"That's really Ben's mother!?" Judy thought, as part of the initial shock had passed, "Sweet cheese and crackers! She must have had him when she was a teenager!"
Indeed, Caitlyn Clawhauser didn't looked to be so old. Some would say that she could probably be on her middle thirties, by the way that she looked. Many would not immediately say that she was Benjamin's mother. Maybe his older sister, but not his mother. Still, there she was, currently hugging her son.
"Oh, look at you, my chubby and round cub." She said, and she broke to hug to look at Ben. "If you took off your shirt and were holding a gold bar I could mistake you by a Nipponese lucky cat."
The tone that she was using was very different from the one of minutes ago, when she was openly bad-mouthing the cheetah. This tone was maternal and caring, and it was obvious that she deeply cared for Benjamin.
"Wow..." Nick said, turning to his partner, "She went from calling him a fatso to calling him her chubby cub in minutes..."
"Yes, I don't like talking like that about my own cubs." Mrs. Clawhauser said, looking over her shoulder at the fox. "But I found out that doing things like that helps find out who really cares about them. It is my way of making mammals show me if they truly care about them enough to stand up to me."
Nick blinked, surprised that the female cheetah had heard him. She was looking back at him and she had a smile on her face.
"It is really good to know that there are mammals like that near my Benji." She said, and turned back to Benjamin, "It is really nice to finally know the friends I heard you speak about so much."
"Y-yeah... nice." Benjamin said, a bit awkward, and he soon was saying:
"But... what are you doing here? I mean, I thought you were back home with dad."
"I was on a nearby state taking care of a business." Caytlin said, looking at her son, "I actually planned to just get that done with and head back home, but I changed my plans as soon as I heard news of you being taken to the hospital."
"Oh..." Ben said, and looked at his mother.
"I was passing by a store on my way out of the city when I saw an image of my son, bloodied and pale being taken to an ambulance." She said, looking at him, "What else could I do but head to Zootopia as fast as possible?"
Ben looked down; scratching the back of his head, and his mother looked at him.
"So, are you okay?" She asked, and Ben looked up at her.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Well, you didn't looked fine yesterday." She said to him, paws on her hips, "What were you doing to get like that? And what are you doing in here today? You should be resting!"
"Mom, I'm fine!" Benjamin said, "The doctors said I was fine and that I could go back to work if I wanted."
"Only because you could be at work don't meant you should." Caitlyn said to him, "Do you even realize how pale you were yesterday? You should have taken the day off and stayed home recovering."
"I'm fine." Ben insisted, "The doctors gave me a blood transfusion last night. That was all I needed. You didn't needed to come."
"I was worried about you." She said, looking at the cheetah, "Benjamin, you should know how I am when one of my cubs is hurt. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that they are okay, and that is something you can be absolutely sure."
For a long moment, mother and son looked at each other. Ben looked as if he was truly reflecting on what she said, while she looked serious at him. It seemed that what she was saying was something really meaningful, and the way that Ben looked at her told that.
Eventually, the big cheetah looked down, and his mother looked back at him, before she moved forward and put her arms around him in a hug.
"I'm so glad you are okay." She said, and Ben said nothing, letting his mother hug him.
"Sorry for making you worried." He said, and she looked at him after breaking the hug. "Is just that mammals needed help, and I could not let them hanging."
"Of course you couldn't." She said, looking at him, "You are sometimes too good for your own good. I'm relieved to see that you are doing fine, and so will Marcy and Josh when they get here."
"Yeah, I guess that they will... wait, what?" Ben said, as he suddenly realized what his mother had just said, and she nodded at him.
"Yes, they have both seen the news online and they saw your state. They both want to come to Zootopia to check on you."
"What? They don't have to! I'm fine!" Ben said, "You can tell them that I'm fine!"
Mrs. Clawhauser just shook her head, "It would do it no good. They both will only be calm when they see you with their own eyes. You know how these two are."
Ben looked at her, and he looked like he wanted to protest, however, he seemed to recognize that there was no point, and he just looked down. Meanwhile, everyone around shared looks, as it seemed that mother and son had nearly forgot that they were present.
"Uhh, excuse me?" Chandler Manechester said, causing the two cheetahs to look at him. "Who are Marcy and Josh?"
Ben blinked, looking at his equine friend.
"Oh, yeah! I never really told you about them, did I?" Ben said, sounding a little embarrassed by this, "Marcy is my older sister and Josh is my brother."
"Oh, right... what?" Chandler said, looking at Ben with surprise, as well as some of the others.
"Yeah... I never really spoke of my family with you guys, did I?" Benjamin said, looking quite sheepish as he looked at the surprised faces around himself. His mother was right by his side.
"What, ashamed of your own family?" She asked, with a smile in her face, and Ben blushed a bit harder.
"I-it just never really came up..." Ben said, and now she turned her look at the ones around.
"So, none of you ever bothered to ask Ben about his family?" She said, and now it was the turn of the ones looking to look quite embarrassed. Yes, most of them had never thought of asking Ben about his family. The ones who did never truly asked; it was likely that most of them assumed that Ben himself would speak about them when he felt like doing that. Still, some of them felt a bit ashamed, for it made it seem that they actually had no interest in the cheetah, despite all of them considered themselves as pretty close with him. Even Chief Bogo looked to the side as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Well... he never really said anything, you know?" Judy said, as she was the one that thought that she felt like she should justify herself, "We just thought that he would tell us if he ever felt like doing that..."
Caitlyn chuckled as she looked at the bunny.
"You are really sweet, little bunny." She said, and Ben was soon whispering to her, warning her mother not to call Judy "cute".
"So, Ben is from a family with three children, right?" Nick asked, causing the three cheetahs to look at the fox, "It's him, Marcy and Josh?"
"Yes." Caitlyn said, "Along with the rest of my cubs."
"The rest?" Nick asked, and he turned to Ben, "How many siblings do you have?"
Ben looked at him and, for a moment, Nick had the impressions of a shadow passing through his eyes, as if suddenly there was a bad memory going through his head. However, the cheetah looked like he quickly recovered, and now he was fumbling with his claws as he answered:
"Well, counting with Marcy and Josh... Seven."
"I've always wanted a big family." Caitlyn said, looking around after her son said that, with a sheepish smile of her own.
Nick whistled a bit at that, and Judy looked surprised. Seven siblings. Well, it was nothing compare to the hundreds of siblings that she had back home, but it was still more than she thought Ben would have.
"Wow... didn't knew that your family was so big, Ben." Chandler said, and Ben looked at him, as he blushed even more.
"Yeah... it is."
"And we all care about him very much." Caitlyn said; placing a paw on Ben's shoulder, causing the plump cheetah to smile as his blush persisted.
