Chapter 6: New Blood

Nocturnal District

The Fire Pit

2:31 PM

They descended far enough that it felt like they'd covered at least a few circles of Hell before the bus finally came to a stop.

"Welcome home!" Peter Ishini danced through the glass doors the second they opened, holding out a crimson wing to beckon the others out. Most of the hardened mercs just rolled their eyes as they exited while La Bruja ignored him completely. It did, however, get a small smile out of Lucy again.

Home. The concept was almost foreign to her by now, that prison cell the closest thing to it for the past three years. She looked around distastefully at the confining cavern walls surrounding them. Even the way they'd come in was now mysteriously walled up behind them, yet another precaution she presumed. So far, this kind of "freedom" wasn't impressing her, but beggars can't be choosers, right? As if I'd ever beg.

They soon left this natural hideout behind, entering through a steel door and into an area that more closely resembled an industrial tunnel. A system of pipes crisscrossed overhead and Lucy didn't even want to imagine what could be flowing through them. As her gaze wandered, she spotted something unusual on one of the walls.

It appeared to be an emblem of some kind. It resembled a feline face, but made out of sharp triangles, an upside-down triangle forming the head, two on top to make the ears, another for the nose, and two more to form the teeth of a fanged smile. The only other thing that stuck out about it were the eyes. Instead of triangles, a pair of shapes that resembled flames were used to form the feline's soulless stare. It was in good condition, sticking out quite a bit in this rustic atmosphere. Everyone else was just passing it right by without a second thought, but once again, Lucy's curiosity got the best of her. "What's this?"

"The symbol of the Felidae Infernum," La Bruja said. "Or, at least, a symbol the public uses to represent us. We didn't create it ourselves, nor do we really know or care who did."

"Then...why does he have those flames on his hat?" Ci-Ci asked, pointing at Ishini in confusion.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. So that's why it looked familiar.

"Reverse psychology!" he exclaimed, a little smugness in his voice. "No way a real Infernum member would wear their symbol so openly. No, of course not. I'm just a quirky magician with an occult fetish!"

"That makes a really weird kind of sense," Lucy admitted.

"The trick isn't to outright convince everyone you're not a criminal," he said with a wink. "Just to misdirect them as to your real intentions."

"And who better to ask about misdirection than a magician?" she returned, smirking.

"The leader of the Felidae Infernum for one," La Bruja cut in. "That's what you know me as now, but what did you know before? That I was a feared felon from the outside who could make mammals disappear if I didn't get what I wanted? All technically true, but barely scratching the surface. It didn't matter though, did it? I still held guards and inmates alike in the palm of my paw."

Ci-Ci gaped. "You got that kind of power just through rumor-mongering?"

"With the occasional order given to show that my threats were not empty. There are many secrets we don't wish the outside world to know, but what they think they know is one of our greatest assets."

"I'll have to show you some of the conspiracy theorist boards I follow on Preddit," Ishini cackled. "Those guys go nuts over every little breadcrumb we toss 'em!"

"Duuuuude, I thought this was gonna be terrifying," Lucy said. "We've just barely gotten in the door and it's already kinda awesome!"

"It'll be plenty terrifying," La Bruja assured. "But...yes. It can be 'awesome' as well. Come along. There's much to do."

"I hope you know what you're getting us into, Luce..." Ci-Ci whispered so that only the bat could hear her.

Lucy gave her a reassuring pat. "Hey, I never know what I'm getting myself into. It usually turns out fine."

"Except when you get framed for murder?" Ci-Ci guessed.

"Well, yeah. But I did get to meet you because of it."

That, more than anything, helped to cheer her up. "As far as silver linings go, that one's pretty nice."

La Bruja suddenly stopped, holding out a paw behind her. "Right here." She tapped a fist against a part of the wall, seemingly indistinguishable from every other one. There was a hollow clanging sound, and then the wall slid aside to reveal a secret passage.

Mr. Graves nodded approvingly. "You haven't lost your touch in your time away, Faceless."

"I am never truly away." She looked to the mercs, then pointed down the tunnel. "You will rendezvous with Rattois and his forces at Entry Point C. The rest of us will continue this way."

They nodded almost in unison, then continued marching on, leaving just the three senior Infernum members plus the rookie and the tagalong.

Lucy was still staring dumbstruck at the secret passage. "I hope this place comes with GPS..."

La Bruja stepped through. "It's cute that you think we'd trust you with a map. You'll learn to find your way around. For your own sake."

"Fair enough." Honestly, not having maps was probably a smart idea for a crime syndicate. That was how they always went down in movies.

It was pitch black beyond the point of night vision, and something about the walls flummoxed even Lucy's echolocation.

"We built this place with every security measure in mind," the keen-eared rabbit explained. "There are even sensors to pick up those little hypersonic squeaks of yours."

"Impressive." And a bit disturbing. "So, uh, we heading anywhere specific?" she asked, no longer wanting to echolocate.

