You saying he's not one of yours?"

"I'm not sure," the weasel said, pausing as he turned to the badger. "Hey, need to go now."

"Hey, do your thing, you'll be welcomed back," the wheelchair bound mustelid said. "Fun having you around." He raised a glass of water. "To predators and freedom."

"To preds n' freedom," Duke said back, before exiting out.

Back on the concrete deck that snaked around this side of the flats, he wasted no time in scurrying towards one of the staircases, the glass side thankfully giving him a good view out to the area in question. There, on the puddle spotted terrace of concrete that spanned over a littered up parking area, he thought he saw the figure in question.

And, as he exited out and came closer, he saw him direct a golden jackal up towards the flat. This was the one.

Red fox and, as Duke came closer, he noticed something.

He walked with a slight limp while keeping his head covered with an overly sized hat. The weasel's eyes narrowed. He'd heard what his fox's friends had done to their enemy, who he'd been educated about a-plenty.

This was the guy. Phoning up, he gave them the news. Where he was, what he was doing.

His gang would be there as soon as they could.

He just needed to wait, watch from a hidden place, and if he began to make a move stall him.

Minutes ticked by.

A few more mammals came and were directed up.

But after that, the target began to make a move.

Shaking slightly, Duke realised he could just go, now. This mammal was dangerous. Incredibly so, if the reports were true. And regardless of that, the mammals he was likely working for had plenty of other nasties up their sleeve, some of who had already come after him.

Several times.

So honestly, the incredibly clever thing to do would be to just leave it.

Go away.

Run off.

Be a coward.

Just like he'd been for the rest of his life.

So, Duke grumbled to himself, here he was being a really dumb stupid weasel yadda yadda as he stepped out and called him over.

"Heya there," he said, smiling as he came over. "You looking for a group of concerned citizens organising a meetup?"

"Come from there, actually," the weasel said. "Just wonderin' why you're directing all these mammals over when we don't even know who you are."

"Ah, just trying to help out," he said, pausing as he looked on at Duke.

"So, how did you get into this?" the weasel asked, not liking how quiet the fox was going.

Finally, he shrugged and smiled. "Ah, just told it by some friends. A lion and tiger in fact, right behind you."

Duke's eyes shot open wide and he turned, a stab of terror running through him at the memory of those two goons, right now right… not, behind him? He snapped back to face the fox, grumbling about just how easily he'd been had.

"So it is you!" the fox smiled, crossing his paws before leaning in, eyes narrowing. "You really must be a dumb weasel if you're trying to get back into all this." He laughed a little. "You were useless on the howlers, anything we wanted you for after that wrapped itself up by itself. We weren't even bothered in coming after you on principle… But now, if you're making yourself a pain? I'd shoo weasel. Shoo! Shoo!"

"Nah," he said. "Let's talk. I ain't happy."