A/N
Hello everyone. This is a new dalliance of my muse. I have no idea if it will go anywhere, and I can guarantee the updates will be much farther apart if muse graces me with any more at all. Then again, I didn't expect AFH to go past about chapter 5, so… We shall see.
1: Muse is still teasing me with this, so it is not getting posted with a full edit. If it takes off the way A Friendly Hustle did, then any posted chapters will get a fresh scrub and re-write.
Of course, I do not own Zootopia, and can therefore make no claims to Zootopia or its characters. I only make claim to my own OC's included herein as needed. Though I think I could do more with it than Disney is at the moment. So many awesome ideas that they could use, and they're sitting on their asses.
I blame Bear678 for this.
Anyway, on with the show.
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Wilde Cardz - Savage Territory - Chapter 5
6am - Rabbit hunt, day 2.
Nick woke to a soft voice. "Nick… Boss."
Nick yawned and stretched before sitting up. "You better have coffee for me. What's going on?"
Lizz leaned over the back of the seat, a cup of coffee in paw for him. "As soon as I saw that coffee was packed I knew you'd need it. Mike says we've got some mammals approaching on the other side of the wall. Not savages, and they clearly know exactly where things are. They're on paw, but should reach the wall in about twenty. Definitely armed, though in this day and age, it's kinda stupid not to be."
Nick nodded with a yawn, then took a sip of the bitter concoction of freeze dried coffee. "Gah! That's disgusting!" He then finished the rest in one gulp. "Okay. Let's prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Move the cruiser over to the side, and just clear of the opening, so that when it opens we can charge through if needed."
"Got it" Lizz slipped out and into the driver's seat as Nick dropped out onto the ground.
Nick quickly leapt up and scaled the barricade wall, peaking through the windows of the stacked cars to see the approaching mammals and opening his mic. "Mike. You sense any empowered amongst them?"
"No boss, but they're a bit far still for me to pick that up. I have to be really close, and it is hit or miss. If I do, I'll let you know. What are you going to do?"
"Well, I see three wolves, several larger prey species, and at least half a dozen smaller species including an arctic fox and a hare."
"That matches what I see. They seem cautious but confident. They may be the ones that set up this dead zone. Might not realize we're still alive."
"Or maybe they do. I'm going to introduce myself. You two hang back and be ready. Lizz back the cruiser just enough that it won't be visible once I open the barricade."
"Already there, boss."
Nick jumped down and then activated the latch, pushing the barricade out of the way. "Damn, boss. You really are stupid strong."
Nick shrugged. "Meh. I guess. I still haven't found something I can't lift, move, etc... You two keep radio silence, I'm going to keep my mic open." Rather than responding, they both just chirped their mic's in acknowledgement.
Keeping his paws up and in sight, Nick stepped carefully towards the approaching mammals and waited just beyond where the barricade would hit, if triggered. A few minutes later, the group approached, their weapons at the ready but not actually pointed at him. Smiling warmly, Nick waved a paw while keeping them in sight and away from his obvious shoulder and thigh holsters. "Greetings. I'm Nick Wilde, pleasure to meet you all. I take it you are probably from the settlement I could see the lights for last night."
One of the wolves stepped forward. "We are. What are you doing on this side of the gauntlet?"
Nick smiled up at the wolf. "Is that what you call it? We were calling it a dead zone. It's about the only way to get to this side of the city, unless you want to go way the hell around. I'm out exploring and hoping to meet others, and it seems I have."
"You smell of tiger and wolf, where are they?"
"Well, as there are only the three of us, we felt it best to keep ourselves out of sight until we confirmed you weren't hostile."
The wolf nodded. "Fair enough." A squirrel whispered in his ear. "You sure?"
Nick shook his head. "Yes, he's sure. I take it that is your ability?"
The squirrel looked at Nick in surprise and nodded before speaking. "It is. What is yours? Planning on using them to bully us?"
Nick shook his head, keeping the frown from his face and sliding a mask on to keep himself smiling. He didn't like what that statement implied. "No. I represent a settlement on the other side of the gauntlet. We have quite a number of empowered, but they are just like everyone else. Sure, they have different ways to contribute, but that is it. We use a council of elected leaders, with a few mammals assigned to specific jobs by the council. How about you?"
The wolf nodded and relaxed. "Much the same. Your scent doesn't say you're lying. If you are willing to show yourselves, we could see our way to welcoming you. It would be good to make contact with another settlement that isn't full of would be kings."