"We're taking you on a tour!" Ishini announced, startling her. "If you look to your left, you'll see…nothing! If you look to your right…also nothing!"

Lucy really wasn't used to seeing nothing. It was almost starting to drive her stir-crazy when she heard a creak, La Bruja pushing open another door and finally letting some light in. Rushing forward, Lucy felt the relief instantly as they emerged.

Into a bathroom.

"...I have to admit, you guys sure know how to keep the surprises coming."

"Sorry if this isn't quite what you were expecting," Ishini said, smirking as he leaned against a stall. "But this was the shortest route, in loo of a cleaner one."

"Ugh. For a secret society, I kinda thought you'd value privacy more."

"It's a delicate balance of information. But if you're going to be staying here, you should at least be privy to our privies."

"Stop."

"In all seriousness, if you need to go, you probably should now," Mr. Graves advised. "There's a lot to cover and we don't have many bathrooms."

"Now that's criminal." But it had been a long enough trip that Lucy was seriously considering the offer. "Alright, fine. But you had better wait outside." She opened the stall door and looked cautiously at the toilet. At least it was clean.

"ALL CLEAR!"

Lucy screamed and fell on her ass as a sopping-wet prairie dog popped out of the toilet bowl, looking way too pleased with himself for doing so. He was dressed in black and green camo that she instantly pegged as trying too hard to look hardcore, and his smile and salute didn't help that impression. "Ready to welcome the new recruit, Ali Baaba!"

La Bruja frowned in disapproval. "Ryan, why did you choose to pop out the moment someone stepped in? You could have gotten a noseful of something very unpleasant."

Lucy looked between the two of them incredulously. "What...WHY WAS HE IN THE TOILET?!"

"He has quite the—" Ishini was about to make another pun, but was silenced by an icy glare from La Bruja.

"You're right, I don't think I wanna know." And it had pretty much startled her own system into silence for the time being. Better that than the alternative. "Let's just get going."

"Roger!" Ryan leapt clear over her head, dripping some water particles on her that Lucy frantically swept off, saluting the group again as they left the bathroom. "I'll keep guard for intruders! Our plumbing will not be breached without a fight!"

"What's with him?" she whispered to Ishini as they lagged behind.

"Ryan Hilltop? Oh, he's this runaway we picked up a while back. Not necessarily a good thief, but he's very skilled at getting into places he shouldn't be."

"I noticed."

He chuckled. "His talents were being wasted by street gangs and the like before we got ahold of him. Honestly, I'm not sure he ever fully grasped what the Infernum is about, but he's sure having the time of his life just being involved."

"And that's what really matters, right?" Ci-Ci asked with a grin.

Lucy wasn't so sure.

Before she could ponder this further, they went into the next room and a radial sawblade struck the door frame just above her head, burying itself into the wood.

"Fiddlesticks!" said a male voice. "The blades strike with far too much velocity!"

They were now in a firing range. A male hare and a female zebra stood next to each other.

The zebra was gigantic, and possibly the most muscular mammal Lucy had ever seen, dressed in black kevlar from her neck down. "I don't know, Thompkin, think of how far it could throw frisbees."

The hare, a white-furred gentlemammal in a white lab coat, yellow shirt, and brown pants, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Judging by his excited look, Lucy had to guess it was perpetually March for him. "Hm. That is true. I only wish we weren't under such a shortage of frisbees that we had to resort to launching sawblades."

Given the design of this place, he honestly seemed to fit right in. "Why is there a firing range connected directly to the bathroom?" Lucy hissed.

"As a reminder to never let your guard down," La Bruja said smoothly, raising a paw to signal the two. "Hareison, Shimauma, a moment please."

They put down whatever nightmarish contraption had launched that sawblade and approached the group. The zebra bowed on one knee. "Welcome back, Kunoichi."

The hare just clapped his paws together and smiled warmly. "The Doctor graces us with her return!"

Lucy groaned. "I can't keep track of all these names..."

"Neither can our enemies. That's the idea," Mr. Graves pointed out.

Hareison noticed their guests first, and was quick to give a pair of hearty pawshakes at the same time. "Pleased to meet you! Thompkin Hareison! Head of Toy Design!"

Lucy and Ci-Ci both slowly blinked. "...Toy Design?" Ci-Ci asked, raising an eyebrow at... everyone present, really.

"Toy Design," La Bruja said, in a tone that firmly added an unspoken 'no further questions'.

Do half the mammals here not even know who they're working for? Lucy decided it best not to rock that boat. As far as she knew, making toys really was one of the Infernum's side jobs to better control Zootopia's youth. Widespread criminal conspiracies could be versatile, right?

"And I am Yuki Shimauma," the zebra calmly introduced. "Weapons Expert."

"It's funny how often we end up working together," Hareison noted with a laugh.

And now it makes sense. "Uh...huh."

