Zootopia belongs to Disney. Spider-Man belongs to Sony.


This was new. She'd received plenty of goodies over the years - hair, saliva, sweat, semen... but never had she gotten a sample listed as "Blob on hospital ceiling."

"They could've at least given it a better name," chuckled Claire to herself as she prepared her series of agars and other tests to discern exactly what this stuff was. It looked like a mixture of snot and semen all at once, which caused a ball of nausea to grow and then subside. But she was curious. New things always fueled her desire to learn and develop her skills in forensic investigation.

Scooting her chair a little closer, she began testing the sample, starting with a simple array of observations. As she delved more deeply, she realized there was a familiar air to it. She'd seen something like this before.

Light silver color, opaque, highly reflective glossy sheen.

Not semen; extremely viscous.

Noncellular protein and amino acid complex.

Hydrophobic.

Possibly mucous; protein structure resemblance.

Appears to be coagulating into a grey, flaky material. Quite rapidly.

The substance's identity became clearer as she began to test the forming precipitate. She was certainly seeing something new here, something unheard of. This stuff wasn't from any mammal. Not from any ordinary mammal, at least.

Hold on. She had seen this before!

"Keisha?" she called out from her workroom.

Moments later a female gazelle materialized, ducking to allow her horns some room to get through the door. "What's up?"

"Remember that test you did a while back? The one with that stuff we got from an officer's shirt, a rhinoceros, I think?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"What did you say it most resembled?"

"... Honestly, I have no idea. It's essentially a jumble of amino acids but I don't know what proteins they form."

"Look at this," she said, holding up the vial of graying semiliquid medium. Her fellow lab tech took the vial, gazing at it intently with both awe and confusion.

"Where did this come from?" Keisha asked in wonder.

"I have a feeling that when we find out, this case may just get a lot more interesting."


From a couple dozen feet away, a certain jaguar eyed the diminutive lamb as she and Angel left the park, their other friends going their separate ways. He had a look on his face that could only be described as... murderous. Nathan now hated her more than he had a moment ago. That she would win at... anything... was a violation against nature itself. She had violated him just by this game alone.

A loud belch behind him caught his attention.

"Sssssshut up!" he groused quietly at his friend, a rhino. "We're kinda trying to be covert here, Logan!" In response, his friend made a dismissive face at him.

Huffing, Nathan turned back around.

"Hi!"

"Agh!" Nathan exclaimed at the sudden appearance of his sister right in front of him.

"Enjoy the show?" asked Angel.

"I'm sure you saw the part where I got the winning point five times over?" said Arya with a soft voice. Oh, vengeance had never been so sweet.

He eyed her, still giving her that shocked face. He had nothing to say in answer. Of course he didn't. He knew what he was doing. What he wanted to know was this: Why were his friends just sitting there looking bored?!

"Well, since I'm gonna go ahead and assume you saw the whole game, now I can revel in your pain. Arya," she looked behind her at the lamb who wore a haughty look on her face, "come and revel with me."

"Yes, let's revel." With that, she and the jaguar both latched arms and trotted off, leaving Logan seething in rage. He had devolved into taking deep, shaky breaths.

"Really, guys?!" he grated at Logan and his two other friends, who wore looks of abject indifference. "You... you couldn't say something?"

"Honestly, Nate, we're not even really sure why we're here. We thought we were going to mess with them. All we did was watch them for, like, ever. But we didn't, so I guess..." he stood up, and his other friends followed.

"You're just gonna split? Now? We're trying to drive her out. We gotta figure out our next move."

"Yeah, well good luck with that. Truth be told, she doesn't seem as bad as Bellwether was, even if she looks exactly like her." The rhino turned to walk away, followed by his other two silent friends.

Nathan was angry. He was hurt. His friends weren't interested in establishing this new world order? Really? Was he the only one?! That was great. Just great. First, this girl shows up spontaneously, then the whole neighborhood lines up right behind her!