Everyone around was finding this to be quite something, as they were all learning new things about Ben. Of course, some thought that it meant that they were only finding out more things that Ben actually hid from them, but these were just McChill and some others. The rest of them was finding Ben's mother to be interesting.
"So, this Josh." Chandler said, looking at the two cheetahs, "Is he older or younger than Ben?"
Caitlyn was the one who answered, as she looked back at the horse:
"Oh, he is older. By three-and-a-half minutes." She said with a smile, and the horse looked back at her confused.
"Huh?"
Luckily, Ben was in there to clarify it:
"Josh and I are twins."
"Oh!" Chandler said, rather surprised by this, and so were most of the ones present. Actually, some of them looked like they were about to start asking questions. However, Bogo was quick to step forward and cut this.
"Okay, this is all enough." The buffalo said, catching everyone's attention, "I think it is safe to say that we all have things to do now, and that we should all get going. After all, I don't think that Clawhauser and his mother would like to have everyone watching their life as if it was some cheap of soap opera, right?"
With this, the movement that gathered in there started to disperse, as everyone was once more going to their business. Bogo himself gave one last look in direction to Ben and his mother, and they both were smiling at him. Ben looked a bit relieved, as the level of attention in there was making him nervous, and his smile was a bit grateful. However, his mother's smile was a different one; it was as some kind of knowing smile that made Bogo a bit unsettled. The buffalo was quick to go his way, leaving Ben along with his mother and with Chandler Manechester, as the horse still found himself a bit fascinated by Mrs. Clawhauser, something that the female cheetah seemed to enjoy a bit.
"Can't believe I had no idea that Benjamin had siblings." Judy said, "And a twin brother! Can you believe it?"
The bunny still felt a bit bad about not knowing these kinds of things about the cheetah, and she still talked about that as she walked with Nick, Marceli and Emilia. Nick himself shrugged a bit.
"Yeah, most mammals don't go telling to people about their families as soon as they met. That is the kind of thing that you speak when it is from someone's initiative." Nick said, and he looked back at the bunny, "Still, I'm surprised that his family still likes him."
"Why?" Emilia asked, "Did you thought that his family would not enjoy having him around?"
"What? No! Of course not!" Nick was quick saying, "Is just... I kind of thought that becoming am ex-mage meant that you were leaving your family behind and that you were cutting ties with them. Like, you would leave and never look back."
"Most times it is just like that." Marceli said.
"Normally, when a mage renounces magecraft they cut all ties with the world of magecraft, which includes cutting ties with their clan. Often this means that the clan will also turn their backs on them." The black fox said, as they walked into the garage, "However, it seems that Benjamin Clawhauser and the Clawhauser clan have not followed this pattern. Despite Benjamin having renounced magecraft, he still keeps good relations with his family."
"He goes to visit them on holidays and long weekends." Emilia said, "And they always love to have him over, according to what they say."
"This is unusual in similar cases." Marceli said to them, "However, not that unexpected considering that we are talking about the Clawhauser clan."
"Oh, they are famous for not going by the book?" Nick asked, and Marceli answered:
"They are said to be... eccentric. Also, they are said to be quite unorthodox in what comes to traditional mage behavior."
"Some say that they are all crazy." Emilia said, and the two cops took the information that the enforcers were now passing to them. "Even Caitlyn Clawhauser, even though she only became a Clawhauser by marriage."
"Still." Marceli said, causing the two cops to look back at him. "There is no denying the power and influence that the Clawhauser clan has."
What, they are an important clan?" Judy asked, and Emilia smiled at her.
"One of the most important clans of the modern age. They are on the top twenty, along with the three clans." She said, "The guys are one of the oldest mage families, and they have a lot of contacts."
"Not to mention the amount of important collaborations that they made to the advancement of magecraft." Marceli said, "They truly managed to secure a very solid place for themselves despite their unusual behavior in relation to old mage traditions."
"Wow, so our dear Spots is from an important family." Nick said; sounding a bit surprised at this revelation.
"And a big family too." Judy said, "I mean, eight children! It is surely not much by bunny standards, but it certainly sounds like a lot for a cheetah. And she seems so young to have had so many children."
"Yeah, she does look young, doesn't she?" Emilia said, "Hard to believe she is in her sixties."
"Yeah, it sure is... Wait, what?" Judy said; looking in surprise at the vixen. However, her attention was diverged when Marceli said:
"Is that your vehicle, right?" The black tod asked, pointing at the respective police cruiser, to which both of the cops answered positively.
"Cool!" Emilia said, "I never rode on a police cruiser before. I heard it is different from the other types of car. Does it really has a metal frame separating the drivers from the ones on the backseat, for the case one of the perps try to attack the officers?"
Soon, the cops and the enforcers were going the way. Nick and Judy were on the front set, with the bunny on the steering wheel, while the two enforcers took the back seat. Emilia looked fascinated with the inside of the vehicle (apparently, she didn't got to ride a lot inside of cars) while Marceli remained as professional as possible while they went their way with things.
"Is it just me, or we are acting more like chaperones for them than actual help?" Nick mentioned to Judy as they both stood nearby the vehicle, waiting for the two foxes to come back.
During the course of the morning, they had been mostly making the cops drive them across the city as they went to certain places. Their first stop was on a secluded area of Savannah Central, with run down houses and walls with graffiti, where they stopped in front of a big and abandoned-looking old house.
Their next stop was on Sahara Square, where they went to a neighborhood on the very same street where they had their first meeting with a guy of the MTC, as Nick still remembered that alley where the panther tried to have him run over by his golems. From there, they went into Tundratown, where they visited an area near the Glacier Falls, on the outskirts of the cold district.
"Some clans have workshops in these places." Marceli explained to them, "They are smaller clans that have been here for generations. They have received permission from the clans to live here, in return for helping keep order and watch on their land. Of course, they don't have any of the true privileges of a second owner, but this is the land of the clans, so they have to abide to what they say if they truly want to stay. These clans have been here for decades, so they have their own connections and their own sources of information, it is very likely that they have at least some kind of suspicion on what happened on the mall."
That was what the enforcers said, of course, neither Nick nor Judy got to go along to check it for themselves, for the two foxes insisted on them to stay behind.
They didn't really liked that, especially Judy, but the two vulpine convinced them by saying that these clans were really mistrusting with strangers, and that they would probably not talk with their presence. Marceli also noted that these clans probably didn't wanted to be exposed and wanted to have their privacy valued, so they could not expose their identity to two members of the ZPD, especially two that were so famous as Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Judy saw herself with no other option but sucking it up and waiting with Nick.