Yuki looked them both up and down appraisingly. "Ah. Yes. I recall your mugshot from the news. A murder, was it? Sloppy. Far better ways you could have handled it."

Lucy's jaw dropped at the sheer audacity of this bitch. Even if she was like a bunch of times her size, that didn't mean she could talk to her like that. "Hey! I didn't do it! I was framed!"

Yuki just smirked. "Sure you were."

The worst thing about being accused of murder, Lucy found, was that you couldn't retaliate in any way that didn't back up the accusation. So she just seethed silently to herself until Ci-Ci put a calming paw on her shoulder.

"Lay off the new girl," Ishini said playfully. "Not everyone has had your...unique experiences on the high seas."

"So she was a pirate?" Lucy grumbled. Kind of badass, but she still didn't like her.

"More like a plaything to pirates, but close enough."

Lucy paused, looking at Yuki in surprised sympathy. "Ouch. Uh...that really sucks."

Yuki, thankfully, snorted laughter instead of stomping her into paste. "Yeah. It did. Maybe I'll tell you the rest of the story, if you prove not to be completely useless."

Lucy raised a claw, almost about to mouth off again before she stopped herself. Honestly, it's a fair condition. "Deal."

"Let's continue on, please," La Bruja said impatiently. "We must let these two get back to their...toys."

"Yes!" Hareison said eagerly, hopping off again. "Perhaps we can work on finding more frisbees."

Yuki followed after him. "Shouldn't let all those perfectly good sawblades go to waste though."

"Scientifically speaking, you're absolutely right! Load another one!"

"And that's our cue to leave," said Mr. Graves, quickly ushering the group out of the room before more saws went flying.

"What even is this place?" Lucy asked curiously. "Don't see many underground firing ranges."

She expected to get more vagaries, but La Bruja surprised her. "Buildings around here are sturdy, but the ground sometimes isn't. So they collapse down in one big piece. Taking them out would waste good money, so they just built over them. Then some enterprising citizens, namely ourselves, dug tunnels between a lot of them to form a whole network. That is the Fire Pit in a nutshell."

Ci-Ci mulled it over. "Soooo it's like Frankenstench's Monster if it fell into a big hole, got covered up in dirt, and then a bunch of rodents came along and started burrowing around inside of its body to make new homes?"

The entire rest of the group stopped in its tracks. "...That is a surprisingly apt analogy," La Bruja admitted. They continued on.

That actually helped Lucy understand the Fire Pit more than it should have. So it was no surprise at all when the group opened another door and they now emerged into a waiting room, the type you would find in a typical clerical office.

And behind the front desk was a sheep busily typing away at a keyboard, also the type you would find in a typical clerical office. She was dressed in a powder blue suit jacket over a soft pink dress. Under the jacket and over the dress were three black belts that seemed to serve no real purpose. Ishini gestured a paw towards the sheep, who waved back. "Introducing the Infernum's primary bookkeeper: Melody Baas!"

"Oh, so she keeps track of all the jobs you guys are pulling all across the city?" Lucy asked, a little impressed given the sheer scale of such an operation.

"That's right," the sheep answered, smiling up at her. "We finished up four so far today. Just gotta dispose of them."

"Dispose of what?"

"The bodies, you goof." She laughed and waved around a thin knitting needle. One that Lucy could smell blood on. "Oh, wait, did you guys say Melody? You confused me for my sister again, didn't you?"

Ishini cleared his throat. "My bad. Introducing the Infernum's chief assassin: Harmony Baas."

It wasn't until she heard the word assassin that Lucy really started to feel in over her head. The toilet trooper, the pirate, and the mad scientist she could handle, but this was something she really should have expected.

Another sheep, wearing the exact same outfit, approached holding a clipboard. "Harmony, don't sit at my computer. You know mammals get confused."

"Totally not why I do it or anything," she remarked, getting up. "The look on the newbie's face was priceless, by the way. Almost as funny as the 'oh no, look at this needle that's in my throat now' look."

Lucy shuddered, sharing an uneasy glance with Ci-Ci. Ishini gave the former an encouraging smile. "Hey, I know it's a little scary, but just be glad she's on our side. It's a good thing she's Melody's sister or she might've ended up with ZAG instead."

"ZAG?" she asked shakily.

"The Zootopian Assassins' Guild. That is probably the first and last question you should ask about them, just FYI."

She just nodded.

Melody was pinching the bridge of her muzzle. "Don't you have a banker to drown in a toilet or something? Leave the new girl alone. She's been through a lot."

Lucy was relieved that someone had the balls to tell the assassin to leave.

Harmony walked off with a shrug. "Haven't we all? I used to be dumb and innocent too once. Doesn't take much to change that once you stain your wool for the first time. Who knows? Maybe she'll be even more kill-happy than me someday."

"Not a chance," Lucy blurted out.

She stopped for a moment, making the bat freeze up even more, then just kept walking. "Already got some fight in her..." And then she was gone.