Nick chuckled. "That's what ours started as. Being former ZPD, I grabbed a bunch of SWAT gear and took them down. We then collectively formed what we have now."
The wolf shifted his head. "Wait. You're the fox cop? The one that worked with the bunny?"
Nick nodded. "That's me." Speaking into his mic. "Okay, come on through and close the door behind you."
Lizz responded. "Roger." The cruiser then drove through the gap, Mike and Lizz getting out to pull the barricade closed.
One of the other wolves called out. "Don't. Just drive out, there is another latch at this end."
Once the cruiser was clear, the second wolf stepped into one of the store fronts and after moving something aside, pulled a lever that had the barricade groaning back into place. Nick smiled and Mike nodded, and spoke. "I see. Counterweights. Very simple, but effective." They looked at Mike and his lack of eyes in surprise. He just smiled. "Yeah. No eyes, but I can see so much more now."
The squirrel looked at the three of them surprise. "They're all three empowered."
Nick nodded. "Well, we're going into the literal unknown. Things like your gauntlet, and there are still savage mammals that hunt the city, even if most have moved out into the hills and such. Better to send out those better prepared to handle anything that might get thrown at us, and we are all former ZPD, so…"
The wolf nods. Makes sense. We don't have a lot of empowered. I like that term. We just called them Tainted. Our group is very fearful of your kind, but we were basically enslaved by some of your kind. So you will have to forgive some of our reactions."
Lizz nodded. "Totally understandable. We're just lucky that the would be kings Nick freed us from were not empowered, just heavily armed, being a bunch of criminals from before. Those empowered amongst us, including Mike, were held as trophies with our families and loved ones held under threat if we took any action not directed by them. So I can totally understand your caution, but while I am sure there are lots of empowered that are horrible mammals, most of us are not, just like regular mammals."
An elk stepped up. "We're learning that. Like Jack and Jill here." Indicating the wolf and squirrel. "We call them JJ, but between the two of them, we can tell when someone is empowered, and when they're lying or a bad mammal. They aren't alerting on you for any deception, so as the leader of this group, I would like to invite you to come and meet our leaders."
Nick smiled. "Thank you. We'd love to. We have a multi-part mission, and making contact with new settlements that we can ally with, against those would be kings you mention, is part of it."
"What else are you out here for?" The elk asked.
Nick stood up, everyone relaxing. "Just before everything went to hell in a handbasket. Judy and I were tracking down the source of the virus that did all this. The geneticist that created the virus lives in this direction. We are hoping to find his place still intact and maybe find some more information on what happened and the virus itself. We now have several scientists in our area and hope that, just maybe, there is a way to maybe undo things, or at least effect those that went savage to make them less so. And maybe I can find Judy too." The last bit all but whispered.
The elk nodded. "Well, follow us. I'm sure undoing the virus is not something that can be done, but maybe there is something that can be done."
Nick nodded as he hopped on the hood of the cruiser. "If there isn't a reason to walk, why don't we get everyone sitting here on the cruiser and we can drive."
After a few minutes of getting everyone situated, they headed out slowly, but far faster than walking and about an hour later, approached another barricade much like the ones that bracket the gauntlet. The elk had them stop about a hundred meters from the barricade and approached on foot. He had a conversation with the guards, and then the barricade moved aside slowly allowing them entrance.
Driving into the secure area, they were directed to park just inside the barricade. "You can leave your vehicle here, and we ask that you leave your weapons in your vehicle. It will not be molested. You will also be asked to wear arm-bands that designate you are both visitors and empowered, as you call it. Remember, we haven't had quite as positive an experience as you have."
Nick nodded. "We understand. We have had to deal with a few groups of roving empowered that tried to attack us. Luckily we were prepared, and have a few empowered with some, shall we say, offensive abilities."
The elk nodded. "You are lucky. Hopefully, if our groups can interact more, our people can relax a bit."
Nick smiled. "We found that treating them the same as other mammals, and finding a place where their abilities can help support the community, is the fastest way to not have issues. Even a few of those that tried to attack us have since joined us, once they realized that we were not going to treat them as less than everyone else. It isn't as if we chose this any more than those that went savage did."
The elk laughed lightly. "You sound just like those that are trying to get us to welcome your type into our community."
Shrugging, Nick followed the elk after putting the bright red band around his arm. The wolf and squirrel putting on blue bands. Lizz and Mike stayed behind with the cruiser. As they were walking a booming voice sounded out. "WILDE?!"