In each local, the enforcers went, vanished from sight, and came back after anytime between thirty minutes to an hour. Of course, they were not all secrets; they shared with them all information that the ones they went to see told them, but not saying anything that would give away their identities or even the precise locations of their homes/workshops.
This proved that they were willing to help and trust the two cops, as they gave them the information needed for the two to write down and later put on their reports. After all, despite the event having been one involving mages, it did had serious repercussions in the non-mage community as well.
They diligently made their notes on the subject, but Judy still felt dissatisfied on being left out like that from the investigations, as she wished that she could look in the eyes of the mammals and hear the answers from their own muzzles, instead of hearing it from the enforcers. It felt as if she was having limited access on her own investigation.
However, in the last place where they were going, Judy actually felt a bit glad that she was not going in there along with the two enforcers.
The area was basically a giant swamp, with murky water and rough, wild vegetation growing on it. Bugs buzzed across the air over the still water, and there was even some mist floating on the place. That was, as far as Judy could see, once the vegetation on the area around this swamp was so dense that sunlight was seriously reduced in there. The very air almost seemed to be thicker in that area. Not to mention that there were no streets in there, only the end of the road they had been following to get to that place, and a dozen meters back, when they were on their way, there was a single sign, which said:
MARSHLANDS - CAUTION AHEAD
Judy was still not very familiar with a lot of Zootopia past. As a matter of fact, she didn't even knew that a place like that existed in Zootopia. It was Nick who told her about the place as they arrived there.
"This place has been here ever since Zootopia was founded." The red fox said to his partner. "Back at the day, the Marshlands actually covered all of the area that now is the Rainforest District. This is all that was left of that place."
He looked at the two enforcers, and he asked:
"So, there is a mage living here?"
"Yes." Was Marceli's answer, "And she probably can say something, if she actually feels like saying. You two wait here."
This time, Judy didn't felt like discussing. At least, not as much as on the other cases. She only stood by Nick's side as they both watched the enforcers walk into the swamp, vanishing from sight. They could still hear Emilia complaining on the humidity, on the mosquitoes and on the way that the muck felt around her toes.
"This place gives me creeps." Judy admitted to her partner as they saw the two enforcers disappear inside of the swamp.
"It gives everyone creeps." Nick said to her, "You know, it is actually no surprise that there is actually a family of mages living in there. People used to think this place was cursed even before they knew that magecraft existed."
"Really?" Judy asked, and she looked back at the place. The feeling persisted, as if her instincts were telling her to be away from this place if possible.
"Yeah, they started thinking it right in the start, because they claimed that the swamp was strange, and that mammals tended to disappear in there." The red fox said, as he pulled his cellphone and started to play a little game. "It got worse when they actually started to populate the place, with all of the things that happened."
Judy looked at him.
"W-what things?"
Nick continued to play his game, but he stopped to look at her for a moment, seeing her worried expression. It seemed that he was debating if he should tell her or not. Eventually, he went back to his game as he started speaking:
"Well, back on the time there weren't many mammals that wanted to live in a smelly swamp. They wanted something more... 'civilized', so to say." The fox said, as he was busy crushing candies on his cellphone, "Now, they wanted it to be a place for animals from forests to live, so they started to ground the land so they could plant trees in it, for the place to have a more of a forest look. That was when things started to get strange."
"As they worked into the land, the guys who were in charge of turning the swamp into a forest started to die in really freaky accidents, all of them involving water." Nick said, and he seemed completely unworried with that. "Some say that it was the answer of the swamp to the destruction, and that it was taking revenge on the mammals that were changing it just so some mammals could live in it more comfortably."
Judy looked at him as he spoke that so casually. However, the information was disturbing to Judy. Now, months ago she was not one to believe in such things, however, she needed to admit that the story would still have made her a little scared.
Now, she knew that the supernatural was real, which meant that stories like that had even more weight. So, no surprise that she looked at the land before her with a bit more apprehension than before. Something that her fox partner didn't failed to notice.
"Don't worry." He said, looking up from his game to look at her. "The only ones who died in these accidents were the major players in destructing the swamp. Besides, the accidents stopped happening after what was left of the Marshlands was turn into a protected area. Most say that, as long as no one tries to explore or destroy that swamp, no one has anything to worry about. We will be fine."
Now, this helped make Judy a little bit more comfortable, however, the fact was that there was something about that swamp that made her very uncomfortable, and she doubted it was just her imagination.
"Honestly, I don't like it in here either." Nick admitted, as he went back to his game. "I used to be terrified of the stories that they told about this place, and even as an adult this place gave me creeps. Sure, it did served for inspiration for characters like Solomon Growly, Swamp Beast and Mammal Thing, but everyone tends to avoid this place, especially since they found out that the supernatural really is a thing." Nick stopped, and he looked at Judy.
"Yeah, mammals fear ghost and curses a lot more, now that they know that they might exist."
Judy could understand that, and she continued to be nervous about the place as she a Nick waited.
And waited...
And waited.
"They are taking a long time, aren't they?" Judy said, as she looked at the time on her phone. It has been now one-and-a-half-hour since the enforcers had gone in there. That was considerably more time than they took on the other places. Judy and Nick were both still waiting, as Nick was now sitting on the floor, resting his back against the wheel of their vehicle, as he got tired of playing with his game and was now reading comic strips online.
"Maybe they got lost?" Nick suggested, "Some people say that once you enter on the swamp you can get lost in it and also lose all track of time. Some even say that inside of it there are interdimensional wormholes that can transport you across time, and that some have vanished inside of them to end up in the distant past or in the future."
"Okay, now that is kind of ridiculous." Judy said, looking at the fox, and Nick nodded:
"Yeah, I admit that it is. Still, I almost believed the first time I saw Colter and Canis disappear on that portal. You know, before you found out that all it did was turning them invisible."
A bit more of silence followed, one that Judy broke.
"So, I've been revising my notes on what the enforcers told us. Would you like to revise yours?"
"Nah, they are fine." Nick said, "I'm pretty sure I wrote down everything that I need in them."
"Still, it is always a good idea to revise." Judy said, looking through her own notes. "Hey, why don't we compare our notes? You know, to see if we are on the same page. Maybe one of us noticed something that the other didn't."
She spoke it as if it was a good idea; still, Nick was hesitant in accepting. However, she knew how to be insistent, and Nick knew that he had no way of denying her.
"Just for you to know, they might not be as detailed as yours." Nick said, as he handed her the notebook where he had been making his notes, while she handed him her own.
As he expected, her notes were long and full of details, having being wrote as thoroughly as possible and with all the things that Judy thought were important. That, and with a very good calligraphy, as Nick could easily see.
As for the tod's notes...