He'd had enough. Absolutely enough. Bellwether was not coming back to power. Predators were not going to be put under that yoke again.

Pulling out his phone, he texted a short message to a caller labeled MS, adding to a prefabricated conversation: Sorry, I'm going to have to reschedule my appointment. (It's not working, she's still here). Would next week work? (What now?).

A few moments later, MS responded with: I won't be able to see you for a while (You've done your job) but I'll see what I can do (We're taking it from here).


"Five wins in a row!" Angel cried out, giving Arya a high-four. "That was awesome!" Arya did her best to hide her elation behind a smirk, but she couldn't help it.

The two friends walked down the sidewalk below a mid-afternoon sun of this great Friday. The long weekend had just started for Angel. She was excited because that thing downtown at The Plaza was starting tomorrow. So Angel was excited to go see what it was all like.

"What are you gonna do at the fair?" asked Angel.

The question caused Arya to falter in her step. Her smile dropped a notch. "The fair?"

"Yeah, aren't you going? It's lasting all weekend."

"It's the one where... it's about the end of the Nighthowler Case, right?" she asked uneasily.

"Yeah!"

She stopped walking altogether, holding the flag and one of the dividing bases. Angel turned toward her and saw how her mood had dampened. Well, not really that, but she looked... kind of amazed. "What's wrong?"

Honestly, Arya couldn't fathom the question. Why would Angel, a predator, want her, a prey, and also the daughter of the former mayor/dictator, to go to the fair celebrating the end of the greatest threat to peace between predator and prey since World War II?

"Don't you want to go?" asked Angel. Oh, I can't wait for you to try the caramel corn, and you gotta come clothes shopping with me, and you have to..."

"I... I'll think about it," she said, her eyes turning down.

"You'll think about it? But it starts tomorrow."

"I-I don't think I wanna go," Arya said hesitantly.

"Why not?"

"I just don't want to."

"But we had fun today, didn't we?" Angel asked, a hint of a hurt tone in her voice. "Didn't we all have fun playing Capture the Flag? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't do anything wrong, I just don't really want to go."

Angel stood there for a few seconds, her eyes searching Arya's face. Then, her eyes dropped. "Ok, fine. Sorry to bother you."

"Angel!" she said as the jaguar passed by her. But she didn't say anything else as she watched her new friend close her front door.


Arya rested her chin on her hands glumly. Regret sat like a moldy rock in the pit of her stomach. Amazing how turning down one offer could shut down a new friendship. After all, hadn't Angel kind of overreacted? The light in the room got brighter suddenly.

"Arya?... You ok?" Judy walked into the room and sat down on the bed beside her and leaned toward her a little. "Did something happen today?"

"Well, Angel and some of her friends and I played Capture the Flag, and my team won."

"Arya, that's great! Why would you be so glum about that?"

"It's not that. It's nothing."

"Oh, you can tell me," she said, whispering in a conspiratorial fashion. "I'm a detective so it's pretty hard to keep things from me. Trust me, Nick learned that a while back."

"Learned that the day after I first met her," said Nick from outside the door.

"Stop eavesdropping!" she scolded, to which Nick responded with a receding laugh.

A laugh danced behind Arya's smile but she didn't let it out. Judy noticed once again how much she resembled Dawn. It was uncanny. It was like she was talking to her younger self. It made her feel nostalgic in a sense, remembering the animal who Dawn seemed to be, a little guy who took her small stature in stride. Such innocence. But that image had been subverted by a revelation that she was a conniving evil mastermind hellbent on gaining power through fear.

Seeing this little girl who resembled that former tyrant was like a breath of fresh air on that image, a rebirth of that memory in Arya. It was a sweet nostalgia, a sweet sensation, like meeting an old friend.

"So what's on your mind?" asked Judy as she began to rub her back gently.

"Well... Angel's kinda mad at me."