Nick and the elk turned to see who spoke as a very large rhino approached. "McHorn?" Nick's eyes went wide with a grin. Nick leapt up, grabbing the rhino's horn to hold himself up and sharing a fist bump. "It's good to see you, Eric! You damn hide! How are you?"
The rhino grinned himself. "You too, ya filthy pelt!" There was no malice in the use of the term, as both grinned at each other. "I am good. It is so good to see you alive. And you're tainted too?"
With a light laugh, Nick drops down. "Our group call it empowered, though we don't have the bad experiences your group seems to have had. You should head over to the entrance. Lizz and Mike are here with me and keeping on eye on our cruiser while I do the meet and greet."
McHorn smiled down at the fox. "I like that term. I will as soon as I drop off my work and get off shift in about an hour. Try not to piss off the leadership here so I can at least say hi to you guys."
"I'll try not to. Have you seen Judy?"
McHorn frowned. "No. I'm sorry, Nick, I haven't. You two were separated that day, weren't you."
Nick nodded. "Yeah… I'm holding it together on hope, but it's hard."
McHorn's eyes went wide. "Oh, Nick. I'm so sorry. I hope she's still out there. If there is anyone who could survive this, it's her."
Nick nodded. "My thoughts too. It's what keeps me going. I'll let you get on with it."
With that, McHorn walked back over to a large set of straps and slipped on a huge backpack full of wood and metal, lumbering off towards where it needed to be delivered. The elk looked down at Nick. "Wow. You really were the ZPD's only fox."
Nick nodded. "I was. If you have other officers here, there is going to be a small party and tears."
"Most of our security force is made up of former ZPD. I'm sure they'll love to know a few more of their compatriots survived this nightmare."
Nick grinned. "Same on our side."
The elk led Nick down several streets, the residents of the area moving out of their way, many crossing the street to avoid them. Nick chuckled as they walked. The elk looked down at him in confusion. "What's funny?"
Just the fact that, before all this, mammals did the same thing, because I was a fox. The fact that I was a decorated officer of the ZPD meant nothing, because, fox. Now, here, I get treated the same because of this arm band you have me wear. I guess over the past few months I got spoiled in our group because of the different experiences."
The elk nodded. "I can see that. We really don't care about species, but you are right, the arm bands make it easy to ostracise those you call empowered."
"Which will, in time, breed resentment and a return to what you escaped. I understand the fear and caution, and it is your group, but if we fail to learn from the history of what came before. Bellwether and her ilk, which is who created the virus I might add."
The elk stopped and looked down at Nick. "What did you say?"
Nick looked up at the elk. "It was some of Bellwether's followers that had the virus created and infected themselves with it to be carriers. We know this because Judy and I found out that much before things went completely south. From what the doctors figured out before they themselves succumb to the virus, it was meant to target only predators, making us all savage by destroying our minds and sterilizing us all.
Their goal was to complete the genocide of all predators, which was in fact that evil ewes end goal. The problem is that by making themselves carriers it mutated to affect all mammals, and not in the ways that they expected. That, and the virus was kinda thrown together. By the time we realized that those that were going savage were not affected by a new Night Howler toxin, but an airborne virus, it was far too late."
The elk took a step back in shock. "Please tell me you are kidding. I heard you mention a virus, but I just assumed that was your explanation for what happened. You are saying that it actually was a virus, created by the followers of Bellwether?"
Nick shook his head. "I wish I was kidding. I preserved as much of the data as I could, but I think you are right. There will be no way to reverse the damage done. Besides, if you went savage, then killed and ate a bunch of mammals, you probably wouldn't ever want to know. I wouldn't. I know those that were darted during her reign of terror had to undergo months of therapy to deal with it, and even then, quite a few ended up offing themselves. Not something that was widely talked about."
Leading Nick up to the doors of a small office building. "No. I imagine that side effect isn't something they would want to spread widely."
Nick shook his head. "No, but it was used at her trial to show that her claims about naturally violent tendencies were complete dung. That the only reason the mammals that were darted did what they did was because of the drug, and some couldn't handle the results. Then again, a mother who ended up killing her kit, and eating them. What does it matter that they were under the influence and not in control. Of course the videos of the tests where prey officers were dosed and how they reacted no different than a predator helped too."
The elk shook his head. "Good gods. That's horrible. I can't imagine the horror waking up and then learning what you had done."
"Actually, it's worse than you think. They also remembers, hazy, but they did remember what they did."
The elk blanched. "Oh no. That's so much worse. I guess it no longer matters to keep those things secret. Anyway, this is where our leadership is. I'll announce you."
Nick nodded. "Lead the way."