_We went to Savannah Central, on the outskirts. The enforcers talked to some guy in there who had information on the mall's events. He gave them details on the events of the mall. Apparently what they made in there made the ley line go bonkers. He said that felt it all the way into his home.
*The guy in also said that the place might not be safe, for someone could try to make it disappear into oblivion again.
_Next we visited that place on Sahara Central again, in there they talked to someone who know something about the MTC. He said there had been a suspicious guy roaming the area for a few days, apparently making surveillance.
*He also confirmed that the guy in there was that panther who doesn't like me (I bet a million bucks that he was the mastermind of that attack)
_Next we went to visit the Glacier Falls, they talked to yet another secret mage in there, who told them that there had been rumors on the area about the presence of Ridley Blackwall (the rat who turned Delgato into his minion)
*He said that the rat has been looking for a place to nest in there, followed by two other guys, a hyena (our dear Laughing Joe) and a big boar (or even dearest Slimy Tusks), but apparently, they decided to go somewhere else. He said nothing on the gold
*Also, apparently the rat used his magic zonking eyes to turn someone else on his slave, this time a snow leopard with a white van (are they on their way out of town?)
_We just arrived in the Marshlands, I wonder what the enforcers are after here. Seeing a swamp hag? Consulting the spirits of the place? Looking inside of a magical mud pond that let them see the future?
By the time Judy had finished reading that, she rose her gaze and looked at the fox, who had just finished reading her own notes.
"Yeah, with a different kind of language, but basically the same that I wrote." The fox said with his usual smirk, which Judy was not returning.
"Nicholas, I really hope that you are not planning on giving this to the Chief as your official notes." She said in all seriousness.
"And have the Chief go all Black Death on me? Nah, I'm smarter than that." The fox said, "I'm just writing them as a way I can understand, I plan to rewrite them more professionally once we are back in the Precinct."
"I really hope so... Oh, there they are!" Judy said, and this caused Nick to look. He was right on time to see the two enforcers walking out of the swamp and stepping in their direction. They were both damp, and it looked that they had mud up to their knees.
"Next time we come here to talk to that woman, could we please bring rain boots?" Emilia asked, as she shook her legs, "And also something that could cover our tails? Seriously, I'll take two days to get the mud out of mine."
Marceli ignored her, and he walked to the two cops diligently, although Judy and Nick both noticed that he too seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with the mud on his feet.
"This was informative; we received some interesting facts from the mage who resides here."
"Really? What kind?" Judy asked, as she had her pen and notebook ready to write down whatever the black tod would say, and Marceli was soon speaking.
"The mage who lives in here has information on what happens in the Canal District, for it is very close to the Marshlands. She has informed us that in the last days there were a few boats under the name of a certain company bringing forth a large number of craters and storing them on a nearby storehouse." The black fox explained, "During the night between the 13th and 14th, all of the craters were moved out of the storehouse and taken to an unknown location, probably at another part of the city."
"The golems were in those craters?" Judy asked, as she continued to take notes.
"That is what we think." Emilia said, "The old hag was really specific when she described it to us. I guess she wanted to be sure that we would not be coming back later with more questions."
Wow, there really is a hag! Nick thought in surprise, but he said nothing, and just took his own notes while the enforcers talked. In this, he circled the words 'old hag', and made a few notes on what they just repeated about the craters where the golems were.
"I see." Judy said, as she made her own notes, "Did she said which company transported the craters?"
The enforcers didn't answered immediately, but shared a look among themselves. However, only for two seconds, before Marceli answered:
"Yes, she did." The black tod said to the bunny and to the red fox. "Marble Trading Company."
Nick hesitated juts for a moment before writing that name, looking at the enforcers. Meanwhile, Judy simply nodded as she wrote that name down, for further investigation and reference. With this, they were pretty much done on that area, and soon they were all getting into the cruiser again.
"Any chance you would let me drive?" Emilia asked, and the others looked at her.
"Do you even have a driver's license?" Judy asked, and the vixen looked at her with a tilted head.
"A 'what' now?"
"Yeah, you are not driving." Judy said, and soon she was climbing at the driver's seat.
"Can I at least go in the front?" The vixen insisted, and this time it was Nick who answered:
"Sorry, only cops go in the front."
"Awww." Emilia said, as she followed her uncle climbing on the back.
Soon, the cruiser was driving away. As it did, the ones on the inside had failed to notice the mammal who watched them leave from behind a nearby tree.
The jackal on a football jacket watched as they left, before he turned around and walked in direction to the inside of the swamp.
"All that information is really important." Judy said, her eyes on the road as she drove across the area of Rainforest, out and away of that closed area that led to that swamp, and back into the normal areas of the district. "It will surely help us get the ones behind that attack."
"Yeah, this is what we hope." Emilia said, "The Association is up our tails demanding for results, and now so are the three clans. They really didn't liked that someone pulled something like that right beneath their snouts."
"So much for the guys who were suppose to be responsible for this city." Nick said as he looked into the streets, and a brief silence followed these words, before Judy spoke.
"I still cannot believe this." Judy said as she drove, "Taking an entire mall hostage only to recover that glowing thing on that box? This is so crazy! Good thing that you two still have that thing safe on your apartment."
The enforcers both perked as they heard that.
"Oh, yeah..." Emilia said, "We didn't told you guys, did we?"
"Huh? Told us what?" Judy said, looking at them through the mirror as she continued to drive."
"Yesterday, while we were at the mall, the MTC broke into our apartment." Marceli said.
The car stopped suddenly as Judy hit the brakes, causing the mammals to lurch forward. Marceli reacted quickly, holding himself. Meanwhile, Emilia went with her face in the divisor, while Nick hit his head in the dashboard.
"What did you said!?" Judy said, turning around suddenly, and looking at the two foxes.
"You know, you could give a warning when you are going to do that." Emilia said as she rubbed her face, and the bunny continued to look at them, and now so was Nick (who was also rubbing his head).
"They invaded while we were at the mall." Marceli said, "We think this was actually their plan, to make us leave our apartment so they could get inside. As soon as we arrived, we asked in the reception, and they said that a panther and two other mammals walked into the place dressed as plumbers. We saw our apartment, and it was completely ransacked."
"The guys even broke the furniture." Emilia said, "They really wanted that back."
"But they didn't got it, did they?" Judy asked, now looking fully at the two, ignoring the honking of the other cars that were on the road. "They didn't managed to take that thing with them, right? Right!?"
The enforcers shared a look between themselves, before looking back at the bunny cop, who was getting really worried with all of that...
"You have went over all lines." Tasman said, as he walked side to side, "You crossed all the limits and broke virtually all of the rules. You know this, don't you?"