"Oi! Boss! You got a minute?"

The speaker was a young, pretty female dingo in a very nice tuxedo and sunglasses, complete with a baby-blue bowtie.

La Bruja gave her most unexpected response yet: a genuine, warm smile. "Of course, my dear Debra. What's the matter?"

"Just a little frazzled you had someone else be your driver," Debra admitted. "You go to prison for years, and I'm not even allowed to pick you up when you get out!"

Lucy could've gotten whiplash from how much of a mood swing this tour was. That seemed to be something of a recurring theme within the Infernum.

"My apologies," La Bruja said, the words sounding like an alien language to the bat. "I was in a bit of a hurry to leave, you understand. The stress was getting to me. That's why I needed to use someone else who happened to be available. You know you'll always be my favorite driver, Debra."

Debra's tail wagged. "Thanks, Boss. Who's this little one?"

"She's a new associate of mine," La Bruja explained, gesturing for Lucy to introduce herself.

Lucy reluctantly stepped forward. "Uh...hi. I'm Lucy Sang."

Debra gently shook her hand, like she was afraid of breaking her. Which was fair, honestly. "Nice to meetcha, Lucy! I'm Debra Ding. My friends call me Dingding. I'm the company's personal driver!"

"The...company?"

"Or club, or gathering, or whatever you guys and gals wanna call yourselves today," she said with a chuckle. " I don't pretend to know the hobbies of the rich. It's just an honor getting to drive you all around!"

She shot Ishini a look. Seriously, another one?

Another one, his look returned.

They were really taking the "secret" in "secret society" way too far. She didn't know what was scarier: how often they seemed to be lying to their own members, or how they'd kept it up for this long.

"If you have a moment, Debra, I'd like to discuss your union benefits," Melody spoke up.

"Cool beans! Been waiting for that. Have a good one, Lucy! Hope we get to talk more later."

With that, she and the sheep wandered off.

"What the fuck?" Ci-Ci muttered, getting stares from the rest of the group.

"No, I'm with her," Lucy piped in. "Seriously, what the fuck? That mad scientist guy I sorta get. He's clearly nuts and I'm not sure he understands what reality is. But her? She just seems...kinda dumb. How do you justify stringing along someone like that for so long? I mean, you have to tell her the truth at some point, right?"

"Many have tried," Ishini replied. "But some skulls are just too thick for truth bullets to crack."

"Honey attracts more flies than vinegar," La Bruja elaborated. "I fund Hareison's experiments, and I helped dear Debra out of a very abusive family situation. If you ask either of them, I'm simply too kind to do any of the things I'm accused of. You would be absolutely shocked what lengths the mind will bend to in order to defend someone it thinks positively of."

That explanation both simplified things greatly and confused her further. Could mammals really be that gullible?

Yes, obviously, or organizations like this wouldn't exist. "I…guess so."

"Don't get weary already," said Mr. Graves. "We're almost done."

"With the tour? Really?"

"Well, no. You've seen maybe 2% of this place, if even. A complete tour would take days. But there's still one more of us you should probably meet."

"Who are they? The local body dumper?" Ci-Ci joked.

None of the Infernum members laughed, but Ishini procured a gold star sticker, which he put on her chest. "I keep one on me at all times, for correct answers."

Lucy might've assumed he was joking if she hadn't already met their assassin. Annnnd we're back to morbid.

"Everyone makes mistakes," La Bruja said, confusing her until she clarified. "That's what the body dumper is for. Bury your mistakes so that no one else has to bear witness to them. Thought you might find that reassuring on your first day."

"I really don't!" She shivered. "So where are we heading then? The morgue?"

One trip to the library later and Lucy was faced with a hyena. He sat at a table by himself, leafing through a book titled 101 Ways to Hate Life, the Universe, and Pretentious Book Titles. Both his clothing and his visible demeanor were exactly what Lucy expected from that, dark and brooding with gothic attire, multiple bone-shaped piercings, and a vibrant red mohawk. "Hey," he said, not even looking up at his visitors. "This the new girl?"

"Uh...yeah. I'm the new girl," she said nervously. "Lucy Sang. I'd say you don't really look like a body dumper, but I guess that's kind of the point."

"Does anyone truly look like what they actually are inside?" he asked. "There is nothing but darkness and ugliness inside us all."

"That's a fair hit," Ishini admitted, shrugging. "As charming a fellow as ever, Rufus."

"Your mask cannot hide the scars of your soul."

"Don't tell a magician what he can and can't hide."

"Yeah, I mean, isn't that kinda your job?" Lucy asked, trying to break the ice. "With the, erm, body...dumping?"

He sniffed. "My 'job' is nothing but the natural order of things. I am nothing special just because I can digest bones."

"What does digesting bones have to do with-oooooooh god!" Lucy gasped, Ci-Ci letting out a small whimper as she hugged her tight. It was unclear which of them needed more comforting at that moment.