"What for? What'd you do?" she added playfully.

"Nothing! If anything, I should be getting an award for my efforts," she said somewhat defiantly. "But afterward, she asked me to go with her to the fair tomorrow..."

"Arya, I think that's a great idea."

"Yeah, but..." Arya shook her head.

"Is there a reason why you don't?"

Arya shrugged. "I mean, I know it would be fun, but I don't want to go."

"I think if you go, you'll have a lot of fun."

"I just..." she exhaled "...I felt fine being with all of her friends. But while we were walking back home, I just felt... I don't know. It felt fake, I guess, being friends with Angel. I feel like if I go, then something bad will happen and then I'll just make myself alone again."

"Oh, Honey..." Judy began, but Arya cut her off.

"Whenever I try to make friends, they always end up leaving. Just like my fake mom and dad," she muttered bitterly.

That caught Judy off guard. Very, very much. "What?"

There was a sniffle from the young lamb. And she wiped her eye. "My parents left me here. They didn't want me."

Judy suddenly remembered back to earlier that day when she'd called her foster father, only for the call to be cut off immediately with no explanation whatsoever. She'd avoided that thought, that they had abandoned her. She... honestly didn't know how to respond to that. How could a bunny who grew up with hundreds of siblings? She continued, her voice heart-wrenchingly calm despite her watery eyes pouring out. "I've tried to make friends all my life, but they either don't want to talk to me, or I screw it all up and they go away because I'm bad. That's the way it's been all my life. I got left alone, and I got abandoned, and that's who I am, and that's what my life is, so I keep thinking that maybe I need to just try to do life on my own. Without friends or anybody else."

Judy sat still, shaking her head slowly. She wanted to say something, anything, to make it better, but what? She sat there in silence, unable to meet her eyes.

A shadow passed over them and Judy looked up to see Nick standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"I told you not to-"

"I know, I know, but I did, so you're welcome."

"You-" she stammered. But Nick beat her to the punch, turning toward the lamb.

"She's secretly happy to see me because I'm the smooth one."

"Nick!"

He didn't answer, but instead walked over to the wall and sat down, facing Arya and Judy, who sat up with a roll of her eyes, realizing that it wasn't much use to try to get rid of him. He was stubborn that way. He sat there with a smile for a few seconds before speaking. Judy realized what he was doing and shut her mouth. The master was at work.

"I want to ask you what you want to do."

Arya raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. What do you want to do tomorrow?"

The lamb didn't answer but her eyes diverted. Her expression was blank.

Nick nodded. "Normally, I would say something like, 'Tell me if this story sounds familiar' and say 'whoopsie' once or twice. Just ask Judy," he added with a smile. Judy smiled weakly. "I don't think you said no because you didn't want to go. You're scared that if you spend too much time with Angel, she'll end up finding out what a monster you are."

Arya kept staring at him blankly.

"Is that what's going on here?" he asked.

Arya looked down and sniffled, her eyes getting wet. She nodded. Truth be told, he had hit the nail so firmly... how could one statement pour out her heart so thoroughly onto the floor?

Nick got up and sat down on the bed at Arya's side, opposite Judy. He looked down at the girl, who had to crane her neck to see him. "Arya, I'm going to tell you something and I want you to listen, ok?" She looked at him blankly as if bracing for what it would be. "You're not a bad animal, Arya. You're not. You were told by some random animal that you wouldn't be able to see your mother anymore and that you'd have to live with a pair of animals you didn't know, all before you started preschool. And then you had to move to another home just because you needed someone who could afford your cancer treatment. TBH, I'm surprised you didn't end up as a delinquent." He coughed, "Like me!" Arya and Judy smiled at that. "And at some point you must have thought to yourself that you deserve it, right? Like, you think that because you're her daughter, that somehow makes you responsible?" Arya's breath hitched. "Is that right?"