With this, Tasman looked at the panther. He was laying on the couch, looking relaxed as he laid in there, both of his paws off the ground and resting on the table. The panther looked pretty calm, even a little smug, as he looked back at Tasman, who looked back at him with a calm, but severe gaze.
"The Association will be on our tails more than ever now." Tasman said, looking away as he returned to pacing back and forth in front of the panther. "We will be more in evidence than ever. That not to mention the amount of resources that you have used for this. And I'm not only talking about the golems, but also of the exorbitant amount of money you paid those delinquents to lead them to that mall."
"Hey, you were the one who told me to recover it at all costs." The panther said, still looking quite smug, and Tasman looked back at him, "And I did! You can feast your eyes."
The panther spoke as he gestured with his paw to the object that was on the same desk where he was resting his feet. It was the decorated wood box. The same one that he lost during the business with Blackwall when Nick Wilde and the other cops walked into them and the same one that he recovered from the enforcers' house. Now there it was, sitting in there, right within his possession. Of course, he could not help but feel a bit smug and satisfied with himself for having gotten it, like a frog that ate a fly.
"Yes, I see." Tasman said, and he looked back at the panther, "Still, I think that maybe there were other ways to get it than attacking a mall and making hundreds of hostages just to make sure that the enforcers would be too busy to go back to the place while you were trashing it to find it."
"I did what I had to do." The panther said, looking back at him, "And I was rather successful. You should be praising me for my work."
"I'll do that next time that you don't bring so much attention to us and use so much of our money." Tasman said, looking at him with indifference, "Still, I have to say, it is truly admirable that you managed to get in there and recover it without getting any damage to yourself. Did you used some golems to set off the traps?"
"I didn't had to." The panther said, "There weren't any traps in there."
"There weren't?" Tasman said, now letting show some genuine surprise. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I just had to get in and take the package out of that apartment." The panther said, clearly bragging. "They had it hidden in a hole on the wall behind a painting. I found it, grabbed it and walked off."
Tasman said nothing, but only looked at the panther for a while, before he spoke:
"You... just grabbed it and walked off?"
"Yes." The panther said, his smugness at full force.
"Nothing happened when you got it?" Tasman asked him, "No bounded fields around the place where it was? No magic traps under or around the box? No strange happenings or some deadly effect when you removed it from place and took it of the apartment?"
"Yes..." The panther said, as he was starting to find strange that the other mammal was asking all of that.
"Are you saying that the Mieczyslaw, a clan famous for using runes to create some of the best bounded fields and traps of the world of magecraft, and one of the clans that more worry about safety and protecting what they have, have placed no special protections around the box?" Tasman asked, looking at him in the eye, "They probably realized what it was, and knew why we wanted it, and they still placed no special protection on it?"
"... Yes..." The panther said, and now the smugness had slipped out of his face, as he and Tasman looked at each other for a few moments.
"Okay, stupid question: ever since you took it from their apartment, did you looked inside the box?"
The panther looked at Tasman as he said that, the smugness all but gone from his face. In a second, the panther was fumbling into the box, placing it in front of himself. He hesitated for a second, and then he opened it.
Inside, instead of the same glowing golden thing that he saw when he first opened it, there was a rock. A simple, plain and smooth rock, with something written on it with watercolor:
BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME
Emilia laughed as she thought the expressions of the MTC when they saw that the box that they stole didn't had their precious cargo, but a little present that the vixen herself left for them.
"Sneaky." Nick said as he looked at the vixen, quite admired that she did something like that, and finding himself enjoying her sense of humor for playing with them like that. Judy herself felt relieved that the MTC didn't got what they wanted.
"Okay, so, where is the thing?" Judy asked, and Marceli looked at her, before her spoke:
"It is in a safe place." He was serious as he spoke that, "The MTC will not put their paws on it, not if we have a saying on it."
"Yeah, it is not easy to steal anything from a Mieczyslaw." Emilia agreed with her uncle, and this was something that the two cops were grateful, for it would have been really bad if the bad guys had managed to get what they wanted in the end.
"With this clarified." Marceli said, "I think it is better if we now focus on our investigation, don't you all agree?"
Yeah, everyone agreed with that. They really had to continue with their work and go on with their investigation.
"So, where to now?" Nick asked the enforcers.
"Actually, we were about to ask you guys that." Emilia admitted, "Because, you see, we have talked to all of the mages that could possibly give us some information on the matter. We pretty much talked to everyone who we could talk."
Nick and Judy both looked back to look at the enforcers, and they saw that they were serious.
"So, this means we are in charge now?" Nick asked, and Marceli shrugged.
"You two live in this city, and we pretty much exhausted our options on the mages." The black tod said, "As far as I know, you two can lead from this part, if you think that there is anyone with whom you could talk."
The fox and bunny shared a look, and they seemed to be considering it. Who they could talk with?
Yeah, sure, they had their own contacts out there, Nick in particular. However, there was any of them that could give them more information on the event that happened involving mages? Anyone who could shed a bit of light in this situation?
"You know... there might be someone." Nick said after a few moments, and now all eyes were on him.
"I have a friend who is often keeping an eye for what happens in the city." Nick said, looking at his partner on the driver's seat and to the two foxes on the back. "She must know something about these craters on the Canal District, and maybe something on the Marble Trading Company."
"Sounds worth a try." Marceli said, although deep down, he doubted if this contact would tell them anything that they didn't already know. "Does this contact of yours has a name?"
"She surely does." Nick said to him, "Honora Badger. But everyone calls her 'Honey'."
Judy knew that she would now meet the famous 'Honey' of whom Nick talked about a few times already. She couldn't really say that she looked forward to it.
Still, if Nick said that it could be worth it to talk to her, they were all willing to do it.
So, by the fox's instructions, Judy was now driving them in direction to a more secluded part of the city.
"So, does she lives around here?" Judy asked, as she looked at the rundown walls covered with graffiti.
"Oh, she surely does." Nick said, looking through the window at the many passing buildings. "She says that the neighborhood is nice. Of course, she hardly even talks with anyone in here, but I guess that this is between her and the neighbors."
They drove to there, Nick pointed out a place for them to park the cruiser. As they got out, Nick was speaking once again:
"I must warm you; Honey is very mistrusting with strangers, so you just let me do the talking, okay?"
They walked for a short while, and they eventually stopped at an area that seemed near an old abandoned field where once they were building something, but stopped midway. There were some pieces of old pipe sticking out of the ground, and also some trash on the place, like broken glass and old wooden boxes falling to pieces.
"This is the place." Nick said as he walked into the barren terrain, and the others followed him, some of them with raised eyebrows as they looked around.
"Seriously?" Emilia asked, and Judy said:
"Nick, this place is abandoned."