Ishini snickered. "See, when we said he's a body 'dumper', we meant it in the sense that-"

"I GET IT!" And now she never wanted to use the bathrooms here again.

La Bruja checked a clock on the wall. "I scheduled five minutes for your existential crisis. When you're done with it, have someone show you where to go next. Make it quick."

With that, she, Peter Ishini, and Mr. Graves left the library, leaving them behind.

"Five minutes, I'll show you five minutes..." Lucy muttered to herself. "I'll make it two, so there."

"She's gone," Ci-Ci said, still holding on to her.

"I know. Just trying to vent."

"Can you do it a little quieter?" Rufus asked, turning another page. "I'm trying to read."

"And I'm trying not to have a nervous breakdown! Do you mind?!"

"Yes, I do. That's why I brought it up," he said, finally turning to look impassively at her. "I'm not sure what you expected from an underground criminal organization, but disappointment is a fact of life. And one of its very few certainties. Better get used to it." He stiffened, coughing a few times before hacking up a piece of bone. "See? I thought I already got that one down. Disappointment." He casually tossed it back into his mouth without a second thought. "Anyway, if you're looking for a guide to get you to the meeting room, I-"

"Yeah, we'll find someone else," Lucy said, hastily backing away as Ci-Ci nodded frantically in agreement.


Meeting Room

3:15 PM

They actually found the meeting room themselves, thanks to Lucy's echolocation. La Bruja looked almost impressed when they walked in unaccompanied. Really, they just didn't want to risk talking to anyone else with the company they'd met so far.

The rest of the Infernum members she had been introduced to, save Rufus, Hareison, and Debra, were there, along with several others she didn't recognize. Lucy sat a little uncomfortably next to Rattois, with Ci-Ci on her other side. Rattois, surprisingly, gave her a friendly smile of greeting. Lucy hesitantly returned it.

Like any true supervillain lair, they were all situated at a long table with La Bruja at the far end. All that was missing was the Infernum emblem hanging prominently over her head, but she'd already explained why it wasn't. Now it just looked like an ordinary conference room, and given the Fire Pit's history, it probably had been at one point.

"Greetings, everyone," La Bruja began, now dressed in a nondescript grey suit that completed the image. Lucy almost couldn't blame Debra for thinking this was just some company of rich jerks. "It is good to be back again. My time in prison was inconvenient, but as you can see, not without reward. I would like you all to welcome the newest member of the Felidae Infernum: Ms. Lucy Sang."

Everyone clapped for her, some of them actually pretty enthusiastic about it. Ci-Ci did too, just wanting to be supportive.

"While seemingly just a whiny brat with a chip on her shoulder, I can assure you that I know better. She is a whiny brat with a chip on her shoulder who also has adequate potential."

Everyone clapped again even as Lucy frowned. Ci-Ci did too, shrugging helplessly.

"As for the other one, disregard her and try to ignore the smell. We can't exactly open any windows. Now then, shall we proceed?"

Lucy scowled at La Bruja's treatment of Ci-Ci. As always, the mongoose herself took it in stride.

Again, shockingly, it was Rattois who gave Lucy a comforting pat on the shoulder, and a sympathetic look towards Ci-Ci.

La Bruja clicked a remote and an old projector slowly clicked on. "Let's consider this a remedial class for our new students, to catch them up on what they missed while behind bars."

You were there too, remember? Annoyed as Lucy was with her right now, she paid close attention, genuinely interested.

"We'll start with our primary competitors, though not the most dangerous ones. Are you familiar with the crime lords of Zootopia, Ms. Sang?"

"Of course," she said, a bit more snappish than intended. "They're the most prominent and influential criminal heads of each district."

The rabbit nodded. "Correct. Can you name them?"

She should've known she would be put on the spot already. "Well…there's Vladzotz Fangpyre, that vampire bat lord here in Nocturnal." It was no surprise that his name had at least come up before in her family.

"Vladzotz Fangpyre III. Continue."

"Mr. Big of Tundratown."

"Everyone knows him. Continue."

"Well, then there's, uh…" Lucy blanked. Give me a break! If you wanted me to know this stuff so badly, you should've taught me while we were still IN prison!

"I suppose I can't blame you," La Bruja said, though she likely wanted to. "Most of the other positions were contested for many years."

Something shined onto the projector screen, a simple map of the city with the heads of the criminal heads superimposed over their territories. Mr. Big and Vladzotz were clearly labeled, along with a strange, horn-headed fish named Piers Narwhalter. Marine biology hadn't been her major.

The others were a bit more complicated. Instead of a single head, multiple were shown. Over Outback Island, a drug kingpin koala named Preston Thornbrush was apparently in competition with a smuggler of rare artifacts, tasmanian devil Iluka Rombahe, his shit-eating grin just as devilish. In the Rainforest District was another drug runner, the cigar-chomping jaguar Al Catpone, at odds with the alpha of Zootopia's largest wolf pack, Lady Lang. And in Sahara Square, masked feline Sandcat Serena went up against the far less attractive pangolin Shahaz "The Stinger" Pholmok.