Judy began to grow emotional and put her arm around the girl's shoulder. Arya's eyes closed and she nodded with a sniffle.

"Arya, all that stuff..." he said softly, shaking his head "...all that crap... none of it is your fault."

Arya lowered her head and sat still for a moment, then leaned forward and lay the side of her head against Nick's leg. She started crying.

Nick put his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently to comfort the little girl. They stayed there for a long time while Arya got all of it out of her system. Afterward, she sat up. Nick got her attention and said, "Listen, Arya, we're not going to tell you what you should and shouldn't do. Whatever you want to do tomorrow, we'll do it. If you want to go to the fair, we'll go tomorrow. If you don't want to go, we'll do something else. Judy has to work, but whatever you want to do, you and I can do it. Ok?"

Arya smiled, making him smile. Nick pulled her to his side for a hug, followed by Judy.


How long had he gone without sleep? What time was it? What day was it?

He constantly fluctuated between numb stillness and shivering, as if the room alternated between very cold and normal room temperature. There was constant chatter, constant discussion over which ligase or which polymer to put into the concoction containing his blood. He would often drown them out, but sometimes he couldn't, as if they were speaking directly into his ear.

Every word sounded distant, muffled. But one word came through into his brain: serum. For some reason, that was the word he registered. Why, he didn't know and frankly didn't care. Or at least he wished he didn't. Ever since he had woken up in this monstrosity that restrained him, the desire to be as far away from there as possible had only grown. Now, it gnawed at him with uncontainable want, a merciless single-mindedness that played out in one question: How do I get out of this?

He hadn't moved in so long. So long. At some point, he'd stopped caring. This was his life now, so whoop-de-doo! Who cares?

Some time later - again, he didn't know how long - the long muzzle of the Shark faded into focus, smiling down at him. Though his expression was calmly excited, to Danny, it couldn't be more malicious. "How's our little kitten doing?" he asked. Danny didn't know whether he should answer. Though his situation was bad, he didn't know how deep the rabbit hole could go. The last thing he wanted to do was make this worse. The wolf turned to say to whoever was behind him, "Oh, I can't wait to see what this kid can give us!" He turned back toward him and sneered down at the boy. "You are paying for it, after all." He turned around to watch some activity occurring in the lab at the present moment.

For the first time since who knew how long, Danny opened his mouth. "Uhl-" he croaked. Swallowing, he tried again. "Aren't you gonna kill me?"

Turning back to him, his lips pulled upward into a smile. "No, of course not. You're too valuable."

Danny shook his head in confusion. "And how..." he began tremulously "...how does this involve me? I'm... I don't..."

Lukagi scoffed. Leaning over and placing his hands on his knees. A sympathetic look on his face, he said, "You really don't know how powerful you are, do you?"

Danny didn't know what to say to that. He knew he was strong for a mammal, but Lukagi made him sound like something even above a mammal, something else entirely. "Powerful?..." he asked, hoping to get a better explanation.

He stood up and laughed. "I imagine you haven't been exposed to this much, but there are some who even call you a god. And they worship you, Danny. As the Apex Predator. The one who will restore control of the world to predatorkind. I encountered a few of these groups some time ago. They've grown exponentially over the past decade, especially after Bellwether's stint in office. They have no real cohesion among their groups, but they all have one thing in common: their devotion to the Apex Predator. And now they're waiting for him to make his appearance."

He sat and listened quietly but nothing he said sense. The Apex Predator? What does that even mean? He wanted to ask, but he kept his mouth shut, too scared to annoy Lukagi with incessant questions.

Danny watched the scientists work, developing various mixtures containing fluid taken from his body... what were they doing? He leaned back in apprehension of what was coming. He had no idea what to expect. All he really knew was that he couldn't move.

At that moment, something caught his attention. It wasn't loud, it wasn't soft, but it was... alarming. It sounded a lot like... Danny focused forward onto the scene in front of him. Lukagi turned and his eyes widened at the sight of the EKG's pulsing line beginning to bounce up and down erratically, wildly. John gasped loudly and his back arched as if he were in anguish.