"Oh, Carrots." Nick said, looking at his partner, "My dear, sweet, innocent Carrots. You have learned a lot since you came to Zootopia, but you still have a lot to learn." He said, and Judy looked at him.
"You cannot take everything at face's value." The fox said, and he approached one of the pipes that were sticking out of the ground. Picking another piece of metal, Nick started to tap at the pipe, making it vibrate and produce a metallic sound that resounded a little.
Nick didn't simply tapped at it, but he did so with a certain flourish, and soon, they were noticing that there was some kind of pattern to what he was doing. It was a code.
It took only a minute for something to happen.
Suddenly, a loud *CLANK* was heard, as if something being unlocked. Then, there was an even louder *BANG*, as the ground suddenly opened itself, revealing it to be a hatchway, and a mammal was climbing out.
This had to be Honey.
She was taller than Nick, standing on 4.8 feet tall, and she had a stout and wide build. Her fur was black in coloration, with a white stripe that ran from the top of her head all the way down to the tip of her short tail. Her fur was dirty, and it seemed that it was covered with grime and food crumbs, showing that the honey badger didn't cared very much (or at least was a little relapse) about personal hygiene. She wore a camo tank top, khaki pants held in place by an olive tool belt full of pockets, and she wore a military tag around her neck like a necklace. Now, she didn't looked crazy in the traditional sense, but there was a clear eye of suspicion as she looked at the ones in there as she got out of the hatchway. Her green eyes looked at every single one of them, starting with the bunny, and looking at the two strange foxes, before they stopped on the fox on police uniform.
For a long moment, they looked at each other, and the gaze of the honey badger was quite hostile, to the point where Judy was actually starting to get worried, her paw was subconsciously reaching for her dart gun, ready to use it in a moment's notice.
Suddenly, Nick walked forward, and said:
"Honey, Honey, Honey, must be funny~!"
"In a rich man's world~!" The honey badger said, and in this, a smile opened on her face as all of the mistrust disappeared. "Nicky! It's so good to see you!" She spoke as she pulled the fox into a hug, to which the vulpine didn't resisted. Meanwhile, the other three watched, Marceli with a tilted head, Emilia with a raised eyebrow, and Judy with an expression similar to the one she had when she first met Mr. Big.
"Dude, you that is the first time I see you in your police blues!" Honey said, as she let go of him, "I mean, I saw it on the news and on the tv, but that is the first time I see it in person! Man, you look rather dashing!"
"Thank you." Nick said, adjusting his lapel, "Got this custom made, fox-sized and extra fly."
The others continued to watch as the two went on with this, seemingly trading amenities. Marceli was the one would walk forward and ask:
"Honora Badger?"
This caused the two others to look at him, and the honey badger looked at him with her arms crossed.
"It's 'Honey', Mister Enforcer. The only one who calls me 'Honora' is my mama when she is pissed." She said, looking at the black tod, "And before you ask something dumb, yes, I know who you are, I watch the news, although most of it is controlled by the Flock."
Marceli only looked at her, before he looked at Nick.
"Hey, she knows everything that happens in Zootopia." Nick said, "By the way, would you happen to know anything about some craters that have been arriving in the Canal District?"
"Oh, you mean, the ones of that Marble Trading guys?" Honey said, clearly showing that she knew every well what this was about. "Yeah, I know about that. The golems that attacked the mall were inside of those craters, weren't they? That was how they brought them inside the city, wasn't it?"
Marceli looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe... there is anything that you have to say about it?"
"Maybe." Honey said, looking at the fox, "But I cannot say it up here. Get in the hole, y'all."
Some of them were still a bit hesitant; however, the ladies were both going for it as soon as they saw Nick going down with no hesitation, followed by Marceli. Soon, all of them were going down on the hatch, with Honey going last, closing and locking the lid behind herself.
The placed was basically a long tube made of bricks with a stair inside that they had to go down to the bottom of it before they arrived at "Honey's Den", as Nick himself had called it.
The place was basically a big bunker, with a lateral door that seemed that it gave access to an area that was more similar to the living room of a normal house. The bunker had two sides, on one; there was a great supply of provisions, including canned food and a lot of drinkable water. On the other side, however, there were a lot of things, like what seemed to be a fire extinguisher, a set of fur products (including a curling iron and a few scissors and shavers), and a few cans of paint with a couple balloon packages. However, the most interesting seemed to be the walls.
They were decorate with what seemed to be many things that Honey had placed in there as part of a personal research. Many of the pictures and documents were connect to each other with red lines and pins. She had even what seemed to be a big map of Zootopia itself, with many pictures and lines pinned across it.
The pictures were different among themselves, as some were photographs, while others were drawings, and some of them looked like images taken from old books or from websites. However, it seemed that all of the pictures had one theme in common: sheep.
"Nice decor." Emilia said as she looked around. Judy was taking a closer look on the things in there, and she realized that what she thought was a fire extinguisher was actually a can for shaving cream, that there were some balloons in there that looked like they had been filled with paint. She also noticed a thing in there that looked terrifyingly similar to a big gun but was actually a giant shearing device. Marceli himself was busy looking at the pictures, as his eyes moved between some of them, and in some he stopped his gaze for a few moments, but eventually moved away to look at other.
"Seeing anything that rings a bell, enforcer?" Honey said, as she approached the black fox, who looked back at her.
"So, I see that you added a few things." Nick said, and Honey turned to him.
"Well, I had to. After they revealed that mages were out there, I had to review a few of my lines of investigation." The woman said, as she looked at Nick, "I gave up a few investigation lines and started new ones. You know, you have to adapt."
"Yeah, I imagine." Nick said, looking at her, "So, Marble Trading, what can you say about them?"
"A lot actually." Honey said, and she looked at them, "Still, I'll not do that for free."
"What?" Nick said, now being one of the moments were he actually seemed surprised. "Honey what... do you want money?"
"Pffh, no way!" The honey badger quickly said, "I don't take money for telling others the truth. Even though my bank account now is kinda empty..." she said that, and then she turned to the enforcers. "Nah, I'm not interested in money... but, I am interested in trading information."
The enforcers looked at her with raised eyebrows, and Honey was straight to the point:
"Okay, I know things, and you guys know things as well." She said, looking at them, "So, I give you the information I have, if you guys give me some information as well."
The two foxes shared a look, and they looked back at the honey badger, who looked expectantly at them.
"What kind of information?" Marceli asked, and Honey smiled at him.
"Oh, anything that could be meaningful. I do like being in pair of everything. It could even be something in relation to what happened in the mall yesterday, and if the sheep were really involved."
"Humm, excuse me? Ms. Badger?" Judy said, causing Honey to look at her. "The events of the mall are an undergoing investigation, and sharing information on that would put the investigation in jeopardy."