"As nice as they all look, you're talking like these conflicts were over some time ago," Lucy pointed out.

"They were," Mr. Graves confirmed. "Before you were even arrested."

"Then why bring it up?"

"Because even those who did not earn the title of one of Zootopia's top crime lords still remain a threat to us," La Bruja explained. "Just less visible ones. And that is precisely the point. No official source will list the Infernum at all, and our obscurity is to our own advantage."

"Wait, so who did claim those ti-"

"Irrelevant. Let me show you why." She pointed to the last remaining position, the crime lord of the Meadowlands, currently labeled only with a giant question mark.

"You...don't know who the seventh crime lord is?"

"We do," Peter Ishini said with a smirk. "The outside world, not so much. Only those with good underworld connections know the name of the Meadowlands crime lord. Here's a hint: it's one of many names."

"One of— What kind of cryptic clue is—?"

Lucy was interrupted when Ci-Ci turned her head towards La Bruja.

"Thank you for allowing Ms. Sang to borrow your brain cell, Ci-Ci. Perhaps you'll have some use after all," La Bruja said dryly. "Yes. As much as I detest being referred to as that, I am the crime lord of the Meadowlands."

Lucy sat stunned for several seconds. After every other bombshell that had been dropped on her today, that didn't seem like one that should have hit her as hard as it did. It floored her precisely because it seemed so comparatively mundane.

La Bruja gave a nod. "I see you understand the significance of that title. It may not seem that impressive to you, knowing what you do now, but what if you had learned that little tidbit back at the penitentiary? It would have explained everything, don't you think? If I had told you I was the Meadowlands crime lord, you would think you already had the full story, not even questioning if there was more to it than that. Why keep digging if the mystery is already solved?"

"It helps that the Meadowlands is basically a haven of white-collar crimes," Mr. Graves added. "A definitive 'figurehead' of those kinds of operations is tricky to pin down in the first place. So those who make the connection back to Faceless like to pat themselves on the back, content with thinking they are in the know. Even the other crime lords have fallen victim to that."

"With the ANNOYING exception of PIERS Narwhalter!"

"Thank you, Rattois," La Bruja said. "It's actually a little touching. To this day, they still leave a seventh, open seat for me at their annual crime lord meetings. Almost makes me want to show up for one again."

That actually got a chuckle from several mammals in the room. "Could you imagine the looks on their faces?" Yuki asked with a smirk. "The guards probably wouldn't believe who you are, and then they'd see me behind you with a minigun, and realize they don't have a choice."

"Minigun is too slow," La Bruja pondered. "Perhaps a flamethrower?"

Lucy was shocked that La Bruja had so casually made a joke. "Jeez. You guys are really blowing my mind."

"You'll get used to it," Ishini assured. "Or you'll go insane. Your choice."

Mr. Graves snorted. "Funny for you of all mammals to imply they are mutually exclusive."

"Let's move on," La Bruja said, clicking a button to move on to the next slide.

The projector exploded.

"Was...that supposed to happen?" Lucy asked. "A demonstration of the risks when you go digging for too much information?"

"No, it's a demonstration of the limitations one must sometimes face when living underground." The rabbit sighed in frustration. "Well, it's best we don't overload you too much right away, so consider this meeting adjourned for the time being. You two will be shown to your room now."

Lucy grinned. "We still get to bunk together? Awesome!"

She didn't notice at the time, but Ci-Ci's smile was a bit more forced. "Yeah. Awesome."


The New Digs

3:28 PM

Lucy didn't fully realize just how adapted she had become to her cell in prison until she got a reminder of what an actual bed looked like again. The bat zeroed in on it like the sheets were decorated with a bullseye, hitting the cushy surface hard enough to bounce off of it a little before flopping back down. She smiled wide, digging her fingers and toes into the soft cover. "I never thought Heaven could be buried so deep in Hell."

Ci-Ci hopped up on an identical bed next to her, expressing a level of enthusiasm that might've seemed normal to mammals who didn't know her better. "Wow, yeah, it is pretty nice, huh? I could get used to this."

The rest of the room was no slouch either, layered in carpets, some dressers, a few appliances, a bigger TV than they had before, plus a single bathroom and kitchen area. It wasn't anything overly impressive, just moderately homey, but after three years in prison it may as well have been paradise.

She must have been taking it in a bit too long as the naked mole rat who had escorted them here cleared his throat. "From here on out, you are free to explore the compound as you so choose. You'll be able to tell where you are and are not allowed."

Lucy sat up, tilting her head a little. "But aren't you guys supposed to be, like, training me? How will you know where to find me?"

"We'll know. Good day." With nothing more, he closed the door on them.