Dr. Andrews looked up from his zPad and set it down in alarm. "Ativan!" He said as the African wild dog scrambled to grab a syringe. On the table before Danny, the lion's muscles flexed further and further. His hands curled into claws, and a low roar resounded from deep in his throat. The metal arms holding him down bent from the pressure his arms and chest put on them.

"Is he dying?" Lukagi called out over the voices of the techs, alarm lacing his voice. "Is he going to die?"

"I don't know! Hold him!" said Dr. Andrews. Three of the techs grasped onto a part of the lion's body, but they couldn't prevent his body from bending the metal arms. "Hold him down!" he repeated.

"We're trying!" one of the lab techs grunted. "He's too strong!"

Lukagi froze for a moment in reflection, as if amazed. Then, he snapped out of it and went to help them, but he added nothing to their efforts.

Dr. Andrews filled a syringe with a clear liquid and ran to his side. "Hold him!"

"What does it look like we're doing?!" Yvette shouted. Ignoring her, he tried to insert the needle into a bulging vein, but it stopped fast against his skin. He pressed harder and the needle broke. He shouted in frustration and threw the broken syringe across the room. He then ran across the lab and grabbed a small package from a drawer.

"Will you HURRY UP!" shouted Lukagi, straining to hold his chest down.

Dr. Andrews extracted a butterfly syringe from its sterile package and tried to insert it into the vein with a bit of effort. "It's in!" he said loudly over the grunts of both the lion and the animals holding him down. "Here it comes!" He compressed the drug into his bloodstream and waited. "Come on... come on..." he whispered.

John's body didn't budge for nearly a minute. But finally, his body slumped and relaxed onto the table. Dr. Andrews huffed loudly. Looking into the lion's face, he saw that he had passed out at some point. He placed his fingers against his neck. "He's alive," he said with a sigh, "but I don't know what's going to happen next."

Danny watched, not moving, not thinking, not breathing. The whole time he had watched his caretaker seemingly lilting between life and death, he didn't know how to react except to watch and listen to the pounding of his own heart, his wide eyes unblinking.

He exhaled deeply when John gave a hacking cough and with effort tried to sit up.

"Mr. Serpiento!" said Dr. Andrews as he ran to John along with the other techs, who unbuckled the restraints and helped him to a sitting position. "Slowly, carefully." He took several deep breaths. "How are you feeling?" he asked, to which John responded by coughing and nodding slightly.

Danny looked at Lukagi as the latter examined the lion and the metal bars, bent extravagantly from John's exertion. He saw that the sides of his mouth were slowly turning upward into a triumphant smile that further evolved into gleaming excitement, even a hint of lust. For what, Danny could only guess. "Ladies... gentlemen... we have leapt tens of thousands of years of evolution in just ten years."


"Hold on, Danny. Hold on, Baby. I'm here," Sarah whispered as she opened the supply closet and began making her way down the hallway of the administration office toward the control room. She had managed to get in the compound unnoticed by hacking into the security keypad as soon as she entered. The system, designed by herself, monitored who went in and out, since a card key was required for entry. All she'd had to do was delete the last card read. She had also painstakingly taken the time to shut off the alarm to the control room, which was much more difficult than she would have thought. Then, she had snuck through the main foyer of the building and made it to a broom cupboard where she stayed until nighttime, when all the factory workers went to their quarters.