"Oh, I know." Honey said, "I understand of all of these procedures, I don't want to know these details, unless you want to tell me." She said the last part in a low voice to the enforcers, who continued to look at her. "Anyway, I kind of know some details already from the video the Mage Chasers posted."
"Excuse me?" Nick said, as he and the others looked surprised at this, and Honey looked back at all of them.
"Oh, you didn't knew?" She asked, and soon she was digging through her stuff, until she pulled out a laptop. "The Mage Chasers have posted a video online of their little adventure on the mall." She said as she connected with the internet and accessing ZooTube. "Of course, not many took it seriously when they posted it, because of the fame they gained, but as soon as they saw that it was serious it started downloading like crazy. Here it is!"
Soon, the five were watching a video that was basically what the three teenagers have made when going around the mall. They recorded a good deal of fights, bits of the interview that they made with Emilia and Marceli before the thing happened, and some close ups on certain areas. They even managed to capture some impressive shots on the brawl in the central square of the mall. All of that with cuts to the teenagers, making their own commentaries on the thing. The video had been edit rather professionally.
"Sweet cheese and crackers."
"The Association won't be very happy with that." Emilia said, as her uncle looked at the screen.
"They got a good shot on us, didn't they, Carrots?" Nick asked as the camera showed a zoom on Nick and Judy's shocked expression as they were seeing their mothers fighting.
"Yeah, the guys are getting a lot of views thanks to this video." Honey said, "They are actually making a name for themselves on the internet now. But, apparently their parents didn't liked that they put themselves in such a situation, and now the three are grounded until they go to college."
Honey now turned away from the computer, and looked at the other four.
"Now, I don't want you guys to tell me all the details of the investigation, I know better." She asked, "Actually, I might not even want to know about the events of yesterday. I just want to know some things."
"What kind of things?" Marceli asked; his arms crossed as he looked at the woman, and she looked back at him.
"You know, things like if a family of mages has connection to the Flock, or if you guys have ever needed to fight some mage sheep who wanted to take over the world, or if you know of a certain secret organization formed by sheep that the Association often has to oppose."
Marceli continued to look at her with a raised eyebrow, and so did Emilia, who was starting to get a little worried with the obsession that the honey badger had with sheep.
"I'm... not sure if we have any information about that we could simply say." Marceli said, and Honey was quick to answer:
"Come on, guys." Honey said, "Just give me some information! Anything!"
"I'm sorry, but I think-" Marceli was saying, and suddenly, Nick cut him.
"Wait, I think there is something." The tod said, causing the others to look at her, "We could tell her about the three clans."
"Nick?" Judy said, and the enforcers looked back at the fox.
"I'm... not sure this is a good idea."
"Why not?" Nick asked, "I mean, you already told us from the ZPD, and it is not directly related to the investigation, so maybe we could share it with her."
"What? What clans? What are you guys talking about?" Honey asked, and Nick made a gesture to the honey badger as he looked at Marceli. The black tod looked at him for a few moments, before he sighed.
"Fine." He said, and looked at Honey, "There is a thing we can tell you, but you need to keep it only to yourself. The clans might not be happy for us babbling about them to others."
"What, you think I can't keep secrets?" Honey said, "I might want the truth to be told, but I'm smart enough to know when to keep my mouth shut. Now, spit it out, what are these clans you are talking about?"
Marceli looked at her, and he started to conversation rather casually, asking her what she knew about the Bellwether family. Honey said that she knew the basic, that they were some reclusive rich family of sheep that lived in the Meadowlands and that the head of the family had three children and one of them was Dawn Bellwether. It was know now that they were mages after the revealing that Bellwether herself was a mage.
"What, are they like, an important mage family?" Honey asked, "Do they have ties to the Flock?"
Now, Marceli had no idea on what 'The Flock' was exactly, but he was able to share with Honey the same information that he shared with the ZPD in that morning.
They told her about the ley lines and sacred lands, and how Zootopia was an important one. They also told her about how that land was seize by three families, who turned into the second owners. Also, the level of power and authority that they had on that land as the second owners.
By the time they finished, Honey looked positively baffled.
"The Bellwethers own Zootopia!?" Honey said, sounding really shocked. And she was a bit loud, as Judy's ears hurt a little.
"Yes, they do." Marceli said, looking back at her, "Along with the Wilde and Höhle clans. They share the authority."
Honey seemed like she had stopped listening, and now she was reflecting on what she had been told.
"Wow... Bellwether's family owns Zootopia along with two other families. And they took part on founding the city! This is so... wow." The honey badger said, as she turned around, and she looked as if she was opening a few files in her laptop, and she was looking on the things in there.
"If that is truth, this would explain so much... but, it would also mean..." She said to herself, and she turned to Marceli once more. "They have authority over all that happens in Zootopia?"
"All that pertains to the world of magecraft." The black tod said to her, "They have their own personal policy of not interfering with the affairs of the non-mages, unless it starts to represent a threat to themselves. It was a condition that the Association stipulated for them when they decided to allow the non-mages to live in here freely."
"Yeah, but they actually follow it?" Honey said, and she turned her attention back to the computer. "If they are a family that controls Zootopia, this would allow them to do a lot. They could have free access to most of the area and use their rituals in here without anyone getting on their way. They could use spells to suppress instincts on the population and even control elections and legal decisions. If they actually do have connections to the Flock, well, it is actually possible that they do, if they are such an old family of mages..."
"Honey. Honey!" Nick said, making the honey badger snap out of her own reflections and look at him. "You already got your information, what about you give us some?"
She blinked, and it was as if she had suddenly remembered it.
"Oh, right! Marble Trading!" She said. Soon, she started to fumble on other archives, and this time she opened a few windows that seemed to be documents and news articles concerning the company.
"The guys are an international trading agency that has subsidiaries all over the globe, and that it is said to make business with some of the more influent guys around." Honey said as she went over the files. "They don't have a subsidiary here in Zootopia yet, but rumor has it that they are actually planning one. Also, there is a great deal of legal cases that have been raise against the company, saying that they had been involved in illegal things, like trading of stolen goods, and even mammal trafficking. But none of these investigations and lawsuits ever went past their initial stages. The company is consider pristine clean and devoid of any irregularity. Still, the amount of cases that were raised against them was something that you should really pay attention to."
Sounds like the kind of company that a mage criminal organization could use. Judy thought to herself, as the badger continued to open more files.
"They have a lot of investors." Honey said, "Most of them seem to be of the classified kind, but some of them are pretty wealthy. In fact..." She said, and she opened another file, "One of them is the owner of that storehouse were the craters they have been bringing were taken."