"It's like they can't decide if they're fun or terrifying. Terrifun? Well, whatever." Lucy flew off the bed, hovering in place in front of Ci-Ci. "What do you say we go take a look around? Check the place out. I've been to enough rich Meadowlands estates to know that there's always stuff they don't show you on the tour."

Ci-Ci had been acting a bit off for a while now, but this was the first time Lucy saw her look afraid. "I…I can't."

"Why not? The room's great and all, but don't you wanna stretch your legs a little? Actually go where you want instead of prison guards dictating everything? That guy said we're free to explore."

"He said you are free to explore," Ci-Ci corrected. "He was looking at you when he said it."

"But that doesn't mean-"

"It does." She sighed, slumping over a bit. "There's something I haven't told you yet."

Lucy flew down next to her, settling in at the mongoose's side. "What is it?"

"Back on the bus, when you were out flying around, La Bruja pulled me aside for a moment," Ci-Ci explained, clearly forcing herself to. " And she said…"

"You may be among us, but you are not one of us. Your friend insisted on bringing you along despite my protests and that action has sealed your fate. You now know too much about our operations to let you out into the world again, nor can we risk letting you move about freely within our compound. Treat your room here as nothing more than another cell, for if we ever catch you outside of it, both you and Lucy will be punished."

Lucy balked at her. "Y-You can't be serious. You're stuck here? In this room?"

Ci-Ci shrugged. "That's what she said."

"Damn her!" Lucy hissed, baring her pointed fangs. "Know too much, my ass! That nutjob hare and clueless dingo get to come and go as they please, but you have to stay put?! She's just trying to get back at me for defying her, that's all it is! This sounds just like something my father would pull!"

The mongoose reached out to her. "Lucy, it's fine, I-"

"It is not fine! It's completely unfair! You don't deserve this! You…" Lucy's breath hitched, her words caught in her throat. Her anger seemed to be sucked right out of her like the blood from the many mammals she had sampled. She looked just as pale too. "How many years did you have left on your prison sentence?"

"That's not really-"

"How many years?" she pressed.

She swallowed, looking away. "…I had two years left."

"Two years," Lucy repeated. "That's how close you were to freedom, actual freedom. But because of my own selfish desire to keep you around, I've effectively given you a life sentence!" She deflated completely, starting to tear up again. "You're trapped here forever now, because of me."

"Lucy, really, it's not that big a deal," she insisted, rubbing her back. "I can handle this. I'm already used to prison."

"That's the problem! You shouldn't be used to it! You could've had something so much better in another two years and I took that away from you!"

She expected the mongoose to keep trying to reassure her or maybe even show some anger or despair, but certainly not to start laughing. "What's so funny?!" Lucy snapped.

Ci-Ci raised a paw to calm her down. "Nothing. It's just, it totally slipped my mind that I never explained how I ended up in prison in the first place."

Lucy's anger died down again, out of confusion this time. "What do you mean? You said you got busted for drug dealing and armed robbery."

"Awwww, you still remember our first day together!"

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't change the subject."

Ci-Ci raised her paws defensively. "Alright, alright. Well, I told you what I did, just not why. But to explain that, I need to tell you my full name. It's Cecilia Gosland II."

The last thing Lucy wanted to do right now was burst out laughing herself, but she just couldn't help it. "What? No offense, but you do not strike me as a 'Cecilia', missy."

She shrugged. "None taken. That's the typical reaction."

"So you came from a wealthy background too?"

"Nope!" she said cheerfully. "It was just my mom and I and we were poor as dirt! Also covered in it!"

"Then what's with…?"

"The pretentious rich bitch name? It's a sort of family tradition. See, my mom believed that if we were named like we had status, then sooner or later, it would inspire one of us to actually make something of ourselves."

"I guess that is kind of inspiring, in a weird sort of way," Lucy admitted. "But how'd it work out?"

"About as well as you'd expect. I mean, Mom died of an overdose and I ended up in prison, so you tell me."

"Oh." Lucy's ears flattened. "I'm sorry. That must have been rough."

"It was," she said with little more than a blunt nod. "But to be fair, Cecilia Gosland I wasn't really the greatest parent. She let that whole 'pretend you're worth something' attitude get to her head and started acting like she was worth everything. You've probably seen what that's like."

"I certainly have…" More times than she'd like to admit.

"She was still my mom and all, but she kinda did it to herself, you know? So I couldn't feel that bad, especially when she was leaving me to fend for myself. Not to brag, but I think I did a way better job."

"Yeah, you definitely did," Lucy agreed. Then she caught up. "You're a MOM?!"

She giggled. "Come on, it's not that hard to believe, is it?"

"How old are you?!"

"Like…almost forty?"

"Soooo…thirty-nine?"

"I dunno, maybe."

"What do you mean, maybe?!"

"I lost track around thirty-five-ish. Like I said before, a birthday is just another day in prison. But I gotta be getting close to forty by now."