The hard part was coming. After picking the lock of the control room, she eased it open, crouching down to minimize her chances of being detected. Sitting in a chair before a series of monitors was a light brown, overweight caracal she didn't know, staring at his phone and eating potato chips. She rolled her eyes in disgust before pushing the door open. Before the cat could react, Sarah's taser was already singeing his throat. Her gloved hand pressed itself to his mouth, muffling his screams. Smoke rose from the area where the high-voltage device seared the fur and flesh of the cat. Smoke began to billow from the electrocution site, flowing into the air vent above. Sarah, paradoxically, was surprised at her lack of remorse. She felt nothing. She imagined that it was probably an effect of the Nighthowler-induced madness she'd been forced into. Or it could have also been her determination to save her Danny. Even if he did it unwittingly, this animal was taking part in hurting this innocent creature, this small child. The thought drove her to dial the voltage of the taser to the highest setting. When she stopped tasering him and confirmed his deceased state, she pushed him out of the chair, locked the door, reset the alarm, and sat down.

After pulling up the video feed of the laboratory, she looked around for a live feed of Danny but didn't see one. Slowly, knowing that a moving camera would be suspicious if if was caught, she picked up the keyboard, which held a small joystick she could adjust with her finger, and chose a more obscure camera. She moved it around in short movements. There was John, sitting on a metal table. Boss standing there nonchalantly. Dr. Andrews and his cronies. After several tedious minutes passed, the camera glimpsed a black shade in the corner, and she moved the camera full onto the image. Her jaw clenched in horror at the sight, the image of the kitten's exhausted, terrified self, chained to some metallic trap... what were they doing to him!?

She had to get him out of there. But how would she do that? It was nighttime and the compound was armed with alarms to the yin-yang. It always was, now that she thought about it, but most particularly after hours. She didn't know how much time Danny had. She had to figure something out. She couldn't risk wasting too much time shutting down the entire alarm system, which would be dangerous in itself. She'd designed each individual alarm to be its own system, packed with safeguards. One mistake and the whole thing would go off. She'd just have to do something creative. Danny's life was at stake.

Without taking another moment's thought, she processed this problem. In the periphery of her mind, she noted that she would have to erase all traces of her presence and actions. Although with her being the technician who set up the intranet and designed many of its features, it wouldn't be hard to look her direction as the culprit. She figured that if she couldn't hide her presence, she might as well have a little fun. She would leave a little surprise for the Shark. Well... she looked at the dead caracal behind her... besides the one she'd already left.

There was a voice over the speaker: "Cary, saw an anomaly a few minutes ago at the front door. You catch anything?"

"Sorry, that was me," said Sarah immediately.

"Who is this?"

"It's Sarah Kityarn, Serppy's tech genie."

"Where's Cary?"

"Went home," she said, with the slightest bit of annoyance to sell it. "I'm here officially to do a routine bug check, but he got sick so he asked me to watch things. Guess it was pretty bad." She ended with a chuckle and, to her relief, the mammal on the other end seemed to have bought the whole bag. "And that anomaly, I'll take a look real quick and make sure everything's up to speed."

"All right, thanks. Over and out."

As soon as the transmission cut, Sarah relaxed and took a few deep breaths. Though she knew this job operated in shifts, she had no idea how long this shift would last. She didn't have much time regardless. She'd have to think of something else-

A light bulb suddenly went on. ...A virus! What if instead of shutting the alarm system down... she could instead link the alarm system to the door's open/shut command of every computer-controlled mechanism controlled by the intranet? That would require an extremely complex overwrite virus. It was risky but took the least amount of time. It was the only option she could think of off the top of her head. So she got to work.

Her fingers worked rapidly, mapping out a code that would consolidate all alarms into one node and designate that node as the command to permanently open the automatic doors in the compound. It wasn't easy, and she hit backspace more than any other key put together. But after an hour, it began to take shape. She was well on her way. At the same time, she threw in a little trap for the Shark that would spring no matter what he did.

"Hold on, Danny. I'm never quitting on you," she whispered.


For those of you who don't know, in microbiology, an agar (aw-ghurr) refers to a diverse group of substances and chemicals used to culture bacteria in a petri dish. Basically, different bacteria grow on different agars. This agar grows this bacterium but inhibits/kills this one and so forth.