"Oh, really?" Nick asked, looking at the file, "What's his name?"
"His identity seems to be protected." Honey said, looking through the files, "But, I got the guy's initials: K.T."
"Only the initials?" Judy asked, "Didn't got his name?"
"Nope. It seems that he is among the classified investors. But, the guy definitely is the owner of that storehouse. The craters all were kept in there before they were taken to two different places."
"Did you said two?" Marceli asked, and Honey nodded.
"Yep, two. Most of the craters were taken to a place in the outskirts of Savannah Central, and that was on the day before the mall was taken." She said, and she looked at another, "But, there were a couple of big craters that were taken somewhere else during a couple weeks, some undisclosed location here in Zootopia. Actually..." She said, opening a few other files, "It seems that the storehouse was being used to receive small craters that were taken to the said address, but there was an increase in the amount of craters for around three or four days before the mall was taken."
"The mage was working on them." Marceli said, and the others looked at him. "He was working on his golems. He used the storehouse to get the components to arrive and be taken to him so he could work."
"Did you said four days before the mall was taken?" Judy asked, and Honey confirmed. "That was the day that we apprehended that strange package from the panther and gave it to the enforcers!"
"He wanted to have it back, so he provided for more components to be brought so he could have the golems he would need for his plan. Were all the craters removed in a single day?"
Honey nodded.
"If they all were taken at once, he could not take them to his own workshop, for they would call too much attention." The black told spoke, seemingly to himself as much as to the others, "He would have to take them to an area that was open and yet hidden from sight, so he could get them all assembled and ready." Marceli said, and all of them nodded in agreement.
"This is all very important, and it gives us some ground to continue to investigate." Marceli concluded.
"Honey, think you can put all of these files on a pen drive for us?" Nick asked, and the honey badger was soon nodding.
"You don't even have to ask." She said as she pulled out a pen drive that had a sheep skull printed in it. "I'll have all of these files ready for you to take them." She said as she plugged the drive in and started to download the information in it.
"And." She added, opening another file, "Since you guys gave me such a meaningful information about the Bellwether, I'm gonna let you guys into another information that might be good for you."
"Really? What information?" Emilia asked.
"Mages and the Bigfoot are roaming around the Manechester house." She said, and everyone looked at her.
"Did you just said 'Bigfoot'?" Judy asked slowly, looking at the badger, and she nodded.
"Yeah. Well, that's how I'm calling the thing, since I don't really know what it is." Honey spoke, as she accessed a few video on the file she just opened.
"Any chance you could elaborate?" Nick asked, and she nodded.
"Yeah, it is all some situation regarding the Manechesters."
"You mean the family of Chandler Manechester?" Judy asked.
"That's right, the king of confections." Honey said, as she fumbled through the files. "His family is quite old and a big deal here in Zootopia, and they made some serious dough with their security and private police agency. They are said to be a good family, even though the old horses Manechester are not big fans of predators... Here!"
She showed what seemed to be the view of a camera that was install in what seemed to be some big and important house.
"You actually got a camera in the Manechesters' yard?" Nick said; sounding more admired than surprised.
"Do you have permission for this?" Judy asked, but Honey dodged the question by calling their attention to something:
"See this guy right here?" She said, pointing a horse that had just walked into the line of the camera. "Does he looks familiar?"
They all looked at the horse on the image, and they all recognized him.
That was Percy Colter!
"Yeah, the guy from the rainbow flames." Honey said, "He and a few friends have been lurking around the Manechester house for a while between last November and the start of January." She said, as they looked at the video, and they could see two mammals coming at his encounter. It were Hudson Coyle and an unknown silver fox. They chatted for a few moments, and soon they were all leaving the place.
"These guys certainly do not live there, so I found it rather suspicious." She said, "Of course, I didn't had idea that they were mages until a few months ago, when I saw the horse online on a video and I realized that he was a mage, and probably so were the guys with him."
"They still go to the Manechester house?" Marceli asked, as now his curiosity had been awaken, and Honey continued:
"They stopped around the middle of January, and didn't appeared again ever since. But, I have kept my eye out for them, in case they went back in there." She said, and she opened a few more videos.
"In this, I caught some other interesting things that have been happening lately." She spoke, and opened a video that showed two mammals, a wolf and a gazelle, being received by a donkey butler at the front door and entering the house.
"Who are these two?" Judy asked,
"Beats me." Honey said, "They appeared last week, and they have been living in the house ever since. I think that these guys might be mages, rumor was that the Manechester guys had been looking for a few mages to work for them."
Judy and Nick shared a look.
"I'm serious! Some rich families have been doing that lately! They look for mages who are after a job and offer then a salary to be their live-in personal magecraft professionals. For things like protection, counseling, cursing their rivals, you know, the gist."
"They could be freelancers." Emilia said, but Marceli said nothing.
"Don't you have a better angle of them?" The black tod asked, "Or maybe some image that isn't so dark, and we can see their faces better?"
"Nope, sorry." Honey said, and she then passed by another video, one that showed another angle of the house.
"However, I also caught some curious figure who was also sneaking around their yard at night." She said, and soon, they were seeing a figure walking in the sight of the camera.
It was hard to say the species, but it was something big and full of fur.
It was carrying a small device in its paw/hoof (?), which it placed in a nearby tree, and took a while adjusting it.
"Is he... placing a hidden camera?" Judy asked, and Honey nodded.
"Sure is, bunny buns."
The creature continued with what it was doing for nearly a minute, before it considered its work done. That was when she creature turned around and started to walk away. In this, Honey paused the image right when the creature had turned its head, allowing others to see the face.
"Sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy said, and Emilia said something in Pawlish as she looked at the image.
The creature was certainly a mammal; however, it looked pretty different from most regular mammals. It had an elongated face that one would expect in some species of prey, but its mouth was pack with sharp teeth. It was hard to discern precise features on the mammal in question, but it was possible to see the eyes of the mammal, which glowed in the low luminosity of the night in a rather ominous way.
"There is Bigfoot." Honey said, gesturing at the image, and the others just stared.
"Not very pretty, is he?" Emilia said as she looked at the image.
"Just what in Frith's name is that thing?" Judy said, looking at the entity that was showing on the image.
"I don't know..." Marceli said, looking at the glowing eyes of the creature, "But this has really caught my interest."
Another chapter ready for all of my readers.
Once more, I'd like to remind you all that this story is greatly inspired by 'Zootopia: File 2', written by Empressimperia. Also, I used some headcanons about the place called 'Marshlands', a canon location on Zootopia that was made a headcanon from TheHook1, from DeviantArt.
Hope you all have enjoyed this story. Please, no flaming, but constructive criticism is always welcome ^^