Lucy fell onto the bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. She could practically hear her brain sizzling. "That legit just blew my mind more than any of the Infernum stuff."

"Hey, it's not my fault you never asked about any of this." Ci-Ci grinned, laying on her stomach with her paws under her chin and her feet waving playfully above her. "When we first met, you were so distraught that I was focused on helping you out. And with La Bruja and everything else, it just sorta slipped my mind. As a lot of things do, admittedly."

"I get that. I'm just…having some trouble picturing you with a child."

"Montgomery Gosland I," she clarified, putting on a posh accent for added effect. "Yeah, I know, I still followed the tradition. I wanted to prove that I could handle it better."

"But then why are you being so nonchalant about all this?" Lucy asked. "If you have a kit, you should want to get out of here more than ever! Don't you want to see him again? Unless…" She grew cold, assuming the worst.

"No, no, he's fine, don't worry!" Ci-Ci quickly assured. "Better than fine actually."

"What do you mean?"

"As you might imagine, I gave birth to him pretty young. His father was a deadbeat, big surprise there, and disappeared faster than the leftovers in the trash behind Burger Alpha. That left me in a pretty sorry state for raising Monty. Had to start selling some of my stash to keep him fed, but even that wasn't enough, so I decided to rob the local convenience store."

"And that's how you got arrested?" Lucy guessed.

"Nah. I got arrested 'cause I sucked at it," she laughed. "Couldn't get a hold of a gun…or a knife…so I sorta just waved my claws around and screamed incoherently. Come to think of it, I'm not sure the cops even knew I was trying to rob anyone until I told them. Lesson learned, right?"

"And Monty?"

"He was already old enough to survive on his own. Momma taught him well," she said proudly. "Even came to visit me in lockup whenever he could. I was so worried about him back then. At least, until something amazing happened. He got himself adopted."

Lucy blinked. "Like, foster care?"

"Well, it was more of an internship I guess, but he got taken in by this wealthy philanthropist and his wife who saw something special in him. He helps them out around the house, and in exchange, he gets hot meals, nice clothes, and a roof to sleep under. He stopped coming to the prison after that."

"Whoa, hold on," Lucy stood up, cutting her off. "You're telling me that your own son just left you to rot as soon as he found himself a new home? That's fucked up!"

"No, you don't get it! I told him to stop coming!" Ci-Ci corrected. "He'd finally made something for himself like our family always wanted. I didn't wanna risk his good-for-nothing mom ruining his image. He and I live in different worlds now, and it should stay that way."

She gritted her teeth. "It sounds to me like he's little more than a servant."

"Maybe," Ci-Ci replied. "But you wanna know what doesn't happen to servants? They don't starve to death, they don't get knifed in the streets, they don't get shot by drug dealers, they don't get shot by police while fleeing the drug dealers, they don't sell themselves on street corners…you wouldn't get it." She shook her head. "Or rather, you wouldn't have before we met. You and I also came from different worlds, Luce, and let me tell ya, prison is the great goddamn unifier."

Lucy was silent for a long while, looking at the mongoose but feeling like this was the first time she was really seeing her. "So that's why you don't care about leaving," she finally said.

"That's why I don't care about a lot of things. After Monty made it, I was just…content. Livin' out the rest of my sentence in perfect carefree tranquility. Honestly, I don't even know what I was gonna do once I actually got out. And thanks to you, I don't gotta deal with that anymore." She smiled at her. "So you see? You helped me after all!"

She wasn't even sure how to respond to that. "You're…welcome? That's a hell of a way to live though. Being all 'no worries' about everything…"

"Hakuna Matata, bitches!" she yelled, pumping one fist in the air. "But hey, I'm not like that anymore. At least, not entirely. Because I found something to care about again."

Before Lucy could even ask, Ci-Ci wrapped one arm around her and used the other to playfully noogie her head. "You, Luce! It's almost refreshing being worried sick over someone again. Hell, the only reason I was even bummed in the first place is that I can't keep such a close eye on ya anymore. But make no mistake, we're in this together now, all the way to the end!"

"Are…you two about finished?"

Ci-Ci let out a yelp and dropped Lucy, who let out a yelp at the sight of Peter Ishini standing in the doorway. "How long were you standing there?!" the bat demanded.

"A magician never reveals his-"

She hissed viciously.

"I just got here!" he insisted. "Relax! I came by to pick you up for your first day of combat training with yours truly. Exciting, isn't it?"

"Sure," she sighed, the moment thoroughly ruined. "I'll be back…whenever, Ci-Ci."

"Good luck! Imma take a nap!" The mongoose proceeded to burrow under the covers, forming a big lump that immediately started snoring.

Well, if you can't watch me anyway… She turned back to the squirrel. "Alright. Lead the way, Mr. Ishini."

"Oh, no need to be so formal!" he said, tipping his hat to her. "Please, from now on, you can just call me Peter."